The Wiseman Weitschuss has built a rocket to go to Mars. When Kasperl messes with the buttons, he accidentally causes the rocket to take off. He arrives on the red planet, where he teaches German to Martian Zweikopf, who brings him before the king. The latter wants to inspect the rocket and, pushing the wrong button, flies to Earth. The king is treated as an exotic creature and is exhibited at the zoo while the rocket returns to Mars. Kasperl escapes the vengeance of the Martians and returns to his parents.

String marionette

Not specified

Schuster Ludwig

Germany

Printed

Science fiction

Rocket

Glory

Mars Planet

Curiosity

Exoticism

Otherness

Communication

Journey

Hazard

Hunger

Accident

Couch

Fall

Fantasy

Didactic

German

Marionettenspiel in sechs Aufzügen

Kasperl

Father

Mother

Engineer

Tamer

Martian

Minister

Monster

Imaginary language

Plot twist

Comic equivocation

Flying machine

Apparition of a monster

Falling from hangers

Fake death

Die Fahrt zum Mars

Le voyage sur Mars

The play is set in 2077, in a military dictatorship. Everything happens in the cellar of a common citizen – Joan. One day when she comes back from work, she finds Dummy in it. He broke into her apartment by breaking a window, as he was trying to hide from the army. He does not own papers and has been shoplifting to survive. At first, Joan believes that he wants to rob her and asks him to hand her his knife. But Dummy is homeless and undocumented: his knife is his only means of defence. What is more, he is emotionally attached to it. Joan then agrees to feed and hide Dummy. He relates his past and confides that he was forced by soldiers to kill one of his parents. Joan and Dummy call on a smuggler, Jack, who promises to forge papers for Dummy, which would allow him to cross the border. However, the money Dummy was keeping in a box has disappeared. At this point, Jack declares that he has links with the army and threatens to report them. Despite the help Joan offers him (she goes as far as trying to request a loan), Dummy turns down her offer to run away with her: he says he wants to leave with Jack and to continue to steal for a living. Joan’s life has radically changed since meeting Dummy, for whom she says she has sacrificed everything. She does not understand his decision and launches into a xenophobic monologue, during which she inflicts extreme violence on Dummy. She stabs him several times, steps on him and tears him up. At the end of the play, the actor dubbing Dummy’s voice walks among the “debris” of the puppets and speaks in a fictional language.

Actor and puppet

Mannequin

Young audiences

Bond Edward

Great Britain

London

Northampton

Dystopia

Migrant

Murder

Escape

Money

Foreigner

Dramatic

Tragic

Fantastic

Edward Bond, The Chair Plays, 2012.

English

Host

Murderer

Puppet

Emigrant

Thief

Soldier

Puppeteer

Smuggler

Crook

Recounting of memories

Sleeping character

Argument

Fight between an actor and a puppet

Murder on stage

Stabbing

Destruction of a puppet

The Under Room

Sous-chambre

The plot takes place in 2080, on Earth - an utterly polluted planet on which live a little girl named Laetia, her sidekick dog, and Dragonis, her friend. Laetia enjoys stargazing, while her friend loves seeking remains of the past using a detector. Inside a meteoroid, they find an encrypted note regarding a treasure that could be found on a dead planet. Laetia and Dragonis decide to go after the said treasure. After many adventures on other planets, they finally get the treasure chest back thanks to enchanted phrases they learnt. When they return home, they find that the treasure is not gold, but rather seeds that will help making Earth a green planet again by growing trees on it.