This play belongs to the repertory of Guignol plays that were performed in Lyon in the 1850s/1860s, either in the Caveau des Célestins (1850-1862) or at the Café Condamin in the Rue Port-du-Temple (1862-1869). Two handwritten copies of it are known. The first was made by puppeteer Joanny Durafour (1853-1938) on an exercise book, based on the lost manuscripts of Vuillerme-Dunant. It is now kept in the Léopold Dor collection of the Musée des Arts de la Marionette – Musées Gadagne (Lyon).

The second copy was made under the title Le Monstre et l’alchimiste. It is kept in the censorship archives (Archives Nationales, F/18/1216), with a censor’s certificate dating from January 23, 1867. It is one of the plays performed in Paris by Laurent Josserand and Vuillerme-Dunand between 1866 and 1868, when they attempted to establish a regular Théâtre Guignol in a café on Rue Popincourt. Although the action is the same in this second version, many differences are found in the names of the characters (Amélie is now Émilie and the Baron the Valbreuze is now Baron de Kermann), in the dialogues and in the dividing up of the scenes.

A young alchemist, Émile, and his assistant Guignol are preparing for their final experiment—to create a man. Instead of a man, however, a Monstre (Monster) rises out of the cauldron, scaring the two men as well as Émile’s fiancée, Amélie, the daughter of Baron de Valbreuze. Émile and Guignol go to a cemetery, where they are advised by a Squelette (Skeleton) to question an old Alchimiste (Alchemist), who can teach them how to get rid of the Monstre. The Monstre is devoured by ghosts and disappears. Guignol and Émile go back to the Baron and to his daughter, and the young couple signs a marriage contract.