Inaugurated on the 15th of December 1895, the cabaret du Diable au corps (the cabaret of the Devil in the flesh) is an imitation in Brussels of the Parisian cabaret Chat Noir: some artists have worked for both cabarets, whimsical stories from the Chat Noir’s review are reissued in the review of the Diable au corps and the shadow theatre in Brussels draws inspiration from its counterpart in Montmartre.

At the Diable au corps, the shadow theatre of painter Amédée Lynen and poet Léo Dardenne has two weekly shows. The varied repertoire includes light fantasy stories, parodies of famous works, epics, legendary tales and lyrical poems. Raphaël Landoy writes several texts for the theatre, as well as poems and songs. Godefroid de Bouillon à travers les âges (Godfrey of Bouillon throughout the ages) is a patriotic play peppered with comical allusions to the scholarly, cultural and scientific context of the time: the recent popularisation of the earth sciences, the political debates around the “Brussels, seaport”, a shared musical and scholastic culture (Faust, Julius Caesar), etc. Introduced by M. Lemestre’s barking, the song of Mr. Jules Baur then accompanies the succession of tableaux. The summary of the play can be established based on the programs and the reports published in the press.

As planet Earth is covered by oceans, molten matter is cooling down. Dinosaurs are cooing among the ferns, and the first rocks are starting to form. A naked man from the Stone Age is proudly mounting a horse he has recently tamed. Jules César (Julius Caesar), also on horseback, is posing. Then come the crusades, and Godefroid de Bouillon is proclaimed King of Jerusalem. Centuries later, his equestrian statue is erected on the Royal Square. The horse is replaced by a boat. The city and its port reach the highest point of their history.