The play Les Jeux de l’amour et du bazar (The Games of Love and Mess) is part of the collected work Le Théâtre érotique de la rue de la Santé, which is composed of some of the plays performed at the Erôtikon Theatron in 1862 and 1863. This collective project organised by a group of writers, painters and composers aimed at creating independent shows where it would be possible to tackle erotic themes in a very crude way. The performances were given in front of about fifty guests, amongst whom Paul Féval, Henry Monnier, Champfleury, Duranty, or Alphonse Daudet.

The hand-puppet booth was installed in a glass room used as an antechamber in the house where Amédée Rolland and Jean du Boys used to live, at the 45 Rue de la Santé in Paris. The puppeteer Lemercier de Neuville was the painter, architect, stagehand, director, and one of the authors of the Erôtikon Theatron.

The plot of the comedy Les Jeux de l’amour et du bazar is of parody of Marivaux’s Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard (The Game of Love and Chance): Sylvia and Dorante are no longer two masters pretending to be servants, but brothel keepers wanting to turn respectively into a prostitute and a client for a night. The play revolves around debauched adventures and misunderstandings between the two characters. This ‘marivaudage’ is an incredible source of slang expressions and sexual metaphors; it also stages several vaudevilles.

Sylvia, a brothel keeper, freshens up in front of a mirror: she wants to take the place of her employees for the night. The pimp Dorante also decides to switch roles and to become the client of a prostitute. When seeing him, Sylvia invites him upstairs. They end up in a small room, both unaware of the other’s status. They begin their lewdness, and Sylvia is very creative. After experiencing mutual sexual pleasure, they realise that they have the same job. This increases their passion, and they think about opening a new brothel together.