Le Pont cassé (The Broken Bridge) is the most famous play from Dominique Séraphin’s shadow theatre. Charles-Jacob Guillemain, who bought the text from Séraphin, explored a theme probably borrowed from a fabliau and which had already been much discussed throughout the 18th century. The adaptation of the play for shadow theatre met with great success, and the verse “Les canards l’ont bien passée/lire lire laire” (the ducks did cross it/lire lire laire [French interjections]) went down in history.

The text and the figures were largely exploited in various media and languages. The play is part of the repertoire of Philip Astley (the father of modern circus) in London. The scenery and characters have been duplicated in catchpenny prints produced in Metz, Nancy, Paris and Épinal. There exist about a dozen variations of the text.

The authorship of the original text performed by Séraphin is uncertain. This version, which casts Le Petit Gas (The Little Guy), Le Voyageur (The Traveller) and Le Batelier (The Boatman), is credited sometimes to Dorvigny and sometimes to Charles-Jacob Guillemain. The more recent editions (Denis Bordat’s and Francis Boucrot’s) credit the latter.

A Voyageur (Traveller) in a hurry is expected in a neighbouring town; he must cross the river, but the bridge is broken. Upset, he asks a young boy digging on the other side of the bridge if the water is deep. The answer of the “Petit Gas” (Little Guy) is not helpful, and he then mocks the bourgeois with a song. Then the two characters talk in cross-purposes; their dialogue is punctuated by the young rascal’s “tire lire laire” (rhyming nonsense in French), and culminates in the boy showing his behind. When he sees a Batelier (Boatman), the Voyageur hails him and asks to be taken to the other side of the river. The “Petit Gas” then throws stones at the boat, but the bourgeois manages to cross the river and canes the boy.