Les Boudins de Gripandouille

Printed

16 pages

Les Boudins de Gripandouille

| 1861 | Paris, France
Characters
Gripandouille, Le Charcutier, La Vieille Femme, L’Élégant, Le Gendarme, Le Diable, Le Cochon, Le Chien
Number of acts
1
Note

Premiered in 1861, on the inauguration day of the puppet theatre of the Tuileries Garden (Paris), the play followed the representation of a prologue entitled Le Théâtre de Polichinelle, written in verse for the occasion by poet Fernand Desnoyers.

Plot summary

A starving man kills to steal food which ends up stolen from him every time

Starving, Gripandouille goes to the pork butcher to buy some black pudding. Because they’re out of it, he ruins the shop, beats the Charcutier (Pork butcher) to death and puts his corpse in his basket. Still starving, Gripandouille steals a black pudding from a Vieille Femme (Old Woman), then from an Élégant (Sophisticated Man) and finally from a Gendarme (Constable) before killing them all and hiding them in his basket. However, every stolen sausage is taken from him by a Chien (Dog) and then by the Diable (Devil). The Diable leaves, but not before bringing Gripandouille’s victims back to life: they beat their murderer to death to punish him for not resisting his desires.

Composition date
1861

First performance

Paris, France, Sunday 19 May 1861 -

The play premiered on the inauguration day of the puppet theatre of the Tuileries Garden (Paris).

Publications and translations

Publication

Duranty, Théâtre des marionnettes du jardin des Tuileries, texte et composition des dessins par M. Duranty, Paris, MM. Dubuisson et Cie, Editeurs-Libraires, 1862

Modern edition

Louis Edmond Duranty, Théâtre des marionnettes, Arles, Actes sud, Coll. Babel, 1995. ISBN: 978-2-7427-0652-5

Translations
  • Louis Duranty, Merchant of blows-with-a-stick and other plays (English and French edition), english translation by Sean Keohane, Charlemagne Press (Canada) 2007, [266 p.], ISBN-13: 978-0-921845-26-3

    (English)