Kasperl leaves his wife Grete and resigns from his job at Stoffelbauer’s farm to explore the world. On the road, he meets the genius of the mountains, Cuivre Curpus. The latter is dressed as an old man and Kasperl gives him three of his copper coins. Cuprus thanks him and gifts him a magic violin in turn. Kasperl uses it to make the Jew Mauschl dance until he faints, after discovering that he was embezzling money. Two robbers – Fangauf and Schnapper – take advantage of the opportunity to steal Mauschl’s purse. Kasperl is then introduced to Duke Richard’s court as the violinist Spagatini, and he seduces the Duke’s daughter, Princess Amalie, as well as her lady-in-waiting. One day he is caught serenading them by night, but he makes the guards, the whole court, the princess and the lady-in-waiting dance. However, he is brought to justice and accused by Mauschl of having stolen the purse. As a result, he is sentenced to death. At the gallows, he asks to play one last tune on his violin, in the hope of making everyone dance and escaping. But Cuprus appears with Grete. He takes away the magic of the violin but promises to save Kasperl’s life, on condition that he goes back to his wife.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Printed

Beer

Sausage

Laziness

Money

Mines

Nature

Copper

Music

Concert

Genie

People and history

Magic

Love

Impossible love

Romanticism

Seduction

Serenade

Justice

Musician

Aristocracy

Royal Court

Scaffold

Gallows

Tralala

Faust

Fantasy

Parodistic

Lyrical

Title page illustrated by the author in the original edition of the play

German

Kasperl

Madame Kasperl

Duke

Lady in waiting

Marshal

Judge

Clerk

Waiter

Guard

Valet

Domestic scene

Versified passages

Sung scenes

Metamorphosis

Chorus

Board

Dance

Caricature

Word for another

Song

Macaronism

Parodic trial

Deus ex machina

Metatheatre

Apparition

Die Zaubergeige

The enchanted violin

Unable to sleep, Casperl complains about his lot in life and even says that he is ready to appeal to the spirits, following the example of Faust, when a headless ghost appears in front of him. The ghost asks him to save him from hell by performing the necessary rites at midnight at the gallows. In exchange, Casperl will get hold of the treasure that the ghost buried at this location when he was still a bandit. The next day, Casperl, who has forgotten the ritual words, asks the witch Moosmayerin to help him: she gives him Holofernes’ magical belt. In the next scene, Casperl has become rich, but he considers that the money shouldn’t be used to pay his debts and he sends his creditors away with injurious words. When a police officer comes to arrest him, he manages to lock the police officer inside his house and goes to the tavern. When he returns to his place, he discovers that the police officer has hung himself by accident with the rope with which he tried to slip away. Casperl is thrown in prison, but he is freed by the ghost, who tells him that the police officer has not died and that he has resumed his work.

Night

Melancholy

Spirits

Robber

Sorcery

Coffee

Market

Wealth

Scatology

Debt

Tavern

Perlicke

Comical

Burlesque

Schicksalsdrama in vier Aufzügen

Tailor

Police officer

Shoemaker

Chimney sweeper

Ghost

Monologue

Thunderbolt

Animated natural element

Disguise

Parody of formal language

Hanging scene

Transforming scenery

Instrumental tune

Casperl wird reich

Casperl gets rich

David is risking his life by spying for the Boers. When he learns that the English have gathered their forces outside Kimberley, he warns Louis Botha, the Boer General. Botha sends his infantry against the English. During the battle, David is captured, but the Boers free him. David shouts “Long live freedom!” as he retreats to Kimberley.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

France

Roubaix

Handwritten outline

Freedom

Seat

Dramatic

Head of a puppet representing a Boer

French

Épisode de la guerre Anglo-Boers

General

Boer

Traitor

Soldier

English man

Battlefield scene

Execution scene

La Bataille de Kimberley

The Siege of Kimberley

Cockatrice, riding the magic donkey Brickle-Brit, is on his way to Rome. He envisions himself impersonating Charlie Chaplin in the inn where he has planned to meet his friends Blind-Boy and Columbus the Parrot. He complains about Brickle-Brit, thinks about his relationship with Blind-Boy, and ponders over different events in his life.

Craig Edward Gordon

Italy

Marina di Pisa

Journey

Identity

Hypocrisy

Immortality

Satirical

English

On the Road to Rome

Cockatrice

Basilic

Donkey

Mobile Panorama

The Real Lady enters a shop to buy a foil that will accompany her in her social engagements. The Shopman first recommends her a “Real Horror”, whom she turns down. Then, he introduces the Real Artist, the Van Gogh model (only his legs and shoes are visible), but he growls whenever he hears about money and the Shopman advises her against buying it in the end. He suggests a Marionette instead – The Real Gentleman. The Real Lady inspects it closely, buys it and gets out of the shop with it, carrying it around on a leash. From behind a window, art historian John Ruskin and naturalist Charles Darwin followed and briefly commented on the scene. The interlude concludes with other remarks, from Buddha and Ahha, who appeared in a version of The First Prologue and who, accompanied by Parrot, were supposed to travel throughout centuries in the Drama for Fools initial project.

Shadow theatre

Silhouette

Giant marionette

Trade

Shopping

Stooge

Society life

Goods

Monster

Witness

Absurd

Salesman

Lady

Gentleman

Artist

Vincent Van Gogh

John Ruskin

Charles Darwin

Buddha

Ahha

Parrot

Columbus

Situation comedy

Speechless character

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Spying scene

Commentary

After performing a traditional guarattelle show, the puppeteer and his Pulcinella think they won’t have anything to eat as the audience left without paying. They both decide to leave Naples for France. When they arrive at court, the King carefully examines Pulcinella with a magnifying glass, and finds him too poor, so drives him away. Pulcinella beats the King with a stick and the guards come to arrest him. The puppet escapes from the puppet booth with the Puppeteer, who explains that if the puppet wants to eat, he must “change his face”.
The Puppeteer then turns Pulcinella into Polichinelle, giving him new, luxurious clothes decorated with ribbons and little bells, two bumps (one on the belly and the other on the back) and a white mask to hide his black half-mask. Thus transformed, Pulcinella moves and speaks far more slowly, but his new lazzi with a cock amuse the King greatly. The puppet and the Puppeteer are able to eat a big plate of pasta in front of the puppet booth and go to sleep with a full belly. Woken by the Marseillaise, they enter the puppet booth, believing a party is going on. On stage, in front of a guillotine, Robespierre and Danton debate whether the King should be tried. After cutting off the heads of Danton and the King, Robespierre also wants to kill Polichinelle, who is friends with the King. First, he cuts off one bump, and then the other, and finally the white mask. Polichinelle, who has now gone back to being “Pulcinella the revolutionary”, cuts off Robespierre’s head and then, like Napoleon Bonparte, proclaims himself emperor and uses a stick to beat, one after the other, the emperor of Austria and the Pope who has come to crown him. He shows his emperor’s crown to the Puppeteer: it means he’ll be able to eat for 200 years. The Puppeteer comes out of the booth for a last monologue at the end of which he dons the black half-mask and proclaims himself to be Pulcinella.