The ghost of Hamlet’s father reveals to him that he was murdered by his own brother, who succeeded him on the throne of Denmark. He asks his son to avenge him. Hamlet feigns madness to pull the wool over his mother’s and uncle’s eyes, as he stages a puppet play that has them believe he knows about their crime. As he argues with his mother, he discovers that they are being spied on by the courtier Oldenholm and he throws him out the window, into the moats of the castle. Oldenholm’s daughter – Ophelia – believes that his father has died and loses her sanity: but Hamlet has secretly saved him from drowning. Ophelia reunites with her father and comes back to her senses. However, the king wants to dispose of his nephew by sending him to war against Napoleon, under Admiral Nelson’s commands. Hamlet finds out about this conspiracy. During the farewell dance organised for him, he has the king drink the poison that was meant for him. He then ascends the throne of Denmark and marries Ophelia. His uncle, who was saved at death’s door, is exiled to Greenland.

String marionette

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Schink Johann Friedrich

Germany

Ratzeburg

Printed

Philosophy

Idealism

Madness

Murder

Politics

Court life

Plot

Love

Commedia dell'arte

Shakespeare

Satirical

Parodistic

Burlesque

Illustration on the cover page of the 1800 edition.

German

Momus und sein Guckkasten

Ein Marionettenspiel

Hamlet

Guard

Captain

Queen

Courtier

Ophelia

Ghost

Puppeteer

Pantaloon

Colombine

Pierrot

Prince

Il Dottore (Commedia dell'arte)

Scapin

Polichinelle

Prologue

Address to the public

Sung scenes

Monologue

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

Comic Equivocation

Allegory

Political allegory

Allusion to current literary events

Instrumental tune

Pantomime

Play in verse

Prinz Hamlet von Dännemark

Hamlet Prince of Danemark

Wiltrud and Scohlint, the bad witches, make Princess Röslein (or Dornröslein, “Thorn Flower”) fall asleep, along with the whole court of King Purpur and of Queen Hermelin, by pricking her finger on a distaff when she turns fifteen. The fairy Sconea mitigates the curse by promising that it will turn into a blessing. Years later, the knight Minnamunt finds the bewitched castle, defeats the giant Schlafdorn (“Sleeping Thorn”) who was guarding the gates and wakes the princess and her court.

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Romanticism

Poetry

Sorcery

Childhood

Adult

Nature

Mechanization

Heroism

Sleep

Fantasy

Humorous

Illustration by Franz von Pocci for the original edition of the play

Poet

Valet

Fairy

Old woman

Herald

Giant

Song

Metatheatre

Apparition

Versified passages

Word for another

Dialogue of the deaf

Talking animal

Fight

Transforming scenery

Current affairs

Dornröslein

Sleeping Beauty

The bachelor Gripandouille courted Polichinelle's wife, Colombine, who rejected him. Two jealous neighbours, Mrs Cassandra and Mrs Cababuche, slandered Columbine. To warn her of this, Gripandouile wrote her a letter in which he made an appointment with her. But this letter fell into the hands of the neighbours. Gripandouille found out about it and, wanting to take revenge, told Cassandra that his wife had an appointment with a lover. In the meantime, Mrs Cababuche told Polichinelle that Colombine had an appointment with her lover. Polichinelle went to the appointment but, mistaking Mr and Mrs Cassandra for Colombine and her lover, he beat them up. Then, realising his mistake, he hit Mrs Cababuche because she had lied to him. The two shrews then urged their husbands to kill Polichinelle, but he persuaded the two men to go and consult a sorcerer instead to find out the truth about their wives. The sorcerer revealed the wickedness of the two women. The Gendarme and the Commissioner, called in to administer justice, hanged the two women to the great satisfaction of the husbands.

All audiences

France

Paris

Duranty Louis Émile Edmond

Gossip

Vilification

Malice

Jealousy

Neighbour (Woman)

Unfaithfulness

Revenge of the husbands

Trap

Bad marriage

Comical

Farcical

French

Magician

Police Superintendant

Letter

Spectacular turn of events

Misunderstanding

Hanging scene

Blow-with-a-stick

Les Voisines

The neighbours

Tom Fool, the author of the play which will be performed, finds out that the set designer chose an engraving showing Craig pointing to the huge entrance to the Macbeth's castle to portray the Gates of Hell. He voices his discontent. The set designer then suggests a “realistic” representation of Hell: the door to a mansion in a rich neighbourhood of London. Still unsatisfied, Tom Fool eventually agrees with the stage designer for a more “traditional” style, as portrayed in mystery plays staged in popular theatres (notably in Christmas pantomimes in Great Britain) – with a Hellmouth, colorful devils, pitchforks, boiling cauldrons, snakes, and so on. The characters in The Drama for Fools, eager to play, come forward one by one on the stage, but Tom Fool has not written their parts yet.

Craig Edward Gordon

Italy

Scenery

Realism

Set design

Hell

Popular theatre

Props

Devil

English

Scene 1 from the Drama for Fools

An Interlude

Tom Fool

Stage designer

Propsman

Pluto

Snake

Blind Boy

Blind

Child

Parrot

Avista

Apparition of the Devil

The Gates of Hell

Les Portes de l'Enfer

The Scorpioni Verdi and the Ragni Blu – two feuding families – make so much noise that the puppeteer herself wants to get rid of them. However, the Devil convinces her to grant him three days to make peace between the two families. But he cannot use his powers to do it. Instead, he will have to manage this by influencing someone else. The Devil meets Pulcinella and has him bring Areste Paganòs into the world. Areste then becomes the hero of the play. He elaborates a strategy to try and reconcile the feuding families: he will use the love between their children, Rosina Ragno and Rocco Scorpione. In this plot reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, in which Rocco and Rosina drink a poisonous mixture that should put them to sleep but instead accidentally kills them, Areste manages to fulfill his mission. The Devil brings the two lovers back to life and the joy they share at being reunited helps their families understand that they should not have fought. They all celebrate the young couple’s wedding.

Broggini Walter

Pau Donatella

Murru Antonio

Cagliari

Rivalry

Enemy families

Enemy

Rewriting

Pathetic

Didactic

Italian

Pulcinella

Mother

Father

Carabiniere

Mayor

Cardinal

Altar server

Cock, cockerel

Final intervention of the devil

Childbirth on stage

Accumulation of events

Fake death

Love story

Areste Paganòs e la farina del diavolo

Areste Paganòs and the devil's flour

The puppeteer apologises to the audience because he is not ready to perform Macbeth: instead, he will perform an unpublished comedy by Goldoni, The Jealous Emigrant (which is, in fact, a fake written on purpose by Brunello). But one of his glove puppets, Arlequin, disagrees and organises a rebellion, convincing the other puppets to perform Macbeth. The tragedy begins, but Arlequin, who has dared to step out of his role, must die like Macbeth. The same applies to his antagonist King Duncan, who - as we discover at the end - is no other than the puppeteer himself.