King Mirambole is tyrannical, vain and hypochondriac, and he wants to marry. Three rival courtiers (the Doctor, the Astrologer and the Goldsmith) flatter the King, smear one another and conspire to persuade him to choose a woman from their respective families as his wife. The Doctor convinces the King that only a comet put on his forehead will cure him of all his pains. To cause the Astrologer’s downfall, he also advises the King to leave this task to him. The Astrologer suggests that the King ask the Goldsmith to make one, while the Goldsmith persuades the King to entrust the Doctor and the Astrologer with the task. In the end, the valet Pierrot commits to bringing the king a comet. Pierrot goes to his brother, an innkeeper, brings back a bottle of “comet wine” and convinces his niece Balibutte to follow him. When he comes back to the palace, he introduces his niece as a comet embodied in a woman, and he cures the king with the wine. Balibutte relates a dream to the king, which both exposes the courtiers’ betrayals and tells him how to punish them. The king executes the courtiers, marries Balibutte and names Pierrot grand vizier.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Paris

Printed

Brokers

Ambition

Flattery

Conspiracy

Tyrant

Wedding

Vanity

Cabaret

Wine

Self-deception

Cruelty

Comet

Cure

Illness

Dream

Rivalry

Melancholy

Satirical

Fantasy

Comical

Front page of La Comète du Roi Mirambole, 1862.

French

Astrologer

Physician

Executioner

Pierrot

Cabaret owner

Herald

Blow-with-a-stick

Aside

Off-stage noise

Public announcement

Execution scene

Account of a dream

Monologue

La Comète du Roi Mirambole

The Comet of King Mirambole

Thieves threaten a young man, Pine, on a beach. James Flaunty comes to his aid. Sent by Captain Gig, Lieutenant Florry proposes to Flaunty to navigate, for a hefty sum of money, their vessel towards the Spiting Devil ship since he has good knowledge of the area. Nance, the daughter of the captain, warns of the danger of this mission, but Flaunty insists that the money will allow him to marry her. A pirate from the Spitting Devil comes across Flaunty and asks him to give him Captain Gig's men in exchange for an even greater sum of money. After a moment of hesitation, Flaunty accepts. Pine, who overheard the conversation, pleads with Flaunty to bring him back after the battle since he has been trying to return to Ireland for several years. The standoff doesn't go as expected, and Flaunty is accused of plotting against Captain Gig. He is sentenced to death and asks to be executed on the banks of a creek at sunset. Pine pretends to be responsible for the alliance with the pirates and sacrifices his life for Flaunty, who is liberated.

Toy theatre

Young audiences

Ireland

Strete

Piracy

Capital executions and executors

Sacrifice

Humorous

Dramatic

Jack B. Yeats, James Flaunty or the Terror of the Western Seas, 1901

English

Pirate

Daughter

Release of a prisoner

Plot scene

James Flaunty, or the Terror of the Western Seas

James Flaunty, ou la Terreur des mers de l'ouest

Lord Grey and John Bull are looking for a pretext to declare war on Germany, which is competing with England in the field of industrial development. The announcement of the murder of François-Ferdinand in Sarajevo, related by Kasperl, Grey’s servant, provides them with one such pretext, but they have to distort the event and make it seem as if Austria attacked Serbia. Grey and John Bull gather their allies from the Triple Entente, Prince Wodkasoff and Delcassé. They also join forces with the devil of lies. Kasperl lets a word of indignation slip, and he is thrown in prison. On the German side, Germania warns her husband Michel about the rapacity of their neighbours, when Kasperl, just escaped from prison, comes to warn them about the conspiracy planned by the countries of the Entente. The devil of lies tries to play Hans off against his parents, Germania and Michel, but he is struck with a stick. Wary of Italy, the Germans ally themselves with Josef (the Czech) and Janos (the Hungarian): the Triple Entente goes to war. In 1914-1915, the countries of the Entente fail to make progress against the enemy. Desperate, Grey seeks advice in hell, where King Edward VII plays cards with Pluto and Kitchener. Mammon, the devil of money, is thus sent to corrupt the countries who remained neutral. In Italy, he will even corrupt the poet D’Annunzio in order to make the people rise against Germany. In order to hasten Mammon’s return, Pluto puts the clock forward by one year: it is now 1916-1917, and Grey has been replaced by Lloyd George, a more energetic man. But Lloyd George also goes seek advice in hell. Mammon’s intervention was not sufficient to weaken Germany’s resistance. The devil of lies comes again on the stage, disguised as an angel of peace, to announce that the United States have entered the war. There is an uproar in hell. Pluto concludes the play with a reminder that he will always be the one to win, no matter what: either Germany is victorious, and he retrieves the souls of Grey, Lloyd George, Iswolski, Northcliff, Delcassé “and so on”, or England wins, and planet Earth becomes hell, meaning that Pluto could enjoy his retirement.

La Comète du Roi Mirambole

James Flaunty, or the Terror of the Western Seas

Grey & Co

King Edward's unselige Erben