DOI issue:
March 26, 1892
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17693#0157
148
PUNCH, OK THE LONDON CHAKIVAEL [March 26, 1892.
PONSCH, PRINCE OF OLLENDORFF.
(M Maeterlinck's very latest Masterpiece.)
The Belgian Master has tried, as he has already informed the
world, "to write Shakspeare for a company of Marionnettes." En-
couraged by his extraordinary success, he has soared higher yet, and
adapted our greatest national drama for the purposes of the (In-
dependent) itinerant Stage. We are enabled by the courtesy of his
publishers to give a few specimen scenes from this magnum opus,
which, as will be seen, requires somewhat more elaborate mounting
and mechanical effects than are at present afforded by the ordinary
Punch Show. In M. Maeterlinck's version, Ponsch becomes the
Prince of Half-seas-over-Holland; he is the victim of hereditary
homicidal mania, complicated by neurotic hysteria. Inliamed
by the insinuations of Mynheer Olenikke — a kind of Dutch
Mephistopheles and Iago combined—-he is secretly jealous of his
consort the Princess Jodi's preference for the society of Djoe, the
Court Jester and Society
Clown. Here is our first
sample.—•
A Chamber in the Castle.
Princess Jodi discovered at
a window with Djoe.
Jodi. Lo! lo ! a shower of
stars is falling upon the fowl-
house !
Djoe. Oh! oh! a shower of
stars upon the fowl-house ?
(A water pipe in the bach-
garden bursts suddenly and
splashes them.) Ah! ah! I
am wet all over ! Have you
a pocket handkerchief ?
Jodi. Oh, look ! a comet—
—an enormous one—has de-
scended into the water-butt!
The sky is blood-red, and the
moon has turned the colour
of green cheese. This bodes
some disaster!
Djoe. It is unsettled —
rainy—unpleasant weather.
Can you lend me an ran
brella ?
Jodi. I cannot lend you an
umbrella, because I have
lent mine to the gardener's
wife. Owls are roosting on
the chimney - pots, and a
stickleback has jumped out
of the pond. Hush, my Lord
the Prince approaches !
[Prince Ponsch enters, bear-
ing a stout staff, which he
nurses gloomily, like an
infant; a hurricane is
heard in the middle dis-
tance ; the waterpipe sobs
strangely and then ex-
pires; a blackbeetle comes
out of a cupboard and
runs uneasily about, until
a flash of lightning enters
down the chimney and
kills it. PoNScn stands
FANCY PORTRAIT.
blown off the window-sill by a gust.) I will close the window.
(Closes it; a hailstorm beats on the panes.) Is that really a hail-
storm—or only birds ?
Jodi. I can hear nothing. (P. strikes her suddenly on the head
with staff.) Someone is knocking at my door. Come in! I cannot
see anything now.
Ponsch. Can you, indeed, see nothing ? \_IIe strikes her again,
Jodi. Now I can see stars. I feel as if purple mills were going
round in my head. I shall never kiss anybody any more.
Oh ! oh! oh ! [She dies.
Ponsch. She was a beautiful woman, do you know? Oh, how
lonely I shall feel hereafter ! {A black dog is heard scratching and
sniffing outside the door.) It is only Tobbi. Someone has trod on
your toe, my poor Tobbi. Come in. Give me your paw. [Tobbi
enters, and flies suddenly at his nose.) Oh, my nose is bleeding !
Let us go to the pond. I do not knpw why I feel so melancholy
this evening. [He goes out, pursued by Tobbi.
Sample No. II.—A Hall in
Castle Ollendorff. A
Marionnette Theatre at
the back of Stage. Djoe,
a Belgian Bedell, and
Dutch Dolls - in - waiting
discovered.
Djoe. Green flames are
running along the walls, and
blue globes are bounding
about the back garden. I
have never seen such anight.
Here comes the Prince.
[Enter Ponsch, conscience-
stricken ; all bow.
Ponsch. I am not melan-
choly, but I have hardly any
hair. Let the Play com-
mence!
THE HUMBUG-HUNTING FERRET. (Viverra Labougheriensts.)
The Times (loq.). "Ah ! wonderful Instinct, and occasionally Useful,
But I'm not particularly partial to Him !"
Curtain of Marionnette Shoio
rises ; a Clown it seen
chasing a butterfly.
A Councillor. Oh ! oh! oh!
[ Uproar; the Clown and
Butterfly are ivithdrawn.
A Skeleton appears on the
Stage, and dances his
head and limbs off in a
blue light.
Ponsch (rising). That was
done purposely ! You are
driving at something. Con-
fess it! Is there no topic
more cheerful ? I cannot
bear it any longer !
[Knocks down Djoe with his
staff. A combat," during
which Djoe several ti?nes
obtains possession of the
weapon, and wounds
Ponsch. N.B.—Note the
striking resemblance here
to the similar, but very
inferior, Scenes in
" Hamlet:'1
The Dutch Dolls {running
about). Both of them bleeding
already! There 's blood on
glaring at Djoe and the Princess. j the walls already ! Already blood on the walls ! (&c.)
Djoe (hastily). There is going to be a storm. Do not forget what I j The Bedell. The Prince has slain Djoe. Take him into custody,
have uttered. Good evening ! [Ponsch strikes the Bedell doivn.
[lie goes ; the wind whistles a popular air through the keyhole. The'B. Ha ! ha ! ha ! {Tries to rise—but is struck again). Ha !
Jodi (nervously). What an appalling evening ! I have never seen
the like of such a sky.
Ponsch. There is something about you this evening -how beauti-
ful you are looking ! Bring Bebbi-Ponsch.
Jodi (fetching the Infant Prince). Here he is. Why do you look
so strangely at him ?
Bebbi-Ponsch (a small, but important part). Is Pa-a-par poo-
oorly ? Won't he p'ay wiz me no mo-ore ?
Ponsch. The soul of a little stage-child looms from under his
green eyes ! Olenikke was right, and I- No matter. I will open
the window.
[Opens it, and throws Bebbi-P. out. Sound of water-splash
audible.
Jodi. Oh my! Oh my! What have you done? He has fallen
right into the moat—on one of the swans '
ha ! (Ponsch strikes once more.) Ha!
[The Bedell dies ; a draught enters under the door and blows out
two of the candles; a thunderbolt is heard coming down-stairs,
and the Ghost of Jodi suddenly appears from behind a tapestry
representing " The Finding of Moses."
Ponsch (to Ghost). Have you any hearse-plumes at hand ? Do not
be angry with me. Can you hear my teeth ? I am only a poor little
old man. Will you please undo my necktie ? {cf. " King Lear ").
Let us go to breakfast. Will there be muffins for breakfast ?
[Exit, leaning heavily on Ghost's arm.
The Dutch Dolls (with conviction). One more such night as this,
and all our heads would have gone bald !
Sample No. III.—The Courtyard with a scaffold and gibbet. A
blood - red moon is sailing amid the currant - bushes^ and a
shower of stars proceeds uninterruptedly. Ponsch discovered
Po?isch. Indeed—on one of the swans? (A pot of mignonnette is looking through the fatal noose
PUNCH, OK THE LONDON CHAKIVAEL [March 26, 1892.
PONSCH, PRINCE OF OLLENDORFF.
(M Maeterlinck's very latest Masterpiece.)
The Belgian Master has tried, as he has already informed the
world, "to write Shakspeare for a company of Marionnettes." En-
couraged by his extraordinary success, he has soared higher yet, and
adapted our greatest national drama for the purposes of the (In-
dependent) itinerant Stage. We are enabled by the courtesy of his
publishers to give a few specimen scenes from this magnum opus,
which, as will be seen, requires somewhat more elaborate mounting
and mechanical effects than are at present afforded by the ordinary
Punch Show. In M. Maeterlinck's version, Ponsch becomes the
Prince of Half-seas-over-Holland; he is the victim of hereditary
homicidal mania, complicated by neurotic hysteria. Inliamed
by the insinuations of Mynheer Olenikke — a kind of Dutch
Mephistopheles and Iago combined—-he is secretly jealous of his
consort the Princess Jodi's preference for the society of Djoe, the
Court Jester and Society
Clown. Here is our first
sample.—•
A Chamber in the Castle.
Princess Jodi discovered at
a window with Djoe.
Jodi. Lo! lo ! a shower of
stars is falling upon the fowl-
house !
Djoe. Oh! oh! a shower of
stars upon the fowl-house ?
(A water pipe in the bach-
garden bursts suddenly and
splashes them.) Ah! ah! I
am wet all over ! Have you
a pocket handkerchief ?
Jodi. Oh, look ! a comet—
—an enormous one—has de-
scended into the water-butt!
The sky is blood-red, and the
moon has turned the colour
of green cheese. This bodes
some disaster!
Djoe. It is unsettled —
rainy—unpleasant weather.
Can you lend me an ran
brella ?
Jodi. I cannot lend you an
umbrella, because I have
lent mine to the gardener's
wife. Owls are roosting on
the chimney - pots, and a
stickleback has jumped out
of the pond. Hush, my Lord
the Prince approaches !
[Prince Ponsch enters, bear-
ing a stout staff, which he
nurses gloomily, like an
infant; a hurricane is
heard in the middle dis-
tance ; the waterpipe sobs
strangely and then ex-
pires; a blackbeetle comes
out of a cupboard and
runs uneasily about, until
a flash of lightning enters
down the chimney and
kills it. PoNScn stands
FANCY PORTRAIT.
blown off the window-sill by a gust.) I will close the window.
(Closes it; a hailstorm beats on the panes.) Is that really a hail-
storm—or only birds ?
Jodi. I can hear nothing. (P. strikes her suddenly on the head
with staff.) Someone is knocking at my door. Come in! I cannot
see anything now.
Ponsch. Can you, indeed, see nothing ? \_IIe strikes her again,
Jodi. Now I can see stars. I feel as if purple mills were going
round in my head. I shall never kiss anybody any more.
Oh ! oh! oh ! [She dies.
Ponsch. She was a beautiful woman, do you know? Oh, how
lonely I shall feel hereafter ! {A black dog is heard scratching and
sniffing outside the door.) It is only Tobbi. Someone has trod on
your toe, my poor Tobbi. Come in. Give me your paw. [Tobbi
enters, and flies suddenly at his nose.) Oh, my nose is bleeding !
Let us go to the pond. I do not knpw why I feel so melancholy
this evening. [He goes out, pursued by Tobbi.
Sample No. II.—A Hall in
Castle Ollendorff. A
Marionnette Theatre at
the back of Stage. Djoe,
a Belgian Bedell, and
Dutch Dolls - in - waiting
discovered.
Djoe. Green flames are
running along the walls, and
blue globes are bounding
about the back garden. I
have never seen such anight.
Here comes the Prince.
[Enter Ponsch, conscience-
stricken ; all bow.
Ponsch. I am not melan-
choly, but I have hardly any
hair. Let the Play com-
mence!
THE HUMBUG-HUNTING FERRET. (Viverra Labougheriensts.)
The Times (loq.). "Ah ! wonderful Instinct, and occasionally Useful,
But I'm not particularly partial to Him !"
Curtain of Marionnette Shoio
rises ; a Clown it seen
chasing a butterfly.
A Councillor. Oh ! oh! oh!
[ Uproar; the Clown and
Butterfly are ivithdrawn.
A Skeleton appears on the
Stage, and dances his
head and limbs off in a
blue light.
Ponsch (rising). That was
done purposely ! You are
driving at something. Con-
fess it! Is there no topic
more cheerful ? I cannot
bear it any longer !
[Knocks down Djoe with his
staff. A combat," during
which Djoe several ti?nes
obtains possession of the
weapon, and wounds
Ponsch. N.B.—Note the
striking resemblance here
to the similar, but very
inferior, Scenes in
" Hamlet:'1
The Dutch Dolls {running
about). Both of them bleeding
already! There 's blood on
glaring at Djoe and the Princess. j the walls already ! Already blood on the walls ! (&c.)
Djoe (hastily). There is going to be a storm. Do not forget what I j The Bedell. The Prince has slain Djoe. Take him into custody,
have uttered. Good evening ! [Ponsch strikes the Bedell doivn.
[lie goes ; the wind whistles a popular air through the keyhole. The'B. Ha ! ha ! ha ! {Tries to rise—but is struck again). Ha !
Jodi (nervously). What an appalling evening ! I have never seen
the like of such a sky.
Ponsch. There is something about you this evening -how beauti-
ful you are looking ! Bring Bebbi-Ponsch.
Jodi (fetching the Infant Prince). Here he is. Why do you look
so strangely at him ?
Bebbi-Ponsch (a small, but important part). Is Pa-a-par poo-
oorly ? Won't he p'ay wiz me no mo-ore ?
Ponsch. The soul of a little stage-child looms from under his
green eyes ! Olenikke was right, and I- No matter. I will open
the window.
[Opens it, and throws Bebbi-P. out. Sound of water-splash
audible.
Jodi. Oh my! Oh my! What have you done? He has fallen
right into the moat—on one of the swans '
ha ! (Ponsch strikes once more.) Ha!
[The Bedell dies ; a draught enters under the door and blows out
two of the candles; a thunderbolt is heard coming down-stairs,
and the Ghost of Jodi suddenly appears from behind a tapestry
representing " The Finding of Moses."
Ponsch (to Ghost). Have you any hearse-plumes at hand ? Do not
be angry with me. Can you hear my teeth ? I am only a poor little
old man. Will you please undo my necktie ? {cf. " King Lear ").
Let us go to breakfast. Will there be muffins for breakfast ?
[Exit, leaning heavily on Ghost's arm.
The Dutch Dolls (with conviction). One more such night as this,
and all our heads would have gone bald !
Sample No. III.—The Courtyard with a scaffold and gibbet. A
blood - red moon is sailing amid the currant - bushes^ and a
shower of stars proceeds uninterruptedly. Ponsch discovered
Po?isch. Indeed—on one of the swans? (A pot of mignonnette is looking through the fatal noose