Est-ce que des pièces médiévales françaises avec des diables qui utilisent des cadavres pour donner l'impression que ceux-ci sont en vie, ou bien pour donner l'illusion qu'eux-mêmes (les diables) sont des hommes, pourraient vous intéresser?

Si les pièces sont disponibles ce serait absolument parfait

Il s'agit des certains textes en moyen-français. La Pacience de Job (disponible dans une édition relativement moderne) montre Satan empruntant la peau d'un cadavre pour se déguiser en mendiant. Le Mystère du Jour du Jugement montre des diables utilisant des cadavres qu'ils «animent» afin de donner l'illusion que l'Antéchrist opère des résurrections.

N'hésitez pas à me signaler si vous avez besoin des références complètes, voire même des lieux précis dans les textes où se trouvent ces occurrences.

Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside is a nice example.

Thomas Middleton's "Michaelmas Term" would lend itself very well to your topic. Should you read German I suggest Andreas Gryphius's "Verlibtes Gespenste oder Die gelibte Dornrose".

I do read German! Thanks a lot

You could also consult Ariost's Orlando furioso; here it is a male, Ariodante, who tries to suicide himself in vain after having been cheated by a rival. Very similar is the plot of rivalry in one of the Novelle by Matteo Bandello (1554, 22nd novella; you can find it in the italian Wikisource); here it is a bride, Fenicia, who gets unconscious and is being hidden by her father. Maybe you will find more sources in Carl Diesch: Bandellos Novelle Timbreo und Fenicia im deutschen Drama des 17. Jahrhunderts, Leipzig 1912. -- Sorry for answering so late, Fiona.

Thanks Jörg!

An 18th century legend, originally stemming from Italy, but passing afterwards to Spain, centers around Don Perlimplín. He is an austere, mature man who, under social pressure, contracts marriage with a younger woman. He suddenly falls in love with her (but realizes his own sexual limits). Hence he invents an attractive lover for her. Perlimplín disguises himself as that lover so she does not recognize him. The young wife yields to the seduction of the fake lover, but Perlimplín, consumed by jealousy, feigns to kill his rival, when he is actually killing himself. The playwright Federico García Lorca turned this legend into a farce "The Love of Don Perlimplin for Belisa in His Garden" (1931), while the composer Frederic Mompou made of the tale a ballet (1956), "Perlimplinada." The Lorca production was more successful than the Mompou one.

Thanks a lot

Here are the French translations of García Lorca´s play, "The Love of Don Perlimplín for Belisa in his garden:

Federico García Lorca, Œuvres complètes II, édition établie par André Belamich, Gallimard, « La Pléiade », 1990, Les Amours de Don Perlimplin avec Bélise en leur jardin, p. 301 à 324. La traduction d’André Belamich reprise dans ce volume date de 1955.

Amour de Don Perlimplin avec Belise en son jardin, adaptation française de Jean Camp, publiée d’abord par la Librairie théâtrale (collection « Éducation et théâtre », 1954) et repris dans L'Avant scène, no 154, 1957.

Amours de Perlimplin & de Bélise dans leur jardin. Alleluia érotique en trois tableaux et un prologue. Traduction Jean-Marie Soutou. À Lyon, Editions L'Arbalète. 1944

My colleague, specialist of spanish theatre forgot about the play. I'll tell here about it. The field looks so interesting with all your suggestion, we could organize something on the subject!

If you are at all interested about the connections between literature and music, in a book in press I show that the structure of Lorca´s "Amor de Don Perlimplín" is largely borrowed from the third movement of Manuel de Falla´s "Harpsichord Concerto." Both the concerto and Lorca´s play strongly refer to the music of eighteenth-century composer Domenico Scarlatti. Thus, Lorca preserves the memory of the eighteenth-century origin of the Perlimplín legend. In addition, there is of course the music of Mompou´s ballet "Perlimplinada." Both of these are staged productions and are fed by the tradition of comedy. Much could indeed be organized on the subject.

Dear Fiona,

In a novel of Kálmán Mikszáth (The black town) a soldier disappeared in the war and his wife married her own father in law, the father of his husband. However, some years later the first husband came home and found his father as the husband of his wife.

Dear Fiona,

Real life is the most interesting. Think on the case of Martin Guerre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Guerre

Romeo and Juliet is a good example. Another example is the play within the play in Hamlet (called The Mouse Trap). Agathy Christie later wrote a play called "The Mouse Trap" which also used a play within a play to reveal the murderer. Check out this PowerPoint:

In Moliere's LE MEDECIN MALGRE LUI, Moliere played the roll of the doctor on stage. He actually died on stage. Very ironic. Also, some Shakespearean actors have donated their skulls to be used in the "Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well" scene. Also ironic. Here is a PowerPoint about "Gallows Humor":