Polonius
A play in two acts by Victor Cilincã
(fragment)
Translated from the Romanian by Petru Iamandi
First performed at Teatrul Dramatic, Galati, Romania, on February 10, 1996 Copyright (C) Victor Cilinca 1996 CHARACTERS POLONIUS ..................... Chamberlain at the Court of Elsinore FREEMAN ..................... a man at a loose end, revolutionary by profession DAISY ..................... chief housekeeper, Polonius' right hand YORICK II ..................... official fool BLACK MAN ..................... actor and smuggler "QUEEN" ..................... actor, former hairdresser "KING" ..................... actor, former actor GUARD ..................... member of the Elsinore militia, at Polonius' beck and call SCENERY The main piece of scenery is a huge wooden staircase climbing up to a wooden platform on which the three actors ("King", "Queen," and Black Man) will play, with their backs tothe audience, facing a spot which cannot be seen for the semi-darkness of the background (or for the blinding limelights in the background). The platform, supported by thick square pillars, can provide the room for the duellists in the final scene. Halfway through the second act, the pillars in the background can make a guillotine or its shadow and, in the final scene, a flag slide along them. From the platform the staircase climbs on to the foot bridge. A straight curtain, fastened with a bar, can fall in the middle of this segment of the staircase, giving the illusion of a stage. From somewhere under the platform, at a certain height, hang three cardboard crowns, different in model and size. At the end of the play a huge door will descend from above right in front of Polonius. Its handle is so high that Polonius will have to draw to his full length to reach it. In front of the staircase, through the first trap door, there is another staircase (only the end of its banisters can be seen) climbing down to the basement. A cellar trap door can be used instead of this staircase. At the beginning of the second act sheets and shirts hang from several lines. Behind the staircase there is a bare wall. Hanging from the wall there is a trough for washing; in front of it there are several straw bales.
COSTUMES
Generally, in the refined style of the beginning of the 20th century. POLONIUS - when he climbs down, in a black swallow-tailed coat, a lackey's yellow and black-striped vest, white shirt, black bow tie, a 20th century medal with a red ribbon. Informally, he wears a white, embroidered vest, white shirt and bow tie or black four-in-hand tie, fastened with a brooch. At his first appearance, he wears a long cloak with a Dracula collar. FREEMAN - when he first enters he wears a visored conic Red Army cap, without the star, round Bakunin spectacles, a coat which covers his half naked body and is fastened with only one button, the others missing. His pants are rather short, with linen suspenders. Sandals or Charlie Chaplin shoes. At the Court, during the second act, he wears the black uniform of the guards (baggy pants and jacket fastened by a belt), with an edging but without any marks, and no cap. A silk shirt, with a wide frill. At the end of the play he wears Polonius' swallow-tailed coat and under it the guard uniform, with a diagonal belt and the chamberlain's medal. In the last scene, he wears his uniform. DAISY - a soubrette's costume, with a white apron and flounces on the shoulders. High-heeled, buttoned boots. A linen ribbon, black velvet dress, with soft, satin stripes. When in the servants' company, she wears her black low-necked dress, a 1930 hat, long white gloves, a pearl necklace and a riding whip. In the second act she decently gives up the pearls and the gloves for a long black knit shawl. YORICK II - fez with three tassels, straight jacket, flyer's goggles. "KING" - a cardboard crown, prisoner-striped leotard, cloak. When at Court, worker's overalls. In the final scene, the guard uniform. "QUEEN" - striped leotard, crinoline frame, cardboard crown. Obviously artificial breasts and buttocks, brick-red and fastened with suspenders and belts over the T-shirt. If possible, the actor should be bald and will greet the "audience" by taking off his wig. BLACK MAN - bowler hat, black leotard, two watches on each wrist, white leggings. Wide grotesque dark rings. GUARD - round cap, epaulettes, rather short tunic, belt with gun holster, diagonal belt. Baggy pants with wide edging; the uniform is brick-red or faded khaki.
ACT I
Scene 1
"King," "Queen," Black Man face a background curtain. They start to act before an invisible audience which is felt only by confused murmur.
BLACK MAN: We bow to Your Highnesses! (The three of them bow to the ground) We're going to show you a wonderful and terrible drama! We're telling you this from the very beginning so that you can get ready to cry properly. Our story is sad and includes three illustrious lives, dreadfully befallen by the same bleak misfortune ... He (pointing to "King") is the King. A good king, for sure, like all leaders, as long as they are at the helm, sword in hand and a sharp ear. Before dying any sovereign is good enough for his subjects who dedicate odes to them. She (pointing to "Queen") is the Queen - in our story! (Lewdly) A very good queen! Queens matter less as long as kings are legitimate. And I am Black Man! They needed an icon of the Evil one. I, Black Man, am on very friendly terms with Their Highnesses. He is ... like a brother to me ... and she is ... well ... close ... The two crowned people are - everybody knows ... "QUEEN": One soul! "KING": One life! BLACK MAN: One bed ... "KING": The King is brave and the country is quiet. Have you noticed the latest kind of oak gallows? ... The King and the Queen are sitting in the green garden ... BLACK MAN: They don't care a damn! "QUEEN": She is hardworking, young and faithful ... BLACK MAN: And the two of them have only one prince who's proud of everything. And they are happy, sitting in the green garden ... "KING": The subjects are content. Indeed, taxes have increased, but the first family in the kingdom has also increased in number and need. And they're all sitting in the green garden ... BLACK MAN: Is that so! Does that mean that I, the Queen's closest friend, and the King's, the King who is, is he, like other to me, should let the grass grow under my feet, watch them idle on the green lawn, while their poor subjects are toiling? No, the demon of passion is ruling me: the Queen is still young. The country is rich, the riches waiting only to be picked up. The country is wonderful - it has so many (looking at the Queen) shapes. The country would be more content to have me ... Who would stop me? "KING": I. Only I: I'm still alive. And my spouse loves me. And my country glorifies me. The ballads that have been dedicated to me are witness to that, the people's jeers (coughs) ... cheers whenever they see me in the balcony. "To own the country you must occupy the woman", or maybe the other way round, a Norwegian general once said. I am both the country and the woman! I sometimes think while sitting in the green garden: what might they be doing? The country ... "QUEEN" (frivolously): How big it is! "KING": ... Indeed, so far the Norwegians have taken about ten thousand square miles from us ... But I haven't had the time to take care of that. I will think ... "QUEEN": He is very clever. He's passed a number of laws such as the Law of Nourishment, the Law of Censorship and the Law, the Law of ... Gravitation! BLACK MAN: Man would rather die from the hammer of the idle than the whip of pest! They are sitting comfortably in the green garden while I, Black Man, am not! They wear crowns and ties while I a hat and a ... what do the English call it? ... pullover! "KING": I hosted this man in my house, I treated him decently, I made him the way we are, I cheered him up ... "QUEEN": I cheered him too, in his shyness, in his unrevealed manhood. He gained my whole ... (makes a circle in the air) confidence! "KING": Until one day when ... BLACK MAN: The King was sleeping in the green garden. I had with me, as if by chance, the hemlock can ... Which I poured (miming), the whole of it, into his ear. And, indeed, the King looked as sensitive to what was going into his ear as to the delations of his spies ... "QUEEN": An hour later he was cold. Colder than usual. I can tell you now that he was a tyrant. We buried him. Well! BLACK MAN: With pomp. Then we had the wedding meal. For me, the best counsellor of the loathsome monarch, and for her, the morning Queen. We had tiny partridges, sucking pigs in sharp sauce, caviar, champagne from the French ... "KING"(dying, on the ground, moaning): One thousand ducats a cup!!! "QUEEN": Very-very good cocktails and music ... Oh, I suffered so much! BLACK MAN: Now everything is changed in Denmark. The country is happy, the Norwegians have taken another twenty thousand square miles but who cares? We've got toasting and dancing to do ... "QUEEN": He's clever. BLACK MAN: That's right. I hate the former's diplomacy: even our life has completely changed ... "QUEEN": We're sitting in the green garden ... "KING" (rising, shaking off the dust): This was our sad story. You know the end now. Everybody, I mean every good body sooner or later dies, then the Norwegians come and "liberate" us. BLACK MAN: This has, indeed, been everything - the official version. When the living evidence is lost, destroyed, stolen or fearfully locked, historians will finally take up reconstituting the approximate fictionized story. A little later, an Englishman will write a play about the customs of the ruling class in today's Denmark ... (The actors bow, the curtain falls and, after a pause in which the three of them look at one another tensely, they hear a clap. The curtain rises a little then falls again. Silence, broken in upon by the confused murmur of those who are leaving. Discontented voices.)
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