Part 6
THE MANAGER. Well then, we'll have it in the garden. Everything shall happen in the garden; and we'll group the other scenes there. (_Calls a stage hand_). Here, a back-cloth with trees and something to do as a fountain basin. (_Turning round to look at the back of the stage_). Ah, you've fixed it up. Good! (_To Step-Daughter_). This is just to give an idea, of course. The Boy, instead of hiding behind the doors, will wander about here in the garden, hiding behind the trees. But it's going to be rather difficult to find a child to do that scene with you where she shows you the flowers. (_Turning to the Youth_). Come forward a little, will you please? Let's try it now! Come along! come along! (_Then seeing him come shyly forward, full of fear and looking lost_). It's a nice business, this lad here. What's the matter with him? We'll have to give him a word or two to say. (_Goes close to him, puts a hand on his shoulders, and leads him behind one of the trees_). Come on! come on! Let me see you a little! Hide here ... yes, like that. Try and show your head just a little as if you were looking for someone.... (_Goes back to observe the effect, when the Boy at once goes through the action_). Excellent! fine! (_Turning to Step-Daughter_). Suppose the little girl there were to surprise him as he looks round, and run over to him, so we could give him a word or two to say?
THE STEP-DAUGHTER. It's useless to hope he will speak, as long as that fellow there is here.... (_Indicates the Son_). You must send him away first.
THE SON (_jumping up_.) Delighted! delighted! I don't ask for anything better. (_Begins to move away_).
THE MANAGER (_at once stopping him_). No! No! Where are you going? Wait a bit!
(_The Mother gets up alarmed and terrified at the thought that he is really about to go away. Instinctively she lifts her arms to prevent him, without, however, leaving her seat_).
THE SON (_to Manager who stops him_). I've got nothing to do with this affair. Let me go please! Let me go!
THE MANAGER. What do you mean by saying you've got nothing to do with this?
THE STEP-DAUGHTER (_calmly, with irony_). Don't bother to stop him: he won't go away.
THE FATHER. He has to act the terrible scene in the garden with his mother.
THE SON (_suddenly resolute and with dignity_). I shall act nothing at all. I've said so from the very beginning (_to the Manager_). Let me go!
THE STEP-DAUGHTER (_going over to the Manager_). Allow me? (_Puts down the Manager's arm which is restraining the Son_). Well, go away then, if you want to! (_The Son looks at her with contempt and hatred. She laughs and says_). You see, he can't, he can't go away! He is obliged to stay here, indissolubly bound to the chain. If I, who fly off when that happens which has to happen, because I can't bear him--if I am still here and support that face and expression of his, you can well imagine that he is unable to move. He has to remain here, has to stop with that nice father of his, and that mother whose only son he is. (_Turning to the Mother_). Come on, mother, come along! (_Turning to Manager to indicate her_). You see, she was getting up to keep him back. (_To the Mother, beckoning her with her hand_). Come on! come on! (_Then to Manager_). You can imagine how little she wants to show these actors of yours what she really feels; but so eager is she to get near him that.... There, you see? She is willing to act her part. (_And in fact, the Mother approaches him; and as soon as the Step-Daughter has finished speaking, opens her arms to signify that she consents_).
THE SON (_suddenly_). No! no! If I can't go away, then I'll stop here; but I repeat: I act nothing!
THE FATHER (_to Manager excitedly_). You can force him, sir.
THE SON. Nobody can force me.
THE FATHER. I can.
THE STEP-DAUGHTER. Wait a minute, wait.... First of all, the baby has to go to the fountain.... (_Runs to take the Child and leads her to the fountain_).
THE MANAGER. Yes, yes of course; that's it. Both at the same time.
(_The second Lady Lead and the Juvenile Lead at this point separate themselves from the group of actors. One watches the Mother attentively; the other moves about studying the movements and manner of the Son whom he will have to act_).
THE SON (_to Manager_). What do you mean by both at the same time? It isn't right. There was no scene between me and her. (_Indicates the Mother_). Ask her how it was!
THE MOTHER. Yes, it's true. I had come into his room....
THE SON. Into my room, do you understand? Nothing to do with the garden.
THE MANAGER. It doesn't matter. Haven't I told you we've got to group the action?
THE SON (_observing the Juvenile Lead studying him_). What do you want?
THE JUVENILE LEAD. Nothing! I was just looking at you.
THE SON (_turning towards the second Lady Lead_). Ah! she's at it too: to re-act her part (_indicating the Mother_)!
THE MANAGER. Exactly! And it seems to me that you ought to be grateful to them for their interest.
THE SON. Yes, but haven't you yet perceived that it isn't possible to live in front of a mirror which not only freezes us with the image of ourselves, but throws our likeness back at us with a horrible grimace?
THE FATHER. That is true, absolutely true. You must see that.
THE MANAGER (_to second Lady Lead and Juvenile Lead_). He's right! Move away from them!
THE SON. Do as you like. I'm out of this!
THE MANAGER. Be quiet, you, will you? And let me hear your mother! (_To Mother_). You were saying you had entered....
THE MOTHER. Yes, into his room, because I couldn't stand it any longer. I went to empty my heart to him of all the anguish that tortures me.... But as soon as he saw me come in....
THE SON. Nothing happened! There was no scene. I went away, that's all! I don't care for scenes!
THE MOTHER. It's true, true. That's how it was.
THE MANAGER. Well now, we've got to do this bit between you and him. It's indispensable.
THE MOTHER. I'm ready ... when you are ready. If you could only find a chance for me to tell him what I feel here in my heart.
THE FATHER (_going to Son in a great rage_). You'll do this for your mother, for your mother, do you understand?
THE SON (_quite determined_). I do nothing!
THE FATHER (_taking hold of him and shaking him_). For God's sake, do as I tell you! Don't you hear your mother asking you for a favour? Haven't you even got the guts to be a son?
THE SON (_taking hold of the Father_). No! No! And for God's sake stop it, or else ... (_General agitation. The Mother, frightened, tries to separate them_).
THE MOTHER (_pleading_). Please! please!
THE FATHER (_not leaving hold of the Son_). You've got to obey, do you hear?
THE SON (_almost crying from rage_). What does it mean, this madness you've got? (_They separate_). Have you no decency, that you insist on showing everyone our shame? I won't do it! I won't! And I stand for the will of our author in this. He didn't want to put us on the stage, after all!
THE MANAGER. Man alive! You came here....
THE SON (_indicating Father_). _He_ did! I didn't!
THE MANAGER. Aren't you here now?
THE SON. It was his wish, and he dragged us along with him. He's told you not only the things that did happen, but also things that have never happened at all.
THE MANAGER. Well, tell me then what did happen. You went out of your room without saying a word?
THE SON. Without a word, so as to avoid a scene!
THE MANAGER. And then what did you do?
THE SON. Nothing ... walking in the garden.... (_hesitates for a moment with expression of gloom_).
THE MANAGER (_coming closer to him, interested by his extraordinary reserve_). Well, well ... walking in the garden....
THE SON (_exasperated_). Why on earth do you insist? It's horrible! (_The Mother trembles, sobs, and looks towards the fountain_).
THE MANAGER (_slowly observing the glance and turning towards the Son with increasing apprehension_). The baby?
THE SON. There in the fountain....
THE FATHER (_pointing with tender pity to the Mother_). She was following him at the moment....
THE MANAGER (_to the Son anxiously_). And then you....
THE SON. I ran over to her; I was jumping in to drag her out when I saw something that froze my blood ... the boy there standing stock still, with eyes like a madman's, watching his little drowned sister, in the fountain! (_The Step-Daughter bends over the fountain to hide the Child. She sobs_). Then.... (_A revolver shot rings out behind the trees where the Boy is hidden_).
THE MOTHER. (_With a cry of terror runs over in that direction together with several of the actors amid general confusion_).
My son! My son! (_Then amid the cries and exclamations one hears her voice_). Help! Help!
THE MANAGER (_pushing the actors aside while they lift up the Boy and carry him off_). Is he really wounded?
SOME ACTORS. He's dead! dead!
OTHER ACTORS. No, no, it's only make believe, it's only pretence!
THE FATHER (_with a terrible cry_). Pretence? Reality, sir, reality!
THE MANAGER. Pretence? Reality? To hell with it all! Never in my life has such a thing happened to me. I've lost a whole day over these people, a whole day!
_Curtain._
"HENRY IV."
(_Enrico Quarto_)
A TRAGEDY IN THREE ACTS
BY
LUIGI PIRANDELLO
TRANSLATED BY
EDWARD STORER
CHARACTERS.
"HENRY IV." THE MARCHIONESS MATILDA SPINA, HER DAUGHTER FRIDA. THE YOUNG MARQUIS CHARLES DI NOLLI. BARON TITO BELCREDI. DOCTOR DIONYSIUS GENONI. THE FOUR PRIVATE COUNSELLORS: HAROLD (FRANK), LANDOLPH (LOLO), ORDULPH (MOMO), BERTHOLD (FINO). (_The names in brackets are nick-names_). JOHN, THE OLD WAITER. THE TWO VALETS IN COSTUME.
A SOLITARY VILLA IN ITALY IN OUR OWN TIME.
"HENRY IV."
A TRAGEDY IN THREE ACTS
## ACT I
_Salon in the villa, furnished and decorated so as to look exactly like the throne room of Henry IV. in the royal residence at Goslar. Among the antique decorations there are two modern life-size portraits in oil painting. They are placed against the back wall, and mounted in a wooden stand that runs the whole length of the wall. (It is wide and protrudes, so that it is like a large bench). One of the paintings is on the right; the other on the left of the throne, which is in the middle of the wall and divides the stand._
_The Imperial chair and Baldachin._
_The two portraits represent a lady and a gentleman, both young, dressed up in carnival costumes: one as "Henry IV." the other as the "Marchioness Matilda of Tuscany." Exits to Right and Left._
(_When the curtain goes up, the two valets jump down, as if surprised, from the stand on which they have been lying, and go and take their positions, as rigid as statues, on either side below the throne with their halberds in their hands. Soon after, from the second exit, right, enter Harold, Landolph, Ordulph and Berthold, young men employed by the Marquis Charles Di Nolli to play the part of "Secret Counsellors" at the court of "Henry IV." They are, therefore, dressed like German knights of the XIth century. Berthold, nicknamed Fino, is just entering on his duties for the first time. His companions are telling him what he has to do and amusing themselves at his expense. The scene is to be played rapidly and vivaciously_).
LANDOLPH (_to Berthold as if explaining_). And this is the throne room.
HAROLD. At Goslar.
ORDULPH. Or at the castle in the Hartz, if you prefer.
HAROLD. Or at Wurms.
LANDOLPH. According as to what's doing, it jumps about with us, now here, now there.
ORDULPH. In Saxony.
HAROLD. In Lombardy.
LANDOLPH. On the Rhine.
ONE OF THE VALETS (_without moving, just opening his lips_). I say....
HAROLD (_turning round_). What is it?
FIRST VALET (_like a statue_). Is he coming in or not? (_He alludes to Henry IV._)
ORDULPH. No, no, he's asleep. You needn't worry.
SECOND VALET (_releasing his pose, taking a long breath and going to lie down again on the stand_). You might have told us at once.
FIRST VALET (_going over to Harold_). Have you got a match, please?
LANDOLPH. What? You can't smoke a pipe here, you know.
FIRST VALET (_while Harold offers him a light_). No; a cigarette. (_Lights his cigarette and lies down again on the stand_).
BERTHOLD (_who has been looking on in amazement, walking round the room, regarding the costumes of the others_). I say ... this room ... these costumes.... Which Henry IV. is it? I don't quite get it. Is he Henry IV. of France or not? (_At this Landolph, Harold, and Ordulph, burst out laughing_).
LANDOLPH (_still laughing; and pointing to Berthold as if inviting the others to make fun of him_). Henry of France he says: ha! ha!
ORDULPH. He thought it was the king of France!
HAROLD. Henry IV. of Germany, my boy: the Salian dynasty!
ORDULPH. The great and tragic Emperor!
LANDOLPH. He of Canossa. Every day we carry on here the terrible war between Church and State, by Jove.
ORDULPH. The Empire against the Papacy!
HAROLD. Antipopes against the Pope!
LANDOLPH. Kings against antikings!
ORDULPH. War on the Saxons!
HAROLD. And all the rebels Princes!
LANDOLPH. Against the Emperor's own sons!
BERTHOLD (_covering his head with his hands to protect himself against this avalanche of information_). I understand! I understand! Naturally, I didn't get the idea at first. I'm right then: these aren't costumes of the XVIth century?
HAROLD. XVIth century be hanged!
ORDULPH. We're somewhere between a thousand and eleven hundred.
LANDOLPH. Work it out for yourself: if we are before Canossa on the 25th of January, 1071....
BERTHOLD (_more confused than ever_). Oh my God! What a mess I've made of it!
ORDULPH. Well, just slightly, if you supposed you were at the French court.
BERTHOLD. All that historical stuff I've swatted up!
LANDOLPH. My dear boy, it's four hundred years earlier.
BERTHOLD (_getting angry_). Good Heavens! You ought to have told me it was Germany and not France. I can't tell you how many books I've read in the last fifteen days.
HAROLD. But I say, surely you knew that poor Tito was Adalbert of Bremen, here?
BERTHOLD. Not a damned bit!
LANDOLPH. Well, don't you see how it is? When Tito died, the Marquis Di Nolli....
BERTHOLD. Oh, it was he, was it? He might have told me.
HAROLD. Perhaps he thought you knew.
LANDOLPH. He didn't want to engage anyone else in substitution. He thought the remaining three of us would do. But _he_ began to cry out: "With Adalbert driven away....": because, you see, he didn't imagine poor Tito was dead; but that, as Bishop Adalbert, the rival bishops of Cologne and Mayence had driven him off....
BERTHOLD (_taking his head in his hand_). But I don't know a word of what you're talking about.
ORDULPH. So much the worse for you, my boy!
HAROLD. But the trouble is that not even we know who you are.
BERTHOLD. What? Not even you? You don't know who I'm supposed to be?
ORDULPH. Hum! "Berthold."
BERTHOLD. But which Berthold? And why Berthold?
LANDOLPH (_solemnly imitating Henry IV._). "They've driven Adalbert away from me. Well then, I want Berthold! I want Berthold!" That's what he said.
HAROLD. We three looked one another in the eyes: who's got to be Berthold?
ORDULPH. And so here you are, "Berthold," my dear fellow!
LANDOLPH. I'm afraid you will make a bit of a mess of it.
BERTHOLD (_indignant, getting ready to go_). Ah, no! Thanks very much, but I'm off! I'm out of this!
HAROLD (_restraining him with the other two, amid laughter_). Steady now! Don't get excited!
LANDOLPH. Cheer up, my dear fellow! We don't any of us know who we are really. He's Harold; he's Ordulph; I'm Landolph! That's the way he calls us. We've got used to it. But who are we? Names of the period! Yours, too, is a name of the period: Berthold! Only one of us, poor Tito, had got a really decent part, as you can read in history: that of the Bishop of Bremen. He was just like a real bishop. Tito did it awfully well, poor chap!
HAROLD. Look at the study he put into it!
LANDOLPH. Why, he even ordered his Majesty about, opposed his views, guided and counselled him. We're "secret counsellors"--in a manner of speaking only; because it is written in history that Henry IV. was hated by the upper aristocracy for surrounding himself at court with young men of the bourgeoise.
ORDULPH. Us, that is.
LANDOLPH. Yes, small devoted vassals, a bit dissolute and very gay....
BERTHOLD. So I've got to be gay as well?
HAROLD. I should say so! Same as we are!
ORDULPH. And it isn't too easy, you know.
LANDOLPH. It's a pity; because the way we're got up, we could do a fine historical reconstruction. There's any amount of material in the story of Henry IV. But, as a matter of fact, we do nothing. We have the form without the content. We're worse than the real secret counsellors of Henry IV.; because certainly no one had given them a part to play--at any rate, they didn't feel they had a part to play. It was their life. They looked after their own interests at the expense of others, sold investitures and--what not! We stop here in this magnificent court--for what?--Just doing nothing. We're like so many puppets hung on the wall, waiting for some one to come and move us or make us talk.
HAROLD. Ah no, old sport, not quite that! We've got to give the proper answer, you know. There's trouble if he asks you something and you don't chip in with the cue.
LANDOLPH. Yes, that's true.
BERTHOLD. Don't rub it in too hard! How the devil am I to give him the proper answer, if I've swatted up Henry IV. of France, and now he turns out to be Henry IV. of Germany? (_The other three laugh_).
HAROLD. You'd better start and prepare yourself at once.
ORDULPH. We'll help you out.
HAROLD. We've got any amount of books on the subject. A brief run through the main points will do to begin with.
ORDULPH. At any rate, you must have got some sort of general idea.
HAROLD. Look here! (_Turns him around and shows him the portrait of the Marchioness Matilda on the wall_). Who's that?
BERTHOLD (_looking at it_). That? Well, the thing seems to me somewhat out of place, anyway: two modern paintings in the midst of all this respectable antiquity!
HAROLD. You're right! They weren't there in the beginning. There are two niches there behind the pictures. They were going to put up two statues in the style of the period. Then the places were covered with those canvasses there.
LANDOLPH (_interrupting and continuing_). They would certainly be out of place if they really were paintings!
BERTHOLD. What are they, if they aren't paintings?
LANDOLPH. Go and touch them! Pictures all right ... but for him! (_Makes a mysterious gesture to the right, alluding to Henry IV._.) ... who never touches them!...
BERTHOLD. No? What are they for him?
LANDOLPH. Well, I'm only supposing, you know; but I imagine I'm about right. They're images such as ... well--such as a mirror might throw back. Do you understand? That one there represents himself, as he is in this throne room, which is all in the style of the period. What's there to marvel at? If we put you before a mirror, won't you see yourself, alive, but dressed up in ancient costume? Well, it's as if there were two mirrors there, which cast back living images in the midst of a world which, as you will see, when you have lived with us, comes to life too.
BERTHOLD. I say, look here ... I've no particular desire to go mad here.
HAROLD. Go mad, be hanged! You'll have a fine time!
BERTHOLD. Tell me this: how have you all managed to become so learned?
LANDOLPH. My dear fellow, you can't go back over 800 years of history without picking up a bit of experience.
HAROLD. Come on! Come on! You'll see how quickly you get into it!
ORDULPH. You'll learn wisdom, too, at this school.
BERTHOLD. Well, for Heaven's sake, help me a bit! Give me the main lines, anyway.
HAROLD. Leave it to us. We'll do it all between us.
LANDOLPH. We'll put your wires on you and fix you up like a first class marionette. Come along! (_They take him by the arm to lead him away_).
BERTHOLD (_stopping and looking at the portrait on the wall_). Wait a minute! You haven't told me who that is. The Emperor's wife?
HAROLD. No! The Emperor's wife is Bertha of Susa, the sister of Amadeus II. of Savoy.
ORDULPH. And the Emperor, who wants to be young with us, can't stand her, and wants to put her away.
LANDOLPH. That is his most ferocious enemy: Matilda, Marchioness of Tuscany.
BERTHOLD. Ah, I've got it: the one who gave hospitality to the Pope!
LANDOLPH. Exactly: at Canossa!
ORDULPH. Pope Gregory VII.!
HAROLD. Our _bête noir_! Come on! come oh! (_All four move toward the right to go out, when, from the left, the old servant John enters in evening dress_).
JOHN (_quickly, anxiously_). Hss! Hss! Frank! Lolo!
HAROLD (_turning round_). What is it?
BERTHOLD (_marvelling at seeing a man in modern clothes enter the throne room_). Oh! I say, this is a bit too much, this chap here!
LANDOLPH. A man of the XXth century, here! Oh, go away! (_They run over to him, pretending to menace him and throw him out_).
ORDULPH (_heroically_). Messenger of Gregory VII., away!
HAROLD. Away! Away!
JOHN (_annoyed, defending himself_). Oh, stop it! Stop it, I tell you!
ORDULPH. No, you can't set foot here!
HAROLD. Out with him!
LANDOLPH (_to Berthold_). Magic, you know! He's a demon conjured up by the Wizard of Rome! Out with your swords! (_Makes as if to draw a sword_).
JOHN (_shouting_). Stop it, will you? Don't play the fool with me! The Marquis has arrived with some friends....
LANDOLPH. Good! Good! Are there ladies too?
ORDULPH. Old or young?
JOHN. There are two gentlemen.
HAROLD. But the ladies, the ladies, who are they?
JOHN. The Marchioness and her daughter.
LANDOLPH (_surprised_). What do you say?
ORDULPH. The Marchioness?
JOHN. The Marchioness! The Marchioness!
HAROLD. Who are the gentlemen?
JOHN. I don't know.
HAROLD (_to Berthold_). They're coming to bring us a message from the Pope, do you see?
ORDULPH. All messengers of Gregory VII.! What fun!
JOHN. Will you let me speak, or not?
HAROLD. Go on, then!
JOHN. One of the two gentlemen is a doctor, I fancy.
LANDOLPH. Oh, I see, one of the usual doctors.
HAROLD. Bravo Berthold, you'll bring us luck!
LANDOLPH. You wait and see how we'll manage this doctor!
BERTHOLD. It looks as if I were going to get into a nice mess right away.
JOHN. If the gentlemen would allow me to speak ... they want to come here into the throne room.
LANDOLPH (_surprised_). What? She? The Marchioness here?