THE SAINTS AT TWILIGHT
Copyright 1991
Greater license is taken with history in this final play in the Commedia Trilogy. By the time the commedia had taken up residence in the French court, there were a number of individual companies meeting with equal success throughout Europe, and these companies are combined in I Santi. When Harlequin is addressed as Dominique in this play, it is a reference to Giuseppe Domenico Biancolelli who played Harlequin in the Italian troupe established in Paris in May 1688. But it was the Duke of Modena's troupe with Evariste Gherardi as Harlequin and the witty Catarina Biancolelli as Columbine who offended Madam de Maintenon and triggered the dismissal of the Italian comedians by the King. My "Isabelle" has always been modeled after the great Isabella Andreini of the Gelosi company of 1600, and the reference in Act I to Isabella's "acceptance" by the nobility refers to an incident in the life of the remarkable woman.
The play takes place on a bare stage in the present time. The play-within-a-play takes place in the theatre of the Hotel Bourgogne during the reins of Louis XIII and XIV. Once the troupe returns to the period of the French court, the action is continuous.
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Sample dialogue from The Saints at Twilight |
The Commedia troupe is delighted to be invited to perform at the French Court
until they discover the price. All scripts must be submitted and approved
by the state and the church before being allowed to appear.
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HARLEQUIN Let us be honest. Fame is equated with success, and that is the most tempting, glamourous and empty purpose that ever ensnared a human soul. Don't blame the captain. Blame Adam. RUFFIANA He's a coward! HARLEQUIN Don't judge him. Remember what we learned over the long years: we can ridicule the absurdity we see around us, because we recognize it in ourselves. There isn't one of us who didn't revel in the applause of the wealthy and the powerful. PANTALONE That's true. We all rejoiced in our majestic theatre, with its private dressing rooms. We all stood outside and savored our names in bold black paint on the placards there. RUFFIANA And all of it gone! And all because of that -- that -- COLUMBINE To submit plays for approval! Devil take their approval. ISABELLA But the worse part of it is, he will gather new players and pretend that what they are doing is commedia dell'arte. PANTALONE The people will know the difference. RUFFIANA The people will never see it! The aristocrats will be the only ones to attend the theatre. DOTTORE At least we have the satisfaction of knowing that the rich elite speak only for themselves and not for the general populace COLUMBINE But if they are the only ones who can afford to produce and support it, who else will see it? ISABELLA The people have lost their theatre. COLUMBINE The theatre has lost its audience. HARLEQUINE Perhaps. (He crosses to Scapino) Scapino, my spiritual son, today is the 22nd of June. What happens at Gare de l'Est in July? SCAPINO At the Gare de l'Est? - Saint Laurent's Fair? HARLEQUIN How would you describe the Fair? SCAPINO Noisy. Crowded. Fights. Laughter. music. Vendors selling everything from Greek wines to small cakes. Men in bloody aprons who draw rolled teeth for a sou. ISABELLA Rich nobles and landed gentry with their retinues of lackeys and pages. COLUMBINE Marionette shows! PANTALONE Pretty ladies and lusty wenches! RUFFIANA Scoundrels with loaded dice! TRISTANO Rigadoon Dancers. CAPITANO Cut-purses and whores! DOTTORE Bonnet sellers and bourgeois! HARLEQUIN And what does that sound like to you? ENSEMBLE Italy! HARLEQUIN You remember how to walk a tightrope? Can you still perform the cascate? (SCAPINO promptly executes a series of backward somersaults.) TRISTANO I must tune my lute. DOTTORE I'll need new properties. HARLEQUIN You see? A theatre will always find its audience! My dear Saints, as long as there is life -- laughter will be the weapon of we who mock it -- even as we struggle to understand it. As long as there is a whore with a heart of gold to scorn the self-righteous, there will always be Ruffiana. As long as greed attacks the soul and power becomes tyranny, there will be an idot to show us how absurd it is. A bentot, Pantalone. As long as a single chest flickers with the light of medals won with the blood of the young Capitano marches on. As long as love persists; our Isabella and Tristano will stand in the moonlight and whisper words that mock all lovers. As long as the pompous spout obscure epigrams and teachers tell poetic children they cannot be poets unless they recognize iambic pentameter, Dottore will lecture on Art 101. As long as the lusty defy convention and there is one who sees the fun in being uncivilized, Scapino will run amok. And, of course, as long as someone loves -- and sprinkles her wisdom with the cynical phase that makes us laugh, my Columbine lives. And as long as there is a fool who has all your weaknesses and all your strengths who tries to pick his way through life, plotting and lying and scheming and hoping, there is forever --Harlequin. |
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Price per book $6.00 plus postage
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To order this play email: gadamo@aol.com |