Will Shakespeare: An Invention in Four Acts
dim. The dying fire shines upon the shifting,
shadowy figures of the_ PLAYERS. _The crowd grows larger every moment and is thickest at the foot of the stairs_. SHAKESPEARE _is seen coming down them_.
ANNE. The room’s so full. I’m frightened. Who are all these people?
CHILD. Hush! We’re in hell. These are all the dead people. We bring ’em to life.
ANNE. Who? We?
CHILD. I and the singer. Look, there’s your husband coming down the stairs! That’s just the way Orpheus comes down into hell.
ANNE. Will! Will!
CHILD. Hush! You mustn’t talk.
ANNE. But it’s all dreams--it’s all dreams.
CHILD. It’s the players.
SHAKESPEARE [_among the shadows_]. Let me pass!
THE SHADOWS. Pay toll!
SHAKESPEARE. How, pay it?
A SHADOW. Tell my story?
ANOTHER. And mine!
ANOTHER. And mine!
ANOTHER. And mine!
A ROMAN WOMAN. Pluck back my dagger first and tell my story!
A DROWNED GIRL. Oh, listen, listen, listen, I’ve forgotten my own story. It’s a very sad one. Remember for me!
SHAKESPEARE. I will remember. Let me pass!
A TROJAN WOMAN [_kissing him_]. Here’s pay!
A VENETIAN. I died of love.
THE TROJAN WOMAN. Kiss me and tell my story!
A MOOR. Dead lips, dead lips!
A YOUNG MAN. This is how Judas kissed.
A QUEEN. My son was taken from me. Tell my story!
ANOTHER. And mine!
ANOTHER. And mine!
A YOUNG MAN. That son am I!
TWO CHILDREN. I--I--
A SOLDIER. I killed a king.
A CROWNED SHADOW. He killed me while I slept.
THE SHADOWS. You shall not pass until you tell our story!
A GIRL DRESSED AS A BOY. I lived in a wood and laughed. Sing you my laughter When the sun shone!
SHAKESPEARE. I’ll sing it. Singing I go, What shall I find after the song is over? What shall I find after the way is clear?
AN OLD MAN, A JEW. Gold and gold and gold--
A CLOWN. And a grave untended--
A MAN IN BLACK. Heartbreak--
TWO COUSINS. A friend or two--
A ROMAN WITH LAURELS. Oh, sing my story Before I had half-way climbed to the nearest star My ladder broke.
SHAKESPEARE. I’ll tell all time that story.
THE ROMAN. The stars are dark, seen close.
SHAKESPEARE. I’ll say it.
THE ROMAN. Pass!
AN EGYPTIAN [_holding a goblet_]. He shall not pass. Drink! There are pearls in the cup.
A GIRL, A VERONESE [_taking it from her_]. No--sleep!
A MAN [_with a wand_]. Dreams!
THE KING IN RAGS. Frenzy!
A NUN. Sacrament!
A DRUNKARD. A jest!
A ROMAN WIFE. Here’s coals for bread.
THE EGYPTIAN [_A man in armour has flung his arm about her neck_]. Eat, drink and pass again To the lost sunshine and the passionate nights, And tell the world our story!
SHAKESPEARE. Let me go!
ALL THE SHADOWS. Never, never, never! To the end of time we follow, Follow, follow, follow!
SHAKESPEARE. Threads and floating wisps Of being, how they fasten like a cloud Of gnats upon me, not to be shaken off Unsatisfied--
THE SHADOWS. Sing! Sing!
_There is a strain of music: the crowd hides_ SHAKESPEARE: _the three masked players have drifted free of the turmoil._
CHILD [_delighted_]. He does it quite as well as Orpheus.
ANNE. Who are these dreams?
CHILD. The people of the plays. And there are the Fates at last! That’s the end of my part. Now you must talk to them till your husband comes. He comes when you scream.
_He picks up his bow and runs away._
ANNE. Come back! Stay by me!
CHILD [_laughing_]. Play your part alone.
_He is lost in the crowd_. THE MASKS _have drawn near. The first is small and closely veiled and carries the distaff. The second is tall: part of her face shows white: her hands are empty. The third is bowed and crowned: she carries the shears._
ANNE. These are all dreams or I am mad. Who are you?
FIRST MASK. His fate. I hold the thread.
ANNE. I’ll see you!
FIRST MASK. No!
_As she retreats the_ SECOND MASK _takes the distaff from her._
SECOND MASK. I tangle it.
ANNE. Who are you?
SECOND MASK. Fate! his fate!
ANNE. Drop the bright mask and let me see!
_The_ SECOND MASK _drops her veil and_ _shows the face of a dark lady._ It needs not! I knew, I knew! Barren the ground beneath, No flowers, no fruit, spent arrows-- _The_ SECOND MASK _makes way for the_ THIRD _who takes the tangle from her. The_ SECOND MASK _glides away._ Not the shears! THIRD MASK [_winding the thread_]. Not yet!
ANNE. Who are you?
THIRD MASK. Fate! his fate!
ANNE. A crown! My snake should know its fellow--is it so? _The mask is lifted and reveals the face of_ ELIZABETH. I do not fear the Queen--
THIRD MASK. Take back the thread! _She gives the distaff to the_ FIRST MASK _who_ _has reappeared beside her and glides away._
ANNE. But you I fear, O shrinking fate! what fate? What first and last fate? Show me your face, I say! _She tears off the mask. The face revealed_ _is the face of_ ANNE. _She screams._ Myself! I saw myself! Will! Will!
THE CHILD. _kneeling at the hearth stirs the fire and a bright flame shoots up that lights the whole room. It is empty save for the few players gathering together their bundles and_ SHAKESPEARE _who has hurried to_ ANNE. _His hand, gripping her shoulder, steadies her as she sways._
SHAKESPEARE. Still railing?
CHILD [_to his father_].She’s a poor frightened lady and she cried. I like her.
ANNE. Gone! Gone! Where are they? Call them back! I saw--
SHAKESPEARE. What folly! These are players and my friends; You could have given them food at least and served them.
ANNE. I saw--I saw--
HENSLOWE [_coming up to them_]. So, are you ready? The moon is high: we must be going.
SHAKESPEARE. I’ll follow instantly.
THE PLAYERS _trail out by twos and threes. They pass the window and repass it on the further side of the hedge. They are a black, fantastic frieze, upon the yellow, winter sky._ HENSLOWE _goes first: the king’s crown is crooked, and the child is riding on his back: the masks come last._
THE PLAYERS [_singing_]. Come away to London, Folly, come away! You’ll make your fortune Thrice in a day. Paddocks leave and winter byres, London has a thousand spires, A-chiming, a-rhyming, Oh, London Town! The snow will fall And cover all Without you, without you, And the world get on without you-- Oh, London Town! SHAKESPEARE _goes hurriedly to the table_ _and picks up his books._
ANNE. Will!
SHAKESPEARE. For your needs You have the farm. Farewell!
ANNE [_catching at his arm_] For pity’s sake! I’m so beset with terrors not my own-- What have you loosed upon me? I’ll not be left In this black house, this kennel of chained grief, This ghost-run. Take me with you! No, stay by me! These are but dreams of evil. Shall we not wake Drowsily in a minute? Oh, bless’d waking To peace and sunshine and no evil done! Count out the minute--
SHAKESPEARE. If ever I forget The evil done me, I’ll forget the spring, And Avon, and the blue ways of the sky, And my own mother’s face.
ANNE. Do I say “forget”? I say “remember”! When you’ve staked all, all, Upon your one throw--when you’ve lost--remember! And done the evilest thing you would not do, Self-forced to the vile wrong you would not do, Me in that hour remember!
SHAKESPEARE. Let me go!
ANNE [_she is on the ground, clinging to him_]. Remember! See, I do not pray “forgive”! Forgive? Forgiving is forgetting--no, Remember me! Remember, when your sun Blazes the noon down, that my sun is set, Extinct and cindered in a bitter sea, And warm me with a thought. For we are bound Closer than love or chains or marriage binds: We went by night and each in other’s heart Sowed tares, sowed tears. Husband, when harvest comes, Of all your men and women I alone Can give you comfort, for you’ll reap my pain As I your loss. What other knows our need? Dear hands, remember, when you hold her, thus, Close, close--
SHAKESPEARE. Let go my hands!
ANNE. --and when she turns To stone, to a stone, to an unvouchsafing stone Under your clutch--
SHAKESPEARE. You rave!
ANNE. --loved hands, remember Me unloved then, and how my hands held you! And when her face--for I am prophecy-- When her lost face, the woman I am not, Stares from the page you toil upon, thus, thus, In a glass of tears, remember then that thus, No other way, I see your face between my work and me, Always!
SHAKESPEARE. Make end and let me go!
ANNE [_she has risen_]. Why, go! But mock me not with any “Let me go”! I do not hold you. Ah, but when you’re old (You will be old one day, as I am old Already in my heart), too weary-old For love, hate, pity, anything but peace, When the long race, O straining breast! is won, And the bright victory drops to your outstretched hand, A windfall apple, not worth eating, then Come back to me--
SHAKESPEARE [_at the door_]. Farewell!
ANNE. --when all your need Is hands to serve you and a breast to die on, Come back to me--
SHAKESPEARE. Never in any world!
_He goes out as the last figure passes the window, and disappears._
THE PLAYERS’ VOICES [_dying away_]. For snow will fall And cover all Without you, without you-- _The words are lost._
SHAKESPEARE [_joyfully._] Ah! London Town
_He is seen an instant, a silhouette with outstretched arms. Then he, too, disappears and there is a long silence. A cold wind blows in through the open door. The room is quite dark and the fire has fallen to ashes._
ANNE [_crying out suddenly_]. The years--the years before me!
MRS. HATHAWAY [_calling_]. Anne! Where’s Anne? _She comes in at the side door._ Anne! Anne! Where are you? Why, what do you here, In the cold, in the dark, and all alone?
ANNE. I wait.
THE CURTAIN FALLS.