Index: Chauvin, Act Three of Three, Libretto for a Grand Opera

I think on it with horror....
Would Cæsar be a Roman citizen, I should adore him...
But Cæsar, as king, I must abhor.

(Audience2 reaction. Chauvin leans forward two steps down the US1 aisle and stops, while IChauvin moves to the side of Brutus, who takes no note of the presence, naturally. He may even move among the actors, invisible to them, just as Chauvin's eyes would scan the scene.)

CÆSAR

BRUTUS

(audience2 reaction)

CÆSAR

Rome wants a master....
That liberty thou dotest on is no more than
The fool's right to hurt himself....

(audience2 reaction)

CÆSAR

(continuing)

(Chauvin wants to go but sees the entrance line is not yet good for him; he stands fast. IChauvin faces front, with some grandiosity.)

ICHAUVIN

BRUTUS

CÆSAR

(Brutus exits.)

CÆSAR

(Dolabella enters UL, with some Romans. IChauvin moves to stand opposite the Romans, by the box again, to look on them.)

DOLABELLA

(Cæsar exits UL.)

DOLABELLA

(continuing)

(IChauvin moves DL. A flamboyant arm gesture here.)

ICHAUVIN

(Chauvin stands fast.)

DOLABELLA

O join with me, Ye Romans, to admire and honor Cæsar;
Live to obey, and die to serve him.

(IChauvin, a poseur, body and soul.)

ICHAUVIN

As we have done for many years in war,
we French again in peace can peace restore.

(He draws his saber and points it to the sky in dedication.)

DOLABELLA

THE CONSPIRATORS

(off stage2, shouting:)

(Audience2 reaction.)

DOLABELLA

(Cassius/Lafon enters, a dagger in his hand. Audience2 reaction. Audience2: Lafon-claque reaction to Lafon's entrance.)

CASSIUS/LAFON

CHAUVIN

(shouting from the stage1 floor)

(He, walking always with a pronounced limp on the left side, hurries down the US1 aisle, ascends to the stage2 and falls to the floor, going down from his late injuries, causing laughter. He gets up and stands in front of IChauvin, draws his saber, and points it at Cassius/Lafon.)

(The alarm in the audience2 is great, at the sight of the gleaming blade; some shriek in horror at this interruption of the play's action. Various ones of them are heard to sing out:)

CHORUS OF THEATRE PATRONS

(various)

What outrage!
Who is this crazy man?
I know of him! He's been everywhere doing this!
Get off, you dolt!
Fools! Fools! Fools!
Madmen!
What do you think you are doing?

DOLABELLA

(pointing to Cassius/Lafon, topping the audience2-noise)

(He looks both at Cassius/Lafon and at Chauvin, back and forth, in consternation. Audience2 laughter. Chauvin's retinue come to the front, and shortly jump to the stage2 to protect him. Chauvin's followers get behind him. IChauvin reposes against the wall near Mme De Staël. Lafon makes a brave attempt to continue the play's action. He advances on Chauvin and the veterans, first, with some slight success, then on the Romans, repeating his first line, as if to continue the play.)

CASSIUS/LAFON

(With the turmoil on stage2, Talma comes onstage2. He is greeted with a loud acknowledgment of his entrance by his claque. Talma, the renowned French actor, is playing the part of Antony. He makes an imperious gesture restraining further audience2 reaction. At the gesture, all of the patrons recognize Talma and applaud him. He faces them with a bowing recognition of their applause. He breaks a brief smile and resumes his serious mien, which action could have a comedic effect unintended by Talma, but which effectively quiets the patrons. Talma behaves as if he is in complete control of the situation.)

TALMA AS TALMA

Ye gods, gentlemen! So, you are finally here?!
I knew you would be. It's our turn now, is it?
Do you never tire of disrupting civilized beings in their civil ceremonies?

(Staring intently at the entrance of Talma, Chauvin goes to him. In his face, and then to the whole house:)

ICHAUVIN

CHAUVIN

CHAUVIN'S FOLLOWERS

ALL

ICHAUVIN

CHAUVIN

(During the next few lines, the English soldiers in the audience stand and hurry DL and look on, sensing a small sedition going on here.)

CHAUVIN'S FOLLOWERS

ALL

ICHAUVIN

CHAUVIN

(With his left hand, he pulls out the flag which he took from the throne room at the Élysée palace in Act I and had hidden in his tattered tunic. He drapes it over the point of his saber and hoists it high.)

CHAUVIN'S FOLLOWERS

ALL

ICHAUVIN

CHAUVIN

CHAUVIN'S FOLLOWERS

ALL

(Only a few continue weakly, as most are inhibited, puzzled what to think.)

DIBROC

(stepping up to Chauvin's side)

CHAUVIN'S FOLLOWERS

(Audience2 subdued reaction and buzz.)

TALMA AS TALMA

(steping to the fore, audience2 applause)

Now have we all of that out of the way!?
This play has a new act.
Monsieur, the Emperor Napleon was my friend.
In support of you,
this speech you would have heard from Antony:

TALMA AS ANTONY

(declaiming his lines from the play)

"I loved him, Romans, would have given my life
"To save my friend's;...
"The world was witness to his deeds, the world
"Proclaims his glory;...

CHAUVIN

(nearly in tears)

(advancing DS, in the face of audience2)

(Lafon as Lafon steps to the fore. Audience2: Lafon-claque applause. Chauvin glares at the people and moves to the side, DR.)

LAFON AS LAFON

Gentlemen! Let me resurrect from this now forgotten play these lines of Cassius:

LAFON AS CASSIUS

(declaiming his lines from the play)

"Hear me, countrymen,...
"I have slain my friend, to serve
"The cause of Rome; he would have made you slaves,
"and therefore have I slain him...."

ANTONY/TALMA

"Behold the poor remains of Cæsar!
"In peace your guardian, and in war your glory,

(Chauvin draws his saber and salutes the heavens.)

ANTONY/TALMA

(continuing)

"Who made whole nations tremble, and the world
"Bow down before him. Is this he, ye Romans,
"This bleeding corse, is this the mighty Cæsar?..."

(An enthusiastic cast member, First Roman, remembering his cue.)

FIRST ROMAN

CHAUVIN

(IChauvin half reaches down to his leg and winces slightly as a reflection of Chauvin's pain. Chauvin can no longer hold a pose; the pain returns to his leg and he hobbles in a circle to his left, around Talma. The audience claques titter. Antony/Talma catches Chauvin's left hand and raises it high in his as Chauvin completes his round-about in a kind of do-si-do dance movement. Mme De Staël stands in her box, moves between her friends to the front of the box, and gestures to the crowd on stage2 and then to Chauvin.)

[NOTE: Her dates are April 22, 1766-July 14, 1817; she lived 51 years, 3 months-in ACT III, 50 years old. Germaine's health is failing, but her activities know no respite. She is on drugs, suffering stomach disorders and a weakening heart. She will suffer a stroke in three months (February 21, 1817), lie flat for three months, be moved, and then die July 14, 1817. Unable to sleep at night, and not finding enough to hold her interest, she attempts to amuse herself with a night out at the theater with friends and family to see a revival of Voltaire's play, which in itself is a manifestation of the extremely partisan atmosphere reigning in France at this time. Voltaire (1694-1778) was a friend of Mme De Staël's mother, Mme Suzanne Necker. She was also an admirer of Talma. Napoleon considered her his enemy, censored her works, and exiled her from France for many years, although she saved him at one point from his enemies toward the end of Napoleon's regime.]

MME DE STAËL

Monsieur!
You flaunter of flags and saber waver!
What sort of madness is this you force upon our eyes?
This is not theatre.

(Mme De Staël begins her descent to the stage2 here, as Chauvin stabs the point of his saber on the stage2 floor in a defiant pose. Chauvin turns haughtily to the lady in the box, nose in the air and looking out the corner of his eye, but she is not there. He does a double take, looking for her and huffs. Laughable, she was not there to see his act. He resumes his haughty pose. Talma as Talma looks at the lady who is coming on stage2 from the rear, UR. He sings in quite free rhythm.)

TALMA AS TALMA

MME DE STAËL

And I, you, Monsieur Talma.
Monsieur Lefon.
What do you think of this soldier's obscuring the point?

TALMA

No, Madame, the play was part of him.
Just as he favored much my Antony,
His heart was humming Caesar's tragic hymn.

(Mme De Staël comes forward onto the stage2. Once on stage2, she uses a cane, for she is obviously ailing.)

MME DE STAËL

Monsieur Chauvin, you have ruined the play, written by my mother's good friend, Monsieur Voltaire, and well acted by my friend, Monsieur Talma. I am sorry you have been making such a habit of such behavior over this last year. And what were you trying to prove, bloodying yourself with that saber-waving?

(During the following, she totters somewhat and steadies herself with the cane. One of his Chauvin's retinue fetches him a high stool from the wings and places it DL on the stage2, opposite Mme de Staël, for it is noticed that he, too, is suffering from his infirmities; his bloodied leg is stretched out straight.)

CHAUVIN

This is patriots' blood, spilled at Waterloo, and brought to you here to see,
the blood in defeat is the same as in victory.
And we mark our success by draining more blood from enemy bodies
than what spurts from our own openings.
This is patriots' blood.
The Old Guard bleeds for our exiled general.
My wound lives again!
To bleed a larger volume elsewhere.
This is patriots' blood, patriots' blood spilled at Waterloo.
The blood in defeat is the same as in victory.
And who gives you leave, gives you leave,
to interrupt my play, on my stage?!

MME DE STAËL

CHAUVIN

I am a miracle survivor. I inventory my scars and read the history of my Emperor's career in war.

MME DE STAËL

CHAUVIN

We French are chosen by God.
God chose us French to rule,
to establish rule over savage peoples
for all the glory and the profit
and all the happiness of the French people.

MME DE STAËL

So the grandeur of France is your obsession. Have you considered that your belief may be contrary to fact? You do all for the sake of this idea which may be false.

ICHAUVIN

CHAUVIN, ICHAUVIN

The tree of patriotism is watered by the blood of soldiers. "We see a France returned to glory of our reign."

MME DE STAËL

You old soldiers have passion without reason!
You have order without freedom.
This nation is in want of passionate reasoning.
This nation is in want of ordered freedom.
You think in terms of your saber and flags and ranting.

CHAUVIN, ICHAUVIN

MME DE STAËL

(Adele, who has been sitting with Michelle, rises from the rear of the audience2 section where Chauvin could not have seen her. She walks around to the US1 aisle US of audience2 to a point where audience1 can see her and where Chauvin now sees her. Michelle follows after a moment.)

ADELE

Nicolas, my love, my friend, good father,
come home! come home!
Isn't your heart at home?

MME DE STAËL

(rising, going to him)

CHAUVIN

(He rises. His arms flop about to find the words. His eyes cast about in search. IChauvin stiffens, comes forward a step and puts his hand on the hilt of his saber.)

CHAUVIN

(continuing)

Closeness is knowledge.
Intimacy is truth.
I had knowledge and truth of two things.
Our wars, and you, dearest Adele.
I know the truths of victory and death, and now defeat.
My closeness was to war and these veterans.
I had knowledge and truth of someone.
Service made me distant and dumb for her.
Now I am closer to our flag,
and to the France I knew from other lands.
These honors blood to badge
are emblems of battle,
which I know best.
We kill for hungers not known by other animals.
How do we become human again, after that?
My life is death.

ADELE

How become human again? Come home, Nicolas!
You are my man, father to my babies—
our house is your home!
Come with me to know me again!
I need your closeness and intimacy.
Come home, Nicolas!

(Adele repeats that during Madame de Staël's following speech.)

MADAME DE STAËL

(to Chauvin)

What foul matter is draining from your brain?
The phantasms you hold there are unreal!
Your beliefs, sir, are simple and certain,
thoughtless and comfortable,
and your hatred is emotional excitement.

(Chauvin only resolves the conflict by slumping on his chair. Chauvin gets up from the chair, while IChauvin moves first face-to-face and then back-to-back with him.)

ICHAUVIN

We march in tight-knit ranks,
must not step off the road to pick the flowers.
Enough of this Nicolas person!
Time to crow and make the sun rise!

(He turns and moves adroitly to the bumbling Chauvin, pushes down on his right shoulder, where the flag rests, with his left hand so that Chauvin goes to a stooped crouch; IChauvin pushes Chauvin forward with his foot, a boot in the rear. Chauvin stumbles forward-he is out of the picture-as IChauvin grasps the flag from Chauvin's shoulder and swirls it grandly into the air with an arabesque swirl to drape it over his own body.)

(This is the sequence of incidents programmed in the musical score:
1. IChauvin pushes down on Chauvin's right shoulder.

2. IChauvin grasps flag from Chauvin's shoulder.

3. Chauvin goes down to low, low stooped position, both feet directly under him a foot apart and even.

4. IChauvin twirls the flag brilliantly.

5. The audience2 sees IChauvin for the first time, and NOT Chauvin, and simultaneously Audience2 "OOOO" (as in "who").

6. IChauvin after first twirl, boots Chauvin in rear to sweep the debris into the dust pan.

7. Chauvin goes forward to edge of stage2.

8. IChauvin "patriotism" line followed by another swirl during choral "Vive Chauvin"s.

9. IChauvin poses and swaggers during rest of audience2 cheering and as Chauvin goes over the edge of stage2 and goes through the audience2.

10. At about bar #736 will come the first "Adele!" Chauvin is somewhere in the middle of the throng of audience2, preferably unseen by audience1 and unseen and unheard by audience2. The latter will have their eyes and arms/hands raised up to IChauvin and the stage2. His phrase should come during something of a lull in the audience2 enthusiasm and underscored by some percussive effect. Or Chauvin's singing could "top" the audience2. I do not believe the audience1 will think that Chauvin is seen by audience2.

11. Chauvin moves down to the DSL edge of the audience2 for his second phrase.

At bar #739, after the first "Chauvin" of the audience2 chorus, will come the second "Adele!" The Audience2 should be transfixred by IChauvin's shenanigans on the stage2. The audience2 reaction should be in dramatic contrast to the pain of Chauvin. So that their cheering is not perceived as being caused by Chauvin's slumping.

12. Chauvin's figure will now be DR at bar #741 and there will sing the last phrase, "My babies!")

ICHAUVIN

(At the swirl and the "Patriotism" line, the audience2 section transfers its perception to IChauvin, and now seeing and hearing IChauvin for the first time, swoops to its feet in excitement and hails that act and cheers.)

AUDIENCE2

(SUPERSEDED. REPRESSED. SUPPLANTED. SUBSUMED. Stooped low, Chauvin shuffles darkly toward the edge of stage2, slides over the edge to the floor of stage1, and as a shadow, slumps through the standing audience2 (which continues to focus on IChauvin on the stage2) and across stage1 to his exit DR, no light shining on him.

(As he exits, the audience2 people wave fists and raise their arms glorifying IChauvin. Although IChauvin is preening and posturing all this time, as Chauvin sings each of the three short lines, IChauvin must grimace in consonance with Chauvin, a momentary sense of loss of what he has turned his back on. The director should have IChauvin's costume/makeup rigged so that IChauvin's leg suddenly begins to run red with the blood that Chauvin has caused to flow again, just at the moment when the IChauvin character takes over the character of Chauvin-make it obvious to the audience! Then IChauvin should handle the saber in the fumbling style of Chauvin, assuming Chauvin's impaired-arm clumsiness. In essence, IChauvin takes on some of the mortal characteristics of the character he is supplanting.)

CHAUVIN

(slumping forward several steps)

(slumping forward several more steps)

(He slumps off, disappears into the wings, no longer an entity.)

(IChauvin has been draping himself, shown in a special lighting effect, and basking in the attention of all on stage2, but with subdued and slow-motion action that does not up-stage what Chauvin is doing. When Chauvin's disappearance is complete, IChauvin gazes down almost contemptuously at Adele, standing below on stage1 with Michelle. Adele now ascends to the stage2 and looks at IChauvin in dismay.)

ADELE

(Adele goes DL on stage2 where she stands.)

MME DE STAËL

What is this grain of sand inside your shell,
the irritant your soul cannot expel?

(She returns to her chair and sits.)

(IChauvin, meanwhile, looks at Adele, and then up into the air above the audience2. The music here accompanies a dance real or imaginary, at the producers option, music that does not accompany the singing except in a complmentary way. Lady France is IChauvin's vision. She is beguiling, bewitching, while the audience2 women see themselves as the objects of IChauvin's affection. And Adele, too, can see that possibly she is the focus, until IChauvin pulls the switch on her hopes. Only Lady France has the allure to charm him. The strange music attracts IChauvin, whose words and singing attract the audience2 women and, at first, Adele. If the optional dancer is not there on the stage2, then the music will help the audience1 to see the incorporeal, mesmerizing creature. If the producers opt to have the dancer, the gymnastic type with a tricolor streamer is suggested. The producers might achieve some spectacular, ballet effect, flexing their artistic muscle. A strobe light? A puppet? Who knows?
During the following, Michelle follows Adele to the stage2 level.)

ICHAUVIN

It is not her cool, gentle kiss.
Not her touch curved like a swan with a smooth
pulsing power beneath the surface.
Not her eyes filled with soft heat.
Not her dark unpainted beauty.
It's something else in her that holds my eye.
After a fight when I feel the life depart the man,
I calm myself seeing a vision of her,
her beauty, eye, touch, kiss.
And something else that makes a body come alive,
revive, filled with life and breath and gentleness,
something important, crucial, above all else.
It is a tingling tension,
the excited energy of her body targeting me.
The sincerity of her dedication to me,
embracing me without arms around me,
a kiss without lips,
a touch without feel,
a vision without sight,
a fantasy draining hate, anger, lust for death.
Imperial Lady France,
your savaged corpse shall be revived again,
as you resurrected my mutilated soul so often.
To Lady France! Lady France!

FALLING ACTION. EXIT OF THE SOLDIER-VETERANS

(During the following, IChauvin, Dibroc, Souvan, Picot and all the veterans stream down off stage2 onto stage1, to the back of the audience2 section UR. They then move out onto the DS of stage1 and march off DL after the cheering.)

[NOTE:
The following is the third stanza of a poem by Paul Déroulède published in his Poèmes militaire (1882). They sing the end of the Déroulède verses. The first two verses are these: "We yield it now to duty's claim, And freely pour out all our store; Who judges, frees us still from blame; The Kroumirs' muskets war proclaims;--In answer let French cannon roar! Good fighting! And God be your shield, Our pride's avengers, brave and true! France watches you upon the field. Who wears her colors never yield, For 'tis her heart ye bear with you!"]

DIBROC

DIBROC, ICHAUVIN, THE VETERANS CHORUS

"To crush oppression's strength unjust,
"With all the force of right robust,
"And buy us back our honor fair!"

DIBROC, ICHAUVIN

(refrain sung-shouted)

(All the men in the audience2 conspicuously leave the audience2 and traipse off behind the parade of IChauvin's following.)

DIBROC, ICHAUVIN, VETERANS CHORUS

(All the men exit, followed last by any English soldiers who were present. The remainder of the audience2, all women, sits silently, turning back to watch the actors on stage2 and awaiting events.)

EXIT OF THE ACTORS

(The players, Antony/Talma, Cassius/Lafon, Dolabella and the rest remain on stage2, looking at loose ends. Talma moves DCS on stage2, stands straight, cheats body left, raises his right arm straight out toward the place where everyone exited, and raises his eyes toward that place. There is a wait before he sings anything, as if searching for the proper words. Then inspiration comes. His quoted lines, from Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, III.i.)

TALMA

(After some distant shouts down the street, his arm falls slack to his side, as his head drops. Then he looks up to Lafon to say something. Lafon now at Talma's left side, raises his right arm straight out to Talma's left shoulder, and Talma puts his left hand on Lafon's right shoulder. Lafon raises his left arm straight out left, as if to point the way offstage UL. After a moment, his inspiration, his quoted lines, from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part One.)

LAFON

TALMA

LAFON

TALMA, LAFON

(The two actors wheel around and go UL of stage2, still with hands at arm's length on the shoulders as they stroll.)

(They laugh, and exit with all the actors, who echo:)

ALL ACTORS

THE CONSOLING OF ADELE

ADELE

AUDIENCE2 CHORUS OF WOMEN

Her visage twists with grief in her desertion. Oh let her seek sweet reason's consolation.

MICHELLE

He will return, Adele.
I believe it must happen.
When they tire of the monotony in their passion,
reason will return. You will be the better choice.
You'll see. He will return.

AUDIENCE2 CHORUS OF WOMEN

ADELE

I have felt the shock, the horror, the chaos of HIS world,
all implanted in his mind.
Why forsake me, go off all draped in flags and tunes?
That hated image he became.
A cold and bloodless carcass of words!
A husband disguised in the rags of glory.
Now he says, "Seek glory, the answer to all questions."
Oh false, cold flame!
He has gone forever, never to return.

AUDIENCE2 CHORUS OF WOMEN

She wanders in the darkened cave of sullen sulk,
and follows where it will. Without option.
Who does not know that choice is reason's luscious fruit?
Then passion worms its way into the juicy core.
The cavern echoes woman's outermost woe.

MME DE STAËL

(to Audience2)

A great nation would not have borne the crass and shameful burden of despotism
if military glory had not ceaselessly moved the public spirit.

ADELE

MME DE STAËL

Ah, monsieur does not bleed. The bleeding has stopped.
He is now bloodless. He is now but an abstraction.
What you believe can kill you.
What Bonaparte believed, killed this nation.
His old-soldier-believers will revive his regiments
and then regiment their minds with his sacred image.
Chauvin is the semen of Napoleon.
These "Chauvinists" truly believe,
and true believers are fanatics,
with a malady of the soul,
a crazed sense of French infallibility,
that will raise this nation from the dead
and give it so much to live for.

(She goes to Adele and puts a motherly arm around her. Adele pulls away vigorously. Mme de Staël takes the rejection in stride, backs off, tottering somewhat from her infirmities, and turns US to be embraced and steadied by her entourage, which has descended to the rear of the stage2.)

ADELE

There has been a death in this family,
by a weapon all the worlds at war could not invent.
The father has died by his own brainchild.
Smothered by a fiction.
Strangled by a belief.
Dismembered by a dream.

MICHELLE

(Adele closes her eyes and puts her fingers to her temple.)

ADELE

I've seen in here
the many ways his lifeless body falls.
My mind can't lift him up from wound or death.
My wit won't wash the scum of fear from his
contorted brow. He walked courageous lanes
toward deadly steel, endured with fortitude
onrushing shot and shell and often fell,
but healed with time to brave that hell again.

MICHELLE

Cannot you break the chains of wretchedness and emerge from the darkened cave of woman's woe, see a new source of light?

ADELE

I am wretched from his conceit.
I felt in here the fear and ugliness he faced.
No mythical figure chained to a rock
endured more eagle tortures than that man.
But for what such noble courage?!
Rendering to mankind the highest service
in resistance to oppression?
bringing light into the world?
championing human liberty
for which a revolution was fought?
No, I am abandoned for conceit.

MICHELLE

ADELE, MICHELLE, MME DE STAËL AND CHORUS OF WOMEN

(They sing together until Mme de Staël exits.)

CHORUS OF WOMEN

ADELE

MICHELLE

MME DE STAËL

AUDIENCE2 CHORUS OF WOMEN

You are freed, you are freed.
You are released,
you are released from thankless ties.
Liberty. Equality. Sorority.
Liberty. Equality. Sorority.
Liberty. Equality. Sorority.

MICHELLE

MME DE STAËL

MICHELLE

MME DE STAËL

No! You needed him.
There was no glory in all his sacrifices.
No glory in such torture to conquer! to oppress!
For what? His was not magnanimous endurance
. His general swallowed the ideals of revolution
and vomited the sour mess of wars of subjugation
for his self-glorification.

(She begins to exit, but turns back.)

MME DE STAËL

This patina of patriotism, all shine and show.
Their oaths of fealty do not have the life of everyday wear.
I will tell you the substance of real patriotism
lives in acts of civic responsibility for our social compact.
Read the news. Know the issues.
Theirs is sheen and show,
shining soap bubbles of ideology,
glowing packages of——

(She gazes at an imaginary bubble, jabs at it with her finger, and makes a loud "pop" sound with her lips.)

MME DE STAËL

——air, air, air, air, air.
Sharpen the mind to prick those bubbles that are afloat!
I didn't bargain for this when I came here.
But I got to act in the dunce's play.
All in all, a very satisfying evening.
Where's the stage door?!

(Her entourage guides and suports her wobbling exit US.)

MME DE STAËL

(continuing; leaving)

(Off. Adele maintains her intensity.)

ADELE

We can do nothing!
My flag was the aroma of bread.
My drum was the children at play.
My march was shopping day.
My battle was the daily labor.
My parade was the entrance of family,
and my glory was the celebration of reunion.

MICHELLE AND CHORUS OF WOMEN

(Michelle goes to put her arms around Adele.)

MICHELLE

ADELE

AUDIENCE2 CHORUS OF WOMEN

We must honor those soldiers who died in the service. And we must respect the living veterans.

ADELE

But damn the evil kings and emperors requiring worship!
And generals and ministers on adventures of conceit
that go against everything we should live by.
Damn the wretches!
Damn them all!

MICHELLE

AUDIENCE2 CHORUS OF WOMEN

ADELE

AUDIENCE2 CHORUS OF WOMEN

(Adele addresses the women in the audience2.)

ADELE

You women are the guardians of the nation's wombs.
If you find those wilding man-eaters seductive,
Napoleon's semen will enter your bellies,
and you will give birth to a nation of super-patriots
who will whore for war to the end of military glory,
an extremity of the darkest natures.
And my man is the original seed.

MICHELLE

ADELE

(aside)

(angrily, to all)

He is with his mistress,
he is with his mistress,
fighting bloodless wars.
Out there, somewhere,
out there, somewhere,
dans le noire—
le noir—
noir.

ACT III

BRUTUS

CÆSAR

BRUTUS

CÆSAR

(IChauvin slides two steps onto the stage2 floor and waves a beckoning arm to Chauvin at the rear. His eyes never contact Chauvin's.)

ICHAUVIN

BRUTUS

(Audience2 reaction. Chauvin leans forward two steps down the US1 aisle and stops, while IChauvin moves to the side of Brutus, who takes no note of the presence, naturally. He may even move among the actors, invisible to them, just as Chauvin's eyes would scan the scene.)

CÆSAR

BRUTUS

(audience2 reaction)

CÆSAR

(audience2 reaction)

CÆSAR

(continuing)

(Chauvin wants to go but sees the entrance line is not yet good for him; he stands fast. IChauvin faces front, with some grandiosity.)

ICHAUVIN

BRUTUS

CÆSAR

(Brutus exits.)

CÆSAR

(Dolabella enters UL, with some Romans. IChauvin moves to stand opposite the Romans, by the box again, to look on them.)

DOLABELLA

(Cæsar exits UL.)

DOLABELLA

(continuing)

(IChauvin moves DL. A flamboyant arm gesture here.)

ICHAUVIN

(Chauvin stands fast.)

DOLABELLA

(IChauvin, a poseur, body and soul.)

ICHAUVIN

(He draws his saber and points it to the sky in dedication.)

DOLABELLA

THE CONSPIRATORS

(off stage2, shouting:)

(Audience2 reaction.)

DOLABELLA

(Cassius/Lafon enters, a dagger in his hand. Audience2 reaction. Audience2: Lafon-claque reaction to Lafon's entrance.)

CASSIUS/LAFON

CHAUVIN

(shouting from the stage1 floor)

(He, walking always with a pronounced limp on the left side, hurries down the US1 aisle, ascends to the stage2 and falls to the floor, going down from his late injuries, causing laughter. He gets up and stands in front of IChauvin, draws his saber, and points it at Cassius/Lafon.)

(The alarm in the audience2 is great, at the sight of the gleaming blade; some shriek in horror at this interruption of the play's action. Various ones of them are heard to sing out:)

CHORUS OF THEATRE PATRONS

(various)

DOLABELLA

(pointing to Cassius/Lafon, topping the audience2-noise)

CASSIUS/LAFON

TALMA AS TALMA

(Staring intently at the entrance of Talma, Chauvin goes to him. In his face, and then to the whole house:)

ICHAUVIN

CHAUVIN

CHAUVIN'S FOLLOWERS

ALL

ICHAUVIN

CHAUVIN

(During the next few lines, the English soldiers in the audience stand and hurry DL and look on, sensing a small sedition going on here.)

CHAUVIN'S FOLLOWERS

ALL

ICHAUVIN

CHAUVIN

(With his left hand, he pulls out the flag which he took from the throne room at the Élysée palace in Act I and had hidden in his tattered tunic. He drapes it over the point of his saber and hoists it high.)

CHAUVIN'S FOLLOWERS

ALL

ICHAUVIN

CHAUVIN

CHAUVIN'S FOLLOWERS

ALL

(Only a few continue weakly, as most are inhibited, puzzled what to think.)

DIBROC

(stepping up to Chauvin's side)

CHAUVIN'S FOLLOWERS

(Audience2 subdued reaction and buzz.)

TALMA AS TALMA

(steping to the fore, audience2 applause)

TALMA AS ANTONY

(declaiming his lines from the play)

CHAUVIN