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MacThelloletra
By Susan Barber (with a large nod to Billy Bard) A ONE ACT PLAY [Dramatis Personae: Hamlet Lady Macbeth Iago
Cleopatra Scene: Darkened stage haunted by dead characters] (Dark stage) Four characters die - Hear a shriek, groans and a gasp. (One small spotlight on a man lying on the floor). Hamlet. (Prone, dying). And the rest … is silence. (Dim lighting, see 4 bodies, two men with swords, one woman collapsed on the floor, another woman on throne.) Hamlet. (Sits up, thinking, rubbing chin.) Or is it? (Pause. Full lights on). Audiences have been obsessed with Hamlet for centuries. (Stands up.) I have shuffled off this mortal coil. It is passing strange that I am the most impressive character to have ever breathed upon the stage. Iago. (Comes back to life) Ha! Prince Hamlet!
(Jumps to his feet). Another of
the Bard’s great creations! Here we are, the ghosts that linger on, long after the
curtain has closed. Hamlet. Gone but some of us are not forgotten. Iago. (Aside.) Methinks this fool believes he is on safe ground. He knows not that I put money in my purse. And yet how unjust of fate to pass me over once
again – not only in life but in death. I
nurse this well. Ah yes, thus do I ever make
my fool my purse. (To Hamlet). Ah, the great Dane! (aside as he bows to Hamlet.) Ruff, ruff. Are not the villains great as well? (To Hamlet). I am your own forever, your honest Iago. Hamlet. (Looking at hands). Such a piece of work is man. Iago. (Aside). This prince will be a piece of work in my hands. Lady Macbeth. (Arising, walking around Iago). (Aside.) Here is a man not without ambition but also with the illness that attends it. If this be the ever-living play, then play on. Make thick my blood, stop up the access and passage of remorse. (To Iago.) Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall! Iago. (Startled). My lady…? Lady Macbeth. Your Lady Macbeth. (offers her hand.) Hamlet. (Taking notice.) How is it with you lady? Cleopatra. (Thinks Hamlet is speaking to her.) I would be well but the state of Egypt is in peril. Iago. (Aside) The Queen of Egypt! Ha! What does that wench want here? Cleopatra. How darest these subjects speak! Iago. No insult intended, O Great Queen. (To Lady Macbeth). I shall drink your gall but there are many events in the womb of time which will be delivered. (Indicates Hamlet.) Lady Macbeth. But thy nature is already too full of the milk of human kindness. (Indicates Cleopatra.) Art thou a man? Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here! Iago. Unsex you?! Cleopatra. (Regally, with condescension to Lady M). But you are unsexed, my strumpet. Look at your hair, your face – round to faultliness. And a brow as low as I would wish it. (Aside) They shall tire of her soon -- only Egypt can conquer these two. (Getting up from throne, looking upon Hamlet.) But there are royal attentions to be had. If he is sad, I will be dancing; if he is in mirth, I am sudden sick. (To Hamlet.) Prince Hamlet, Denmark no longer exerts a pull on you? Hamlet. Are you honest? Cleopatra. I have no power over you. Hamlet. Are you fair? Cleopatra. Let it not be said that I keep you here. Hamlet. If you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty. Cleopatra. (Aside). He can do better yet but this is suitable. (To Hamlet.) You must enter fully into Egypt now. Iago. The old black ewe will soon be tupping the white ram! Thieves, thieves! Lady Macbeth. We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking place, man, and we’ll not fail! Iago. (Looking at his crotch). (With resentment). You’ll not fail to stick. (Walking away from her, aside) But how I hate this Queen, Prince and Lady! It is time to reinvent Iago. Hamlet. (To Cleopatra). Lady, shall I lie in your lap? That’s a fair thought to lie between a maid’s legs. Lady Macbeth. (Coming to Iago). You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night and pall there in the dunnest smoke of hell. That my keen knife not see the wound it makes. Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, to cry Hold, hold! Iago. (Pulling away from Lady M, tugging Hamlet aside urgently.) The queen works to upset your throne. Come out of your lusty fog and see it in the sun. Hamlet. I am too much in the sun. Iago. Prince, if it were not for your quiet and your good, nor for my manhood (looks at Lady Macbeth), honesty and wisdom to let you know my thoughts. I am a ghost come back to warn you! Hamlet. (Alarmed). Angels and ministers of grace defend us! Speak, I am bound to hear. Iago. Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls. Who steals my purse steals trash, but she (indicates Cleopatra) that filches from me my good name, makes me poor indeed. Cleopatra. (Pleading) Hamlet! But come! We shall float upon the Nile and pass the hours. I shall order my servants to prepare the barge.
Exit. Iago. She sets upon much mischief, my Lord. Hamlet (Aside). But what means this? Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark. O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right! (Walks, wringing hands, thinking.) Iago. Now’s the time to catch him unawares. (To Lady M.) How now, Lady Macbeth? (Polishes sword). Lady Macbeth. What, in our house? Iago. Fetch me your handkerchief. I shall set this straight. We could let Cleopatra do it. Hamlet. To be or not to be; that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep— Lady Macbeth. (Hand goes up to mouth in realization). Who shall bear the guilt of our great quell? He resembles my father… (Holds Iago’s sword still) You must leave this. Iago. I should be wise; for honesty’s a fool, and loses that it works for. Lady Macbeth. Help me hence. Ho! Iago. He who helps himself helps best. (Works on sword.) Lady Macbeth. Oh! What’s to be done! Again and again. (walks away, over near Hamlet, who broods. Starts washing her hands.) Hamlet. (Curious, watches). But there is some method to her madness. It buys time to follow suit. Lady Macbeth. Out spot, out! Yet here’s a spot. Iago. (Looking at them.) Hamlet. Words, words. Lady Macbeth. Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfume of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Hamlet. O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter. (Hisses at Iago) Denmark’s a prison! Iago. (Perplexed, exasperated). Lady Macbeth. Damned spot, out! Enter Cleopatra. She stops and also watches Hamlet and Lady M in amazement. Hamlet. There’s nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so. O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. Cleopatra. (Gestures towards Hamlet.) Burn the great sphere thou movest in: darkling stand the varying shore of the world! Help friends, let’s draw him hither. Lady Macbeth. (Grabs Hamlet.) To bed, to bed! There’s a knocking at the gate. Give me your hand! What’s done cannot be undone. Cleopatra approaches Hamlet. To bed? To bed! The greatest of the world art turned the greatest liar?! Hamlet. How wouldst I lie if I cannot lie? Cleopatra. Bid farewell and go! When you sued staying, then was the time for
words; no going then. Eternity was in our
lips and eyes. Iago. (To Hamlet.) Beware! Beware! Hamlet. (To Iago.) Aye, truly. The power of beauty will sooner transform the beauty from what it is to a bawd. Cleopatra. (Seductive). I would I had thy inches. (Gently) Thou should know there were a heart in Egypt. Iago. (To Hamlet). O, beware, my lord, of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat if feeds on! Hamlet. Jealousy! Jealous is as jealous does! Cleopatra. Ha! Expose him! Show him for what he is! (Seizes him and turns him. With his back to the audience, Iago hangs a snake from his pants, and Cleopatra turns him back to face the audience. Iago snatches away the snake and throws it at her.) Hamlet. What wouldst thou do for her? There is much offense! (Draws sword). Lady Macbeth. (Climbs up on a block is about to jump. Shrieks. Other three look at her.) Cleopatra. (Sarcastically). Please don’t. You’re already dead. Lady Macbeth. See you not? None of you?! We are all too much ourselves! We cannot stop. Cleopatra. Tis true. I feel immortal longings in me. Lady Macbeth. Your face is a book where men may read strange matters. Iago. Tomorrow, Cleopatra. And tomorrow, Hamlet. And tomorrow. To the last syllable of recorded time; Lady Macbeth. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Iago. Out, out, brief candle! Cleopatra. Life's but a walking shadow, Hamlet and Cleopatra. A poor player Hamlet. That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more; Cleopatra. It is a tale Told by an idiot, Iago. Full of sound and fury, Hamlet. Signifying nothing. Lady Macbeth. Nothing? But don’t you see? We keep dying and dying. They (indicates audience) are forever watching us, entering the madness. (Rakes at her hair.) Cleopatra. It cannot be denied. Be it known that we, the greatest of the great, are misunderstood. When we fall, it is to relieve others’ suffering in our name. And therefore, we are to be pitied. Lady Macbeth. (Realizing) And loved. Cleopatra. (Commands all of the characters) Be noble to thyself!! Hamlet. (Turning back to Iago). The readiness is all! (They fight with swords, back and forth). Iago. From this day forward I never will speak a word. A-ha! Look to the Queen! (Iago feints and at the same time they both stab each other with swords. Both fall, Hamlet staggers to Iago and stabs him. Iago dies. Lady
Macbeth shrieks and jumps.
Lady Macbeth dies. (Hamlet is on his knees, wounded.) Hamlet. I die, Egypt. Cleopatra. (Rushing towards him). No, let me speak! Hamlet. I am dead, Egypt. Wretched Queen, adieu. Tell my story. Cleopatra. What?! An Egyptian puppet? (Flings him away, gets up in a huff). Forced to drink their vapor? (Looking around, sees the snake on the floor.) I’ll fool their preparations! (Takes the snake to her throne, applies it to her chest.)
Cleopatra dies. Hamlet. And the rest…. is.
Hamlet dies. THE END |