Three Plays: Six Characters in Search of an Author, Henry IV, The Mountain Giants (Oxford World's Classics) (16 page)

HAROLD
. No, the Emperor’s wife is Bertha of Susa, sister of Amadeus II of Savoy.

ORDULPH
. And the Emperor who’d like to be young with us can’t stand her and is thinking of casting her off.

LANDOLPH
. That woman there is his fiercest enemy: Matilda, Countess of Tuscany.

BERTHOLD
. I’ve got it, the one who played host to the Pope …

LANDOLPH
. At Canossa. Exactly.

ORDULPH
. Pope Gregory VII.

HAROLD
. Our bête noire! Come on, let’s go!

As they all move towards the right exit through which they came, the old tailcoated servant
GIOVANNI
enters left
.

GIOVANNI
[
hastily, anxious
]. Hey! Psst! Franco! Lolo!

HAROLD
[
stopping and turning
]. What’s up?

BERTHOLD
[
surprised to see someone in a tailcoat entering the throne room
]. What’s this? What’s he doing in here?

LANDOLPH
. A twentieth-century man! Get out! [
Joined in the joke by the other two, he runs menacingly at
GIOVANNI
as if to drive him out
]

ORDULPH
. A messenger from Gregory VII. Off with him.

HAROLD
. Off with him! Off with him!

GIOVANNI
[
annoyed, fending them off
]. Pack it in, will you!

ORDULPH
. No! You can’t set foot in here!

HAROLD
. Out! Out!

LANDOLPH
[
to
BERTHOLD
]. Witchcraft, you know! A devil conjured up by the wizard of Rome! Draw your sword! [
He makes as if to draw his own sword
]

GIOVANNI
[
shouting
]. I said, pack it in! Don’t play the fool with me! The Marchese has arrived with a number of guests.

LANDOLPH
[
rubbing his hands
]. Ah, splendid! Are there any ladies?

ORDULPH
[
in the same vein
]. Old? Young?

GIOVANNI
. There are two gentlemen.

HAROLD
. But the ladies, who are the ladies?

GIOVANNI
. The Marchesa with her daughter.

LANDOLPH
[
surprised
]. What? How on earth?

ORDULPH
. You said the Marchesa?

GIOVANNI
. The Marchesa! The Marchesa!

HAROLD
. And the gentlemen?

GIOVANNI
. I don’t know.

HAROLD
[
to
BERTHOLD
]. They’re coming to give us our content, you see.

ORDULPH
. All of them messengers from Gregory VII! What fun we’ll have!

GIOVANNI
. Now look! Are you going to let me speak?

HAROLD
. Go on! Go on!

GIOVANNI
. It seems that one of these two gentlemen is a doctor.

LANDOLPH
. Oh, we know. One of the usual doctors.

HAROLD
. Bravo, Berthold! You bring us luck.

LANDOLPH
. You’ll see how we get to work on this doctor fellow!

BERTHOLD
. I reckon I’m going to find myself dumped straight into a right mess!

GIOVANNI
. Now listen to me! They want to come into this room.

LANDOLPH
[
surprised, in dismay
]. What! Her? The Marchesa, in here?

HAROLD
. Now that’s ‘content’ for you!

LANDOLPH
. The birth of a real tragedy!

BERTHOLD
[
curious
]. But why? Why?

ORDULPH
[
pointing to the portrait
]. Because it’s
her
over there. Don’t you see?

LANDOLPH
. The daughter is engaged to the Marchese.

HAROLD
. But what have they come for? Can you tell us that?

ORDULPH
. If he sees her, there’ll be trouble!

LANDOLPH
. Maybe he won’t recognize her by now.

GIOVANNI
. If he wakes up, you’ll have to keep him out of here.

ORDULPH
. Oh yes? And how? You must be joking.

HAROLD
. You know the way he is!

GIOVANNI
. Good God, by force if that’s what it takes! Those are my orders! Go on, go on!

HAROLD
. Yes, yes. He may already be awake!

ORDULPH
. Come on, come on!

LANDOLPH
[
going out with the others, to
GIOVANNI
]. But you’ll explain it later.

GIOVANNI
[
shouting after them
]. Lock that door and hide the key. And the other door as well!

He points to the other exit on the right
.
LANDOLPH, HAROLD, ORDULPH
,
and
BERTHOLD
leave by second right exit
.

GIOVANNI
[
to the
TWO VALETS
]. You as well. Out! Out there! [
Pointing to first right exit
] Lock the door and hide the key!

The
TWO VALETS
leave by the first right exit
.
GIOVANNI
goes to the left exit and opens the door to admit the
MARCHESE DI NOLLI
.

DI NOLLI
. Have you passed on my orders?

GIOVANNI
. Yes, my lord. There’s nothing to worry about.

DI NOLLI
goes out for a moment to bring the others in. Enter
BARON TITO BELCREDI
and
DR DIONISIO GENONI
,
followed by
LADY MATILDA SPINA
and the young marchesa
FRIDA
.
GIOVANNI
bows and leaves
.
LADY MATILDA SPINA
is about forty-five, still beautiful and with a good figure, though she repairs the inevitable ravages of age rather too obviously with a heavy but skilful make-up that gives her the proud air of a Walkyrie. This make-up provides a sharp and disturbing contrast with the lovely sorrowful mouth. Widowed many years ago, she now has
TITO BELCREDI
as her friend—a man whom neither she nor anyone else has ever taken seriously, or so it seems. What
TITO BELCREDI
really means to her only he knows, and thus he can afford to laugh if his lady friend needs to pretend not to know—always laugh in response to the laughter that the
MARCHESA
’
s sallies provoke at his expense. Slim, prematurely grey, slightly younger than the
MARCHESA
,
he has a curious birdlike head. He would be very lively if the supple agility that makes him a formidable swordsman were not, as it were, enveloped in a sleepy Arabian idleness, evident in his strange nasal drawl
.
FRIDA
,
the daughter of the
MARCHESA
,
is nineteen years of age. Languishing in the shadow cast by her overbearing and striking mother, she is also offended, in that shadow, by the loose gossip that the
MARCHESA
provokes—now more damaging to her daughter than to herself. Fortunately, she is already engaged to the
MARCHESE DI NOLLI
,
a stiff young man, very indulgent towards others, but fixed and reserved in his attitude to that small worth that be believes he possesses in the world—though deep down, perhaps, what that worth consists in even he does not know. He is, in any case, dismayed by the many responsibilities that, he thinks, weigh upon him. So that others can go on chattering, yes, others can go and amuse themselves, lucky them! He can’t; and it’s not that he wouldn’t like to, but that he simply can’t. He is dressed in strict mourning for the recent death of his mother
.
DR DIONISIO GENONI
has the fine shameless ruddy face of a satyr, with protruding eyes and a beard that is short and pointed, shining and silvery: elegant manners; almost bald. They all seem anxious, almost afraid, looking round the room with curiosity (except for
DI NOLLI
);
at first they speak in low voices
.

BELCREDI
. Ah, magnificent! Magnificent!

DOCTOR
. Most interesting. The madness comes out even in the details. Magnificent, yes, yes, magnificent.

LADY MATILDA
[
finding the portrait she has been looking for and going up to it
]. Ah, there it is! [
Inspecting it from the proper distance, with mixed feelings
] Yes, yes. Oh, look … My God … [
calls her daughter
] Frida, Frida … look.

FRIDA
. Ah, your portrait?

LADY MATILDA
. No. Look! It’s not me: it’s you!

DI NOLLI
. It is, isn’t it? I told you so.

LADY MATILDA
. I would never have believed it! [
Shuddering as if a shiver had run down her spine
] God, what a feeling! [
Then, looking at her daughter
] What do you say, Frida? [
Drawing Frida close, with an arm round her waist
] Come now, don’t you see yourself in me there?

FRIDA
. Well, frankly, I …

LADY MATILDA
. Don’t you see it? How can’t you see it? [
Turning to Belcredi
] Tito, you take a look. You tell her!

BELCREDI
[
without looking
]. Oh no, I’m not looking. On principle. No.

LADY MATILDA
. You fool! He thinks he’s paying me a compliment! [
Turning to
DR GENONI
] You say something, doctor!

DR GENONI
starts to move towards the portrait
.

BELCREDI
[
his back turned, with feigned secrecy
]. Psst! No, doctor! For heaven’s sake, don’t get involved!

DOCTOR
[
puzzled and smiling
]. And why shouldn’t I get involved?

LADY MATILDA
. Don’t listen to him. Come here! He’s unbearable!

FRIDA
. He makes a profession of being stupid, didn’t you know?

BELCREDI
[
seeing the doctor go over
]. Mind your feet, mind your feet, doctor! Your feet!

DOCTOR
. My feet? Why?

BELCREDI
. Because you have hobnailed boots.

DOCTOR
. Me?

BELCREDI
. Yessir. And you’re about to step on four tiny little feet of glass.

DOCTOR
[
with a loud laugh
]. Not at all! I reckon that—after all—there’s nothing surprising about a daughter looking like her mother.

BELCREDI
. Scrunch! Ouch! That’s done it!

LADY MATILDA
[
ostentatiously angry, going up to
BELCREDI
]. Why ‘Scrunch, Ouch’? What’s that? What are you on about?

DOCTOR
[
innocently
]. Aren’t I right?

BELCREDI
[
answering the
MARCHESA
]. He said there was nothing surprising about it; but you were very surprised indeed. How come, if now you think it’s so natural?

LADY MATILDA
[
even angrier
]. Idiot! You idiot! Just because it
is
so natural. Because that’s not my daughter there. [
She points to the painting
] That’s my portrait! And finding my daughter there instead of me, that was what took me by surprise. And my astonishment was quite genuine, believe me; and I forbid you to cast any doubt on it.

After this violent outburst there is a moment of awkward silence all round
.

FRIDA
[
quietly annoyed
]. Oh God, always the same … arguing over every little thing.

BELCREDI
[
also quietly, his tail between his legs, apologetically
]. I didn’t
cast doubt on anything. I simply noticed, right from the start, that you didn’t share your mother’s surprise. Or if anything surprised you it was the the fact that the portrait looked so much like yourself.

LADY MATILDA
. That’s just it. She can’t recognize herself in me as I was at her age, whereas I can very easily recognize myself in her as she is now.

DOCTOR
. Absolutely! Because a portrait is always fixed in a given moment—for the young marchesa it’s far off and with no memories; but for the Marchesa herself, everything that it recalls, movements, gestures, glances, smiles, so many things that aren’t there …

LADY MATILDA
. Just so! Precisely!

DOCTOR
[
continuing
]. You, of course, can see them all again, living now, in your daughter.

LADY MATILDA
. But
he
always has to spoil the slightest indulgence in any spontaneous emotion, just for the pleasure of annoying me.

DOCTOR
[
dazzled by the light he has thrown on the topic, starts up again, addressing
BELCREDI
in a professorial tone
]. Resemblance, my dear baron, is often the result of imponderables. And that, in fact, is why …

BELCREDI
[
interrupting the lecture
]. Why someone could even find a resemblance between me and you, dear professor!

DI NOLLI
. Now drop it, please; please drop it! [
He gestures towards the two right exits to warn that there’s somebody who might be listening
] We played about too much on the way …