54. COURTYARD EXT DAY
The Party and the Fashion Show and the toasting continue.
LORENZO and BALTHAZAR are having their pictures taken with the VICEROY and the KING. CASTILE is giving an interview.
HIERONIMO and BEL-IMPERIA are momentarily left alone in an arched, open corridor. She grabs his arm –
BEL-IMPERIA
Is this the love thou bearest Horatio
Whom both my letters and thine own belief
Assures they to be causeless slaughtered?
HIERONIMO looks around to make sure they are alone.
BEL-IMPERIA rails at him.
BEL-IMPERIA
(indicating the party)
Are these the fruits of thine incessant tears?
Hieronimo, for shame, Hieronimo,
For such ingratitude unto thy son!
Myself a stranger in respect of thee,
So loved his life, as still I wish their deaths!
And, though I bear it out for fashion’s sake,
Nor shall his death be unrevenged by me —
HIERONIMO
Madam, ‘tis true.
I found a letter written in your name,
And in that letter how Horatio died.
Pardon, O Pardon, Bel-Imperia,
My fear and care in not believing it.
And here I vow, if you but give consent,
I will ere long determine of their deaths,
Swear vengeance on those cursed murderers!
CAMERAS FLASH.
LORENZO, BALTHAZAR and a crowd of PAPARAZZI surround them.
HIERONIMO and BEL-IMPERIA smile and wave for the cameras.
LORENZO
Where is old Hieronimo, our Marshall?
BEL-IMPERIA
(under her breath, to HIERONIMO)
I’ll join thee to revenge Horatio’s death.
HIERONIMO
(same, to BEL-IMPERIA; waving)
Lady, the plot’s already in my head.
(greets BALTHAZAR and LORENZO)
Here they are!
BALTHAZAR
How now, Hieronimo? What, courting Bel-Imperia?
HIERONIMO
Ay, my lord.
She hath my heart; but you, my lord, hath hers.
LORENZO
Hieronimo, now, or never, we are to entreat
thy help.
HIERONIMO
My help? Why, my good lords, assure yourselves
of me.
LORENZO
(to PAPARAZZI)
He promised us, in honour of our guest,
To grace our banquet with some pompous jest!
BALTHAZAR
(to HIERONIMO)
To entertain my father with the like,
Or any suchlike pleasing motion.
Assure yourself it will content them well.
HIERONIMO
(with a glance at BEL-IMPERIA)
Is this all?
BALTHAZAR
Ay, this is all.
He beckons to them. LORENZO and BALTHAZAR, arm around BEL-IMPERIA, follow him through the door into his —
55. STEWARD’S OFFICE INT DAY
— where many more accounting books and stores are housed.
HIERONIMO leads them to his little desk, where a PAPER KNIFE lies. He eyes it.
Outside, through the window, the party continues.
HIERONIMO
When I was young I gave my mind
And plied myself to fruitless poetry –
He glances at the knife. Is it sharp enough?
HIERONIMO
– which, though it profit the Professor naught,
Yet is it passing pleasing to the world.
He rummages through his books.
HIERONIMO
When in Toledo, where I studied,
It was my chance to write a Tragedy.
So here, my Lords –
He hands LORENZO a book.
ANGLE ON BEL-IMPERIA
Also eyeing the paper knife. BALTHAZAR clings to her.
HIERONIMO
– Which, long forgot, I found the other day.
LORENZO studies the book, over-interestedly.
BALTHAZAR goes to join him.
BEL-IMPERIA grabs the paper knife. Touches the blade.
It is completely blunt. And BALTHAZAR is in his armour.
HIERONIMO shakes his head.
HIERONIMO
Now would your lordships favour me so much
As but to grace me with your acting in it?
I mean each one of you to play a part,
Assure you it will prove most passing strange
And wondrous plausible to this assembly.
He points out the window at the frolicking crowd.
BALTHAZAR
What? Would you have us play a TRAGEDY?
HIERONIMO
Why, Nero thought it no disparagement.
And kings, and emperors have tane delight
To make experience of their wits in plays.
LORENZO
Nay, be not angry, good Hieronimo.
The Prince but asked a question.
BEL-IMPERIA looks around for another weapon. Picks up a PAPER-WEIGHT.
BALTHAZAR
Hieronimo, if you be in earnest,
I’ll be in it.
LORENZO
And I too.
HIERONIMO
Now, my good Lord, could you entreat
Your sister Bel-Imperia to appear,
For what’s a play without a woman in it?
They turn toward her. BEL-IMPERIA pretends to admire the paper-weight. She puts it down again.
BEL-IMPERIA
Little entreaty shall serve me, Hieronimo.
For I must needs be employed in your play.
You will but let us know the argument.
HIERONIMO
That shall I, roundly. The Chronicles of Spain
Record this, written of a Knight of Rhodes —
56. REHEARSAL ROOM INT DAY
HIERONIMO directs the rehearsals of his PLAY.
ANGLE ON LORENZO
Who is playing the KNIGHT OF RHODES.
His BODYGUARDS ever present in the background.
HIERONIMO V/O
He was betrothed, and wedded, at the length
To one Perseda, an Italian dame —
ANGLE ON BEL-IMPERIA
Who plays PERSEDA.
HIERONIMO V/O
— Whose beauty ravished all that her beheld,
Especially the soul of Soliman! —
ANGLE ON BALTHAZAR
Slack-jawed, fish-faced, attended by his BODYGUARDS.
HIERONIMO the director attempts to make him more animated.
HIERONIMO V/O
— Who at the marriage was the chiefest guest,
By sundry means sought Soliman to win
Perseda’s love – and could not gain the same.
BEL-IMPERIA and BALTHAZAR attempt to act this out, under HIERONIMO’s direction and the gazes of their ENTOURAGES.
HIERONIMO V/O
He saw she was not otherwise to be won,
Save by her husband’s death, this Knight of Rhodes —
LORENZO strikes an attitude, on stage.
HIERONIMO V/O
Whom presently, by treachery, he slew!
BALTHAZAR pretends to slay LORENZO.
HIERONIMO V/O
She stirred, with an exceeding hate, therefore,
As cause of this, slew Soliman —
BEL-IMPERIA pretends to get it wrong. Doesn’t look at BALTHAZAR at all.
HIERONIMO V/O
Did stab herself. This is the Tragedy.
Into the REHEARSAL – LORENZO claps his hands.
LORENZO
O excellent!
HIERONIMO
And here, my lords, are several abstracts drawn
For each of you to note your parts,
And act it as occasions offered you.
HIERONIMO goes to BALTHAZAR, hands him a new script.
BEL-IMPERIA
(to BALTHAZAR)
You must provide a Turkish cape, a black
moustachio, and a falcon!
LORENZO
(to BEL-IMPERIA)
And madam, you must attire yourself.
BALTHAZAR
Hieronimo, methinks a comedy were better.
HIERONIMO
A comedy?
Fie! Comedies are fit for common wits!
But to present a Kingly troupe, withall,
Give me a stately, written tragedy
Containing matter, and not common things.
LORENZO
And well it may! For I have seen the like
In Paris, ‘mongst the French tragedians.
HIERONIMO
In Paris? Very well remembered!
There’s one thing more that rests for us to do.
BALTHAZAR
What’s that, Hieronimo? Forget not anything.
HIERONIMO
Each one of us must act his part
In unknown languages,
That it may breed the more variety.
BEL-IMPERIA smothers her laughter.
HIERONIMO
As you, my lord, in Latin, I in Greek,
(to LORENZO)
You in Italian, and, for because I know
That Bel-Imperia hath practised the French,
In courtly French shall all her phrases be!
BEL-IMPERIA
You mean to try my cunning, then, Hieronimo?
BALTHAZAR
But this will be a mere confusion,
And hardly shall we all be understood.
BEL-IMPERIA
It must be so, for the conclusion
Shall prove the invention, and all good.
HIERONIMO the director claps his hands.
They go back to declaiming their parts, in different languages.
57. HIERONIMO’S GARDEN EXT DUSK
ISABELLA pushes a wheelbarrow towards the bower.
She wears her gardening gear, and rubber wellies.
ISABELLA
Tell me no more – O monstrous homicides!
Since neither piety nor pity moves
The King to justice or compassion,
I will revenge myself upon this place,
Where thus they murdered my beloved son.
She parks the wheelbarrow beside the trellis.
Removes a hacksaw, an axe, various tools.
She pulls down the trellis, covered in roses.
ISABELLA
Down with these branches and these loathsome
boughs
Down with them, Isabella, rent them up!
And burn the roots from whence the rest is sprung.
She grabs her axe, and starts to hack at the base of the tree.
ISABELLA
I will not leave a root, a stalk, a tree,
a bough, a branch, a blossom, nor a leaf,
No, not a herb within this garden plot,
Accursed complot of my misery!
Fruitless forever may this garden be,
Barren the earth, and blissless whosoever
Imagines not to keep it unmanured.
With the hacksaw, she saws at the tree.
ISABELLA
An eastern wind, commix’d with noisome airs,
Shall blast the plants and the young saplings;
The earth with serpents shall be pestered,
And passers-by, for fear to be infect,
Shall stand aloof, and looking at it, tell:
“There, murdered, died the son of Isabel.”
The tree falls.
ISABELLA feels no better.
ISABELLA
Make haste, Hieronimo, to hold excused
Thy negligence in pursuit of their deaths,
Whose hateful wrath bereaved him of his breath.
Ah ha, thou doest delay their deaths,
Forgives the murderers of thy noble son,
And none but I bestir me – to no end.
She cuts down some smaller plants with the GARDENING SHEARS.
Stares intently at the SHEARS.
ISABELLA
And as I curse this tree from further fruit,
So shall my womb be curséd for his sake.
And with this weapon will I wound the breast,
The hapless breast that gave Horatio suck —
She stabs herself.
58. GARDEN PATH EXT DUSK
HIERONIMO comes walking up the path, beside the canal.
He’s laughing to himself.
HIERONIMO
“As you, my lord, in Latin, I in Greek.
You in Italian…” Isabella!
Calling to his wife to share the joke, he pushes open the gate.
59. HIERONIMO’S GARDEN EXT DUSK
HIERONIMO finds ISABELLA dead, beside the felled tree in the bower.
He sits down beside her, puts his head in his hands.
60. STAGE DOOR EXT DAY
A TAXI pulls up outside the stage door of the Playhouse.
HIERIONIMO gets out, clad in a stylish black polo-neck, and black pants. He pays the driver, starts to pull a large unwieldy duffle-bag out of the cab.
The PAGE, lounging outside smoking a cigarette, watches.
HIERONIMO waves a Euro at him. The PAGE assists HIERONIMO into the Theatre with the heavy bag.
61. BACKSTAGE INT DAY
The ACTORS are all making up as HIERONIMO and the PAGE carry the bag through.
HIERONIMO
Are you ready, Balthazar?
Where’s your beard?
BALTHAZAR shows his beard is half-on, half off.
HIERONIMO
Dispatch, for shame! Are you so long?
He pauses beside BEL-IMPERIA, who studies TWO KNIVES.
She taps them against the table. It’s clear that they are
NOT prop knives. HIERONIMO takes another knife from his pocket, shows her that it retracts.
He takes one of the real knives and puts it in a drawer.
Replaces it with the stage knife.
He exits, carrying the bag.
BEL-IMPERIA immediately opens the drawer, and switches the knives again. She will only use the REAL.
LORENZO
Break a leg!
62. ON STAGE INTERIOR DAY
HIERONIMO tacks up a black crepe curtain at the back of the stage.
CASTILE comes in, smoking a cigar. He stands beneath a big
“NO SMOKING” sign.
CASTILE
How now, Hieronimo! Where’s your fellows
That you take all this pain?
HIERONIMO
O sir, it is for the author’s credit
To look that all things may go well.
But good my Lord —
He climbs down the ladder, gets a script from the prompt corner.
HIERONIMO
— Let me entreat your Grace
To give the King this copy of the play.
This is the argument of what we show.
CASTILE
And are you in the play, Hieronimo?
HIERONIMO
I play the bashaw, who —
LORENZO leaps onto the stage, in full costume and make-up.
He prances about for his father’s approval. CASTILE beams indulgently.
HIERONIMO
— basely kills the noble Knight of Rhodes.
BALTHAZAR
Hieronimo!
ANGLE ON BALTHAZAR
In the upper circle, lugging a big chair and a cushion.
HIERONIMO
Well done, Balthazar!
Put down the chair and cushion for the King!
BALTHAZAR positions the KING’s chair in the middle of the upper balcony.
PAN DOWN TO THE AUDITORIUM
A number of seats are occupied by GHOSTS —
— including ISABELLA.
63. PLAYHOUSE EXT NIGHT
LIMOS pull up and deposit DIGNITARIES, greeted on the red carpet by the PAPARAZZI and CASTILE.
ANGLE ON THE KING AND THE VICEROY
Pausing to be photographed.
KING
Now, Viceroy, shall we see the tragedy
Of Soliman, the Turkish emperor,
Performed of pleasure by your son, the Prince,
My nephew Don Lorenzo, and my niece.
VICEROY
Who? Bel-Imperia?
KING
Ay, and Hieronimo, our Marshall —
(introduces the VICEROY to HIERONIMO)
— at whose request they deign to do’t themselves.
These be our pastimes in the court of Spain!
HIERONIMO escorts the KING and VICEROY to the gallery stairs.
ANGLE ON THE PAGE
Selling programmes.
64. PLAYHOUSE INT NIGHT
The ROYALS and DIGNITARIES assemble in the upper circle.
Due to BALTHAZAR’s having moved the furniture, there is much discussion as to protocol. No one can sit down.
Before the ROYAL PARTY are seated, the lights go down.
ANGLE ON THE STAGE
The curtains open. Enter the PLAYERS. They start declaiming in their various languages. First BALTHAZAR, reciting his lines in Latin.
ANGLE ON THE KING
Sitting down in the first available seat. The VICEROY sits next to him, trying to read the script.
KING
See, Viceroy, that is Balthazar, your son
That represents the emperor Soliman.
How well he acts his amorous passion!
VICEROY
Ay, Bel-Imperia hath taught him that.
CASTILE
That’s because his mind runs all on Bel-Imperia.
A PAGE whispers in their ears. The KING is in the wrong seat – not the Throne that was prepared for him. They all get up again.
ON STAGE, LORENZO enters, declaims in Italian.
KING
Here comes Lorenzo! Look upon the plot,
And tell me, brother, what part plays he!
ON THE BALCONY, CASTILE, studying the text, trips in the darkness as they change seats.
ON STAGE, BEL-IMPERIA welcomes BALTHAZAR’s character, in French. HIERONIMO plots with BALTHAZAR, in Greek.
HIERONIMO approaches LORENZO, makes great obeisance to him, then STABS HIM.
UP CLOSE, we see the stabbing is real, as RED BLOOD flows.
LORENZO struggles and tries to escape. HIERONIMO embraces him, pushes the knife further in.
ANGLE ON THE BALCONY
Where the ROYAL GUESTS, sitting down again, have missed the murder. They are drawn back to the action by BEL-IMPERIA’s shrieks.
64G. ANGLE ON THE GHOST AUDIENCE, BELOW
Watching silently.
ANGLE ON BALTHAZAR,
On stage, thinking that the play’s going pretty well, striding up to BEL-IMPERIA to embrace her.
ANGLE ON BEL-IMPERIA
Beckoning to him, speaking in French.
ANGLE ON BALTHAZAR
Flattering her, in Latin.
She stabs him in the throat, above his breastplate.
He gives a satisfying scream, and death rattle, careens about the stage, falls over with a crash.
ANGLE ON THE ROYAL GALLERY
Much applause from the gallery at BALTHAZAR’s performance.
ANGLE ON HIERONIMO
Dropping LORENZO’s corpse, looking over to BEL-IMPERIA.
HIERONIMO
No!
But too late. BEL-IMPERIA stabs herself with the other knife.
She falls. The curtain falls.
ANGLE ON THE GALLERY
Much applause.
The CURTAIN opens again. HIERONIMO stands among the corpses, cunningly arranged, before the black crepe curtain.
KING
Well said! Old Marshall, this was bravely done!
HIERONIMO
(looking sadly at BEL-IMPERIA’s corpse)
But Bel-Imperia played Perseda well.
The KING rises; everyone else does the same, keen to get down to the bar.
VICEROY
(looking around for his coat)
Were this in earnest, Bel-Imperia,
You would be better to my son than so!
KING
But now what follows for Hieronimo?
HIERONIMO
Marry, this follows:
Here break we off our sundry languages,
And thus conclude I in our vulgar tongue.
Haply you think – but bootless are your thoughts –
That this is fabulously counterfeit.
He indicates the BODIES at his feet.
Excited laughter from above as the GUESTS head for the exits.
HIERONIMO
No, princes, know that I am Hieronimo!
The hopeless father of a hapless son.
HIERONIMO pulls the black crepe screen down —
— revealing HORATIO’s decaying CORPSE, arranged as a pieta. Behind it, a high SCAFFOLD and dangling NOOSE.
ANGLE ON THE KING AND THE VICEROY
Talking about something else.
ANGLE ON CASTILE
Lighting their cigars.
HIERONIMO
See, here, my show. Look on this spectacle.
Here lay my hope, and here my hope hath end.
Here lay my heart, and here my heart was slain.
Here lay my treasure, here my treasure lost.
Here lay my bliss, and here my bliss bereft.
But hope, heart, treasure, joy, and bliss
All fled, failed, died, yes, all decayed with this.
The GUESTS all leave the balcony. No one listens to him.
The GHOST of HORATIO appears on the stage, and attempts to comfort HIERONIMO. But, staring at the body, HIERONIMO is unaware.
ISABELLA’S GHOST appears there too, but cannot speak to him.
HIERONIMO
They murdered me, that made these fatal marks.
The cause was love, whence grew this mortal hate.
The hate: Lorenzo and young Balthazar.
The love: my son, to Bel-Imperia.
The KING and the VICEROY and CASTILE, with glasses of champagne to toast the ACTORS, enter the lower hall. They approach the stage.
HIERONIMO
Speak, Portuguese, whose loss resembles mine,
If thou cans’t weep upon thy Balthazar?
‘Tis like I wailed for my Horatio
When merciless they butchered up my boy
In black, dark night, to pale, dim, cruel death.
ANGLE ON THE VICEROY
Stepping up to see his son is really dead.
HIERONIMO
(to CASTILE)
And you, my Lord, whose reconciléd son
Marched in a net, and thought himself unseen,
And rated me for brainsick lunacy,
How can you brook our play’s catastrophe?
ANGLE ON CASTILE
Discovering his son and daughter are both dead.
Behind him, HIERONIMO mounts the scaffolding that is the only feature of the stage. Above the scaffold platform, a NOOSE hangs.
HIERONIMO
Poor Bel-Imperia missed her part in this.
For though the story says she should have died,
Yet I, of kindness and of care for her,
Did otherwise determine of her end.
But love of him whom they did hate too much
Did urge her resolution to be such.
ANGLE ON HIERONIMO
Standing atop his platform.
HIERONIMO
And, Princes, now behold Hieronimo,
Author and actor in this tragedy,
And, gentles, thus I end my play.
Urge no more words. I have no more to say.
He adjusts the NOOSE around his neck.
The KING, VICEROY, and GUARDS storm up the scaffolding to get him down.
64G. ANGLE ON THE GHOST AUDIENCE
Applauding.
ANGLE ON THE VICEROY
Struggling with HIERONIMO, pulling the rope from his neck.
KING
O, harken, Viceroy! Hold Hieronimo!
Brother, my nephew and thy son are slain!
The GUARDS and GUESTS and AUDIENCE come pouring in, aroused by the commotion. The VICEROY calls to them.
VICEROY
We are betrayed! My Balthazar is slain!
The VICEROY and GUARDS bring HIERONIMO down the stairs to the main stage.
KING
Speak, traitor, damned bloody murderer, speak!
For now I have thee, I will make thee speak.
Why hast thou done this undeserving deed?
VICEROY
Why hast thou murdered my Balthazar?
CASTILE
Why hast thou butchered both my children thus?
HIERONIMO says nothing.
KING
Why doest thou mock us, slave? Bring tortures
forth!
HIERONIMO
Do, do, do, and meantime, I’ll torture you.
You had a son, as I take it, and your son
Should ha’ been married to your daughter,
was’t not so?
You had a son, too – he was my Liege’s nephew.
He was proud, and politic, and had he lived
He might have come to wear the Crown of Spain,
I think ‘twas so. ‘Twas I that killed him.
Look you this same hand, ‘twas it that stabbed
His heart. D’you see this hand?
For one Horatio – if you ever knew him –
My guiltless son – was by Lorenzo slain,
and by Lorenzo, and that Balthazar,
Am I at last revengéd thoroughly
Upon whose souls may heaven yet be revenged!
GUARDS arrive with torture instruments.
VICEROY
Be deaf, my senses! I can hear no more!
KING
Fall, heaven, and cover us with thy sad ruins.
CASTILE
Speak! Who were thy confederates in this?
For HIERONIMO this is the last straw.
They have heard nothing he has said.
HIERONIMO
Now, to express the rupture of my part,
First take my tongue, and afterwards my heart.
He bites out his tongue, spits RED BLOOD everywhere.
All are aghast at the horrible sight.
Belated, TWO GUARDS grab him.
KING
See, Viceroy, he hath bitten forth his tongue
Rather than to reveal what we required.
CASTILE
Yet can he write.
KING
And if in this he satisfy us not,
We will devise the extremest kind of death
That ever was invented for a wretch!
They give him a pencil.
AMUBLANCE CREWS and PARAMEDICS arrive. EMERGENCY VEHICLE lights shine through the exits. Screams.
HIERONIMO breaks the tip off his pencil. He makes signs for a knife to sharpen it.
PAGE
O, he would have a knife to mend his pen!
The PAGE rushes beneath the legs of the GUARDS and hands HIERONIMO a PENKNIFE. The PAGE holds his hand out for a tip, but is ignored.
VICEROY
Advise him that he write the truth —
HIERONIMO stabs CASTILE with the penknife, then himself.
KING
Look to my brother!
CASTILE
Stop, Hieronimo…
CASTILE falls dead. HIERONIMO collapses atop his body.
He dies.
KING
What age hath ever heard such monstrous deeds?
64G. ANGLE ON THE GHOSTS
Mingling with the horrified LIVING, staring at the DEAD.
65. TOWER EXT DAY
ANDREA and REVENGE sits at a chess board in a glassed-in tower. Outside, below them, and on the patio around them, are MANY GHOSTS.
ANDREA
Ay, now my hopes have end in their effects
When blood and sorrow finish my desires.
(as ANDREA recounts the murders,
REVENGE mops up ANDREA’s chess pieces)
Horatio murdered in his father’s bower,
Vile Serberine, by Pedringano slain,
False Pedringano hanged by quaint device,
Fair Isabella, by herself misdone,
Prince Balthazar, by Bel-Imperia stabbed,
The Duke of Castile and his wicked son
Both done to death by old Hieronimo.
Ay! These were spectacles to please my soul.
ANDREA’S GHOST is delighted, even though he has lost the game.
Outside the glass, we see the GHOSTS of some of the above.
REVENGE
This hand shall hail them down to deepest hell
Where none but furies, bugs and tortures dwell.
ANDREA is aghast. This is more than he bargained for.
ANDREA
(protesting)
But sweet Revenge, do this at my request:
Let me be judge —
REVENGE, triumphant, shakes his head.
He stands up, drags ANDREA outside to watch as the GHOSTS move silently down the stairs…
REVENGE
So haste we down to meet thy friends and foes…
ANGLE ON THE LOWER LEVEL
A GIANT MAW OF HELL has opened, and all the GHOSTS march inexorably inside.
ANDREA would change the chain of events he put in motion.
But now it is TOO LATE.
And HUNDREDS OF GHOSTS stream past him, down, into the OPEN MOUTH OF HELL…
REVENGE
For here, though death hath end their misery,
I’ll there begin their endless tragedy…
CRANE UP ABOVE THE CITY
To see THOUSANDS OF TRANSPARENT GHOSTS as they move, stately, in their DESCENT TO HELL…
THE END