EXIT THE KING

by Eugene Ionesco

Translation by Neil Armfield and Geoffrey Rush

From a literal translation by Isabelle Mangeot-Hewison

Copyright 30th July 2007

Draft for Publication after Malthouse/Belvoir seasons March-July 2007

TYPOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The right-hand numbered pages are our translation of Ionesco’s text.

The left-hand pages are marginal notes relating to our production.

An asterisk * indicates specific Malthouse/Belvoir key stage directions or

business pertinent to the style of the production. These notes appear on the
margin page to the left.

Angle brackets < > surround Ionesco’s recommended cuts from his
original French (as designated in Donald Watson’s English translation).
The majority of these cuts have already been executed, however some have
been re-instated into the text for this production.

Text between square brackets [ ] are cuts made from Ionesco’s text for this
particular version. They are also used to highlight particular stage directions
that were not relevant to this production.

Text between pointed brackets { } are any embellishments, or ad-libs not

found in Ionesco’s text.

1
*The throne room, vaguely run-down, vaguely gothic. In the middle of the
stage, against the back wall, several steps leading up to the King’s throne.
On each side of the stage, downstage, 2 smaller thrones, those of the two
QUEENS, his wives.

[Upstage left, a little door leading to the King’s apartments.

Upstage right, another little door. Still on the right, but downstage, a big
door. Between these big and little doors, a window with a pointy arch.

Another little window stage left; and another little door downstage, also on
the left.]

Near the big door stands an OLD GUARD, holding a halberd.*

[Before the curtain goes up, and while it goes up, and for a few moments
afterward, we hear a parody of Royal Music – in the style of Lulli’s 17th
Century Levee of the King.]*

THE GUARD
(loud announcement)
His Majesty, King Berenger the First. Long live the King!

*[THE KING, with a lively gait, in a purple cloak, crown on his head,
sceptre in his hand, crosses the stage entering from the little door on stage
right, and exiting through the door upstage left.]

THE GUARD
(loud announcement)
Her Majesty, Queen Marguerite, first wife of the King, followed by Juliette,
cleaning woman and registered nurse to Their Majesties. Long live the
Queen!

*[MARGUERITE, followed by JULIETTE, enters through the little door

downstage left, and exits through the big door stage right.]

2
THE GUARD
(loud announcement)
Her Majesty, Queen Marie, second wife of the King, but first in his heart,
followed by Juliette, cleaning woman and registered nurse to Their
Majesties! Long live the Queen!*

*[QUEEN MARIE, followed by JULIETTE, enters through the big door on

the right, and exits through the little door downstage left. MARIE looks
more attractive and saucy than MARGUERITE. She wears the crown and a
purple cloak. Jewels as well. THE DOCTOR enters through the little door
upstage right.]

THE GUARD
(loud announcement)
His Magniloquence, Master Doctor to the King, surgeon, gastro-enterologist,
proctologist, executioner, and astrologist at Court!

(THE DOCTOR walks to the centre of the stage, then as if he has forgotten
something, he returns and exits through the same door.)*

(THE GUARD remains silent for a while. He seems a little tired. He puts
his halberd against the wall, and blows into his hands to warm them up.)

… sheesh…and this is when it’s supposed to be hot. Heating, On! Nothing.

It doesn’t work. Heating, On!* The radiators are fucked. It’s not my fault.
He never told me I was being taken off Heating Duty. Not officially,
anyway. You never know with them.

(Suddenly he grabs his weapon back. QUEEN MARGUERITE re-appears

through the door upstage right. She is wearing a crown and her purple
cloak doesn’t look very fresh. She looks rather thin-lipped. She stops
centrestage, front. She is followed by JULIETTE.)

Long Live the Queen!*

MARGUERITE
(to JULIETTE, scanning the room)
There’s a lot of dust in here. And cigarette butts all over the place.

3
JULIETTE
I’ve just come from the stables, milking the cow, Majesty. She’s almost run
dry. I haven’t had time to clean the living-room.

MARGUERITE
This is not a living-room. It’s the throne room. How many times do I have
to tell you?

JULIETTE
Fine, the throne room, if Her Majesty wishes. I haven’t had time to clean
the living-room.

MARGUERITE
It’s cold.

THE GUARD
I’ve tried to turn the heat on, Majesty. It doesn’t work. The radiators are
not listening. The sky is heavy, the clouds don’t seem too keen on thinning
out. The sun’s late. And yet I distinctly heard the King order that there be
light.

MARGUERITE
Marvellous! Even the sun’s stopped listening.

THE GUARD
Last night I heard a cracking. There’s a crack in the wall.*

MARGUERITE
Already? That’s fast. I wasn’t expecting it so soon.

THE GUARD
I tried to fill the crack up…with Juliette.

JULIETTE
He woke me in the middle of the night. I was out like a light.

THE GUARD
And now it’s come back again . Will we give it another go?

4
MARGUERITE
Don’t bother. It’s irreversible! (to JULIETTE) Where is Queen Marie?

JULIETTE
She’s still completing her toilette.

MARGUERITE
Naturally.

JULIETTE
She was awake before dawn.

MARGUERITE
Was she now!?

JULIETTE
I heard her crying in her room.

MARGUERITE
Laughing or crying: that’s what she does. (to Juliette) Let her be sent for
immediately. Go and get her.

(And QUEEN MARIE appears, dressed as described before.)

THE GUARD (one second before QUEEN MARIE appears)

Long live the Queen!

MARGUERITE (to MARIE)

Your eyes are all red, my dear. It rather spoils your looks.

MARIE
I know.

MARGUERITE
Don’t start crying again.

MARIE
Alas, I can’t help it!

5
MARGUERITE
Don’t fall apart, whatever you do. It won’t help. This is the way things are.
Once you were ready for it. And now you’re not.

MARIE
You’ve always been ready for it.

MARGUERITE
Somebody had to be. And now, we’re here. (to JULIETTE) Give her
another handkerchief.

MARIE
I keep hoping that…

MARGUERITE
A waste of time. Hope! Hope! (She shrugs her shoulders) It spills from
their mouths like the tears from their eyes. What a way to behave!

MARIE
Have you seen the Doctor again? Did he say anything?

MARGUERITE
Only what you know already.

MARIE
Maybe he’s made a mistake.

MARGUERITE
Please don’t start hoping again. The signs are unmistakeable.

MARIE
Maybe he’s misread them.

MARGUERITE
They’re unmistakeable – they’re an objective reality. And you know it.

MARIE
(looking at the wall) Ah! That crack!

6
MARGUERITE
So you can see it! And that’s not all. It’s your fault if he’s not prepared, it’s
your fault if it’s going to take him by surprise. You let him do whatever he
wanted, you even encouraged it. Oh, yes! The honeypot of life. Your balls,
and parties, and fun; your celebrity entourage, your banquets, your
fireworks, your boudoir soirees and your honeymoons. How many
honeymoons did you have?

MARIE
They were celebrating our wedding anniversaries.

MARGUERITE
You were celebrating them four times a year. “Life is for living!” That’s
what you said.

MARIE
He just loves parties.

MARGUERITE
The party’s over. People know that but carry on as if they didn’t. Or they
know and then forget. But he is the King. He mustn’t forget. He needs to
fix his eyes forward, know when to rest and when to move, know the exact
length of the journey, and keep the end in sight.

MARIE
My poor baby, my poor little king.

MARGUERITE
(to JULIETTE) Give her another handkerchief. (to MARIE) Let’s see a
smile, can we? We don’t want him crying too. Tears are contagious, you
know. And he’s weak enough as it is. What a dreadful influence you’ve
been on him. Well, that’s it! He always liked you better than me, alas! Not
that I was jealous, no, not at all. I was simply aware how stupid the whole
thing was. Now there’s nothing more you can do for him. Look at you,
bathed in tears, without enough spark to stand up to me. Where’s the fight
in your eyes? What’s happened to your arrogance, your insolent smirk, your
acid tongue. Come on, buck up. Take your rightful place, and hold your
head up straight. Ohh, you’ve still got your lovely necklace on. Off we go!
Take your place!

7
MARIE
(seated)
I will never be able to tell him.

MARGUERITE
I’ll take care of that. The thankless jobs are usually mine.

MARIE
Don’t you tell him either. No, no, please, don’t. Don’t tell him anything, I
beg you.

MARGUERITE
And I beg you to leave this to me. We will, however, still have need of you
at various points during the ceremony. You like ceremonies.

MARIE
Not this one.

MARGUERITE
(to JULIETTE) Our trains! Arrange them - properly.

JULIETTE
Yes, Majesty. (JULIETTE does so)

MARGUERITE
Not as much fun, of course, as one of your charity balls – your balls for
children, your balls for Senior Citizens, your balls for newlyweds, your
balls for Disaster Victims, your balls for the Honours List, your balls for
Lesbian Novelists, your balls for the organisers of all the balls, and so on.
This will be a private family function. No dancers, no dancing.

MARIE
No, don’t tell him anything. It would be better if he didn’t realise.

MARGUERITE
And that we just finish up with a song? I think not.

MARIE
You have no heart.

8
MARGUERITE
Yes, I do. I do. It beats.

MARIE
You’re not human. He’s not ready.

MARGUERITE
It’s your fault if he’s not. He’s been like one of those travellers who falls in
love with every hotel along the way and forgets the purpose of his journey.
Whenever I reminded you that it is our duty to live focussed on our ultimate
destiny, you told me I was a boring old cow.

JULIETTE
(aside) Got it in one.

MARIE
At least, if we can’t avoid it….let’s make sure he is told as gently as
possible. With kindness, with great kindness.

MARGUERITE
He should have been prepared for it long ago. Long, long ago. He should
have been reminding himself - daily. So much lost time! (to JULIETTE)
What’s up with you - gaping at us like an idiot. You’re not about to fall
apart as well, are you? You may leave us – don’t go too far, we’ll call you.

JULIETTE
So I don’t have to sweep the living room any more?

MARGUERITE
It’s too late. Don’t bother. Leave. (JULIETTE leaves through the little
door down left)

MARIE
Please - tell him gently. Take your time. He could have a heart attack.

9
MARGUERITE
We don’t have time to take our time. The frolics are over. The good times
are over. Days of plenty – over. Feeding your face – over. Fan-dancing -
over. It’s all gone! You’ve let it all drag on to the last moment, now we
haven’t a moment to lose. Obviously, as it’s the last. We’ve only a
moment to do what should have been done over years and years and years.
When I need to be left alone with him, I will tell you.

MARIE
It’s going to be hard, so hard.

MARGUERITE
As hard for me as for you. And for him. Stop blubbering. I’m telling you
again. I’m giving you a piece of advice. I’m giving you an order.

MARIE
He won’t accept it.

MARGUERITE
Not at first.

MARIE
I’ll keep hold of him.

MARGUERITE
If he doesn’t face up to this, it’ll be on your head. The whole thing must
proceed decently. Nothing less than success, a triumph. It’s been some time
since he’s had that. His palace is crumbling. His land is barren. His
mountains are collapsing. The sea has smashed through the dykes and
flooded the country. He’s let it all go – his head buried in your perfumed
breast. Euh! It’s sickening. But that’s him. Instead of fortifying the earth,
he’s let field after field fall into the abyss.

MARIE
You’re so unfair! No-one can stop an earthquake.

10
MARGUERITE
And you’re so annoying!…..He could have fortified, planted conifers in the
sand, strengthened the vulnerable areas. But no, now the kingdom’s full of
holes like some huge Jarlsberg cheese.

MARIE
What can you do against fate, against natural erosion.

MARGUERITE
Not to mention all the disastrous wars. While his soldiers drank all night
and slept all day, our neighbours were re-drawing the map. The whole
country’s shrunk. His soldiers didn’t want to fight.

MARIE
They were conscientious objectors.

MARGUERITE
That’s what we called them. On the other side they’re called cowards and
deserters and they’re shot. And look at the result. Craters bombed out of the
landscape, towns flattened, swimming pools burning, bistros empty – silent.
The young are leaving their homeland in droves. At the beginning of his
reign, we had nine thousand million people.

MARIE
There were too many. There wasn’t enough room.

MARGUERITE
And now, we have merely a thousand old people left. Less. They’re dying
as we speak.

MARIE
There are also forty-five young people.

MARGUERITE
Because nowhere else wants them. Neither do we. We were forced to take
them back. Besides, they’re aging fast. They come back to us at twenty-
five, two days later they’re over eighty. You can’t tell me that’s normal.

MARIE
But the King, look at him. He’s still young.

11
MARGUERITE
He was yesterday. He was last night. You’ll see in a minute.

THE GUARD
(announcing)
His Magniloquence, the Doctor, has returned. His Magniloquence, His
Magniloquence.

*[THE DOCTOR enters through the big door stage right, which opens and
closes by itself. He manages to look like an astrologer and an executioner at
the same time. On his head he wears a pointed hat with stars. He is dressed
in red with an executioner’s hood attached to his collar, and he is holding a
telescope.]

THE DOCTOR
(to MARGUERITE) Good morning, Majesty. (to MARIE) Good morning,
Majesty. Would your Majesties please excuse my being a little late. I’ve
come directly from the hospital where I had to perform several surgical
interventions of the greatest import to science.

MARIE
You can’t operate on the King!

MARGUERITE
It would be pointless now.

THE DOCTOR
(looking at MARGUERITE, then at MARIE) I know. Not His Majesty.

MARIE
Doctor, is there anything new? He is a little better, isn’t he? Isn’t he? An
improvement is not out of the question, is it?

THE DOCTOR
His condition is critical, and it will not change.

MARIE
It’s true, there’s no hope, no hope. (looking to MARGUERITE) She doesn’t
want me to hope. She’s forbidden it.

12
MARGUERITE
Some people have delusions of grandeur. You seem to have delusions of
mediocrity.* I’ve never known a Queen like it! You make me ashamed.
Ah! She’s going to cry again.

THE DOCTOR
Well, as a matter of fact, I do have some news if you so desire.

MARIE
What is it?

THE DOCTOR
News that merely confirms prior indications. Mars and Saturn have
collided.

MARGUERITE
We’ve been waiting for that.

THE DOCTOR
Both planets have exploded.

MARGUERITE
That’s logical.

THE DOCTOR
The sun has lost between fifty and seventy-five percent of its strength.

MARGUERITE
Goes without saying.

THE DOCTOR
Snow is falling on the North Pole of the Sun. The Milky Way seems to have
curdled. The great comet is overcome with fatigue, feeling its age, wrapping
itself in its tail, and curling up like an old sick dog.

13
MARIE
That’s not true. You’re exaggerating. You are, you are. You’re
exaggerating.

THE DOCTOR
(offering his telescope) You want to take a look through the glass?

MARGUERITE
(to THE DOCTOR) There’s no point. We believe you. What else?

THE DOCTOR
Spring, which was still with us last night, left two and a half hours ago.
Now, it’s November. Beyond our borders, grass is starting to shoot. And
the trees are turning green again. All the cows are calving twice a day, once
in the morning, once in the afternoon around five, five-fifteen. But here at
home, the leaves are withering and dropping to the ground. The trees sigh
and die. The land is parched and cracked even more than usual.

THE GUARD
(announcing)
The Royal Meteorological Bureau is pointing out that the weather is
inclement.

MARIE
I can hear the land crack, I can hear it, yes, alas, I can hear it!

MARGUERITE
It is that crack. It’s widening and spreading.

THE DOCTOR
The lightning is frozen in the sky, the clouds are raining frogs, the thunder is
rumbling. You can’t hear it because it’s mute. Twenty-five of our people
have melted. Twelve have lost their heads. Decapitated. This time I had
nothing to do with it.

MARGUERITE
These are the signs indeed.

THE DOCTOR
Elsewhere…

14
MARGUERITE
(interrupting him) That’s enough. Don’t go on. It’s what happens at a time
like this. We know.

THE GUARD
(announcing) His Majesty, the King!

(Music.)

Attention! His Majesty. Long live the King!

(THE KING enters through the upstage door on the left. His feet are bare.
JULIETTE is behind him.)*

MARGUERITE
What has he done with his slippers?

JULIETTE
Sire. They’re here.

MARGUERITE
That’s a bad habit walking around barefoot.

MARIE
(to JULIETTE) Hurry up. Put them on. He’ll catch cold.

MARGUERITE
Catching cold hardly matters at this stage. It’s just a bad habit.

(While JULIETTE puts the slippers on THE KING’S feet, and MARIE moves
towards him, the Royal Music continues playing.)

THE DOCTOR
(with a humble, cloying bow) Allow me to bid Your Majesty “Good
Morning!” And thus, to present my very best wishes.

MARGUERITE
That’s just an empty formality now.

15
THE KING
(to MARIE, and then to MARGUERITE) Good morning, Marie. Good
morning, Marguerite. Still here? I mean, already here? How are you? I’m
not good. I don’t really know what’s wrong with me. My limbs are a bit
numb, I had trouble getting up, and my feet are aching! I must get some
new slippers. Maybe I’m growing!? I slept so badly, the earth was
cracking, the borders were shrinking, the cattle bellowing, the sirens wailing
– such a terrible racket. I need to fix all that. We must strive to find a
solution. (He sees the crack.) Ah, that crack! Aie! My ribs! (to THE
DOCTOR) Good morning, Doctor. Is it lumbago? (to the others) I am
expecting an engineer….a foreigner. Ours are no good anymore. They just
don’t care. Besides we haven’t got any. Why did we close the Polytechnic?
Oh yes, it fell in the hole. And why bother building others when everything
falls in the hole. I’ve got such a headache! On top of everything else. And
those clouds….I thought I’d banned clouds. Clouds – that’s enough rain. I
said – enough. I said that’s enough. Ah! They don’t listen. They do what
they like. That cloud’s an idiot. It can’t seem to help itself – dribbling away
like an old man’s dick. (to JULIETTE) What are you staring at? You look
very red today. My bedroom’s full of spider webs. Go and clean them up.

JULIETTE
I got rid of them all while Your Majesty was sleeping. I have no idea where
they come from. They keep growing back.

THE DOCTOR
(to MARGUERITE) You see, Majesty, this provides further confirmation.

THE KING
(to MARIE) What’s the matter, my beautiful girl?

MARIE
(unable to speak) I don’t know…nothing…nothing’s the matter…

THE KING
You have circles under your eyes. You’ve been crying? Why?

16
MARIE
Oh God!

THE KING
(to MARGUERITE) I forbid anyone to upset her. And why did she say “Oh
God”?

MARGUERITE
It’s an expression. (to JULIETTE) Go and clean the spider webs again.

THE KING
Ah yes! Those spider webs, they’re revolting. They give me nightmares.

MARGUERITE
(to JULIETTE) Hurry up, stop dawdling. Have you forgotten how to use a
broom?

JULIETTE
Mine’s worn out. I need a new one. Actually, I could do with a Hoover!

(JULIETTE leaves)

THE KING
What’s the matter with you all – staring at me like that. Am I in some way
abnormal? Let’s face it - nothing’s abnormal when abnormal has become
the new normal.* I’m glad we sorted that out.

MARIE
(running to THE KING) My King, you’re limping.

THE KING
(slightly limping two or three steps) I’m limping? I’m not limping. Well if I
am limping I am only limping a little bit.

MARIE
You’re hurting. Here, let me hold you.

17
THE KING
I’m not hurting. Why would I be hurting? Well yes I am a little bit. It’s
nothing. I don’t need anyone to hold me. Although I do like it when you
hold me.

MARGUERITE
(advancing towards THE KING) Sire, I have some news to impart.

MARIE
No, shut up.

MARGUERITE
You shut up.

MARIE
(to THE KING) Don’t believe anything she tells you.

THE KING
News of what? What shouldn’t I believe? Marie, why do you look so sad?
What’s going on?

MARGUERITE
(to THE KING) Sire, it’s our duty to inform you that you are going to die.

THE DOCTOR
Alas, you are, Majesty.

THE KING
Yes, well I know that. Everyone knows that. It’s simply a matter of
reminding me when the time comes. What sort of mania is it, Marguerite,
that drives you to engage in disagreeable conversations at dawn?

MARGUERITE
It’s noon.

THE KING
It’s not noon. Oh, yes, it is noon. It doesn’t matter. For me, it’s the
morning. I haven’t eaten yet. Bring me my breakfast. Actually, I’m not all
that hungry. Doctor, I’ll need pills to freshen my appetite and something to
spark up my liver. Is my tongue furry? (He sticks it out.)

18
THE DOCTOR
Yes, indeed, Majesty.

THE KING
My liver’s clogged. I didn’t touch a drop last night but I have this rancid
taste in my mouth.

THE DOCTOR
Majesty, Queen Marguerite has spoken the truth. You are going to die.

THE KING
Uhhh! Now you’re just being boring. I will die, yes, of course I’ll die. In
forty years, in fifty years, three hundred years. Later. When I wish. When I
have time. When I decide. So, in the meantime, aren’t there affairs of the
kingdom we should be attending to? (He climbs the steps of the throne.)
Aieeeouuu! My legs! It’s my kidneys! I have caught cold in this mal-
heated palace, with its broken windows letting in tempest and icy blast.
Have those tiles been replaced on the roof - the ones that blew off in the
wind? No-one’s doing their job. I’ll have to take care of it myself. I have
other things to do. You can’t count on anybody. (to MARIE, who is trying
to hold him) No, I can do it. (He uses his sceptre as a walking stick.)
At least this sceptre knows its job. (He finally gets to sit on his throne, with
help from QUEEN MARIE.) No! Nein! Nyet! I can do it. There we go!
Ouf! This throne’s got hard. Needs some padding.* How’s our country
doing this morning?

MARGUERITE
What’s left of it.

THE KING
What’s left of it still has a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’. You should take an
interest in it – it’d do you good. Summon the ministers.* (JULIETTE
appears.) Could you go and find the ministers. They’re probably still
asleep. They think there’s nothing left to do.

19
JULIETTE
They’ve gone on holidays. Not very far, mind you, given that the kingdom
has shrunk so much. They’re on the other side of the country, about three
yards away just around the corner, at the edge of the wood, down by the
little stream. They’re fishing. Hoping to catch a few fish to feed the people.

THE KING
Well, go to the edge of the wood and bring them back.

JULIETTE
They won’t come. They’re on leave. I’ll go and have a look anyway –
whatever.

(She goes to look through the window.)

THE KING
No discipline!

JULIETTE
They’ve fallen in the stream.

MARIE
Well, go and fish them out.

(JULIETTE exits.)

THE KING
I should sack them both. If only I could find two other governmental experts
to replace them.

MARIE
We’ll find others.

THE DOCTOR
We won’t find others, Majesty.

MARGUERITE
You won’t find others, Berenger.

20
MARIE
Yes, we will. Amongst the school children when they grow up. We’ll have
to wait a little bit. But once these two have been fished out, they’ll be able
to manage the immediate business.

THE DOCTOR
The only children left in the schools are congenital retards, mongoloids, and
hydrocephalics with goitres.

THE KING
The race is not in the best of health, it would seem. You must strive to cure
them, Doctor. Or at least ameliorate their conditions. They should learn at
least the first four, no, five letters of the alphabet. In the old days, we used
to kill them.

THE DOCTOR
His Majesty can no longer consider such a solution. He would have no
subjects left.

THE KING
Well, do something about it!

MARGUERITE
Nothing can be done. No-one can be cured. You yourself cannot be cured.

THE DOCTOR
Sire, you cannot be cured.

THE KING
I am not sick.

MARIE
He feels well. (to THE KING) Don’t you?

THE KING
The odd twinge here and there. It’s nothing. At any rate, I’m starting to feel
much better.

21
MARIE
He says he feels better. See? See?

THE KING
I can even say, I feel extremely better.

MARGUERITE
You are going to die in an hour and a half. You are going to die at the end
of the play.

THE KING
What’s that supposed to mean. That’s not funny.

MARGUERITE
You’re going to die at the end of the play.

MARIE
Oh God!

THE DOCTOR
Yes, Sire. You are going to die. You will not have breakfast tomorrow
morning. Nor your supper tonight. The cook has turned off the gas. Also,
he’s quit. He’s put the tablecloths and napkins away in the cupboard,
forever.

MARIE
Not so fast! Not so hard!

THE KING
And who could have given such orders without my consent? I feel perfectly
well. You’re making fun of me. Lies. (to MARGUERITE) You’ve always
wanted me dead. (to MARIE) She’s always wanted me dead. (to
MARGUERITE) I will die when I feel like it. I am the King. I make that
decision.

THE DOCTOR
You have lost the power to decide for yourself, Majesty.

22
MARGUERITE
You can’t even stop yourself being sick.

THE KING
I am not sick. (to MARIE) Didn’t you just say I wasn’t sick? I’m in great
shape.

MARGUERITE
And your pain?

THE KING
All gone.

MARGUERITE
Move around a bit, we’ll soon see.

THE KING
(having just sat down, tries to stand up) Aieeeouuu! …..that’s because I
wasn’t prepared – mentally. I wasn’t in the right head-space. When I go
there I can do anything. I think therefore I am…cured. But I haven’t had
time to think. I’ve been too busy running the kingdom.

MARGUERITE
And what a state that’s in! You can’t govern it, you know that perfectly
well, and won’t accept it. You have no power over yourself, you have no
power over the elements. There’s no way you can stop the blight. You have
no power over us.

MARIE
You’ll always have power over me.

MARGUERITE
Not even you

(JULIETTE enters.)

JULIETTE
It’s too late to fish out the ministers. The stream they fell into dropped into
the abyss. Along with the willows on the banks. And the banks.

23
THE KING
Oh, I see. It’s a plot. You want me to abdicate.

MARGUERITE
That would be best. Voluntary abdication.

THE DOCTOR
Abdicate, Sire. It’s for the best.

THE KING
I should abdicate?

MARGUERITE
Yes. Abdicate – morally and administratively.

THE DOCTOR
And physically.

MARIE
Don’t give your consent. Don’t listen to them.

THE KING
They’re insane. Or else they’re traitors.

JULIETTE
Sire, poor Sire, Sire, poor Sire.

MARIE
(to THE KING) You should have them arrested.

THE KING
(to THE GUARD) Guard, arrest them.

MARIE
Guard, arrest them. (to THE KING) That’s the way. Give some orders.

24
THE KING
(to THE GUARD) Arrest them all. Lock them up in the tower. Oh, no, the
tower’s collapsed. Take them away, and lock them in the cellar, or in the
dungeon, or in the rabbit hutch. Arrest them, every one of them. That’s an
order.

MARIE
(to THE GUARD) Arrest them.

THE GUARD
(without having moved) In the name of His Majesty…you are……you are
under arrest.

MARIE
(to THE GUARD) Well, move.

JULIETTE
He’s having a rest.

THE KING
(to THE GUARD) Come on, Guard. Move!

MARGUERITE
You see, he can’t move. He’s got gout. And rheumatism.

THE DOCTOR
(indicating THE GUARD) Sire, the army is paralysed. A mysterious virus
has entered its brain. The head-quarters have been taken out.

MARGUERITE
(to THE KING) It’s your own orders that have paralysed him, Majesty. It’s
only too obvious.

MARIE
(to THE KING) Don’t believe it. She’s trying to hypnotise you.

THE GUARD
You’re all under…..in the name of the King….I…you …
(He stops speaking, his mouth gaping.)

25
THE KING
(to THE GUARD) What’s the matter with you? Speak! Move! What are
you, some sort of pewter limited edition action figure?

MARIE
(to THE KING) Don’t ask questions. Don’t argue with him. Give orders.
Overwhelm him with the power of your will.

THE DOCTOR
He can’t move a muscle, you see, Majesty. He can’t talk, he’s ‘frozen’. He
no longer hears you. This is a characteristic symptom. Medically, it’s quite
classic.

THE KING
We’ll see if I have any power then.

MARIE
(to THE KING) Prove that you do . You can if you want to.

THE KING
I’ll prove that I want to, I’ll prove that I can.

MARIE
But, first, arise.

THE KING
I’m arising. I’m arising. (He makes a great effort, grimacing.)

MARIE
You see how easy it is.

THE KING
(to the others) You see how easy it is. You’re a pair of arseholes.
Bolsheviks. Terrorists. (He walks. To MARIE who tries to help him.) No,
no, no, by myself….let me do it on my own.*

(He falls. JULIETTE leaps to his assistance.)

I can get up by myself.

26
(He manages to get himself up finally. But painfully.)

THE GUARD
Long live the King!

(THE KING falls again.)

THE GUARD
The King is dying!

MARIE
Long live the King!

(THE KING gets back up, painfully, using his sceptre.)

THE GUARD
Long live the King!

(THE KING falls again.)

THE GUARD
The King is dead!

MARIE
Long live the King! Long live the King!

MARGUERITE
This is a joke.

(THE KING stands again, painfully.)

JULIETTE
(who had disappeared, re-appears) Long live the King!

(She disappears again. THE KING falls down again.)

27
THE GUARD
The King is dying!

MARIE
No. Long live the King! Get up. Long live the King!

JULIETTE
(appearing then disappearing while THE KING is getting up) Long live the
King!

THE GUARD
Long live the King!

(This scene should be played as a tragic Guignol.)*

MARIE
See? He’s better!

MARGUERITE
That’s just the last show of strength, isn’t it, Doctor?

THE DOCTOR
Clearly, that’s all it is, the show of strength at the end.

THE KING
I tripped, it’s as simple as that. That can happen. It happened. My crown!

(His crown has fallen off his head when he collapsed. MARIE puts it back
on his head.)

That’s a bad sign.

MARIE
Don’t think like that.

(THE KING’s sceptre falls.)

THE KING
My sceptre! That’s a bad sign.

28
MARIE
Don’t think like that. (She gives him his sceptre.)
Hold it tightly in your hand. Wrap your fingers around it.

THE GUARD
Long live….long live…. (He falls silent.)

THE DOCTOR
(to THE KING) Majesty…

MARGUERITE
(To THE DOCTOR, indicating MARIE) [We must keep her quiet.] She says
whatever comes into her head. She must say nothing further without our
permission.

(MARIE is motionless.)

MARGUERITE
(to THE DOCTOR, indicating THE KING) Try, now, to make him
understand.

THE DOCTOR
(to THE KING) Majesty, several decades ago, or even three days ago, your
empire was flourishing. In three days you have lost all the wars you ever
won. And those you’d lost, you’ve lost again. The rockets you want to
launch can’t even leave the ground. Or else they take off and fall straight
back down with a kind of …(does sound of a ‘splat’) sound.

THE KING
Technical error.

THE DOCTOR
There never used to be.

MARGUERITE
Your success is over. Face it.

THE DOCTOR
Your pains, your ‘twinges’….

29
THE KING
I’ve never had them before. This is the first time.

THE DOCTOR
Quite. That’s the sign. It’s really all happened at once, hasn’t it?

MARGUERITE
You should have been ready for it.

THE DOCTOR
It’s all happened at once, you’re no longer in control of yourself. You
acknowledge that, Sire? Think clearly. Come on, be brave.

THE KING
I got up. You’re lying. I got up.

THE DOCTOR
You’re a very sick man and you could never do it again.

MARGUERITE
That’s right. He’s fading fast. (to THE KING) What are you still capable
of? Can you give orders which will be followed? Can you bring about
change? Try it. Let’s see.

THE KING
It’s because I haven’t used my will-power that everything’s fallen apart.
Simple negligence. It can all be worked out. Everything will be fixed, as
good as new. You’ll soon see what I can do. Guard, move, come here.

MARGUERITE
See, he can’t. He can only obey other people. Guard, take two steps
forward.

(THE GUARD advances two steps.)

Guard, retreat.

(THE GUARD retreats two steps.)

30
THE KING
Off with that guard’s head! Off with his head!

(THE GUARD’s head inclines a little to the right, a little to the left.)

His head’s going to fall, his head’s going to fall!

MARGUERITE
No, it’s not. It’s a bit of a stretch, that’s all. He does that.

THE KING
Off with that Doctor’s head.! Off with it now! Right now!

MARGUERITE
That Doctor’s head has never been more secure. I’ve never seen it so strong.

THE DOCTOR
Forgive me, Sire, I am sorry. I don’t know what to say.

[THE KING
Off with Marguerite’s crown! Knock it to the ground!

(It is THE KING’s crown which falls to the ground. MARGUERITE picks it
up.)

MARGUERITE
Let me get that for you. There you are.

THE KING
Thank you.] What is all this? Voodoo? What’s happened to my powers?
Don’t think this is going to continue. I will root out the origins of this
disorder. There’s some sort of rust in the machinery that has caused the
system to seize up.

MARGUERITE
(to MARIE) You may speak now. We give you permission.

31
MARIE
(to THE KING) Tell me to do something, I will do it. Give me an order.
Order me, Sire, order me. I will obey.

MARGUERITE
(to THE DOCTOR) She thinks what she calls love can achieve the
impossible. [A sentimental fantasy. Things have changed. It’s out of the
question now. We’ve moved beyond all that. Way beyond.]

MARIE
(who has retreated back and is now near the window.) Order me, my King,
order me, my love. See how beautiful I am. I smell delicious. Order me to
come to you, to kiss you.

THE KING
(to MARIE) Come to me, kiss me. (MARIE is motionless.) Do you hear
me?*

MARIE
Oh yes, I hear you. I will do it.

THE KING
Come to me.

MARIE
I want to. I am going to. I am going to. My arms have gone dead.

THE KING
Dance, then. (MARIE doesn’t move.) Dance. {Do Irish dancing you don’t
need your arms for that!} [Well then, at least… turn around, go to the
window, open it… and close it.]

MARIE
I can’t.

THE KING
You’ve probably got a pinched nerve, yes, that’s what it is, you’ve got a
pinched nerve. Come towards me.

32
MARIE
Yes, Sire.

THE KING
Come towards me…and smile.

MARIE
Yes, Sire.

THE KING
Do it then!

MARIE
I don’t know how to walk anymore. I’ve suddenly forgotten.

MARGUERITE
(to MARIE) Take a few steps towards him.

(MARIE advances a little in the direction of THE KING.)

THE KING
See, she’s coming.

MARGUERITE
She was listening to me! (to MARIE) Stop. Stop there.

MARIE
Forgive me, Majesty. It’s not my fault.

MARGUERITE
(to THE KING) Do you want any more proof?

THE KING
I order trees to sprout through the floor. (Pause.) I order the roof to
disappear. (Pause.) What? Nothing? Let there be rain. (Pause – still
nothing happens) Let there be a thunderbolt that I can hold in my hand.
(Pause.) I order that leaves…grow again. (He goes to the window.) What?
Nothing? I order that Juliette enters through that big door. (JULIETTE
enters through the little door up the back on the left.) Not that one, this one.

33
Exit through that big door. (He points to the big door. She exits through the
little door on the right, upstage. To Juliette.) I order you to stop. (She has
gone.) I order that we hear trumpets.* I order the bells to ring out. I order a
hundred and twenty-one gun salute in my honour. (He listens.)
Nothing!…oh yes! I can hear something.

THE DOCTOR
It’s just that ringing in your ears, Majesty.

MARGUERITE
Don’t do any more. You’re becoming ridiculous.

MARIE
(to THE KING) You’re wearing yourself out, my little King. Don’t lose
hope. You’re covered in sweat. Have a little rest. We’ll try again later.
Let’s give it an hour.

MARGUERITE
(to THE KING) You’re going to be dead in an hour and twenty-five.

THE DOCTOR
Yes, Sire. In one hour twenty-four minutes and fifty seconds.

THE KING
(to MARIE) Marie!

MARGUERITE
In one hour twenty-four minutes and forty-one seconds. (to THE KING)
Prepare yourself.

MARIE
Don’t give in. (She embraces him)

MARGUERITE
(to MARIE) Stop trying to distract him. The order of ceremony is to be
followed, point by point.

34
THE GUARD
(announcing) The ceremony is about to commence!

*(General movement. Ceremonial positions are taken. THE KING is on his

throne, MARIE at his side.)

THE KING
Time - turn back now.

MARIE
Let us be as we used to be – years ago.

THE KING
Let it be last week.

MARIE
Let it be yesterday evening. Time, turn back. Time, turn back - time, stop.

MARGUERITE
There is no more time. Time has slipped through his fingers.

THE DOCTOR
(to MARGUERITE, after having looked through his telescope towards the
firmament.) Looking through this glass which sees through walls and
ceilings, you can perceive a vacuum in the sky where the Royal
Constellation should be. In the Great Universal Register, His Majesty is
listed as deceased.

THE GUARD
The King is dead! Long live the King!

MARGUERITE
(to THE GUARD) Shut up, you idiot.

THE DOCTOR
He is, in fact, much more dead than alive.

35
THE KING
I’m not. I don’t want to die. Please, don’t let me die. Be nice to me, don’t
let me die. I don’t want to. I don’t want to. I don’t want to.

THE DOCTOR
This is the crisis I was expecting. It’s absolutely normal. [Already, his first
line of defence is down.]

MARIE
(to MARGUERITE) The crisis will pass.

THE GUARD
(announcing) The King is passing.

THE KING
I don’t want to pass!*

THE DOCTOR
Your Majesty will be greatly missed. We shall say so publicly. That’s a
promise.

MARIE
Aaaaaahh! His hair’s gone all white!

(Indeed, the hair of THE KING has gone white.)

Wrinkles are spreading across his forehead and all over his face. He’s
suddenly aged fourteen centuries!

THE DOCTOR
God, he’s aged!

THE KING
Kings ought to be immortal.

MARGUERITE
Well, they are – provisionally.

36
THE KING
They promised me I would die only when I decided to myself.

MARGUERITE
That’s because they thought you would have decided well before now. You
developed a taste for authority, now you’re being forced to make the
decision. You thought life was a warm bath. Now it’s going to get cold.

THE KING
I’ve been tricked. I should have been warned. I’ve been tricked.

MARGUERITE
You were warned.

THE KING
Well, you warned me too soon. Now you tell me too late. I don’t want to
die. I won’t like it. Someone has to save me because I can’t.

MARGUERITE
You are doomed, and you should have thought about it from day one. And
then every day after that, five minutes every day. That’s not too much to
ask. Five minutes a day. Then ten minutes, quarter of an hour, then half.
That’s the way to train yourself.

THE KING
I did think about it.

MARGUERITE
Never seriously. Never profoundly. Never with all your being.

MARIE
He was living.

MARGUERITE
Rather too much. (to THE KING) You should have kept this as a thought
constantly behind all other thoughts.

37
THE DOCTOR
He never looked ahead. He lived from day to day like everyone else.

MARGUERITE
You were putting it off. At twenty, you said you’d wait until you turned
forty before you started preparing yourself. At forty…

THE KING
I was in such good health, I was so young!

MARGUERITE
At forty, you thought you’d wait until you were fifty. At fifty….

THE KING
I was full of life, I was so full of life!

MARGUERITE
At fifty, you wanted to wait for your sixties. And so on, from sixty to ninety
to hundred and twenty-five, to two hundred, to four hundred. Instead of
putting things off for ten years at a time, you were going for fifty. Then it
was century to century.

THE KING
I was almost about to start. Ooooh! If I could have just one more century
in front of me now, I promise I could make that work!

THE DOCTOR
You have just over an hour left, Sire. You must do it all in one hour.

MARIE
That’s not enough time for him. That’s not possible. You must give him
more time.

MARGUERITE
That is impossible. One hour, that’s all he has and all he needs.

THE DOCTOR
An hour well spent is better than centuries and centuries of failure and
neglect. Five minutes could do it. Ten clearly-focussed seconds. We’re

38
giving him an hour: sixty minutes – three thousand six hundred seconds.
He’s lucky.

MARGUERITE
He’s dawdled his life away.

(JULIETTE enters.)

JULIETTE
Poor Majesty, poor Sire, he’s been wagging it.

THE KING
I’m like a schoolboy who’s sitting for an exam – and I haven’t done my
homework. I haven’t read the right books…

MARIE
(to THE KING) Don’t get upset.

THE KING
I’m like an actor who doesn’t know his lines, and it’s opening night, and
I’ve dried, I’ve dried, I’ve dried. It’s like public-speaking, you’re pushed
onto the platform and you’ve got no idea what to say - you don’t even know
who you’re meant to be addressing. I don’t know these people, I don’t want
to know them, I’ve nothing to say to them… aarrrghhh! I’m a mess!

THE GUARD
(announcing) The King has declared he’s a mess!

THE KING
I want to defer the exam.

MARGUERITE
You have to sit for it now. No deferrals are allowed.

THE DOCTOR
There’s nothing you can do about it, Majesty. Neither can we. I’m only a
doctor. I can’t perform miracles.*

39
THE KING
Do the people know what’s happening? Have they been warned? I want
everyone to know that their King is going to die. (He rushes to open the
window. It takes great effort as his limp has grown worse.)

MARGUERITE
(to THE DOCTOR) They mustn’t hear. Stop him!

THE KING
Good people, I am going to die. Hear what I say. Your King is going to die.

MARGUERITE
Stop his yelling.

THE KING
Do not touch your King! I want the whole world to know I am going to die.
(He cries out)

THE DOCTOR
This is appalling.

THE KING
My people, it seems I must die.

MARGUERITE
This isn’t a king. This is a pig being slaughtered.

MARIE
He’s just a king. He’s just a man.

THE DOCTOR
Majesty, consider the death of Louis the Fourteenth, or Phillip the Second,
or Charles the Fifth who slept for twenty years in his own tomb. It’s Your
Majesty’s duty to die with dignity.

THE KING
Die with dignity? (At the window.) HELP! I’m gonna die!

MARIE
Poor King, my poor little King.

40
JULIETTE
Shouting’s not going to help.

(A faint echo can be heard in the distance – “The King is going to die!”)

THE KING
You hear that?

MARIE
I hear it, I can hear it.

THE KING
They’ve answered me. Perhaps they will save me.

JULIETTE
There’s nobody there.

(The echo can be heard – “HELP!”)

THE DOCTOR
It’s just an echo…. and it’s running a bit late.

MARGUERITE
[What else is new?] It’s like everything else in this country. Nothing works.

THE KING
(leaving the window) It’s not possible. (Going back to the window.) I’m
frightened. It’s not possible.

MARGUERITE
You’d think no-one had ever died before.

MARIE
No-one alive has ever died before.

MARGUERITE
It’s certainly all very painful.

41
JULIETTE
He’s crying – just like anyone else.

MARGUERITE
How common! I’d have hoped his plight would have occasioned some
exemplary quote. (to THE DOCTOR) I’m putting you in charge of the
Historical Record. We’ll find what someone else has said and attribute it to
him. Or we’ll invent something if we have to.

THE DOCTOR
Yes, we’ll credit him with some edifying utterances. (to MARGUERITE)
We’ll take care of his legacy. (to THE KING) We’ll take care of your
legacy, Majesty.

THE KING
(at the window) People, help!…People, help! *

MARGUERITE
Have you finished? You’re wearing yourself out, Majesty.

THE KING
(at the window) Yoo-hoo! Who wants to give me their life? Who is willing
to give their life for the King’s. For the good old King. For the poor old
King?

MARGUERITE
It’s indecent!

MARIE
He’s just trying out various options. Even the most unlikely.

JULIETTE
Well, seeing there’s no-one out there... (She leaves.)

THE DOCTOR
The echo’s stopped. His voice isn’t carrying. He can shout as much as he
wants. It won’t even reach the garden wall.

MARGUERITE
(while THE KING is wailing) Now he’s bleating.

42
[THE DOCTOR
We’re the only ones who can hear him now. He can’t even hear himself.]

(THE KING turns around. He takes a few steps towards the middle of the
stage.)

THE KING
I’m cold. I’m scared. I’m weeping.

MARIE
His legs are failing him.

THE DOCTOR
He’s riddled with rheumatism. (to MARGUERITE) A needle to calm him
down?

[JULIETTE appears with a wheelchair the back of which is emblazoned with

a crown and royal insignia.]

THE KING
I don’t want a needle.

MARIE
No needles.

THE KING
I know what it means. I’ve done it to others.* (to JULIETTE) I didn’t tell
you to bring that chair. I want to go for a walk. [I want to take some air.]

[JULIETTE leaves the wheelchair in a corner of the stage on the left, and
leaves the stage.]

MARGUERITE
Sit yourself in the wheelchair. You’re going to fall.

(THE KING is, indeed, reeling.)

THE KING
I don’t accept that. I want to stay upright.*

43
[JULIETTE returns with a coverlet.]

JULIETTE
You’ll feel better, Sire, more comfortable with a blanket on your knees and a
hottie. * [She leaves.]

THE KING
I want to stay upright. I want to scream. I want to scream. (He screams.)

THE GUARD
(announcing) His Majesty is screaming!*

THE DOCTOR
(to MARGUERITE) He won’t scream for long.* I know the pattern. He’ll
tire, he’ll stop.* He’ll listen to us.

[JULIETTE enters, carrying warm clothes and a hot-water bottle.]

[THE KING
(to JULIETTE)
I don’t want them.]

MARGUERITE
Sit down, sit down, now.

THE KING
I won’t obey you. *[He tries to climb the steps to the throne, but can’t.
However, he gets to the QUEEN’s throne on the Right, and collapses on it.]
{WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!!}

[JULIETTE, having followed THE KING, with the things she has brought in,
goes and puts them on the wheelchair.]

MARGUERITE
{(to THE AUDIENCE)
Don’t encourage him! } (to JULIETTE)
Take the sceptre. It’s too heavy for him.

44
THE KING
(to JULIETTE, who is approaching him with a nightcap.)
I’m not wearing that! (And he doesn’t.)

JULIETTE
It’s just like a crown, only not as heavy.*

THE KING
Let me keep my sceptre.

MARGUERITE
You don’t have the strength to hold it.

THE DOCTOR
You can’t be relying on that anymore. We’ll carry you. We’ll wheel you in
the chair.

THE KING
I want to keep my sceptre.

MARIE
(to JULIETTE)
Let him have the sceptre, if he wants it.

(JULIETTE looks at MARGUERITE, questioning.)

MARGUERITE
Alright, I don’t see why not.

(JULIETTE releases the sceptre back to THE KING.)*

THE KING
Maybe this isn’t real. Tell me it’s not real. That it’s a nightmare. (Silence
from the others.) There’s a chance, maybe one in ten, maybe one in a
thousand. (Silence from the others; THE KING sobs.) I used to be so lucky
in raffles.

THE DOCTOR
Majesty!

45
THE KING
I can’t listen to you any more. I’m too frightened. (He sobs; he moans.)

MARGUERITE
You must listen, Sire.

THE KING
I don’t want your words. They frighten me. I don’t want any more talk.
(to MARIE, who is trying to get near him.) Don’t come near me, not even
you. Your pity frightens me. (THE KING starts moaning again.)

<MARIE
He’s like a little boy. He’s a little boy again.

MARGUERITE
A balding, wrinkled, ugly little boy. You’re so indulgent!

JULIETTE
(to MARGUERITE) Put yourself in his shoes. >

THE KING
No, no, no, speak, speak to me. Be with me, embrace me, support me. No, I
want to be free.

[He stands with difficulty and settles onto the other little throne to the left.] *

JULIETTE
His legs can barely carry him.

THE KING
And I’m having trouble moving forward. Is this how it starts? [No.] Why
was I born if it wasn’t going to be for ever? Damn my parents! What a
joke, what a great joke! I came into this world five minutes ago; I got
married three minutes ago.*

MARGUERITE
Two hundred and eighty-three years ago, actually.

46
THE KING
I came to the throne two and a half minutes ago.

MARGUERITE
Two hundred and seventeen years and three months.

THE KING
Not enough time to scratch yourself. I’ve had no time to understand life.

[MARGUERITE
(to THE DOCTOR)
He never made the effort.

MARIE
It has been but a brief walk down a flowery path, a promise not kept, a
smile that has faded.

MARGUERITE
(continuing to THE DOCTOR) And yet he had the finest minds to explain it
all to him. Theologians, people of experience, and books he never read.

THE KING
I didn’t have the time.]

MARGUERITE
You used to say you had all the time in the world.

THE KING
*I didn’t have the time, I didn’t have the time, I didn’t have the time.

THE DOCTOR
Things are looking up. [He is moaning, he is crying, but at the same time
he’s starting to think things through. He complains, he protests] – he’s
expressing himself; it all indicates he’s moving to a state of resignation.

THE KING
I will never resign.

47
THE DOCTOR
When he says he will never, that’s a sign that he will. He’s putting
resignation on the table. He’s posing that question.

MARGUERITE
Finally!

THE DOCTOR
Majesty, you have made war one hundred and eighty times. You have led
your armies into two thousand battles. First, on a white horse with plumes
of white and red for all to see. And you were fearless. Then, when you
modernised the army, boldly astride a tank or on the wing of a fighter plane
leading the formation.

MARIE
He was a hero.

THE DOCTOR
You have had a thousand brushes with death.

THE KING
They were only brushes. I knew it wasn’t my time.

MARIE
You were a hero, do you hear me? Remember that.

MARGUERITE
You were a murderer. With this doctor, this butcher by your side…

THE KING
It was execution, not murder.

THE DOCTOR
Execution, Majesty, not murder. I was obeying orders. I was merely an
instrument, an executor not an executioner, and everything I did I did
euthanastically. Anyway, I regret all that. Sorry.

48
MARGUERITE
(to THE KING) I’m telling you: you had my parents slaughtered, your own
brothers, our cousins, and our great-grand-cousins several times removed,
their families, their friends, their cattle. And you torched their lands.

[THE DOCTOR
His Majesty used to say that they would die one day anyway.]

THE KING
It was for matters of State.

MARGUERITE
Your death is also a matter of State.

THE KING
But I am the State.*

JULIETTE
[Poor bugger.] And what a state he’s in.

MARIE
He was the law, he was above the law.

THE KING
I’m not above the law any more, I’m not above the law any more.

THE GUARD
(announcing) The King is not above the law any more.

JULIETTE
He’s not above the law any more, poor old sausage. He’s just like us. Bit
like my grandpa.

MARIE
Poor little fellow, my poor child.

THE KING
A child! A child! I could start again! I want to start again. (to MARIE) I
want to be a baby, you can be my Mummy. Then they won’t come for me.

49
I don’t know how to read, I don’t know how to write, I don’t know how to
count. Someone take me to school with some little pals. What’s two and
two?

JULIETTE
Two and two makes four.

{THE KING
(wide-eyed) Oh!}

MARGUERITE
(to THE KING)
You knew that.

THE KING
She was just prompting… Oh dear, you can’t trick them. [Oh dear, oh
dear.] And yet so many people are being born at this moment, innumerable
births happening all over the planet.

MARGUERITE
Not in our country.

THE DOCTOR
The birthrate is down to zero.

JULIETTE
There’s not a single lettuce growing, not a blade of grass.

MARGUERITE
(to THE KING) Absolute sterility, thanks to you.

MARIE
Let’s not start apportioning blame.

JULIETTE
Maybe it’ll all grow back again.

MARGUERITE
When he’s accepted his fate. When he’s gone.

50
THE KING
Gone! When I’ve gone! They’re going to laugh, they’ll be stuffing their
faces, they’ll be dancing on my grave. I will never have existed. Ah, let
them remember me. Let them cry, let them grieve. Let my memory endure
in all the history books. So that everyone knows my life by heart. That they
live it over and over. That schoolchildren and scholars study only one
subject - me, my reign, my deeds. Burn all other books. Let them destroy
every statue and set up mine in every public place. My portrait in every
ministry, in every municipal office, including Parking Fines and
Marketing… and in all the hospitals. Let my name adorn every airship, sea-
vessel, every cart, every car be it electric, steam or diesel. Let all other
kings, warriors, poets, philosophers, tenors, all be forgotten, that there be
consciousness only of me. One single name. Berenger. For everyone. Let
them learn to read by spelling out my name. Buh-Eh-Rrr-Eh-Nn-Jh-Eh-
Rrr…! Etch it into every icon, into the millions of crucifix in every church.
Let the Mass be said for me, let me be the Host. Let all the stained-glass
windows have the colour and shape of my eyes. Let the rivers carve the
profile of my face across the plains. Let my name echo through eternity.
Let them pray to me. Let them beg.

MARIE
Maybe you’ll come back?

THE KING
Maybe I will come back. Let them store my body in some palace, on a
throne, and let them bring me food and drink. Let musicians play for me and
virgins writhe at my ice-cold feet.

(THE KING has risen for this tirade.)

JULIETTE
(to MARGUERITE) He is raving, Madame.

THE GUARD
(announcing) His Majesty, the King, is raving.

[MARGUERITE
Not yet. He still makes too much sense. Both too much, and not enough.]

51
THE DOCTOR
If such is your will, we will embalm your body, we’ll preserve it.

JULIETTE
As much as we can.

THE KING
Euuuhhaaagh! I don’t want to be embalmed. I don’t want to be that corpse.
I don’t want to be burnt! I don’t want to be buried, I don’t want to be left
for the vultures or wild beasts. I want to be held in warm arms, in cool
arms, in soft arms, strong arms.*

JULIETTE
He doesn’t really know what he wants.

[MARGUERITE
We’ll decide for him. (to MARIE.) Don’t start fainting. (JULIETTE is
crying.) Oh, and you! It’s always the same.]

THE KING
[If they remember me, how long will it be for?] I want to be remembered
until the end of time, past the end of time - in twenty-thousand years, in two
hundred and fifty five billion years… there’ll be nothing… no-one… they’ll
have forgotten, long before…selfish, the lot of them. Thinking nothing but
of their own lives, their own skin. Nothing of mine. If the earth is going to
wear out and melt away, let it. If the universe is going to explode, let it, be
it tomorrow or beyond forever and ever… whenever, it doesn’t matter -
what’s going to end is already ended.

MARGUERITE
Everything is yesterday.

JULIETTE
Even today is yesterday.

THE DOCTOR
Everything is past.

52
MARIE
My darling, my King, there is no past, there is no future. Assure yourself,
there is only the present to the end. Everything is the present; be present.
Be present.

THE KING
Sadly, I am only present in the past.

MARIE
No, you’re not.

MARGUERITE
That’s right. Think clearly, Berenger.

MARIE
Yes, think clearly, my King, my darling. Stop tormenting yourself.
Existence and death are just words. Ideas. Patterns that we create for
ourselves. Once you understand that, nothing can hurt you. Be the great
eternal question: what is it, what is…? That there is no possible answer is
the answer itself. It is your very being, sparking and scattering. Abandon
yourself to the endless wonder and chaos, and you too will be endless,
infinite. Be astonished, be dazzled, everything is strange, unique. Break
the bars of your prison, knock down its walls, escape from definitions.
Breathe.

THE DOCTOR
He is suffocating.*

MARGUERITE
He’s choked with fear.

MARIE
Let joy wash through you, light, be astonished, be dazzled. It will spread
through your bones and flesh like a flood, a stream of brilliant light. If you
want it.

JULIETTE
He wants it. He wants it.*

53
MARIE
(as if praying)
Remember I beg you, that time at the seaside, that morning in June, just the
two of us…you were lit up with joy, overwhelmed by it. You have felt this
joy. You said you felt it there – deep and wide, and yours. If you felt it
then, you can feel it now. You had this light within you. If you had it then,
you have it always. Find it again, in yourself, find it.

THE KING
I don’t understand.

MARIE
It’s yourself you don’t understand.

MARGUERITE
He never understood himself.

MARIE
Be very strong.

THE KING
How do I do that? Nobody can help me, nobody wants to. I can’t help me.
O Sun, help me, Sun, chase away the shadows, hold back the night. Sun,
Sun, light up the tombs, shine into every dark corner, every hole and crevice,
come now, flood into me. Ah! My feet are getting cold. Come and warm
me up. Come into my body, under my skin, in my eyes. Rekindle their
failing light so I can see, I can see, I can see. Sun, sun, will you miss me?
Dear good little Sun, take care of me. If some small sacrifice is needed, dry
up and and kill off the entire world. Let everyone die so that I may live
eternally, alone if needs be, in a limitless desert. I’ll cope with the solitude.
I’ll have the memory of other people, and I’ll genuinely miss them. I can
live in the transparent immensity of the void. Better to miss than be missed.
Not that anyone ever really is. Missed. Light of my life, help me!

THE DOCTOR
(to MARIE) This is not the light you meant. He hasn’t understood a thing.

54
MARGUERITE
A waste of energy. You’re on the wrong track.

THE KING
I want to live for ever and ever, even with the worst toothache imaginable.
Oh, God, what’s going to end has already ended.*

<THE DOCTOR
Then, Sire, what are you waiting for? >

MARGUERITE
It seems as though he hasn’t quite run out of text yet.* (referring to MARIE
and JULIETTE.) And these two weeping women aren’t any help. [They’re
grinding us to a halt.] Any slower, we’d be going backwards.

THE KING
*No, there’s not enough weeping around me, not enough wailing, not
enough anguish. (to MARGUERITE) Don’t stop them from crying, from
howling, feeling pity for their King, their young King, their poor little
King, their old King. I feel pity when I think how they’ll miss me, never to
see me again, abandoned, all alone they’ll be. There I go, thinking about
others yet again. Here, come unto me, all you others. Become me. Come
into my skin. I’m dying, do you hear, I mean it, I really mean it, I am dying.
But how can I express it without seeming like I’m in the middle of some sort
of play.

MARGUERITE
Past the middle I’d have hoped.

THE DOCTOR
No-one’s content just to live anymore. Everything has to be turned into art.

MARIE
If it makes him happy.

THE GUARD
(announcing) The King finds happiness in art!

55
THE KING
No, no, no.* Nothing makes me happy. Art!? It lifts you up, it drops you
down.* [Ah, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. (Wailing. Then, with no declamatory
tone, just softly moaning.)] Everybody, all you countless millions who
have died before me, help me. Tell me how you died, how you reached
acceptance. Teach me. Let your example console me, take me in your
brotherly arms, let me lean on you. Help me to pass through that door.
Come back here just for a moment and rescue me. Help me, you who were
afraid , who refused to go. What was it like? Who held you? Who drew
you forward, who pushed you? Were you afraid until the end? And you,
who were strong and courageous, who accepted death with serenity and
indifference, teach me indifference, teach me serenity, teach me acceptance.

[The following lines should be spoken and played like a ritual, with
solemnity, almost chanted, with various movements from the actors, such as
kneeling, arms held out, etc.] *

JULIETTE
You ghosts, you ancient shades and shadows, you memories of light…

MARIE
Teach him serenity.

GUARD
Teach him indifference.

DOCTOR
Teach him acceptance.

MARGUERITE
Make him see reason so that he calms down.

THE KING
You suicides, teach me how to feel that disgust for life. Teach me that loss.
What drug do I take for that?

THE DOCTOR
I can prescribe depressants or anti-depressants.

56
MARGUERITE
He’d just vomit them up.

JULIETTE
You memories of light…

THE GUARD
You faded images…

JULIETTE
…which exist only in our memories…

GUARD
Remembrances of remembrance of remembrance…

MARGUERITE
What he needs to learn is to yield a little and then let go altogether.

THE GUARD
…we invoke you.

MARIE
You morning dew, you mists…

JULIETTE
You vapours, you clouds…

MARIE
You saints, you wise and foolish virgins, help the King for I cannot.

JULIETTE
Help the King.

THE KING
You, who died joyfully, who looked death in the face, who bore witness to
your own passing…

JULIETTE
Help the King.

57
MARIE
Help him, all of you. Help him I beseech you.

THE KING
You, the happy dead, whose face did you see beside you? Whose smile
calmed you and made you smile? Whose was the last light to shine on you?

JULIETTE
Help him, you billions who have died.

THE GUARD
O Great Black Hole of Nothingness, help the King.*

THE KING
Nooo! These billions of the dead. They multiply my anguish. I am their
agony. And they are numberless. The entire universe is dying in me.

MARGUERITE
Life is exile.

THE KING
I know, I know.

THE DOCTOR
In other words, Majesty, you will be going back home.

MARIE
You’ll go back where you were before you were born. Don’t be frightened.
You must know this place, in some strange way, already.

<THE KING
*I like my exile. I’m a born ex-patriate. I don’t want to go back. >

MARGUERITE
Recall. Make an effort.

THE KING
I can’t see anything, I can’t see anything.

58
MARGUERITE
[Recall it.] Come on, think, think back.

MARIE
Other world, lost world, that world buried and forgotten, rise again from the
deep.

JULIETTE
Other plains, other mountains, other valleys…

MARIE
Remind him who you are.

MARGUERITE
(to THE DOCTOR) This is the only world he wants.

THE KING
Even the tiniest ant kicks and struggles when facing death. [suddenly
isolated, torn away from his community.] In that ant, too, the entire universe
is snuffed out. It isn’t natural to die. That’s why nobody wants to. I want
to be. *

<MARGUERITE
He has to stop looking around, reaching out and connecting. He has to go
into himself and shut himself down. (to THE KING) No more talk, shut up
and stay inside. Stop looking around, it’ll do you good.

THE KING
I don’t want that kind of good.

THE DOCTOR
(to MARGUERITE) We’re not quite there yet [at this point]. He’s not quite
up to it. [Your Majesty must apply the pressure, certainly, but not too hard
just yet.

MARGUERITE
It won’t be easy but we have the patience.]

THE DOCTOR
But we know where we’re heading. > *

59
{THE GUARD
(announcing) Intermission!*

END OF ACT ONE }

60
 {ACT TWO

* THE GUARD
(announcing) Act Two begins!}

THE KING
Doctor, Doctor, have the death-throes begun? … No, you’re wrong…not
yet…not yet. (Sigh of relief.) It hasn’t started yet. I am here, I ‘am’. I see,
there are the walls, and furnishings, here is the air, I’m looking at a lot of
looking, I can hear laughter, I can make sense of things, I can see, I can
hear…sh-sshh! A marching band!

(Muffled sounds of a marching band. He starts marching.)*

THE GUARD
The King is marching. Long live the King!

*(THE KING falls.)

JULIETTE
He’s down.

THE GUARD
The King is down. The King is dying.

(THE KING gets up.)

MARIE
He’s up again.

THE GUARD
The King is up.

MARIE
He’s alive.

THE GUARD
Long live the King! Long live the King! (THE KING falls.) The King is
dead.

61
MARIE
No, he’s alive. He’s up again. (THE KING is in fact rising.)* He’s alive.

THE GUARD
Long live the King!

(THE KING starts towards his throne.)

JULIETTE
He wants to sit on his throne.

MARIE
He is ruling! He is ruling!

THE DOCTOR
And now it’s the delirium.

MARIE
(to THE KING as he tries to clamber up the steps of his throne, reeling.)
Hold on, don’t let go. (to JULIETTE, who goes to help THE KING.)
No! He can do it by himself.

(THE KING can’t.)

< THE KING

I still have my legs.

MARIE
Keep going. >

MARGUERITE
We’ve got thirty two minutes and thirty seconds left.

THE KING
I’m getting there.

THE DOCTOR
This is the classic final rally.

62
(He was talking to MARGUERITE. THE KING falls into the wheelchair that
JULIETTE has just brought forward. He’s covered with a blanket and given
a hot water bottle by JULIETTE.) *

THE KING
I’m getting there.

MARIE
You’re out of breath, you’re tired, rest a little, you’ll get there later.

MARGUERITE
(to MARIE) Don’t lie. It doesn’t help him.

THE KING
(in his wheelchair) I used to love Mozart.

MARGUERITE
You’ll get over that.

THE KING
(to JULIETTE) Have you mended my pants? Or do you think it’s not worth
the trouble now? There was a hole in my purple cloak? Have you fixed
that? And did you sew the missing buttons on my pyjamas? Have you had
my shoes re-soled?

JULIETTE
It just slipped my mind.

THE KING
Just slipped your mind!? What else were you thinking about? * Talk to me.
What’s your husband do?

(JULIETTE is now wearing her nurse cap and white apron.)

JULIETTE
I’m a widow.

THE KING
What do you think about when you do the cleaning?

63
JULIETTE
Nothing, Majesty.

[Everything THE KING says in the following scene should be spoken in a

stunned and stupefied tone, with no pathos or empathy.]

THE KING
Where do you come from? What’s your family?

MARGUERITE
(to THE KING)
You’ve never been interested in that.

MARIE
He’s never had the time to ask her before.

MARGUERITE
(to THE KING) You’re not really interested now.

THE DOCTOR
He’s trying to buy time.

*THE KING
Tell me about your life. How do you live?

JULIETTE
Badly, Sire.

THE KING
*One can’t live badly. It’s a contradiction in terms.

JULIETTE
Life isn’t beautiful.

THE KING
But it’s life.

[Not a real conversation. THE KING speaks rather for himself.]

64
JULIETTE
In winter when I get up, it’s still dark, and I’m frozen.

THE KING
Me too - not the same cold. {Mine’s Royal, yours would be more the
common cold.} You don’t like being cold?

JULIETTE
Even in summer when I get up, the sun is barely risen. A pale sort of light.

THE KING
(in a rapture) A pale sort of light. There are all sorts of light, aren’t there?
Blue, pink, white, green – and now pale!

JULIETTE
I wash all the household linen in the laundry tubs. My hands hurt, the skin is
all cracked.

THE KING
(in a rapture) It hurts. She feels her skin. Haven’t they bought you a
washing machine yet? Marguerite, a palace without a washing machine?

MARGUERITE
We had to pawn it for a State loan.*

JULIETTE
I empty the chamber pots. I make the beds.

THE KING
She makes the beds! Where we lie down, where we sleep, where we wake
up. Do you realise that you wake up every day? You wake up every day.
One comes into the world every morning.

JULIETTE
I polish the floors. I sweep and sweep and sweep. There’s no end to it.

THE KING
(in a rapture) There’s no end to it!

65
JULIETTE
It makes my back ache.

THE KING
Oh yes. She’s got a back. We’ve all got backs.

JULIETTE
It gets me in the kidneys.

THE KING
Kidneys too!

JULIETTE
And since we don’t have gardeners any more, I hoe and I dig. And I sow.

THE KING
And things grow!

JULIETTE
I’m worn out by it.

THE KING
You should have said something.

JULIETTE
I did say something.

THE KING
That’s right. So many things have escaped my notice.

JULIETTE
My room’s got no window.

THE KING
(still in a rapture) No window! You go out. You seek the light. You find
it. And you smile. To go out, you turn the key in the lock, you open the
door, you close the door behind you, you turn the key in the lock once
more. Where do you live?

66
JULIETTE
In the attic.

THE KING
So you get to go down the stairs! You go down one step, and then another
step, then another step, then another step, then another step, and then
another step. When you get dressed, you put on stockings and little boots.

JULIETTE
My boots are worn out!

THE KING
And a dress. It’s extraordinary…

JULIETTE
It’s a rag. It cost threepence.

THE KING
You don’t know what you’re saying. A rag can be so beautiful.

JULIETTE
I had an abscess in my mouth. They had to pull out a tooth.*

THE KING
There’s so much suffering. But the pain subsides, it disappears. [What
relief!] You’re left feeling so happy.

JULIETTE
I am so tired, so tired, so tired.

THE KING
Then you can rest. It’s great.

JULIETTE
I don’t have the time.

THE KING
You can hope that you’ll have it…You go for a walk, you take a basket, you
do the shopping. You say hello to the grocer.

67
JULIETTE
He’s fat. He’s disgusting. He’s so ugly he frightens the pigeons.

THE KING
Oh how marvellous. You take out your purse, you pay, you receive your
change. At the market there is produce of every colour. Green lettuce, red
cherries, golden grapes, purple eggplants, {orange…-es}…all the colours
of the rainbow!…it’s extraordinary, unbelievable. A fairy-tale.

JULIETTE
Then I go home…the same way.

THE KING
You go the same way twice a day! The sky above you! You can gaze at it
twice a day. You breathe in the air. We never think about the fact that
we’re breathing. But we should. Remind yourself. Give it the attention it
deserves. It’s a miracle.

JULIETTE
And then - then I do yesterday’s washing up. Plates covered in grease and
fat. And then I have to cook.

THE KING
Wonderful!

JULIETTE
No it’s not. It’s boring. I’m sick of it.

THE KING
It’s boring!? You just can’t fathom some people. It’s fantastic being bored,
and it’s fantastic not being bored. Just like being angry, and not being
angry. Or unhappy and happy. Or giving in and putting up a fight. You get
worked up and you speak to them, and they speak to you. You connect with
them and they connect with you. It’s magic. It’s a non-stop festival.

JULIETTE
You’re right there. It never stops. After that I still have to serve at the
table.

68
THE KING
(still rapturous) You serve at the table! You serve at the table! What do
you serve at the table?

JULIETTE
The meal I’ve just made.

THE KING
What? Give me an example.

JULIETTE
I don’t know, whatever it is…stew!

THE KING
(dreamily) Stew!…Stew!

JULIETTE
It’s a meal in itself.

THE KING
I’ve always loved stew; it’s got vegetables, potatoes, cabbage and carrots, I
love mixing in some butter and mashing it all up with my fork.

JULIETTE
Perhaps we could bring him some.

THE KING
Yes, bring me some.*

MARGUERITE
No.

JULIETTE
But if it makes him happy.

THE DOCTOR
Bad for his health. He’s on a diet.

69
THE KING
I want some stew. * {Two stews to the Throne Room. Two stews to the
Throne Room.}

THE DOCTOR
It’s not good for the health of a dying man.

MARIE
It might be his last wish.

MARGUERITE
He has to learn detachment.

THE KING
(dreamily) All the juice…the chunks of hot potato…the lovely cooked
carrots. (wearily) I’ve never considered before just how beautiful carrots
can be. (to JULIETTE) Go quickly and kill the two spiders in my bedroom.
I don’t want them to survive me. No, don’t kill them. They might have
something of me in them. It’s dead…that stew is dead… gone from the
universe. There has never been stew.

THE GUARD
(announcing) Stew has been banished throughout the land.

MARGUERITE
At last! Now we’re getting somewhere. [At least he’s given that up.] It’s
good to start with the little things. [And cautiously.] Yes, now we can
begin. Gently, as if we’re lifting the dressing from an open sore, peeling
back the edges furthest away from the centre of the wound. (approaching
THE KING) Juliette, wipe away the sweat. He is soaked. (to MARIE) No,
not you.

THE DOCTOR
(to MARGUERITE) It’s the panic seeping through his pores. (He starts to
examine THE KING, while MARIE kneels for a moment covering her face
with her hands.) You see, his temperature has lowered, however there is
almost a complete absence of goose-flesh. His hair, which had been
bristling and spiky, is now lying slack and flat. He’s not used to the terror
yet, not at all, but he is able to sense it inside him, which is why he has
dared to close his eyes. He will open them again. His features are strained

70
but notice how the wrinkles and old age are settling on his face. Already
he’s letting them take over. There’ll still be the odd crisis, it’s not going to
happen that quickly. But he won’t have any more explosive attacks that
could prove embarrassing.* There’ll still be moments of terror, of pure
terror, but without abdominal or intestinal or lower complications. One
can’t hope for an exemplary death. All the same, it will be reasonably
decent.* It’s death that will kill him now and not his fear. However he will
still need help, Majesty, a lot of help, right up to the last second, to the very
last breath.

MARGUERITE
I will help him. I will ease it out of him. I’ll set him free. I will release the
knots and untangle the ravelled thread. I will separate the pure grain from
the weeds that cling to him and choke him. (to MARIE) Your charm and
your charms won’t work any more.

THE GUARD
(announcing) The charm of Queen Marie will not work very much any
more on the King.

MARIE
(to THE KING) You have loved me, you still love me, just as I have always
loved you.

[MARGUERITE
She thinks only of herself.

JULIETTE
That’s natural.

MARIE
I’ve always loved you, I still love you.

THE KING
I don’t know any more, that doesn’t help me.

THE DOCTOR
Love is mad.

71
MARIE
Love is mad. If you love madly, if you love wildly, if you love utterly, death
will shrink away. If you love me, if you love the world, fear dissolves.
Love carries you…give yourself to it… and fear will let you go. Life
becomes round, everything revives, the emptiness is filled.

THE KING
I am full, full of holes. I’m being eaten away. The holes are getting bigger.
They’re bottomless. If I lean over and look into them I get vertigo from my
own holes. I’m finished.]

MARIE
It’s not over. Others will love for you, others will look at the sky for you.

THE KING
I’m finished.

MARIE
Become those others. Be the others. There will always be…that…that.

THE KING
What? What?

MARIE
All that which is. All that which does not perish.

THE KING
There’s just…so little left.

MARIE
The young are expanding the universe.

THE KING
I’m dying.

MARIE
Conquering new galaxies.

THE KING
I’m dying.

72
MARIE
Daring to break open the gates of Heaven.

THE KING
They can smash ‘em to bits for all I care.

THE DOCTOR
They’re also on the verge of producing elixirs of immortality.

THE KING
Moron! Now you tell me!

MARIE
New stars are about to appear in the firmament.

THE KING
I can’t stand this.

MARIE
They’re new stars. Virgin stars.

THE KING
Fuck the virgin stars.

THE GUARD
(announcing)…Um…Neither old nor new constellations are of any further
interest to His Majesty, King Berenger.

MARIE
A new science is being born.

THE KING
I’m dying.

MARIE
You were a stepping-stone, a pathfinder, the source of all these discoveries.
You count. You will be counted.

73
THE KING
Don’t count on me. I’m dying.

MARIE
All that has been, will be. All that will be, is. All that will be has been.
Your name is inscribed forever in the Universal Register.

THE KING
Who’s going to read THAT old book!? I’m dying. Let everything die.* No,
let everything live. No, let everything die, since my own death seems to be
so insignificant. Let everything die. No, let everything live.

THE GUARD
His Majesty the King wants everything to live.

THE KING
No, let everything die.

THE GUARD
His Majesty the King wants everything to die.

THE KING
Let everything die with me, no, let everything live after me. No, let
everything die. No, let everything live. No, let everything die, let
everything live, let everything die.

MARGUERITE
He doesn’t know what he wants.

JULIETTE
I’m sure he doesn’t know what he wants.

THE DOCTOR
Of course he doesn’t know what he wants. His brain is degenerating. It’s
senility. He’s gone ga-ga.

THE GUARD
(announcing) His Majesty has gone ga…

74
MARGUERITE
(to THE GUARD, interrupting him) Shut up, you idiot! We don’t want any
more health bulletins released to the press.

THE GUARD
(announcing) Health bulletins suspended on the orders of Her Majesty,
Queen Marguerite.

MARIE
(to THE KING) My King, my little King.

THE KING
When I had nightmares, and I was crying in my sleep, you would wake me,
and kiss me and calm me down.

MARGUERITE
She won’t be doing that any more.

THE KING
(to MARIE) When I couldn’t sleep and went wandering out of my bedroom,
you’d wake up too and come and find me in the throne room, in your
dressing-gown with the little pink flowers on it, and you’d hold my hand
and walk me back to bed.

JULIETTE
With my husband, it was the same.

THE KING
I used to share my colds with you, and the flu.

MARGUERITE
You won’t be catching too many more colds.

THE KING
We’d open our eyes at the same time in the morning. Now I’ll be closing
them all alone … each of us in our own time. We used to think things at the
same time. You would finish the sentence I had started in my mind. After
my bath, I’d call you and you’d rub my back. You’d choose my ties for me.
Can’t say I always liked them. We’d have arguments about it. No one
knew. And no one will.

75
MARIE
(to THE KING) Do you love me? Do you love me? I’ve always loved you.
Do you still love me? He still loves me. Do you love me right now? I am
with you… here… I am… look, look… really look at me… just a little.

THE KING
I’ve always loved myself, no matter what… I love myself. I’m aware only
of me. When I look, it’s myself that I see.

THE DOCTOR
(checking his watch) He’s running late. And he’s heading in the wrong
direction.

MARGUERITE
It’s nothing. Don’t worry, Doctor. Doctor Blood. All his twists and turns
and sidetracks…all to be expected, part of the program.

THE DOCTOR
If it had been a decent heart attack we would have avoided all this rigmarole.

MARGUERITE
Heart attacks are for businessmen.

THE DOCTOR
…or a good dose of double pneumonia!

MARGUERITE
That’s for the poor, not the king.

THE KING
I could always decide not to die.

JULIETTE
You see, he’s not ready.*

THE KING
If I decided I didn’t want to, let’s say I decided I didn’t want to, or I might
just decide I don’t want to decide.*

76
THE GUARD
(while JULIETTE starts pushing THE KING around the stage in his
wheelchair.) {I don’t know if this is the right moment.} His Majesty, my
Commander-in-Chief – well, in my book he’s dynamite. And he invented
that, y’know! He stole fire from the Gods, and with the fire, he lit the fuse.
Everything was ready to rock. He had the whole wide world in his
hands…and then he put the genie back in the bottle. I helped him. It wasn’t
easy. But then again, he wasn’t easy. He forged the Earth’s first furnace.
He discovered the means of fabricating steel. He’d work eighteen hour
days. And he made the rest of us work even longer. He was the original
Giant of Industry. The colossus who handed us our first hot air balloon, and
then the zeppelin. And then with his own hands he built the first airplane. It
didn’t work straight off. His first test pilots, Icarus and the others, kept
falling into the sea until the moment when he decided to pilot them himself.
I was his mechanic. Long before that when he was a child at court, he
invented the wheelbarrow. We used to play together. Then came rail, the
locomotive, the motor-car. He drew up the plans for the Eiffel Tower, and
let’s not forget his designs for the sickle, the plough, combine harvesters and
the tractor. (to THE KING) Do you remember me? - Mr Mechanic?

THE KING
Tractors… yes…I’d forgotten about them.

THE GUARD
He has extinguished volcanoes, he’s made others rise up. He built Rome,
New York, Moscow, Geneva. He founded Paris. He started revolutions,
counter-revolutions, reformation and counter-reformation.

JULIETTE
You wouldn’t think it to look at him.

THE GUARD
He wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey.

[THE KING
What’s a car?

JULIETTE
(still pushing the wheelchair) Something that moves by itself.]

77
THE GUARD
And at the same time Mr History here wrote the definitive analysis of Homer
and the Homeric epoch.

THE DOCTOR
Of course, he was very well placed to do that.

THE KING
I did all that! Did I really?

THE GUARD
He wrote tragedies and he wrote comedies, all under the name of
Shakespeare.

JULIETTE
Oh, so he’s Shakespeare!

THE DOCTOR
(to THE GUARD) Why didn’t you tell us? You should have told us. We’ve
been arguing about that for years.

THE GUARD
It was a secret. He wouldn’t let me tell anybody. He invented the
telephone, the co-axial cable and the Gestetner. The search engine,
integrated circuitry and, of course, the ‘qwerty’ keyboard!* And he installed
them all with his own two hands.

JULIETTE
He was hopeless with his hands. He couldn’t change a washer without
calling the plumber.

THE GUARD
O my Captain, you were so…’handy’!

MARGUERITE
Now he can’t even put his shoes on. Or take them off.

THE GUARD
*It only seems like yesterday that he split the atom.

78
JULIETTE
Now he can’t even switch a light on. Or off.

THE GUARD
Majesty, my Commander in Chief, my Master Engineer, O my Captain….

MARGUERITE
(to THE GUARD) We know what he’s done. We don’t need a list.

(THE GUARD returns to his place.)

THE KING
(as he is being pushed) What’s a horse? …..this is the floor, where’s the
window?…there’s the wall.

JULIETTE
He recognizes the wall.

THE KING
I did things. What are they saying I did? I don’t remember any more. I
forget, I forget…(still being pushed) This is a throne..

MARIE
Do you remember me? I am here. I’m here.

THE KING
I am here. I exist.

JULIETTE
He can’t even remember what a horse is.

THE KING
I remember a little ginger cat.

MARIE
He remembers a cat.

79
THE KING
I had a little ginger cat. We used to call him our little Jew. I’d found him in
a field, separated from his mother, a wild little thing. Two weeks old,
maybe a bit more. He certainly knew how to scratch and bite. He was quite
fierce. I gave him something to eat, and stroked him and took him home.
He turned into the sweetest of cats. One time, he hid inside the coat-sleeve
of this Lady who was visiting. He was such a polite creature, natural
politeness, a real prince. He’d come and greet us, with his eyes all sleepy,
when we’d come home in the middle of the night. Then he’d stagger back to
his little bed. In the mornings, he’d come in and wake us up so he could
sleep in our bed. He was terrified of the vacuum cleaner. A real coward.
Hopeless. A bit artistic. We got him a mechanical toy mouse. He sniffed at
it, quite worried. And when we wound up the key and the mouse started to
walk, he hissed, and took off, and cowered under the wardrobe. We wanted
to get him used to the outside world. We put him on the pavement outside
the window. He was petrified. There were pigeons all round him. And he
hated pigeons. He was wailing for me frantically, backed up against the
wall. Other animals, even other cats, were like alien creatures to him,
enemies to be wary of and mistrust. He only felt secure with us. He thought
we were cats, and that cats were something else. Still, one fine day he must
have decided to go out on his own. The big dog next door killed him. He
was lying there like a rag-doll, a twitching puppet with one eye hanging out,
and his leg half torn off… yes… he looked like a doll pulled apart by some
sadistic child.

<MARIE
(to MARGUERITE) You shouldn’t have left the door open. I warned you.

MARGUERITE
I loathed that needy, pathetic cat.

THE KING
I miss him so much! He was good, and beautiful and wise, all the graces.
He loved me, he loved me. My poor cat, my only cat. >

[The ‘cat’ speech should be spoken with as little emotion as possible; THE
KING should look totally stunned, as if in some sort of dream, except maybe
for those last few lines which should express some sort of loss.]

80
I had a dream about him. He was in the fireplace, lying on the hot coals.
Marie was astonished that he didn’t burn. I replied “Cats don’t burn, they’re
fireproof.” He came out of the fireplace, miaowing, just materialising
from a thick puff of smoke. It was no longer him. Such a transformation! It
was another cat altogether, ugly and fat and… female. Like his mother, the
wildcat. Bit like Marguerite.*

[JULIET leaves THE KING in his wheelchair, downstage in the centre,

facing the audience.]

JULIETTE
It’s such a shame, really sad, he was such a good king. [They circle again.]

THE DOCTOR
He was difficult. Quite nasty. Vindictive. And cruel.

MARGUERITE
Vain.

JULIETTE
There have been plenty worse.

MARIE
He was sweet, he was soft.

THE GUARD
We liked him.

THE DOCTOR
(to THE GUARD and JULIETTE) You still complained about him though.
Both of you.

JULIETTE
You forget about those things.

THE DOCTOR
And it’s all his fault. He wanted nothing to be left after him. He never cared
about those who came after him. After him, the deluge. {Chaos.} Worse.
After him… nothing. Selfish, heartless prick.

81
JULIETTE
Let’s not speak ill of the dead. He was the king of a great kingdom.

MARIE
He was the centre of it. Its heart and soul.

JULIETTE
The home.

THE GUARD
A kingdom that stretched so far, so far. You couldn’t imagine how far.

JULIETTE
Limitless.

MARGUERITE
Except in time. Simultaneously, infinite and ephemeral.

JULIETTE
He was its Prince, its first citizen. Its father and its son. He was crowned
King at the moment of his birth.

MARIE
They grew together, he and his kingdom.

MARGUERITE
Now they are vanishing together.

THE DOCTOR
When kings die they grab at the walls, at trees, at fountains, at the moon.
They clutch at them…

MARGUERITE
And drag it all down.

THE DOCTOR
It all dissolves, melts into thin air… into dust… a shadow…nothing.

82
[MARIE
When he was born, by the end of his very first day, he’d already created the
sun.

JULIETTE
And as if that wasn’t enough for him, he went and made fire too.]

MARGUERITE
There were boundless stretches of land, there were stars, there was sky, there
were oceans and mountains, there were plains, there were cities, there were
people, with faces, there were buildings, with rooms and beds, there was
light, and there was dark, there were wars and there was peace.

GUARD
There was a throne.

MARIE
There was his hand.

MARGUERITE
The way he looked at you. The way he breathed.*

JULIETTE
He is still breathing.

MARIE
He’s breathing because I am here.

MARGUERITE
(to THE DOCTOR) Is he still breathing?

JULIETTE
Yes, Majesty. He’s still breathing, because we’re here.

THE DOCTOR
(examining the invalid) Yes, yes, no doubt about it. He’s still breathing.
His kidneys have shut down but the blood’s still moving. Pumping away.
He’s got the heart of an ox.

83
MARGUERITE
It’ll have to stop sometime. What’s the point of a heart that beats for no
reason.

THE DOCTOR
Quite. It’s going mad Do you hear that? (We hear the frantic heartbeat of
THE KING.) There it goes. It’s racing very fast. Now it’s slowed down.
Now it’s off again.

(THE KING’s heartbeats are shaking the theatre. The crack in the wall gets
bigger, and others appear. A section of wall could collapse or disappear.)*

JULIETTE
Dear God! It’s starting to go!

MARGUERITE
A mad heart, a madman’s heart!

THE DOCTOR
It’s a heart in panic. Highly contagious. It’ll spread to us all.

MARGUERITE
(to JULIETTE) It’ll calm down soon.

THE DOCTOR
We know every stage of this condition. This is what happens when a world
ends.

MARGUERITE
(to MARIE) That proves that this is not the only one.

JULIETTE
That never crossed his mind.

MARIE
*He’s forgetting me. At this very moment he is forgetting me. I feel it. He
is leaving me. I am nothing if he has forgotten me. I can’t live if I’m not in
his wild heart. Hold on, hold on tight. Hold on with all your strength.
Don’t let go of me.

84
JULIETTE
He has no more strength.

MARIE
Grab onto me, don’t let go of me. I am what gives you life. You give me
life and I give life to you. Don’t you see? If you forget me, if you abandon
me I can’t exist. I am nothing.

THE DOCTOR
He’ll be a page in a book of ten-thousand pages, that will sit in a library of a
million books, a library which is one among a million other libraries.

JULIETTE
It’s not going to be easy to look him up.

< THE DOCTOR

Yes it will. You look him up in the catalogue. >

JULIETTE
He’s clenching his fists. He’s hanging in there. He’s putting up a fight.
He’s coming back.

MARIE
He’s coming back to me.

JULIETTE
(to MARIE) Your voice is reviving him. He’s opening his eyes. He’s
looking at you.

THE DOCTOR
Yes, he’s ticking over.

MARIE
Hold me tight, like I hold you. Look at me, as I look at you.

(THE KING looks at her.)

MARGUERITE
*She’s confusing you. Don’t think about her. You’ll feel better.

85
THE DOCTOR
Let it go, Majesty. Abdicate, Majesty.

JULIETTE
You better abdicate, I don’t think there’s any way round it.

(JULIETTE pushes him again in the wheelchair, and stops in front of

MARIE.)

THE KING
[I can hear, I can see.] Who are you? Are you my mother, are you my
sister, my wife, my daughter, my niece, are you my cousin?… I know
you… I do know you. (They turn him to face MARGUERITE.) Ah, you
ruthless cow! Why are you still here? [Why are you breathing down my
neck?] Go away. Go away.

MARIE
*Don’t look at her. Look at me, keep your eyes wide open. Hope. Here I
am. Remember… I am Marie.

THE KING
(to MARIE) Marie!?

MARIE
If you ever forget, just look at me, learn again that I am Marie. Learn my
eyes, my face, my hair, my arms.

MARGUERITE
*You’re distressing him. He’s past learning anything now.

MARIE
(to THE KING) If I can’t hold you here, look at me at least. [Here I am.]
Keep this image of me, carry it with you.

MARGUERITE
He won’t have the strength to cart that around. He’ll be a ghost. He needs
to travel light. (to THE KING) Throw it all away. Unburden!

86
THE DOCTOR
Throw it all away, Majesty.

(THE KING gets up, but he is walking differently, stiff, something like a
sleepwalker.)*

THE KING
Marie?

MARGUERITE
(to MARIE) You see, your name means nothing to him now.

JULIETTE
Your name means nothing to him now.

THE GUARD
(announcing) The name ‘Marie’ now means nothing to the King!

THE KING
Marie! (In pronouncing this name, he stretches out his arms, and then lets
them fall.)

MARIE
He’s saying it.

THE DOCTOR
He’s repeating it, without understanding it.

JULIETTE
Like a parrot. They’re just dead sounds.

THE KING
(to MARGUERITE, turning towards her.) I don’t know you. I don’t love
you.

JULIETTE
He certainly knows what don’t know means.

87
MARGUERITE
(to MARIE) It will be my image that he takes with him. It won’t encumber
him. It will leave him when it has to. There is a mechanism that will
release it by itself. The touch of a button on a cordless remote. (to THE
KING) See better, King.

[THE KING turns towards the audience.]*

MARIE
He can’t see you.

MARGUERITE
It’s you he can’t see.

(By theatrical magic, MARIE suddenly disappears)*

THE KING
There is still…there is…

MARGUERITE
Stop looking for what’s there.

JULIETTE
He can’t see any more.

THE DOCTOR
(examining THE KING) Indeed, he can’t see any more.

(He has been waving his finger in front of THE KING’s eyes; or perhaps a
lighted candle or a match or a cigarette lighter. THE KING’s eyes stare out
blankly.)

JULIETTE
He can’t see any more. The Doctor said so officially.

THE GUARD
His Majesty is officially blind.

88
THE KING
I have a mirror here, in my gut, where all is reflected. I can see more and
more clearly. I can see the world. I can see life, draining out.

MARGUERITE
Go beyond the reflections.

THE KING
I see myself. Behind everything, I am. Nothing but me, everywhere. Am I
inside every mirror or am I the mirror of everything.

JULIETTE
He loves himself too much.

THE DOCTOR
A common psychiatric disorder: narcissism.

THE GUARD
What do you think he’s grabbing for?

JULIETTE
He’s looking for some sort of prop to hold himself up.

(For several moments, THE KING, as if blind, has been taking uncertain
steps.)

THE KING
Where are the walls? [Where are the arms?] Where are the doors? [Where
are the windows?]

JULIETTE
The walls are there, Majesty. We’re all here. Here’s an arm.

(JULIETTE leads THE KING to the left so he can touch the wall.)

THE KING
There’s the window! Sceptre!

(JULIETTE gives it to him.)

89
JULIETTE
Here it is.

THE KING
Guard, where are you? Respond!

GUARD
Still yours to command, Majesty. Still yours to command. (THE KING
takes a few steps towards THE GUARD. He touches him.)* Yes, yes, I’m
here. Yes, that’s right, I’m here.

JULIETTE
Your chambers are through here, Majesty.*

THE GUARD
We will never leave you, Majesty, I swear it.

(THE GUARD suddenly disappears.)*

JULIETTE
We’re right here, beside you, and this is where we’ll stay.

(JULIETTE suddenly disappears.)

THE KING
Juliette! Guard! Where are you? Respond! * Doctor, Doctor, am I going
deaf?

THE DOCTOR
No, Majesty, not yet.

THE KING
Doctor!

THE DOCTOR
I’m sorry, Majesty, I have to go. I have to. I’m so very sorry, excuse me.

(THE DOCTOR leaves, bowing like a marionette, through the back door on
the right. He backs out apologising profusely.)

90
THE KING
His voice is becoming distant. His footsteps are fading. He’s not here any
more!

MARGUERITE
He’s a doctor. He has professional obligations.

[JULIETTE has put away the wheelchair before she left so that movement
about the stage is not impeded.]

THE KING
(reaching out his arms) Where are the others? [THE KING reaches the
downstage right door, then makes for the downstage left door.] They’re all
gone. They’ve locked me in.*

MARGUERITE
They were a burden, all these people. They were in your way, they held you
back, always under your feet. Admit it, they annoyed you. Now things will
be better. (THE KING starts walking more easily.) You have about twelve
minutes left.

THE KING
But I need their services.

MARGUERITE
I’m replacing them. I’m Queen-of-all-trades.

THE KING
I never gave them leave. Bring them back. Call them.

MARGUERITE
They would never have gone if you hadn’t wanted it. You can’t go back on
your wishes. You let them go.

THE KING
But I want them back.

MARGUERITE
You can’t even remember their names. What were their names? (THE
KING is silent.) How many were there?

91
THE KING
Who…who do you mean? I don’t like being locked in. Open the doors.

MARGUERITE
Just be patient. The doors will soon be wide open.

THE KING
(after a silence) The doors…the doors….what doors?

MARGUERITE
Were there ever doors? Was there once a world, did you live?

THE KING
I am.

MARGUERITE
Stop moving about. It only makes you tired.

(THE KING does what she says.)

THE KING
I am… there are sounds, echoes coming up from the depths…they’re
fading…it’s calm.* I am deaf.

MARGUERITE
*You’ll hear me, you’ll hear me very well. (THE KING is standing,
motionless, silent.) Sometimes we dream… the sort of dream that takes
possession of us, we believe in it, love it even. In the morning, you open
your eyes…two worlds are enmeshed. The faces from the dark blur in the
daylight. We’d love to remember them, to keep hold of them. But they slip
from our grasp, the brutal reality of day drives them back. What did I
dream? you say. What happened in it? Who was I kissing? Who did I
love? What did I say and what were they saying to me? And then you find
yourself with this vague regret for all those things that were or seemed to
have been. We can’t remember what was there. We can’t remember.

THE KING
I can’t remember what was there. I know that I was plunged deep in a
world, and that this world surrounded me. I know that it was me, and what
was there. What was there?

92
MARGUERITE
There are still some ropes that bind you which I haven’t yet untied. Which I
haven’t yet cut. There are still some hands that grip you and hold you back.

(MARGUERITE starts circling THE KING, cutting the space with invisible
scissors.)*

THE KING
Me. Me. Me.

MARGUERITE
This is not you. It’s an odd assortment of bits, glued to you like wretched
parasites . The mistletoe hanging on the branch is not the branch. The ivy
clinging to the wall is not the wall. You’re collapsing under the load, your
shoulders are bent. That’s what made you old. And these chains that you
drag, that’s what is crippling you. (MARGUERITE bends down and takes
invisible chains off THE KING’s feet. She stands with difficulty as if
carrying them.) A ton! They weigh a ton. (She mimes throwing them into
the audience, and straightens up, no longer weighed down.) Ouf! How did
you drag these around all your life! (THE KING tries to straighten up too.)
I wondered why you were so stooped. It’s because of that huge sack.
(MARGUERITE makes as if she was taking the sack off THE KING’s
shoulders and throws it away.) [And this heavy pack!] (Same gestures
again from MARGUERITE.) And this spare pair of boots.

THE KING
(groaning) No.

MARGUERITE
Settle down. You won’t be needing a spare pair of boots. Nor this rifle, nor
this machine gun. (Same again as for the boots.) [ Nor this toolbox.]
(Same gestures; protests from THE KING.) Nor this sabre. He seems quite
attached to it. This old rusty sabre.* (She takes it off him even though THE
KING tries to stop her.) Let me. Be good. (She slaps THE KING’S hand.)
You won’t need to be defending yourself any more. Everyone likes you and
wishes you well;* prickles all over your coat, and flakes of something, and
tendrils of some sort, slime, and wet sticky leaves. Sticky, so sticky. Off
they go, there they go.* And they’ve left stains. It’s not very clean. (She
has been plucking and pulling.) The dreamer is leaving his dream behind.
There you go, I got rid off all those little nasties, all those filthy nasty bits.

93
Your coat looks so much better now. You’re so much cleaner. It suits you.
Come on now, walk. Give me your hand, just give me your hand. Don’t be
afraid, let yourself , I won’t let you fall. You don’t dare!

THE KING
(with a kind of stammer) Me.

MARGUERITE
Oh no! He still thinks he’s everything. He believes that his existence is all
existence. We’ll have to knock that out of him. (Then, encouraging him.)
All your memories will be kept safe somewhere for you so you don’t have to
remember them any more . When you dissolve a grain of salt in water, the
grain doesn’t disappear, it makes the water salty. Ah, here we go, now you
straighten up, no more stooping, you have no more pains in the kidneys, no
more stiffness. It was a lot to carry, wasn’t it? Cured. You’re cured. You
can move on now. Come on, move. Let’s go. Give me your hand.

(THE KING’s shoulders droop again slightly.)

[Don’t droop those shoulders when you have no load to carry. Oh, these
conditioned reflexes…they’re hard to shake! There is no load on your
shoulders, I’ve told you. Straighten up.

(She helps him to straighten up.)

Hand!…]

(Indecision from THE KING.)

So disobedient! Loosen your fingers. What are you holding?

(She opens his hand.)

His kingdom. He’s holding all of his kingdom there. All so tiny; in
miniature… a seed. (to THE KING) This seed won’t grow. The strain is
damaged, it’s gone bad. Drop it. Loosen your fingers, I order you to
unclench your hand, release the plains, release the mountains. Like this. It’s
nothing more than dust.

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(She takes his hand and leads him, despite some resistance from THE
KING.)

Come on. Still resisting! Where are you finding the will-power? Don’t try
to lie down, don’t sit down either, and there’s no reason to stumble. I’m
guiding you, don’t be afraid.

(She guides him around the stage, holding his hand.)

See, you can do it, see how easy it is? I’ve arranged a slight unevenness.
It’ll be steeper later on, but that doesn’t matter, you’ll have some more
strength by then. Don’t turn your head to look at what you’re never going to
see again. Concentrate. Harden your resolve. And go there, go there. You
must. *

THE KING
(advancing with eyes closed, still held by the hand.)
The empire…has anyone ever known such an empire: two suns, two moons,
and two vaults of heaven to light it. Another sun rises, and yet another. A
third firmament bursts forth, gushing and spilling its light. As one sun is
setting, others rise.…the beginning and the close of day become one…
There is a place beyond the vastness of the oceans, beyond the oceans
engulfing the oceans.

MARGUERITE
Traverse them. Cross over.*

THE KING
Beyond the seven hundred and seventy seven poles.

MARGUERITE
Further, go further. Run along, go on, off you go.

THE KING
Blue…blue…

MARGUERITE
He can still imagine colours. Coloured thoughts. (to THE KING) Give up
the Empire, and give up these colours too. They’re leading you astray,
they’re holding you back. You can linger no more, you can wait no longer,

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you mustn’t. (She moves away from THE KING.) Walk by yourself, don’t
be afraid. Go on.* (MARGUERITE, from a corner of the stage, directs THE
KING from a distance.) It isn’t day and it isn’t night. There is no more day
and there is no more night. Let yourself be lead by the wheel that’s rolling
in front of you. Don’t lose sight of it, follow it, but not too close, it’s
ablaze and you might burn. Go ahead. I’m clearing the path for you.
Careful, watch that spirit to your right… cloying hands, hands imploring,
pitiful arms and hands, go away and don’t come back. If you touch him I
will smite you! (to THE KING) Don’t turn your head. Avoid the abyss on
your left, don’t fear the howling of that wolf… his teeth are made of
cardboard, he doesn’t exist. (to the wolf) Wolf, begone! (to THE KING)
And don’t be afraid of the rats either. They can’t gnaw at your feet. (to the
rats) Rats and vipers, begone! (to THE KING) And do not pity that beggar
who’s holding out his hand… and beware of the old woman who’s coming
towards you… don’t accept that glass of water she offers. You have no
thirst. (to the old imaginary woman) His thirst has no need of quenching,
good woman, because he has no thirst. Don’t block his path. Vanish! (to
THE KING) Climb over that gateway. That great lorry won’t run you
down, it’s a mirage… cross now, you can cross… no no, the daisies are not
singing, even if they do look happy. Well I’ll swallow their voices; I will
erase them!… Don’t let your ears turn to the murmuring of that stream.
It’s not actually there. It’s a pretend stream. With a pretend
voice…Pretend Voices, hush! (to THE KING) No one is calling you now.
For the last time, smell that flower and throw it away. Forget its perfume.
Now you have lost the power of speech. Who would you talk to anyway?
Yes, that’s right, lift your foot, now the other, you’ve reached the bridge.
Don’t be afraid of its height.

(THE KING goes towards the steps of the throne.)

Hold yourself straight, you don’t need your stick, you don’t have one
anyway. Don’t bend down and what ever you do don’t fall. Go up, ascend!

(THE KING starts to climb the three steps of the throne.)

Higher, higher still. Up you go. Higher, higher, higher.

(THE KING is right next to the throne now.)

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Now turn to me. Look at me. Look through me. Look at this empty
mirror.* Stay straight… give me your legs, the right, the left.

(As she gives these orders, THE KING stiffens his limbs.)

Give me your finger, give me two… three… four… five… the ten of them.
Surrender your right arm to me, and the left, both shoulders, the chest and
your belly.

(THE KING is now immobile, a statue.)

And there you are, you see, you’ve lost the power of speech, your heart has
no need to beat, there is no need to breathe. It was a lot of fuss over
nothing, wasn’t it? You can take your place.

(QUEEN MARGUERITE suddenly disappears.* THE KING is seated on his

throne. During the last scene the doors, windows and walls of the throne-
room will have gradually disappeared. This effect with the scenery is a very
important part of the play.

The stage is left empty except for THE KING and his throne in a grey light.*
[Then both THE KING and the throne disappear.

Eventually there is nothing but this grey light.]

The disappearance of the windows, walls, doors, THE KING and the throne
must happen slowly, progressively, and distinctly. THE KING sitting on his
throne must remain visible for long enough before being engulfed in some
sort of haze.)

CURTAIN

Paris
15thOct – 15th Nov 1962

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