Maeterlinck, Maurice. The Intruder ; The Blind ; The Seven Princesses ; The Death of Tintagiles. Trans. Richard Hovey. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1896.

by Mark-Allan Donaldson, Constantine Jones, and Charles Vassallo

The play opens at night in a room with four doors – three leading into separate parts of the chateau and a glass door leading to the gardens outside. The stage left door opens to a room containing a frail mother and her caretaker, the Sister of Charity; the stage right door goes to a room containing the mother’s newborn baby; the third internal door is in a corner concealing a secret servants’ staircase; the glass door, surrounded by stained glass windows, looks out onto a terrace overlooking the garden and the lane leading up to the chateau.

Waiting in the main room are various family members – The Three Daughters, The Grandfather, The Father, and The Uncle – who are discussing whether to remain inside or to move out to the terrace, as they are experiencing an uncommonly clear night after a spell of bad weather. They quickly decide that the party will remain inside and the topic of discussion moves to that of the health of the mother in the adjacent room.

At the opening, each member of the family takes turns consoling the Grandfather, who is anxious about his daughter’s health after bearing another child; although his sight is failing, he claims to still be able to see in a different way and is convinced that she is still in danger. The Uncle and the Father dismiss his worries and assert that the Grandfather should leave the judgments to those who can still see in the traditional sense of the word. It becomes apparent that the Grandfather’s anxiety stems from simultaneously wanting to visit his daughter and fearing the family’s conversation will disturb her and the newborn; the Father and Uncle assure him that they will keep their voices low. The Uncle remarks how odd it is that the baby has not made any noise since his birth, while the Father expresses some lingering resentment towards the baby for causing the mother trouble. The Father tells the eldest daughter, Ursula, to check in on the newborn, which she does, accompanied by the other two daughters.

Once the Three Daughters exit the Father and Uncle discuss the anticipated arrival of their older sister, a nun, but soon begin to lament that she will probably not be visiting that evening as she cannot travel alone and will likely not make the journey so late at night. The Grandfather again expresses concern and wishes the evening were over. Soon the Three Daughters return and report that the baby is sleeping well.

Ursula moves to the window to look out at the gardens. When asked if she can see the sister approaching, she responds that although the night is clear she can see no one coming up the lane. The Grandfather then remarks that he can no longer hear the nightingales on the path. Despite not being able to see anyone, Ursula believes that someone has just come into the garden and startled the birds. The Grandfather claims that he can hear no footsteps on the path, though Ursula believes that someone must be passing by the pond, for the swans have been frightened and the fish are jumping to the surface. The Uncle assumes it must be his sister and goes to the glass door to call her in, though he receives no reply. A complete silence then washes over the entire garden, which the Father believes to be the stillness of death.

The Father tells Ursula to close the glass door, though she is unable to do so even with the family’s combined efforts. The Father concedes to calling a carpenter in the morning to fix it, though the Grandfather believes a carpenter would cause too much noise in the house. After another silence has fallen, the sound of a scythe being sharpened can be heard outside. The family wonders if the gardener was responsible for scaring the birds, though the Daughters still cannot make out the shape of anyone beyond the window. The sound especially disturbs the Grandfather, who appears hear the continuing sound more clearly than the others, as if the gardener were sharpening his blade from within the house.

The discussion topic quickly changes to the dimness of the room, and the Grandfather falls asleep. The Uncle and Father begin to discuss how they pity him, believing that he is becoming senile in his old age, and they lament how he was once very rational like them. They also discuss his partial blindness and decide that they must take better care of their eyes. The clock strikes ten and wakes the Grandfather who immediately asks if he is facing the glass door, as he has seen someone waiting outside of it. Ursula confirms that he is facing the door but that no one is outside of it. The conversation is again interrupted by a noise, this time one of someone entering the house through the basement.

Again the Father and Uncle believe it is the sister who has arrived, however the Grandfather seems less sure, and the Father calls up the maid to tell them who has come. Soon the maid can be heard making a lot of noise coming up the stairs towards the secret door, and the Grandfather believes she is bringing someone up the stairs with her. When the maid knocks at the door, the Father opens it expecting to find his sister with her. The maid explains that no one has come with her although she did find the basement door ajar, despite having closed it earlier, and that she made no noise on the stairs. The Father dismisses her and attempts to close the door; as with the glass door earlier, the secret door cannot be closed, and he tells the maid to stop pushing at it. The maid says that she is not even standing near the door and cannot be pushing it. Eventually the Father is able to close the door and the maid leaves. The clock strikes eleven.

Upon the maid’s exit, the Grandfather asks the family who has come into the room, as he feels the presence of someone beside him. They all assure him that nobody else is in the room, though he does not believe them. Distrusting the Father and Uncle, he asks the Three Daughters to tell him the truth, though they swear by what they have told him – that they are alone in the room, the six of them. The Grandfather then points to each of them asking if that is where they are seated. When he has pointed out each character he points to a seventh empty place and asks who sits there, to which they all reply no one. The Grandfather then becomes angered and frantic, convinced that they mean to deceive him and that somehow his daughter is in danger. He believes that he alone can see the truth that the others cannot.

The conversation is interrupted by the lamp going out. As the clock strikes midnight, the sound of someone quickly rising from the table is heard, though the family denies it. For the first time during the play, cries are heard from the newborn child’s bedroom, which continue until the curtain falls. At that moment, the sound of hurried and heavy footsteps is heard crossing to the mother’s room. The Sister of Charity then emerges to announce the mother’s death. The scene closes as the family gathers in together to see the mother, leaving the Grandfather groping alone in the dark.

Characters (in order of appearance)

The Three Daughters (Ursula, Genevieve, Gertrude)

The Grandfather (partially blind)

The Father (Paul)

The Uncle (Oliver)

The Maid-Servant

The Sister of Charity

Characters (Mentioned or alluded to but who do not speak or are not seen)

The Mother

The Baby

The Sister

The Doctor

The Stranger / Intruder

L’Intruse

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A Question of Memory

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Field, Michael. Deirdre ; A Question of Memory ; Ras Byzance. London, England: Poetry shop, 1918. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.        . https://ia600401.us.archive.org/6/items/deirdrequestiono00fielrich/deirdrequestiono00fielrich.pdf

by Tara Williams and Humaira Zakaria

Act One

The day after a dance, in Ferencz Renyi’s home, Ferencz is thinking about his position as a school teacher, the possibility of a relationship between his good friend Lazlo and his soon to be sister-in-law Erzsi. Erzsi enters and they discuss marriage, the war, and the fact that Ferencz’s friend Lazlo is hopelessly in love with her. Erzsi dismisses the idea of this match as if something was not allowing her to pursue this course.   They discuss the impending revolt between their Hungarian village and the occupying Austrian troop. Erzsi recalls that at the dance while Ferencz and Irma were dancing, an Austrian spy was watching Irma very intensely.

Lazlo enters with marching papers. Ferencz is to be Captain, and they will join Colonel’s Szabo’s regiment. Erzsi is excited by the prospect of war and supports the revolution with songs from Hungarian history to boost the morale of the enlisted men. Ferencz is afraid to break the news of his departure to his fiancée Irma, and Lazlo declares his love and life to Erzsi while she declares her life to the revolution. Lazlo confesses that fighting and dying for Erzsi has more value than fighting for the country; she has Lazlo pledge to fight for her even though she cannot love him back and he accepts.

Ferencz’s mother enters to say farewell to her son, and she expresses how proud she is of him for fighting against the Austrians.   To get Ferencz excited and more determined to fight, she tells him a story of her torture for harboring a fugitive by General Haynau. Shortly after Ferencz was born, she had been jailed and flogged for hiding a fugitive in her home twelve hours. The fugitive was caught and killed, and Ferencz’s mother was arrested. She tells her son that they treated women very horribly. Her captors would berate, flog, and torture the women. She wants Ferencz to go to battle and avenge her honor and protect the women and children of the village.

It is also Irma’s birthday, and Ferencz is concerned about their meeting before he leaves. When Irma arrives, they discuss his departure, and she becomes hysterical. Ferencz passionately kisses Irma and tells her that he is leaving within the hour. They ask where he is going and he refuses to tell. The troops gather in Ferencz’s home and discuss their plans and desire for victory. They are led by Erzsi in a patriotic song of Hungary and the curtain drops.

Act Two

Ferencz’s mother is in the village vineyard with Erzsi and Irma, and she is anxious about Haynau being so close to the village. They discuss the unusual cruelty of General Haynau and Ferencz’s mother fears the possibility that Ferencz may never return home. Irma refuses to accept this possibility and expresses that she hopes he will do anything he can to save his life. The mother hopes her son will do anything to protect the women and children of the village – even if it means his death. In their conversation, Irma acknowledges that both she and Erzsi love Ferencz, but he chooses and appreciates her love more. Mother replies that she wished that Irma loved him the way that Erzsi does.

Lazlo returns to the village on a mission to retrieve Colonel Szabo’s letters because he had grown impatient with waiting for news. Lazlo agreed to this risky endeavor in hopes of seeing Erzsi. He tells the women that yesterday Ferencz has already won a battle and is presently headed out on another mission. Irma asks Lazlo to stay long enough for her to send a letter to Ferencz and, while waiting, Lazlo sees Erzsi. Lazlo is not dressed in uniform; he notes Erzsi’s negative reaction and acknowledges that she is ashamed of him but stresses that what he is doing is “risky business” and if caught as a spy he could be killed. However, he only volunteered because it would give him an opportunity to see Erzsi. Erzsi claims that his kind of mission is not a characteristic of being a soldier – fighting is.

An Austrian officer, Mansfeldt, enters. He arrests Lazlo as a spy. Mansfeldt discloses that Ferencz had been captured earlier that morning, and he had been ordered to fetch Irma and Ferencz’s mother. At the moment, Ferencz was alive because he knew where the Hungarian regiment was hiding. Irma claimed that she would go to get Ferencz to speak to save his life and that she never hated the Austrians. This statement prompts an argument between Irma and Erzsi. Irma wants to get Ferencz to talk so that he could be saved, but Erzsi tries to convince Irma to let him die. Erzsi promises to care for Irma all her days if she does not do this; Erzsi tells Irma that if she loves Ferencz, she needs to understand that Ferencz must die. At this point, Erzsi admits that she is in love with Ferencz and will miss him terribly, but he must die for the cause. Irma is upset but determined to save Ferencz. She is told by Ferencz’s mother that she is not good enough for her son and that she must prepare for the worst. Irma goes with the intent to save his life and his mother goes with the intent to say goodbye.

Act Three

The scene is set in the Austrian headquarters where Ferencz and Lazlo are being detained. General Haynau and Mansfeldt discuss how challenging it will be to get the information from Ferencz. Haynau questions Ferencz about where the regiment’s location is. Ferencz will not give any information and would rather die before he gives Haynau the location. Haynau informs Ferencz that if he does not give the location of the troops, his mother will be shot. Fear begins to set in, and he screams, “Defile! Defile!” Mother tells him that he must keep silent and that she does not fear death. Mother insists that if she knew his secret she would not tell it either and so he must not speak.   Ferencz’s mother assures her son that she is proud of him. Ferencz refuses Haynau’s request, and he covers his ears and falls against a chair as she is taken out and shot to death (off-stage). Next, Irma is brought in to plead with Ferencz. Irma is determined to save Ferencz so that she may marry. Ferencz realizes that she does not understand the seriousness of the situation. When she is told that she will be shot, she begins to beg Ferencz to tell but the stress of his mother’s death and now understanding that he loved a woman only concerned with herself, he starts becoming unhinged. Ferencz tries to remember and shouts at Haynau that the pressure is compromising his memory. Haynau’s patience is cut short, and he threatens to shoot Irma if Ferencz does not disclose the location, but Ferencz goes completely mad and cannot remember anything. He says that his “memory is wandering about among rocks,” but he pleads for Irma’s life. He wants to save Irma from being shot, but he cannot not remember where the regiment was hiding. Haynau believes that Ferencz “conveniently forgets” where the regiment was.   Irma is taken away and is shot dead (off scene). Haynau orders Lazlo to be brought in and demands that Lazlo gives the location of Colonel Sbazo and the regiment. Haynau threatens Lazlo, saying he will kill Erzsi. Lazlo tells General Haynau of the regiment’s location. Lazlo reasons that all the troops love Erzsi and they are willing to die for her and decides to give the location, screaming, “Jablunkau Defile,” while covering his face in shame. General Haynau gives the orders to shoot the traitor and release the madman, and the curtain falls.

Pater Noster

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Coppée, François. Pater Noster: a Play in One Act. Trans. Will Hutchins. New York: Samuel French, 1915. Print.

by Carly Rubin, Olivia Blasi, and Ewa Barnes

The play opens in May of 1871, during the Paris Commune. It is set in the working-class Parisian neighborhood of Belleville, at the home of Mademoiselle Rose and her late brother, the Abbé Jean Morel. Zélie, an elderly female servant of the household, is explaining to a neighbor the way in which the Abbé Morel was shot and killed by bandits two nights previous. During this conversation, Zélie reveals both the cruelty of the massacre and the effect it has had on Mlle. Rose, who raised her much younger brother Jean after their parents’ death. The Abbé Jean is described as truly sweet and blessed, Mlle. Rose as a loving and devoted sister- and mother-figure. Zélie emphasizes the siblings’ mutual devotion.

The conversation is interrupted when Mlle. Rose wakes up and calls for Zélie; the neighbor exits the house through the garden and leaves the women alone. Rose asks for water and mentions having a nightmare about her brother’s execution. Zélie assures Rose that the uprising has been squelched. Rose looks out to the garden and outwardly mourns the loss of her brother, then questions her servant about the visiting neighbor. As the two talk, Zélie mentions that another visitor, the Curé (who was a friend of the late Abbé) has stopped by and will return, wanting to talk to Rose. She protests, but eventually agrees to see the Curé, and Zélie leaves her on her own in the garden.

Alone, Rose muses over her reaction to her brother’s death. She worries that she has become a different person, cruel and vindictive, lacking in mercy and religious faith. She questions God and His designs until she is interrupted by the arrival of the Curé. The two talk; the Curé insists on a merciful, righteous, and faithful reaction to the tragedy while Rose becomes angrier and more defiant. The Curé starts to worry after the state of Mlle. Rose’s soul, but she refuses to concede. Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of gunshots – the Curé remarks that the Commune has been defeated, and Mlle. Rose is put off by his tender reaction to the deaths of the people who killed her brother. She continues to extoll the virtues of the Abbé and express a desire for retribution, while the Curé tries to talk Rose out of her thirst for vengeance. Finally, he rises, and leaves through the garden.

Alone again, Mlle. Rose picks up her rosary and tries to pray, but she cannot even get through the most basic of prayers – the Pater Noster. In this same moment, an unknown man in tattered clothing bursts into the house. His name is Jacques Leroux; he is dressed in the clothing of a Federate and is clearly being pursued by the authorities. He begs Mlle. Rose for refuge and pleads with her to believe that he has done no harm to anyone and has just gotten caught up in the revolts. Rose refuses, citing her brother’s murder as the reason why. Leroux continues to beg for help and mercy; Rose continues to push back. As the two argue, Leroux inadvertently repeats the Curé’s words nearly exactly.

Zélie bursts into the room from the garden and tells Rose that the soldiers pursuing the remaining Communards (of which Leroux is one) are coming to the house to search it. Rose has a change of heart, tells Leroux to hide in another room, and gives him her brother’s clothes to change into. The soldiers arrive, and begin to search the house. Leroux reemerges, dressed in the Abbé’s clothes, and Mlle. Rose tells the soldiers that he is her brother. They apologize and leave. Jacques Leroux thanks Rose and walks out through the garden, still in the Abbé’s clothes. Mlle. Rose, left alone once more, picks up her chaplet, remembers her brother, and begins to pray, this time sincerely and successfully.

Roses of Shadow

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Raffalovich, André. Roses of Shadow. 1893. Privately Printed

by Jeannette Jackson, Andréa Stella, and Eric-Matthieu Kazadi

André Raffalovich’s Roses of Shadow is a one-act play that was first performed in 1893 in London. The play’s two main characters are Blanche Darien and Severin Campion. Blanche has dyed auburn hair, wears jewels and a gown. She is a decade Severin’s senior. Severin is attractive, but looks worn from the evening. The scene starts at 11 pm after a cocktail party.

The play opens with Blanche having just hosted the dinner party and Severin is the last of the remaining guests. Blanche begins by discussing with Severin a party guest who had particularly irritated her by singing in spite of Blanche’s headache. Severin then pays a compliment to Blanche by telling her that she should not discuss her age because she is ageless. The two friends engage in a rebuttal of how the guests were dressed and expose any indecencies the guest may have participated in.

Severin then mentions looking and feeling worn, and Blanche responds by telling him how attractive his hairstyle is and that the “artist who designed [his] anatomy knew who to draw” (6). Severin is happy to receive the compliment but he responds by saying that he is getting old, “even [his] red carnation is getting faded” (6). The color has ambiguity to it because it connects Blanche and Severin in not only dialogue but also in their denouement. The color “Red” is the color of the roses but, as Severin, describes it, is also a feeling, an entity—a tangible source that can be embraced and conformed. Blanche returns to the rhetoric of the guest as Severin indulges himself about the color red.

They continue discussing red faces and red rooms until Severin recites a poem to Blanche called the red ode. He then exclaims that he is a “fool, such a fool, such a fool thing this evening, so cowardly, no, not a coward but depressed, one of [his] fits of depression (He flings away his flower.) [He] is getting old” (7). Severin believes that he will no longer be able to rely on his looks alone, and then he gets caught up in the notion of being overly sensitive. Blanche attempts to bat away the comment by telling him that everyone is sensitive, but Severin continues on.

Blanche begins to scold Severin by telling him that he does everything possible to aggravate his sensitivity because he idles foolishly which allows other people to speak unkindly of him. Blanche confronts Severin about his perception of happiness as it pertains to wealth and fame. She lectures him about his ungratefulness and how he squanders money accruing debts, along the way. She tells him that “vanity is a modern voice” (9) and alludes to the fact that he keeps company of different women for the social benefit of not having to work.

Severin then laments that he wants to keep his lifestyle but “can’t afford to go on and can’t retire (10). So he proposes that he will sell himself to the highest bidder. He discusses how some of the dinner party guests, who were of capital, married not for love but for riches. Blanche takes the same premise with said dinner guests but instead speaks to the unhappiness and grief of marrying for the wrong reasons. Blanche is horrified by the thought of Severin entering into this type of advantageous relationship. She tells him that he’s degrading himself.

The more he indulges himself in the idea of pairing with Blanche, the more he convinces himself how great it is. Severin immediately asks Blanche to marry him. She tells him it is impossible. She says that despite how well they get along and how much time they spend together she cannot marry him because it would be unacceptable. Blanche even goes so far as to teeter as to whether or not outside opinions are of any importance, but ultimately she holds strong and continues refusing his request of marriage. Blanche tells Severin that she would do anything for him, except marriage.

They debate back and forth, but Blanche does not budge. Finally, Severin reminds her how he makes her smile. She acknowledges that they need each other, but that “unconventionality is sometimes only a desperate hunger, the hunger of the civilised cannibal who eats his own heart” (18). Severin then declares that Blanche is the only woman with whom he could face the future. But at that same moment, Blanche hears a neighbor’s laugh and the conversation dies. Blanche tells Severin that she will be good to him; he agrees that she will be, and the play ends.

Job, Thomas. Therese (from Emile Zola’s Thérese Raquin). New York, Los Angeles [etc.]: Samuel French, 1947.

by Kiki Black, Jane E. Bolster, and Robert C. Derosa

In act 1, scene 1, the story takes place in Paris, the spring of 1875. There are four occupants chatting in the living quarters above a milliner’s shop: the owner, Mme. Raquin; her invalid son, Camille; his wife (and cousin), Therese; and Camille’s friend, Laurent, an artist. Camille has designed a hat, which he calls “The Boater,” for a wealthy client, Mme. Louise, who hates it and makes a fuss about it. It’s soon discovered that Therese and Laurent are secret lovers. A friend, Grivet, arrives for a weekly dominoes game, followed by Inspector Michaud and his niece, Suzanne. Inspector M. talks about a murder he encounters on the way, which leads to a discussion of murderers getting away with their crimes. Therese goads Laurent and mocks Camille’s fear of boats which prompts Grivet to say, “Accidents happen anywhere.”

In scene 2, the following Sunday evening in Mme. Raquin’s living room, the adults are waiting for Therese, Laurent, Camille, and Suzanne to return from a boating trip. They are engaged in light conversation while Inspector M. and Grivet play dominoes. Grivet finds Laurent’s unfinished portrait of Camille and calls it “modern” after the Inspector comments on its faceless appearance. Suzanne returns to the house alone; she has missed the rendezvous, and, instead, has spent the day with a Charles Beauchamp. Therese and Laurent eventually return without Camille. Laurent, agitated, explains to Mme. Raquin about the terrible accident of Camille’s drowning. Mme. Raquin is disbelieving until Therese and Laurent convince her that Camille is dead.

In act 2, scene 1, it’s a year later, in the Raquin home, on Therese and Laurent’s wedding eve. Their guests gather in the living room which is swathed in new fabrics, and flowers and candles are everywhere to honor Laurent and Therese’s marriage. Suzanne discovers and displays Laurent’s portrait of a faceless Camille. Suzanne, Mme. Louise, the Inspector, and Grivet make remarks about eeriness of the living room and the house. When Therese and Laurent are alone, they speak of Camille – how he looked faceless at the morgue. Mme. Raquin appears and overhears Therese and Laurent discussing their murder of Camille; Mme. Raquin suffers a paralyzing stroke.

In scene 2, six months later, in a now shabby apartment, Suzanne arrives to announce her engagement to Charles Beauchamp. Therese and Laurent quarrel about their lack of money, Laurent’s drunken ways, the details of Camille’s murder, and the wheelchair-bound Mme. Raquin. Mme. Louise enters, and she and Therese settle on a plan to commit Mme. Raquin to a hospital mental ward, the fees paid by Mme. Louise. Inspector Michaud and Grivet arrive to visit Mme. Raquin. They play dominoes over a discussion about The Market Garden murderer’s conviction and guillotine sentence. Mme. Raquin suddenly moves her hand to form letters with the dominoes to expose the killers: she begins to spell out Laurent’s and Therese’s names, which triggers Laurent’s confession to the drowning murder of Camille. Upon hearing this, Mme. Raquin dies. The Inspector begins his criminal proceedings of Laurent. Therese acknowledges her love for Laurent and says that all four of them – Mme. Raquin, Camille, Laurent and she – will finally be at peace.

Thérèse Raquin

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