The Shakespeare Notebooks

by Justin Richards

  To Freya, where they first caught sight of the

  Dread foe who had laid waste these lands. We have

  Not name for them, but those who saw their flight

  Spoke of steel bodies and a burning eye;

  Curved ribs of metal, and a stubby rod

  That shot a burning bolt of hot brimstone

  Through plated ranks of rosy Taran youth.

  One man, Coriolanus, was not moved.

  He rode on, bravely, thus. His sword, death’s stamp,

  Where it did mark, it took; from face to foot

  He was a thing of blood, whose every motion

  Was timed with dying cries; the gurgles of

  The hidden occupants of these steel shells.

  Still on he rode: unto the city that

  Our metal foes had planted ’pon the plain.

  A gilded plate suspended there on stilts,

  Massy; a league from edge to edge, they said.

  And from its glassy portals could be seen,

  More of our foes, bright lamps upon their skulls,

  Gazing dispassionate upon the sight.

  Brave captain ours; alone he entered

  The mortal gate of the city, which he painted

  With shunless destiny; aidless came off,

  And with a strange sword roaring in his fist

  Ran reeking o’er metallic dead, as if

  ’Twere a perpetual spoil: and till we call’d

  Both field and city ours, he never stood

  To ease his breast with panting.

  TILL

  Worthy man!

  KURSTER

  He cannot but with measure fit the honours

  Which we devise him.

  THORVALD

  Our spoils he kick’d at,

  The ground was thick with riches from the stars

  Minerals and devices crystalline,

  Lay scattered on the muddy Taran ground.

  He look’d upon things precious as they were

  The common muck of the world: he covets less

  Than misery itself would give; rewards

  His deeds with doing them, and is content

  To spend the time to end it.

  KURSTER

  He’s right noble:

  Let him be call’d for.

  TILL

  Call Coriolanus.

  KURSTER

  He doth appear.

  Enter CORIOLANUS, attended by ZADEK and FARRAH, two swordsmen.

  ARCHIMANDRITE

  The senate, Coriolanus, are well pleased

  To crown thee Tara’s king.

  CORIOLANUS

  I do owe them still

  My life and services.

  ARCHIMANDRITE

  It then remains

  That you do speak to the people.

  CORIOLANUS

  I do beseech you,

  Let me o’erleap that custom, for I cannot –

  I cannot - not - not -

  FARRAH (Aside)

  Methinks I heard a spark. The hero has

  A wire crossed within its circuitry.

  What should we do? Old Zadek, quickly, speak.

  ZADEK

  Our hero is exhausted by his feats

  He is a man of action, not of words.

  Forgive his silence; call it eloquence.

  KURSTER

  Sir, the people

  Must have their voices; neither will they bate

  One jot of ceremony.

  ARCHIMANDRITE

  Pray you, go fit you to the custom and

  Take to you, as your predecessors have,

  Your honour with your form.

  CORIOLANUS

  It is apart

  That I shall blush in acting, and might well

  Be taken from the people.

  ZADEK

  Mark you that? How modestly he speaks.

  FARRAH

  How fit he is to lead the Taran state!

  CORIOLANUS

  To brag unto them, thus I did, and thus;

  Show them the unaching scars which I should hide,

  As if I had received them for the hire

  Of their breath only!

  FARRAH (Aside)

  His voice returns. What strategy, Zadek?

  ZADEK (Aside)

  The Doctor, ’fore he left in his blue box,

  Pressed but a little gift into my hand.

  Quoth he: “If George is fagged after the fight –

  And who could blame the old boy if he was? –

  Then place this extra battery in his pack,

  He’ll find the strength, at least, to take applause.”

  Then added he: “Zadek, I have to go;

  I pulled the Randomiser out of joint

  To bring the TARDIS back to Tara’s shores,

  And now I sense disturbance in the air –

  That old Black Guardian is on my tail.”

  And thus he went, with great celerity.

  With flashing light, and wheezing, groaning sound.

  The birds flew from the trees as he rose up.

  FARRAH

  Wise Doctor. He hath saved our country twice.

  Once from the Count of hateful memory

  And now from foes arrived from the stars.

  ZADEK

  And when Coriolanus’ strength has gone,

  There’ll be another battle lost and won.

  ALL

  To Coriolanus come all joy and honour!

  Flourish of cornets. Exeunt all.

  * * *

  Is this a Dalek I see before me?

  * * *

  MASTER FAUSTUS

  One of the more extraordinary inclusions in the Shakespeare Notebooks is this extract from a play entitled Master Faustus. On the face of it, this seems to be either an early draft or a reworking of the play Doctor Faustus – which was written, of course, by Shakespeare’s contemporary Christopher Marlowe. Or was it? Did Shakespeare include in his Notebooks material actually written by Marlowe, or is this proof that Marlowe himself derived his own work from a previous text by Shakespeare?

  Whatever the truth, this extract makes for fascinating reading – not least for the inclusion of Marlowe as a character within the drama. His death has some resonance with the actual event, though with its inclusion of ‘Daleks’ (presumably evil spirits) this is evidently intended as a ‘fantasie’.

  SCENE I – A TAVERN IN DEPTFORD

  Enter MARLOWE, a playwright. He is accosted by DOBBIN and DULLBERRY, two ruffians.

  DOBBIN

  Prithee, art thou the famous playwright?

  MARLOWE

  Ay.

  DOBBIN

  Fellows, ’tis Master William Shakespeare!

  MARLOWE

  Shakespeare?

  DOBBIN

  The greatest writer who ever did draw breath!

  DULLBERRY

  Romeo and Juliet!

  DOBBIN

  Ye Comedy of Errors!

  MARLOWE

  I wrote not them. I am Christopher Marlowe.

  DULLBERRY

  Morley?

  MARLOWE

  Marlowe.

  DOBBIN

  Who?

  MARLOWE

  Know thee not the Tragedie of Tamburlane?

  DULLBERRY

  I fear me not.

  DOBBIN

  Though, I am full sure it is most good.

  DULLBERRY

  If not as good as those of Master Will. Hast thou met him?

  MARLOWE

  I know him well.

  DOBBIN

  Then tell him how good we think him.

  MARLOWE

  I shall.

  DOBBIN

  He really is very good.

  DULLBERRY

  Truly. No hack poetaster he.

  MARLOWE

  Friends, for so I call ye, I know right well your intention.

  You art the Lord Keeper’s men, are ye not?

  Come to pay me m
y bloody recknynge.

  But the sun is shining, and I shall not fight with you today.

  DOBBIN

  He turns down our challenge?

  DULLBERRY

  He doth. The insult shall not stand.

  They draw and fight. Enter MAGISTER.

  MAGISTER

  Put up thy bright swords noble gentlemen,

  Else the dew will rust them.

  For I am the Master and thou wilt obey me.

  DOBBIN AND DULLBERRY freeze.

  MARLOWE

  I am impressed.

  MAGISTER

  Christopher Marlowe, come with me.

  I have an offer you can not refuse.

  SCENE II – MARLOWE’S HOUSE

  MARLOWE

  What manner of man are you, sir?

  MAGISTER

  I am a man of stars, who has waited in the skies

  Long have I wished to help you, but I feared

  I should overwrack your mind.

  MARLOWE

  A spirit?

  MAGISTER

  Let’s call it that. And so to work.

  MARLOWE

  What is your business with me?

  MAGISTER

  Good Marlowe, but glance close through my tricked glass

  I have a thing to show. A vision of a scribe

  Mighty, all garlanded with poesy’s bays

  And right clapper-claw’d to infinity

  Time has no measure, nor does thy fame.

  One name shall echo cross the stars. Marlowe.

  MARLOWE

  Say you so?

  MAGISTER

  Ay. I am the Master. My word’s my power.

  And Kit, I give it thee. Say what you see?

  MARLOWE peers through MAGISTER’s magical scrying glass

  MARLOWE

  I am amazed. I but hoped my words would

  Outlive my span a little. But here I see them

  Printed, studied, acted, quoted, learned

  Quite picked apart and then repatched

  Brought to life and done to death unending.

  I see my plays acted through the ages.

  I see boys squeak my lines in endless generation,

  In dumb show processional til the crack of doom.

  I see a stage lit by dying stars, and

  On it voic’d my words, their final echo

  Cloak’d by the closing curtain of creation.

  I see only Marlowe, Marlowe, Marlow. My unending

  Line. You, Magister, you have shown me

  The book of time, and my whole life within.

  I should be a dot, a blot, the flea’s flea.

  And yet, writ large, just MARLOWE still I see.

  Do you lie?

  MAGISTER

  Lie? I never lie.

  I fear my vision has much shook thy brains.

  Good Marlowe, lay that damned book aside,

  And gaze not on it lest it tempt thy soul.

  MARLOWE

  Nay, I’ll see more. Christopher Marlowe?

  A Canterbury cobbler so oversouled?

  With nature’s pride and richest furniture

  My works do menace heaven and dare the gods!

  And yet, there is a name I thought to see

  Writ on eternity’s fair brow. I squint

  But see it not. My Will is Shaken by it.

  MAGISTER

  Oh, Master Shakespeare? Fear him not.

  His bright eyes suddenly burn so pale.

  For he is but a candle in the wind.

  And I shall snuff him out.

  MARLOWE

  I will no harm to Will. And yet –

  MAGISTER

  And yet.

  MARLOWE

  Yet. Spirit, good or bad, why help you me?

  MAGISTER

  I am one who weaves behind the rich

  Tapestry of time. I pick up threads,

  Pull colours, endeavour and much mend.

  You are one gold yarn I seek to lengthen.

  I do prepare a trap beyond a trap

  Which one day it would be a joy to spring.

  Against that day I need you, Kit.

  I can’t get you out of my head

  You work is all I think about.

  For there is a dark secret in you.

  Forsake thy king and do but join with me

  And we will triumph over all the world.

  I hold the fates fast bound in iron chains

  And with my hand turn Fortune’s wheel about

  May we become immortal like the gods.

  MARLOWE

  Had I as many souls as there be stars

  I’d give them all my Mephistophilis

  By you, I’ll be great conqueror of the world

  And make a bridge through the moving air.

  SCENE III – MAGISTER’S LIBRARY

  MARLOWE enters, much amazed

  MAGISTER

  I do nothing Marlowe, but to delight thy mind

  And let thee see what magic can perform

  Hold, take these books, peruse ’em thoroughly

  The iterating of these lines brings gold.

  Pageant: As Marlowe reads, figures dance about him in merry processional

  MAGISTER

  What think you, Kit? Have I not shown you

  All the greatest stories of the world?

  MARLOWE

  I have solved the code of great Da Vinci

  I have beheld all fifty shades of grey

  And met Dame Bridget who counts all her food

  And learned the secrets of that galaxy

  So long ago and far, far away.

  MAGISTER

  And were you struck?

  MARLOWE

  Well,

  I liked the strong magicks of young orphan

  Harry. That is a story which methinks has legs.

  And yet . . .

  MAGISTER

  And yet?

  MARLOWE

  Yet.

  MAGISTER

  Fear not. I have yet wilder skies than these.

  I call down heavens, unwrap the stars

  He must needs go that the devil drives

  There shall be no rest for the wicked

  And no sleep till Brooklyn.

  I will be Paris, and for love of thee

  Instead of Troy, shall Skaro’s towers be sacked

  Come, step into my magic cabinet.

  At MAGISTER’S invitation, MARLOWE and he enter a box

  SCENE IV – MAGISTER’S VAST CABINET

  MARLOWE

  What great reckoning in a little room!

  Is this the jakes of Ajax? This box is

  Bigger on the inside than the outside!

  MAGISTER

  You have seen nothing yet, my friend.

  MAGISTER performs a conjuration.

  Infernal trumpets sound.

  MARLOWE

  What dread noise is that?

  MAGISTER

  ’Tis the music of the spheres.

  They are the alarums of our excursion.

  See? We ride the back of time.

  From Peru to Cebu, hear the power of Babylon,

  From Bali to Cali – far beneath the Coral Sea.

  We sail away, sail away, sail away.

  MARLOWE

  I am amazed, gentle Mephistophilis.

  Our souls whose faculties can comprehend

  The wondrous architecture of the world,

  And measure every wandering planet’s course

  Still climbing after knowledge infinite

  And always moving as the restless spheres

  Will us to wear ourselves and never rest.

  MAGISTER

  We are landing. ’Tis but the gentlest bump. Come let us go.

  But Kit, beware. We voyage on a planet of total war.

  SCENE V – THE DEAD REALM OF SKARO

  Enter a pageant of DALEKS

  DALEKS

  We sing in praise of total war

&nbs
p; Against the Thals whom we abhor

  To free the tomb of Zeg our lord

  We’ll put all creation to the sword

  There is no greater glory than

  To burn with fire the lake of Darren

  The DALEKS espy MAGISTER and MARLOWE

  DALEKS

  Do not move! Do not move! Exterminate!

  MARLOWE

  What wild mechanicals? What dread armour!

  I will not fear bugbears and hobgoblins

  And utterly scorn both gods and monsters.

  MAGISTER

  Your boldness does you merit. Yet should we run.

  Here have I left a little work undone.

  DALEKS

  Halt! Thou are the Master! Exterminated shalt thou be!

  MAGISTER

  Run.

  MARLOWE

  Run?

  MAGISTER

  Run!

  They flee back to Magister’s Cabinet

  SCENE VI – MAGISTER’S CABINET

  Enter MARLOWE and MAGISTER at a fast pace

  MARLOWE

  If heaven were made for man, ’twas made for me

  Have I not made music with my Mephistophilis?

  MAGISTER

  I think there are many stories here for you.

  All the roads that lead you there are winding

  And all the lights that see you there are blinding

  But after all, thou shalt bow to my wonder will.

  MARLOWE

  How know you of these worlds and creatures?

  MAGISTER

  As you have Will, I have my adverse,

  A dreadful Doctor, a trickster japery

  A gallivanting gallimaufry of Gallifrey.

  He stirs these creatures up like wanton boys

  Sticking a hornet’s nest, and ’tis my job

  To clear up his mess. We are Lords Temporal

  Falling in endless fight like Lucifer and Gabriel

  Our tales entwined. My destruction eternal.

  MARLOWE

  O what a cozening Doctor was this to practice on you so!

  Where next, gentle Magister?

  MAGISTER

  We’ll chase the stars from heaven and dim their eyes

  That stand and muse at our admired arms.

  We’ll crest fair the moons of frozen Telos

  And loop the lonely tail of Mondas, quick

  We are but twenty-four hours from pulsar.

  Pageant of stars unfurled

  MAGISTER

  We cross the void beyond the mind,

  The empty space that circles time

  We see where others stumble blind

  To seek a truth they never find

  Eternal wisdom is my guide

  I am the Master.

  MARLOWE