Beat.
Antonio do you know the way to his rooms?
Delio my wife keeps his key
Antonio your wife?
Delio hands him the Cardinal’s key.
Delio don’t pity me. Plenty men have lost their wives to that piece of vanity. Shall I come with you?
Antonio no, stay here, look after Nico until I come back – would you?
Delio where is he?
Antonio sleeping, but don’t wake him yet. I might be back before dawn.
Delio don’t get hurt
Antonio I won’t
Delio but dear –
Antonio I was a poor excuse for a husband
I spent all my time wondering how she could love me, rather than loving as fiercely as I should. But now –
Delio you aren’t used to fighting –
Antonio I don’t care.
I will try to bring them to justice with words,
and if words aren’t enough
I will use my teeth
and if my teeth aren’t enough
I will use my claws
I wasn’t born to fight, no. But today I am changed. I have some strength, don’t I? And I have RAGE.
Cardinal, Doctor and Ferdinand.
Cardinal now, doctor, what’s the disease?
Doctor a very pestilent disease my lord
they call lycanthropia
Cardinal what’s that? I need a dictionary to understand you
Doctor in those that suffer there is some melancholy humour – they imagine themselves to be turned into wolves.
Cardinal what?
Doctor observe his movements
he was seen in a churchyard two nights ago, digging a dead body up
Cardinal no
Doctor yes, around midnight he was spotted with the leg of a man on his shoulder, and howling at passers-by
said he was a wolf, and his purpose to sniff out murder
Cardinal he said that?
Doctor murder he said, yes, murder
don’t worry I’ll beat the madness out of him
move aside, here he comes
Ferdinand comes in.
Ferdinand leave me
Doctor why does your lordship love to be alone?
Ferdinand clever birds fly alone don’t they; it’s the stupid birds: crows, daws and starlings that flock together
Doctor but in the dark –
Ferdinand look what’s that that follows me?
Doctor nothing, my lord
Ferdinand yes, there
Doctor there is nothing there, just your shadow
Ferdinand make it stay, don’t let it haunt me
Doctor impossible if you move and the sun shines
Ferdinand I will throttle it
put the lights down
Doctor oh my lord you are angry with nothing
Ferdinand you are a fool. How can I catch my shadow unless I fall on it? I need it as a bribe for when I get to hell
Doctor get up, good sir
Ferdinand I am studying the art of patience
Doctor it is a noble virtue
Ferdinand shush shush, don’t say that, you will scare them all off. Come back
oh, where’s it gone, you’ve made it go – I can’t lose it, we have work to do
Cardinal get him up
They get Ferdinand to his feet.
Ferdinand use me well, you were best: what I have done –
what have I done? Have I done something? I won’t confess –
Doctor are you mad, my lord? Are you out of your wits?
Ferdinand who’s he?
Cardinal your doctor
Ferdinand that’s not a doctor, doctors have beards –
Doctor if you come here, we have a little remedy
Ferdinand a remedy? hide me from him: doctors are like kings, they think they are always right
get away away
Doctor now he’s frightened of me, leave us alone
Cardinal take your gown off
Doctor no, I need my gown, this cure can be a messy business. Let me have forty syringes full of medication, and straps and a cloth he can bite down
Cardinal what?
Doctor you treat the mad with a firm hand if you want results
Ferdinand you are cruel, doctor, I know how you play with me? I will stamp you into a stew, pull off your skin and show your skeleton
Doctor stop your dancing, man, we will have no more of it here
there is nothing I haven’t seen
Ferdinand get the doctor away from me, he makes me worse
The Doctor uses a cattle-prod on Ferdinand, who recoils.
Doctor what has happened before this began?
Cardinal nothing
Doctor some trauma or sudden grief?
Cardinal he said he saw a ghost, I didn’t believe him
Doctor a ghost –?
Cardinal a woman, so he said
Doctor which woman?
Cardinal do you think it is possible?
Doctor I believe he may think it is. Who was the woman?
Cardinal no one important
Doctor he mentions his sister –
Cardinal our sister has gone on a long trip, he misses her. But she’s not the ghost
Doctor I’ll cure him. Do you have any restrictions on my methods?
Cardinal none.
Doctor good. Expect results.
He uses the cattle-prod, and takes Ferdinand off.
The Cardinal is alone for a second. He thinks he sees something too.
The ghosts play with him for a second.
Julia comes in.
Julia have you heard it?
Cardinal could you knock
Julia some are saying that your sister is missing
Cardinal my sister?
Julia the Duchess yes
Cardinal she is on a pilgrimage
Julia but she never arrived
Four years she has been gone and never seen
Beat.
aren’t you worried? The world is ablaze with this news.
Cardinal not worried no.
Julia where is she?
Cardinal my sister will be doing her own thing, somewhere. I don’t see treachery like you do.
why did you come here tonight?
Julia me?
Cardinal yes
Julia to see you.
She comes over and kisses him.
because I heard the whispers of concern about the Duchess and I thought …
Cardinal women and tittle-tattle
Julia maybe she married some nobleman and is living in Paris
Cardinal maybe she did
Julia or went somewhere to a convent after her mourning
Cardinal indeed
Julia or some other explanation that leaves her happy.
She tries to sit on his lap.
He pushes her away.
Cardinal better that you hadn’t come tonight
Julia so you are worried?
Cardinal do you believe in ghosts, Julia?
Julia the church says no
Cardinal exactly
the church says no, I say no
Julia do you know where she is?
Cardinal what if I were to say all around me?
Julia what?
Cardinal the only way to keep you quiet is to say nothing, get out of here
Julia if you know something you must tell them
Cardinal I don’t need your interrogation
Julia no interrogation
but aren’t we in this together? We are already damned by our adultery after all
Cardinal what if I tell you and you find the secret is like poison? Once you have heard it, you can’t unhear
Julia is it so bad?
Cardinal my sister is dead
Julia what happened to her?
Cardinal strangled
Julia oh God
Cardinal by my appointment and that of my brother
Julia I don’t believe you
Cardinal believe it
Julia for what crime?
Cardinal adultery.
Julia like us
Cardinal yes
and her young daughter was also strangled.
Julia oh heaven. Sir.
Cardinal you see?
it’s easier to tie knots than to untie them.
Julia why?
Cardinal what, that is all you can say why? That settles this? Why why?
because she wouldn’t be obedient.
because she wouldn’t learn.
can your bosom take that? We killed her.
Julia would you kill me for the same crime? Adultery
Cardinal fuck off
Julia what difference is your sister and me?
Cardinal I don’t care about you.
that’s the difference.
Beat.
Cardinal oh stop it, don’t pout, I’ve told you now
Julia everyone is looking for her
Cardinal so tell them.
in fact yes tell them. You would love that.
you are in a position Julia to bring this all to an end for me.
tell them.
she is buried under her basement, let them find her there.
I am tired of my conscience, it sits like lead in my bosom
Julia I will tell them
Cardinal good. Swear you will, I need deliverance
Julia most religiously
He takes out a Bible.
Cardinal kiss it
Julia must I kiss it?
Cardinal yes, kiss it
He takes her head and gets her to kiss it
She does so.
Cardinal –you would do this, I see it now.
Julia I would, sir
He takes her by the neck and dashes her head on the table.
Cardinal how tedious is a guilty conscience.
how tedious. Julia.
He looks at the ghost.
and you can stop too
Bosola enters.
ha Bosola, very well
now you know me for your fellow murderer –
it’s alright, she has gone. Another for the grave
Bosola how can you say that?
Cardinal how can I, says he who also has murder as his trade?
Bosola do you know where Antonio is?
Cardinal what do you want with him? Help me move this body first
Bosola I have a message from the Duchess
Cardinal tsspp.
what, that you mean to deliver, what, all kisses and –
she’s dead and you’re a murderer, you can’t change
Bosola even a murderer can do something good
Cardinal don’t do that
Bosola what?
Cardinal I have a call from chief of justice this morning who said you are still wanted
I didn’t know that you had escaped your ship
Beat.
Bosola I won’t go back
Cardinal and I will help you in that
but look at yourself
be realistic, the soul is formed in childhood and yours is twisted
Bosola where is he?
Beat.
Cardinal I will tell you if you swear allegiance still to me
Bosola I work for your brother now
Cardinal okay, my brother, yes, okay
you are my brother’s now, yes?
Beat.
are you loyal to him?
Beat.
Bosola as long as he pays me – I am loyal
Cardinal good. I’ll tell you where Antonio is
you can deliver your message by all means, then do my bidding.
there is a man called Delio. A slight man, inconsequential man.
I knew his wife –
Antonio is staying with him.
lure them to some quiet place and there use this, you can say what you want before you kill him.
He gives Bosola a gun.
and Bosola, dear sweet boy
you can’t shrug off your past as easily as you might like
He leaves.
Bosola holds the gun.
Bosola I must look to my footing
in such slippery ice pavements men may break their necks
this is new ground for me.
how this man bears up in blood, seems fearless.
will I bear up too when it comes to the moment?
soul untwist and – penitence, let me fully drink from your cup
Duchess that throws men down only to raise them up.
He looks around.
Bosola Duchess is that you?
Ferdinand walks in. Subdued. And wearing the Duchess’s dress.
The Cardinal in a flap, trying to get ready.
Cardinal for God’s sake
change into a suit.
Ferdinand sits down without doing so.
we must appear as worried brothers this evening.
get out of that daft attire.
she’s gone
He looks at Ferdinand.
a suit, brother.
the doctor says it is only in dark that you are mad, so here – here is some light
He shines a light in his eyes.
Ferdinand howls from the pain.
there is much interest in her whereabouts.
you understand what this means? Everyone is looking for her, and we must be amongst that.
are you even listening now, brother?
He looks at Ferdinand.
quickly change.
we must mourn her and talk about our grave concern.
you have to get yourself in tune and quickly we have to be seen to be together and distraught.
we are in danger. Idiot boy, and shame on me that I ever listened to you. We are in the middle of a nightmare of our own creation
cure yourself, if there is any of you left?
dance out of this.
change
Ferdinand villain
Cardinal oh, so you still speak?
good, you can speak more. You can tell the world of her gentle nature and how terribly worried we are for her welfare
Ferdinand spits at him.
why do that?
it was you who brought this all about.
Ferdinand bites the Cardinal.
The Cardinal uses the cattle-prod.
the doctor says I should use this on you every time you show your teeth. So –
if you are a wild animal now then
Ferdinand watch out watch out
Cardinal what?
Ferdinand that instrument is only borrowed, the doctor will come and when the doctor comes –
Cardinal stop this fucking madness, you don’t fool me
Ferdinand lunges at the Cardinal and bites him.
The Cardinal fights back.
Ferdinand rips at his face.
Half his face is hanging off.
what have you done?
Ferdinand the doctor, the doctor will mend it. With a rod and a stick and a boiling hot pan of fancies and –
The Cardinal gets the cattle-prod.
He uses it on Ferdinand.
Ferdinand shrieks.
they want to talk to the family
I am the family
then let us talk, oh, we have much to say about how we killed our sister
The Cardinal uses the cattle-prod again.
Ferdinand our sister our sister our sister
The Cardinal uses it again.
our sister our sister
The Cardinal uses it again and again and again.
our sister
And again.
It’s horrible and too much for a person to take.
Ferdinand is still.
Cardinal I’ll sit alone then.
I will tell the world how much she is missed and how keen we are to have her home.
He goes over and kicks Ferdinand.
Bosola enters
with Antonio.
Bosola I found him, sir
Cardinal but only done half your task
I see
my brother’s madness has meant I have sent my servants away.
come in, dear Antonio, how nice to finally meet you.
Antonio your office is full of corpses
Cardinal that isn’t a corpse, just my brother isn’t feeling well
see, he vomits.
He puts a cloth over him.
I’m glad to see you actually, with all this concern about my sister’s whereabouts I am sure you will be much questioned
Antonio I will be questioned?
Cardinal yes, it seems we have a marriage contract with your name on it, so if you were in contact with her, you’ll find the cloud of suspicion hanging around your shoulders
Antonio how dare you?
Cardinal I don’t think it is a question of dare
my sister could be in grave danger
and you were possibly the last to see her
Antonio I haven’t seen her for a long time
Cardinal so you say, but really any one of us could say that
Antonio you killed her
Cardinal Bosola, I believe you have a task, could you do it?
Bosola what task is that, master?
The Cardinal looks from one to another.
Cardinal the task we mentioned and I equipped you for
Bosola that is lost from my memory, sir
Antonio you killed my wife
Cardinal oh, your wife –
Antonio it doesn’t matter if you deny it
Cardinal and what if I did? She was my family
Antonio she belonged to none of us
Cardinal don’t tell me you have come to avenge,
but let me enjoy this for a minute. By what means?
a frown. A few mean words?
have you got a pen you can dash at me?
He laughs.
dispatch him, would you, Bosola, enough of this
Bosola no
Cardinal what?
Bosola I won’t
Cardinal very good, but do as I say
Bosola I think for myself now
Cardinal what, you are crawling from the gutter and becoming a rat rather than a worm?
kill him
Bosola hands Antonio the gun.
Bosola this pistol was meant for your end, Antonio, now use it to bring his
Antonio’s hand is shaking.
Cardinal no.
Bosola he has taken everything from you.
Cardinal put it down
Bosola pull it quickly, it’s best done fast
Antonio looks to Bosola.
a quick movement does it, do it
Antonio I can’t
Cardinal he hasn’t the guts
Bosola just pull your finger
Antonio my finger won’t pull
Bosola squeeze
Cardinal you see, he can’t even with instruction –
The Duchess (of Malfi) Page 7
