Aria da Capo | Page 6

CORYDON: Then hold it steady. For every drop you spill I'll have a
stone back Out of this chain.
THYRSIS: I shall not spill a drop.
[CORYDON drinks, meanwhile beginning to strangle THYRSIS.]
THYRSIS: Don't pull the string so tight.
CORYDON: You're spilling the water.
THYRSIS: You've had enough--you've had enough--stop pulling The
string so tight!
CORYDON: Why, that's not tight at all ... How's this?
THYRSIS: [Drops bowl.] You're strangling me! Oh, Corydon! It's only

a game!--and you are strangling me!
CORYDON: It's only a game, is it?--Yet I believe You've poisoned me
in earnest! [Writhes and pulls the strings tighter, winding them about
THYRSIS' neck.]
THYRSIS: Corydon! [Dies.]
CORYDON: You've poisoned me in earnest. . . . I feel so cold. . . . So
cold . . . this is a very silly game. . . . Why do we play it?--let's not play
this game A minute more . . . let's make a little song About a lamb. . . .
I'm coming over the wall, No matter what you say,--I want to be near
you. . . .
[Groping his way, with arms wide before him, he strides through the
frail papers of the wall without knowing it, and continues seeking for
the wall straight across the stage.]
Where is the wall?
[Gropes his way back, and stands very near THYRSIS without seeing
him; he speaks slowly.]
There isn't any wall, I think.
[Takes a step forward, his foot touches THYRSIS' body, and he falls
down beside him.]
Thyrsis, where is your cloak?--just give me A little bit of your
cloak! . . .
[Draws corner of THYRSIS' cloak over his shoulders, falls across
THYRSIS' body, and dies.]
[COTHURNUS closes the prompt-book with a bang, arises
matter-of-factly, comes down stage, and places the table over the two
bodies, drawing down the cover so that they are hidden from any actors
on the stage, but visible to the audience, pushing in their feet and hands
with his boot. He then turns his back to the audience, and claps his
hands twice.]
COTHURNUS: Strike the scene! [Exit COTHURNUS.]
[Enter PIERROT and COLUMBINE.]
PIERROT: Don't puff so, Columbine!
COLUMBINE: Lord, what a mess This set is in! If there's one thing I
hate Above everything else,--even more than getting my feet wet-- It's
clutter!--He might at least have left the scene The way he found it ...
don't you say so, Pierrot?
[She picks up punch bowl. They arrange chairs as before at ends of

table.]
PIERROT: Well, I don't know. I think it rather diverting The way it is.
[Yawns, picks up confetti bowl.]
Shall we begin?
COLUMBINE: [Screams.] My God! What's that there under the table?
PIERROT: It is the bodies Of the two shepherds from the other play.
COLUMBINE: [Slowly.] How curious to strangle him like that, With
colored paper ribbons.
PIERROT: Yes, and yet I dare say he is just as dead. [Pauses. Calls.]
Cothurnus! Come drag these bodies out of here! We can't Sit down and
eat with two dead bodies lying Under the table! . . . The audience
wouldn't stand for it!
COTHURNUS: (Off stage.) What makes you think so?-- Pull down the
tablecloth On the other side, and hide them from the house, And play
the farce. The audience will forget.
PIERROT: That's so. Give me a hand there, Columbine.
[PIERROT and COLUMBINE pull down the table cover in such a way
that the two bodies are hidden from the house, then merrily set their
bowls back on the table, draw up their chairs, and begin the play
exactly as before.]
COLUMBINE: Pierrot, a macaroon,--I cannot live without a macaroon!
PIERROT: My only love, You are so intense! ... Is it Tuesday,
Columbine?-- I'll kiss you if it's Tuesday.
[Curtains begin to close slowly.]
COLUMBINE: It is Wednesday, If you must know. ... Is this my
artichoke Or yours?
PIERROT: Ah, Columbine, as if it mattered! Wednesday. . . . Will it be
Tuesday, then, to-morrow, By any chance? . . .
[CURTAIN.]

AUTHOR'S NOTE
ON THE PLAYING PO
ARIA DA CAPO

ORIGINAL CAST
AS PLAYED BY THE PROVINCETOWN PLAYERS, NEW YORK

CITY
PIERROT HARRISON DOWD
COLUMBINE NORMA MILLAY
COTHURNUS HUGH FERRISS
CORYDON CHARLES ELLIS
THYRSIS JAMES LIGHT

AUTHOR'S NOTE
So great is my vexation always, when reading a play, to find its
progress constantly being halted and its structure loosened by elaborate
explanatory parentheses, that I resolved when I should publish Aria da
Capo to incorporate into its text only those explanations the omission
of which might confuse the reader or lend a wrong interpretation to the
lines. Since, however, Aria da Capo was written not only to be read but
also to be acted, and being conscious that the exclusion of the usual
directions, while clarifying the