Aria da Capo | Page 9

in a voice of awe,
curiosity, and horror. For a moment the two characters seem almost to
feel and be subdued by the tragedy that has taken place. They remain
standing very quietly while Cothurnus speaks his final lines off stage,
and for a moment after he has said, "The audience will forget"; then
very slowly raise their eyes and exchange glances, Pierrot nods his
head curtly and says, "That's so"; they set their bowls gaily back on the
table, and the play begins again.
Pierrot in such lines as "Ah, Columbine, as if it mattered!" speaks with
mock saccharine tenderness; but in such lines as "If you were a fly you
would be dead by now!" although he speaks very gaily his malice must
be apparent almost even to her; Columbine bores him to death. When
he says, "I'll go and strum the moon!" he is for the instant genuinely
excited and interested; he is for this moment like a child, and is happy.
COLUMBINE: Pretty and charming, but stupid; she never knows what

Pierrot is talking about, and is so accustomed to him that she no longer
pretends to understand him; but she is very proud of him, and when he
speaks she listens with trustful admiration. Her expression, "I cannot
live without" this or that, is a phrase she uses in order to make herself
more attractive, because she believes men prefer women to be useless
and extravagant; if left to herself she would be a domestic and capable
person.
COTHURNUS: This character should be played by a tall and imposing
figure with a tremendous voice. The voice of Cothurnus is one of the
most important things in the acting play. He should have a voice deeper
than the voice used by any of the other persons, should speak weightily
and with great dignity, but almost without intonation, and quite without
feeling, as if he had said the same words many times before. Only in
his last speech may he be permitted a comment on the situation. This
speech should be spoken quite as impressively as the others and fully as
slowly.
CORYDON and THYRSIS: These two characters are young, very
simple, and childlike; they are acted upon by the force that sits on the
back of the stage behind them. More and more as their quarrel advances
they begin to see that something is wrong, but they have no idea what
to do about it, and they scarcely realize what is happening, the quarrel
grows so from little things into big things. Corydon's first vision of the
tragedy is in "It's terrible when you stop to think of it." Thyrsis' first
vision comes when he looks into the pool; in seeing the familiar
reflection he is struck by the unfamiliarity of one aspect of it, the
poisonous root; for the first time he realizes that this man who is about
to kill with poisoned water his most beloved friend, is none other than
Thyrsis _himself_,--"'Tis I!" The personalities of Thyrsis and Corydon
are not essentially different. They develop somewhat differently,
because of the differing circumstances.
When Columbine goes out for the first time she takes with her her
artichoke and her wine-glass, also a couple of macaroons, which she
nibbles, going out. This helps to get the table cleared. The other articles
are removed by the shepherds when they prepare the stage for their
scene, in this manner: at the cue "Sir, we are always ready. . . . Play the
play!", Corydon and Thyrsis come down stage, Corydon to Pierrot's
end of the table, Thyrsis to Columbia's; simultaneously, first, they set

back the chairs against the wall, Pierrot's left front, Columbine's right
front; next they remove the two big bowls and set them in symmetrical
positions on the floor, left front and right front, in such a way that the
bowl of confetti may be the mine of jewels for Corydon, and the bowl
of fruits, the punch-bowl, may represent the pool of water for Thyrsis;
then, taking the table by the two ends, they set it back against the wall,
right; next, while Corydon places the two pillows from the left wall on
the floor to represent rocks in their pasture, Thyrsis removes from the
table everything that is left on it except the tablecloth,--this should be
only Pierrot's wine-goblet and the flower in its pot. (The flower is to
represent later the poisonous weed which Thyrsis finds, the wine-goblet
a drinking-cup beside the pool, the flower-pot a bowl in which to mix
the poison and bring it to Corydon.) The two shepherds do this setting
of their stage swiftly and silently, then seat themselves at once, in easy
but beautiful postures, and remain for a moment looking off as if at
their sheep while a