Gerutha and Margaret

 SYNOPSIS

In an undetermined place and time, Gerutha (Gertrude of Hamlet fame) invites Margaret (Henry VI trilogy, Richard III fame) to coffee as they “share more than they know” and she wants Margaret’s help. The two women, who mirror each other in the duality of their external public persona and internal actual persona, establish a kinship through their shared anger over Shakespeare’s hijack of their lives and the subsequent erasure of their actual life stories. Via a spiraling conversational, confrontational journey in word and movement, their actual stories are revealed, shifting their external and internal duality and forcing them to confront the grim price paid for taking agency in a world designed, dominated and controlled by the patriarchy.

GENERAL NOTES

The play is story with choreographed movement. Choreographed physical and aural spirals are essential to the storytelling. Part of the women’s search. Generally speaking, think of outward spirals as external exploration, inward spirals as internal introspection.

Think of the women’s chanted rounds as incantations. Please explore an accompanying gestural vocabulary for these that can grow as their connection to each other grows.

Incantation: a use of spells or verbal charms spoken or sung as a part of a ritual of magic  also: a written or recited formula of words designed to produce a particular effect.

Portraits are personal to Gerutha’s actual story. Think: Death series, self-portraits (Käthe Kollwitz), Clotho (Camille Claudel), Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (Frida Kahlo), La Mort du Patriarche (Niki de Saint Phalle).

Musically think: Bela Bartok’s String Quartet No. 4, Yasua Sueyoshi’s

“Mirage pour Marimba,” Agnes Obel’s “Stretch Your Eyes,” Florence and the Machine’s “Shake it Out”, Sleater-Kinney’s “Don’t Think You Wanna.”

All links are active.

CHARACTERS

General

Both of the women are likely in their 50s or 60s, although very difficult to pinpoint as they are unusual, striking, changeable, hard to label. They are dual opposites, the public exterior and private interior. As their inner duality is revealed, they shift in appearance, speech, etc.

The women are of different race or ethnicity. Cis or trans-gender.

Gerutha

Outwardly rippling water in appearance and behavior. Self-defined, not what she “should” be. Quiet intensity. Has subsumed herself in order to survive. Deep water with a fiery core.

Subsume: encompass as a subordinate or component element. (MW)

Margaret

Outwardly fire, no longer raging but capable of exploding. Rises in texture, has burned before. Also self-defined. Direct, abrupt, magnetic. Exhume herself in order to survive. Fiery with a deep wate core. Exhume: 1.to remove from a grave; disinter. 2. To bring to light, especially after a period of obscurity. (FD)

Professor Patrick

Cis-gendered older white male professor of the elitist post-secondary kind — omnipotent, intellectually superior. Edifies, confident in centuries of patriarchal power. Without curiosity, a closed vessel with the exception of his needs: food acceptable companions and sex. Late 40s – early 60s.

Edify:  Instruct or improve (someone) morally or intellectually. (MW)

FOR ACTRESSES

Bracketed space between words, sentences or questions is intentional, i.e.: “I’m Margaret d’Anjou. [        ] But I guess you already know that.” An indicator to use as you choose. Make it active.

Interruptions and overlapping dialogue: Indicated with “/” as is usual.

Unspoken dialogue: (‘I’m here aren’t I?’)

Speech patterns are specific to the characters and their duality shift when their inner core is revealed:

GERUTHA – more formal early, less so after the shift, i.e., no contractions in speech to contractions.

MARGARET – brash early, more subdued later, i.e., contractions then none.

Please explore accompanying shifts in vocal tone, physicality, stage positions, any manifestation that reflects the shift and duality of the women.

SETTING

Time and space are undefined.

A simple space drapes and swims like water. Bright, rippled, ethereal with a hint of intensity. No typical architectural definitions. It is not of this world. Sleek, minimal Danish design for scant furnishings and props. Attached to the side and back boundaries, (typically walls), are three portraits: “Hamlet” CS, “Claudius” SR, “King Hamlet” SL. CSR of the “Hamlet” portrait is one framed uniquely from the others, i.e., oval vs. rectangular, organic vs. deadwood. This is “Ophelia”. None are identified, no recognizable symbols. Hidden from view at opening. Loosely draped works well, other more otherworldly options would be great. As the women shift in duality, costuming, hair, etc. shift as well i.e., hair comes down, pieces of clothing or accessories shed to reveal the opposing colors underneath perhaps. Gerutha: watery, drowning in feigned peace externally - fiery undertones, revelations. Margaret: fiery, armored for battle externally - watery undertones, desire for peace. The space around them shifts as well, becoming fiery, intense, unsettling.

SCENE

The table is set for a morning coffee. GERUTHA is agitated, arranging finishing touches. A large tablet or monitor rests upright on the table. Somewhat satisfied, GERUTHA steps away to view one of the hidden portraits surrounding her. Startled by a sound off, she quickly stops and returns to the table. At the sound of MARGARET’S voice she takes a deep breath and undergoes a sudden transformation to a serene exterior. As if donning a formal mask. Pours herself a cup and sits, calmly waiting.

from off

MARGARET

(Strong, piercing. She has fought to be heard.)

Hello!

no answer

During this exchange, MARGARET is batting the boundaries of the space to get in, circling from the outside.

MARGARET

Hello? Is anyone here?

GERUTHA

(Strong, controlled. She has endured.)

Here!

MARGARET

“Here” where?

GERUTHA

(to self)

Ah, of course.

MARGARET finally bats her way through.

GERUTHA rises to meet her.

MARGARET

Playing hide and seek?

GERUTHA

‘Is this a joke?’

What do you mean?

MARGARET

Doors are handy for entrances and exits.

GERUTHA

Ah, yes. I do not make many of those at this point.

MARGARET

‘True’

What is this place?

no answer

MARGARET

Do you know?

GERUTHA

I do not. You do not have one?

MARGARET

Yes.

GERUTHA

Then you/

MARGARET

/don’t know either. Never hurts to ask.

a moment of thought

GERUTHA

It is, however, a place of my own. For which I am thankful.

MARGARET

I get that.

(surveying the room)

What’s with the walls?

MARGARET’S question references the unseen presence of the portraits, otherworldly nature of the space.

GERUTHA

Nothing

MARGARET

(looks again)

‘Really.’

GERUTHA

It is a place of my own.

They stand in stillness. Watching each other. Waiting.

MARGARET

(taking the bull by the horns)

I’m Margaret d’Anjou. [        ] But I guess you already know that.

GERUTHA

Yes.

awkward pause

GERUTHA

Anjou. That is where you are from, is it not?

MARGARET

Yes, although I spent the majority of my life in or around that dank, cold, wet Godforsaken island. . .

gestures to GERUTHA for the punchline

GERUTHA

(uncertainly mimics gesture)

Yes?

MARGARET

England! How many dank, cold, wet Godforsaken islands are there?

GERUTHA

Ah! Yes! Well, you would not like the dank, cold, dark Godforsaken island of Denmark either.

MARGARET

Denmark is an island?

GERUTHA

No, but it sounded witty. [        ] And we have islands, a lot of them. It is beautiful actually.

MARGARET

So is England I suppose, but I’d never want to live there.

GERUTHA

But you did.

MARGARET

But I did.

another awkward pause

MARGARET

Why am I here?

GERUTHA

You did not receive my invitation?

MARGARET

‘I’m here aren’t I?)

Yes, I did receive your invitation.

MARGARET pulls an elegant device from pocket, a physically featureless communication device of some sort, touches screen and reads

MARGARET

“Please join me for a ladies’ coffee.” When and where, how to get here, etc.

(looks up)

Good directions by the way.

GERUTHA

Thanks, I was care/

MARGARET

/Except for your door. Or lack thereof.

GERUTHA

Yes, I forget about that.

MARGARET

(continues reading)

“It is time we met! I believe we share more than we know. I would like your help. Please advise if you have dairy allergies.” Dairy allergies? Really?

GERUTHA

Hostessing was my job in Denmark.

MARGARET

That explains your charming ecard with the budding flower animation and tinkling flute music.

GERUTHA

Did you like it?

MARGARET

No.

GERUTHA

Oh.

awkward beat

GERUTHA

Well you are here, now.

MARGARET

I want to know what in the world we share and how in the world I could possibly help you. I’m intrigued.

GERUTHA

I am so glad.

MARGARET

And there’s no one to talk to. [        ] Hell, I get tired of myself.

GERUTHA

Yes, it is challenging.

MARGARET

So?

GERUTHA

Yes?

MARGARET

Start sharing!

GERUTHA

I want to hear your side of the story. Would you like some coffee?

MARGARET

Sure. It’s supposed to be morning. I guess that’s what we’re having.

GERUTHA circles to prepare.

MARGARET

What do you mean, my side of the story?

GERUTHA

It is someone else’s story is it not? The one that is repeated? About you? [        ] Mine is.

MARGARET

Maybe. Why does it matter?

GERUTHA

Stories told about others usually reflect some mix of the teller’s own morality, guilt and relationship to power. Yes?

MARGARET

How cerebral. [        ] But I don’t know much about you, your story or who’s telling it. So.

GERUTHA

(musing)

Telling. Yes, perhaps that is the problem. How it is told.

MARGARET

Now I don’t know what you’re talking about.

GERUTHA

A story told around a fire or over a drink is alive. It breathes with the telling, grows, lives and sometimes dies, yes?

MARGARET

Things are not getting clearer.

GERUTHA

But once it is written down the ink on the paper subsumes the original. It becomes object, without breath, permanent.

Strikes a chord. It is an aural and physical spiral. An incantation/round, as if casting a spell, recalling memory, equalizing memory. Not spoken to each other.

MARGARET/GERUTHA

(unison)

Repeated and read repeatedly.

MARGARET

Over/and over.

GERUTHA

Over/and over.

MARGARET

A litany learned/separately

GERUTHA

A litany learned/separately

MARGARET

Understood/universally

GERUTHA

Understood/universally

MARGARET

Existence/erased

GERUTHA

Existence/erased

MARGARET

A litany of/lies

GERUTHA

A litany of/lies

GERUTHA/MARGARET

(unison)

Repeated and read repeatedly.

Over/and over.

MARGARET

Until it/becomes

GERUTHA

Until it/becomes

TOGETHER

the truth.

breath long beat

TOGETHER

That bastard

Surprised shared recognition. A searching beat. Could it be? Speed picks up as they realize ‘yes’, building off of each other to a verbal climax, spiraling to a level stop.

GERUTHA

Political propagandist.

MARGARET

Misogynistic ass.

GERUTHA

Pop plagiarist.

MARGARET

Testicle challenged royal panderer.

GERUTHA

Needy narcissist.

MARGARET

Balding buttface.

GERUTHA

Star kisser!

MARGARET

Star fucker!

TOGETHER

Shakespeare.

A breath. Possibly a smile. Maybe kindred spirits.

MARGARET

Ha!

GERUTHA

Cream or sugar?

MARGARET

Both. I despise coffee unless it’s buried in dessert.

GERUTHA

Please sit. [        ] You know, Margaret, I am a fan.

MARGARET

(maybe not kindred)

You are!?!?

GERUTHA

No, no, no. Not of him. Of you.

MARGARET

‘Of me! Really?’

GERUTHA begins to serve the coffee during this exchange.

GERUTHA

You seem like someone who might understand.

MARGARET

I’m here because you want to be understood?

GERUTHA

In a way. Not many of us share such experiences.

MARGARET

Us?

GERUTHA

Women. [        ] I hope [        ]

MARGARET

Yes?

GERUTHA

You were Queen of England. I was Queen of Denmark. There was something rotten going on. [        ] For both of us.

MARGARET

That’s putting it mildly. [        ] Ok, I can see this is going to be a long coffee. Are you always this obtuse?

GERUTHA

Are you always this direct?

MARGARET

As a matter of fact, yes. It’s a/learned

GERUTHA

a learned/skill.

They look at each other for a moment. Respect.

MARGARET

Ok then, let’s begin with the basics. Enlighten me. What was rotten in Denmark?

GERUTHA

The popular version?

MARGARET

For starters.

GERUTHA

You have not read it?

MARGARET

My Shakey library is not extensive.

GERUTHA

You have not seen it?

MARGARET

I have not read it! I have not seen it! Will you just tell the story? [        ] Please.

GERUTHA’S story is a monologue with overlapping interruptions, not a conversation. A necessary evil task to plow through. Moves steadily but swiftly as she spirals out, away from center, from truth.

GERUTHA

Well the popular version goes something like this. [        ] Wise, virile, devoted King Hamlet dotes on compliant, shallow, lustful wife Queen Gertrude. They/

MARGARET

/Loving husband, cruel hearted hussy. That old saw./

GERUTHA

/They have a son and heir, Prince Hamlet. Gertrude develops a taste for villainous, shallow, sex crazed brother to King Hamlet, Claudius/

MARGARET

/Of course!/

GERUTHA

(‘yes’, continues)/Claudius murders King Hamlet to wed fellow/

MARGARET

/sex addict Gertrude.

GERUTHA

(‘yes’, continues) Teenage Prince Hamlet is haunted by dour dead father, turns on friends, family and true love-hapless, innocent Ophelia who would not make it through the day without male guidance/

MARGARET

/Hah!/

GERUTHA

/Corners mother Gertrude in her bedroom and lasciviously, violently shames her with her steamy sex history. Demands she support his plan to exact revenge on Claudius. She agrees/

MARGARET

/Deep Oedipal/overtone

GERUTHA

No!/Please. (continues) Hamlet kills Ophelia’s father, well-meaning, clueless, very long winded Polonius/

MARGARET

/Curtains for the windbag

GERUTHA

/Accidentally. Drives Ophelia to madness and suicide by drowning. Wishy washy Gertrude watches suicide, does nothing and tells Ophelia’s brother Laertes about it in excruciating detail later/

MARGARET

/Cruel hearted hussy strikes again/

GERUTHA

/Claudius and Laertes concoct plan to expose and kill Prince Hamlet. Involves poisoning everything Hamlet might touch. At a public event surrounded by his entire family, various friends and onlookers/

MARGARET

/What could go wrong?

GERUTHA

Exactly.

(sprint to the finish line)

Gertrude defies a man for the first and only time in her life, drinking poisoned wine despite King Claudius forbidding her. She dies, warning Prince Hamlet as she goes. Poison swordplay ensues. Laertes, Claudius and Hamlet die. Prince Fortinbras of Norway happens to be in town. As there are no heirs to the Danish

GERUTHA CONT.

throne and no family members still standing, he takes over.  The end.

MARGARET

Wow.

GERUTHA

Normally 3 hours give or take.

MARGARET

Ucch! Thank you.

GERUTHA

And now your turn.

MARGARET

To do what?

GERUTHA

(‘You are kidding, right?’)

MARGARET

Ok, ok.  The English rot.

MARGARET delivers with sarcasm, speed, defiance, no energy on movement. Laser like drive to the end. ”me” is a gesture, adjust use as needed.

MARGARET

Henry VI, young King of England is inept. Vulturous lords smell blood in the water. Send to France for a young, rich, appropriately docile child queen. Pompous, penis driven ambassador develops outsize sexual fantasy for 15 year old cash poor French princess (“me”). Cuts crappy marriage deal with her Dad, a minor French King. Deflowers her on the boat ride over. She (“me”) falls madly in love with Lord and sex partner. Vulturous English lords are furious with crappy marriage deal. King and Queen (“me”) have a son, heir to the throne. Chaotic family feud ensues. (illustrates with hands-“me”/them) Lancaster/York. Red rose/white rose. Bitchy, domineering, dominatrix Queen (“me”) takes over from now catatonic King. War and death. She wins, loses. Pompous, penis driven lover is banished [   ] and then murdered by pirates. (‘yes, pirates’) War and death. Inept King miraculously recovers, gives throne to arch enemy. Furious Queen (“me”) orders murder of arch enemy’s son. War and death. She captures, brutally tortures arch enemy. Displays head on a post with all important PAPER CROWN. War and death. Queen (“me”) escapes to France with son. Pleads for help. Forgives another pompous, penis driven lord to get money and big ass army. War and death. Everybody important to Queen (“me”) dies. Years pass. Creepy Richard III gets crabby, plots to take over. Queen (“me”) has been promoted from bitchy, domineering, dominatrix to spitting, gloating, cursing crone. She is ignored. Richard takes over. Queen (“me”) wanders off and disappears. FINAL big ass battle. Richard is killed. War and death finally end. The end.

(deep breath)

MARGARET CONT.

Normally 12 hours give or take. You are welcome.

a pause

GERUTHA

He really liked long stories.

MARGARET

Long. Stories.

GERUTHA

What is it about old power brokers and very young women?

MARGARET

Stiffens their [        ] confidence.

a moment of pondering

GERUTHA

Richard III. Would you not have been ancient by then?

MARGARET

Bitches live forever.

GERUTHA

Hmmm. That is good to know. [        ] Well, thank you. I thought we would

understand [        ] maybe help each other.

MARGARET

I don’t know. [        ] How did you even find me?

GERUTHA

I am auditing a university Shakespeare class. You were on the syllabus.

MARGARET

You’re kidding.

GERUTHA

No. I too was a very young bride.

MARGARET

The “Royal Hostess and Procreator” did not deserve university study in

Denmark?

GERUTHA

No. She did not.

MARGARET

Right. [        ] Well I founded one. Queen’s College Cambridge. One of my bitchiest accomplishments. A first for English queens.

GERUTHA

That’s amazing.

MARGARET

My stated purpose, “to laud and honor of sex feminine”, was not considered amazing.

GERUTHA

You said that?

MARGARET

In the formal petition. And I quote “to conservacion of our faith and augmentacion of pure clrgie. . .and to laud and honneure of sexe feminine”.

GERUTHA

“Sex feminine” is not supposed to laud and honor itself.

MARGARET

No. But the court dicks were going to make me pay regardless, so why not enjoy myself along the way, right?

GERUTHA

(with a little grit)

Right.

MARGARET

Why in the world would you take a Shakespeare class?

GERUTHA

I was curious. I wondered if there were others.

MARGARET

Others?

GERUTHA

Other women, like me, who had lived. . .

MARGARET

Lived what?

GERUTHA

(change of subject)

It is fascinating actually. I am learning a lot about the world at large.

MARGARET

You may regret that at some point.

GERUTHA

You may be right.

MARGARET

(moving on)

So just how do you “take” this fascinating class? It’s not like we can wander the globe.

GERUTHA

(wonderment)

Online!

(points to tablet/monitor)

I turned it on and it works!

MARGARET

Well I’ll be damned.

A laugh from MARGARET. She has a big one, a bark, guffaw, distinctive.

GERUTHA

What is funny?

MARGARET

I was.

GERUTHA

What?

MARGARET

Damned. Often. By many. Is your service any good?

GERUTHA

Good enough.

MARGARET

Do you get world news?

GERUTHA

Yes, but you must be careful.

MARGARET

Careful?

GERUTHA

Check sources. They revise.

MARGARET

Revise?

GERUTHA

Think Shakespeare.

MARGARET

Got it. Anyway, how did this fascinating class lead you to me?

GERUTHA

Perhaps it is easiest to show you.

GERUTHA circles to tablet, touches screen.

We hear the voice of PROFESSOR PATRICK. It surrounds us from every side. Larger than life.

PROFESSOR PATRICK

Welcome back to “Treading the Bards”. I am Professor Patrick for those who may not be familiar. Today we will discuss the “Queen” at the heart of the Wars of the Roses, Margaret d’Anjou. Comparisons to Helen of Troy are made – not in looks, one hastens to add – but as a hated outsider. She was undoubtedly a force of “nature” in the Henry VI trilogy, wresting control of the Lancastrian dynasty in their struggle to the death with the York dynasty. In this scene we witness a violent and disturbing display as she tortures her arch enemy, the Yorkist usurper to the throne, Richard, Duke of York, wiping his very face with the blood of his murdered son the Earl of Rutland. Let us hear the Bard’s words.

(He is a terrible actor.)

“She-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France,

Whose tongue more poisons than the adder’s tooth!”

How ill-beseeming is it in thy sex

To triumph like an Amazonian trull,                                     

Upon their woes whom Fortune captivates.

But that thy face is vizard-like, unchanging,

Made impudent with use of evil deeds,

I would assay,/proud Queen, to make thee blush.”

MARGARET

/For God’s sake! That. Never. Happened./

PROFESSOR PATRICK

/Knowing his rageful nemesis tastes his death, the doomed Duke boldly edifies us with the stark contrast between Queen Margaret and the feminine. Again, the Bard’s words. “O, tiger’s heart/wrapped in a woman’s hide

MARGARET

/Somebody had to have a tiger’s heart damnit. Henry didn’t.

GERUTHA stops the video.

GERUTHA

Were there evil deeds?

MARGARET

(suddenly smaller)

Many.

GERUTHA

I [        ] I wonder [        ] Were they yours? Personally?

MARGARET

No. But somebody had to make tough calls. That somebody was me.

GERUTHA

They were yours then?

MARGARET

I was responsible [        ] for some.

GERUTHA

That one? Did you murder his son and torture him?

MARGARET

No! York and his son died in one of our soul crushing, bloody battles.

GERUTHA

And where was your husband? King Henry VI?

MARGARET

Not there. [        ] Henry was a gentle soul driven mad by the viciousness surrounding him. Literally.

GERUTHA

What do you mean “literally”?

MARGARET

At one point he was catatonic. [        ] For months.

GERUTHA

‘oh no!’

MARGARET

Don’t worry about it. Ancient history.

GERUTHA

So that much was true.

MARGARET

Meaning?

GERUTHA

Shakespeare’s story about you and your husband’s, well his illness. That much was true.

MARGARET

Oh, yeah.

(indicating how little)

That much was true.

GERUTHA

Which left you/

MARGARET

/Which left me alone with our son, heir to the throne, surrounded by vultures. So I took action. What choice did I have?

GERUTHA

Few I suspect.

MARGARET

What’s with your torture and murder fascination?

GERUTHA

Nothing. More coffee?

MARGARET

No, I don’t want more coffee! What’s up with this whole business? What are you getting at?

GERUTHA

It just seems so brave. To take action publicly like that.

MARGARET

Not bravery. Necessity.

GERUTHA

Necessary bravery then.

MARGARET

Look Gerutha, the Yorks had a strong claim to the throne. Ancient incestuous family tree, like the rest of us inbred royals. The Duke of York, ass that he was, saw Henry’s weakness and made his move. I had a young son who I loved with all of my heart and soul.

MARGARET stops, losing her bluster. Regains composure.

GERUTHA

It’s okay/

MARGARET

(stops her with a gesture, look, maybe both)

/I also had a husband who was incapable of ruling. In their name, I took charge. And it worked as long as I acted in their name. Do you understand?

GERUTHA

Yes, I do.

MARGARET

The minute York captured Henry and forced him to cut a peace deal handing over the crown upon his death, we were doomed.

GERUTHA

Entailed to York!? Disinheriting your son?

MARGARET

Yes, entailed!

(to self)

My tail. My ass. [        ]

(out)

Without a “superior” male ruler looming in the background, I was forced to rely on the loyalty and goodwill of men.

(derisive response, snort, etc.)

Bullshit.

GERUTHA

What did you do?

MARGARET

The best I could for family and country. I waged war. [        ] Scared the hell out of me.

GERUTHA

It did?

MARGARET

(a weight on her soul)

Yes. I despise it. Hellish, senseless death.

GERUTHA

Nástrǫnd.

MARGARET

I don’t speak Danish.

GERUTHA

Corpse shore. Where the wolf tears the souls from murderers, adulterers and oath breakers and the serpent sucks their corpses.

MARGARET responds to this horror verbally or physically. GERUTHA is lost in thought.

MARGARET

(watching intently)

Something wrong?

GERUTHA

(reassuring herself)

I’m fine. [        ]

(brightly to MARGARET)

I’m fine!

MARGARET

Okaay. [        ] Actually, I was born with a tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide.

GERUTHA

What do you mean?

MARGARET

Genetics. Mother. Grandmother.

GERUTHA

I am not sure I understand.

MARGARET

My father was a king, barely. Due to my mother Isabella’s inheritance. He charged around trying to realize his paper kingdoms and was captured.

GERUTHA

Oh dear.

MARGARET

Not a big surprise. Here’s the tiger’s heart. It was my mother Queen Isabella who marched out at the head of our army to fight his wars and ultimately govern for him.

GERUTHA

That is hard for me to imagine.

MARGARET

Well it’s true. While my kingly father sat around as a “prisoner” of the Duke of Burgundy writing poetry and staining glass. [        ] Such hardship.

GERUTHA

And where were you?

MARGARET

Safe at home with my Grandmother Yolanda, regent in Anjou. Ruled with an iron hand.

GERUTHA

The three of you. One family. That’s incredible.

MARGARET

(more of a statement than conversation)

My mother and grandmother didn’t seek power. They did what they saw to be necessary. I did the same and I made mistakes. But I’ll be goddamned if I was a promiscuous, evil, power hungry woman spreading despair in her wake. And had my tiger’s heart been wrapped in a man’s hide Shakey would have eaten it up.

Another aural and visual spiral. This time spoken to each other. A connection has been made, the incantation more unified in voice and movement, a sharing of strength.

GERUTHA

As would they/all.

MARGARET

As would they/all.

GERUTHA

So/courageous.

MARGARET

So/courageous.

GERUTHA

So/strong.

MARGARET

So/strong.

GERUTHA

Tough talk/for tough times.

MARGARET

Tough talk/for tough times.

GERUTHA

Bold/deeds.

MARGARET

Bold/deeds.

GERUTHA

Powerful/leadership

MARGARET

Powerful leadership.

TOGETHER

Bastards.

A beat. Introspection.

MARGARET

I never wanted any of it.

GERUTHA

‘Really?’

What did you want?

MARGARET

I wanted to sit in a castle in the French countryside reading a book.

GERUTHA

How interesting!

MARGARET

You’re really odd, you know that?

GERUTHA

‘Yes I do.’

I spent much of life sitting in a castle in the Danish countryside reading a book, so to speak. I hated it.

MARGARET

Bad books?

GERUTHA

No book. More “womanly” arts. [        ] Bad company.

MARGARET

Hhm. Vultures in the Danish court?

GERUTHA

No. That was not it. [        ] What happened? At the end of all your battles?

MARGARET

Death. Men, women and children. Charge or retreat. Regroup, fight, more death. And the worst of it was. . .

GERUTHA

What?

MARGARET

I couldn’t even lead them. God forbid a woman lead men. Anywhere. I sat in a fucking royal tent waiting.

GERUTHA waits. MARGARET suddenly begins again.

MARGARET

And in the very end after begging my own relatives for aid, uniting with one of my most hated foes, scraping together one last army – humiliating myself! - I was forced to send my son, my only child, a boy, into battle at their head.

(She stops. Stoic. Hard as rock.)

They killed him. Murdered my husband that same night.

(a bitter beat)

And paraded me into London in a glorious victory procession. [        ] A trophy animal on display. Open carriage. Amusement for the masses. Spoils of war.

GERUTHA

Margaret I. . .

MARGARET

Is that what you wanted to hear? Why you invited me to this little coffee?

GERUTHA

Yes, but/

MARGARET

(stands as if to go)

/Why am I here? What do you want?

GERUTHA

Thank you for sharing that story. I know it was hard for you.

MARGARET

Next you’ll be sending thoughts and prayers. What. Do. You. Want?

GERUTHA

I want to tell you a story. [        ] Share a story with you.

GERUTHA is visibly uneasy for the first time.  Rises to avoid MARGARET’S gaze, spirals out, again away from the truth, passing her hidden portraits.

MARGARET

What are you doing?

GERUTHA

(struggling to maintain her mask of serenity)

I don’t know. I’m looking [        ] I want you to [        ] I need [        ]

MARGARET

Need what?

GERUTHA is now opposite MARGARET, with distance.

GERUTHA

I need to tell you a story.

a beat of intense searching focus between them

MARGARET

Fuck coffee. It’s time for a drink.

GERUTHA

At this time of day?

MARGARET

What time of day is it?

no answer

MARGARET

Exactly. And why does it matter to us?

GERUTHA

I suppose you are right.

MARGARET

(lifts mood)

Damn right! What’s on tap?

GERUTHA

Oh dear. I do not think I have beer.

MARGARET

Gerutha. Your hostessing days are over. It’s a figure of speech. Loosen up!

MARGARET demonstrates loosening up. GERUTHA awkwardly imitates her.

GERUTHA

Oh yes. Of course. [        ] Okay.

GERUTHA’S efforts dwindle and stop. She is at a loss.

MARGARET

Gerutha?

GERUTHA

(Jerks back into awkward loosen up moves.)

Yes, yes! I am loose. . .I mean. . .I get it. . .I/

MARGARET

/No. Just relax. Wait.

(reaches out)

Stop, stop. It’s okay.

GERUTHA

I do not remember doing that before.

MARGARET

I can see that. [        ] How about that drink?

GERUTHA

I really do not have beer. I did not think/

MARGARET

Champagne.

GERUTHA

Oh! I have that!

MARGARET

And you drink. . .wait, let me guess/

GERUTHA

Whiskey. Neat.

MARGARET

Indeed! Well, well. This could be fun after all.

A look, smile, something. A genuine connection.

GERUTHA

I’ll get our drinks.

She exits.

MARGARET spirals out into the space, searching. Discovers portraits beginning with Claudius. Uncovers them one by one. The third is clearly disturbing.

At this point the space begins to shift. Slowly, subtly from watery, rippled to intense, fiery.

GERUTHA enters bearing a tray with champagne, flute glass, decanter of whiskey, weighty tumbler. She sees MARGARET. Stops abruptly.

GERUTHA

What are you doing?

MARGARET

(turns, not at all flustered)

Who are these people?

GERUTHA

People who have [        ] played an important role in my life. My private/

MARGARET

Did you draw these?

GERUTHA

I did. For my private/

MARGARET

From memory?

GERUTHA pours the first round during this exchange.

GERUTHA

Yes. My private/

MARGARET

This must be your son. You’re really good!

GERUTHA

Do you realize on any level that you are invading my privacy?

MARGARET

You said you had something to share. Don’t leave things in the open you don’t want to share.

GERUTHA

I suppose you are right. I did not/

MARGARET

(directed toward “King Hamlet”)

/Who is this guy? He looks like a mean bastard.

GERUTHA

You are correct.

(Suddenly downs her whiskey, raises glass.)

Cheers!

MARGARET watches intently. Downs her champagne, raises glass.

MARGARET

Cheers.

As discussion and drinks flow, the women begin their duality shift, which continues until indicated.

GERUTHA pours herself another.

GERUTHA

We’ll get there.

(Downs it. Sits glass down, hard. Exasperated, pulls at hair.)

This is

(more pulling)

so

(yank)

damn

(final yank)

annoying!

(Hair falls. Shakes and scratches head.)

Ahhhhhhh!

MARGARET has been watching this progression in amazement.

MARGARET

Who are you?

GERUTHA

I really don’t know.

MARGARET

I see.

GERUTHA

(mischievously)

Let’s find out!

MARGARET

Okaay.

(Pours them another as she speaks.)

So, how about the mean guy?

They continue to drink throughout although never sloppy drunk.

GERUTHA

Which one? There are so many. Let’s start with. . .

GERUTHA touches the tablet and again we hear PROFESSOR PATRICK. Who

never stops speaking. The women speak over him as indicated by “/”.

PROFESSOR PATRICK

Gertrude is shallow, thinking singularly of her body, external pleasures. She

longs/

MARGARET

/Are you kidding me?/

PROFESSOR PATRICK

/to be delighted, much like a child. While/

GERUTHA

(maybe tosses off clothing item, awkward “come hither” moves)

/Of course!/

PROFESSOR PATRICK

/we do not see her daily activities, we can imagine a woman enraptured by trinkets, pillows, warm baths. A very sexual being, her voracious lust results in her speedy/

MARGARET

/VA-VA-VOOM!/

PROFESSOR PATRICK

/marriage to Claudius. Her men generously/

GERUTHA

/Her men?!!/

PROFESSOR PATRICK

forgive her sensual addiction to comfort and pleasure as she is innocent of premeditation. Sadly fitting, she meets her end demanding a taste from the pretty cup, trusting as a new-born babe.

MARGARET stabs the video to a stop.

MARGARET

So, you are a shallow sex-addict that loves rubber duckies in the tub, fuzzy kitty pillows and bright, shiny objects. Like cups full of poison.

GERUTHA

Give me the pretty cup! I want to taste it Daddy Husband! Give it to me now!

MARGARET

We have to hear the end.

GERUTHA

Margaret, no!

MARGARET

Moments left.

GERUTHA

Fine.

MARGARET stabs the video on.

PROFESSOR PATRICK

One of the Bard’s most mysterious characters, even among women, Gertrude has many good qualities including a capability for deep emotional attachments. However, she is not conspicuously intelligent, takes “living in the moment” to an extreme and rarely contemplates the future or the past. /Her most controversial

GERUTHA slams her whisky glass into tablet, throws it, violently destroys it somehow.

They stare at the remains for a moment.

GERUTHA

We’ve heard enough about whore Gertrude.

MARGARET

And bitch Margaret.

a shared feminine understanding, deeply but not necessarily openly, emotional – for as long as it takes

MARGARET

Another drink perhaps?

GERUTHA

Damn right. No shiny cup. [        ] Well, he got the mysterious part right.

MARGARET does the honors. The women continue their duality shift, shedding external personas for inner personas.

MARGARET

Mysterious! Tell me.

GERUTHA

I’ve got to let[        ]

MARGARET

Tell me.

GERUTHA

(Gazes at MARGARET intently for a moment.)

I don’t know.

MARGARET

(gently)

Tell me.

If sitting, GERUTHA rises, spirals away from MARGARET.

GERUTHA

(Abrupt tone shift.)

You would think a star kissing royal panderer would have given a sexy Queen like myself one great monologue to compensate for

(toward the tablet remains)

shit like that.

MARGARET

I am not sure what is happening, but I like this Gerutha.

GERUTHA

Me too.

MARGARET

What about “There is a willow grows”?

GERUTHA

Thought your Shakey library was not extensive.

MARGARET

I am not completely unaware of pop culture. “When down the weedy trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook”, is beautiful. Even for a pop plagiarist.

GERUTHA

Yeah, but who goes to an innocent girl’s brother, after she has gone mad mind you, announces her death and proceeds to fill him in on every tiny suicidal detail?

MARGARET

Beautifully.

GERUTHA

Exactly. Who does that? And why didn’t he have me get off my ass and try to save her?

MARGARET

Such language!

GERUTHA

Oh, fuck off.

MARGARET

(‘Alright Gerutha!’)

Oh my! Okay then.

GERUTHA

So my one great, no let’s say “beautifully written”, monologue painted a clearly insensitive, selfish idiot of a woman who watched her future daughter in law commit suicide from the banks of the weeping brook.

MARGARET

And did nothing.

GERUTHA

Yes!! And. Did. Nothing.

(to “Ophelia’s” portrait)

God help me.

(a wrench in the gut)

Ophelia.

MARGARET

What about her?

GERUTHA

There was no “Ophelia”.

MARGARET

What?

GERUTHA

It was worse.

MARGARET

How could it be worse?

GERUTHA

I don’t even know her name.

MARGARET

What was she then?

GERUTHA

She and Hamlet were fostered together as children. After he was taken from.

MARGARET

From?

GERUTHA

The palace. They played together, dearest friends, beloved of each other, then were separated to become “adults”.

MARGARET

A princess then.

GERUTHA

No.

MARGARET

Wow. That’s a shocker.

GERUTHA

Our story is very old. Things were very different. And I didn’t have [        ] Well it’s old.

MARGARET

Old as in . . .

GERUTHA

Legend. But it wasn’t. We lived.

(to “Ophelia”)

Written accounts barely mention her, despite the price.

MARGARET

Go on.

GERUTHA thinks for a moment, speaks carefully.

GERUTHA

Hamlet was troubled for a time. Mad or pretending. [        ] No one knew.

(speaking as a “wise man”)

“He needs testing.” What better test of a man’s sanity than his lust for women?

MARGARET

Ah yes.

GERUTHA

What man in his right mind would refuse the tender fruit of a beautiful young woman?

MARGARET

‘None of course.’

GERUTHA

And so, a beautiful young woman - without power to refuse was found, “The Girl”. Hamlet’s childhood friend.

MARGARET

Oh no.

GERUTHA

Left in the open for him to find “by chance” they were shocked, overjoyed and still madly in love. They retreated to an impenetrable forest fen/

MARGARET

/and shared fruit.

GERUTHA

Yes. When interrogated by the very wise men, she declared he had not touched her. No witnesses. He was left alone. She was set free.

MARGARET

Set free.

GERUTHA

Turned out without thanks or help. I don’t know if they saw each other before she was cast aside, but she left carrying the child of their briefly happy reunion.

MARGARET

So you knew her.

GERUTHA

Very little.

MARGARET

Why the portrait then?

GERUTHA

I loved her. The daughter I never had. Daughter-in-law that would never be. A kindred spirit. . .even though we shared only a few sentences. Strange.

MARGARET

Not to me. What did you do?

GERUTHA

Frantic, furtive attempts to find her returned only fragments. A fighter.

GERUTHA CONT.

Constantly moving.

(a sigh, breath, something)

It doesn’t matter. No one found her. Until one day they did. Dead. And her child. Whether from want or in thanks for her previous service, we’ll never know.

MARGARET

(grim silence)

GERUTHA

So our dearly despised Shakespeare’s selfish idiot Gertrude was truer than he imagined.

MARGARET

You tried Gerutha. Gertrude did not.

GERUTHA

Not hard enough.

a beat

MARGARET

(brightly, freshening drinks)

Okay, okay. You did not get a great monologue.

GERUTHA

(matching the tone shift)

At least you got a couple of jaw droppers.

MARGARET

Well he dragged my life through four plays so I suppose/

GERUTHA suddenly launches into an incredible rendition of MARGARET’S “rally the troops” monologue from H VI 3

“And, though unskilful, why not Ned and I

For once allowed the skilful pilot’s charge?

We will not from the helm to sit and weep,

But keep our course, though the rough wind say no,

From shelves and rocks that threaten us with wrack.

As good to chide the waves as speak them fair.

And what is Edward but a ruthless sea?

What Clarence but a quicksand of deceit?

And Richard but a ragged fatal rock?

All these the enemies to our poor bark.

Say you can swim: alas, ‘tis but awhile;

Tread on the sand: why, there you quickly sink;

Bestride the rock: the tide will wash you off

Or else you famish; that’s a threefold death.

This speak I, lords, to let you understand,

If case some one of you would fly from us,

That there’s no hoped-for mercy with the brothers

More than with ruthless waves, with sands and rocks.

Why, courage, then! What cannot be avoided

‘Twere childish weakness to lament or fear.

GERUTHA stops, lost in thought.

MARGARET

Gerutha! You could inspire an army! Makes my Shakespearean doppleganger sound far more heroic than I actually was.

GERUTHA

Really? You think so?

MARGARET

I would listen to you do the whole Shakespearean fantasy.

GERUTHA

‘Would you now.’

MARGARET

Really. Lies and all.

GERUTHA

It’s everything I wanted to be.

MARGARET

An actress?

GERUTHA

No. A leader. Fearless.

MARGARET

Why?

GERUTHA

There were others. Women without hope. [        ] I could have.

MARGARET

You are something else Gerutha. There’s more to you than meets the eye.

GERUTHA

And you. Thus, the gooey, flowery, flutey ecard invite.

MARGARET

‘my big mouth’

It was nice. I am/

GERUTHA

(sotto voce)

an ass?

MARGARET

(sheepish admittance)

‘Sometimes.’

GERUTHA now has the guffaw.

GERUTHA

You are!

MARGARET

(laughing)

What is in that whiskey?

GERUTHA

Oblivion.

MARGARET

Oblivion?

GERUTHA

Did you know that the name “Gerutha” is derived from “gar”, meaning spear, and “drud” meaning magic or wizard? Germanic.

MARGARET

I did not know that.

GERUTHA

‘Shhhh. Don’t tell.’

So deep down I’m a Spear Wizard.

(tiny, twinkling pause)

Tiger Heart.

MARGARET

Not as deep down as you think. [        ] I think.

GERUTHA

What does Margaret mean?

MARGARET

Loud.

GERUTHA

Come on now.

MARGARET

Bold, adventuresome, natural leader, often talked about, spawns jealousy, ‘blah, blah’, nonsense.

GERUTHA

Fits.

MARGARET

(her secret liquid core)

It comes from a Greek word for pearl. A pearl is something that hides out in an oyster. Protected. [        ]

(and back out)

And there’s Saint Margaret, the patron saint of expectant mothers, who escaped from a dragon and was martyred in the 4th century. ‘so go figure, take your pick’

GERUTHA

Had you led that army out things could have been different.

MARGARET

I doubt it.

GERUTHA

I don’t doubt it. Things would have been different!

MARGARET stands, spirals out and away, then in, to her center, her truth.

MARGARET

(a rare public struggle for her, perhaps a first)

Maybe. But I did not. [        ]

(corrects self)

Could not. [        ]                

I’m no hero Gerutha. After a lifetime of fighting and clawing for the throne of England, straining every fiber of my being to protect my son [          ] my Edward [          ]

he [          ]

He marched out onto that battlefield at seventeen, fought like a tiger and was beheaded on a block pleading for his life. And there was nothing, do you hear me?, nothing I could do. It was all for NOTHING!

a long beat

MARGARET

That is why I came. There is nothing.

GERUTHA

Others would disagree. [        ] I disagree.

MARGARET

(regaining her composure)

Anyway, feminine leadership is anathema Gerutha. You have not heard?

GERUTHA

(lightens the mood)

Even in bed.

MARGARET

Oh, here we go!

GERUTHA

(a little manic)

Hello dear. Drop your drawers. Bend over [        ] or lay back, depending on the mood. Thrust 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and out. Good night dear.

MARGARET

Which husband?

GERUTHA

(cat yowl)

MARGARET

(raises her glass)

From a bitchy whore to a shallow sex addict.

GERUTHA

(raises her glass)

Indeed.

They drink.

GERUTHA

It was King Hamlet.

MARGARET

Well, I did lead that onslaught. Henry would not have known how to [        ] copulate if his prick jumped up and bit him.

GERUTHA guffaws.

MARGARET

Seriously! He was a good soul, way too good for his own good.

GERUTHA

What happened?

MARGARET

Years of waiting and ridiculous fumbling in the dark. As you know, a queen is only as good as her healthy uterus output.

GERUTHA

Presuming at least one healthy output is male.

MARGARET

Indeed.

GERUTHA

And so?

MARGARET

And so, the wolves started howling. I had to do something.

GERUTHA

Because it was your fault of course.

MARGARET

Of course.

They share a look.

MARGARET

I invited him to my bedroom one evening. Dropped my robe with a “hello dear” and not a stitch on underneath.

GERUTHA

Voracious lust! Very Gertrude of you.

MARGARET

Very.

GERUTHA

Was it fun?

MARGARET

If sex for survival is fun.

GERUTHA

Yeah.

MARGARET

Do you know he was still clueless? Clearly aroused [        ] of sorts [        ] but clueless.

GERUTHA

“Aroused of sorts”. What an interesting mental picture.

MARGARET

You should have seen the physical picture.

GERUTHA

‘Whoa!’

Did he figure it out?

MARGARET

After I took his tool in hand like a leash, led him to the bed and showed him where it went.

GERUTHA

Oh my God. Margaret! Thrust count? One and done?

MARGARET

If memory serves, he made it to four. Thank God that did it.

GERUTHA

Thank God.

MARGARET

[        ] I should not have told that story. Henry was a kind, sad man with a child’s view of the world. No one bothered to show him the way.

GERUTHA

Did you love him?

MARGARET

Yes. To the extent you can love someone who is not all there. [        ] Did you love your husbands? [        ] Plural?

GERUTHA

‘That’s enough.’

It’s a little complicated.

MARGARET

And everything else we have expelled into the universe is not complicated?

GERUTHA

True.

MARGARET

Well?

GERUTHA

Yes?

MARGARET

Your husbands. Did you love your husbands?

GERUTHA

I thought I did. But I was a frightened child with one and a lonely, starved woman with the other. Except when. . .

MARGARET

Except when. . .

GERUTHA

It’s hard to love someone else if you don’t have the faintest idea who you are.

MARGARET

That is dramatic. [        ] Also true. Well ghostly husband #1 sounds frightening. The bard with the big quill says he moped around the castle ramparts haunting the place.

GERUTHA

Right.

MARGARET

The real story then.

GERUTHA

Hamlet, my husband, killed the King of Norway on an expedition and as a reward my father King Rorik of Denmark gave him yours truly, still a child, as a prize. A match made in heaven.

a breath, then suddenly

MARGARET

Why would anybody name their son Hamlet? I mean, I understand why it was passed on to your son. But why the father?

GERUTHA

‘I don’t get it’

MARGARET

Ham-let. Was he a small pig? Or a big man with the mind of a small pig? Or a big man in his own mind but a small pig in reality?

GERUTHA

The world is certainly full of those.

MARGARET

Which was he?

GERUTHA

A big man who didn’t care that he was also a big pig.

MARGARET

‘oh’

GERUTHA

The royal panderer made up all those names you know.

MARGARET

Tell me the real ones.

GERUTHA

Let’s see. Gertrude – Gerutha.

MARGARET

Got it.

GERUTHA

Prince Hamlet – Prince Amleth. Rearranged to make it easier in English.

MARGARET

The most important language.

GERUTHA

Hamlet and Claudius – Horwendil and Feng

MARGARET

Horwendil and Feng?!? Are you serious?

GERUTHA

Yep.

MARGARET

Sounds like an exotic animal act gone wrong.

(quickly)

No offense, but he got that one right.

GERUTHA

None taken. [       ]

(Tone shift, entering dangerous waters.)

He was.

MARGARET

Who was what?

GERUTHA

The King.

(to portrait)

My husband. He was the mean bastard.

MARGARET senses something happening, rises, sits up, something - on alert.

GERUTHA’S manner intensifies throughout this exchange.

GERUTHA

Of the worst misogynistic, brutal variety.

MARGARET

I know them well.

aural and visual spiral outward, incantation in communion, lament

GERUTHA

The variety who uses women as tools,

MARGARET

ornaments,

GERUTHA

playthings,

MARGARET

prizes,

GERUTHA

sex toys,

MARGARET

taboos,

GERUTHA

bargains,

MARGARET

barter,

GERUTHA

pedestals

MARGARET

publicly,

GERUTHA

Profaned

MARGARET

privately.

MARGARET

For whom a conversation is singular.

GERUTHA

Captured is “cherishing”.

MARGARET

Sex a banquet for one at best,

GERUTHA

rape at worst.

stop and silence, GERUTHA in front of HORWENDIL’s (KH) portrait

MARGARET

Rape?

GERUTHA

Repeatedly. [        ] With humiliation. With brute force. With objects. Smiling.

MARGARET

Even after your son was born?

GERUTHA

For all of his time on earth.

a breath

MARGARET

I cannot/

GERUTHA

/There’s nothing to say. I was given to him. I didn’t want him. He was pathologically insecure. So he punished me. Physically in private, mentally in public.

MARGARET

There was nothing/

GERUTHA

Like you, I wanted to protect my son.

MARGARET

‘yes’

GERUTHA

He took Amleth from me as punishment. In his rages, he threatened to harm him. It’s doubtful he would have done it, but I couldn’t take the chance.

MARGARET

And no one/

GERUTHA

/He cut me off from everyone with the exception of court receptions or events of state.

MARGARET

You were alone.

GERUTHA

Except for Feng. He was totally trusted, dubbed as guard when the King was away.

MARGARET

Guard. How did that work?

GERUTHA

Feng was kind. We talked. We were friends. That’s all. [        ] Then.

MARGARET

Why did he not do something?

GERUTHA

He knew I was unhappy but no more. Feng didn’t like his brother so he might have done something. But [        ] it was up to me. I had to do it.

MARGARET

It.

GERUTHA

Yes.

MARGARET

What was “it”?

GERUTHA

(abruptly direct)

Margaret, do you believe we can be forgiven?

MARGARET

It depends on who you want forgiveness from.

GERUTHA is clearly agitated.

MARGARET

Gerutha? Are you/

GERUTHA

Yes. [        ]

(to self)

I had to do it.

MARGARET

You do not have to/

GERUTHA

(still to self)

I had to do it.

(Maybe the first time she has said this out loud.)

I did it.

GERUTHA calms herself. Tells her story much as you would a fairytale. A

reverie. Like Debussy.

GERUTHA

Once, at a time early in my marriage, I purchased a poison from a peasant healer. She soothed, “small doses petrify your pain”. She shocked “large doses permanently paralyze”. I remembered.

One evening King Horwendil burst into my sitting room, late. Raging. Failed peace negotiations. Failed wife. Gross adultery with Feng. Laughter had been heard. Ugly woman, old woman, stupid woman, useless woman. You are used. You will pay. I will use you now. Pour a goblet of wine.

And wait.

For me. 

Smiling all the while.

I did. A brimming goblet. Perfectly prepared.

He drank it down. He made me pay. He used me. Blisteringly. Brutally. And then collapsed on the pillows laughing. More wine! I brought it. He greedily gulped. Laughter faded to fear. Glacial limbs. Unmovable muscles. Bound bones. Only his eyes pedaling in panic, right to left. Left to right. I gathered myself and quickly went to work.

With a kitchen knife I cut out his tongue to silence his storm and propped his head to cut off his choke. I considered his eyes. . .

No.

I wanted him to see.

After carefully cleansing the knife I trimmed his testicles. No shaving cream. I smiled into his glazed, glittering eyes. Began my final task. And soon his mutilated manhood lay in my hand.

( breath, release, return from the reverie

Silence

GERUTHA  begins to destroy her portrait of HORWENDIL somehow as she speaks.

GERUTHA

Feng came looking for him. I let him in. I don’t know why. He saw the room, my body, Horwendil’s body and understood. Convinced me we could not afford to watch his slow, excruciating death. Offered to do the deed for me. No. I finished it. Stabbed him. Thrust 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and out. Good night dear.

(remembering)

We wrapped him in a cloak, carried him to the pigsty and fed him to the pigs. Along with his cock. They were very hungry.

MARGARET waits in shocked silence.

GERUTHA

In the following weeks, Feng protected me from the court. Saved me from myself. We married thinking it good for the kingdom. Good for ourselves. It was impetuous, but I was happy. I loved that he was kind, gentle, protective. He wanted me. It was enough.

MARGARET

No one suspected?

GERUTHA

Everyone suspected. Feng. And he was okay with that. Said they’d get over it.

GERUTHA finishes destroying HORWENDIL’S portrait.

MARGARET

And Prince Amleth?

GERUTHA

That was.

(struggling)

I couldn’t. I thought he had genuinely lost his mind. No one could speak with him.

MARGARET

Did you speak with him?

GERUTHA

I tried. He crowed, spoke gibberish. A stranger. Called me harlot, wanton, incestuous, a brute beast content to fuck with anyone, even his father’s killer.

MARGARET

Oh Gerutha.

GERUTHA

He killed the man Feng sent to watch over us! I begged, promised to take heed and he seemed to calm down, regain his self.

MARGARET

Did you tell Feng?

GERUTHA

No, I. Not fully. [        ] It was my fault Margaret! To tell would have doomed my son to a captive life. For my actions!

MARGARET

Okay. Okay. No judgement from me.

GERUTHA

(speaking to Feng’s portrait)

We sent Amleth to visit a friend, the King of Britain. He returned, announced his betrothal to the British princess, seemed normal, maybe happy. That evening after the celebratory feast, he burned the great hall to the ground, with the royal council inside. Burned them alive.

MARGARET

‘!’

GERUTHA

Struck Feng down with his own sword. [        ] I barely had a chance to welcome him home before it happened.

GERUTHA says goodbye to Feng with a physical gesture, a kiss, something. Portrait disappears.

MARGARET

So Amleth never knew.

GERUTHA

‘no’

To tell him afterwards would have ruined the rest of his life. He became a good ruler. [        ] And all of those deaths are my fault.

stares intensely, fearfully at MARGARET

GERUTHA

I am to blame.

Silence

By this point the lights have completely transitioned to fiery tones. Perhaps bluish spots if more illumination is needed or wanted. The women have completely transitioned to their inner personas physically, vocally, visually.

GERUTHA

Say something.  What are you thinking?

MARGARET

(uneasy)

[        ] I [        ]

GERUTHA

Yes, you! What are you thinking?!?

MARGARET

‘What’s happening?’

It is a terrible tragedy.

(searching)

I am sorry you have carried it alone.

Beat

GERUTHA

That’s it?

MARGARET

(tries again)

It must be an awful burden.

Increasingly upset, GERUTHA goes for a whiskey. Slams the glass down instead.

GERUTHA

That’s all you have to say?

GERUTHA is now the brash aggressor MARGARET quiet, intense.

MARGARET

What do you want me to say? I cannot believe it happened to you, to them/

GERUTHA

/All of your life you made difficult decisions that resulted in death for/many

MARGARET

Wait/a minute. What is going on/here?

GERUTHA

Putting/ yourself and your family/at risk

MARGARET

What/does that have to do with/you?

GERUTHA

I have/admired you. Looked up to you as a leader who was unafraid to make/difficult decisions

MARGARET

That/is nice,/but

GERUTHA

You/killed your son, your husband and thousands of men, women and/children!

MARGARET

I did/not kill anybody Gerutha. But I was responsible,/yes.

GERUTHA

You/decided!

MARGARET

You/tortured and murdered one husband in cold blood and your silence caused the second to be bludgeoned with a sword while all of his friends burned alive. Since we’re counting.

GERUTHA

I AM COUNTING! DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES!

MARGARET

What do you want from me?

GERUTHA

(quietly, bordering on vicious)

Something a little better than thoughts and prayers.

MARGARET gets up to leave.

MARGARET

I would rather drown in howling loneliness.

GERUTHA

Enjoy it then! With your interpersonal skills, I’m sure it won’t be hard.

MARGARET

(stung but strong)

I spent years struggling to get up every morning under the weight of responsibility I did not ask for. I armored myself against the hatred of those who did not have the guts to make their own difficult decisions. Those who would do anything to undermine a strong woman. A leader. I have lived with the consequences every single moment of time since. I accept responsibility for those decisions. I do not have to accept responsibility for yours.

MARGARET turns to go.

GERUTHA confronts portrait of Prince Amleth, her back to the audience.

GERUTHA

I don’t want to carry it anymore.  I just want to let it go.

MARGARET stops, turns.

GERUTHA says goodbye to Amleth with a physical gesture, a kiss, something. Portrait disappears.

Long stillness.

MARGARET

I could not have done what you did.

Another beat of stillness. GERUTHA sits, dejected.

GERUTHA

I’m sorry. It doesn’t matter.

MARGARET

Don’t apologize.

(returns to GERUTHA)

Look at me. If you are looking for forgiveness, I cannot give you that. I’m no better than you.

GERUTHA

You said we could be forgiven.

MARGARET

I said it depends on who you want forgiveness from. You took action in a brutal situation. Forgive yourself. No person can do it for you.

Pause

GERUTHA

Do you find it lonely here?

A longer pause. This is hard.

MARGARET

I took the cards I was dealt in life and I played them.

another pause

MARGARET

So did you.

GERUTHA

In secret. The dark of night.

MARGARET

You were going to get a good night’s sleep and kill sadistic husband #1 over coffee and muffins?

GERUTHA smiles in spite of herself.

MARGARET

We pay for writing our own story. Claiming our identity. [        ] Our power. 

GERUTHA

(thinking out loud)

Men mistake power for identity.

MARGARET

And they are deeply afraid of losing both to women.

GERUTHA

The stuff of nightmares.

MARGARET

We mothered some dark, dank island nightmares.

They sit in silence for a time.

GERUTHA

(pouring drinks)

So we are alone.

MARGARET

We are indeed alone.

GERUTHA

As women.

MARGARET

Together.

They share a silent communion with the portrait of “The Girl”.

Then a smile, perhaps a hand clasp, unity.

GERUTHA

At least there are no soul tearing wolves and corpse eating serpents.

MARGARET

What was that anyway?

GERUTHA

Scandinavian pagans. We didn’t get much light. It was scary.

MARGARET

Apparently so.

GERUTHA

(raises a toast)

Here’s to us!

MARGARET

The only ones here.

Down their drinks.

BLACKOUT

END OF PLAY

Dialogue sources:

PROFESSOR PATRICK: Shakespearean excerpt, page 18 – KING HENRY VI, PART III, Act I, Sc 4, Arden Shakespeare Third Series

GERUTHA Shakespearean excerpt, pages 35, 36 – KING HENRY VI, PART III, Act 5, Sc 4, Arden Shakespeare Third Series

Primary historical sources:

 MARGARET OF ANJOU Queenship and Power in Late Medieval England – Helen E. Maurer

 SHE-WOLVES The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth – Helen Castor

 AMLETH, PRINCE OF DENMARK from the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus – Edited by D.L. Ashliman

 VOLUSPÁ  from the Poetic Edda: Mythological Poems – Edited by Ursula Dronke

 THE PROSE EDDA – by Snorri Sturlson, translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur and numerous articles, interviews and commentaries. . .

Other sources:

 HAMLET – William Shakespeare

 HENRY VI, PARTS 1,2,3 – William Shakespeare

 RICHARD III – William Shakespeare

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Judy Lea Steele is an interdisciplinary writer, performer and producer. Her experimental plays, poems and performance art have been shared, recognized and published in Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Waterford, including the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Trampoline Poetry, Bridge Video and as a Patty Friedmann Writing Competition poetry award winner. Through her non-profit, Wisteria Root Productions, she works with ongoing collaborators and project specific artists to create larger multi-media art and performance events amplifying women’s voices, often over 50. Recent MFAW: the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. And she talks to live oaks at home in New Orleans.

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