Robert the Devil

 

 

play by Ruth Salles

This play is based on a German folk tale, translated by Professor Melanie Guerra.

CHARACTERS:
Choir
Duke Hubertus of Normandy
Duchess
Angel
Shadow
the three Norns
Roberto
Colleagues
The Masters
Nobles (choir)
seven hermits
People who run away (chorus)
holy hermit
King
Princess
Dog
Soldiers

 

CHORUS (sings):
“I used to live
in Normandy
Duke Hubertus, brave and prudent,
with his beloved wife.
He asked God for an heir,
all the time,
but the child did not arrive,
and his wife, sad, wept.”

HUBERTUS (to the Duchess):
- I must be the worst man there is...
I only see children everywhere,
and to this day no children have been sent to us.

ANGEL (seeing the Evil Shadow advance):
– Hubertus! Do not lose hope!
With desperation, the shadow of evil advances!

DUCHESS (suddenly making a decision):
- Oh no! If God doesn't listen to us,
I make the devil this request
and I even give my son over to evil.

(At this point, she passes out. Joyful Shadow Evolutions)

CHOIR:
– Now the Duchess is expecting a child.
So the spring passed.
Nature was filled with flowers,
except in the Duchess's garden.
There was not even any fruit in it in the autumn.
No birds sang,
and the fountain in the castle dried up.

SHADOW (turning around the Duchess):
– The time has come for the child to be born…
So the sky must darken!
Thunder! The windowpane shakes in the dark!
Stones are dropped from the top of the wall!
The mother fainted. It was almost the death of you!
But the child is ours and it is strong!

CHORUS OF THE 3 NORNAS WEAVING (one line at a time, as Roberto runs past the other children):
1st:
– Nature has calmed down
since Roberto was born,
but I'm weaving
an uncertain fate...
2nd:
– He's devilish, mean, smart.
Just want to hit, knock, break.
3rd:
– Wherever he goes, he takes evil…
That's weird…
By your side there is
a light and a darkness. (The Angel and the Shadow)

(Roberto, now a boy, trips his colleagues, mistreats the birds, hits everyone. The shadow pirouettes and has fun. The angel stands aside.)

ROBERTO (casting the masters out and throwing the books away):
– Your knowledge makes me laugh!
I just want to have fun!
Nobody is my master,
no one can with me.
For better or for worse,
everything I want with you!

CHORUS OF THE 3 NORNAS (weaving):
1st:
– He wounds, he kills, he is brutish.
2nd:
– How many bad things have happened.
3rd:
– Weaving, weaving such a sad plot,
How will this fabric of ours be?

DUCHESS (in conversation with Duke Hubertus):
– Our son is already big and strong.
Who knows, we'll change your luck
if he is knighted?

HUBERTUS:
- You are right. Call Roberto!

(The Duchess leaves and returns with her son. The gentlemen gather. They could be the choir.)

HUBERTUS (to his son):
– Roberto, you will be knighted
and will be part of a group
of noble companions.
You will learn the virtues of chivalry
and will give himself and us much joy.

ROBERTO:
- As you wish, my father, I don't care.
I will not change, nor be a good boy. (Leaves stomping his feet.)

THE NORNAS (weaving quickly):
1st:
– Oh, what a terrible knight Roberto is!
In a tournament between friends,
woe to those who come close!
2nd:
- Cut off one's arm,
broke the arm of two
and killed three knights afterwards.
3rd:
“Now you've joined a band of thieves,
and makes robberies in all regions.

HUBERTUS (in a corner, on his knees, praying):
– O my God, I begged for a son,
and now he is my martyrdom.
I can't stand so much pain in my heart,
I don't even know how to save my son
of total doom! (looks at the Duchess, lying beside her)
the duchess got sick
and feel guilty about what happened.

THE NORNAS (always weaving):
1st:
– The Duke heard some advice,
for he banished Robert from his kingdom.
By the pope himself he was excommunicated.
He declared war on his father and his duchy.
2nd:
– High fortress he built,
in a place that no one has discovered.
3rd:
– Look, there are seven hermits coming.
And Roberto is already approaching!…

ROBERTO (with a mocking air):
– Stop there, holy men,
I do them a favor!
I give them the martyrdom crown!

THE HERMITS (on their knees, they spread their arms in a cross):
1 – Lord, we thank you for the coming death.
2 – Instead of being an evil, it will be a good.
3 – Dying to Earth…
4 – … we will live in heaven.
5 – Thank you very much for the fatal blow.
6 – For us it is a good, not an evil.
7 – With this, the Lord leads us to Christ.

THE NORNAS (weaving slowly, as the scene goes on):
1st:
– Roberto killed one by one, without compassion.
2nd:
– Yes, but they moved your heart.
3rd:
– He saw in the seven an unknown force,
and began to think about his own life.

PEOPLE (flee in terror and scream when they see Roberto):
– Run! Run everyone!
– Roberto, the devil, is coming!

ROBERTO (alone and dizzy, as the Shadow faints and the Angel advances):
- I feel like I'm waking up
from an endless nightmare...
Why is everyone screaming
and run away from me?
It feels like the devil pushed me
and that only evil gave me pleasure.
I wonder why?
I'll ask my mother.
Maybe she knows the answer.

CHORUS (while the scene goes on):
– Roberto begged his mother for an explanation.
And the mother, crying, opening her heart,
told the request made to the devil,
and how his son was born a devil.

NORNS CHORUS (always weaving; the Shadow fights the Angel; the NORNS speak as the scene goes on):
1st:
– Look… Roberto faces the force of evil.
2nd:
“He decided to be a man after all.
3rd:
- Threw away the sword
and covered himself with a cloak.
1st:
“He went looking for a holy hermit.
2nd:
- Only he can give you penance
and the forgiveness of the sins of his existence.
3rd: – The hermit heard the terrible confession,
and the two spent the night in prayer.

ANGEL (having conquered the Shadow, addresses the hermit):
– Man of God, listen to what I say to you:
this sinner is sorry.
But you will have to live some time
dumb and silly,
and eat the leftovers from what they feed the dogs.

HERMIT (waking up, turns to Roberto):
- Robert, don't be scared.
with what I will say:
Like a dumb fool you will live,
dog food you will eat,
and will bear any humiliation,
to strengthen your heart,
until God gives the holy warning
that your sins have been forgiven.

ROBERT (on his knees):
– I thank you, good man.
And I go in peace.

HERMIT:
- Go! Have courage, my boy!

CHORUS SINGS (while Roberto appears with the dog, gnawing a bone):
“For seven years, Robert,
lived in the king's court,
with your favorite dog.
With him I slept,
how he ate
and nothing, nothing, nothing said.
But a minister wanted to marry
with the king's beautiful daughter,
that was mute too.
But the king didn't want to, didn't want to leave,
and the minister gathered his friends
and they began to make war.”

ANGEL (to Robert):
- Roberto! God commands you to help the king!
Take this sword and this white cloak!
You will go invisible to the battlefield,
and will only be seen when fighting.

NORNAS (weaving, as the scenes go on):
1st:
– There goes Roberto to fight in the war!
2nd:
– Look! The king's daughter saw it all from the window!
But being mute, it cannot say anything.
3rd:
– Look! Roberto was injured in the leg.
The spearhead is stuck in it.
1st:
- But he overcame the enemy,
that even to the sea he was pursued.
And everyone thought that an angel saved them.
2nd:
- Look, Roberto has already returned,
took the tip of the spear from his leg
and kept it.
1st:
- With his rags he covered himself,
and gnaws the bone with the dog.
But the princess saw everything
and kept it in your heart.

KING (to the soldiers):
- Friends! Our savior was not an angel.
For he shed blood from a wound,
made by the spear that is broken here.
Maybe he's even sick.
I will give him my daughter as a gift.

(The daughter pulls the father to the doghouse, shows the tip of the hidden spear and points at the wounded, fainted fool. General astonishment. The hermit is arriving.)

HERMIT (with the Angel blessing them all):
– Your Majesty, this is Roberto,
once feared and hated.
for being sorry
and do penance,
by God has already been forgiven.
He saved your kingdom.
It must be rewarded.
Your dumbness was healed,
as well as the princess.
May these two be married
with the glow of royalty!
Be your parents invited:
Duke Hubertus and the Duchess!

(The play ends with the wedding procession; it may be with the music at the beginning.)

 

 

***