Dramatic Technique Part 33

_Poirier._ (_To the Servant._) Bring up a bottle of 1811 Pomard--(_To the Duke._) The year of the comet, Monsieur le duc--fifteen francs a bottle! The king drinks no better. (_Aside to Verdelet._) You mustn't drink any--neither will I!

_Gaston._ (_To the Duke._) Fifteen francs, bottle to be returned when empty!

_Verdelet._ (_Aside to Poirier._) Are you going to allow him to make fun of you like that?

_Poirier._ (_Aside to Verdelet._) In matters of this sort, you must take your time. (_They all go out._)

_Curtain._[52]

Here it is not the quietude but the particularly apt, humorous ill.u.s.tration of Poirier's character which gives climax. In _The Amazons_, too, what could better ill.u.s.trate acceptance of the usual by all the group who have been fighting against it than the sedate and utterly commonplace exeunt?

_Lady Castlejordan._ Lord Tweenwayes--

(_Tweenwayes comes with great dignity to Lady Castlejordan. The girls fall back._)

_Lady Castlejordan._ Lord Litterly--Lady Noeline. Monsieur de Grival--Lady Wilhelmina. Mr. Minchin--Lady Thomasin.

(_The couples are formed, and all go out sedately._)[53]

When quiet speech sums up the whole meaning of a scene or play, it too gives climax. Ann's words at the end of _Man and Superman_, "John you are still talking," make a fine ironic climax. Irony, whether quiet or decidedly dramatic, is a very effective means to climax. At the end of Act II, Herod, in the play of that name by Stephen Phillips, has ordered Mariamne killed. Completely infatuated by her, he has done this only when her enemies have forced him to believe that she is utterly false.

Almost instantly his love overwhelms his mistrust. He tries to revoke his word, crying,

Yet will I not be bound, I will break free, She shall not die--she shall not die--she shall not--

News of the triumph he has longed for interrupts:

_Enter Attendant._

_Attendant._ O king, the Roman eagles! See!

_A cry._ (_Without._) From Rome!

_Enter Roman Envoy and Suite._

_Envoy._ O king, great Caesar sent us after you, But, though we posted fast, you still outran us.

Thus then by word of mouth great Caesar greets Herod his friend. But he would not confine That friendship to the easy spoken word, And hear I bear a proof of Caesar's faith.

Herein is added to thy boundaries Hippo, Samaria and Gadara, And high-walled Joppa, and Anthedon's sh.o.r.e, And Gaza unto these, and Straton's towers. (_Moves down._) Here is the scroll, with Caesar's own hand signed.

_Herod._ (_Taking the scroll--at foot of steps._) Mariamne, hear you this? Mariamne, see you? (_Turns to look at scroll._)

(_Servant enters and moves down to Gadias down L._) (_He goes up the stairs._)

Hippo, Samaria and Gadara, And high-walled Joppa, and Anthedon's sh.o.r.e, And Gaza unto these, and Straton's towers.

_Servant._ (_Aside to Gadias._) O sir, the queen is dead!

_Gadias._ (_Aside to Pheroras, Cypros, and Salome._) The queen is dead!

_Herod._ Mariamne, hear you this? Mariamne, see you?

(_Repeating the words, and going up steps._)

Hippo, Samaria and Gadara, And high-walled Joppa, and Anthedon, (_As he moves up._) And Gaza unto these, and Straton's towers![54]

The perfect climax lies in the irony of the fact that all Herod most desires as ruler comes to him at just the moment when he has killed the thing that most he loved.

At the end of Act III of _Chains_, by Elizabeth Baker, everybody--the father-in-law and mother-in-law, Percy, the brother-in-law, and Sybil, a pretty but useless bit of femininity--has been making Charlie entirely miserable because no one can understand that his expressed desire to try his fortunes in Australia and then send for his wife, Lily, is not a pretext for abandoning her. Percy, with next to nothing a year, is just engaged to Sybil. Foster wants to marry Margaret, Charlie's sister-in-law, who is dissatisfied with her lot.

_Enter Lily, dressed for going out, also Mrs. Ma.s.sey. Lily goes round, kissing and shaking hands, with a watery smile and a forced tearful cheerfulness._

_Charley._ (_Without going all around and calling from the door._) Good night, all! (_Exeunt Lily and Charley._)

_Mrs. Ma.s.sey._ Well, I must say--

_Percy._ O, let's drop it, mother. Play something, Maggie.

_Maggie._ I don't want to.

_Mrs. Ma.s.sey._ Walter would like to hear something, wouldn't you, Walter?

_Foster._ If Maggie feels like it.

_Maggie._ She doesn't feel like it.

_Ma.s.sey._ Be as pleasant as you can, my girl--Charley's enough for one evening.

(_Maggie goes to the piano and sitting down plays noisily, with both pedals on, the chorus, "Off to Philadelphia."_)

_Mrs. Ma.s.sey._ Maggie, it's Sunday!

_Maggie._ I forgot!

_Mrs. Ma.s.sey._ You shouldn't forget such things--Sybil, my dear--

_Sybil._ I don't play.

_Ma.s.sey._ Rubbish! Come on!

(_Sybil goes to the piano and Percy follows her._)

_Percy._ (_Very near to Sybil and helping her to find the music._) Charley is a rotter! What d'ye think he was telling me the other day?

_Sybil._ I don't know.

_Percy._ Told me to be sure I got the right girl.

_Sybil._ Brute!

_Percy._ What do you think I said? Darling!