Rada: A Drama of War in One Act
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Juliet Sutherland, Charles M. Bidwell
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
Author of The Wine Press, Tales of the Mermaid Tavern, Etc.
1913
RADA, wife of the village doctor . SUBKA, her daughter, aged twelve . ARRAM } two hostile soldiers quartered MICHAEL } in her house, in time of war . NANKO, a half-witted schoolmaster .
Several soldiers.
THE SCENE is in the Balkans, in a village which has just been taken by the enemy, on Christmas Eve.
Two Roumanian soldiers_, ARRAM_ and MICHAEL, are seated at the table, drinking .
RADA, a dark handsome woman, sits weeping with her head bowed in her hands, on the divan .
NANKO, the idiot, sits on the floor, rubbing his hands, snapping his fingers, chuckling to himself, and staring into the fire .
ARRAM Look here, my girl, where's the use of snivelling? You ought to think yourself damned lucky to be alive.
RADA O my God! My God!
Alfred Noyes
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RADA
PERSONS OF THE PLAY
RADA
SCENE—_A guest-chamber, the typical living-room of a prosperous village doctor in the Balkans. On the left, a small window and an entrance door. On the right, a door leading into a bedroom. At the back, an open fire of logs is burning brightly. Over the fireplace is the eikonostasis, with three richly coloured and gilded eikons, the central one of the Madonna. The light, which is never allowed to go out, is burning before it. The room is lit at present only by this, the fire-light, and two candles in brass candlesticks on a black wooden table under the window. Rows of porcelain plates round the walls gleam fitfully. On either side of the eikonostasis is a large chibouk, with inlaid bowl and amber mouth-piece. There is a divan with scarlet rugs flung across it to the right of the fire; and there are several skins and rugs on the floor.
RADA
PERSONS OF THE PLAY