PONSCH, PRINCE OF OLLENDORF.
(M. Maeterlinck's very last Masterpiece.)
The Belgian Master has tried, as he has already informed the world, "to write SHAKSPEARE for a company of Marionnettes." Encouraged by his extraordinary success, he has soared higher yet, and adapted our greatest national drama for the purposes of the (Independent) itinerant Stage. We are enabled by the courtesy of his publishers to give a few specimen scenes from this magnum opus, which, as will be seen, requires somewhat more elaborate mounting and mechanical effects than are at present afforded by the ordinary Punch Show. In M. MAETERLINCK's version, Ponsch becomes the Prince of Half-seas-over-Holland; he is the victim of hereditary homicidal mania, complicated by neurotic hysteria. Inflamed by the insinuations of Mynheer Olenikke—a kind of Dutch Mephistopheles and Iago combined—he is secretly jealous of his consort the Princess Jödi's preference for the society of Djoë, the Court Jester and Society Clown. Here is our first sample:—
A Chamber in the Castle. Princess JÖDI discovered at a window with DJOË.
Jödi. Lo! lo! a shower of stars is falling upon the fowl-house!
Djoë. Oh! oh! a shower of stars upon the fowl-house? (A water pipe in the back-garden bursts suddenly and splashes them.) Ah! ah! I am wet all over! Have you a pocket handkerchief?
Jödi. Oh, look! a comet—an enormous one—has descended into the water-butt! The sky is blood-red, and the moon has turned the colour of green cheese. This bodes some disaster!
Djoë. It is unsettled—rainy—unpleasant weather. Can you lend me an umbrella?
Jödi. I cannot lend you an umbrella, because I have lent mine to the gardener's wife. Owls are roosting on the chimney-pots, and a stickleback has jumped out of the pond. Hush, my Lord the Prince approaches!
[Prince PONSCH enters, bearing a stout staff, which he nurses gloomily, like an infant; a hurricane is heard in the middle distance; the waterpipe sobs strangely and then expires; a blackbeetle comes out of a cupboard and runs uneasily about, until a flash of lightning enters down the chimney and kills it. PONSCH stands glaring at DJOË and the Princess.
Djoë (hastily). There is going to be a storm. Do not forget what I have uttered. Good evening!
[He goes; the wind whistles a popular air through the keyhole.
Jödi (nervously). What an appalling evening! I have never seen the like of such a sky.
Ponsch. There is something about you this evening—how beautiful you are looking! Bring BEBBI-PONSCH.
Jödi (fetching the Infant Prince). Here he is. Why do you look so strangely at him?
Bebbi-Ponsch (a small, but important part). Is Pa-a-par poo-oorly? Won't he p'ay wiz me no mo-ore?
Ponsch. The soul of a little stage-child looms from under his green eyes! OLENIKKE was right, and I— No matter. I will open the window.
[Opens it, and throws BEBBI-P. out. Sound of water-splash audible.
Jödi. Oh my! Oh my! What have you done? He has fallen right into the moat—on one of the swans!
Ponsch. Indeed—on one of the swans? (A pot of mignonnette is blown off the window-sill by a gust.) I will close the window. (Closes it; a hailstorm beats on the panes.) Is that really a hailstorm—or only birds?
Jödi. I can hear nothing. (P. strikes her suddenly on the head with staff.) Someone is knocking at my door. Come in! I cannot see anything now.
Ponsch. Can you, indeed, see nothing? [He strikes her again.
Jödi. Now I can see stars. I feel as if purple mills were going round in my head. I shall never kiss anybody any more. Oh! oh! oh! [She dies.
Ponsch. She was a beautiful woman, do you know? Oh, how lonely I shall feel hereafter! (A black dog is heard scratching and sniffing outside the door.) It is only Tobbi. Someone has trod on your toe, my poor Tobbi. Come in. Give me your paw. (Tobbi enters, and flies suddenly at his nose.) Oh, my nose is bleeding! Let us go to the pond. I do not know why I feel so melancholy this evening. [He goes out, pursued by Tobbi.
SAMPLE No. II.—A Hall in Castle Ollendorff. A Marionnette Theatre at the back of Stage. DJOË, a Belgian Bedell, and Dutch Dolls-in-waiting discovered.
Djoë. Green flames are running along the walls, and blue globes are bounding about the back garden. I have never seen such a night. Here comes the Prince.
[Enter PONSCH, conscience-stricken; all bow.
Ponsch. I am not melancholy, but I have hardly any hair. Let the Play commence!
Curtain of Marionnette Show rises; a Clown is seen chasing a butterfly.
A Councillor. Oh! oh! oh! [Uproar; the Clown and Butterfly are withdrawn. A Skeleton appears on the Stage, and dances his head and limbs off in a blue light.
Ponsch (rising). That was done purposely! You are driving at something. Confess it! Is there no topic more cheerful? I cannot bear it any longer!
[Knocks down DJOË with his staff. A combat, during which DJOË several times obtains possession of the weapon, and wounds PONSCH. N.B.—Note the striking resemblance here to the similar, but very inferior, Scenes in "Hamlet."
The Dutch Dolls (running about). Both of them bleeding already! There's blood on the walls already! Already blood on the walls! (&c.).
The Bedell. The Prince has slain DJOË. Take him into custody.
[PONSCH strikes the Bedell down.
The B. Ha! ha! ha! (Tries to rise—but is struck again). Ha! ha! (PONSCH strikes once more.) Ha!
[The Bedell dies; a draught enters under the door and blows out two of the candles; a thunderbolt is heard coming down-stairs, and the Ghost of JÖDI suddenly appears from behind a tapestry representing "The Finding of Moses."
Ponsch (to Ghost). Have you any hearse-plumes at hand? Do not be angry with me. Can you hear my teeth? I am only a poor little old man. Will you please undo my necktie? (cf. "King Lear"). Let us go to breakfast. Will there be muffins for breakfast?
[Exit, leaning heavily on Ghost's arm.
The Dutch Dolls (with conviction). One more such night as this, and all our heads would have gone bald!
SAMPLE No. III.—The Courtyard with a scaffold and gibbet. A blood-red moon is sailing amid the currant-bushes, and a shower of stars proceeds uninterruptedly. PONSCH discovered looking through the fatal noose.
Djakketch (the Court Executioner). Can you see anything through the loop?
Ponsch. Not yet. I cannot see the audience anywhere.
Djak. No; we are probably above the heads of the audience. But can't you distinguish Mr. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE?
Ponsch. Wait one moment. No, I cannot see Mr. SHAKSPEARE anywhere.
Djak. Because he has had to take a back seat. Look again. Can you see nothing?
Ponsch. I can make out an omnibus in the street. It is green.
Djak. Ay, ay! A Bayswater 'bus. They are green. But don't you see any of the general public?
Ponsch. I can see Mr. WILLIAM ARCHER, and some new Critics, and unconventional Dramatists. They are following the text with books of the Play. But there are no more errand-boys with baskets.
Djak. This is wonderful. No more errand-boys with baskets?
Ponsch. No more small children with babies!
Djak. No more small children? Do pray let me look. (PONSCH retires, and DJAKKETCH puts his head through the loop.) Oh, I can see plainly now. There is not a single spectator left. They have all been bored to death!
Ponsch. All bored to death? Now then, lift your head a little, and I will fondle you. [Pulls the cord towards himself.
Djak. Oh, what have you put round my neck? Oh me! You are going to ... oh, you are!
Ponsch. Oh, I am!
Djak. Then—oh!
Ponsch. Oh!
[Exeunt all, except DJAKKETCH, who ceases kicking gradually. A peacock is heard warbling in a cemetery round the corner; a barn-door fowl jumps on a wheelbarrow, and crows.
FINIS.