Strike!
MAN IN OVERCOAT
Peter, got a knife? Finish him with your knife. Cut his throat.
PETER
No, I'd rather do it with my heel. One! Two!
KONDRATY (cursing him)
Lord Jesus Christ! Lord Jesus Christ!
[Loud cries are heard from the background: "They are carrying Him! They are carrying Him!" The mob begins to disperse and thins out quickly.
CROWD
They are carrying Him! Yes, it's enough. It's done. No, let me at him—once more. There! I gave him one good one in his face. They are carrying Him! They are carrying Him!
KING HEROD
Enough, enough. A grand feast for you, you accursed beasts!
CROWD
I tell you, they are carrying Him! Lie there, you! Oh my, am I going to be late? Enough now. Are you sorry for him, eh? Is it your head? One more! Come on!
[They run away so that Savva's mangled body becomes visible.
MAN IN OVERCOAT
It ought to be taken away from here. It isn't right to leave it here on the road. It's dirty. Boys! Say, boys!
[He goes off following the rest, but is met by the procession pouring in upon the stage. There is a great din and humming of talk. Speransky and Tony approach the body cautiously, bend over it on their knees, one on each side, and stare at it eagerly.
SPERANSKY
Dead! His eyes are gone.
TONY
Shut up! (He bursts into a groaning laugh, pressing his hands hard to his mouth)
SPERANSKY
But his face is calm. Look, Mr. Anthony. It's because now he knows the truth.
TONY
Shut up! (Bursts out laughing) What a funny face he has!
[He laughs behind his hand. Then his laugh bursts through his fingers, so to speak, grows in intensity, becomes irresistible, and passes into a whine. The crowd begins to fill the stage, concealing the body, Speransky, and Tony. The bells are rung in the monastery as at Easter, and at the same time the singing of thousands of voices is heard.
CROWD
"Christ is risen from the dead. He has conquered death with death and given life to those lain in their graves. Christ—"
LIPA (flinging herself into the crowd)
"Christ is risen!"
[The crowd continues to pour in, filling the entire stage. Gaping mouths and round, wide-open eyes are seen everywhere. Shrill shrieks are uttered by the crazed epileptics. A momentary outcry is heard: "Somebody crushed!" Tony's laughter dies away somewhere. The triumphant hymn rises, spreads, passes into a titanic roar that drowns every other sound. The bells continue to ring.
CROWD (shouting at their utmost power)
"Christ is risen from the dead. He has conquered death with death and given life to those lain in their graves. Christ is risen—"
CURTAIN
THE LIFE OF MAN
PERSONS
Someone in Gray called He
Man
His Wife
Man's
Father
Relatives
Neighbors
Friends
Enemies
Guests
Servants
Musicians
Physicians
A Bartender
Drunkards
Old Women
PROLOGUE—Someone in Gray called He, speaking of the Life of Man
SCENE I—The Birth of Man and the Mother's Travail
SCENE II—Love and Poverty
SCENE III—Wealth. Man's Ball
SCENE IV—Man's Misfortune
SCENE V—The Death of Man
PROLOGUE
SOMEONE IN GRAY CALLED HE, SPEAKING OF THE LIFE OF MAN
A large, rectangular space resembling a room without doors or windows and quite empty. Everything is gray, monocolored, drab—the watts gray, and the ceiling, and the floor. A feeble, even light enters from some invisible source. It too is gray, monotonous, spectral, producing neither lights nor shadows.
Someone in Gray moves noiselessly away from the wall, close against which He has been standing. He wears a broad, gray, formless smock, vaguely outlining the contours of His body; and a hat of
