Aimé Césaire - A Tempest Introduction Act 1 Scene 1 lyrics

I. INTRODUCTION (Ambiance of a psychodrama. The actors enter singly, at random, and each chooses for himself a mask at his leisure.) MASTER OF CEREMONIES Come gentlemen, help yourselves. To each his character, to each character his disguise. Prospero? Why not? He has reserves of character he's not even aware of himself. You want Caliban? Well, that's revealing. Ariel? Fine with me. And what about Stephano, Trinculo? Nobody? Ah, just in time! It takes all kinds to make a world. And after all, they aren't really such bad characters. No problem about the juvenile leads, Miranda and Ferdinand. You, okay. And there's no problem about the villains either: you, Antonio; you, Alonso... perfect! Christ, I was forgetting the Gods! Eshu will fit you like a glove. As for the other parts, just take what you want and work it out among yourselves. But make up your minds .... One part I have to pick out myself: you! It's for the part of the Tempest, and I need a storm to end all storms .... I need a really big guy to do the wind. Will you do that? Fine! And then someone strong for Captain of the ship. Good, now let's go. Ready? Begin. Blow, winds! Rain and lightning ad lib! ACT I, SCENE I GONZALO Though we are but straws tossed on the sea, all is not lost, Gentlemen; we must strive to gain the eye of the storm. ANTONIO We might have known this old fool would nag us to d**h! SEBASTIAN To the bitter end! GONZALO Try to understand what I'm telling you: imagine a huge cylinder like the chimney of a lamp, travelling fast as a galloping horse but in the center as still and unmoving as Cyclop's eye. That is the area we refer to when we say "the eye of the storm," and we have to get to it. ANTONIO Oh, very nice! In short, you're trying to tell us that the cyclone or Cyclops, unable to see the beam in his own eye, will let us escape! Oh, very illuminating! GONZALO That's a clever way of putting it, at any rate. Literally false, but yet quite true. But what's that? The Captain seems worried. (Calling.) Captain! CAPTAIN (with a shrug) Boatswain! BOATSWAIN Aye, sir! CAPTAIN We're coming round windward of the island. At our speed, we'll run aground. We've got to turn her around. Heave to! (Exits.) BOATSWAIN Come on, men! Heave to! To the topsail; man the ropes. Pull! Heave ho, heave ho! ALONSO (approaching) Well Boatswain, how are things going? Where are we? BOATSWAIN If you ask me, you'd all be better off below, in your cabins. ANTONIO He doesn't seem happy, somehow. We'd better ask the Captain. Where's the Captain, Boatswain? He was here just a moment ago, and now he's gone off. BOATSWAIN Back to your quarters! We've got work to do! GONZALO My dear fellow, I can quite understand your being nervous, but a man should be able to control himself in any situation, even the most disturbing. BOATSWAIN Shove it! If you want to save your skins, you'd better get back down to those first-cla** cabins of yours. GONZALO Now, now, my good fellow, you don't seem to know to whom you're speaking. (Making introductions.) The King's brother, the King's son and myself, the King's counsellor. BOATSWAIN King! King! Well, here's someone who doesn't give a f** more about the King than he does about you or me, and he's called the Wind. His Majesty the Wind! And right now, he's in control and we're all his subjects. GONZALO He might just as well be pilot on the ferry to hell .... his mouth's foul enough! ANTONIO In a sense, the fellow regales me, as you might say. We'll pull through, you'll see, because he looks to me more like someone who'll end up on the gallows, not beneath the billows. SEBASTIAN The end result is the same. If we escape the fish he won't escape the crows. GONZALO He did irritate me, rather. However, I take the attenuating circumstances into account.., and, you must admit, he lacks neither courage nor spirit. BOATSWAIN (returning) Pull in the stud sails. Helmsman, into the wind! Into the wind! (Enter Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo.) BOATSWAIN You again! If you keep bothering us and don't get below and say your prayers I'll give up and let you sail the ship! It's not up to me to save your souls! ANTONIO It's really too much! The fellow is taking advantage of the situation .... BOATSWAIN Windward! Windward! Into the wind! (Thunder, lightning) SEBASTIAN Ho! Ho! GONZALO Did you see that? There, at the top of the masts, in the rigging, that flashing blue fire? They're right when they say these are haunted lands, not at all like our homes in Europee. Look, even the lightning is different! ANTONIO Maybe it's a foretaste of the hell that may swallow us up. GONZALO You're too pessimistic. Anyway, I've always kept myself in a state of grace, ready to meet my maker. (Sailors enter.) SAILORS We're sinking! (The Pa**engers can be heard singing "Nearer, my God, to Thee") BOATSWAIN To leeward! To leeward! FERDINAND (entering) Alas! There's no one in hell all the devils are here!