The Reckoning Page #2

that you be hanged by the neck

and your body drawn

until you are dead.

( crowd whispers indistinctly )

And may God have mercy on your soul.

- What was her crime?

- MAN:
Murder.

Young Thomas Wells.

Sixpence for this?

For the use of the yard,

twopence on every shilling taken

at the gate.

Twopence?

It's the Feast of Saint Lazarus

tomorrow.

There'll be plenty other minstrels

happy to pay the price.

We're not some band of minstrels.

We're actors.

Actors, minstrels or scoundrels,

it's a share of the purse.

We'll take it.

When I think of the respect

our profession used to command...

One, two, three. Pull!

Sorry, Martin.

Straw.

Come on, Straw.

Get the head.

Get it in front, Straw.

Get it.

- Get the head.

- I'm trying.

Keep him covered. Quickly.

Hold him up, Straw.

- To the barn.

- ACTOR:
Hold him up.

That's right, hold him up.

Which way, Martin?

- To the right.

- To the right.

He's not stiff anymore.

STEPHEN:
That's what happens

after a day and a night have passed.

MARTIN:

Cover him up, Stephen.

Stephen, cover him up.

You know a lot about death.

- So does Stephen.

- Stephen was a soldier.

This one doesn't strike me

as a veteran of any war.

The first plague hit my village hard.

Those of us who were spared

saw to those of us who weren't.

He's a liar.

That f***ing lad is a liar.

Again.

That's it.

Tobias is right,

we need a cartwright.

( tranquil harp theme playing )

MARTIN:
Good people,

we give you our play

of Adam and Eve.

We pray you,

give your ears and eyes.

See Eden lost by Satan's lies.

How woman led her man to fall

from holy grace and with him, all.

I, God,

great in majesty,

in whom no first

or last can be.

Heaven and Earth are made through me.

And at my bidding

now... be light.

( audience member chuckles )

With breath and body...

him to bless,

above all creatures...

both great... and less.

The serpent...

( hisses )

...came with song...

and smile, but Adam slept,

free from his wiles.

And while he slumbered,

thus alone,

I drew from him a single bone...

and fashioned forth

a human mate...

that mankind might itself cre--

( clears throat )

Create.

( dog barks in distance )

( Tobias shouts ):

Ghostly paradise...

I was in.

But thence I fell,

and through my sin...

( hisses )

...Earthly Paradise, my God's gift,

men and women dwell within.

I have tried my all, but in vain,

by my wiles to bring them pain.

( hissing )

By my wiles to bring them pain.

By my wiles to bring them pain!

Or must I say that line again?

If the world belong to thee,

lord of all things thou wouldst be.

TOBIAS:

If the world belonged to me,

women all would ready be

to harken

to the devil!

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