Instead of posting actual new content, I'm going to go ahead and throw up some old stuff clogging up my hard drive. Enjoy!
The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe, adapted for stage by James Thorne
Cast
The Narrator Voice, the Narrator Action, Old Man, Three Police Officers
(The Narrator Voice is the internal voice of the Narrator Action. While Voice may scream, shout and froth at the mouth, Action will only betray emotions as dictated in stage directions. Action is a misnomer - he is slow, calculating, collected. Voice is nervous, edgy, flinching, full of empty bravado)
Props
Flashlight, hacksaw, newspaper, hardback novel.
ACT X
The stage is split by a divider which serves as a doorway between a bedroom and a sitting room. Four chairs are on the right hand side, arranged around two planks or a sheet of cardboard lying flat. A bed and a nightstand on the left, the bed facing the divide at an angle, with the head of the bed clearly visible to the audience.
[Voice has positioned himself amongst the audience.]
[No lights]
[Pause]
[Voice stands up]
VOICE: TRUE! nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why WILL you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How then am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily, how [visible effort to compose himself] calmly, I can tell you the whole story.
[As he speaks he makes his way to the front of the stage, stopping to catch the eye of audience members, to speak directly to them.]
[Enter ACTION and OLD MAN stage right. They take seats, OLD MAN reading a newspaper, ACTION reading the novel]
[Lights stage right]
VOICE: It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain, but, once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye!
[OLD MAN looks at ACTION over the top of his newspaper, then turns his attention to the audience]
VOICE: Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture -- a pale blue eye with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold.
[OLD MAN returns to his paper]
[VOICE] And so by degrees, very gradually, I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever.
[Lights off]
[Exit ACTION Stage Right]
[OLD MAN makes his way to bed. He wears a nightcap in bed, and ensures that the “vulture eye” is not visible to the audience]
VOICE: [Paces up and down in front of audience, turning to them to emphasise certain points] Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded -- with what caution -- with what foresight, with what dissimulation, I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.
[Enter ACTION Stage Left with flashlight, creeping towards the divide. He acts out what VOICE says.]
And every night about midnight I turned the latch of his door and opened it oh, so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern all closed, closed so that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly, very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this? And then when my head was well in the room I undid the lantern cautiously -- oh, so cautiously -- cautiously (for the hinges creaked), I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.
[As VOICE speaks, ACTION switches on the torch and aims it at OLD MAN’S face. The vulture eye is not visible. He freezes. He then switches the torch on and off in sync with VOICE‘S counting]
VOICE: And this I did for one, two, three, four, five, six, SEVEN long nights, every night just at midnight, but I found the eye always closed, and so it was impossible to do the work, for it was not the old man who vexed me but his Evil Eye.
[Stage Lights slowly increase in brightness]
[As above, ACTION acts out VOICE’S words. However, he does not speak, he merely mimes]
VOICE: And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he had passed the night.
[Lights dim again]
VOICE: So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.
[ACTION acts out VOICE’S words, moving even slower than he did the first time]
VOICE: Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers, of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was opening the door little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea, [ACTION shakes with silent laughter] and perhaps he heard me, for he [OLD MAN twitches violently, exposing the vulture eye] moved on the bed suddenly as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back -- but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, for the shutters were close fastened through fear of robbers, and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.
[ VOICE begins to creep into the audience. As ACTION raises his torch, he fumbles it. OLD MAN sits bolt upright in bed.]
OLD MAN: Who’s there!?
[VOICE and ACTION simultaneously flinch, VOICE gasping.]
I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed, listening; just as I have done night after night hearkening to the death watches in the wall.
[Pause]
[OLD MAN lets out a moan - a death rattle - a suppressed scream]
VOICE: The low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself,
OLD MAN: [hoarse whisper] It is nothing but the wind in the chimney, it is only a mouse crossing the floor.
VOICE: Yes he has been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions ; but he had found all in vain. ALL IN VAIN, because Death in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel, although he neither saw nor heard, to feel the presence of my head within the room. When I had waited a long time very patiently without hearing him lie down I resolved to open a little -- a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it -- you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily -- until at length a single dim ray like the thread of the spider shot out from the crevice and fell upon the vulture eye.
[With shaking hands, ACTION aims the torch at the vulture eye.]
VOICE: It was open, wide, wide open, and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness -- all a dull blue with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones, but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person, for I had directed the ray as if by instinct precisely upon the damned spot.
[Slow heartbeat looped]
VOICE: And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses? now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.
[OLD MAN steps from the bed, and slowly walks towards the light in time with heartbeat. He should be practically face to face with ACTION]
But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased.[Loop fast heartbeat] It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder, every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme![Loop both slow heartbeat and quick heartbeat] It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! -- do you mark me well? I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me -- the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man's hour had come!
[All lights burst on and off as ACTION and OLD MAN scream]
[ACTION throws OLD MAN to the ground near the bed, grabs a pillow and holds it over his face]
[The beat slows, and stops]
[ACTION acts out VOICE’S words]
VOICE: At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.
[Exit ACTION Stage Right. He returns Stage Right with a saw.]
If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. [ACTION knees over body and sets to work with saw]. I took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, [ACTION raises the cardboard so to block the view of the audience] and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly so cunningly, that no human eye -- not even his -- could have detected anything wrong. There was nothing to wash out -- no stain of any kind -- no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that.
When I had made an end of these labours, it was four o'clock -- still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking [Staff knocks out a triple knock] at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart, -- for what had I now to fear?
[Enter THREE OFFICERS STAGE RIGHT. They mime along to VOICE‘S words.]
VOICE: There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they had been deputed to search the premises. I smiled, -- for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I brought them into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.
The officers were satisfied. My MANNER had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone.
[loop ears ringing on low volume, increasing and decreasing volume regularly]
My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears; but still they sat, and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct : I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definitiveness -- until, at length, I found that the noise was NOT within my ears.
[add slow heartbeat loop]
VOICE: No doubt I now grew VERY pale; but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased -- and what could I do? It was A LOW, DULL, QUICK SOUND -- MUCH SUCH A SOUND AS A WATCH MAKES WHEN ENVELOPED IN COTTON. I gasped for breath, and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly, more vehemently but the noise steadily increased.
[Increase volume of loop. NOTE: While VOICE is extremely agitated here, ACTION is not to literally interpret what VOICE says. VOICE will be the one foaming at the mouth and ranting, ACTION will show increasing signs of discomfort]
VOICE: I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why WOULD they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men, but the noise steadily increased. O God! what COULD I do? I foamed -- I raved -- I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, [ACTION scrapes chair forwards and backwards subtly] but the noise arose over all and continually increased. [Loop fast heartbeat] It grew louder -- louder -- louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly , and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! -- no, no? They heard! -- they suspected! -- they KNEW! -- they were making a mockery of my horror! -- this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony!
[Loop all heartbeats and ears ringing, max volume!]
VOICE: Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! -- and now -- again -- hark! louder! louder! louder! LOUDER! --
VOICE and ACTION: Villains! dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- tear up the planks! -- here, here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart!
