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Coram Populo!
a mystery by August Strindberg
"De Creatione Et Sententia Vera Mundi"
translated from the French text in Inferno by Daniel Gerould
directed by Mark E. Pietrzak
production, costume, lighting and sound design by M. E. Pietrzak
March 1991, Cabaret Theatre |
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Rising from the mists of the universe rose the Eternal Ones. They in turn created their minions, among them God (above and below left) and Lucifer (below right).
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God: "I wish to create a new world: from Nothingness it will be born, and to Nothingness it will one day return. The creatures who live there will believe themselves gods like ourselves, and it will be our pleasure to watch their struggles and their vanites. Let it's name be madness!"
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Lucifer: "I shall go tell the truth to mankind that thy schemes be anihilated."
God: "Cursed be thou, Lucifer. And may thy place be found beneath the world of madness, so that thou seest their torments; and that mankind call thee the Evil one!" |
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Lucifer: "I, Lucifer, the Bearer of light, who desires your happiness, who suffers your sufferings. Look at the new star of the morning that announces the return of the sun! That is my star, surmounted by a mirror that reflects the light of the Truth....As for that tree, as soon as you have eaten of it you will know good and evil....that life is evil; that you are not gods, that the Evil One has struk you blind, and that your existence unfolds only to serve as a laughingstock for the gods. Eat of it and you will possess the gift of deliverance from sorrows, the joy of death! "
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Uriel: "Lucifer has breathed upon the waters; they rise and deliver the mortals!"
God: "I know! But I have saved two of the least enlightened, who will never know the key to the mystery. Their vessel has come ashore on Mount Ararat and they have made burnt offerings."
Uriel: "But Lucifer has given them a plant called the vine, whose juice besots. A drop of wine, and they see things as they are." |
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Egyn: "Lord! Your cruel will and bidding have produced their effect! The Earth careens in its orbit; the mountains crumble, the waters cover the earth; mankind believes itself in hell, and you, Lord, are dethroned!"
God: "I repent! I have implanted sparks of my soul in impure beings, whose fornication debases me...My energy gives out when they depart from me; their iniquity takes hold of me; and I am afflicted by the madness of my progeny. What have I done, Eternal One? Have pity on me!...Lord, Eternal One, there is none amongst the gods like unto thee; and thy works are incomparable. For thou art great, and thou dost wonderous things; and thou alone art God, thou alone!"
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