GEROULD, Daniel. Discovery of Witkiewicz

8/20/2019 GEROULD, Daniel. Discovery of Witkiewicz

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la

nguish

in ja

il , W ah

azar h

imse l

f is sh

oved

by

some

one fr

om

abov

e

t

h rough

the h

uge ir

on

prison

d

oor and r

o lls do

wn th

e s ta i r

s to th

e

floo

r. Th

ere is

a lways

some

one a

bove e

ven

the

t opmo

st kic

ker,

to kick

h

im in

turn-t

he

m

yster

io us TH

EY w

ho rea

lly rul

e by s

ecret

c

onspir

acy.

Portra

it y W

itkiew

icz Cou

rtesy:

Slups

k Mus

eum

Sw

earin

g-of a s

ixth-d

im ensi

onal so

rt-ac

comp

anies

the k ic

k ing a

nd is

an ess

ential

W i

tkac ian

form

o

f

ag

gressio

n, alo

ng wit

h f ist

figh

ts and

pisto

l shots

(mos

t o

f

W

itk iew i

cz s

c

harac

ters se

em to

be am

ateur

b oxer

s and

a

lmos t

ll carr

y re v

olvers

in the

ir pock

e ts,

e

ven the

ir paj

am a p

ockets

). Wh

en W a

hazar

6


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GYUBAL WAHAZAR*

or

n

the Mountain Passes of the Absurd

A Non-Euclidean Drama in Four

Acts

by

Stanis-taw lgnacy Witkiewicz

92

EXCERPTS

from ACT I: " Gyubal Wahazar's Principles

of

Government

WAHAZAR I'm sacrificing myself for all of

you . None of you can appreciate

that and I don 't expect you to. I

know you say atrocious things

about me. I don't want to know

anything about that. I don't have

informers and I'm not going to ,

any more than I have ministers. I

am alone, l ike God. I alone rule

everything, and I'm responsible for

everything, and only to myself

alone. I can condemn myself to

death, if I feel like t if I become

absolutely conv inced

that

I'm

wrong. I don't have any min

isters- therein lies my greatness.

I'm a single so litary spiri t- l ike

the steam in an engine, like the

electrical power in a battery.

. .

WAHAZAR Dr. Rypmann, don't let anyone in

to see

me

today until two P.M.

I have a meeting with the A lbanian

ambassador. Some nobody there's

started pretending to be me, and

they're having trouble with him.

Pretending to be me Ha Did you

ever hear

of

such a thing , Dr. Ryp

mann Eh? .And they're asking

me for advice. Ha Ha I'll teach

them a little Albania. We'll send

the prince of Valpurgia there as

ambassador. He 'll show them a

thing

or

two. Appoint traitors as

ambassadors. A superb method.

The sixth dimension The Non

euclidean state Ha Ha Ha

Ha Ha Ha (He chokes in an

attack

of

infernal laughter,

froth

ing at the mouth.)

6 7

from

Act

II : " Gyubal Wahazar Relaxes"

PIGGYKINS Grandpa,

look

me in the left eye.

(Wahazar leans over and looks

her in

the

eyes.) I see your soul ,

your tired little soul.

It

's blue

and walks through moss and

squashes little bugs which are in

love. (Wahazar sits as

if

hypno

tized in front of her on the

ground.)

WAHAZAR You're taking my loneliness away

from me, Piggykins. (closes his

eyes) With you I'm not alone.

Somewhere very far away I see a

completely different world, a kind

of meadow in the middle o f the

woods. I see you as a young lady,

with a big dog and a young man

. . . h

, God It's me (Piggykins

strokes his hair. Wahazar covers

his closed eyes with his hand.)

PIGGYKINS (quietly) Keep on

going

and

look Don't turn

your

eyes away

from what you see.

WAHAZAR God It's me. How long it's been

since I've seen meadows and

trees. I see butterflies: chasing

one another . . . Lead me wherever

you want, Piggykins. I' ll

do

any

thing you say.

" Gyubal Wahazar Creates

Darkness"

WAHAZAR (roars) Haaaaaa That's enough

1 am alone (to First Hangman)

Let there be night (First Hang

man covers the

window with

a

Pronounced ubal Vahazar.


7/8

y

ubal Wahazar

Dress

rehearsal

or

p

roduct ion sch

eduled

or

Te

atr Narodowy

March 1969

Directed by W

anda Laskow s

ka wi th Stan is

taw Laczyk a

s Gyubal W ah

azar and

Barbara

Kraf f towna a

s Piggykins


8/8

•

black drape. A moment of com

plete darkness.

Third

Hangman

lights the electric

light

above. To

the Fourth Hangman) Morbidetto,

you'l l never

kill

me. You're a lying

guttersnipe

just

like them. Splat

tered up

to

my ears in the molten

lava of mysteries, I' ll forge on to

the very end,

to

those final

preci

pices. I'm like a

black star

against

the white-hot night

from ACT IV: "Gyubal

Wahazar's Death"

WAHAZAR I live in indeterminateness. I feel

I'm everything. I'm glutting my

self on all Existence. Everything

is stretching out into Infinity. Kill

me,

or

I'll burst with delight at my

own sel

f

Oh What happiness

What bliss Not

to

know who one

is to be everything (He

stretches out his hands in

front

of

him

in

wild

rapture. Piggykins

gets up.)

PIGGYKINS Grandpa, grandpa Stop being

so

beautiful Don 't

talk that

way (She goes numb with

rapture, looking at Wahazar.)

FATHER UNGUENTY (giving a sign

to Morbi

datto), Morbidetto, it's

time, its high time

(Morbidetto dashes

from the door

and

throws the lasso over

Wahazar's neck.

Wahazar falls back

with his hands held out

in front. Morbidetto

pulls the noose tight,

standing with his foot

on

Wahazar's chest.

Wahazar kicks a couple

of times with his feet

and dies. Silence.)

PIGGYKINS (falls on Wahazar's corpse) I

loved him and only him (She

embraces him and freezes in that

pose.)

FATHER UNGUENTY It 's happened We're

free Dr. Rypmann, cut

out his glands immedi

ately,

those-you

know

-Carioxitates Rypman

ni, and prepare a

trans

plant

for me, while

they 're still warm. I'm

old, but I have the

strength of ten. All

right, Dr. Rypmann, get

moving.

(Murmur

in

the crowd. Father

Unguenty whistles

through his fingers.

Through the left door

the guard runs in with

a platoon commander

dressed just like

Gnumben. Through

th;e

center door Father

Pungenty pushes

through the

crowd

with

two Pneumatics.) Drive

them all out into the

courtyard. A new

edict

will be read there.

Now

I am Unguenty

Wahazar in one person.

I've always been. Fix

bayonets *

Translated

by

Daniel

and

Eleanor Gerould,

©

Copyright

1970. Six plays

of

Witkiewicz ap-

pear in The Madman and the Nun and Other

Plays

University

of

Washington Press), a

seventh,

The Cuttlefish , is in

Gassner

Dukore,

A Treasury of the Theatre Holt,

Rinehart and Winston). Gyubal Wahazar will

be included in new collection

of five plays,

Metaphysics of a

Two

-Headed Calf

GEROULD, Daniel. Discovery of Witkiewicz

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