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Al
Hamlet Summit script
© Sulayman Al-Bassam, 2002
A political arabesque.
By Sulayman Al-Bassam.
Sulayman Al-Bassam's "The Al-Hamlet Summit" was first performed as part of the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, in August 2002, where it was awarded the prestigious Fringe First Award for excellence and innovation in writing and directing.
The work was subsequenlty presented at the 14th Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre, in September 2002, where it won Best Performance and Best Director Awards.
THE COMPANY:
Claudius-Nigel Barratt
Gertrude-Olivia Macdonald
Hamlet-Neil Edmond
Laertes-Ken Collard
Ophelia-Tea Alagic
Polonius-Simon Kane
THE Arms Dealer-Marlena Kaminsky
With live music composed and performed by-Lewis Gibson and Alfredo Genovesi
Directed by-Sulayman Al-Bassam
Assistant Director-Nigel Barratt
Technical Director-Richard Williamson
Stage Manager-Jennifer Wright
Marketing and PR-Audrey Ryan
Associate Producer-Georgina Van Welie
Produced by- Sulayman Al-Bassam in Association with The Ministry of Information, Kuwait.
Six conference desks, equipped with web cameras, microphones, name plates and desk lamps.
Two live musicians.
In the centre of the stage, a roughly constructed grave.
The names of each act are those of the five daily prayers in Islam.
They are descriptions of mood not precise indicators of time.
Prelude: Al-Fajr- the dawn.
Hamlet in the semi darkness, praying over his father's grave.
Gertrude, Claudius, Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius enter and wait for him to finish his prayers.
Tension mounts in Claudius. In turn, the delegates lay a stone on the mound of stones.
Hamlet crying, tears stream down his face. Gertrude comforts him.
The Arms Dealer enters and is stared at briefly by the delegates.
Claudius exits as soon as he can. The others exit in turn.
Arms Dealer (to the audience): Glimpsed in the corridors of power, blurred in the backdrop of official state photographs, faceless at parties, anonymous at airports, trained as a banker, conversant in Pashtun, Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew, feeding off desire: I am an Arms Dealer. (Exits)
Act 1
Act 1, Scene 1:
Dialogue preÐsession : through mics, fast, businesslike and hushed.
Gertrude : Why is your face so black, Hamlet ?
Hamlet: It must be syphillis, I've been with one too many whores, mama.
Gertrude: Is this wit ?
Hamlet: Fact ! There are many more whores than in my father's time.
Laertes: Welcome back, Prince, please accept my condolences; May Allah increase your wages in heaven.
Hamlet: Mine and yours, Laertes. I hold you in the highest esteem, friend; your father was a loyal subject to mine, and I rely most entirely on your devotion to our line-
Polonius: His Dread and most Honourable Majesty, All Mighty Leader of the Armed Forces, Commander of Air, Land and Sea; President Elect of this Noble Assembly begs your gracious attentions- session has begun. (enter Claudius, all stand)
SESSION:
Claudius: In the Name of Allah, The Bounteous, The Merciful. (All sit)
By my decree 10,000 palms have been planted and 2 public gardens opened in my brother's memory. (All clap)
The time for mourning is over. Today the dawn bursts forth fertility and- like the phoenix that comes shimmering up in flames from its cold bed of dust- my wife from my brother's ashen hand has lept, her cheek all moist with tears and wet with the dew of renewal, to partner me in this crowning enterprise: the dawn has risen upon the people of our nation: the New Democracy begins today! (Assembly claps) The nation claps : I clap for the nation.
We ride on the crest of a great wave, born of the will of the people and the needs of History: I am not its leader: I am its lamb. (clapping) Hamlet, you do not clap? Hamlet?
Hamlet: It is the heat, my lord, it brings the worms up out of the earth and just beneath the film of our perfumes-
Claudius: No one doubts the enormity of your grief, Hamlet
Hamlet: I am dazed by the stench of rot!
Claudius: You are morbid, when the world celebrates around you, you grieve while others rejoice, this fetish-sadness sits like a stain on the New Democracy : what is past is past, what is dead is dead, what rots will rot,
Hamlet: I'll spare you my afflictions, my studies await me; my flight leaves tonight-
Claudius: The invisible forces of evil besiege us from all sides: enemy leaflets circulate like rats in our midst; Fortinbras' troops armed with millions of dollars of foreign equipment are lined upon our border, if the city were quiet enough you could hear them breath; you will not leave. (Hamlet rises from his desk) .
Gertrude: Hamlet, I am your mother. The University has long been the source of regressive trends amongst us, already it has changed you: your father and I have deemed it council to keep you away from such throbbing beds of lunacy.
Hamlet: Closer to your throbbing beds of shame.
Gertrude: The country weeps with you, Hamlet, its wounds are open, and need your balming presence. Do not tar your father's memory with such eager departure. Do not force knives into your mother's bleeding heart. Stay with us Hamlet.
Polonius: I will count.
They vote.
Hamlet: When I got off the plane I smelt her; on the runway, in the guards' salute. In his welcoming embrace I smelt her. On his hand and on his cheek- her scent Ð on his neck and on his back and on his balls her scent Oh God, I can smell her now. Oh filth, filth, he enters her, he goes inside, he does he goes inside her again and again... (Hamlet's turn to vote) I'll stay! (Hamlet< votes) I'll stay!
Claudius: Glorious solidarity blesses our nation's first assembly. Let enemies beware of the Nation United, let Fortinbras skulk upon our borders, I declare 3 days National Holiday in celebration of our New Democracy. Come, secretaries and ministers: the press, the people, the world awaits.
All exit except Hamlet and Ophelia.
Act 1, Scene 2:
Hamlet, Ophelia. Prayers in the distance from many sides.
Hamlet: Why are you spying on me ?
Ophelia: I'm looking at you.
Hamlet: Am I so absurd ?
Ophelia: I will go, then
Hamlet: No, no- Ophelia?
Ophelia: I'm here.
Hamlet: Has it been so long ?
Ophelia: 3 summersÉ I got your tapes, thankyou.
Hamlet: It's nothing.
Ophelia: I know them all by heart.
Hamlet: It was a different world then.
Ophelia: I have'nt changed.
Hamlet: You're a woman now.
Ophelia: (she takes his hand, puts it to her breast) Won't you look at me?
Hamlet: Now?
Ophelia: Why not ?
Hamlet: Not now- I will, I will- I Long to look at you, to stare at you, to drink from the sight of you, but not now. I can't. Perhaps it's the heat, my blood is not used to this heat, my blood is not what it used to be- I do love you, in my heart of hearts and with my own body I love you. Go nowÉ(writing) through the interminable night that awaits usÉWith your own eyes.
Jets pass in the distance overhead.
Act 1, Scene 3: SESSION
Enter Polonius, Gertrude, Claudius.
Polonius: I've got 300 men working round the clock gathering up the leaflets.
Claudius: Forget the leaflets, burn the townships, all of them- I want them all burnt by dawn.
Gertrude: What's the schedule for tomorrow?
Polonius: Breakfast with the Russian's first thing, press conference, then itÕs the opening of the new parliament. Madame will be with us?
Gertrude: Yes.
Ophelia returns to her desk.
Claudius: (at his desk) What remains for today, Polonius?
Polonius: My son, my lord, asks your permission to leave the city.
Claudius: Why?
Laertes: To join the ranks of the valiant defendors of our nation's sovereignty.
Claudius: Good, a young man like him needs to see some action. Let him be stationed in the South, in front of Fortinbras and overseeing the miltias.
Laertes: I will do all in my power to be worthy of this honour.
Claudius: I'll make him a general.
Polonius: My Lord!
Claudius: Nothing is too much for the son of Polonius.
Polonius: I am forever yours.
Claudius: I thank you all for your devotion. Time is neither with us nor against us, our enemies are vigilant, they scurry while we sleep. I bid you all good night.
Exit Laertes, Ophelia, Hamlet. The others stay to work.
Gertrude: I have a proposal. It concerns Ophelia.
Polonius: What has she done?
Gertrude: Laertes is leaving. She will be so alone.
Polonius: She has many pursuits; she is an excellent pianist, reads profusely, rides regularly, speaks French, German and Czech-
Claudius: She is very beautiful.
Gertrude: Hamlet, given that he's staying with us is likely to have far too much time on his hands: Ophelia is vulnerable.
Polonius: Do you suspect my daughter of anything?
Gertrude: I am a woman Polonius, and I sense the seeds of scandal before they are blasted on to the wind. I am also a mother and a wife. My son has long been of an inclination towards your French speaking, piano riding, horse playing daughter and now he is of an age. I propose their marriage. Claudius?
Claudius: What has this to do with the New Democracy?
Polonius: It would be one of its symbols.
Claudius: It would entertain the press?
Polonius: A sense of shared responsibility, my Lord, may help the Prince overcome this negativity towards the New Order.
Claudius: Marriage would geld him.
Polonius: Madame, our house is no stranger to royalty, honour and blood have tied us together over centuries; my daughter will be delighted.
Gertrude: Excellent.
They vote. Motion carried.
Polonius: Marvellous.
Claudius: The future is ever brightening. To the New Democracy!
Polonius &
Gertrude: The New Democracy!
Claudius: The townships, Polonius.
Polonius: I'll give orders to start the burning immediately.
They exit.
Act 1, Scene 4:
Enter Laertes, claering his desk. Enter Ophelia.
Laertes: I'm leaving.
Ophelia: To the mountains?
Laertes: Yes.
Ophelia: You'll die, Laertes, they'll send me a photo of you hanging from a tree.
Laertes: I cannot do diplomacy; we sit and talk like drunkards, waiting for others to solve our problems.
Ophelia: Wait just a few days, things will settle.
Laertes: Nothing will settle Fortinbras but a bullet in his head. Look at me: I'll miss you. Your eyes, Ophelia, your eyes... They are not the innocent jades they used to be, another colour has tinged them. A little sparkle, or, or, or a little breeze, or, or, or a littleÉ aching? An aching in your eyes, Ophelia, the aching of virgin fields for the plough? When the world lies frightened in its bed do you pour lotions over your body and move in time with the breeze, I know you do, but that is not what courts and Kings are for, is it? What are they for? Capturing, invading, sacking, splitting: virgin thighs, virgin honour, virgin sex; your name, spiked on the royal cock, our titles spattered with royal cum, and poor sister of Laertes left heaped on the floor among the broken shells of promises and the burnt-out shitloads of gold. Never, Ophelia, never! Tame this lust in your eyes, tame it, woman, before I tame it for you.
Ophelia: Don't leave me.
Laertes twists his head violently to free the tension in his neck. Kisses her. Exit Laertes.
Act 1, Scene 5:
Enter Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius. Claudius and Gertrude retire to their desks. Polonius visits Ophelia.
Polonius: They tell me you have been lurking in orchards with the Prince Hamlet as the sun goes down. Or was it by the pool, where do you lurk exactly?
Ophelia: We walk sometimes at dusk before the evening prayers.
Polonius: Don't walk at dusk, don't walk at night, don't walk at dawn and don't walk at noon. Right now I want to be able to hear your footsteps at all times, wherever you walk will be within the orbit of my hearing, within the circle of my infinite love; right now my love describes the boundaries of your universe; don't walk outside it into the abyss beyond, where your footsteps and your cries will go unheard. What's the time?
Ophelia: Near midnight.
Polonius: Get to bed, there may be trouble tonight.
Polonius returns to his desk.
Gertrude enters Claudius' office, they begin making love.
Act 1, Scene 6:
Hamlet, praying at his father's grave.
Hamlet: Let the skies fall in and the seas be set ablaze, let the material world collapse and markets go untended; let wild beasts roam through cities and infant girls be buried alive for no crime; make Hell fires burn fiercely and bring Paradise near; but lay the records upon, inspire me with your command, show me my labours, I hold my life in no esteem, I carry not an atom's weight of good, I have grown fat with idle life, let me not be mad, but lay the records upon, inspire me with your command, inspire me with your command- (the love-making in the conference room climaxes) who's there ? Who is it?
Arms Dealer: A friend.
Hamlet: What are you doing ?
Arms Dealer: I needed some air. I can't breathe in the hotel.
Hamlet: It's the fires, they have started the fires.
Arms Dealer: Mmm. Your father was a great man, the world is not the same for his loss.
Hamlet: Are you American ?
Arms Dealer: (quoting) "Vast oceans of savagery consume the world, false authority towers from Mecca to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to the Americas and man is on the brink of a great precipiceÉ" _
Hamlet : How do you know that ? Those are his words.
Arms Dealer hands him a green leaflet.
Hamlet: I can't see, give me a light.
She holds out a lighter.
Hamlet: (Reading) "Forensic evidence leakedfrom the post mortem indicates that our great leader was murdered. His cardiac arrest was induced by sodium nitrate injected into his ear via a syringe, an assassination technique commonly used by the secret police under the leadership of his brother and assassin Claudius." Where did you find this?
Arms Dealer: They're all over.
Hamlet: (reading on) "Whilst Hamlet, the late King's son, continues to lead the life of the Murtad dissolute, gambling and whoring the nation's millions in the playgrounds of Europe." Oh God! "The People's- The people's" Ð bring the light closer- "Liberation Brigade will avenge this sickening murder and will show no mercy to those who weep and mourn, weep and gnash their teeth (the Arms Dealer lights the leaflet) É.the evil forces of imperialism have found a willing agent in the figure of Claudius É
Arms Dealer withdraws.
Jets pass screaming overhead, as hundreds of leaflets fall from the sky.
Hamlet: "raise your might and God's holy wrath against the horned satan that soils our earth and the Greater Satan that enslaves our people and the world. We will not rest until God's labour's are done. We will not rest until His labour's are done".
Act 1, Scene 7:
Delegates sleeping at their desks.
Hamlet returns to his desk, pockets full of leaflets.
Walks round to Ophelia, shows her the leaflet, drops the remaining leaflets on floor of her office.
Hamlet : (shaking) My father's murdered- (trying to speak, but unable)
Opheliaholds him for a long time, he weeps.
Ophelia: I'm here- I'm here-
Hamlet: Be with me-
Ophelia: Always
Hamlet: Hold me
Ophelia: I love you- I love you
Black Out.
Act 2- Al-Zuhr- the noon.
Act 2, Scene 1:
Morning.
Ophelia, alone, wearing a headscarf, crying at her desk.
Polonius (at his desk): Today is a very good-looking day, correct? A day for positive images, rousing words, transparent communication, and I need you to look the part, Ophelia- what the hell is that ? Are you mad? (Walks briskly over to her and pulls off her head scarf ) What's this?
Ophelia: I'm more comfortable like this.
Polonius: You look like a terrorist- do you know how many photographers are out there? Why are you crying?
Ophelia: Last night-
Polonius: Last night what?
Ophelia: HamletÉ
Polonius: Hamlet!
Ophelia: needed some help with his speech, but the speech was not making sense, you see; shells fell all night the fires burnt all night and the electricity cut out around three. It was a bad night. That is all.
Hamlet enters, goes to Claudius' desk, takes out files, begins turning over page after page of memos, looking frantically for a proof.
Polonius: (finding green leaflets of PLF) Where did you get these?
Ophelia: I don't know,
Polonius: Answer me!
Ophelia: He brought them.
Polonius: This runs deep, Ophelia, very deep. I only hope I can save you from the fallout. Come with me. Come, come, come. (senses someone rummaging at Claudius' desk.) Hamlet? (Hamlet runs away) Hamlet!
Lights down.
Act 2, Scene 2:
Enter Arms Dealer and Claudius
Claudius: Zva rolta Russki
Arms Dealer: Da, da, zgeech va nyotz ?
Claudius: Are you from the Embassy?
Arms Dealer: No. Yesterday at the funer-..
Claudius: Of course! The funeral! You nearly missed it!
Arms Dealer: And the wedding.
Claudius: Mmm.. The food ?
Arms Dealer: Sorry ?
Claudius: The baked meats, the pheasant. I had them send up some pheasant to your room.
Arms Dealer: Was that you, oh so kind- actually, it arrived cold, but-
Claudius: Of course it was cold-
Arms Dealer: But-
Claudius: You were late-
Arms Dealer: But, I like cold meat.
Claudius: Good!
Arms Dealer: Thankyou!
Pause
Claudius: How long will you be staying with us ?
Arms Dealer: As long as I am welcome.
Claudius: We are preparing for war. It may not be in your interests to stay here very long.
Arms Dealer: I'm on a little tour. He called me yesterday, most upset I have not been to visit him yet, you know how emotional he gets- "You filthy double-crosser, you promised me this, that"- (laughs)
Claudius: Who's this?
Arms Dealer: Fortinbras!
Claudius: Ah! My guest!
Arms Dealer: He's so sweet.
Claudius: Forgive me, I am so happy you are with us.
Arms Dealer: So am I.
Claudius: We must meet
Arms Dealer: Yes.
Claudius: Ðofficially!
Arms Dealer: of course.
Claudius: Over some cocktails-
Arms Dealer: Why not?
Claudius: Tomorrow-this evening! I'll arrange it. You must excuse meThe New Parliament's opening in (looks at watch)
Arms Dealer: 2 hours and 12 minutes minutes- I know. Good Luck.
Lights down.
Act 2, Scene 3:
SESSION
Polonius: A minister's loyalty to his King and country goes beyond the rational bonds of duty. A love that defies the usual spheres of human employment a love, that in my case, can be compared to the loyalty of the last soldier, that unsung hero, who, knee-deep in comrade's blood, surrounded by thousands of enemy tanks, helicopters, infantry and mortar, swells with the knowledge of imminent death, bulges with patriotism, fires the last rounds from his outdated Russian rifle and falls struck by a bullet to the heart that continues to beat for at least 2 hours more! Irrational love! Absolute devotion! Complete surrender to the will of King and country Ð THAT is what I offer.
Gertrude: Does my breakfast have to suffer this man's devotion?
Polonius: My breakfasts' are yours madame.
Claudius: Explain yourself.
Polonius: (adjusts his position). If I were able to explain this matter to myself, I would be much better placed to explain myself; but this matter is far beyondÉ.Your son is mad! Mad! He is being drawn further and further into extremist circles of thought and action and he is mad I tell you!
Claudius: The parliament opens in less than an hour.
Polonius: A matter of minutes: Ophelia.
Ophelia stands up and reads Hamlet's poems
Ophelia:
The refugee who stands at the wire fence of your heart-
no numbers to his name, no credit, no guns;
all sewage and exile,
lays seige to your soul, with the pain of his songs.
Polonius: Note the paranoaic tendency in this innocent-seeming foul-smelling ditty.Note the distrust of all authority.
Ophelia: When the worlds fall apart
And the skies cave in
When hell fires consume the light
And paradise is brought nearer this earth:
On that day, know that I am looking for you.
Polonius: Note the apocalyptic imagery. Note the yearning for violent and comprehensive change to the world order. I have studies that will elucidate further on the links between this sort of fantasy and terrorist activities;
Gertrude: These poems are the work of an adolescent, Polonius, they prove nothing!
Polonius: Now, look at what I found in his drawers! (displays PLF leaflets). Not one, not ten, but thousands of them, thousands!
Claudius: This is capital!
Ophelia: Grief can force-
Gertrude: Grief, yes! Grief!
Ophelia: temporary insanity!
Claudius: The marriage must be delayed.
Ophelia: What marriage?
Gertrude: Until we have more proof of how far his grief may have changed him.
Claudius: More proof then, Polonius?
Ophelia: WHAT MARRIAGE?
Polonius: My daughter will supply proof.
Gertude: Really? How?
Polonius: Ophelia, the next time you meet with Hamlet you will ask him Ð in a roundabout and honeyed way- questions like "where have you been, what have you been writing, what are you doing with your nights"-
Ophelia: I don't think I can do that.
Gertrude: You'll make an excellent liar.
Ophelia: I'm a really bad liar.
Claudius: We were all born bad liars, you'll learn. Ask him"Do you go to the mosques-"
Polonius: "Who are your friends, what are they called?"
Claudius: "What are you reading?"
Gertrude: Someone should be with her, she could lie.
Polonius: We'll be with her, madame, leave it to me: "The Royal Marriage to be delayed, pending further proof of the Prince's seditious leanings."
They vote- motion is carried.
Claudius: We will try it.
END OF SESSION
Exit Claudius, Polonius, Gertrude, Ophelia.
Act 2, Scene 4:
Hamlet, alone in the desert, in the distance we hear the sound of a milttary band and the loudpeakers announcing the Opening of the New Parliament.
Hamlet: The villages of my heart have been emptied,
their pavements orphaned to the wind.
All spirit of man in me aged between 14 and 60
Has been taken down to the waterfront
And settled head-first in the shallows.
When noon walks across the square like a widow,
I am the ghost bell that swings on churches
I am the minaret with its tongue in the sand
I am the child with a bullet in its arm weeping amongst the rocks;
I am the mute that contemplates the ape
while the wind writes my shame upon the sea.
Enter Arms Dealer.
Arms Dealer: You're not at the opening.
Hamlet: Celebration's lost its charms.
Arms Dealer: We're alike, we prefer being in the shadows.
Hamlet: Are you following me?
Arms Dealer: Maybe.
Hamlet: How's the hotel?
Arms Dealer: Much better. There's a lot of talk about you: some people think you're still in Europe, others say you're planning to escape, but nobody really knows what you're doing, do they ?
Hamlet: What do you know about phosphorus?
Arms Dealer: It's makes little white puffs of smoke, like a barbecue.
Hamlet: Does it burn?
Arms Dealer: Have'nt you heard the story of the gravedigger's baby?
Hamlet: Tell me.
Arms Dealer: When the curfew was over, the baby was 5 days dead, and they brought it the gravedigger. He prepared a deep and narrow grave, and when the prayers were done, he shovelled the first mound of earth into it: the tiny corpse exploded into flames and the gravedigger was blinded. That's phosphorus.
Hamlet: Can you sell me some?
Arms Dealer: I can.
Hamlet: Good.
(An explosion in the distance, the military band has gone silent and is replaced by sirens)
Hamlet: What was that?
Arms Dealer: I've no idea.
Act 2, Scene
5: SESSION
Enter Claudius, Polonius.
Claudius: Find them!
Polonius: No one has claimed responsibility, no tip-offs, no
calls, nothing.
Claudius: The pipeline is on the rocks-
Polonius: I have got 20 PLF members under torture-
Claudius: the investors are terrified!
Polonius: The Shia leaders are being rounded up, I've got 50
mobile squadrons in a net around the city, men scouring the sewers,
whoever they are, they will not escape me.
Claudius: I want the car-bombers' faces across the papers by
tomorrow. Or I'll write your resignation for you.
Enter Laertes.
Polonius: I have summoned you Laertes< to brief us on developments
in the South.
Claudius: What news with you, Laertes?
Laertes: My lord, the signs of war are gathering fast. Until
this morning, Fortinbras had 3000 men stationed 20 miles south of our
border. Apart from two small skirmishes, all has been quiet for the
last two days. But one hour before dawn a convoy appeared on the horizon
that threw fear into the souls of our men and had civilian families
running in droves for their cars. Over the hills came not a convoy,
but a juggernaut, a 15 mile column of Merkava and British Centurion
tanks- three tanks abreast- moving at 15 mph towards our border. It
was as if Fortinbras' entire army was advancing upon as one giant armoured
centipede. The Merkavas and the Centurions tore up the tarmac surface
of the highway as they advanced and bathed the landscape in a blue fog
of exhaust smoke. They have moved up so much equipment that the coastal
highway and the sea are covered with tanks and heavy artillery for 20
miles._
Claudius: We are familiar with these tactics, Laertes, I see
no cause for alarm.
Hamlet enters carrying a piece of exploded car pretending to be deaf
from the explosion.
Polonius: Where were you ?
Hamlet: Sorry I'm late. Have you seen the traffic?
Laertes: No cause for alarm, my lord?
Polonius: You weren't at the Parliament.
Hamlet: What?
Polonius: Parliament!
Claudius: None.
Hamlet: Lament? Lament!?
Polonius: Where were you?
Hamlet: I'm finished with laments. Tell uncle. Finished. There's
a party out there! Hundreds, thousands, all spattered in blood, screaming
in the streets. Ecstatic masses foaming with nationalistic ecstasy.
It's brilliant!
Claudius: Hamlet, there was a terrorist attack at the opening.
Hamlet: Here we are. Look, oh look!
Claudius: A terrorist attack.
Hamlet: Quack? What Quack? Quack Quack! I found this!
Polonius: He's mad!
Hamlet: It's a trophy. I'm giving it to Ophelia as a sign of
my bleeding heart! No, too sad. I'm giving it to Uncle! Yes! Uncle!
Give me a kiss and I'll give you this trophy.
Claudius: We'll leave him.
Hamlet: Oh come, Uncle, your kisses are'nt as prized as Ophelia's
lips. Please take it, uncle, give it to mother as a sign of your mishaped
love, oh she'll love it. Uncle the nation's will is in my arms take
it from me-
Polionius: My lord, we're leaving you now.
Hamlet: Uncle! Uncle!
Lights down.
Act 3- Al-Asr- the mid afternoon.
Act 3, Scene 1:
Tableau 1
TIME: 8:45 AM
Polonius: Everything alright?
Arms Dealer: Fine. ExceptÉ I think thereÕs something in my bedroom.
Polonius: What might that be ?
Arms Dealer: I think itÕs a rat.
Polonius: Very likely. Here take some of this, pour it on the
floor; dead by breakfast.
Arms Dealer: Thankyou.
Polonius: DonÕt mention it. By the way, When is payment due ?
Arms Dealer: Upon signing of the contract.
Polonius: In full ?
Arms Dealer: In full.
Black Out.
Tableau 2:
TIME: 10:15 AM
Hamlet: Who is Claudius?
Laertes: You don't get it, do you?
Hamlet: Who is he?
Laertes: Our supreme and sovereign leader.
Hamlet: Fine. I know where you stand.
Laertes: Forcing internal division is political suicide, itÕs
the strategy of an angry child
Hamlet: He is a murderer.
Laertes: So are all leaders.
Hamlet: He killed my father.
Laertes: Fortinbras wrote that line, it's enemy propoganda and
you know it.
Hamlet: I'll prove it!
Laertes: Well, let me know.
Hamlet: I want you with me here, Laertes, the real fight is here.
Laertes: And let me know when you've finished apologising.
Hamlet: What for?
Laertes: Your own futility.
Black Out.
Tableau 3:
TIME: 1:30 PM
Gertrude: Is there anything I can get you ?
Arms Dealer: You are so kind. Anything I can get you ?
Gertrude: You are so charming.
Arms Dealer: I wanted to tell you: I adore your shoes.
Gertrude: I like yours too.
Arms Dealer: Thankyou so much for lunch.
Gertrude: Oh please. It's not often I have the pleasure of entertaining
intelligent females.
Arms Dealer: I agree, women are so dull, are'nt they?
Gertrude: I know your very busy, but I have a farm in the South-
my private retreat: it needs an overhaul, it does'nt feel safe anymore
and I was wondering if you might
Arms Dealer: Darling, there's nothing I love more than the countryside.
Gertrude: Oh, you'll love it
Arms Dealer: where are we going
Gertrude: To the sea, you don't mind do you?
Arms Dealer: Not at all.
Gertrude: It's nothing special, the best views are further North.
Arms Dealer: I can smell it already.
Black Out.
Tableau 4:
TIME: 1:32 PM
Hamlet: The enemy on the border is the illusion they feed you,
the illusion they want you to believe.
Laertes: People are dying everyday, I see them, I see the bombs
that kill them, I see the soldiers that fire them, I hear the politicians
that direct them, it's not an illusion.
Hamlet: The real enemy is here, in the palace, amongst us.
Laertes: There will be no nation to fight over unless we defeat
Fortinbras.
Hamlet: We'll have no nation to lose unless we destroy the rot
that devours it from within.
Laertes: Hamlet, May God go with you. I'm leaving you
this. (Places gun on the table).
Hamlet: Laertes! I love you like a brother.
Black Out.Act 3, Scene 2:
Gertrude is with Ophelia, she presents her with jewellry:
a necklace, a bracelet, a ring- the "taqam" that is traditionally
presented to Arab brides.
Ophelia: Who are these from?
Gertrude: From Hamlet! Now remember, it's like a game of seduction,
probe him with vague questions at first- allow his ego time to swell-
then penetrate further, keep your mouth open- not too wide- nod your
head, reassure him with a sigh, or with a tear that he is a sea of infinite
mystery and that you are his pupil, hungry for his words.
Gertrude: Don't cry, he'll think there's something wrongÉ And
when you are married, you will look back at this and laugh out loud.
Ophelia: We will, we'll laugh.
Hamlet: (holding a pistol)
It doesn't weigh much, why should it?
It Delivers. It has a number on it. It's well made;
Its coil, mechanism, bolt and trigger have
Evolved over centuries, it's secrets embezzled
From father to son, it is a perfect machine.
It is mine to polish with Egyptian cottons
while I career dreamsick, from office to office,
slowly murdering the fire that made my soul,
feeding my disease from door to door,
round and round this porn shop of sores.
No martyr's passion blazing in this body,
No vision of heaven,
no yearning for justice, no aching for change,
my intestine is like a pig's:
It baulks at nothing;
my hatred as imperfect as my love;
nothing heroic, nothing repulsive,
just a futile mediocrity, made bearable by my disease,
that drowns with a torturer's patience and criminal ease
the fires that made my soul
from here to the day I die.
(reading the number on the pistol) 552497.
The disease I carry is stronger than me,
This disease I call Myself.
The self is a bitch that wont let go.
Enter Claudius and Polonius, wearing long black abats.
Claudius: Thankyou, Gertrude.
Gertrude adjusts the black abats that cover the two men from head to
toe. Exits.
Polonius and Claudius prompt Ophelia and feed her words to say in the
opening lines of this dialogue.
Ophelia: Hamlet, I am praying for you.
Claudius taps her on the back to speak louder.
Ophelia: Hamlet, I am praying for you.
Hamlet: Ophelia! I can hear your prayers.
Ophelia: Thankyou for your gifts.
Hamlet: What gifts?
Ophelia: It does'nt matter.
Hamlet: I don't know if I have ever told youÉ
Ophelia: Don'tÉ
Hamlet: I must, I have this terrible need to change myself, or
rather,rather there is a change that is comingÉ
Ophelia: Don't tell me now
Hamlet: and if I don't tell you nowÉ
Ophelia: TELL ME NOW THEN TELL ME SPEAK!
Hamlet: Ophelia?
Ophelia: Yes.
Hamlet: What gifts? What gifts! (long pause) Has it come?
Ophelia: What?
Hamlet: The hour that takes you away from me?
Ophelia: No!
Hamlet: Must I be forced to hate you now?
Ophelia: No! It is far away, very far.
Hamlet: But the hour has come.
Ophelia: I am still here.
Hamlet: No, no you are gone.
Ophelia: You love me.
Hamlet: no, no: I do not blame you, but, but, but
Ophelia: Try to love meÉ
Hamlet: nor can I forgive you, you do understand
Ophelia: Don't do this
Hamlet: How can I love you!?
Ophelia: TryÉ
Hamlet: I will clean this land, I will make it pure, I understand,
I do understand, but I will cleanse it for you, I will prepare it for
your return, even if it costs me my life, I will clean it, I will purge
it, blood will flow, I will make blood flow in torrents, I swear in
my father's name, I swear in the name of Allah but you will return,
Ophelia, you will return. (Exits)
Ophelia: (she sings)
My master, where are you going?
Ai! Why don't you take me with you?
Take me to the town.
Ai! To sell me to the bazargi
For a pinch of gold
To gild the palace door.
Exit Ophelia, singing.
Session.
Gertrude: She is ruining my son's mind. I want her sent to the
farms.
Polonius: What farms, madame?
Gertrude: The work farms in the south. She can work on mine.
She is to go.
Polonius: Madame is enraged. This ugliness offends her and blurs
her judgement-
Claudius: Gertrude, we refuse haste.
Gertrude: I insist.
Claudius: Polonius, let her seek refuge outside the city for
a few days. Marriage will not be spoken of again. It puts our son in
ill-humour. Investments are however crucial to the economy at this stage
of the war-effort, there are car bombs exploding at every corner, we
have not seen a tourist in weeks and his temperament seems regressive
and uncondusive to the common good, national security demands that Hamlet
too is sent away. Where to, madame?
Gertrude: Beirut ?
Polonius: Too many militias.
Gertrude: Damascus?
Claudius: Too many intellectuals
Polonius: Cairo?
Gertrude: Too many liars. Sana'a?
Polonius: Too many rebels.
Claudius: Rabat?
Gertrude: Too many homosexuals.
Claudius: Khartoum?
Polonius: Too many rebels.
Gertrude: Jeddah?
Claudius: Too many mullahs.
Gertrude: Tehran?
Claudius: Too many Shias.
Polonius: Paris?
Claudius: Too many radicals.
Gertrude: Washington?
Polonius: He'd never get in.
Claudius: London?
Polonius & Gertrude: London!!
Claudius: Get him on the next plane to London, call the foreign
secretary tell him he's coming to gamble along Piccadilly, book him
3 months at Claridges and give him a state cheque book.
Polonius: My Lord, Fortinbras' tanks shelled the airport this
morning, the tarmack is in ribbons.
Claudius: Close the highway, he can use that to take off.
Polonius: I'll count.
Jets pass overhead.
They Vote.
Polonius: Carried.
Bomb blasts in the distance.
Claudius: The future is bright. I thank you.
They rise to leave. As they gather in the corridor-
Hamlet: Hell's plagues on your mother and your mother's mother
and your mother's mother's mother. Do not gawp at me you imperilaist
dog! Don't stare at me you leader-by-proxy! You shadow of Cain! Do you
know whose son I am! His name makes you tremble!!
Claudius exits.
Hamlet: Futile man! (To the musicians) Hey you. I need you to
cleanse my soul, play for me.
Play an old, old Maqa'am.
They play.
Act 3, Scene 3:
Ophelia: Why do we entertain you here ?
Arms Dealer: I help guarantee stability.
Ophelia: What stability?
Arms Dealer: The one that allows you toÉ. carry on. Will be going
to go to University?
Ophelia: I don't think we need you anymore. I want you to leave.
Arms Dealer: That's not possible.
Ophelia: I want you to leave now.
Arms Dealer: And I want us to be friends.
Ophelia: I'm serious. (Pulling a knife)
Arms Dealer: Oh, Ophelia, I love you dearly.
Ophelia: I love you too.
Arms Dealer: You're so passionate, (twisting her arm and throwing
her to the floor) don't make me spread your pretty face across the earth.
Drop the knife. Why did you call me here in the middle of the night?
Ophelia: I want a bomb.
Arms Dealer: I know you do. I will give you a bomb: a little
one or a big bomb?
Ophelia: Any.
Blackout.
Scene 4:
Hamlet: (To the musicians) There's a reception tomorrow for Western
dignatories.
Musician: That's right, we're playing for them.
Hamlet: It'll be bleak, half of them have left. But I want to-I
need to make a contribution. It's my duty. Could you organise me a couple
of dancers?
Musician: I could.
Hamlet: I'll pay them, I'll pay you, I'll pay all of you royally.
Musician: We're at your disposal, my Lord.
Hamlet: There's a song it's ringing in my head, come with me,
what's it called- can you remember what it's called (he hums, as they
leave the stage Om Kalthoum's "Inta Umri" fills the auditorium)
Lights down.
ACT 4 - Al-Maghreb- the sunset.
Act 4, Scene 1:
The delegates are seen on the projection screen, gathering in a royal
box.
On stage, a singer and an accompanist. Throughout this dialogue they
are warming up in the centre of the stage.
The following pre-recorded dialogue is filmed from a fixed camera angle
Enter Claudius, then Gertrude.
Claudius: Sit here, darling. You look lovely. Relax.
Gertrude: There's the American Ambassador, he's coming over.
Claudius (exiting frame) Your Excellency, how are you my friend?
Enter Polonius and Ophelia.
Polonius: She's leaving tomorrow, you don't mind if she joins
us tonight, do you?
Gertrude: Ophelia, darling, give me a kiss. Sit next to me. So
much make-up!
Polonius: She's been a little under the weather.
Ophelia: I've been throwing up all afternoon.
Gertrude: Good Lord, I hope she's not pregnant.
Re-enter Claudius.
Claudius: My God, they're all here- the French, the Russians,
the British. Wave, darling.
Polonius: I've inspected the programme.
Claudius: What's Hamlet's piece about?
Polonius: I've seen the music, had the words reviewed-
Enter Hamlet.
Polonius: Ah!!
Hamlet: Evening your majesties.(waving to the Dignitaries) What
a glamourous collection of skins!
Gertrude: We're so glad you're with us tonight.
Hamlet: I'm glad too mother!
Claudius: Is it your own composition?
Hamlet: Ophelia you look half dead.
Claudius: Sit by me, Hamlet.
Hamlet: We're prettier when we're at angles to each other, your
majesty. Let me sit by Ophelia, her cheeks need warming, I can see.
(whispers to her)
Gertrude: Hamlet, please don't whisper!
Hamlet: (whispering) We have to whisper, we're in public!
Polonius: Ah! They're ready.(handing Claudius a microphone) It's
switched on.
Claudius: Most honoured excellencies, ambassadors, ladies and
gentleman of the West. Music, as we all know, is a universal language
expressing in its beauty, man's ambition for universal harmony. We are
proud that you are with us tonight, in these times of great promise
and historical importance, that we may nourish our souls in unison and
enjoy some of our noble cultural heritage.
Hamlet: Good evening your excellencies, this first composition
is one of my own it is entitled simply, "Ophelia".
Ophelia'S SONG
(The words of this song are taken from Abdel-Halim Hafez's "ÃçèÇã"
-"Ahwak"-)
I long for youÉ
And forget my soul with youÉ
And if my soul gets lostÉ
It will be your bountyÉ
If you forget meÉ
I will forget you, you will seeÉ
I will forget your lipsÉ
I will pine for you...
My tears wil recall you..
Come back to meÉ
When you come to me, the world comes with you,
It will only accept me if you accept me,
On film:
The delegates clap.
Ophelia leaves the frame.
Hamlet : I'm sorry. This next song is for my mother.Gertrude'S
SONG:
(The first 3 verses of this song are taken from Nizhar Al-Qabani's poem
"Kalimat", sung by Majda Al-Roumi.)
He woes me as we danceÉ
With words that are not like wordsÉ
He sweeps me off my feet
And lands me in the cloudsÉ
And the black rain falls in my eyes
In big drops, in big dropsÉ
He carries me with him, he carries me
Over the old man's bodyÉ
Like rain he kisses me, he kisses me
his lips still hot with the old man's bloodÉ
I am like a child in his Arms
When he weeps to me his crimesÉ.
Claudius claps and leaves the frame rapidly follwed by Gertrude and
Polonius.
Act 4, scene 2.
SESSION.
Claudius: He is a threat! I want him liquidated.
Gertude: I'll speak to him.
Claudius: Polonius!
Polonius: My Lord!
Gertrude: I said I'll speak to him.
Claudius: Give the order.
Gertrude: My sex, Claudius! My sex tames your allies, my sex
undermines your enemies, galvanises the masses and underwrites your
loans. Nothing without me, do you realise? Nothing! I will speak to
my son.
Claudius: By tommorrow.
Polonius: I'll accompany madame. We must fear the worst.
Claudius: Thankyou, my wife. (Exit Gertude). I've emptied the
funds, Polonius, you'll see me later about your needs.
Polonius: The generals are waiting for your directi-
Claudius: Let them wait!
Exit Polonius
Act 4, Scene 3.
Claudius: (opening a briefcase full of dollars) Oh God: Petro
dollars. Teach me the meaning of petro dollars.
I have no other God than you, I am created in your image, I seek guidance
from you the All Seeing, the All Knowing Master of Worlds, Prosperity
and Order. This for the nation's new sattelite t.v. station, this for
God's sattelite; this for the epic about my valiant life, this for God's
film industry; this for surveillance networks across the capital, this
for God's installation people; this for primary, secondary and higher;
this for God's curriculums; this for me. This for the leader of the
opposition party; this for the Austrian torturer; this for the editor
of the national press - or is he dead? This for the MD of Crude Futures:
all of Heaven's gifts down to the cracks of their arses and I, the poor,
sluttish Arab, forgoing billions to worship you: I am transparent, so
transparent my flesh emerges like calves milk- I beg you, Lord, give
me the recognition I need and help me calculate what is good.
Is it not charm, is it not consummate charm to slouch on silk cushions
and fuck and be fucked by the all the flesh dollars can buy? I am a
fine apprentice, do I not learn well what you taught me? This for you,
oh God.
Help me, Lord, help me- your angelic ministers defame me, they portray
me as a murderer a trafficker of toxins, a strangler of children, why
is this God? I lie naked before you while they deafen you with abuse.
Let me not be disagreeable to you, God, I do not compete with you, how
could these packets of human flesh compete with your infinity; I am
your agent, nor am I an ill partner for your gluttony and endless filth.
I do not try to be pure: I have learnt so much filth, I eat filth, I
am an artist of filth I make mounds of human bodies, sacrifices to your
glory, I adore the stench of rotting peasants gassed with your technology,
I am a descendant of the Prophet, Peace be Upon Him, and you, you are
God. Your angelic ministers want to eliminate me, throw me like Lucifer
from the lap of your mercy, but who brought me here oh God let us not
forget, who put me here?
In front of your benificence, I am a naked mortal, full of awe: my ugliness
is not unbearable, surely it is not? My nose is not so hooked is it,
my eyes so diabolical as when you offered me your Washington virgins
and CIA opium. Oh, God, my ugliness does not offend you now, does it?
Your plutonium, your loans, your democratic filth that drips off your
ecstatic crowds-I want them all, Oh God; I want your vaseline smiles
and I want your pimp ridden plutocracies; I want your world shafting
bank; I want it shafting me now - offer me the shafting hand of redemption-
Oh God let us be dirty together, won't you?
Without you, I cannot bear to be myself, cannot, cannot bear it.
Enter Hamlet holding a pistol to Claudius's head.
Hamlet: The only way to change the geography of a conflict is
to have infantry on the ground firing bullets into flesh. I am the infantryman,
this is the basement that wreeks of human faeces and rotting meat, my
emotion is the emotion of the fighter who wants to stop an invasion;
here my enemy cowers, human, alone. I see the drops of sweat glistening
on your skin, I can smell your fear, I can hear you breathing, I feel
your fear now: stop breathing, stop breathing; stop breathing!
Hamlet returns to his desk.
Act 4, Scene
4:
Enter Polonius, Gertrude.
Polonius: My Lord!
Claudius: Tell the Generals: We are alone.
Exit Claudius.
Gertrude: Hamlet, you are a threat to state security.
Hamlet: Mother, you are a threat to state morality.
Gertrude: Is it drugs?
Hamlet: Is it sex?
Gertrude: Talk to me, child, are you collaborating with the mullahs?
Hamlet: No! It is I who ask you: do you commune with the devil,
madame? Is he by you now, enveloping you? Ha! Does the devil sit by
you Gertrude, does he whisper in your ear?
Hamlet: Ha! Does he hold you to him and thrust his hand onto
your breast, is he there?!Ha! Is he there? Is he there?
Gertrude: Leave now.
Polonius prepares to leave the desk in haste, clattering objects as
he moves.
(Hamlet hears the clattering and shoots the pistol in the direction
of Claudius' desk, killing Polonius)
Hamlet moves to discover the body.
Gertrude: What is this!
Hamlet: From Allah we emerge and to Allah we return. Run, blood,
run across the sewers and the graves, stop up the mouths of vermin and
hypocrites, the squall that begins in the East moves with mighty power
over the seas. Oh, mother, mother, I am still so young, so young to
feel this weight of heaven. Your husband is a murderer!
Gertrude: So is my son!
Hamlet: He murdered my father!
Gertrude: Your father died of his own failures!
Hamlet: You are with the devil! The power of the djinn has eaten
your mind.
Gertrude: Look at you, panting! Do you find me attractive Hamlet
is that it, do you find me irresistable. You are sick!
Hamlet: The earth spins faster in its rapture as the dawn of
truth approaches. (He hits her hard across the face).
Gertrude: You dare to hit me!
Hamlet: I dare more!
Gertrude: Bastard son of a bastard father!
Hamlet: God cannot forget your iniquities!
Gertrude: (she spits on him) On you and on your father,
Hamlet: You have outwhored Babylon!
Gertrude: Get off me, get your hands off me.
Hamlet: God's sharia allows you to be married to your husband's
brother only when there are no other men available to you. Will you
learn woman?
Gertrude: I will have you stripped in the streets for this, I
will open your stomach with a breadknife.
Hamlet: Rude Gertrude!
Gertrude: I will hang your balls from my balcony!
Hamlet: In the time of the Prophet it happened thus, a whore
passed from King to pauper, from murderer to thief, until she found
the path. Will you learn? Lewd Gertrude! In the tractions of your loins
do you not think on death woman? Has lust made you mad?
(covers her eyes and raises his pistol to her head)
Remember Allah!
Remember Alllah!
Remember Alllah!
Over the loudpeaker: Verse 28, Surra 5 of the Holy Koran:" And
never say to your father or mother tut, nor hold their names in vain".
Hamlet hears this divine voice and is cowed and amazed. He returns sheepishly
to his desk.
Gertrude: Gertrude will never forget this shame you have poured
upon her, this stain of blood will not fade.
Gertrude exits.
Hamlet: Oh God, I have trespassed! Beware a mother's vengeance.
Mother forgive me.
Mother?
Mother?
Mother?
Mother?
Act 4, Scene 5.
Enter Claudius
Claudius: Terrorist, terrorist, terrorist! Hamlet, we will not
let an insidious terrorist coward push our nation to the brink of collapse-_
Hamlet: Look around you: embargoes closing in from all sides,
world leaders refuse your calls, my country's assets are frozen,
Claudius: Your terror will not dictate our policy- you are exiled!
Hamlet: So it has come to this?
Claudius: Yes. Now. Go.
Hamlet: It is a far far better thing I do now than I have ever
done. Where is it to, Uncle?
Claudius: London!
Hamlet: Ah! London! I will not be alone. I will eat little, grow
thin, write tracts and become the prized animal of European liberals.
Good, Uncle, good; a perfect choice. Farewell uncle!
Claudius: I would dismember you now were it not for the glare
of the world upon us. Let their lights die down Ð then I'll strike,
invisible. Act 4, Scene 6.
Claudius: Do you think I am a monkey?
Arms Dealer: Not at all, Caludius.
Claudius: Take this. (hands her a list)
Arms Dealer: (She reads) 500 howitzers, 12 B-2Õs, 4 StealthÕs,
5 Submarines, 500 Centurions; 17 Cruise Missiles; 200 hawks; 500 sparrows;
1 million rounds of ammunittionÉ a week.
Claudius: DonÕt ever tell anybody I am a monkey, or IÕll have
you shot, do you understand?
Arms Dealer: Perfectly.
Claudius: Shhh.
Arms Dealer: Shhh.
Exit Claudius.
Enter Hamlet.
Hamlet: I'm going away.
Arms Dealer: So I hear.
Hamlet: (giving her an envelope) I need them delivered to the
Southern region by Wednesday.
Arms Dealer: I see London's inspired you already.
Hamlet: Do what you're told.
Arms Dealer: What a King you'll make.
She exits.
Hamlet: *(The sea moans tonight
As the wind throws orphans onto the doorsteps of the starving
And crippled limbs are cobbled to crippled limbs to make bodies
That are crippled again by the living
The wind weeps in the palms,
As fathers' bones rattle in babies cots,
And cold metal seeps out of old women's wounds,
Generals in gharish inflatables float on seas of oil,
The wind moans tonight,
With the unburied dead it moans
that rave through the eyes of the living
and scream through the mouth of the unborn child,
the night is a dome of rock where sirens and screams look for their
owners.)*
The future will not be brighter,
The future will darken and darken-
Give me the future now:
I want it dipped in kerosene,
lit it with a match and flung flaming
into the gaping maws of tomorrow's dogs.
Black out
*: text cut in first performance
Act 4, Scene 7.
Gertrude drunk at her desk.
Claudius on mobile, preparing to drag Polonius' corpse out of the conference
room, bombs falling in nearby streets
Gertrude: Claudius! I'm drunk!.
Claudius: I want the guard doubled on the ammunition dump- forget
the water supplyÉ
Gertrude: How can you leave me here, I'm drunk!
Claudius: What about the reserve generators...I know that!...hold
them back as long as you canÉI will reward you General.
Enter Laertes.
Laertes: The dogs of war are baying for your blood; Claudius,
give my father!
Claudius: I have missed you, Laertes.
Laertes: Where is my father?
Claudius: Missed your ethical guidance,
Gertrude: It's a coup!
Claudius: your loyal instinct, your strength. I can feel the
sniper's aim warming the back of my head Ð what has happened to you,
Laertes?
Laertes: I am waiting for your answer.
Gertrude: Little Laertes is mounting a coup!
Laertes: I'll not be juggled with! To hell your medals, your
stripes to the blackest dogs.
Gertrude: I'm not your mother, I'm your Queen!
Laertes: Give me my father!
Claudius: Your father is with me. He has lost his voice. He asks
me to ask you why you have betrayed him?
Laertes: I never betrayed him.
Claudius: He asks you if he ever left you wanting for anything?
Laertes: Why should I want for anything?
Claudius: Then why do you align your militias with Fortinbras?
Is it for shekels, is it arms, is it fear? What do you lack, Laertes?
Laertes: Show me my father.
Claudius: Hamlet holds him hostage.
Laertes: Where?
Claudius: In his grave.
Gertrude: Dead!
Ophelia: (Appearing on screen) Are you recording? Can I start?
In the Name of God The Bounteous, The Merciful.
Laertes: Ophelia!
Claudius: She is mad, Laertes.
Ophelia: The one who has turned me into a refugee has made a
bomb of me. (4)
I have tried to speak the language of women,
I have tried to forgive, on many nights I severed my tongue
but my silence bleeds from my mouth.
Here I am the animal that the world forgets,
I have try to speak language of man
But lying no good no change can make to it
Of injustice in life
I want people outside to know this
That I will ex-press with with my body what is not
Able for to express politics and mighty nations
So I go to my God pure in my soul in my dignity I am pure.
Laertes: Ophelia, come home, come home!
Lights down.
Act 4, Scene 8:
Claudius and Laertes removing the body of Polonius.
Claudius: Hamlet kills Laertes' father, Hamlet drives Laertes'
sister out of her mind. Have Laertes' guns fallen silent?
Laertes: What are you asking me?
Claudius: Should I smother the press, should we keep this quiet?
Laertes: Announce it! And I will announce my revenge in the plumes
of smoke that raze his villages to the ground.
Claudius: Those villages are your villages, I am making you Lord
of the Southern region, we'll announce it tonight.
(A bomb blast explodes very close)
.Will you let me guide you?
Laertes: I'm listening
Claudius: Hamlet is returning with a gang of extremists, bent
on our destruction. To raise support among the people, he'll go the
Holy Mosque to lead the Friday prayers; you will meet him there with
one thousand men dressed in the nation's colours. Half accidentally,
your men will trample on the holy grounds and cause such brazen offence
to the zealots that they will revolt there and then with stones, with
tyres, with whatever they have to hand; I will be behind you with 100
units of the National Guard, waiting to quell the rebels with all our
might.
Laertes: Why do you need me to do this?
Claudius: I don't. I have chosen you. There are many who will
do it, but only one will have the privilege of killing Hamlet. If you
will let this blood lie, then so be it, let go- I'll bury him myself.
Laertes: I'll do it.
Enter Gertrude with a scream, half of her face blown away.
Gertrude: Your sister, Laertes.
She came into the palace when the sun fell into the trees. When the
guards were warm and droopy like the oranges her eyes were blazing and
alive, her dress swollen with the wind as if with a phantom child, with
fantastic wailing she moved beyond the guards into the courtyard, a
swollen angel against the black sweep of the tarmack; I went towards
her and as she raised her arms as if to salute the world; a button came
loose from her shirt and tittered onto the steps, I remember this button,
Laertes, this little disc of mother of pearl, and leaning over to retrieve
it on my way home when- no- when I was there, then in the rolling flesh
in the twitching limbs and her body was a well I washed myself in: how
hot it felt across my face, how hot her lungs, her intestines how hot.
No one is exempt
Exemption is impossible.
I carry my guilt, I carry it.
But, but, butÉ
Am I still beautiful ?
Lights down.
Act 4, Scene 9.
At Ophelia's desk, delegates laying flowers. Islamic prayers.
Hamlet enters in shortened muslim dress and long beard.
Gertrude: Hamlet!
Hamlet: Your grief is my grief. I have come to offer you this
brother's hand. Imperialist powers are planning to remove this tyrant
from his throne
Gertrude: Hamlet..
Hamlet: We must replace him before they force their stooges over
our heads,
I want you to partner me in the reshaping of the nation.
Laertes: You bastard!
Hamlet: I loved your sister, it is true, I loved her, as Allah
is my witness, with an honourable love. I never wished you harm. Have
you nothing beyond this world of filth, Laertes?
Laertes hits him.
So be it.
The least that can
be said about these people is that they are debauched. They have followed
injustice. They supported the
butcher over the victim, the oppressor over the innocent child. May
God show them His wrath and give them
what they deserve.
Act 5- Al-Isha'a- the supper.
Scene 1: Session.
Hamlet: I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that
Mohammad is his messenger .
The Assembly shall hear my words:
I, Hamlet, son of Hamlet, son of Hamlet am the rightful heir to this
nation's throne. My rule will crush the fingers of thieving bureaucrats,
neutralize the hypocrites, tame the fires of debauchery that engulf
our cities and return our noble people to the path of God. Our enemies
comprehend only the language of blood for this, the time for the pen
has passed and we enter the era of the sword. We crack the skull of
flasehood against a rock and lo! Only the Truth remains. Let it be so
and may God raise the profile of His martys!
All vote. Gertrude hesitates.
Gertrude: where to this madness, Hamlet, where to, where to ?
Hamlet: No more words please, mother. Words have been killed,
they died on our tongues and in our ears, words are dead. We cannot
use them anymore, now we must speak with our flesh.
Gertrude votes.
War has been declared. Furious activity at the desks, stamping of dossiers,
clearing of papers.
Enter a messenger who stops at Claudius' desk, issues him a notice and
is sent to Hamlet's desk.
Messenger: The world community represented in the UN has sent you this
message:
That it is prepared to send peace-keeping troops to the region and organise
a summit meeting chaired by disinterested poltical figures to discuss
the differences between your parties.
Hamlet: To your masters I say this: Thankyou for your offer.
The United Nations is a tool of crime. My people are being slaughtered
every day and it does not move.
Messenger: You will die, Hamlet
Hamlet: No, I hurry to the dignity of life and the eternity of
death.
Exit messenger.
Act 5 Scene 2. SESSION.
Claudius: History lays its greatest challenge before us. Just
two hours ago, our forces-
On the screen a video recording of Claudius addressing the nation appears.
The rest of the speech interspersed with contemporary war footage is
played out on the overhead screen.
Meanwhile on stageÉ
Each delegate, realising that their hour has come, rises from his/her
desk, clears away the last objects of value to them, opens the munitions
box beside them, takes out the antiquated weapon inside it and walks
forward, listening blankly yet astutely to the speech being broadcast
overhead.
As they walk forward, press reports flood in relating the outcome of
the slaughter and the civil war. In the mounds of information, they
wait for the announcement of their own deaths. When they hear it, they
collapse, dead. The deaths should be as simple and realistic as possible.
The plainer the playing style of this section, the more emotional the
result.
Claudius' speech on video:
Just two hours ago, our forces began an attack on terrorist positions
belonging to Hamlet and his army. These continue as I speak.
This conflict began when Hamlet laid seige to our democracy,
our values and our people through a brutal series of kidnappings and
terrorist bombings that have killed many innocent victims and shocked
the world community.
Tonight this battle has been joined.
This military action taken in accord with our assembly's resolutions
and with consent of its ministers follows days and weeks of virtually
endless diplomatic activiities: only to conclude that Hamlet was unwilling
to obey the voice of reason and justice.
As I report to you, air attacks are under way against miltiary targets
within the city. We are determined to knock out his lethal, nuclear
potential; destroy his chemical facilities; much of his artillery and
tanks will be destroyed.
Our operations are designed to best protect the lives of all our civilians
by targeting his vast miltiary arsenal.
Our objectives are clear: We will crush the terror not with books and
speeches, but with courage and good judgment and responsibility.
Some may ask why act now? Why not wait?
The answer is clear: the world can wait no longer.
Many measures were tried: he was exiled; that alone could not keep him
from his path of destruction.
While the world waited Hamlet met every overture of peace with contempt
I had hoped that when we took our decision in historic debate to exile
him
That would be the end of this criminal life, but I have been proved
wrong, and today the world will see that error corrected.
Report London BBC Arabic Service.
"Hunna London"
-the following text, intercut into Claudius's address is broadcast in
Arabic:
" The streets of the capital are in flames, buildings have collapsed
through the endless onslaught of air attacks from the F-16 fighter planes
still loyal to the King. Meanwhile, Hamlet the Crown Prince,
and leader of the People's Liberation Front with his troops numbering
5000 are spread across the town centre.
Gertrude's death report:
In an uncofirmed report, The Queen Gertrude has been killed whilst trying
to prevent the King's tanks from surrounding her son, who is trapped
inside the The Grande Mosque.
Laertes' death report:
As the Multinational peackeeping Force sent by the United Nations arrived
off the coast yesterday, General Laertes and Hamlet's forces
were engaged in arm-to-arm combat throughout the streets. At 10 am this
morning reports arrived that Laertes was struck by mortar fire and his
condition is described as criticial.
Claudius and Hamlet's death report:
The Army are sparing no-one.
Hamlet is firing mortars from the Mosque and Claudius is firing from
the Palace. Hamlet: (with desperation)
I do not approximate God
I come closer to him
In giving of myself
To blood and dust
I break the bond of lust between my flesh and I
It is not easy to die
To snap the will in two like a stray cigarette
And know that all that remains
Is the earth, chastened now,
In man's corroding grasp.
All dead.
Epilogue.
Enter Fortinbras.
Fortinbras:
Feaces, intestines and sweat. Only dead humans can smell like that.
I have biblical claims upon this land, it is empty and barren and my
presence here is a fact that has not been invented. It won't be easy,
terrorism is not yet defeated, but the pipeline will be completed within
a year, and hunger will be eradicated, the homeless will find refuge,
the old will die and the young will forget, the poor will find wealth
and this barren land will be seen to bloom. What we see here can never
happen to us. For this is the dawn and the birth of the Greater I- I-
I- Izzzz Izzzzzzzz Iizzzzzzzz.
With your help the future will be bright.
Go, let the turrets point ÉWest; let the Centurions salute.
As the lights begin to fade, the Arms Dealer enters and walks downstage
incredibly slowly.
End.
Notes:
1). From the Introduction to Al-Sayid Qutb's "Milestones".
2). From Robert Fisk's "Pity the Nation"
3). US Vice-President George Bush Snr., on visiting the site of the bombed American Marine Headquarters, Beirut, 26th October, 1983.
4). The opening line is from a poem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish
5). Ossama Bin Laden in a speech broadcast by Al-Gazeera Satellite Television on the 7th of October, 2001.