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Ⓗ 2018 Siôn Eirian
Mae angen caniatâd cyn perfformio neu recordio unrhyw ran o’r ddrama.

Act 2

ACT TWO

A bare loft in the tower.
The sound of hammering and wood assembling outside.
Alis enters.

Alis
Have you woken ma dame?

Siwan
No. Because I haven't slept.

Alis
All night long? Not slept at all?

Siwan
I'm not used to an iron clamp and chains
Around my leg. Or being tied to a wall
Like a fairground bear. The chain's heavy Alis.
Feel its weight – the weight of a Prince's anger.

Alis
The weight of his disappointment, ma dame.
His disappointment far outweighs his anger.
Does it hurt your leg?

Siwan
It hurts my dignity so much
That I hardly feel the pain in my leg.
Before now I've ordered men to be manacled
And chained without even guessing
At the indignity of it.

Alis
The Prince says you're only to stay in chains
Until today is out.

Siwan
Why today and not tomorrow?
What will change today?

Alis
I can try to ease your discomfort.
I've brought some wine.

Siwan
Did he send you here?

Alis
Yes. To attend to you, and do your bidding. I'm free
To come and go – the guard's been told.

Siwan
That guard's a mute. All day yesterday
I didn't see a soul. Only that mute beyond the door.

Alis
A mute carries no tales.

Siwan
And can't act as a go between.
That's why the mute was chosen.
So why are they allowing you to come to me now?
Has he changed his attitude towards me?

Alis
Will you have some wine?

Siwan
This wine's sharp. But it'll quench my thirst.
Today's the third of May. Isn't it?

Alis
The third, yes.

Siwan
Two days, two nights. This cell's deathly silence
Makes May Day eve seems years away.
Did you ever sleep alone in a bare room Alis?

Alis
No, ma dame. I'm not a princess.
I've never even had a room of my own.

Siwan
The solitude of this cell is different. It's a world
Where silence reigns. Where speech is redundant.
That dumb guard … These dumb stones.

Alis
But you never were a talkative one, ma dame.

Siwan
I know. But it drives me to distraction,
Not knowing what's happening
Beyond the silence of this cell.
What time of morning is it Alis?

Alis
The sixth hour.

Siwan
The sixth since midnight. Add twenty four to that
And another twenty four. I've been in this tower
Almost sixty hours. I once listened to a learned monk
Explaining that time doesn't exist
In eternity. I hope he's right.
Counting each hour's passing is as maddening
To the mind as the sound of that hammering outside.
It started sometime before dawn.

Alis
You haven't slept for three days, ma dame.
You haven't eaten any of the food that's been sent
To you. No wonder your mind's agitated.

Siwan
So, why were you sent here Alis?

Alis
I told you, ma dame.
To see if you needed anything.

Siwan
And the Prince himself sent you?

Alis
Yes ma dame. He did. Otherwise
The guard wouldn't have let me pass.

Siwan
There's some mystery here. He told you
To see to my needs. Are you allowed
To carry messages for me?

Alis
I don't know. He mentioned nothing about that.

Siwan
That's my only need. The only service
You could render me.
What is that incessant hammering
Out on the green?

Alis
Some military construction – I'm not sure …

Siwan
You must have seen them working
As you crossed the yard to come here.

Alis
I didn't pause to get a proper look.
A little more wine, ma dame?

Siwan
Go to the window and look out. This chain
Stops me short of seeing outside.
If my father the king had known I'd be tethered
Like some animal for baiting …
So what are they building?

Alis
It's hard to see properly from this window.

Siwan
Don't lie to me girl. You can see perfectly well
From there. I've looked through that window myself
Countless times. So tell me.

Alis
Ma dame – don't ask me. Please.
I beg of you, let me leave you now.

Siwan
What's wrong with you. You're shaking.
Calm down – and tell me what's happening out there.

Alis
A gallows, ma dame. A gallows.

Siwan
Gallows?
(She laughs.)
Well done, Llywelyn. That's my punishment.
Your rage is greater than I imagined.
Alis, don't cry – if that's to be my fate …

Alis
Not you ma dame. It's not for you.

Siwan
What?

Alis
The gibbet … is for Gwilym Brewys.


Siwan falls in a faint.

Alis
Ma dame? Ma dame?
Oh Ma dame.


Alis raises the goblet of wine to Siwan's lips

Alis
Take a little more wine.
There we are.
You frightened me, my lady.

Siwan
I'm ashamed of myself.

Alis
It's not surprising.
What with not having slept or eaten.
And the shock of …

Siwan
Was I in a faint for long?

Alis
A few seconds. Why?

Siwan
The hammering's stopped. Has anything happened out there?

Alis
Nothing ma dame.
It only stopped a moment ago.

Siwan
That's good. Whatever happens, I want to be aware of it.
Have the soldiers finished? Go and look.

Alis
Yes. It's finished.

Siwan
How was he sentenced Alis? By the Court of Law?
Or by the Prince himself?

Alis
Yesterday. At about mid-day.
The Court was alive with rumours all morning.
Bishop Cadwgan had been summoned by the Prince,
And he'd suggested that the young Lord
Had come into your rooms through witchcraft.

Siwan
No doubt the Bishop was trying to placate Llywelyn
With a comforting explanation.
And who knows. Witchcraft it may have been.
There's something other worldly in such frantic longing.
That's why real passion is such a rare visitor to our lives.

Alis
Your temple's bleeding, ma dame.

Siwan
A little loss of blood might cool me down.
After the Bishop's visit?

Alis
The Royal Court was assembled.

Siwan
Was my son Dafydd there?

Alis
No. He'd been sent away to Cardigan.
That same morning.

Siwan
I'm glad. And what was resolved by the Court?

Alis
It's said that Ednyfed Fychan
Did plead for the young Lord's life,
So as not to antagonise England
And the Marcher lords. That plea failed. The Prince
Wouldn't listen. Not even to a plea
For a beheading rather than a hanging.
He wanted a common thief's execution for Gwilym
In front of a crowd of ghouls, rather than
A death more fitting to a nobleman.
Ednyfed Fychan was shocked by the sentence.
Even when the courtiers filed out
He still sat there, ashen, and silent.

Siwan
And when was the verdict announced?

Alis
Yesterday afternoon, ma dame.
The hanging's set for early morning, now,
Before the hour of mass.
A crowd's been gathering for two hours or more
Outside the fortress gates.

Siwan
Does he know?

Alis
Yes.

Siwan
When was he told?

Alis
Bishop Cadwgan was with him for an hour
Last night. He's with him again now.

Siwan
And have you heard any news about him?
How is he?

Alis
No one's allowed near his cell. Not even
Near the dungeon sentries. The knights
Who rode up here with him are also imprisoned.
But last night, ma dame, after the Bishop left his cell,
I walked quietly past the dungeon tower.
I heard him singing.

Siwan
What was he singing Alis?

Alis
Marie de France.
"La roi Marc était corracié
Vers Tristran, son neveu …"

Siwan
Have you ever seen a hanging?

Alis
Of course, ma dame. Many times.
Brigands and robbers. Have you?

Siwan
No. Never. Strangely enough.

Alis
With robbers, it's a big show
Which attracts more people than do fairground fools.
It's best when the man is petrified
And has to be pushed to the top of the ladder.
His hood's pulled down. The priest recites the Ave,
Offers to hear his confession. After that
The hooting and the shouting of the crowd takes over.
I saw a pirate once, in Borth, joking
As he climbed the ladder
And toasting the cheering crowd
Then doing a jig as he dropped
And the rope sprang taut.

Siwan
How long do they take to die?

Alis
Some a long time. Others quickly.
Some still twitch after hanging for a full half hour
But it depends how the ladder's thrown
And on how the noose has been knotted.

Siwan
Who throws the ladder?

Alis
The soldiers or the executioner.
I've heard it said, if the rope is tied very tightly
And the man jumps, he'll kill himself
In a couple of seconds. I never saw that happen.
A girl I knew did. She said the leap
Pushed the tongue back into the throat
And up behind the nostrils. Before the feet stop kicking
The backbone's snapped in two.
But usually you see these robbers swinging wildly
In the noose, and the life's squeezed out of them
Slowly, and the face turns blue.

Siwan
Holy Mary – let him leap like Gelert.


Drum.

Siwan
Go to the window Alis. Tell me what's happening.

Alis
Oh - Ma dame. Your lover's there now …
I never thought I'd see a lord go to the gallows.
He'd come here to give away his daughter's hand
And he's so young, so much living left …
More than once he made me laugh out loud, chucked me under the chin, flirted with a courtly kiss …
In Gwynedd's Court there are many who'll mourn after him.


Drum.

Siwan
Stay at the window girl – or I'll break this chain.

Alis
I don't know if I can …

Siwan
I'm not going to swoon a second time.
I won't even shed a tear Alis.
I want to go through these minutes with him
And be brave for him.
Take up your place.


Drum.

Alis
The soldiers have formed a guard around the gibbet.
Crowds are no better than herds, or packs
Of mindless animal. Look at those faces.
How the human face changes when demons distort the mind.
The choir and church procession
Are going past now.

Siwan
Saint Francis, let him keep his hands free
So that he can leap.
Saint Francis, you loved the wild wolves,
Please help my little wolf.


Drum.

Alis
There are so many in now, it's a crush.
Right back to the fortress walls.
The soldiers are pushing them back, to keep the gallows clear.


Drum.

Alis
The Court Officers of Gwynedd are arriving.
Ednyfed Fychan leading them out.

Siwan
Is he there?

Alis
The Prince? The great chair's not out on the green
And I can't see him with them.
He can watch it all from his rooms
Up there, out of the rabble's way.
Ednyfed is arranging the ranks of noblemen.
He's taking charge, preparing the stage for the show.
That's why the crowd's quieter now.


Drum.

Alis
The soldiers are making a passage, flanking
The condemned man's path.
Each with his spear and shield
Keeping a clear space for the last slow walk.

Siwan
I can't pray. I don't know how to pray.
I'd willingly strike a bargain
With any saint who'd listen.
I'd spend a life in prison, if only
He be allowed to leap!

Alis
The six French knights who came here
With Gwilym Brewys have been led out
Still manacled. I imagine they'll be allowed
To take the body back to Brecon.
And the Bishop of Bangor is reading the last rites.
Now he – Gwilym Brewys – turns towards the crowd …

Siwan
How does he look?

Alis
He's in breeches, a shirt. He's barefoot …
The noose is around his neck …
One of the Prince's stewards is holding the other end …
Like some animal on a tether.
But his arms and hands are free.

Siwan
Free?
He can leap? He'll be able to do that …
Does he look frightened?

Alis
No … He looks
Strangely untroubled.
The crowd are fascinated by him.
The last minute now … The time's come.


Drum.

Siwan
All the saints, if you can pray, pray for him.

Alis
He's shaking hands with Ednyfed Fychan and Gwynedd's Council,
One by one – like a lord greeting his guests
At a banquet. He's got a word
For each one, and they're laughing …
Now he's kneeling in front of the Bishop.
The crowd's silent. Astonished.
Even the Court dignitaries are staring in disbelief.

Siwan
Yes?

Alis
No one's moving now – except Gwilym.
He's testing the ladder.
Even feeling the noose …
Easing it around his neck.
He's bowing – a farewell bow. And …
Now he's ascending the ladder, like a ship's
Captain to the prow. He's standing
Confident and unbowed …

Siwan
This hour … The hour of his dying – Amen.

Alis
The executioner's not moving, not laying
A hand on that ladder …


Suddenly a shout from Gwilym.

Gwilym
Siwan!


A second's silence.

Siwan
(Quietly.)
Is that the end?

Alis
But the leap he made, that leap!
The rope whipped taut like a fishing line.
The ladder was knocked sideways
Scattering the councillors …
Now his body's stock still,
Still and limp, hanging there.
The crowd's moving away. Starting to disperse.
For them the show's over. It's been a let down.
What do they care about a widow down in Brecon?
Or a Princess imprisoned here,
Distraught and eaten up by anguish.
Pain's a leprosy.
It cuts off the sufferer from the rest of the tribe.
It's the one dark corner
In their bright and babbling world.
You lot, yes, go dance, go laugh,
Go seek some further entertainment.
Go crowing your Welsh bravado …


Sounds from outside the loft room.

Alis
Ma dame!


Llywelyn and soldiers enter.

Llywelyn
Take that chain and fetter from her leg.
Her degradation's done. Over.
(To Siwan.)
I wouldn't dare, would I? I wouldn't dare?

Siwan
From the depth of this hell in my heart, I curse you
Llywelyn.

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