| ACT THREE The royal chamber in the tower. Alis enters. |
|
| Alis |
Sir, my Lord, my mistress is getting ready. She'll be here with you shortly. |
| Llywelyn |
I sent my son to escort her here. Is he with her? |
| Alis |
Yes, Sir. This is the first time my mistress Has seen him since his wedding. |
| Llywelyn |
A whole year, yes … Is she well? |
| Alis |
As well as can be expected, after A year's imprisonment. |
| Llywelyn |
Confinement, not imprisonment. She had everything She asked for, apart from her freedom. Two maids Waiting on her every whim, a courtyard for fresh air … |
| Alis |
Yes. Everything except her freedom. |
| Llywelyn |
And by that, you're implying – what? Tell me girl. |
| Alis |
A command, Sir? |
| Llywelyn |
A command, yes. |
| Alis |
Your son, Prince Dafydd, got married. His mother wasn't at the wedding. She didn't lead the dancing afterwards. All that day She was left on her own with her thoughts. |
| Llywelyn |
My son married Gwilym Brewys's daughter, As arranged. How could we have allowed Your mistress to have danced In the hall of Brewys's widow? |
| Alis |
The wedding dance is only a ceremony. |
| Llywelyn |
For a royal family life itself Is often only a ceremony. |
| Alis |
She's changed, my Lord. |
| Llywelyn |
Everybody changes. Even our memories change. Anger changes. Vengeance changes. How has your mistress changed? Tell me what your observed. |
| Alis |
This whole year gone, she's not struck me once. |
| Llywelyn |
Have you deserved to be struck? |
| Alis |
(Laughs.) I don't know Sir. Striking servants is done from habit, not desserts. |
| Llywelyn |
And she's let that habit slip? |
| Alis |
My Lord, before her confinement She was young at heart. |
| Llywelyn |
That's not what was on your mind, girl. Tell me what was. |
| Alis |
I've said all I dare, Sir. |
| Llywelyn |
The hanging of Gwilym Brewys devastated her. Her love of life went with Gwilym into that noose. That's what you're telling me. |
| Alis |
That's my worry, Sir. And you did ask me. |
| Llywelyn |
I have to ask someone. A year Without a beating has made you impudent. |
| Alis |
I'm not a serf or a peasant's daughter. My father was a freeman. |
| Llywelyn |
You're also married aren't you? |
| Alis |
A widow these last three years my Lord. |
| Llywelyn |
Forgive me. Yes. One of my retinue. He was killed in battle at Castell Baldwyn. A brave lad. |
| Alis |
I'd only seen him once before being betrothed to him And then, after two weeks' marriage, the war … He went. I never saw him again. And now It all seems like some young girl's daydream. |
| Llywelyn |
But a daydream, not a nightmare? He was killed as we tried to scale the castle walls. I remember it. D'you remember bidding him goodbye? |
| Alis |
In the small hours. I heated him a cup of milk. Fresh from the goat's teat. He gave me a milky kiss, we were laughing … He was still laughing as he joined the other soldiers. They saddled, mounted, rode away waving. We were just starting to get to know each other. |
| Llywelyn |
Every husband and wife Are just starting to get to know each other, Whether it's two weeks or twenty years. You're a brave one too. |
| Alis |
Me, Sir? |
| Llywelyn |
You got on with living your life. |
| Alis |
Did I have a choice? |
| Llywelyn |
There isn't one brave and thinking soul Who hasn't at some point contemplated Not carrying on with life. To us all, life is a gruelling gift. |
| Alis |
Even for a prince? |
| Llywelyn |
A prince is a man isn't he? |
| Alis |
Are you going to say that to the Princess, Sir? |
| Llywelyn |
Doesn't she already know? |
| Alis |
It would help her to hear you say it. Making war, laying plans and all the state's affairs Lie like some wide walled-off field Around a prince. His greatness sets him apart; But to us women – yes, even a woman who's queen – The mother's instinct is the root of our love. And our first born is the man who married us When we're girl brides. When the child in that man is lost The woman too loses part of her love. |
| Llywelyn |
Showing a weak side is to show one's humanity – Is that it? |
| Alis |
Gwilym Brewys was a child, Sir. A young child. |
| Llywelyn |
And it's little children who enter the kingdom of love? I'll mull over your lessons Alis. |
| Alis |
My Lord, I'm only a maid. You asked me to speak. I learnt what I know in these royal halls of Gwynedd. I treasure this place, and its lord and lady. This lost twelvemonth, this empty husk of a year, Has hurt us all. The Pope's excommunication would be Child's play compared to the inner grief All of us have already felt. |
| Llywelyn |
The Pope's excommunication will yet come, If that's of any consequence now … |
| Alis |
So the stories are true? |
| Llywelyn |
What rumours have you heard around the court? |
| Alis |
That you're going to war Against the King of England. |
| Llywelyn |
That issue is to be settled today, By your mistress. The choice is hers. A war, or the end of Gwynedd. That's why I called her up from the confinement of her rooms. The fate of Wales lies in her hands. |
| Alis |
Sir – here she is. |
| Llywelyn |
Stay nearby, in the maidservants' room. I may Need to call you back in a while. I hope so. |
| Alis exits. Siwan enters. |
|
| Siwan |
You called for me, my Lord. Here I am. |
| Llywelyn |
Siwan! |
| Siwan |
My Lord? |
| Llywelyn |
Siwan! (A moment's silence.) Siwan – it's me, Llywelyn … Siwan! |
| Siwan |
Llywelyn? |
| Llywelyn |
I need you Siwan … Me, Llywelyn. (No reply.) I need you Siwan. |
| Siwan |
You need me? How can that be? |
| Llywelyn |
Why shouldn't that be? |
| Siwan |
I've been a prisoner for months now my Lord. |
| Llywelyn |
A year to this morning. Oh yes – I've been counting the days too. |
| Siwan |
Is today May Day eve? I've lost count. |
| Llywelyn |
It is May Day eve. |
| Siwan |
Do you have to be so unfeeling towards your prisoner? |
| Llywelyn |
Unfeeling? What do you mean? I don't understand. |
| Siwan |
Today of all days – ordering me here Straight from my prison. Why did you call me? |
| Llywelyn |
To continue that talk between us. The talk That started and ended a year ago. |
| Siwan |
No, no, no. Not ever again. I can't talk about Gwilym. Show some pity my Lord. Let me get back to my cell. |
| Llywelyn |
I need you, Siwan. I'm begging, not commanding And I didn't choose this morning to wound you. Last night a messenger came to me from South Wales. That's why I've summoned you now. God rest Gwilym's soul. Hubert de Burgh is the thorn in my flesh now. Here – that night – you foresaw this. You foretold it, like some Cassandra. All your words have come to pass, and I Must once more go to war against your brother. |
| Siwan |
Once more to war? Is that the Council's advice? |
| Llywelyn |
The Council hasn't yet been convened. I'm seeking your advice first. Then I'll consult my councillors. |
| Siwan |
Why my advice? |
| Llywelyn |
I've a right to your advice. Adultery And confinement don't lessen my rights. |
| Siwan |
Yes, you have a right. I gave you that right. And I can't withdraw it now. But why do you exercise your right today? |
| Llywelyn |
The prerogative of Gwynedd's crown Is what I'm exercising. And that crown Is now what's at stake. |
| Siwan |
And you're ordering me to co-operate? |
| Llywelyn |
If that's how you wish to see it. |
| Siwan |
Why d'you need to go to war again? You're almost sixty. What d'you have to prove? |
| Llywelyn |
I was informed last night Of William Marshall's death. |
| Siwan |
I've been a whole year without news, My reactions are dulled to its significance. But how does William Marshall's death Take us to the brink of war? |
| Llywelyn |
Last year Gwilym Brewys's lands Were placed in Marshall's charge. |
| Siwan |
And now? |
| Llywelyn |
Those lands now pass on to Hubert de Burgh. |
| Siwan |
Fortune comes to those who seek it. You've done your share to help him prosper – I seem to recall telling you so. |
| Llywelyn |
And the Earl of Gloucester recently died. |
| Siwan |
And his successor is his little son? |
| Llywelyn |
Yes. The child's guardian Also happens to be Hubert de Burgh. |
| Siwan |
(Laughs.) And the little Earl's lands In Gloucester and Glamorgan? |
| Llywelyn |
Hubert has charge of those too. |
| Siwan |
Your friend Hubert grows ever more corpulent Through feeding on good luck Or a diet of very wily design. |
| Llywelyn |
Everything you prophesied is coming true, Siwan. |
| Siwan |
That won't undo a death or unknot a noose. That night I was trying to save a life. Your rage made you deaf to political wisdom. God rest Gwilym's soul. Hubert is a viper. |
| Llywelyn |
His lands are now stretched from Hereford to Cardigan, Spanning all Dyfed, Gower, Brecon and Glamorgan. Gwilym Brewys and Marshall and the Earl of Gloucester Have all served to feed Hubert's voracious aspirations. |
| Siwan |
And he's Chancellor to the English crown. So England's court and France's are his allies. Dare you go to war? |
| Llywelyn |
(Laughs.) It's madness I know. But how can I sit back Without forcing fortune? There are still lands To the South split among the grandsons of Lord Rhys Which cling to their independence, and to my Protection. I must show that I still have The strength to deserve their allegiance. |
| Siwan |
If you do nothing – will Hubert Court those weaker lords? |
| Llywelyn |
Yes. And then his lands. Would be greater than Gwynedd. He would be two thirds of Wales. His jaws a pincer closing round my northern kingdom. |
| Siwan |
We can't have two great Princes Astride this nation's land. |
| Llywelyn |
That's my quandary. That's why I need to act soon. |
| Siwan |
And where's my brother now? |
| Llywelyn |
The King's in the English Court. I must rally my lands to attack him And use that call to arms to widen the war Against Hubert and the Marcher lords For they're all arrayed against me. I'm now the common foe. |
| Siwan |
All against you? Then you dare not go to war On all fronts. We've always clung to a peace Between ourselves and the English, and the Marches, Whatever the bitter internal feuding within Wales. That was to be the great security That we would hand on to Dafydd our son. |
| Llywelyn |
But never before have Glamorgan and the South United under one Prince, threatening us. War is now inevitable. |
| Siwan |
War is inevitable. Yes. But when we Go to war it should only be When we know that we can win it. Dafydd's inheritance is at stake. |
| Llywelyn |
Everything you and I have striven for Is at stake. My crown, our bloodline, Wales's proud standing and secure future. |
| Siwan |
A year ago today you should have Given thought to these great matters. |
| Llywelyn |
A year ago today I did consider these matters fully. |
| Siwan |
Did you? |
| Llywelyn |
Here – in this room – you prophesied The consequences of executing Gwilym Brewys. Then in the Council, at the Court, I repeated Your warnings. I spared no details. They were debated. Ednyfed Fychan agreed with you. The Bishop of Bangor agreed. I too believed you. I knew that the Kingdom of Gwynedd and my crown Were being risked, when I hanged Gwilym Brewys. |
| Siwan |
May I ask you then, why you did? |
| Llywelyn |
It's right that I tell you why, And I will tell you shortly. But first my Lady, Matters of policy. Back to the old discipline. |
| Siwan |
What of England and the Marcher lands? Are there any weaknesses there now? |
| Llywelyn |
There lies our hope. The earls and bishops Who went on the crusades are returning. |
| Siwan |
Including Hubert's fiercest enemy, the Bishop Peter? |
| Llywelyn |
Yes. He'll be back in England Before the summer's end. |
| Siwan |
England's court and the Marches Will be at each other's throats. Can you delay war until then? |
| Llywelyn |
No. I can not – not if I hope to keep The southern lords' allegiance. If they see me Stalling now, they'll scuttle like mice To Hubert's house. I must attack before summer. |
| Siwan |
Would early in June be soon enough? |
| Llywelyn |
Perhaps. Why? |
| Siwan |
Let loose the southern lords now – to take The spoils from Gwilym Brewys's old kingdom And promise to join them in the despoiling soon. But in the meantime send word to England Asking the King's help, keeping the peace, the pact, Then the crusaders will return. They'll take a hostile stance Towards Hubert in Hereford, and challenge His sudden influence in Gloucester. Some of the Marcher lords Are headstrong and haughty enough to engage Hubert de Burgh in battle. His army will be Dragged hither and hither on different fronts Then you strike. His mighty Southern kingdom Could be a great dream that never Does become a reality. |
| Llywelyn |
Your advice seems sound. And your advice Is in the best traditions Of Gwynedd's measured policy making. Retaking those newly garnered lands In Hubert's kingdom would buckle again The belt of my grip on Wales. I'll follow your advice, Siwan – on one condition. |
| Siwan |
Does the condition have to do with me? |
| Llywelyn |
I'll follow your advice If you return today to my table and my bed. |
| Siwan |
Does that imply forgiveness? |
| Llywelyn |
Would you accept that? |
| Siwan |
Forgiving is a form of overcoming. I haven't forgiven you. |
| Llywelyn |
For killing Gwilym Brewys? |
| Siwan |
I knew that his life was destined to be short. Killing him was a human response. I forgive that. But because he loved me, And because I gave myself to that love, You gave him the death Of a mountain brigand and a common thief. You opened our castle to the grimacing Cackling peasants of Arfon. You hanged him To show your hatred, to spit venom on our love Before the crowds of your subjects. |
| Llywelyn |
He died with dignified disdain – it was A death worthy of your love. |
| Siwan |
Your councillors were ashamed. Your courtiers went quiet, Ashamed of your obsessive hate. |
| Llywelyn |
Didn't it cross your mind Siwan That I could love you as much as Gwilym Brewys did? |
| Siwan |
You – you, love me? No … |
| Llywelyn |
Is the chasm between us that great? |
| Siwan |
My Lord – I was given to you, a bride, At the age of ten. You were Already a Prince, in your thirties. Four years after that I came to your bed, The first time quivering like a frightened leveret. I was your wife and bed partner for twenty years. I gave you an heir; I gave you daughters. I took part in your Council's debates. More than once I saved you From the anger of my father, and then my brother. I was a shield between you and England's throne. I travelled to other courts as your representative. I put my shoulder behind the building Of your great kingdom. And then, Once, before my bloom faded, came a lad Who sang a song that lit a flame In my tired heart. You strung him up like some crow on a garden pole. |
| Llywelyn |
That's true. I regret that to this day. He had to die. But I didn't have to hang him. |
| Siwan |
Why then? Why? I can't live with you, I can't lie in the royal bed again Without being told why. |
| Llywelyn |
You can't understand why. For you, I don't exist. |
| Siwan |
You exist as a nightmare does. Since that day. |
| Llywelyn |
I know. Your Gwilym was closer to me in one way Than you were. He saw me as a person. I had to gag his mouth, to stop him Betraying my truth before you. |
| Siwan |
Tell me what Gwilym saw then. I shared that bed with you for twenty years. I've a right to know. |
| Llywelyn |
Telling you would be like baring my breast To your venom's barbs. |
| Siwan |
A year's imprisonment has blunted those barbs. |
| Llywelyn |
Our marriage was a political union. Between us – a divide of twenty five years. That's the common practice. That's how Political pacts are made. The fate Of countries and crowns hang on such things. But four years after that wedding, when you Came to Arfon, a vision of virginal beauty, My heart stopped, I was breathless, as if I'd seen the Grail. There was a light where your feet had walked And when I felt you trembling. Pressed against me, girdled by my arms, I said, I showed … nothing. I didn't want To give you any cause for further fright. I didn't even discomfort you with a kiss. No cloying embraces. Nothing to make you Recoil from me. I held back. I was courteous, Even formal, in my advances. You relaxed. Into the familiarity of these rooms, into my company And I became part, a vital part perhaps Of your days' routine. I worshipped you from a discreet distance, From afar and without voicing my thoughts. And, wanting to involve myself with you more, I began engaging you in the affairs of my state. I saw your wisdom, your acumen, burgeoning. You impressed me so. I remember that afternoon You returned from England, from your father's court. There was the threat of invasion then. You were only fifteen, and Dafydd our son Hardly two months old. You had saved My kingdom, had staved off war. That night it was you who embraced me. I had no language to express my bliss, I had to stop my own body from trembling … After that night I became ruthless Towards this kingdom's enemies. I resolved to build A mighty inheritance for our son. If I could, I wanted to give him the whole of Wales. I persuaded the Pope and the English crown To acknowledge me as the Prince of Wales. I constructed a great kingdom, As a shrine to you, a monument of my love for you. |
| Siwan |
Llywelyn, I didn't know. I didn't know. |
| Llywelyn |
What good would it have done you to know. There was a mountain range of years Between us. I understand that too, I'm a statesman. I don't ask the impossible. For me, your fidelity sufficed. |
| Siwan |
In twenty years of living together You never said that. |
| Llywelyn |
In twenty years of living together You never saw that. |
| Siwan |
Because of that jealousy – you hanged him? |
| Llywelyn |
Jealousy, yes, perhaps. But you gave him the gallows. |
| Siwan |
Me? … Me? |
| Llywelyn |
You thought it wise, in your contempt for me, To try to sway my mind with political persuasion. You thought I'd trade my desecrated bed For a castle gained, that I'd accept That my wife had been soiled, just to keep a pact And secure borders. I answered contempt with contempt. I hanged him to make your threats become real, To show the wife who sullied me That there was one thing for which I'd throw away my crown and kingdom. |
| Siwan |
Llywelyn – Llywelyn! For that base urge to punish me You've fallen headlong into a war … You're now almost sixty, Surely you know by now that government Isn't a matter of chancing and daring on a whim. |
| Llywelyn |
Your contempt for me that night Undid half a century's careful strategy. |
| Siwan |
That was the opposite of my intention. |
| Llywelyn |
The unintentional is the key to how history happens. That night your clenched mind opened and handed me A key to unlock mayhem. |
| Siwan |
You credit me with too much significance Llywelyn. We talked at cross purposes. You looked for an excuse. There were no keys passing from hand to hand. Not one single person on this earth Properly understands another. A husband embraces a wife. The wife responds with a kiss. Two planets, tied into their separate orbits. They'll never merge, They'll never share a common sphere. |
| Llywelyn |
That's what marriage is. Having the ties Without the common knowing. Drifting into it, uninformed, untutored – A grown man and a child are in the same trap. Each a victim of what's forced upon him, by chance. Lost in intricate games Where he had no say in drawing up the rules. |
| Siwan |
But war? That's by design, not chance. |
| Llywelyn |
And that depends on you. Will you come back to my table and my bed? |
| Siwan |
What does that have to do with war? |
| Llywelyn |
The war's inevitable now. You may still choose what you do with me. |
| Siwan |
I'm a prisoner. Your sentence separated us. Why not command me to come back to you. |
| Llywelyn |
You must come back of your own accord. |
| Siwan |
If I refuse? |
| Llywelyn |
Then – I'll go to war. And lead the fighting myself. |
| Siwan |
And not return? That threat's unworthy. |
| Llywelyn |
You, a princess and a king's daughter, You're well versed in threats and ultimata. They're part of our lives daily. |
| Siwan |
I can't come back to your bed Without your forgiveness. |
| Llywelyn |
You know that's been offered. |
| Siwan |
On your conditions. I won't grovel for Your forgiveness. I won't accept it either From a self-obsessed hypocrite, I've listened to what you've told me. You say I've desecrated the royal bed. I also sent my lover to the gallows. I caused the South to fall to Hubert. I jeopardised Dafydd's kingdom and inheritance, I unstitched your sanity, wrecked your ordered world But you? You – are a martyr to a bad marriage. And now before you go to battle, you'll allow me Back into your bed. The royal bed. You'll devastate me with your gracious forgiving. You with the setting sun on your armour and helmet As you ride to your worthy death. When your body's brought back from battle Should I commission a portrait from the court painter as a tribute To the Man Who Was God? |
| The two laugh. |
|
| Llywelyn |
I'm not worthy of you Siwan. |
| Siwan |
Every married woman is told that At one time or other. That's when their husbands Are at their most dangerous. |
| Llywelyn |
Can you forgive me Siwan? |
| Siwan |
Llywelyn the Great asking forgiveness from a harlot? |
| Llywelyn |
That night, that twelvemonth back, My love flamed into hate. Malice. That night, I'll tell you, – |
| Siwan |
No. Don't tell me the truth. This isn't a confessional. I'm no priest. I'm a defeated woman who wants to win one more skirmish. |
| The two laugh again. |
|
| Llywelyn |
Will you forgive me Siwan? |
| Siwan |
For what? Calling me a whore? The name sat on me easily enough. |
| Llywelyn |
The hanging. That fit of fury. For relishing your anguish. |
| Siwan |
The residue of all this is your pitiful state. Gwilym was hanged. He leapt to his death Shouting my name. Our love was unbowed In those last glorious seconds of defiance. I'll remember him like that. We were spared Any long disillusion, the cooling of passion, Boredom becalming the flesh, and lies Cheapening our talking. But you – If you do forgive me You'll have to live with the ashes of your old self. With the nightmare of that night When all love died within me. Sleeping with me In that royal bed will be like Lying in a grave, still alive. Can you, Llywelyn, Put up with that? Can you not hate me? |
| Llywelyn |
Will you come back to me Siwan? |
| Siwan |
Between us in that bed Will be the stench of your trust's defiling. |
| Llywelyn |
If you return, between us in that bed Will be your lover's corpse swinging from a rope. |
| Siwan |
What shall we do with them Llywelyn? |
| Llywelyn |
Reach out our arms over them, and touch. Take them to us, between us, in penance. Purgatory's fires can mould a marriage's redemption. I'm the fire that blistered you, almost killed you, Tried to burn you to a cinder, you and the memory Of that boy who leapt to his death Still proclaiming his love for you. We've scorched each other. But not quite destroyed. Come back to me Siwan. |
| Siwan |
The habits of a quarter of a century bid me back. |
| Llywelyn |
Your son's whole future bids you back. |
| Siwan |
The daft ploys of an old man bent on a new war Bid me back. |
| Llywelyn |
Despite my age I might win that war And win you back. |
| Siwan |
Llywelyn, I wish you success, I wish you wellbeing … |
| Llywelyn |
That's enough. You're as good as back already. |
| Siwan |
Will you take me back like that, With nothing but my goodwill? |
| Llywelyn |
Goodwill is love. Siwan, my wife, I'll come out of my chambers, ready for battle, I'll be eager and lusty. I'll smile a goodbye For you. I'll be fighting this war for you. |
| Siwan |
One word Llywelyn. I'll cheer your victory when it comes. I can see Hubert de Burgh's downfall. I can see the securing of Dafydd's great inheritance But after that, my days won't be many. |
| Llywelyn |
You'll live a long time after me. |
| Siwan |
No. I won't. Life still surges strongly in you. And your urge to succeed still drives you. I've lost that. Grant me one wish. |
| Llywelyn |
What's that? |
| Siwan |
My last testament. From the window of my prison loft Beyond the green where he was hanged, Over the Menai's waters I could see Dindaethwy And the rooks rising and settling in those woods By Saint Catrin's resting place. Seeing their freedom to glide and swoop, to nest And mate and squabble, high above men's to-ing and fro-ing Gladdened my heart, made me envious. When I die, take my body over the Menai Lay me to rest there and give the land To the Franciscan brothers to build a church. |
| Llywelyn |
The grey friars. Why Franciscans? |
| Siwan |
I owe a debt to the saint of the rope. He liked to chance his luck. To dice with death. |
| Llywelyn |
Your wish conceals some coded meaning. I thought you'd be buried with me in Aberconwy. |
| Siwan |
You referred to the marriage vows. They tie me to you until death. I abide by them. But the grave severs all such ties. Frees us all. I want my bones to crumble to dust With no one else beside me. |
| Llywelyn |
Alright, my heart. I'll do everything In accordance with your wishes Siwan. (He calls.) Are you there Alis? |
| Alis enters. |
|
| Alis |
My lord? |
| Llywelyn |
Where's the royal crown of Princess of Gwynedd? |
| Alis opens the chest. |
|
| Alis |
Here in ma dame's chest. |
| Llywelyn |
Bring it to me. This maid complains about you Siwan. |
| Alis |
Ma dame, I do not. I never complain. |
| Llywelyn |
You haven't struck her for a year, she says. She seems to miss the sting of your palm. |
| Alis |
Sir, my Lord, for shame on you. |
| Llywelyn |
And so, I'll take it upon myself to discipline her. If I return from the war victorious I'll give you away as a wife to the bravest lad In my retinue. And you'll thank me for that. The crown. My Princess, I crown you anew And give you half of Gwynedd's lands. I give you my right hand. I kiss your hand. We'll go to the great hall. We'll banquet. This afternoon I'll summon the councillors to Court And lay before them Gwynedd's new strategy for war. |
| END |