(with the curtain still closed, the narrator steps out onto the right side of the stage and speaks with a small and melancholy voice that reflects the setting that he is about to present)
Narrator: This story that is about to unfold, and quite gruesomely I will add, is set in the dark, late eighteenth century city of Paris, France. The city has recently been plagued with the so-called "Reign of Terror", a brutal campaign launched by the leader of the Committee of Public Safety, Maximilien Robespierre. In an attempt to rid Paris of anyone suspected of opposing France, the paranoid Robespierre has called for the police to tighten their grip on the city and not to hesitate to send anyone to the guillotine. This is where our story begins…
(as the narrator exits the stage, the curtain draws up on a typical 1790s Paris apartment: one large, somewhat empty room filled only with the things that one needs between long days of work. It is night. Two men sit at the kitchen table, playing a friendly game of poker by candle light while the rain outside patters against the apartment’s lone window.)
Gene: I fold. (he puts down his hand of cards and then takes a somewhat serious tone) Paul, you have been back in Paris for almost two days now and still you have yet to tell me why it is that you have come back.
Paul : What, a man can not visit his brother out of sheer good will anymore?
Gene: No, but you can see where my curiosity lies. (excitedly) I mean you set off to America but ten months ago with a smile across your face and a mind set on success and now you return with nothing but a half empty suitcase!
Paul: Well I’m glad you’re able to find my failure comical.
Gene: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way… I just want to know why you have returned.
Paul: (staring off at the window) America is not the same place that the stories suggest. I was naïve in thinking that I could make it there. Its government is poorly run, its people carry a false sense of pride, and you are lucky to find a road paved in crushed rock, much less gold.
Gene: (now looking out the window as well) Perhaps, but still it must be better than what is happening in this gloomy city. (he turns his head, leans over and speaks softly) This Robespierre has the city scared out of its wits. You needn’t whisper half a sentence about the taxes being too high or the king being corrupt before you find your head resting in the guillotine. And I must say that it has been getting quite a workout in these past few months. Why, I saw four children lose their heads last week on account of snickering at a policeman.
Paul: (shakes his head softly) Come now, brother. Listen to yourself. Stop talking about such things. Like always you’ll work yourself up when there be no reason to. Now just deal another hand and let’s put this conversation to rest.
Gene: (he begins to shuffle the cards) You’re right. (pauses) Thank you, brother. (he begins to deal the cards) What will it be, five card draw or-
(a succession of dull thumping noises is heard followed by constant, shrieking wails for help. The two stand up and look at the direction from which the noise is coming and then look at each other with wide eyes.)
Paul: (with a little fright in his voice) What was that?
Gene: (also frightened) I think someone has fallen.
Paul: (louder and somewhat irritated) Of course someone has fallen. Who was it?
Gene: (nervously) It was- it was… Madame Burchess! She- she lives on the opposite side of the building from me. (he points at the far wall) Her husband is- was Claude Burchess. He- he was the minister in this district. She is a widow but six months.
(the screaming continues, only fainter)
Paul: (trying to compose himself and his voice) All right, all right. Calm down. What should we do? Can we get over there quickly?
Gene: (astonished) Get over there? Why would we want to get over there? There are robbers, you know. What if it was a robber? Or a murderer? They are about as well.
Paul: Well we must help her. Don’t you hear that screaming? She must be sixty years old!
Gene: Closer to seventy, actually. (getting more nervous) But- but weren’t you just listening to what I was saying? I said steer away from trouble. And you want to steer right into it?
Paul: (louder) Helping a seventy year old woman is not steering into-
Gene: But it is, brother! In this time it is! (composing himself) We’ll go over in the morning. Until then let someone else handle it, not us.
Paul: I don’t agree with you-
Gene: But you must. Now take to your bed and get some rest. (He blows out the candle and lays down on his cot while Paul begins to walk to the door)
Paul: (softly) You need not tell me what to do, little brother. (he takes a candle, opens the door and walks out)
Gene: (screaming after him from his cot)You’ll dig your own grave!
(he puts his head down and pulls a blanket over his body as the curtain falls)
(the curtain opens on Madame Burchess’ apartment. It is much different from Gene’s. It is two stories and more elaborate with carpet rather than the standard hardwood. There is a piano, two couches, as well as other luxuries not often found in this time.)
(The door to the apartment is open. Paul walks cautiously through it. As he is trying to catch his breath, he looks around for robbers and he sees Madame Burchess lying in a pool of blood at the base of the stairs. He mumbles a quick prayer and makes the sign of the cross. He runs over to her and begins to try to revive her.)
Paul: (shaking her frantically) Madame, Madame! Please! Wake up, please! (he sees the large cut at the base of her head and then checks her pulse. He hangs his head as if it is useless and says another prayer. He gets up, looks around, and then proceeds to walk up the stairs. He finds a cane about halfway up, picks it up and then continues.)
(the second floor of the apartment is much like the first: it is carpeted and decorated somewhat lavishly. There is furniture and a large grandfather clock.)
Paul: (still looking sad, now he mumbles to himself) Footprints. One set… and the marks of the cane. (he follows these marks to the staircase and then halfway down where they stop. He looks up and then hurries down the rest of the stairs. He steps respectfully around the body but cannot help but to step on the blood stains. He speeds across the carpet, tracking the blood along the way, and then opens the door. He exits as the curtain falls.)
(the curtain opens on two police officers who are standing at the base of the apartment building. They are surrounded by the dark, cold night. The larger one is trying to find the correct key to get into the building while the smaller one stands next to him in apparent deep thought.)
Officer Bavard: (turns to the man who is fumbling with the keys) Officer Fou?
Officer Fou: (sounding annoyed and still looking down at his keys) What is it Bavard?
Bavard: Do you think that maybe that servant boy was telling the truth?
Fou: Of course not. His hands were bloody. Didn’t you see that?
Bavard: Well, yes… (confused) but why would he come down to the station if he was the murderer?
Fou: (stops with the keys and looks up at Bavard) I already explained it to you. He figured that he wouldn’t be suspected of the murder if he was the one who reported it. Criminals try stunts like that, Bavard. You need to get wise their tricks if you ever want to be a good officer.
Bavard: Will he get the guillotine?
Fou: If those are the wishes of Monsieur Robespierre, yes.
Bavard: Even if he is telling the truth?
Fou: (he finds the right key and turns it to unlock the door. He looks up angrily at Bavard) He is not telling the truth. (as he says this, loud footsteps are heard coming toward the door from inside the building. Paul comes running out. Fou yells at him as he runs by) Where are you going in such a hurry, sir?
Paul: I was-
Fou: (interrupting him) What is that on your hands?
Paul: It is blood, Monsieur. I have-
Fou: (interrupting him again) Is it Madame Burchess?
Paul: (sounding bewildered and interested) Why, yes.
Fou: Arrest this man, Bavard!
Paul: (as Bavard puts his hands behind his back and begins to handcuff them, Paul realizes the mistake and speaks quickly) Oh, no, Monsieur, you are mistaken. I did not kill her, but I merely found her dead.
Fou: Then explain the blood.
Paul: (panicking somewhat) It got on me when I was trying to revive her.
Fou: (raises his voice) And the running? Why were you running out of the building?
Paul: Why, to inform the police, Monsieur. Surely you must believe me.
Fou: I believe that you lie, much as your accomplice does, the Madame’s servant, Sergé.
Paul: Servant?
Fou: Yes, he has been arrested as well. (to Bavard) You bring him back to the station. I’ll begin to clean up the scene.
Paul: (now pleading) No, Monsieur. I was in my apartment when I heard screams for help. When I followed them I came to the Madame’s apartment. I found her dead. I did not kill her myself!
Fou: How am I to believe this? What proof do you have?
Paul: (searching for an answer) My- my brother, Gene! I was with him when I heard the screams. He lives in this building.
Fou: (with a sigh) Take me to him then. (to Bavard) Do not let him run.
(Fou opens the door to the apartment building and the three of them walk inside and up the stairs. The curtain falls)
(in Gene’s apartment. Gene is woken by his door being flung open. He sits up in his cot and quickly lights a candle.)
Gene: (with a look of both tiredness and confusion.) What is all of this? Paul?
Paul: (speaking quickly) Gene, tell them you heard-
Fou: (to Paul) Silence! (to Gene) Do you know this man?
Gene: (still confused and now standing) Why, it is my brother, Monsieur.
Fou: He claims that he was with you when he heard screams for help. Can you confirm this?
Gene: Yes. (to Paul) I told you not to go, Paul.
Fou: To go where?
Gene: To Madame Burchess’ house. (to Paul) Are you handcuffed?
Fou: So you knew he was going there?
Gene: Yes, what is the meaning of-
Fou: (to Bavard) Arrest this man for conspiracy to murder!
Gene: (pleading as Bavard is handcuffing him) What?! (to Paul) What is happening?
Fou: Let’s go.
(the officers lead a speechless Gene and a still disbelieving Paul out of the apartment. The curtain falls.)
(the narrator once again comes out on the right side of the stage with the curtain down.)
Narrator: It is three days later. The Burchess’ apartment has been cleaned and cleared with all but red blood stains remaining on the carpet. Paul, Gene, and the servant are all in jail for the murder of or the conspiracy to murder Madame Burchess. All three have been sentenced to death by the guillotine. (the narrator exits the stage and the curtain rises)
(the three are in the same jail cell: a room of cement and steel and nothing else. There are three flat metal cots. Gene and the servant are lying down on theirs sleeping. Paul is sitting on his with his hands folded and his head down. Officer Bavard walks up to the steel bars, grasps them with his hands and rests his head between two bars. He stares at Paul who in turn lifts up his head and stares back.)
Bavard: (softly) Although it makes no difference in the matter, I’d like you to know that I believe you. I examined that scene and I see truth in what you have been pleading. Madame Burchess fell down those stairs and was never pushed or anything of the sort. (Paul merely puts his head back down) I would testify it to Officer Fou, only then I would be sitting in that cell right next to you.
Paul: (in disgust) If you have not come to help, then why have you come? Do you think it funny to mock us?
Bavard: Not at all. (lowers his voice) I- I have come to take you on your last walk. (now louder and directed at the other two) Wake, you two. Rise and let us go. (Bavard unlocks the cell. All three rise and walk one by one out of the cell and off the stage with Bavard following. The curtain falls)
(a large crowd has assembled in the center of town. The police station is off stage right. There is a platform on the left side of the stage. On it is the ominous guillotine which is off stage left and out of sight from the audience. The crowd faces stage left.)
(The murmuring of the crowd stops momentarily as Officers Fou and Bavard emerge from stage right with the three condemned men. The condemned are cuffed at both the hands and the feet. The five men slowly wind their way through the thick crowd. Fou is in front followed by Paul, Gene, the servant, and finally Bavard. They step up on the platform that is on the left of the stage. They assemble in a row facing the crowd. The crowd hushes.)
Fou: (loudly and proudly) We have come to witness the vengence that has been sentenced to the three men responsible for the murder of the wife of the late Reverend Burchess.
(the crowd cheers, then silences again)
Fou: Sergé Heureux, servant of Madame Burchess, step forward. (the servant takes one step forward to the boos of the crowd) What are your last words?
Servant: (scared, but loud nonetheless) Only that I served Madame Burchess well and I am guilty of nothing!
(the crowd boos. Bavard takes him off stage left. The sound of the blade cutting through air and flesh is heard followed by a dull thump as the head falls onto the platform. The crowd cheers)
Fou: Gene and Paul Grenouille, step forward. (they each take one step forward. The crowd boos once again) What are your last words?
Gene: (with tears in his eyes) I die not for the good of France, but because it is evil!
(the crowd boos and begins to chant "tuez les Grenouilles" meaning "kill the Grenouilles". Bavard takes Gene off stage left.)
Paul: (begins to scream with his voice growing louder with every word) You all have been deceived by the intentions of Maximilien Robespierre. He means not to rid France of its problems, but to rid France of its people! (the falling blade of the guillotine is heard in the background followed by the sound of Gene’s head thumping onto the platform. Paul begins to cry, but does not stop yelling. As Bavard leads him off stage left, his voice gets louder) Your heads will be the next ones placed in this guillotine! (the sounds of his head being secured into the guillotine are heard) Be wary, Robespierre will not rest until all of France falls victim to this REIGN OF TERROR!
(all of the sounds of the guillotine are heard once again. It is followed by complete silence of the crowd as the curtain falls.)