The Harlequinade - An Excursion by Harley Granville-Barker;Dion Clayton Calthrop
page 27 of 69 (39%)
page 27 of 69 (39%)
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[Harlequin has called to Clown and Pantaloon. And, like conspirators,
they stand there and most elaborately they weave a plot. It's a most difficult plot to follow. It involves a dark night and tiptoes and a signal given. It involves, too, a cloak and a skirt and a bonnet for Clown; and this attracts him so much he can attend to little else. ALICE. Do you guess what's going to happen? Uncle, they've forgotten the lights. Oh, this is the bit I love. UNCLE EDWARD. [In a hoarse whisper.] St! George! [Suddenly on the little stage day becomes night. What had George to do with it? [In a hoarse whisper still.] Bring 'em round a bit ... the number two steels. [And the moon, obediently turning, floods the little stage. Indeed it is pretty. Uncle Edward can't contain himself. And he has given it away anyhow. Romantic, isn't it? And just the colour moonlight ought to be. [The music tells us this is real romance. Dark figures are flitting among the trees. Who are they? Gelsomino, Harlequin, Pantaloon. The Man of the World, wrapped dramatically in a great black cloak, arrives. "Arrives" is poor. He approaches. Pantaloon totters down to him. "Wait, and your love will come." He waits and his love comes, waddling most amazingly and wrapped in the tablecloth. We are sure it's Clown, and who wouldn't be? But the Man of the World--for a real Man of the |
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