Dark Lady of the Sonnets by Gbs

THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS

by

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS

Fin de siecle 15-1600. Midsummer night on the terrace of the Palace at Whitehall, overlooking the Thames. The Palace clock chimes four quarters and strikes eleven. A Beefeater on guard. A Cloaked Man approaches. THE BEEFEATER Stand. Who goes there? Give the word. THE MAN Marry! I cannot. I have clean forgotten it. THE BEEFEATER Then cannot you pass here. What is your business? Who are you? Are you a true man? THE MAN Far from it, Master Warder. I am not the same man two days together: sometimes Adam, sometimes Benvolio, and anon the Ghost. THE BEEFEATER (recoiling) A ghost! Angels and ministers of grace defend us! THE MAN Well said, Master Warder. With your leave I will set that down in writing; for I have a very poor and unhappy brain for remembrance. (He takes out his tablets and writes) Methinks this is a good scene, with you on your lonely watch, and I approaching like a ghost in the moonlight. Stare not so amazedly at me; but mark what I say. I keep tryst here tonight with a dark lady. She promised to bribe the warder. I gave her the wherewithal: four tickets for the Globe Theatre. THE BEEFEATER Plague on her! She gave me two only. THE MAN (detaching a tablet) My friend: present this tablet, and you will be welcomed at any time when the plays of Will Shakespear are in hand. Bring your wife. Bring your friends. Bring the whole garrison. There is ever plenty of room.

THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS 2

THE BEEFEATER I care not for these new-fangled plays. No man can understand a word of them. They are all talk. Will you not give me a pass for The Spanish Tragedy? THE MAN To see The Spanish Tragedy one pays, my friend. Here are the means. (He gives him a piece of gold) THE BEEFEATER (overwhelmed) Gold! Oh, sir, you are a better paymaster than your dark lady. THE MAN Women are thrifty, my friend. THE BEEFEATER Tis so, sir. And you have to consider that the most open...