Eurydice - Ash Version PDF

1
EURYDICE
By
Jean Anouilh
English Translation by Parish Episcopal School Instructors:

Isobel Betzer, Marty West
and Students:
Connor Healy, Kyle Hughes, Philippe Levesque,
Meredith Moore, Katherine Savoy, and Kim Villa
Adapted for the American stage by:

Kevin L. Ash
© 2010 KLA Productions

2
Cast of Characters
Orpheus - a travelling musician scratching out a living with his father

His Father – also a musician, formerly a master, now struggling to survive.
The beautiful cashier at the diner
The diner waitress
Eurydice – an American actress in a European tour.
Mathias – Eurydice’s suitor
Eurydice’s Mother – also an actress on the tour
Vincent – her mother’s lover
Dulac - the producer of the tour
Louis - the stage Manager
Bella and Evelyn – two actresses on the tour
M. Henri – the mysterious agent of Death
The Concierge
The Bus Driver
The Detective
Place and Time
The play takes place in France during the early 20th Century
ACT I, scene 1 The train station diner in a provincial French town one evening.
ACT I, scene 2 A dingy hotel room in the country the next morning
ACT II, scene 1 The same train station diner in the midnight hours
ACT II, scene 2 The same hotel room the next day

3
Act I, Scene 1
The small diner at a rural train station. Old and dirty, but with an air of former glory.
Marble tables, mirrors, used red velvet benches. Perched at the cash register, too high,
like a Buddha on an altar, the cashier, well endowed, her make-up trying too hard to
capture her former beauty. A beaten down waitress hangs about.
Before the curtain is lifted, we hear a violin playing. Orpheus is playing quietly in a
corner near his father who is absorbed with his bills sitting in front of two empty
glasses. In the back, there is only one patron, a young Man with his hat over his eyes,
wearing a rain coat, looking absent. Orpheus plays for a moment, then the father stops
counting and looks at him.
Father
Son?
Orpheus (stops playing)

Father?
Father
You’re not going to ask your old dad to pass the hat around in this train station snack
bar, are you son?
Orpheus
I’m playing for myself.
Father (continues)
A snack bar where there is only one patron who is pretending not to listen. You know
the drill; they pretend they’re not listening and then they pretend not to see the hat
when we pass it around. But I pretend I don’t know they’re pretending.
Orpheus continues to play.
Do you find it so much fun to play the violin? I don’t know how you can still love
music as a musician. Me, when I played for the idiots playing cards in a bar, I only
want one thing…
Orpheus (without stopping)

To go play cards in another bar.

4
Father (surprised)
Yes. Who told you?
Orpheus
No one told me…I’ve known for 20 years.
Father
20 years. You’re exaggerating. Twenty years ago, I still had talent. How time flies…
Twenty years ago, in the days of the symphonic orchestra, who would have predicted
that your dad would end up playing the harp in cafes, who would have predicted that he
would be forced to beg for money passing a hat?
Orpheus
Mother. Every time you got fired from a gig.
Father
Your mother never loved me... you don’t either as a matter of fact. You only want to
humiliate me, but don’t you think THIS is my life. Did you know that I was offered a
position as a harpist at the casino in Palavas-les-Flots?
Orpheus
Yes father.
Father
And that I refused because there wasn’t a position for you?
Orpheus
Yes, father. Or rather, no father.
Father
No father? Why no father?
Orpheus
You refused because you know that you play the harp horribly and would have been
fired the next day.
Father (looks away, appalled)

I won’t even dignify that with an answer.
Orpheus takes his violin
You’re going?
Orpheus
Yes. Does it bother you?

5
Father
It confuses me. Eight times seven?
Orpheus
Fifty-six
Father
Are you sure?
Orpheus
Yes
Father
Damn, I was hoping it was sixty-three. Eight times nine is 72…You know that we don’t
have much money left son…
Orpheus
Yes
Father
And that’s all you have to say
Orpheus
Yes father.
Father
Are you trying to give me grey hair?
Orpheus
No father.
Father
That’s OK. I’m used to it.
He goes back to his counting.
Eight times seven?
Orpheus
Fifty-six
Father (bitter)
56…You shouldn’t have told me again!
He closes his notebook and gives up on his bills/counting his money

6
We didn’t eat badly for 12 Euros this evening.
Orpheus
No father.
Father
You were wrong to get the vegetable. If you know how to order, you get the vegetable
as a side and they let you exchange your vegetable for a second dessert. In “prix-fixe”
menus, it is always more advantageous to get 2 desserts. The Neapolitan ice-cream cake
was delicious…In a way, you see, we ate better tonight for 12 Euros than yesterday for
13 and a half when we ordered “a la carte” in Montpellier… There were of course real
napkins instead of paper napkins. It was a chic restaurant but in the end, it wasn’t
better. And did you see that the cheese cost 3 Euros? If only they had brought us the
cheese tray like in the real fancy restaurants, but forget it! One day, son, I was invited
to Poccardi, you know, on the Italian Boulevard. They bring me the tray…
Orpheus
You’ve already told it to me ten times, dad
Father (appalled)
Ok, Ok. Forget it.
Orpheus starts playing again. After a while, the father is bored and stops sulking.
.Son, why such a sad tune?
Orpheus
What I’m thinking about is sad.
Father
What are you thinking about?
Orpheus
You
Father
Me? Well…are you going to tell me?
Orpheus (stopped playing)

You and me.
Father
Our situation isn’t great, of course, but we do what we can, son.

7
Orpheus
I’m thinking that since mother died, I’ve been playing my violin on the terraces of cafes
and I’ve been watching you fight with the bills in the evening. I listen to you talk about
the “prix fixe” menu and then I go to bed and get up the next day.
Father
When you’re my age, you’ll know what life is!
Orpheus
I’m also thinking that alone with your harp, you could never survive.
Father (suddenly worried)

You want to leave me?
Orpheus
No. I probably won’t ever be ABLE to leave you. I have more talent than you, I’m
young and I’m sure that my life should be different, but I couldn’t live if I knew you
were dying somewhere.
Father
Son, it’s good to think about your father.
Orpheus
Good, yes, but it costs me. Sometimes, I dream about how I could get away…
Father
But we get along so well…
Orpheus
Get a great job where I would make enough to make a little nest egg for you. But it’s a
dream. One musician alone could never make enough for 2 rooms and 4 meals a day.
Father
Oh, you know, I don’t need much. Just give me a 12 Euro menu like today… coffee…
an after-dinner drink… and a good cigar and I’m the happiest Man on earth.
Orpheus shoots him a look. After a moment, he adds.
I could maybe do without the after-dinner drink.
Orpheus (continues dreaming)

There’s also the crossing (points down the track) where the train would run over one of
us.
Father

8
Hey, hey, hey! Which one, son?
Orpheus (quietly)
Oh, I don’t care…
Father
Funny. Not me! I don’t want to die. Your thoughts are dark this evening.
He burps elegantly.
But the rabbit was tasty! Oh really, you make me laugh. At your age, I thought life was
wonderful.
Suddenly, he leers at the cashier
And what about love? Have you thought about love?
Orpheus
Love? What do you think love is? The girls I can meet when YOU’RE around?
Father
Oh, who knows where one can find love?
He comes closer.
Tell me, I don’t look too old, do I? The cashier is rather charming. Maybe a little round.
More for me than for you. How old do you think she is?
Orpheus (smiles sadly; he taps him on the shoulder)

I’m going out on the platform…There’s an hour before the train.
When he’s gone, the father stands up and hovers around the cashier who gives him a
dirty look. Suddenly he feels ugly, poor and old; he passes his hand over his grey hair
and returns miserably to pick up his instruments and leave.
Eurydice (entering abruptly)

Excuse-me sir. Is this where someone was playing the violin?
Father
Yes, miss. It was my son, Orpheus.
Eurydice
He played so beautifully!

9
The dad nods, flattered, and leaves with his instruments. Eurydice’s mother enters
triumphantly. A boa, a hat with feathers. She hasn’t stopped getting younger since
1920.
Lucienne
There you are, Eurydice… It’s so hot… I abhor waiting in train stations. This tour is
poorly organized, as usual. The stage Manager should do something so that at least the
actors with the major parts don’t have to wait forever for the next train. How can you
act in the evening if you’ve been exasperated all day from sitting in the waiting room?
Eurydice
There’s only one train, mother, for both the major and minor parts and there’s an hour
delay because of yesterday’s storm. There’s nothing the stage Manager can do.
Lucienne
Oh! You always defend fools!
Waitress (who has come near her)

What can I get for you, ladies?
Lucienne
Should we have anything?
Eurydice
Now that you’re triumphantly seated here, I suppose that would be good.
Lucienne
Do you have an excellent peppermint liquor? So… a peppermint liquor. In Argentina or
Brazil, when the heat was truly overwhelming, I would always have peppermint liquor
right before going on stage. Sarah … Bernhardt gave me that trick… Peppermint
liquor.
Waitress
And for the young lady?
Eurydice
A coffee.
Lucienne
Sit up straight. How is it that you’re never with Mathias? He wanders like a lost soul.
Eurydice
Forget him.
Lucienne

10
You’re wrong to exasperate that boy. He adores you. You were wrong, first of all, to go
out with him. I told you at the time, but what’s done is done. Besides, we all start and
finish with actors. At your age, I was prettier than you are. I could have had anyone if
hadn’t been wasting my time with your father… You see the lovely result. Sit up
straight.
Waitress (who has brought the drinks)

Any ice, Madam?
Lucienne
Never, my dear. For the voice. This peppermint liquor is detestable! I hate small towns.
But in Paris, you only find airheads who are incapable of speaking three words without
babbling… What did he do to you, this boy, so that you wouldn’t even get in the same
compartment with him in Montelimar? My little Eurydice, you can confide in me. I
promise not to breathe a word. Come on, tell me; what did he do to you?
Eurydice
Nothing, Mother.
Lucienne
“Nothing, Mother.” You mean you want to tell me “nothing.” If one thing is certain, it
is that he loves you. It’s possible that you don’t like him. You shouldn’t be so picky,
who are you waiting for? Is your coffee good?
Eurydice
You can have it. I don’t want it.
Lucienne
Thank you. Me, I like it with a lot of sugar. Waitress! Some more sugar for the young
lady. You don’t like him anymore?
Eurydice
Who?
Lucienne
Mathias.
Eurydice
You’re wasting your time, Mother.
(The Waitress brings the sugar. He seems moody)
Lucienne
Thank you… it’s full of flyspecks, wonderful! I travelled around the world in the biggest
hotels. And now I’m reduced to this. Ah well, it will melt… (She drinks the coffee.) Oh, I
suppose you’re right. You must trust your instincts no matter what. Me, I always hold on to
my instincts like the true theatre fool I am. You are such a little actress! Sit up straight! Ah!

11
There’s Vincent! Poor sweetheart. He doesn’t seem like himself. Be nice, I beg you. You
know I adore him.
(VINCENT enters, looking wealthy, handsome, and cool under his energetic
appearance. Large gestures, a bleak smile, waving eye. He kisses her hand.)
Vincent
My darling. I’ve searched for you everywhere.
Lucienne
I was right here, with Eurydice.
Vincent
This stage Manager is really impossible! It seems we must wait here for more than an
hour. We’ll go again without dinner, I’m sure. It’s tiresome, my dear, even with the
patience of an angel, it’s so very tiresome.
Eurydice
It’s not the stage Manager’s fault there was a show last night.
Lucienne
I would very much like to know why you always defend that little fool.
Vincent
He’s a loser, a loser! I don’t understand why Dulac lets him keep his job. The latest is
that he lost the trunk where he keeps all the beards. And they’re playing a matinee of
“The Bearded Lady” tomorrow… I can see it now, no beards
Eurydice
He’ll find the trunk. It must have been left behind in Montelimar.
Vincent
In that case, perhaps he’ll find it tomorrow, but for tonight, for “Genevieve’s
Dishonour” – ah, the disappointment! He pretends it’s not important because the piece
is modern… But I warned Dulac: I will not play the role of the doctor without a goatee.
Waitress (who approaches VINCENT)

What will you have?
Vincent
Nothing, friend. A glass of water.
(Waitress leaves, defeated)

12
I could pull off scene one and two, maybe, but you understand, my dear, that even with
the best intentions in the world, I cannot act in scene 3 without a goatee. What do I
look like?
(EURYDICE leaves, with humor)
Lucienne
Where are you going, darling?
Eurydice
I’ll only be out a moment, Mother.
(She leaves quickly. Vincent watches her go, god-like. When she has left…)
Vincent
My love, you know that I rarely get up on my high horse, but your daughter’s attitude
toward me is shameful.
Lucienne (smiles awkwardly and tries to take his hand.)

My big cat…
Vincent
The situation between us is delicate; I’ll give her that – though after all, you’re free
now. You’re divorced – But still, she turns pleasure to poison.
Lucienne
Don’t fret. You know that she protects the boy, although God knows why, old cats,
stray dogs, drunks, all are damned on this earth . The thought that you could get Dulac
to fire the stage Manager upset her.
Vincent
She may not be herself, but she’s always that way.
Lucienne
Oh, you know exactly what she needs … She has a good nature, but she’s a bit of a
brute.
(MATHIAS enters brusquely. He is badly shaven, somber, tense.)
Lucienne
Hello, Mathias.
Mathias
Where’s Eurydice?

13
Lucienne
She just left.
(MATHIAS leaves. She watches him go.)
Lucienne
Poor boy. He’s crazy for her. She was so kind to him until these last few days and then
I don’t know. She said she was searching, waiting for something… What? I don’t
know…
(Orpheus’ violin can be heard offstage.)
What’s wrong with him, that idiot, always scraping that violin? It’s annoying.
Vincent
He’s waiting for the train.
Lucienne
That’s not a reason. He and the flies… Ah, It’s so hot!
(The violin has come closer. They listen. During the scene, Eurydice will pass by in her
search.)
Lucienne (suddenly with a new voice)

You remember the Grand Casino in Ostende…
Vincent
That was the year when they played the Mexican tango…
Lucienne
You were beautiful!
Vincent
I had those legs, then.
Lucienne
You had a way about you… You remember the first day: “Madam, would you grant me
this tango?”
Vincent
“But, Sir, I don’t dance the Mexican tango.”
Lucienne
“Nothing is more simple, Madam, I hold you. All you must do is let yourself go.” How
you said that to me!... And then you took me and all was confusion, the old fool that
was with me - He sat there furious … the look on the bartender’s face who courted me

14
– he was Corsican, and he said that he’d kill me - the waxed mustaches of the gypsies,
those huge, mauve irises and the green buttercups that decorated the walls… Ah! It was
delicious. It was a magical time … I had an all white dress…
Vincent
I had a yellow flower in my lapel and a fantastic suit.
Lucienne
You held me so tight, dancing, that my dress was completely stuck to my skin… The
old fool saw us and made a scene, I slapped him and I found myself without a penny on
the street. But you had a rented convertible and together we walked along the edge of
the sea until night-time…
Vincent
Ah! The doubt, the trouble of that first day. We seek, we feel, we guess, we don’t know
ourselves anymore. And yet we know, already, that this will last our whole lives…
Lucienne (suddenly in a different tone)

Why did we leave after fifteen days?
Vincent
I don’t know. I don’t remember anymore.
(ORPHEUS has stopped playing. EURYDICE is facing him. He looks at her.)
Eurydice
It was you who was playing earlier?
Orpheus
Yes, it was me.
Eurydice
You play so well!
Orpheus
You think so?
Eurydice
What do you call it, that tune?
Orpheus
I don’t know. I’m thinking…
Eurydice (in spite of herself)

That’s too bad.

15
Orpheus
Why?
Eurydice
I don’t know. I had wanted it to have a name.
(Bella passes by on the platform, sees EURYDICE, she calls)
Bella
Eurydice! You’re here?...
Eurydice (without taking her eyes off Orpheus)

Yes.
Bella
I just saw Mathias. He’s looking for you… (She leaves.)
Eurydice
Yes. (She looks at ORPHEUS) Your eyes are light blue.
Orpheus
Yes. I can’t tell what color yours are.
Eurydice
They say it depends on what I’m thinking.
Orpheus
Right now, they’re a deep green like the endless water near the stones of the peer.
Eurydice
They say that happens when I’m very happy.
Orpheus
“They,” who?
Eurydice
Others.
(BELLA passes by again and calls out from the platform.)
Bella
Eurydice!
Eurydice
Yes.

16
Bella
Don’t forget about Mathias! (Eurydice’s face falls)
Eurydice
Yes. (She suddenly asks.) Do you think you make me unhappy?
Orpheus
I don’t think so
Eurydice
What scares me is not feeling the way I do at this moment. No, that’s not the worst
thing. What I am truly scared of, is to be sad … and alone when you leave me.
Orpheus
I will never leave you!
Eurydice
Do you swear?
Orpheus
Yes.
Eurydice
Do you swear on your mother’s grave?
Orpheus
Yes.
They look at each other. She speaks suddenly, but gently
Eurydice
I really like it when you smile.
Orpheus
And you, don’t you smile?
Eurydice
Never when I am happy.
Orpheus
I thought you were unhappy.
Eurydice

17
Don’t understand anything? You are a real Man then. Oh! This is quite a predicament
for the two of us. Here we are standing in front of each other with all that will happen
to us already behind us…
Orpheus
You think that there aren’t still many things to come for us?
Eurydice (says seriously)

All things there are for a man and woman on Earth, one by one …
Orpheus
The amusing, the good, the terrible?
Eurydice (gently)
The shameful, and also the nasty… We will be very unhappy.
Orpheus (takes her in his arms)

What happiness!
Vincent and Lucienne, who have been cooing at their table, look on at the lovers
Vincent
Oh! Love, love! You see, my beautiful princess, on this Earth where everything breaks
us, where everything deceives us, where everything does us wrong, it is marvelously
consoling to think that we have still got love…
Lucienne
My big cat…
Vincent
All men are liars, unstable, phonies, hypocrites, prideful or cowards, Lucienne,
miserable or sensual; all women are traitors, artificial, vain, curious or deprived; the
world is but a bottomless sewer where the foulest of characters writhe on mountains of
slime.
Lucienne
Yes, my big cat.
Vincent (he pauses, surprised)

You think so? I’ve played it so many times!
Lucienne
Do you remember? You played it the first night at the Grand Casino of Ostende. I
played the “Mad Virgin”, but I was only in the first act. I came to wait for your dressing
room. You had just left the stage still full of vibrant and beautiful words of love that
you had just spoken and you told me you loved me there, right away…

18
Vincent
Oh! Our nights of love, Lucienne! The union of bodies and the hearts. The instant, the
unique instant when one doesn’t know whether it is the flesh or the soul that vibrates.
Lucienne
You know that you have been a great lover my big cat.
Vincent
And you, the cutest of all mistresses!
Lucienne
I’m crazy, you weren’t a lover. You were the lover. The unstable and the faithful, the
strong and the gentle, the madman. You were love incarnate, and how you made
suffer…
Vincent
Oh! One is often deceived in love, often hurt, often unhappy, deceived, but still one
loves. And when we have one foot in the grave, we look back and tell ourselves: “I
suffered often, I sometimes made mistakes, but I loved. It was me who lived and not
some other character created by my pride and my troubles!”
Lucienne (applauds)
Bravo, my big cat, bravo!
Vincent
That was Alfred de Musset.
Lucienne
Yes, my cat.
Orpheus and Eurydice have heard them, one gripped to the other as if scared
Orpheus (murmurs)
Make them stop, please, shut them up.
Orpheus approaches the couple while Eurydice hides
Sir, Ma’am, you won’t understand my attitude. It will seem strange to you. Very
strange even. But you should leave.
Vincent
We should leave?
Orpheus

19
Yes, sir.
Vincent
They close?
Orpheus
Yes, Sir. They are closed … for you.
Vincent (stands up)

But really, sir…
Lucienne (also stands up)

He’s not from the restaurant. I recognize you, you’re the one who plays the violin…
Orpheus
You have to leave right now. I assure you that if I could explain, I would, but I can’t
explain. You wouldn’t understand. What is happening, at this moment, is quite serious.
Lucienne
He’s insane!
Vincent
Really, sir, this is ridiculous! This café belongs to everybody.
Orpheus
Not any more.
Lucienne
Ok! That’s it! She calls out
Madam, anyone! Waitress!
Orpheus (pushes them towards the door)

I am usually very calm and gentle I assure you. Before now I would have never dared
do this kind of thing …
Lucienne
Well, I’ve never experienced anything like this
Orpheus
No, ma’am, no one ever has. I never have.
Lucienne (speaking to Vincent)

And you have nothing to say?
Vincent

20
Come on, you can see that he is not rational.
Lucienne (disappears shouting)

I am going to go complain to the station manager!
Eurydice (comes out of hiding)

Oh! They were so ugly, weren’t they? Ugly, they were awful!
Orpheus (turns around towards her, smiling)

Shh! Don’t speak about them. Everything is right now that we’re alone, and everything
is bright and simple. It seems to me that this is the first time that I see chandeliers,
green plants, metal bowls, chairs…Look how charming a chair is! It looks like an insect
who awaits the vibrations of our footsteps and who escapes with a jump on it’s four
skinny legs. Watch out! Sneak up on it or pounce!
He jumps, taking Eurydice with him
We have it! How handy it is as a chair. One can sit…
He sits her down, then noticing the chair next to it… looks at her sadly
What I don’t understand is why they invented another chair.
Eurydice (She draws him near and gives up a small place on her chair for him)
It is for people who do not know each other…
Orpheus (takes her in his arms and shouts)

Oh how I know you! Every hour I played violin and you passed by on that train station
platform and I didn’t know you…Now everything has changed, I know you! It is
extraordinary. Everything has become extraordinary suddenly. Look…how the cashier
is so pretty propped up delicately on the register. And the waitress! Look at the
waitress. Those long flat feet in her buttoned boots, her noble air, so noble…It is truly
an extraordinary evening; we were meant to meet and meet the most noble young lady
in France. A waiteess who could be a police chief, a colonel, a member of the Comédie-
française. Tell me, waitress…
Waitress (approaches)
Sir.
Orpheus
You are charming.
Waitress
But sir…
Orpheus

21
Yes, yes. Do not protest. You know, I’m sincere and I’m not in the habit of giving
complements. You are charming. And we will remember you and the cashier forever,
the lady and I. You will tell her, won’t you?
Waitress
Yes.
Orpheus
Hah! How fun it is to be alive! I didn’t know that it could be so wonderful to breathe, to
have blood that runs through your veins and muscles that move… (lifts Eurydice and
spins her)
Eurydice
Am I heavy?
Orpheus
Oh no! You have just the right amount of weight, earlier I was too light, I floated, I
banged myself against furniture, against people. My arms hung too low, my fingers
dropped things… I’m realizing that I was missing your weight to be part of this
atmosphere…
Eurydice
Oh! Darling, you’re scaring me! Are you part of it too? You’ll never fly away again?
Orpheus
No never.
Eurydice
What would I do all alone on earth, like a fool, if you leave me? Swear to me that you
will never leave me.
Orpheus
I swear it.
Eurydice
Yes, but that’s an easy promise! I hope you won’t really leave me! If you want me to be
truly happy, swear to me that you will never want to leave me, even later, not for a
minute, even if the prettiest girl in the world looks at you.
Orpheus
I swear that too.
Eurydice (she stands up suddenly)

See how you lie! You swear that even if the prettiest girl in the world looked at you that
you would never want to leave me. But to know that she looked at you, you would have

22
had to look at her as well. Oh! My god, how unhappy I am. You’ve just started loving
me and already you’re thinking of other women. Swear to me that you won’t even see
her, my beloved, this tramp…
Orpheus
I will be blind.
Eurydice
And even if you don’t see her, people are so mean that they will rush to tell you, so that
I suffer. Swear to me that you won’t believe them!
Orpheus
I will be deaf.
Eurydice
Or rather, no, there is something more simple, swear to me now, sincerely and not to
please me that you will never find another woman pretty…even those … models.
Orpheus
I swear to you.
Eurydice (in a tone of distrust)

Even one that looks like me?
Orpheus
Even her. I would be suspicious.
Eurydice
Who do you swear to? Yourself?
Orpheus
I am the one who swears it. To you! Places his hand on her head.
Eurydice
Then it’s on me.
Orpheus
On you?
Eurydice
You can’t ignore the fact when you swear on someone’s head, that if you lie, they die.
Orpheus
So be it.

23
(Eurydice reflects a little.)
Eurydice
Good. But it’s not enough – I think you’re capable of anything even if you look like an
angel. ‘I can swear on her head. What’s the risk? So she dies at the very moment I want
to leave her. In the end, that will be very convenient. A dead person is easy to leave,
without scenes, without tears’… Oh! I hadn’t thought about it.
Orpheus (smiling)
It is ingenious, but I hadn’t thought about it
Eurydice
Really? You know, it would be better to tell me right away.
Orpheus
Truly.
Eurydice
Promise me.
Orpheus (lifts her head)

Done.
Eurydice (eases closer)
Good. Then I’ll tell you. I only wanted to test you. We didn’t take a true oath. To take a
real oath, it takes more than a small hand movement, a small gesture, that one can
interpret as one will. You have to extend the arms like that, to spit on the ground…
Don’t laugh, you know it’s very serious. Some say that not only does the person die
suddenly if one breaks an oath, but also suffers greatly before dying.
Orpheus (solemnly):
I get it.
Eurydice
Good. Now that you really know what you expose me to by lying, even a little lie, my
love, by extending your hand and spitting on the ground that everything you promised
was true.
Orpheus
I spit, I extend my hand, I promise.
Eurydice (sighs)
Good. I believe you. You know, I’m so easy to deceive, so unsuspecting. You’re
smiling; are you making fun of me?
Orpheus
Never. I’m looking at you. I suddenly realized I’ve had no time to look at you.

24
Eurydice
I am ugly? Sometimes, when I’ve cried or laughed too much, I get a small red blotch on
the tip of my nose. I’d rather tell you now, so that you’re not surprised later.
Orpheus
I’ll live with it.
Eurydice
And also I’m thin. I am not as thin as I look. No; I think I’m pretty when I bathe; but
I’m not as comfortable as other women.
Orpheus
It’s not good to be too comfortable.
Eurydice
I can only give you what I have. Don’t imagine things… I am silly also, I never know
what to say, and don’t count on me for conversation.
Orpheus (smiling)
You talk all the time…
Eurydice
I talk all the time but I don’t know how to answer. That’s why I talk all the time, so no
one can ask me a question. It’s my way of being mute. One does what one can.
Naturally, you hate that. It figures! You see I won’t make you happy.
Orpheus
Don’t be silly. I like it when you talk a lot. It is a small noise that relaxes me.
Eurydice
Oh sure! You probably like mysterious women like Greta Garbo. They are tall with big
eyes, big mouths, big hands and waste their life smoking. I’m not at all like that. You
may as well give up now.
Orpheus
I have.
Eurydice
Yes, you say that, but I see your eyes (she throws herself in his arms.) Oh! My love, my
love, it’s agony not to be the one you love. What do you want me to do? I’ll try. I’ll do
gymnastics. … I’ll open my eyes wide, I’ll wear more makeup. I’ll try to be dark, to
smoke…
Orpheus

25
Oh no!
Eurydice
Yes, yes, I’ll try to be mysterious. Oh! It’s not very complicated to be mysterious. You
just have to think of nothing. Anyone can do it.
Orpheus
You’re crazy!
Eurydice
I will be, count on that! And wise, and extravagant, and thrifty – and Manageable like a
slave girl. Oh! Only on some days don’t worry, and then maternal, so maternal that I’ll
be a little annoying – days of tooth aches. Finally, rude, then prudish, then ambitious,
excited, and a baby, for depressing days!
Orpheus
And you think you can be all of them?
Eurydice
I will have to be, my love, to keep you, since you will want all the ladies…
Orpheus
But when will you be you? You worry me.
Eurydice
In between. When I have five minutes, I will manage.
Orpheus
It’s going to be a dog’s life!
Eurydice
That’s love!... And dogs have it easy; sniff a little and then walk away, pretending not
to notice. Men are so much more complicated!
Orpheus (laughing, pulling her to him.)

I will make you very unhappy!
Eurydice (pressing her head against Orpheus)

Oh, yes! I will be small, not at all demanding. But at night you have to let me sleep on
your shoulder, you must hold my hand all day…
Orpheus
I love sleeping on my back, across the bed. I love long solitary walks.
Eurydice

26
We can try to sleep side by side and I will walk a little behind you, if you wish. Not too
much. Almost next to you anyway! But I will love you so much too! And I will be so
faithful to you, so faithful… You’ll have to talk to me so I don’t do anything silly…
Orpheus (dreams momentarily in silence with her in his arms. He whispers)

Who are you? It seems like I’ve known you a long time.
Eurydice
Oh, why ask who somebody is? It means so little.
Orpheus
Who are you? It is too late, I know that for sure. I can’t leave you now… you appeared
suddenly in this station. I stopped playing my violin and now I have you in my arms.
Who are you?
Eurydice
I don’t know you either, and I don’t even feel like asking you. I am happy. It’s enough.
Orpheus
I don’t know why suddenly I’m afraid to hurt.
Bella
What! You are still here? Mathias is waiting for you in the third class waiting room. If
you don’t want there to be problems again, little one, you should go there. (She leaves.)
Orpheus (lets go of Eurydice.)
Who is this Mathias?
Eurydice (quickly)
No one, my love.
Orpheus
This is the third time she’s come to tell you that he’s looking for you.
Eurydice
He’s a boy from the company. He’s no one. He’s looking for me. And … well yes, he’s
looking for me. Maybe he has something to tell me.
Orpheus
Who is Mathius?
Eurydice
I don’t love him, I’ve never loved him!

27
Orpheus
Is he your lover?
Eurydice
You know, people use the same word for everything. But I’d rather tell you the truth
now and in my own words. I want to tell you the whole truth. Yes, he’s my lover.
(Orpheus moves back a little.)
No! Don’t leave. I would have liked so much to tell you: I am a little girl, but it’s you
I’ve waited for. It’s your hand that will touch me for the first time. I really wanted to
say that to you, I know it’s silly, anyway, it seems to me that it is.
Orpheus
Has he been your lover for a long time?
Eurydice
I don’t really know. Six months maybe. I never loved him.
Orpheus
Why then?
Eurydice
Why? Oh, don’t ask questions like that. When you don’t know the other person very
well, when you don’t know all about the other person, words and questions are terrible
weapons…
Orpheus
Tell me. I want to know.
Eurydice
Why? (yields under his gaze) ok, he was unhappy, I was weary. I was alone. He loved
me.
Orpheus
And before?
Eurydice
Before, my love?
Orpheus
Before him.
Eurydice
Before him?

28
Orpheus
You didn’t have other lovers?
Eurydice (imperceptibly hesitates)

No. Never.
Orpheus
Then, he taught you about love? Answer me. Why aren’t you saying anything? You
told me you wanted truth.
Eurydice (desperately.)
I don’t want to hurt you! Whether it’s him, or someone else a long time ago.
Orpheus
Come on, it’s not about what’s least painful for me – it’s about the truth!
Eurydice
Alright, well, when I was little, a man, a stranger, took me, almost by force… It lasted
several weeks and then he left again.
Orpheus
You loved him?
Eurydice
I was hurt, I was scared, I ashamed.
Orpheus (after a silence)

And that’s it?
Eurydice
Yes, my love. You see, it was very silly, pathetic even, but very simple.
Orpheus (under his breath)

I’ll never even think about them.
Eurydice
Yes, my love.
Orpheus
I won’t imagine their faces close to yours, their eyes on you, their hands on you.
Eurydice
Yes, my love.
Orpheus
I won’t think about the other men who have already held you.

29
He takes her in his arms.
There, now it’s all in the past. I’m holding you.
Eurydice (quietly)
It feels good in your arms. Like in a little house hidden away in the middle of the
world; a little house where no one can find us.
He leans over and starts to kiss her. She stops him.
In this café?
Orpheus
Right here. Look at me! I’m ashamed anytime people look at me, and now I want it to
be full of people…It will be such a beautiful wedding! Our witnesses: The cashier, the
noblest waitress in all of France, and the strange little woman in a raincoat, who is
pretending not to notice us, but I’m sure she sees us…
He kisses her. The woman in the raincoat at the back of the café who had remained
silent since the beginning of the act looks at them, then quietly gets up and leans on a
column closer to them. They don’t see her. Eurydice suddenly breaks away.
Eurydice
Now, you have to go. I have something to do. No, don’t ask anything. Leave for a
minute, please? I’ll call you back.
She goes with Orpheus to the back then quickly goes towards the door, which is wide
open onto the platform. She stops and waits a moment, not moving, on the platform.
We sense that she is watching someone we can’t see who is also watching her, in
silence.
Come in.
Mathias enters, never ceasing to look at her. He stops on the platform.
You saw me. I kissed him. I love him. What do you want?
Mathias
Who is he?
Eurydice
I don’t know.
Mathias
You’re crazy.

30
Eurydice
Fine, I’m crazy.
Mathias
You’ve avoided me for eight days.
Eurydice
Yes, I’ve avoided you for eight days; but that’s not because of him, I’ve only known
him for an hour.
Mathias looks at Eurydice and her look terrifies her; he recoils.

So… what?
Eurydice
You know, Mathias.
Mathias
Eurydice, you know I can’t live without you.
Eurydice
Yes, Mathias. I love him.
Mathias
You know I would rather die right now than to keep living this life all alone, now that
I’ve had you close to me. I ask you nothing, Eurydice, nothing except to not be left
alone…
Eurydice
I love him, Mathias.
Mathias
Is that all you can say?
Eurydice quietly.
I love him.
Mathias leaves suddenly.

OK, you asked for it.
Eurydice runs after him.

Listen, Mathias, try to understand: I like you, but I love him…
They leave. The young woman in the raincoat watches them go away. She slowly
leaves behind them. The scene is empty for a moment. We hear a bell, then the

31
whistling of a train in the distance. Orpheus enters slowly, watching Mathias and
Eurydice leave. His father follows with his harp, and the train gets louder.
Father
The train is coming, son! Track two… Are you coming?
He pauses, suddenly takes on a thoughtful look.
Uh, did you settle the bill? I know you asked for the check.
Orpheus quietly, without looking him in the eye.

I’m not leaving, Dad.
Father
Why do you always wait till the last minute? The train will be here in two minutes and
we have to take the tunnel. With the harp, we’ll barely make it.
Orpheus
I’m not taking this train.
Father
What, you’re not taking this train? And why aren’t you taking this train, if I might ask?
If we want to be in Palavas tonight, it’s the only option.
Orpheus
Fine, take it. I’m not leaving.
Father
Oh, that’s rich. What’s wrong with you? How are you going to get there?
Orpheus
Look, Dad. I love you. I know you need me, and it isn’t easy, but it had to happen
someday. I’m leaving you…
Father plays a man completely caught off guard/flabbergasted/blindsided.

What are you saying?
Orpheus suddenly screams.

Oh please! Don’t be so dramatic! Don’t repeat it over and over, don’t stop breathing
so you turn pale; don’t start trembling and pulling out your hair! I know all your tricks,
every single one. They worked when I was young. They don’t work any more.
quietly…
I’m leaving you, Dad.

32
Father changes his tactics and suddenly drapes himself in an exaggerated dignity.
I refuse to listen to you. You’re talking crazy. Come on.
Orpheus
Feigning dignity is also pointless. I told you, I know all your tricks.
Father sickened.
Don’t worry about being disrespectful! I’m used to it…but you’ll do as I say, you
understand? I won’t listen!
Orpheus
But you have to listen because you only have two minutes to understand, your train is
whistling.
Father nobly.
Ha! Ha!
Orpheus
Don’t try and laugh it off … I beg you, listen to me. You have to get on THIS train.
Alone. It’s your only chance to get there for that harpist’s job in Palavas-les-Flots.
Father barks.
I turned down that job! I refused it because of you!
Orpheus
Just say that you thought it over, that you abandoned me, and you changed your mind.
Tortoni may not have found another harpist. He’s your friend. He’ll give it to you.
Father bitter.
Right! Friends, children, all true and faithful! One day, they all betray you. I’m paid
to know that. Tortoni my friend! Ha!
He laughs indignantly.
Orpheus
You think he won’t give you the job?
Father
I’m certain he won’t!
Orpheus
But he offered it to you…
Father

33
He offered and I declined. He was shamed. And don’t forget he’s Italian. Italians
never forgive.
Orpheus
Just get on the train, Dad. As soon as you leave, I’ll call the casino, I swear I’ll get him
to give it to you.
The father howls with a voice which seems improbable coming from this weak body.
Father
Never!
Orpheus
Oh come on! He’s a good guy. I’m sure that he’ll listen to me.
Father
Never, you hear me! I’ll never grovel!
Orpheus
But it’s me who’s groveling! I’ll say that it’s my fault.
Father
No, no.
The train whistles again. The father nervously jumps on the parcels.
The train, the train! Orpheus, we have to go. Come with me, you can convince me on
the way.
Orpheus
I can’t leave, Dad. I might catch up with you later.
Father
What ‘catch up with me’? We already have our tickets.
The train whistles.
Orpheus
I’ll call right now.
He goes toward the phone booth.
Father grabs him.

Stop, don’t call. I’d rather tell you the truth… the harpist job…
Orpheus

34
Yeah.
Father
Well, he never offered it to me.
Orpheus
What?
Father
I just said that so you’d respect me. I saw the audition, I begged him to take me. He
refused.
Orpheus after a moment.

Oh, ok…
He speaks quietly.
I thought you could have landed that job. It’s too bad. That would fix a lot of things.
A silence.
Father quietly.
I’m old, Orpheus…
The train whistles again.
Orpheus suddenly, in a sort of fever.

Get on the train, I beg you, Dad; Go to Palavas-les-Flots; there are cafés there, it’s the
tourist season, I’m sure you will make a living.
Father
With just the harp…you must be joking!
Orpheus
But the harp captures the imagination. You rarely see it. The violin, every beggar
plays one on the terraces. The harp, as you always say, gives us the sense of being
artists.
Father
Yes, but you play the violin so well and all the women find you so innocent and kind,
and so they nudge their husbands to put a twenty in the hat. By myself, they don’t
nudge.
Orpheus tries to laugh.

What about the older women! You know very well you’re an old Don Juan.

35
Father looks at the cashier who humiliated him earlier.

Just between us, an old Don Juan for greasy diners, if that…for ugly old women.
Orpheus
You exaggerate Dad, you have long list of conquests!
Father
I tell you that, but it doesn’t always happen exactly like I say it does…And plus, I’ve
never told you…I trained you, I have my pride as a father, but I don’t know if you ever
noticed this, I…I don’t play the harp very well.
There is a terrible silence, Orpheus kisses his head. He can’t help but smile a little.
Orpheus
No one can tell.
Father
You see, you say so yourself…
A silence again, the train whistles very loudly.
Orpheus shakes him suddenly.

Dad, I can’t do anything else for you. If I was rich, I would give you money, but I
don’t have any. Go take the train, keep all you have and good luck. I can’t tell you
anything else.
Father
You just said you couldn’t leave me!
Orpheus
Then I couldn’t. Now, I can.
The train enters the station.
There’s your train. Hurry, take your harp.
Father who again resists.

You met someone, didn’t you?
Orpheus
Yes, Father
Father
The young woman asked me who was playing the violin, right?
Orpheus

36
Yes, Father.
He takes items from his suitcase and puts them in his father’s.
Father
I spoke with those people. You know, she’s an actress in a TOURING company. This
girl will judge you.
Orpheus
Yes, Father! Go now…
Father on his knees as well and rummaging through his suitcases.

What if I found you a beautiful girl, exquisite, first prize at the Conservatory, a Greek
profile. A Pianist! We could have been a trio. I would have played the cello…. You
would never have treated me this way, Orpheus!
Orpheus
I know father, hurry up.
Father
I curse you. You will pay!
Orpheus
Yes, Father
Father rises
Go ahead and desert me! I have a lottery ticket, I could win any day now and you’ll
have nothing!
Orpheus laughs in spite of himself, he grabs his father by the shoulders

Oh father, my dear father, my poor father. I love you dearly, you know that, still I can’t
do anything for you.
P.A. SYSTEM, outside

Travelers to Beziers, Montpellier, Sete, Palavas-les-Flots, please board
Orpheus
Quickly, or you’re going to miss it. Do you have your harp and your suitcase? I have
two hundred Euros, you keep the rest.
Father
Don’t be so generous son.
P.A. SYSTEM
Travelers to Beziers, Montpellier, Sete, Palavas-les-Flots, now boarding

37
Father suddenly
You think they’ll refund your ticket?
Orpheus hugs his father

I’m not sure. You know, I’m happy dad. I love you. I’ll write to you. You must be a
little glad that I’m happy, I’m just excited to live!
Father
I can’t carry all this alone.
Orpheus
I’ll help you on this end, you can ask a porter there.
Father drops some of his luggage

You’d leave your father for a woman! For a woman who may not even love you!
Orpheus follows him.

I’m truly happy father!
SOME VOICES are heard outside
Father leaving
I’m going to die!
Orpheus pushing him

Go,go,go!
We hear the sounds of the train leaving the station. Eurydice enters with a small
suitcase and goes and sits in the corner. Orpheus returns. He goes up to her. She looks
at him.
Orpheus
It’s over
Eurydice comically
I know, me too.
Orpheus lowers his head

Excuse me, he was a bit dramatic. He’s my father
Eurydice
It’s ok, the woman you saw before, she was my mother. I wasn’t going to tell you.
They are facing each other, they smile softly.
Orpheus

38
I’m glad you decided to tell me. It’s something we have in common
Eurydice smiles
I can see you following him, just a boy with your violin behind you…
Orpheus
He had a job with an orchestra but he still had me playing on a terrace between church
services. One day a policeman arrested us. My father told him he’d regret it because he
was a cousin of the minister. The policeman laughed. I was 10 years old. I was
crying…I was scared and ashamed…I thought I would end up in jail.
Eurydice (tearfully)
Oh! my love, and I wasn’t there. I would have taken you by the hand. I would have
told you it wasn’t that bad. At ten, I already knew about the world.
Orpheus
He played trombone then. He tried to play everything, but never had much success.
Still, I would say, “I am the son of the trombonist”, at the door, and I would enter the
theater… It was beautiful The Mysteries of New York!...
Eurydice
And The Mask of the White Teeth! When we were confused in the fourth act… Oh!
How I would have loved to be sitting with you. I would have liked to eat Mandarins
with you during intermission, ask you if Pearl White’s cousin was really a traitor and
what the Chinese Man was thinking…I would have loved being young with you! How
sad…
Orpheus
It’s the past now. The Mandarins are peeled, and the heroine must be an old woman.
Eurydice softly
It’s not fair…
A ringing noise, the sounds of a train’s whistle approaches
P.A. SYSTEM
Passengers to Toulouse, Beziers, Carcassonne, track 7. The train is entering the station.
ANOTHER P.A. SYSTEM, repeats the same

Passengers to Toulouse, Beziers, Carcassonne, track 7. The train is entering the station.
The actors pass through with their suitcases.
Bella
Quickly, Evelyn. We’re still going have to stand. Naturally, the stars will travel in
second class. I wonder who pays the extra?

39
Evelyn continues her story

So, you know what she told me? She told me: I don’t care. I have my position to
defend…
The women have passed, Now we see Lucienne and Vincent, burdened with hat
boxes and suitcases.
Lucienne
Vincent, my cat, the large bag and the green box?
Vincent
I’ll get them. (to Stage Manager) MOVE!
Lucienne
Be careful that the strap doesn’t break. That reminds me of a day in Buenos Aires.
Sarah’s hat box that opened in the middle of the station. There were ostrich feathers
everywhere…
They pass. Then a large Man shouts behind him..
Dulac
Quickly, for God’s sake, quickly! And check the loading of the coach, you idiot. Go to
the front of the line. We’re all in the front of the train.
Eurydice softly
All of the people in my life are walking by…
Running but not well, the stage Manager finally passes lugging too many suitcases, too
many packages that are falling. And from afar, the whistle of the train approaching.
Eurydice quietly to Orpheus

Close the door.
Orpheus goes to close the door, silence soon overcomes them.
There you go. We are alone in the world now.
THE P.A. SYSTEM, farther away

Passengers headed for Toulouse, Beziers, Carcassonne, track 7. The train has now
arrived.
Orpheus returns to her. Noise from the train entering the station and a scream,
a scream that transforms into a shout, that evolves abruptly into a terrible silence. The
cashier straitens up and tries to look. The boy runs across the scene, he says while
passing.

40
Stage Manager
Someone threw themselves under the train, a young Man!
People run across the platform. Orpheus and Eurydice are facing each other
without looking at each other; they say nothing. The young woman in the raincoat
appears on the platform; enters, and recloses the door, watching them.
Eurydice says softly

I couldn’t help it. I loved you and I didn’t love him.
There is a silence; they look straight in front of them. The woman in the
raincoat approaches them.
The Young Woman in a neutral voice, without looking at them

He threw himself under the locomotive. The shock probably killed him.
Eurydice
How awful!
The Young Woman

No. He chose a good death. Poison is slow and causes lots of suffering. You writhe,
vomit, it’s not clean. It’s like with a sedative, some people who think they’re going to
sleep. How funny! It’s a death in hiccups and bad odors.
.
She approaches, calmly, smiling.
Believe me… the easiest way when you’re tired, when you’ve had the same thought for
a long time, is to let yourself slide into water like into a bed… You choke in seconds,
but with lots of images… and then fall asleep. Finally!
Eurydice
That’s terrible. You think it was a painful death?
The Young Woman softly

We never feel pain when we die, my dear. Death never hurts. Death is kind. What
causes suffering with certain poisons, certain wounds, is life. It’s the rest of life. We
have to think of death as our friend. A friend with a strong, soft hand.
Eurydice and Orpheus hug each other tightly. Eurydice says softly like an
explanation:
Eurydice
We couldn’t do anything different. We love each other.
The Young Woman

Yes, I know. I’ve been listening to you. A young handsome man and a pretty young

41
woman! And ready to play the game without cheating. To the end. Two small
courageous animals, with long teeth, ready to fight till morning – as they should, and to
fall, hurting together.
Eurydice murmurs
Excuse me sir, we don’t really know you…
The Young Woman

Ah, but I know you. I’m really very happy to have met you. Will you be leaving
together? There’s only one train left tonight. The train to Marseille. Maybe you’ll be
on it?
Orpheus
Probably yes.
The Young Woman

I am going there as well. I might have the pleasure of seeing you there.
She says goodbye and leaves. Orpheus and Eurydice face each other
once again. They are standing, seeming small in the middle of the large deserted room.
Orpheus softly
My love.
Eurydice
My dear love.
Orpheus
Now our story begins…
Eurydice
I’m a little scared…Are you good? Are you mean? What is your name?
Orpheus
Orpheus, and you?
Eurydice
Eurydice
The curtain falls

42
Act I Scene 2
A big, dark and dirty room in a hotel in the country. Ceilings that are too high, lost in
the shadows, double curtains covered with dust, a large iron bed, and a dirty screen, a
dim light. Orpheus and Eurydice are lying on the bed with their clothes on.
Orpheus
To think that everything could have been ruined… it would have been a simple matter
of you passing to the right and me to the left. Not even, it could’ve been the flight of a
bird, the scream of a child that would’ve made you turn your head. I would still be
strumming the violin on the terraces with my father.
Eurydice
Tonight, I would be acting in the play “The two Orphans” at the municipal theater in
Avignon. Mother and I play the orphans.
Orpheus
Last night I was thinking about all the luck we needed. I thought about the little
unknown boy and girl that set out toward that country train station … To think that
there was a possibility that we could have not met, chosen the wrong date or station.
Eurydice
Or worse, meeting when we were too young, with parents that would have dragged us
away from each other.
Orpheus
But fortunately we didn’t miss each other, not by a day or a minute. We haven’t been
delayed one time on this long journey of ours… It’s fate!
Eurydice
Yes, my love.
Orpheus
Together we are stronger than anything in the world.
Eurydice looking at him with a small smile

My Turk! Yesterday it seemed you were scared… when we walked into this room.
Orpheus
Yesterday we weren’t as strong as we are today, we weren’t stronger than everything
else. I didn’t want our love to hang on this one chance.
Eurydice calmly
There are things in the world we don’t want to see but are there, calm, very big… like
the sea.

43
Orpheus
Yesterday we could have been nothing, walking out of this room; not one soul as we
are now; nothing but strangers, smiling, distant yet polite, and talking about other
things… oh how I hate love!
Eurydice
Shh… don’t say it!
Orpheus
Now, at least we know each other. We know the weight of our sleeping head, the sound
of our laugh. Now we have memories to defend ourselves.
Eurydice
An entire evening, a whole night, a whole day! How rich we are!
Orpheus
Yesterday we had nothing, we knew nothing and by chance we entered this room while
that concierge gave us that evil smile, insinuating something impure. Then we
undressed rapidly, standing face to face.
Eurydice
You threw your clothes off to the four corners of the room like a mad Man!
Orpheus
You trembled. You were unable to undo the buttons of your dress and I watched you rip
them off without flinching. But when you were completely naked, you were suddenly
embarrassed.
Eurydice looking down

I thought that I had to be prettier than every other girl, and I was no longer sure I was.
Orpheus
We stood there a long moment facing each other, unable to talk, unable to move. Oh we
were afraid, too naked. It was unfair for us to be forced to risk it all at once. Until that
sudden laugh moved in on my unsuspecting throat and burst forth because of the small
red birthmark you had on you shoulder.
Eurydice
After that, everything became so easy.
Orpheus
You laid your head against my chest fell asleep. And suddenly I felt strong, strong from
the weight of your head on my chest. It felt as if we were lying naked on the beach and
that my love was a rising sea that slowly covered our bodies. As if we needed a fight
and our nakedness for us to truly become soul mates.

44
Eurydice
Oh, my love, you thought of all that and let me sleep?
Orpheus
You told me other things in your dreams.
Eurydice
I talked? I always talk when I sleep. I hope you didn’t listen?
Orpheus smiles
Yes. I did.
Eurydice
Betrayer! Instead of honestly sleeping like me, you spy on me. How can I know what I
say when I sleep?
Orpheus
I only understood three words. You let out a huge sigh. Your mouth pulled to the side
and you said: “It is difficult…”
Eurydice
It is difficult…
Orpheus
And what is so difficult?
Eurydice stays a moment without responding, shakes her head and say rapidly
I don’t know my love, I was dreaming.
(Someone knocks at the door, it is the Man with the mustaches who immediately walks
in.)
Concierge
You rang?
Orpheus
No.
Concierge
Oh I thought monsieur had rung…
She hesitates a moment, then as he walks out the door says
I’m sorry sir.
Eurydice as soon as the Man walks out

You think it is real?

45
Orpheus
What?
Eurydice
Her hair…
Orpheus
Probably… It looks fake. No one would try to make their hair look like that on purpose.
Eurydice
She doesn’t look as Noble as the woman we saw at the train station last night.
Orpheus
The one from the Comédie française? She was intimidating, but conventional. And
after all, under all her imposing looks she was a softy. I assure you that this woman is
much more mysterious.
Eurydice
Yes, too much… I don’t like people who are too mysterious. She kind of scares me…
How about you?
Orpheus
A little creepy… I didn’t want to admit it.
Eurydice squeezing against him

Oh my love, hold me tight. Thank god we are found each other!
Orpheus
We already have so many characters in our story. A waitresss… the soft noble… a
strange lady in a bad wig, the pretty cashier.
Eurydice
What a shame the cashier didn’t talk to us.
Orpheus
In all great stories, there’s a silent character. She didn’t speak, but she stared at us
constantly. And if she started talking … she would never stop I’m sure.
Eurydice
And that train station employee?
Orpheus
the stammerer?

46
Eurydice
Yes the charming little stammerer. Oh how nice he was. I wanted to take him by the
hand and take him, and his long watch chain and his nice hat, to eat cakes at the bakery.
Orpheus
You remember how he recited all the train stations where we should not get off to make
us understand, with no possible error, the right train station for our change.
Eurydice
Of course. He sure made us laugh. But the other one… the brute! The ticket taker.
Orpheus
What an idiot! He wouldn’t understand we wanted to exchange one ticket for Perpignan
and another for Avignon for two tickets for Marseille?
Eurydice
Yes, that one. How ugly he was, how stupid with his filth, his self-importance and his
two fat dirty cheeks full of I don’t know what.
Orpheus
He’s our first vile character. Our first traitor. There will be others, you’ll see….A
happy story is always full of traitors to love.
Eurydice
No. I refuse to have him! I’m firing him! You tell him I’m firing him! I don’t want
such an imbecile in my memories of you.
Orpheus
It’s too late, my dear, we no longer have the right to fire anyone.
Eurydice
Then, our whole life, that disgusting, vile, self-important Man will be part of our first
day together?
Orpheus
Our whole life.
Eurydice
And that horrid old woman in black, who I stuck out my tongue at, the one always
getting angry at her skinny little maid? She’ll always be there too?
Orpheus
Always next to the little girl who never took her eyes off you on the train, the dog who
insisted on following you, all our charming characters.

47
Eurydice
Don’t you think we could just remember a first day with only the big dog, the little girl,
the gypsies dancing in the evening on the town square on stilts, and the little stammerer,
for example?.....You are sure that we couldn’t weed out the bad characters and keep just
the good ones?
Orpheus
That would be too good.
Eurydice
We couldn’t just try to imagine a little less ugly just for that first day?…To make the
conductor just a little less self-satisfied, the dreadful bourgeois lady a little less acidic, a
little less hypocritical…or maybe her little maid a little more filled out, so that her
grocery bags wouldn’t feel so heavy to her?
Orpheus
Impossible. They have gone now, the good ones and the bad ones. They have made
their exit, said their three words in your life…They are as they are in you forever.
There is a silence.
Eurydice suddenly asks.

Then, well, what if one has seen a lot of ugly things in life? They all stay in you?
Orpheus
Yes
Eurydice
All neatly lined up, one next to the others, all the hideous images, all the people, even
those that you hate, even those you’ve run from? All the sadness, you believe that we
keep them somewhere deep within? And all the gestures you make, your hand still
remembers them?
Orpheus
yes
Eurydice
You’re sure that even the words you say without thinking that you can never take back,
they are still on our tongues when we talk?
Orpheus wants to kiss her.

Of course, silly……
Eurydice disengages herself.

Wait, don’t kiss me. Talk to me instead. Is it true what you just said or is it just your
philosophy? Are there are others who have said it?

48
Orpheus
Of course.
Eurydice
Scholars? Well, those who know things, people one can believe?
Orpheus
Yes
Eurydice
But then one is never alone, with all that around. One is never sincere, even when they
want to be with all their heart…If all the words are there, all the nasty outbursts of
laughter, If all the hands that have touched you are still glued to your skin, then a
person can never become someone else?
Orpheus
What are you talking about?
Eurydice after a while

You think someone can be the same if he knew from the time he was small that one day
he would absolutely need to make a clean breast of things? To be absolutely honest
about his life? And when one says the things, when one says I did this, I said that, I
heard this word, I let someone……
She stops.
…When one says them to someone else, these things, to the one that you love for
example….do they think that kills those things around you, your scholars?
Orpheus
Yes. They call that confessing. Afterwards, it appears that you are completely washed,
completely shining…
Eurydice
Really! And they are really sure about it?
Orpheus
They say they are.
Eurydice after having reflected a moment.

Yes, ok, but if they’re wrong or if they have just said that to look smart; if these things
were to continue to live on two times stronger and more vividly from having been
retold; if the other person began to remember forever…You tell them that I don’t trust
them, your scholars, that … I believe it would be better to say nothing…..

49
Orpheus looks at her, she sees him and she adds quickly, cowering against him.
Or, my dear, when it’s all very easy, like it was for us yesterday, to tell everything, of
course, like me.
The Concierge knocks and enters.
Concierge
You rang sir?
Orpheus
No
Concierge
Ah! Excuse me! She takes a step and from the sill she adds.
Let me tell you, sir, the bell isn’t working. If you want to ring, sir, it would be better to
call.
Orpheus
Understood.
It looks like the Concierge is going to leave , but she changes her mind, crosses the
room, and goes to fuss with the double curtains which she closes and then reopens.
Concierge
The double curtains, they work.
Orpheus
We see that.
Concierge
I have rooms where it’s just the opposite. The bell works but the double curtains don’t.
She is going to leave and she says again.

Anyway, if Monsieur were to try again in a few minutes and they didn’t work, he
would only need to ring….
She stops.
…euh, well call, because, as I said before, the bell……
She makes a gesture and leaves.
Orpheus
There is our first odd character. We’ll have others. That must be an honorable soul,
with no ill feelings toward anyone.

50
Eurydice
No, she’s been watching me. You haven’t noticed that she’s been watching me the
whole time?
Orpheus
You’re dreaming.
Eurydice
I like the other one more, I like the one from the Comedie Français much more…You
could tell that even in the tragedies, she would never really be dangerous…
The Concierge knocks and enters again, clearly giving the impression that he has been
behind the door.
Concierge
So sorry to interrupt again. I had forgotten to tell Monsieur that the lady was asking for
him downstairs to complete his paperwork where something is missing. Madame must
submit it tonight.
Orpheus
She wants me to come down right away?
Concierge
Yes, sir, if Monsieur can.
Orpheus
That’s fine. I’ll follow you. Get dressed while I’m gone, ok? We’ll go down to dinner.
The Concierge opens the door to let Orpheus pass through and goes out after him. She
returns almost immediately and goes toward Eurydice who is now standing.
Concierge holding out an envelope toward her.

Here’s a letter for you. I was supposed to deliver it when you were alone. The lady is
not in her office. I lied. There is only one floor. You have a half minute to read it.
She remains standing in front of Eurydice. Eurydice has taken the letter, trembling a
little, she opens it, reads it, tears it into little pieces without changing expression, then
she goes to throw them away.
Never in the wastebasket.
She goes to the trash basket, kneels, and begins to gather up the pieces of paper that
she stuffs into her pocket.
Have you known each other long?

51
Eurydice
One day.
Concierge
Usually, that’s still good times.
Eurydice
Usually, yes.
Concierge
I’ve seen quite a few like the two of you pass through this room, sleep on this bed, like
you. And not just pretty people. Some too fat, some too thin, some monsters. All
speaking of “our love”. Sometimes, at night, as it is now, it seems to me that I see them
all together. They swarm. Ah! Love is not pretty.
Eurydice Imperceptably
No
Orpheus
You are still here?
Concierge
No, sir. I’m leaving.
Orpheus
The Manager was not downstairs.
Eurydice
I must have waited too long coming upstairs to tell you, sir. She probably didn’t have
the patience to wait. It doesn’t matter, sir. You can do it later tonight.
She looks at them both again and goes out.
Orpheus
What was she doing here?
Eurydice
Nothing. She was telling me about all the couples she’d seen go through this room.
Orpheus
That’s upbeat.
Eurydice
She says that sometimes it seems to her she sees them all together. The whole room
swarms with them.

52
Orpheus
And you listened to such nonsense?
Eurydice
Maybe it wasn’t. Since you said, all the people that we have known continue to live in
our memory. Maybe the room remembers too…All the people who have passed
through it are all around us, locked in each others’ arms, the too heavy, the too thin, the
monsters.
Orpheus
My silly one!
Eurydice
The bed is full of them; it’s awful.
Orpheus wants to distract her.

Let’s go down to dinner. The street is pink with the first lights of evening. We’ll eat in
a little bistro that smells of garlic. Then, you will drink from a glass where a thousand
mouths have already drunk, and a thousand fleshy buttocks which have dented the seat
cushions will make a little place for you where you will be comfortable and cozy.
Come on, come!
Eurydice
You’re making fun. You’re always laughing. You’re so strong.
Orpheus
Since last night! A Turk!....You’re the one who said it.
Eurydice
Yes, yes, a Turk who hears nothing, who feels nothing, who is totally sure of himself
and goes straight forward. Yes, you can feel jolly, all of you ---now you have made my
heart heavy…You say things. Just when one least expects it, you make all the nasty
couples come alive again, you weigh us down with the sticky mess of old words and
you don’t think about it any more. You go down to dinner saying: it’s nice, there are
lights, it smells like garlic.
Orpheus
You are going to say it too in a minute. Come on. Let’s leave this room.
Eurydice
For me, it’s no longer nice out. It no longer smells good. How quickly it passed….
Orpheus
What’s the matter? You’re trembling.

53
Eurydice
Yes. I’m trembling.
Orpheus
You are all pale.
Eurydice
Yes
Orpheus
Look at those eyes! I have never seen you with such eyes.
He tries to pull her to him, but she turns away.
Eurydice
Don’t look at me. When you look at me, your look touches me. Like you put your
hands on my hips and your gaze burns into my soul. Don’t look at me.
Orpheus
I’ve been looking at you since yesterday.
He pulls her to him and she lets him; she falls into him, defeated.
Eurydice
You are strong, you know…You look like a skinny little boy, but you’re stronger than
anyone. When you play your violin, like yesterday in the train station, or when you
speak, I fall under your spell…I can do nothing but crawl softly toward you.
Orpheus wraps her in his arms and warms her.

Are you okay, my little snake?
Eurydice
Sometimes you’re silent and I think I’m free like before. I pull on my thread with all
my might. But you start to talk again, the thread rolls around the bobbin and I return to
my trap, totally happy…
Orpheus
You are a little snake asking too many questions. Little snakes should warm
themselves in the sun, drink milk and purr with contentment.
Eurydice softly
Little cats are the ones who purr.
Orpheus who is stroking her hair.

It doesn’t matter. Purr. I’m holding you.

54
Eurydice
Traitor. You stroke my head softly and I fall asleep in the warmth of your sun.
Orpheus
And then you say “it’s difficult”.
Eurydice cries out suddenly, pulling away.

Stop!
Orpheus
Why.
Eurydice
I’m afraid it will be too hard.
Orpheus
What?
Eurydice
The first day everything seems so easy. The first day you can just invent. You are sure
that we haven’t just made everything up?
Orpheus
I’m sure that I love you and you love me. Sure as stones, as things of wood and iron.
Eurydice
Yes, but maybe you believed I was someone else. And now when you see me as I
am…
Orpheus
Since yesterday I have been looking you in the face. I hear you talking in your sleep.
Eurydice
Yes, but I didn’t say much to you. And if tonight I fall asleep again and say
everything?
Orpheus
Everything! What everything?
Eurydice
The old words stuck to me, the old stories. What if someone, one of the characters
should come to you saying……
Orpheus
What would they say to me about you? I know you better than they do now.

55
Eurydice
Do you think so?
Eurydice raises her head and looks at Orpheus who continues with a joyous
forcefulness.
Orpheus
My little soldier! I’ve had you in my unit for a whole day, I know you well. I have
been acting a little mean, haven’t I, since yesterday, always playing the captain.
“Hurry, here’s the train. Get into the last car. Save our places. Wake up, it’s Marseille.
We’re getting off. Cheer up. The hotel is a little far from the train station, but we don’t
have the money for a cab….” And the little bewildered soldier, eyes still heavy with
sleep, grabs her suitcases with a brave smile. And one two, one two, follows her
captain into the night…Can you see me leading a lady with hats heavy with waving
feathers and tall clacking high heeled shoes? I would die of fear, asking for a room.
And in the train car under the eyes of all those men who were pretending to sleep but
really undressing you with their eyes…Who knows? Maybe she would have smiled, let
her head fall to one side, content the whole compartment desired her while pretending
to sleep… I would have died of shame…But my silent soul-mate next to me became
like wood immediately, legs pulled up, all stiff and straight. A little sightless mummy
that the disappointed fakers began to forget, snoring one after another…I haven’t
thanked you.
Eurydice sweetly, her head lowered.

It isn’t necessary.
Orpheus
I haven’t thanked you either for your courage…
Eurydice stammering
My courage?
Orpheus
For the days, coming quickly now, when you will let the dinner hour go by, doing a
crossword to the last letter. For the dresses that you will pretend not to see in the store
windows; for the snickering merchants, the hostile hotel guests…I have not thanked
you for the made beds, the clean swept rooms, the dishes, the red hands and the glove
with a hole in it, and the smell of the kitchen in your hair. All that you gave me in
agreeing to come with me.
Eurydice has her head lowered; he looks at her in silence.
I didn’t believe that it was possible to one day meet the companion who could
accompany you, strong and vibrant, carry her own bag and take things seriously. The
little silent companion, who could be placed in all sorts of situations and who, in the
evening, is beautiful and warm against you. Someone only for you, more secret, more

56
tender than others drag after them day after day, dressed in fine apparel. My fierce, my
savage, my little stranger…I woke up last night asking myself if I wasn’t a man as
disgusting as any other, with stupid pride and heavy hands, and if I really was worthy
of you.
Eurydice has lifted her head and is looking at him fixedly in the shadow that has come
into the room. She says very softly.
Eurydice
You really think all that about me?
Orpheus
Yes, my love.
Eurydice thinks a little longer and says

It’s true. That’s a very charming Eurydice.
Orpheus
It’s you.
Eurydice
Yes. And you’re right. She’s all yours.
A little pause, then she says softly with a funny little voice, while stroking his hair:
Miss Eurydice, your wife….

Orpheus straightens up, strong, and joyous.
Orpheus
Fantastic to meet you! Now, will you finally agree to come have dinner with me, my
love. The snake charmer can no longer blow his flute. He’s dying of hunger.
Eurydice more forcefully

Turn on the light now.
Orpheus
Finally, something sensible. Bright lights everywhere. Streams of light and clarity.
Out with the ghosts.
Orpheus goes to turn on the light switch. A raw light floods and increases the ugliness
of the room; Eurydice has gotten up.
Eurydice
My dear, I don’t want to go to a restaurant, see people. If you don’t mind, I’ll go down
and buy some things and we’ll eat them here.

57
Orpheus
Here in this room where everything is swarming?
Eurydice
Yes, now that doesn’t matter anymore….
Orpheus moves
Ok, It’ll be an adventure! I’ll go down with you.
Eurydice quickly
No, let me go alone.
He stops.
It would make me happy to buy groceries for you, like a proper person.
Orpheus
Then, buy a lot of things.
Eurydice
Yes
Orpheus
We must make a feast.
Eurydice
Yes, my dear.
Orpheus
As if we had money. That’s a miracle rich people will never understand…Buy a
pineapple, a real one, a pineapple of the Good Lord, not a sad American pineapple in a
can. We don’t have a knife, so we’ll never succeed in eating it. But that’s how a
pineapple defends itself.
Eurydice laughs with her eyes full of tears.
Eurydice
Yes, my dear.
Orpheus
Buy some flowers too, lots of flowers…
Eurydice stammers with her weak little smile

Flowers aren’t edible.
Orpheus
That’s true. Then we’ll put them on the table. He looks around him.

58
We don’t have a table. Buy lots of flowers anyway. And then, buy more fruit, some
peaches, big fat peaches off the vine, apricots, that reine-claude kind, a little bread to
show the serious side of our characters and a bottle of white wine that we’ll drink out of
the bathroom glass. Hurry! I’m dying of hunger!
Eurydice goes to get her hat and puts it on in front of the mirror.
You’re putting on your hat?
Eurydice She turns around suddenly and says in a strangely raucus voice
Yes. Farewell, my darling.
Orpheus
shouts at her while laughing.
You’re saying farewell, like in Marseille?
Eurydice from the door sill

Yes.
She looks at him again, smiling and miserable and goes out abruptly. Orpheus remains
immobile for an instant, smiling at the idea of Eurydice going out. Suddenly his smile
disappears, his countenance darkens, a vague anguish overcomes him and he runs to
the door calling her.
Orpheus
Eurydice!
He has opened the door and he draws back stupefied. The young Woman who ran into
them in the train station is on the door sill, smiling.
The Young Woman

She just went downstairs.
Orpheus has retreated, surprised, hesitant to recognize her.
You can’t place me? We met in the cafe in the train station at the time of the
accident…You know, the young man who threw himself under the train. I have
allowed myself to come say hello to you. You were so pleasant. We are neighbors. I
have room number 11.
He takes a step into the room and holds out a pack of cigarettes.
Do you smoke?
Orpheus mechanically takes a cigarette.

59
Me, I don’t. Light?
He takes out a box of matches and lights Orpheus’s cigarette. The cigarette doesn’t
light and falls from Orpheus’ hand without his noticing.
Orpheus
Thanks. He closes the door again and asks mechanically
Who do I have the honor of….?
The Young Woman

Travel acquaintances, it’s just as well not to know exactly who one is. My name
wouldn’t tell you anything. Call me Mme. Henri.
By now, she is all the way inside the room. She kicks the cigarette to the wall with her
foot. She is looking at Orpheus smiling. Orpheus is looking at her also as if fascinated.
Mme. Henri
A beautiful city, Marseille. The pressing of the crowds, the riff-raff, the filth. People
don’t really kill each other as much as they say in the alleys of the old port, but still it’s
a beautiful city. You planning on staying here a long time?
Orpheus
I don’t know.
Mme Henri
I spoke a little freely to you yesterday. Sorry. But you were so touching, the two of
you, huddled against each other in the middle of that big deserted waiting room…Nice
décor, wasn’t it? Red and dark, with night falling and the sound of the railroad station
in the background…
She looks at him for a long time, smiles.
Little Orpheus and Miss Eurydice…It’s not every day that you get such a windfall….I
could have not spoken to you…. Usually I don’t speak to anyone. What’s the point?
You… considers him … I don’t know why I gave in to the desire to get to know you
better. You’re a musician?
Orpheus
Yes
Mme Henri
I like music. I like everything that is sweet and happy. In truth, I like happiness. But
let’s talk about you. It’s not interesting to talk about me. And first, let’s drink to
something. That makes it so much easier to have a conversation.
She gets up and rings. She gazes at Orpheus smiling during the short wait.
It really pleases me to spend a few minutes chatting with you.

60
The Concierge arrives.

What would you like to drink? A cocktail? A cognac?
Orpheus
If you wish.
Mme Henri
A cognac, please.
Concierge
A single glass?
Mme Henri
Yes. to Orpheus
Excuse me. I don’t drink.
The Concierge has left. M. Henri looks again at Orpheus, smiling.
Our chance meeting here makes me very happy.
Orpheus with an annoyed gesture

Thanks.
Mme Henri
You’re probably wondering why I’m so interested in you.
Orpheus nods slowly.
I was in the back of the room yesterday when she came to you, as if called by your
music. Those brief instants when one surprises destiny who’s simply placing its pawns
on the board are really troubling, aren’t they?
The Concierge comes in.
Ah! Here’s your cognac!
The Concierge
Here you are sir. A cognac.
Orpheus
Thanks
The Concierge leaves slowly.

61
Mme Henri who watched him go out.

Have you noticed how unusually slowly the Concierge just left the room?
Orpheus
No
Mme Henri goes to listen at the door.
He has certainly gone back to his post behind the door.
She comes back to Orpheus.
I’m sure that he’s already come into your room several times under various pretexts.
Hasn’t he already tried to talk to you?
Orpheus
He tried. Yes.
Mme Henri
See, I’m not the only one who’s interested in you today…I bet the merchants, the
railroad employees, little girls in the street have been smiling at you since yesterday in
an unusual way…
Orpheus
People are always kind to lovers.
Mme Henri
It’s not just kindness. Don’t you think that they’re looking at you a little too fixedly?
Orpheus
Why?
M. Henri smiles.
For no reason.
She’s thoughtful for a minute, then suddenly takes Orpheus by the arm.
There are two types of people. One kind are plentiful, fertile, happy, plenty to eat,
happy to eat their fill, makes their children, do their work, count their pennies, in good
times and bad, despite epidemics and wars, until the day they die; people for living,
people for every day, people one never imagines dead.
…And then there are the others, the noble ones, the heroes. Those that one can see laid
out, pale, a perfect red hole in their heads, triumphant with a 21 gun salute or a state
funeral. Haven’t you ever dreamed about that?

62
Orpheus
Never, and tonight less than never.
Mme Henri goes to him, puts his hand on his shoulder, and looks at him almost
tenderly.
Too bad. It’s never good to believe too much in happiness. Especially when you have
a good heart. It just leads to disappointment.
Concierge
Sir, there is a young woman outside asking for Miss Eurydice. I told her she had gone
out, but she acted like she didn’t believe me. She insists on seeing you and only you.
Shall I tell her to come up?
Evelyn comes in, pushing aside the Concierge.

I’ve already come up. Where is Eurydice?
Orpheus
She went out, miss. Who are you?
Evelyn
One of her friends from the company. I have to talk to her right now.
Orpheus
She has gone out. And what’s more, I don’t think she has anything to say to you.
Evelyn
Oh? You’re wrong about that. She has a lot of things to tell me. How long ago did she
go out? Did she take her suitcase when she left?
Orpheus
Her suitcase? Why do you think she would have taken her suitcase? She went down to
buy us dinner.
Evelyn
She may well have gone down to buy your dinner, but she had good reasons to take her
suitcase anyway, because she was supposed to join us at the railroad station to take the
8:12 train with us.
Orpheus
Join who?

63
The Concierge, who has pulled out her big copper watch…
It’s 8:10 and 40 seconds.
Evelyn, as if to herself.
She must already be on the platform with him. Thanks.
She makes an about face. Orpheus grabs her in front of the door.
Orpheus
On the platform with who?
Evelyn
Let go of me! You’re hurting me. I am going to miss my train.
The Concierge, who is still consulting his watch.

8:11.
Dulac appears on the doorstep and says to the Concierge all in one continuous winding
sentence…
8:13… Your watch is slow... The train has left.
To Orpheus
Let go of her! I can tell you. On the platform with me.
Orpheus recoiling.
Who are you?
Dulac
Alfredo Dulac. Eurydice’s producer. Where is she?
Orpheus
What do you want?
Dulac comes calmly into the room chewing on his old cigar.
And you?
Orpheus
Eurydice is my love.
Dulac
Since when?
Orpheus
Since yesterday.

64
Dulac
Well, it turns out she’s mine too. Well, my lover… since last year.
Orpheus
You’re lying.
Dulac smiles.
Because she forgot to tell you about me?
Orpheus
Eurydice told me everything before coming with me. For three months, she was the
girlfriend of the young man who threw himself under the train yesterday.
Dulac
Do you think I’m an idiot? He’s a muscle-head who acted like a brute. Everybody in
the company was afraid of him. The girl tells him she is leaving him, he goes and
throws himself under the local to Perpignan? Sure … What I don’t get is why she told
him anything… And then she slipped away without a sound, like a silly goose…….
Orpheus
He was probably the only one whom she owed anything to.
Dulac
Oh no. There was me. First as producer. This makes two nights that I’ve had to
replace her at the last minute, which is never fun. And then … I know you won’t want
to hear this, the day before yesterday, it was me she spent the night with.
Orpheus looks at him.
Orpheus
I’m not sure if you’re more detestable or ridiculous.
Dulac comes toward him menacingly.

Is that right?
Orpheus
Actually, I think you’re more ridiculous, despite your airs.
Dulac
Because the girl was in this bed last night instead of mine? You’re a child. A young
woman like Eurydice, you have to grant her her little whims. Yes, she was also
sleeping with the imbecile who killed himself yesterday. You, at least, I understand.
You have pretty eyes, you’re young….
Orpheus.
I love Eurydice and she loves me!

65
Dulac
She told you that.
Orpheus
Yes.
Dulac goes to sit calmly in the armchair.

She’s an extraordinary young woman. It’s lucky that I know her.
Orpheus
And what if I know her better than you do?
Dulac
Since yesterday?
Orpheus
Yes, since yesterday.
Dulac
Look, I’m not trying to act like I’m exceptionally smart. If it were a matter of a
different question----you seem much more intelligent than I----- I would say to you
maybe: “yes”, but there are two things that I know well: first my profession…
Orpheus
And then, Eurydice?
Dulac
No. I’m not that vain. Women. I’ve been a producer for twenty years. Women, I sell
them in bulk young Man, to dance for me in the revues in the provinces or bray out the
grand air of La Tosca in the concert halls. They don’t matter to me---and then, on the
other hand, I love them. That makes at least one good reason out of two for insisting
that I know them. And Eurydice may be a strange girl--- I’ll grant you that.--- but
given the way we’ve both known her, you will have to agree with me anyway that she
is a woman…
Orpheus
No.
Dulac
What? No? You thought she was an angel maybe. Take a good look at me, old boy.
Eurydice was with me for a year. Do I look like I’m the type to seduce an angel?
Orpheus
You’re lying. Eurydice couldn’t have been with you!

66
Dulac
You’re her lover, me too. Shall I describe her to you?
Orpheus recoils (steps back).

No
Dulac approaches
What’s she like, your Eurydice? Do you have to make her get out of bed in the
morning? Do you drag her away from her detective stories and her cigarettes? Let’s
see, have you ever seen her without a butt in the corner of her mouth like a street
urchin? And what about her stockings? Could she find them as she was getting up?
Be honest now! Admit anyway that her shirt was on the top of the dresser; her shoes
were in the bathtub, her hat under the armchair and her purse nowhere to be found. I’ve
already bought her seven of them.
Orpheus
That’s not true.
Dulac
What do you mean that’s not true? You’ve seen an organized Eurydice, have you? Ha.
I don’t believe in miracles. I hope, in any case, that she’s already made you stop in
front of every store window. How Many dresses has she already asked you to buy her
since yesterday? How Many hats? Between us…..
Orpheus
Eurydice followed me here with a single dress. A single small suitcase.
Dulac
I’m starting to believe that we’re not talking about the same girl, or maybe that she
thought it would just be a tryst…She was telling you that it was for life? I’m sure she
was sincere. She was thinking: “This will be for life, if he is brave enough to keep me,
if papa Dulac doesn’t find my trail, if he doesn’t come and take me back.” And
underneath it all, she was absolutely certain that papa Dulac would find her. That
would be just like her.
Orpheus
No.
Dulac
But yes, dear boy, of course it is…It goes without saying that Eurydice is a rare
creature, but, still, she has the mentality of all good little women.
Orpheus
That’s not true.

67
Dulac
Nothing is true for you. You’re a strange fellow. How long has it been since she left?
Orpheus
Twenty minutes.
Dulac
Good. That’s really true?
Orpheus
Yes.
Dulac
She insisted on going out alone, right?
Orpheus
Yes. It amused her to buy our dinner all by herself.
Dulac
That’s true too, is it?
Orpheus
Yes.
Dulac
Well, listen to me. I had just had a letter delivered to her not five minutes earlier,
asking her to join me on the platform at the train station.
Orpheus
No one could have given her such a letter. I haven’t left her an instant since yesterday.
Dulac
You sure about that?
He looks at the Concierge. Orpheus looks at him also, without knowing why.
The Concierge, who suddenly looks worried.

Excuse me. I think someone is calling me.
He disappears.
Orpheus
I did leave her for a minute. That’s true. The Concierge had come to tell me that they
were asking for me in the office.

68
Dulac
She’s the one that I charged with giving the note to ONLY Eurydice. She gave it to her
while you were down below.
Orpheus goes to him.

What did you tell her in that note?
Dulac
That I was waiting for her at the 8:12 train. I didn’t have to say anything more than
that……Since destiny was coming to knock at her door, saying “Eurydice, it’s
finished”, I was sure that she would obey. It’s just men, dear boy, who jump out
windows…or underneath trains.
Orpheus
You see, however, that she has not come to join you.
Dulac
That’s quite true. She hasn’t come. But the Eurydice that I know is always late. I’m
not too worried. Did you give her a long shopping list for the market.
Orpheus
Some bread and fruit.
Dulac
And yet you told me she left twenty minutes ago? I have the impression that’s a lot of
time to buy some bread and fruit. The street is full of merchants. Is the Eurydice you
know also late?
To Evelyn
She must be at the train station looking for us. You, go see!
Orpheus
I’m going too.
Dulac
You’re beginning to believe she might have wanted to join us? I’m staying here.
Orpheus stops and cries out to Evelyn.

If you see her, tell her that……….
Dulac
It’s pointless. If she sees her at the station, it means I was right; it means that your
faithful and organized little Eurydice was a dream. And in that case, you have nothing
more to say to her.
Orpheus calls out to Evelyn.

Tell her that I love her!

69
Dulac
You’ll probably get a tear out of her: she’s sensitive. That’s about it.
Orpheus yells out again.

Tell her that she’s not like he thinks, that she is like I … I know that she is.
Dulac
It’s too complicated to explain in a train station. Hurry up, you, and, hold on, I like a
good bet, bring her back here. Then she’ll be able to tell us, herself, who she is.
As Evelyn is going to go out, she bumps into the Concierge who appears on the
doorsill.
Concierge
Sir…….
Orpheus
What is it?
Concierge
A detective with the police van….
Orpheus
What does he want?
Concierge. She’s coming to ask if anyone here might be a relative of the young
woman, because she has had an accident, sir, on the bus from Toulon…..
Orpheus shouts out like a crazy person.

She is hurt? She is downstairs?
He rushes into the hallway. Dulac follows him, throwing away his cigar with a stifled
curse; Evelyn also disappears.
Dulac coming back.

What was she going to do on the bus to Toulon?
The Concierge has stayed silent across from Mme Henri who hasn’t moved.
Concierge. They’ll never know what she was going to do there. She’s not hurt. She’s
dead. Coming out of Marseille, the bus hit an eighteen wheeler. The other passengers
only got a few glass shards from the windows. She’s the only one. I saw her. It was
awful. They stretched her out in the rear of the police van. Just has one small wound on
the temple. She looks like she is sleeping.

70
Mme Henri doesn’t seem to be listening. With her hands buried in the pockets of her
coat, she passes in front of the Concierge. At the door, she turns to the concierge .
Mme. Henri
Will you please tell them to get my bill ready? I’m leaving tonight.
She goes out.
Curtain

71
Act II, Scene I
The décor of the train station restaurant in the shadows. It is night. A small light comes
from signal lights on the platforms.
The restaurant is empty. The chairs are stacked on the tables. The scene is empty a
moment then one of the doors to the platforms opens: Mme Henri enters escorting
Orpheus. Orpheus is not wearing a hat, he is wearing a raincoat. He is pale, tired.
Orpheus (looks around not comprehending)

Where are we?
Mme Henri
You don’t recognize this place?
Orpheus
I can’t walk anymore.
Mme Henri
You’re going to rest
He takes a chair from a table.
Here, sit.
Orpheus sits.
Orpheus
Where are we? Have I been drinking? Everything around me is spinning. What’s
happened since yesterday?
Mme Henri
It’s still yesterday.
Orpheus (suddenly realizes and screams, wanting to get up)

You promised…
Mme Henri (puts his hand on his shoulder)

Yes. I promised. Sit. Rest. Do you want to smoke?
He hands Orpheus a cigarette who takes it automatically.
Orpheus (looks around again while the match burns until it fades out.)
Where are we?
Mme Henri
Guess.

72
Orpheus
I want to know where we are.
Mme Henri
You told me you wouldn’t be scared.
Orpheus
I’m not scared. I just want to know if we’ve finally arrived.
Mme Henri
Yes, we have arrived.
Orpheus
Where?
Mme Henri
Have a little patience.
He lights another match, follows the walls, goes to an electric switch. A little noise in
the shadows, then a light goes on on the back wall, giving off a little light.
Do you recognize it now?
Orpheus
It’s the station cafe…
Mme Henri
Yes.
Orpheus (standing)
You lied to me didn’t you.
Mme Henri
No. I never lie. Stay seated. Don’t scream.
Orpheus
Why did you come into my room? I was there on the unmade bed, hurting. I was
sprawling in my hurt.
Mme Henri (dully)

I could no longer listen to you suffer.
Orpheus
What do you care if I suffer?

73
Mme Henri
I don’t know. It was the first time. Something strange started to weaken in me. And if
you cried, if you suffered more, it was going to bleed like a wound…I was leaving the
hotel. I put my suitcases down and I came in to calm you down. And since nothing
would calm you, I made this promise so you would be quiet.
Orpheus
I’m quiet now. I’m hurting in silence. If you have sensitive nerves, it must make you
suffer.
Mme Henri
You still don’t believe me?
Orpheus (head in his hands)

I want to believe you, but how can I?
Mme Henri (laughs quietly; he pats Orpheus’ shoulder)

You’re stubborn, little man! You cry, you moan, you suffer, but you don’t want to
believe. I like you. I knew that yesterday because I usually leave immediately. I hate
pain. Entering your room was difficult.
He pats his head with a kind of strange tenderness.
Soon you won’t cry anymore, little man, you won’t have to ask yourself if you believe.
Orpheus
She’s coming?
Mme Henri
She’s already here.
Orpheus
In the train station? But she’s dead. I saw them take her away.
Mme Henri
You really want to understand, don’t you? It’s not enough for you that fate is making a
huge exception for you. You put your hand in mine without shaking, you followed me
without even asking who I was, without slowing down all night, but you want to
understand anyway…
Orpheus
No. I want to see her again. That’s all.
Mme Henri
You’re not more curious? I bring you to the gates of death and all you can think of is
your girl friend?…You’re right, death only deserves your contempt. She brings down

74
her enormous nets, uses her Scythe haphazardly. She is grotesque, horrible, huge. A
fool who can cut off her own limb with the rest. To anyone who has seen a man escape
danger, hold on tight to a gun or to the stern of a boat, take advantage of everything and
kill his enemy with precision, it is obvious that man is to be feared more. Poor
death…heavy and mad.
She is sitting next to Orpheus feeling tired.
I’m going to tell you a secret, only you, because I like you. She only has one thing for
herself that no one knows about. She is good, extremely good. She is afraid of tears, of
pain. Each time she can, each time life lets her, she does it quick. When life is stubborn,
holds on like a poor soul, even if life has lost, even if the person can no longer move, is
disfigured, even if he must suffer for ever. Death is the only real friend. From the tip of
her finger, she gives the monster his face, she appeases the damned, she offers
deliverance.
Orpheus
I would have rather Eurydice been disfigured, suffering, old!
Mme Henri (lowers her head, suddenly overwhelmed)

Of course, my simple friend, you are all the same.
Orpheus
She stole Eurydice from me, this friend! With her finger, she wilted the young, light
and smiling Eurydice…
Mme Henri (stands up suddenly as if exasperated)

She’s going to give her back to you.
Orpheus
When?
Mme Henri
Soon. But listen carefully. Your happiness was over anyway. These 24 hours, this poor
day, it was all that was in store for the little Orpheus and Eurydice, your life – your
precious life. Today you are not allowed to cry for a dead Eurydice but only for an
escaped Eurydice.
Orpheus
It’s not true. She did not go to meet that Man!
Mme Henri
No. But she didn’t come back to the room either. She took the bus to Toulon all by
herself, without a cent, without a suitcase. Where was she going? And who exactly was
this Eurydice that you thought you could love?

75
Orpheus
Whoever she says, I still love her. I want to see her again. Oh, I’m begging you, give
her back to me even imperfect. I want to suffer and have shame because of her. I want
to lose her again and find her again. I want to loathe her and then rock her in my arms
like a small child. I want to fight, to suffer, to accept…I want to live.
Mme Henri (irritated)

You’re going to live…
Orpheus
With stains, smears, despair and starting over – with shame…
Mme Henri (looking at him with contempt and tenderness; he whispers)

Little man…
He goes to him and says in a different tone
Farewell, we’re giving her back to you. She is there on the platform, at the same place
you saw her yesterday for the first time – where she touched you for eternity.
Do you remember the condition?
Orpheus (already looking at the door)

Yes.
Mme Henri
Repeat it. If you forget the condition, I can longer help you.
Orpheus
I must not look at her.
Mme Henri
It won’t be easy.
Orpheus
If I look at her in the face once before morning, I lose her again.
Mme Henri (stops and smiles)

You don’t ask why or how anymore?
Orpheus (still staring at the door)

No
Mme Henri (smiles again)

Good then…Farewell. You can start again from the beginning. Don’t thank me. See
you soon.

76
She leaves. Orpheus stays a moment without moving, then he goes to the door and
opens it onto the deserted platform. First, Orpheus says nothing, then quietly he asks
without looking.
Orpheus
Are you there?
Eurydice
Yes, my love. I know. They told me.
Orpheus
They allowed me to come get you…Only, I must not look at you before day break.
Eurydice (appears)
Yes, my love. I know. They told me.
Orpheus (takes her by the hand and leads her without looking at her)
They cross the scene silently to a bench.
Come. We’ll wait here till dawn. When the Waitress arrives in the morning, at the
break of dawn, we will be free. We will ask them for hot coffee and something to eat.
You will be alive. Was it cold?
Eurydice
Yes. That’s really it. It was terribly cold. But they told me not to talk about anything. I
can only talk about what happened until the moment when the driver smiled that smile
in the rear view mirror and when the truck plowed into us like a crazy beast.
Orpheus
The driver turned around to smile in the mirror?
Eurydice
Yes. You know, women bus drivers are very rare. But I didn’t want anyone to look at
me.
Orpheus
She was smiling at you?
Eurydice
Yes. I’ll explain later my love. She turned the wheel and everyone screamed at the
same time. I saw the truck jump and that smile becoming a frown. That’s all.
A moment. She adds in a quiet voice:
After all I no longer have the right.

77
Orpheus
Are you OK?
Eurydice
Oh yes ! Leaning against you.
Orpheus
Put my coat on your shoulders.
He puts the coat on her shoulders. Silence. They are happy.
Eurydice
Do you remember the server from the Comédie Française?
Orpheus
We’re going to see him tomorrow morning.
Eurydice
And the beautiful mute cashier? Maybe we’ll finally know what she thought of us. It’s
magical to live again…It’s like we just met.
She asks like for the first time.
Are you good, are you mean, what’s your name?
Orpheus (playing the game and smiling)

Orpheus and you?
Eurydice
Eurydice… And more quietly, she adds:
Except this time we have warning.
She lowers her head and says after a moment:
I’m sorry. You must have been so scared.
Orpheus
Yes. At the beginning, it’s a dull presence that stays with you, watches from behind,
listens to you talk. And suddenly it jumps on you like a beast. At first it seems like a
weight that gets heavier and heavier on your shoulders. And then it moves, it starts
weighing on the back of your neck, strangling you. And you watch others who are
calm, others who don’t have a beast on their back, who aren’t scared and who say: “No,
it’s normal, maybe she missed the bus, maybe she stopped to chat…” But then that
beast starts screaming, working on your shoulder blade. “Does one miss the bus in life?
No, you slip under it while stepping down; you hit it trying to cross. Does one chat in

78
life? No! you become suddenly crazy, you are kidnapped, you run away…” Luckily,
the detective who came to save me had a look of sadness on her face. When I saw you,
on the floor of the van, it stopped, I was no longer afraid.
Eurydice
They put me in a van?
Orpheus
A police van. They laid you down on the back seat, a policeman next to you, like a little
thief who has just been arrested.
Eurydice
Was I ugly?
Orpheus
You only had a little blood on your temple. You looked like you were sleeping.
Eurydice
Sleeping? If only you knew how I was running. I was running like mad.
She stops a little, then asks:
It must have hurt.
Orpheus
Yes.
Eurydice
I’m sorry.
Orpheus
You shouldn’t be.
Eurydice
If they brought me back to the hotel, it’s because I still had a letter in my hand. I had
written it for you in the bus before we left. Did they give it to you?
Orpheus
No, the must have kept it at the station.
Eurydice
Ah! She asks, suddenly worried.
Do you think they’re going to read it?

79
Orpheus
It’s possible.
Eurydice
Do you think we can keep them from reading it? Can’t we do something? Send
someone, call them, tell them they don’t have the right?
Orpheus
It’s too late.
Eurydice
But I wrote this letter to you, what I said was for you. How is it possible that someone
else may read it? That someone else might whispers those words? A fat Man with ugly
thoughts maybe, a fat ugly Man who is self-important? He’ll laugh, I’m sure he will…
at my sorrow…Oh! don’t let him please, don’t let him read it, I beg of you! I feel as if
I’m naked in front of another…
Orpheus
Maybe they didn’t unseal the envelope.
Eurydice
But I hadn’t sealed it yet! I was about to when the truck hit us. And that’s probably why
the driver looked at me in the mirror. I was sticking out my tongue, it made her smile, I
was smiling also…
Orpheus
You were smiling too? You could smile?
Eurydice
No, it’s not that, you don’t understand! I’d just written you a letter where I told you I
love you, that it hurt but I had to leave…I stuck out my tongue to lick the glue on the
envelope; she made a funny comment…Everyone around me was smiling…
She stops, discouraged

Oh, you had to be there... It’s hard. You see, everything is too hard…
Orpheus changes the subject

Why were you on the bus to Toulon.
Eurydice
I was running away.
Orpheus
You got Dulac’s letter?

80
Eurydice
Yes, that’s why I was leaving.
Orpheus
Why didn’t you show me the letter when I came back up?
Eurydice
I couldn’t.
Orpheus
What did he say in the letter?
Eurydice
To meet him at the 8:12 train or he would come get me himself.
Orpheus
And that’s why you ran away?
Eurydice
Yes. I didn’t want you to see him.
Orpheus
Didn’t you think he would show up anyway and I would see him?
Eurydice
I did. But I was a coward, I didn’t want to be there.
Orpheus
You were his mistress?
Eurydice (screams)
NO! Is that what he said? I didn’t know he would tell you and you would believe him!
He’s been after me for a long time, he hates me. I knew he was going to talk to you
about me. I was scared.
Orpheus
Why didn’t you admit everything yesterday, when I asked you to tell me everything,
that you had also been this Man’s mistress?
Eurydice
I was not his mistress.
Orpheus
Eurydice, now it’s better to come clean. Anyway, we are two poor hurt souls on this
bench, two poor souls who talk to each other without seeing each other…

81
Eurydice
What do I have to say so you’ll believe me?
Orpheus
I don’t know. That’s it, you see that’s the horror…I don’t know how I will ever believe
you again…
A moment passes. He asks quietly, humbly.
Eurydice, so that I can have a clean start, when you tell me the most simple things – if
you went out, if the weather was nice, if you sang – tell me the truth now, even if it is
terrible, even if it will hurt me. It won’t hurt more than the burden I carry that you lied
to me…If it’s too hard to admit, don’t answer, but don’t lie to me. Did this Man tell the
truth?
Eurydice (after an imperceptible lapse of time)

No. He lied.
Orpheus
You were never with him?
Eurydice
No. Silence
Orpheus ( looking straight ahead)

If it’s really true, there’s an easy way to find out: your eye will be clear as a puddle of
water at night. If you’re lying or if you’re unsure of yourself, there is a darker green
circle around your pupil…
Eurydice
It will soon be daylight, my love, and you will be able to look at me…
Orpheus
Yes. To the depths of your soul, all at once like jumping in the water. Head first to the
depths of your soul! And I will stay there; I will drown there…
Eurydice
Yes, my love.
Orpheus
Because in the end, it’s unbearable to be two! Two skins, two cells, waterproof
membranes around us, each unto himself with his oxygen his own blood no matter what
we do, enclosed, alone in his skin. We hug each other, we touch to get out of this
horrible solitude. A little pleasure, a little illusion, but quickly we are alone again, with
our organs, our only friends.

82
Eurydice
Be quiet!
Orpheus
So we talk. This too. This sound of air in the throat, on the teeth. This basic morse code.
Two prisoners knocking on the back wall of their cells. Two prisoners who will never
see each other. Oh! We are alone, don’t you feel how alone?
Eurydice
Hold me close.
Orpheus (She holds him from behind)

A warmth, yes. A warmth from without. That is almost certain. There is someone. I am
not completely alone. One can’t be demanding!
Eurydice
Tomorrow, you can turn around. You will kiss me.
Orpheus
Yes. I will be with you for a moment. I will believe for a minute that we are two stems
wound around the same root. And then we will separate and become two. Two
mysteries, two lies. She turns away Two.
He holds her. He dreams.
One day you will have to breathe me in, take me in. It would be wonderful. I will be so
small, I will be warm; I will be happy.
Eurydice (softly)
Don’t talk anymore. Don’t think anymore. Hold my hand. Be happy. Everything would
become so simple again if you only let yourself love me. Without saying a word.
Orpheus
Do you think that is what they call happiness?
Eurydice
Yes. Your hand is happy right now. Your hand only asks to be here, peaceful and
warm. Don’t ask me anything. We love each other, we are young; we are going to live.
Please, let yourself be happy…
Orpheus (stands up)

I can’t
Eurydice
Accept if you love me.

83
Orpheus
I can’t.
Eurydice
Then at least be quiet.
Orpheus
I can’t do that either! There are still secrets. We have to say everything, one word at a
time. We have to go to the end word by word. And there are many you will see!
Eurydice
My love, be quiet, I’m begging you!
Orpheus
Can’t you hear it? It’s a bee hive around us since yesterday. Dulac’s words, my words,
your words, the words of others, all these words that brought use here. And those words
of everyone watching us like two beasts being taken away; the most conventional, the
most vulgar, those we hate the most. We’re going to say them, I’m know we’ll say
them. We always say them.
Eurydice (standing)
My love!
Orpheus
No! No more words! Enough! Since yesterday, words are sticking to us. I’m going to
find the truth.
Eurydice (throwing herself on him, holding him tight, head buried in his chest)
Wait, wait, please. We need the night to end. It’s morning soon. Wait. Everything will
be simple again. They’ll bring us coffee, toast…
Orpheus
I can’t take it. It’s too much to bear…
Eurydice (holding him, her head in his chest, she pleads)

Oh! please love, don’t look at me…What good will come of it? Let me live...You are
terrible, terrible like the angels. You think everyone can go on, strong and clear like
you, making the shadows on the side of the road disappear…But shadows grow, push
us, pull us, make us fall…Oh! please, don’t look at me, my love, don’t look at me
yet…I may not be the woman you wanted me to be. The one you invented that happy
first day…But can’t you feel me against you? I’m here, warm, soft and I love you. I’ll
give you all the happiness I have. But don’t ask for more that I can give, be happy with
what you have…Please… Don’t look at me. Let me live…I’m begging you…I so want
to live…

84
Orpheus (screaming)
Living, living! Like your mother and her lover? With small emotions, smiles,
indulgences and good meals, after which you pretend it’s all OK. No. I love you too
much to live!
He has picked up her head and is looking at her eyes. They are now facing each other,
separated by a horrible silence. He finally asks dully.
He held you against him, that disgusting Man? He touched you with his fingers covered
in rings?
Eurydice
Yes.
Orpheus
How long have you been his mistress?
Eurydice (answers now with the same anger and hurt)

A year.
Orpheus
And it’s true that you were with him the day before yesterday?
Eurydice
Yes. The day before I met you, he came to get me after the show. He tried to blackmail
me. He was always blackmailing me.
Dulac (enters suddenly)

Admit that on that day, you followed me willingly, you little liar.
Eurydice (leaves Opheus’ arms and runs to him)

Willingly, willingly? I spit every time you kissed me.
Dulac (calmly)
Yes, my dove.
Eurydice
The second you let me go, I would run away. I would scrub myself raw to rid myself of
you. I would change all my clothes. You never knew did you?
Dulac (to Orpheus)

Ridiculous.
Eurydice
Go ahead, laugh. I know you. Your phony laugh.

85
Orpheus
You seem to know him pretty well!
Eurydice (sincerely)
I don’t know him!
Dulac (sniggers, to Orpheus)

You see? I told you it was so, young Man.
Eurydice
You’re such a bully. Don’t pretend you are the strong one…
To Oprheus
My love, everyone in theater knows each other. Vincent and my mother don’t respect
him. And I don’t either, not because I was his mistress, but because no one does.
She stops, discouraged.
Oh! It’s too hard, it’s too hard to always have to explain everything…
Orpheus
You have to explain it now. You said he was blackmailing you that evening like every
evening. What kind of black mail?
Eurydice
Always the same.
Dulac
You’re going to claim you believed this blackmail for a year, little liar?
Eurydice
See, you admit you blackmailed me for a year!
Dulac
Don’t play dumb, Eurydice. You’re not. I’m asking if you believed it for a year?
Eurydice
Why did you do it each time if you didn’t think I believed it?
Dulac
Ah, it became a formality. I threatened you so you had a reason to follow me without
having to admit your own pleasure. One couldn’t be more gallant with the ladies.

86
Eurydice
So when you threatened me, it wasn’t for real? You tricked me each time? You made
me go with you every time and it wasn’t true, you wouldn’t have fired him?
Dulac
Of course not, my silly girl.
Orpheus
What did he threaten you with?
The little stage Manager appears, looking ill, clumsy. He takes off his little hat before
speaking.
The stage Manager

He would threaten to fire me, sir, each time.
Dulac (explodes when he sees him)

He’s an idiot! He always loses everything! I don’t want such an fool in my company!
Eurydice
My love, This little man is all alone with his 10 year-old brother; they have only his
salary to live on…And it’s too unfair, everyone is against him.
The stage Manager

You have to understand, I have to take care of all the trunks, all the sets, and I’m all
alone.
He falls on a bench and cries.
I’ll never be able to do it! Never!
Dulac
He’s an idiot, I tell you, an idiot!
Eurydice
You’re the idiot for always screaming at him. I’m sure if you had compassion, he
would understand. Listen Louis…
The stage Manager

Yes, Eurydice, I’m listening
Eurydice (to Orpheus)

You see. I know him too. Everyone knows everyone.
She comes back to the stage Manager.

87
Listen, dear Louis, it’s so simple. You arrive at the station where we switch trains. You
get off the train quickly. You run to the luggage car. You make sure to arrive before
they start taking the luggage off. You count the trunks to be sure none are left behind…
The stage Manager

Yes but the others are in such a hurry to go into town. They bring me their suitcases…
Eurydice
You have to tell them to wait. First, take care of the trunks.
The stage Manager

Yes, they place their suitcases next to me on the platform, tell me to watch them and
leave. There are so many people on the platform…
Eurydice
You have to stop them from leaving! You have to run after them!
The stage Manager

But I can’t watch the trunks if I run after them! Oh, I’ll never be able to do it, never!
It’s better to leave me…
Dulac (explodes)
He’s an idiot, I tell you, an idiot! This time it’s decided. It’s done. Over. I’m letting him
go at the next stop.
Eurydice
But don’t always scream! How do you expect him to understand if you’re always
screaming?
Dulac
He will never understand. I’m telling you. He’s a loser! I’m firing you at Chatellrault,
you incompetent fool!
The stage Manager

Mr. Dulac. If you fire me, I have nowhere to go. We will both be lost, my little brother
and I…I promise to pay attention, Mr. Dulac.
Dulac
You’re fired! You’re fired!
Eurydice
I will help him! I promise I will make it so he never loses anything again…
Dulac
Promises, promises! No! He is incompetent. He’s fired!

88
Eurydice (clinging to him)

I promise he will pay attention. Dulac, I promise…
Dulac (looking at her)

You.. You always promise things but you rarely keep your promises.
Eurydice (not very loud)

But… I do…
Dulac (comes near her and says quietly)

If I keep him, will you be nice?
Eurydice (looks down)

Yes. She comes back to Orpheus.
That’s how it was each time…forgive me, my love! I was a coward, but I didn’t love
you then. I didn’t love anyone. And I was all alone to defend myself.
After a moment, she whispers.
I know that you’ll never be able to look at me now…
Orpheus (stepping back, says dully)

I will always see you with his hands on you. I will always see you as he described you
in that room.
Eurydice (humbly)
Yes, my love.
Orpheus
He wasn’t even jealous when he came to get you. He snickered: “a girl like Eurydice,
you have to let her have her whims”.
Eurydice (backs up a little)

He said that?
Orpheus
What is YOUR Eurydice like? Do you have to force her out of bed in the morning? Do
you have to force her away from her novels, her cigarettes? He even knew you were a
coward. That if he came to get you, you wouldn’t stay with me. Because you are a
coward, aren’t you? He does know you better than me, doesn’t he?
Eurydice
Yes, my love.

89
Orpheus
But can’t you at least defend yourself! Why don’t you defend yourself?
Eurydice (backing up)

How can I defend myself? By lying to you. I am messy, yes it’s true. I am lazy. I am a
coward…
The stage Manager (suddenly)

It’s not true!
Eurydice
What do you know about it, Louis?
The stage Manager

You weren’t a coward when you defended me against all of them. I know it. You
weren’t lazy when you got up at 6 am to come secretly help me before the others got
up…
Dulac (stunned)
What? You got up in the morning to help this idiot send the trunks?
Eurydice
Yes Dulac
The stage Manager

And she’s the one who finds everything, who fixes everything…She filed my
documents, helped me to not make mistakes…
Dulac
Well now I’ve seen everything!
Orpheus
If he’s telling the truth, speak! Why don’t you stand up for yourself?!
Eurydice
He’s telling the truth but so is Dulac. It’s too difficult.
All the characters of the play enter while they are talking. They are all in the shadows
in the back of the stage behind Eurydice.
Orpheus
So. It’s too difficult; all the people who knew you are around you; all the hands that
touched you are here. And all the words you said are on your lips…
Eurydice (moves back a little more with a pitiful smile)

So, you see. It’s better if I die again.

90
The bus driver

Don’t you understand that she’s tired? And she’s ashamed to always have to defend
herself? When you’re hunting you come across game like her. You tire them out, wear
them down until they’re mentally drained. They come back to the dogs and let it
happen. It’s like the story in the bus that she’s mixing up.
Orpheus
Who are you?
Eurydice
It’s the bus driver, my love. It’s nice of you to come.
The bus driver

Well you smiled at me. Do I look like someone she’d randomly smile at? You died with
a smile on your face, and from that to get suspicions... Well, I was there. I saw her.
The stage Manager

At last someone else is going to defend you. You’re going to tell him, aren’t you sir?
The bus driver

Of course, I’m going to tell him. That’s why I’m here!
Orpheus
Tell me what?
The bus driver

Why she smiled. I’d been watching her for a while….She was writing with a little
pencil in a corner waiting to leave…She was writing and crying at the same time. When
she finished writing, she dried her eyes with a corner of her handkerchief, and then she
stuck out her tongue to lick the envelope…So to cheer her up, I told her: “I hope he’s
worth it whoever you’re writing to!”
Eurydice
So then I smiled because I thought about you, my love.
The bus driver

You see?
There is a silence. Orpheus looks up and looks at Eurydice who is standing in front of
him humbly.
Orpheus
If you loved me why were you leaving?

91
Eurydice
I didn’t think I could do it…
Orpheus
Do what?
Eurydice
Make you understand.
They are standing in front of each other, in silence.
Lucienne (exclaims suddenly)

What I don’t understand is why everything is so sad to these children! My big cat, we
were passionate lovers, did it make us sad?
Vincent
Not at all! Not at all! I’ve always said it: a little love, a little money, a little success, life
is good!
Lucienne
A little love? A lot of love! This child thinks she invented love with this little violinist.
HA. We loved too. We wanted to kill each other for one another. Do you remember in
Biarritz when I wanted to throw myself from the rock of the Virgin Mary?
Vincent
It’s a good thing I caught you by your cape, my sweet!
Lucienne (screams at the thought; she starts explaining to Orpheus)

It was wonderful. We all wore small capes made of silk. Why had I wanted to kill
myself that time?
Vincent
It was because princess Bosco made me stay all evening reciting poetry…
Lucienne
No! Princess Bosco was when I wanted to swallow vinegar. I took the wrong bottle. It
was wine. What a surprise that was!
Vincent
We were so silly! It was the day of the skating teacher!
Lucienne
No! The story with the skating teacher was during the war, in Lausanne. No. No. The
day of the rock of the Virgin, it was when you cheated on me, I’m sure of it. Anyway,
the details aren’t important. What matters is that we loved each other passionately, to
the death…And did we die?

92
Eurydice (backing up)

No mother.
Lucienne
You see silly. If only you listened to your mother! But you never listen to me…
Eurydice (gets away from her)

Leave it mother. Now we’re out of time…
(to Orpheus who is watching her leave, paralyzed.)
You see my love. We shouldn’t complain too much…You were right. Wanting to be
happy, we could have become like them…How awful!
Lucienne Vincent
Why awful? How awful?
Orpheus
Why didn’t you tell me everything the first day? I may have understood the first day…
Eurydice
You think because I am a coward? Well, it’s not…
Orpheus
Why then why?
Eurydice
It’s too difficult my love. I’ll get confused again. I’m out of time, I’m sorry. Don’t
move…
(She backs up more and stops in front of a character)
Oh! It’s the beautiful cashier, the one who never says anything. I always thought you
had something to say.
The cashier
How happy the two of you were when you first approached each other! You were
beautiful, innocent, and terrible, like love…
Eurydice (smiles and backs up a little more)

Thank you.
(She stops in front of another character)

Oh, the waitress from the Comédie française. Our first character. Hello!

93
The waitress (with a noble gesture)

Farewell miss!
Eurydice (smiles in spite of herself)

You are very noble, very charming, you know. Hello, hello…
(She stops in front of a young woman wearing black and looks surprised)
But who are you? You must be making a mistake, I don’t remember you.
Detective
I am the police detective assigned to your case, miss. You have never seen me.
Eurydice
Oh! You have my letter. Please give it back. Please…
Detective
That’s not possible, miss
Eurydice
I don’t want that, vile, dirty, vain man to read it!
Detective
I can promise you that even the police chief will not read it, miss. No one else will read
it either. I’ve removed it from the file. The case is closed, no one will ever know. I have
it here. I re-read it every day… It touches me but still, it’s not the same…
She takes the letter from her pocket looking noble and sad, puts on glasses and starts to
read it without emotion while walking.
LETTER
“My love, I am in the bus and you are waiting for me in the room, and I don’t know if
I’m coming back. And even now, I can’t help but think that you don’t know it yet, and
I’m sad. I’m sad for you. I would like to take on all the sadness. But how? You can be
so full of sadness, so full that you have to bite your lips so that you won’t moan. So full
that tears flow freely from your eyes…you can’t take all the sadness. There’s always
enough sorrow for two. People in the bus are looking at me. They think it’s sad because
of my tears. I hate tears. They’re stupid. You always cry when you hurt yourself or peel
onions. You cry when you feel insulted or hurt. For this sadness I feel now, I would
have liked not to cry. I am far too sad to cry.
She is overcome by emotion, but steadies her voice and continues.
“I’m leaving my love. Since yesterday, I’ve been scared and you heard me saying “it is
difficult” in my sleep. You thought of me as so beautiful, my love. On the inside, as a
person, morally. I know you never thought I was beautiful physically. You saw me as
so strong, so pure…I could never have been that. Especially now, with that man on his

94
way. He was my lover also, but don’t think I ever loved him. You’ll see, no one can
love him. Don’t think I was with him because I was scared…He may tell you that. I
don’t expect you to understand. But I was so weak and insecure. I didn’t know you
then; that’s the secret. I didn’t love you. I didn’t know. The prudishness of good girls
made me laugh. Saving yourself for pride or for a chosen buyer…Since yesterday, my
love, I am more prude than they. Since yesterday, I blush when someone looks at me; I
tremble if touched. That is why I am leaving, my love, going alone…Not because I am
afraid that he will tell you we were together, not only because I’m afraid you won’t
love me anymore. I don’t know if you can understand. I’m leaving because I am so
ashamed. I’m leaving, my captain, because you taught me how to be a good little
soldier…”
During the entire reading, Eurydice has been backing up and is now at the back of the
stage.
Orpheus
I’m sorry Eurydice.
Eurydice (nicely from the back)

Don’t be, my love. I’m the one who is sorry.
To the others
Goodbye.
Orpheus (screams)
Eurydice!
He runs to the back but she has disappeared. The other characters fall away. Orpheus
is alone. He doesn’t move. Morning comes. A train whistle can be heard. When it is
almost light, the Waitress comes in, happy.
Waitress
Hello sir. It’s not warm this morning. Would you like something?
Orpheus (sits)
Yes. Whatever. Coffee.
Waitress
Yes sir.
He starts pulling the chairs from the tables. The cashier enters and goes to her cash
register, humming a sentimental pre-war song. A traveler passes on the platform,
hesitates, then enters timidly. He is carrying Many bags and instruments. It’s Orpheus’
dad.

95
Father
You are here son? I didn’t get on the train to Palavas, you know. It was full.
Completely full, my boy. And those animals wanted to make me pay a fine to be in
second class. I got off. I’ll lodge a complaint. A traveler has a right to a seat in any
class. They should have let me go on without a fine. Are you having coffee?
Orpheus (who seems to not see him)

Yes.
Father (sits next to him)

I wouldn’t mind one. I spent the night in the waiting room. It wasn’t warm.
He whispers to him.
To tell you the truth, I slipped into the first class waiting room. A nice leather bench. I
slept like a prince.
He sees the cashier and ogles her; she looks away; so does he.
You see, in the daytime, she doesn’t look as good. She has a nice figure, but she looks
vulgar…So, what did you decide son? Are you still coming with me?
Orpheus
Yes father.
Father
I knew that you wouldn’t abandon your old dad! To celebrate, we’re going to have a
nice meal in Perpignan. I know a little prix-fixe restaurant where for 15.75 you can
have lunch with wine, coffee and an after-dinner drink. And if you pay another 4 Euros,
you can have lobster as an appetizer. The good life, son, the good life…
Orpheus
Yes father
The curtain falls

96
ACT II scene 2
The hotel room. Orpheus half lying on the bed. Mme Henri standing against the wall
next to him. In the armchair, Father chewing on an enormous cigar.
Father (to Mme Henri)

Is it a cuban?
Mme Henri
Yes.
Father
A cigar like this must be expensive!
Mme Henri
Yes
Father
And you don’t smoke?
Mme Henri
No
Father
I don’t understand…If you don’t smoke why do you have such expensive cigars? Are
you a saleswoman?
Mme Henri
Yes. That’s right.
Father
Important business, right?
Mme Henri
Yes.
Father
Oh I understand. You have to persuade the client. So, you take a good cigar from your
pocket. You ask: Do you smoke? The other says yes happily. And there you go! You
got him in your pocket. Then you just deduct the price of the cigar from the sale price
to which it had been added. You’re a tricky one! I would have loved to conduct
business. How about you, son?
Orpheus doesn’t answer

97
Wake up son, wake up. Offer him a cigar. If you don’t finish it, I’ll smoke it. When I
am sad, a good cigar…
Orpheus and Mme Henri ignore him. Father sighs and adds more timidly.
Well, to each his own taste.
He starts admiring his cigar again, glancing at Orpheus and Henri in silence.
Mme Henri (in a soft voice after a moment)

You have to get up Orpheus.
Father
Right. I keep telling him…
Orpheus
No.
Father
But he never listens to his father.
Mme Henri
You have to get up Orpheus and start your life where you left it off…
Father
They’re waiting for us in Perpignan.
Orpheus (rises a little and screams at him)

BE QUIET!
Father (quietly)
I’m not saying anything bad. Just that they’re waiting for us in Perpignan.
Orpheus
I’m never going back with you!
Mme Henri (in a soft tone)

Your life is waiting like an old jacket you put back on in the morning.
Orpheus
I’m never putting it on again.
Mme Henri
You have another one?
Orpheus doesn’t answer. Father lights the cigar.

98
Why don’t you go back with him? I find your father charming!
Father
I’m not making him say that…
Mme Henri
Besides, you know him. That’s huge. You can tell him to be quiet, walk next to him
without talking to him. Can you imagine what awaits you without him? Friends who
tell you what they like and dislike; a wife who questions your every move with
affection? I mean any girl you meet in the street wants to be admired. If you want to
avoid a world of chit chat, you’re going to be terribly alone.
Orpheus
I’ll be alone. I’m used to it.
Mme Henri
Be careful with the words you choose. “I’ll be alone.” That evokes a shadow, a
coolness, a respite. But what a terrible mistake! You can’t really be alone. One is never
alone. After all, you’re always with yourself… as you know, that’s very different. Start
your life again with your father. He’ll tell you every day about how hard things are, he
will talk about prix-fixe menus. It will keep you busy. You will be less alone than if
you were by yourself.
Father (lost in his cigar)

Speaking of menus, I know a little restaurant in Perpignan called “Bouillon Jeanne-
Hachette”. Do you know it? A lot of businesspeople go there.
Mme Henri
No.
Father
For 15 Euros they give you, wine included: appetizer (lobster for 2 more Euros), a meat
dish with sides (very generous), vegetable, cheese, dessert (fruit or pastry) – wait, wait
– coffee and after dinner drink (cognac or a liqueur). The menu from that restaurant
with a cigar like this! I almost regret having already lit it.
These words don’t have the result he was counting on, he sighs.
So, are you coming to Perpignan? I’m inviting you.
Orpheus
No father.
Father
You don’t know what you’re missing.

99
Mme Henri
It’s true, Orpheus. You don’t know. You should listen to your father. It’s in this
restaurant that you’re most likely to forget Eurydice.
Father
Oh! I’m not saying it’s … sumptuous. But it is good.
Mme Henri
The only place in the world where Eurydice’s ghost is not: the “Bouillon Jeanne-
Hachette” in Perpignan. You should run there, Orpheus.
Orpheus
You think I want to forget her?
Mme Henri
You have to, my boy. As soon as possible. You were a hero for a day. You accumulated
in these few hours your share of life’s sorrow. It’s over now. You’re safe. Forget her
Orpheus, forget even her name. Take your father by the arm and go back to his
restaurants. Life can be reassuring again; death can take its usual chances; despair can
go back to being … tolerable.
He says this in a meaner tone, hanging over Orpheus. Orpheus raises his head and
looks at him.
So, get up, follow your father. You still have a nice career as a living person in front of
you.
Father (after a moment, smoking still)

You know, son, I’ve been in love too.
Mme Henri
You see. He was in love too. Look at him.
Father
It’s true. Look at me. I know it’s sad. I’ve also suffered. I’m not even talking about
your mother. When she died, we hadn’t been in love for a long time. I lost a woman I
adored. A girl from Toulouse, a wild one. She died after only 8 days. Her lungs. I cried
like a baby following the funeral procession. They had to let me sit in a café. Look at
me.
Mme Henri
Yes... Look at him.
Father
When I go sit in the restaurant “Grand Comptoir Toulousain”, where we met, I always
feel a little sad. Ah, but enough! Life is waiting. What can you do? You have to live it!

100
He puffs on his cigar dreamily, sighs and whispers
That restaurant, when I went there before the war, to think you could eat for only 1.75
Mme Henri (hovering over Orpheus)

Life is waiting. Waiting. Listen to your father, Orpheus.
Father (M. Henri’s words have given him a feeling of importance)

I’m going to be harsh, my son, and you’re going to protest. But I’m older than you and
you’ll see I was right when you grow up. First, it hurts, of course. But soon, you will
see, you feel a new softness…One morning (it happened to me one morning), you wash
up, put on a tie, the sun is shining, you’re in the street and all of a sudden, pff! You
realize that women are pretty again. We are all human, son, all the same, incorrigible.
Mme Henri
Listen Orpheus.
Father
I’m not saying we show off with the first one. No. We’re not brutes. But we can’t stop
talking about the one we lost. We tell her how alone we are…And it is true! We are
sincere. Oh you can’t imagine how this speech touches women. It’s simple. You may
call me a pirate, I still used this ten years later.
Orpheus
Be quite, father
Mme Henri
Why do you want him to be quiet? He’s talking to you the way life will talk to you;
he’s telling you what you will find out tomorrow if you get up and try to live…
Father (on a roll)

Life! But life is magnificent, my son…
Mme Henri
Listen carefully
Father
Don’t forget that you are just an inexperienced boy and that the Man who speaks to you
now has lived. We had such a time at the Conservatory in Niort! Golden youth. Always
a cane in hand; a pipe in our mouths, playing tricks. I hadn’t thought about the harp
then. I was studying bassoon and English horn. Every evening, I walked seven
kilometers to serenade a girl. We were all joyful, strong, eccentric. We backed away
from nothing. Once, in woodwind class, we challenged the brass section. We talked
about drinking 30 pints. Ugh! We threw up so! We were young, but we were happy.
We understood life!

101
Mme Henri
You see, Orpheus.
Father
When you have health, muscle, a spark, all you have to do is go for it. I don’t
understand you my boy. The first thing you need, a sense of humor. And a good sense
of humor is a question of balance. Here’s the secret: daily exercise. The reason I’m still
in great shape is I never stopped exercising. Ten minutes every morning. You don’t
have to do more but the ten minutes must count.
He gets up and with what is left of the cigar in his mouth, he starts a ridiculous display
of Swedish calisthenics.
1,2,3,4; 1,2,3,4; breathe deeply.1,2,3,4,5; 1,2,3,4,5. 1,2. 1,2 1,2. With this you never
have a belly or varicose veins. Health by happiness. Happiness by health. 1,2,3,4;
breathe deeply. 1,2,3,4. This is my secret.
Mme Henri
You see Orpheus, it’s so simple!
Father (sitting, out of breath)

It’s a question of will. Everything in life is a question of will. What has helped me to
get out of the most difficult situations is will. An iron will! But of course, it’s how you
go about it…People have always thought of me as a nice person. Velvet on top, but
steel underneath. I went straight ahead. I knew no obstacles. A crazy ambition. Gold,
power. But watch out! I was highly prepared technically. First prize in bassoon at the
Conservatory. Second prize in English horn and harmony. I could do anything. I was
well equipped. I like it when youth is ambitious. Wouldn’t you like to be a millionaire,
son?
Mme Henri
Answer your father, Orpheus.
Father
Money! It’s everything in life, son! You are sad, but you are young. Believe you can be
rich. Luxury, elegance, food, women. Think about the women, son, think about love!
Brunettes, blonds, red heads… A smorgasbord! And it’s out there waiting for you. You
are the sultan. You walk around and you lift a finger. That one! When you are rich,
handsome, young; they come running. And then, it’s crazy nights…Passion, love, warm
shadows, something Spanish. A life of sensations! Where is your sadness then? Gone.
He becomes serious
But that is not all there is to life. There is respect, social life. You can be strong,
powerful, a master of industry. You can abandon music…Meetings where the fate of

102
the European economy is in question (but you trick them all). Then strikes, armed
workers, violence. You appear alone at the doors of the factory. One shot is fired and
misses you. You don’t move. You speak to them. They think you’re going to back
down, promise things. They don’t know you. You are terrible. They lower their heads
and start working. It’s marvelous. So, you get into politics. Honored, powerful,
decorated, a senator. A national figure. A state burial, flowers, Many flowers, speeches.
And me in a corner, modest – they insisted I attend the ceremony – an old handsome
Man. Yes my hair has finally become white. I’m able to control my sadness…
He declares
“Let us honor the suffering of a father”
It’s too beautiful. He shouts
Ah my friend; how life is beautiful!
Mme Henri
You see, Orpheus
Father
The Man you see before you has suffered! He has drunk from the chalice of the
bittersweet. He has kept quiet, his teeth biting his lip until the blood spurted, so as not
to cry out. At times his partying companions did not suspect the torture he was
undergoing, but all the while…Betrayal, scorn, injustice…You’re surprised sometimes
by my bent form, by my prematurely gray hair, child? If you knew the weight of life
on a Man’s shoulders…
He vainly tries to take a puff on his cigar, looks at it, irritated, and throws it away with
a sigh. M. Henri goes to him and holds out his own cigarette case.
Mme Henri
Another cigar?
Father
Thank You. I’m embarrassed. Yes, yes, embarrassed. What an aroma! The packaging
itself is a work of art. Did you know that I’ve been told that the young ladies who used
to make these rolled them on their naked thighs?
He smells it.
On their thighs…
He stops.
What was I saying?
M. Henri
The weight of life…

103
Father, who has lost his lyrical impetus.

Just like that? The weight of life?
Mme Henri
If you knew the weight of life on a Man’s shoulders…
Father, who is cutting off the end of the cigar with his teeth.
Ah! That’s right! If you knew, son, the weight of life on a Man’s shoulder’s…
He stops, slowly lights his cigar, and ends simply.
It’s too heavy, son, it’s terribly heavy.
He inhales a long puff with unction.
Marvelous!
He winks at M. Henri.
I have the impression that I’m smoking a thigh.
He attempts to laugh, choking on the smoke. M. Henri has gone over to Orpheus.
Mme Henri
Did you hear your father, Orpheus? You should always listen to your father. Fathers
are always right.
Orpheus raises his eyes and looks at him. M. Henri smiles and adds gently.
Even the fools, Orpheus. Life is such that even foolish fathers know a lot about it,
sometimes even more about it than intelligent fathers. Life doesn’t need intelligence to
be understood. That’s probably what’s most irritating about it in its joyous parade.
Orpheus murmuring
Life…
Mme Henri
Don’t disrespect it. You were defending it just last night.
Orpheus
Yesterday is so far away.
Mme Henri
I told you life would make you lose Eurydice.

104
Orpheus
Don’t blame life…”Life”, that means nothing. It was me. It was me alone.
Mme Henri smiles.

You alone! How arrogant you are!
Orpheus
Exactly…it was my pride.
Mme Henri
Your pride! Really, little Man? You want pride to belong to you too? Your love, your pride,
desperation too no doubt…How you need to lay claim to all these emotions! You’re amazing!
Why not my oxygen, my nitrogen? You should say Pride, Love, Despair. Those are the names
of rivers, my friend. A little brook detaches from the river and waters you along with
thousands of others. That’s all. The river Pride does not belong to you.
Orpheus
Nor the river Jealousy either, I know. And the pain which is drowning me comes no doubt
from the same river Pain which is drowning at this moment millions of other men. It’s the
same icy water, the same anonymous currant, and afterwards? I don’t buy “That’s life.” What
do you want me to care about?... That a million grains of sand are ground away at the same
time that I am?
Mme Henri
They are your brothers, as they say.
Orpheus
I hate them each and every one…So, don’t try to pretend to me there’s comfort in the masses.
We are all alone. We are all very alone. That is the only sure thing.
Mme Henri has leaned toward him

And you, you are alone because you have lost Eurydice. Think what life was holding out for
you, your cherished life. To find yourself alone one day at the side of a living Eurydice.
Orpheus
No
M. Henri
Yes. One day or another, one year from now, five years, ten years, if you wish, still loving her
even, you would have realized that you no longer desired her, and she no longer desired you.
Orpheus
No

105
Mme Henri
Yes. It would have been as mundane as that. You would have been the man who cheated on
Eurydice.
Orpheus
Never.
Mme Henri
Who are you shouting at? Me or yourself? Alright, let’s say, if you prefer that you would have
been the man who felt like cheating on Eurydice. That’s not much better.
Orpheus
I would have always been faithful to her.
Mme Henri
Maybe, for a long time. With looks that don’t dare stray towards other women. And a slow,
sure hatred would have started to grow within you towards all the women in the street that you
would not have followed because of her…
Orpheus
That’s not true.
Mme Henri
Yes. Until one day when one of them would have passed in front of you, young and strong,
without a trace of sadness, without a trace of thought, a brand new woman, Orpheus, parading
in front of your weariness. Then, you would see death, betrayal, lies, suddenly become the
simplest of measures, injustice take on another name, fidelity, another face……
Orpheus
No. I would have closed my eyes. I would have fled.
Mme Henri
The first time maybe and you would have still walked for some time at the side of Eurydice
with the eyes of a Man who afraid to lose his dog in the street. But the hundredth time,
Orpheus!...
He makes a gesture.
Then again, Eurydice might have abandoned you first.
Orpheus
No.
Mme Henri
Why not? Because she loved you yesterday? A little bird capable of flying away without
knowing why, at the risk of dying from it.

106
Orpheus
We couldn’t help loving each other.
Mme Henri
Maybe she wouldn’t have been able to stop loving you, poor thing. It’s not very easy to stop
loving. Tenderness is long lived, you know. She might have had a way of kissing you before
going to meet her lover, which was so humble and sweet, that you might have still been able to
be somewhat happy. That’s true.
Orpheus
No. Not us, not us.
Mme Henri
You two like everyone else. You two more than them though. With your way of being tender,
you would have ripped each other apart until there was nothing left.
Orpheus
No.
Mme Henri
Yes. Or maybe one day, weary, smiling, weak, you would have agreed to kill the passion
between you and finally be happy and kind to each other. And we could have seen a
complacent Orpheus and an accommodating Eurydice…
Orpheus
No! Our love would have lasted forever, lasted until she was old and white haired next to me,
until I was old next to her!
Mme Henri
Life, your dear life, would not have allowed things to get that far. The love of Orpheus and
Eurydice could not have escaped it.
Orpheus
Yes
Mme Henri
No, my little friend. You are all the same. You have a thirst for eternity and from the moment
of the first kiss, you are green with terror because you fear somehow that it won’t last. The
promises are quickly used up. Then you build yourselves houses, because stones, they last;
you have a child, in order to remain loved. You place your hope in the happiness of this little
innocent recruit sitting amidst the raging combat that is life surrounding what is the most
fragile thing in the world, the promise of a man and a woman…And that dissolves, it crumbles,
it shatters anyway, just as it does for those who have promised each other nothing.

107
Father Half asleep.
Now…when I tell you that life is magnificent….
He turns around in the armchair; the hand holding the cigar falls; he murmurs, mouth open.
On the thigh…
Orpheus and M. Henri look at him in silence.
Mme Henri comes closer to Orpheus, and says in a low voice.

Life wouldn’t have left you Eurydice, my friend. But Eurydice can be given back to you
forever. The Eurydice of the first time, eternally like herself….
Orpheus Stares at Henri and after a bit of time, says, shaking his head.
No.
Mme Henri smiles.

Why no, silly?
Orpheus
No. I don’t want to die. I hate death.
Mme Henri gently

You are being unfair. Why do you hate death? Death is beautiful. It alone puts love in its true
element. A few minutes ago, you heard your father talk to you about life. It was grotesque,
wasn’t it? It was detestable. Well… that was it… That joke, that absurd melodrama, that’s
life. With that heaviness, those theatrical effects, that’s true. Go take a walk in it with your
little Eurydice, at the exit you will find her with traces of hands all over her dress. You will
find yourself strangely weary. If you find her, if you find yourself! I am offering you an intact
Eurydice, a Eurydice with a true nature that life would never have given you. Do you want
her?
Father begins to snore loudly.
Your father is snoring, Opheus. Look at him. How ugly he is. He is pitiful. He has lived.
Who knows? Maybe he wasn’t as ridiculous as he seemed a few minutes ago. Perhaps there
was a moment when he spent time with love and beauty. Look at him now, clutching at
existence, with his poor carcass, slack, snoring in an armchair. Look carefully. People think
the wear and tear of life on a face is the horror of death. Nonsense! The horror, is to discover
the gentleness, the softness of fifteen year old faces, made into caricatures, but intact under
their beards, their reading glasses, their dignified airs. That’s the horror of life. Those
wrinkled adolescents, still sneering, still powerless, still soft and week, and more and more
sure of themselves. It’s man…Look carefully at your young father, Orpheus, and think about
the fact that Eurydice is waiting for you.

108
Orpheus, suddenly, after some time.

Where?
Mme Henri, comes toward him smiling.

You always want to know everything…I really like you. I have been sorry that you’re
miserable. But all that’s going to end now. You’re going to see how everything will become
pure, luminous, crystal clear… A world for you, little Orpheus…
Orpheus
What do I have to do?
Mme Henri
Take your coat; the night is cool. Go out of the city and follow the road in front of you. When
the houses dwindle, you will come to a hill, near a small grove of olive trees. It is there.
Orpheus
What there?
Mme Henri
Your appointment with death. At nine o’clock. It’s almost time. Don’t make her wait.
Orpheus
I will see Eurydice again?
Mme Henri
Immediately.
Orpheus takes his coat.

Farewell.
Mme Henri
Goodbye, young Man.
Father’s snoring gets louder until becoming a sort of continuous drum beat which will
not stop until the end of the scene. The lighting modifies imperceptibly. Mme Henri
has stayed in place, immobile, hands in pockets. Suddenly she says softly.
Come in.
The door slowly opens. Eurydice enters and stays in the back of the room.
Eurydice
Did he accept?
Mme Henri
He accepted.

109
Eurydice clasps her hands.

My love, please, come back quickly.
Mme Henri
He’s coming.
Eurydice
It won’t hurt, will it?
Mme Henri
Did it hurt you?

Madam, if you don’t mind, I’m going to turn down the bed.
She closes the double curtains and begins to turn down the bed. She walks past Eurydice
several times without seeing her. She looks at Father and smiles.
The gentleman is snoring. It’s a sign of good health. Only those who revel in life snore, my
mother used to say. I thought I heard you talking, madam. I was afraid to bother you.
Mme Henri
I was talking to myself.
The Concierge
That happens to me too. Sometimes you say the most amazing things to yourself that others
wouldn’t have said to you. How is the young man?
Mme Henri
Fine.
The Concierge
That must have been a terrible blow.
Mme Henri
Yes
The Concierge
Do you think he’ll ever get over it?
Mme Henri
Yes. What time is it?
The Concierge
Two minutes till nine, sir.

110
He turns down the bed in silence. Only the snoring of Father, which keeps getting louder, can
be heard.
Mme Henri calls suddenly.

Concierge?
The Concierge
Madam?
Mme Henri
Have my bill prepared. I’m leaving tonight.
The Concierge
But, you had told me yesterday…
Mme Henri
I thought about it; this time I’m leaving.
The Concierge
Certainly, madam. You’ve finished with Marseille, then?
Mme Henri
Yes.
The Concierge is going to go out.
What time do you have now?
The Concierge
Exactly nine o’clock. she goes out, leaving the door wide open.
Mme Henri to Eurydice who has remained immobile.

There he is.
Eurydice asks softly.

He’ll be able to look at me?
Mme Henri
Without fear of losing you.
Orpheus enters, hesitating on the doorsill, as if blinded by the light; Eurydice runs to him and
throws her arms around him.
Eurydice
My darling, it took so long for you to get here!

111
Nine o’clock sounds in the distance. Father abruptly stops snoring and wakes up with some
gurgling sounds.
Father, trying to take a puff on his extinguished cigar.

I guess I fell asleep. Where is Orpheus?
Mme Henri doesn’t respond. Father looks around him. He is worried.
He went out? Answer me, damn it! Where is Orpheus?
Mme Henri showing him the couple wrapped in each other’s arms that he doesn’t
see.
Orpheus is with Eurydice, finally!
The curtain falls

Fin

Eurydice - Ash Version PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

Eurydice - Ash Version PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Eurydice - Ash Version PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

1

English Translation by Parish Episcopal School Instructors:

Adapted for the American stage by:

© 2010 KLA Productions

Orpheus - a travelling musician scratching out a living with his father

M. Henri – the mysterious agent of Death

Place and Time

© 2010 KLA Productions

Orpheus (stops playing)

Orpheus continues to play.

Orpheus (without stopping)

© 2010 KLA Productions

Father (looks away, appalled)

Orpheus takes his violin

© 2010 KLA Productions

He goes back to his counting.

Eight times seven?

He closes his notebook and gives up on his bills/counting his money

© 2010 KLA Productions

We didn’t eat badly for 12 Euros this evening.

.Son, why such a sad tune?

Orpheus (stopped playing)

© 2010 KLA Productions

Father (suddenly worried)

Orpheus shoots him a look. After a moment, he adds.

I could maybe do without the after-dinner drink.

Orpheus (continues dreaming)

© 2010 KLA Productions

Hey, hey, hey! Which one, son?

Suddenly, he leers at the cashier

And what about love? Have you thought about love?

Orpheus (smiles sadly; he taps him on the shoulder)

Eurydice (entering abruptly)

© 2010 KLA Productions

Waitress (who has come near her)

© 2010 KLA Productions

Waitress (who has brought the drinks)

© 2010 KLA Productions

Waitress (who approaches VINCENT)

(Waitress leaves, defeated)

© 2010 KLA Productions

(EURYDICE leaves, with humor)

Lucienne (smiles awkwardly and tries to take his hand.)

(MATHIAS enters brusquely. He is badly shaven, somber, tense.)

© 2010 KLA Productions

(MATHIAS leaves. She watches him go.)

(Orpheus’ violin can be heard offstage.)

Lucienne (suddenly with a new voice)

© 2010 KLA Productions

Lucienne (suddenly in a different tone)

(ORPHEUS has stopped playing. EURYDICE is facing him. He looks at her.)

Eurydice (in spite of herself)

© 2010 KLA Productions

(Bella passes by on the platform, sees EURYDICE, she calls)

Eurydice (without taking her eyes off Orpheus)

(BELLA passes by again and calls out from the platform.)

© 2010 KLA Productions

They look at each other. She speaks suddenly, but gently