One Night with the King Page #5

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- The Jew!

- The Jew!

(ALL CHANTING)

No, not the Jew.

I, myself, know many an individual Jew

who I am proud to call friend,

but put these individual Jews together,

and what are Egypt,

Assyria, Babylon in their wake?

Lead me away from here, quickly.

You want proof?

Proof!

Pulled from the royal library,

the great scheme of

the Greeks and the Jews

to conquer the world!

For let me tell you,

the Greeks and the Jew

both live by the same evil doctrine.

All men are created equal.

- Do you believe you are equal to a slave?

- ALL:
No!

HAMAN:
And you believe neither in

the Jewish God, nor in Greek democracy,

but there are others in the palace that do.

Let me now speak of Memucan.

Prince. General.

Arch traitor!

"For services rendered to King Darius.

"Pacification of the Babylonian provinces.

"Payments made to Haman the Agagite."

When? When?

Ask of Memucan

why he allowed the Greeks of Ionia

to retain their democracy.

Ask whose voice is loudest

against the war today

and you will find out it is he!

"Common year."

Thirteen years ago.

HAMAN:
My lady.

Are you alone?

- Highly unsafe.

- I was just finishing.

Please.

Allow me.

- Shall I return this for you?

- Thank you.

Something must weigh heavy

on my queen's heart

in order to be kept up

at this hour, reading.

My queen.

- Is her Highness unwell?

- I'm fine.

Perhaps I should retire.

(COUGHS)

MEMUCAN:
You're not scheduled

at the palace for more than two weeks.

She'll be wonderfully surprised,

think you not?

Here, read this, my lord.

You do not appear

to be a traitor, Memucan.

Return with me, and I'll have

Admantha investigate

Haman's accusations immediately.

Haman is my appointment.

And we do need him more than we realize.

Truly, Memucan, at one moment you sulk,

you say your name has been slurred,

now you plead for your accuser.

I have enough lives on my conscience.

Chastise him mildly,

and he will perform his duty well

and be more grateful to you

for your leniency.

Spoken like a true Persian.

Never judging a man before all the good

and all the bad are weighed.

Ride with me.

- MORDECAI:
So you burnt the evidence?

- Worry not, action will still be taken.

Lest you forget, this Haman

is now head of internal protection.

And lest you forget, I'm still queen.

Yes, but queen subject to

an ancient protocol that no doubt Haman

knows how to manipulate

far better than you do.

Go not by the main gate.

I wish not for the Queen

to be alerted to my coming.

(COMMANDS HORSE)

You must promise me

that you will not reveal this to anyone.

Any more such promises

and I shall have to take a vow of silence.

Rusty old lovers' gate.

I trust you used it much

in your youth, Memucan.

Who do you think had it installed?

Go now.

My love. Oh, how I've missed you.

- Have you?

- Now, what is that supposed to mean?

You looked flushed. Busy morning?

Not as busy as it could get.

No visitors?

You sent for me, Your Highness?

It appears you have

misplaced our necklace.

I wonder if that is all you have misplaced.

(WOMAN EX CLAIMING PLAYFULLY)

Perhaps Your Majesty would like to send

for one of the concubines.

Perhaps not.

You look so much like your father.

Sometimes I forget

how different you truly are.

Makes me wonder all the more why

you feel such need to follow in his steps.

Give her a few more nights,

and then have her brought to me.

ADMANTHA:

You call that public tirade subtle?

You mock me, Agagite.

I need but report

but once to the King of your arrogance.

And your dreams of kingship die with me.

You might be less harsh on the Jews.

You should make yourself

a laughing stock.

The Jews, my prince,

will be your chief weapon by which

you attain power to the throne.

Think, we plan to take the crown by force

when the King is deep in Greece.

What excuse will you use?

Who attacks the land?

Well, no one, actually.

Unless, of course,

you claim it was the Greek-loving Jews.

Memucan expects an apology,

as you predicted.

Well, an apology is a cheap enough price

to pay for a kingdom.

Invite, then, Memucan to your estate.

Presumably so I can apologize to him.

On the way, however,

he will be ambushed.

- ADMANTHA:
By whom?

- By my Jews, of course.

Jews who slew him

for being coupled with them as a traitor.

- And what of Memucan's own guard?

- It's merely an apology.

Perhaps you can suggest to Memucan

that if he arrive with a large number,

I might suspect he'd come

to punish me.

One or two guards my men can handle.

And who'll handle you?

Who but you,

my king.

Prepare to die, Greek-lover.

Admantha's men.

Thank the gods you are unharmed,

my lord.

XERXES:
Come.

My queen...

MAN:
Your Highness,

blood has been spilled.

You are needed at once.

But lord King,

an accusation by a dispatch ride.

Why did you wait so long

to inform anyone of Admantha's plot?

- Surely you don't...

- My lord, I had to but play the traitor

to catch the traitor.

Where are his witnesses, my lord?

What were my motives?

Let this Haman prove his words

or be forever silent.

But what would he have

me show, my lord?

There are no witnesses

to plans forged in secret.

You will not act like that, Admantha.

And was it not even Admantha

who stirred the crowd into demanding

Queen Vashti's appearance,

knowing she would not come?

All lies. That's lies.

Lies. I stand in a crumbling house of lies.

- Remember before whom you plead.

- Plead for what?

For your life, Admantha.

(CRICKETS CHIRPING)

Is it my foolish desire

to believe these stories I hear

or my glaring inability

to perceive their mysteries?

Perhaps you...

You placed them back

upon the shelf to collect dust

without ever truly completing them.

Who is the one that gathers dust?

I believed I was your Rachel.

But it appears I'm only Leah,

and you serve time with me for another.

No, my lord. It's not what you think.

Nothing is as I think anymore.

Plots slither through the night.

Trust, it decays

like secret gates left to rust.

Admantha is carried to torture

even as we speak.

This Jacob and Rachel,

they are no mere story to you.

Give me some incentive

to believe in who you really are.

Give me some honor.

For if it is truly the honor of kings

to seek out truth in lie,

I am a man of scorn.

I will answer you,

my lord, if you first answer me.

Answer you what?

Why did you summon Vashti

when you knew she would not come?

I am king.

And I need answer to no one.

(CRYING)

MORDECAI:
After many days of torture,

Admantha, the great Midian prince,

finally confessed all,

and was dealt with

according to the protocol of the land.

For his brave and valorous services,

Haman the Agagite

was proclaimed a prince of the Fars

to inherit Admantha's house,

wealth, prestige and power.

Pieces are falling into place

we've spoken of, one by one.

Soothsaying does not become you,

Haman.

No, my darling,

I speak of the truth, not of stars.

My burden I would not wish on any man.

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