Christina, the Girl King by Michel Marc Bouchard

Author:Michel Marc Bouchard [Bouchard, Michel Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Drama, Canadian Drama, Quebec Drama, Swedish Drama
ISBN: 978-0-88922-899-3
Publisher: Talonbooks
Published: 2014-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

Part Three

1. OUTSIDE UPPSALA CASTLE

KARL GUSTAV. (alone) Ten days! Ten days since Christina was last seen at court. For ten days, she has locked herself up in her quarters. She demands silence from her servants, not a word, not a sound. Not even a hymn or a prayer. Her ladies-in-waiting are distraught. No decrees, no laws. She didn’t even sign the order for my banishment. The State is paralyzed. (suddenly) I can hear her cries. I’m the only one who hears her. They say she goes riding in the middle of the night and doesn’t return till dawn. Wearing nothing but her nightdress. They say she struck a page who dared look at her with compassion. They say she is burning books, her favourite books. They say that she is in love. Peace is madness. This morning, they slaughtered two hundred horses from the royal cavalry. The finest. The ones that led us into battle. Useless. Too expensive to feed! Our army’s pride and joy in the begging bowls of the poor. They are melting our armour. Turning it into chamber pots. Bears are being decimated. Carnage. We have to shoot at something. Not a single soldier lifts a sword. They’re too busy lifting their mugs. The glory of our victories is fading as fast as the kegs are emptied. Peace is madness. We are not used to having time, time made of minutes and hours, time for feelings, for laughter and tears. I’m sure that was her cry. Deeper than the others.

I’m the one you love.

I know you don’t know how to show me, I know you’re troubled by this emotion that terrifies you.

I love you! I love you! I love you!

I wish I knew how to express all the ways I love you. I don’t have the grammar or the vocabulary. I love you till your hair. I love you till your eyes. I love you till your lips. I love you till your hips. I love you till your shoulder. I say, “My sweet one,” I think, “I want your breasts”! I say, “My beauty,” I think, “Open your legs.” I say, “Goddess,” I think, “Goddess.”

My girl king. My precious girl king.

MARIA ELEONORA. (as she enters, sitting in a wheelchair pushed by her albino) “My girl king. My precious girl king.” Words, words, words! How tiresome!

KARL GUSTAV. It was stupid of me to ask you to intercede on my behalf.

MARIA ELEONORA. I need an escort to return to my castle. My daughter still hasn’t signed her consent. I have no one to attend to me. I smell bad.

KARL GUSTAV. Very stupid.

MARIA ELEONORA. She is more inclined to spontaneity than to self-control. From birth, Uranus was a strong influence, as was the upper octave of Mercury. The moon is the most important planet in her chart. She is incredibly unstable.

KARL GUSTAV. You have to blame the heavenly bodies to mask the consequences of your acts. You are cruel.

MARIA ELEONORA. My poor nephew! The pleasures of cruelty are lost on the simple-minded.

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