Masque of the Red Death.pdf - Alex Broun

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The Masque
of
the Red Death
a short play
by
Alex Broun
adapted from the story by Edgar Allan Poe
This play is free to download and perform. The only condition is that you must email
Alex Broun at abroun@bigpond.net.au and let him know where and when you
produced his script, listing the director, cast and theatre (including city, state and
country).
Good luck with the production!
May 2010
© Alex Broun 2010
www.alexbroun.com

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Cast
ACTOR 1 (PRINCE PROSPERO)
ACTOR 2
ACTOR 3
ACTOR 4
ACTOR 5 (THE MASKED FIGURE)
Playwright’s Note
Performers may be male or female, young or old.
All stage directions including lighting and sound effects, are suggestions and may be
discarded or adhered to on the director’s discretion.

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The Masque of the Red Death
ALL:
ACTOR 1:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 1:
ACTOR 3:
ALL:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
The Red Death
had long devastated the country.
No pestilence had ever been so fatal,
or so hideous.
Blood was its Avatar
and its seal.
There were sharp pains,
sudden dizziness,
and then profuse bleeding.
The scarlet stains
upon the body
and especially
upon the face
shut the victims out
from the aid
and sympathy
of their fellow-men.
The whole progress
and termination
of the disease,
were the incidents
of half one hour.
ACTOR 1 BECOMES PRINCE PROSPERO.
ACTOR 1 (PROSPERO): But the Prince Prospero

4
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
was happy
and dauntless
and sagacious.
When his dominions
were half depopulated,
he summoned
to his presence
“A thousand hale and light-hearted friends”
from among the knights
and dames
of his court,
And with these
retired
to the deep seclusion
“of one of his castellated abbeys.”
This was a magnificent
structure,
the creation of the prince's own eccentric
yet august
taste.
A strong and lofty wall
girdled it in.
The wall had
gates of iron.
ACTOR 5:
The courtiers,

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ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
brought furnaces
and hammers
and welded the bolts.
“It is resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress
to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from
within.”
With such precautions
ACTOR 3: the courtiers –
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR5:
ACTOR 2:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
might bid defiance
to contagion.
The abbey was amply provisioned.
Buffoons,
“The external world can take care of itself. In the
meantime it is folly to grieve, or to think. I have provided
all the appliances of pleasure.”
improvisatori,
ballet-dancers,
musicians,
Beauty,
wine.
PROSPERO: All these and security were within. Without was the –
ACTORS 2-5:
Red Death.
BEAT.
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
It was toward the close of the
sixth month of this seclusion,
while the pestilence raged
most furiously

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ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
PROPSERO:
ACTOR 2:
abroad,
that the Prince Prospero
“entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the
most unusual magnificence.”
The rooms in which it was held
ACTOR 3: were seven –
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
an imperial suite.
But very different
To other places
as might have been expected from the duke's love of the
bizarre.
In the middle
of each wall,
a tall and narrow
Gothic window
looked out upon
a closed corridor
which pursued
the windings
of the suites.
“These windows are stained glass whose color varies in
accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of
the chamber into which it opens. Each chamber a deep
shade of contrast. The first chamber was -
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO BLUE)
ACTOR 1: Blue –
PROSPERO:
and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was

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(LIGHTS CHANGE TO PURPLE)
ACTOR 2:
purple
PROSPERO
in its ornaments and tapestries. The third was
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO GREEN)
ACTOR 3:
green
PROSPERO:
and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished
and lighted with
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO ORANGE)
ACTOR 4:
PROSPERO:
orange
the fifth with
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO WHITE)
ACTOR 5: white –
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO VIOLET)
PROSPERO:
the sixth with
ACTOR 2:
violet.
PROSPERO:
The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in
(LIGHTS DIM)
ACTOR 2-5: black
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
Black velvet
tapestries
hung over the ceiling
and down the walls,
falling
in heavy folds
upon a carpet
of the same material

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ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
and hue.
But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed
to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were
ACTOR 2-5: scarlet –
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
a deep blood color.
Opposite to each window,
Stood a heavy tripod,
bearing a brazier
of fire
that projected its rays
through the tinted glass
and so glaringly illumined
each of the seven
rooms.
And thus were produced a multitude
of gaudy and fantastic
appearances.
It was a voluptuous scene,
the masquerade.
A gay
and magnificent
revel.
The tastes of the Prince were
peculiar.
He had a fine eye
ACTOR 5:
for colors

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ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 5:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
and effects.
He disregarded
the decora of
“mere fashion.”
His plans were
“bold and fiery,”
and his conceptions glowed with
“barbaric lustre.”
There are some who would have thought him
mad.
His followers
felt that he was not.
It was necessary to
hear and
see and
touch him
to be sure.
His embellishments were
grotesque.
There were much
glare and
glitter and
piquancy and
phantasm. There were arabesque figures
ACTOR 2:
with unsuited

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ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
limbs
and
appointments.
beautiful,
wanton,
bizarre,
There were delirious fancies, madman fashions. There
was much of the
something of the terrible,
ACTOR 2: and not a little of that which might have excited –
PROSPERO:
disgust.
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
PROSPERO:
To
and fro
in the seven chambers
there stalked,
a multitude of dreams.
ACTOR 2: And these dreams –
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
PROSPERO:
writhed
in and about,
taking hue
from the rooms,
and causing the wild music
of the orchestra to seem
as the echo
of their steps.
But in the black chamber

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ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
PROSPERO:
the effect of the fire-light
that streamed through the blood-tinted panes,
was ghastly in the extreme,
and produced so wild a look
upon the countenances of those who entered,
that none were bold enough
to set foot
within its precincts
And it was in the black chamber
that there stood,
to and fro
with a dull,
heavy,
A gigantic clock of ebony.
Its pendulum swung
monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the
circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there
came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which
was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical,
but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each
lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were
constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance,
to hearken to the sound; and the waltzers ceased their
evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole
gay company;
SILENCE.
PROSPERO:
and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was
observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged
and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in
confused reverie or meditation. But when the echoes had
fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the
assembly;

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ACTOR 2, 3 and 4 LAUGH UNEASILY.
PROSPERO:
the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at
their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering
vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock
should produce in them no similar emotion; but then, after
the lapse of sixty minutes, (which embrace three
thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies,)
there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of
the velvet.
SILENCE.
PROSPERO:
And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save
the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they
stand. But the echoes of the chime die away -- they have
endured but an instant -- and a light, half-subdued
laughter floats after them as they depart.
ACTORS 2, 3 AND 4 LAUGH UNEASILY.
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 5:
PROSPERO:
And now again
the music swells,
and the dreams live,
and writhe
to
and fro
more merrily
than ever,
taking hue
from the many-tinted windows
through which
stream the rays
from the fire-light.
But to the black chamber, none of the maskers venture;
ACTOR 2:
for the night is

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ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
waning away;
and there flows
a light
Through the blood-colored panes; and the blackness
of the sable drapery
appalls;
and to him
whose foot
falls upon the sable carpet,
there comes from the near clock of ebony
a muffled peal
more solemnly emphatic
than any which reaches their ears
who indulge
in the more remote gaieties
of the other chambers.
And so the revel went whirlingly on,
MUSIC AND DANCING.
PROSPERO:
Until there commenced the sounding of midnight upon
the clock.
SILENCE, SAVE THE SOMBRE DEEP CHIMING OF THE EBONY
CLOCK.
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
And then the music ceased; and the evolutions of the
waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy
cessation of all things.
But before the last echoes
ACTOR 3:
of the last chime

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ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
PROSPERO:
had utterly sunk
into silence,
the revelers became aware
of the presence
of a masked figure.
ACTOR 5 APPEARS AS THE MASKED FIGURE.
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
a murmur,
There arose from the whole company
ACTOR 4: of surprise –
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
horror,
disgust.
and finally
terror.
No ordinary appearance
could have excited
such sensation.
The masked figure
had gone beyond the bounds of even
the prince's
indefinite
decorum.
The figure was
tall
gaunt,
and shrouded
ACTOR 2:
from head to foot

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ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
in the vestages
The mask
of the grave.
which concealed the face
was made so nearly to resemble the
countenance of
a stiffened corpse
that the closest scrutiny
must have had difficulty
in detecting the cheat.
And yet all this
might have been endured,
but the mummer
had gone so far
as to assume
the symptomatic horror of the Red Death. His vesture
was dabbled in blood -- and his broad brow, with all the
features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet
horror.
The masked figure,
with a slow and solemn movement,
stalked to and fro
among the waltzers.
As the figure passed
Each waltzer
ACTOR 4:
Fell silent

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ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
and still.
As if precious life
was being drained
like blood
from their veins.
When the eyes of Prince Prospero
fell upon
this spectral image
he was seen to shudder
with either terror
or distaste;
but then
his brow reddened
with rage.
PROSPERO WAVES HIS HAND. THE MUSIC IS SILENCED.
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 2:
PROSPERO:
"Who dares!
The Prince Prospero’s words
rang throughout
the seven rooms–
Who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery
Seize him and unmask him -- that we may know whom
we have to hang at sunrise, from the battlements.”
ACTOR 2: But no one –
PROSPERO:
moved.
ACTOR 4: All the revelers –
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
Remained
Lifeless

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PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
And still.
From a certain nameless awe
none were found
who would put forth their hand
to seize him;
the vast assembly,
as if with one impulse,
shrank from the centres
of the rooms
to the walls
so that,
unimpeded,
The Masked Figure passed
within a yard
of the prince's person;
and made their way
PROSPERO: with the same solemn and measured step
ACTOR 3:
which had distinguished them from the first,
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO BLUE)
ACTOR 4:
through the blue chamber to the purple
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO PURPLE)
ACTOR 2:
through the purple to the green
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO GREEN)
PROSPERO:
through the green to the orange
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO ORANGE)

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ACTOR 4:
through the orange to the white
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO WHITE)
ACTOR 2:
from the white to the violet
(LIGHTS CHANGE TO VIOLET)
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 3:
PROSPERO:
ACTOR 2:
PROSPERO:
ere a decided movement had been made to arrest him.
It was then that
Prince Prospero,
maddening with rage
and the shame of his own
momentary cowardice,
Bore aloft
A drawn dagger
And rushed
through the six chambers,
while none followed
on account of a
deadly terror
that had seized upon all.
The Masked Figure
having attained the extremity
of the Black Chamber,
stood erect and motionless
within the shadow
ACTOR 2, 3 AND 4: of the ebony clock.

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THE MASKED FIGURE TURNS SUDDENLY ON THE PRINCE. THE
LIGHT SUDDENLY CHANGES TO BLOOD RED.
THE PRINCE GASPS WITH A SHARP INTAKE OF BREATH. THE
DAGGER FALLS TO THE FLOOR.
ACTOR 3:
The dagger dropped
THE PRINCE SLUMPS TO THE GROUND.
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
gleaming upon the sable carpet,
And beside it
prostrate in death
the Prince Prospero.
SILENCE. THE ACTORS RECOIL IN HORROR.
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
Summoning the wild courage
Of despair,
A throng of the revellers
Threw themselves
Into the black chamber,
and seizing the mummer,
gasped
in unutterable horror
at finding the
grave-cerements
and corpse-like mask
untenanted by any tangible form.
THE FIGURE HAS VANISHED..
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
And now the revellers
each in turn
acknowledged the true identity

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ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
of the Masked intruder.
And one by one
They dropped
THE ACTORS FALL TO THEIR KNEES.
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
ACTOR 3:
in the blood-bejeweled chambers
of their revel,
and died
each in the despairing posture
of their fall.
And the life
of the ebony clock
went out
with that of the last.
And the flames expired.
And Darkness
and Decay
THE MASKED FIGURES RE-APPEARS AT THE BACK OF THE
STAGE BATHED IN A RED GLOW.
THE ACTORS IN TURN SLIP TO THE FLOOR.
ACTOR 2:
ACTOR 3:
ACTOR 4:
and the Red Death
held illimitable dominion
over all.
THE MASKED FIGURE STANDS SILENT AND STILL OVER THE
BODIES ON THE STAGE.
THE LIGHTS SLOWLY FADE.