the New Pantagruel

Juliet, excerpts

by András Visky• translated by David Robert Evans

Edited by Ailisha O’Sullivan

Juliet is a monologue, a one-woman performance. The title character, along with her seven children, is a prisoner in a 1950’s Romanian Communist gulag, while her husband has been imprisoned elsewhere. She has no idea where he being held is or whether or not he is even still alive.

woman came to us one night
in Nagyszolonta
Flee
Flee
They are going to arrest the priest
What are you saying, good lady?
My husband told me
A big-wig from Nagyvárad
from the secret police
paid us a visit
He told us
By then the undercover men
were always attending services
my husband
this is God’s curse
he delivered the word from the pulpit to them
with zest

“If the Son therefore shall make you free,
ye shall be free indeed.”
There you are

The seeds fall on a rocky place
I said to him
Among thorns
Which strangle them
Then strangle us
And the birds come and pick at the seeds
then pick at us

That is not a matter for us
said my husband
God’s farmhand
there are seeds aplenty
The sower just sows, sows
That’s his lot
The undercover men sat in the last pew
and listened to the service
The children gave them a hymnbook
I can’t read, said one of the men
I haven’t got my glasses
The children took him glasses,
borrowing them from the bell-ringer
The undercover man sang
or moved his lips up and down, at least

You see, said my husband
You see, he said happily

God’s curse, you? I said to him
That’s it, he replied
I hope so

He turns to me
You don’t love them? he asked
I turned to him
No

But it’s easier then he said
Easier? I asked
Easier he said
Simple as that

It’s the same with God he said
If you love him it’s easier
And it’s easier
that he exists

I remembered the children
And if he doesn’t?
Is that easier, too?
Yes, easier
Easier if he doesn’t exist, too

God’s curse, you? I said to him
That’s it, he replied
I hope so

Thy staff and Thy rod they comfort me
We’ll see

Where should we flee, good lady?
We asked the woman
Just flee, the woman said
Don’t cry, we told her
The woman left

We look at each other in silence
If God be for us, who can be against us?
I told my husband
so I wouldn’t be overtaken by fear
Everyone, my husband said
Everyone, don’t be afraid

I’m not afraid
I’m afraid
I’m not afraid
I’m afraid
I said to him

Me too
There, there

[Later in the play…]

If you divorce your husband
your kinship with a political prisoner
will be dissolved
and you will be freed
I said nothing
You would only be divorced on paper
Only in the eyes of the law
You would instigate the divorce
Which, in these circumstances,
would immediately be approved
I said nothing
You can even wait until he is freed
and marry officially again
If you still want to
If you both still want to
Said the lawyer

In that moment my whole body was filled
with a surge of heat
I felt happiness the likes of which I hadn’t felt
since my husband was convicted
I could hold it back no more
I let out a scream
You see, I am the bearer of good news, madam
said the lawyer on the mattress of straw

He stood up and lit the candle on the table
Then returned to the mattress
Good news, good news, I thought to myself
The best there is
He’s alive
My husband’s alive

My husband’s alive, alive

This is the first news of him you’ve sent me
It’s five years I haven’t heard a thing about him
Just the two rings on my finger
You’ve well and truly starved me

I looked at the lawyer
as one might at an angel
at your angel bearing good news for me
at your request
(Laughs)
Maybe I took that looking a bit too far
(Laughs)
The lawyer was pleased as Punch
at the progress of events
He took off his jacket
Loosened his tie
Let’s get the formalities over with, shall we?
Sign here, and here
The rest is my job
And yours too, of course, if you know what I mean
the lawyer smiled that charming smile
Our job, the both of us
We will officially forward this to the prosecutor
And inform your husband in prison
And you are free to leave
You are free
Even before the Franciscans

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