Play.. Translated by Donald Watson
M3 F3. A throne room.
King Bérenger has only the duration of the play to live. His kingdom has shrunk to the confines of his garden wall, his nation reduced to the six within his throne-room. Once, it seemed, he ruled over an immense empire now he cannot command even the movements of his own body. Like Everyman, Bérenger has lived from day to day, and there is now no more time.
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The third of the Bérenger plays, in which Bérenger is transformed into a king who refuses to accept the fact that he is about to die. He complains that he has had so little time to live; he pleads to be remembered forever; he accepts every-one's death but his own. His two wives reveal their attitude toward death: beautiful young Marie advocates a pleasure seeking philosophy of carpe diem, while stern old Marguerite accepts death as a natural fact. The King's attendants summarize his humane achievements, and people speak of him as if he were already dead.
One by one they leave the stage until only Marguerite remains.
Gradually, she settles Bérenger on his throne, where he freezes into immobility.
As he does so, the throne room vanishes, and Bérenger is left
alone in the gray light of death. Finally, he too disappears, and
only the dim light remains.