GEROULD, Daniel. Discovery of Witkiewicz
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Transcript of GEROULD, Daniel. Discovery of Witkiewicz
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la
nguish
in ja
il , W ah
azar h
imse l
f is sh
oved
by
some
one fr
om
abov
e
t
h rough
the h
uge ir
on
prison
d
oor and r
o lls do
wn th
e s ta i r
s to th
e
floo
r. Th
ere is
a lways
some
one a
bove e
ven
the
t opmo
st kic
ker,
to kick
h
im in
turn-t
he
m
yster
io us TH
EY w
ho rea
lly rul
e by s
ecret
c
onspir
acy.
Portra
it y W
itkiew
icz Cou
rtesy:
Slups
k Mus
eum
Sw
earin
g-of a s
ixth-d
im ensi
onal so
rt-ac
comp
anies
the k ic
k ing a
nd is
an ess
ential
W i
tkac ian
form
o
f
ag
gressio
n, alo
ng wit
h f ist
figh
ts and
pisto
l shots
(mos
t o
f
W
itk iew i
cz s
c
harac
ters se
em to
be am
ateur
b oxer
s and
a
lmos t
ll carr
y re v
olvers
in the
ir pock
e ts,
e
ven the
ir paj
am a p
ockets
). Wh
en W a
hazar
6
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GYUBAL WAHAZAR*
or
n
the Mountain Passes of the Absurd
A Non-Euclidean Drama in Four
Acts
by
Stanis-taw lgnacy Witkiewicz
92
EXCERPTS
from ACT I: " Gyubal Wahazar's Principles
of
Government
WAHAZAR I'm sacrificing myself for all of
you . None of you can appreciate
that and I don 't expect you to. I
know you say atrocious things
about me. I don't want to know
anything about that. I don't have
informers and I'm not going to ,
any more than I have ministers. I
am alone, l ike God. I alone rule
everything, and I'm responsible for
everything, and only to myself
alone. I can condemn myself to
death, if I feel like t if I become
absolutely conv inced
that
I'm
wrong. I don't have any min
isters- therein lies my greatness.
I'm a single so litary spiri t- l ike
the steam in an engine, like the
electrical power in a battery.
. .
WAHAZAR Dr. Rypmann, don't let anyone in
to see
me
today until two P.M.
I have a meeting with the A lbanian
ambassador. Some nobody there's
started pretending to be me, and
they're having trouble with him.
Pretending to be me Ha Did you
ever hear
of
such a thing , Dr. Ryp
mann Eh? .And they're asking
me for advice. Ha Ha I'll teach
them a little Albania. We'll send
the prince of Valpurgia there as
ambassador. He 'll show them a
thing
or
two. Appoint traitors as
ambassadors. A superb method.
The sixth dimension The Non
euclidean state Ha Ha Ha
Ha Ha Ha (He chokes in an
attack
of
infernal laughter,
froth
ing at the mouth.)
6 7
from
Act
II : " Gyubal Wahazar Relaxes"
PIGGYKINS Grandpa,
look
me in the left eye.
(Wahazar leans over and looks
her in
the
eyes.) I see your soul ,
your tired little soul.
It
's blue
and walks through moss and
squashes little bugs which are in
love. (Wahazar sits as
if
hypno
tized in front of her on the
ground.)
WAHAZAR You're taking my loneliness away
from me, Piggykins. (closes his
eyes) With you I'm not alone.
Somewhere very far away I see a
completely different world, a kind
of meadow in the middle o f the
woods. I see you as a young lady,
with a big dog and a young man
. . . h
, God It's me (Piggykins
strokes his hair. Wahazar covers
his closed eyes with his hand.)
PIGGYKINS (quietly) Keep on
going
and
look Don't turn
your
eyes away
from what you see.
WAHAZAR God It's me. How long it's been
since I've seen meadows and
trees. I see butterflies: chasing
one another . . . Lead me wherever
you want, Piggykins. I' ll
do
any
thing you say.
" Gyubal Wahazar Creates
Darkness"
WAHAZAR (roars) Haaaaaa That's enough
1 am alone (to First Hangman)
Let there be night (First Hang
man covers the
window with
a
Pronounced ubal Vahazar.
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8/20/2019 GEROULD, Daniel. Discovery of Witkiewicz
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y
ubal Wahazar
Dress
rehearsal
or
p
roduct ion sch
eduled
or
Te
atr Narodowy
March 1969
Directed by W
anda Laskow s
ka wi th Stan is
taw Laczyk a
s Gyubal W ah
azar and
Barbara
Kraf f towna a
s Piggykins
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8/20/2019 GEROULD, Daniel. Discovery of Witkiewicz
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•
black drape. A moment of com
plete darkness.
Third
Hangman
lights the electric
light
above. To
the Fourth Hangman) Morbidetto,
you'l l never
kill
me. You're a lying
guttersnipe
just
like them. Splat
tered up
to
my ears in the molten
lava of mysteries, I' ll forge on to
the very end,
to
those final
preci
pices. I'm like a
black star
against
the white-hot night
from ACT IV: "Gyubal
Wahazar's Death"
WAHAZAR I live in indeterminateness. I feel
I'm everything. I'm glutting my
self on all Existence. Everything
is stretching out into Infinity. Kill
me,
or
I'll burst with delight at my
own sel
f
Oh What happiness
What bliss Not
to
know who one
is to be everything (He
stretches out his hands in
front
of
him
in
wild
rapture. Piggykins
gets up.)
PIGGYKINS Grandpa, grandpa Stop being
so
beautiful Don 't
talk that
way (She goes numb with
rapture, looking at Wahazar.)
FATHER UNGUENTY (giving a sign
to Morbi
datto), Morbidetto, it's
time, its high time
(Morbidetto dashes
from the door
and
throws the lasso over
Wahazar's neck.
Wahazar falls back
with his hands held out
in front. Morbidetto
pulls the noose tight,
standing with his foot
on
Wahazar's chest.
Wahazar kicks a couple
of times with his feet
and dies. Silence.)
PIGGYKINS (falls on Wahazar's corpse) I
loved him and only him (She
embraces him and freezes in that
pose.)
FATHER UNGUENTY It 's happened We're
free Dr. Rypmann, cut
out his glands immedi
ately,
those-you
know
-Carioxitates Rypman
ni, and prepare a
trans
plant
for me, while
they 're still warm. I'm
old, but I have the
strength of ten. All
right, Dr. Rypmann, get
moving.
(Murmur
in
the crowd. Father
Unguenty whistles
through his fingers.
Through the left door
the guard runs in with
a platoon commander
dressed just like
Gnumben. Through
th;e
center door Father
Pungenty pushes
through the
crowd
with
two Pneumatics.) Drive
them all out into the
courtyard. A new
edict
will be read there.
Now
I am Unguenty
Wahazar in one person.
I've always been. Fix
bayonets *
Translated
by
Daniel
and
Eleanor Gerould,
©
Copyright
1970. Six plays
of
Witkiewicz ap-
pear in The Madman and the Nun and Other
Plays
University
of
Washington Press), a
seventh,
The Cuttlefish , is in
Gassner
Dukore,
A Treasury of the Theatre Holt,
Rinehart and Winston). Gyubal Wahazar will
be included in new collection
of five plays,
Metaphysics of a
Two
-Headed Calf