Pascal, the holy shepherd
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… because of his extraordinary piety, his mortal remains were burned by revolutionaries during the Spanish Civil War.
Relics / Items on stage: pavement of felt / glass pane
1st dialogue, derived from the infinitive sequence of the left half of the stage: repent, help, count, shake off, separated, shimmering, fetch, calculated, forget.
Pascal (standing before the audience):
I wish you a beautiful day! I am Pascal, the shepherd.
The Spanish revolutionary (comes up, steps close to Pascal), whispers:
You tied us up with a rope and led us to the slaughterhouse. Oh, how we repent that we trusted you.
Pascal:
Oh, no! Oh, no! The only thing I ever wanted to do was to help all of you! I still count on you and I always will; you are the proof of my holiness and my reward before God!
The Spanish revolutionary:
Never and never will you shake off your guilt. One hot summer night, as darkness fell, you secretly separated us from the herd, one by one.
I remember our pale bodies shimmering in the twilight. We stand tightly packed and wait. We know that you will fetch one of us, and then, after ten or fifteen minutes, the next.
You thought we were stupid sheep, but you calculated wrong. Those of us who survived will never forget what you did to us!
Pascal:
You accuse me of something I never did!
I loved you with all my soul. Not one inch more than I would have sacrificed myself to God, I sacrificed you.
Stage direction: Now it can be seen that although Pascal and the Spanish revolutionary seem to be standing very close to each other, they are separated by a pane of glass in which each is reflected a little. Both are standing on a pavement of felt. All of the felt paving in shapes, each in different sizes of a rectangle, are randomly distributed on the floor of the left and right halves of the stage.
2nd dialogue, derived from the infinitive sequence of the right half of the stage: provided, inhale, exhale, stack, bit, stand out, said, appeared
The Spanish revolutionary:
When I tried to touch you, it was like touching cold glass. Have you ever provided us with anything other than the ice-cold logic of sin and punishment on the one hand, and keeping the commandments and reward on the other?
I try to inhale and exhale as calmly as I can.
Pascal:
I have never done anything other than shearing you. You have asked me, you have begged me, and I have listened to your lamentations, and I have freed you from the vermin-infested wool. I felted the wool, cut panels on it, and stack them on top of each other to dry.
The Spanish revolutionary:
Oh yes, I remember how the whole house stank, how Carlo, the mighty black sheepdog, bit into the felt plates. We all try to hide where we are afraid of his mighty fangs. But I stand out. Carlo is watching me, his amber eyes flashing. I said to myself: If he spares me, I will say three Hail Marys a day for the rest of my life!
Pascal:
And he spares you! He didn't! Because I would never have let anything happen to you.
The Spanish revolutionary:
Over the years he has appeared in my dreams. He jumps from one felt plate scattered on the floor of the large dining room to the next, then he reaches you, hits you in the chest and you fall down.
Play on Stage