SCENE THREE: PARIS — RENAUD'S HOUSE OF THESPIANS — SIX MONTHS LATER
Establishing Photograph: A small theatre with a crowd outside. The marquee reads: Renaud's House of Thespians.
(A broad, Commedia dell'Arte play. We see the action from backstage. LESTAT plays LELIO, the handsome lover. He's onstage with his servant, ARLECCHINO.)
[Lestat as Lelio:]
Home at last! Rejoice my heart! For the sight of my beloved Flaminia will soon bring you back to life. For many long months, you have lain mournful and listless in my breast since I took leave of my beloved Flaminia.
[Arlecchino:]
I only hope that she has been as faithful to you as you have been to her.
(LELIO borrows his slapstick and whacks him with it.)
[Lestat as Lelio:]
Of course she has been faithful. She has eyes for no other. [thinking] Except that I have not been here for her eyes to look upon. Devil! That you have made me question my beloved Flaminia's fidelity!
(He whacks him again.)
[Arlecchino:]
If only there was some way to test her love.
(LESTAT turns «upstage» and slips on a beard. He turns back to ARLECCHINO.)
There must be a ruse you could devise. [confused] Oh, excuse me, sir. I did not see you there. I seem to have lost my master… a tall gentlemen with blond hair…
(LELIO pulls the beard down to reveal his face. ARLECCHINO does a 'take'.)
A disguise! Brilliant!
[Lestat as Lelio:]
I'll pretend to be a rich merchant. I'll flirt, cajole and flatter. And thus…
[Magnus:] [o.s.]
Wolfkiller.
[Lestat as Lelio:]
[distracted] Thus, discover my true love's true heart.
(COLUMBINA, Flaminia's servant, enters.)
[Arlecchino:]
Here's Columbina.
[Lestat as Lelio:]
I should hide myself.
(LESTAT runs offstage where NICOLAS has been watching.)
[Lestat as Lelio:]
[urgently] Nicolas…
[Nicolas:]
What are you doing, Lestat? You don't have an exit now.
[Lestat:]
I heard the voice again.
[Nicolas:]
What voice?
[Lestat:]
The voice I told you about. He's out there again. Watching me.
[Nicolas:]
Whose voice is it?
[Lestat:]
I don't know. It's the strangest thing. I just hear a voice.
(LESTAT goes back onstage.)
[Lestat as Lelio:]
Arlecchino! I've just realized… I don't need to hide myself. I'm wearing a disguise!
[Columbina:]
Leilo? Is that you?
(He pulls down the beard to show her his face.)
[Lestat as Lelio:]
Yes, it's me. I'm wearing a disguise to test Flaminia's love.
[Arlecchino:]
Shh! She approaches!
(FLAMINIA enters.)
[Columbina:]
[whispers to Flaminia] Do not be fooled, mistress. This stranger is none other than Leiio in disguise. It's a ruse to test your love.
[Flaminia:]
Two can play at that game. [loudly] Columbina, who is that bearded stranger? He is so handsome, so virile. He makes my lips quiver.. . my loins ache…
[Lestat as Lelio:]
[aside] Her loins ache! Arlecchino. I am stricken! She remembers me, not at all! She cares for me not a whit! My heart is shattered.
[Flaminia:]
May I know your name, sir?
[Lestat as Lelio:]
Oraz…
[Magnus:] [o.s.]
Wolfkiller.
[Flaminia:]
Oraz?
[Lestat as Lelio:]
…zio. I am a merchant from Padua.
[Flaminia:]
Oraz-zio, merchant from Padua… you are the man of my dreams! My lips burn with desire for yours. Just one kiss to quench the fire!
(Her father, PANTALONE enters. He sees his daughter kissing a stranger.)
[Pantalone:]
Whore! Trollop! Get back into the house! And you, man in the beard, you defiler of young girls! You despoiler of innocent daughters! I'll have your hide for this!
(He chases LELIO and ARLECCHINO offstage. The curtain drops abruptly for intermission. LESTAT and NICOLAS move off to their dressing room.)
[Lestat:]
I heard it again! Just now!
[Nicolas:]
No one else has mentioned hearing a strange voice. You must be imagining it.
[Lestat:]
I think he knows me.
[Nicolas:]
[skeptically] Knows you?
[Lestat:]
He calls me… Wolfkiller.
[Nicolas:]
That is just like you, Lestat, to think everyone in Paris knows all about your glorious defeat of the wolves!
[Lestat:]
And what harm is there if I do? What harm is there in wanting everyone to know my name? It's the reason we came to Paris.
[Nicolas:]
Is that the reason we came?
[Lestat:]
Yes. For you to play the violin, for me to go on the stage, and we've done it!
[Nicolas:]
You've done it. You'll be playing at the Comedie in no time. But I'll never be a great violinist. I know that now. At least, at home I could pretend it was possible.
[Lestat:]
It is possible!
[Nicolas:]
For you. The Wolfkiller.
[Lestat:]
You're not giving up.
[Nicolas:]
Why not? We all can't be like you Lestat. You have a radiance about you. Everyone sees it. But in me, there's nothing like that.
[Lestat:]
Of course there is.
[Nicolas:]
No. I don't have your gift. I have no light. In me… there's darkness.
[Lestat:]
Stop this! I'm not listening. I hate that kind of talk. I know what we'll do. After the performance, we'll have the whole troupe up to our room. We'll get drunk and sing on the rooftops. In the morning, we'll wake up with our eyes aching and our heads pounding and life will be good.
(They go out. The set transforms to their garret.)