



Produced by Nicole Apostola





LUCKY PEHR

[A Drama in Five Acts]


By August Strindberg

Author Of "Easter," Etc.

Translated By Velma Swanston Howard


Authorized Edition




CHARACTERS

     OLD MAN IN THE TOWER.
     PEHR.
     LISA.
     FAIRY.
     ELF.
     RATS [NILLA AND NISSE].
     BUTLER.
     ASSESSOR.
     PETITIONER.
     FIRST FRIEND.
     SECOND FRIEND.
     A WOMAN.
     PILLORY.
     STATUE.
     WAGONMAKER.
     SHOEMAKER.
     CHIROPODIST.
     STREET-PAVER.
     RELATIVE.
     BURGOMASTER.
     ONE OF THE PEOPLE.
     CHAMBERLAIN OF THE CALIPH.
     AMEER.
     COURT HISTORIAN.
     COURT MULLAH.
     GRAND VIZIER.
     POET LAUREATE.
     BRIDE.
     SINGER.
     DEATH.
     WISE MAN.
     SAINT BARTHOLOMEW.
     SAINT LAURENCE.
     BROOM.
     PALL.
     A VOICE.

     Townspeople, Dancers, Viziers, Courtiers,
     Court Attendants, etc.




LUCKY PEHR

[Allegorical play in Five Acts]




SYNOPSIS OF SCENES

     ACT I.--Room in a Church Tower.

     ACT II.--[a] Forest--[b] Rich Man's Banquet Hall.

     ACT III.-Public Square and Town Hall.

     ACT IV.--[a] Caliph's Palace--[b] Seashore.

     ACT V.--Country Church [Interior].

     TIME: Middle Ages.




ACT ONE

SCENE: A Room in the Church Tower.

Window shutters at back wide open, starlit sky is seen through windows.
Background: Snow covered house-roofs; gable windows in the distance
brilliantly illuminated. In room an old chair, a fire-pan and a picture
of the Virgin, with a lighted candle before it. Room is divided by
posts--two in centre thick enough to conceal an adult.

Chant, in unison, from the church below:

     A Solis ortus cardine
       Et usque terrae limitem
     Christum canamus principem
       Natum Maria Virgini.

[Old Man comes up tower steps and enters carrying a rat-trap, a
barley-sheaf and a dish of porridge, which he sets down on the floor.]

OLD MAN. Now the elf shall have his Christmas porridge. And this year
he has earned it honestly--twice he awakened me when I fell asleep and
forgot the tower shutters; once he rang the bell when fire broke loose.
Merry Christmas, Elf! and many of them. [Takes up rat-trap and sets it.]
Here's your Christmas mess, Satan's rats!

A VOICE. Curse not Christmas!

OLD MAN. I believe there are spirits about to-night--Ugh! it's the cold
increasing; then the beams always creak, like an old ship. Here's your
Christmas supper. Now perhaps you'll quit gnawing the bell-rope and
eating up the tallow, you accursed pest!

A VOICE. Curse not Christmas!

OLD MAN. The spooks are at it again! Christmas eve--yes, yes! [Places
rat-trap on the floor.] There! Now they have their portion. And now
comes the turn of the feathered wretches. They must have grain, of
course, so they can soil the tin roof for me. Such is life! The church
wardens pay for it, so it's not my affair. But if I were to ask for an
extra shilling two in wages--that they couldn't afford. That wouldn't
be seen! But when one sticks out a grain-sheaf on a pole once a year,
it looks generous. Ah, that one is a fine fellow!--and generosity is a
virtue. Now, if we were to share and share alike, I should get back my
porridge, which I gave to the elf. [Shakes