(Music
stops.
As the soldiers disappear, we segue to the other side of the
stage where the Colonel and Giorgio stroll in)
Flashback |
| Colonel |
Captain,
I cannot thank you enough. Your kindness to my cousin have meant
a great deal. |
 |
| Giorgio |
You
have no reason to thank me. |
| Colonel |
Any
attention that is paid to her means so much. Signora Fosca has always
had a shortage of friends. (Fosca
is revealed at her writing table) |
| Fosca |
My
dearest Giorgio. I am writing you even though the Doctor has forbidden
it. What a joy to have someone to whom I can tell my feelings. To
share my past. |
| Colonel |
I
was a young man when my parents died. And Fosca's mother and father
welcomed me into their house whenever I was on leave.
(Music under as we go back in time)
As a child - |
| Fosca |
As
a child - |
|
| Colonel |
She
was lonely - |
|
| Fosca |
I
was happy - |
|
| Colonel |
Her
parents doted on her - |
|
| Fosca |
My
parents doted on me - (Fosca's
Mother and Father enter) |
|
| Both |
They
said: |
|
| Mother,
Father |
Beautiful. |
|
| Mother |
So
sensitive. |
|
| Mother,
Father |
So
beautiful. |
|
| Fosca |
They
told me to be: |
|
| Mother |
Careful
- |
|
| Colonel |
Of
course - |
|
| Mother |
-
Fosca |
|
| Colonel |
-
to them she was. |
|
| Father |
A
girl as beautiful as you are has to |
|
| Fosca |
And
so - |
|
| Father |
-
be careful. |
|
| Fosca |
-
I thought
That I was beautiful. |
|
| Fosca,
Colonel |
And
then she (I) reached the age
Where being beautiful
Becomes the most important thing
A woman can be. |
|
| Colonel |
An
unattractive man - |
|
| Fosca |
As
long as you're a man,
You still have opportunities. |
|
| Colonel |
-
can still have opportunities. |
|
| Mother,
Father |
Beautiful
... |
|
| Colonel,
Fosca |
Whereas,
if you're a woman
You either are
a daughter or a wife. |
|
| Mother,
Father |
A
woman is a flower. |
|
| Fosca,
Colonel |
You
marry - |
|
| Father |
-
you're seventeen. |
|
| Colonel |
-
or you're a daughter
all your life. |
|
| Mother,
Father |
Now
is the hour ... |
|
| Colonel |
I'd
met this nice young man. |
|
| Fosca |
I'd
seen this nice young man - |
|
| Colonel |
He'd
introduced himself - |
|
| Fosca |
-
passing by - |
|
| Colonel |
-
at my club. |
|
| Fosca |
-
just below my window. |
|
| Colonel |
So
- |
|
| Fosca |
One
day - |
|
| Colonel |
-
one evening I invited him - |
|
| Fosca |
-
he tipped his hat to me. |
|
| Colonel |
-
home.
Count Ludovic - |
|
| Fosca |
I
must admit that I was flattered - |
|
| Colonel |
-
this is my Aunt Theresa and my Uncle Bruno. |
|
| Mother |
A
count? |
|
| Father |
From
where, if I may ask. |
|
| Ludovic |
Austria. |
|
| Father,
Mother |
Austria
... |
|
| Mother |
What
a beautiful place. |
|
| Colonel |
Fosca,
we have a visitor! |
|
| Fosca |
Imagine
my surprise ... |
|
| Colonel |
I'd
like you to meet a new friend. Count Ludovic. |
|
| Fosca |
He
was even more handsome up close. |
|
| Colonel |
I
was amazed to see the Count take such an interest in my cousin. |
|
| Ludovic |
If
I had know you where here,
Signorina - |
|
| Fosca |
"If
he had known ..." Of course he knew. |
|
| Ludovic |
-
I would have brought you many flowers. |
|
| Colonel |
If
I had known ... |
|
| Ludovic |
You
do like flowers? |
|
| Fosca |
Yes. |
|
| Colonel |
I
should have known. |
|
| Ludovic |
I've
seen you at your window. |
|
| Mother |
Won't
you stay for dinner? |
|
| Father |
Do.
Yes. |
|
| Ludovic |
I've
watched you every day since I arrived. |
|
| Fosca |
I
had my suspicion. |
|
| Colonel |
I
had no suspicion. |
|
| Fosca,
Colonel |
I
chose not to see. |
|
| Ludovic |
The
way you move,
The way you gaze at the sky ... |
|
| Fosca |
For
love had made me blind - |
|
| Colonel |
How
could I be so blind? |
|
| Fosca |
-
or what I took for love. |
|
| Colonel |
Within
a month, he had asked for her hand. |
|
| Giorgio |
Signora
Fosca has been married? |
|
| Colonel |
Yes. |
|
| Father,
Mother |
Austria
...
Count Ludovic of Austria ... |
|
| Fosca |
I
sensed in him a danger,
Deception, even violence.
I must admit to some degree
That it excited me. |
|
| Father,
Mother |
Austria
...
Count Ludovic of Austria ... |
|
| Colonel |
Once
they were married, once he'd received my uncle's sizable dowry,
he traveled a great deal, was unavailable to Fosca. |
|
| Fosca |
He
gambled away the dowry. I was forced to go to my parents to borrow
from what little savings they had left. |
|
| Colonel |
Then
one day, as she was coming from market ... |
|
| Mistress |
Excuse
me. You're the wife of a Count Ludovic? |
|
| Fosca |
Yes. |
|
| Mistress |
You
fool.
The man's a fraud, a fake.
The trips he said he had to take abroad
He took them so that he could be with me.
He calls himself a Count, but he's not.
He's never had a title in his life!
He doesn't have a title,
But he does have a wife
And a child in Dalmatia. |
|
| Fosca |
No,
you must be mistaken. |
|
| Mistress |
Oh,
yes.
He only wants to bleed you
Until the day he doesn't need you.
I warn you he'll abandon you
As he abandoned her and me
And countless others, I've no doubt.
I'm telling you, the man was born without a heart.
You fool ... |
|
| Fosca |
I
confronted him with this information, and he made no attempt to
deny it. |
|
| Ludovic |
A
well, at last you know the truth, Signorina.
But you as well must face the truth.
I've no desire to deceive you any more.
But do admit what you ignore:
We made a bargain, did we not?
And we got what we bargained for. You
gave me your money, I gave you my looks
And my charm and my arm.
I would say that more than balances the books.
Now it's done
Where's the harm? If
women sell their looks,
Why can't a man, if he can?
Besides, the money wasn't even yours,
It belonged to those ridiculous old bores,
Your parents.
Forgive me, my dear, but though you are no beauty,
I fear, you are not quite the victim you appear. Well,
let us part by mutual consent and be content.
And so good luck and goodbye.
I must go.
Oh, and yes, we haven't paid the rent
Since July ...
Just so you know ... |
|
| Fosca |
I
returned home, to find my parents impoverished and in poor health. |
|
| Colonel |
Fosca's
health failed ... |
|
| Fosca |
A
woman's like a flower ... |
|
| Colonel |
She
began to suffer her first convulsions. My aunt and uncle nursed
her as best they could. |
|
| Fosca |
A
flower's only purpose is to please ... |
|
| Colonel |
I
spent months looking for the man. |
|
| Fosca |
Beauty
is power ... |
|
| Colonel |
By
then, of course, he'd vanished. |
|
| Fosca |
Longing
a disease ... |
|
| Colonel |
To
this day, I dream of finding him and realizing my revenge. |
|
| Fosca |
My
father died not long thereafter. |
|
| Colonel |
How
could I be so blind? |
|
| Fosca |
I
couldn't face the world. |
|
| Colonel |
It
took her many months to leave her bed. |
|
| Fosca |
It
took me months to leave my bed. |
|
| Colonel |
When
her mother died, she had nothing really. No one. |
|
| Fosca |
And
so I went to stay with my cousin, who in some way felt responsible
for my circumstances. |
|
| Colonel |
Why
could I not admit the truth?
How could I not have seen through the veneer?
I told myself,
"As long as she seems happy, why interfere?"
Or was I just relieved to know
That somebody would want her for a wife?
In war you know the enemy,
Not always so in life. The
enemy was love -
Selfishness really, but love,
All of us blinded by love
That makes everything seem possible. You
have to pay a consequence
For things that you've denied.
This is the thorn in my side. |
|
| Mistress |
As
long as you're a man,
You're what the world will make of you. |
|
| Mistress,
Mother |
Whereas
if you're a woman,
You're only what it sees. |
|
| Colonel,
Father, Ludovic |
A
woman is a flower whose purpose is to please. |
|
| All |
Beauty
is power, longing a disease ... |
|
| |
