Niakliaieu is looking for someone to play Jagiełło and Jadwiga in a theatrical scene

"A month from now, on July 11th, I'll be 80. An anniversary, so to speak. At least according to my passport. For this, let's say, anniversary, three books are being published. A collection of short stories "Holy Spring" (in Belarusian and Polish), the novel "Gehenna" translated into Polish, and the dramatic poems "Litviny", which I wrote to once again assert our right to the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a right which today's Belarusians are being denied not only by our neighbors from the East but also from the West.

In Wrocław, where I have lived and written for the last three years, an anniversary evening is being prepared at the Ossolineum (National Library of Poland). It is planned that a scene from the drama "Jagiełło" will be shown there. The problem is with the actors," — wrote Uladzimir Niakliaieu on his Facebook page.

He publishes a scene from the drama and addresses theater experts with a question: who could play Jagiełło and Jadwiga in this scene?

ACT TWO, SCENE SEVEN

Павялічыць

Jagiełło's Wooing

Summer 1399. Royal Castle in Krakow. Queen Jadwiga's bedroom. In the bedroom, Jadwiga is in bed amidst pillows, attended by her maid Stasya, a doctor, and a priest.

JADWIGA to Stasya, who is tidying her up, combing her hair
Where are you from, Stasya?

STASYA

From Nalshany, Your Majesty.

JADWIGA

And where is Nalshany?

STASYA

Where Lithuania is. Where Kreva is.

JADWIGA

I was in Kreva. Twelve years ago.
With Jagiełło, with the King... Do I look to him
Like this today?.. Only, as if on the throne,
Seat me... Higher... Lift me up...
I can't myself... Hug me by the shoulders...
So, do I look like this?.. Next to him...

STASYA

There is no beauty in this world or the other
More beautiful than the Queen's beauty...
Let's fix your hair a bit more.

JADWIGA

And were you in that other world?

STASYA

I was.

JADWIGA

And what did you see there?

STASYA

I didn't notice
Any difference. The same set of sufferings
And human joys. What's there, what's here: 
Many temptations, but very little money.

PRIEST

You'd be sweeping the floor with your tongue,
If you served me!..

STASYA

Must I
Listen to such things?.. I am no rag for you!
I am a princess! I am Marger's great-granddaughter,
Who was Gediminas's cousin
And Kęstutis and Algirdas's uncle!
I am kin to the King through Marger!..

DOCTOR

Quiet, quiet! Not a day goes by
That you two don't quarrel... I forgot
Again, because of you, to give the Queen her herbs.

STASYA, helping Jadwiga drink the herbs

I gathered them myself in Kreva,
May God grant that they help...

PRIEST

Where is that Kreva! At the edge of the earth.
Why were you there, Your Majesty?

JADWIGA

But you were there too. They consecrated the church there.
Or were you there, but didn't know where you were?..
I hear him coming... Higher, higher up...
As if on a throne... Maybe with the crown?

STASYA

Yes, better in it, if it's like being on the throne. 

(She puts on the crown, arranges her hair.)

Oh, Your beauty will shake Jagiełło!

JADWIGA

And put my shawl on my shoulders...

(Stasya drapes the white shawl, given by Anna, over Jadwiga's shoulders.)

JAGIEŁŁO, appearing, to the Doctor

May I enter?

DOCTOR

You are the King here... You are free...

JADWIGA

Jagiełło, is that you? Let them open the windows...

DOCTOR to Jagiełło in a hushed tone

It's not the best day today. Dampness. Slush.

JADWIGA

I feel better today...

DOCTOR to Jagiełło in a hushed tone

I fear, Your Majesty,
That this "better" is for the last time.

JADWIGA to the Doctor and the Priest

I ask you to leave.

JAGIEŁŁO

They must be here...

JADWIGA

King!.. Can you open the windows?

(Jagiełło signals for everyone to leave. The Priest lights a candle, everyone exits. Jagiełło opens the windows.)

You may approach... Kiss my hand...

Even if you've eaten garlic.

(Jagiełło approaches, kisses, steps back.)

Just like the first time... Now don't stand like a post...

JAGIEŁŁO

I will stand before my Queen
On earth and beneath the earth.

JADWIGA 

Sit down, Jagiełło...

JAGIEŁŁO

Wherever you command?

JADWIGA, removing her crown and moving closer

What kind of husband are you, if you don't know
Your place beside your wife in bed?..

JAGIEŁŁO, sitting down

Seductively push out a leg from under the covers —
And I will resurrect as if I never died!

JADWIGA

Who said that?

JAGIEŁŁO

Prince Marger wrote so,
When he was young. In his years
He was a warrior. And an orator too...

JADWIGA

He killed people?.. And you, Jagiełło?..

JAGIEŁŁO

Those,
Whom I killed, could have killed me.

JADWIGA

Is it scary in war?

JAGIEŁŁO

At first. Later — no.

JADWIGA

Like it was with you and me. 

JAGIEŁŁO

Was I so scary?

JADWIGA

You weren't as I dreamed... Those dreams
Are forgotten... He is even forgotten...

JAGIEŁŁO

Wilhelm?

JADWIGA

Wilhelm...
He is my last dream.

JAGIEŁŁO

I often recalled that dream.

JADWIGA

And were you jealous?

JAGIEŁŁO

I beat him at cards,
So he wouldn't forget about me either.

JADWIGA

You played cards with him?

JAGIEŁŁO

I play
With everyone and everything. I don't force anyone, 
He offered himself. I played with him —
And returned two hundred thousand in ransom.
I bought rings for you with them.

JADWIGA

For two hundred thousand?..

JAGIEŁŁO

No. I gambled away half.

JADWIGA

You're joking... So that's where my new things came from...
And with whom did you play?..

JAGIEŁŁO

With Vytautas...
(Seriously.)
Half
I gave to Vytautas for the treasury of Lithuania.

JADWIGA

You quarreled your whole lives...

JAGIEŁŁO

Oh, come on, no... Such is our game.
We can't live a day without it now.

JADWIGA

And without me...

JAGIEŁŁO, embracing Jadwiga impulsively

No! Without your love
There will be no life for me! You are more to me than kin!..

JADWIGA

I felt a little better from early morning today,
But now it's worse again...

JAGIEŁŁO

My sweet one...

JADWIGA

You should tell a story, King, for your sweet one
About a queen... How she lived once upon a time...
You were rarely with me...

JAGIEŁŁO

Forgive me... The state... Affairs...

JADWIGA

Jagiełło, I am your state.
I am the queen in it...

JAGIEŁŁO

You are the queen in it...

JADWIGA

But I could not become your Lithuania... 
Perhaps there is too little space
For two in your heart...

JAGIEŁŁO

You became the only one!
There is no other! Never has been!..

Павялічыць

Jagiełło and Vytautas with their wives near the Eternal Flame.

JADWIGA

So that's what I'm saying, there's little room in the heart.
That's why it's pressing so. Then it will tear open
And stop...

JAGIEŁŁO

Don't tear my heart...

JADWIGA

Not tear yours?.. Well, I'm not tearing yours...
Let it beat in Poland... Let it return to Lithuania...
Do you remember, we were in Kreva together.
There was such rain... A downpour... And in the deluge
Lightning flashed, thunder rolled —
Such was God's terror over all the world, and we
Stood on a hill... I forgot which one...
What was the hill called?

JAGIEŁŁO

Yarila's Hill.

JADWIGA

Yarila's. I remembered... And you,
Though a holy church stood beside that hill,
Told me to undress... I was able to...

JAGIEŁŁO

You were like a goddess on that hill...

JADWIGA

And you on that hill, like a god, loved me...
And when all was quiet, you told me
That I had conceived a god from Yarila...
But I did not bear a god for you,
Did not even bear kings...

JAGIEŁŁO, stroking Jadwiga's hair

It's alright, my dear, it's alright...

JADWIGA

I begged no one from God!..
I don't know what I did in life
That He cursed our blood?..

JAGIEŁŁO

You bore love for me...

JADWIGA

And then you led me naked
To the river... There were many people there,
And I was not ashamed... And into the water
I went with everyone... I took the first step
Towards your Lithuania... And someone placed a wreath
On my head... They took my hands
And led me... And quietly sang...

(Sings softly.)

Kupalinka, Kupalinka, dark night,
Dark night, where is your daughter?.. 

JAGIEŁŁO

Why did you fall silent?

JADWIGA

Because my daughter died...
You saw, her eyes were
Like yours... Blooming like cornflowers...
Jagiełło, if only all of them were
Alive... our children... bore
Their own children... and those already theirs...
And if we came to them...
Through generations... seated all
Of them together... what would you tell them?..

JAGIEŁŁO

I would tell them how I loved you... I loved
With a love chosen not by us,
But chosen by God, that in my lifetime
Through you, I passed through sin and trespass,
As if through a mountain river,
Where the banks sparkled like corals,
Where ugliness left no trace!..
That I do not fear God's judgment,
For you cleansed me, like the water
With which they cleanse during baptism. 

JADWIGA

So that's what you would tell me... And to them,
What would you say?

JAGIEŁŁO

I don't know what
That world will be like, but even in that world
They will judge me and, surely, accuse me
Of losing what I could have not lost, —
So I would say... No, I would ask: and did you
Succeed in everything?.. And did you do everything
So that your descendants would not judge you?..

(He stands up, turns to the audience.)

So listen!.. To the Teutonic Knights
I confirmed Samogitia after Mindaugas,
For it is not our Homeland —
And we owe it no debt. 
But we all have one debt:
A great debt to Lithuania
Since Gediminas
Conquered the capital of the Vilikas.
Because of this debt —
Against Moscow —
I had to marry Poland,
To defend Lithuania's rights,
So that the f a t e of Great Lithuania
Would not become the f o r e s t of Belarus.
But all in vain... You sang praises to the forest.
Lost everything your ancestors had,
Transformed the land of wolves
Into a land of hares...
I have the right
To ask from the depths of centuries:
Who are you — a people?
What are you — a state?
Whence, if there are no traces?
Recognizing a hare by its lip,
Samogitia stuck out a fig at you,
As you pulled Belarus upon yourselves,
Upon the land of the Litvins.
You separated spirit from blood
And, having become Russified under Moscow,
Under the name given by Moscow,
Did not even become Muscovites,
But only one name —
And that name became you.
You — Belarusians? Who are you?
There is Poland,
Samogitia,
Lithuania,
Russia —
How did you squeeze in among them?
Where did you appear from? From the swamps?
What were you sculpted from? From the mists?..
Such substitutions,
Such deceptions
No people has ever known.
And what now? Let it be so,
As long as it's not worse? What kind of people are you:
Do you want to be called people,
Or to be them,
Or to beat your chest —
Or to stand for your native land with your chest?..

JADWIGA, after a pause, softly

The candle is already burning down. Blow it out.

(A draft bursts in, extinguishes the candle, catches Jadwiga's shawl and carries it out the window.) 

So the wind will carry your words away...
Who will hear them? Only I and the wind...
What's outside the window?.. Is it morning?.. Or evening?..
Jagiełło... The time of parting is at hand...
Sit with me... I've become scared, my dear.

JAGIEŁŁO

Don't be afraid. The wind put out the candle.

(He takes Jadwiga from the pillows, cradles her.)

JADWIGA

Here we appeared... we lived...
Tell me... were we happy?

JAGIEŁŁO

Why did you ask?

JADWIGA

Because I am dying.
Promise me, Jagiełło...

JAGIEŁŁO

I promise...

JADWIGA

Look... There, in the window... There's some white bird...

JAGIEŁŁO

Yes, a white bird...

JADWIGA

Jagiełło, it is for me...
Promise that as you hold me in your arms,
Cradling me like a child, so too will you hold
And cradle Poland... If you forget me,
Do not forget her... May God be with you...
With my Poland... and your Lithuania...

Jagiełło...

JAGIEŁŁO

What?..

JADWIGA 

How...

JAGIEŁŁO

What is "how"?..

JADWIGA

How small a heart still is... so... small...

JAGIEŁŁO, cradling Jadwiga, singing softly through tears 

Hey, Litvins, hey,
Sun over Lithuania,
When the sun is over Lithuania,
It's time to harvest rye.
It's time to harvest rye,
To bind in sheaves
And cheerfully dance with flails on the threshing floor.
Hey, Litvins, hey!
Clouds over Lithuania!
When clouds are over Lithuania,
It's time to wage war.
It's time to wage war,
To saddle horses,
To scatter the clouds with sabers and spears.
Hey, Litvins, hey...
Sorrow beyond the mountain...
When sorrow is beyond the mountain... it's time to feast...
It's time to feast... to raise chalices...
Wife to bed... time... to lull...

VOICE from outside

The Queen has died! This pain
Will not stop Poland's heart! The heart beats,
Though it aches...

JAGIEŁŁO

The pain is called Jadwiga...

VOICE

Long live the King
Of Lithuania and Poland!..

JAGIEŁŁO, kissing Jadwiga

Long live the King...
Still so small... so very small a heart...

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