The Masque of
the Red Death
(Adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s story)
Level: 15-16 years old students.
A brief synopsis
The Red Death is a plague which has been killing people for a long time. To escape the dangers of the plague, Prince Prospero takes a thousand friends to one of his castles, a strangely designed and decorated building. One night, the Prince invites his friends to a masked ball. At midnight, a stranger arrives at the ball, dressed as the Red Death. Everyone is very scared. The prince runs to attack the stranger, but suddenly falls to the floor, dead. A group of people pull off the stranger’s mask and costume, but they are empty. The stranger is the Red Death himself and within a short time, all the people die.
Main characters descriptions and objectives:
Prince
Prospero: He is
slender, agile and well-built complexion with sinewy legs from horseriding
every day. He’s got a large smiling mouth with full lips. Blond crew cut hair
and a rasping voice. He is also a wealthy man and doesn’t care about other
people’ sufferings or misery. He wants to escape from the plague of the Red
Death. He takes a thousand healthy friends to one of his castles.
The courtiers: ( John and Henry)
John:
He’s in his late
30s. He’s tall and rangy. He’s got ash brown hair with a bushy beard and
well-cut moustache. His eyes are deep and grey. He is quite shy, but enjoys
listening to people. He is also trustworthy and dependable.
Henry: He is about the same age as John
and Prospero. He’s got short, auburn hair and piercing blue eyes which glow
showing cleverness. He is tall and big-boned. His skin is sunburnt from walking
in the countryside and horseriding. He just knows how to get the most of his
life. He’s really happy to follow his friend Prospero to the castle and escape
the plague.
The soldiers:
Both of
them are big, barrel-chested and well-muscled. They look as if they were
weightlifters. They have got droning voices. They are dependable and efficient.
They are ready to move to action at any time.
The Masked figure:
He is tall
and thin, and he is dressed from head to foot in the clothes of death. His mask
looks like the face of a dead person. His clothes are dripping with blood and
there’s blood on his face and forehead.
People at the ball:
They are
all wearing the most extravagant and bizarre costumes. They are also wearing
grotesque masks that create an eerie atmosphere when they move around at the
sound of the shrilling music.
Narrators: Two narrators in each scene.
Scenes – description of what happens in each
Scene 1
Outside
in the country
(In the
evening)
Two
courtiers, Henry and John, go for a stroll in the country. They are having a
friendly talk when they suddenly stopped horrified at the sight of blood in an
open ditch in the street. (They are frightened and make comments of the weird
situation). The streets are empty and all the doors seem to be locked. They
move away taking a shortcut when they almost bump into a shabby-looking person
who mumbles something about the plague. As soon as they heard the damned word, they
left running like the wind.
Scene 2
The castle
( next
morning)
After the
courtiers had reported about that event, the Prince decides to move to his
castle to escape the terrible plague. He had taken a thousand healthy friends
with him and provided plenty of food, wine and all kinds of entertainment
–clowns, musicians and ballet dancers. The castle was a magnificent building.
There was a strong, high wall around it. In the wall were gates of iron. Two
soldiers from the Prince guard patrol at the gates. (They talk about how lucky
they are to serve the Prince, they can eat lots of nice food. Moreover, they’ve
escaped from the plague and feel safe here inside the iron gates). They also
have to check the food carried in sacks and the jugs of wine that were brought
to the castle. Nobody could enter or leave the castle without their knowledge.
(When the
guests arrive, they are guided to the seven rooms)
Scene 3
The ball
(A month
later, in the late evening)
Prince
Prospero invites his friends to a masked ball. The ball is held in a suite of
seven rooms which are not built in a straight line. Each room has a different
colour and the stained glass of the windows in each room matches that colour
except for one. The seventh room is black and the window is the colour of
blood. The first room is blue. There’s a long wood table where plenty of food
is displayed along with lots of pitchers of wine. Close to the table jugglers,
musicians and clowns are chatting happily. (Everybody is relieved to escape the
plague). In the purple room energetic youngsters dance frantically. The room is
decorated in beautiful ornaments and tapestries. Everyone is enjoying the ball,
eating, drinking, chatting and dancing to the sounds of the orchestra. They are
all wearing bizarre, grotesque costumes. It is like a collection of dreams that
moves around the rooms.
(No faces can be recognized but people talk
about the masks, and about the Red Death)
Scene 4
The black room
Nobody is
in the black room. There is a black clock that makes such a strange sound when
it struck that the musicians of the orchestra have to stop playing to listen.
The dancers stop dancing and the whole party become afraid until the chimes
stop. The red light coming from the window shines intensely as a burning fire.
All the guests feel time moving closer and closer towards them (a dooming
timer) as if their lives were consumed. Then, the laughter starts again until
the next hour struck.
Scene 5
The stranger’s arrival
(At
midnight)
The Prince
and many of his friends were dancing in the orange room when the clock struck
midnight. The music stops and the dancers are still. A stranger dressed in the
most bizarre costume enters the room. It’s a tall and thin figure dressed from
head to foot in the clothes of death. His clothes dripping with blood which is
also on his face and forehead. His mask looks like the face of a dead person.
(Everybody keeps still, frozen. The Prince
faces the stranger to question him).
When the Prince sees him he challenges him and
asks some questions but the stranger doesn’t reply and turns. The Prince
follows him through the rooms with his sword to attack him but when he reaches
the black room, the stranger suddenly turns. There is a loud cry, the sword
drops onto the black carpet and the Prince falls to the floor… dead.
Scene 6
The Red Death
A crowd of dancers come round. John and Henry
attack the stranger. They grab the masked figure and try to pull off his mask
and costume, but there is no one inside it. They realize that the stranger is
the Red Death and that they are all going to die. When the last dancer dies,
the great black clock stops. There’s nothing left but Darkness, Decay and the
Red Death.
