drama

drama

Louise Michel, “The Strike”

December 28, 2020 Shawn P. Wilbur
This English translation of “The Strike appeared in The Commonweal. THE STRIKE A DRAMA by LOUISE MICHEL. ________ Characters in the Prologue: Gertrude. (Secretly married to Vladimir.) Mache and Rita, Sisters, betrothed to two brothers who have been hanged. Vladimir. Nemo, Zniriki and Orloffski, Revolutionists. The People of Warsaw. The Grand Duke and his suite. Characters in the Play: Eleazar, a Financier. Gertrude, wife to Eleazar. Marius, Esther and Nicaise, children of Eleazar by a former wife. Silvester, styled Baron Ulysses. Madame de Bleuze, a sick woman. Madame de Roseray. Blanche and Margerite, daughters of Madame de Roseray. Fishermen; Miners; […]
drama

Sylvain Maréchal, “The Last Judgment of Kings” (1793)

April 5, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
No, no, no! we want no more prayers from a priest: the God of the sans-culottes is liberty, it is equality, it is fraternity! You do not know and you have never known those gods. Go instead and exorcise the volcano which must soon punish you and avenge us. Crowned monsters! You should each have died a thousand deaths on the scaffold: but where could we have found the executions who would consent to soil their hands with your vile, corrupted blood? We abandon you to your remorse, or rather to your helpless rage.

[…]

Bakunin Library

Louise Michel, “Nadine”

November 5, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
A Corvus Edition [pdf] NADINE by Louise Michel CHARACTERS Michel Bakunin. The Prince. Serge, his aide de camp. The Count Toscof, exile, father of Serge. Patelski. Belly. Miérolowski. Jacques Széla, patriot. Alexander Herzen. Count Wodzicki. Wolf, banker. Kokoski, police officer. Popof, police officer. Two Frenchmen. Two Bourgeois from Krakow. Two Officers. A Sentinel. A Herald. Two Guards. A Miner. Two Krakuses. Princess Nadine. The Countess Sophia Pouskine. Two Women of the People. Soldiers, police officers, peasants, Krakuses, men of the People, miners, bourgeois, valets, officers, lords. TABLEAUX THE REBELLION. THE SPY. THE BAILIFF OF DAMBIEC. THE MINES OF WIÉLICZKA. THE […]
drama

Nelly Roussel, “By Rebellion!” (1904)

January 2, 2015
To all women, my sisters. To the Eternal Creatress, aching and unknown. By Rebellion! A SYMBOLIC SCENE  By NELLY ROUSSEL (Mme. Godet)    SCENE I. EVE, sorrowfully. Oh! My bruised wrists hurt me!… For so long they have borne chains!… My poor eyes, drowning in tears, will go blind!… For so many centuries they have cried!…           Gazing at her chains and lifting them painfully.  Ah! Alas! Alas! In my slavery and my abandonment, where will I find a drop of water to quench my thirst, manna to comfort my hunger, rest to relieve my exhausted flesh, and consoling words […]
drama

Claude Pelletier, Preface to “The Revolutionary Socialist Heretics of the 15th Century”

March 20, 2014 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] Claude Pelletier was in exile in the United States in 1867, when he wrote The Revolutionary Socialist Heretics of the 15th Century, a five-act play that transplanted the concerns of the French revolution of 1848, and the thought of some familiar figures, onto the events of the Hussite rebellion. Here is his explanation of the work, which I will probably translate in full at some point: [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] PREFACE As the 19th century is called to resolve the problem of the proletariat by putting into practice the ideas of the modern Revolutionaries […]
Bakunin Library

Louise Michel’s “Nadine,” a drama featuring Bakunin

January 26, 2013 Shawn P. Wilbur
I have previously posted a short excerpt from Louise Michel’s novel, The Imperial Bastard, which featured Bakunin as a main character. Michel also adapted some elements from that novel in dramatic form as Nadine, a political tragedy set in the Polish rebellions of 1846. I’ve posted a working translation of that play now at the Working Translations blog. As with all of these new translations, there are some rough spots to smooth, but in this case it’s mostly a case of making sense of the details of the stage directions, and I think all the charm of Michel’s Bakunin comes […]