Pirandello's Henry IV. Luigi Pirandello

       Pirandello’s Henry IV

      Plays

      Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead * Enter a Free Man * • The Real Inspector Hound * After Magritte * • Jumpers * • Travesties * Dirty Linen and New-Found-Land * Every Good Boy Deserves Favour * Night and Day • Dogg’s Hamlet and Cahoot’s Macbeth * The Real Thing • Rough Crossing • Hapgood Arcadia • Indian Ink • The Invention of Love * Voyage: The Coast of Utopia Part I * Shipwreck: The Coast of Utopia Part II * Salvage: The Coast of Utopia Part III *

      Television Scripts

      A Separate Peace • Teeth • Another Moon Called Earth Neutral Ground • Professional Foul • Squaring the Circle

      Radio Plays

      The Dissolution of Dominic Boot “M” Is for Moon Among Other Things If You’re Glad, I’ll Be Frank • Albert’s Bridge Where Are They Now? • Artist Descending a Staircase The Dog It Was That Died • In the Native State

      Screenplays

      Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Shakespeare in Love (with Marc Norman)

      Fiction

      Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon

      *Available from Grove Press

       Pirandello’s Henry IV

      BY LUIGI PIRANDELLO

      A NEW VERSION BY TOM STOPPARD

      New Version copyright © 2004 by Tom Stoppard

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

      CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that Pirandello’s Henry IV is subject to a royalty. It is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and all British Commonwealth countries, and all countries covered by the International Copyright Union, the Pan-American Copyright Convention, and the Universal Copyright Convention. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound taping, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction, such as information storage and retrieval systems and photocopying, and rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved.

      First-class professional, stock, and amateur applications for permission to perform it, and those other rights stated above, must be made in advance to Peters, Fraser & Dunlop, Drury House, 34–43 Russell Street, London, WC2B 5HA, England, ATTN: Kenneth Ewing, and paying the requisite fee, whether the play is presented for charity or gain and whether or not admission is charged.

       Printed in the United States of America

      FIRST EDITION

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Stoppard, Tom.

      Pirandello’s Henry IV I by Luigi Pirandello ; a new version by Tom Stoppard.— 1st ed. p. cm.

      eBook ISBN-13: 978-0-8021-9534-0

      1. Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, 1050–1106—Drama. 2. Psychotherapist and patient—Drama. 3. Aristocracy (Social class)—Drama. 4. Italy—Drama. I. Title: Pirandello’s Henry the Fourth. II. Stoppard, Tom. III. Pirandello, Luigi, 1867–1936. Enrico IV. English. V. Title.

      PR6069.T6P57 2005

      822′.914—dc22

      2004063842

      Grove Press

      an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc

      841 Broadway

      New York, NY 10003

       ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      This version was prepared with the help of a literal translation by Francesca Albini, commissioned by the Donmar Theatre, and with further assistance from Simonetta Wenkert. I take sole responsibility for the departures from Pirandello.

      Tom Stoppard’s new version of Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello was commissioned by and first performed at the Donmar Warehouse, London, on April 29, 2004. Michael Grandage, artistic director; Nick Frankfort, executive producer; Tobias Round, general manager. The cast was as follows:

      HENRY IV Ian McDiarmid

      LANDOLF James Lance

      HAROLD Stuart Burt

      ORDULF Neil McDermott

      BERTOLD Nitzan Sharron

      GIOVANNI Brian Poyser

      DI NOLLI Orlando Wells

      BELCREDI David Yelland

      DOCTOR Robert Demeger

      MATILDA Francesca Annis

      FRIDA Tania Emery

      It was directed by Michael Grandage; the designer was Christopher Oram; the lighting design was by Neil Austin; the music and sound score was by Adam Cork; and the sound designer was Fergus O’Hare.

       Pirandello’s Henry IV

       ACT ONE

      The throne room. There are two full-length, life-size modern portraits of a young man and a young woman dressed as Henry IV and Matilda, Countess of Tuscany. HAROLD, LANDOLF, ORDULF, and BERTOLD—wearing the costumes of eleventh-century German knights—enter.

      LANDOLF Next—the throne room!

      HAROLD The throne room of the Emperor’s Palace at Goslar!

      ORDULF Or could be Hartzburg . . .

      HAROLD . . . or Worms, depending.

      LANDOLF Depending on where we are in the story—he keeps us on the hop.

      ORDULF Saxony . . .

      HAROLD Lombardy . . .

      LANDOLF The Rhine . . .

      ORDULF Keep your voice down.

      LANDOLF He’s asleep.

      BERTOLD Hang about. I’m confused. I thought we were doing Henry IV.

      LANDOLF So?

      BERTOLD Well, this place, these getups—it’s not him.

      ORDULF Who?

      BERTOLD The King of France, Henry IV.

      LANDOLF Whoops.

      ORDULF He thought it was the French one.

      LANDOLF Wrong country, mate, wrong century, wrong Henry.

      HAROLD It’s the German Henry IV, Salian Dynasty.

      ORDULF The