THE GERONTES AND THE SAGE-SEER’S GRANDSON (AXEL)
ENGLISH VERSION —
Text and scenic conception
by Khider Ben si said
Dramatis Personae
THE SAGE-SEER
Guardian of memory.
Witness of fractures.
AXEL
His grandson.
Heir to an unfinished vision.
GYALTSEN and ERIC (from Tibet and France)
A voice.
A memory.
Perhaps a univrsal conscience.
THE CHIEF OF THE GERONTES
Keeper of order.
Voice of inherited tyranni
THE ELDER WOMEN
Bearers of exile, silence, and refusal.
THE CHILDREN
The living memory of what must not disappear.
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ACT I – FRACTURED PRELUDE
✓ finalized
ACT II – CHILDREN, PLAY, AND FRACTURE
✓ expanded garden version finalized
ACT III – THE COLLAPSE
✓ finalized
ACT IV – AXEL’S DREAM
✓ finalized
AUTHOR’S FINAL EPIGRAPH
When memory falls asleep,
power learns to speak louder.
When children stop singing,
history begins to repeat itself.
— From The Gerontes and the Sage-Seer’s Grandson
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THE GERONTES AND THE SAGE-SEER’S GRANDSON
(AXEL)
ENGLISH VERSION — STAGE RE-ADAPTED FROM THE ITALIAN TEXT
THE GERONTES AND THE SAGE-SEER’S GRANDSON (AXEL)
ENGLISH VERSION
Text and scenic conception by Khider Ben si said
Dramatis Personae
THE SAGE-SEER
Witness of fractured memory.
Guardian of truths threatened by falsification.
AXEL
His grandson.
Heir to a buried inheritance.
A consciousness awakening beneath manipulated history.
GYALTSEN and ERIC
(from Tibet and France)
A voice.
A memory.
Perhaps the echo of a conscience refusing submission.
THE CHIEF OF THE GERONTES
Leader of a senile caste.
Manipulator of inherited narratives.
Voice of authority sustained through fear, distortion, and obedience.
THE GERONTES
A decaying oligarchy of aging figures who monopolize collective memory, deform ancient inheritances, and manipulate history in order to preserve their domination.
They no longer transmit wisdom.
They administer its ruins.
THE ELDER WOMEN
Witnesses of exile, fracture, and silenced memory.
THE CHILDREN
The fragile memory of what power has not yet managed to corrupt.
AUTHOR’S FINAL EPIGRAPH
When memory falls asleep,
power learns to speak louder.
When history is confiscated,
obedience begins to call itself truth.
And when children stop singing,
civilizations begin repeating their nightmares.
— From The Gerontes and the Sage-Seer’s Grandson
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THE GERONTES AND THE SAGE-SEER’S GRANDSON
ACT I – FRACTURED PRELUDE
Night.
The SAGE-SEER struggles in his sleep.
SAGE-SEER
(broken, urgent)
No…!
Do not take him away…!
Leave him…!
Do not let them seize you !
They will hand you over to the night !
They will kill you !
Do not disappear !
AXEL wakes abruptly, shaken by his grandfather’s turmoil.
AXEL
Grandfather !
Grandfather !
SAGE-SEER
A dream…
A dream!
AXEL
Are you feverish, Grandfather?
SAGE-SEER
I had a dream…
my child....
(pause)
I had a dream !
I saw a family lose its order…
then its balance.
Its members scattered…
applauding a madman.
The madman entered
through the shadow of a celebration.
He disguised division
as salvation.
And beneath the innocence
of their applause…
he slowly taught them
to fear one another.
One by one…
he brought down
the voices that still remembered.
(pause, lower)
And in the end…
they crowned him themselves.
AXEL
(shaken)
Crowned?
And no one…
no one tried to stop him?
GYALTSEN AND ERIC
(a distant, bittersweet voice)
When people forget
to remain awake…
power begins rewriting
their memory.
AXEL
(uneasy)
Who’s there…?
SAGE-SEER
Submission became a religion.
Silence…
a sacred discipline.
Truth itself
became dangerous.
A shadow crosses the space.
A presence.
THE CHIEF OF THE GERONTES
(penetrating, almost smiling)
Freedom…?
(silence)
People always speak of freedom
before begging
to be ruled again.
SAGE-SEER
At first, they resisted.
Then they became afraid.
And fear taught them
to confuse obedience
with peace.
GYALTSEN AND ERIC
Fear…
is a door
without a lock.
SAGE-SEER
And division…
always opens the way
for those who govern through ruin.
(long silence)
Come.
There are men in this world
who no longer preserve memory…
but feed upon it.
Blackout.
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ACT II – CHILDREN, PLAY, AND FRACTURE
Light.
Laughter.
Movement.
A circle of little girls.
Hands clapping.
Bodies turning.
Dust rising through light.
GIRLS
(singing lightly)
When Janet…
Janet…
Janet…
went dancing…
she was lovely…
so lovely…
with a straw hat on her head…
and ribbons of three bright colors…
white…
blue…
red…
The first who met her
asked:
“Where are you going,
pretty child?”
JANET
(playful, singing)
I’m going to dance
the carmagnole…
at the festival
of my village…
GIRLS
The second who met her
asked:
“Where are you going,
pretty child?”
JANET
I’m going to find
the one I love…
at the festival
of my village…
CHORUS
Janet…
lovely Janet…
dance with us tonight…
beneath Algeria’s sky…
sing of life…
sing of hope…
One little girl
begins to step away.
Another catches her,
laughing.
A LITTLE GIRL
Stay a little longer…
just one more step…
Laughter.
Turning.
Hands.
Dust.
Light.
Then…
one girl suddenly stops.
ANOTHER LITTLE GIRL
Why are we leaving?
A brief silence.
The game resumes…
but something…
has shifted.
GYALTSEN AND ERIC
(whispering, closer now)
Because worlds collapse…
long before people
notice the cracks.
One girl stops clapping.
Another stares into the distance.
None of them understands yet.
ELDER WOMAN
(firm, restrained)
This is no longer a celebration.
We are leaving.
Silence.
Then…
another woman steps forward.
Upright.
Unbroken.
SECOND WOMAN
I…
am not leaving.
I am no longer Lucy.
From now on…
call me…
FATIMA
The girls begin singing again…
but their voices tremble.
GIRLS
(fragile, uneven)
Janet…
lovely Janet…
A violent voice erupts
from offstage.
VOICE
Leave!
ANOTHER VOICE
Suitcase…
or coffin!
Silence.
The game stops.
Time stops with it.
GYALTSEN AND ERIC
Words…
become weapons…
when fear learns
how to speak
through crowds.
A LITTLE GIRL
(almost voiceless)
We…
did nothing…
(Silence.
Long.
Far too long).
Blackout.
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ACT III – THE COLLAPSE
Darkness.
No movement.
Only breathing.
Distant breathing.
Closer breathing.
Breathing…
that no longer seems
to belong to anyone.
A trembling light appears.
Weak.
Uncertain.
Almost diseased.
And within the shadows…
voices.
Far away at first.
Then closer.
Then…
everywhere.
VOICES
(fragmented, overlapping)
Leave…
Stay…
Leave…
Stay…
There is no place for you here…
Not now…
Too late…
Too early…
Stay…
Leave…
The voices overlap.
Collide.
Consume one another.
Break apart.
Return again.
OTHER VOICES
(harder, rising)
Out…
Out…
Out…
SOFTER VOICES
(like wounded memory)
Stay…
Do not leave me…
Stay…
A CHILD’S VOICE
(almost imperceptible)
I’m afraid…
Silence.
Brief.
Then heavier
than noise itself.
THE VOICES
(distorted, disfigured)
Lea…
Stay…
Go…
Gone…
No…
Here…
Leave…
Remain…
Disappear…
Obey…
Gone…
Stay…
The words begin losing shape.
Then meaning.
Then memory.
They become breath.
They become echo.
They become dust.
A shaft of light
cuts across the stage.
Then another.
Then…
nothing.
GYALTSEN AND ERIC
(very far away)
Remember…
Silence.
GYALTSEN AND ERIC
(fading even farther)
Not what you were told…
but what others…
worked so hard…
to make you forget.
A long silence.
Everything…
slowly…
begins to dissolve.
The light trembles.
Once.
Twice.
Then…
nothing.
Total blackout.
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ACT IV – AXEL’S DREAM
A dim light.
Almost dawn.
Almost the end.
Almost a beginning.
AXEL stands alone.
Center stage.
Still.
As if listening
to something
no one else
can hear anymore.
THEN…
SUDDENLY…
He runs.
Laughs.
Breathes.
Like someone
returning from very far away.
AXEL
Hurray!
Hurray!
Grandfather!
Grandfather!
He stops.
Breathes.
Smiles…
like someone
carrying a secret
too fragile for this world.
AXEL
(softer)
Grandfather... Grandfather !
I had a dream.
Silence.
Then…
very far away…
almost carried by the wind…
a song.
ECHO OF THE CHILDREN
(offstage, very distant)
Janet…
lovely Janet…
dance with us tonight…
beneath Algeria’s sky…
sing of life…
sing of hope…
The echo finishing gradually, quietly
AXEL closes his eyes.
Listening.
As if losing even one note
would mean losing
what remains
of the world.
AXEL
I saw children playing.
They were laughing…
running…
singing…
(pause)
And no one…
no one…taught them
to fear one another.
(A warmer light
slowly crosses the stage.Like dawn. Or memory itself
finding its way back
through ruins. Very far away… almost fading… a voice).
GYALTSEN AND ERIC
(like a breath)
Stay awake AXEL… !
A long silence.
AXEL opens his eyes.
Looks ahead.
No longer entirely a child.
Not yet a man.
But already someonewho has seen
the machinery of silence.
AXEL
(calm, grounded)
I will remain awake…
Silence.
…Again.
Then AXEL slowly raises his head.
As if, for the first time,
he could finally see
beyond the walls
built by fear.
AXEL
(almost an oath)
For them.
For those
whose voices were buried.
For those
history erased.
For those
who disappeared
inside silence.
And for those…
who will still sing
after the ruins.
Light.
Then…
slowly…
I will stay awake !
Blackout.
Curtain.
Writen by Khider Ben si said
