CHAUVIN — CAST
ACT I
TIME
Wednesday, June 21, 1815, three days after Waterloo, mid-morning
SETTING
The Élysée Palace, Paris, Emperor Napoleon’s throne room. SL is the throne, angled, on four-tiered risers. UC is a balcony and railing, overlooking the courtyard below. A grand entrance arch, curtained in front of large doors, is SR, angled.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Napoleon Bonaparte (b. Aug. 15, 1769; general at 24, 1793; d. May 5, 1821, at 51); presently, 46.
Antonin Dibroc
One of three soldier-prisoners. (He represents preternatural tendencies.)
Nicolas Chauvin – A historical person who has become mythical; a soldier (b. July 4, 1776; the author’s chosen date); a substitute conscript for a wealthy person in 1793, at 17; now, in Act I, 38 years of age, an oft-wounded veteran of 22 years in service; Acts II and III, 39 years. (His character copes with the three influences of IChauvin, his transcendental self, the Adele of his natural, humanistic, everyday world, and Dibroc, a preternatural force.)
IChauvin – Chauvin’s ideological manifestation; Chauvin’s fantasy self, whose name becomes the eponym for super patriotism and nationalism; his thoughts. He remains relatively ageless, but could show some slight, increasing maturity, as the ideology grows and takes on a life of its own. (His character represents the supernatural world of the ideological existence of absolute truth.)
Lucien, Napoleon’s brother
Joseph, Napoleon’s brother
Baron Fain, Napoleon’s secretary
Two condemned prisoners and servants
(Following detail unnecessary except for technical uses)
MINISTERS
The ministers are all taller than Napoleon; in his presence, they stoop down, minimizing their height, as toadies ought.
Joseph Fouché
Duke of Otranto, Minister of Police, Lazare Carnot
Minister of the Interior, Louis Davout
Minister of War, Denis Decrès
Minister of Marine
COURTIERS
Caulaincourt
Napoleon’s long-time companion, Colonel Planat
Napoleon’s aide-de-camp, Marchand
Napoleon’s valet, Aides and secretaries
Ladies of the court in the background.
GENERALS
Bertrand
Gourgaud
Other Officer – These officers make no attempt to “minimize” themselves in the presence of the general, not so much toadying as showing normal respect.
ACT II
TIME
July 3, 1815, Monday, before light in the early morning. The moon is low, about to disappear (DC), as the first rays of the sun lighten the sky in the east (UC). At a certain time, noted, during the act, time passes into early afternoon. The curtain may be drawn and the entr’acte omitted at that point in the middle of the act, or not, at the discretion of the producers.
(HISTORICAL NOTE: (From Imbert de Saint-Amand) “Monday, July 3. General Beker, always respectful toward the Emperor, told him in the morning that it might be dangerous to delay in this manner [tarrying in Niort], as there was reason to fear the arrival of an English fleet before Rochefort, which would render his departure for the United States impossible. Napoleon allowed himself to be convinced, and left Niort, but not without regret. A detachment of light cavalry escorted him. Before evening they entered Rochefort. In the town and its environs were a regiment of naval artillery, fifteen hundred National Guards, and nearly three thousand gens d’armes, all of them well disposed toward the Emperor. They protested their devotion to him. . . . He stayed at the Maritime Prefecture and the people gave him just such a welcome as he had received at Niort…. Rochefort is one of the towns on whose sanitation Napoleon had expended most money. For many years he had continued the works for drying up the marshes that surround it…. (T)he inhabitants of Rochefort were grateful on that account, and not afraid to show it.”)
SETTING
In the environs of Rochefort, France, (Chauvin’s birthplace). A square surrounded by the Chauvin home (SR), which is in part a bakery, a stone wall (US), a butcher shop (UL), a dairy store and an inn (DL). Between the butcher shop and the dairy store is a passageway leading off left. SRC is a tree, under which is a bench. The tree has a large trunk, and the leaves and branches hang from the flies so that the shops around the square are not obscured. CS is a well.
Mme Chauvin’s bakery has a Dutch door through which she conducts her trade. Just outside the door US of it is a table and chairs where patrons may sit and visit, eat bread and drink.
Throughout the scene, veteran soldiers trickle in and congregate around the table. US running right and left of center is a stone wall. The gate is UC, but it is cut at a right angle to the wall so that the region beyond is masked by the overlapping wall sections.
CAST FROM ACT I
Chauvin
IChauvin
Dibroc
Napoleon Bonaparte
Joseph
Lucien
CAST IN FIRST APPEARANCE
Mme Adele Chauvin, Four years younger than Chauvin; married him in 1804, at 28 years; in Act I, 35 years of age; a baker whose shop was purchased with Nicolas’s money, obtained through substitute conscription. Adele represents the realm of the humanistic, natural world, as opposed to the preternatural or supernatural.
Jean Picot, Chauvin’s war-veteran comrade joined on the road home
Charles Souvan, Chauvin’s war-veteran comrade joined on the road home
Henri, Ten years old, son of Nicolas and Adele, conceived during one of Chauvin’s many convalescences, probably around the time when Chauvin was called to stand guard in the cathedral at Napoleon’s coronation in 1805
Jeanette, Eight years old, daughter of Nicolas and Adele
Michelle Couvé, Adele’s companion, “Aunt” to Adele’s children
Mlle Blondel, Customer at Adele’s bakery
Mme Fopin, Customer at Adele’s bakery
An Old Soldier
Monsieur Burgeon, mayor
Guillaume Puiné, a Bonapartist victim of the White Terror
Leader of the White-Terrorists – (NOTE: The color white was emblematic of the monarchy, and red the color of the Revolution. There were times of “red terror” [the "Reign of Terror"] and of “white terror”, prosecuted by the royalists in 1815. Napoleon’s use of “terrorists” in the dialog is defensible on grounds of common understanding of the time, I believe.)
SUPERS
TOWNSFOLK, women shoppers and tradesmen.
NAPOLEON’S ENTOURAGE
WHITE TERRORISTS
VETERAN SOLDIER
ACT III
TIME:
Saturday evening, late November, 1816
SETTING:
This is a theater-within-a-theater setting. The setting on stage1 is mostly a cutaway of the interior of a theater. A kiosk is plastered with the title, etc., of the production now playing, LA MORT DE CÉSAR by M. de Voltaire.
This play might have been revived for its statement about Napoleon as Cæsar. Napoleon’s censorship of the theatre had been revoked, and more freedom had crept into the theatre.
On the kiosk are plastered in large flaming letters the word “REPRISE”, and the star-actors’ names, Talma and Lafon.
CAST FROM ACTS I & II
Chauvin – In this act, Chauvin shows a characteristic, though reversed, pose of Napoleon: his left hand is now tucked inside his coat (across his chest) so that it holds the flag for retrieval at will — a trick he has developed. What’s a “chauvinist” without a little flag-waving!
IChauvin
Dibroc
Adele
Michelle Couvé
Jean Picot
Charles Souvan
VETERAN SOLDIERS, Chauvin’s entourage
CAST IN FIRST APPEARANCE
Mme Germaine de Staël – Her dates are April 22, 1766-July 14, 1817; she lived 51 years, 3 months; in ACT III, 50 years old. (Germaine’s health is failing, but her activities know no respite. She is on drugs, suffering stomach disorders and a weakening heart. She will suffer a stroke in three months [February 21, 1817], lie flat for three months, be moved, and then die July 14, 1817.)
Benjamin, companion of Mme De Staël
Albert, companion of Mme De Staël
August, companion of Mme De Staël
Charlotte, companion of Mme De Staël
Caroline, companion of Mme De Staël
Talma (1763-1826), the most famous classical actor of the time, playing Antony.
Pierre Lafon, tragedian, previously a rival of Talma’s, playing the conspirator, Cassius.
Brutus, character in play-within-a-play
Cæsar, character in play-within-a-play
Dolabella, character in play-within-a-play
SUPERS
ACTORS
A small number of Romans
VETERANS, retinue of Chauvin
THEATRE PATRONS
Talma’s (Antony/Talma’s) claque favored by Chauvin
Lafon’s (Cassius/Lafon’s) claque favored by Mme de Staël
Allied soldiers from England
Other theatre patrons in the audience2 section.
NOTE
Pretty hefty, what? But, producers have work-arounds, don’t they. Double-casting, for instance.
I am enough of a realist to know that this text will not succeed as a play. It will succeed as a movie script and as a grand opera.
The composer, Malcolm J. Hill (Bath, U.K.), has completed a full score. He has set the text to many beautiful arias and choruses. A link to him may be had on the U.K. web site. Several opera companies have asked for, and received the score. He is also completing the score for the opera, Olympias, which is now also available for production.
