Characters
Carton: early thirties, average build, white shirt, green vest, dark pants, battered brown overcoat, brown boots, should appear disheveled
Darnay: early thirties, average build, clean white shirt, black pants, clean black overcoat, brown boots, neat appearance
Lorry: late fifties, short, white shirt, black vest, black pants, fine brown jacket, brown shoes, rectangular glasses, should have neat but old appearance
Barsad: mid thirties, gaunt, brown shirt, black pants, long dark coat w/ hood, black boots, should appear scruffy
Seamstress: early twenties, slender, white dress, light shoes, should appear neat
Dr. Manette: early fifties, emaciated, beige shirt, brown pants, brown overcoat, brown shoes, haggard
Defarge: mid forties, heavyset, black shirt, black pants, maroon overcoat, black shoes, tricolor arm band, should appear untidy
Madame Defarge: mid forties, overweight, black dress, black shoes, tricolor armband, should appear unkempt and wild
Jacques 3: mid forties, overweight, white shirt, brown baggy pants w/ suspenders, brown boots, tricolor armband, untidy
Vengeance: mid thirties, average build, yellow dress, bare feet, tricolor armband, wild
Juryman: mid forties, overweight, white shirt, black pants, black coat, black shoes, tricolor armband
Wine shop customer: male, mid twenties, brown shirt, white pants w/ black culottes, brown overcoat, black shoes
Revolutionary Guards: males, early twenties, white shirts, white pants, blue overcoats w/ red trim, black riding boots, black tri-corner hat w/ gold trim
Scene 1
Scene: Saint Antoine street, evening. Stage left is street corner with street lamp. Stage right is Defarge's wine shop. Wine shop is two stories; with stone walls. Shop has dark wood paneling, dimly lit by lamps. Window looks onto street. Rear of shop has wine barrels stacked up behind a bar. Bar is sparsely covered with dirty glasses, rags and plates. Café style setting with round tables and chairs sits in front of bar. Tables have plain white tablecloths. The French Tricolor hangs from a pole over the door.
(Carton enters stage left, on street. Defarge, Mme. Defarge are behind bar, talking with The Vengeance, who leans on other side of bar. Jacques 3and Juryman sit at stool in front of bar, drinking.)
Carton (aside): At Tellson's banking house at nine, shall I do well, in the meantime, to show myself? I think so. It is best that these people know there is such a man as I here; it is a sound precaution, and may be a necessary precaution. But care, care, care! Let me think it out!
(Carton walks slowly to outside of wine shop and casts a quick glance into window)
Carton: (aside, slowly) Yes, it is best, that these people should know there is such a man as I here.
(Carton walks into shop and sits down at table)
Carton: May I have a small measure of wine, your finest?
(Mme. Defarge looks up and a scowl crosses her face. Mme. Defarge walks two steps toward Carton, pauses and looks, advances two more steps and looks again. Mme. Defarge then walks over to Cartons table.)
Carton: (clearly) May I have a small measure of wine, your finest?
Mme. Defarge: (inquisitively) English?
Carton: Yes, madam, yes. I am English.
(Mme. Defarge walks slowly to bar and leafs through a book from under the bar.)
Mme. Defarge (whispering): I swear to you, like Evremonde!
(Carton looks up; a look of concern passes over his face. Carton then whips his head back and looks down, like he didn't hear Mme. Defarge. Defarge walks over to Cartons table with bottle of wine.)
Defarge: Good evening.
Carton: How?
Defarge: Good evening.
Carton: Oh! Good evening, citizen.
(Carton fills glass from bottle)
Carton: Ah! And good wine. I drink to the Republic!
(Defarge walks back behind bar to Mme. Defarge)
Defarge: Certainly, a little like.
Mme. Defarge: I tell you a good deal like!
Jacques 3: He is so much in your mind, see you, Madame.
The Vengeance: Yes, my faith! And you are looking forward with so much pleasure to seeing him once more tomorrow!
(Defarges, Jacques 3 and Vengeance cast a glance at Carton. Carton keeps his head down, and pretends not to hear them)
Jacques 3: It is true Madame says. Why stop? There is great force in that. Why stop?
Defarge: Well, well. But one must stop somewhere. After all, the question is still where?
Mme. Defarge: (sharply) At extermination!
Jacques: Magnificent!
(Jacques 3 and The Vengeance nod emphatically in agreement)
Defarge: Extermination is good doctrine, my wife. In general, I say nothing against it. But this Doctor has suffered much; you have seen him today; you have observed his face when the paper was read.
Mme. Defarge: (angrily) I have observed his face! Yes. I have observed his face. I have his face to be not the face of a true friend of the Republic! Let him take care of his face!
Defarge: (annoyed) And you have observed, my wife, the anguish of his daughter, which must be a dreadful anguish to him!
Mme. Defarge: (coldly, with mounting fury) I have observed his daughter. Oh yes, I have observed his daughter, more times than one. I have observed her today, and I have observed her other days. I have observed her in the court, and I have observed her in the street by the prison! Let me but lift my finger-
(Mme. Defarge lifts her finger horizontally and pauses)
Mme. Defarge: And let it fall.
(Mme. Defarge swiftly taps finger on bar, imitating a guillotine blow)
Juryman: The citizeness is superb!
The Vengeance: She is an angel!
(The Vengeance embraces Mme. Defarge over bar counter)
The Vengeance: (turning to Defarge, with cold hostility) As to thee, if it depended on thee-which, happily, it does not-thou wouldst rescue this man even now!
Defarge: (shocked) No! Not if to lift this glass would do it! But I would leave the matter there. I say, stop there.
Mme. Defarge: See you then, Jacques, and see you too, my little Vengeance; see you both! Listen! For other crimes as tyrants and oppressors, I have this race a long time on my register, doomed to destruction and extermination. Ask my husband, is that so.
Defarge: (quietly) It is so
Mme. Defarge: That night, I tell him, when the paper is read through, and the lamp is burnt out, and the day is gleaming in above those shutters and between those iron bars, that I have now I secret to communicate. Ask him, is that so.
Defarge: (quietly) It is so.
Mme. Defarge: (unsympathetically) Then tell wind and fire where to stop, but don't tell me.
(Mme. Defarge stares coldly around at companions)
Defarge: (faltering) But, what about the Marquis's wife, she was a good-
Mme. Defarge: (with sudden anger) Tell the wind and fire where to stop, not me!
Enter Wine Customer
( Defarges, Juryman, Jacques and Vengeance break apart.)
Carton: (perplexedly) Which way is the National Palace?
(Mme. Defarge stiffly pushes him onto the street and turns him to the street. Carton walks off stage)
(Darken lights)
Scene 2
Scene: Lorry's room, Tellson's bank, midnight. Room is dark, with stone walls. Illumination comes from three small windows along top of back wall. A dark wooden table is in the center, with piles of paperwork. Against the back wall are a desk with papers and books, and two benches facing each other. A fireplace is at the right end of the room, with two red armchairs facing it. Carton and Mr. Lorry are standing in the middle of the room, at opposite ends of the table. Dr. Manettes coat lies at Cartons feet. Dr. Manette sits forlorn in the armchair nearest to the stage, weeping and moaning.
(All dialogue should be done quietly, unless otherwise noted)
Carton: (casts a glance at Manette) The last chance is gone: it was not much. Yes, he had better be taken to Lucie. But, before you go, will you, for a moment, steadily attend to me? Don't ask me why I make the stipulations I am going to exact; I have reason-a good one.
Lorry: I do not doubt it. Say on.
(Carton picks up Manettes coat. As he does so, a case falls out. Carton and Lorry stoop down to look at the case. Carton picks up the case and opens it. Inside, there is a folded paper, which Carton removes)
Carton: (apprehensively) We should take a look at this!
(Lorry nods and Carton opens paper)
Carton: (loudly) Thank God!
Lorry: (eagerly) What is it?
Carton: A moment! Let me speak of it in its place. First-
(Carton draws another paper from his coat)
Carton: -this is the certificate which enables me to pass out of this city. Look at it. You see-Sydney carton, an Englishman?
(Lorry holds up paper, examining it)
Carton: Keep it for me until tomorrow. I shall see Darnay tomorrow, you remember, and I had better not take it into the prison.
Lorry: Why not?
Carton: I don't know; I prefer not to do so. Now take this paper that Doctor Manette has carried about him. It is a similar certificate enabling him and his daughter and her child, at any time, to pass the barrier and the frontier. You see?
Lorry: Yes!
Carton: Perhaps he obtained it as his last and utmost precaution against evil, yesterday. When is it dated? But no matter, don't stay to look; put it up carefully with mine and your own. Now, observe! I never doubted until within this hour or two, that he had or could have such a paper. It is good until recalled. But it may be soon recalled, and, I have reason to think, will be.
Lorry: (concernedly) They are not in danger?
Carton: (gravely) They are in great danger. They are in danger of denunciation by Madame Defarge. I know it from her own lips. I have overheard word of that woman's tonight, which have presented their danger to me in strong colors. I have lost no time, and since then, I have seen the spy. He confirms me. He knows that a wood-sawyer, living by the prison wall, is under the control of the Defarges, and has been rehearsed by Madame Defarge as to his having seen her, making signs and signals to the prisoners. It is easy to foresee that the pretence will be the common one, a prison plot, and that it will involve her life-and perhaps her child's-and perhaps her father's-for both have been seen with her at that place . Don't look so horrified, You will save them all.
Lorry: (distraught) heaven grant I may, Carton! But how?
Carton: I am going to tell you how. It will depend on you, and it could depend on no better man. This new denunciation will certainly not take place until after tomorrow, probably no until two or three days afterwards; more probably a week afterwards. You know it is a capital crime, to mourn for, or to sympathize with, a victim of the Guillotine. She and her father would unquestionably be guilty of this crime, and this woman (the inveteracy of whose pursuit cannot be described) would wait to add that strength to her case, and make herself doubly sure. You follow me?
Lorry: (grimly) So attentively, and with so much confidence in what you say, that for moment I lose sight, even of this distress.
(Lorry touches back of Manette's chair)
Carton: (hurriedly) You have money, and can buy the means of traveling to the sea-coast as quickly as the journey can be made. Your preparations have been completed for some days, to return to England. Early tomorrow have you horses ready, so that they may be in trim at two o'clock in the afternoon.
Lorry (assertively) It shall be done
(Lorry stands up straighter, holding his head high)
Carton: Ah, you are a noble heart. Did I say we could depend upon no better man? Tell her, tonight, what you know of her danger as involving her child and her father. Dwell upon that, for she would lay her own fair head beside her husband's cheerfully.
(Carton's voice falters for a moment, and he turns away briefly before regaining his composure and facing Lorry again)
Carton: For the sake of her child and her father, press upon the necessity of leaving Paris, with them and you, at that hour. Tell her that it was her husband's last arrangement. Tell her that more depend on it than she dare believe, or hope. You think that her father, even in this sad hour, will submit himself to her; do you not?
Lorry: (confidently) I am sure of it.
Carton: I thought so. Quietly and steadily have all these arrangements mad in the courtyard here, even to the taking of your own seat in the carriage. The moment I come to you, take me in, and drive away.
Lorry: I understand that I wait for you under all circumstances?
Carton: You have my certificate in your hand with the rest. You know, and will reserve my place. Wait for nothing but to have my place occupied, and then for England!
Lorry: (incredulously) Why, then, it does not all depend on one old man, but I shall have a young and ardent young man at my side.
Carton: By the help of heaven you shall! Promise me solemnly that nothing will alter the course on which we now stand pledged to one another.
Lorry: Nothing, Carton.
Carton: remember these words tomorrow: change the course, or delay in it-for any reason-and no life can possibly be saved, and many lives must inevitably be sacrificed.
Lorry: I will remember them. I hope to do my part faithfully!
Carton: And I hope to do mine. Now, good-bye!
(Carton puts Manette's coat around Manette's shoulders, and walks slowly to the door)
(Darken lights)
Scene 3
Scene: Prison cell, night. Walls are dark stone. One narrow slit in center of back wall serves as a window. Room is sparse, there is a chair against the back wall and a table to the left.. Barred door is on right of set. Darnay lies in middle of stage, on a bed of straw.
Enter Carton through door on right
(Carton presses finger to lips, grins)
Carton: (cheerfully) Of all the people upon earth, you least expected to see me?
Darnay: (relieved) I could not believe it to be you. I can scarcely it now. You are not… (fearfully) a prisoner?
Carton: No. I am accidentally possessed of a power over one of the keepers here, and in virtue of it I stand before you. I come from her-your wife, dear Darnay.
(Darnay wrings hands, looks around nervously)
Carton: I bring you a request from her.
Darnay: (anxiously) What is it?
Carton: a most earnest, pressing, and emphatic entreaty, addressed to you in the most pathetic tones of the voice so dear to you, that you will remember.
(Darnay turns slowly aside to face audience)
Carton: You have no time to ask me why I bring it, or what it means: I have no time to tell you. You must comply with it-take off those boots you wear, and draw on these of mine.
(Carton pulls Darnay over to chair and sits him down. As he speaks, Carton swaps his clothes with Darnay's)
Carton: (hurriedly) Draw on these boot of mine. Put your hands to them; put you will to them. Quick!
Darnay: (weakly) Carton, there is no escaping from this place; it can never be done. You will only die with me. It is madness.
Carton: It would be madness if I asked you to escape, but do I? When I ask you to pass out that door, tell me it is madness and remain here. Change that cravat for this of mine, that coat for this of mine. While you do it, let me take this ribbon from your hair, and shake out your hair like this of mine!
Darnay: (shaking his head) Carton! Dear Carton! It is madness. It cannot be accomplished, it can never be done, it has been attemped, and has always failed. I implore you not to add your death to the bitterness of mine.
Carton: Do I ask you, my dear Darnay, to pass the door? When I ask that, refuse. There are pen and ink and paper on this table. Is your hand steady enough to write?
Darnay: It was when you came in.
Carton: (commanding) Steady it again, and write what I shall dictate. Quick, friend, quick!
(Darnay sits down at the table, his head in his hands. Carton stands resolutely behind him, hand at chest)
Carton: Write exactly as I speak.
Darnay: To whom do I address it
Carton: (firmly) To no one.
Darnay: Do I date it?
Carton: No
(Darnay poises himself to write)
Carton: (clearly) If you remember, the words that passed between us, long ago, you will readily comprehend this when you see it. You do remember them, I know. It is not in your nature to forget them.
(Carton draws hand from chest)
Carton: Have you written "forget them"?
Darnay: I have. Is that a weapon in your hand?
Carton. No, I am not armed.
Darnay: What is in your hand?
Carton: You shall know directly. Write on, there are but a few words more.
(Darnay begins writing again)
Carton: I am thankful that the time has come, when I can prove them. That I do so is no subject for regret or grief.
(Carton moves his hand to near Darnay's face, pen drops from Darnays grasp to table)
Darnay: What vapor is that?
Carton: Vapor?
Darnay: Something that crossed me?
Carton: (calmly) I am conscious of nothing; there can be nothing here. Take up the pen and finish. Hurry, hurry!
(Darnay resumes writing again. As Carton dictates, he moves his hand back to Darnay's face)
Carton: If it had been otherwise, I never should have used the longer opportunity. If it had been otherwise, I should but have had so much more to answer for. If it had been otherwise-
(Darnay can no longer write through effects of drug. Carton holds Darnay's nose fast until he is unconscious. Carton finishes swapping the clothes, and calls to the door)
Carton: Enter there! Come in!
Enter Barsad
Carton: You see? Is your hazard very great?
Barsad: Mr. Carton, my hazard is not that, in the thick of business here, if you are true to the whole of your bargain.
Carton: Don't fear me. I will be true to the death.
Barsad: You must be, if the tale of fifty-two is to be right. Being made right by you in that dress, I shall have no fear.
Carton: Have no fear! I shall soon be out of way of harming you, and the rest will soon be far from here, please God! Now, take me too the coach.
Barsad: (nervously) You?
Carton: Him, man, with whom I have exchanged. You go out at the gate by which you brought me in?
Barsad: Of course.
Carton: I was weak and faint when you brought me in, and I am fainter now you take me out. The parting interview has overpowered me. Such a thing has happened here, often, and too often. Your life is in your own hands. Quick!
Barsad: (uneasily) You swear not to betray me?
Carton: Man,man! Have I sworn by no solemn vow already, to go though with this, that you waste your precious moments now. Take him yourself to the courtyard you now of, place him yourself in the carriage, show yourself to Mr. Lorry, tell him yourself to give him no restorative but air, and to remember my words of last night, and his promise of last night, and drive away!
Barsad: (warily) The time is short, Evremond.
Carton: I know it well. Be careful of my friend, I entreat you, and leave me.
Exit Barsad with unconscious Darnay
(Carton sits down at table, his head raised to the ceiling, lost in thought)
Enter Seamstress
(All dialogue calm)
Seamstress: Citizen Evremond, I am a poor little seamstress, who was with you in La Force.
Carton: True. I forget what you were accused of?
Seamstress: Plots. Though the just Heaven knows I am innocent of any. Is it likely? Who would think of plotting with a poor little weak creature like me?
(Seamstress smiles sadly, reaches out to Carton's face, Carton cries softly)
Seamstress: I am not afraid to die, Citizen Evremond, but I have done nothing. I am not unwilling to die, if the Republic which is to do so much good for us poor, will profit by my death; but I do not know how much that can be, Citizen Evremond. Such a poor weak little creature! I heard you were released Citizen Evremon. I hoped it was true?
Carton: It was. But, I was again taken and condemned.
Seamstress: If I may ride with you, Citixen Evremond, will you let me hold your hand? I am not afraid, but I am little and weak, and it will give me more courage.
(Seamstress looks into Cartons eyes, touching his face. Her face turns to astonishment as she realizes the truth)
Seamstress: Are you dying for him?
Carton: For his wife and child. Hush! Yes.
Seamstress: Oh, you will let me hold your brave hand, stranger?
Carton: Hush! Yes, my poor sister; to the last.
(Darken Lights)
Scene 4
Scene: The Plaza, morning. The Guillotine stands in the middle of the stage, surrounded by the Mob and The Vengeance. The death cart stands to the left, with Carton and the Seamstress. The Revolutionary Guards stand by the Guillotine.
Seamstress: But for you dear stranger, I should not be so composed, for I am naturally a poor little thing, faint of heart; nor should I have been able to raise my thought to Him who was put to death, that we might have hope and comfort here today. I think you were sent to me by Heaven.
Carton: Or you to me. Keep you eyes upon me, dear child, and mind no other object.
Seamstress: I mind nothing while I hold your hand. I shall mind nothing when I let it go, if they are rapid.
Carton: (reassuring) They will be rapid. Fear not!
Seamstress: You comfort me so much! I am so ignorant. Am I too kiss you now? Is the moment come?
Carton: (quietly) Yes.
(Carton and Seamstress kiss. The Revolutionary Guards take away the Seamstress, and when she is gone, they come for him.)
Carton: (aside, confidently) It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.
(Carton is guillotined, darken lights)
A Tale of Two Cities
Script Adaptation
Benjamin Harned
Period 4, Eng. 10 Combined