An Anthology of Croatian Literature

Miro Gavran (1961- )

Miro Gavran (1961– ) A precocious playwright as well as short story writer and novelist for both adults and children, Gavran runs a drama and prose-writing school and directs a theater in Zagreb. Some seventeen of the eighteen plays listed on his website (http://www.mgavran2.t-com.hr/) have been translated into English as well as a host of other languages, likewise all six of his novels. The themes he himself lists for his work include love, success, careers, sex, politics, authority, and the theater. His sources are biblical, literary, and historical, among others. The following excerpt, copied from his website, is from one of his earliest plays, Royalty and Rogues, which premiered in the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, in 1999. The translator is not named. An Anthology of Croatian Literature 314 Royalty and Rogues (Excerpt) Cast in Order of Appearance: Marun, first Croatian King John Seitz Yelena, his wife Deborah Offner Katarina, his daughter Mara Lieberman Trpimir, his son Tim Devlin Grgur, court counselor Bryan Clark Dora, Grgur's daughter, Trpimir's fiancé, Elizabeth Anne Keiser Fool, court jester Albert Macklin Act One (Yelena, Marun, Fool, Katarina—later Trpimir and Dora) Marun: Last night I dreamt of a white dove, the army, and my tomb. The dove held a dagger in its beak. Yelena: What does this mean? Marun: The dove holding the dagger means suicide, the army means war, and the tomb means a tomb. Yelena: Nonsense. Marun: No, it is not nonsense. It’s the future. It seems reasonable to conclude that I can expect a war in the immediate future, and after the war—suicide. The only thing that might save me is if, in my next dream, the dove lets go of the dagger, or if a rooster without its left wing perches on a soldier’s armor. (Silence.) Yelena: How ridiculous it is to be a queen, yet have no money to commission the tailoring of a gown. Ours is the poorest court in Europe. We haven’t even the wherewithal to support court musicians. Miro Gavran 315 Marun: Should we be singing and playing music while an entire people is starving? Should you be wearing lavish gowns while my subjects sleep on straw with no blanket to cover them and walk barefoot in the snow? (To the audience): I am a good king and I love my people. Yelena: The court should be wealthy. Wealth is a measure of the king’s real power. We don’t need the glory of the court for ourselves, but for others. (To the audience): I am a bad and evil queen. Marun: The treasury is empty. Harvests for the last two years have been meager at best. The drought is at fault. Yelena: If you were just a little more capable we wouldn’t be where we are today. Marun: Sermons and sermonizing. Leave me alone. I need rest. Yelena: If you’d listened to me, none of this would have happened. Marun: You think you know better than I. Yelena: If you were decisive and a lot less merciful, everything would have been different. It is high time you do something. Everyone is wondering what tomorrow will bring. Marun: Tomorrow will see to itself. Yelena: Do something. Marun: Do what? When a man sinks into quicksand, every movement makes his predicament worse and speeds him faster to the depths. I’d rather stay still and wait. Yelena: You’re weary and incompetent. Marun: Yes, I am weary. Look, I have a slipped disc, migraines, and high blood pressure. An Anthology of Croatian Literature 316 Fool: While our miserable kingdom sinks The king does nothing but think, “So do something!” they shout While they stand there and pout. Yelena: Everything is going to hell. You stand by calmly and watch. Katarina: (Since the opening of the scene she has been holding a book in her hand and leafing through it, showing little interest in the conversation.) Marun: Daughter dear, what is that you’re reading? Katarina: Just poems, father. Marun: What about? Katarina: …they speak of love. Marun: Sad poems, then? Katarina: Yes, they are, father. Marun: Why not read something more cheerful? Leave the glum books for your dotage. Katarina: I like them—they say nothing of the drought or politics. Yelena: There is nothing more perverse than poetry. Marun: Reading is the source of her sorrow. Katarina...