center for contemporary opera

“…not a single player was poorly cast. Similarly, the orchestra… performed with polish and sophistication under the direction of Sara Jobin.” —Opera News

“ The Center for Contemporary Opera has lovingly produced a show that boasts high production values, accessible music and a compelling story, and the distinct possibility of future productions.” — O p e r a t i c u s

“Dispatching Verloc with a portentously placed knife, the secret agent Winnie — a vocally gleaming Amy Burton — shifts into mad-scene mode, condemning the “blood and dirt” left in terrorism’s wake.” — N e w Y o r k T i m e s Michael Dellaira

libretto by J . D . M c C l a t c h y

www.albanyrecords.com TROY1450/51 albany records u.s. 915 broadway, albany, ny 12207 Amy Burton Scott Bearden tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643 albany records u.k. c o n d u c t o r box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd Sara Jobin, tel: 01539 824008 © 2013 Albany Records made in the usa DDD warning: copyright subsists in all recordings issued under this label. I ntroduction each driven by callous selfishness and misdirected idealism, each involved to a different degree, as Conrad writes, in “a blood-stained inanity of so fatuous a kind that it was impossible to fathom its On behalf of the Center for Contemporary Opera, I am delighted to bring you this recording of the origin by any reasonable or even unreasonable process of thought.” premiere performance of The Secret Agent, which took place at the Kaye Playhouse in New York City, Michael Dellaira and J. D. McClatchy had been talking about working together, and Center for March 18th and 19th, 2011. Since then, The Secret Agent was performed in October, 2011 at the Contemporary Opera thought The Secret Agent would be a perfect first collaboration. Both Dellaira Armel Opera Festival and Competition in Szeged, Hungary, where it was broadcast live over the Arte and McClatchy thought the novel might have problems in staging, not to mention that Winnie’s Channel to over a million households in Europe and where it was named the “Laureat,” leading to demise was uncomfortably similar to Tosca’s. But McClatchy knew that Conrad himself had solved the another successful performance at the Opéra Théâtre d’Avignon in France in April, 2012. problem; several years after the publication of the novel, Conrad had adapted it for the London stage. Though Joseph Conrad wrote The Secret Agent in 1907, more than a century ago, his story Conrad’s play follows the novel pretty closely until the end, where the story takes a different turn. remains chillingly relevant in our terror-haunted world, based as it is on an actual attempt on McClatchy incorporated elements of both the novel and the play, and created other original material February 15, 1894, to blow up the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. Conrad had wondered that heightens the drama and ties the story together. why the Observatory was picked as the target, and what might be the motive to destroy it. Of course —Jim Schaeffer, General & Artistic Director the Observatory is the home of the Prime Meridian, the place from which all the world’s clocks are set and symbol, surely, not just of the greatness of England’s empire but of western capitalism. The anarchist who carried the bomb blundered; the bomb exploded accidentally and killed him. In Conrad’s telling of the story, the bomb plot, having “all the shocking senselessness of gratuitous blasphemy,” also ends in disaster: an innocent boy is blown to bits. The police discover the boy’s identity, and with it the ugly network that links the terrorist act to both high government officials The Secret Agent was commissioned by and to sympathetic socialites. Center for Contemporary Opera, Long Leaf Opera and San Antonio Opera To a post-September 11th reader of The Secret Agent, this particular novel by Conrad can be underwritten by the Paul Underwood Charitable Trust and the strangely comforting. With psychological acuity that penetrates into the backstreets of turn-of-the- with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation. century London, Conrad introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters that includes foreign diplomats, police investigators, high-society ladies, downtrodden victims, and a suicide bomber — W o r l d P r e m i e r e T h e S e c r e t A g e n t C a s t T r a c k L i s t (in order of appearance) CD 1 First Secretary/The Singer/ 1 Act I — as the curtain rises [:32] Constable | Nathan Resika 2 Act I, Scene 1 (The German Embassy) [9:45] The Ambassador | Andrew Cummings 3 Act I, Scene 2 (Verloc’s Shop) [25:33] Lady Mabel | Jodi Karem 4 Act I, Scene 3 (A week later. A small café.) [12:06] Adolf Verloc | Scott Bearden 5 Act I, Scene 4 (Scotland Yard) [9:28] The Prime Minister | Mark Zuckerman Winnie Verloc | Amy Burton Total Time CD1 = 57:28 Stevie | Jonathan Blalock CD2 Ossipon | Matthew Garrett 1 Act II, Scene 5 (Lady Mabel’s drawing room. Michaelis | Aaron Theno A soirée.) [11:34] The Professor | Matt Boehler 2 Act II, Scene 6 (Verloc’s parlor.) [11:45] The Commissioner | David Neal 3 Act II, Scene 7 (An hour later. Chief Inspector Heat | Jason Papowitz Verloc’s shop.) [18:41] Lady Millicent | Deborah Lifton Lady Isabel | Kate Oberjat Total Time CD2 = 42:02 Lady Verena | Sarah Miller Lady Olive | Cherry Duke Lucille Goeres (Flute/Picc); Ian Shafer (Oboe/E.H.); Sara Jobin, Conductor Brian Hysong (Clarinet/Bcl ); Thomas Sefkovic (Bassoon); Sam Helfrich, Director Janet Lantz (Horn in F); Kenn Finn (Trombone); Laura Jellinek, Set Designer Jeffrey Kraus (Percussion); Stacey Shames (Harp); Melissa Schlachtmeyer, Costume Designer Conrad Harris (Violin 1); Pauline Kim (Violin 2 ); Eric Southern, Lighting Designer Debra Shufeld-Dine (Viola); Amy Ralske (Cello); Louise Koby (Bass ); Lee Soper (Orchestra Personnel Manager) T h e S e c r e t A g e n t him, as Verloc sees the men out. Distraught, Winnie suggests that Stevie likes only the soft Michaelis S y n o p s i s and wonders if Stevie might travel to Michaelis’s cottage in Greenwich in order to calm his nerves. Verloc is suddenly intrigued by the idea. A C T I London, 1894. The German Embassy. A ball is in progress. As dancers swirl, the Scene 1: Scene 3: A week later. A small café. The Professor is sitting at a table, his hand in his pocket. Ambassador is drawn aside by his First Secretary and informed of the furtive arrival of a secret Ossipon arrives with news of an explosion at the Greenwich Observatory. A man has been blown up, agent. The Ambassador hurriedly instructs that the agent be led up a back stairway, and turns to and he wonders if The Professor has provided Verloc with the necessary explosives. The Professor can charm Lady Mabel, a London hostess known for intriguing salons that mix officialdom and outsiders. only again express his loathing of all creation. He would destroy all he could, whether good or bad. When she returns to the dance, the agent enters, Adolf Verloc, a shifty man, who has been paid by Go after Verloc’s widow, he urges. the Embassy for years to report on anarchist groups at work in London and abroad, while posing as one of their number. The Ambassador confronts his laziness, and threatens him. In order to teach the Scene 4: Scotland Yard. The Police Commissioner and Inspector Heat are reviewing the day’s hor- English a lesson, he wants a terrorist bomb detonated at the Greenwich Observatory—a gratuitous rific explosion and examine the body of the victim, the bomber himself. Though they cannot identify act of violence meant to galvanize the complacent English into a more rigid stand against the growing the body, they slowly piece together the events of the day. The Commissioner is angry that, on anarchist threat. And he wants Verloc to undertake the mission. As Verloc sneaks out, the Prime Heat’s word, he has assured the Prime Minister that no terrorist threats were imminent. They review Minister arrives at the party. The Ambassador gloats, knowing something is about to happen that the list of the usual suspects, and single out Michaelis. Yet they have found an address on the will make the British more vigilant. body—Verloc’s. Heat informs the Commissioner that Verloc has been a double agent, working for the Germans and yet secretly in the service of the British police. But they decide to follow the more Scene 2: The parlor of Verloc’s shabby home behind the pornography shop he runs as a cover for his promising Michaelis lead, and the Commissioner explains that he will soon meet the suspect at Lady spying activities. His wife Winnie and her retarded younger brother Stevie, who lives with the couple, are Mabel’s salon that very evening. preparing dinner in anticipation of Verloc’s arrival. Stevie is agitated by a cabman’s cruel treatment of a horse, and Winnie tries to comfort him. When Verloc arrives, he curtly informs Winnie that his A C T i i usual group of conspirators will be arriving shortly. She asks that he help calm Stevie, but he dismisses Scene 5: Belgrave Square. Lady Mabel’s drawing room. A soirée. A singer is performing Schubert’s her concern. The conspirators arrive: the cynical opportunist Ossipon; the fleshy Michaelis, at work “Erlkönig.” Lady Mabel and four socialite women guests are chattering about the guests, the charms on his prison memoirs and supported now by rich socialites; and The Professor, a gaunt, haunting of Michaelis, the day’s terrible Observatory explosion, and the severe German Ambassador. Michaelis figure, contemptuous of humanity, who walks around with a bomb in his pocket and a detonator in himself explains his vision of an ideal world, and speaks of the young man who has been staying his hand. They quarrel about social conditions and solutions, and their loud talk frightens Stevie. with him at Greenwich. The Commissioner arrives at the party and is drawn into the conversation. He Ossipon is fascinated by Stevie’s condition, but Verloc is upset by the group’s inadequacy. He orders discloses that he has just met with Verloc, who is in shock because he has inadvertently caused the the men to leave and Winnie to take Stevie upstairs. As she retreats with the boy, Ossipon quietly death of his wife’s brother. Verloc has confessed that the German Ambassador is behind it all, and talks to her of his interest in her. The boy’s fit continues, though, and Winnie again tries to comfort the Commissioner tells the ladies that Verloc will be arrested and the Ambassador confronted. At that very moment, to the consternation of all, the Ambassador arrives. The Commissioner intimates what he knows and politely asks the Ambassador to accompany him to Scotland Yard. Scene 6: Back in Verloc’s house, Winnie is preparing dinner when Heat unexpectedly turns up. THE SECRET AGENT AMBASSADOR He asks if her husband is at home, and when she coldly insists he is out, Heat describes the Libretto by Made so, Lady Mabel, by your presence. Observatory explosion and tells her that a label has been found, one sewn into an overcoat. She J. D. McClatchy LADY MABEL hesitates and then realizes it is her brother’s. At that moment, Verloc returns, having withdrawn Based on the novel by Joseph Conrad That handsome young singer! Where did you all of their money from the bank. He gives it to Winnie, and suddenly realizes Heat is in the room. find him? Overcome with confusion, Verloc confesses, and blames the idiot Stevie for having bungled the A C T I AMBASSADOR bombing. Heat is strangely sympathetic, and urges Verloc—since everyone thinks he has been Scene 1 Shall I bring him to one of your Tuesdays? killed--to disappear. Heat then leaves, and Winnie turns to confront her husband, and accuses him London, 1894. LADY MABEL of having killed her beloved brother. Verloc is trying feebly to explain when Winnie suddenly grabs a The gallery of the German Embassy. Through My rooms are filled knife from the table and stabs her husband. colonnades upstage right dancers can be With financiers and anarchists, seen swirling at an Embassy ball. The FIRST With policemen and poets and politicians— Scene 7: An hour later. Winnie is slumped in a corner, as Ossipon enters. When, in her daze, she SECRETARY makes his way across the room, All of them charlatans. recognizes him, she begs him to save her. He promises to take her away but says he needs money. and as he does the figure of the AMBASSADOR So why not a singer? He suddenly discovers Verloc’s body, and is shocked, having assumed he had been killed in the emerges from shadows on the left. He’s most amusing. explosion. He realizes that it was Stevie who has been killed and decides he will try to steal the FIRST SECRETARY AMBASSADOR money instead. Winnie, crazed with grief and despair, gives him everything that Verloc had brought The gentleman has arrived, your Excellency. Next week. I promise. her, muttering “Blood and dirt”—what everything has become. Ossipon runs off with the money, just AMBASSADOR LADY MABEL as Heat arrives with a constable, and in her madness Winnie turns next to him, begging that he save Bring him up at once. The private staircase. Fritzie, you know how to please an old woman! her. The constable finds Verloc’s body, and Heat, realizing that Winnie is beyond help, dismisses the FIRST SECRETARY She returns to the dance. From the shadows constable. Moments later the constable reappears, having apprehended Ossipon, who was fleeing And, sir, the Prime Minister’s carriage is at the on the other side of the room, the FIRST from a murder scene with his pockets full of cash. Ossipon insists on his innocence while he is led entrance. SECRETARY leads a heavy-set, oddly dressed away. The Professor walks in. Indifferent to life or death, he challenges Heat to arrest him. Heat AMBASSADOR man. The AMBASSADOR motions for silence, knows The Professor has a bomb in hand and tells him his time will come. “That’s what you are, Stall him until I’ve spoken with the gentleman. dismisses the FIRST SECRETARY, and pulls the Professor,” he says. “Blood and dirt. The whole lot of you. Blood and dirt. All you terrorists. Blood and Be quick about it. And be discreet. man to one side. dirt.” The Professor walks off, Heat remains, and Winnie is left curled in a corner, ruined and alone. From the dance come LADY MABEL and several AMBASSADOR other ladies. LADY MABEL then spots her old “Verloc,” isn’t it? friend the AMBASSADOR and approaches him. VERLOC LADY MABEL That’s right, sir. A lovely party, Excellency. Lovely, lovely. We haven’t met, sir. In fact, I haven’t been to the Embassy Since Baron Wartenheim’s day. Of the very people who aim to drive them out of VERLOC VERLOC That would have been . . . . their houses. Humanity, sir? Humanity? It is no concern of yours, if I may say so, sir. AMBASSADOR What they need is a good scare, AMBASSADOR AMBASSADOR Look at you! And you, Verloc, are going to give it to them. I don’t want mere butchery. Everything is my concern, Verloc. A thin-cheeked terrorist? VERLOC VERLOC Maybe you’re not the man for the job. How long have you been drawing pay from this Me, sir? Humanity. VERLOC Embassy? AMBASSADOR AMBASSADOR I’m your man, make no mistake, sir. VERLOC You are going to give it to them. I want gratuitous blasphemy. AMBASSADOR Eleven years. I’ve been charged with several They need to be hit. The whole civilized world has heard of the We’ll see about that. I’ll give you a week. missions . . . . Not their parliament, not their churches, Greenwich Observatory. If the bomb attack doesn’t happen by then, AMBASSADOR Not their theaters or rail stations. Yes, the blowing up of the first meridian is You won’t be needing your pay, or your shop, or A lazy man. They need to be hit at the center bound to raise a howl. your wife. We’re not running a charity here. Of what they think of as their future. VERLOC Understood? Either you work hard and give us what we want, Only if we strike the future A difficult business. VERLOC nods and withdraws by the private or else. Will they wake up to the present danger. AMBASSADOR staircase behind a wall. The AMBASSADOR VERLOC Their future is science, Verloc. A difficult business? lights a cigar, as the PRIME MINISTER enters If you’ll look at my record, sir, It’s what they believe in, what they count on. Haven’t you the whole gang under your hand? from the other side. You’ll see I gave a warning on that incident in A bomb has to be thrown that goes beyond mere Besides, you can’t think you are the only secret Ah, Prime Minister, welcome! Paris last month . . . . vengeance or terrorism. agent on our list. PRIME MINISTER AMBASSADOR It must be purely destructive. VERLOC Always good to see you, Fritz. The French police—a useless lot. Your terrorists must make it clear No, sir. I meant it will cost money. I said hello to your wife on the way up. Like you, Verloc, like you. They are determined to make a clean sweep of AMBASSADOR She’s looks beautiful in that gown. Reports, pamphlets, the comings and goings the whole social creation. You’ll get your money, AMBASSADOR Of pathetic grumblers who threaten and are VERLOC But no more till something happens. Kind of you to notice, Prime Minister. tolerated. I understand, sir. And if nothing happens soon, well then . . . . I wonder if I may have a word with you before No, no, Verloc, it’s time to act. They need to be hit. What are you supposed to live by? we go in? It’s time for England to act, AMBASSADOR VERLOC I want to warn you of something . . . . But they need to be provoked. Your bomb must be aimed at something I keep a shop. My wife and I . . . . Your government has not been vigilant. The indolent English are accomplices Outside the ordinary passions of humanity. AMBASSADOR PRIME MINISTER Your what? Terrorists don’t marry. I’m not sure I understand you, Fritz. AMBASSADOR WINNIE Bbbbbbb . . . . ad . . . . I’ll get the tea. You will, Prime Minister, you will. Good, yes, Stevie, he is a good man. He said hard. Hard world for ppppp . . . poor Stevie, you go upstairs now. He leads the PRIME MINISTER into the party. He took us both in when he married me. people, STEVIE Some men wouldn’t have wanted you, but Mister For poor people, for poor people. Are you angry with me, Winnie? Scene 2 Verloc did. He said hard world for poor people. VERLOC [looking up] The parlor behind VERLOC’s shop, plainly fur- Yes, Stevie, he is a good man. My poor friend. They’ll be here soon. nished, its poverty partially disguised by sad And what did you do today? Can nobody help poor people, Winnie? The Professor, Ossipon, Michaelis. touches of decoration. A staircase leading to STEVIE WINNIE They’re always here on Mondays. rooms above is stage left. The only entry to the Policeman not good. Hush, Stevie, hush. No questions, please. room is through the curtain at the rear that WINNIE I don’t think you know what real evil is. It’s been another long day. leads to the shop. VERLOC’s wife WINNIE is Nonsense, Stevie. But you do know I love you, Stevie, They’ll be coming through the shop. wiping the oil cloth on the table at the center of The police are there so that them as have Love you more than anyone in the world. WINNIE the room. She is about thirty, dark hair done up nothing [aside] neatly, quiet bearing, good figure. Her younger Shouldn’t take anything away from those that [She cradles his head and sings a lullaby to Say a nice word to Stevie. brother STEVIE is coming down the staircase. He have. soothe him.] Just a word or two. is seventeen, fair, pale, nervous, weak-minded, STEVIE “Angels watching ever round thee, He’s upset, and the least thing from you is and at times a little vacant. Policeman, policeman not help horse. All through the night, gospel to Stevie. WINNIE WINNIE In thy slumbers close surround thee, You know how he worships you, Adolf. And what do you want with that apron on in the I can’t understand you, Stevie. Speak slowly. All through the night. VERLOC evening? STEVIE Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee. What? Your brother? I didn’t notice. There’s no work for you at this hour. Poor thin horse. Sleep, my love, WINNIE STEVIE The cabman told me. While the moon his watch is keeping, You’re the only father he’s known. I like to work for you, Winnie. [Solemn.] And for He whips the horse. All through the night. He’d go through fire and water for you. Mister Verloc. He is not a ba-bad man. Only poor. They should of all fears disarm thee, You know that. WINNIE He called me a queer young fellow and thumped No forebodings should alarm thee, Just a kind word, Adolf. You could never do enough for Mister Verloc, my chest. They will let no peril harm thee, Stevie. He thumped his horse, too. All through the night.” “Sleep, my love, and peace attend thee, STEVIE He likes me. The door opens and VERLOC enters, distracted. Guardian angels God will lend thee. Because he is good? Isn’t Mister Verloc good, I told him he must not whip the horse. He ignores them and begins reading circulars Safe the drowsy hours are creeping, Winnie? Bad world for poor people. [He starts to stutter.] on the table. Hill and vale in slumber sleeping, I my loving vigil keeping . . . . WINNIE People tell such awful tales about me. MICHAELIS I’ll be with Stevie upstairs. Don’t you believe them, Missus Verloc. No, my guardian angel awaits. “Sleep, my love, and peace attend thee . . . As she quickly tidies up, VERLOC goes through WINNIE The world is full of such devotion as hers All through the night.” the curtain at the back and re-enters with I don’t trouble myself one way or the other. If you take the trouble to look. VERLOC OSSIPON. As she climbs the stairs, the shop bell rings I came out after fifteen years of prison with my They’ll be here soon. Don’t carry on. OSSIPON again. VERLOC mumbles. eyes opened. WINNIE Revolutionary pamphlets and erotic VERLOC VERLOC “All through the night . . . . ” photographs. Damn. Oh yes, the devotion of a rich old lady. The Professor frightens me. Yes, it’s a shop for the masses you have, Verloc. OSSIPON MICHAELIS But that Michaelis. He’s a dear. What they need and don’t know any better, What was that you said, Verloc? A fine soul, Lady Mabel has a fine soul. VERLOC And what they know better about and still crave. VERLOC The spark is there, [contemptuously] I said damn! A sacred spark in a world of stones. [Sits back, The rich old lady who’s taken a fancy to him Didn’t expect to see you tonight, Missus Verloc. OSSIPON placid.] Is sending him to a cottage in the country WINNIE A curious psychology, yours. Science has PROFESSOR To write a book, a book about his years in I am just going to bed. ascertained . . . . Science has . . . . All those fine souls of yours, Michaelis, prison. OSSIPON The PROFESSOR and MICHAELIS enter. Should be let out of their bloated idle bodies And Ossipon, of course. So early? MICHAELIS is obese and clean-shaven. The That are fed on people’s raw flesh. That fellow will never starve as long as there WINNIE PROFESSOR is shabbily dressed and supremely Let them rot, I say. are girls who have savings-books. I have my brother to look after upstairs. self-confident. MICHAELIS Each of them has some woman to look after OSSIPON VERLOC What all the souls in the world need, Professor, him. Interesting lad, your brother. A little peculiar. Damn science. Science! I’ve had too much of Is training and guidance in the certain way of WINNIE WINNIE it lately. natural law. You too! You can’t do without me, Adolf. Everybody is a little peculiar, Mister Ossipon. MICHAELIS OSSIPON VERLOC OSSIPON Really, Verloc, the things you display in that Nonsense. That I can’t. How about a kiss? Why do you always turn your back on me, Missus so-called shop of yours! What matters is the emotional state of the As she half-heartedly resists, the shop bell Verloc? Enough to make me blush. masses. rings. [As she continues to climb the stairs, he calls to VERLOC Without emotion, there is no action. They’re here. Ossipon, most likely. He’s always her under his breath.] I hope you fellows haven’t come to talk all I am speaking scientifically, of course. first. Winnie! night here. VERLOC [tramping up and down] Damn! OSSIPON STEVIE emits a slight shrill shriek and covers his Michaelis, you nice man, stop it. Stop it! OSSIPON What’s that, Verloc? eyes with both arms. VERLOC stops, MICHAELIS VERLOC [grumpy] Why? You haven’t a plan, have you? Our line is VERLOC looks round, the PROFESSOR is unmoved, I don’t know what my wife’s thinking of to let to lie low just now. Nothing. OSSIPON lounges over. He picks up the sheet him come down. MICHAELIS [passing through the doorway During their exchange, STEVIE steals down the and looks at it. STEVIE’s arms fall. Low anguish. STEVIE with the PROFESSOR] stairs and sits on the lower step with a sheet of STEVIE Mister Michaelis, you a good man. Good-night, Verloc. drawing paper on his knees. He starts drawing, No, no! Must stop it! Winnie says so. They exit, VERLOC with them to see them out. his tongue between his teeth. OSSIPON You stop it. Stop these cruel people. OSSIPON [whispering up the staircase] OSSIPON, MICHAELIS, PROFESSOR Typical. MICHAELIS [benevolent] I stayed behind to say good-night to you. and VERLOC VERLOC That, my dear boy, that would be rather too WINNIE [voice down the staircase] Without emotion, What’s typical? much to hope for as yet. You needn’t have troubled. I’m not that sort there is no action. OSSIPON STEVIE of woman. Science proves This drawing. Typical of a certain form of They must be punished. Stop it! Stop it! OSSIPON What laws obscure. mental defect. VERLOC [to STEVIE] Interesting lad, that brother of yours. Training and guidance in the natural law. Impulsive, in a circular and interruptive way. Stop this fuss. Sit down! WINNIE The world needs mercy that does not lie. Perfect slave to verbal suggestion. STEVIE Do go away. I want to get him to bed. All the fine souls live in bloated bodies. Absolutely helpless. Look at the lobes of Yes, Mister Verloc. [Stammering.] I—I—I don’t VERLOC re-enters. Eaters and eaten, let them all rot, I say. his ears. want t-t-t-to be any trouble. VERLOC Old empty ideas PROFESSOR WINNIE [from upstairs] Come along, Ossipon. I want to lock up. And rich old ladies. Your belief in science, my dear Ossipon, is what Have you got the boy down there? Send him up OSSIPON Your damn science! is absolutely hopeless. to me. I can’t come down myself. Your wife’s brother, Verloc—I’d keep an eye No one does anything but talk! Teeth and ears mark the criminal? VERLOC [to the men] on him. PROFESOR What about the law that marks him still better, See what you’ve done! He could be made to do any deadly thing, Stop this haggling! The branding instrument invented by the over- [To WINNIE] They’re just going. almost. The present social conditions? Cannibalistic! fed to keep down the hungry? VERLOC stays still, as the others rise to leave. He would set your place on fire as soon as not. The minority, a mere handful, feed their greed Red-hot irons on their vile skins! OSSIPON I’d keep an eye on him. On the quivering flesh and warm blood of Can’t you just smell and hear the people burn You’re in a filthy temper tonight, Verloc. He exits through the shop, VERLOC following. luckless human beings. and sizzle? VERLOC WINNIE comes downstairs in her nightgown. You can almost hear the scrunching of the STEVIE [jumping up, stammering] Gas-bags, the lot of you. None of you is of any WINNIE bones. No poor people hurt! Must be stopped. Mister use to me. Stevie, darling. STEVIE, who has been huddled in a corner, head VERLOC The boy adores you, and you deserve it. Scene 3 in hands, jumps up and runs to his sister with How can you let that boy out of your sight? I say, Adolf. [VERLOC grunts.] A week later. A small café. The PROFESSOR is despairing face. Horses, punishment! What next? Isn’t Mister Michaelis going to stay in a cottage, sitting at a small table with a mug of beer. A STEVIE Suppose he goes missing one day? somewhere beyond Greenwich? mechanical piano is playing a waltz tune. A Winnie, it’s awful, awful, awful! WINNIE VERLOC [startled] couple is sitting at a distant table. The waiter Winnie, it’s awful, awful, awful! He knows to go to the police. Greenwich? [Calmer.] Yes, Greenwich. nods OSSIPON towards the PROFESSOR’s table. WINNIE And I’ve sewn a tape with our address into the Lady Mabel has taken a cottage for him OSSIPON is carrying a folded newspaper, and as “Angels watching ever round thee, collar of his overcoat. To write about his prison years. he sits at the table, the music stops. They nod All through the night . . . .” The police would bring him straight here. Bag of soft fat. to each other. STEVIE STEVIE WINNIE OSSIPON I didn’t scream. Police, police! He’s a dear. Why not ask him Been here long, Professor? WINNIE Everyone must be punished! To take Stevie for a week or so? PROFESSOR Stevie, you ought not to have come down. Who’s going to do it? The child needs to get away from all this for An hour. STEVIE The police can do nothing. a while. OSSIPON [holding up the newspaper] I didn’t scream. You can do nothing, Winnie. VERLOC Then you haven’t heard the news yet. Only a little. Who’s going to do it? The child? . . . Oh, yes, I could ask Michaelis. [PROFESSOR is indifferent.] VERLOC returns, heavy, moody. VERLOC [loudly] Certainly. Greenwich. You, of all people! WINNIE I am. [STEVIE is startled.] I will see to it. WINNIE [Confidentially.] Do you give your stuff to anyone Look how they’ve upset that boy. Now you go to bed, young fellow. I’m sure he’d do it for me. who asks for it? It’s that horrid Professor. STEVIE [with sudden awe] You could take him down there next week. PROFESSOR STEVIE [dancing with rage] You? You yourself, Mister Verloc? VERLOC [in a peculiar tone] Anyone. Absolutely. Eating human flesh! Every bad man punished? Yes. There might be something to that. So long as I keep enough for myself. Must be punished! All over the world? Greenwich. Now let me put out the lights. [Touching the breast of his coat.] Burn and sizzle! Burn and sizzle! VERLOC WINNIE goes upstairs. VERLOC puts out the A glass flask, a detonator, Living people. I will see to it, Stevie. Now off to bed with you. light. Before the last one is extinguished, he My hand in my trouser pocket How can I go to bed, Winnie? STEVIE goes to the stairs, blows a kiss to his pauses and looks up the staircase. Always clenching the rubber ball Give me some work, Winnie! sister, and exits. That sets off the explosion. You’re only a girl, Winnie. WINNIE [putting her arms around VERLOC’s OSSIPON You don’t care. Burn and sizzle! neck] I see. See what power you have, Adolf. Instantaneous. PROFESSOR OSSIPON [tapping the newspaper] OSSIPON PROFESSOR Sorry to say, it isn’t. Seven seconds. A man was blown up at Greenwich Park this Verloc? Impossible! Pathetic, the lot of you! A lifetime of second thoughts. morning. PROFESSOR The weak, Ossipon, the weak! Still, nobody in this place could escape. Foggy morning. No fool, Verloc. They are our sinister masters, That pair over there—they might run, Explosion felt for miles. He told me it was to be a blow against The silly and the shy, the dregs of humankind, But they too would vanish into shreds. Enormous hole in the ground. a building. The faint of heart and slavish of mind. Smashed roots and broken branches I gave him as much as I could, They have the power. The power. I have the means to make myself deadly, Mixed up with fragments of a man’s body. And rigged it in a can that could be exploded They destroy what we create. But that in itself is no protection. Blown to bits. by hand. Exterminate them! Exterminate! What is effective is the belief others have The papers say it was an attempt to blow up OSSIPON First, the rich must go, In my will to use the explosive. the Observatory. What happened? Then the foolish and blind. OSSIPON Man must have blown himself up. PROFESSOR Every taint, every vice, every convention must What if the police . . . . Reflects badly on our position in this country. Can’t tell. meet its fate. What if Inspector Heat himself just overwhelmed Damages the cause. It was set for twenty minutes. OSSIPON you from behind? You’ve been giving your damned stuff away! A sharp shock would have caused it to go off And what remains, Professor? PROFESSOR [PROFESSOR turns his head away.] sooner. PROFESSOR My hand is always clutching the ball, and they You have! He either ran the time too close, or simply let I remain. [Taps the breast of his coat.] I and all know it. You give it to the first fool who comes along. the thing fall. my weapon. [Contemptuously.] The police! Damn you! OSSIPON [awed] Tell me, Ossipon, do you still have your They cling to the social order. PROFESSOR Verloc! I haven’t seen him for a week. collection of women? They are bound to conventions. I would give the stuff That wife of his must have had a little money. Has one of them ever killed herself for you? They depend on life, which is complex and open To every man, woman, or child that comes He used it to set up that shop. Risky trade. Blood alone puts a seal on greatness. to attack at every point. along. PROFESSOR [detached] Blood. Death. Look at history. Look at history. I depend on death, death, I depend on death. Paper and ink won’t do anything. Some men succeed. Inferior men. OSSIPON Death which is simple and cannot be attacked. You revolutionaries plan the future. OSSIPON Damn you! Look at Verloc, that ass. You made The rest of you, terrorists and police alike, come What’s needed is a clean sweep. That was Verloc. him blow himself to bits. from the same basket. And the mysterious bomber? I’ve got to contact the others, issue a denial. PROFESSOR You all play your little games. I know precisely who he is—or was. The police will know it wasn’t we who did this. Not a bad death. I don’t. I don’t play. Verloc. OSSIPON [musingly] As you see, only the two legs below the knee. HEAT HEAT I wonder what that woman will do now. I’m The rest of him . . . . I am as vexed as you are, sir. He’s a public pet, I know, but there is evidence. short of cash for the moment . . . . That’s gravel, most of it, all mixed up with COMMISSIONER COMMISSIONER PROFESSOR [getting up to leave] gravel. You are the expert, and you told me Lots of people live in Greenwich, Heat. Fasten yourself on the woman for all she’s The thing he was carrying must have gone off There was not one of them we couldn’t put our Besides, you said there were two men. worth. Right under his chest, when he stumbled and hands on day or night. They sound like outsiders. Fasten yourself on the woman. fell. Some sort of can. HEAT Was there nothing else you discovered on The mechanical piano begins to play. OSSIPON If you look under this, sir— You can watch a terrorist inch by inch for years. the spot? sits up suddenly. The PROFESSOR leaves. COMMISSIONER [covering his moth with COMMMISSIONER HEAT his handkerchief and turning away] I repeated that to the PM. He was very pleased. We found some sort of address on the body, sir. Scene 4 That’s enough, Heat. HEAT He takes from his pocket a notebook and hands Scotland Yard, vestibule of the examining room. For God’s sake . . . . But there is bound to come a moment when you it to the COMMISIONER. Chief Inspector HEAT is pacing. He checks his The COMMISSIONER sits down. HEAT signals for lose sight of him, and . . . . COMMISSIONER [reading from the watch. Suddenly the Police COMMISSIONER the men to remove the body. COMMISSIONER notebook] enters HEAT [as the men leave] What about that damn Professor and his 32 Brett Street. COMMISSIONER [nodding] We’ve interviewed witnesses who saw him. explosives? HEAT Chief Inspector. COMMISSIONER HEAT It’s a shop, sir. HEAT Saw him? Saw him where? Strictly speaking, he had nothing to do with it. A small shop. Pornography. Everything has been transferred from the HEAT COMMISSIONER I know the man who keeps it. Greenwich Police Station, sir. Saw him get off the train. What does that mean? Known him for years. COMMISSIONER A heavy-set tradesman, he looked like, HEAT Name of Verloc. Could you identify the man? And a slight, fair-haired young chap with him. I mean he is constantly watched. COMMISSIONER HEAT A porter saw them walk into the Park. We know all his little habits. I don’t recall hearing his name before. Impossible, sir. Then he heard the explosion. In fact, none of the usual lot had anything to HEAT He crosses and raps briskly on the door to the COMMISSIONER do with this. No, sir. He’s a secret agent, sir. examining room. Two men in white coats wheel Heat, you want to know the worst part of this? Except one, perhaps. I knew who he was and I made good use of him in a gurney, with a body under a sheet. HEAT Only a fortnight ago I assured the Prime The ex-convict Michaelis is living now in over the years. dismisses them. He and the COMMISSIONER Minister Greenwich. Works for the German embassy. stand behind and HEAT lifts the sheet. That no terrorist activity was anticipated. COMMISSIONER We turned him for a pitiable sum. They had to collect him with a shovel. I did so on your authority. Michaelis? Nonsense. Whenever there was something in the wind, I always found he could tell me something worth half an hour. A c t i i LADY ISABEL knowing. Make no move, officially, for the next twelve Scene 5 Thank God there were no victims. COMMISSIONER hours. Belgrave Square. LADY MABEL’s drawing room. LADY VERENA Well, he’s failed you this time. HEAT A soirée. A dozen guests in evening dress— That horrid terrorist just blew himself up. How HEAT Officially? among them the German AMBASSADOR—are stupid of him. Neither had I wind of anything. COMMISSIONER sitting listening to the SINGER conclude LADY OLIVE I asked him nothing, so he could tell me Yes. Of course, you may follow the Michaelis Schubert’s “Erlkönig.” The man I sat next to at dinner. I didn’t catch nothing. track. SINGER his name. COMMISSIONER HEAT “ ‘Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt fasst er mich an! LADY MILLICENT I suppose not. Yes, sir. He’s fair game. Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!—’ The German Ambassador. Really, those Embassy people are too COMMISSIONER On either side of the room, pairs of ladies are LADY ISABEL impossible. . . . Well, I’ll tell you where Michaelis will spend this conversing antiphonally. Astronomy is so difficult. He lives over his shop? evening. LADY MILLICENT LADY VERENA HEAT In Belgrave Square, at Lady Mabel’s little party. Terribly sad, don’t you think? I can’t see the connection to politics. Oh yes. Over the shop. He and his wife. I know because I’ve been asked to dine there LADY ISABEL LADY OLIVE In my opinion he knows nothing of this affair. myself. [Gets up brusquely.] A man who has spent so many years in prison Terrorists are simply mad. COMMISSIONER That’s all, Chief Inspector. can’t be like other men. LADY VERENA Damn these secret agents, and the people who No time to lose. No time to lose. LADY VERENA Mad people are the most dangerous of all. employ them! HEAT Mister Michaelis has been standing by himself. MICHAELIS enters and crosses the room to LADY HEAT No time to lose. So unassuming. MABEL. I still think the man who had most to do with The COMMISSIONER leaves. HEAT remains LADY OLIVE LADY MILLICENT this will turn out to be Michaelis. for a moment, deep in thought. Then he leaves I’m so fascinated by genius. Dear Lady Mabel pushes eccentricity too far. COMMISSIONER as well. LADY MABEL LADY ISABEL That would make the case very simple. He can’t be left down there. Tell him I want a But it’s so amusing! HEAT E n d A c t I talk with him. MICHAELIS [to LADY MABEL] Yes, sir. LADY MILLICENT I thought you would be alone this evening, COMMISSIONER You’ve read about the bomb outrage in Lady Mabel. I don’t feel that the case is simple, Greenwich Park? LADY MABEL Chief Inspector. I couldn’t have guessed you were shy, The Prime Minister wants me in his office in Mister Michaelis. MICHAELIS like a father to him. LADY MABEL You know my hatred of spies and those who I was a young man when they locked me up. And the lad has great notions of justice and He is a mere believer, and has the temperament employ them. My parents are dead. retribution. of a saint. I asked the Prime Minister to let me deal with The girl who was to marry me is gone. Young, and not exactly right, they say, He has lost everything but the world’s contempt this secret agent, For years I’ve had only my own company. But full of justice and retribution. and my sympathy. This man Verloc. He’s been in touch with Heat LADY MABEL The world’s cruelty gets him so excited. [Confidentially.] But tell me, Harold, tell me for years. How appalling. LADY MABEL about the Greenwich horror. Odd, their reputations depend on one another. MICHAELIS I am glad you have not been alone. The world COMMISSIONER I put on shabby clothes and met Verloc in a In all those years I was locked up in a cell, owes you so much . . . . Hundreds could have been killed, you realize. public house. But it was you who was in prison. You might have brought your young friend along First, I had to calm down the Prime Minister. He looked strangely like Heat himself. Your kind and charitable soul is in prison still. with you. LADY MABEL He took me for a fellow terrorist from abroad. I would do anything to set you free. MICHAELIS I remember him in his young days. Such a good He’d been sitting in that hole since he’d LADY MABEL I am sorry to say, before your letter arrived dancer. returned from Greenwich. I do not feel myself a prisoner My friend came this morning COMMISSIONER When I asked about the bomb, he grew In a world that has been so unjust to you. And took the lad away. Before that, a difficult talk with Chief speechless with fright. No, I love to watch what the world is coming to. They drift off. The COMMISSIONER has entered, Inspector Heat. LADY MABEL How do you think it will end? and LADY MABEL breaks off to speak with him. LADY MABEL Speechless with fright. Fire and brimstone? LADY MABEL A great detective. COMMISSIONER [nodding towards the MICHAELIS Oh, it’s you, Commissioner! This is Mister COMMISSIONER AMBASSADOR] I have had a vision. Michaelis. A great reputation. He is an agent for the man standing over there. This poor earth will blossom in the glorious MICHAELIS stiffens and moves to the other side I’m afraid I’ve made an enemy there. LADY MABEL firmament of the room. LADY MABEL It’s perfectly shocking. Like a flower full of sweet honey for the COMMISSIONER An enemy? How? COMMISIONER honeybee . . . . This is the only drawing room in London where COMMISSIONER Verloc was in a state of collapse. I am trying to get all this down in my book. the Commissioner of Police could meet a convict. He tried to drag Michaelis into it. He had worked up the feelings of a half-witted boy LADY MABEL LADY MABEL LADY MABEL To throw that bomb in retribution for social You are comfortable in the cottage? And one officially accused of being a terrorist! Michaelis? Impossible! injustice. MICHAELIS COMMISSIONER COMMISSIONER Didn’t expect the accident. A terrible business. I have had such a nice lad staying with me. Not a dangerous one, perhaps. He also found an address that led me to a The man has a wife. The boy was her brother. Not exactly the son of a friend, but my friend is certain Embassy spy. LADY MABEL AMBASSADOR LADIES MILLICENT, ISABEL, VERENA Your government has grumbled about our police. A secret agent! A wife! Is she a terrorist as I have had the pleasure. Sir. and OLIVE You see we are not so bad. well? LADY MILLICENT [pointing to the We had no idea things were so grave. AMBASSADOR [taking his leave] COMMISSIONER AMBASSADOR] SINGER Lady Mabel, I am much obliged. I don’t know. He has been frightening me. “Dem Vater grauset’s, er reitet geschwind, COMMISSIONER [touching the A secret agent is a being apart, a cursed man. LADY ISABEL Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind . . . ” AMBASSADOR’s arm] He couldn’t stop talking about her. He has been threatening us. AMBASSADOR I have a cab at the door. May I drop you at She is the only one who loves him. LADY VERENA What makes you say that? your club? He kept saying that, over and over. Frightening us! COMMISSIONER SINGER Then I returned to the Prime Minister with LADY OLIVE I don’t say it. It’s Verloc who says it. “. . . In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.” my findings. Threatening us! AMBASSADOR The AMBASSADOR stares angrily at him, and LADY MABEL LADY MILLICENT A lying dog. sweeps out. He danced divinely. It seems we must all quake in our shoes . . . COMMISSIONER LADIES MILLICENT, ISABEL, VERENA LADY ISABEL And now we can start to rid this country of Scene 6 and OLIVE . . . Quake in our shoes at the fate . . . political spies, secret agents, all sort of . . . dogs. VERLOC’s parlor. WINNIE is setting the table for We had no idea, no idea things were so grave. LADY VERENA AMBASSADOR supper. The shop bell rings. WINNIE looks up, COMMISSIONER . . . The fate which waits for us all . . . What is the use of a trial, a public scandal? expecting her husband. Verloc will be arrested tomorrow. LADY OLIVE It’s selfish. We ought to be good Europeans. WINNIE [surprised and anxious] There will be a trial, with startling disclosures. . . . The fate that waits for us all if this I am a good European. Adolf? Adolf, where have you been? The German Ambassador, discovered at the terrorism is not suppressed. SINGER HEAT pulls back the curtain and enters. bottom of a terrorist outrage! AMBASSADOR “. . . Erreicht den Hof mit Müh’ und Not . . . ” HEAT Guests have been leaving. Several ladies My country has suffered, while you . . . [witty LADIES MILLICENT, ISABEL, VERENA Chief Inspector Heat, ma’am. around him, the AMBASSADOR comes to pay his smile] . . . suffer their presence gladly, right in and OLIVE Husband at home, Missus Verloc? respects to LADY MABEL. your midst. We had no idea, we had no idea, we had no idea WINNIE I’m afraid I have monopolized you this evening, COMMISIONER things were so grave. Mister Verloc is out. Lady Mabel. I know, sir, we are accused of leniency. COMMISSIONER HEAT LADY MABEL Which is why I am happy to tell you . . . we are We know who blew himself to shreds, Out, is he? You’re certain of that? My eccentricity is well known. arresting a man named Verloc. We know who organized the plot, WINNIE I believe you have met before. The AMBASSADOR looks startled and confused. We know the inciter behind him. Of course, I am certain of that. You know him, it seems. What do you want? HEAT WINNIE [taking the cloth, and gasping] It’s all over now. HEAT I’m surprised you don’t remember me. That’s Stevie’s! Stevie’s! That’s my brother’s It’s all over. Clear out! I’ve been here to see your husband before, three coat! HEAT VERLOC times before. HEAT Look, Verloc. You’ve always been straight Don’t take on so, Winnie. Now I’m here in my private capacity. Stevie’s. Your brother’s coat. . . . Is your brother with me. You’ve had a shock. WINNIE about? If I stay here any longer— Damn Heat, blurting it out. Well, he is out. WINNIE Or if someone sees us together— I wanted to tell you myself. HEAT [taking a seat] My brother’s coat . . . . I’ll have to arrest you. Sat for hours thinking how. Suppose I just wait here for your husband. The shop bell rings, and during WINNIE’s dazed I am talking to you privately. We have to think of tomorrow, tomorrow. WINNIE comment, VERLOC enters. At first he doesn’t Clear out. Vanish. We have to think of ourselves. Suit yourself. It has nothing to do with me. see HEAT. VERLOC What if you had lost me? HEAT VERLOC Vanish? Vanish where? It might have happened. And you don’t know anything? [WINNIE shakes Winnie. Winnie! I’ve been to the bank. HEAT We have to think of tomorrow. her head.] I’ve drawn out all our money. Here, you keep it. That damned gang of your friends all think We have to think of ourselves. See the evening’s paper? [Again she shakes WINNIE just stands there stunned, as VERLOC you’re dead. What if you had lost me? her head.] tries to hand her the money. Didn’t you go for your silly bomb to the WINNIE [uncovering her face and confronting The Greenwich Park Outrage, they’re calling it. What’s the matter with you? [Turns and sees Professor? him, screaming] A man blown to pieces. HEAT. WINNIE goes and sits on the staircase, Clear out while they all think you’re dead. You took the boy away from me to murder him! WINNIE staring ahead.] VERLOC [Covers her face again.] No. I wouldn’t know about that. HEAT That boy was half an idiot. VERLOC [trying to grab her as she pulls away HEAT So you are the other man! I told him what to do, and runs upstairs] Then there’s the matter I need to speak to your VERLOC [agitated, like a man beside himself] Made him repeat it over and over. How dare you say that! husband about. I was driven to it. We would have both got clear. Winnie! Seems there’s a stolen overcoat. But it’s all over now. I was waiting for him. We have to think of ourselves! WINNIE Everything will come out. He stumbled. He fell. He sits at the table and begins to eat. Puts the We have lost no overcoat. But it’s all over now. That boy was half an idiot. knife down and goes to the stairs. HEAT [takes the bit of cloth out of his pocket] Game for game— HEAT turns towards the door, and slowly leaves. Damn it, Winnie. The overcoat had this label sewn in it. It’s your That Embassy swine. WINNIE walks forward, like a sleep-walker. A man gets desperate sometimes. address. It’s all over now. She suddenly hides her face in her hands, and I was dealing with a brute, Take me away. VERLOC goes towards her. An overbearing swine. A German! WINNIE comes down, with hat on, veil and I know you’ll stand by me, Winnie. OSSIPON OSSIPON umbrella. The police are on my side. Who can run away, who can run away from We must leave at once. But, my darling Winnie, What’s this supposed to mean? There’s my Winnie . . . . sorrow? I have no money. Leaving me in my trouble. There’s my Winnie . . . . WINNIE WINNIE I can’t do without you, Winnie. There . . . . I want to run away. I have! I have money! All the money! You know that. WINNIE breaks away from him, grabs the knife OSSIPON OSSIPON WINNIE [in a pale, impersonal voice] on the table, and stabs the startled VERLOC, I couldn’t rest until I had seen you! Money! All the money! He always wore his coat. who falls dead at her feet. Your cruel loss . . . . WINNIE VERLOC WINNIE I have the money! Save me! What did you say? Scene 7 You know already! You! How did you know? OSSIPON Where are you going? An hour later. VERLOC’s shop, the reverse of OSSIPON Verloc’s money? How on earth . . . ? If that German bastard were here, the earlier parlor scene. The curtain at the rear, I saw it in the newspaper. WINNIE I would bash him in the face. leading to the parlor, lets light through, though The Professor, that miserable man, told me he I have the money! Save me! What do you take me for, Winnie? no lights are on in the shop. VERLOC’s name, in had given the explosive to your husband. Don’t let them take me! A murderer? reversed letters, is on a window, next to the door I had to come, had to come . . . . [He takes her OSSIPON [uneasy] Do you think I wanted the boy to blow himself up? leading to the street. Shelves of shabby books hand.] What the devil are you afraid of, Winnie? WINNIE can be made out. Huddled behind the counter, WINNIE What is it? You walked down the street with him. WINNIE can eventually be seen, her knees drawn Then you will save me? WINNIE Like father and son. up, her arms around them. She is staring blankly OSSIPON [surprised and hesitant] Had to do it . . . . I watched you. ahead. The door opens and OSSIPON slips in. Save you, yes. Don’t let them . . . . Like father and son. OSSIPON WINNIE Save me! VERLOC Hullo? Missus Verloc? Blown to shreds. OSSIPON This won’t bring him back, Winnie. WINNIE [startled] Blood and dirt. I have loved you for years, Winnie. For years. He’s dead. His troubles are over. No. No. No. OSSIPON Don’t you understand? WINNIE OSSIPON [seeing and going to her] I must get you out of here. We’ll need money. Of course, I shall save you. I shall save you. Like father and son. Missus Verloc! Don’t you know me? WINNIE WINNIE [starting, looking at the curtain VERLOC comes to her and awkwardly holds her. WINNIE [as if suddenly awakening] You must save me, save me, save me! I have behind] WINNIE is frozen. Mister Ossipon! got only you, only you! The light! Put out the light! What you need is a good cry. I want to run away! OSSIPON We must talk over our future. I want to run away from this earth! Yes. Put out the light. What have you done with the money, Winnie? Winnie? No longer cry the door behind him. HEAT goes and peers into The money. WINNIE [giving him all of it] With all these tears to shed? the parlor, then goes to WINNIE. He helps her to He goes out through the curtain to the parlor. Yes, money. Yes, here! All the money! OSSIPON her feet, and the door suddenly opens. The He suddenly discovers VERLOC’s body, and pulls OSSIPON [taking it, and suddenly looking out Your brother, an interesting fellow. CONSTABLE and another policeman have back the curtain desperately. the window] A perfect type in his way. Perfect. OSSIPON in custody. But he was blown up! Shh. The police! WINNIE CONSTABLE WINNIE WINNIE [with a quiet desperation] Perfect. This one was running away. I know who he is. Don’t let them hang me! Save me, save me! He was everything. And carrying quite a lot of money. I have no one else in the world. No one else . . . . OSSIPON puts his hand over her mouth. The He was my heart, and now I can’t shed a tear OSSIPON [screaming] OSSIPON threat passes. for him. Not one. I know nothing. Where is the money? Why am I Smashed in blood and dirt. I have done nothing. WINNIE [searching for an finding her purse] Afraid to die Blood and dirt. I was running from that woman. It’s here! Here! With my poor Stevie dead? Blood and dirt. She’s deadly. I love you! I love you! Why can I While she is lost in her thoughts, OSSIPON HEAT He took my boy to kill him. No longer cry sneaks out of the door with the money. For a Missus Verloc, have you seen this man tonight? He took my heart out and blew it to shreds. With all these tears to shed? moment, the open doorway is empty. Then HEAT WINNIE [to HEAT] OSSIPON He was the heart in my body. and a CONSTABLE appear together. Save me! I have no one else but you! Your brother! It was your brother! He was the point of my life. HEAT HEAT Get up! Nothing else mattered— Anybody here? [Peers.] Is that you, Missus You know this man, Constable. WINNIE Not the money, not the knife. Verloc? There’s a murdered man up there. Blood and dirt. I couldn’t keep him safe. He turns on the lights, which make WINNIE cower. Better take him away. OSSIPON I tried. [To the CONSTABLE, pointing to the parlor] OSSIPON [as he is dragged off] Save you, yes. My love will save you. I couldn’t save my brother. Better have a look up there. I didn’t do it! We’ll go to the railway station. I tried. Where’s your husband? She did it! I’ll take you to the waiting room, and I’ll go buy I tried. I tried. I tried. CONSTABLE Like her brother. the tickets. “I will let no peril harm thee, The man’s dead, sir. I didn’t do it! Can you stay there by yourself , Winnie? All through the night.” HEAT I didn’t do it! . . . . [She nods.] How can I All right, Constable. I know what it is. Shut the A commotion. The CONSTABLE stays. HEAT I’ll need money for the tickets, Winnie. Say good-bye? door. closes the door and stares at WINNIE. You’ll give me the money now, won’t you, Why can I CONSTABLE crosses the room and exits, shutting WINNIE [blankly] HEAT Biographies Blood and dirt. No law can touch her. HEAT No man can help her. Scott Bearden (Adolf Verloc) Career highlights have included the title role of Falstaff at the Missus Verloc, you know me. I am Inspector Your work. Tanglewood Music Festival under the baton of Seiji Ozawa: Don Pizarro in Fidelio with Opera Boston; Heat. PROFESSOR [mockingly] the Duke of Chevreuse in Donizetti’s Maria di Rohan with the Caramoor Festival; the title role of WINNIE What do I care? Falstaff with Toledo Opera; Tonio in Pagliacci with Knoxville Opera, and the title role of Rigoletto with I won’t be hanged! Wish to arrest me, Inspector? Opera Theater of Connecticut. Save me! Save me! HEAT HEAT When your time comes, Professor, Tenor Jonathan Blalock (Stevie), praised by Montreal’s La Presse for a “beautiful leggiero voice,” is No law can hurt her now. You won’t find me afraid of what’s in making his name in repertoire that spans nearly 300 years. His solo concert work includes Messiah CONSTABLE your pocket. with the Lexington Philharmonic and the Winston Salem Symphony, Carmina Burana with the Las I suppose not, sir. But if I took you now, I would be no better Cruces Symphony and Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the Eugene Concert Choir. Operatic roles include The sound of the door being opened. The officers than you are. Cegeste with Virginia Opera, Lazaro in the premiere of Before Night Falls with Fort Worth Opera and take cover. The PROFESSOR enters cautiously. PROFESSOR Almaviva with Opera Middlebury. Recent performances include the title role in the world premiere of HEAT comes forward. Ah, the game! Paul’s Case by Gregory Spears. PROFESSOR WINNIE [sudden cry] Inspector Heat. Do I intrude? Blood and dirt! With a voice the New York Times has called “luminous” and “lustrous,” soprano Amy Burton HEAT HEAT (Winnie) has sung with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, at the White House, and with The very man who ought to be here. That’s what you are, Professor. major opera companies and orchestras throughout the world. She has premiered pieces by John PROFESSOR The whole lot of you. Musto, Paul Moravec, Lee Hoiby, John Harbison, Michael Cohen, Richard Danielpour, Richard Wilson Isn’t that Verloc’s wife? All you terrorists. and Michael Dellaira. Recent projects include the modern-day premiere of Cole Porter’s 1928 La HEAT Blood and dirt. Revue des Ambassadeurs, the World Premiere of two songs for the AIDS Quilt Songbook and the Verloc is in the back room. The CONSTABLE leads the PROFESSOR out and Opera America Songbook, both by Musto. She has recorded for Bridge, Naxos, Harbinger, Albany, If you had stuck the knife in him yourself, you shuts the door. HEAT stares at WINNIE. Angel/EMI, and CRI and teaches at Mannes College the New School for Music, CUNY Graduate couldn’t be more guilty. WINNIE [blankly, over and over] Center and Songfest at Colburn. The first recipient of the Opera America Artist Advocate Award, she PROFESSOR Blood and dirt. is a proud member of the Glimmerglass Opera Artist Advisory Council and the New York Festival of Verloc? Here? But he blew himself up. Blood and dirt. Song’s Artist Council. Oh, don’t explain. What is that to me? Blood and dirt. WINNIE is humming the lullaby to herself. Blood and dirt.

T h e E n d Matt Boehler (The Professor) joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in the 2009-2010 season. Mezzo-soprano Cherry Duke (Lady Olive)’s credits include principal roles with New York City Opera He performed Handel’s Messiah with Portland Baroque Orchestra and he returned to Minnesota and opera companies and orchestras around the US as well as solo engagements at Carnegie Hall. Opera for Casanova’s Homecoming. He also sang Leporello in Don Giovanni with both Opera She has sung leading roles in Carmen, Hansel and Gretel, Der Rosenkavalier, Il barbiere di Siviglia, New Jersey and Opera North. Mr. Boehler has been critically acclaimed by The Washington Post as Le nozze di Figaro, Madama Butterfly, Die Zauberflöte, Falstaff, The Coronation of Poppea, and South “an extraordinarily charismatic performer” and for his “supple, clarion bass.” In the 2010-2011 Pacific, to name a few. Recent performances include A Little Night Music and The Captain in Royce season Matt joined the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He also returns to the Minnesota Vavrek and David T. Little’s Dog Days. In 2013, she joined the voice faculty at Bay View Music Festival. Orchestra for Die Zauberflöte. Tenor Matthew Garrett (Ossipon) is a graduate of the Juilliard Opera Center, Juilliard Masters Andrew Cummings (The Ambassador) Performances include the title role in Rigoletto at Carnegie Program, and Brown University. Operatic engagements have included Scottish Opera, Houston Hall’s Weill Hall with the NY Lyric Opera Theater, Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Opera Delaware Grand Opera, Opera Omaha, Glimmerglass Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Connecticut Opera, and and at the Kimmel Center with Vox Ama Deus, Shaw Sings! at Symphony Space with Encompass Jacksonville Symphony. Concert appearances have included the , Las Vegas New Opera Theater, Scarpia (Tosca), with Taconic Opera, Renato (Un Ballo in Maschera) with NJ Philharmonic, Cincinnati May Festival, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Basel Association of Verismo Opera, Zurga (Les Pecheurs de Perles) with Opera Company of Middlebury, Festival Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, Virginia Symphony, Lancaster Symphony, Musica Escamillo (Carmen) with Hubbard Hall Opera, Tonio (Pagliacci) at the 92nd Street Y, Guglielmo Sacra, and Oratorio Society of New York. Mr. Garrett has won awards from the Puccini Foundation, (Cosi fan tutte) with Natchez Opera, and Papach’sThe Last Leaf with the North Czech Philharmonic. Opera Index, Metropolitan Opera National Council, and the Montreal International Voice Competition.

Michael Dellaira (Composer) has written the music for two other operas: Chéri (a finalist for the Sam Helfrich (Stage Director) Recent highlights include Jake Heggie’s Walking at Eugene 2006 Richard Rodgers Award in Musical Theater), and The Death of Webern, a 2013 commission Opera, Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire at Virginia Opera, the American premiere of Philip from the Pocket Opera Players. His monodrama Maud was awarded First Prize from the American Glass’ Kepler at Spoleto Festival/USA, Adams’ Nixon in China at Eugene Opera, a fully staged Society of University Composers. Known for his “haunting harmonies” (New Music Box) and Messiah with the Pittsburgh Symphony, The Turn of the Screw at Boston Lyric Opera, ’ “eloquence and sensitivity” (New York Times) Dellaira has been a recipient of an ASCAP Morton Orphée at Virginia Opera, Portland Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera, and Anthony Davis’ Amistad at Gould Award, a Fulbright Fellowship, two residencies at The Composers Conference, grants from Spoleto Festival/USA. Recent theater credits include off-Broadway productions of Owned, a play by the American Music Center, Cary Trust, Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, New Jersey Arts Council Julian Sheppard, and Tape, by Stephen Belber, both of which played to wide audience and critical and a Jerome Foundation commission from the American Composers Forum. He is published by acclaim. Mr. Helfrich received his MFA in theatre arts from Columbia University School of the Arts. American Composers Alliance. Grammy-nomimated conductor Sara Jobin (conductor) has a passion for new and American opera. Sarah Miller (Lady Verena)’s roles include Jesse in A Death in the Family with Center for Contemporary Credits: San Francisco Opera: world premiere, The Secret Garden; performances of Tosca, Der flieg- Opera; Sarah/Sari in Noël Coward’s Bitter Sweet with Bard SummerScape; Serafina in Il campanello, ende Holländer, Norma, Philip Glass’s Appomattox; production of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince. 2nd woman/attendant in Dido and Aeneas mwith New York Chamber Opera; Despina in Così fan Music Director, Center for Contemporary Opera: William Mayer’s A Death in the Family and world tutte, Carmen in Carmen, Olga in Eugene Onegin at Whitman Hall; Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, premiere of Michael Dellaira’sThe Secret Agent in Hungary, France, and New York. This season also: conducted by Richard Bonynge, Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, and Xenia in Boris Godunov Madama Butterfly, Opera Santa Barbara; Toledo Opera Gala; Matrimonio Segreto, Pittsburgh Opera; with Florida Grand Opera. Ms. Miller has been featured at Weill Hall, Trinity Church, St. John the Susannah, Opera Idaho. On disc: Volpone by John Musto; with Frederica von Stade on Chris Divine, Merkin Hall and the Bruno Walter Auditorium. Brubeck’s Convergence. Bass-baritone David Neal (The Commissioner) has appeared with Baltimore Opera, the Opera Jodi Karem (Lady Mabel) has performed in a variety of roles: Cenerentola with Springfield Regional Company of Philadelphia, Syracuse Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, and Lyric Opera Cleveland. A member of Opera, Olga in Union Avenue Opera’s production of Eugene Onegin, Erika in Long Leaf Opera’s the American Modern Ensemble, he has appeared with AME in performances at The Times Center and production of Vanessa, and Suzuki in Skylight Opera’s production of Madama Butterfly. Other opera Bargemusic. World premiere performances include Robert Paterson’s Winter Songs, to be issued on roles include Carmen, Cherubino, Hansel, Orlofsky, Cecila March, and the Mother in Amahl and the the AMR label later this year, and Lowell Liebermann’s Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening. Night Visitors. As a soloist she has performed at Carnegie Hall in Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae solennis de confessore, with the Louisville Orchestra under Maestro Mester, and in Handel’s Messiah Kate Oberjat (Lady Isabel) has sung with Nashville Opera, Lyric Opera of San Diego, DiCapo Opera, with the Dayton Philharmonic. Taconic Opera, Chelsea Opera, and Los Angeles Opera. She has performed the roles of Blanche (Dialogue of the Carmelites), Musetta (La Boheme), Nannette (Falstaff), Norina (Don Pasquale), Winner of the 2008 Joy in Singing Competition Prize, Deborah Lifton (Lady Millicent)’s work has also Monica (The Medium), Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore), and Gretel (Hansel and Gretel). The New York been honored by the National Federation of Music Clubs, the David Adams Art Song Competition, and Times wrote that she sang the role of Younger Alyce in Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied with “velvety the Hellenic Foundation. In 2013-14 she will be featured in American Opera Projects’ “Composers and smoothness.” She recently sang the role of The Serpent in the world premiere of Matthew Harris’s the Voice” Series. Recent performances include the role of Sally Follet in William Mayer’s A Death in the The Mark of Cain at Chelsea Opera. Family at the Avignon Opera, and the leading roles of Lady Magnesia and The Dark Lady in Encompass New Opera’s production of a double bill by Philip Hagemann at New York’s Symphony Space. Jason Papowitz (Chief Inspector Heat)’s credits include: Pinkerton, Manrico, Rodolfo, Danilo, Don José, Alfredo, Cavaradossi, Riccardo, Radamès, and Einsenstein; and he created the title roles in the J. D. McClatchy (Librettist) has written many libretti for composers such as William Schuman and operas Cain and The Turing Opera. He has performed with: the Greek National Opera; the Prague and Ned Rorem, and his work has been seen at the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, and La Scala. His Ostrava State Operas; National Opera Theater, Taiwan; Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Burgas, Vratza, Ruse, most recent collaboration with Michael Dellaira was The Death of Webern, which premiered in 2013. and Sofia theaters in Bulgaria; Santa Margherita, Italy; numerous theaters on tour throughout Japan, McClatchy’s Plundered Hearts: New and Selected Poems is published by Knopf. He teaches at Yale, England, and Germany; and in companies throughout the U.S. He is an honors graduate of Vassar where he edits The Yale Review. College and K.U.Leuven (philosophy) and Prizewinner of the Mozarteum, Salzburg. Nathan Resika (First Secretary / The Singer / Constable) made his Opera North debut in 2010 as Il Commendatore and Leporello in two separate casts of Don Giovanni. Covering the role of Grand Inquisitor in Opera Orchestra of New York’s 2011 production of Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine, Nathan performed the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera in the Heights; Colline in New Jersey Opera’s La Boheme; Senator Heflin in Clarence and Anita by Ben Yarmolinsky; the diabolical Danvers Carew in Barry O’Neal’s Dr. Jeklyll and Mr. Hyde; and The Man in and J.D. McClatchy’s Mario and the Magician.

Aaron Theno (Michaelis) has recently performed the role of Le Commisaire in the acclaimed production of Philip Glass’s Orphee with Glimmerglass Opera. He has sung in a number of produc- tions with Portland Opera, most notably as Masetto in Don Giovanni. A great lover of concert works, Mr. Theno has sung the baritone solos in Handel’s Messiah with the New Jersey Philharmonic and has also been engaged with the Bravo Vancouver Symphony. Mr. Theno received his B.M. in voice performance from the University of Michigan and his M.M. in voice performance from the Manhattan School of Music. A cknowledgments Mark Zuckerman (Prime Minister)’s formal music studies began at Juilliard and continued at the Recorded by Soundmirror, Inc. University of Michigan, Bard College, and Princeton University. His teachers have included David Epstein, George B. Wilson, Elie Yarden, Milton Babbitt and J.K. Randall. He held teaching positions at Producer: Blanton Alspaugh Princeton and Columbia, and has published scholarly articles on music theory and computer music. Recording Engineers: Jesse Brayma, Dirk Sobotka His compositions have achieved an international reputation with choruses and at festivals in The Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, and Turkey as well as in the United States. Mixing and Mastering Engineer: Dirk Sobotka The Secret Agent is available direct from American Composers Alliance. Photos: Richard Marshall Cover Design: Chip Kidd

This recording made possible with a generous gift from the Paul Underwood Charitable Trust. Michael Dellaira

C e n t e r f o r

Contemporary Opera t n e g a t e r c e s e h t Sara Jobin, c o n d u c t o r troy1450/51 Cast in Order of Appearance Michael Dellaira First Secretary/The Singer/ Constable | Nathan Resika the secret agent The Ambassador | Andrew Cummings CD 1 Lady Mabel | Jodi Karem 1 Act I — as the curtain rises [:32] Adolf Verloc | Scott Bearden 2 Act I, Scene 1 (The German Embassy) [9:45]

The Prime Minister | Mark Zuckerman 3 Act I, Scene 2 (Verloc’s Shop) [25:33] Winnie Verloc | Amy Burton

4 Act I, Scene 3 (A week later. A small café.) [12:06] Stevie | Jonathan Blalock 5 Act I, Scene 4 (Scotland Yard) [9:28] Ossipon | Matthew Garrett total Time CD1 = 57:28 Michaelis | Aaron Theno

The Professor | Matt Boehler CD2 The Commissioner | David Neal 1 Act II, Scene 5 Chief Inspector Heat | Jason Papowitz (Lady Mabel’s drawing room. A soirée.) [11:34] Lady Millicent | Deborah Lifton 2 Act II, Scene 6 (Verloc’s parlor.) [11:45] Lady Isabel | Kate Oberjat 3 Act II, Scene 7 (An hour later. Verloc’s shop.) [18:41] Lady Verena | Sarah Miller total Time CD2 = 42:02 Lady Olive | Cherry Duke troy1450/51

the secret agent www.albanyrecords.com

TROY1450/51 albany records u.s. 915 broadway, albany, ny 12207 tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643 albany records u.k. box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd tel: 01539 824008 © 2013 Albany Records made in the usa DDD warning: copyright subsists in all recordings issued under this label. Michael Dellaira