By Humaira Kabir
Cast:
- LADY LAZARUS: The central figure, powerful, challenging, and deeply complex. She holds the voice of the poem.
- CHORUS: Three figures representing society, spectators, and oppressors. They shift roles as the play progresses.
- DOCTOR: A cold, clinical character, holding authority, depicting science, and control.
- PHOENIX: A silent, symbolic figure representing fire, death, and rebirth.
Setting:
The stage is separated into three overlapping areas: a theatrical stage, a flaming pit, and a sterile hospital room. Reflecting the poem’s fluctuating tone, lighting and projections produce a bizarre, broken atmosphere.
Scene 1: “I Have Done It Again”
(The stage is grim. Sudden sounds of fire grow louder. A spotlight reveals LADY LAZARUS, cloaked in a golden, sheet-like fabric. Her face is contentious.)
LADY LAZARUS:
I have done it again.
One year in every ten
I manage it—
(She stops, slowly unwraps herself, revealing injuries on her body. Her voice changes between relinquishment and pride.)
A sort of walking miracle, my skin
Bright as a Nazi lampshade,
My right foot
A paperweight,
My face a featureless, fine
Jew linen.
(The CHORUS comes up from the shadows, slowly chanting, circling her.)
CHORUS (overlapping whispers):
“A miracle?”
“A freak show.”
“A phoenix on repeat.”
(They laugh in a mocking manner.)
LADY LAZARUS (snapping):
Do I terrify you?
(The CHORUS pulls back briefly, then continues their chanting and circling around her.)
CHORUS:
She does it for show.
The big striptease.
(LADY LAZARUS moves forward into a new spotlight. She raises her arms upwards, communicating with an unseen audience.)
LADY LAZARUS:
Peel off the napkin.
O my enemy.
Do I terrify?
Scene 2: “The Peanut-Crunching Crowd”
(The scene shifts to another stage. LADY LAZARUS stands under a spotlight, as the CHORUS takes on the disguise of an audience, eating peanuts, laughing, judging and pointing.)
CHORUS:
The peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see
Them unwrap me hand and foot—
The big strip tease.
(They cheer as LADY LAZARUS pulls at invisible restrains on her wrists and ankles.)
LADY LAZARUS:
Gentlemen, ladies,
These are my hands,
My knees.
(She kneels down a bit, then rises rebelliously.)
LADY LAZARUS:
I am your opus,
I am your valuable,
The pure gold baby
That melts to a shriek.
(The CHORUS growls louder, their mocking laughter turning to screams of “Encore!” “More!”)
CHORUS:
Show us!
Show us how it’s done!
(LADY LAZARUS looks at them, aggressively.)
LADY LAZARUS:
Do not think I underestimate your great concern.
Ash, ash— You poke and stir.
Flesh, bone, there is nothing there…
(The stage lights flicker as she steps back into the shadows.)
Scene 3: “Dying Is an Art”
(The scene changes to a clean hospital room. LADY LAZARUS strapped on a gurney. The DOCTOR enters, holding a clipboard. He speaks clinically almost in a robotic manner.)
DOCTOR:
The subject has attempted again.
Third-degree burns.
Scar tissue extensive.
(He writes a prescription as LADY LAZARUS begins to move, smirks softly.)
LADY LAZARUS:
Dying
Is an art, like everything else.
I do it exceptionally well.
(She sits up, looking straight at the DOCTOR, who gets chills under her gaze.)
LADY LAZARUS:
I do it so it feels like hell.
I do it so it feels real.
I guess you could say I’ve a call.
(The CHORUS appears again, now dressed as hospital staff, bringing in machinery that echoes in a sinister manner.)
CHORUS:
Here she comes again,
The great performer.
Always back for more.
(The DOCTOR agrees to them, and they begin strapping LADY LAZARUS to the gurney again. She does not resist but laughs louder.)
LADY LAZARUS:
So, so, Herr Doktor.
So, Herr Enemy.
(The room grows darker, almost eerie as firelight begins to flicker at the edges of the stage.)
Scene 4: “Out of the Ash”
(The fiery setting takes over the stage. The PHOENIX emerges as a tall figure of light and shadow. LADY LAZARUS stands in front of it, unleashed.)
LADY LAZARUS:
Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air.
(The CHORUS, now without any costume, watches in fear and surprise. The DOCTOR drops his clipboard. The PHOENIX bows to LADY LAZARUS and disappears into flames.)
(LADY LAZARUS looks at the audience, stepping into the spotlight.)
LADY LAZARUS:
Herr God, Herr Lucifer,
Beware
Beware.
Out of the ash
I rise.
(The stage goes darker. A grim loud sound emerges as the curtain falls.)