di Vitaliiy Horal

This play is dedicated to Francesca, victim of unjust  love and violent death.

[Author]

Love, like a wind in the warmest day of May,
that caresses skin with care and with warmth my soul
that was freezed during the coldest winter days,
now free from the cold, from the unpleasant torpor. 

The warmth is spread in me like a young spring creek,
that is rising from the weight of the long cold,
insistently it spreads, even if still weak,
Again Helious glares on his cart with gold. 

As Zephyrus resounds his warmest breath,
make Flora reborn with flowers bloom again,
making it stand out from the darkest depth.

I’m free as a bird that the endless sky claims,
my soul, now, is kept away from wrath,
foreign from the pain that kept me in weightful chain

[Narrator]

The story takes its start from the place,
where with gold the emperor’s family was traced,
and borgo of Polenta’s proudly stayed,
soon by young blood will be soiled
On banks of the Po braided wreaths along it swim,
Francesca’s soul was thrown  down with hit,
soon will be caged, soon will be property of him.
Tears escape, like a boulder from the hill.

[Chorus of girls that start singing a song in lullaby style and moving way]

Here is sail, sailing on a rain
A girl is crying for her unleashed braid
“Oh my dear braid, my dark braid,
You were a beauty of me,”
And when I unleash you on me
I will make father doleful of me
“Oh my dear braid, my dark braid,
You were a beauty of me,”
Now I unleash you on me,
No more I will be free…

[Francesca. She represents women who were obliged to marry someone for castles instead of love.]

Girls, do I deserve to be just a body to trade?
Am I an object to put on a showcase?
For him do I need to unleash my braid?
For a man who triples me in age?
Do I deserve to be caged like a bird,
with the same walls that saw my birth on Earth.
Lancillotto was always a dream of mine,
the knight who conquered Ginevra’s heart,
who will conquer my heart and mind ,
who will free it from that unjust hurt.

[The crowd stands to impose its opinion on Francesca. They represent a medieval point of view, where the female role was to submit to a male.]

Unleash your braid if God says so,
your soul chose path, so your body will soon,
someone you hate, one day you‘ll love,
if not with sunshine, at least with the moon.
And when the body left, a soul starts to play,
in a holy theatre of God’s claims.
Drain your soul on the grounds soil,
to sink, then, into Lete’s banks.
Who suffers in Earth then will spoil
their souls with holy Father’s thanks.

[Narrator]

Hearing so her body to ground drops,
as a stone collapses from a sharp hill,
turbated, she covered her smile with a cloth,
as a marble statue her body stilled.
To reanimate this soul Pica stood,
woman of common wealth, but noble soul,
to bring some forces of Giovanna’s will
bring to Convivium full of daring bowls.

[Pica represents a strong female character. She is a personification of the famous medieval rebel Joan of Arc, showing that everyone needs to fight for their freedom and dignity]

Uncage yourself, my dear nightingale,
fly into the infinite sapphire landscape,
one day you will find a knight from tale,
so unleash your soul from a hurtful scrape.
To noble soul always love appears,
if you fight for it with all it’s dear.
It’s always better die fighting, than
living an awful life guided by pain .
It’s better die in hug with Love, than
living an awful life eroded by hate.

[Narrator]

Pica’s speech pleased Francesca’s heart,
so she, brought by a fire for her love,
decided fight against unjust hurt,
determination drove her above.

[Francesca. This speech represents all the pain of Medieval female destiny]

Pleasure’s mine to be so cherished,
I’d rather die than living with a man I hate,
but trying to run, my life will perish
I’m forcefully brought to unleash my braid.
Miserable female life, be just on a showcase,
I want a place in my heart, rather than in a case.
So I leave all hopes above the bridal wreath,
unleashed braid sign end of younger age,
Death is scaring me, as an unknown pass,
That signs a path of a new Play page.