The Burning
CAST: 10 male, 2 female plus various supporting roles
SYNOPSIS: The play begins in Bamberg, Germany, 1626. In the house of Dr Ernst Vasolt, Madeleine is sitting alone as Francis and Benedict (two young lawyers) stumble in, clearly drunk. Francis expresses his delight at being home after completing his studies, and the two reminisce before Benedict leaves in search of beer. Francis approaches Madeleine, though she spurns his drunken advances, slapping him in the face. Claudio, Philipp (Francis’s father), Ernst Vasolt and Johannes enter, a group of rich and powerful burghers who are engaged in an increasingly heated discussion about faith, war, and the co-existence of opposed beliefs. Francis joins them, Vasolt suggesting that he could draw on his legal training by assuming work for the Commission investigating witchcraft. Vasolt’s son, Fredrick, pursues Madeline and proposes marriage in starkly unromantic terms. Francis interrupts them, and Fredrick excuses himself, leaving Francis to repair relations with Madeline. The scene ends as the pair dance.
A sadistic streak to Frederick is revealed as he tortures Johannes in the hope of extracting a confession of witchcraft. The scene is intercut with an argument between Phillip and Francis in which the former defends Vasolt’s work as Commissioner against the latter’s accusations of corruption and cruelty. The two scenes end as Vasolt enters the torture chamber with a list of names for Johannes to implicate in witchcraft. He draws Fredrick’s attention to one particular name.
Phillip writes a letter revealing that Francis and Madeline are now happily married, and Francis reads it to his now-pregnant wife as they discuss the increasing intensity of witch trials and executions. Just as Francis is assuring his wife of their personal safety, however, a Bailiff arrives with a warrant for Madeline’s arrest.
A distraught Francis arrives at his father’s house, recounting the news that Johannes has ‘confessed’ to Madeline’s supposed witchcraft. Phillip attempts to defend Vasolt and his Commission, which reawakens their argument from the play’s second scene. Francis attempts to provoke his father by confessing to witchcraft himself, but the scene is interrupted by Vasolt’s unexpected arrival. Francis is arrested under suspicion of witchcraft, and a newly-resolved Phillip leaves on urgent, but unknown, business.
In the Bamberg Courthouse, Vasolt argues with Fredrick about his son’s perverse torture of Madeline. He also reveals that Phillip has fled to nearby Ravensberg, seemingly abandoning his son. A broken Francis is brought in the Courthouse and an indictment of witchcraft is read out, against which Francis makes no defence. At the moment of sentencing, Phillip returns carrying a decree from the Holy Roman Emperor that demands a fair trial for those accused of witchcraft. Peter Bergen, Magistrate of the Emperor’s Court, enters and announces that he will personally preside over Francis’s trial. The scene ends as Phillip and Vasolt face off, each determined to pursue their opposing goals.
As the play’s second act commences, Francis and Phillip reconcile over unburdened memories of Madeline, and a revitalised Francis determines to throw himself into his trial. Four days later, in the Bamburg Courthouse, Francis defends himself and hopes to exonerate his wife in the process. Drawing on all his legal brilliance, he calls on Vasolt to take the stand and draws contradiction and hypocrisy from his answers. Just as he is about to demolish his foe with a conclusive argument, however, Vasolt launches an impressive defence that saps Francis’s energy, sinking him back into grief.
Later that evening, Fredrick argues with Vasolt, revealing a source of his twisted cruelty in his father’s indifference.
Vasolt assumes responsibility for the prosecution in the play’s final scene, bating Francis into a confession of heresy with graphic descriptions of his wife’s torture. Bergen declares a verdict of guilty and sentences Francis to death, but a foolish remark from Fredrick allows Phillip to snatch a pyrrhic victory in the play’s final moments.
USE THE CONTACT FORM (LINK BELOW) TO REQUEST A COPY OF THE FULL SCRIPT.
“… a stunning courtroom drama… a gripping saga.”
(The Sunday Age)
“…(his) writing is exceptional, powerful... I cannot recall an audience so moved, so stunned by the time the curtain fell.”
ABC Radio