26 May 2004
Events Occurring In The Realm Of The Heavens Prior To The Prologue Of The Main Text Of The Good Person of Setzuan
In the palace of the Three Gods.
[Three Gods sit about in apparent luxury. One idly spins a globe as another crumples up pieces of paper and throws them over his shoulder. The third god spoons caviar from a huge glass jar. Wong watches the Gods with mild interest]
Wong: [To audience] There is a dream I saw.
Second God: [Sighs loudly] Another letter of complaint!
First God: [Stopping the spinning of the globe] What is there we can do?
Third God: [With his mouth full] Yes, if they simply followed our meticulous moral codes, there would be no such problems!
Second God: [Scanning and crumpling another letter] They never shall learn.
[The three Gods haughtily shake their heads, as Wong dons a messenger’s cloak and hat, and appears before the Gods]
Wong: A message from the Supreme Council of the Gods!
[The three Gods turn their attention to him rapidly, alarmed]
Wong: [Reading from a long scroll] The Supreme Council of the Gods has been considering the case of the cities of Shun, Kwan, and Setzuan with regard to their governing body of deities. The treasury of the council has found of late, that in these three cities, there has been no productivity in the area of good people and actions. We hereby render First God, Second God, and Third God of Shun, Kwan and Setzuan obsolete and incapable of motivating any single member of the public to act in the morally correct fashion expected of them.
First God: [Standing up and knocking over the globe] I protest!
Second God: [Hastily moving papers out of sight] It is not us that can not manage!
Third God: It is the morally abject people of these cities.
Wong: You accept no responsibility in this?
Second God: Oh, no, of course not.
First God: Yes, we were most meticulous in the writing of our laws. Only the most irrational and impious of the people could choose to disobey us.
Wong: So how is it that all the people of these three cities are so impious and irrational?
Third God: [Guiltily removing caviar from view] It is a lack of funding! The people are morally depraved and deprived.
Wong: And whose task is it to ensure that they are well provided for?
Second God: Surely, it can not be our task to knock from door to door, demanding the goodness of the people.
First God: Yes, like tax collectors!
Wong: Well, if you put it that way…
First God: Oh, surely, you can not blame us for the immorality of the people.
Wong: [Regaining composition] That is precisely your position, as the officers of the Supreme Council of the Gods
Third God: [Whispering to First God] Should have stopped talking sooner…
Second God: [To Wong] Might we have a moment to convene, o messenger of the Supreme Council of the Gods?
[Wong nods. Gods huddle near the front of the stage, whispering torwards the audience]
First God: What can we do?
Third God: Surely, there must be some way of retaining our posts?
First God: I feel that we are trapped.
Third God: But we’ve hardly done anything wrong.
Second God: It appears to the council that we have not done our job, as they have not been able to enrich themselves with morality.
Third God: But we’ve only just have enough ‘good’ to survive – how is it that we are able to pay our dues to the Supreme Council?
First God: Yes, but it is expected of us. We must produce enough morality to support ourselves and to contribute to the larger authorities. They’ve got us cornered.
Second God: We must find them a good person, so that they will not relieve us of our positions.
First God: Oh yes… I don’t think that I could handle another Godly coup.
Third God: Yes, one in an eternity is quite enough, especially since it was so beneficial to us [chuckles for a moment].
Second God: It will, however, require much self-sacrifice from us.
Third God: Oh! What shall we have to suffer?
Second God: Well, we shall have to travel among the … people.
First God: Yes, I suppose we must, if we are to find our good person.
Wong: [Stepping forward] Are you finished?
First God: We are ready, o messenger of the council.
Wong: The three of you stand discharged from your positions as the official deities for the cities of Shun, Kwan, and Setzuan [He hands them a scroll].
[First God unwinds that scroll and the three Gods look on it together, worried looks on their faces]
Wong: You shall have two weeks to pack up your belongings and leave your posts.
Second God: Wait! We would like to make a wager.
First God: Yes, a wager.
Third God: Ah! A most noble idea.
Second God: You have given us two weeks to leave from this place. We shall do so with no conflicts, if you allow us to be banished into our provinces.
Wong: [Scribbling on paper, looking perplexed] Is that to be your message?
Second God: There is more! Should we manage to locate for the council some good people, then we shall be allowed back into our office.
Third God: With increased income, naturally.
First God: Yes, as compensation for the humiliation we’ve had to face because of the doubt of the Supreme Council of the Gods.
Wong: And if you should fail to find a good person?
[Gods sing]
Chorus of the Three Gods, Humbled by Authority
Now the time has come for us
To show you what is right
Please pause for a moment and
Reconsider our plight
We humbly agree
A good person to name
And should we be right
We’ll have no more shame
For then shall we rise again
To our heavenly posts
Tor then shall we rise again
To our heavenly posts
However if we should be wrong
And great be human crime
If a year should prove to be
Insufficient time
Humbly shall we
Bow down to our fate
Realizing our good
Intentions were late
We shall ourselves take on the task of
Banishing our laws
We shall ourselves take on the task of
Banishing our laws
Wong: I shall deliver your message and challenge to the council.
[The Gods smile and bow, backing offstage in unison]
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