短剧：最后的审判2025

上了门戏剧体验课，最后一个作业是由看的五个剧的启发做个project, 任何形式。有同学画画，有人做手工，有人烤蛋糕，有的把剧里角色庭审，有人把莎翁剧麦克白换成现代企业环境重写，有人写歌弹吉他...... 看的剧之一是历史剧York Corpus Christi Plays, 51个圣经故事从创世纪到最后的审判，每次演要从日出演到半夜（所以离上次演出25年了）。起初我想把其它剧的主角全编进去接受最后审判，借机给全班普及几句经文 (但太boring了！）。之间想到听过的某牧师的说法，哈姆雷特不认识莎翁，如同人也不认识神 - 按这个思路最后就写成了福音短剧。除了直接引用圣经，好玩起见，让所有角色都说他们在原剧的台词 （括号里按MLA注明了出处)。 

CHARRACTERS

God the Father  （神）

Jesus   （耶稣）

Marie   （剧“Woyzeck”女主，与英俊士兵有染）

Woyzeck （ 剧“Woyzeck”男主，被贫困逼迫Marie出轨逼疯，杀了Marie)

Lady Macbeth  (莎翁剧“Macbeth"女主，怂恿丈夫杀了国王取代之）

Doctor  （剧“Woyzeck”配角，拿Woyzeck当医学试验品）

Angel   （天使）

Macbeth  （莎翁剧“Macbeth"男主，三女巫预言“凡女人生的不能伤之”，终被剖腹产的武将所杀）

            Shakespeare （莎翁，剧"The Frogs" (古希腊Aristophane同名剧的现代版)男主）

Dionysos  （酒/戏剧神，剧"The Frogs" 男主）

            Shaw  （萧伯纳，剧"The Frogs" 男主）

Peter Gnit  （剧"Gnit" (易卜生名剧“Peer Gynt"的现代版)男主）

Professor Williams  (本课教授:D）

 

AUTHOR’S NOTES

The play is a compilation of paraphrased verses from the texts and the Bible. If the audiences don't laugh, blame the Works Cited. 

 

GOD. I judge no one, but have given all judgement to my Son. (NKJV, John 5:22)

JESUS. I will separate one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. (Matt. 25:31)

MARIE. Saviour, saviour! If only I could anoint your feet! (Büchner, 53)

JESUS.  Daughter, I will wipe away every tear from your eyes, and death shall be no more(Rev. 24). 

WOYZECK. Lord, Everyone is an abyss. (Büchner, 37) Forgive my fall! 

JESUS. Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men (Matt. 12:31). I am not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Pet. 3:9). Johann Christian Woyzeck, you are in the book of life. Go to my right. 

LADY MACBETH. Merciful Lord! Will my hands ever be clean? What’s done cannot be undone (Shakespeare 5.1.43,67). Though my sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…

DOCTOR. Excuse me, it is my turn. Don’t you see it is German first here? This is the exact reason people should rebuild the Berlin Wall. O I find myself on the roof like David (Büchner, 48). I shall be immortal! Immortal! (Berg)

JESUS. Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food. (Matt. 25:41-42)

DOCTOR. Lord, when did I see You hungry, and did not give You food? 

JESUS. I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to Woyzeck - the one of the least - you did not do it to Me. (Matt. 25:45) 

      Enter Macbeth, Angel

ANGEL. Lord of might most, we don’t know what to do with this man. He has no soul. But he declares he is a king.

MACBETH. O King of kings, I had the most need of blessing - your angels don’t recognize me, only because “Amen” stuck in my throat. (Shakespeare 2.2.4). 

JESUS. I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! (Matt. 7:23). 

MACBETH. Oh Lord, You shall spare me. For no man that’s born of woman shall ever have power upon me (Shakespeare 5.2.6-7). Bless Your mother Mary. You are fully God and fully man. 

JESUS.  I know My sheep, and am known by My own (John 10:14). I now call Shakespeare to send you back to where you belong. 

ANGEL. Loved be thou, Lord of all. Both Shakespeare and Shaw are late. They are still debating the duty of the poet in Barrie, Ontario. They are already eternal anyway. Dionysos is sent to fetch them. But he is delayed as he is afraid of frogs. 

JESUS. Poor Dionysos! The unclean spirits are like frogs (Rev. 16:13). There is no fear in love. Let My perfect love drive out his fear (1 John 4:18). Lazarus, come out! (John 11: 42-43) - Oh it must be a typo - Dionysos, come back!

      Enter Dionysos, Shakespear, Shaw

SHAKESPEAR. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow… Here we are - the last syllable of recorded time … Life is but a walking shadow … (Shakespeare 5.2.19,21,24)

DIONYSOS. Beautiful, beautiful! (Burt, 191)

SHAW. They are not beautiful; they are only decorated. (Burt, 187)

MACBETH. Accused be the tongue that (Shakespeare 5.8.17) steals my verses.  

SHAKESPEAR. Meet your maker, Macbeth. 

MACBETH. Meet your king!

SHAKESPEAR. O Macbeth, Macbeth, the one who slays hundreds. You may not know me, but I know everything about you. For you were made in my mind. I chose you when I planned my play. I wrote you into existence. My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. I knit you together through every act. I gave you Lady Macbeth as your dearest partner. I determined the exact time to crown you.  It is my desire to give you eternal life on the stage. Nothing will separate you from my name …

MACBETH. Keep your rubbish! I don’t know you. A false face must hide what the false heart does know. (Shakespeare 1.7.83)

JESUS. Oh what a familiar scene! Macbeth doesn't know Shakespeare his maker, just like people don't know God their Creator. Shakespear made Macbeth through his words. All things in Macbeth were made through words. Yet Macbeth will never comprehend he is a created being. 

GOD. Unless he believes. That is why I gave My only begotten Son Jesus to the world, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Bonus: Faith is free. We charge no tariff in My kingdom (Ibsen 67). 

JESUS. Glory be to the Father! (To all) This is the day the Lord has made, everyone shall rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 118:24)! I bless every writer to create like Shakespeare. Thanks Ixxx for baking a cake, and Exxxxxx baking cookies. Go and enjoy!

      Exit all

      Enter Peter

PETER. Oh God. She waited. Solvay! I’m home (Eno 85)! Mom, it is me. Pee-Wee (Eno 49). Hello! Where is everyone? Jesus, the great I AM, where are You? How come I am not in the MIDDLE of the last judgment? Professor Williams, help! What is THIS? 

PROF. (Voice, offstage) THIS is a class, not a classic. 

 

Works Cited

Berg, Alban. Wozzeck. Directed by Johannes Debus, Canadian Opera Company, 16 May 2025, Four Seasons for the Performing Arts, Toronto.

 

Büchner, Georg. Woyzeck : Full Text and Introduction (NHB Drama Classics), Nick Hern Books, Limited, 1997. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/york/detail.action?docID=1826424.

 

Burt, Shevelove, and Larry Gelbart. A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to The Forum; The Frogs, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1985.

 

Eno, Will. Gnit. Samuel French, 2014

 

Ibsen. Plays: Six. Methuen World Classics. 1994. 

 

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Edited by Stephen Orgel, Penguin Books, 2000

 

The Bible. New King James Version, Thomas Nelson, 2018.