Performances on tour

Text : Extracts from Salomé, Oscar Wilde
Music : Per Buhl Acs, Tomas Ortved,
             Mark Tompkins, Isnel da Silveira

SALOMÉ
Oscar Wilde

e x t r a c t s

Ah ! you would not suffer me to kiss your mouth, Jokanaan. Well ! I will kiss it now. I will bite it with my teeth as one bites a ripe fruit. Yes, I will kiss your mouth, Jokanaan. I said it. Did I not say it ? I said it. Ah ! I will kiss it now…But why do you not look at me, Jokanaan? Your eyes that were so terrible, so full of rage and scorn, are shut now. Why are they shut ? Open your eyes ! Lift up your eyelids, Jokanaan. Why do you not look at me ? Are you afraid of me, Jokanaan, that you will not look at me…? And your tongue, that was like a red snake darting poison, it moves no more, it says nothing now, Jokanaan, that scarlet viper that spat its venom upon me. It is strange, is it not ? How is it that the red viper stirs no longer…? You would have none of me, Jokanaan. You rejected me. You spoke evil words against me. You treated me as a harlot, as a wanton, me, Salomé, daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judaea. Well, Jokanaan, I still live, but you, you are dead, and your head belongs to me. I can do with it what I will. I can throw it to the dogs and to the birds of the air. That which the dogs leave, the birds of the air shall devour…

Ah, Jokanaan, Jokanaan, you were the only man that I have loved. All other men are hateful to me. But you, you were beautiful ! Your body was a column of ivory set on a silver socket. It was a garden full of doves and of silver lilies. It was a tower of silver decked with shields of ivory. There was nothing in the world so white as your body. There was nothing in the world so black as your hair. In the whole world there was nothing so red as your mouth. Your voice was a censer that scattered strange perfumes, and when I looked at you I heard a strange music. Ah ! why did you not look at me, Jokanaan ? Behind your hands and your curses you hid your face. You put over your eyes the covering of him who would see his God. Well, you have seen your God, Jokanaan, but me, me, you did never see. If you had seen me, you would have loved me. I, I saw you, Jokanaan, and I loved you. Oh, how I loved you ! I love you yet, Jokanaan, I love you only.

I am thirsty for your beauty, I am hungry for your body, and neither wine nor fruits can appease my desire. What shall I do now, Jokanaan ? Neither the floods nor the great waters can quench my passion. I was a princess, and you scorned me. I was a virgin, and you took my virginity from me. I was chaste, and you filled my veins with fire…Ah ! ah ! why did you not look at me, Jokanaan ? If you had looked at me you would have loved me. I know that you would have loved me, and the mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death. Love only should one consider…Ah ! I have kissed your mouth, Jokanaan. I have kissed your mouth. There was a bitter taste upon your lips. Is it the taste of blood…? But perchance it is the taste of love…They say that love has a bitter taste… But what of that ? What of that ? I have kissed your mouth, Jokanaan.