Marquis    I told you before that this play wasn’t in any way like those which satisfy the ... decadent tastes ... of our times.  I ... (Hesitating.) I\'ve read it to myself several  times ... alone,  in my room  ... I\'ve even read it out loud, but that isn\'t enough.  I have to hear it ... coming from your lips ... brought to life by you ...

He draws back the curtains of the great archway which forms a recess in the back wall, and a kind of apse is revealed with tiny grilled windows, but no door. The walls are made of plain stone. It looks like the \'theatrical\' scenery for a medieval prison. In the centre of this stage, constituting the only piece of furniture, is a great stone seat, with back and arms, also in stone, rather like a royal throne.

Look ... I\'ve prepared the ideal setting for you ...

Gabriel        But I ... I can\'t  ... I can’t act for you like this ... without knowing the play ... not having rehearsed it ... I\'d have to read it first, and try and understand the action and the characters ... (Since the Marquis does not answer him because he is lighting the candles for the stage, Gabriel, now becoming progressively more nervous, goes up to the proscenium of the little theatre.) At least tell me what it\'s about  ... the subject, the setting, the plot ... something ...

Marquis (continuing what he is doing)         Do you really think that is so important ... ? (Stops what he is doing, turns round and faces Gabriel in a more gentle voice.) Oh,  all right  ... It\'s a free adaptation of the life of Socrates, from Xenophon\'s Apology. But, how can I put it ...? I’m not really interested in the plot itself ... I could have written the play about any other character or setting that happened to come to mind! ...

Gabriel        But Socrates  ...

Marquis (stepping off the stage)    Socrates is just a pretext, Gabriel. It\'s not really about his life ... lt’s about his death. The process of his death, that is what I wanted to examine.

Gabriel (rather sceptically)    His death?  Then, the psychology ... the historical facts we all know ...

Marquis (self-satisfied)        There you have it: we all know them. Since we all know them, it\'s better  to ignore them. (He smiles.) Anyway, all that psychology ... bah! it\'s just an excuse for philosophising ... No ... The only thing we don\'t know about  Socrates - and so many other  characters - is, precisely, their death.  Not the fact they died, that’s obvious ... or even the way they died, and not the cause of their death  ... But their death ... I repeat,  the process of their death ... Dying with them ... Not seeing how they die, but feeling the intensity of their death ... our own death ...

Gabriel (impressed)    Feeling, again .. .

Marquis    Yes, feeling! Feeling, Gabriel! Feeling without rhetoric ... Somehow taking part in their agony; making our bodies experience, our minds perceive, step by step, stage by stage, the inescapable advance  towards self­ destruction ...

Gabriel        You mean, lead the condemned man to the gallows?

Marquis (quickly)    But I don\'t just mean that ... If only we could, through some kind of imitative magic, penetrate and live their inner life while still being ourselves ... then, what sublime delight, what pleasure for the mind! And just imagine how that pleasure would be conveyed, and spread to every part of our poor bodies! What pleasure, Gabriel, in this, our dreary age of rationalism! (He laughs.) But, as you can see ... I go on and on ... and lose myself in words ... (Looks at his watch again.) I was enjoying emotions which I haven’t yet even managed to stir up in you ... (Pause. Then, with apparent indifference.) You still haven\'t said if you\'ll agree to play my game ...

Gabriel     (Finally giving in to his host\'s whims, somewhat wearily)    I don\'t understand you, Monsieur, but if it\'ll make you happy, I\'ll gladly perform an extract from your play. Tell me what you want me to do. (As he climbs up on to the stage.) However, I must warn you that, without a rehearsal, I won\'t be able to do anything very impressive first time round; but, since you insist …

Marquis    Oh, yes, I do, Gabriel … I do … (He quickly climbs up on to the stage as well and inspects everything closely.) Wait a minute … (Satisfied, having finished checking everything.) Yes … yes, everything is in place … (Steps down from the stage, picks up the book, opens it at the corresponding page and, going up to the proscenium, hands the book to Gabriel.) I\'m particularly interested in this scene ...

Gabriel (from the stage, once he has glanced at the open page)     The death scene ...

Marquis    Exactly.