NAAMAN’S DILEMMA
A One-Act Play
Dedicated To Bob and Sue Blough
I have written three treatments on the story of Naaman: “Naaman’s Dilemma” and “Two Captive Maids”—both of which are One Act plays. The third, “A Leper’s Song” is a monodrama.
SETTING: Samaria, circa 700 BC. We are in the tent of a Syrian army captain.
PROPS: Use whatever you can to suggest a soldier’s tent. For the action the following items will be needed: small table; bench or stool; barrel; scrolls and maps; miscellaneous clothing; bags; optional embroidery, vegetables and paring knife.
COSTUMES: Can be period or modern—but make them consistent to the characters.
CAST: Two women; three men
Naaman: A captain of the Syrian army. Has won many battles. Maybe he’s now facing one he can’t win. Costume: army uniform. His shoes should be easy to remove.
Lady Naaman: Naaman’s wife, a beautiful, intelligent woman. Costume: a lovely gown befitting her noble rank.
Sara: Their Hebrew maid, a young girl. Costume: Plain working clothes.
Scribe: (Johar) One of Naaman’s servants, a scribe, a bean counter. Very loyal to Naaman. Costume: the equivalent of suit and tie.
Aide: (Gojar) Naaman’s aide-de-camp, as tough a soldier as Naaman himself. He would give his life for Naaman. Costume: army uniform—fatigues.
SCENE: At CURTAIN, only Lady Naaman and Sara are present. Lady Naaman is sitting quietly doing some hand sewing, such as embroidery. Sara is doing a small task, perhaps cutting vegetables. If the actress can do it, she can sing a little tune.
Sara: (The song) The Lord God almighty has chosen me, He’ll never depart from my life. I turn to my God; I become His own, I live in His unending love.
Lady: (As Sara’s song ends) How I wish I had your faith, Sara.
Sara: What do you mean, my lady?
Lady: You say Elisha is a great man.
Sara: No, my lady. Elisha is a prophet.
Lady: A great man.
Sara: (Respectfully) It is God who is great, my lady.
Lady: But you say this Elisha can heal my husband’s leprosy.
Sara: (Carefully) Elisha has done many great things, my lady, but it is because he is a man of God, don’t you see?
Lady: No, I don’t see!
Sara: (Patiently) It is God who does these things. He does these wonders through Elisha because the prophet is God’s man. You see?
Lady: It is hard for me to see.
Sara: I know Elisha can heal my master because it is really God who does such things.
Lady: It is no easier for me to believe a god can do this than a mere man. The Syrian gods are capricious, not given to occupying themselves in the affairs of men.
Sara: (Sadly) Yes, you know the Syrian gods, my lady.
Lady: (Sharply) What does that mean?
Sara: (Bowing her head) I mean no disrespect, my lady.
Lady: None is taken. Speak up, girl! What do you mean?
Sara: (Deep breath) Well, the Syrian gods are objects of wood and stone, whereas the God of Israel—
Lady: (Interrupting) The God of Israel has no such image. He cannot be seen and therefore does not exist.
Sara: (Shy smile) He cannot be seen, my lady, but he is.
Lady: (Shakes head ruefully) And that is why I wish I had your faith, Sara. You can believe that which you cannot see.
Sara: (Happily) Why, my lady! You have just defined faith!
Lady: (Laughs) Yes, I believe I have! (Sobering) But I do wish I could believe. I wish I could be certain that Naaman will be healed.
Sara: (Kneels by Lady Naaman’s side) He will be, my lady. I feel it—no, I know it!
Lady: (Tenderly) What a comfort you are! What would I do without you?
Naaman: (Enters, storming in, furious, breaking up the quiet atmosphere) Of all the nerve! (Raging, he pulls some draperies from the wall and stuffs them into an inadequate bag) How dare he suggest such a thing!
Lady: (Getting up quickly, going to him and touching his arm) What, my husband? What has happened? (Sara has backed off, trying to keep out of the way of the angry man)
Naaman: (Flinging Lady Naaman’s hand away and striding to the door of the tent. Bellows out the door) I am a commander of the Syrian army! (Turns and kicks at a barrel)
Lady: Naaman! Please, my lord! You will hurt yourself and not even know it! Remember your leprosy.
Naaman: (Sits on barrel, scowling. Pulls off his sandal. Mutters) See what he’s made me do? (Leaps up, swinging the sandal like a weapon) Enemies flee at the mention of my name! And that man, that bald little man can drive me to madness!
Lady: (Pushes him back down, kneels and inspects his foot) Please calm down. This is how lepers lose their toes!
Naaman: Don’t touch me, woman, lest you become a leper yourself!
Lady: (Snaps) Well, take better care, my husband! I have no wish to become a widow!
(Two men, the Scribe and the Aide enter and stand hesitantly in the doorway)
Naaman: Well, you shall be soon enough, my wife, thanks to that charlatan, Elisha! (He pulls his foot up and looks at it himself) It looks okay. (He springs to his feet) I am a great soldier! A proud and honorable man! (He is hopping around on one foot and putting his sandal on the other while he is saying all this. He doesn’t succeed)
(The two men in the doorway exchange glances and finally the Scribe clears his throat nervously)
Scribe: Ahem!
Naaman: (Swinging around to them) What are you doing here? (Points sandal at them)
Scribe: (Backs up a step and stammers) Well, I—I...
Naaman: (Catches sight of the Aide and advances menacingly on him) And you?
Aide: (Holds his ground and snaps a salute) Sir!
Naaman: (Looking from one to the other) Well?
Scribe: (Clearing his throat again) You’re wanting to leave, sir?
Naaman: At once! (Drops sandal and grabs some scrolls and starts shoving them any which way into a bag) I want to leave this benighted country and never see its impertinent people again!
Aide: Why, sir?
Naaman: (Explodes) Why? Did you hear what that quack told me to do?
Scribe: Yes, sir.
Naaman: I have never been so insulted in my life!
Aide: No, sir.
Naaman: And on top of that, he sent his servant! (Apoplectic) His servant! He should have come out to see me himself!
Scribe: Yes, sir.
Naaman: I am captain of the guard! I am a great commander! Does he not realize this? Does he not understand my status and dignity? (He hops about again on one foot, trying to put his sandal on)
Aide: No, sir.
Naaman: (Gets the sandal back on) And then—and then, he tells me to—(Sputtering, grabs scrolls again)
Scribe: (Calmly, rescuing scrolls from Naaman, smoothing them out, neatly packing them into the proper satchel) He said something about the Jordan River, sir.
Naaman: (Storming) He told me to take a bath! Me! A bath!
Scribe: (Coughing) I believe it was seven baths, sir.
Naaman: (Growling) Seven!
Aide: (To Scribe, nervously) You’re not helping.
Scribe: (Ignoring Aide) Yes, sir. Seven baths, sir. In the Jordan River. Sir.
Aide: (Hissing, afraid) Shut up!
Naaman: Seven baths in the Jordan River! Who does he think I am?
Scribe: A leper, sir?
Naaman: (Spins to him) What’s that?
Scribe: He thinks you’re a leper, sir.
Aide: (By now he’s frantic) Johar! What do you think you’re doing?
Sara: (Quietly) It makes sense.
Aide: (Moves away, throwing his hands up in despair) I don’t believe this!
Naaman: (Turns threateningly to the girl, who stands her ground without defiance) What are you rattling on about, girl?
Sara: (Sp
eaks with a gentle, respectful boldness) A leper is unclean. Water purification is part of the ceremonies of the temple.
Naaman: But this is the Jordan! A sludgy, filthy, muddy excuse of a river! How can one get clean in that? It’s disgusting! It makes my flesh crawl.
Lady: The prophet told you to bathe in the Jordan River?
Naaman: (Newly enraged) That phony! That no-good snake oil fraud! Telling me, a commander of the Syrian army, to wash in that slime hole!
Lady: Yes, I can see why you’re so upset. It is an affront to your dignity. To think that you honored him by going to him, I would expect he’d be a little more respectful!
Sara: (Timidly) But, my lord?
Naaman: (Roaring) What now?
Sara: Shouldn’t you do it?
Naaman: Do it? Go down to that scrummy water hole and immerse myself in it?
Sara: But if it would cure your leprosy...
Lady: (Kindly) That’s the point, dear. How can such dirty water cleanse anyone, let alone someone of leprosy?
Sara: (Pleading) You must have faith. It is God who heals, not the water!
Naaman: Then why doesn’t He heal me? Why all this hocus-pocus? Why didn’t Elisha just wave his hands over me and—poof! my leprosy is gone? Why this elaborate charade?
Sara: I don’t know, sir, but he must have his reasons.
Naaman: Reason! There’s no reason in such an asinine request!
Lady: If it had been one of our nice, clean Syrian rivers...
Naaman: (Indignant all over again) Yes! I can seeing bathing in Abana River or even the Pharpar, but the Jordan! Words fail me.
Scribe: (Coughing) It seems like a simple enough thing to me.
Naaman: It’s an outrage!
Aide: (Delicately) I spoke with the prophet’s servant a few minutes ago.
Naaman: And what did that little man want?
Aide: Well, supposing sir, that Elisha had changed his mind?
Naaman: What do you mean, changed his mind?
Aide: Well, what if he said for you to do something else?
Naaman: Something else? What is it? Speak up, man!
Aide: What if he said you were to travel a journey of seven days and seven nights until you came to the great sea?
Naaman: I’d do it.
Aide: And then what if he said you were to swim out to a small island?
Naaman: No problem.
Scribe: (Catching on) But if you were to accomplish the swim wearing your full armor?
Naaman: Hmmm. Difficult, yes, but I could handle that.
Aide: On the island is a tall mountain. You must climb to the top, encountering all kinds of obstacles.
Naaman: What obstacles?
Scribe: Lions, sir.
Aide: And bears.
Lady: Oh, my.
Naaman: I’ve killed worse in my time.
Scribe: At the top of the mountain is a cave. In the cave, a small golden jar.
Aide: You must bring that jar back to the prophet and then your leprosy will be healed.
Naaman: What are we waiting for? We will set out at once!
Scribe: You don’t know the whole, my lord.
Naaman: Spit it out, man!
Scribe: The cave is filled with snakes, sir.
Naaman: (Squeaks) Snakes?
Aide: Vipers.
Naaman: (Swallows hard) Snakes don’t scare me. (Pacing about) Get everything packed! We leave on the morrow.
Aide: You would do this? You would go on this difficult, hazardous trial to be cured of your leprosy?
Naaman: Of course! We will start at first light. If the sun were not low in the sky, we would go now. (He picks up clothes and crams them into a bag)
Scribe: (Taking the bag from him) Wait.
Naaman: (Glares) What?
Aide: The prophet did not ask this of you.
Naaman: He didn’t?
Scribe: No, sir.
Naaman: What mean you by this?
Aide: There are no bears.
Scribe: Or lions.
Aide: Or snakes.
Naaman: (Enraged) You have tricked me? There is no island? No cave?
Scribe: No jar.
Aide: There is no mighty quest of valor.
Naaman: (Awfully) You have made a fool of me!
Aide: No, sir. You would perform a dangerous, heroic trial to be cleansed of your leprosy.
Naaman: I would show my merit. I would prove worthy of healing.
Scribe: But you would not do a simple everyday act, like bathing in a river.
Naaman: But the island and the snakes would take great courage and strength. Only a man such as myself could accomplish such a thing. It would be worthy of my mettle. (Lips twist) The river thing is so—so—demeaning.
Sara: (Apologetically) Maybe that’s the point, my lord.
Naaman: What are you talking about?
Sara: If you swam the sea and climbed the mountain and brought back the jar, it’s you doing the work. You could claim you were healed because of the great feats you had accomplished.
Naaman: I don’t get your point.
Lady: I think I understand. By humbling yourself and bathing in the river, there will be no doubt but that it was God who healed you.
Sara: (Eagerly) Yes, my lady. God doesn’t help us because we are good and deserving. He helps us because He loves us. The cleansing will be His work, not yours.
Naaman: But I must earn this great act of condescension.
Sara: No, my lord, God heals because of who He is, not because of who you are.
Naaman: Then why must I bathe at all?
Sara: I don’t know. That is what He asks of you, so that is what you must do. I think maybe He just wants to see your faith. And if you have no faith, your willingness to be obedient.
Lady: And that is a part of this faith?
Sara: Yes, my lady.
Naaman: (Quietly, thinking hard) Yes, I see. I see also that it is much harder than any physical Endeavour. (Turns and look at the two servants who are watching with great interest) Well, you two clowns spun me a pretty tale. Whether it’s your logic that’s won, or this young maid’s faith, I don’t know. I shall bathe in that accursed river. We leave at first light.
Sara: Thank God!
Lady: Yes, thank God!
Naaman: (To the men) Now, be off with you and get some sleep! Tomorrow is a big day.
(The two men look at each other, grin and then exit)
Naaman: (Looking at the women) A very big day.
Curtain
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