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Scene 19. At the residence of WERTHER.
(Lights come up on WERTHER packing boxes. The video on the cyclorama shows the appropriate scenery. He addresses his SERVANT)
WERTHER: I intend to set out on a journey shortly. Lay out my clothes in order and prepare them for packing. You are to call in all my accounts and fetch the books I have lent. To all my dependants who would normally receive a weekly allowance you are to give two months’ pay. And you are to deliver this letter to Albert, note carefully his response and return immediately.
(The SERVANT takes the letter and exits)
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Scene 20. At the residence of ALBERT and LOTTE.
(The lights go down on WERTHER as the SERVANT crosses the stage from the scene of WERTHER’s residence and arrives at ALBERT and LOTTE’S residence, where the lights come up on them. The video on the cyclorama shows the appropriate scenery. The SERVANT gives ALBERT the letter)
ALBERT: (Reading) Be so good as to lend me your pistols for a journey. Adieu, Werther.
(Handing the note to LOTTE)
Give him the pistols. I wish him a pleasant journey.
(LOTTE, dumbstruck, walks to the wall, takes down the guns, dusts them clean and hands them, trembling, to the SERVANT, who exits. She sits in a daze. The clock strikes ten. The lights go down)
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Scene 21. At the residence of WERTHER.
(The video on the cyclorama shows the appropriate scenery and we see the SERVANT handing WERTHER the pistols)
WERTHER: They have been in your hands - you wiped the dust from them. I kiss them a thousand times - you have touched them. Yes, Heaven favours my plan, and you, Charlotte, have provided me with the fatal instruments. It was my desire to receive my death from your hands, and my wish is granted. My servant says you trembled when you handed him the pistols, but that you bid me no fond farewell. Wretched, wretched being that I am - not one farewell! But Charlotte, I know you do not hate the man who so passionately loves you!
(There is the sound of a clock striking eleven. The lights come up slowly on the residence of ALBERT and LOTTE. ALBERT is occupied with deskwork. LOTTE is still seated in a daze, staring into space. The video on the cyclorama shows the appropriate scenery of ALBERT and LOTTE’s residence and to the other side of the cyclorama, that of WERTHER’s residence)
Eleven o’clock! All is quiet around me and my soul is calm. How happy I am to be going.
(WERTHER holds up the profile of LOTTE he has drawn. As he does, LOTTE rises slowly, facing the same direction as the profile drawing)
Your profile, which was so dear to me, I return to you; and I pray you will keep it. Thousands and thousands of kisses have I pressed upon it, and a thousand times has it warmed my heart . . . I have implored your father to protect my remains. At the corner of the churchyard, looking toward the fields, there are two lime trees - there is where I wish to be buried. But perhaps pious Christians will not want their bodies to lie near the corpse of a poor, unhappy wretch like me. Then let me be laid in some remote valley, or near the highway, where the priest and Levite may bless themselves as they pass by my tomb, whilst the Samaritan will shed a tear for my fate . . . See, Charlotte, I do not shudder to take the cold and fatal cup, from which I shall drink the sweet draught of death. Your hand has presented it to me, and I do not hesitate. With a cold, unflinching hand I knock brazenly at the gates of Death. Oh, that I could have had enjoyed the bliss of dying in valiant defence of you! How gladly would I have then sacrificed myself for you, Charlotte! But it is the lot of only a lucky few to shed their blood fighting for their friends . . . I wish, Charlotte, to be buried in the clothes I am wearing; they have been made sacred by your touch. I have begged this favour of your father. I wish my pockets to remain unsearched. The knot of pink ribbon which you wore upon your bosom that first time I saw you, surrounded by the children - Oh, kiss them for me, and tell them the fate of their unhappy friend! This ribbon must be buried with me . . . it was a present from you on my birthday.
(WERTHER stands and raises his arms into a cross position, a pistol in each hand pointed at his head. He is bathed in a saintly glow of light as soft, religious organ music swells)
How confused it all appears now! Little did I think I would journey this road . . .
(A video projection appears of a clock-face, decked with mistletoe and reading twelve. The clock strikes twelve.)
The pistols are loaded - the clock strikes twelve. Amen, Charlotte! Farewell, farewell!
(WERTHER shoots himself in the head. The video projection explodes into a cloud of red. He falls. LOTTE after a few moments falls to the ground in a faint. ALBERT is stunned. There is a long period of silence as the red video projection swirls madly before slowing to a pale, still red wash. The stage lights fade to black)
THE EDITOR: (Voice over) When the surgeon finally came to the unfortunate Werther, he was still lying on the floor; his pulse was beating, but his limbs were cold. The bullet, entering the forehead, over the right eye, had penetrated the skull and his brains protruded. The whole town was immediately in a commotion. Albert arrived. They laid Werther on the bed, still dressed in his boots, blue coat and yellow waistcoat. His head was bound up, but the paleness of death was upon his face. His limbs were still; but he still breathed, at one time strongly, then weaker. His death was expected at any moment. Then at twelve o’clock Werther finally breathed his last.
(The video again shows the clock-face which shows the hands rotating to the position of twelve again. The clock strikes twelve. The video fades to black)
That same night, at the hour of eleven, the steward interred the body in the place which Werther had selected. Neither Charlotte or Albert could bring themselves to attend. Indeed, there was concern for Charlotte’s life. The body was carried by farmhands.
(Pause)
No priest attended.
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CURTAIN.
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