The King in Yellow

Overture
(A figure all in black wearing a white mask stands on the stage. No lights.)
PHANTOM OF TRUTH
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
You have called me and I am here. I am the gateway between what is true and
what you wish was true. The doorway between fantasy and fact. It is only a
little step between your lies and me. But I will lead you there. All you need
do is take my hand. For I am the Phantom of Truth. I am the Last King. Come
to wed the Last Queen. The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red. And I wear
no mask.
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
Act 1, Scene 1
(The stage is empty save for three tall windows. Outside, the sky shows the constel
lation of Aldeberan. Walking on the stage, QUEEN Cassilda approaches the window
closest STAGE RIGHT.)
QUEEN
I can almost see Carcosa.
(PRINCESS Camilla enters.)
PRINCESS
Mother, what dress do you think I should wear?
QUEEN
I can almost see Carcosa.
PRINCESS
The blue is lovely, but Tosha so does love the green. And I just do not know
which of them I wish to please tonight.
QUEEN
Its towers, rising from the mists.
PRINCESS
And the red. I love the red. If I was thinking only of myself I would wear
the red.
QUEEN
Its gables touching the sky.
PRINCESS
The red, then. I shall be selfish tonight. Tosha and Vren can do their best to
please me for a change!
(beat)
Mother? Are you listening to me?
QUEEN
The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red.
PHANTOM
Sing your song, my Queen
QUEEN
Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.
PRINCESS
(disgusted)
You never pay any attention, mother!
(Exaunt PRINCESS)
QUEEN
I can almost see...
Act 1, Scene 3
(Uoht the Younger and Uoht the Elder approach the castle at the gate. The wind
and snow blow around them.)
ELDER
Have you seen Mother? She looks as close to death as a corpse.
YOUNGER
Closer to a corpse puts us closer to the Throne.
ELDER
Your ambition is tasteless, brother.
YOUNGER
It tastes sweet to Camilla.
ELDER
Her tastes are just as bitter, unseemly, and fruitless as yours.
YOUNGER
How would you know, brother? Tasted her often?
ELDER
You disgust me. Listening to your plots makes me wonder if I should be so
concerned when I sit on the Throne.
YOUNGER
Be silent! Someone approaches!
(ENTER PRINCESS)
PRINCESS
(PRINCESS hugs the Elder and kisses the Younger)
My brothers! And why home so soon? Is the war over?
ELDER
Alas, no. It seems it has only begun.
YOUNGER
Our armies did not fare well against the Old Ones, sister.
PRINCESS
When news reaches the streets, the streets shall not be silent.
YOUNGER
They will want blood and sacrifices.
ELDER
They can find it in the veins of our Enemy.
PRINCESS
They will find it in the walking corpse that sits on our Throne.
YOUNGER
Aye, if that corpse has any blood left in her.
ELDER
That is our mother you speak of!. You will keep your tongues civil in your
heads or I will cut them out for you.
YOUNGER
(to PRINCESS)
Our brother has not taken well to the defeats our Enemy has given us.
ELDER
You speak as if they were gifts.
PRINCESS
They are gifts, brother. Do you not see? We can use the defeats and the risk
of revolt to restore sanity to the Throne.
ELDER
Sister
PRINCESS
She says she can see Carcosa on the lake.
ELDER
No
PRINCESS
Every day, she stares out the window. Every night, she walks the halls.
Sleepless. Afraid to sleep. The apothecary has given her a powder to keep her
safe from dreams. She says she is eager to call the King.
ELDER
You will be silent, now! If this is true, I shall see it for myself!
PRINCESS
You shall, Uoht. You shall.
Act 1, Scene 5
(QUEEN and Naotalba in the Queens Chambers)
NAOTALBA
What is it you seek, my Queen?
QUEEN
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
No, my Queen. I have not. The libraries lent no clues. The portents were un
clear. The riders returned empty handed. But you know this.
QUEEN
Then, we are truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
My Queen looks across the Lake. What is it you seek?
QUEEN
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
My Queen already knows the answer to that question the hunt was interrupt
ed by this endless war...
QUEEN
Then, we are truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
(uneasy)
Your Highness, my spies report your children are preparing for a coup.
QUEEN
(looking out the window again)
It is no matter.
NAOTALBA
The people are restless. If they attempt to usurp your throne, the streets
will revolt. There will be no leadership.
QUEEN
If they do not attempt it, the people will revolt.
Either way, the end is here.
THE PHANTOM
This is how it ends

QUEEN
(looking at the PHANTOM)
This is how it ends
NAOTALBA
My Queen? Do you speak to me?
QUEEN
(looking out the window)
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
(shaken)
My scribes and I shall look again.
(aside)
The riders were not sent, and the entrails never cast, foolish woman!
QUEEN
(looking at the PHANTOM)
He shall not find it war will come.
NAOTALBA
(aside)
Then it is true. The Queen is mad. Perhaps a poison? Perhaps grief. She will
not allow me to investigate. If the Queen be mad, then the children are to
sit on the Throne. But which one? They are decadent fools. Ah, but decadent
fools are too busy with their pleasures to be masters of state. And that
leaves only Naotalba to run it for them. Let the old Queen die so a new one
may rule. A Queen is still a Queen regardless of whether or not she sits in
the throne or stands behind it.
Act 1, Scene 6
(PRINCESS and UOHT, THE YOUNGER in the THRONE ROOM.)
PRINCESS
It is almost ready, my brother.
YOUNGER
Do you know there are times when your ambition frightens me?
PRINCESS
Is that all it does?
YOUNGER
No.
PRINCESS
Show me what it does to you.
(the two kiss passionately)
YOUNGER
What shall we do with our brother?
PRINCESS
Do? It is done! I have paid the moneylenders to secure our brothers death
before the ball tonight! He, too, stands in our way. It shall be you and I,
King and Queen, as it was with the Old Ones.
YOUNGER
The King in Yellow
PRINCESS
and the Queen in Red.
YOUNGER
Magician and Harlot.
PRINCESS
As it was, as it is, as it always should be.
(the two kiss passionately again)
YOUNGER
Where should we go?
PRINCESS
(gesturing toward the Throne)
There.
YOUNGER
Our brother is right. You have no shame.
PRINCESS
My ambition murdered my shame. Now kiss me. And let us be harlot and magi
cian upon the throne that will soon be ours!
Act 1, Scene 8
(The ballroom, full of masked figures and music. QUEEN enters wearing a red dress
and white mask. PRINCESS enters wearing the same dress and mask. They speak the
same, it is difficult to identify which is which as PRINCESS mimics QUEEN.)
QUEEN
Is that a mirror I see?
PRINCESS
Or perhaps a ghost?
QUEEN
Not a ghost.
PRINCESS
Can you be so sure?
QUEEN
My ghosts sing to me. I hear no such song from you.
PRINCESS
A mirror, then. A mirror of yourself.
QUEEN
It cannot be.
PRINCESS
(looking out the window)
I can almost see Carcosa.
QUEEN
You dare mock the Queen?
PRINCESS
If you are the Queen.
QUEEN & PRINCESS
(in unison)
I am the Queen!
PRINCESS
You see? How can you be so certain? Perhaps you are the ghost. Old dead
woman.
QUEEN
I am no ghost.

PRINCESS
You haunt these halls. You speak with the dead.
You see the dead city on the edge of the lake.
Who else could you be?
QUEEN
(angry)
I am no ghost.
PRINCESS
You are what has been. I am what will be. I am tomorrow. You are the grave.
QUEEN
(falling to her knees, defeated)
I am no ghost.
PRINCESS
(raising a blade from beneath the disguise)
Die, old woman! Die and take yesterday with you!
(the bell tolls midnight)
And again!
(she casts aside the blade)
PRINCESS
And now it is time! Time to lay aside all disguises! Look upon me you all!
Look upon me and see the true Queen of Alar! And look upon the corpse that
writhes and weeps on the floor! Look upon her! She is the past. And I am the
future.
 (ENTER a STRANGER)
PRINCESS
Who are you?
STRANGER
A herald.
PRINCESS
A herald who dares interrupt the true Queen of Alar?
STRANGER
I am.
PRINCESS
Then you shall die! Die with her! Buried in the same patch of land, your
bones crushed and your skin burned!
STRANGER
I have no bones to be crushed and I have no skin to be burned.
PRINCESS
What are you then?
STRANGER
I am he whom you have called with this deed. To remind you that there can
be no Queen in Alar without a King.
PRINCESS
I need no King. Uoht, my brother, you will pay for this!
STRANGER
I am the Herald of the King.
QUEEN
(looking to the window)
It is there! It is there! Carcosa!
PRINCESS
(to the STRANGER)
You, sir, should unmask.
STRANGER
Indeed?
PRINCESS
Indeed, it is time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER
I wear no mask.
PRINCESS
(terrified, aside to QUEEN)
No mask? No mask!
(Enter Uoht the YOUNGER and NAOTALBA)
NAOTALBA
What?! Murder! It is true, then!

(aside)
Now is the time to cement the future.
(to PRINCESS)
The Queen is dead! Long live the new Queen!

YOUNGER
You are radiant, my Queen! I have worn my Yellow Robes in your honor!
Let us do away with the trappings of yesterday

STRANGER
(interrupting)
Fool! Pretender!
The King approaches now, from across the Lake. See?

YOUNGER
(drawing his sword)
Die! Your words mean nothing! There is no city on the Lake!
(runs the STRANGER through)
STRANGER
ha ha ha ha ha ha
From Carcosa of old the True King approaches for his Queen!
QUEEN
Carcosa! Carcosa!
PRINCESS
I see a city through the window! It is Carcosa!
YOUNGER
Remove the mask! Herald? Herald of nothing! I am the King!
The King in Yellow!
(casting the mask aside, Uoht the Elder is revealed)
Die!
ELDER
ha ha ha ha ha ha
The King in Yellow is here! From across the Lake of Hali!
Carcosa is come!
(He removes the sword and strikes down Uoht the Younger and Naotalba)
QUEEN
(expiring)
At last
PRINCESS
I see it! I see the city on the lake!
(NAOTALBA contorts, falls to the floor)
NAOTALBA
Aaahhhhhhh!

ELDER
ha ha ha ha ha
Arise my King! Arise! Take your Queen in Red!
(wailing and screaming erupts outside, the light fades to yellow)
This is how it ends!
(Naotalba rises bloodied, but underneath his regal ball gown are tattered yellow
robes)
NAOTALBA
Come to me my Queen!
(dons a white and featureless mask)
PRINCESS
Carcosa, I see it! What shall come? What shall come?
The streets are burning! The people demand sacrifices!
What shall come?
NAOTALBA
(beat)
This is how it ends!
(the lights go out at once)
The King in Yellow
Overture
(A figure all in black wearing a white mask stands on the stage. No lights.)
PHANTOM OF TRUTH
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
You have called me and I am here. I am the gateway between what is true and
what you wish was true. The doorway between fantasy and fact. It is only a
little step between your lies and me. But I will lead you there. All you need
do is take my hand. For I am the Phantom of Truth. I am the Last King. Come
to wed the Last Queen. The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red. And I wear
no mask.
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
Act 1, Scene 1
(The stage is empty save for three tall windows. Outside, the sky shows the constel
lation of
Aldeberan. Walking on the stage, QUEEN CASSILDA approaches the window closest
STAGE RIGHT.)
CASSILDA
I can almost see Carcosa.
(PRINCESS CAMILLA enters.)
CAMILLA
Mother, what dress do you think I should wear?
CASSILDA
I can almost see Carcosa.
CAMILLA
The blue is lovely, but Tosha so does love the green. And I just do not know
which of them I wish to please tonight.
CASSILDA
Its towers, rising from the mists.
CAMILLA
And the red. I love the red. If I was thinking only of myself I would wear
the red.
CASSILDA
Its gables touching the sky.
CAMILLA
The red, then. I shall be selfish tonight. Tosha and Vren can do their best to
please me for a change!
(beat)
 Mother? Are you listening to me?
CASSILDA
The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red.
PHANTOM
Sing your song, my Queen
CASSILDA
Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.
CAMILLA
(disgusted)
You never listen to me!
(Exeunt CAMILLA)
CASSILDA
I can almost see...
Act 1, Scene 3
(Uoht the Younger and Uoht the Elder approach the castle at the gate. The wind
and snow blow around them.)
ELDER
Have you seen Mother? She looks as close to death as a corpse.

YOUNGER
Closer to a corpse puts us closer to the Throne.
ELDER
Your ambition is tasteless, brother.
YOUNGER
It tastes sweet to Camilla.
ELDER
We both know her taste is sorely lacking.
YOUNGER
Jealous, brother? Perhaps I can whisper a good word to her for you?
ELDER
You both disgust me with your dalliance. I shall not be as lenient as Mother
when I sit the Throne.
YOUNGER
Be silent! Someone approaches!
(ENTER Camilla)
CAMILLA
(CAMILLA hugs the Elder and kisses the Younger)
My brothers! And why home so soon? Is the war over?
ELDER
Alas, no. It seems it has only begun.
YOUNGER
Our armies did not fare well against the Enemy, sister.
CAMILLA
When news reaches the streets, the peasants will raise their voices.
YOUNGER
They will want blood.
ELDER
They can find it in the veins of our Enemy.
CAMILLA
They will seek it in the walking corpse that sits on our Throne.
YOUNGER
Aye, if that corpse has any blood left in her.

ELDER
That is our mother you speak of, brother. You will keep your tongue civil in
your head or I will cut it out for you.
YOUNGER
(to CAMILLA)
Our brother has not taken well to the defeats our Enemy has given us.
ELDER
You speak as if they were gifts.
CAMILLA
They are gifts, brother. Do you not see? We can use the defeats and the risk
of revolt to restore sanity to the Throne.
ELDER
Sister
CAMILLA
She says she can see Carcosa on the lake.
ELDER
No
CAMILLA
Every day, she stares out the window. Every night, she walks the halls.
Afraid to sleep. Afraid to descend the seventy steps. She says she is search
ing for the King.
ELDER
Cease your slanderous prattle! If this is true, I shall see it for myself!
CAMILLA
You shall, Uoht. You shall.
Act 1, Scene 5
(CASSILDA and Naotalba in the Queens Chambers)
NAOTALBA
What do you see outside yonder window, my Queen?
CASSILDA
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
No, my Queen. I have not. The libraries lend no clues.
CASSILDA
Then, we are truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
My Queen looks across the Lake. What is it you seek?
CASSILDA
I seek the Yellow Sign. Have you found it?
NAOTALBA
My Queen, I already answered that question.
CASSILDA
We are, then, truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
Seek not your doom in sign or sky, for it is much nearer than either of
those, Your Highness. My spies report your children are preparing for a coup.
CASSILDA
(looking out the window again)
It is no matter.
NAOTALBA
The people are restless. If they attempt to usurp your throne, the streets
will revolt. There will be no leadership.
CASSILDA
The people will revolt either way. The Enemy is near, the end is here.
THE PHANTOM
This is how it ends
CASSILDA
(looking at the PHANTOM)
This is how it ends
NAOTALBA
My Queen? Do you speak to me?
CASSILDA
(looking out the window)
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
My Queen, as I said Never mind. My scribes and I shall look again.
CASSILDA
(looking at the PHANTOM)
You shall not find it.
NAOTALBA
(aside)
Then it is true. The Queen is mad. She will do nothing to prevent one of her
spawn from seizing the throne. But which one shall succeed? The Elder will
not do. He is too cautious to accept Naotalbas whispers in his ear. And the
younger two are decadent fools. Ah, but decadent fools are too busy with
their pleasures to be masters of state. And that will leave Naotalba to run
 it for them. Let the old Queen die so a new one may rule. A Queen is still a
Queen regardless of whether or not she sits in the throne or stands behind
it.
Act 1, Scene 6
(CAMILLA and UOHT, THE YOUNGER in the THRONE ROOM.)
CAMILLA
It will soon be mine, my brother.
YOUNGER
Do you know there are times when your ambition frightens me?
CAMILLA
Is that all it does?
YOUNGER
No.
CAMILLA
Show me what it does to you.
(the two kiss passionately)
YOUNGER
And what of our brother?
CAMILLA
The same we do to our mother, silly. Both stand in our way. It shall be you
and I, King and Queen, as it was with the Old Ways.
YOUNGER
The King in Yellow
CAMILLA
and the Queen in Red.
YOUNGER
Magician and Harlot.
CAMILLA
As it was, as it is, as it always should be.
(the two kiss passionately again)

YOUNGER
Where should we go?
CAMILLA
(gesturing toward the Throne)
There.
YOUNGER
Our brother is right. You have no shame.
CAMILLA
My ambition murdered my shame. Now kiss me. And let us be harlot and magi
cian upon the throne that will soon be ours!

Act 1, Scene 7
(NAOTALBA observes CAMILLA and UOHT, THE YOUNGER in the throes of passion on
the THRONE.)
NAOTALBA
(approaches the throne)
The both of you should have a care. The Queen is not yet so far gone as to
ignore this.

YOUNGER
(breaks away from Camilla, grabs Naotalba by her arm)
How dare you intrude, servant!

NAOTALBA
I serve the Throne, no matter who occupies it.

CAMILLA
At the moment, that would be me. Would you serve me, Naotalba?

NAOTALBA
Better a Queen who sits the Throne than one who roams the halls.
CAMILLA
Brother, let her go. And how would you serve your Queen?

NAOTALBA
Might I suggest your clothing for this evening? A red dress, and red-and-
white mask, perhaps?
CAMILLA
If the limit of your aid is to dress me up as you do my mother, I can do
without your help.
NAOTALBA
Present your mother with a mirror to her own insanity and watch her mask
crumble before your eyes.

CAMILLA
I see. A mirror Naotalba, you are dismissed. I shall not forget your counsel.

CAMILLA
Brother, let her go. And how would you serve your Queen?
I only live to be useful to the Throne.
(Naotalba leaves)

YOUNGER
What is this madness. Shall we be advised by the maid?

CAMILLA
She serves a purpose for now. And when this night is over and her usefulness
is at an end, she shall share the fate of mother and brother. Now help me prepare
for the ball.
Act 1, Scene 8
(The ballroom, full of masked figures and music. CASSILDA enters wearing a red and
white mask. CAMILLA enters wearing the same dress and mask. They speak the same,
it is difficult to
identify which is which as CAMILLA mimics CASSILDA.)
CASSILDA
Is that a mirror I see?
CAMILLA
Or perhaps a ghost?
CASSILDA
Not a ghost.
CAMILLA
Can you be so sure?
CASSILDA
My ghosts sing to me. I hear no such song from you.
CAMILLA
A mirror, then. A mirror of yourself.
CASSILDA
It cannot be.
CAMILLA
(looking out the window)
I can almost see Carcosa. Perhaps I shall vacation there this summer.
CASSILDA
You dare mock the Queen?
CAMILLA
(looking around)
Oh, do you see a Queen here?
CASSILDA & CAMILLA
(in unison)
I am the Queen!
CAMILLA
Are you sure? How can you be so certain? Perhaps you are the ghost and I
the Queen.
CASSILDA
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
You haunt these halls. You speak with the dead.
You see the dead city on the edge of the lake.
What else could you be?
CASSILDA
I am not I am not a ghost!
CAMILLA
You are what has been. I am what will be. I am tomorrow. You are the grave.
CASSILDA
(falling to her knees)
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
It is over, old woman! Time for you to die and take yesterday with you!
(the bell tolls midnight)
CAMILLA
And now it is time! Unmask! Unmask! Look upon me you all! Look upon me and
see the true Queen of Alar! And look upon the living corpse that writhes and
weeps on the floor! Look upon her! She is the past. I am the future.
 (ENTER a STRANGER)
CAMILLA
Who are you?
STRANGER
A herald.
CAMILLA
A herald who dares interrupt the true Queen of Alar?
STRANGER
I dare.
CAMILLA
Then you shall die! Die with her! Buried in the same patch of land, your
bones crushed and your skin burned!
STRANGER
A Queen with a temper, I see. Nonetheless, I have no bones to be crushed and I
have no skin to be burned.
CAMILLA
What are you then? Another ghost?
STRANGER
I am he who you called here, to remind you that there can be no Queen in
Alar without a King.
CAMILLA
I am not without a King.
STRANGER
I am the Herald of the King.
CASSILDA
(looking to the window)
It is there! It is there!

CAMILLA
(to the STRANGER)
You, sir, should unmask. I shall look on your face before I dispose of you!
STRANGER
Indeed?
CAMILLA
Indeed, it is time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER
I wear no mask.
CASSILDA
(terrified, aside to Camilla)
No mask? No mask! This is how it ends.
The King in Yellow
Overture
(A figure all in black wearing a white mask stands on the stage. No lights.)
PHANTOM OF TRUTH
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
You have called me and I am here. I am the gateway between what is true and
what you wish was true. The doorway between fantasy and fact. It is only a
little step between your lies and me. But I will lead you there. All you need
do is take my hand. For I am the Phantom of Truth. I am the Last King. Come
to wed the Last Queen. The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red. And I wear
no mask.
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
Act 1, Scene 1
(The stage is empty save for three tall windows. Outside, the sky shows the constel
lation of
Aldeberan. The constellation of Gemini is equally prominent, with Castor and Pol
lux emphasized. Walking on the stage, QUEEN CASSILDA approaches the window clos
est STAGE RIGHT.)
CASSILDA
I can almost see Carcosa.
(PRINCESS CAMILLA enters.)
CAMILLA
Mother, what dress do you think I should wear?
CASSILDA
I can almost see Carcosa.
CAMILLA
The blue is lovely, but Tosha so does love the green. And I just do not know
which of them I wish to please tonight.
CASSILDA
Its towers, rising from the mists.
CAMILLA
And the red. I love the red. If I was thinking only of myself I would wear
the red.
CASSILDA
Its gables touching the sky.

CAMILLA
 The red, then. I shall be selfish tonight. Tosha and Vren can do their best to
please me for a change!
(beat)
Mother? Are you listening to me?
CASSILDA
The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red.
PHANTOM
Sing your song, my Queen
CASSILDA
Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.
CAMILLA
(disgusted)
You never listen to me!
(Exeunt CAMILLA)
CASSILDA
I can almost see...
Act 1, Scene 3
(Uoht the Younger and Uoht the Elder approach the castle at the gate. The wind
and snow blow around them.)
ELDER
Have you seen Mother? She looks as close to death as a corpse.
YOUNGER
Closer to a corpse puts us closer to the Throne.
ELDER
Your ambition is tasteless, brother.
YOUNGER
It tastes sweet to Camilla.
ELDER
Her tastes are just as bitter as yours.
YOUNGER
How would you know, brother? Tasted her often?
ELDER
You disgust me. Listening to your plots makes me wonder if I should be so
concerned when I sit on the Throne.
YOUNGER
Be silent! Someone approaches!
(ENTER Camilla)
CAMILLA
(CAMILLA hugs and kisses the Elder)
My brothers! And why home so soon? Is the war over?
ELDER
Alas, no. It seems it has only begun.
YOUNGER
Our armies did not fare well against the Enemy, sister.
CAMILLA
When news reaches the streets, the streets shall not be silent.
YOUNGER
They will want blood.
ELDER
They can find it in the veins of our Enemy.
CAMILLA
 They will find it in the walking corpse that sits on our Throne.
YOUNGER
Aye, if that corpse has any blood left in her.
ELDER
That is our mother you speak of, brother. You will keep your tongue civil in
your head or I will cut it out for you.
YOUNGER
(to CAMILLA)
Our brother has not taken well to the defeats our Enemy has given us.
ELDER
You speak as if they were gifts.
CAMILLA
They are gifts, brother. Do you not see? We can use the defeats and the risk
of revolt to restore sanity to the Throne.
ELDER
Sister
CAMILLA
She says she can see Carcosa on the lake.
ELDER
No
CAMILLA
Every day, she stares out the window. Every night, she walks the halls.
Sleepless. Afraid to sleep. The apothecary has given her a powder to keep her
safe from dreams. She says she is eager to call the King.
ELDER
(drawing CAMILLA aside, caressing her chin reassuringly, yet possessively)
If this is true, then we shall have further words, dear sister.
CAMILLA
We shall, Uoht. We shall.
Act 1, Scene 5
(CASSILDA and Naotalba in the Queens Chambers)
NAOTALBA
What is it you seek, my Queen?
CASSILDA
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
No, my Queen. I have not. The libraries lend no clues.
CASSILDA
Then, we are truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
My Queen looks across the Lake. What is it you seek?
CASSILDA
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
My Queen already knows the answer to that question.
CASSILDA
Then, we are truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
Your Highness, my spies report your children are preparing for a coup.
CASSILDA
(looking out the window again)
It is no matter.
NAOTALBA
The people are restless. If they attempt to usurp your throne, the streets
will revolt. There will be no leadership.
CASSILDA
If they do not attempt it, the people will revolt.
Either way, the end is here.
THE PHANTOM
A light rises over Punartham
CASSILDA
(looking at the PHANTOM intensely but silent)
NAOTABLA
My Queen?
CASSILDA
(looking out the window)
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
My scribes and I shall look again.
CASSILDA
(looking at the PHANTOM)
Another shall find it.
NAOTALBA
(aside)
Then it is true. The Queen is mad. Perhaps a poison? Perhaps grief. She will
not allow me to investigate. If the Queen be mad, then the children are to
sit on the Throne. But which one? They are decadent fools. Ah, but decadent
fools are too busy with their pleasures to be masters of state. And that
leaves only Naotalba to run it for them. Let the old Queen die so a new one
may rule. A Queen is still a Queen regardless of whether or not she sits in
the throne or stands behind it.
Act 1, Scene 6
(CASSILDA and UOHT, THE ELDER in the THRONE ROOM.)
CASSILDA
It is almost ready, my brother.
ELDER
Do you know there are times when your ambition frightens me?
CASSILDA
Is that all it does?
ELDER
No.
CASSILDA
Show me what it does to you.
(the two kiss passionately)
CASSILDA
What shall we do with our brother?
ELDER
He shall not stand in our way. It shall be you and I, King and Queen, as it
was with the Old Ways.
ELDER
The King in Yellow
CASSILDA
and the Queen in Red.
ELDER
Magician and Harlot.
CASSILDA
As it was, as it is, as it always should be.
(the two kiss passionately again)
ELDER
Now let us go...
CASSILDA
(gesturing toward the Throne)
There.
ELDER
You truly have no shame.
CASSILDA
My ambition murdered my shame. Now kiss me. And let us be harlot and magi
cian upon the throne that will soon be ours!

ELDER
In time. But now, a task beckons that will not wait.

Act 1, Scene 8
(The ballroom, full of masked figures and music. CASSILDA enters wearing a red and
white mask. CAMILLA enters wearing the same dress and mask, holding the hand of
UOHT, THE ELDER, dressed in a yellow and silver mask. He mingles with the crowd,
leaving the mother and daughter to meet alone. They speak the same, it is diffi
cult to identify which is which as CAMILLA mimics CASSILDA.)
CASSILDA
Is that a mirror I see?
CAMILLA
Or perhaps a ghost?
CASSILDA
Not a ghost.
CAMILLA
Can you be so sure?
CASSILDA
My ghosts sing to me. I hear no such song from you.
CAMILLA
 A mirror, then. A mirror of yourself.
CASSILDA
It cannot be.
CAMILLA
(looking out the window)
I can almost see Carcosa.
CASSILDA
You dare mock the Queen?
CAMILLA
If you are the Queen.
CASSILDA & CAMILLA
(in unison)
I am the Queen!

UOHT, THE ELDER

(finishes mingling with the crowd, slips offstage)
CAMILLA
You see? How can you be so certain? Perhaps you are the ghost. Old dead
woman.
CASSILDA
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
You haunt these halls. You speak with the dead.
You see the dead city on the edge of the lake.
Who else could you be?
CASSILDA
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
You are what has been. I am what will be. I am tomorrow. You are the grave.
CASSILDA
(falling to her knees)
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
Die, old woman! Die and take yesterday with you!
(the bell tolls midnight)
CAMILLA
 And now it is time! Time to lay aside all disguises! Look upon me you all!
Look upon me and see the true Queen of Alar! And look upon the corpse that
writhes and weeps on the floor! Look upon her! She is the past. And I am the
future.
(ENTER a STRANGER, all in black wearing a white mask)
CAMILLA
Who are you?
STRANGER
A herald.
CAMILLA
A herald who dares interrupt the true Queen of Alar?
STRANGER
I am.
CAMILLA
Then you shall die! Die with her! Buried in the same patch of land, your
bones crushed and your skin burned!
STRANGER
I have no bones to be crushed and I have no skin to be burned.
CAMILLA
What are you then?
STRANGER
I am he who you called. To remind you that there can be no Queen in Alar
without a King.
CAMILLA
I have a King.
STRANGER
I am the Herald of the true King.
CASSILDA
(looking to the window)
It is there! It is there!
CAMILLA
(calling out to her servants)
Where is Uoht?
(to the STRANGER)
You, sir, should unmask.
STRANGER
Indeed?
CASSILDA
Indeed, it is time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER
I wear no mask.
CASSILDA
(terrified, aside to Camilla)
No mask? No mask!

CAMILLA
(looking shaken, she calls out)
Where is Uoht? Where is Uoht?!
The King in Yellow
Overture
(A figure all in black wearing a white mask stands on the stage. No lights.)
PHANTOM OF TRUTH
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
You have called me and I am here. I am the gateway between what is true and
what you wish was true. The doorway between fantasy and fact. It is only a
little step between your lies and me. But I will lead you there. All you need
do is take my hand. For I am the Phantom of Truth. I am the Last King. Come
to wed the Last Queen. The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red. And I wear
no mask.
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
Act 1, Scene 1
(The stage is empty save for three tall windows. Outside, the sky showsI can
almost see Carcosa.
(PRINCESS CAMILLA enters.)
CAMILLA
Mother, what dress do you think I should wear?
CASSILDA
I can almost see Carcosa.
CAMILLA
The purple is lovely, but Tosh so does love the green. And I just do not know
which of them I wish to please tonight.
CASSILDA
Its gables touching the sky.
CAMILLA
And the red. I love the red. If I was thinking only of myself I would wear
the red.
CASSILDA
Its towers, rising from the mists.
CAMILLA
The red, then. I shall be selfish tonight. Tosh and Wren can do their best to
please me for a change!
(beat)
Mother? Are you listening to me?
CASSILDA
The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red.
PHANTOM
 Sing your song, my Queen
CASSILDA
Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.
CAMILLA
(disgusted)
You never listen to me!
(Exeunt CAMILLA)
CASSILDA
I can almost see...
Act 1, Scene 3
(Uoht the Younger and Uoht the Elder approach the castle at the gate. The wind
and snow blow around them.)
ELDER
Have you seen Mother? She looks as close to death as a corpse.
YOUNGER
Closer to a corpse puts us closer to the Throne.
ELDER
Your ambition is tasteless, brother.
YOUNGER
It tastes sweet to Camilla.
ELDER
Her tastes are just as bitter as yours.
YOUNGER
How would you know, brother? Tasted her often?
ELDER
You repulse me. Listening to your plots makes me wonder if I should be so
concerned when I sit on the Throne.
YOUNGER
Be silent! Someone approaches!
(ENTER Camilla)
CAMILLA
(CAMILLA hugs the Elder and kisses the Younger)
My brothers! And why home so soon? Is the war over?
YOUNGER
Alas, no. It seems it has only begun.
ELDER
Our armies did not fare well against the Enemy, sister.
CAMILLA
When news reaches the streets, the streets shall not be silent.
YOUNGER
They will want blood.
ELDER
They can find it in the veins of our Enemy.
CAMILLA
They will find it in the walking corpse that sits on our Throne.
YOUNGER
Aye, if that corpse has any blood left in her.
ELDER
That is our mother you speak of, brother. You will keep your tongue civil in
your head or I will cut it out for you.
YOUNGER
(to CAMILLA)
Our brother has not taken well to the defeats our Enemy has given us.
ELDER
You speak as if they were gifts.
CAMILLA
They are gifts, brother. Do you not see? We can use the defeats and the risk
of revolt to restore sanity to the Throne.
ELDER
Sister
CAMILLA
She says she can see Carcosa on the lake.
ELDER
No
CAMILLA
Every day, she stares out the window. Every night, she walks the halls.
Sleepless. Afraid to sleep. The apothecary has given her a powder to keep her
safe from dreams. She says she is eager to call the King.
ELDER
You will be silent, now! If this is true, I shall see it for myself!
CAMILLA
You shall, Uoht. You shall.
Act 1, Scene 4
(Enter ELDER and Naotalba)
ELDER
The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
NAOTALBA
It is a nipping and an eager air.
ELDER
What hour now?
NAOTALBA
I think it lacks of twelve.
PHANTOM
No, it is struck.
NAOTALBA
 Indeed? I heard it not: then it draws near the season
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
(A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance shot off)
What does this mean, my lord?
ELDER
The princess is staying up all night drinking and dancing. As she guzzles
down her wine, the musicians make a ruckus to celebrate her newest dress.
NAOTALBA
Is it a custom?
ELDER
Aye, it is.
But to my mind, though I am native here
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honoured in the breach than the observance.
This heavy-headed revel east and west
Makes us reviled of other nations:
They claim us drunkards, and insult our titles;
and indeed it takes from our achievements,
as great as they are, and lessons our reputation.
NAOTALBA
Look, my lord, it comes!
(Enter PHANTOM)
ELDER
Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damned,
Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou comest in such a questionable shape
That I will speak to thee: Ill call thee Uoht,
King, aldones, royal Yhtian: O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurned,
Hath opened his ponderous and marble jaws,
To cast thee up again. What may this mean,
 That thou, dead corpse, again in complete steel
Revisit thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature
So horridly to shake our disposition
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?
(PHANTOM beckons ELDER)
NAOTALBA
Look, with what courteous action
It waves you to a more removed ground:
But do not go with it.
ELDER
It will not speak; then I will follow it.
NAOTALBA
Do not, my lord.
ELDER
Why, what should be the fear?
I do not set my life in a pins fee;
And for my soul, what can it do to that,
Being a thing immortal as itself?
It waves me forth again: Ill follow it.
NAOTALBA
What if it tempt you toward the lake, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That overhangs the water,
And there assume some other horrible form,
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason
And draw you into madness? think of it:
The very place puts toys of desperation,
Without more motive, into every brain
That looks so many fathoms to the lake
And hears it roar beneath.
ELDER
It waves me still.
Go on; Ill follow thee.
NAOTALBA
You shall not go, my lord.
ELDER
Hold off your hands.
NAOTALBA
Be ruled; you shall not go.
ELDER
My fate cries out,
And makes each petty artery in this body
To pursue relentlessly as the hounds of Tindalos.
Still am I called. Unhand me, priestess.
By heaven, Ill make a ghost of him that lets me!
I say, away! Go on; Ill follow thee.
(Exeunt PHANTOM and ELDER)
NAOTALBA
(Aside)
He waxes desperate with imagination.
Something is rotten in the state of Yhtill.
Act 1, Scene 5
(CASSILDA and Naotalba in the Queens Chambers)
NAOTALBA
My Queen looks across the Lake. What is it you seek?
CASSILDA
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
My Queen already knows the answer to that question.
CASSILDA
Then, we are truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
Your Highness, my spies report your children are preparing for a coup.
CASSILDA
 (looking out the window again)
It is no matter.
NAOTALBA
The people are restless. If they attempt to usurp your throne, the streets
will revolt. There will be no leadership.
CASSILDA
If they do not attempt it, the people will revolt.
Either way, the end is here.
THE PHANTOM
This is how it ends
CASSILDA
(looking at the PHANTOM)
This is how it ends
NAOTALBA
My Queen? Do you speak to me?
CASSILDA
(looking out the window)
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
My scribes and I shall look again.
CASSILDA
(looking at the PHANTOM)
You shall not find it.
NAOTALBA
(aside)
Then it is true. The Queen is mad. Perhaps a poison? Perhaps grief. She will
not allow me to investigate. If the Queen be mad, then the children are to
sit on the Throne. But which one? They are decadent fools. Ah, but decadent
fools are too busy with their pleasures to be masters of state. And that
leaves only Naotalba to run it for them. Let the old Queen die so a new one
may rule. A Queen is still a Queen regardless of whether or not she sits in
the throne or stands behind it.
Act 1, Scene 6
(CAMILLA and UOHT, THE YOUNGER in the THRONE ROOM.)
CAMILLA
It is almost ready, my brother.
YOUNGER
 Do you know there are times when your ambition frightens me?
CAMILLA
Is that all it does?
YOUNGER
No.
CAMILLA
Show me what it does to you.
(the two kiss passionately)
YOUNGER
What shall we do with our brother?
CAMILLA
The same we do to our mother, silly. Both stand in our way. It shall be you
and I, King and Queen, as it was with the Old Ways.
YOUNGER
The King in Yellow
CAMILLA
and the Queen in Red.
YOUNGER
Harlot and Magician.
CAMILLA
As it was, as it is, as it always should be.
(the two kiss passionately again)
YOUNGER
Where should we go?
CAMILLA
(gesturing toward the Throne)
There.
YOUNGER
Our brother is right. You have no shame.
CAMILLA
Your ambition murdered my shame. Now kiss me. And let us be magician and
harlot upon the throne that will soon be ours!
Act 1, Scene 8
(The ballroom, full of masked figures and music. CASSILDA enters wearing a red and
white mask. CAMILLA enters wearing the same dress and mask. They speak the same,
it is difficult to identify which is which as CAMILLA mimicks CASSILDA.)
CASSILDA
Is that a mirror I see?
CAMILLA
Or perhaps a ghost?
CASSILDA
Not a ghost.
CAMILLA
Can you be so sure?
CASSILDA
My ghosts sing to me. I hear no such song from you.
CAMILLA
A mirror, then. A mirror of yourself.
CASSILDA
It cannot be.
CAMILLA
(looking out the window)
I can almost see Carcosa.
CASSILDA
You dare mock the Queen?
CAMILLA
If you are the Queen.
CASSILDA & CAMILLA
(in unison)
I am the Queen!
CAMILLA
You see? How can you be so certain? Perhaps you are the ghost. Old dead
woman.
CASSILDA
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
You haunt these halls. You speak with the dead. You see the dead city on the
edge of the lake. Who else could you be?
CASSILDA
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
You are what has been. I am what will be. I am tomorrow. You are the grave.
CASSILDA
(falling to her knees)
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
Die, old woman! Die and take yesterday with you!
(the bell tolls midnight)
CAMILLA
And now it is time! Time to lay aside all disguises! Look upon me you all!
Look upon me and see the true Queen of Alar! And look upon the corpse that
writhes and weeps on the floor! Look upon her! She is the past. And I am the
future.
(ENTER a STRANGER)
CAMILLA
Who are you?
STRANGER
I am called Haita.
CAMILLA
That is only Alarn for stranger.
STRANGER
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
CAMILLA
There is no sign, only the dreams of old.
STRANGER
I have seen the Yellow Sign.
CAMILLA
What are you then?
STRANGER
I am that which you called. To remind you that there can be no Queen in
Alar without a King.
CAMILLA
I need no King.
STRANGER
I am the Herald of the King.
CASSILDA
(looking to the window)
It is there! It is there!
CAMILLA
(to the STRANGER)
You, sir, should unmask.
STRANGER
Indeed?
CASSILDA
Indeed, it is time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER
I am no mask.
CAMILLA
No mask?
(terrified, aside to Cassilda)
No mask!
CASSILDA
(Pointing toward the audience)
Look, Look! Carcosa Carcosa is burning!
The King in Yellow
Overture
(A figure all in black wearing a white mask stands on the stage. No lights.)
PHANTOM OF TRUTH
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
You have called me and I am here. I am the gateway between what is true and
what you wish was true. The doorway between fantasy and fact. It is only a
little step between your lies and me. But I will lead you there. All you need
do is take my hand. For I am the Phantom of Truth. I am the Last King. Come
to wed the Last Queen. The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red. And I wear
no mask.
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
Act 1, Scene 1
(The stage is empty save for three tall windows. Outside, the sky shows the constel
lation of
Aldeberan. Walking on the stage, QUEEN CASSILDA approaches the window closest
STAGE RIGHT.)
CASSILDA
I can almost see Carcosa.
(PRINCESS CAMILLA enters.)
CAMILLA
Mother, what dress do you think I should wear?
CASSILDA
I can almost see Carcosa.
CAMILLA
The blue is lovely, but Tosha so does love the green. And I just do not know
which of them I wish to please tonight.
CASSILDA
Its towers, rising from the mists.
CAMILLA
And the red. I love the red. If I was thinking only of myself I would wear
the red.
CASSILDA
Its gables touching the sky.
CAMILLA
The red, then. I shall be selfish tonight. Tosha and Vren can do their best to
please me for a change!
(beat)
Mother? Are you listening to me?
CASSILDA
The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red.
PHANTOM
Sing your song, my Queen
CASSILDA
Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.
CAMILLA
(disgusted)
You never listen to me!
(Exeunt CAMILLA)
CASSILDA
I can almost see...
Act 1, Scene 3
(Uoht the Younger and Uoht the Elder approach the castle at the gate. The wind
and snow blow around them.)
ELDER
Have you seen Mother? She looks as close to death as a corpse.
YOUNGER
Closer to a corpse puts us closer to the Throne.
ELDER
Your ambition is tasteless, brother.
YOUNGER
It tastes sweet to Camilla.
ELDER
Her tastes are just as bitter as yours.
YOUNGER
How would you know, brother? Tasted her often?
ELDER
You disgust me. Listening to your plots makes me wonder if I should be so
concerned when I sit on the Throne.
YOUNGER
Be silent! Someone approaches!
(ENTER Camilla)
CAMILLA
(CAMILLA hugs the Elder and kisses the Younger)
My brothers! And why home so soon? Is the war over?
ELDER
Alas, no. It seems it has only begun.
YOUNGER
Our armies did not fare well against the Enemy, sister.
CAMILLA
When news reaches the streets, the streets shall not be silent.
YOUNGER
They will want blood.
ELDER
They can find it in the veins of our Enemy.
CAMILLA
 They will find it in the walking corpse that sits on our Throne.
YOUNGER
Aye, if that corpse has any blood left in her.
ELDER
That is our mother you speak of, brother. You will keep your tongue civil in
your head or I will cut it out for you.
YOUNGER
(to CAMILLA)
Our brother has not taken well to the defeats our Enemy has given us.
ELDER
You speak as if they were gifts.
CAMILLA
They are gifts, brother. Do you not see? We can use the defeats and the risk
of revolt to restore sanity to the Throne.
ELDER
Sister
CAMILLA
She says she can see Carcosa on the lake.
ELDER
No
CAMILLA
Every day, she stares out the window. Every night, she walks the halls.
Sleepless. Afraid to sleep. The apothecary has given her a powder to keep her
safe from dreams. She says she is eager to call the King.
ELDER
You will be silent, now! If this is true, I shall see it for myself!
CAMILLA
You shall, Uoht. You shall.
Act 1, Scene 5
(CASSILDA and Naotalba in the Queens Chambers)
NAOTALBA
What is it you seek, my Queen?
CASSILDA
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
No, my Queen. I have not. The libraries lend no clues.
CASSILDA
 Then, we are truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
My Queen looks across the Lake. What is it you seek?
CASSILDA
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
My Queen already knows the answer to that question.
CASSILDA
Then, we are truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
Your Highness, my spies report your children are preparing for a coup.
CASSILDA
(looking out the window again)
It is no matter.
NAOTALBA
The people are restless. If they attempt to usurp your throne, the streets
will revolt. There will be no leadership.
CASSILDA
If they do not attempt it, the people will revolt.
Either way, the end is here.
THE PHANTOM
This is how it ends
CASSILDA
(looking at the PHANTOM)
This is how it ends
NAOTABLA
My Queen? Do you speak to me?
CASSILDA
(looking out the window)
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
My scribes and I shall look again.
CASSILDA
(looking at the PHANTOM)
You shall not find it.
NAOTALBA
 (aside)
Then it is true. The Queen is mad. Perhaps a poison? Perhaps grief. She will
not allow me to investigate. If the Queen be mad, then the children are to
sit on the Throne. But which one? They are decadent fools. Ah, but decadent
fools are too busy with their pleasures to be masters of state. And that
leaves only Naotalba to run it for them. Let the old Queen die so a new one
may rule. A Queen is still a Queen regardless of whether or not she sits in
the throne or stands behind it.
Act 1, Scene 6
(CASSILDA and UOHT, THE YOUNGER in the THRONE ROOM.)
CASSILDA
It is almost ready, my brother.
YOUNGER
Do you know there are times when your ambition frightens me?
CASSILDA
Is that all it does?
YOUNGER
No.
CASSILDA
Show me what it does to you.
(the two kiss passionately)
YOUNGER
What shall we do with our brother?
CASSILDA
The same we do to our mother, silly. Both stand in our way. It shall be you
and I, King and Queen, as it was with the Old Ways.
YOUNGER
The King in Yellow
CASSILDA
and the Queen in Red.
YOUNGER
Magician and Harlot.
CASSILDA
As it was, as it is, as it always should be.
(the two kiss passionately again)
YOUNGER
Where should we go?
CASSILDA
(gesturing toward the Throne)
There.
YOUNGER
Our brother is right. You have no shame.
CASSILDA
My ambition murdered my shame. Now kiss me. And let us be harlot and magi
cian upon the throne that will soon be ours!
Act 1, Scene 8
(The ballroom, full of masked figures and music. CASSILDA enters wearing a red and
white mask. CAMILLA enters wearing the same dress and mask. They speak the same,
it is difficult to
identify which is which as CAMILLA mimicks CASSILDA.)
CASSILDA
Is that a mirror I see?
CAMILLA
Or perhaps a ghost?
CASSILDA
Not a ghost.
CAMILLA
Can you be so sure?
CASSILDA
My ghosts sing to me. I hear no such song from you.
CAMILLA
A mirror, then. A mirror of yourself.
CASSILDA
It cannot be.
CAMILLA
(looking out the window)
I can almost see Carcosa.
CASSILDA
You dare mock the Queen?
CAMILLA
If you are the Queen.
CASSILDA & CAMILLA
(in unison)
 I am the Queen!
CAMILLA
You see? How can you be so certain? Perhaps you are the ghost. Old dead
woman.
CASSILDA
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
You haunt these halls. You speak with the dead.
You see the dead city on the edge of the lake.
Who else could you be?
CASSILDA
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
You are what has been. I am what will be. I am tomorrow. You are the grave.
CASSILDA
(falling to her knees)
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
Die, old woman! Die and take yesterday with you!
(the bell tolls midnight)
CAMILLA
And now it is time! Time to lay aside all disguises! Look upon me you all!
Look upon me and see the true Queen of Alar! And look upon the corpse that
writhes and weeps on the floor! Look upon her! She is the past. And I am the
future.
(ENTER a STRANGER)
CAMILLA
Who are you?
STRANGER
A herald.
CAMILLA
A herald who dares interrupt the true Queen of Alar?
STRANGER
I am.
CAMILLA
Then you shall die! Die with her! Buried in the same patch of land, your
bones crushed and your skin burned!
STRANGER
I have no bones to be crushed and I have no skin to be burned.
CAMILLA
What are you then?
STRANGER
I am he who you called. To remind you that there can be no Queen in Alar
without a King.
CAMILLA
I need no King.
STRANGER
I am the Herald of the King.
CASSILDA
(looking to the window)
It is there! It is there!
CAMILLA
(to the STRANGER)
You, sir, should unmask.
STRANGER
Indeed?
CASSILDA
Indeed, it is time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER
I wear no mask.
CASSILDA
(terrified, aside to Cassilda)
No mask? No mask!
The King in Yellow
Overture
(A figure all in black wearing a white mask stands on the stage. No lights.)
PHANTOM OF TRUTH
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
You have called me and I am here. I am the gateway between what is true and
what you wish was true. The doorway between fantasy and fact. It is only a
little step between your lies and me. But I will lead you there. All you need
do is take my hand. For I am the Phantom of Truth. I am the Last King. Come
to wed the Last Queen. The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red. And I wear
no mask.
This is how it ends. This is how it ends.
Act 1, Scene 1
the stage has been set up like a luxury liner, its been split into a deck type
area (though a door) and some sort of seating for passengers, QUEEN CASSILDA is
sitting in one of the chairs looking out a window in the paI can almost see Car
cosa.
(PRINCESS CAMILLA enters.)
CAMILLA
Mother, what dress do you think I should wear?
CASSILDA
I can almost see Carcosa.
CAMILLA
I want our arrival into Carcosa to be remembered by everyone, you do know
that the way we look as we step off of the boat means everything to some
people
CASSILDA
I can see the resort, it looks truly amazing
CAMILLA
Its so... red. If I was thinking only of myself I would wear the red.
CASSILDA
the red marble is magnificent
CAMILLA
The red, then. I shall be selfish tonight. Tosha and Vren can do their best to
please me for a change!
(beat)
Mother? Are you listening to me?
CASSILDA
The King in Yellow and the Queen in Red.
 (the lights dim and a yellow spotlight lights up the PHANTOM, who is on the
deck)
PHANTOM
Sing your song, my Queen
CASSILDA
Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.
CAMILLA
(disgusted)
You never listen to me!
(Exeunt CAMILLA)
CASSILDA
I can almost see...
Act 1, Scene 3
(Uoht the Younger and Uoht the Elder sit at of a hotel bar. the bartender (the
PHANTOM) polishes glasses absently)
ELDER
Have you seen Mother? She looks as close to death as a corpse.
YOUNGER
Closer to a corpse puts us closer to our rightful inheritance.
ELDER
 Your ambition is tasteless, brother.
YOUNGER
Not to Camilla, it doesnt
ELDER
Her tastes are just as bitter as yours.
YOUNGER
How would you know, brother? Tasted her often? (knowing look)
ELDER
You disgust me. Listening to your plots makes me wonder if I should be so
concerned for my part of the inheritance
YOUNGER
Be silent! Someone approaches!
(ENTER Camilla)
CAMILLA
(CAMILLA hugs the Elder and kisses the Younger)
My brothers! And why home so soon? Is the war over?
ELDER
Alas, no. It seems it has only begun.
YOUNGER
Our armies did not fare well, sister.
CAMILLA
When news reaches the home, the streets shall not be silent.
YOUNGER
They will want blood.
ELDER
They can find it in the veins of our Enemy.
CAMILLA
They will find it in that walking corpse that lords over us.
YOUNGER
Aye, if that corpse has any blood left in her.
ELDER
That is our mother you speak of, brother. You will keep your tongue civil in
your head or I will cut it out for you.
YOUNGER
(to CAMILLA)
Our brother has not taken well to the defeats our Enemy has given us.
ELDER
You speak as if they were gifts.
CAMILLA
They are gifts, brother. Do you not see? We can use the defeats and the risk
of revolt to restore sanity to our Land.
ELDER
Sister
CAMILLA
She says she can see Carcosa on the lake.
ELDER
No
CAMILLA
Every day, she stares out the window. Every night, she walks the halls.
Sleepless. Afraid to sleep. The pamphlet for the Island has done her none too
well either.. She says she is eager to call the King.
ELDER
You will be silent, now! If this is true, I shall see it for myself!
CAMILLA
You shall, Uoht. You shall.
Act 1, Scene 5
(CASSILDA and Naotalba in the Study, many piles of books and filing cabinets
overflowing with paper work surround the room)
NAOTALBA
What is it you seek, Maam?
CASSILDA
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
No, Mam. I have not. The libraries lend no clues.
CASSILDA
Then, we are truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
When my Mistress looks across the Lake. What is it you seek?
CASSILDA
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
You already knows the answer to that question
CASSILDA
Then, we are truly doomed.
NAOTALBA
my spies report your children are preparing for a coup.
CASSILDA
(looking out the window again)
It is no matter.
NAOTALBA
The people are restless. If they attempt to usurp your throne, the streets
will revolt. There will be no leadership.
CASSILDA
If they do not attempt it, the people will revolt.
Either way, the end is here.
THE PHANTOM
This is how it ends
CASSILDA
(looking at the PHANTOM)
This is how it ends
NAOTABLA
Mam? Do you speak to me?
CASSILDA
(looking out the window)
Have you found the Yellow Sign?
NAOTALBA
My scribes and I shall look again.
CASSILDA
Good
(looking at the PHANTOM)
You shall not find it.
NAOTALBA
(aside)
Then it is true. She is mad. Perhaps a poison? Perhaps grief. She will not al
low me to investigate. If she be mad, then the children are to take the house.
But which one? They are decadent fools. Ah, but decadent fools are too busy
with their pleasures to be masters of state. And that leaves only Naotalba
to run it for them. Let the old lady die so a new one may rule. A Queen is
still a Queen regardless of whether or not she sits in the throne or stands
behind it.
Act 1, Scene 6
(CASSILDA and UOHT, THE YOUNGER in the LIBRARY.)
CASSILDA
It is almost ready, my brother.
YOUNGER
Do you know there are times when your ambition frightens me?
CASSILDA
Is that all it does?
YOUNGER
No.
CASSILDA
Show me what it does to you.
(the two kiss passionately)
YOUNGER
What shall we do with our brother?
CASSILDA
The same we do to our mother, silly. Both stand in our way. It shall be you
and I, the rightful recipients of this inheritance, as it was with the Old
Ways.
YOUNGER
The King in Yellow
CASSILDA
and the Queen in Red.
YOUNGER
 Magician and Harlot.
CASSILDA
As it was, as it is, as it always should be.
(the two kiss passionately again)
YOUNGER
Where should we go?
CASSILDA
(gesturing toward a large leather bound chair)
There.
YOUNGER
Our brother is right. You have no shame.
CASSILDA
My ambition murdered my shame. Now kiss me. And let us be harlot and magi
cian upon the throne that will soon be ours!
Act 1, Scene 8
(The ballroom, full of masked figures and music. CASSILDA enters wearing a red
dress and white mask. CAMILLA enters wearing the same dress and mask. They speak
the same, it is difficult to
identify which is which as CAMILLA mimicks CASSILDA. the PHANTOM moves amongst
the masked figures)
CASSILDA
Is that a mirror I see?
CAMILLA
Or perhaps a ghost?
CASSILDA
Not a ghost.
CAMILLA
Can you be so sure?
CASSILDA
My ghosts sing to me. I hear no such song from you.
CAMILLA
A mirror, then. A mirror of yourself.
CASSILDA
It cannot be.
CAMILLA
(looking out the window)
I can almost see Carcosa.
CASSILDA
You dare mock the Queen?
CAMILLA
If you are the Queen.
CASSILDA & CAMILLA
(in unison)
I am the Queen!
CAMILLA
You see? How can you be so certain? Perhaps you are the ghost. Old dead
woman.
CASSILDA
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
You haunt these halls. You speak with the dead.
You see the dead city on the edge of the lake.
Who else could you be?
CASSILDA
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
You are what has been. I am what will be. I am tomorrow. You are the grave.
CASSILDA
(falling to her knees)
I am no ghost.
CAMILLA
Die, old woman! Die and take yesterday with you!
(the bell tolls midnight
the PHANTOM laughs)
CAMILLA
And now it is time! Time to lay aside all disguises! Look upon me you all!
Look upon me and see the true Queen in Red! And look upon the corpse that
writhes and weeps on the floor! Look upon her! She is the past. And I am the
future.
(ENTER a STRANGER)
CAMILLA
Who are you?
STRANGER
A herald.
CAMILLA
A herald who dares interrupt the true Queen in Red?
STRANGER
I am.
CAMILLA
Then you shall die! Die with her! Buried in the same patch of land, your
bones crushed and your skin burned!
STRANGER
I have no bones to be crushed and I have no skin to be burned.
CAMILLA
What are you then?
STRANGER
I am he who you called. To remind you that there can be no Queen in Red
without a King.
PHANTOM
in yellow
CAMILLA
I need no King.
STRANGER
I am the Herald of the King.
CASSILDA
(looking to the window)
It is there! It is there!
CAMILLA
(to the STRANGER)
You, sir, should unmask.
STRANGER
Indeed?
CASSILDA
Indeed, it is time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
STRANGER
I wear no mask.
CASSILDA
(terrified, aside to Cassilda)
No mask? No mask!
(CASSILDA attempts to rip the mask off)
(Lights go down to a yellow spotlight on the PHANTOM)

PHANTOM
We all wear masks my King
(PHANTOM bows)
(spotlight turns off)

ssengers area
CASSILDA
the constellation of Aldeberan. Walking on the stage, QUEEN CASSILDA approaches
the window closest STAGE RIGHT.)
CASSILDA
This work was conceived by Jesse Butler, based upon an original idea by John Wick

The path will take you here:

http://johnwickpresents.com/yellow/

You will do, it is said, as you are.

Laid out by Noah Stevens

The scripts were written by (in order)

Noah Stevens
Andy Goldman
Billy Billerson
Jesse Butler
John Wick
Reece Carter

Now, lose 1d27 SAN

This space unintentionally left blank.