In this room, some elements can be romanticized in relation to historical reality.
The actors are:
** Queen CleopatraVII
Chilldren : Césarion, Ptolémée Philadelphe, Cleopatra Séléné et Alexandre Hélios
Compagnons: Hetep, Nicotris, Sobek
The servant : Houni
****Rome Consul : Jules Cesar
Advisers : 3
Warriors : 7
***Marc Antoine
Advisers : 3
Warriors : 7
***Octave
Advisers : 3
Caesar’s warriors can serve Antony and Octavian.
The costumes and the decor of the Roman period, the Pharaonic period and the Ancient Egypt.
Curtain down or lights off
Music
Narrator: Queen of Ancient Egypt. After the death of his father Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra VII, aged 20, and her younger brother Ptolemy XIII were to reign over Egypt, but the brother drove his sister to Alexandria where the Nile was surrounded by fertile lands. The region was a prosperous place. Alexandria was a heir to a culture of three thousand-year-old, which was not the case for other empires or dynasties.
Stage (set, according to the means of each team)
Oriental music. Alexandria. Palace room. Throne, handcrafted cushions, rugs, ottomans, plush lions or tigers. Guardians, near the door (the exit of the scene), two servants near the throne, fans in hands. A Pharaonic decoration. Cleopatra enters the scene with her head held high and her shoulders straight, followed by the three daughters. Behind, there’s a black servant. She sits down vigorously, two servants already in place send her air with two fans. The girls sit on the floor, and they look at her, smiling.
Hetep : The beauty of our queen has no equal one. You’re only 20 years old, and you’re in the prime of your age…
Nicotris: The scent of our queen is reaching Rome!
A girl’s laugh and a queen’s smile with a nod and an incomparable pride.
With a determined step, the general enters and heads straight to the throne, then bows and waits.
Cleopatra : What news do you have for us?
General : The fleet of Julius Caesar is at the gates of Alexandria, Your Majesty!
Cleopatra: And what did my brother Ptolemy XIII decide, who drove me away and left me only in Alexandria?
General: He is determined to face Caesar’s army!
Cleopatra raises her hand, a sign for the girls to leave, then stands up and takes three steps. she looks vengeful…
Cleopatra: Would he be able to annihilate a powerful man who colonizes even the lands where he should just transit? Hmmm! Brother, the time has come for me to show you what I am capable of…
She turns to the War General.
Cleopatra: Where did Julius Caesar live?
General: In the southern quarters, my queen.
She raises her hand with her back turned to the general. He bows before leaving.
Another hand sign to a guard who bows down and goes out to summon the girls. The three girls arrive with baskets full and covered. the black servant is holding a rug in his hands. The queen lies on the carpet, sits down and says to her servant without looking at him
Cleopatra: Take me to Caesar. He will taste the fruit of Alexandria and will not be able to do anything without it!
Sobek: Is it necessary to hide you to reach Caesar, or is it a way of seducing, my queen?
Nicotris: No, the guards could keep her out… our queen better hide!
The girls are laughing
Cleopatra: I’m putting all the odds on my side to meet him before my brother.
The servant rolls it up in the carpet, puts it on his shoulder, and everyone comes out of the stage.
Lowering the curtain or lights off
Music
Narrator: Julius Caesar, Consul of the Roman Empire, who seized the lands and goods of every people, set his eyes on Egypt, another conquest, to satisfy the needs of his legionnaires and feed Rome..
Scene
In Caesar’s chambers there is no throne, but there is a Pharaonic decoration.
Caesar with his back turned. Cleopatra makes her entrance, very beautiful in sexy and seductive clothes. He turns around and shows his surprise and emotion in front of such beauty. She approaches him, looks at him charmingly, and turns around him… a seductive behaviour…
Cleopatra: Caesar has summoned Ptolemy XIII and me, but know that my brother will start a war with you. By the time your backup fleet arrives, your warriors will be slaughtered.
She steps forward, puts her hands on his shoulders, and stares at him.
Cleopatra: Let us join forces. I know the sea and the winds that rise better than anyone!
He holds her hands, smiles, and rests them. Apparently, his charm has its effect. He approaches his face to hers and wants to kiss her, but he recovers when his war general bursts in. He turns his head to see what it is.
General: Great Caesar, your fleet arrived in time. Those who wanted to compare themselves to you, who wanted to make war with you, are destroyed.
Caesar looks with a smile of triumph Cleopatra. He raises his hand so that the general disposes.
Caesar: What did I tell you? Caesar needs no alliance to take what he wants.
Cleopatra: What will happen to my country?
Caesar: The Attic of Rome
Cleopatra: What about the Queen of Egypt?
Caesar puts his hand under Cleopatra’s chin, raises her face a little, looks at her, looks down at her chest, and with a fine smile and sweet eyes
Caesar: I will keep you for my personal use.
He takes her by the shoulders, his eyes sparkling
Caesar: From now on, you are mine.
Cleopatra: And the pact that the Senate signed with my father?
He gets closer to her and touches her face.
Caesar: I don’t see your father signing the pact… I see before me nothing but a fertile land which is overflowing with warmth and waiting to be sown…
Cleopatra plays her last card, puts her hand around Jules’ waist, pulls him to a surface, and sits him down.
Cleopatra: Then let us celebrate your victory, great conqueror!
At this moment, servants enter with baskets of fruit, carafes of wine, dancers arrive and music is launched. And the Eastern feast begins in the presence of the legionnaires of Caesar.
Lowering the curtain or lights off
Music
Narrator: As beautiful as she is intelligent, Cleopatra succeeds in keeping Egypt free and remaining absolute queen. From their union, a little boy Ptolemy XV or Caesarion was born. Caesar perpetuated the conquests and the good life with the Queen of Egypt, but in Rome, in the senate, the enemies became more and more numerous, powerful and not supporting the presence of Cleopatra and her son whom they called “bastard”. Caesar returned to Rome, and despite the counsel, he took no precaution to protect himself from the enemies. He proceeded as if nothing had happened. The arrival of Cleopatra and her son in Rome sparked a fire. In the senate, Caesar was stabbed. Cleopatra fled with Caesarion to Alexandria.
Scene
Cleopatra in Alexandria, being massaged, surrounded by the three girls and a black servant in a corner of the stage. She looks sad but determined.
Hetep: Majesty, Caesarion will fill the void left by his father!
Nicotris: You are so beautiful and so seductive. No beauty can match that of our queen.
Sobek: Your Majesty…
Cleopatra waves her hand to keep them quiet. She is angry but self-control.
Cleopatra: I, Queen of Egypt, leave Rome like a burglar, hmm!
Then she lowers her head so that the girls continue the massage. The war general enters and makes a curtsy. She turns her head, always lying on her stomach.
Cleopatra: What’s the worst thing he has to tell me?
General: Octavian, Caesar’s nephew and his adopted son shared the territory with Mark Antony, Caesar’s councillor in the senate.
She sits down vigorously.
Cleopatra: What about Egypt?
General: It is part of Antoine’s lot.
Cleopatra: What do you know about him?
Hetep: Despite his power, he melts like a candle in the arms of beautiful women!
Nicotris: He seizes beautiful women as he seizes the land!
Sobek: Very romantic! But I heard that his wife is a hollow nut. She does not succeed in giving him a child.
Hetep: Caesarion is the only heir.
The girls are laughing
She gets up, a smile on her lips, the servant brings her a big mirror, she looks at herself, admires herself, and says with an air of revenge
Cleopatra: I am waiting for you, my dear Antony! I will not leave you Egypt, no matter what!
General: He is waiting for Your Majesty! He has summoned all the sovereigns of the region!
Cleopatra: The Queen of Egypt does not move!! He wants to see me. He can come to me and do it, and he will see what he has never seen and experienced before.
She makes a gesture of the hand for the general to dispose. The girls move towards her.
Cleopatra: Prepare the most sumptuous party possible, bring the most beautiful dancers, prepare the best incense, bring out the good wines, and invite the most beautiful women of Alexandria and its surroundings. We will welcome Marc Antoine.
Hetep: Your Majesty will try to replace Julius Caesar?
Cleopatra: I must conquer his heart before he conquers my country.
Nicotris: I prepare for His Majesty the same garment that brought down Julius Caesar, and the same perfume?
Cleopatra: I will do everything to keep Egypt free and perpetuate the dynasty. May I remain absolute queen of my country!
Lowering the curtain or lights off
Music
Narrator: At Marc’s arrival, Cleopatra, as before, used her charm and beauty to save her country and keep her freedom. It did not take her long for Mark Antony to fall in love with her. From this affair, three children were born, and Cleopatra remained sovereign of Egypt
Scene
Party hall, the throne, fruit baskets, carafes of good wine, well filled, girls dance, eastern music. Antoine enters, advances to Cleopatra, makes a wave of the hand, the music stops, the girls sit down. Cleopatra, at Antony’s approach, rises up, advances towards him with a step worthy of a queen, one in front of the other, she stares at him with a gentle gaze, fixes him in the eyes, descends his gaze to his lips, approaches even more, to Antoine’s astonishment, upset with emotion… Seductive behavior and gestures.
Cleopatra: What have we failed to offer our dear Antoine?
She turns around him, looks at him, then comes to his face, looks at him sometimes in the eyes and sometimes on the lips.
Cleopatra: We are ready to model the pyramids in carafes; the Nile in good wine for the pleasure of our host. Our wives are at his disposal to satisfy any of his pleasures, take him , and his legionnaires if they wish, to the seventh heaven. Our fertile land will continue to feed his people even if we have to starve our people…
She’s turning her back on him.
Cleopatra: Have we failed in our hospitality, my dear Antoine? In our generosity towards the Romans? Did we send bad quality cereals, or half full barrels of wine? Did we fail our contract?
He walks towards her, bows in love, pouts, looks of seduction, takes her by the hand, and leads her to her throne under the surprised glances of his legionnaires. Then he beckons for the party to begin.
Music. Girls dance and offer drinks to Marc’s soldiers… the dancers begin to leave one after the other, each accompanied by a Roman legionnaire or another until there is only one dancer left. Antony takes Cleopatra’s hand, and they leave in turn. The dancer follows them while dancing.
Curtain down or lights off
Music
The narrator: Mark Antony spent years racking up victories, hoarding loot, getting rich and getting drunk. Cleopatra gave birth to three children: Ptolemy Philadelphe, Cleopatra Selenea, and Alexander Helios.
Scene
Cleopatra enters with three children (two, of the same age, girl and boy, and another younger boy) who get down on their knees and pretend to play. Sometimes they give her a hug, other times they start playing again. She sits on the throne…
Hetep: Egypt does not fear anything in your reign, Majesty. You know how to tame the powerful conquerors and you have put them on your side.
Cleopatra: For Julius Caesar, I saved my reign, but for Antony, I answered to my heart. I love Antony!
Nicotris: He has eyes only for you, my queen. He is madly in love with you to the point of neglecting his wife, the Roman, who gave him two daughters (laughter).
Hetep: She is the second woman… The first having died, Octave married her and her sister to seal the alliance.
Sobek: Octavian’s sister! This Octavian who becomes increasingly hostile towards Marc; jealous of his prosperity and reputation!
Hetep: Until he refused to provide him with the reinforcement fleet that he promised him, and that Marc needed during the war against the Parthians!
Cleopatra: And what do you think of what is being said about your queen in Rome? A sovereign who was able to save her reign and her country is treated only as a «whore of the Nile» or at most called «the Egyptian»?
Sobek: Octavian’s jealousy for Mark has caused him to dirty everything that touches him.
Nicotris: Moreover, he fears that one day Caesarion will come to claim the throne of Julius Caesar that the children of Antony will inherit their father.
Cleopatra: And what do you say about my husband’s officers who show me no gratitude? They feel nothing for me but disgust.
Hetep: If my queen can allow me, you can’t make an entire army fall under your spell!
Cleopatra: I don’t want them in my bed. I want them near my warriors. I want them to follow my instructions.
Sobek: They ended up following your instructions during the naval battle of Actium fought against the fleet of Octavian. It’s you who knows the sea and the rising of the winds, my queen!
Cleopatra stands up, moves forward.
Cleopatra: Octavian did not accept it. He sees in me and Caesarion a real threat to the Senate; moreover, he is extremely jealous of Antoine’s prosperity…
The general rushes in and bows.
Cleopatra: What news do you have for me?
General: Octavian’s fleet is at our doorstep.
Cleopatra: Antoine’s army will push them away.
General: Antony’s warriors have joined those of Octavian. Antony is alone and unarmed, Majesty. Octavian refused the duel against Mark.
Unexpected blow to Cleopatra. Her face closes, a reaction worthy of a queen. She beckons to Hétep. Hétep drives the children outside. They will leave the stage.
After a few seconds of reflection.
Cleopatra: Go tell Marc that I have ended my life, and that we will find ourselves in the afterlife to continue living together in nobility, love and prosperity… May Octave and his supporters die in hell…
Lowering the curtain or lights off
Music
The narrator: Marc, informed of Cleopatra’s false suicide, committed suicide by throwing himself on his own sword.
Scene
We hear cries, cries, the light returns. Cleopatra, on her knees, is crying for her love, banging her face and tearing her clothes… She stands up, falls down and says in tears
Cleopatra: Of all the men I’ve known, I’ve only loved you, Marc. What will we do without you? What will my reign be in the hands of the enemy?
Cleopatra leaves the stage crying and screaming the name of her love.
Octavian enters the stage with a step of victory, hatred and revenge, puts himself on the throne of Cleopatra. She enters this time alone, sad and downcast.
Cleopatra: What do you decide to do with me?
Octavian: You will come to Rome!
Cleopatra: As a queen or your mistress?
Octavian: As a Cleopatra!
Cleopatra: What will become of Marc’s children? And Caesarion?
Octave: I will send men to search for your eldest son.
Octavian rises and leaves the stage followed by his warriors. Cleopatra sits on her throne, crying. The girls enter and approach her. A servant comes with a basket containing a cobra. Cleopatra holds out her hand to grab the reptile…(the toy cobra )
Cleopatra: Octavian will not have the pleasure to put me down. Cleopatra has come to the world as a queen and will go to join her beloved as a queen.
She wraps the cobra on her arm (of course a toy cobra) and asks the girls and the servant to leave her alone. Everyone leaves the stage, bewildered and sad. Cleopatra falls to the ground…
Lowering the curtain or lights off
Music
The narrator: With the death of Cleopatra, the assassination of Caesarion by order of Octavian, and the exile of the three children of Mark, the end of a dynasty is inscribed in the register of History.
