For Robert

The Divorce of Figaro, in Four Acts

The show runs about 90 years. There will be no intermission.

Act 1

A hospital room.

It is not Seville.

The overture

swells

and the Count awakens

to discover

that he is 

dead.

It is Sunday

and he is

alone.

Act 2

Figaro reflects

on a pair of shears.

He is

old

and when he 

holds them in

shaking

hands, he can’t 

make them

cut.

Act 3

Susanna harasses

Figaro’s doctors.

They want him to

lay

down and stop

screaming.

He only 

knows

one note now.

The Count is

by the door

waiting.

Act 4

The Countess asks Figaro 

does he recognize her?

His right 

eye 

is swollen shut, 

but he knows

she is Susanna.

There’s 

blood

in the urine.

It is still Sunday.

Figaro is in Seville. 

He cuts the Count’s hair.