The Outlaw and the King on Mark Zuckerman - Composer

Librettist

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Outlaw & King — Act I

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zerubbabel, weapons bearer to Israelite King Saul, enters Saul’s tent lugging home gear from a just-finished battle. As he prepares for Saul’s impending arrival by stowing the gear and making ready for a meal, Zerubbabel frets over Saul’s increasingly troubled state of mind and growing antagonism toward David, his son-in-law and lieutenant. Zerubbabel traces the beginnings of Saul’s torment to his sparing the life of the Amalekite King Agag against instructions by the prophet Samuel. Saul enters, brooding, along with Hannagail, a chorus no one can see but only Saul can hear. Zerubbabel’s attempts to raise Saul’s spirits are foiled by Hannagail, who torments Saul with bleak caricatures of his thoughts and bright encomia about David. Saul vacillates between his rage at and love for David, finally sending Zerubbabel to fetch David in the hope that David can sing Saul’s troubles away. David arrives and sings Saul’s favorite song but fails to change Saul’s mood. Saul’s son Jonathan comes in, singing a snippet from David’s song, and is so overjoyed at seeing David he momentarily forgets to acknowledge his father, a slight that feeds Saul’s growing sense of betrayal. After returning Jonathan’s affection, David sings several songs to the delight of everyone except Saul, who grows increasingly angry at David, egged on by the taunting of Hannagail. Despite David’s pledges and pleadings of love and loyalty, Saul accuses David of treachery, declares him a mortal enemy, and chases him from the tent. Hannagail utters a grim prophecy and follows David. Saul abruptly turns his attention to dinner but Jonathan, upset, has no appetite. Jonathan tries to change Saul’s mind about David but Hannagail’s departure convinces Saul he is right. Jonathan’s entreaties merely cause Saul to suspect Jonathan’s loyalty. Saul angrily chases Jonathan away. Act I ends with Saul, now by himself, bitterly reflecting on his fate.

Outlaw & King — Act II

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

As Act II opens (Scene 1), nightfall finds Saul’s men encamped deep in enemy territory. In Saul’s obsessive hunt for David, he has penetrated Philistine lands and, surrounded, now faces an attack the next day. Beside a camp fire, Jonathan and Zerubbabel voice their fears; both wishing David was with them for the battle, though Jonathan is torn between loyalty to his father and to David, while Zerubbabel dismisses him as a traitor. Saul himself admits that though they hunt David, they need him if they are to win the upcoming battle. As they all drift off to sleep, and Saul’s dream of losing the Decider’s favor torments him, David stealthily enters the camp, knife in hand. Feeling betrayed by Saul who banished him in Act I and now hunts him, David is intent on killing Saul before Saul kills him. He raises his knife but discovers that he still loves Saul and cannot kill him, asking why he’s meant to destroy those he loves. Instead, he cuts off a piece of the royal robe. Sheathing his knife, he picks up Saul’s spear to leave, but Jonathan halts him. Zerubbabel also wakes, wanting to kill the traitor, but Jonathan stops him, knowing they have little chance the next day without David. When they can’t persuade him to stay and fight with them, they convince him to at least leave Saul’s spear behind. As Zerubbabel goes back to sleep, Jonathan realizes the threshold they’re about to cross in parting and how much he loves David as companion and brother. They remind each other of their bond in war and peace, and affirm their mutual affection—brothers forever—but David’s words are ambiguous. He goes off into the night, while Jonathan faces what he fears is an inevitable fate at dawn.