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French Revolution Reenactment: Part 2
Sunday, 5 February 2006 23:28Now that I've cooled down a bit, I can give a bit more detail about the reenactment:
First we were lined up against a wall by the National Guard for no apparent reason.
Then we were led into a "cafe"--really a place with clusters of tables and chairs where the walls were lined with stalls. Vendors were selling bread, "wine" (it was really grape juice), pastry (one wonders how they got any pastry, considering the lack of both flour and sugar), and flowers for bits of colored paper meant to serve as money (not referred to as assignats, but I assume that was the general idea).
We were told that there was to be a confrontation between the "Jacobins" and the "Girondists" (whatever happened to Montagnards and Girondins?). And indeed, we were treated to a display of a deformed, hideous, and snarling Robespierre and Marat seated at a table next to a dignified, handsome, well-dressed pair of "Girondists" (one of them, we were told was Brissot; the other, a woman, was unnamed) and arguing among themselves over the necessity for the creation of a Committee of Public Safety. The "Girondists" of course, were properly horrified, while Marat growled and Robespierre made properly evil gestures.
Then broadsheets were passed around; the king, we were told, has just been executed. A severed head of rubber was subsequently brought in on the end of a pike and girl placed a top hat (a top hat?) on it in saying, "I crown your majesty."
Immediately following this, a girl was caught stealing a loaf of bread and we learned the tragic story of how she had conceived a child out of wedlock, her had lover left her, she had been left to raise the child on her own, and now her evil!sans-culotte father was preventing them from having enough food (?).
Then, Charlotte Corday came, introduced herself to Marat, and informed him she had a list of the names of "Girondist" leaders (keeping in mind that this is in an indoor market/cafe). Undertaker!Robespierre (long black pants and all) excused himself; the "Girondists" stayed for some reason. Corday gives Marat the list (of completely made-up pseudo-French names); he read it and assured her they will all be guillotined; then, with a cry of "so it's true: you are a butcher! Those names were false!" she took out a small plastic pistol (yes, you read that right) and shot him.
From there we were somewhat roughly led next door to the "Tribunal" (three girls dressed in the fashion of the early 18th century behind a table, surrounded by wooden benches and a chair for the accused). Charlotte Corday of course, gave a brave and dignified defense of her actions to the bloodthirsty!mob (who seemed to be playing a game of musical chairs; they kept moving in circles around the room and shoving people from their seats). Robespierre stood near the front, looking sinister, of course (for some reason he was not wearing a wig; he had his hair parted and slicked back). By this time he was being referred to as "chairman" of the Committee of Public Safety (maybe he made the transformation en route to the Tribunal?).
Some audience members were pulled to the front; accused of being her accomplices, they were asked to prove their patriotism by their ability to do the "national dance" (the Carmagnole?), recite the "national motto" (liberty, equality, fraternity), and name the national bird (?). Naturally none of them knew, and all the suspects (including Corday of course) were led outside and loaded into a tumbrel.
We followed the tumbrel, of course, to a guillotine set up outside. It was dark outside and there was a red light on behind it. Charlotte Corday was forced to mount the scaffold and started to give a speech; their Robespierre (who naturally had to be at the execution) interrupted her with rhetoric intended to make him look like evil incarnate--not that the costume needed any help with that. Then a man in black robes (Sanson =/= the Grim Reaper, damn-it!) dropped the mechanism serving as a guillotine on her and she could no longer be seen (I'm not entirely sure how it worked).
The next part happened rather quickly, but I remember their Robespierre started to give another speech, the suspects tried to escape, and then a shot rang out (I think it was the National Guard, but I don't quite recall); you'll remember the young mother from earlier? It was, of course, her child who was shot. As she lay with her child in her lap, sobbing, the "Girondist" woman admonished everyone for their blood-thirst (along the lines of "look what you've done") and informed us that this was not the Revolution they had fought for (how ironically true).
As the girl continued to weep over the dead child, their Robespierre had a rope fastened across the area around the guillotine; whoever was with him, he told us, would stay on one side; those with the "Girondists" would go to the other. After we had split into two camps (some of the actors warning us that if we stood with the "Girondists" we would be killed), undertaker!Robespierre led those of us (the majority) who had stayed on his side away; in parting he ordered a National Guardsman to shoot them. The Guard, quite naturally, said, "what?" Evil!Robespierre replied with the oh-so-original line, "did I stutter?" and led us away, some of the actors warning us not to look back. We heard gunfire behind us, and the reenactment was (mercifully!) over.
...
Just to vaguely assess the dates:
21 January, 1793: Louis Capet is executed.
2 June, 1793: The Girondins are arrested.
13 July, 1793: Marat is assassinated.
27 July, 1793: Robespierre joins the Committee of Public Safety.
We have problems, oh yes; we do.
...Why do I even try?
Poor Maxime.
First we were lined up against a wall by the National Guard for no apparent reason.
Then we were led into a "cafe"--really a place with clusters of tables and chairs where the walls were lined with stalls. Vendors were selling bread, "wine" (it was really grape juice), pastry (one wonders how they got any pastry, considering the lack of both flour and sugar), and flowers for bits of colored paper meant to serve as money (not referred to as assignats, but I assume that was the general idea).
We were told that there was to be a confrontation between the "Jacobins" and the "Girondists" (whatever happened to Montagnards and Girondins?). And indeed, we were treated to a display of a deformed, hideous, and snarling Robespierre and Marat seated at a table next to a dignified, handsome, well-dressed pair of "Girondists" (one of them, we were told was Brissot; the other, a woman, was unnamed) and arguing among themselves over the necessity for the creation of a Committee of Public Safety. The "Girondists" of course, were properly horrified, while Marat growled and Robespierre made properly evil gestures.
Then broadsheets were passed around; the king, we were told, has just been executed. A severed head of rubber was subsequently brought in on the end of a pike and girl placed a top hat (a top hat?) on it in saying, "I crown your majesty."
Immediately following this, a girl was caught stealing a loaf of bread and we learned the tragic story of how she had conceived a child out of wedlock, her had lover left her, she had been left to raise the child on her own, and now her evil!sans-culotte father was preventing them from having enough food (?).
Then, Charlotte Corday came, introduced herself to Marat, and informed him she had a list of the names of "Girondist" leaders (keeping in mind that this is in an indoor market/cafe). Undertaker!Robespierre (long black pants and all) excused himself; the "Girondists" stayed for some reason. Corday gives Marat the list (of completely made-up pseudo-French names); he read it and assured her they will all be guillotined; then, with a cry of "so it's true: you are a butcher! Those names were false!" she took out a small plastic pistol (yes, you read that right) and shot him.
From there we were somewhat roughly led next door to the "Tribunal" (three girls dressed in the fashion of the early 18th century behind a table, surrounded by wooden benches and a chair for the accused). Charlotte Corday of course, gave a brave and dignified defense of her actions to the bloodthirsty!mob (who seemed to be playing a game of musical chairs; they kept moving in circles around the room and shoving people from their seats). Robespierre stood near the front, looking sinister, of course (for some reason he was not wearing a wig; he had his hair parted and slicked back). By this time he was being referred to as "chairman" of the Committee of Public Safety (maybe he made the transformation en route to the Tribunal?).
Some audience members were pulled to the front; accused of being her accomplices, they were asked to prove their patriotism by their ability to do the "national dance" (the Carmagnole?), recite the "national motto" (liberty, equality, fraternity), and name the national bird (?). Naturally none of them knew, and all the suspects (including Corday of course) were led outside and loaded into a tumbrel.
We followed the tumbrel, of course, to a guillotine set up outside. It was dark outside and there was a red light on behind it. Charlotte Corday was forced to mount the scaffold and started to give a speech; their Robespierre (who naturally had to be at the execution) interrupted her with rhetoric intended to make him look like evil incarnate--not that the costume needed any help with that. Then a man in black robes (Sanson =/= the Grim Reaper, damn-it!) dropped the mechanism serving as a guillotine on her and she could no longer be seen (I'm not entirely sure how it worked).
The next part happened rather quickly, but I remember their Robespierre started to give another speech, the suspects tried to escape, and then a shot rang out (I think it was the National Guard, but I don't quite recall); you'll remember the young mother from earlier? It was, of course, her child who was shot. As she lay with her child in her lap, sobbing, the "Girondist" woman admonished everyone for their blood-thirst (along the lines of "look what you've done") and informed us that this was not the Revolution they had fought for (how ironically true).
As the girl continued to weep over the dead child, their Robespierre had a rope fastened across the area around the guillotine; whoever was with him, he told us, would stay on one side; those with the "Girondists" would go to the other. After we had split into two camps (some of the actors warning us that if we stood with the "Girondists" we would be killed), undertaker!Robespierre led those of us (the majority) who had stayed on his side away; in parting he ordered a National Guardsman to shoot them. The Guard, quite naturally, said, "what?" Evil!Robespierre replied with the oh-so-original line, "did I stutter?" and led us away, some of the actors warning us not to look back. We heard gunfire behind us, and the reenactment was (mercifully!) over.
...
Just to vaguely assess the dates:
21 January, 1793: Louis Capet is executed.
2 June, 1793: The Girondins are arrested.
13 July, 1793: Marat is assassinated.
27 July, 1793: Robespierre joins the Committee of Public Safety.
We have problems, oh yes; we do.
...Why do I even try?
Poor Maxime.
