THE AMELIA PROJECT – EPISODE 74 – PRISON OF GLASS
PIP
This episode is dedicated to our Olivea Dodson who will be crushed to death in a mosh pit, and who will be resurrected as a cow farmer in the highlands. Be like Olivea and support the show on Patreon. Enjoy the episode.
PROLOGUE.
ARTHUR AND KOZLOWSKI (KYD) ARE ROWING ACROSS THE VENICE LAGOON AT NIGHT.
(SOUND OF AN OAR SLICING THROUGH WATER AND THE LAPPING OF WAVES AGAINST THEIR GONDOLA. THEY ARE YAWNING AND EXHAUSTED)
KOZLOWSKI
You know, Arthur. This was a mistake. We should have waited until the morning.
INTERVIEWER
Oh come now Kyd! Rowing across the lagoon by torchlight... isn't it exciting?
KOZLOWSKI
And once the torch burns down?
INTERVIEWER
Well. We will have the stars to guide us.
KOZLOWSKI
(CHUCKLES) Ah… Always the romantic…
INTERVIEWER
(CHUCKLING) Huh, you know…
KOZLOWSKI
You know…
INTERVIEWER
What?
KOZLOWSKI
Our search for stories...
INTERVIEWER
Yes?
KOZLOWSKI
It does lead us to the strangest places does it not!
INTERVIEWER
Indeed. Oh, remember that decrepit rat-infested hellhole?
(KOZLOWSKI LAUGHS)
What was the name of that town again?
KOZLOWSKI
Hamelin!
INTERVIEWER
Hamelin, Hamelin, yes… Or that party in Athens where we were drenched in wine and pummeled with a dozen fake penises!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
KOZLOWSKI
You mean Peni!
INTERVIEWER
No, penis-! Look, we’ve had this conversation before, it’s penises!
KOZLOWSKI
Arthur, it’s Peni!
INTERVIEWER
I really don’t think it is!
KOZLOWSKI
Well. That was a long time ago.
INTERVIEWER
Yes… And now here we are...
KOZLOWSKI
Here we are… (CHUCKLES) Rowing across a lagoon in a gondola by torchlight...
INTERVIEWER
Wearing some very fetching Venetian masks I might add...
KOZLOWSKI
Hmmhmmm… In search of some island -
INTERVIEWER
Oh! There!
KOZLOWSKI
Where?
INTERVIEWER
I think I see it!
KOZLOWSKI
I don’t! Where?
INTERVIEWER
There, look!
KOZLOWSKI
But… We only left Venice ten minutes ago.
INTERVIEWER
Well-
KOZLOWSKI (CON’T)
The instructions said we would have to row North for close to half an hour.
INTERVIEWER
Well, that’s what you get for a strong rower.
KOZLOWSKI
Thank you but, I see the island. But I do not think that is it. Look, it is dark, no signs of habitation.
INTERVIEWER
Maybe our client is using it as a hideout?
KOZLOWSKI
Maybe...
INTERVIEWER
Let us see!
(KOZLOWSKI STEERS THE GONDOLA TOWARDS THE ISLAND WITH SWIFT STRONG OAR STROKES. THE GONDOLA HITS A SANDY BEACH)
KOZLOWSKI
So here we are.
(KOZLOWSKI AND ARTHUR STEP OUT OF THE BOAT. THE WIND WHISTLES EERILY)
Oh, well. This place is as still as death. No sign of a client.
INTERVIEWER
Hm… Should we explore?
KOZLOWSKI
Oh no, in the morning. We should get some sleep.
INTERVIEWER
Sleep? What? On the beach?
KOZLOWSKI
It would not be the first time...
INTERVIEWER
Ah! Yes, I miss our little spot by the sea.
(KOZLOWSKI HUMS IN AGREEMENT)
The crackling fire, the lapping waves... telling stories under the stars... But in Scotland we had bracken to make our beds.
KOZLOWSKI
It was a beach of pebbles. Here we have soft sand. A fine place to lie one's head.
(KOZLOWSKI SCOOPS UP A HANDFUL OF SAND AND LETS IT RUN THROUGH HIS FINGERS)
Look.
Is it not fascinating?
INTERVIEWER
What?
KOZLOWSKI
Sand.
INTERVIEWER
Oh? Sand?
KOZLOWSKI
Sand is time.
INTERVIEWER
What do you mean?
KOZLOWSKI
Here, take some.
(KOZLOWSKI POURS SAND INTO ARTHUR'S CUPPED HANDS)
INTERVIEWER
Alright.
Hold it tight!
INTERVIEWER
I am.
KOZLOWSKI
Tighter.
INTERVIEWER
I can’t hold it any tighter, my hands are squeezing together as hard as they can!
KOZLOWSKI
And yet, it escapes your grasp, slips through your fingers, finds cracks through which to flow. Eventually there will be nothing left. Sand and time. Arthur - they never stop flowing.
INTERVIEWER
Yes, alright. But we have a beach! Our sand is unlimited!
(PAUSE)
KOZLOWSKI
Arthur.
INTERVIEWER
What?
KOZLOWSKI
Arthur.
INTERVIEWER
What?
(KOZLOWSKI GASPS)
Kyd, what is it, you're scaring me!
KOZLOWSKI
Arthur, look at it.
INTERVIEWER
Look at what?
KOZLOWSKI
The sand. In your hand.
INTERVIEWER
I'm looking. What about it?
KOZLOWSKI
Ah! It is black.
INTERVIEWER
What? No. It just looks that way because it's the nighttime.
KOZLOWSKI
Bring your hand closer to the torch.
INTERVIEWER
(STARTS TO PROTEST AND THEN ABRUPTLY STOPS) Well blow me like a crumhorn! It is black!
KOZLOWSKI
We must leave.
INTERVIEWER
What?
KOZLOWSKI
At once.
INTERVIEWER
But -
KOZLOWSKI
Into the gondola. Now.
INTERVIEWER
(MAJORLY CONFUSED) Yes alright alright-
What? Did you see someone on the beach or?
(ARTHUR AND KOZLOWSKI CLAMBER INTO THE GONDOLA AND ROW BACK OUT TO SEA)
Kyd? What just happened?
KOZLOWSKI
That was Poveglia.
INTERVIEWER
Poveglia?
KOZLOWSKI
Eighteen years ago, the black death tore through Venice, sending over a third of its citizens to an early grave. Victims of the plague were sent to Poveglia and left there to die.
INTERVIEWER
How do you know this?
KOZLOWSKI
You know me. I am fascinated by the bubonic plague.
INTERVIEWER
Oh, of course. How could I forget.
KOZLOWSKI
By 1578 the island contained hundreds of unburied corpses, rotting in the sun. The smell carried over to Venice, so Venetians set fire to the island, incinerating all the bodies. Today Poveglia's soil consists mostly of cremated humans.
INTERVIEWER
So the sand in our hands was...? Ugh!
Ugh, you're right. This was a mistake. Let's row back to Venice.
KOZLOWSKI
So, we are abandoning the mission? Maybe it is for the best...
INTERVIEWER
The regulars at The Lusty Maiden will be very disappointed.
KOZLOWSKI
What?
INTERVIEWER
Every Friday I regale the regulars with my newest stories.
KOZLOWSKI
I am not sure you should be telling our stories at The Lusty Maiden.
INTERVIEWER
Stories must be told, you know that, Kyd! I will always be a storyteller at heart.
KOZLOWSKI
We must not draw attention.
INTERVIEWER
If we don't tell our stories, what's the point? Why are we collecting them?
KOZLOWSKI
Maybe one day we will find a worthy listener. It would be nice to tell our stories properly... from beginning to end.
INTERVIEWER
Or end to beginning! That would be much more amusing, don't you think?
KOZLOWSKI
Do you even remember the beginning?
INTERVIEWER
Of course... You were hypnotizing chicken...
KOZLOWSKI
Chicken day...
(KOZLOWSKI AND ARTHUR CHUCKLE)
Look!
INTERVIEWER
What?
KOZLOWSKI
Is that another island?
INTERVIEWER
Yes... yes! Lights! Oh! An inhabited island! Good. The torch is about to go out.
KOZLOWSKI
I will row fast. The winds have subsided, the water is as still as glass. We should reach it in no time.
(FADE DOWN ON KOZLOWSKI'S ROWING)
(FADE UP AS THE GONDOLA REACHES THE SHORE. ARTHUR AND KOZLOWSKI GET OUT OF THE BOAT)
KOZLOWSKI
Terra firma.
INTERVIEWER
And the soil here is not black as death.
KOZLOWSKI
Though there is a strange smell...
A voice out of the darkness, making arthur and kozlowski jump.
ADRIANO
Psssssst! Are you La Confraternita della Fenice?
INTERVIEWER
Are we the... Uh... Yes! That's us!
KOZLOWSKI
You are Adriano, yes?
ADRIANO
Adriano Vianello. Why... Why are you dressed as plague doctors?
INTERVIEWER
Plague doctors?
ADRIANO
The masks, the long beaks.
INTERVIEWER
Oh! Oh, we thought they were carnival masks.
ADRIANO
They are sold as curios to visiting merchants, but to us there is nothing jolly about them. You should take them off.
KOZLOWSKI
We will.
(KOZLOWSKI AND ARTHUR REMOVE THEIR MASKS. MUMBLING OF RELIEF)
INTERVIEWER
Anyway, uhm, Adriano. You have a story for us?
ADRIANO
A story?
INTERVIEWER
We've come all the way from London for your story.
ADRIANO
I thought you help people disappear...
INTERVIEWER
We do. In return for a story.
ADRIANO
I have a story for you.
INTERVIEWER
Good.
KOZLOWSKI
We will attend to business in the morning. Is there anywhere on this island we can pass the night?
ADRIANO
Si, si (IN ITALIAN) Follow me.
(THEY START WALKING)
ADRIANO
Welcome to Murano.
INTERVIEWER
Not of sand…
(CHUCKLING)
THEME TUNE, THE GLASS HARMONICA VERSION FROM "AMELIA'S ARIA."
The Amelia Project. Created by Philip Thorne and Oystein Ulsberg Brager, with music and sound direction by Fredrik Baden, and sound design by Adam Raymonda.
Episode 74 - prison of glass. 1593.
INTERVIEW.
(KOZLOWSKI WAKES UP, STRETCHES)
INTERVIEWER
Good morning Kyd.
KOZLOWSKI
Where are we?
INTERVIEWER
The island of Murano.
KOZLOWSKI
No, I mean this room... Extraordinary! I have never seen such beautiful mirrors!
INTERVIEWER
I don't know where to look! Everywhere I see my silly face!
KOZLOWSKI
You think your face is silly?
INTERVIEWER
Look at it!
KOZLOWSKI
Your face is very special to me.
INTERVIEWER
Oh, I didn't mean...
KOZLOWSKI
I took great care with it.
INTERVIEWER
I just don't like seeing myself in mirrors.
KOZLOWSKI
Why not?
Look at yourself Arthur.
INTERVIEWER
I...
KOZLOWSKI
Hold your gaze.
INTERVIEWER
You don't think I've aged?
KOZLOWSKI
What?
INTERVIEWER
I've aged haven't I.
KOZLOWSKI
(LAUGHS) Of course you have aged! Arthur! You are 2340 years old!
(INTERVIEWER DOESN’T LAUGH)
KOZLOWSKI
There is something on your mind.
INTERVIEWER
Yes. The story of the mirror and the soil...
KOZLOWSKI
I do not think I know that story.
INTERVIEWER
It was told to me by a Persian poet.
KOZLOWSKI
Will you recount it?
INTERVIEWER
Hm. The soil says to the mirror: "I envy you! Whoever looks at you sees himself, but the one who looks at me sees only me!" The mirror responds: "Oh soil! Do you not know that I show a person how they look today, but you, you show them their future." The soil responds: "Oh mirror! It is obvious you speak to calm me. But answer: do those who look at you ever look at me?" The mirror responds with a bitter smile: "Do not worry Mother Soil. Those who no longer have the face to look at me will always turn to look at you."
KOZLOWSKI
Hmm. I think I understand. You are rattled. By what we saw last night.
INTERVIEWER
I'm sorry. Let's go find Adriano.
KOZLOWSKI
Look at yourself a few moments more.
INTERVIEWER
Why?
KOZLOWSKI
You must learn to look yourself in the eye, Arthur.
INTERVIEWER
Oh come- Isn't that... vain?
KOZLOWSKI
Every day I spend some time with my own reflection. It helps me stay present.
INTERVIEWER
Very well.
(ARTHUR STUDIES HIMSELF IN THE MIRROR)
(A KNOCK)
KOZLOWSKI
Adriano!
ADRIANO
Signori?
(ADRIANO ENTERS)
KOZLOWSKI
We were admiring your mirrors. Where did you purchase them?
ADRIANO
I did not.
INTERVIEWER
Oh, you mean, you’re a thief? Is that why you need our help?
ADRIANO
I am no thief!
INTERVIEWER
Oh.
ADRIANO
I am a craftsman.
KOZLOWSKI
(IMPRESSED) You mean you made these mirrors yourself?
ADRIANO
We are a family of glass blowers.
INTERVIEWER
How fascinating.
ADRIANO
Would you like to see the fornace?
INTERVIEWER
Excuse me?
ADRIANO
It is where we pour, mold, blow and press the glass.
KOZLOWSKI
Ah, we would be very interested to see that!
INTERVIEWER
Yes!
ADRIANO
Seguimi Signori.
INTERVIEWER
This is exciting!
(DOOR CLOSES)
(FADE UP. ON ARTHUR AND KOZLOWSKI REACHING THE BOTTOM OF A LONG FLIGHT OF STEPS. THEY ARE PANTING)
ADRIANO
Here we are.
INTERVIEWER
Quite the descent!
ADRIANO
La fornace.
INTERVIEWER
Oh, it’s very hot down here!
(THE INTERVIEWER LETS HIS HANDS BRUSH OVER A HANDFUL OF INSTRUMENTS HANGING ON THE WALL. THEY RATTLE MENACINGLY)
INTERVIEWER
Look at all these tongs and pliers and - I don't even know what this thing is! This room looks more like a torture chamber than a workshop. Are you sure we're not in Dante's Inferno? Hm?
(ADRIANO TAKES A LONG ROD FROM THE WALL)
KOZLOWSKI
What's that?
ADRIANO
My canna da soffio.
KOZLOWSKI
A blowpipe?
ADRIANO
Yes. This crucible is filled with molten crystal. I dip the blowpipe inside and gather some. Like this.
(ADRIANO DIPS HIS PIPE INTO THE CRUCIBLE)
ADRIANO
Here. A ball of liquid glass.
(THE INTERVIEWER AND KOZLOWSKI GASP)
KOZLOWSKI
(AWED) What a strange substance!
ADRIANO
Is it not? You will watch it transform from hot red to honey gold, to crystal white.
(HISSING)
KOZLOWSKI
It looks so malleable, yet we know it will become so brittle!
ADRIANO
The glass must be kept in constant motion. We will hold it over the furnace to maintain the temperature, and then, we breathe life into it.
(ADRIANO SWINGS THE ROD INTO THE FURNACE, THEN BLOWS. EXCITED INTERVIEWER SOUNDS)
KOZLOWSKI
Incredible how it inflates!
INTERVIEWER
Like a soap bubble!
ADRIANO
Watch out Signori, I will transfer the glass to the table.
with a swift motion, adriano swings the blowpipe out of the furnace, and deposits the creation on to a table.
(HE PLACES IT DOWN)
ADRIANO
Now we let it cool.
KOZLOWSKI
You are an artist Adriano!
INTERVIEWER
And so quick! In a matter of mere seconds you have transformed a blob of what looked like hot syrup into... into... What is that...? Into…
(REALIZES WHAT ADRIANO HAS MADE)
ADRIANO
You like it?
INTERVIEWER
An hour glass...
ADRIANO
Nowadays we specialise in chandeliers. But my grandfather, Edoardo Vianello, made hour glasses. Glass is sand, and uh…
KOZLOWSKI
- sand is time!
ADRIANO
Exactly. Glass, sand, time. My grandfather saw great beauty in that.
KOZLOWSKI
Hmmm… I agree. I have always been fascinated by hourglasses. The upper bulb is our past, into which we pour our stories. The lower bulb is our future, ready to be filled. The opening is our present, through which the sand all too swiftly falls.
ADRIANO
And eventually the sands of time run out...
INTERVIEWER
And then we rotate the glass and start again!
(KOZLOWSKI LAUGHS)
ADRIANO
(CHUCKLES) That would be nice.
KOZLOWSKI
What is your dilemma Adriano. Why do you need to disappear?
(WE HEAR FOOTSTOPS DESCENDING TO THE FURNACE ROOM)
INTERVIEWER
Who's that?
ADRIANO
My father. This way, quick, quick.
(PAUSE)
(FADE UP ON THE STREETS OF MURANO. ADRIANO, ARTHUR AND KOZLOWSKI ARE WALKING ALONG THE NARROW CANALS)
INTERVIEWER
Have you always lived on Murano?
ADRIANO
Yes. I was born here.
INTERVIEWER
Oh, lovely… If your workshop was Dante's inferno, then this is paradise!
KOZLOWSKI
Look! What is that beautiful church?
ADRIANO
Oh, that’s Santa Maria e San Donato. There is a fascinating story behind it.
INTERVIEWER
Oh? Really?
ADRIANO
Yes. Behind the altar there are huge bones.
INTERVIEWER
Hah, like yours, Kyd!
ADRIANO (CON’T)
The bones of a dragon slain by Saint Donatus of Euroea.
INTERVIEWER
A dragon?! Really?!
KOZLOWSKI
What is this smell?
INTERVIEWER
Is that the dragon?
ADRIANO
No. It is the smell of sixty-three furnaces melting down sand, soda ash and limestone.
INTERVIEWER
Oh, you mean... you are not the only glassblower on Murano?
ADRIANO
(LAUGHS) Glass is the Venetian Republic's most valuable treasure, more precious than gold, than saffron even.
INTERVIEWER
But why so many glassblowers here, on this small island?
ADRIANO
In 1291 the Doge ordered all furnaces be moved to Murano.
INTERVIEWER
Oh…
KOZLOWSKI
Why?
ADRIANO
Why do you think?
INTERVIEWER
Fire hazard?
ADRIANO
That was the pretext...
KOZLOWSKI
But the real reason was…?
ADRIANO
Other countries want to steal our techniques and break the monopoly. On an island it is easier to keep secrets.
INTERVIEWER
I see… An island of glassblowers!
KOZLOWSKI
And… Do you like living here?
ADRIANO
Oh, the Doge takes excellent care of us. His personal architect visits every year for embellishments and restorations. Our houses are comfortable, our boats are solid. And here on Murano, we are not bound by the Republic's laws! We may drink until the early hours of the morning! We may carry swords!
INTERVIEWER
Oh, drink and swords? That sounds like a dangerous combination! Don't people get stabbed?
ADRIANO
Yes, but we are also immune to prosecution.
INTERVIEWER
Well, you have many privileges!
ADRIANO
The greatest privilege is that our daughters can marry into the noblest of Venetian families.
KOZLOWSKI
Adriano! I applaud your Doge! Craftspeople are the lifeblood of any nation, yet so often they are treated like dirt. I am glad that here in the Republic of Venice that is different!
INTERVIEWER
Are you really immune to all Venetian laws?
ADRIANO
There is only one law that applies to us. That law however is enforced by penalty of death.
INTERVIEWER
Oh…
KOZLOWSKI
And what is that?
ADRIANO
We may not leave the island.
INTERVIEWER
What?
KOZLOWSKI
What!
ADRIANO
We are allowed to go to Venice on business, allowed to go fishing, but we may not venture further than Pellestrina or the Lido.
INTERVIEWER
And if you do?
ADRIANO
The Council of Ten (ITALIAN) have their eyes on us.
KOZLOWSKI
The Council of Ten? What is that?
ADRIANO
Yes, the state's spy chiefs. If a glass blower is caught escaping Murano, they are publicly executed on the Piazzetta. If they are not caught, their entire family is killed as a warning.
INTERVIEWER
So you’re telling us that this charming island with its bright coloured houses and sparkling canals, this paradise, is in fact a...
KOZLOWSKI
A prison?
ADRIANO
It is a beautiful prison, a prison without bars. But an invisible barrier separates us from the world beyond the lagoon. (ITALIAN) We live in a prison of glass.
INTERVIEWER
A prison of glass... Oh I like that… A secret island hidden from the world...
ADRIANO
Murano is filled with secrets...
KOZLOWSKI
What do you mean?
ADRIANO
Every glassblower has their secrets.
KOZLOWSKI
You mean secret ingredients?
ADRIANO
Ingredients, recipes, techniques.
KOZLOWSKI
So, every glassblower here on Murano makes a different kind of glass?
ADRIANO
Yes. Cristallo, Lattimo, Millefiori, Avventurina -
INTERVIEWER
Avventurina? Doesn't that mean coincidence?
ADRIANO
"All'avventura" means by chance, yes.
INTERVIEWER
Right.
ADRIANO
The discovery of this technique, like so many of the best glass recipes, happened by chance. Giovanni Darduin accidentally dropped some metal shavings into the glass mixture. It created a sublime effect. Like a translucent stone filled with gilt stars.
KOZLOWSKI
And what is your secret?
ADRIANO
(IN ITALIAN) Sorry?
KOZLOWSKI
What makes your glass special?
INTERVIEWER
Kyd! He won't just tell us!
KOZLOWSKI
He may?
ADRIANO
I will.
INTERVIEWER
What? You will?
KOZLOWSKI
There you are.
ADRIANO
Yes. It is why I need your help.
INTERVIEWER
Oh, How very curious...
KOZLOWSKI
You seem nervous.
ADRIANO
Let us walk to the end of the pier.
INTERVIEWER
But there's nobody here!
ADRIANO
I told you. The Council has ears everywhere.
(ADRIANO, ARTHUR AND KOZLOWSKI WALK DOWN THE PIER THAT STRETCHES INTO THE SEA. ADRIANO SPEAKS SOME ITALIAN)
ADRIANO
Kelp.
INTERVIEWER
Excuse me?
KOZLOWSKI
(OVERLAPPING) What?
ADRIANO
Kelp.
INTERVIEWER
Gesundheit. Beg your pardon.
ADRIANO
Our secret ingredient. Kelp.
INTERVIEWER
What is kelp?
KOZLOWSKI
It is a type of algae, is it not?
INTERVIEWER
Oh.
ADRIANO
That's right. My brothers and I take out the boat, dive, and return with sackfuls of kelp. We lay it on the beach, and when it's dry, set fire to it.
KOZLOWSKI
Kelp ash...
ADRIANO
Most glass makers use the ash of terrestrial plants. But my great grandfather experimented with seaweed and found that kelp ash brings down melting temperatures. This makes our glass highly malleable. It has been the Vianello secret for three generations.
INTERVIEWER
This is very fascinating. But how does it warrant the desire to disappear?
ADRIANO
(ITALIAN) I am getting there...
We used to be a small business. We made hourglasses, specifically marine sandglasses. About eighty a year.
Then came the craze for mirrors. Everyone wanted Venetian mirrors, and while Venini and Toso mirrors were the most popular, business trickled down to every glassblower on Murano.
But it was with … (ITALIAN) chandeliers that our fortunes really changed. Our molding techniques, twisting the chandelier's arms into arabesques of leaves, flowers and fruits, became known as "ciocca". Philip the Second of Spain bought a ciocca chandelier, and soon nobles throughout the world wanted one. We were in demand! Our furnaces burned through the night, and still we could not keep up.
We used to dry our kelp in a secluded cove on the south side of the island, you see. This was fine while our business was small, but now, we needed more space. Kelp needs to be dried in the air, you see to give the ashes the right texture. But where in Murano could we dry large amounts of kelp without revealing our secret to other glassblowers?
INTERVIEWER
So what did you do?
BEAT.
ADRIANO
Do you see that island over there?
INTERVIEWER
You mean...
KOZLOWSKI
Poveglia?
ADRIANO
(SURPRISED) You know it?
KOZLOWSKI
We went there last night.
ADRIANO
Really? Venetians avoid it like the plague.
KOZLOWSKI (OVERLAPPING)
Like the plague... yes. I know its history.
INTERVIEWER
You went to Poveglia to dry your kelp?
ADRIANO
A large, empty space with no prying eyes. Just a short boat ride away from Murano.
KOZLOWSKI
Hmm... Please, continue your story...
ADRIANO
When the bells of Santa Maria e San Donato struck midnight, my father, brothers and I rowed to Poveglia and strew the kelp over the large empty beach. Two weeks later, we returned, rowing through the night by torch-light. The kelp was now brittle and crisp. My father threw his torch into the kelp and it caught fire. When the flames had extinguished, we gathered the ashes and rowed back home.
The Barbaros, an ancient Venetian family, had just ordered a giant chandelier for Palazo Dario. A chandelier that can hold one hundred and fifty candles! I set to work. I mixed the kelp ash with sand and limestone, melted it down, then took my blowpipe and dipped it into the molten crystal. Only this time, the glass did not not behave.
INTERVIEWER
What do you mean?
ADRIANO
It did not respond to my breath.
KOZLOWSKI
How so?
ADRIANO
The liquid glass inflated, stretched, curved and twisted, but I was not the one guiding it.
INTERVIEWER & KOZLOWSKI SIMULTANEOUSLY
What?!
ADRIANO
I watched in amazement, as shapes materialized at the end of my blowpipe. The glass... it seemed to have a will of its own! Contorting itself into the strangest of forms.
KOZLOWSKI
What kind of forms?
ADRIANO
Beautiful. Terrifying. Heartbreaking.
KOZLOWSKI
Heartbreaking?
ADRIANO
It is hard to describe.
KOZLOWSKI
Try! Please!
ADRIANO
Usually, the molten glass hardens into a state of lifeless solidity. But here... even after it cooled and hardened, it retained a fiery passion. It did not feel like looking at cold matter.
KOZLOWSKI
What did it feel like?
ADRIANO
Like emotions set in glass. Laughter, tears, anger, all set in glass.
KOZLOWSKI
How strange...
ADRIANO
And the same thing happened the day after, and the day after that. And my father and brothers had the same experience. This was no ordinary glass. Something had possessed it.
INTERVIEWER
And... what's that? What had possessed it?
KOZLOWSKI
What had possessed it?
ADRIANO
Poveglia. You know what happened there?
KOZLOWSKI
It is where plague victims were isolated and left to die. After the plague ended, Venetians set fire to the island.
INTERVIEWER
Waitwaitwait… You think...
ADRIANO
(ITALIAN) Along with the kelp ash, we gathered another type of ash. Human ash.
INTERVIEWER
Good lord…
KOZLOWSKI
You trapped their ashes inside the glass!
ADRIANO
It is the ash of people who were deported and shunned. They were not given a burial, not laid to rest.
INTERVIEWER
So, your glass is haunted?!
KOZLOWSKI
Haunted…
ADRIANO
We have done something terrible! We have imprisoned their souls!
BEAT.
KOZLOWSKI
Adriano. Maybe there is a different way of looking at it.
ADRIANO
Wha- What do you mean?
KOZLOWSKI
The tragic souls of Poveglia. You have given them a voice.
ADRIANO
A voice-?
KOZLOWSKI
You have found a way for the spiritual world to become physical! The souls inside the glass, you have not trapped them, you have liberated them! You have given them the gift of expression! Through your glass they can laugh, cry, sing, scream.
ADRIANO
Yes, the spirits are using the glass to express themselves.
KOZLOWSKI
And is that not a wonderful thing?
ADRIANO
Well, no.
KOZLOWSKI
Why not?
ADRIANO
Because... Because…
KOZLOWSKI
What?
ADRIANO
Because they want revenge.
ad break 2.
KOZLOWSKI
Revenge?!
ADRIANO
They were banished and burned and now they want revenge.
INTERVIEWER
How do you know this?
ADRIANO
This is where my story becomes unpleasant...
(PAUSE)
KOZLOWSKI
Go on...
ADRIANO
Vincenzo Barbaro came to see how his chandelier was progressing. He brought his young daughter. She was entranced by the glass! My father took a blob of molten crystal and formed a little star for her. She clutched it in her tiny fist, kept it there all day, went to bed with it. The next morning, Vincenzo and Marietta Barbaro found their daughter's bed soaked in blood.
INTERVIEWER
Oh…
ADRIANO
She had cut herself.
INTERVIEWER
Oh no…
ADRIANO
The parents were too late. She had bled to death.
KOZLOWSKI
What a terrible story.
INTERVIEWER
Indeed yes… But… but what makes you think the glass had malign intent? Surely it could have been an accident?
ADRIANO
Nonono, A few days later Agustin Gradenigo, commander of the Venetian navy, commissioned us to make a glass dagger for him. He proceeded to stab fifteen men in a tavern, then plunged it deep into his heart.
KOZLOWSKI
(GASPS) Another terrible story!
INTERVIEWER
I mean… Drunken brawls are very common...
ADRIANO
Gradenigo led our navy to Constantinople. He kept his wits when our fleet was besieged by the Mughals. He is a levelheaded man. This was not Gradenigo's doing.
KOZLOWSKI
So, you believe the glass is intentionally killing people?
ADRIANO
(IN ITALIAN) Yes. And I believe this is only the beginning.
KOZLOWSKI
Then you must stop offering these spirits shelter! You must stop using Poveglia ashes!
ADRIANO
I have tried to explain this to my father. But he is hypnotised by the glass.
KOZLOWSKI
And your brothers?
ADRIANO
They are equally enthralled.
INTERVIEWER
You said you believe this is just the beginning... What do you mean?
ADRIANO
We finish the chandelier for the Barbaros next week and install it in Palazzo Dario.
INTERVIEWER
And what do you think will happen then?
ADRIANO
(GETTING MORE AND MORE TERRIFIED) I don't know. But the star and dagger are mere trinkets. If they can cause such destruction, just imagine what a giant chandelier with one hundred and fifty candles can do!
INTERVIEWER
Oh dear...
ADRIANO
And it won't stop there. We have orders from every wealthy household in Venice. Poveglia's curse will spread through the city and my family will be responsible for death and destruction everywhere. I want no part in this. I want to leave Murano.
KOZLOWSKI
But no glassblower leaves Murano...
INTERVIEWER
At least not alive...
ADRIANO
Which is why I need you to help me break out of my prison. Can you do that?
INTERVIEWER
For the Confraternita della Fenice, nothing is impossible.
ADRIANO
Yes…
KOZLOWSKI
I have an idea...
ADRIANO
Yes? (ITALIAN)
KOZLOWSKI
I think we should use your death as a last attempt to change your father's mind.
ADRIANO
My death? (ITALIAN)How do we do that?
KOZLOWSKI
Death by glass. When the glass claims his own son, maybe he will reconsider.
ADRIANO
(IN ITALIAN) I see... You may be right...
INTERVIEWER
It's a good idea... Adriano, do you have any glass that is uncontaminated by Poveglia's ashes?
ADRIANO
Yes. The glass I used in my demonstration this morning.
INTERVIEWER
Enough to make a glass coffin?
ADRIANO
A- a coffin?
INTERVIEWER
You are a small man. If we were dealing with Kyd over here, I daresay we would require all the glass on Murano, ey!
ADRIANO
(SPLUTTERS) I will make a coffin for myself?
INTERVIEWER
Oh, no need to look scared!
ADRIANO
How long will I be inside the coffin? Will I be buried?
INTERVIEWER
No-
ADRIANO (CON’T)
Buried alive?
INTERVIEWER
Don't worry. It will be your replacement corpse in the coffin. Not you. I assume you can secure a replacement corpse Kyd?
KOZLOWSKI
I have a contact at Ospedale degli Incurabili.
INTERVIEWER
Wonderful.
ADRIANO
This doesn't seem right...
INTERVIEWER
What?
ADRIANO
Taking a corpse from a hospital...
INTERVIEWER
You wanted a fake death did you not?
ADRIANO
Yes...
INTERVIEWER
Then let us fake death!
ADRIANO
By using the corpse of someone else?
INTERVIEWER
Well if it was your corpse, it would defeat the point, wouldn't it?
KOZL,OWSKI
Do not fret Adriano. I have committed your features to memory. I will be able to craft a passable likeness.
ADRIANO
(SPLUTTERING FOR ENGLISH) But how do I die?
INTERVIEWER
Nobody knows.
ADRIANO
Excuse me?
INTERVIEWER
This is the island of secrets is it not?
ADRIANO
Yes...
INTERVIEWER
Your father will find you on Murano's beach, trapped inside a glass coffin. How did you get there? Nobody knows.
(ADRIANO GASPS)
We will give Murano another mystery.
KOZLOWSKI
But even if he cannot explain it, your father will believe that the glass has unleashed its deadly magic yet again... Hopefully it will convince him once and for all that the glass brings only tragedy in its wake.
INTERVIEWER
He will push the coffin out to sea. Every glassblower on Murano will watch you drift out into the lagoon. A glassblower trapped in a glass coffin. A death that will go down in folklore...
ADRIANO
Fantastico! And then you will take me back with you? (IN ITALIAN) To London?
KOZLOWSKI
That depends on what you want to do in your new life.
INTERVIEWER
With your skills you can settle anywhere in the world. Kings, emperors and sultans will welcome you with open arms.
ADRIANO
No.
INTERVIEWER
No?
ADRIANO
If I continue to make glass, the Council of Ten will hear about it. They will hunt me down, no. I must give them no reason to doubt that I am dead.
INTERVIEWER
But glass is your life.
ADRIANO
It was my life. I would like to reinvent myself.
INTERVIEWER
Ah, alright… What do you have in mind?
ADRIANO
(ITALIAN) Glass is ethereal. I would like to turn to something solid and earthy.
INTERVIEWER
The soil...
ADRIANO
I have heard that England has the most wonderful gardens...
KOZLOWSKI
You would like to become a gardener?
ADRIANO
Instead of making glass "ciocca", I will make bouquets that smell!
INTERVIEWER
I have a friend at the Oxford Botanic Garden. We can set you up with an apprenticeship there.
ADRIANO
Perfect! How can I ever repay you?
KOZLOWSKI
Well, we have no use for chandeliers.
INTERVIEWER
Not haunted ones, anyways.
KOZLOWSKI (CON’T)
Our rooms in London are modest and we move frequently. But mirrors...
ADRIANO
You would like a mirror?
KOZLOWSKI
Yes. I work with faces. A true Venetian mirror would help with that work. They have inspired Venetian painters to create self-portraits, is that not so?
ADRIANO
That is correct.
KOZLOWSKI
Then I too shall use it for self-portraiture. Though rather than oil and canvas, I shall use flesh and cartilage.
ADRIANO
Uh...
KOZLOWSKI
"Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest, Now is the time to form another, Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest -"
INTERVIEWER (INTERRUPTING KYD)
Right! So we have a plan! Well almost. There's still one very important thing missing.
KOZLOWSKI
Oh?
ADRIANO
What's that?
INTERVIEWER
What's good to drink around here?
ADRIANO
Sorry?
KOZLOWSKI
Of course!
INTERVIEWER
New beginnings deserve a toast.
ADRIANO
Oh! Valpolicella. It is a heavenly wine.
INTERVIEWER
And where may we sample this divine beverage?
ADRIANO
I will take you to the best cantina on Murano.
INTERVIEWER
Marvelous! Adriano, lead the way!
(THEY WALK AWAY, MUMBLING ABOUT THE WINE)
ADRIANO
You’re gonna love it!
(AS THEY WALK BACK UP THE PIER, WE FADE TO MONMARTRE CEMETERY)
INTERVIEWER
And that's how we faked the death of Adriano Vianello and brought him back as Jacob Bobart, Oxford Botanic Garden's first permanent keeper.
ALVINA
Hmm.
INTERVIEWER
What?
ALVINA
I mean it's a great story. Really. Gave me goosebumps.
INTERVIEWER
But?
ALVINA
But it hasn't occurred to you that he could have made it all up?
INTERVIEWER
Everything I told you about Murano is true! They really did keep glassblowers cloistered there. Look it up!
ALVINA
Yes, but the rest...
INTERVIEWER
You can look up Poveglia too.
ALVINA
Yes, but the rest!
INTERVIEWER
What are you saying Alvina?
ALVINA
He wanted to get off that island. You wanted a story.
INTERVIEWER
Yes?
ALVINA
He knew you wouldn't help him without a great story, so...
INTERVIEWER
You think he made it all up so we would take on his case?
ALVINA
Hmhm! It hasn't crossed your mind?
INTERVIEWER
Well... I haven't told you what happened next.
ALVINA
What happened next?
INTERVIEWER
The plan didn't work.
ALVINA
(SHOOK) Oh no! What went wrong? Kozlowski didn't get a corpse? The Council of Ten caught wind of your scheme?
INTERVIEWER
No no. The death went without a hitch. Adriano's glass casket was pushed out into the lagoon, floated past Pellestrina, into the open sea, never to be seen again.
ALVINA
So, what went wrong?
INTERVIEWER
It didn't dissuade Adriano's father to abandon the glass.
ALVINA
Really? (INTERVIEWER HUMS) Even though it had claimed his own son?
INTERVIEWER
He was completely under its spell.
ALVINA
So the chandelier for that wealthy family was finished?
INTERVIEWER
Yes. And it was brought to Palazzo Dario.
ALVINA
Wait, why do I know that name?
INTERVIEWER
The Vianellos installed the mighty chandelier in the palazzo's grand dining hall while the Barbaro's attended an opera. The Vianellos never left that room.
ALVINA
What? Why?
INTERVIEWER
On their return from the opera, the Barbaros saw blood seeping out from under the dining hall doors. (ALVINA SHIVERS) They opened the doors on a scene of carnage. Alessandro's head was sliced clean off. (ALVINA GASPS) Leonardo's face was shredded to ribbons. Shards were protruding from Francesco's eyes.
ALVINA
Gah!
INTERVIEWER (CON’T)
Luca's entire body was cleaved in half.
ALVINA
Sheesh!
INTERVIEWER
In a way it was lucky.
ALVINA
Lucky?!
INTERVIEWER
Poveglia glass died with the Vianellos. They took their secret to the grave. Poveglia ashes have never been used in glass making ever again. Kozlowski and I are the only people who know about this. Well, and now you.
ALVINA
Thank you.
BEAT.
So, the curse didn't spread through Venice as Adriano feared?
INTERVIEWER
Fortunately not. It was contained within Palazzo Dario.
ALVINA
Contained you say...
INTERVIEWER
A few years later Vincenzo Barbaro was stabbed to death in the very same dining room. Marietta Barbaro committed suicide by jumping off the balcony into the Grand Canal. Since then, every owner of the house has died in mysterious fashion.
ALVINA
(REMEMBERING) "The house that kills", that's why I've heard of it!
INTERVIEWER
It is one of the most famous haunted houses in the world.
ALVINA
Didn't a member of The Who die there?
INTERVIEWER
Yes, in 2002. Now it stands empty.
ALVINA
So that is the reason the house is haunted? It houses the souls of Poveglia?
INTERVIEWER
You won't read that anywhere... But yes.
BEAT.
If you ever go to Venice Alvina, promise me you'll give Palazzo Dario a wide berth.
ALVINA
I promise.
INTERVIEWER
Now, how about a lighter story?
ALVINA
That would be nice. What do you have in mind?
INTERVIEWER
Let me take you to 1587. We were based in the Tower of London. Kozlowsky was a Yeoman, and I was the raven master. I had just performed the most majestic disappearance! But a certain someone didn't appreciate it. In fact, she was royally ticked off... (CHUCKLES)
(MUSIC)
CREDITS
Stay tuned for the epilogue, but first the credits! The Amelia Project is a production of Imploding Fictions. This episode featured Alan Burgon as The Interviewer, Hemi Yeroham as Kozlowski, Alexander Ananasso as Adriano and Julia C. Thorne as Alvina.
The episode was written and edited by Philip Thorne with story editing by Oystein Brager, direction by Philip Thorne and Oystein Brager, music and sound design by Adam Raymonda, production assistance by Maty Parzival and graphic design by Anders Pedersen.
Thank you so much to all our supporters, and a shoutout to our super patrons, that’s Celeste Joos, Heat 312, Jem Fidyk, Alban Ossant, Amélie and Alison, Stefanie Weittenhiller, Rafael Eduardo Wefers Verastegui, Alison Thro, Patricia Bohnwagner, Bryce Godmer, Cliff Huizenga, Michael West, Deanna Berchenbriter, Tim McMackin, Blythe Varney, Parker Pearcy, Nitali Arora, Lee & Vee Hewerdine, Mr Squiggles, Toni Fisher, Tibbi, Florian Beijers, Courtney Mays Rensen, Boo, Mark Skrobanek, Astra Kim, Olivea Dodson, Philip Hansen, Michael David Smith, Alicia Hall, LG, Helden Inkheart, Ryan Burnett, Robert Acker, SuperKaliFragalisticExpi-Alex Nicol, Timotheus, Resetoaster
And now, the epilogue.
EPILOGUE.
LONDON.
INTERVIEWER
Kyd?
KOZLOWSKI
(MUMBLES)
INTERVIEWER
Kyd?
KOZLOWSKI
Hmm...
INTERVIEWER
Kyd!
KOZLOWSKI
(LOST IN THOUGHT) I am busy Arthur.
INTERVIEWER
Busy? You call that busy?
KOZLOWSKI
Hmm...
INTERVIEWER
It's vain, that's what it is!
KOZLOWSKI
Arthur!
INTERVIEWER
Ever since we've returned from Murano you're obsessed with this stupid mirror!
KOZLOWSKI
It is a work of great craftsmanship...
INTERVIEWER
I wish we'd never taken it.
KOZLOWSKI
This mirror is extraordinary.
INTERVIEWER
Are you really so obsessed with your own reflection?
KOZLOWSKI
Some mirrors allow you to see beyond your own reflection... They let you see...
INTERVIEWER
What? They let you see what?
KOZLOWSKI
I... I do not know... I do not understand...
INTERVIEWER
Oh good lord…
KOZLOWSKI
(MUMBLES)
(WE FADE TO A BACKSTREET IN NAPLES. A CLOCK STRIKES ELEVEN IN THE BACKGROUND. KOZLOWSKI ARRIVES AT FIORELLA'S HOUSE AND KNOCKS ON THE DOOR. NO RESPONSE)
KOZLOWSKI
Hello?
(HE PUSHES THE DOOR LIGHTLY. IT SWINGS OPEN WITH A SLIGHT CREAK. HE CALLS INTO THE HOUSE)
Hello? Hello? (IN ITALIAN) Is anyone there?
(STILL NO RESPONSE. HE STEPS INSIDE. FROM ABOVE, THE FAINT ETHEREAL SOUND OF SINGING GLASS...)
END.