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_R. U. R._
(ROSSUM’S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS)
_A Fantastic Melodrama in Three Acts and
an Epilogue_
_By Karel Capek_
_English version by
Paul Selver and Nigel Playfair_
[Illustration]
Samuel French, Inc.
Copyright ©, 1923, by Doubleday, Page and Company
_ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_
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is subject to a royalty. It is fully protected under the copyright
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rights, including professional, amateur, motion pictures, recitation,
lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, and the
rights of translation into foreign languages are strictly reserved. In
its present form the play is dedicated to the reading public only._
_R. U. R. may be given stage presentation by amateurs upon payment
of a royalty of Thirty-five Dollars for the first performance, and
Twenty-five Dollars for each additional performance, payable one week
before the date when the play is given, to Samuel French, Inc., at 45
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Richmond Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 1P1._
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The publication of this play does not imply that it is necessarily
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Printed in U.S.A.
ISBN 0 573 61497 0
R. U. R.
STORY OF THE PLAY
The play is laid on an island somewhere on our planet, and on this
island is the central office of the factory of Rossum’s Universal
Robots. “Robot” is a Czech word meaning “worker.” When the play opens,
a few decades beyond the present day, the factory had turned out
already, following a secret formula, hundreds of thousands, and even
millions, of manufactured workmen, living automats, without souls,
desires or feelings. They are high-powered laborers, good for nothing
but work. There are two grades, the unskilled and the skilled, and
especially trained workmen are furnished on request.
When Helena Glory, president of the Humanitarian League, comes
to ascertain what can be done to improve the condition of those
overspecialized creatures, Harry Domin, the general manager of the
factory, captures her heart and hand in the speediest courting on
record in our theatre. The last two acts take place ten years later.
Due to the desire of Helena to have the Robots more like human beings,
Dr. Gall, the head of the physiological and experimental departments,
has secretly changed the formula, and while he has partially humanized
only a few hundreds, there are enough to make ringleaders, and a world
revolt of robots is under way. This revolution is easily accomplished,
as robots have long since been used when needed as soldiers and the
robots far outnumber human beings.
The rest of the play is magnificent melodrama, superbly portrayed,
with the handful of human beings at bay while the unseen myriads of
their own robots close in on them. The final scene is like Dunsany on a
mammoth scale.
Then comes the epilogue, in which Alquist, the company’s builder, is
not only the only human being on the island, but also the only one
left on earth. The robots have destroyed the rest of mankind. They
spared his life because he was a worker. And he is spending his days
unceasingly endeavoring to discover and reconstruct the lost formula.
The robots are doomed. They saved the wrong man. They should have
spared the company’s physicist. The robots know that their bodies
will wear out in time and there will be no new multitudes of robots
to replace them. But Alquist discovers two humanized robots, a young
man and young woman, who have a bit of Adam and Eve in them, and the
audience perceives that mankind is about to start afresh. Nature has
won out, after all.
The cast of the Theatre Guild Production as originally presented at the
Garrick Theatre, New York:
R. U. R.
(ROSSUM’S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS)
_By_ KAREL CAPEK
English version by Paul Selver and Nigel Playfair
Staged by Philip Moeller
Settings and Costumes by Lee Simonson
CHARACTERS (in order of appearance)
HARRY DOMIN, _General Manager of Rossum’s Universal
Robots_ _Basil Sydney_
SULLA, _a Robotess_ _Mary Bonestell_
MARIUS, _a Robot_ _Myrtland LaVarre_
HELENA GLORY _Kathlene MacDonell_
DR. GALL, _head of the Physiological and Experimental
Department of R. U. R._ _William Devereaux_
MR. FABRY, _Engineer General, Technical Controller of
R. U. R._ _John Anthony_
DR. HALLEMEIER, _head of the Institute for Psychological
Training of Robots_ _Moffat Johnston_
MR. ALQUIST, _Architect, head of the Works Department
of R. U. R._ _Louis Calvert_
CONSUL BUSMAN, _General Manager of R. U. R._ _Henry Travers_
NANA _Helen Westly_
RADIUS, _a Robot_ _John Rutherford_
HELENA, _a Robotess_ _Mary Hone_
PRIMUS, _a Robot_ _John Roche_
A SERVANT _Frederick Mark_
FIRST ROBOT _Domis Plugge_
SECOND ROBOT _Richard Coolidge_
THIRD ROBOT _Bernard Savage_
ACT I
Central Office of the Factory of Rossum’s Universal Robots