Theft of Souls

The Trial of Lawrence of Arabia

a play by

Glenn Ashton
https://www.amazon.com/author/glennashton
Theft of Souls

Copyright © 2013 by Ashton Glenn van Schalkwyk, writing

under his pen name Glenn Ashton

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any
information storage and retrieval system, without prior written
permission of the Author, Ashton Glenn van Schalkwyk, writing
under the pen name Glenn Ashton. This copyright in favor of
Glenn Ashton does not extend to any extracts from The Seven
Pillars of Wisdom included herein, some or all of which may be
in the public domain.

Your support of author’s rights is appreciated.

Your Right to Produce the Play prior to June 30, 2020:

Please note that the Author hereby grants to any and all persons
the right to produce Theft of Souls – The Trial of Lawrence of
Arabia as a play, for any purpose whatsoever, without payment
of any royalties or fees to the Author or consent of the Author, at
any time prior to June 30, 2020.
 Foreword

Every now and then a convulsive heave of History throws

up a man or a woman who steps forward, grips History by the
scruff of its neck, and makes it move in a direction he or she has
chosen.
Such a man was T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as
Lawrence of Arabia.
Driven by forces within him, Lawrence found himself
able to play a major role in one of the vital theatres of the con-
flagration we now call World War I. From his station in Cairo,
Lawrence plunged into the events taking place in Arabia, meet-
ing and befriending and finally advising and leading the leaders
of the Arab resistance against the rule of Turkey.
His story is legendary; his exploits documented in his
own writings and the writings of others.
This play is set in Arabia. It places Lawrence in the dock
of an imaginary court, charged with the theft of the souls of
some of the men he lead. It uses his own words, from his writ-
ings, especially The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, to lay out the
case against him, and in his defence.
This play is dedicated to Lawrence, and to all those who
have read about him and about the war in Arabia.

Please consider gifting this book to friends & relatives!

 Table of Contents

Prologue...................................................................................... 1
Scene I .........................................................................................3
Scene II ....................................................................................... 5
Scene III ....................................................................................35
Scene IV .................................................................................... 57
Prologue

There are silent black and white still shots playing sequentially
on the white screen at the back of the darkened stage. One scene
is repeated time after time - it is of Lawrence in civilian clothes,
riding his powerful motorcycle.

The noise of a motorcycle engine starts low and gradually builds

up until it is a roar in the theatre; the ground shakes from the
sound as the engine screams higher and higher, lurching up as
the gears are shifted.

Then, suddenly, there is absolute silence, and the stage is black.

After a brief pause, a dim light spotlights Lawrence of Arabia,

standing in the dock of a courtroom. The courtroom is a mod-
ern, western one.

Lawrence of Arabia is dressed in his famous white garments. At

odd moments during the trial be touches the knife in its scab-
bard at the front of his body; he also raises his head and looks
down his nose at the Prosecutor.

Lawrence seldom smiles.

His hand gestures disdainfully as he dismisses the Prosecutor's

charges.
Scene I

Prosecutor
Let me remind you of the charges, Mr. Lawrence. You stand in
the dock because you are accused of the theft of the souls of men
you led into battle.
You have built your theft on the foundation of three lies.
You lied to the Arabs.
You lied to your government.
You lied to yourself.
The only people you did not lie to were your readers. Your own
hand will convict you.
You duped all the men you came across, from Feisal down to the
men who rode with you through the desert ...
Scene II

[There is a large flat mirror wrapped in canvas, located between

Lawrence and the Judge. The Prosecutor steps forward and
slides the canvass off the mirror. The whole figure of Lawrence
can be seen in the mirror.]

Prosecutor
This - gestures to the mirror - is You, as you wrote in your
book. I want you to see yourself, as you now stand accused. You
cannot escape yourself.

[Lawrence turns his head this way and that, noting his image.
He unconsciously tucks his robe into place and fingers the
scabbard of his knife, all the while watching his reflection. The
Judge and Prosecutor watch him.]

Prosecutor
You were “moved by curiosity”. Will you explain to us the
cause of that curiosity?
Lawrence
I longed as a boy to lead a national movement ...
Prosecutor
To feel yourself “the node of a national movement”?
Lawrence
Yes, if you want to phrase it that way ...
Prosecutor
Not I, Orrence. Not I, but you phrase it that way.
 Glenn Ashton

[Lawrence nods wearily, and his glance flits to the mirror.]

Lawrence
If you say so.
Prosecutor
You swung the Arabs upon an idea as on a cord. The
unpledged allegiance of their minds made them obedient serv-
ants?
Lawrence
They were a people of starts ... the end meant nothing to
them. This I had to fight.
Prosecutor
They were as unstable as water, weren’t they?
Lawrence
But like water, they would perhaps prevail.
Prosecutor
Even without your help ...

[Lawrence gestures impatiently; he tugs at his robe, eyes on the

mirror.]

Lawrence
Their minds lacked endurance and routine. This was my
destiny: to instill those elements.
Prosecutor
You were needed in this great venture - this great public
venture - because the Arab civilizations lacked public spirit?
Lawrence
But their private qualities were excellent!
Prosecutor
You saw yourself as a hero, did you not?
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 The Theft of Souls

Lawrence
Yes. I saw myself as a hero, if you wish!

[Lawrence’s defence counsel bobs up and tugs at Lawrence’s

robe, whispering loudly.]

Defence Counsel
Just say Yes or No to his questions.
Lawrence
Sit down, you little man. This is my moment in history.
My moment.

[Pause. The Prosecutor looks steadily at Lawrence before she

continues.]

Prosecutor
Let me remind you of the charges, Mr. Lawrence. You
stand in the dock because you are accused of the theft of the
souls of men you led into battle.
You have built your theft on the foundation of lies. You
duped all the men you came across, from Feisal down to the
men who rode with you through the desert ...
Lawrence
Don’t say anything about Feisal, you know him not. If you
had walked where he walked! Heard the rope-sounds as his
friends were hanged, while he stood next to his host, Jemal,
invited to join the festivities. He ran a double life, on orders of
his father. Messages from son to father in cakes, in the soles of
shoes, in sword-hilts...

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 Glenn Ashton

[In the background the chorus of Orrence! Orrence! Orrence!

swells then dies out. The Prosecutor waits a moment, her eyes
steady on Lawrence. She unconsiously mimics his toying with
his robes.]

Prosecutor
You and your fellow Boy Scouts in Egypt; you called
yourselves the Intrusives. How apt! You intruded upon the Arab
world, you intruded upon the homes of the ignorant, you intrud-
ed upon a war that was not your war.
Lawrence
You were not there. They - the ones in Whitehall - they
were wrong; so wrong. Like you, they were not there. They
thought the smashing of Turkey would be a promenade.
Prosecutor
But you were a prophet - you could see things as they
were, as they were to be “... so they required a prophet to set
them forth.” And you were their prophet?
Lawrence
If you say so.
Prosecutor
Their self-appointed prophet ...
Lawrence
Leaders are not appointed. They arise.
Prosecutor
From what?
Lawrence
From history.
Prosecutor
Destiny?
Lawrence
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 The Theft of Souls

Will you give me no peace? Will you not stop your

hounding?
Prosecutor
It is you, Orrence, who hounds yourself. Your honest self
– ahe holds up the Seven Pillars and brandishes it at Lawrence -
writing in your own Book of Accusation, who damns your lying
self. You hound yourself, Sir!

[Lawrence stares at the book.]

Prosecutor
Do you wish the ‘passage of time” had bleached out your
stains?
Lawrence
No, not so. I wrote -
he points at the Seven Pillars in Proscutor’s hand
- that because I wished to record for eternity the events
that took place.
Prosecutor
And your role therein.
Lawrence
And my modest role therein, yes.
Prosecutor
Your “ordinary effort”. The effort you describe in this,
your second book. Do you remember? When you had to re-write
your novel because it was lost at Reading Station ...?
Lawrence
I know why I had to re-write it!
Prosecutor

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 Glenn Ashton

If you had not put pen to paper, you might not have
found yourself in this precarious state you now are in, faced with
your own accusing words.
Lawrence
It was a story that had to be told. History demanded it.
Prosecutor
Your moment in history.

[Lawrence grimaces.]

Prosecutor
You acted out a boyhood dream, did you not? You would
sacrifice anyone - anyone with a brown skin - to live our your
dream, wouldn’t you? All were expendable. Mean happenings,
little people. She mocks the chanting heard before.
Prosecutor
Orrence! Orrence! Orrence! That is what you wanted to
hear, is it not? Not learned discourse, not an exchange of views.
Just Orrence! Orrence! Orrence! While you strutted around in
your white costume with your shiny dagger and played Hero.
Lawrence the Hero. Saviour of Damascus.

[Lawrence turns from her, ignoring her.]

Prosecutor
You wore the Arab dress with pride?
Lawrence
Feisal asked me to. It made the men behave to me as
though I was one of the leaders.
Prosecutor

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 The Theft of Souls

You so wanted to be one of the leaders. Your words, here,

in this courtroom - you dressed in Arab clothes so the men
would behave to you as though you were one of the leaders.

[Lawrence does not seem to know how to answer her. He simply

stares at her.]

Prosecutor
You held them in contempt, did you not Mr Lawrence?
All the time that you were “helping” them to Statehood, you
hated them, despised them, didnt you? I put it to you that your
contempt was the wellspring of your indifference to the harm
your Theft of their Souls would do?

[Lawrence seems at a loss again.]

Prosecutor
Please explain: “We took Damascus, and I feared. More
than three arbitrary days would have quickened in me a root of
authority”.
Lawrence
I looked within and saw the roots of a dictator. That is
what made me afraid. It takes a ....
Prosecutor
Great?
Lawrence
Yes, if you must. A great man. It takes a great man to see
in himself evil, and to turn from it.
Prosecutor
As you did when you wrote of yourself as a Chief?
Lawrence
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 Glenn Ashton

Yes, but ....

Prosecutor
As you did when you behaved like a Chief, plotting and
planning and moving your little armies along the desert sands of
your maps .... Using your authority ...
Lawrence
You distort the reality of things. I lead because they
needed a leader, and I was there. I embodied their inchoate need
for victory.
Prosecutor
It was thrust upon you, wasn’t it?
Lawrence
What?
Prosecutor
Leadership, Orrence. The great burden of leading men.
Lawrence
You may mock that burden, sir, but it does not change
one jot or tittle the reality and magnitude of such burdens.
Leaders know of what I speak.
Prosecutor
And we, the common folk, the little people, do not.
Lawrence
You must remember. The fringes of their deserts were
strewn with broken faiths. I offered them a faith they could
believe in - themselves.
Prosecutor
You write that you have a crab-fashion of observing, a
sideways-slipping affair of the senses. You slithered this way,
then that. but never full frontal so that they could see through
the veils of your choosing, but sideways-slipping, always side-

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 The Theft of Souls

ways-slipping, like the crab ... Let me go back to something you

said earlier. You claimed to embody their need for victory.
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
You were the Will incarnate?
Lawrence
Once again you distort things. The leadership of the
Chiefs was a beautiful thing, as strong and clean as the desert we
rode in. No matter what you might say in this squalid little room
-

[Lawrence gestures around him]

- you cannot reduce that to mockery. We were leaders. We made

strong decisions, fateful decisions. We carried the burden of
command. We were leaders, so we lead.
Prosecutor
Someone had to do it?
Lawrence
No. You still do not understand. It is not a choice. I lead
because I was forced to lead. It was a convergence of a time, of a
nation-in-embryo, and of a man: me.
Prosecutor
It was destiny?
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
Yours or the Arabs?
Lawrence
Both.
13
 Glenn Ashton

Prosecutor
With you longing to feel yourself the node of a national
movement?
Lawrence
You twist things so terribly!
Prosecutor
Not me, Mr. Lawrence. You. It is written ...
Lawrence
You mock again ...
Prosecutor
It is written in your hand, in your book, by your honest
self ...

[Lawrence turns from the book, fingering the dagger at his

waist.]

Prosecutor
You laud officers for having “the imaginative vision of the
end”. So you had this vision, while leading these Arabs into their
long treks across the burning sand, into your battles, on behalf
of your King and Country...
Judge
What is your point?
Prosecutor
There is no room for the Accused to escape responsibility
for his acts by claiming that he was swept along by a tide of
events. He was no will-less flotsam and jetson. He - points at L -
was always with a vision of the end, and end he willed and then
achieved.
Judge

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 The Theft of Souls

Mr. Lawrence has not, as far as I can recollect, raised a defence

of being a pawn. Are you creating a straw man?
Prosecutor
It is implicit in what he says, My Lord. I raise no man of
straw. This man of substance - points to L - claims that he had to
obey orders. He writes ...
Judge
Is that true, Mr. Lawrence?
Lawrence
What, My Lord?
Judge
Do you intend pleading that your innocence rests upon
your being in a subordinate position and thus having to obey
orders?
Lawrence
Subordinate to Destiny, My Lord. That I willingly plead.
Prosecutor
And to King and Country?
Lawrence
Yes! That too! I was a soldier. I took orders, as any soldier
does.
Prosecutor
Take us to the desert, Mr. Lawrence. Let us try to under-
stand what you say we cannot, for we were not there with you.
Take us on your expedition from Aba el Lissan. Make us under-
stand ...

[Lawrence changes, his eyes narrow as if squinting into the

desert sun, and he becomes watchful, like a man on a dangerous
mission, not knowing if an enemy is nearby. The lines along his

15
 Glenn Ashton

mouth deepen. He is now clearly a professional soldier, sea-

soned in war.]

Lawrence
We ride on two thousand camels, carrying our ammuni-
tion and our food. The ground is vivid with new grass; and the
sunlight, which slants across us, pale like straw, mellowed in the
fluttering wind.
The abstraction of the desert landscape cleanses me, and
renders my mind vacant with its superfluous greatness; a great-
ness achieved not by the addition of thought to its emptiness,
but by its subtraction ...

[L stares intently into the distance. The sunlight gradually

intensifies over his figure, leaving the others dimly lit.]

Lawrence
Near sunset the rail line became visible.

[He seems to stoop a little, as if reaching down to touch some-

thing at his feet.]

Lawrence
There is always a little thrill in touching the rails which
were the target of so many of our efforts. Then we journey to
Atatir, where every hollow is a standing pool. Water is so im-
portant, you see, in the desert ...
Prosecutor
What did you do then?
Lawrence

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 The Theft of Souls

We climb the chalky ridges, and from their tallest point

we look north and south, see how the rain, running down, has
painted the valleys across the white in broad stripes of green,
sharp and firm like brush-strokes. Everything is growing ...
Playful packs of winds come crossing and tumbling over one
another ...
Prosecutor
You then march southward, along the railway?
Lawrence
Yes. We start on one of those clean dawns which wake up
the senses with the sun ... We ride, my little party, on prize
camels swooping from one point of vantage to another, on the
look-out.
Prosecutor
There is danger?
Lawrence
There is always danger present. We ride with it as our
companion; it tethers its camel at night with us when we do, and
it sleeps at night with us, coming to each one in his dreams ...
Prosecutor
You see eight Turks?
Lawrence
Eight. A small party. A little party.
Prosecutor
And Farraj - the bosom friend of your man Daud, who
died on an earlier raid - he rides ahead of your group?
Lawrence
He won’t listen to our cries.

[He cocks his head, listening to the cries of warning of his men.]

17
 Glenn Ashton

We fire warning shots past his head, but he ignores us, and
canters madly towards the bridge.
Prosecutor
Where are the Turks?
Lawrence
We thought they had gone below the embankment,
beyond the railway line.
Prosecutor
And what happens?
Lawrence
The Turks hold their fire, but as Farraj draws rein be-
neath the archway of the bridge we are to blow up, there is a
shot, and he seems to fall or leap out of the saddle, and disap-
pears...
Prosecutor
You ride as fast as you can to the bridge?
Lawrence
I find there one dead Turk, and Farraj terribly wounded
through the body, lying by the arch just as he had fallen from his
camel.
Prosecutor
He is alive?
Lawrence
He greets us as we ride up, then he falls silent, sunken in
that loneliness which came to hurt men who believe death near.
Prosecutor
You tend to him?
Lawrence
We tear his clothes off. The bullet has smashed right
through him, and his spine seems injured. The Arabs say at once
that he has only a few hours to live.
18
 The Theft of Souls

Prosecutor
You try to stop the blood?
Lawrence
Yes. It is wide, slow bleeding, which makes poppy-
splashes in the grass. He says I should stop; he is dying and
happy to die, since he has no care of life.
Prosecutor
Then what happens?
Lawrence
We fuss over him, and an alarm is raised. My men see
fifty Turks working up the line to us, and then we hear a trolley
coming our way.
Prosecutor
You are outnumbered ...
Lawrence
We are only sixteen men, in an impossible position. I tell
them to lift him in his cloak, but consciousness is coming back,
and he screams so pitifully we don’t have the heart to hurt him
more.
Prosecutor
You wrote: “I knelt down beside him, holding my pistol
near the ground by his head, so that he should not see my
purpose ...” You remember those words?
Lawrence nods, then says in a strangled voice:
Yes
Prosecutor
You continue: “But he must have guessed it, for he
opened his eyes, and clutched me with his harsh, scaly hand, the
tiny hand of these unripe Nejd fellows.” Do you remember this?
Lawrence
Yes.
19
 Glenn Ashton

[Prosecutor reads again, tilting her head back and showing the
cover of the book to the Judge.]

Prosecutor
“I waited a moment, and he said, “Daud will be angry
with you,” the old smile coming back so strangely to this grey
shrinking face.” You remember these words, too?
Lawrence
Yes. It was written.
Prosecutor
It is written -

[She emphasises his words; her voice sounds like his and Law-
rence grimaces]

Prosecutor
- that “I am proudest of my thirty fights in that I did not
have any of our own blood shed. All our subject provinces to me
were not worth one dead Englishman.”

Pause.

Prosecutor
Do you remember those words, Orrence?
Lawrence
Yes. I wrote them. I stand by them.
Prosecutor
I put it to you, Mr. Shaw, that your crimes - the crimes
of the theft of souls, of the death of this man (killed by you, by
your own hand) - came from the same source: your hubris.
20
 The Theft of Souls

You wanted to be a great man, a leader.

You wanted to be the centre of a national movement.
You set yourself the task of seeking out a man you could
bend to your purposes, and found him in Feisal.
And in all these doings, you were driven by your selfish
ambition.
You coupled your own drive for fame, for your moment in
history, to your love of your King and of your Country.
I submit that it did not matter to you who died; as long as
it was not one of your own.
In spinning this web of deceit, you hid from your own
countrymen your intense ambition, clothing it in strategy,
masking it with talk of Allied interests, and tactics of your
nation.
As you spun to them, so you spun to the Arabs - and so
easily this was done by you! A word here, a murmured phrase in
the flickering firelight beside a campfire in the desert you so
loved, the tenderly dropped word - “it is far from Damascus”.
How cleverly you spun. How easily you hid your true mo-
tives. How hidden was your naked pride.

[She pauses].

You killed this man, the friend of your friend Daud, one
of your own young men ...
Lawrence
I killed him because we could not leave him where he
was, to the Turks. You were not there! You did not see them
burn alive our hapless wounded! If you had seen them after-
wards, you would have understood ...
Prosecutor [Softly]
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 Glenn Ashton

I understand, Orrence.

[In the background an uncertain chant of Orrence! Orrence!

rises but then fades quickly away. Both the Prosecutor and
Lawrence disregard it; his eyes are fixed intently on her.]

Prosecutor
When you rode, you rode hard.
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
Why?
Lawrence
Because the Arabs belonged there in the desert and I did
not.
Prosecutor
So because they belonged and you did not, you had to
prove yourself more ruthless?
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
Prove to all?
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
Including yourself?

Pause

Lawrence
Yes.
22
 The Theft of Souls

Prosecutor
That is what leaders are, aren’t they? More ruthless.
Lawrence
They have to have the right mettle, yes. You can call it
ruthlessness, if you wish ...
Prosecutor
What would you call it?

[Pause]

Lawrence
Destiny. Moulding by Destiny.
Prosecutor
You relished the idea of fighting?
Lawrence
Then.
Prosecutor
Then?
Lawrence
Now I know better. It did not matter. None of it. I know
that now.
Prosecutor
But not then?
Lawrence
No. Then there were things - important things - to be
fought for.
Prosecutor
And to die for?
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
23
 Glenn Ashton

And to lead men into battle for?

Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
And to have others - other men - die for?
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
At your bidding?
Lawrence [Tiredly and cynically]
Yes. To die at my bidding.
Prosecutor
Not worth one dead Englishman? You shed none of your
“own” blood, did you? Just the blood of the “little people”?
You knew that “Arabs believe in persons, not in institu-
tions”. And so you decided - of your own free will - to join those
countrymen of yours - “our blood” - in deceiving the Arabs?
You say: “So I had to join the conspiracy.” Why had to,
Orrence? Was there no place for honour in your thoughts in that
lonely desert? Or was it because Arab help was necessary to
your cheap and speedy victory in the East?

[Pause.]

Prosecutor
So what happened to these labours of yours?
Lawrence
The old men came out again and took our victory to re-
make it in the likeness o f the former world they knew. All men
dream, but not equally.
Prosecutor
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 The Theft of Souls

It is written: “The dreamers of the day are dangerous

men, for they act upon their dream with open eyes, to make it
possible. This I did.” Do you remember that?
Lawrence
I did that.
Prosecutor
With open eyes?
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
To make it possible?
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
So, you were not confused in your acts? You were crystal-
clear in your actions?
Lawrence
This I did.
Prosecutor
I put it to you that you did not care one jot or tittle about
the lives of the Arabs you lead into battle, that your aim was to
save the lives of Englishmen?
Lawrence
You are too harsh with me, Sir!

[Prosecutor flips open the book and reads from it]

Prosecutor
“I am proudest of my thirty fights in that I did not have
any of our own blood shed. All our subject provinces to me were
not worth one dead Englishman.”
25
 Glenn Ashton

[Pause.]

Prosecutor
You formed a view of the Arabs, Orrence, which made it
easier for you to be barbaric, for you were - in your mind -
amongst barbarians, were you not?
Lawrence
You did not meet the men I did. You did not see a man
with a pleasant smile, with his mouth becoming soft while his
eyes remained terrible. Perhaps if you had been there, seen
these things, then perhaps this - [waves around the courtroom] -
would not be happening. We had to persuade some to join the
cause. Some had minds that had chopped and balanced profita-
bly throughout their long lives. We lived always in the stretch
and sag of nerves.

[Pause, then Lawrence bursts out.]

Lawrence
You ask me now to tell you what happened then! Can you
not see that I cannot do so? Even there, in the desert, all I could
do was forget the past and the future, and just pluck at the
tangle of my present!
Prosecutor [Whispers]
Except for Damascus ...
Lawrence
Why do you not quote the parts of my book that support
my side? You claim that I paid no heed to my men, or to their
possible deaths, yet I wrote that we could not afford casualties;
that materials were easier to replace!
26
 The Theft of Souls

Prosecutor
Easier to replace ... !
Lawrence
You accuse me of deceiving the Arab leaders. How could
I? They were like women, they judged quickly, effortlessly,
unreasonably. Such men you could not deceive. So I gave them a
vision we could share together ...
Prosecutor
Damascus.
Lawrence
... I encouraged their loose showers of sparks into a firm
flame, aimed at Damascus.
Prosecutor
Damascus.
Lawrence
Feisal was a great man; he would rise always to a proposi-
tion of honour.
Prosecutor
Is that what you offered him - a proposition of honour?
Lawrence
There was honour in seeking Damascus.

[Lawrence is visibly exasperated at not seeming to get his point

across. He casts about him, as if seeking something to support
his position.]

Prosecutor
You were leading warriors ... You remember fierce Auda?
Who spoke of himself in the third person, and was so sure of his
fame that he loved to shout out stories against himself?
Lawrence
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 Glenn Ashton

How could one forget that man of large eloquent eyes,

like black velvet in richness!
Auda had slain seventy-five men with his own hand in
battle; of the number of dead Turks he could give no account:
they did not enter the register. Feisal was ably served by Auda,
the tall, strong man of haggard face, both passionate and tragic.
His face was magnificent in its lines and hollows. On it was
written how truly the death in battle of his favourite son cast
sorrow over all his life when it ended his dream of handing on to
future generations the greatness of his name.
Prosecutor
You, too, were so sure of your fame, weren’t you, Or-
rence? So sure that you wrote your Seven Pillars, shouting out
loud stories of yourself!

[Pause. Lawrence shakes his head from side to side.]

Lawrence
Such people demanded a stranger to lead them, one
whose supremacy would be based on an idea: illogical, undenia-
ble. I was that man.
Prosecutor
When they prevailed upon you to leave Egypt and go to
Feisal, you were reluctant? You would rather have stayed in
Egypt, then? Not gone to Damascus?
Lawrence
There were things to do in Egypt; things I was trained to
do. The Arab Bulletin I founded needed work done, there were
maps I wished to draw ...
Prosecutor

28
 The Theft of Souls

But you longed to feel yourself the node of a national

movement ...

[Lawrence is stung by this remark; his nostrils flare and he grips

the knife fiercely]

Lawrence
I hated soldiering.

[His voice becomes reflective, softer, inward-turning, as he

speaks to his reflection in the mirror.]

Lawrence
True, I worked at Hannibal’s tactices, played at Napole-
on’s campaigns, like any other man at Oxford, but I had never
thought myself into the mind of a real commander compelled to
fight a campaign of his own. They made me do this thing ...
Prosecutor
Now you are sideways-slipping on me again, Mr. Law-
rence. Always sideways-slipping ...

[She gestures with a hand, fingers bunched like a crab’s hurrying

claws. From now on until the play’s end, whenever she chal-
lenges him, she seems to unconsciously bunch her fingers in the
same gesture, and Lawrence is gripped by the movement, his
eyes always following the fingers as they sideways-slip across
the space before her.]

Prosecutor

29
 Glenn Ashton

... why not tell us the truth now? Feisal was wrong about
you, was he not? He did not see that your hunger was not for his
desolate land, but for something else.
You hungered to lead a nation, any nation.
He saw the hunger, but not the object of that hunger.
Perhaps if he had, he would not have listened when you whis-
pered “it is far from Damascus”!
You desperately wanted these men - Feisal’s men - to
admire you, isn’t that so, Orrence? You were the flame, and they
were the ore lying in wait before you, and you wanted - oh! how
you wanted! - the ore to admire the flame that transformed it?

[Lawrence gestures disimissively]

Prosecutor
But he warned you of that when first you met, did he not?
He saw the flame that you thought you were, and he knew that
his people were the waiting ore. He saw through you. And so
you had to deceive him. Why - with all you say of this great man
- why do you call Feisal a veiled prophet? Is this a Freudian veil,
your veil behind which you wished him to operate?
Lawrence
No! He could dispose men’s feelings to his wish. He was a
natural leader.
Prosecutor
You did not set out to deceive him right from the very
beginning? To spin him upon your puppet’s strings as you
dreamt your dreams and saw your visions under that palm tree?
Lawrence
No! Sherif Hussein taught his son Feisal how to handle
men. He sent him off into the desert for months on end to guard
30
 The Theft of Souls

roads by day and by night, to learn fresh means of fighting. He

hardened, became self-reliant; a native of no country, lover of no
private plot of land.

[Lawrence’s voice hardens, but he is talking to his reflection in

the mirror, not the the Prosecutor]

Would such a man allow himself to be lead by a foreigner

like I, if he did not believe in what I believed? I Even his name
spoke of his nature: Feisal, a sword flashing downward in the
stroke. Use his name lightly, for I was his friend ... If we did not
share a vision ...
Prosecutor
... of Damascus?
Lawrence
... of the road to Damascus. Such a man would not be
lifted upon the strings of any puppeteer. You misjudge him
sadly. There was no need for me to deceive him.
Prosecutor
When you found your man, your leader, your prophet,
you write: “The aim of my trip was fulfilled.” Your treasure hunt
was successful? Or was it more like a scavenger hunt for yet
another soul?

[Her voice is like a whiplash]

He was one of your first Stolen Souls, was he not, Mr. Lawrence?
Your first, wasn’t he?

[Pause.]

31
 Glenn Ashton

Prosecutor
Your naked ambition came forth in the arrogance of your
attitude. To them, to fate, to all. And even - [she slaps the book
on the table before her] - to your readers.
You had to tell the world that you were greater than any
event, any tragedy that befell those lost souls you lead into the
desert.
Your arrogance - your lust for your place in history, as a
leader - tells us the worth of one Englishman, in your eyes. And
then your lust for fame tells us of your attitude to the man you
are about to kill.
He looks at you, and sees Death in your eyes.
He tries to reason with you: my dead friend Daud will be
angry!
And what, Orrence, do you write?

[There is horror in Lawrence’s eyes. She picks up the book and

turns to the red tag two thirds of the way through the book. It is
the only red tag in the book - all the others are yellow.]

Prosecutor
As he sees his end in your face, your arrogance chooses a
place for itself, in his last memory, and in ours (for you capture
that arrogance for us and present it to us).
You say to him: “Salute him from me.”
Then you pull the trigger.
Lawrence
... I saved one, I could take one ...
Prosecutor
What was that?

32
 The Theft of Souls

[Lawrence says nothing. The stage dims into darkness]

33
Scene III

Prosecutor
Let me go back to something you said earlier. You
claimed to embody the Arabs need for victory.
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
You were the Will incarnate?
Lawrence
Once again you distort things. The leadership of the
Chiefs was a beautiful thing, as strong and clean as the desert we
rode in. No matter what you might say in this squalid little room
–

he gestures around him

- you cannot reduce that to mockery. We were leaders.

We made strong decisions, fateful decisions. We carried the
burden of command. We were leaders, so we lead.
Prosecutor
Someone had to do it?
Lawrence
No. You still do not understand. It is not a choice. I lead
because I was forced to lead. It was a convergence of a time, of a
nation-in-embryo, and of a man: me.
Prosecutor
It was destiny?
Lawrence
 Glenn Ashton

Yes.
Prosecutor
Yours or the Arabs?
Lawrence
Both.
Prosecutor
With you longing to feel yourself the node of a national
movement?
Lawrence
You twist things so terribly!
Prosecutor
Not me, Mr. Lawrence. You. It is written ...
Lawrence
You mock again ...
Prosecutor
It is written in your hand, in your book, by your honest
self ...
Lawrence [Whispers]
You learn things about yourself in the desert. The pain of the
heat on a staring plain of glassy sand mixed with shingle. The
welcome fall of a drop of sweat from the end of a tuft of hair,
striking your cheek cold and sudden and unexpected like a
splash. Feisal’s voice, in the quiet of a desert night. It was richly
musical, and so he used it carefully upon his men. When I chose
him, I little realized the power of the voice that came with him!
Feisal often spoke to us. Almost daily. His thought moved only
a little in front of his speech. So thin was the screen of words
that I could see his pure and brave spirit shining out ... Then we
would leave ...
Prosecutor
It is written ...
36
 The Theft of Souls

[Lawrence gestures and exclaims, then wearily turns his head

aside and stops his protest]

... that”there remained historical ambition, insubstantial as a

motive in itself.”
Lawrence [Ironically]
“I had dreamed ... of hustling into form, while I lived, the
new Asia which time was inexorably bringing upon us.” It is
written thus, by me. I dreamed of a place in history, leading its
charge, helping a Nation into being. There is no wickedness in
dreams of greatness, for oneself. Or for others.
Prosecutor
Fantasies ...
Lawrence
Only to those who are able to call my beginning an ordi-
nary effort. Only to those like you, sir.

[He turns and bows slightly to the Judge.]

To this court.
Prosecutor [Brutally.]
Did your dreams have blood in them, Orrence? Blood on your
own hands, spilled by your own desires?

[Lawrence raises his hands in objection.]

Prosecutor
Or did you only dream colourless bloodless dreams? Did
you wipe away the blood with your “longings”, your “curiosity”?

37
 Glenn Ashton

[Lawrence does not reply.]

Prosecutor
“Fantasies ...”
Lawrence
Only to such as you!
Prosecutor
No ordinary effort, was it, Mr. Shaw?
Lawrence
No. It was an extraordinary effort.
Prosecutor
You are a brave man, Mr. Lawrence. We all know that.
We all know of the time you rode alone into the desert to find a
man who had fallen off his camel. Find him you did; save him
you did. All knew of your bravery. Even Sherif Feisal.

[She pauses significantly and her voice hardens.]

But Sherif Feisal saw into your soul from the very start,
did he not? He saw that you were British in your core, despite
your ostentatious Arab dress. He saw into that core, and he said
you shared the hunger of the British for desolate lands, to build
them up.

[Lawrence is stung. His head jerks up, the headdress

swinging]

Prosecutor
Feisal saw you for the thief you were, did he not?
Through the veil you laid so carefully over your heart, into the

38
 The Theft of Souls

thief you tried so hard to hide within? You, with your hunger for
his desolate land!
Lawrence
I came not as a thief to him!
Prosecutor
But you became a thief from him, did you not?!

[Lawrence turns away from her. There is pain on his face, but
he seems unaware of it.]

Prosecutor
Tell us what happened in Wadi Kitan.

[Lawrence stares into the distance. His voice is hauntingly

beautiful as he describes the start of their journey.]

Lawrence
We spot two great grey piles of volanic rock, reddish
coloured where protected from the burning of the sun and the
bruising of sandy winds. We ride gently towards them, through
a thin shower of rain which comes slanting strangely and beauti-
fully across the sunlight.
We enter a narrow gorge with a sandy floor and steep
bare walls.
Then we enter a wild confusion of granite shards, and our
camels hesitate so we lead them on foot through the maze. We
find our way through it and pile stones on a cairn built atop the
mountain by others, also thankful to have finished with those
rocks.
I call a halt where the grass is green so that our camels
can graze, and I lie down and rest.
39
 Glenn Ashton

[Pause; Lawrence gazes thoughtfully into the distance]

Lawrence
I was not well, you see. My body was sore with headache
and high fever.

[Another pause]

Lawrence
My followers had been quarrelling all day. I hear a shot,
but stay prone, thinking it is a hare shot for the pot that night.
Then there is a call: a man has been shot.
Prosecutor
You go to investigate?
Lawrence
A Boreida man is lying stone dead among the rocks with a
bullet through his temples. The shot must have been fired from
close range; the skin is burnt about the wound.
Prosecutor
Did you find out who shot the man?
Lawrence
I am told: Hamed the Moor has done the murder. I send
the men out to find Hamed, then I crawl back to my rocky bed
and close my eyes.
Prosecutor
And?
Lawrence
I hear a rustle, and open my eyes slowly. Hamed is
stooped over his saddle-bags, close by me. His back is to me. I
cover him with my pistol and then speak. He has put down his
40
 The Theft of Souls

rifle to lift his bags, and is at my mercy. I call out loud and the
others come.
Prosecutor
You held a court?
Lawrence
Yes, at once. After a while Hamed confesses that they had
words, he had seen red and shot him suddenly.
Prosecutor
Then what happened.
Lawrence
That is the end of the enquiry. The relatives demand
blood for blood. My head is aching with fever and I can barely
think as I argue with them.

[Long pause; Lawrence is distracted; the Prosecutor waits,

immobile; Lawrence almost whispers the next sentence, his eyes
shut and voice bitter.]

Lawrence
Then rise up the horror which would make civilized man
shun justice like the plague if he had not the needy to serve him
as hangman. There are other Moroccans in our army, and to let
one of the murdered man’s relatives kill Hamed the Moor will
mean a feud, and reprisals.

[Pause]

Lawrence
My tortured brain forms the thought slowly. This will
spell the end to our unity. There is only one way out: a formal
execution. I turn to Hamed and tell him he must die for the
41
 Glenn Ashton

blood on his hands. My words fall into a sudden quiet in the

middle of all the arguments.

[Pause]

Lawrence
I tell him that I will carry out the sentence.

[Pause]

Lawrence
In the quiet I hear the soft slither of sand blown from the
top of nearby dunes.
Prosecutor
The others accept your decision?
Lawrence
There can be no revenge against my followers, for I am a
stranger among them, and kinless. Our unity will survive.

(beat)

I make him enter the narrow gully, a dank twilight place

overgrown with woods. Its sandy bed has been pitted by trickles
of water down the cliffs in the late rain. At the end it shrinks to a
crack a few inches wide.

(beat)

The walls are vertical.

(beat)
42
 The Theft of Souls

I stand at the entrance.

(beat)

He lies on the ground, crying. I force him to rise and

shoot him through the chest.

[Pause. The court is quiet. The Prosecutor unconsciously mimics

the long distance stare of Lawrence]

Lawrence
He falls down on the weeds and shrieks. Blood comes out
in spurts over his clothes. He jerks about until he rolls nearly to
where I stand.

(beat)

I fire again. My hand shakes so much I only break his

wrist.
Will he not die?
He calls again and again, less loudly now, lying on his
back with his feet towards me.

[Lawrence leans forward and points his hand - holding an

imaginary revolver - at the ground in front of him in the court-
room.]

Lawrence
I bend forward and shoot him for the last time in the
thick of his neck under the jaw. His body shivers a little.
43
 Glenn Ashton

He dies.
Prosecutor
Then..?
Lawrence
I order them to bury him. They scoop the sand out in the
gully where he lies and place him in the grave. Then they leave
me. All is quiet. I hear the soft slither of sand again. He was
here. Now he is gone. And only I am here, next to this ...
Prosecutor
You left?
Lawrence
They had to lift me into the saddle. My body would not
move.
Prosecutor
You chose to kill him?
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
You stood before him, with no passion in you, and point-
ed your revolver at a man and shot him?
Lawrence
There was passion in me. There always was passion in
me.
Prosecutor
For Damascus?
Lawrence
Yes. For Damascus.
Prosecutor
Nothing was to stop you leading them into Damascus?
Lawrence
It was time. And I was there. It was right.
44
 The Theft of Souls

Prosecutor
Not even one man’s life was allowed to stop you on this
journey?
Lawrence
It was not a journey.
Prosecutor
It was a moment in history?
Lawrence
The right time.
Prosecutor
So you deliberately killed a man to preserve this moment
in history.
Lawrence
History would allow no other deed of me.

[Pause.]

Lawrence
You say you speak for the Souls stolen. Then how can you
mock their memory so?
Prosecutor
Let me return to the “root of authority” you espied within
yourself. You claim you feared it: “We took Damascus ...”
Lawrence
“... and I feared.”
Prosecutor
Exactly. We agree on this, at least. What is written.

[Lawrence shakes his head and drops his eyes to the dagger at
his waist.]

45
 Glenn Ashton

Prosecutor
Why did you shoot him in cold blood?
Lawrence
The desert did not afford the refined slow penalties of
courts and jails.
Prosecutor
You wore this crown of thorns, your doubt? But they were
a dogmatic people, despising doubt. So you decided to be as
decisive as they were?
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
To strip yourself of your crown of thorns, and to make
decisions. Firm decisions?
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
Such as killing this young man?

[Lawrence is silent.]

Prosecutor
And what of General Allenby?
Lawrence
His coming to Egypt had re-made the English. He has a
breadth of personality that sweeps away most of the depart-
mental jealousies we had suffered from. He was one of my two
masters, the other being Feisal.
Prosecutor
Can a man serve two masters?
Lawrence
46
 The Theft of Souls

Not well. Allenby expected me to do the best I could for

him. Yet Feisal relied on my advice, too, and often took it with-
out argument. Yet I could not explain to Alleny the whole Arab
situation, nor disclose the full British plan to Feisal.
Prosecutor
So you played a dangerous game of balance between your
two masters?

[Lawrence nods.]

Prosecutor
Telling one now this thing, and the other that thing? A
little lie, here, and a little lie, there?
Lawrence
Service to two masters irked me, sometimes.
Prosecutor
Irked you.
Lawrence
Irked me.
Prosecutor
But you managed them both well, did you not?
Lawrence
Reasonably so. They both needed me.
Prosecutor
Yet in the last resort, the Arabs would have to be sacri-
ficed for the English?
Lawrence
There was no need for that.

[The Prosecutor pats the book.]

47
 Glenn Ashton

Prosecutor
But if it was the last resort, you would have sacrificed the
Arabs for the English?
Lawrence
If needed.
Prosecutor
But even this is foresight you gained after the battles?
For you write: “Better we win and break our word than lose.” I
put it to you, Orrence, that with hindsight - not foresight at the
time - but hindsight at a time when you saw the results of your
work reach its logical conclusion, in the betrayal of the Arabs -
that you invented these fine thoughts of playing a double game?

[Lawrence remains silent.]

Prosecutor
You were concerned about your moment in history, and
so you sat down to write a revisionist view of the events.
Lawrence [anguishedly]
No!
Prosecutor
Because you suddenly saw, in the clear light of victory
and its inevitable deceipt of the Arabs, that your role had been to
dupe these men, to steal their Souls...
Lawrence
No (softer).
Prosecutor
... so you hoped to make of yourself a hero, for posterity.

[Long pause. The light on Lawrence strenghtens until is blind-

ingly white and vicious]
48
 The Theft of Souls

Lawrence
You have to understand the nature of the desert sun. It is
a living thing, a force. It bleaches all compassion out of people,
you see.
Prosecutor
Like the passage of time that bleaches out men’s sins?
You - or, rather, the Honest Lawrence - are very specific: “It was
evident from the beginning that if we won the war these promis-
es would be dead paper..”
Lawrence
Yes.
Prosecutor
“... and had I been an honest adviser of the Arabs I would
have advised them to go home and not risk their lives fighting
for such stuff...”
Lawrence
Yes. It is written thusly. But you read half-quotes when
you condemn me! If you would use my words to hang me, then
use them wisely, but above all, use all of them! You do not read
the words that follow, sometimes.

[Lawrence flips through pages and then reads from his book.]

Lawrence
“... but I salved myself with the hope that, by leading
these Arabs madly in the final victory, I would establish them,
with arms in their hands, in a position so assured (if not domi-
nant) that expediency would counsel to the Great Powers a fair
settlement of their claims.”
Prosecutor
49
 Glenn Ashton

You “presumed” that you would live through all the

battles, and defeat “not only the Turks on the battlefield, but my
own country and its allies in the council-chamber.”
Lawrence [Adamantly and brightly]
Exactly!
Prosecutor
You sought victory for your country and its Alies, domi-
nance over the land of the Arabs, yet you yourself acknowledge
that it as a square of land, as large as India, in which “no foreign
race had kept a permanent footing.” So why then did you lead
these men into a war when you knew your country’s aims on the
land could not survive?
Lawrence
It was my duty.
Prosecutor
Why forego honour for something you knew was to be so
short-lived?

[Lawrence is silent.]

Prosecutor
Because you had a different motive perhaps?

[Silence.]

Prosecutor
A desire not to lose the life of one single, solitary Eng-
lishman?

[Lawrence shakes his head in denial.]

50
 The Theft of Souls

Prosecutor
You thought with your blood, did you not? Not with
ideals, or a sense of history, but with your blood?

P[ause; she looks at Lawrence, her gaze steady]

Prosecutor
Feisal was wrong about you, was he not? He did not see
that your hunger was not for his desolate land, but for some-
thing else.
You hungered to lead a nation, any nation.
He saw the hunger, but not the object of that hunger.
Perhaps if he had, he would not have listened when you whis-
pered “it is far from Damascus”!

[Pause. She picks up his book, then replaces it on the table

before her.]

Prosecutor
You desperately wanted these men - Feisal’s men - to
admire you, isn’t that so, Orrence? You were the flame, and they
were the ore lying in wait before you, and you wanted - oh! how
you wanted! - the ore to admire the flame that transformed it?

[Lawrence gestures disimissively]

Prosecutor
But he warned you of that when first you met, did he not?
He saw the flame that you thought you were, and he knew that
his people were the waiting ore. He saw through you. And so
you had to deceive him.
51
 Glenn Ashton

Lawrence
You are an artist with your tongue; you sting me with
your epithets! Feisal was a man of moods, flickering between
glory and despair: I had to keep him on the road of his choosing,
so - Yes! - I chose my words with care, and used them to inspire
him when he was tired. We would speak of what I hoped, and of
what he wanted.
Prosecutor
A road of your choosing, you mean, Mr. Lawrence?
Lawrence
Of our choosing. His and mine. You must remember I
was working with a man of mercury, quicksilver in his mood
changes. No matter how I guided, he ran off in tangents. His
spur was courage; it overcame his weakness, but he was ...
imprudent, sometimes. You may say of me whatever you
wish, in this -

[he gestures at the room around him with a flowing robe caught
in his hand]
- in this court of yours, but there, in the desert.
there Feisal took my measure, and followed me. He, the careful
judge of men, he followed me.
Prosecutor
So he was the prophet, offered to your hand? Your
prophet of the Arab revolt. Your tool? When you found your
man, your leader, your prophet, you write: “The aim of my trip
was fulfilled.” Your treasure hunt was successful? Or was it more
like a scavenger hunt for yet another soul?

[Her voice is like a whiplash]

52
 The Theft of Souls

He was one of your first Stolen Souls, was he not, Mr. Law-
rence? Your first, wasn’t he?

[Lawrence simply shakes his head in weary denial.]

Prosecutor
You met often with General Allenby. What was his view of
you? Did he trust you?
Lawrence
At first, no. I met him after I took Akaba. He sat in his
chair looking at me - not straight, as his custom was, but side-
ways, puzzled. He could not make out how much of me was
genuine performer and how much charlatan. The problem was
working behind his eyes, and I left him unhelped to solve it.
Prosectuor
After you took Akaba.

[Lawrence reacts strongly]

Lawrence
Akaba had been taken on my plan, by my effort.
Prosecutor
When you found this man, Feisal - this veiled prophet of
your revolt - you sat beneath a palm tree, laden with fruit and
shady leaves, and you saw visions, did you not?
Lawrence
My aims were concrete and geographic. Feisal wanted to
throw out the Turks from all Arabic-speaking lands. In pursuit
of these aims we might kill Turks, because we disliked them very
much, but the killing was a pure luxury. If they would go quietly
the war would end. If not, we would try to drive them out. But
53
 Glenn Ashton

killing and dying for the aim were not essential. The Arabs
fought for freedom, and that was a pleasure to be tasted only by
a man alive.
Prosecutor
But the aims of the Allies differed?
Lawrence
Of course. A surfeit of killing on both sides would not
diminish any Allied aim. The desert could be drenched in blood
- it mattered not whose blood - as long as Allied war efforts were
aided.
Prosecutor
You set out then to double cross the Allied forces?
Lawrence
I concluded that History called for this to be done, yes.
Prosecutor
And in this, the killing of Turks was a luxury?
Lawrence
It was Arab country, and the Turks were in it: that was
the only issue.
Prosecutor
You write that “my argument preened itself.”
Lawrence
Pride in argument belongs to young men. There is no
harm in that, if the argument is valid.
Prosecutor
But you saw visions ....
Lawrence
Yes. I saw visions.
Prosecutor
In these visions, did you foresee the Souls you would
steal? The treacheries you would commit?
54
 The Theft of Souls

Lawrence
Feisal was born to the governing of men; he did not need
me to show him this art!
Prosecutor
But he needed you to provide the visions, did he not? This
veiled prophet needed your vision of Damascus!
Lawrence
I had preached to Feisal, from our very first meeting, that
freedom was taken, not given. We would have to take Damascus
...

[A soft chorus of Orrence! Orrence! fills the stage as the lights

dim and the curtains close.]

55
Scene IV

All the parties now have the same clothing as Lawrence, and the
same colour (white).

Each of the Prosecutor, the Counsel for the Defence, and the
Judge wear a plastic mask with Lawrence’s face on it.

The courtroom furniture has also changed - it is no longer the

austere wood-panelled courtroom it started out as: now it has
softer edges, and is minimalist.

The Judge stands before a low table.

The dock in which Lawrence stood is gone, and he stands with-

out anything before him.

The scenery looks a bit like the events are taking place in a
desert. In the background are a few palm fronds, hinting at palm
trees.

Prosecutor
Let me see if I understand your position, Mr Lawrence.
You are charged with treachery against the Arabs because you
led them into a war while you knew that the British Government
was planning to occupy part of the land the Arabs thought they
would win. While the British Government in fact had signed a
secret treaty with France and Russia under which the three
 Glenn Ashton

superpowers agreed to annex some areas and exercise influence

over the rest.
Lawrence
That is the charge, yes.
Prosecutor
And your answer is that you were playing a double game,
with the idea that the Arabs would be able to occupy the land
and become sovereign?
Lawrence
Exactly.

[The Prosecutor hands Lawrence the book. When Lawrence

starts reading, the words he reads are shown on a screen in the
back of the court.]

Prosecutor
Please read out loud the passage in the book of Lawrence,
that I have highlighted.
Lawrence
“But, not being a perfect fool, I could see that if we won
the war the promises made to the Arabs were dead paper. Had I
been an honourable adviser I would have sent my men home,
and not let them risk their lives for such stuff. Yet the Arab
inspiration was our main tool in winning the Eastern war.”

[Lawrence pauses and then resumes in a choked voice.]

Lawrence
“So I assured them that England kept her word in letter
and spirit.”
Prosecutor
58
 The Theft of Souls

Thank you.

[She takes the book from a mute Lawrence.]

Prosecutor
Is what Lawrence wrote clear, Mr. Shaw?
Lawrence
I ...
Prosecutor
No more games, please. Not in this moment in history. Is
what Lawrence wrote clear?
Lawrence
Yes. It is without ambiguity ...
Prosecutor
Thank you, Mr. Lawrence.
Lawrence
You are slaying me with your half-quotes. When I read
just now, that was only half the story. I also wrote, just after
that passage I read out, that in revenge I vowed to make the
Arab Revolt the engine of its own success. I vowed to lead it so
madly in final victory that expediency should counsel to the
Powers a fair settlement of the Arab’s moral claims.
Prosecutor
You lied to them, as the words of Lawrence that you read
out state. But you claim that you would then commit a double
treachery - this time against the British - in order to undo the
consequences of the first lie to the Arabs?
Lawrence
I ... You twist my words so!
Prosecutor

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 Glenn Ashton

You twist and turn in the web of your own deceipt, Or-
rence! It is your words that say both things. Did you plan to
deceive your Government?
Lawrence
So as to right a wrong, yes, that I did!
Prosecutor
Two wrongs were to make a right, then?

[She pauses. Lawrence stares past her.]

Prosecutor
In the desert, there were only men with men. And men
had appetites, that needed slaking. Lawrence writes of two of his
young men, that the animal in each called to the other, and they
wandered about taking pleasure in touch and silence.
Lawrence
He does. It is the desert, a man’s world.
Prosecutor
And Lawrence, in the desert, was no different from other
men, was he?

[Lawrence becomes increasingly uneasy; he stares intently at the

Prosecutor and no longer at his image in the mirror. His hands
are now frozen over the knife at his waist, one hand clasped atop
the other. The Prosecutor’s voice is very quiet, almost monoton-
ic.]

Lawrence
He was a man, yes.
Prosecutor

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 The Theft of Souls

Bear with me, Sir. I want your picture-making memory to

use its trade, and help us here, with this ... delicate ... explora-
tion.
Let us move on to the town Deraa, in Turkish hands.
You did as you always did: explored the land yourself, to
find out what was there.
You and one man walked into the town.
You were barefoot, and you had on a torn jacket.
It had been raining ...

[Lawrence’s voice is strained throughout the whole exchange. It

is as if another person has taken over, and his voice is disem-
bodied as he speaks of Lawrence in the third person].

Lawrence
... and the ground is muddy and slippery. Lawrence has to
spread his toes widely to take hold of the ground.
Prosecutor
And ...?
Lawrence
And he walks through the town, noting the German
stores, the barbed wire here and there, Turkish troops passing
him as he walks by. Someone calls out it Turkish.
Prosecutor
What does Lawrence do?
Lawrence
He walks on pretending he does not hear. The Turkish
sergeant comes up and takes him roughly by the arm. He says:
The Bey wants you.
Prosecutor
Lawrence goes with him? And Lawrence’s companion?
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 Glenn Ashton

Lawrence
Is ignored. It is Lawrence whom the Turkish Governor
wants. He is marched throught the tall fence into a compound
and into a mud room. He is questioned. Then they lead him into
the guard-room. They take away his belt, his knife. They feed
him.
Prosecutor
How long does he stay in that guard-room?
Lawrence
A day. They say they will enrol him in their army. Life is
good in the army. Tomorrow he might be allowed a day’s leave,
if ...
Prosecutor
If what?
Lawrence
If the Governor was pleasured that night ...
Prosecutor
By Lawrence?
Lawrence
By Lawrence.
Prosecutor
Then what happened?
Lawrence
Soon after dark three men come for Lawrence. They grip
him tightly. He struggles and silently curses his littleness. They
march him across the six tracks of the railway

(beat)

through a side gate

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 The Theft of Souls

(beat)

down a street

(beat)

past a square to a two-storied house. They take him upstairs to

the Bey’s bedroom.

[Long pause, then Lawrence resumes, voice low and imperson-

al].

Lawrence
The Bey is a big man; his hair is cropped short. He is
dressed in a night-gown, and is sweating and trembling as
though with fever. He waves the guard out. In a breathless voice
he tells Lawrence to sit on the floor in front of him. He waits.
The Bey tells him to stand up and turn around. He does.

[Pause. Lawrence has half extracted the knife from the sheath]

Lawrence
The Bey flings himself back on the bed, dragging Law-
rence down with him. Lawrence wrenches free. The Bey says ...
Prosecutor
The Bey says ...?

[Lawrence’s voice drops to a whisper]

Lawrence
How white and fresh Lawrence is.
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 Glenn Ashton

(beat)

How fine his hands and feet are.

(beat)

That the Bey will make him his orderly, pay him wages, if
...
Prosecutor
If ...
Lawrence
If Lawrence would love him.

[There is a long silence. In the background a muted, whispery

sad chorus of OH! Orrence, Oh! Orrence is heard; it gradually
dies away and the silence resumes; only the whisking of the fan
in the ceiling is heard]

Lawrence
Lawrence refuses. The Bey is angry. He snatches at
Lawrence. Lawrence pushes him away. The Bey claps his hands
and the sentry rushes in. The sentry holds Lawrence easily, and
tears off Lawrence’s clothes, bit by bit.

[Pause]

Lawrence
The Bey rises and comes to Lawrence. He touches the the
half-healed places where the bullets had flicked through his skin

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 The Theft of Souls

a little while ago. He runs his hands over Lawrence’s white

shoulder, down his chest, down his midriff ..

[A long silence. Lawrence is absolutely tense, his face frozen, the

knife still half drawn].

Prosecutor
What then?
Lawrence
Lawrence jerks his knee up between the beast’s legs. He
staggers back and collapses on the bed. The sentries hold Law-
rence while the Governor beats him in the face with a slipper.
Once, twice, three times ... many times. Then the Governor
bends forward and fixes his teeth in Lawrence’s neck and bites
until the blood comes ...

[Long pause]

Lawrence
Then the Bey kisses him.

(beat)

The Bey takes a bayonet and thrusts it into Lawrence’s chest.

[Lawrence draws the knife out, his right hand thrusts the blade
against his left breast. A small red stain appears on Lawrence’s
white costume; nobody notices it].

Lawrence

65
 Glenn Ashton

He pulls up a fold of flesh and forces the point of the

bayonet through it, then he twists it a half-turn. The blood
wavers down Lawrence’s naked chest and drips onto the front of
his thigh.

[Lawrence draws a long shuddering breath before continuing]

Lawrence
The Bey touches the blood with his finger-tips and looks
pleased. He dabbles the blood over Lawrence’s white stomach.
Lawrence is in despair. He speaks.

(beat)

The Bey stands still, then says: “You must understand

that I know: and it will be easier if you do as I wish.”

[Lawrence’s voice dies away. He shivers and recollects himself].

Lawrence
Lawrence is dumbfounded. The two men stare silently at
one another. But ...

[A long pause. The Prosecutor’s voice is soft and compassionate

when she speaks]

Prosecutor
But ... ?
Lawrence
But it was evidently a chance shot, by which the Bey could
not, or would not, mean what Lawrence feared. Lawrence
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 The Theft of Souls

cannot trust his twitching mouth, which falters always in emer-

gencies, so he throws up his chin, which is the sign for “No” in
the East.
Prosecutor
And?
Lawrence
The Bey sits down and half-whispers to the corporal to
take me out and teach me everything. They kick me to the head
of the stairs and stretch me over a bench. Two kneel on my
ankles; two twist my wrists until they crack; they crusk my neck
against the wood. The corporal runs downstairs and comes back
with a whip, of supple black hide, rounded, and tapering from
the thickness of a thumb at th grip (which is wrapped in silver)
down to a hard point finer than a pencil.

(beat)

I am shivering.

(beat)

He makes the whip whistle past my head and tells me

that at the twentieth stroke I will beg for the caressed of the Bey.
(beat)
He lashes me. I lock my teeth to endure this thing which
lapps itself like flaming wire around my body.

[Pause. Lawrence’s voice is flatter and more distant now.]

Lawrence

67
 Glenn Ashton

Lawrence numbers the blows to keep his mind in control,

but loses count after twenty. There is only the shapeless weight
of pain, a gradual cracking apart of his whole being.

(beat)

Lawrence
Somewhere in the place a cheap clock ticks loudly.

(beat)

Lawrence
Lawrence is distressed that the beating is not in time with
the clock. The corporal tires of the beating, and the others then
take turns to beat Lawrence. Then ...

[Lawrence’s face is a frozen mask. He stares into the distance,

into that squalid little room in that small town in the desert. His
voice shakes with tension.]

Lawrence
Then they tire of the beating and they ... they ... pull his
head around so that he can see how a hard white ridge - like a
railway - darkens slowly into crimson and leaps over his skin at
each stroke of the whip. There is a bead of blood everywhere
that two ridges cross.
They fling him to the floor. The corporal kicks him, and
Lawrence smiles up at him. Then the corporal slashes the whip
into Lawrence’s groin. Then another slash, and another ...
Prosecutor
Then what happened to Lawrence?
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 The Theft of Souls

Lawrence
Two men drag me about, each disputing over a leg as
though to split Lawrence apart, while a third man rides astride
him.

[Pause]

Lawrence
They splash water on his face, and wipe off some of the
dirt. Then they carry him back to the Governor. Lawrence is now
begging for mercy. The Governor ... rejects him. He is too torn
and bloody for the Governor’s bed. They soldiers carry Lawrence
down the narrow stair into the street and put him in a shed. He
lies there until the dawn light comes shining through the cracks
of the shed.

(beat)

Lawrence
He drags his body to his feet and rocks himself.

(beat)

Lawrence
He moans in wonder if it is has not been a dream, and he
is back five years ago, a timid recruit at Khalfati, where some-
thing, less staining, of the sort had happened ...
Prosecutor
Lawrence rejoins his men. He tells them a merry tale of ...
Lawrence
... bribery and trickery of the simple Turks.
69
 Glenn Ashton

Prosecutor
And what does Lawrence say at the end of this tale? The
last words at the end of this chapter?
Lawrence
How in Deraa that night the citadel of my integrity had
been irrevocably lost.
Prosecutor
May I repeat something you said earlier? You said that it
was a chance shot, by which the Bey could not, or would not,
mean what Lawrence feared. It was a time for truth for Law-
rence, was it not? A time to face unnamed fears.

[Lawrence nods.]

Prosecutor
Now, Mr. Lawrence. This is your moment in history, both
personal history and public history.
Such a moment demands of one that the truth is spoken,
does it not?
So, then, let us hear the truth.
There are three charges against you. How plead you
now?

[Lawrence smiles grimly to himself; he seems resigned]

Lawrence
I plead guilty to all three charges, My Lord.
Prosecutor
It is written: it was a theft of souls to make others die in
sincerity for my graven image. Because they accepted our mes-
sages as truth, they were ready to be killed for it.
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 The Theft of Souls

Can you now answer the question Lawrence posed: did

his guilt pass from that of accessory to that of principal?
Lawrence
I became a principal in the theft of souls.
Prosecutor
It is written: “The fraudulence of my business stung me ...
I was raising the Arabs on false pretenses, and exercising a false
authority over my dupes ...” Do you recognize those words, Sir?
Lawrence
I do.
Prosecutor
Are those words of Lawrence true?
Lawrence
They are true.
Prosecutor
You were successful, Orrence. Are you proud of your
success?
Lawrence
Nothing was worth doing; and nothing worthy had been
done.

[Counsel for the Defence leaps up and addresses the Judge.]

Counsel for the Defence

My Lord, my client is distraught. His sudden change of
plea should not be considered by the Court. The defence has one
more witness to call, and important witness. A man who was
present at the time, and who can shed light on the background
to the events.
Judge

71
 Glenn Ashton

I will reserve on the change of plea from not guilty to guilty. Call
your witness.
Counsel for the Defence
I call General Allenby.

[Allenby is sworn in. He is now the only person in the room -

apart from Defence Counsel - who wears a uniform. He puts his
cap carefully on the floor and rests his baton on the table next to
the witness stand that Lawrence is standing in. Lawrence is very
surprised. Allenby nods curtly to him.]

Counsel for the Defence

General Allenby, are you familiar with the charges against
Mr. Lawrence?
Allenby
Yes.
Counsel for the Defence
It is for the Prosecution to introduce evidence which
proves beyond any reasonable doubt that Mr Lawrence is guilty
of the charges. All the charges relate to his tour of duty in the
East. Can you shed any light on the state of mind of Mr Law-
rence during those years?
Allenby
We put these young men into the fire of leadership, made them
decide the fate of others. Forced them to send men to their
certain deaths. This was our doing, my doing.
Prosecutor
Your Duty.

[Pause]

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 The Theft of Souls

Allenby
My duty, yes. What I had to do to further my country’s interests.
Prosecutor
You acted under orders?
Allenby
Yes.
Prosecutor
And so you, too, acted under orders when Mr. Lawrence
was out there, riding hard, and stealing souls?
Allenby [slowly]
You do not understand. At a certain level of command,
the orders are self-made. Those at that level have - hopefully - a
common objective, and they create orders for themselves, for
others, to achieve those objectives.
Prosecutor
Was Lawrence at that level?
Allenby
No.
Prosecutor
Were you?
Allenby
Yes.
Prosecutor
So, you created orders for you and passed these orders
down to Lawrence to carry out.
Allenby
Yes. I expected him to be flexible in interpreting the or-
ders, to match them against the realities of his sector.
Prosecutor
To what end? Your orders were to what end?
Allenby
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 Glenn Ashton

To win the war.

Prosecutor
At all costs?
Allenby
At all costs.
Prosecutor
And you expected Lawrence to understand that? To carry
out his orders - handed down from you - at all costs?

[Lawrence exclaims in protest, and raises his hands. Allenby

stares dispassionately at him.]

Lawrence
I was not just a puppet ...
Judge
The Accused must remain silent.
Prosecutor
So, General, Lawrence’s “moment in history” was scripted
for him, by you?
Allenby
Yes. He did what he did because I ordered him to achieve
certain aims, at all costs.
Prosecutor
Then, General, tell us this: Where lies the responsibility
for the acts done “at all costs” by you - by all the Lawrences in
all the wars in the world?

[Pause; Allenby is thoughtful. Lawrence turns his face towards

the soldier, his anxiety twisting it]

Allenby
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 The Theft of Souls

It lies in the objectives fought for. In the Duty we all agree

to. That is the wellspring. We –

[his gesture encompasses the courtroom and all beyond

it]

- have all agreed on that Duty, that objective. We are the

source. We trained men like Lawrence to obey. Lawrence is a
man with a quick vein of suffering in him. I had to work around
that. We groomed their instincts, so that they would do what
seems to instinct best, not probing into the why, nor trying to
express what they really wanted at the end of it all.
Prosecutor
You created an automaton?
Allenby
They make the best soldiers for some purposes.

[Lawrence drops his head; he looks devastated]

The light dims in the courtroom. Two massed chants are heard
through the darkness of the stage. One says Orrence! Orrence!
(the strain heard thoughout the play). A second one, made up of
a mix of Arabian and English accents, says Thief! Thief!

The chants duel with each other.

Then the sound of a motorcycle engine is heard, straining higher

and higher, until it is a roar that overcomes the duelling chants.
It lurches higher and hither as gears are shifted.

75
 Glenn Ashton

There is the sound of brakes screaming, then the rending of

metal, and the engine of the motorcycle cuts out abruptly.
In the sudden silence, one chant only is heard: a sorrow-
ful Orrence! Orrence!, soft and sad.

It dies away as a spotlight brightens on a corner of the stage,

showing a powerful motorcycle lying on its side, its front wheel
spinning silently and then stopping. The sorrowful chant dies
with it. Then the light switches off, leaving the stage dark.

THE END

76
 About the Author

Glenn Ashton writes interesting books.

Glenn used to be an investment and commercial banker and a

lawyer, but had more fun writing novels than wrestling with
finance and the law, and so turned his hand to his hobby. Glenn
Ashton is the pen name of Ashton Glenn van Schalkwyk.

He has written children's books (LittteTown Combo One),

Obelisk Seven (a thriller about obelisks, global warming and
microbiology, co-authored with his wife Loraine Lundquist),
Silent Lips (a thriller about New York under siege from a
bioengineered virus), a play (Theft of Souls, the trial of
Lawrence of Arabia), and a collection of modern proverbs
for the 21st century (Modern Proverbs).

His latest book is Your Purrfect Way to Publish & Pro-

mote Your Amazon & Kindle Books (over 400 pages
setting out a Promotion Plan for self-published authors, using
social media to promote their books).

His books are published on Amazon.com and as a Kindle eBook.

Read more about them at this site:
https://www.amazon.com/author/glennashton
Glenn Ashton's author blog is to be found at:
http://glennashton.blogspot.com
You can read his tweets at his Twitter account GlennAshton1