Mordechai Landsberg

Queen and Boy (Signs from stars) Historical QUEEN And BOY( SIGNS FROM STARS) Is a screenplay based on Drama by French playwright RACINE: Athalaih , Jezebel’s daughter, - Queen of Judea, attractive & ‘seemingly strong personality’- struggling against God Believers. She usurps the crown, tries to rule - but fails - having self conflicts, hallucinations about her dead family; and a madly love of a boy, who is her grandson (she does not know that). God believers rebel against her, and crown the boy - who brings her end. A compelling historical drama, - with action, murders, conspiracy, religions’ struggle, self destruction, blood, etc etc.

SCREENPLAY AND NOVEL ABOUT "ATHALIAH" - BASED ON PLOT OF RACINE, BUT MUCH ELABORATED TO EXPRESS ACTION/MOVE/VIOLENCE... Historical ATHALIAH - DAUGHTER OF JEZEBEL The Biblical story (and Drama by RACINE) about God Believers struggling against pagan murderous woman who became Queen of Jerusalem. She tries to rule the people of Judea- but fails: she becomes mad, having hallucinations about her dead Mom Jezebel, and at last – falls in love with a boy, a pupil of the Chief Priest of God, who is really her grandson(she does not know about that). God believers win their fight against the hated queen, and crown her grandchild, offspring of king David- to be king instead of her... DEAR SIR/MADAM, THE FOLLOWING ARE ‘PITCH LINES’, SYNOPSIS AND ‘ABOUT THE WRITER’ PARAGRAPHS-- REGARDING MY NOVEL:& screenplay about ATHALIAH= “Athaliah- daughter of Jezebel” Thanks- M.LANDSBERG, EMAIL ri15@bezeqint.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PITCH: This is a thrilling historical- psychological drama, based on the Bible and on the drama ‘Athaliah’- by 17th century paywright Racine. This novel & film (IF PRODUCED)will be liked by many who heard the Biblical story about the stubborness of God Believers, and their struggle against a pagan tyrant, murderous Queen Athaliah, daughter of Jezebel: A whole ancient era is depicted in this novel. Its male characters - like the high priest, army commander, Baal’s priest and others- sinners and innocents, contribute to the tension and passion expressed in the unique plot, reviving a Biblical tale to be more specifically understood by nowadays educated reader. ‘Athaliah’ is also an oratorio opera by Fredriech Handel, and I am prepared to prepare – with a drama playwright- to adapt it to a real opera- not in the ‘Static type’ made by Handel (based on the ‘freeze action’ type of Racine, but with much action, move and ‘ happenings on stage! SYNOPSIS ATHALIAH(38), Jezebel’s daughter, has married the king of Judea, who is a separate kingdom,( not included in Ahab and Jezebel’s kingdom of Samaria –North Israel ) One day Athaliah- the mother of young king of Judes- receives a message that her son Ahaziah has been killed in a battle near Samaria- in North Israel, by rebel Jehu!… Three Judean officers, who had been rescued from that battle, ABNER(40) is their Commander/Chief of Staff. The officers tell Athaliah that the rebel Jehu- has just killed her son, as well as her brother Joram – king of North Israel, and her Mom Jeaebel. Athaliah hates God, who “has caused the killing of my family, including my pa- Ahab, who had been killed before by our Syrian enemy Aram”). Athaliah is very ambitious- she intends to proceed the dynasty of her forefathers, and become Queen of the small kingdom of Judea, while Rebel Jehu threatens Jerusalem, where the royal palace is located... The Judean officers suggest to crown immediately a new king in Judea-Jerusalem, their collegue – who is present there . This - in order to unite the people to stand against the rebel Jehu, who has just declared himself as king of Samaria(Northern Israel)… Athaliah refuses to listen, having a selfish wish to be herself the ruler of Jerusalem!…To her help comes MATHAN (40) The foreign Battalion Commander of the kingdom and Idol Baal Believer. He had not been sent with the young king, Athaliah’s son- to the north, to help Athaliah’s brother in his fight against the rebel Jehu. So- now Mathan’s battallion is the main power in Judea, as most of Judean army has been defeated in the North, in the war with Jehu.!… Athaliah and the three officers listen to Mathan’s speech, in which he reveals to them, that their comrade, the claimant of the crown, is a bastard , not fit for being a king!…Mathan kills this claimant -and the other two officers, (the Claimant’s collegues) run away, as now they have returned from the war in the North with a very small number of soldiers. Then Mathan makes a deal with Athaliah: She will be crowned as Judea’s Queen, and Mathan vows to her – to kill all the remaining offsprings of king David, (Judea dynasty’s forefather) so that no one will be able to protest against her rule. As a reward – Athaliah will nominate Mathan to be also Priest of Baal Idol,( as Athaliah herself is a pagan) and Foreign Troops Commander at the same time. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - However, the high Priest of God in Jerusalem’s Temple- Yehoyada, and his wife Yehosheva-( she is Athaliah’s daughter), struggle against the new ruler Athaliah. The high priest of God soon hides the son of the late king, putting him and his milk-nurse, Nefertita, in a cave. After Athaliah succeeds to deter Jehu- she becomes a tyrant, who fight against God Belivers in her Queendom. In the sixth year of Athaliah’s regime - the public sacrifices in God’s Temple are stopped by her wicked decrees; though she still allows the high priest to teach there Torah- the holy Scriptures- to God Believers. Among his pupils are: his seven years old son, Zakharia, and his friend- a boy named Elyakim, who is said to be a foundling orphan…One day Athaliah comes to visit the Holy Temple, to beg the priests’ help: She suffers from insomnia and nightmares. As she is looking around- she sees the boy Elyakim, who is really her grandson, now aged seven. Answering her questions, he becomes very afraid of her. She “falls in Love” with him, and would like to adopt and educate him. Yehoyada and his wife oppose that idea, of course: The boy is their last hope for renewing king David’s Dynasty rule in Judea! Athaliah threatens Yehoyada to burn the Temple, if he doesn’t hand her the boy. (she doesn’t know his true identity). Mathan is filled with fears, understanding that the Queen’s madness will bring the end of her regime. And that really happens: Abner - an ardent God Believer, organizes the rebellion against the mad ruler, and succeeds... Athaliah comes into the Temple, and admits before many celebrating people: “King David, you have won.” She is killed, and the boy Elyakim- her only grandson - is crowned by the ardent believer in God, High Priest Joad- to be the new king of Judea... There are other interesting characters in that novel, like Prophet Joseph- Nefertita’s sweetheart, prophet Elisha - and his leper young servant Gehazi, and his amazing lover and wife Bat Gad, who escapes from him and becomes Athaliah’s whore-spy againt her internal enemis: God’s priests and prophets. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ----------------------- Mordechai Landsberg is an Israeli bilingual (Hebrew-English) writer. He has published 2 novels in Hebrew, that deal with Israeli and Jewish topics: ‘The Gentle Ones’ and ‘The Disconnections’. M. Landsberg studied literature and philosophy in Tel Aviv University. Recently he has published four e-books novels in English: : “The Rabbi who Tricked Stalin,” “My nephew Vs. Iran’s A-Bomb”, “to America and Back”; and the novel “ATAHALIAH” .(all published in Smashwards.com). “Athaliah –signs from Stars” is the screenplay based on the said novel. Till now (May 2014) Landsberg’s novels have been downloaded by 3000 readers: 1-2 new readers per novel are added every day. M. Landsberg’s screenplays won semi final grades in some contests. Personal comments: “ATHALIAH – JEZEBEL’S DAUGHTER” – E-book published in Smashwords.com (to read it- click in google: Athaliah- mordechai Landsberg) Athaliah was the only woman who had become a ruler Queen in Judea during the Biblical era. Her story is shortly told in the Bible, and the French dramatist Jean Racine, who lived in the 17th Century, had written a play about it. I have followed Racine’s plot and ‘struggle-of-powers’ in many ways, mainly showing Athaliah’s dual character: she sends murderers to many, and rules as a brutal tyrant - and becomes paranoidly mad. However, Her crazines is understood also as her internal struggle to revive her motherly instincts and love for raising and re-educating a child, in her own way of understanding human life: a permanent conflict between and within: individuals/ nations/people/ religions/ cultures. Both sources mentioned above were used by me for this screenplay. I show Athaliah as a tough personality, full of strengths and weaknesses. Her cultural concept is quite ‘liberal’- in contrast to the narrow minded God’s believers. This novel can be of interest to many: 1) Christians & Jews (and even Muslems), who know the Biblical stories about king David and his dynasty. ( For Christians it is a part of their tradition, according to which Jesus himself had come out of David’s famous dynasty). 2) Many French and English people, having met the play ‘Athaliah’ in their drama or have once seen it on a stage. Three years ago -the opera oratorio ‘Athaliah’ has been put on TV SCREEN music by Handel . It was produced by MEZZO French TV network. 3) Western people , who hate all kinds of dictatorship and tyranny. The internal Circumstances described here as leading to the rebellion against Athaliah- will explain to many, that the rebellions against the Arab dictatorships nowadays are not a new historical phenomenon.