Such is Life: A Play in Five Acts

In Short

This five-act verse and prose drama follows Nicola, the exiled King of Umbria, after a violent revolt replaces his rule with that of Pietro Folchi, a prosperous butcher. Accompanied by his devoted daughter Alma, Nicola slips back into Perugia under a false name, only to fall through society's lowest rungs. He works as a tailor's assistant, survives a stint in prison, and joins a band of wandering actors. Performing a theatrical farce about a foolish monarch before the new court, he attracts the current king's admiration and receives an unexpected post, resulting in a tragic final irony.

The Story

The play opens in the throne room of Perugia as an armed insurrection overthrows King Nicola. Driven from his palace, Nicola refuses to surrender his birthright or sign an act of abdication for the butcher Pietro Folchi, who is proclaimed ruler of the new regime. Nicola is banished under penalty of death, while his fifteen-year-old daughter, Princess Alma, flees a local convent to find him.

Disguised as beggars, father and daughter wander through the Umbrian countryside. Nicola finds himself entirely unsuited for common labor, reflecting bitterly that his princely training has rendered him worthless in the everyday world. He takes work under the name Gigi as an assistant to Master Pandolfo, a ladies' tailor in Perugia, but his aristocratic arrogance creates constant friction with his master and fellow journeymen. When he utters a treasonous curse against the new regime, he is arrested and brought before the city court. Rather than defending himself, he accepts his guilt and is sentenced to solitary confinement.

In prison, Nicola finds a strange solace away from society, spending his time weaving straw mats and playing a lute. Yet his time behind bars comes to an end, and upon his release, he reunites with Alma. Together, they fall in with a group of vagabonds and itinerant performers gathering near a forest gallows. A theatre manager hires Nicola to join his troupe after listening to the former king recite earnest, majestic speeches about royalty—speeches that the crowd finds hilariously satirical.

Adopting the stage name Epaminondas Alexandrion, Nicola becomes a celebrated tragicomic actor. The troupe eventually performs a play on a temporary stage in the Perugia market place before King Pietro and Crown Prince Filipo. Playing a king who falls prey to courtly intrigue, Nicola delivers his lines with such genuine pathos that Pietro is moved to tears. Viewing the performance as a brilliant satire rather than a real tragedy, Pietro offers the actor a permanent position at court: not as an advisor, but as his official court fool.

Accepting the role, Nicola serves the new sovereign with sharp intelligence. Conflict arises when Prince Filipo falls in love with Alma and asks for her hand. Pietro demands that the fool order his daughter to refuse the prince, but Nicola insists he has no power to command her. When Pietro angrily reinstates the order of banishment against the former actor, Nicola breaks into laughter and reveals his true identity as the deposed King Nicola. As Alma rushes to gather witnesses who can confirm her father's royal lineage, the strain proves fatal. Nicola collapses on the throne room steps, dying before his identity can be formally verified. Pietro orders a grand burial, resolved to keep the dead man's secret so history will never record that he turned a legitimate king into a jester.

How It Unfolds

The revolution triumphs Armed citizens storm the palace in Perugia, driving out the patricians and installing Pietro Folchi as the ruler of Umbria. Nicola refuses to relinquish his royal title, scorning the rebellion before being cast out into exile under pain of death. Alma escapes her sanctuary to join her father on the road.

A fall into common labor Disguised as a beggar named Gigi, Nicola attempts to earn a living working for Master Pandolfo, a prosperous ladies' tailor. His inability to master basic sewing stitches leads to constant disputes with his master, while his proud demeanor draws suspicion and hostility from his fellow workmen.

Condemned by the court After voicing a bitter curse against the newly installed monarch, Nicola is brought to trial for treason. He refuses to offer a defense or deny the charge, leading the Attorney-General to brand him a wild beast and sentence him to solitary confinement.

Solitude behind bars In his cell, Nicola finds relief from the demands of human society, passing his days plaiting mats, playing his lute, and reflecting on his lost state. Alma visits him, agonizing over his harsh conditions, but he insists that prison has healed the gaping wounds of his soul.

Joining the strollers Rejoined with Alma after his release, Nicola encounters a band of wandering actors and vagabonds gathered for a night fair. When he declaims high-flown speeches on the dignity of kingship, the crowd takes his serious words for brilliant satire, and the troupe manager hires him on the spot.

The farce before the throne Now performing under the name Epaminondas Alexandrion, Nicola acts in a theatrical farce in the Perugia market place before King Pietro. His portrayal of a monarch's downfall moves the audience, leading Pietro to offer him a place at court as the official jester.

The final disclosure When Prince Filipo asks to marry Alma, Pietro demands that Nicola forbid the match and threatens him with banishment. Nicola laughs, revealing his true identity as the former ruler, but the emotional strain causes his heart to fail before his lineage can be legally proven.

The People

• King Nicola wants to retain his inherent dignity and royal pride even after losing his crown. Stripped of his authority, he finds his princely habits useless in ordinary life. As he moves from manual labor to prison to the acting stage, he grows increasingly detached from earthly power, ultimately dying just as he reveals his true identity to his successor.
• Princess Alma wants to remain by her father's side and protect him from the hardships of poverty. She sacrifices her comfort to wander with him, works to support him, and continually encourages him to seek safety abroad. Her devotion remains constant, though she is left grieving and unsupported when he dies.
• King Pietro Folchi wants to consolidate his new political power and establish a stable government in Perugia. A former butcher turned ruler, he acts with pragmatic authority, yet he demonstrates genuine admiration for art. His desire to avoid public embarrassment prompts him to hide Nicola's true identity after the former monarch's death.
• Prince Filipo wants to pursue his own path to happiness, falling deeply in love with Alma despite her apparent low status as an actor's daughter. He stands up to his father's rigid demands and seeks to assist the dying jester.

In Its Own Voice

When the newly installed ruler demands that Nicola formally give up his royal title, the deposed king scorns the request:

"Ask of a carp lying in the pan to cease to be a fish!"

Reflecting on his inability to adapt to the common world after being banished from his court, Nicola tells his daughter:

"As I offer myself to them now I am of no use. Either I offend them by my arrogance and pride, which are in ridiculous contrast to my beggar's rags, or my courteous demeanor makes them mistrustful, as none of them succeeds by simple modesty."

Before the market place audience, Nicola attempts to portray true majesty, only to have the crowd receive his serious declamation as comedy:

"I was not wont before to praise myself, / But now the world has robbed me of that pride."

What It's Really About

The play investigates the nature of royalty, identity, and social roles, questioning whether high status rests on an innate personal quality or merely on external circumstance and public illusion. Nicola believes that a king remains a king regardless of his clothes or station, yet every attempt to assert his inherent majesty in the ordinary world reads as absurd arrogance or deliberate comedy. The plot continuously contrasts the high rhetoric of tragic drama with the mundane realities of trade, crime, and survival. Ultimately, the work suggests that human society evaluates individuals by their positions rather than their inner worth, reducing the highest human ambitions to a harmless farce where authority and foolishness are separated by a very fine line.

Why Read It Today

This drama will appeal to readers interested in early twentieth-century European theatre, political satires, and plays that blend verse with prose. Its central situation—a ruler forced to earn his living by impersonating a ruler—offers a sharp exploration of how public roles are constructed and perceived. The dialogue shifts rapidly between high-minded poetic soliloquies and coarse, pragmatic prose, creating a tone that moves from grim humor to quiet melancholy.

Readers should be prepared for the formal conventions of German dramatic literature of its period, including stylized speeches, deliberate structural coincidences, and sudden shifts in tone. The play does not aim for modern psychological realism; its characters often speak as mouthpieces for philosophical points about power, vanity, and statecraft. Yet the underlying tension remains compelling throughout: Nicola's persistent refusal to abandon his self-image makes his descent into jesterhood both ironic and deeply poignant. It stands as a memorable study in how easily the grandest historical positions can be transformed into mere theatrical performance.