An Accursed Race

The story opens with a blunt examination of England’s long‑standing prejudices and then turns its gaze toward a forgotten people of the Pyrenees, the Cagots. Once barred from ordinary work, land, and even the streets, they survive by mastering trades such as carpentry and tiling, all while living under strict quotas on livestock and a host of humiliating laws. Their isolation is enforced by visible markers—a red cloth sewn to their garments—and by the whispered disdain of neighbors who treat them more like animals than fellow citizens.

Through vivid detail the narrative follows a handful of Cagots as they navigate these imposed boundaries, hoping to carve out dignity in a world that labels them “the accursed race.” Their everyday struggles—counting sheep at Martinmas, negotiating the limited rights granted by law, and enduring constant suspicion—reveal the human cost of systemic discrimination. By the end of the first act, listeners are left with a palpable sense of the community’s quiet resilience and the lingering mystery of how such a curse could ever have begun.