The Prologue is set in a jail on an unnamed island in the Caribbean. On the stage, a dancer and a man dressed “like the figure of Baron Samedi” (212)—a loa from Haitian Vodou connected with death, resurrection, and healing—move together to the sound of a drum. As they dance, two prison cells appear on either side of the stage. One cell contains Tigre and Souris, black men who are half-naked and arguing; the other is empty. The chorus and the conteur sing a call-and-response lament as the biracial Corporal Lestrade leads Makak, an old black man, to the empty cell.  

Tigre and Souris bicker with each other and Lestrade, asking him about the new prisoner. Makak vandalized a café while drunk, claiming to be the King of Africa. Lestrade treats him with a mocking reverence while the other prisoners warn Makak of his rights. Annoyed, Lestrade compares the prisoners to animals. Makak struggles to remember his name and refuses to acknowledge the fact that he is black. When Makak answers in French, Lestrade only responds in English. Makak asks to go home to Monkey Mountain.  

Lestrade hands towels to Tigre and Souris, who put them on like robes and act out an improvised trial. Lestrade addresses them as “my noble judges” (221) and, replete with archaic legalistic language, proceeds to describe Makak as a tame animal. He makes Makak march around the jail, referring to him as a monkey.