by David Mamet
I thought about the gash of, the blood on the door, what did it mean, and it was obviously a . . . an . . . imbalance. Differences in diet, some thing a . . . an . . . an . . . in, say a, a intestinal malady which they were not subject to. And the Egyptians died and the Jews lived and though subject to the plagues of that life they said it was a sign. So, here, the opposite. A curse. A heaviness. The weight of gold . . . and, as an element . . . for, certainly, all . . . if we look, as I looked in that room, protected by the walls, by heat, by the, “and blest by the dust of the crumbling manuscripts . . . ” Protected . . . And I saw all things are literal.
They mean exactly what they seem to mean. (Pause.) Those men coming back were never to reach home. They were infected. They were weighted down, the same god which had sent the gold which sent the storm.
Although others had gone before.
Although these . . .
And reached home (Pause.)
And reached home with their prize.
Which formed the basis of their fortune.
Three
F: You see: one needn't have confidence, because it is also possible to lose—so there is a result to your actions what-ever you do. (Pause.) And you cannot combat human misery.
G: Who cannot?
F: A boy died. In Alabama. In some southern state. A black boy in a state where, they had said, and they needn't have said it . . .
G: Niggers.
F: In a word as things that we would say, that they would censure. You would say, “A conquered people.” As they were. A love of . . . of, a tradition of honor, true or not, as all traditions are. A history of loss. One aspect of white males at the door, at the schoolyard door, barring a frightened five-year-old, a black girl in a . . .
G: In a yellow dress.
F: Thirty years later in that state, in that same state a boy who, as a student had worked for the Governor, a black boy a white, a, Louisiana . . .
G: What dif . . . ?
F: Well, that's what we say, you see: Who possess the prerogative to say: Your History, your Mores, your . . . finally, what makes you different is, and, do not say “A Luxury . . . ” But, a stupidity, a trick, and, fostered on you by the: Too much time . . . too much time on your hands—as all culture—Heat. The need to . . . or, otherwise, say, say, “The Great Chain of Being,” if, in England, but not here, because here what we are is without hist . . . and things change, and some things do not change. (Pause.) But, to Western eyes, which is to say, the minds of people from the North, rapacious, sons steeped in the Blazonment . . . a knight rides out and, you know him by his shield, or as the Bard says, “Reputation.” We say, “Advertising,” yes, an English shirt, a French whore, a dumb cracker, a nig, any of those things one said, one said that only shallow people
Cannot judge by first impressions.
In that Southern State, however, a boy died, a black boy, who everyone said, I don't know, some . . . some . . . a
G: Some sharecropper's son.
F: The no, son, of no, son of a doctor . . . a poor boy, HE WOULD BE PRESIDENT. Everyone said in twenty years. Who worked at this, who worked at that, at those accomplishments, which, here below (Pause.)
Here below . . .
And one says, “What are they trying to Hide?”
What overcome? As I would overcome, or they, if I had, with those, as reported, twenty-hour days, but they said, “Here . . . ” and changed the lives of everyone who came in contact with the boy, “Perhaps here we have found an instance of a perfect man.” Why did he die so young? What would it matter had he lived, who moved so many by his . . . and the answer is . . . the answer is: That human misery is lifted only by this—it would, it would, it would seem . . . O . . . by an act of love, who knew him knew that, and I thought: “How sad.” An outpouring . . . a sainted reminiscence of the boy, over the years . . . now, who could keep that up? How it would, how inevitably, induce shame, induce guilt in those . . . how do we know he only had one parent . . .
G: one . . . ?
F: One parent living.
G: How do we know that?
F: I'm . . . I think that I read it. I'm not, what I meant to say: It seems . . . what strikes me in the boy is, of c . . . is the mythic
G: The Good Die
F: . . . excuse me: Maj . . . the maj . . . the majesty of it. Its strength come (Pause.) From repetition. It is a tale that we know. The psych, the psycho . . . the unconscious aspect of one parent dead, a man on one leg who overcomes his . . . whose internal strength who . . . when the governor came He said the Good Die Young. He cried. (Pause.) You felt here was a good man. You felt everyone who read the piece was better for it. Oneself most of all. One wished one knew him. We would have slighted him, of course. We would have cut him. (Pause.) Maybe not.
G: We would have cut him on the street.
F: Well. That doesn't . . . no. That doesn't alter the power of the tale. Here is another one: the woman trying to escape, A southern Clime. A dictator. Her Father's Fortune confiscated. She, herself, in fear. For her life. Flees. The documents, the gold itself, inside a sealed trunk. The trunk in safety, inaccessible except to her. But it can be located. Her life can be saved. The man who aids her escape will reap her love and share her fortune.
Who would not support her?
And so he does so. You know the rest.
Two Conversations
Two Conversations, Two Scenes, and Yes But So What were first presented at The Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York as part of the Marathon 1983 Festival of One-Act Plays on May 6, 1983, with the following cast directed by Curt Dempster:
Two Conversations
Two Scenes
Yes But So What
Dan Ziskie
Peter Phillips
David Rasche
James Rebhorn
Ann Spettel
Frank Girardeau
Deborah Hedwall
Diane Venora
Melodie Somers
Peter Maloney
Jude Ciccolella
After dinner conversation. A and B, two women. C and D, two men.
One
C (Hands D a note): Read it.
D: “I can't come today be . . . ”
A: Who is this?
C: That's our house . . .
D: It's the house cleaner . . .
C: Read it.
D: “I can't come today because something has happened to me.” Is this the . . . ?
C: Yes.
D: Last week . . . ?
C: Yes.
D: He . . . he came, he came, didn't . . .
C: He came to leave the note.
D: I'd . . . do you mind if I tell . . .
A: You two have the same . . . ?
C: We gave him to them. He . . .
D: He was a wonderful . . .
C: You've seen him here.
A: No. I don't . . .
B: What does he look like?
D: Thirty-five. Small, thin, balding . . .
C: This man does such fantastic work . . .
B: What hap . . . ?
C: Apparently . . . well, tell them about . . .
D: I got a phone call. (Pause.) I was at the office, I was between . . . this was, when . . . ?
C: Last . . .
D: Last Monday. He'd been at my house Sat . . .
C: He . . . yes. Yes. Saturday.
D: Monday I get a call. “I have to confess something. I have something important to talk . . . ”
A: Had you talked be . . .
D: We'd never been, no. No. He'd never . . . “How are you?” The weather . . . so on. So:
C: . . . this happened to him, too, four years ago. When he . . .
D: When he first came to . . .
A: . . . where did he . . . ?
D: Up . . .
C: . . . when he . . .
D: Upstate.
C: When he, yes. When he first started with . . . I had to call his father. He came in . . .
A: This . . .
D: Yes.
A: This is four years ago . . .
D: Yes.
C: . . . He came in one day. I came in. (Pause.) He was sitting on the floor. His shirt was off. He was just sitting there. He'd been there all day. And he saw nothing unusu . . .
D: That's the thing...that's the thing...that's the point . . . that's what I always say. As . . . wait. As crazy . . . as unhappy as we think we are, the line between psychotic and neurotic is not a thin line. (Pause.) It's not a thin divider at all. It's like. I think it's like . . . It's like the difference between . . . (Pause.) It's, um, it's like the difference between competence and talent. (Pause.)
A: What do you think causes . . .
D: . . . between . . .
A: What do you think causes it?
D: Psy . . . ? I . . . I don't know. Genetic . . . Um. (Pause.) Diet . . .
C: An imbalance of some kind . . .
D: Yes. An imbalance. Yes. That isn't pred . . .
B: He worked for both of you . . . ?
D: That isn't predicated . . .
C: Yes . . .
D: On some mistaken notion. Do you know what I mean?
C: That's much deeper . . .
A: People living in their own dream don't know that they're in a dream. (Pause.)
C: Absolutely.
D: Um. Now: an example: If you were unhappy, you could say so. You'd say, “God, I hate myself.” Or . . .
A: Mm hmm . . .
D: “God, I'm fat . . . ”
A: Mm hmm . . .
D: He doesn't know that. He is in a dream.
A: He'd been committed before?
D: Yes.
C: When he first worked for us.
B: Um hm.
C: Tell them last week.
D: Last week: last Monday, he called me at work. “I have to talk to you.” Did you see . . . what was that . . . ?
C: Some German picture . . .
D: Some German thing. Where the same thing happened . . .
C: . . . I don't know the name of it . . .
D: He'd stolen two decks of cards. (Pause.) He called me. But I couldn't talk. “I have to talk to you. I have to confess. I've taken your cards.”
C: . . . he asked me . . .
D: Yes . . .
C: I said, “Don't call. You see . . . You're putting him in an . . . ”
D: It was a cry for help.
A: Certainly.
C: “ . . . in an embarrassing . . . ”
D: I mean the cards were worth, what? Two dollars . . .
C: In an embarrassing position. Yes. It was a . . .
D: Well, that's what I told him. That was the . . .
A: . . . the only way he had . . .
D: Yes.
C: I told him to for . . .
D: He told him to forget it. Then he called me. Then Jim called. I told him . . .
C: Wait. Tell them about the a . . .
D: Oh yes. He says “Did you . . . ?”
C: . . . that German film . . .
D: “Did you see the . . . ” um . . . um . . . “No, why . . . ?” “Because your ace is missing.” (Pause.)
A: That was in some film?
D: Yes. It signified . . . I don't know . . .
C: “You're in danger,” he says.
D: “Jim . . . Jim . . . ”
C: I said it was just his way of at . . .
D: Of attracting attention. Certainly . . .
B: Wait. (Pause.) He took playing cards? (Pause.)
D: Yes. (Pause.)
B: Why? (Pause.) Why, do you think? (Pause.)
D: I don't know.
B: Because of the movie. (Pause.)
A: What do you mean?
B: So he could take the ace and say he had a, you know . . . (Pause.)
D: A reason to call up.
B: Yes. (Pause.)
D: Hm. Well. You may be right.
C: When this happened before he was in for six months. When he came out . . .
D: He did such a marvelous job . . .
C: This house was spotless. There was nothing you would not eat off of. Seriously . . .
D: He treated it as an art.
C: He did. Yes. That's exactly how he treated it.
D: He treated it as an art, he was inventive . . .
C: . . . yes.
D: . . . he was . . .
C: . . . he . . .
D: . . . he was dependable . . .
C: When he got out he came to me and asked me would I try him again. Which of course I did . . .
A: And he was fine?
C: Yes.
A: Mm.
C: Fade out, fade in . . .
D: Four years later.
C: Mm.
D: So: when he called I said:
C: He said to call me.
D: I couldn't talk to him . . .
C: Waal, it couldn't have helped in any case. (Pause.) He . . .
A: He didn't want to confess . . . He
D: He wanted to be helped. Yes.
C: He . . . he came to me. He said, “I need a rest.” I said, “Jim. You don't need a rest. You need serious help.” (Pause.)
B: I'm sure that he felt incredibly lonely or he would never have done what he did. (Pause.) I know I would feel very lonely if that happened to me. (Pause.)
C: Well. (Pause.) He asked me to call his father . . .
D: The fellow, all his friends, he picks them up at four A.M. on the streets . . .
C: . . . and so I did, and he . . .
D: . . . this is the interesting part:
C: He says, “He's no good. He never was any good. He's a bum. He always . . . ”
D: This, this is his father talking . . .
C: “And he always was. He never should have come down to New York. Since he got there he . . . ”
D: Mmm . . . ?
C: “He's done nothing?” I said. “Sir. Your son has a thriving business. On the contrary: he's . . . I've seen his accounts. He's organized. (Pause.) He's meticulous . . . he does his job superlatively . . . (Pause.) He's reliable . . . he's not a bum. He's ill. (Pause.) He's ill. He needs help. (Pause.)
A: Did the father come down?
C: No. We took him to . . .
D: We took him to Bellevue. (Pause.)
A: Will they take good care of him there?
D: Yes. I think they will. Yes.
C: Yes. They will. (Pause.)
A: Do you think that's treatable?
C: Yes. I think that it is. Yes. And I don't, I'll tell you something, I don't think it's in the mind, either . . .
B: What?
C: Schizophrenia.
A: Schiz . . .
C: No. I think it's cau . . .
A: It isn't in the mind . . . ?
C: I'm saying that it's cause . . . I think the cause is not. (Pause.) That the true cause of it is not trauma . . . or . . . Infantile trauma or . . . say what I'm saying . . .
D: That the cause is something simple. Diet or genetic . . .
C: Yes.
D: Genetic pre . . .
A: Predisposition.
D: Yes.
C: And I'll tell you what else: I think someday someone's going to find how to cure schizophrenia with a . . . say, with a simple touch . . . with . . . (Pause.) with . . . a small change in diet . . . (Pause.) With . . .
D: Mm hmm . . .
C: . . . with a pressure point . . . with . . .
D: . . . with a simple touch. (Pause.)
C: Yes. (Pause.) Absolutely. (Pause.)
A: Will he be in there long?
C: I don't know.
A: Will you take him back when he comes out?
C: Certainly.
D: Absolutely.
C: Absolutely. (Pause.)
Two
After dinner conversation. A and B, two men.
A: . . . the way I understand it . . . the way I understand it . . . I'll tell you what the Antichrist is . . .
B: What?
/> A: I'll tell you, and I believe it will come. Although I don't believe we've seen it yet. When we'll see it, when we'll see it is in the hard . . . in the true . . . eh? In the true, true hard times. And what I think the Antichrist is is, the way that we can understand it's if we say “The False Girlfriend.” (Pause.) Mm. When one is ready to be married. Then you say that this one has something unique which until now you longed for but . . .
B: . . . yes . . .
A: But you couldn't find. So now you've found it, now you can . . .
B: Um hmm . . .
A: Get married. (Pause.)
B: So now you can get married.
A: But it's just the time is right. That's all. The time is right; and when it is you see someone and say, “She is the One.” Now: Full of our old habits, the person that we see first—like a policeman. He sees the streets differently from a cab driver . . . they both see different things—so when we're ready . . .
B: Mm . . .
A: To wed—it could be our old habits cause our sight to fasten on . . .
B: Uh huh . . .
A: A . . .
B: . . . the false . . .
A: No. Not necessarily false. Yes. False. In a way. In that all that's wrong, finally, is that she . . . she's not the right—put in her place as, simply, as a “woman," fine. But as the girl for you, no. No. To marry? No. Because you're caught in your “pre-courtship . . . ” No. “Pre-marriage courtship context.” Your sight . . . (Pause.) Your body says “wed.” But your soul, your, no, your habits still in that outmoded mode of thinking. So she's wrong. She's the wrong one. Although the time is right. You break up with this person. You find someone new. You marry and you say “Now how extraordinary that I found two such . . . ”
B: . . . yes . . .
A: . . . and, if you think, you reason back and you see that it was only the time was right. Just like a flower. (Pause.) That's all. So, with the Antichrist . . . it's just an . . . here's where I think the new test . . . it's . . .
B: . . . the New Testament . . .
A: . . . it's brilliant. What it is is, finally, I think, I could be wrong, perhaps not in entirety, but perhaps so, I don't know. What it is is allegory for marriage. (Pause.) The Christ, the Antichrist . . . reunion . . .
B: You're saying it's pri . . .
A: What?