Photograph 51

by Anna Ziegler

  (Everyone else exits.)

  Please…You see, I need…

  ROSALIND: (Gently.) What is it you need, Maurice?

  WILKINS: There’s something I need to tell you…It’s important.

  ROSALIND: Then tell me.

  (Beat.)

  WILKINS: I saw you. The day you went to see The Winter’s Tale at the Phoenix.

  ROSALIND: This is what you needed to tell me?

  WILKINS: And I wanted to join you. I got in the queue to buy a ticket.

  ROSALIND: All right, so what happened?

  WILKINS: It’s not what happened…It’s what could happen. Now.

  ROSALIND: What are you talking about, Maurice?

  WILKINS: January, 1951. This time, I attend the play. And I see you across the theater.

  (He looks to her. She remains still, unmoved.)

  WILKINS: This time, we make eye contact. And afterwards, we meet in the back. By the bar.

  (She doesn’t move.)

  WILKINS: This time I say, “did you enjoy the performance?”

  (She stares at him. Says nothing.)

  WILKINS: “Gielgud is excellent, don’t you think?”

  (Beat.)

  ROSALIND: Yes, very lifelike. Very good.

  WILKINS: And the incredible thing is we’re both there, watching him. Experiencing the very same thing. Together.

  ROSALIND: It is incredible.

  WILKINS: Both watching.

  ROSALIND: And when Hermione died, even though it was Leontes’ fault, I felt for him. I truly did.

  WILKINS: Come, poor babe:

  I have heard, but not believed—

  ROSALIND AND WILKINS: The spirits o’ the dead May walk again.

  WILKINS: And they do. I love that Hermione wasn’t really dead. That she comes back.

  ROSALIND: (Sympathetically.) No, Maurice. She doesn’t. Not really.

  WILKINS: Of course she does.

  ROSALIND: No.

  WILKINS: Then how do you explain the statue coming to life?

  ROSALIND: Hope. They all project it. Leontes projects life where there is none, so he can be forgiven.

  WILKINS: But don’t you think he deserves to be forgiven?

  ROSALIND: Do I forgive myself?

  WILKINS: What? For what?

  (Beat.)

  ROSALIND: You know…I think there must come a point in life when you realize you can’t begin again. That you’ve made the decisions you’ve made and then you live with them or you spend your whole life in regret.

  WILKINS: And I have spent my whole life in regret.

  (Beat.)

  ROSALIND: (Smiling sadly.) Well then perhaps we should have seen the play together.

  Or gone to lunch.

  WILKINS: Would that have changed things?

  (Beat.)

  ROSALIND: It’s strange, you know. That I can’t remember who played Hermione.

  WILKINS: No…I can’t either. Not for the life of me.

  ROSALIND: I suppose she simply didn’t stand out. And that’s that.

  …Isn’t it.

  (Lights down.)

  END OF PLAY