Brecht Collected Plays: 2: Man Equals Man; Elephant Calf; Threepenny Opera; Mahagonny; Seven Deadly Sins: Man Equals Man , Elephant Calf , Threepenny Ope (World Classics)
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God came to Mahagonny:
During the whisky
We recognised God in Mahagonny.
MOSES:
Did you laugh on Friday evening?
I saw Mary Weeman swimming by
Like a salted cod-fish in the salt sea:
Mary never will again be dry.
JENNY:
Saw what they were, the people of Mahagonny:
Yes, answered the people of Mahagonny.
THE FOUR behaving as though they hadn’t heard anything:
One morning when the sky was grey
During the whisky
God came to Mahagonny:
During the whisky
We recognised God in Mahagonny.
MOSES:
Whose is this ammunition?
Shot her, did you, shot my deaconess?
Are my thrones for brutes of your condition?
Is it drunken loafers I must bless?
JENNY:
Saw what they were, the people of Mahagonny:
Yes, answered the people of Mahagonny.
THE FOUR:
One morning when the sky was grey
During the whisky
God came to Mahagonny:
During the whisky
We recognised God in Mahagonny.
MOSES:
Down with all into hell-fire
Stuff your Henry Clays into your pack
Off with all of you to Hell, you scoundrels
Wriggle in the Devil’s crowded sack!
JENNY:
Saw what they were, the people of Mahagonny:
No, answered the people of Mahagonny.
THE FOUR:
One morning when the sky was grey
During the whisky
You came to Mahagonny
During the whisky
Got going in Mahagonny.
But we won’t budge a foot now!
We’ll go on strike. We will never
Let you drag us off to Hell forever
For we are in Hell and always have been.
JENNY through a megaphone:
Saw God, they did, the people of Mahagonny:
No, answered the people of Mahagonny.
JIM:
Now I see it. When I came to this city, hoping that my money would buy me joy, my doom was already sealed. Here I sit now and have had just nothing. I was the one who said ‘Everyone must carve himself a slice of meat, using any available knife’. But the meat had gone bad. The joy I bought was no joy; the freedom they sold me was no freedom. I ate and remained unsatisfied; I drank and became all the thirstier. Give me a glass of water.
MOSES putting the helmet over his head:
Ready!
20
And amid increasing confusion, inflation and universal mutual hostility those who had not yet been killed demonstrated for their ideals during the last weeks of Suckerville – having learnt nothing
Mahagonny is seen in flames on the screens in the background. Then groups of demonstrators begin appearing; they interweave and confront one another, continuing right up to the end.
First group. Begbick, Fatty the Bookie, Trinity Moses and supporters. The inscriptions on the first group’s signs read:
‘FOR THE INFLATION’
‘FOR THE BATTLE OF ALL AGAINST ALL’
‘FOR THE CHAOTIC STATE OF OUR CITIES’
‘FOR THE PROLONGATION OF THE GOLDEN AGE’
FIRST GROUP:
For this splendid Mahagonny
Has it all, if you have the money.
Then all is available
Because all is for sale
And there is nothing that one cannot buy.
The inscriptions on the second group’s signs read:
‘FOR PROPERTY’
‘FOR THE EXPROPRIATION OF OTHERS’
‘FOR THE JUST DIVISION OF SPIRITUAL GOODS’
‘FOR THE UNJUST DIVISION OF TEMPORAL GOODS’
‘FOR LOVE’
‘FOR THE BUYING AND SELLING OF LOVE’
‘FOR THE NATURAL DISORDER OF THINGS’
‘FOR THE PROLONGATION OF THE GOLDEN AGE’
SECOND GROUP:
We need no raging hurricane
We need no bolt from the blue:
There’s no havoc they might have done
That we cannot better do.
The inscriptions on the third group’s signs read:
‘FOR FREEDOM FOR THE RICH’
‘FOR VALOUR AGAINST THE DEFENCELESS’
‘FOR HONOUR AMONG MURDERERS’
‘FOR GREATNESS OF SQUALOR’
‘FOR IMMORTALITY OF UNDERHANDEDNESS’
‘FOR THE CONTINUATION OF THE GOLDEN AGE’
THIRD GROUP:
As you make your bed so you lie on it
The bed can be old or brand-new:
So if someone must kick, that is my part
And another get kicked, that part’s for you.
FIRST GROUP returning with its signs:
Why, though, did we need a Mahagonny?
Because this world is a foul one
With neither charity
Nor peace nor concord
Because there’s nothing
To build any trust upon.
FOURTH GROUP of girls bearing Jim Gallagher’s watch, revolver and cheque book on a linen cushion, also his shirt on a pole:
Oh, Moon of Alabama
We now must say good-bye.
We’ve lost our good old mama
And must have dollars
Oh, you know why.
Fifth group carrying Jim Gallagher’s body. Immediately following them a sign with the inscription:
‘FOR JUSTICE’
FIFTH GROUP:
You can bring vinegar – to him
You can wipe his forehead – for him
You can find surgical forceps
You can pull the tongue from his gullet
Can’t do anything to help a dead man.
Sixth group with a small sign:
‘FOR BRUTE STUPIDITY’
SIXTH GROUP:
You can talk good sense – to him
You can bawl oaths – at him
You can just leave him lying
You can take care – of him
Can’t give orders, can’t lay down any law to a dead man.
You can put coins in his hand – for him
You can dig a hole – by him
You can stuff that hole – with him
You can heap a shovelful – on him
Can’t do anything to help a dead man.
Seventh group with an enormous placard:
‘FOR THE CONTINUATION OF THE GOLDEN AGE’
SEVENTH GROUP:
You can talk about the glory of his heyday
You can also forget his old days completely
Can’t do anything to help a dead man.
Unending groups in constant motion.
ALL GROUPS:
Can’t help him or you or me or no one.
The Seven Deadly Sins of the
Petty Bourgeoisie
Ballet
Collaborator: K. WEILL
Translators: W. H. AUDEN and CHESTER KALLMAN
The Seven Deadly Sins of the
Petty Bourgeoisie
SLOTH
in doing a wrong
PRIDE
in one’s best characteristic (Incorruptibility)
WRATH
at mean behaviour
GLUTTONY
(Satedness, Self-devouring)
LUST
(Selfless love)
AVARICE
in pillage and deception
ENVY
of the fortunate
This ballet is meant to represent the journey of two sisters from the southern states who hope to get enough money to buy a small house for themselves and their family. Both are called Annie. One of the two Annie is the manager, the other the artiste; one (Annie I) is the saleslady, the other (Annie
II) the article sold. On the stage stands a small board showing the course of their travels through seven cities; Annie I stands before it with a small pointer. Likewise on the stage is the continually fluctuating market on which Annie I launches her sister. At the end of each scene showing how the seven deadly sins can be avoided Annie II returns to Annie I, with their family on stage and the little house which they have acquired by avoiding the seven deadly sins in the background.
Prologue
ANNIE I:
So my sister and I left Louisiana
Where the moon on the Mississippi is a-shining ever
Like you’ve heard about in the songs of Dixie.
We look forward to our home-coming –
And the sooner the better.
ANNIE II:
And the sooner the better.
ANNIE I:
It’s a month already since we started
For the great big cities where you go to make money.
In seven years our fortune will be made
And then we can go back.
ANNIE II:
In six would be nicer.
ANNIE I:
Our mum and dad and both our brothers wait in old Louisiana
And we’ll send them all our money as we make it
For all the money’s got to go to build a little home
Down by the Mississippi in Louisiana.
Right, Annie?
ANNIE II:
Right, Annie.
ANNIE I:
She’s the one with the looks, I’m realistic;
She’s just a little mad, my head is on straight.
You may think that you can see two people
But in fact you see only one
And both of us are Annie:
Together we’ve but a single past, a single future
And one heart and savings-account;
And we only do what is best for each other.
Right, Annie?
ANNIE II:
Right, Annie.
1
Sloth
This is the first city on their journey, and the sisters get their first money by a trick. As they stroll through the city park they are on the lookout for married couples. Annie II hurls herself on a man as if she knew him; she flings her arms round him, reproaches him etc., in short reduces him to embarrassment while Annie I tries to restrain her. While Annie I is extracting money from the man for having got rid of her sister, Annie II suddenly falls on the wife and threatens her with her parasol. They swiftly perform this trick a number of times. After that however Annie I tries to blackmail a man she has enticed away from his wife, on the assumption that her sister will meanwhile have importuned the wife. She is appalled to see that her sister is sitting dozing on a bench instead of getting on with the job. She is forced to wake her up and set her to work.
FAMILY:
Will she now? … will our Annie pull herself together?
Lazy Bones are for the Devil’s stock-pot –
For she was always quite a one for an arm-chair;
Lazy Bones are for the Devil’s stock-pot –
Unless you came and hauled her off the mattress
Lazy Bones are for the Devil’s stock-pot –
The lazy slug would lie abed all morning.
Lazy Bones are for the Devil’s stock-pot –
Otherwise, Annie was, we must admit, a most respectful child,
Lazy Bones are for the Devil’s stock-pot –
Did what she was told and showed affection for her parents.
Lazy Bones are for the Devil’s stock-pot –
This is what we told her when she left home:
Lazy Bones are for the Devil’s stock-pot –
‘Think of us, and mind you keep your nose down to the
grind-stone.’
O Lord, look down upon our daughter
Show her the way that leads the Good to Thy reward
In all her doings prevent her and comfort her
Incline her heart to observe all Thy commandments
That her works on earth may prosper.
2
Pride
A dirty little cabaret. Annie II enters to the applause of 4-5 customers whose frightful appearance greatly alarms her. Though poorly clad she dances in a most unusual way, puts her soul into it and is badly received. The customers are infinitely bored; they yawn like sharks (their masks portraying horrible teeth in preternaturally large mouths), hurl things on to the stage and manage to bring the one lamp crashing down. Annie II goes on dancing, utterly wrapped up in her art until removed from the stage by the proprietor. He sends on another dancer, a fat old frump who shows Annie how to set about winning applause in his establishment. The old frump dances in a vulgar sexy way and is vastly applauded. Annie refuses to dance like that. But Annie I, who has been standing beside the stage where she was the only one to applaud her sister and wept to see her lack of success, now gets her to dance in the required manner. As her skirt is too long, Annie I rips it off and sends her back on stage to be shown how to dance by the frump, pulling her skirts up higher and higher to the applause of the audience. And it is she who leads her sister back to the small board to be comforted.
ANNIE I:
So we
Saved up
Bought ourselves an outfit:
Nighties
Nylons
Beautiful dresses:
Soon we
Found a
Job that was going
A job as dancer in a cabaret
A job in Memphis, the second big town we came to
Oh how hard it was for Annie!
Beautiful clothes can make a good girl particular –
When the drinking tigress meets herself in the pool
She’s apt to become a menace.
She began talking about art, of all things
About the Art, if you please, of Cabaret
In Memphis, the second big town we came to.
It wasn’t art that sort of people came for
That sort of people came for something else;
And when a man has paid for his evening
He expects a good show in return.
So if you cover up your bosom and thighs like you had a rash
Don’t be surprised to see them yawning.
So I told my art-loving sister Annie:
‘Leave your pride to those who can well afford it.
Do what you are asked to do and not what you want
For that isn’t what is wanted.’
Oh but
I had
Trouble, I can tell you
With her
Fancy
Pig-headed notions.
Many
Nights I
Sat by her bedside
Holding her hand and saying this:
‘Think of our home in Louisiana.’
FAMILY:
O Lord, look down upon our daughter
Show her the way that leads the Good to Thy reward.
Who fights the Good Fight and all Self subdues
Wins the Palm, gains the Crown.
We’re at a standstill! What she’s been sending
It’s not any money a man can build a home with.
She’s as giddy as a cyclone!
All the profits go for her pleasure!
And we’re at a standstill, for what she’s been sending
Is not any money a man can build a home with.
Won’t she settle down to business?
Won’t she ever learn to save something?
For what the featherbrain is sending
Is not any kind of money
A man can build a little home with.
3
Wrath
A film is being made in which Annie is an extra. The star, a Douglas Fairbanks type, rides his horse over a basket of flowers. The horse is clumsy, so he beats it. It falls and is unable to get up despite the blanket they put beneath it and the sugar they put before it.
So he beats it again. But at that point the little extra steps forward, takes the whip from his hand and, in her wrath, beats him instead. She is promptly dismissed. However, her sister rounds on her and persuades her to come back, go on bended knee to the star and kiss his hand; upon which he once again recommends her to the director.
ANNIE I:
We’re making progress. We have come to Los Angeles
And every door is open here to welcome extras.
We only need a bit of practice avoiding possible faux pas
And what can stop us going straight to the top then?
FAMILY:
O Lord, look down upon our daughter
Show her the way that leads the Good to Thy reward.
ANNIE I:
If you take offence at Injustice
Mister Big will show he’s offended;
If a curse or a blow can enrage you so
Your usefulness here is ended.
Then mind what the Good Book tells us
When it says: ‘Resist not Evil.’
Unforgiving Anger
Is from the Devil.
It took time to teach my sister wrath wouldn’t do
In Los Angeles the third big town we came to
Where her open disapproval of injustice
Was so widely disapproved.
I forever told her: ‘Practise self-control, Annie
For you know how much it costs you if you don’t.’
And she saw my point and answered:
ANNIE II:
Yes I know, Annie.
4
Gluttony
Annie has herself become a star. Having signed a contract forbidding her to put on weight, she must not eat. One day she steals an apple and furtively eats it; and when she is weighed and found to weigh one gramme more, the impresario tears his hair out. From then on her eating is supervised by her sister. Two flunkeys with revolvers serve her food, and all she is allowed to take from the dish is a little miniature bottle.
FAMILY:
We’ve gotten word from Philadelphia:
Annie’s doing well, she’s making money.
Her contract has been signed to do a solo turn.
It forbids her ever eating when or what she likes to eat.
Those are hard terms for little Annie:
Who has always been very greedy.
Oh if only she doesn’t break her contract –
There’s no market for hippos in Philadelphia.
Every single day they weigh her.
Gaining half an ounce means trouble.
They have principles to stand by:
It’s a hundred-and-eighteen that you were signed for –