Catastrophe Practice
Page 3
The backdrop changes to a bright gold.
Judith winds up her belt into her hand.
Helena takes from her basket a half-made tapestry, and needles and thread. She begins to stitch. After a time she puts her stitching down and gazes at the audience.
She enunciates carefully —
HELENA
— The same direction at both ends or in between —
Then she goes back to her stitching.
There are three loud bangs from behind the backdrop. Helena takes no notice. After a time she looks up.
She enunciates carefully —
A fate. A weaver of tapestries.
She closes her eyes.
After a time she sings, in a faded but passionate contralto, a few bars from the 1 st Norn’s song in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung(‘So gut und schlimm es geh’ —’).
Judith puts her hands over her eyes. Then she looks at the audience and smiles. Then she goes out through the loggia.
Helena stops singing. She looks in the direction in which Judith has gone. Then she goes back to her stitching.
From now until the end of the act it is as if the actors are finding and coming to terms with a style — moving between acting a script and not acting, and acting not-acting — which they hope will be, and demonstrate, what they wish to convey.
After a time the swing sofa begins to rock and bounce.
Ariel’s head pops out through the curtains. He holds the curtains wrapped round his neck as if he were a clown.
Helena continues with her stitching.
ARIEL
Ariel —
HELENA
No!
ARIEL
Yes.
HELENA
Oh you did frighten me — .
She jumps, puts a hand to her heart, and acts as if she had been alarmed.
Ariel climbs out of the swing sofa. He arranges the curtains carefully so that Jenny cannot be seen. He watches Helena. He murmurs as if quoting—
ARIEL
— Two arms, two legs —
Helena murmurs —
HELENA
— And one in between.
She is looking down at her finger as if she had pricked it with her needle.
Ariel waits. Then he seems to prompt her —
ARIEL
— Yes, I’ve been at school —
HELENA
Oh, what school did you go to?
ARIEL
I don’t think it matters, do you, where you go to school?
Helena goes back to her stitching.
HELENA
You mean home environment’s more important?
Ariel stares at her. Then he moves round the stage. He acts as if quoting —
ARIEL
— Huts. Watchtowers —
HELENA
— Ladies and gentlemen on the grass —
Ariel stands looking down at her.
Helena puts down her stitching. She closes her eyes. She acts as if she is having difficulty with her lines —
HELENA
I remember you in your pram. You looked up to the leaves, the shadows. Children see by what they learn —
Ariel waits. He seems to prompt her —
ARIEL
She went for the eyes?
Helena seems to say a wrong line —
HELENA
— It’s been such ages —
ARIEL
Who, my mother?
After a time Ariel moves round the stage again. Helena goes back to her stitching.
ARIEL
And my father?
HELENA
Isn’t he in a tomb —
ARIEL
Oh, I thought it was a monastery.
Helena puts down her stitching. She seems to be in despair.
HELENA
How did you get in?
ARIEL
I climbed.
HELENA
No one’s ever climbed.
Ariel comes and looks down at Helena. He seems to quote —
ARIEL
— Except once at the time of Napoleon —
Helena closes her eyes.
Ariel watches her.
I thought I’d come to your party.
HELENA
Oh Pree will be pleased.
ARIEL
Why do you call him Pree?
HELENA
Paris, you know; gay Paree.
Helena seems to be overcome with embarrassment.
After a time Ariel moves round the stage again.
ARIEL
What does he do — you know — in that little room —
Helena opens her eyes. She seems to make a great effort.
HELENA
Oh Ariel I wish I knew! He used to go out mornings and evenings. And I always knew where he was! In the fields, the factories —
She puts a hand to her head; sways.
— Now he’s most of the time in his room —
Ariel goes to the balustrade at the back and looks over.
ARIEL
I thought he might give me a job.
HELENA
Oh Ariel I don’t think he does give jobs!
ARIEL
Not in his factories? I saw one on the road —
HELENA
With little flames coming out of the chimneys?
ARIEL
And ashes —
HELENA
There were ashes?
ARIEL
On the fields —
HELENA
The poor fields —
ARIEL
And men like snow.
Ariel comes back to Helena and stands over her.
And people on the roads with prams, pushing.
Helena goes on with her stitching.
HELENA
Oh Ariel, I sometimes think —
ARIEL
It might be better if —
HELENA
Rather than —
ARIEL
— What would have been the colour of her eyes, her hair —
HELENA
Sometimes at night —
ARIEL
You can hear him?
HELENA
It’s terrible!
Ariel walks round the stage again.
ARIEL
You mean, how much can we say?
HELENA
How much can we know.
Helena looks out at the wings, left. After a time Ackerman comes on through the loggia. He wears a white dressing-gown. He stands on the steps watching Ariel and Helena, who ignore him.
He begins to pace up and down the balustrade at the back. He declaims as if rehearsing a speech —
ACKERMAN
Do you hear the rumble, the thunder, when the spirits come out and invade the upper air. And the young apes stir in the trees. And flop on the roads like parachutes. You tread on them they kick With wings like snow. And in the ditches breed. With eyes blown out. And in no-man’s-land at night you hear them calling — Good! — Good! — to put them out of misery. With your tongue a pistol. And their mouths, roses.
He stops, by the wings, left, with his head up, as if hearing music.
HELENA
Look who’s here!
ACKERMAN
Who’s here?
HELENA
Ariel. Your grandson, Ariel.
After a time Ackerman comes to Ariel and holds his hand out.
ACKERMAN
You were in your pram. You looked up to the leaves, the shadows. Children see by what they learn. There was an accident! Between the rocks and the whirlpool, you had to be changed.
Ariel frowns. Then he takes his hand.
ARIEL
I thought I’d come to your party —
ACKERMAN
— Oh Pree will be pleased! —
ARIEL
— Why do you call him Pree? —
They both seem to have said the wrong lines. Then Ackerman says mockingly —
ACKERMAN
The sun doesn’t get filtered at this high altitude.
ARIEL
I wondered if you could give me a job —
ACKERMAN
Oh I don’t think I do give jobs.
ARIEL
Not in your factories —
ACKERMAN
Jokes —
ARIEL
Shit —
They wait.
Ackerman goes to the balustrade at the back and looks over.
ACKERMAN
How did you get in?
ARIEL
I climbed.
ACKERMAN
No one’s ever climbed.
They wait.
Then Ariel turns to Ackerman; smiles.
ARIEL
I had irons —
ACKERMAN
On your hands —
ARIEL
And feet —
ACKERMAN
Your poor feet! —
They wait.
ARIEL
And the people in the valley?
ACKERMAN
Want to get in —
ARIEL
For what —
ACKERMAN
— We haven’t got —
ARIEL
So you provide —
ACKERMAN
— Waste from the factories. Jokes. Shit.
He watches the audience.
Helena has lain back as if she is asleep.
Ariel comes to the front of the stage and looks at the audience with Ackerman.
ACKERMAN
We call them the fossils. To prove that the world was not made the other day.
Ariel looks down over the footlights. Ackerman puts an arm round him. They stand together looking out.
After a time Ackerman acts —
ACKERMAN
— The king sat here, with his courtiers.
Two eyes and a nose, with a room behind —
He turns, with Ariel, to the loggia, right.
— Where Harlequin kept Columbine —
He turns to the swing sofa, left.
He takes his arm away from Ariel’s shoulder. He remains looking at the swing sofa.
ARIEL
They rub together —
ACKERMAN
Keeps them white.
Ariel looks at the audience as if to see if there are any results from some experiment.
Ackerman goes to the swing sofa and pulls back one of the curtains. He stares down.
Ariel murmurs —
ARIEL
— I can destroy you —
ACKERMAN
— I can climb down —
After a time Ariel calls —
ARIEL
Oh you are an old fraud! I’m sure you’re frightfully good at it really!
Ackerman closes the curtain. He shouts —
ACKERMAN
On guard!
He turns and faces Ariel.
Ariel hesitates: then he crouches and holds on to his leg as if he had been hit there.
ARIEL
You go for the legs —
ACKERMAN
Tap the ground.
ARIEL
You’ve got to give warning.
Ackerman comes to Ariel and bends down as if to examine his leg.
After a time Ariel murmurs —
ARIEL
Did you see it?
ACKERMAN
Underneath the chair?
Ackerman looks towards the wings, right.
Ariel says loudly, as if to divert the attention of anyone who might be listening —
ARIEL
— I don’t see why there shouldn’t be parasites in an industrial society —
ACKERMAN
— Of course you young men want to give them cups of tea —
Ackerman turns back to Ariel.
Ariel puts an arm round his shoulder.
ARIEL
Wouldn’t it be better if —
ACKERMAN
Instead of her arms, her hair —
ARIEL
A bit of rope —
ACKERMAN
Wire —
ARIEL
Wine — ?
ACKERMAN
Wire!
They seem to be trying not to laugh. They begin to hobble off the stage through the loggia. Ackerman has his arm round Ariel. At the top of the loggia steps Ariel turns and looks back at the audience.
ACKERMAN
They protect themselves —
ARIEL
By rubbish?
ACKERMAN
Don’t they like it?
ARIEL
But if they see it —
ACKERMAN
One or two get through.
Ackerman takes his arm from Ariel’s shoulders.
He looks at Helena. Helena has her eyes closed, lying back in the garden chair.
Ackerman nods at Ariel: then he goes off through the loggia.
Ariel goes and stands behind a pillar. It is as if he were imagining he were off-stage.
The backdrop goes blank
Then there appears the huge outline of a tree.
After a time Jenny pushes back the curtains of the swing sofa. She looks out tentatively She buttons up her dress.
JENNY
Oh Mrs Ackerman, I did so love your party—
She climbs out of the sola.
The garden! The tree! Especially the Chinese lanterns.
She looks round the stage.
Oh I know I ought to have gone!
She looks down at Helena.
But I’m so in love with Ariel.
Helena does not move.
Jenny goes to the loggia and looks out at the wings, right.
She sees Ariel. Ariel makes a move as if to stay hidden behind the pillar.
JENNY
You know, last night, he hardly knew what he was doing. He walked up and down on the parapet. He said he was a bird —
She comes and looks at the audience. She seems to quote —
— Stand back, you go over —
She waits.
Then she walks round the stage. She seems to make a great effort to explain —
We had this child in its pram. We took it to the airport. It was a bright spring day. There were aeroplanes flying —
She stops and looks amongst the audience.
Was it you. Was it you —
She moves round the stage again.
I went ahead. Ariel was following me.
Wires had to be attached from the suitcases to the pram —
She stops; looks out at the wings, left.
What’s that burning?
She waits: then moves round the stage.
They’d been watching for people like us.
She seems to be finding it increasingly difficult to know which way to face or how to convey her meaning.
Mrs Ackerman —
She looks at the audience.
What have they given her, do you know?
She tries to lift Helena’s chair by its handles.
There were men in the control tower —
The chair seems too heavy: she puts it down.
She looks towards the loggia, right —
It was a small room, with fir trees —
She turns to the audience.
You can’t taste it, touch it, smell it —
She raises her hands, as if surrendering.
Don’t shoot! I’m pregnant!
After a time the Footman comes on through the loggia He stands on the top of the loggia steps. He watches Jenny.
Jenny looks amongst the audience.
The Footman goes to Helena’s chair.
Jenny lowers her hands.
The Footman wheels Helena’s chair towards the back of the loggia.
Just before Helena and the Footman go off Jenny yells —
They can make you say anything!
Helena sits up gripping the sides of the chair as
if terrified.
Jenny smiles.
Then the Footman wheels Helena off.
Jenny goes and leans with her back against the proscenium arch, left. She looks up, as if basking in the sun.
From now on, it is as if the actors were confident they had found a style proper for what they are demonstrating.
After a time Ariel runs on from behind the pillar of the loggia.
He goes to the balustrade at the back and climbs on to it and walks along holding his arms out like a bird. Then he jumps off and goes to the crack in the rocks and squats down by it and puts his fingers in.
Jenny remains with her eyes closed. Then she holds her hand out as if she were trying to make shadows with her fingers on a wall.
After a time Judith comes on from behind the loggia. She wears her black dress. She moves along the balustrade. Then she turns to Ariel.
JUDITH
Ariel —
ARIEL
Yes —
JUDITH
When you see your father, will you tell him I’ve done his socks and they’re in the oven —
Ariel is facing the audience with his eyes closed. Judith puts a leg up on the balustrade as if about to climb over.
— And would he never, never do this to anyone again.
Ariel does not move.
Judith seems to become interested in what he is doing with the crack in the rocks. She climbs down from the balustrade. She walks about the stage, acting as if she were not interested in what she is saying.