The CTR Anthology

by Alan Filewod

  Father: (makes the sign of the cross) Benedic, Domine, et respice de caelis super hanc conjunctionem; et sicut misisti sanctum Angelum tuum Raphael pacificum ad Tobiam et Saram, filiam Raguelis ita digneris, Domine, mittere benedictionem permaneant, in tue voluntate persistant, et in tuo amore vivant. Per Christum Domine nostrum. Amen, (makes the sign of the cross)

  (Harry, Edna, and then Molly cross themselves.)

  Harry: What was that.

  Father: It’s a blessing on marriage, when there’s no nuptial mass.

  Harry: (near to tears, near to laughter) Go on, go on, get out.

  Father: (puts on his coat, takes his hat) Did the dog die?

  Harry: What?

  Father: It was the last time I seen her, she said old Bill’s dog would die. Mourn and die.

  Edna: (realizes and wails) Jennie!

  (Harry turns and looks toward the pantry door and suddenly, he also knows. He races toward the pantry. Everyone stands frozen. Harry returns with Jennie’s body in his arms. He takes her to the table, his head bent over her face, and lays her body on the table. Everyone is frozen for a moment. Edna goes to the water boiler at the side of the range and begins to ladle hot water into the basin – the same basin that was used to wash Billy’ body.)

  Harry: No.

  Edna: I’ll wash her, Harry. I’m her mother. You get out of here now, Harry.

  (Harry goes out onto the porch. Father follows him.)

  Father: She’s damned herself, Harry. She took the lye and she damned herself. I cannot bury her in consecrated ground. (Harry is very still. He shivers in the cold.) We can talk to Johnston, United Church …

  Harry: I’ll take her down to the river, under the butte. I’ll take her down to the river, ’n I’ll cut her some kindling. And I’ll make her a pyre, like they did for the old pagans.

  Father: You do that, they’ll have the law on you.

  Harry: I’ll not put you underground dark and lonely and cold. So when yer ma’s made you ready, I’ll burn you. ’N I’ll do it when the sun comes up. And I’ll stay and watch you go like fire-folk. Into the skies.

  ACT TWO, SCENE THREE

  Spring. Molly enters with a basket. She puts it on the table. She is wearing a new dress, and her hair is loose. She peers into the basket, proud. Edna comes in from the porch with crocuses.

  Edna: I thought they’d be nice, for the table. (Molly takes the crocuses and goes to the sink, pumps water into a jam jar. She puts the crocuses on the table.) Aren’t ya going ta fix yer hair?

  Molly: It’s fixed, Mother Delevault.

  Edna: Yes. Yes, you look nice. Molly. (looks into the basket, tearfully scolds Molly) Now don’t you go pickin’ him up, he don’t need pickin’ up, he’s sleeping. (Molly looks at Edna, smiles.) Well, everythin’s ready. Harry should be here any minute. I’ll never forgive yer ma, her not comin’ to the weddin’ tomorra.

  Molly: Oh she’ll come. Never mind, she wouldn’t miss it. (pause) They say prison changes a man.

  Edna: Not Harry. They won’t beat Harry down, with their judges and their jails, and their ‘desecration of the dead.’ (tearfully) We gotta put that all behind us now.

  (Molly comes to Edna and puts her arms around her. Edna almost breaks down, then steels herself)

  Edna: I’ll hold Ben, fer the ceremony.

  Molly: Yes. (half-laugh)

  (Edna holds Molly close, kisses her. Harry comes up on porch with a suitcase. He is dressed in a suit. He scrapes his boots automatically on the scraper, opens the screen door and comes in.)

  Molly: Mister McGrane! I never heard no truck.

  Harry: I hitched a ride with Ben Collette, he let me off up at the gate. (pauses, moves to table) Is that him then?

  Molly: Yes. That’s Ben.

  Edna: She spoils him rotten. He doesn’t get a chance to give a cry, she’s unbuttoned already. If she never gives him a chance to cry, how’s he goingta get lungs? (Edna is very close to tears. She looks to Harry, then to Molly.) I’ll take him in front room, listen to radio, (takes the baby in the basket to the front room)

  Molly: (puts the kettle on the hot part of the range) Sit down then. I’ll make some tea. (Harry, bone tired, sits at his old place at the table.) I’m sorry they wouldn’t let you have yer books.

  Harry: Oh, I forgot to take off my boots, (starts to rise)

  Molly: Oh Mister McGrane, you leave your boots on.

  Harry: Those books. A man gave me those books when I was in prison before. (Molly looks at him, pulls out a chair and sits down) I was in prison before. I killed a man.

  Molly: (pause) I mem’rized somethin’ you was gone, outa yer books. ’Cause they wouldn’t let them come through, (pause) You like ta hear it?

  Harry: Yeah. I’d like to hear it.

  Molly: I’m a bit nervous.

  Harry: (with great effort) Tell you what, Miss Molly, a man comes home from prison, he oughta get a piece a pie anyway.

  Molly: (hurt, gets up) There’s pie! I was just goingta wait fer the tea!

  Harry: So, you get me a piece a yer pie, ’n you tell me yer poem. If th’ poem don’t give me indigestion, th’ pie will. And if the pie don’t give me indigestion, the poem will. Can’t win ’em all, Molly. Luck a the Irish.

  (Molly realizes he’s trying to joke with her. She goes to the pantry, comes back with pie, plate, fork, heavy cream. She cuts it and serves it to him.)

  Molly: My pie won’t give you indigestion, Mister McGrane. (clears her throat) The world … the world …

  The world is charged with a grandeur a God …

  It flames out … no, it will flame out like a shining of shook foil.

  It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze a oil

  Crushed.

  An’ all … Oh jeez, Harry, oh jeez, I fergit the words.

  But I know them, just you wait … Somethin’ somethin’ …

  but anyways, for alla this, nature is never spent.

  There lives the dearest freshness deep down things.

  And ’though the last light a the Black West went

  Oh Morning!

  At the brown brink eastward springs!

  Because the Holy Ghost over the bent world broods

  With warm breast and with ah! bright wings. (Harry has not touched the pie. He raises his head now.) Did I do that right, Mist … Harry?

  Harry: Yeah, you did that just fine, Molly.

  THE END

  This is for You, Anna A SPECTACLE OF REVENGE

  The Anna Project

  The Anna Project: Suzanne Odette Khuri is an actor, writer, teacher, and voyager, founder of Ad Astra Productions in Brooklyn, New York. Ann-Marie MacDonald is a Toronto-based writer and actor. Her play Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet won the Governor-General’s Award for Drama in 1990.

  Bauta Rubess directs, writes, and teaches in English and Latvian.

  Maureen White is a founding member of Nightwood Theatre, and is a director and teacher in Ireland and Canada.

  Early incarnations of This is for You, Anna benefited from the work of Patricia Nichols and Aida Jordao.

  (LEFT TO RIGHT) PATRICIA NICHOLS, BAŅUTA RUBESS, SUZANNE ODETTE KHURI, ANN-MARIE MACDONALD, MAUREEN WHITE

  This is for You, Anna was initially performed in a 20-minute version in 1983 as part of the Women’s Perspective Festival. Special thanks to Nightwood Theatre for its initial and on-going support. Further workshop productions were sponsored by Factory Theatre Lab and Playwrights Workshop Montreal. The 1984 production was funded by Canada Council Explorations, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Floyd S. Chalmers Fund. The play was performed at community centres, women’s shelters, a prison, law schools, and various theatres.

  PRODUCTION

  Stage Manager / Tori Smith

  Administrator / Barb Taylor

  Design / Tanuj Kohli

  Sound Design / Peter Chapman

  Graphic Design / Balvis Rubess

  CAST (1985 version)

  Maureen White / Marianne 1, Mother
, Amaranta, Victim 1, Friend

  (last section), Woman 2.

  Suzanne Odette Khuri / Marianne 2, Accordionist, Arabella, Maria,

  Victim 2, Woman 4

  Barņuta Rubess / Marianne 3, Narrator, Allegra, Eena, Interviewer,

  Woman 1

  Ann-Marie MacDonald / Marianne 4, Daughter, Friend (first section),

  Alicia, Jenny, Victim 3, Woman 3

  This is for You, Anna is a performance piece for four actors. The four actors change roles continuously. The most frequent role played is that of Marianne Bachmeier, indicated as Marianne 1, Marianne 2, etc. The white set consists of various levels containing: a refrigerator; a laundry line; a white suitcase; a white hamper; an accordion; four red chairs. The women are well dressed in black, red, and white.

  PROLOGUE

  The actors assume the following positions on stage: Marianne 1 [M.1] and Marianne 2 [M.2] facing each other on the downstage corners. Marianne 3 [M.3] stands at the downstage edge of the stage facing the fridge. Marianne 4 [M.4] sits in a chair at stage left of the fridge, holding the picture of Anna. When the lights go up, M.3 walks up to the fridge and places her hand on the door handle. M.1 and M.2 complete a gesture in slow motion of pulling a gun from their pocket, aiming it, and then pushing it out of reach. When the gesture is complete, M.1 begins to speak.

  M.1: What happened? Do you remember?

  M.2: Give me time. Give me time. It was a sunny day. I walked up to the courtroom. I opened the door.

  (M.3 opens the fridge and pours a glass of milk.)

  M.4: No interviews!

  M.1 and M.2: It was a sunny day.

  M.1: It was a sunny day. I walked up to the courtroom. I opened the door … No. I must have dreamt it.

  M.2: Yes, it was a dream.

  M.1: I’m glad I did it.

  M.3: (offering the glass of milk) This is for you, Anna. (She returns milk to fridge and shuts the door.)

  THE STORY OF AGATE

  (The scene changes to that of a surreal bedtime story. Anna’s photo is set on top of the fridge. The Mother covers The Daughter with a gauze sheet, downstage right holding the Daughter’s head in her lap. The Accordionist picks up her instrument, downstage left. The Narrator picks up her black cloth and her fistful of nails, and listens to the story in the chair stage left of the fridge. In the background, the strains of yodelling music.)

  Mother: Want a story?

  Daughter: Yeah.

  Mother: This is a story about revenge. It’s about a very old woman named Agate. She was blind.

  Daughter: Why?

  Mother: Ssh, listen. She was blind. She used to crawl through the bushes on her hands and knees talking to herself. But of course, she wasn’t always old. Once she was young and beautiful. She lived in the village by the castle and fell in love with the young baron. He was tall and handsome and they were very much in love. But then he married a woman of his own class, a rich woman, and Agate was left all alone. She used to follow him everywhere. One night, she went to the gardens of the castle where she watched the beautiful ladies and gentlemen dancing in the ballroom. She cried and wailed, she felt so alone. Finally she fell asleep and the gardener found her there the next morning. When the baron discovered that Agate had been following him, he was so angry, that he called all his guardsmen and told them to …

  Daughter: No!

  Mother: He told them to put out her eyes. Now go to sleep.

  (Mother tucks The Daughter in.)

  Accordionist: (pumping the accordion, which makes a breathing sound)

  There was a little girl

  Who had a little curl

  Right down the middle of her forehead.

  When she was good, she was very, very good,

  But when she was bad, she was horrid.

  (singing) Curlilocks, curlilocks,

  Wilt thou be mine?

  Thou shalt not wash dishes,

  Nor yet feed the swine,

  But sit on a cushion,

  And sew a fine seam,

  And feed upon strawberries,

  Sugar and cream.

  (Mother uncovers The Daughter.)

  Daughter: But Agate never stopped thinking of a way to punish the baron. (She screams like a witch and speaks in an Agate voice) “Revenge! I will have my revenge!” (Normal voice) One day, Agate told her daughter the true story of how she had lost her eyes, and she vowed that her daughter would never suffer such a fate. (Agate voice) “Once upon a time, I was in love with a nobleman. He was tall and handsome, like a prince in a fairy tale. But he betrayed me, and not only that, he …” (Normal voice) And with that, Agate snatched up a burning torch. (Agate’s daughter’s voice) “Mother, no, revenge can only lead to sorrow!” (Normal voice) It was too late. Half mad with fury, Agate had already vanished into the night. She reached the castle, and stumbled through its halls, searching for the baron. And when she found him, she clutched his throat, she raised her flaming torch, and –

  Mother: Stop.

  (The Daughter gets up and goes to the fridge, opens the door.)

  Accordionist: (pumping wildly)

  Agate was blind and out of her mind

  She burned down the castle with glee

  He poked out her eyes

  She stifled her cries

  A bloody revenge set her free.

  (pause. Pumping more slowly)

  Strychnine in his coffee

  Arsenic in his tea

  Knife upon the cutting board

  Will you marry me?

  A poker would have done

  Or if she had a gun

  Or if he had a child –

  (The Daughter slams the door, turns to Accordionist.)

  Daughter: No.

  (The Narrator rises. The Mother and The Accordionist leave the stage. The Daughter remains at the fridge with her back to the audience – transforming into an image of Marianne Bachmeier.)

  THE STORY OF MARIANNE BACHMEIER

  (The Narrator lays down a rectangular black cloth. She holds 31 nails in her hands. With each line, directed to a member of the audience, she lays down a nail, forming a circle on the floor.)

  A thousand sins, a thousand tragedies, (offering the nails)

  Marianne Bachmeier is born in 1950, in Lübeck, Germany.

  Such a pretty girl!

  She cries too much at night.

  Her father is an alcoholic.

  She is sent to a children’s home. So was Marilyn Monroe, wasn’t she?

  She is encouraged not to get an education.

  Isn’t she a bit young to have a boyfriend?

  At the age of sixteen she tries to get an abortion.

  She almost goes to India.

  She wears her skirts awfully short, but so did everyone in those days.

  She is pregnant at the time of her second rape. Who’s the father?

  Some women get puffy and ugly when pregnant, but not Marianne!

  She never does kill herself. Unlike Marilyn Monroe.

  She decides to keep the child.

  She decides to keep the child.

  Her daughter Anna is just like her mother.

  She was really beautiful.

  Marianne is rarely at home.

  She asks her girlfriend to be a mother to Anna.

  A man called Grabowski strangles Anna when she visits him in his room.

  Marianne is away, driving around town.

  He tells the court that Anna flirted with him.

  Anna was seven years old.

  Marianne walks into the courtroom and shoots him seven times. (Narrator drops seven nails)

  There was spontaneous applause, (no nail)

  She came to the trial with her new boyfriend.

  A thousand tragedies, a thousand sins, (with empty hands)

  (The Narrator slowly folds up the cloth of nails. It turns into a bundle. She cradles it like an infant, and walks off stage, counting under her breath. Marianne 4 (previously The Daughter] turns around from the fridge, counting
as in hide and seek.)

  M.4: 47, 48, 49, 50 … Ready or not, here I come, Anna!

  (She walks off stage. Her voice continues to be heard. While M.2 walks on stage, pacing, waiting for Anna, holding a cigarette.)

  M.4: (voice off) Anna … are you … behind the door? Are you … under the table? I’m coming up the stairs, Anna! I’m on the first step … I’m on the second step, and I bet you’re … under the bed!

  M.2: (angrily, as if she’s finally come home) Anna! (Exits.)

  M.4: (voice off Anna! What a great place to hide!

  M.1: (entering with an armful of colourful clothing which she flings in the air) Anna! Anna banana! We’re going to Spain! Either you go out and play or stay and help me pack, Anna! We’re going to the beaches! (She picks up a wild skirt, holds it up.) Don’t you think Mummy will look nice in this, with a flower in her hair? (She stamps her feet like a flamenco dancer.) We’ve got to hurry, Peter will be here in a minute. Get your swimsuit, Anna. And four dresses, I don’t care which ones. Not that one, Anna, that’s a winter dress. (Packing haphazardly.) We’re going swimming. Anna, I’ll teach you how. And we’ll lie in the sun, and eat lots of ice cream. And we’ll go dancing … not you, Anna. OK, well, maybe – we’ll see. (Stops packing.) Oh, Anna. Look at your hair, it’s all in your eyes. Fish don’t have hair in their eyes, how are you going to swim? (M.3 enters.) Quick, let’s go cut it right now. (M.1 exits.)

  (M.3 walks up briskly to the fridge, Marianne as The Barmaid)

  M.3: (looking in the fridge) OK: Carlsberg, Carlsberg light … Henninger – we need more Henninger! … Amstel, Beck, Löwenbräu … Löwenbräu – dark and light! … Kronenbourg, Meisterpils – I don’t know why we stock that stuff, nobody drinks it. Lemons, limes and ice, – and I need more float! (to imaginary customer) We’re not open yet. We’re not open yet. (slams fridge) Oh, shit! I completely forgot! Greta, … Greta, could you pick up Anna from school for me today? Greta

  (As M.3 exits, M.2 enters, again waiting. She sits and waits for a bit. As M.2 exits, M.4 enters angrily as Marianne the Teenager)

  M.4: (flings a piece of clothing on the stage) Ok, here! Take it! Take it, I don’t need your lousy stuff, man! Here, you bought me this and this nice thing and this. (Flings clothing about) I’m gonna grow out of these clothes anyway because I’m PREGNANT! (Stomping around) I’ll look after the kid myself. OK, so I’m 17. But I bet I know a lot more about bringing up a kid than you do, that’s obvious. Don’t worry, I’m getting my own place. I’m gonna move in with Herman. (Stomps around) And then, I’m gonna stand outside here with a big sign, that says “Marianne Bachmeier’s Pregnant with Your Bastard Grandchild!” But it won’t even be true, because you’re not my real father anyway, are you!