by Alan Filewod
Amy: No they can’t.
Newhouse: You must express your emotions. I imagine your tears are exquisite – always surrender to your feelings.
Amy: I know this is crazy, but I didn’t want to marry him.
Newhouse: Then I think you two should talk.
Amy: It just doesn’t feel right – I don’t know why – I said I’d get married but –
Newhouse: You can’t argue with your feelings.
Amy: My father can.
Newhouse: Well, your father didn’t have to marry him.
Amy: I feel like I’ve been coerced into it, but my father says Patrick is a good choice for a husband – he’s safe –
Newhouse: – ah yes, safe –
Amy: – he hasn’t slept around a lot – been tested – my God, he’s probably a virgin –
Newhouse: How quaint.
Amy: Father says happiness comes with time in marriage.
Newhouse: And love?
Amy: He loves me.
Newhouse: And you love him?
(Pause. Patrick enters.)
Patrick: What are you doing in my chair?
Newhouse: Talking to the bride.
Patrick: You’re acting like the bridegroom.
Newhouse: Amy could do worse.
Angus: Mr Newhouse, my new son-in-law, Patrick.
Newhouse: Oh excuse me – it’s your seat. (joins Chambers) The bridegroom seems perturbed.
Chambers: You’re all over his new wife. But who cares – just another innocent victim.
Newhouse: She’s not innocent – just lacking experience. Amy, you make a very attractive bride. I’m jealous of your husband.
Amy: You’re just flattering me.
Newhouse: But with very good reason.
Patrick: Is the moon full tonight? The wolves are howling.
Angus: Ladies and gentlemen – your seats. Dinner is served.
Newhouse: (takes her hand) Are you suddenly shy?
Amy: You’re leading me on.
Newhouse: I’m trying to open your eyes.
Amy: Would you marry me?
Newhouse: I’m not the marrying kind.
Amy: Then what would you be?
Newhouse: A friend.
Amy: You want to touch me.
Newhouse: Yes.
Amy: You want to kiss me.
Newhouse: Yes.
(They kiss)
Patrick: What do you think you are doing?
Angus: Music please, while we dine.
Newhouse: I forgot to kiss the bride. Congratulations!
(Newhouse returns to Chambers.)
Chambers: I’m touched. You normally kiss your women before they know who you are – you’ve reformed.
Newhouse: It’s genetic – I’m the son of a Liberal.
Chambers: But now her husband knows too. If I were you I’d be worried.
Newhouse: She has lovely eyes and lips.
Chambers: This is a wedding party, not a pit stop.
Patrick: This wedding has become my worst nightmare.
Angus: Music! Where is the music!
Patrick: I’m dying.
Amy: Me too.
Chambers: From the way they’re staring at us, I thing we should eat what may well be our last supper.
SCENE TWENTY-ONE
(Paparazzi. En route to Delphic Hospital.)
Pap #1: Have you read about your husband’s womanizing?
Wife: It is very difficult to ignore reports identifying women who claim to have slept with him.
Pap #2: Are you thinking about divorce?
Wife: I have complete faith in my husband – I will not be victimized by innuendo. I trust him, and I trust our marriage.
(Prime Minister enters press scrum.)
Pap #1: So why are you being tested?
PM: I voluntarily take the test –
Pap #3: Do you think you’re a carrier?
PM: – because I ask the same of my fellow citizens. I am not above them.
Pap #1: Are you worried about your pregnancy?
(pause.)
Pap #2: Will you release your test results to the public prior to the election?
PM: I think you would agree that I have no right to know your test results. I can also fairly say that the public has no right to know mine. Confidentiality is the central campaign issue.
Pap #2: Polls show the majority supports your efforts to maintain civil rights.
PM: I’m encouraged.
Pap #3: But a high percentage of uncommitted voters say they have the right to know about the health of their leader.
PM: My personal life has become an election issue. But I practise what I preach – unlike certain clergy who sermonize at the expense of others.
Pap #3: You’re avoiding the question.
PM: Hardly. People know the difference between “hysteria” politics and “issue-oriented” debate. And I trust the legitimate press will eventually focus on campaign issues rather than character assassination.
Pap #1: But Prime Minister, you are a prime target for leaked test results.
PM: I have faith in the confidentiality of the Health Authority.
Pap #2: Then how are they getting their information?
PM: You are in the business of making surmises. Which hybrid of church and political party advocates the public identification and branding of carriers, as well as quarantine measures?
Evangelist: I only want to protect the innocent – the future –
PM: – who marches in the streets?
Evangelist: People who care. They have the freedom of assembly.
PM: You assault citizens in their homes –
Evangelist: – door-to-door campaigns are democratic –
PM: – and this violence against risk groups – members of your church, and the so-called Christian Party, are responsible. How badly do you seek power?
Evangelist: In our new age –
PM: You want power, but refuse to stand for election. Are you above it all? Or are you afraid to be tested and defeated by the democratic process.
Evangelist: I need only the love of God –
PM: (to press) Just get out of our lives!
Evangelist: – and the prospect of immorality. I have no mortal desire.
SCENE TWENTY-TWO
(Delphic Hospital. Private)
Wife: Don’t go through with the test.
PM: What! When I’ve asked every man, woman and child to follow my lead!
(Doctor enters.)
Doctor: It might be best if I spoke to you separately.
PM: My wife knows everything. We’ll take the test together.
Doctor: Do you love each other?
PM: Yes.
Doctor: Have you ever been unfaithful to your wife in your years of marriage?
PM: Yes. Once. Seven years ago.
Doctor: More recently?
PM: I told you – once.
Doctor: Do you suspect your wife of infidelity?
PM: No.
Wife: I have not been unfaithful.
Doctor: Then I see no reason for either of you to take the test.
PM: I believe I came into contact.
Doctor: Are you certain?
PM: No.
Doctor: Without concrete evidence, you have nothing to fear.
PM: Perhaps, but I am afraid –
Doctor: Who is this person you are afraid of?
PM: Her name is Susan Redstone.
Doctor: Does she have the disease?
Wife: He suspects Susan was the lover of a friend who recently died of the disease –
PM: – and despite our best efforts, we can’t seem to find her.
Doctor: What about the police?
PM: Any investigation by my office would arouse too much suspicion – and a leak would be disastrous.
Doctor: I may be able to trace her whereabouts through Health Authority records. It could take time, but it is possible.
PM: Only if it’s done with the
strictest confidentiality.
Doctor: No one need know whom I’m investigating, or why.
PM: Go ahead. But be careful.
Doctor: Of course. Then we are agreed we wait.
PM: No. We still want the tests.
Doctor: It’s premature.
PM: This woman has disappeared. Her lover –
Wife: – her possible lover –
PM: – has died.
Doctor: This has nothing to do with the accusations in the paper?
PM: Give me the test.
Doctor: Wait. I repeat my question. Do you love your wife?
PM: I love my wife as she loves me.
Doctor: And your children?
Wife: Your future child?
PM: You know I do.
Doctor: Taking the test could destroy your family –
PM: – I am aware of the consequences –
Doctor: – your life with them.
Wife: Are you?
PM: Please proceed.
Doctor: The test won’t free you of suspicion or distress. A negative test is inconclusive. A positive test only makes the fear more tangible – every swelling, every ache a sign of disease.
PM: I am already haunted by these thoughts.
Doctor: The world points its finger and you surrender to the blame?
PM: No! Yes. My mind is a labyrinth – lead me out. I want exact answers –
Wife: Forget the accusations. Forget the past. I feel you slipping away from me. Your need for certainty –
PM: The secrets of my past lie within my grasp – answers waiting to be uncovered.
Wife: No more questions! Forget the test.
PM: I must know everything. Take my blood!
Wife: For your peace of mind – for my peace of mind.
PM: To hell with peace of mind! I want to know!
Doctor: Even if I test you, you will not know. If you test positive, the disease may never manifest. If you test negative, it may be lying dormant
…
(Pause.)
Wife: You already act infected. I won’t take the test.
PM: The arrogance of the privileged. What’s asked of the people isn’t necessary for her.
Wife: This dark obsession has become the sum of your life. Your devotion to truth is a fatal as the disease. You think your past betrays you, but you betray me – again.
(She exits. Long silence. Prime Minister takes blood test.)
PM: Terror appears in many disguises – but I will unmask and face it. I will wait for the results patiently – serene and trusting – finding relief in truth.
As a child I believed I could be great – rise above common concerns and petty fears – will myself to action and triumph. I will not hesitate now, in my pursuit of truth. I will know who I have become.
SCENE TWENTY-THREE
(Outside country motel. In background, wedding party.)
Patrick: Does she expect me not to be jealous, not to care? I hate myself when I’m jealous, because it only tells me how much I love her. But how can I love her when I am jealous? He danced with her in the middle of dinner. The whole room stuffing their faces – me included – and before me, like a dream – no, a nightmare – they dance the first dance – him and my bride. People stare. First at them, then at me – with my mouth full of food. He just laughs it off, of course, because his father owns half of the town. Does he think I’m the village idiot? Now that he’s eaten, drunk, and danced, I suppose he’ll want to jump into bed with us.
Newhouse: Patrick!
Patrick: Oh Christ – what’s he doing here?!
Newhouse: I have to be honest with you about Amy –
Patrick: – you slept with her – right?!
Newhouse: Not exactly, but we both know what she’s thinking – she’s already betrayed you in her mind.
Patrick: Her mind. I guess.
(Pause)
Newhouse: We agree marriage is a sacred act, and she should be married to the one she truly loves. You may love her, but unfortunately for you, she desires me as I desire her. Ask yourself: does she love you? She doesn’t love me and I don’t love her, but you, Patrick, love her too much to deny her needs. The same need that made you want to marry her makes her want me.
Patrick: Have you finished?
Newhouse: I believe so.
Patrick: I wish you the best in your mutual … need – or whatever. For my part I thank you. I’d rather live alone than spend a lifetime cheated on and dissatisfied – dead. She’s yours – I think –
(Patrick leaves.)
Chambers: A monster, that’s what you’ve become, and what am I, by remaining silent I’m a monster’s accomplice.
Newhouse: People actually believe marriage will somehow protect them. Why else would it become so popular? Do they think that marriage isn’t a lifetime of indiscretion, cheating, and secrets – unions built on fear?
Chambers: The pursuit of happiness. In time, they could have been a happily married couple.
Newhouse: Happy?
Chambers: I believe that to be true.
Newhouse: I know many “good” people who are not “happy,” and many “happy” people who are not “good.”
Chambers: So you think.
Newhouse: Now that I’ve saved her from the jaws of hell, I suppose you think I should ask her to marry me.
Chambers: That would be the most honourable route –
Newhouse: – and the most deceitful. But I am honest in my affections.
(Amy in bed alone)
Amy: Amy, what have you done? Patrick spent his wedding day in tears. But what does he expect me to do – I don’t love him.
What am I going to do? Just take off your clothes Amy, put on your negligé, and pretend he’s the one you want. If I make lots of noise he’ll think I love him – maybe I should whimper.
Newhouse: Chambers, prepare the car for a journey.
Chambers: Your father ordered you to stay here – when do you want it?
Newhouse: Sunrise.
Chambers: Where are we going?
Newhouse: The Capital.
Chambers: But the police are after us by now –
Newhouse: – for what offence –
Chambers: – murder –
Newhouse: – self-defence –
Chambers: – not if Marcus has anything to say –
Newhouse: Nothing is going to happen. No scandal – or dear old Dad and the boys won’t get elected.
Chambers: You have a low opinion of democracy. Every day the papers publish stories about corruption, cover-up, influence, and all sorts of sexual decadence – Do you know a good lawyer?
Newhouse: What for?
Chambers: For my trial.
Newhouse: Lawyers are for executing wills.
Chambers: All right, forget the law, if you don’t believe in it, you don’t, what about heaven?
Newhouse: Ouch.
Chambers: The afterlife?
(Newhouse laughs.)
Chambers: OK – this world, what about the Fundamentalists –
Newhouse: – the plague can have them –
Chambers: – if your father’s party doesn’t get elected Crane will bring in quarantine –
Newhouse: – there’s absolutely no way Crane can get in!
Chambers: What do you believe in?
Newhouse: I believe that two times two is four.
Chambers: Oh, that’s a fine article of faith, the multiplication table. Me, I still believe in the laws of man and nature. For example, why does the plague exist – the greatest threat to society at the end of the twentieth century –
Newhouse: I admit it makes a good campaign platform, and perhaps they can win the election –
Chambers: I’m talking about death!
Newhouse: If I have it, I have it – and I don’t want to know.
Chambers: And the girl, who is undoubtedly a virgin, where is your responsibility to her?
Newhouse: She can choose not to love
me.
Chambers: She would if she knew you were –
Newhouse: – a lover, a idler, a good-for-nothing –
Chambers: Oh you consider yourself so fashionable, but you’re out of step. Self-sacrifice is the order of the day and you’d be surprised what you can live without.
Newhouse: You zealots – the converted who with religious fervour refuse tap water, preservatives, smoking. You broadcast your self-denial thinking that mere act of giving up confers moral virtue.
Chambers: If you no longer yield to baser animal appetites you can’t help feeling better.
Newhouse: Are we morally inferior because we drink, eat red meat, enjoy additives, and avoid the gym?
Chambers: Well … it’s more than just a cholesterol-free lifestyle. People care now. They rightly congratulate themselves when they give up environmentally hostile oven cleaners, non-biodegradable detergent, coloured toilet paper, or furniture hewn from the wood of endangered rain forests –
Newhouse: – of course their next target is sex –
Chambers: – a lot of us have already given it up and amazingly we find we haven’t missed it very much – it’s vastly overrated, and to be quite frank, it can be very draining.
Newhouse: And when your resolve crumbles, passing inclination quickly becomes obsession.
Chambers: We only have to look at your headlong rush toward disease to know that I am leading the better life. You’ll be lucky to live to forty, but you will cost our Health Authority thousands of dollars – dollars better spent on the real, blameless, innocent, honest, medically ill – rather than preserving the debauched.
Newhouse: You will live gloriously into infinite and natural old age – and one day receive a telegram from the PM.
Chambers: Preaching is all I can do since you refuse to listen to me.
Newhouse: Chambers, these inadequacies of mine – acquired and retained without denial – are in complete harmony with my nature.
Chambers: Survival is also natural, and abstinence is survival.
Newhouse: But such torture. Denial forces you to be something quite different that what you are. Oh, I would gain the respect of my father, his colleagues, and society at large, but I would become a stranger to myself – and that’s quite a cost. No, I cannot be a hypocrite. Besides there are enough in the world already. Take Daddy dear, for example, he persuades the electorate that he is a man of conviction, but he really swings with the polls. Challenge his beliefs – and he alters them. And the Fundamentalists, who advocate this abstinence and all that self-mortification crap, walk around in a constant state of pain – burning with desire, obsessed with lust, their imagination duelling with pornography. Sordid secret lives are created by hypocrisy.