Speed-the-Plow

by David Mamet

  KAREN: Yes, I will.

  GOULD: I'm going to clean up here before I go. Call Mr. Fox's girl up on the phone, get her to page him or to try him in the car.

  KAREN: Uh huh.

  GOULD: . . . and tell him that I'll be ten minutes late. KAREN: Of course . . .

  GOULD: . . . and tell him he owes me five hundred bucks.

  TWO

  Gould's apartment. Night. GOULD and KAREN. KAREN is reading from the book.

  KAREN : He puts his hand on the child's chest, and he says “heal,” as if he felt he had the power to heal him, he calls on God. . . it's in here. . . something to the effect that if ever in his life he had the power, any power, that now is the time. . . list. . . (She reads:) “. . . in that lonely place, the low place, the tramp, under the bridge, he finds him. Faced with his troubles, and pours out his heart.” We hear the rain, and we see, in his misery, it is forgotten, wet, cold . . . and the problems which assaulted him: they do not disappear, but they are forgotten. He says: years later: it did not occur to him ‘til then that this was happiness. That the thing which he lacked, he says, was courage. What does the Tramp say? “All fears are one fear. Just the fear of death. And we accept it, then we are at peace.” And so, you see, and so all of the events. . . the stone, the instrument, the child which he met, led him there.

  GOULD: They led him.

  KAREN: . . . in his . . . yes, you see—I know that you see—and that's, that's to me, that's the perfection of the story, when I read it. . . I almost, I wanted to sit, I saw, I almost couldn't come to you, the weight of it . . . (Pause.) You know what I mean. He says that the radiation . . . all of it, the planes, the televisions, clocks, all of it is to the one end. To change us—to, to bring about a change—all radiation has been sent by God. To change us. Constantly.

  GOULD: To change us.

  KAREN: Yes.

  GOULD: How?

  KAREN: To this new thing. And that we needn't feel frightened. That it comes from God. And I felt empowered. (Pause.) Empowered. (Pause.)

  GOULD: Empowered . . .

  KAREN: You've felt that, I hope you've felt that, when something made sense, you'd heard it for the longest time and finally you, you know what it means. So . . . so . . . it's not courage, it's greater than courage. Perhaps it is courage. You've felt like that.

  GOULD: I have.

  KAREN: Yes.

  GOULD: Felt like . . .

  KAREN: Like they say in stories: where, where one thing changes you.

  GOULD: . . . have I felt like that? I don't know.

  KAREN: . . . and that it puts you at Peace. And I'll tell you: like books you find at an Inn, or in a bookshop, when, you know, when you go in, that you'll find something there, something. Old, or, or scraps of paper . . . have you had this . . .? In a pocket, or, or even on the ground, a phrase. . . something that changes you. And you were drawn to it. Just like the man. Beneath the bridge. “What was it that you feared?” he says "Embrace it . . .” Well! (Pause.) And like my coming here. Why? A temporary job. But I thought, who can say I knew, but I thought I knew, I thought: I would find something. (Pause.) Too much. It all came at once. So much. May I have another drink? (GOULD pours drink.) Do you know, and he says, the radiation, in all things: not just in bombs, in microwaves, in power, in air travel. . . and the purpose of this radiation . . . well, I've said it. . .

  GOULD: Thank you.

  KAREN: No, I thank you. Do you know what he's talking about? Fear. A life lived in fear, and he says, It Says In The Book, it doesn't have to be so; that those things we have seen . . . you know, and you think “I, am I the only one on the whole planet who knows how bad it is . . . that it's coming . . . that it's sure to come.” What . . . don't you see? What can I do . . .? And you can't join a convent, or “cut off your hair,” or, or, or, you see, this is our pain, I think, we can't embrace Jesus. He, you see, and he says, “I know. And you don't have to be afraid.” And I realized: I haven't breathed. How long? In years. From, I don't know. From terror, perhaps ever. And you say, how can you say it? Is our life so bad? No. No. But that it's ending. That our life is ending. Yes. It's true. And he says that, that these are the Dark Ages. (Pause.) They aren't to come, the Dark Ages—they are now. We're living them. (Reads:) “In the waning days. . . in the last days” . . . “Yes,” he says, it's true, and you needn't deny it . . . and I felt such fear, because, of course, he's right. Then he says: “do not be afraid.” The story. . . when you, when you read it, the story itself. Down below the bridge, I'll tell you: written with such love . . . (Pause.) Such love . . . (Pause.) God. A thing to be thankful for. Such love.

  GOULD: You've done a fantastic job.

  KAREN: I have?

  GOULD: Yes.

  KAREN: I have? Doing what?

  GOULD: On the book. (Pause.)

  KAREN: I. . .?

  GOULD: In your report on the book. It means something, it means a lot, I want to tell you, if you want to “do” something out here. A freshness, you said a naïveté, but call it a “freshness,” and a capacity to get involved . . . I think that it's fantastic. And, you know, you dream about making a connection,- but I feel I've done it.

  KAREN: You've made a connection . . .

  GOULD: Yes. And you reached out to me.

  KAREN: I did . . .

  GOULD: You shared this thing with me.

  KAREN: . . . the book . . .

  GOULD: You did it. Someone does something . . . totally . . .

  KAREN: . . . yes . . .

  GOULD: And you say “yes” . . . “That's . . . that's what I've been missing.”

  KAREN: . . . you're saying . . .

  GOULD: That's what I've been missing. I'm saying, you come alive, and you see everyone's been holding their breath in this town, twenty years, forever, I don't know . . . and then . . .

  KAREN: Yes . . .

  GOULD: So rare, someone shows, shows some enthusiasm . . . it becomes, it becomes simple. You know what I mean . . .

  KAREN: Yes. I do.

  GOULD: N'I want to thank you. (Pause.)

  KAREN: Um . . . it's nothing.

  GOULD (simultaneously with “nothing"): It's something. No. Let, let, let, let me help you. That's what I want to do.

  KAREN (Pause): I'm confused.

  GOULD: I'm saying I thank you; I want to do something for you.

  KAREN: No, no . . .

  GOULD: And, whatever, I'm saying, if I can, that you would like to do, in, in the Studio, if you would like to do it, if I can help you with it, then I would like to help you.

  KAREN: Yes. Thank you. (Pause.) I absolutely do. You know what I want to do.

  Gould: I. . .?

  KAREN: I want to work on the film.

  GOULD: Alright. If we can. The Prison film . . .

  KAREN: No. On this. This film. The Radiation film and I don't care. I don't care in what capacity, well, why should I, ‘cause I don't have any skills . . . that's presumptious, of course, in any way I could. But I'd just like, it would be so important to me, to be there. To help. (Pause. ) If you could just help me with that. And, seriously, I'll get coffee, I don't care, but if you could do that for me, I would be . . . (Pause.)

  GOULD: Hmmm.

  KAREN: I've put you on the spot.

  GOULD: No. Yes, a little.

  KAREN: I'm serious. I'd do anything . . .

  GOULD (Pause): Look . . . (Pause.) This was a “courtesy read.”

  KAREN: I know that, but. . .

  GOULD: As I told you, the chances were, were astronomically slim that it would . . .

  KAREN: Of course, but you said, you, you wanted to investigate . . .

  GOULD: . . . yes . . .

  KAREN: . . . “because once in a while” . . .

  GOULD: . . . yes.

  KAREN: And once in a while one finds a pearl. . .

  GOULD: Yes . . .

  KAREN: And this book . . . I'm telling you, when you read it . . .

  GOULD: Karen, it's about the End of the World.<
br />
  KAREN: That's what I'm saying. That's why it . . .

  GOULD: It's about the End of the World.

  KAREN: Uh huh, uh huh. (Pause.) This book . . . (Pause.) This book . . . (Pause. ) But you said someone's job was to read the manuscripts. (Pause.)

  GOULD: Someone reads the manuscripts. Yes.

  KAREN: . . . that come in . . .

  GOULD: . . . yes. (Pause.) We have readers.

  KAREN: Now: why do the readers read them?

  GOULD (simultaneously with “read"): I get it. I get it. Yes. As I said. Yes. Once in a while, in a great while, yes, that . . .

  KAREN: Why not this? I'm telling you . . .

  GOULD: Look: I'm going to pay you the compliment of being frank. (Pause.) I'm going to talk to you. (Pause.) Power, people who are given a slight power, tend to think, they think that they're the only one that has these ideas, pure ideas, whatever, no matter. And, listen to me. Listen. I'm going to tell you. This book. Your book. On The End of the World which has meant so much to you, as I see that it has: Won't Make A Good Movie. Okay? I could tell you many things to influence you. But why? I have to respect your enthusiasm. And I do respect it. But this book, you want us to make, won't Get The Asses In The Seats. Sounds crass? Whatever the thing just may be. My job: my job, my new job . . . is not even to “make” it is to “suggest,” to “push,” to champion . . . good work, I hope . . . choosing from Those Things Which the Public Will Come In To See. If they don't come to see it, what's the point? You understand? (Pause.) This is what I do. You said a certain kind of courage to embrace a fact? (Pause.) This is the fact here.

  KAREN: Why do you . . . (Pause.) Your job is to make movies people will come see.

  GOULD: That's right.

  KAREN: Why do you think they won't come see this one? (Pause.) Are you ever wrong? Do you see what I'm asking? Just because you think it is “too good”. . . I. . . I. . . I think they would come see it. (Pause.) I would. It's about. . . it's about what we feel. (Pause.)

  GOULD: It is?

  KAREN: Yes.

  GOULD: Which is . . .

  KAREN: Everyone is frightened.

  GOULD: Everyone is frightened.

  KAREN: Everything is breaking down.

  GOULD: It is?

  KAREN: Yes.

  GOULD: It is?

  KAREN: Yes. It's over . . .

  GOULD: It. . .

  KAREN: I believe it is.

  GOULD: . . . the . . .

  KAREN: . . . things as we know them.

  GOULD: Are over?

  KAREN: Of course they are. Do you see? We don't have to deny it . . . The power that this thought will release . . . in, in, in everyone. Something which speaks to them . . . this book spoke to me. It changed me . . . I . . .

  GOULD: Yes, but quite frankly the fact that it changed you, that you like it, that you'd like to see it “go” is not sufficient reason for the studio to pay fifteen million dollars to put it up there.

  KAREN: A sufficient reason.

  GOULD: Yes.

  KAREN: To make the film.

  GOULD: Yes. (Pause.)

  KAREN: Someone, someone makes a decision to, someone can make a decision to . . .

  GOULD: Richard Ross.

  KAREN: You're going to see him tomorrow, you could . . . look. Look, I read the script. Mister Fox's script, the prison film. That's, that's just degradation, that's the same old . . . it's despicable, it's . . . It's degrading to the human spirit. . . it. . .

  GOULD: It what. . .?

  KAREN: Of course; this rage . . . it's killing people, meaningless . . . the sex, the titillation, violence . . . people don't want, they don't want, they . . . they don't want this.

  GOULD: Of course they do, that's what we're in business to do, don't you underst. . . that's what we're in business to do. Make the thing everyone made last year. Make that image people want to see. That is what they it's more than what they want. It is what they require. And it's my job. That's my job . . . when I tell Ross about the Douglas Brown film, he's going to fall upon my neck and kiss me. You know that. You know that I can't make this book.

  KAREN: I don't know that.

  GOULD: I told you . . .

  KAREN: You held out a hope to me, this morning . . .

  GOULD: . . . I held out a hope . . .

  KAREN: . . . that what I said . . .

  GOULD: Aha! You see? That what you said . . . We all, as I said, everyone has feelings, everyone would like to “make a difference.” Everyone says “I'm a maverick” but we're, you know that, just one part of the whole, nobody's a maverick.

  KAREN: But. . .

  GOULD: Now: what I told you was: it was a “courtesy read.”

  KAREN: . . . I, I don't like to be naïve . . .

  GOULD: . . . I told you what the chances were . . .

  KAREN: . . . I don't think it's attractive, and I don't think it's right. To be naïve. But. . .

  GOULD: I told you what the deal was. Don't you understand?

  KAREN: But I. . .

  GOULD: But you. Yes. Everyone Is Trying To “Promote” Me . . . Don't you know that? Don't you care? Don't you care? Every move I make, do you understand? Everyone wants something from me.

  KAREN (pause): Yes. I understand that.

  GOULD: You understand that?

  KAREN: Yes, I do.

  GOULD: Well, if you understand that, then how can you act this way?

  KAREN: To come here . . .

  GOULD: Yes.

  KAREN: . . . you asked me here. (Pause.) I knew what the deal was. I know you wanted to sleep with me. You're right, I came anyway,- you're right.

  GOULD: . . . to sleep with you . . .

  KAREN: Didn't you?

  GOULD: No . . .

  KAREN: Why lie? You don't have to lie.

  GOULD: But you're wrong.

  KAREN: But I'm not wrong. This is what I'm saying. Are we so poor. . . that we can't have those simple things: we want love, why should we deny it. Why should you? You could of asked me, you did ask me. I know what you meant. That's why I came.

  GOULD: You came to . . .?

  KAREN: I said why not? I'm weak, too. We all need companionship, the things we want . . . I wanted them. You're right. I shouldn't act as though I was naïve. I shouldn't act as though I believed you. You're . . . but but but:

  GOULD: I asked you here to sleep with me?

  KAREN: Then I read the book. I, I, I've been depraved, too, I've been frightened, I know that you're frightened. I know what you are. You see. That's what I'm telling you.

  GOULD: I'm frightened . ..

  KAREN: I know that you are. I would have come here anyway. Is that depraved? I know what it is to be bad. I've been bad, I know what it is to be lost, I know you're lost. I know that . . . How we are afraid . . . to "ask," to even “ask,” and say in jest, “Yes. I prayed to be pure” . . . but it was not an accident. That I came here. Sometimes it reaches for us. And we say “show me a sign.” And when it reaches us, then we see we are the sign. And we find the answers. In the book . . .

  GOULD: Why did you say you would come here anyway . . .

  KAREN: . . . listen to me: The Tramp said “Radiation.” Well, whatever it had been, it makes no difference . . . Listen (she reads): “What was coming was a return to the self, which is to say, a return to God. It was round. He saw all things were round. And the man saw that it all had been devoted to one end. That the diseases in the body were the same diseases in the world. That things were ending. Yes. That things must end. And that vouchsafed to him a vision of infinity . ..” You see?

  GOULD: No.

  KAREN: No?

  GOULD: No, I don't understand.

  KAREN: You don't understand.

  GOULD: No.

  KAREN: Would you like to understand? (Pause. ) The things you've hoped for. The reason you asked me here.

  GOULD: I don't understand you.

  KAREN: You wanted something—you were frightened.

  GOULD: I was frig
htened?

  KAREN: That forced you to lie. I forgive you.

  GOULD: . . . you forgive me . . .?

  KAREN: You know how I can? Because we're just the same. You said you prayed to be pure.

  GOULD: I said that. . .

  KAREN: This morning.

  GOULD: I was joking.

  KAREN: I looked in your heart. I saw you. And people can need each other. That's what the book says. You understand? We needn't be afraid.

  GOULD: I don't understand.

  KAREN: You can if you wish to. In the world. Dying. We prayed for a sign. A temporary girl. You asked read the book. I read the book. Do you know what it says? It says that you were put here to make stories people need to see. To make them less afraid. It says in spite of our transgressions—that we could do something. Which would bring us alive. So that we needn't feel ashamed. (Pause.) We needn't feel frightened. The wild animal dies with pride. He didn't make the world. God made the world. You say that you prayed to be pure. What if your prayers were answered? You asked me to come Here I am.

  THREE

  Gould's office. The next morning. GOULD is sitting behind his desk. FOX enters.

  FOX: Okay. The one, the one, the one thing, I was up all night; I'm sorry, I should be better at these things, I don't know how to say it, you know how you do? You stand and think, you think, and, the only thing, one hand you say: ‘Am I worthy to be rich?” The other hand, you, you know, you feel greedy; so it's hard to know what's rightfully yours . . . Bob: when we said, when we said: yesterday: we were talking, when you said “producer” what we meant, what we were talking about was, I understand it, that we were to “share” above-the-title, we would co-produce, because . . . that's right, isn't it? And the other thing; I'm sure you thought of this; to say to Ross, to, that we, as a team, you and I, this is only the beginning, for, if we brought this (I'm sure you thought of this] it's fairly limitless, we can bring more . . . those two things, only, what I wanted to say to you . . .

  GOULD: I'm not going to do the film.

  FOX: Which film?

  GOULD: The Douglas Brown film.

  FOX: . . . you're not . . .

  GOULD: I'm not going to greenlight the Doug Brown prison film.

  FOX: I don't blame you. It's a piece of shit. I were you, I'd do the film on Radiation. That's the project I would do. “A Story of Love, a Story of Hope.” That's what I would do; and then spend the rest of my life in a packing crate. I can't get over those guys. Why do they waste our time? A talky piece of puke. Prestige and all, okay, but why, we should just say, “Sir, Sir, you go to the movies . . . if you saw a movie of this shit, would you sit: through it?” Eastern Office sent the coverage to me—listen to this . .. (He hunts through his papers. Reads.) “The Bridge; or, Radiation, Half-Life and Decay of Society,” the Blah Blah . . . set in novel form, The Growth of Radiation, as . . . “What is this? the device of God, in all things, to prepare the world for its final decay.” Yeah. It's a Summer picture. (Pause. Reads again.) “The author seems to think that radio and television, aircraft travel and microwaves were invented solely to irradiate the world and so bring about genetic change in humankind.” Great. And Scene Two, he comes out of the bar to find that his horse is gone and he has to go steal the sheriff's nag to ride for help. I'm sorry. I need a drink. Ten o'clock in the morning and I need a drink. You know, you look forward to something and you think it's never going to happen—and you really think, bullshit aside, it's never going to happen, and I've got to say, it's over, now, yeah, yeah, I felt a certain amount of jealousy, toward you, here we started out together, and I always said, someday I'll, you know, I'll get something for myself, and it'll be a Brand New Ballgame. I'll sit up there with Bobby Gould . . . over him . . . you know how we think. Deep inside, I never thought I would. (Pause.) And the other thing, talk about envy, is, a certain extent, I was riding, several years, on your coattails . . . don't say “no,” I know I was, and I want to thank you, that you were man enough, that you were friend enough, you never brought it up, you never rubbed it in. And I'm glad I can pay it back. Speaking of paying it back. Do I owe you, for sure, the five c? Fess up. (Pause.)