He throws his head back as if in ecstasy.
Then he sits on the bed.
Huts. Watchtowers. Ladies and gentlemen on the grass.
He watches the audience.
Twinkle, tinkle cow bells.
He waits.
I think it’s something to do with the man next door —
He seems to be searching about amongst the audience.
Half a lifetime in the Russian Civil Service —
He waits.
Every time he farts a couple of noughts are knocked off —
He waits.
Is it you — Is it you —
He waits.
Da da di dum dum. Da da di da —
He seems to search amongst the audience.
Like seeds. Like parachutes —
He waits.
Poor little thing, it hasn’t got any arms —
He waits.
Poor little thing, it’s only got two heads —
He stands. He closes his eyes. He acts —
— I’m going to take you to a cell at the bottom of the garden and I’m going to say —
He waits.
Light! Light!
He faces the audience.
Let it have — how many?
After a time it becomes apparent that he is not watching the audience, but the vertical plane above the footlights as if it were a wall.
I know they wanted this baby —
After a time, the voice of the Moor is heard from the darkness of the room next door. It is as if he were reading to himself; and trying to understand, or memorise, the dialogue in a play.
THE MOOR
Bert —
Yes?
Got the wire?
He waits.
Got the pincers?
Got the anaesthetic?
Dionysus remains facing the plane above the footlights.
The Moor’s voice continues as if reading —
I was sitting one day when two masked men came and tied me to a chair —
Dionysus stands by his bed. He looks up at the wire that hangs from the ceiling.
The Moor’s voice continues —
Act four scene one —
— My lord, what is your will, your pleasure — ?
Dionysus climbs, with difficulty, on to his bed. As he does this it can be seen that there is a flute held within the strings of the straitjacket behind his back.
The Moor’s voice continues —
— They were dressed in a belt, black stockings, and those conical hats, you know, like witches —
Dionysus, on his bed, begins to try, with difficulty, to get his head through the loop of the wire.
— I understand your words but not the meaning of your words —
Dionysus manages to get his head through the loop. He faces the audience.
The Moor’s voice continues —
We took the child, in its pram, to the airport —
Dionysus jerks, with his head, on the wire that goes up through the ceiling.
The light on the ceiling of the Moor’s room comes on. The Moor is sitting on his stove, facing left, as if it were a lavatory. He is holding open on his lap a large volume, as if it were from this that he has been reading.
He looks up.
Dionysus remains with his head through the loop.
After a time the Moor closes the book, closes his eyes, and says as if he were trying to learn something by heart —
Tongue, nose, liver, heart-beat —
He opens the book, seems to read —
Parliament, Church, Army, Civil Service — He closes the book; closes his eyes again —
Ball, cock, breastplate, anus —
He opens the book; seems to read —
Murder, rape, war, Mummy —
He stares at the book He seems to think.
Then —
— Keep the palm of the hand flat. The central finger carefully extended —
He closes his eyes: looks up.
Police, perfection, piles, prostitution —
After a time he pulls back his robe where he is sitting and looks down as if into a lavatory. He replaces his robe. He stares to his front.
After a time Dionysus jerks on the wire round his head. Nothing happens.
They wait.
Downstairs Hortense has remained on top of Anderson on his back on the bed. She pulls at the rod which seems to be through his eye.
ANDERSON
It’s stuck —
HORTENSE
You’re boasting —
ANDERSON
What —
HORTENSE
The baby — ?
Hortense climbs, stiffly, off Anderson. She comes to the front of the stage and looks down at her nest.
HORTENSE
Can’t you think of —
ANDERSON
What —
HORTENSE
Little wriggly things —
ANDERSON
With no moustaches?
Hortense goes to Anderson’s stove and takes off the lid and looks inside.
Upstairs the Moor speaks with his eyes closed.
THE MOOR
Fred —
Yes?
These old buggers are made of concrete —
He looks down at his book.
Hortense leaves the lid of the stove off. She goes back to the bed. She takes hold of the rods that go up through the flue-pipe and tries again to pull them from Anderson’s eye.
HORTENSE
Then it’ll go down —
ANDERSON
Up —
HORTENSE
When you’re not looking —
ANDERSON
You’re joking!
Hortense seems to give up trying to pull the rods from Anderson’s eye. She walks round the room.
HORTENSE
Why did old gods have only one eye?
ANDERSON
So that they needn’t see —
They seem to quote —
HORTENSE
— Death, disease —
ANDERSON
— Get down off your knees —
HORTENSE
— Which?
ANDERSON
— Both.
Upstairs, Dionysus takes his head out of the noose. He climbs down from his bed. He goes and puts his ear against the central partition.
DIONYSUS
Did you say Fred — ?
He waits. He looks at the audience.
Did you hear him?
Hortense speaks walking round the room.
HORTENSE
The left side thinks, gives names —
ANDERSON
Two eyes and a nose, and a room behind —
HORTENSE
The right side knows what things are for —
ANDERSON
Two were too painful.
Hortense goes to the table and looks down at the instruments and slides.
HORTENSE
You too could wear an eye-patch.
Dionysus leaves the central partition and comes to the edge of the first floor. He looks down.
DIONYSUS
Hullo — ?
The voice of a young girl, Siva, is heard off-stage, right —
SIVA
Hullo —
Hortense looks up.
DIONYSUS
— I wondered if you remembered me — ?
He looks towards the right.
Hortense comes to the edge of the structure and looks down at her nest.
Upstairs the Moor has opened his book He continues as if reading —
THE MOOR
— Down the arteries, up the spine: you’ve got to give warning —
DIONYSUS
— I loved only you, you see —
The Moor closes his book closes his eyes.
THE MOOR
— Waste from the factories. Jokes. Shit —
DIONYSUS
— I’ve never
loved anyone else — ?
He goes and stands with his back against the central partition, covering the exit to the Moor’s flue-pipe. Then he looks up at the boarded-up skylight, right.
HORTENSE
It comes in here: goes out there —
ANDERSON
If it’s not in your head —
Hortense goes back to the bed and sits again straddling Anderson. She takes hold of the rods as if to try again to pull them out of his eye. From above, Dionysus shouts —
DIONYSUS
I saw you!
With a jerk, Hortense seems to manage to get the rods out of Anderson’s eye.
The top of them seem to go up into the Moor where he is sitting on his stove, above, as if on a lavatory.
Everything becomes still. It is as if the Moor is transfixed.
Then a faint roaring and shaking begins, as if from the pipes at the back of Anderson’s room. Anderson, with the rods out of his eye and up the pipe, closes the inspection plate.
The pipes at the back of Anderson’s room and the stove in the Moor’s room begin to glow. The other lights fade.
Hortense gets off Anderson, goes to his stove, opens the lid, and looks inside.
Steam pours out.
Hortense puts the lid back on the stove. She sits on it.
After a time steam begins seeping out as if from the Moor in the room above.
The Moor gets off his stove. He pulls at the rods which are sticking out of the top of the stove. The voice of a girl, Siva, is heard again off-stage from the right, amplified —
SIVA (off)
Do not leave the building —
The Moor has lifted the rods up out of his stove. Then he puts the lid on it again and sits on it. The shaking in the structure gets more violent. Dionysus, in his room, right, is pressing his back against the central partition as if to stop the steam coming out of the exit there from the Moor’s flue-pipe.
SIVA (off)
My men are outside —
There is a small explosion in the Moor’s stove. A hole seems to have been blown in the bend of the Moor’s flue-pipe where it turns to go through to Dionysus’ room. Steam pours out into the Moor’s room from this hole.
The Moor is holding Anderson’s rods like a fishing rod. He leaves his stove and comes with the rods to the front edge of the first floor where they wave out over the audience. It is as if he cannot see through the steam: he is about to fall over.
An elderly woman, Florence, comes on at the front of the stage, left. It is as if she were a stage-manager. She looks up. She calls —
FLORENCE
Try it in second —
The Moor swings round, with his rods, until he is pointing them towards the bend in the flue-pipe where there is the hole through to Dionysus’ room.
Florence calls —
Now! The Moor has managed to get the point of his rods through the hole in the bend of his flue-pipe.
Dionysus has his back to the exit of the flue-pipe in the next room. He is staring up at the boarded-up skylight, top right, as if he were seeing a vision there.
The Moor lunges forward. The point of his rods goes through the wall of the central partition and seems to go through the body of Dionysus. Steam drifts through the hole into Dionysus’ room. The roaring and shaking begin to fade. Siva’s amplified voice can be heard more quietly—
SIVA (off)
Oh let it not have two heads, two arms —
In the room on the left, the Moor seems to be overcome by fumes. He sinks down on to his knees, facing the stove. His rods remain through the wall.
Dionysus, as if transfixed, stares up at the grille at the top of the wall opposite.
Anderson has sat up on the bed. He dabs at his eye.
The roaring and shaking cease. Everything becomes still.
Siva’s voice can be heard faintly but clearly —
Let it have three.
The figure of Siva, a young girl, has appeared at the front of the stage in front of the bottom of the disused ventilation shaft, right. She can be seen putting a microphone down in the wings. She wears mountaineering clothes, and carries climbing equipment. She looks up towards the boarded-up grille into Dionysus’ room at the top of the shaft.
Florence remains at the front of the stage, left. She watches Siva.
Hortense gets off Anderson’s stove.
She comes to the front of the structure and looks down at her nest.
HORTENSE
I thought it would be more —
ANDERSON
What —
HORTENSE
Two by two —
ANDERSON
In a sack — ?
Hortense looks to the front of the stage, left. It is as if she both does and does not see Florence.
HORTENSE
With bombs —
ANDERSON
Prams —
HORTENSE
Imitation leather suitcases —
Anderson sits up and blinks. It is as if he can now see with both eyes.
ANDERSON
— You know how, you’re halfway up the mountain, and there’s a bloody great dragon below, and the balcony’s a life-time above —
HORTENSE
You can see —
ANDERSON
What —
HORTENSE
Angels?
Siva has stepped inside the structure, at the bottom of the ventilation shaft, right She seems to begin, quietly, to prepare her climbing equipment.
Upstairs, Dionysus, as if impaled on the rods, has begun to droop.
ANDERSON
— But she wasn’t like that, no —
Hortense is looking out of the front of the structure towards the left, as if to see where Siva’s voice has been coming from. But Siva is out of sight within the ventilation shaft.
HORTENSE
It’s a difficult manipulation —
ANDERSON
Behind the nose —
HORTENSE
Throat —
ANDERSON
Eyes.
Hortense looks at the audience.
Then she goes and switches on the light above the table.
There is a small explosion in Dionysus’ room above. The explosion seems to blow open the boarded-up grille, or skylight, at the top of the wall, right, at which Dionysus has been staring. Hortense looks down at the table.
HORTENSE
A sort of piston —
ANDERSON
Pistol?
HORTENSE
Piston!
She looks up. She seems to quote —
— Huts. Watchtowers —
ANDERSON
— Ladies and gentlemen on the grass —
Hortense stares at the audience.
HORTENSE
But if half of it’s never used —
ANDERSON
There are seeds —
HORTENSE
Needs?
ANDERSON
Parachutes —
Hortense stamps on the ground. She seems to be testing whether the structure is secure. Then she seems to try another quotation —
HORTENSE
— Two masked men came and tied me to a chair —
ANDERSON
— I climbed —
HORTENSE
— No one’s ever climbed —
Hortense moves towards the right.
ANDERSON
It goes round and round —
HORTENSE
Now you see it —
ANDERSON
Then you don’t.
She stamps on the ground.
Anderson gets off the bed. He goes to the area of junk, right, and puts on overalls. Then he puts his hand up to the ceiling.
HORTENSE
What prevents it?
ANDERSON
Nothing.
HORTENSE
You have to make it? Go? Grow?
Anderson comes to the front of the stage and
looks at Florence, still standing front left. Florence goes off in the wings and reappears dragging a table, which she sets up in the space between the front of the structure and the footlights, left. Then she goes off again and reappears carrying a vase of flowers and a chair. She sets the vase on the table. She puts the chair behind the table. Then she sits, facing right.
ANDERSON
Keep talking —
HORTENSE
You’ve done it once —
ANDERSON
You’ve done it twice —
Anderson goes and joins Hortense at the front of the stage. They look down at the nest at the front of the structure.
HORTENSE
Poor little thing —
ANDERSON
If it only had three heads.
They listen.
Siva, at the bottom of the ventilation shaft, right, having prepared her equipment, now begins to climb up the shaft.
HORTENSE
But it’s there —
ANDERSON
Where —
Siva climbs as if the shaft were a ‘chimney’ — with her legs straddled to either side.
ANDERSON
Step back?
HORTENSE
You go over.
Siva gets half way up the shaft. She rests.
Hortense speaks looking at Florence.
HORTENSE
And the girl — ?
FLORENCE
Which?
HORTENSE
Both.
Anderson speaks looking at Florence —
ANDERSON
Rats, frogs, locusts, honey —
Catastrophe Practice Page 18
