Plays Extravagant

by Dan Laurence

  On the Indian Ocean, April 1935

  PROLOGUE

  The emigration office at a tropical port in the British Empire. The office is an annex of the harbor and customs sheds on one side and of the railway station on the other. Placards direct passengers TO THE CUSTOMS and TO THE TRAINS through the open doors right and left respectively. The emigration officer, an unsatisfactory young man of unhealthy habits, is sitting writing at his table in the middle of the room. His clerk is at a standing desk against the wall on the customs side. The officer wears tropical clothes, neither too tidy nor too clean. The clerk is in a shabby dark lounge suit.

  THE E. O. [finishing his writing] Is that the lot?

  CLERK. It’s the lot from the French ship; but there is that case standing over from the Liverpool one.

  THE E. O. [exasperated] Now look here, Wilks. Are you the emigration officer here or am I? Did I tell you that the girl was to be sent back or did I not?

  WILKS. Well I thought –

  THE E. O. What business had you to think? I told you she was to go back. I suppose she tipped you to let her come here and make a scene on the chance of getting round me.

  WILKS [hotly] Youll either take that back or prove it.

  THE E. O. I will neither take it back nor prove it until you explain why you are letting this girl bother me again, though she has no papers, no passports, and is in excess of the quota without any excuse for it.

  WILKS. Who’s letting her bother you again? She told the High Commissioner that you turned her down; and he told her she had better see you again.

  THE E. O. And why the devil didnt you tell me that at first, instead of blithering about her as if she was a common case?

  WILKS. The High Commissioner’s daughter was on the ship coming back from school. He came down to meet her. This girl had made friends with her or taken care of her or something.

  THE E. O. Thats no good. We cant let her through on that.

  WILKS. Well, will you see her?

  THE E. O. Is she waiting to see me?

  WILKS. She says she’s waiting to see what will happen to her.

  THE E. O. Same thing, isnt it?

  WILKS. I suppose so. But she put it as if there was a difference. I think she’s a bit mad. But the Medical Officer says she passes all his tests of sanity, though I could see that he has his doubts.

  THE E. O. Oh, shut up. You need a medical test yourself, I think. Fetch her in.

  Wilks goes out sulkily through the customs door and returns with a young woman. He leads her to the table and then goes back to his desk.

  THE Y. W. Good morning, sir. You dont look as well as you did yesterday. Did you stay up too late?

  THE E. O. [nonplussed for the moment] I – er – [Collecting himself] Look here, young lady. You have to answer questions here, not to ask them.

  THE Y. W. You have been drinking.

  THE E. O. [springing up] What the hell do you mean?

  THE Y. W. You have. I smell it.

  THE E. O. Very well. Back you go by the next boat, my lady.

  THE Y. W. [unmoved] At this hour of the morning too! Dont you know you shouldnt?

  THE E. O. [to Wilks] Take her away, you. [To the young woman] Out you go.

  THE Y. W. I ought to speak to somebody about it. And look at the state the office is in! Whose business is it to see that it’s properly dusted? Let me talk to them for you.

  THE E. O. What concern is it of yours?

  THE Y. W. I hate to see dust lying about. Look! You could write your name in it. And it’s just awful to see a young man drinking before eleven in the morning.

  WILKS [propitiatory] Dont say anything about it, Miss: I will see to the dust. Everybody starts the day with a drink here. Dont go talking, Miss, will you?

  THE E. O. [suddenly breaking down in tears] You can go and tell who you damn well please. For two pins I’d chuck myself into the harbor and have done with it. This climate is hell: you cant stand it unless you drink til you see blue monkeys.

  WILKS. Never mind him, Miss: he has nerves. We all have them here sooner or later, off and on. Here! I’ll give you a landing ticket; and you just clear off and say nothing. [He takes a ticket from the table and gives it to her].

  THE E. O. [weeping] A man’s a slave here worse than a nigger. Spied on, reported on, checked and told off til he’s afraid to have a pound note in his pocket or take a glass in his hand for fear of being had up for bribery or drinking. I’m fed up with it. Go and report me and be damned to you: what do I care? [He sniffs and blows his nose, relieved by his outburst].

  WILKS. Would you have the kindness to clear out, Miss. We’re busy. Youre passed all right: nothing to do but shew the ticket. You wont have to go back: we was only joking.

  THE Y. W. But I want to go back. If this place is what he says, it is no place for me. And I did so enjoy the voyage out: I ask nothing better than to begin it all over again.

  THE E. O. [with the calm of despair] Let her have her own way, Wilks. Shew her the way to the ship and shew her the way to the dock gate. She can take which she pleases. But get her out of this or I shall commit suicide.

  THE Y. W. Why? Arnt you happy? It’s not natural not to be happy. I’d be ashamed not to be happy.

  THE E. O. What is there to make a man happy here?

  THE Y. W. But you dont need to be made happy.

  THE E. O. My inside! Oh Lord!

  THE Y. W. Well, you can make your inside all right if you eat properly and stop drinking and keep the office dusted and your nice white clothes clean and tidy. You two are a disgrace.

  THE E. O. [roaring with rage] Chuck that woman out.

  WILKS. Chuck her yourself. What can I do? [Imploringly to her] If youd only have the goodness to go, Miss. We’re so busy this morning.

  THE Y. W. But I am a stranger here: I have nobody else to talk to. And you have nothing to do until the next boat comes in.

  THE E. O. The next boat is due the day after tomorrow at five in the afternoon. Do you expect us to sit here talking to you until then?

  THE Y. W. Well, it’s I who have to do most of the talking, isnt it? Couldnt you shew me round the town? I’ll pay for the taxi.

  THE E. O. [feebly rebellious] Look here: you cant go on like this, you know.

  THE Y. W. What were you going to do with yourself this morning if I hadnt come?

  THE E. O. I – I – Whats that to you?

  THE Y. W. I see you hadnt made up your mind. Let me make it up for you. Put on your hat and come along and shew me round. I seem to spend my life making up other people’s minds for them.

  THE E. O. [helplessly] All right, all right, all right. You neednt make a ballyhoo about it. But I ask myself –

  THE Y. W. Dont ask yourself anything, my child. Let life come to you. March.

  THE E. O. [at the railway door, to Wilks, in a last effort to assert himself] Carry on, you. [He goes].

  THE Y. W. Wouldnt you like to come too?

  WILKS. Yes, Miss: but somebody must stay in the office; and it had better be me than him. I am indispensable.

  THE Y. W. What a word! Dispensables and indispensables: there you have the whole world. I wonder am I a dispensable or an indispensable. [She goes out through the railway door].

  WILKS [alone] Let life come to you. Sounds all right, that. Let life come to you. Aye; but suppose life doesnt come to you! Look at me! What am I? An empire builder: thats what I am by nature. Cecil Rhodes: thats me. Why am I a clerk with only two shirts to my back, with that young waster wiping his dirty boots on me for doing the work he cant do himself, though he gets all the praise and all the pudding? Because life never came to me like it came to Rhodes. Found his backyard full of diamonds, he did; and nothing to do but wash the clay off them and be a millionaire. I had Rhodes’s idea all right. Let the whole earth be England, I said to the school teacher; and let Englishmen govern it. Nobody put that into my head: it came of itself. But what did I find in my backyard? Next door’s dead cat. Could I make myse
lf head of a Chartered Company with a dead cat? And when I threw it back over the wall my mother said ‘You have thrown away your luck, my boy’ she says ‘you shouldnt have thrown it back: you should have passed it on, like a chain letter. Now you will never have no more luck in this world.’ And no more I have. I says to her ‘I’ll be in the papers yet some day’ I says ‘like Cecil Rhodes: you see if I’m not.’ ‘Not you, my lad’ she says. ‘Everything what comes to you you throw it back.’ Well, so I do. Look at this girl here. ‘Come with me’ she says. And I threw the cat back again. ‘Somebody must be left in the office’ I says. ‘I am indispensable’ I says. And all the time I knew that nobody neednt be in the office, and that any Jew boy could do all I do here and do it better. But I promised my mother I’d get into the papers; and I will. I have that much of the Rhodes touch in me. [He sits at the table and writes on a luggage label; then reads what he has written] ‘Here lies a man who might have been Cecil Rhodes if he had had Rhodes’s luck. Mother, farewell: your son has kept his word.’ [He ties the label to the lapel of his coat] Wheres that fool’s gun? [He opens a drawer and takes out a brandy flask and an automatic pistol, which he throws on the table]. I’ll damned well shew em whether I’m an empire builder or not. That lassie shant say that I didnt leave the place tidy either, though she can write in the dust of it with her finger. [He shuts the drawer, and places the chair trimly at the table. T hen he goes to his desk and takes out a duster, with which he wipes first the desk and then the table. He replaces the duster in the desk, and takes-out a comb and a hand mirror. He tidies his hair; replaces the comb and glass in the desk; closes it and sets the stool in its place before it. He then returns to the table, and empties the flask at a draught]. Now for it. The back of the head: thats the Russian touch. [He takes the pistol and presents it over his shoulder to his occiput]. Let the whole earth be England; and let Englishmen rule it. [Singing] Rule Britannia: Britannia rules the wa –

  He blows his brains out and falls dead. The Station Master enters.

  THE STATION MASTER. Here! Who’s been shooting here? [He sees the body] Wilks!! Dear! dear! dear! What a climate! The fifth this month. [He goes to the door]. Hallo there, Jo. Bring along the stretcher and two or three with you. Mr Wilks has shot himself.

  JO [without, cheerfully] Right you are, sir.

  THE STATION MASTER. What a climate! Poor old Wilks!

  SCENE II

  A grassy cliff top overhanging the sea. A seat for promenaders. The young woman and the emigration officer stand on the brink.

  THE Y. W. Pity theres no beach. We could bathe.

  THE E. O. Not us. Not likely. Theres sharks there. And killer whales, worse than any sharks.

  THE Y. W. It looks pretty deep.

  THE E. O. I should think it is. The biggest liners can get close up. Like Plymouth. Like Lulworth Cove. Dont stand so close. Theres a sort of fascination in it; and you might get giddy.

  They come away from the edge and sit on the seat together: she on his left, he nearest the sea.

  THE Y. W. It’s lovely here. Better than the town.

  THE E. O. Dont deceive yourself. It’s a horrible place. The climate is something terrible. Do you know that if you hadnt come in this morning I’d have done myself in.

  THE Y. W. Dont talk nonsense. Why should you do yourself in?

  THE E. O. Yes I should. I had the gun ready in the drawer of that table. I’d have shot Wilks and then shot myself.

  THE Y. W. Why should you shoot poor Wilks? What has he done?

  THE E. O. I hate him. He hates me. Everybody here hates everybody else. And the fellow is so confoundedly smug and happy and satisfied: it drives me mad when I can hardly bear my own life. No fear of him shooting himself: not much. So I thought I’d save him the trouble.

  THE Y. W. But that would be murder.

  THE E. O. Not if I shot myself after. That would make us quits.

  THE Y. W. Well, I am surprised to hear a young man like you, in the prime of life as you might say, talking like that. Why dont you get married?

  THE E. O. My salary’s too small for a white woman. Theyre all snobs; and they want a husband only to take them home out of this.

  THE Y. W. Why, it’s an earthly paradise.

  THE E. O. Tell them so; and see what theyll say to you.

  THE Y. W. Well, why not marry a colored woman?

  THE E. O. You dont know what youre talking about. Ive tried. But now theyre all educated they wont look at a white man. They tell me I’m ignorant and that I smell bad.

  THE Y. W. Well, so you do. You smell of drink and indigestion and sweaty clothes. You were quite disgusting when you tried to make up to me in the taxi. Thats why I got out, and made for the sea air.

  THE E. O. [rising hurriedly] I cant stand any more of this. [He takes a wallet of papers from his breast pocket and throws them on the seat]. Hand them in at the office, will you: theyll be wanted there. I am going over.

  He makes for the edge of the cliff. But there is a path down the cliff face, invisible from the seat. A native priest, a handsome man in the prime of life, beautifully dressed, rises into view by this path and bars his way.

  PRIEST. Pardon, son of empire. This cliff contains the temple of the goddess who is beyond naming, the eternal mother, the seed and the sun, the resurrection and the life. You must not die here. I will send an acolyte to guide you to the cliff of death, which contains the temple of the goddess’s brother, the weeder of the garden, the sacred scavenger, the last friend on earth, the prolonger of sleep and the giver of rest. It is not far off: life and death dwell close together: you need prolong your unhappiness only a bare five minutes. The priest there will attend to your remains and see they are disposed of with all becoming rites.

  THE E. O. [to the young woman] Is he real; or is it the drink?

  THE Y. W. He’s real. And, my word! isnt he jolly good looking? [To the priest] Youll excuse this young man, sir, wont you? He’s been drinking pretty hard.

  THE PRIEST [advancing between them] Blame him not, sweet one. He comes from a strange mad country where the young are taught languages that are dead and histories that are lies, but are never told how to eat and drink and clothe themselves and reproduce their species. They worship strange ancient gods; and they play games with balls marvellously well; but of the great game of life they are ignorant. Here, where they are in the midst of life and loveliness, they die by their own hands to escape what they call the horrors. We do not encourage them to live. The empire is for those who can live in it, not for those who can only die in it. Take your friend to the cliff of death; and bid him farewell tenderly; for he is very unhappy.

  THE E. O. Look here: I am an Englishman; and I shall commit suicide where I please. No nigger alive shall dictate to me.

  THE PRIEST. It is forbidden.

  THE E. O. Who’s to stop me? Will you?

  The priest shakes his head and makes way for him.

  THE Y. W. Oh, you are not going to let him do it, are you?

  THE PRIEST [holding her back] We never offer violence to the unhappy. Do not interfere with his destiny.

  THE E. O. [planting himself on the edge and facing the abyss] I am going to do it: see? Nobody shall say that I lived a dog’s life because I was afraid to make an end of it. [He bends his knees to spring, but cannot]. I WILL. [He makes another effort, bending almost to his haunches, but again fails to make the spring-up a spring-over].

  THE PRIEST. Poor fellow! Let me assist you. [He shoots his foot against the E. O.’s posterior and sends him off the cliff].

  THE E. O. [in a tone of the strongest remonstrance as he is catapulted into the void] Oh! [A prodigious splash].

  THE Y. W. Murderer!

  THE PRIEST. Not quite. There are nets below, and a palisade to keep out the sharks. The shock will do him good.

  THE Y. W. Well, I never!

  THE PRIEST. Come, young rose blossom, and feast with us in the temple.

  THE Y. W. Not so much rose blossom, young man. Ar
e there any priestesses down there?