Catastrophe Practice (29 page)

Hortense leaves the bed and comes to the footlights and stares at the audience. She smiles
.

Florence looks up at the see-saw roof above her head
.

The Moor and Dionysus speak at opposite ends of the see-saw
.

Siva, perched on the raised edge of the first floor, right, looks down through the hole of the
old flue-pipe in the central partition as if to try to see Anderson
.

Siva speaks looking at the audience
—

The Moor looks round the left bottom edge of the first floor as if to try to find something to wedge it with. He sees Florence
.

Florence smiles. They seem to quote
—

Florence drags Anderson's stove and helps the Moor to use it to wedge the left-hand edge of the floor with
.

In the meantime Anderson holds down the edge of the see-saw with difficulty
.

Dionysus is perched with Siva at the top end of the first floor on the right, facing the audience
.

Hortense, at the front of the stage, and Dionysus are both staring out over the audience
.

Siva leans over the right-hand edge of the first floor, trying to see down into the room below
.

Siva looks at the audience
.

The Moor and Anderson, with Florence's help, have succeeded in wedging, with Anderson's stove and bed and so on, the lower end, left, of the first floor. They step back from it gingerly
.

Hortense stands looking out over the audience
.

Anderson has been looking on the ground along the footlights at the front. He seems to quote
—

Then he goes and looks along the wall at the back
.

The others are all now looking at the audience
.

Anderson speaks from the back
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Anderson seems to have found what he is looking for on the ground floor on the right. He bends down
.

Anderson looks at the audience
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Florence begins looking along the ground at the footlights at the front
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Siva watches her
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Hortense speaks, looking at the audience
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Anderson comes to the footlights and stands by the Moor looking over
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Florence has now moved to the back wall on the left. She gets down on her hands and knees
.

They all, except Florence, look at the audience
.

Florence seems to have found what she is looking for at the ground floor at the back She seems to draw a bolt. Then she turns to the audience, crouching
.

Florence comes to the front of the structure, treading carefully. She stamps on the ground
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Siva speaks from her perch on the top right of the old first floor
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Florence speaks to Anderson
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The Moor watches the audience
.

They wait
.

After a time Hortense looks up at Dionysus
.

The Moor speaks to Florence
—

Florence is looking over the footlights
.

Anderson goes to the back wall again and feels on the floor on the right
.

Anderson straightens and comes forward on the right, gingerly
.

Anderson stamps with his foot at the front of the stage. They wait
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Florence and Anderson seem to be making slight forward-and-back movements as if to test, facing the audience, whether the stage might be balanced on a left-to-right axis at the very front of the stage — against the counterweight of the auditorium
.

The to-and-fro movements that Florence and Anderson are making seem to be having no effect
.

Siva moves along to the front edge of the raised first floor. She stretches her hands down as if to Anderson. The Moor looks up at her
.

She and Anderson go again to the wall at the back, left and right. They look on the ground there
.

Siva straightens. She and the Moor look out over the audience
.

Anderson comes from the back, right. He stops halfway between the back wall and the footlights and he rocks, one foot in front of the other, as if to see whether there might be any movement in the stage
.

Florence is watching him from the back, left
.

Dionysus has edged forwards, with Siva, to the very front of the top left of the old first floor. He looks down at Hortense
.

Anderson speaks facing the audience
.

Hortense speaks in a matter-of-fact voice facing the front —

Florence straightens, back left, and stands there gingerly
.

Hortense and the Moor, at the footlights, are now making slight forward-and-back movements, facing the audience, as if to see whether the stage-and-auditorium might pivot on the axis along the footlights
.

The Moor is looking at the audience. They all suddenly become still — as if the stage-and-auditorium might have moved slightly on its pivot. They balance; or hold on to whatever they can get a hold of
.