Catastrophe Practice (4 page)

Helena puts down her stitching. She seems to be in despair
.

Ariel comes and looks down at Helena. He seems to quote
—

Helena closes her eyes
.

Ariel watches her
.

I thought I'd come to your party.

Helena seems to be overcome with embarrassment
.

After a time Ariel moves round the stage again
.

Helena opens her eyes. She seems to make a great effort
.

She puts a hand to her head; sways
.

— Now he's most of the time in his room —

Ariel goes to the balustrade at the back and looks over
.

Ariel comes back to Helena and stands over her
.

And people on the roads with prams,
pushing.

Helena goes on with her stitching
.

Ariel walks round the stage again
.

Helena looks out at the wings, left. After a time Ackerman comes on through the loggia. He wears a white dressing-gown. He stands on the steps watching Ariel and Helena, who ignore him
.

He begins to pace up and down the balustrade at the back. He declaims as if rehearsing a speech
—

He stops, by the wings, left, with his head up, as if hearing music
.

After a time Ackerman comes to Ariel and holds
his hand out
.

Ariel frowns. Then he takes his hand
.

They both seem to have said the wrong lines. Then Ackerman says mockingly
—

They wait
.

Ackerman goes to the balustrade at the back and looks over
.

They wait
.

Then Ariel turns to Ackerman; smiles
.

They wait
.

He watches the audience
.

Helena has lain back as if she is asleep
.

Ariel comes to the front of the stage and looks at the audience with Ackerman
.

Ariel looks down over the footlights. Ackerman puts an arm round him. They stand together looking out
.

After a time Ackerman acts
—

Two eyes and a nose, with a room behind —

He turns, with Ariel, to the loggia, right
.

— Where Harlequin kept Columbine —

He turns to the swing sofa, left
.

He takes his arm away from Ariel's shoulder. He remains looking at the swing sofa
.

Ariel looks at the audience as if to see if there are any results from some experiment
.

Ackerman goes to the swing sofa and pulls back one of the curtains. He stares down
.

Ariel murmurs
—

After a time Ariel calls
—

Ackerman closes the curtain. He shouts —

He turns and faces Ariel
.

Ariel hesitates: then he crouches and holds on to his leg as if he had been hit there
.

Ackerman comes to Ariel and bends down as if
to examine his leg
.

After a time Ariel murmurs —

Ackerman looks towards the wings, right
.

Ariel says loudly, as if to divert the attention of anyone who might be listening —

Ackerman turns back to Ariel
.

Ariel puts an arm round his shoulder
.

They seem to be trying not to laugh. They begin to hobble off the stage through the loggia. Ackerman has his arm round Ariel. At the top of the loggia steps Ariel turns and looks back at the audience
.

Ackerman takes his arm from Ariel's shoulders
.

He looks at Helena. Helena has her eyes closed, lying back in the garden chair
.

Ackerman nods at Ariel: then he goes off through the loggia
.

Ariel goes and stands behind a pillar. It is as if he were imagining he were off-stage
.

The backdrop goes blank

Then there appears the huge outline of a tree
.

After a time Jenny pushes back the curtains of the swing sofa. She looks out tentatively She buttons up her dress
.

She climbs out of the sola
.

The garden! The tree! Especially the Chinese lanterns.

She looks round the stage
.

Oh I know I ought to have gone!

She looks down at Helena
.

But I'm so in love with Ariel
.

Helena does not move
.

Jenny goes to the loggia and looks out at the wings, right
.

She sees Ariel. Ariel makes a move as if to stay hidden behind the pillar
.

She comes and looks at the audience. She seems to quote —

— Stand back, you go over —

She waits
.

Then she walks round the stage. She seems to make a great effort to explain —

We had this child in its pram. We took it to the airport. It was a bright spring day. There were aeroplanes flying —

She stops and looks amongst the audience
.

Was it you. Was it you —

She moves round the stage again
.

I went ahead. Ariel was following me.

Wires had to be attached from the suitcases to the pram —

She stops; looks out at the wings, left
.

What's that burning?

She waits: then moves round the stage
.

They'd been watching for people like us.

She seems to be finding it increasingly difficult to know which way to face or how to convey her meaning
.

Mrs Ackerman —

She looks at the audience
.

What have they given her, do you know?

She tries to lift Helena's chair by its handles
.

There were men in the control tower —

The chair seems too heavy: she puts it down
.

She looks towards the loggia, right —

It was a small room, with fir trees —

She turns to the audience
.

You can't taste it, touch it, smell it —

She raises her hands, as if surrendering
.