Read Catastrophe Practice Online
Authors: Nicholas Mosley
Catastrophe Practice (9 page)
Judith acts â
JUDITH | â I was in my pram â |
HELENA | â Then I was in my pram â |
JUDITH | â Till we're all in one room â |
Helena faces the audience
.
HELENA | You don't get to where you want to go, if you think you know where you're going. |
Jenny speaks with her eyes closed
.
JENNY | I'm not asleep, if that's what you mean. |
Judith has been looking on the ground around the chair
.
JUDITH | It's all in your head â |
HELENA | Your pretty head â |
JUDITH | Your tongues like music. |
After a time Jenny sits up and mimes arranging
her skirt as Judith has done in the last act
.
Judith has turned to the audience
.
JENNY | You know how, he said, you're in a wood, and you come out on to a cornfield â |
JUDITH | Weren't you a singer? |
HELENA | I used to dance. |
JENNY | â And in front of you there's the sun, so that you can't see â |
Helena comes to the footlights
.
She leans forward and screws up her eyes as if she were trying to read something on a wall in front of her â
HELENA | â I am the â conscience of â my unhappy â family â |
JENNY | â A pit â |
JUDITH | â A tomb â |
HELENA | â A garden â |
JENNY | Whether or not you've dug it yourself â |
JUDITH | â Don't push me dear, I'm peeing. |
They wait
.
Then Jenny makes a noise as if she might be imitating music, or a machine-gun â
JENNY | Da da di dum dum. Da da di da â |
HELENA | You can't say that! |
JUDITH | It's people! |
Jenny lies back with her eyes closed
.
Helena looks down over the footlights
.
Judith watches the audience
.
It is as if Helena and Judith were seeing through the screen that Ackerman and Jason were looking at in the last act
.
JUDITH | In the end â |
HELENA | Is it people? |
After a time Ariel comes on from behind the ruins of the loggia He wears his white trousers and his coloured shirt. He holds his left forearm with his right hand. The sleeve of his shirt is torn and bloodstained
.
He moves along the balustrade till he comes to the place where it is broken. He stops
.
A spotlight comes on him from above the stage. After a time Judith goes to him, and takes his arm and examines it
.
Jenny speaks with her eyes closed
.
JENNY | You saw them, what were they like? |
ARIEL | Two eyes and a nose, and a room behind. |
JENNY | You were with them, what did they do? |
ARIEL | One or two on street corners. |
JENNY | You brought them â |
JUDITH | I brought them! |
JENNY | They followed you â |
JUDITH | But what do we do? |
After a time Helena turns and looks at Judith. Judith has taken off Ariel's shirt, and is trying to make a sling with it
.
Helena moves off along the footlights towards the left. She acts â
HELENA | â There was one took out his eyes â |
Jenny speaks with her eyes closed
.
JENNY | â Said Mummy, open your mouth â |
JUDITH | â And in she popped them. |
Ariel leaves Judith and comes down towards the footlights
.
He stares at the audience. He acts tragically â
ARIEL | â They were coming across the ice â |
JUDITH | â The barrel got so hot â |
ARIEL | You couldn't see â |
JENNY | â Pee â ? |
JUDITH | See! |
Helena puts her head in her hands
.
Ariel watches the audience
.
ARIEL | They cared? |
JUDITH | They listened â |
JENNY | They were seeing â |
After a time Judith goes into the wings, back left, and seems to be trying to drag a heavy object on
to the stage. It comes half into view, it is the swing sofa. She struggles with it: then she sits on it and rests
.
Helena murmurs â
HELENA | It's when you're working â |
JENNY | Dying â |
ARIEL | Knowing? |
JUDITH | Handing on â |
Ariel is watching the audience
.
ARIEL | â Where did he put it, do you know? |
JENNY | â In some hole, I think, by the lavatory. |
ARIEL | â Who's going to get it, do you know? |
JUDITH | â Some grandson, I think, in Australia. |
They wait
.
ARIEL | You throw your sticks on the ground â |
JUDITH | Upsadaisy! |
HELENA | You create it? |
They wait
.
JENNY | You stand back â |
ARIEL | You go over. |
After a time there come on from the wings, back right, Ackerman, followed by the Footman and the Maid who carry a stretcher. On the stretcher there is a blanket covering what seems to be a body. They are like a funeral cortege
.
They come and stand awkwardly by the broken part of the balustrade
.
Judith watches them. The others ignore them. Helena takes her head from her hands
.
HELENA | Are we gods and goddesses? |
After a time Jenny sits up She and Ariel and Helena speak to the audience as if they found what they were saying once more embarrassing
.
ARIEL | â We'd introduced a strain â |
HELENA | â Into a culture â |
JENNY | â You do it yourself â |
ARIEL | â In laboratory conditions â |
HELENA | â What hurts you; makes you grow â |
JENNY | â To see, whether or not â |
ARIEL | â Oi! They're getting into government! â |
HELENA | â There could be tested â |
JENNY | â They like it? |
HELENA | â What might make for tolerance, understanding â |
ARIEL | â Radio-active waste: cancer-carrying bacteria â |
JENNY | â In the outside world â |
HELENA | â It kills them? |
They wait Ariel and Helena watch the audience. Jenny lies back
.
After a time Ackerman and the Footman and Maid with the stretcher move on and stand outside the circle of stones, as if waiting to be let in. Judith stands; drags the swing sofa slightly further on to the stage; gives up and sits on it
.
Jenny sits up
.
Ariel and Helena speak to the audience again with slightly different words and emphases â
ARIEL | â We'd introduced a strain â |
HELENA | â Into a culture â |
JENNY | â You do it yourself â |
ARIEL | â In laboratory conditions â |
JENNY | â It hurts you? |
HELENA | â To see whether or not â |
JENNY | â Oi! They're getting into government! |
ARIEL | â There could be tested â |
HELENA | â Do they like it? |
ARIEL | â What might make for tolerance, understanding â |
HELENA | â Radio-active waste; cancer-carrying bacteria â |
ARIEL | â In the outside world â |
JENNY | â It kills them. |
Ariel and Helena watch the audience, as if waiting to see the results of an experiment. Jenny lies back with her eyes closed
.
Judith sits on the swing sofa. She smiles
.
After a time â
JUDITH | Ariel â |
ARIEL | Yes? |
JUDITH | Don't you think you've got the right man? |
Ackerman leaves the Footman and the Maid. He comes and joins Ariel by the footlights and looks with him at the audience
.
ACKERMAN | You can make him smile â |
ARIEL | â Can't you â |
HELENA | â Dance â |
ACKERMAN | â A bit of wire through the mouth, the eyes â |
Ariel puts a hand to his face as if he were grieving
.
ARIEL | One knee slightly bent. The arms in the position of a man in â |
ACKERMAN | Power â |
ARIEL | Pain â |
ACKERMAN | Power! |
After a time Ackerman seems to prompt Ariel
.
ACKERMAN | Footprints in the â |
ARIEL | Snow â |
ACKERMAN | Blood â |
ARIEL | Snow â |
They wait
.
Ariel takes his hand from his face. It seems as if he might have been laughing
.
Ackerman goes back to the Footman and Maid
.
Ariel calls after him â
ARIEL | â I'll be at the second milestone â |
ACKERMAN | â I'll be at the fourth â |
ARIEL | â Then run â |
ACKERMAN | â I can't |
ARIEL | â Why not â |
ACKERMAN | â Arthritis â |
Ariel seems to be controlling laughter with difficulty
.
The Footman and Maid, with their stretcher, step inside the circle of stones. They are squashed up against Jenny on the chair
.
Ackerman watches them
.
Ariel puts a hand out over the footlights. He gets hold of what seem to be the bars of a cage. He speaks as if he is not acting â
ARIEL | At the back of the vocal chords? |
ACKERMAN | A sort of tongue, you move around. |
Ariel seems to shake, gently, the bars of the cage
.
ARIEL | Not a language? |
JUDITH | A kiss â |
JENNY | A bit of old boot â |
HELENA | A landfall. |
ACKERMAN | A cell. |
Jenny gets up from the garden chair. She goes and sits on the steps of the ruined loggia, right
.
ARIEL | Now you see them â |
ACKERMAN | Now you don't â |
The Footman and the Maid place the stretcher on the chair. Then they turn to Ackerman. Ariel calls, to his front â