Brecht Collected Plays: 1: Baal; Drums in the Night; In the Jungle of Cities; Life of Edward II of England; & 5 One Act Plays: "Baal", "Drums in the Night", "In the Jungle of Ci (World Classics) (44 page)

LAD’S VOICE
: Is that what your old man said?

GIRL’S VOICE
: You’ve got some cheek.

LAD’S VOICE
: There we are. Nobody’s going to see me now.
Silence. Wind. And a bed creaks
.

The father approaches down below from the right. Listens
.

FATHER
: A fine bloody business. In the middle of the night too.
Sees the ladder
. Hullo there.
Takes the ladder away
. That’s for a start.
Fetches a cudgel, reappears and goes off right. Then a sound of stamping on the stairs and a shrill scream, followed by thumps
.

FATHER’S VOICE
: Open up! Christ and damnation! Bloody cow!

The lad and the girl climb through an attic window on to the roof, shutting the window behind them
.

LAD
: Sh!

GIRL
: He’ll kill me.

LAD
: Shut up.

Pause
.

GIRL
: He’ll find us.

LAD
: He will if you don’t keep quiet.

Noise of the door being broken open
.

GIRL
: He’s busting open the door.

LAD
: And he can hear us, damn it.

GIRL
: He’s looking for us. Now he’s going downstairs. What will he think?

LAD
: He’s going back to bed.

GIRL
: He’s taken away the ladder. He’s not going to bed.

LAD
: I suppose he’s looking for you.

GIRL
: What did I come for?

LAD
: You could perfectly well have stayed.

GIRL
: Then there wouldn’t have been any trouble.

LAD
: This way it’s touch and go.

GIRL
: Shall I go down?

LAD
: It’s dull on one’s own.

GIRL
: But suppose he asks where I’ve been?

LAD
: On the toilet.

GIRL
: Whatever did I let you in for?

LAD
: Oh, drop it. Things went wrong, that’s all. It was good earlier.

GIRL
: He’ll chuck me out.

LAD
: He won’t do that. Think what the neighbours would say. But I’ll never hear the end of it.

GIRL
: Always thinking of yourself.

LAD
: What did you have to hang your washing up in the yard for?

GIRL
: Do you mean you didn’t look through the crack?

LAD
: How about going down now?

GIRL
: Are you trying to get rid of me? I’m so frightened.

LAD
: Ah. And up here you can look at the stars. Quiet!

The father arrives muttering. Stands left front and looks up
.

FATHER
: Anna! If I wake the missus up the whole village will hear about it. She can’t have gone. He wouldn’t have climbed in otherwise, sod it. And I was on the stairs.
Mutters his way off right
.

LAD
: Quick now.

GIRL
: My body’s not so soft now, is it?

LAD
: You’d better think about how to get down. Or he’ll have the hide off you.

GIRL
: I wish I hadn’t come up here.

LAD
: Just what I’m feeling.

Girl sets out to crawl to the attic window
.

LAD
: Whoa, somebody coming. Keep quiet or I’ll bash your teeth in.

GIRL
: The vicar!

The parson and the night watchman
.

PARSON
: Who did you see today?

WATCHMAN
: Nobody so far. You can’t look inside the houses.

PARSON
: True, true. That is why they are such hotbeds of immorality.

WATCHMAN
: Ah. More babies made there than any other place.

PARSON
: It is a beautiful night. I’ve been for a last stroll. It is much pleasanter out of doors. Inside it is stuffy.

WATCHMAN
: I thought we were going to have thunder at first. But it’s turned out beautiful.

PARSON
: The wind has driven the clouds away. And it’s light.

WATCHMAN
: It’s getting lighter pretty well every minute.

That’s the stars.

PARSON
: There’s Cassiopeia. Like a big W. See her?

WATCHMAN
: Ah. It’s marvellous.

PARSON
: What are you looking that way for? It’s over there.

WATCHMAN
: Your Reverence.

PARSON
: Yes; what?

WATCHMAN
: Somebody’s sitting up there.

PARSON
: Where?

WATCHMAN
: On Fisher’s roof.

PARSON
: Indeed yes. Two of them.

WATCHMAN
: Let’s get closer.

They do so
.

PARSON
: Of diverse sex. A scandal.

WATCHMAN
: Well I never!

PARSON
: They’ve started doing it on the roofs now.

WATCHMAN
: Maybe it’s too stuffy for them downstairs.

PARSON
: That’s Anna.

WATCHMAN
: Or they might want to look at Cassiopeia too.

PARSON
: Don’t joke about it. It’s a terrible thing. Hullo, who’s that sitting up there?

Silence
.

WATCHMAN
: They think they can’t be seen if they don’t say anything. And perhaps they can’t think of anything to say.

PARSON
: But it
is
Anna. Can’t you hear me, you there up on the roof?

SCHOOLMASTER’S VOICE
: What’s happening?

PARSON
: Do come here. Something absolutely disgraceful.

SCHOOLMASTER
enters with the mayor
: What’s the trouble?

How about a hand of whist?

PARSON
: Look: up on the roof.

SCHOOLMASTER
: Holy smoke! That’s a fine view they’ve got.

MAYOR
: Well, what a business. What are they doing up there?

WATCHMAN
: Been waiting for us, I expect. They’re deaf.

PARSON
: Go and wake up Mr Fisher.

SCHOOLMASTER
: Tell him there’s something worth seeing.

MAYOR
: Our new weathercock.

WATCHMAN
: Stork’s nest, you mean.
Knocks
.

FARMERS
entering
: Good evening, your Reverence. Ho, on old Fisher’s roof! That beats the band. They can’t hear a thing. All that way up!

Laughter
.

FATHER
comes out
: What is it? A fire?

Farmers laugh uproariously
.

SCHOOLMASTER
: No. No fire.

FATHER
: What’s it about then?

Laughter
.

MAYOR
: Nothing. We’re just having a good time.

FATHER
: What the hell! Tell me.

Laughter
.

PARSON
: The way you run your house is an abomination to the Lord.

FATHER
: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Laughter
.

WATCHMAN
: The devil has come for your daughter.

FATHER
: Well, where the devil is she?

WATCHMAN
: He’s settled down with her on your roof!

Gigantic laughter
.

Translators
:
EVA GEISEL
and
ERNEST BORNEMAN

Paduk • Frau Hogge • The reporter • The chaplain • The assistant • People • Frau Hogge’s girls

Brothel alley. To the right and at the back brothels, their red glass doors open, red lanterns above them. The alley leads to the back and turns sharply left. Left front, a large canvas tent, its entrance closed by a flap. Right of the entrance, a table and a chair. A picket fence surrounds the tent. On the top of the tent a large sign, ‘Let there be Light! Mass education!’ From the top of the tent a floodlight pours chalky white light over the alley
.

1

Night. At the table outside, Paduk, a red-haired man, a cash box before him. People are buying tickets
.

PADUK
: Soft chancre one mark! Clap one sixty! Syphilis two fifty! Don’t push!

A MAN
: Is there a lecture on now?

PADUK
: In three minutes.

A WOMAN
: Is it made of wax?

PADUK
: Here, forty pfennigs change. You don’t want syphilis?

THE WOMAN
: Is it wax or …

PADUK
: Wax and things in alcohol.

THE WOMAN
: All right, then syphilis too.

PADUK
: That’ll be two marks fifty.

A MAN
: The clap.

PADUK
: There you are! Correct.

A WOMAN
: Syphilis. No, only syphilis. That’s the most gruesome of the lot, isn’t it?

PADUK
: You can’t have syphilis by itself. The lecture starts with clap. The clap it is, then.

A WOMAN
among those queuing up
: My sister couldn’t sleep a wink all night, she was that excited.

ANOTHER WOMAN
: Why not come here for a change, I said to myself. Normally I go to the cinema Thursdays.

FIRST WOMAN
: That alley alone’s worth
my
money.

PADUK
: Move along, please! Keep your money ready! Clap one mark. Soft chancre one sixty. Syphilis two fifty.

MAN
: Clap.

PADUK
: One mark. That’s only fifty pfennigs.

MAN
: That’s all I intend to pay.

PADUK
: Then you can’t get in. Next one!

MAN
: Let’s see about that. D’you mean I must catch these hideous diseases just because I haven’t got more than fifty pfennigs on me?

PADUK
addressing the man behind
: Syphilis two marks fifty. Right.

MAN
: I won’t get a ticket then?

PADUK
: No.

MAN
: And what about my health? My wife! The kids!

PADUK
: What about me? My equipment? Expenses? Taxes?

The whole lecture? Run along, or I’ll call the police!

The man leaves, cursing, right
.

WOMAN
: He’s in the mood, that one.

SECOND WOMAN
: Wonder where he’ll go now?

THIRD WOMAN
: He looked as if he was going to pay him back!

FIRST WOMAN
: Well I never! He’s going
that
way!

MAN
disappears right into the brothel
: Bloody swine!

PADUK
: On fifty pfennigs! That’s a laugh! The clap one mark. Ladies and gentlemen, lecture’s starting right now. If you can’t get in now, come back in half an hour. We’re open all night.
He gets up, pulls the tent flap shut. Some people are left standing left. They are joined by fresh arrivals. From inside the tent a monotonous, unintelligible voice
.

2

THE REPORTER
to Paduk
: My name is Schmidt. I represent the
Evening Chronicle
. Have you got a moment?

PADUK
: The gentleman is from the Press? Certainly.

REPORTER
: Quite a show you’re having here.

PADUK
: Sold out!

REPORTER
: That must be gratifying!
Very
gratifying!

PADUK
: You’re right.

REPORTER
: In view of the good cause, I mean.

PADUK
: That’s what I meant.

REPORTER
: Tell me, what is it you’re actually showing?

PADUK
: In my hestablishment you can view the dread harvest of venereal disease. A warning against that whoredom which undermines our society. A fiery call to the victims to have themselves treated before the poison destroys body and mind.

REPORTER
: Are you drumming up trade for any particular physician?

PADUK
: What do you mean by that? Sir, I’m doing this out of pure concern for my fellow-beings! Think of those thousands of sufferers!

The reporter makes notes
.

PADUK
: Thousands of victims, led astray in a moment of weakness, driven by the demon alcohol into the arms of diseased harlots.

REPORTER
: I see you’re an idealist. What made you decide to devote your life to the service of your fellows?

PADUK
: For years I have observed the wanton ways of our cities. How they destroy the soul and wear away the body. How drink and alcohol only prepare the way for prostitution and crime.

REPORTER
: And crime. You speak excellent prose, did you know that? As if you had worked for years in a newspaper office. Did you have the advantage of a higher education?

PADUK
: Only elementary school, I’m afraid. My parents were too poor to make a good breadwinner of me.

REPORTER
: Make a good breadwinner of me. Beautiful. May I ask you a few questions about your life and career? In view of the public interest your enterprise has aroused.