Remembrance and Pantomime (12 page)

     Now, you just tell me if you think I am overdoing it, or if you think it’s more or less what we agreed on?

(
Pause
)

     Okay? But I am not resigning.

(
Turns to
HARRY
slowly
)

     You see, it’s your people who introduced us to this culture: Shakespeare,
Robinson Crusoe,
the classics, and so on, and when we start getting as good as them, you can’t leave halfway. So, I will continue? Please?

HARRY

     No, Jackson. You will
not
continue. You will straighten this table, put back the tablecloth, take away the breakfast things, give me back the hat, put your jacket back on, and we will continue as normal and forget the whole matter. Now, I’m very serious, I’ve had enough of this farce. I would like to stop.

JACKSON

     May I say what I think, Mr. Trewe? I think it’s a matter of prejudice. I think that you cannot believe: one: that I can act, and two: that any black man should play Robinson Crusoe. A little while aback, I came out here quite calmly and normally with the breakfast things and find you almost stark naked, kneeling down, and you told me you were getting into your part. Here am I getting into
my
part and you object. This is the story … this is history. This moment that we are now acting here is the history of imperialism; it’s nothing less than that. And I don’t think that I can—should—concede my getting into a part halfway and abandoning things, just because you, as my superior, give me orders. People become independent. Now, I could go down to that beach by myself with this hat, and I could play Robinson Crusoe, I could play Columbus, I could play Sir Francis Drake, I could play anybody discovering anywhere, but I don’t want you to tell me when and where to draw the line!

(
Pause
)

     Or what to discover and when to discover it. All right?

HARRY

     Look, I’m sorry to interrupt you again, Jackson, but as I—you know—was watching you, I realized it’s much more profound than that; that it could get offensive. We’re trying to do something light, just a little pantomime, a little satire, a little picong. But if you take this thing seriously, we might commit Art, which is a kind of crime in this society … I mean, there’d be a lot of things there that people … well, it would make them think too much, and well, we don’t want that … we just want a little … entertainment.

JACKSON

     How do you mean, Mr. Trewe?

HARRY

     Well, I mean if you … well, I mean. If you did the whole thing in reverse … I mean, okay, well, all right … you’ve got this black man … no, no … all right. You’ve got this man who is black, Robinson Crusoe, and he discovers this island on which there is this white cannibal, all right?

JACKSON

     Yes. That is, after he has killed the goat …

HARRY

     Yes, I know, I know. After he has killed the goat and made a … the hat, the parasol, and all of that … and, anyway, he comes across this man called Friday.

JACKSON

     How do you know I mightn’t choose to call him Thursday? Do I have to copy every … I mean, are we improvising?

HARRY

     All right, so it’s Thursday. He comes across this naked white cannibal called Thursday, you know. And then look at what would happen. He would have to start to … well, he’d have to, sorry … This cannibal, who is a Christian, would have to start unlearning his Christianity. He would have to be taught … I mean … he’d have to be taught by this—African … that everything was wrong, that what he was doing … I mean, for nearly two thousand years … was wrong. That his civilization, his culture, his whatever, was …
horrible.
Was all … wrong. Barbarous, I mean, you know. And Crusoe would then have to teach him things like, you know, about … Africa, his gods, patamba, and so on … and it would get very, very complicated, and I suppose ultimately it would be very boring, and what we’d have on our hands would be … would be a play and not a little pantomime …

JACKSON

     I’m too ambitious?

HARRY

     No, no, the whole thing would have to be reversed; white would become black, you know …

JACKSON

(
Smiling
)

     You see, Mr. Trewe, I don’t see anything wrong with that, up to now.

HARRY

     Well, I do. It’s not the sort of thing I want, and I think you’d better clean up, and I’m going inside, and when I come back I’d like this whole place just as it was. I mean, just before everything started.

JACKSON

     You mean you’d like it returned to its primal state? Natural? Before Crusoe finds Thursday? But, you see, that is not history. That is not the world.

HARRY

     No, no, I don’t give an Eskimo’s fart about the world, Jackson. I just want this little place here
cleaned up,
and I’d like you to get back to fixing the sun deck. Let’s forget the whole matter. Righto. Excuse me.

(
He is leaving.
JACKSON
’s tone will stop him
)

JACKSON

     Very well. So I take it you don’t want to hear the song, neither?

HARRY

     No, no, I’m afraid not. I think really it was a silly idea, it’s all my fault, and I’d like things to return to where they were.

JACKSON

     The story of the British Empire, Mr. Trewe. However, it is too late. The history of the British Empire.

HARRY

     Now, how do you get that?

JACKSON

     Well, you come to a place, you find that place as God make it; like Robinson Crusoe, you civilize the natives; they try to do something, you turn around and you say to them: “You are not good enough, let’s call the whole thing off, return things to normal, you go back to your position as slave or servant, I will keep mine as master, and we’ll forget the whole thing ever happened.” Correct? You would like me to accept this.

HARRY

     You’re really making this very difficult, Jackson. Are you hurt?

     Have I offended you?

JACKSON

     Hurt? No, no, no. I didn’t expect any less. I am not hurt.

(
Pause
)

     I am just …

(
Pause
)

HARRY

     You’re just what?

JACKSON

     I am just ashamed … of making such a fool of myself.

(
Pause
)

     I expected … a little respect. That is all.

HARRY

     I respect you … I just, I …

JACKSON

     No. It’s perfectly all right.

(
HARRY
goes to the table, straightens it
)

     I … no … I’ll fix the table myself.

(
He doesn’t move
)

     I am all right, thank you. Sir.

(
HARRY
stops fixing the table
)

(
With the hint of a British accent
)

     Thank you very much.

HARRY

(
Sighs
)

     I … am sorry … er …

(
JACKSON
moves toward the table
)

JACKSON

     It’s perfectly all right, sir. It’s perfectly all … right.

(
Almost inaudibly
)

     Thank you.

(
HARRY
begins to straighten the table again
)

     No, thank you very much, don’t touch anything.

(
JACKSON
is up against the table.
HARRY
continues to straighten the table
)

     Don’t touch anything … Mr. Trewe. Please.

(
JACKSON
rests one arm on the table, fist closed. They watch each other for three beats
)

     Now that … is
MY
order …

(
They watch each other for several beats as the lights fade
)

Act Two

Noon. White glare.
HARRY
,
with shirt unbuttoned, in a deck chair reading a paperback thriller. Sound of intermittent hammering from stage left, where
JACKSON
is repairing the sun-deck slats.
HARRY
rises, decides he should talk to
JACKSON
about the noise, decides against it, and leans back in the deck chair, eyes closed. Hammering has stopped for a long while.
HARRY
opens his eyes, senses
JACKSON
’s presence, turns suddenly, to see him standing quite close, shirtless, holding a hammer.
HARRY
bolts from his chair.

JACKSON

     You know something, sir? While I was up there nailing the sun deck, I just stay so and start giggling all by myself.

HARRY

     Oh, yes? Why?

JACKSON

     No, I was remembering a feller, you know … ahhh, he went for audition once for a play, you know, and the way he, you know, the way he prop … present himself to the people, said … ahmm, “You know, I am an actor, you know. I do all kind of acting, classical acting,
Creole
acting.” That’s when I laugh, you know?

(
Pause
)

     I going back and fix the deck, then.

(
Moves off. Stops, turns
)

     The … the hammering not disturbing you?

HARRY

     No, no, it’s fine. You have to do it, right? I mean, you volunteered, the carpenter didn’t come, right?

JACKSON

     Yes. Creole acting. I wonder what kind o’ acting dat is.

(
Spins the hammer in the air and does or does not catch it
)

     Yul Brynner.
Magnificent Seven.
Picture, papa! A kind of Western Creole acting. It ain’t have no English cowboys, eh, Mr. Harry? Something wrong, boy, something wrong.

(
He exits.
HARRY
lies back in the deck chair, the book on his chest, arms locked behind his head. Silence. Hammering violently resumes
)

(
Off
)

     
Kekkk, kekkkekk, kekk!

     
Kekkekk, kekkkekk, ekkek!

(
HARRY
rises, moves from the deck chair toward the sun deck
)

HARRY

     
Jackson!
What the hell are you doing? What’s that noise?

JACKSON

(
Off; loud
)

     I doing like a black sea gull, suh!

HARRY

     Well, it’s very distracting.

JACKSON

(
Off
)

     Sorry, sir.

(
HARRY
returns. Sits down on the deck chair. Waits for the hammering. Hammering resumes. Then stops. Silence. Then we hear
)

(
Singing loudly
)

     
I want to tell you ’bout Robinson Crusoe.

     
He tell Friday, when I do so, do so.

     
Whatever I do, you must do like me,

     
He make Friday a Good Friday Bohbolee

(
Spoken
)

     And the chorus:

(
Sings
)

     
Laide-die

     
Laidie, lay-day, de-day-de-die,

     
Laidee-doo-day-dee-day-dee-die

     
Laidee-day-doh-dee-day-dee-die

     
Now that was the first example of slavery,

     
’Cause I am still Friday and you ain’t me,

     
Now Crusoe he was this Christian and all,

     
Friday, his slave, was a cannibal,

     
But one day things bound to go in reverse,

     
With Crusoe the slave and Friday the boss …

     
Caiso, boy! Caiso!

(
HARRY
rises, goes toward the sun deck
)

HARRY

     Jackson, man! Jesus!

(
He returns to the deck chair, is about to sit
)

JACKSON

(
Off
)

     Two more lash and the sun deck finish, sir!

(
HARRY
waits
)

     Stand by … here they come …

     First lash …

(
Sound
)

     Pow!

     Second lash:

(
Two sounds
)

     Pataow! Job complete! Lunch, Mr. Trewe? You want your lunch now? Couple sandwich or what?

HARRY

(
Shouts without turning
)

     Just bring a couple beers from the icebox, Jackson. And the Scotch.

(
To himself
)

     What the hell, let’s all get drunk.

(
To
JACKSON
)

     Bring some beer for yourself, too, Jackson!

JACKSON

(
Off
)

     Thank you, Mr. Robinson … Thank you, Mr. Trewe, sir!

     
Cru-soe, Trewe-so!

(
Faster
)

     Crusoe-Trusoe, Robinson Trewe-so!

HARRY

     Jesus, Jackson; cut that out and just bring the bloody beer!

JACKSON

(
Off
)