The Complete Dramatic Works (42 page)

ADA:
Oh Henry!

[
Pause.
]

HENRY:
Listen to it! [
Pause.
]
Lips and claws! [
Pause.
]
Get away from it! Where it couldn’t get at me! The Pampas! What?

ADA:
Calm yourself.

HENRY:
And I live on the brink of it! Why? Professional
obligations
? [
Brief
laugh
]
Reasons of health? [
Brief
laugh.
] Family ties? [
Brief
laugh.
]
A woman? [
Laugh
in
which
she
joins.
]
Some old grave I cannot tear myself away from? [
Pause.
]
Listen to it! What is it like?

ADA:
It is like an old sound I used to hear. [
Pause.
]
It is like another time, in the same place. [
Pause.
]
It was rough, the spray came flying over us. [
Pause.
]
Strange it should have been rough then [
Pause.
]
And calm now.

[
Pause.
]

HENRY:
Let us get up and go.

ADA:
Go? Where? And Addie? She would be very distressed if she came and found you had
gone without her. [
Pause.
] What do you suppose is keeping her?

[
Smart
blow
of
cylindrical
ruler
on
piano
case.
Unsteadily,
ascending
and
descending,
 
ADDIE
plays
scale
of
A
Flat
Major,
hands
first
together,
then
reversed.
Pause.
]

MUSIC MASTER:
[
Italian
accent.
]
Santa Cecilia!

[
Pause.
]

ADDIE:
Will I play my piece now please?

[
Pause.
MUSIC MASTER
beats
two
bars
of
waltz
time
with
ruler
on
piano
case.
 
ADDIE
plays
opening
bars
of
Chopin’s
5th
Waltz
in
A
Flat
Major, 
MUSIC MASTER
beating
time
lightly
with
ruler
as
she
plays.
In
first
chord
of
bass,
bar
5,
she
plays
E
instead
of
F.
Resounding
blow
of
ruler
on
piano
case.
ADDIE
stops
playing.
]

MUSIC MASTER:
[
Violently.
] Fa!

ADDIE:
[
Tearfully.
] What?

MUSIC MASTER:
[
Violently.
] Eff! Eff!

ADDIE:
[
Tearfully.
]
Where?

MUSIC MASTER:
[
Violently.
]
Qua! [
He
thumps
note.
] Fa!

[
Pause
.
ADDIE
begins
again,
MUSIC MASTER
beating
time
lightly
with
ruler.
When
she
comes
to
bar
5
she
makes
same
mistake.
Tremendous
blow
of
ruler
on
piano
case.
 
ADDIE
stops
playing,
begins
to
wail
.]

MUSIC MASTER:
[
Frenziedly.
]
Eff! Eff! [
He
hammers
note.
]
Eff! [
He
hammers
note.
] Eff!

[
Hammered
note,
‘Eff!
’
and
ADDIE
’
s
wail
amplified
to
paroxysm,
then
suddenly
cut
off.
Pause.
]

ADA:
You are silent today.

HENRY:
It was not enough to drag her into the world, now she must play the piano.

ADA:
She must learn. She shall learn. That–and riding.

[
Ho
o
ves
walk
ing.
]

RIDING MASTER:
Now Miss! Elbows in Miss! Hands down Miss! [
Hooves
trotting.
]
Now Miss! Back straight Miss! Knees in Miss! [
Hooves
cantering.
]
Now Miss! Tummy in Miss! Chin up Miss! [
Hooves galloping.
]
Now Miss! Eyes front Miss! [
ADDIE
begins
to
wail.
]
Now Miss! Now Miss!

[
Galloping
hooves,
‘Now
Miss!’
and
ADDIE
’s
wail
amplified
to
paroxysm,
then
suddenly
cut
off.
Pause.
]

ADA:
What are you thinking of? [
Pause.
]
I was never taught, until it was too late. All my life I regretted it.

HENRY:
What was your strong point, I forget.

ADA:
Oh … geometry I suppose, plane and solid. [
Pause.
]
First plane, then solid. [
Shingle
as
he
gets
up.
]
Why do you get up?

HENRY:
I thought I might try and get as far as the water’s edge. [
Pause.
With
a
sigh.
]
And back. [
Pause.
] Stretch my old bones.

[
Pause.
]

ADA:
Well, why don’t you? [
Pause.
] Don’t stand there thinking about it. [
Pause.
]
Don’t stand there staring. [
Pause.
He
goes
towards
sea.
Boots
on
shingle,
say
ten
steps.
He
halts
at
water’s
edge.
Pause.
Sea
a
little
louder.
Distant.
]
Don’t wet your good boots.

[
Pause.
]

HENRY:
Don’t, don’t….

[
Sea
suddenly
rough.
]

ADA:
[
Twenty
years
earlier,
imploring.
]
Don’t! Don’t!

HENRY:
[
Ditto,
urgent.
]
Darling!

ADA:
[
Ditto,
more
feebly.
]
Don’t!

HENRY:
[
Ditto,
exultantly.
]
Darling!

[
Rough
sea.
ADA
cries
out.
Cry
and
sea
amplified,
cut
off.
End
of
evocation.
Pause.
Sea
calm.
He
goes
back
up
deeply
shelving
beach.
Boots
laborious
on
shingle.
He
halts.
Pause.
He
moves
on.
He
halts.
Pause.
Sea
calm
and
faint.
]

ADA:
Don’t stand there gaping. Sit down. [
Pause.
Shingle
as
he
sits.
]
On the shawl. [
Pause.
] Are you afraid we might touch? [
Pause.
]
Henry.

HENRY:
Yes.

ADA:
You should see a doctor about your talking, it’s worse, what must it be like for
Addie? [
Pause.
]
Do you know what she said to me once, when she was still quite small, she said, Mummy,
why does Daddy keep on talking all the time? She heard you in the lavatory. I didn’t
know what to answer.

HENRY:
Daddy! Addie! [
Pause.
]
I told you to tell her I was praying. [
Pause.
] Roaring prayers at God and his saints.

ADA:
It’s very bad for the child. [
Pause.
]
It’s silly to say it keeps you from hearing it, it doesn’t keep you from hearing
it and even if it does you shouldn’t be hearing it, there must be something wrong
with your brain.

[
Pause.
]

HENRY:
That! I shouldn’t be hearing that!

ADA:
I don’t think you are hearing it. And if you are what’s wrong with it, it’s a lovely
peaceful gentle soothing sound, why do you hate it? [
Pause.
]
And if you hate it why don’t you keep away from it? Why are you always coming down
here? [
Pause.
]
There’s something wrong with your brain, you ought to see Holloway, he’s alive still,
isn’t he?

[
Pause.
]

HENRY:
[
Wildly.
]
Thuds, I want thuds! Like this! [
He
fumbles
in
the
shingle,
catches
up
two
big
stones
and
starts
dashing
them
together.
]
Stone! [
Clash.
]
Stone! [
Clash.
‘Stone!’ and
clash
amplified,
cut
off.
Pause.
He
throws
one
stone
away.
Sound
of
its
fall
.]
That’s life! [
He
throws
the
other
stone
away.
Sound
of
its
fall.
]
Not this … [
Pause.
]
…
sucking!

ADA:
And why life? [
Pause.
]
Why life, Henry? [
Pause.
]
Is there anyone about?

HENRY:
Not a living soul.

ADA:
I thought as much. [
Pause.
]
When we longed to have it to ourselves there was always someone. Now that it does
not matter the place is deserted.

HENRY:
Yes, you were always very sensitive to being seen in gallant conversation. The least
feather of smoke on the horizon and you adjusted your dress and became immersed in
the
Manchester
Guardian.
[
Pause.
]
The hole is still there, after all these years. [
Pause.
Louder.
]
The hole is still there.

ADA:
What hole? The earth is full of holes.

HENRY:
Where we did it at last for the first time.

ADA:
Ah yes, I think I remember. [
Pause.
]
The place has not changed.

HENRY:
Oh yes it has,
I
can see it. [
Confidentially.
]
There is a levelling going on! [
Pause.
]
What age is she now?

ADA:
I have lost count of time.

HENRY:
Twelve? Thirteen? [
Pause.
]
Fourteen?

ADA:
I really could not tell you, Henry.

HENRY:
It took us a long time to have her. [
Pause
]
Years we kept hammering away at it. [
Pause.
] But we did it in the end. [
Pause.
Sigh.
]
We had her in the end. [
Pause.
]
Listen to it! [
Pause.
]
It’s not so bad when you get out on it. [
Pause.
] Perhaps I should have gone into the merchant navy.

ADA:
It’s only on the surface, you know. Underneath all is as quiet as the grave. Not
a sound. All day, all night, not a sound.

[
Pause.
]

HENRY:
Now I walk about with the gramophone. But I forgot it today.

ADA:
There is no sense in that. [
Pause.
]
There is no sense in trying to drown it. [
Pause.
]
See Holloway.

[
Pause.
]

HENRY:
Let us go for a row.

ADA:
A row? And Addie? She would be very distressed if she came and found you had gone
for a row without her. [
Pause.
] Who were you with just now? [
Pause.
] Before you spoke to me.

HENRY:
I was trying to be with my father.

ADA:
Oh. [
Pause.
]
No difficulty about that.

HENRY:
I mean I was trying to get him to be with me. [
Pause.
] You seem a little cruder than usual today, Ada. [
Pause.
]
I was asking him if he had ever met you, I couldn’t remember.

ADA:
Well?

HENRY:
He doesn’t answer any more.