The Complete Dramatic Works (54 page)

Pause.
]
… what she was trying … what to try … no matter … keep on … [
Curtain
starts
down.
]
… hit on it in the end … then back … God is love … tender mercies … new every morning
… back in the field … April morning … face in the grass … nothing but the larks …
pick it up–

[
Curtain
fully
down.
House
dark.
Voice
continues
behind
curtain,
unintelligible,
10
seconds,
ceases
as
house
lights
up.
]

Written in English between June 1974 and August 1975. First published by Grove Press,
New York, in 1976. First performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 20 May 1976.

A:
that time you went back that last time to look was the ruin still there where you
hid as a child when was that [
Eyes
close.
]
grey day took the eleven to the end of the line and on from there no no trams then
all gone long ago that time you went back to look was the ruin still there where you
hid as a child that last time not a tram left in the place only the old rails when
was that

C:
when you went in out of the rain always winter then always raining that time in the
Portrait Gallery in off the street out of the cold and rain slipped in when no one
was looking and through the rooms shivering and dripping till you found a seat marble
slab and sat down to rest and dry off and on to hell out of there when was that

B:
on the stone together in the sun on the stone at the edge of the little wood and
as far as eye could see the wheat turning yellow vowing every now and then you loved
each other just a murmur not touching or anything of that nature you one end of the
stone she the other long low stone like millstone no looks just there on the stone
in the sun with the little wood behind gazing at the wheat or eyes closed all still
no sign of life not a soul abroad no sound

A:
straight off the ferry and up with the nightbag to the high
street neither right nor left not a curse for the old scenes the old names straight
up the rise from the wharf to the high street and there not a wire to be seen only
the old rails all rust when was that was your mother ah for God’s sake all gone long
ago that time you went back that last time to look was the ruin still there where
you hid as a child someone’s folly

C:
was your mother ah for God’s sake all gone long ago all dust the lot you the last
huddled up on the slab in the old green greatcoat with your arms round you whose else
hugging you for a bit of warmth to dry off and on to hell out of there and on to the
next not a living soul in the place only yourself and the odd attendant drowsing around
in his felt shufflers not a sound to be heard only every now and then a shuffle of
felt drawing near then dying away

B:
all still just the leaves and ears and you too still on the stone in a daze no sound
not a word only every now and then to vow you loved each other just a murmur one thing
could ever bring tears till they dried up altogether that thought when it came up
among the others floated up that scene

A:
Foley was it Foley’s Folly bit of a tower still standing all the rest rubble and
nettles where did you sleep no friend all the homes gone was it that kip on the front
where you no she was with you then still with you then just the one night in any case
off the ferry one morning and back on her the next to look was the ruin still there
where none ever came where you hid as a child slip off when no one was looking and
hide there all day long on a stone among the nettles with your picture-book

C:
till you hoisted your head and there before your eyes when they opened a vast oil
black with age and dirt someone famous in his time some famous man or woman or even
child such as a young prince or princess some young prince or princess of the blood
black with age behind the glass where gradually as you peered trying to make it out
gradually of all things a face appeared had you swivel on the slab to see who it was
there at your elbow

B:
on the stone in the sun gazing at the wheat or the sky or the
eyes closed nothing to be seen but the wheat turning yellow and the blue sky vowing
every now and then you loved each other just a murmur tears without fail till they
dried up altogether suddenly there in whatever thoughts you might be having whatever
scenes perhaps way back in childhood or the womb worst of all or that old Chinaman
long before Christ born with long white hair

C:
never the same after that never quite the same but that was nothing new if it wasn’t
this it was that common
occurrence
something you could never be the same after crawling about year after year sunk in
your lifelong mess muttering to yourself who else you’ll never be the same after this
you were never the same after that

A:
or talking to yourself who else out loud imaginary conversations there was childhood
for you ten or eleven on a stone among the giant nettles making it up now one voice
now another till you were hoarse and they all sounded the same well on into the night
some moods in the black dark or moonlight and they all out on the roads looking for
you

B:
or by the window in the dark harking to the owl not a thought in your head till hard
to believe harder and harder to believe you ever told anyone you loved them or anyone
you till just one of those things you kept making up to keep the void out just another
of those old tales to keep the void from pouring in on top of you the shroud

[
Silence 10 seconds. Breath audible. After 3 seconds eyes  open
.]

C:
never the same but the same as what for God’s sake did you ever say I to yourself
in your life come on now [
Eyes
close.
] could you ever say I to yourself in your life turning-point that was a great word
with you before they dried up altogether always having turning-points and never but
the one the first and last that time curled up worm in slime when they lugged you
out and wiped you off and straightened you up never another after that never looked
back after that was that the time or was that another time

B:
muttering that time altogether on the stone in the sun or that time together on the
towpath or that time together in the sand that time that time making it up from there
as best
you could always together somewhere in the sun on the towpath facing downstream into
the sun sinking and the bits of flotsam coming from behind and drifting on or caught
in the reeds the dead rat it looked like came on you from behind and went drifting
on till you could see it no more

A:
that time you went back to look was the ruin still there where you hid as a child
that last time straight off the ferry and up the rise to the high street to catch
the eleven neither right nor left only one thought in your head not a curse for the
old scenes the old names just head down press on up the rise to the top and there
stood waiting with the nightbag till the truth began to dawn

C:
when you started not knowing who you were from Adam trying how that would work for
a change not knowing who you were from Adam no notion who it was saying what you were
saying whose skull you were clapped up in whose moan had you the way you were was
that the time or was that another time there alone with the portraits of the dead
black with dirt and antiquity and the dates on the frames in case you might get the
century wrong not believing it could be you till they put you out in the rain at closing-time

B:
no sight of the face or any other part never turned to her nor she to you always
parallel like on an axle-tree never turned to each other just blurs on the fringes
of the field no touching or anything of that nature always space between if only an
inch no pawing in the manner of flesh and blood no better than shades no worse if
it wasn’t for the vows

A:
no getting out to it that way so what next no question of asking not another word
to the living as long as you lived so foot it up in the end to the station bowed half
double get out to it that way all closed down and boarded up Doric terminus of the
Great Southern and Eastern all closed down and the colonnade crumbling away so what
next

C:
the rain and the old rounds trying making it up that way as you went along how it
would work that way for a change never having been how never having been would work
the old rounds trying to wangle you into it tottering and
muttering all over the parish till the words dried up and the head dried up and the
legs dried up whosever they were or it gave up whoever it was

B:
stock still always stock still like that time on the stone or that time in the sand
stretched out parallel in the sand in the sun gazing up at the blue or eyes closed
blue dark blue dark stock still side by side scene float up and there you were wherever
it was

A:
gave it up gave up and sat down on the steps in the pale morning sun no those steps
got no sun somewhere else then gave up and off somewhere else and down on a step in
the pale sun a doorstep say someone’s doorstep for it to be time to get on the night
ferry and out to hell out of there no need sleep anywhere not a curse for the old
scenes the old names the passers pausing to gape at you quick gape then pass pass
on pass by on the other side

B:
stock still side by side in the sun then sink and vanish without your having stirred
any more than the two knobs on a dumbbell except the lids and every now and then the
lips to vow and all around all still all sides wherever it might be no stir or sound
only faintly the leaves in the little wood behind or the ears or the bent or the reeds
as the case might be of man no sight of man or beast no sight or sound

C:
always winter then always raining always slipping in
somewhere
when no one would be looking in off the street out of the cold and rain in the old
green holeproof coat your father left you places you hadn’t to pay to get in like
the Public Library that was another great thing free culture far from home or the
Post Office that was another another place another time

A:
huddled on the doorstep in the old green greatcoat in the pale sun with the nightbag
needless on your knees not knowing where you were little by little not knowing where
you were or when you were or what for place might have been uninhabited for all you
knew like that time on the stone the child on the stone where none ever came

[
Silence
10
seconds.
Breath
audible.
After
3
seconds
eyes
open.
]

B:
or alone in the same the same scenes making it up that way to keep it going keep
it out on the stone [
Eyes
close.
] alone on the end of the stone with the wheat and blue or the towpath alone on the
towpath with the ghosts of the mules the drowned rat or bird or whatever it was floating
off into the sunset till you could see it no more nothing stirring only the water
and the sun going down till it went down and you vanished all vanished

A:
none ever came but the child on the stone among the giant nettles with the light
coming in where the wall had crumbled away poring on his book well on into the night
some moods the moonlight and they all out on the roads looking for him or making up
talk breaking up two or more talking to himself being together that way where none
ever came

C:
always winter then endless winter year after year as if it couldn’t end the old year
never end like time could go no further that time in the Post Office all bustle Christmas
bustle in off the street when no one was looking out of the cold and rain pushed open
the door like anyone else and straight for the table neither right nor left with all
the forms and the pens on their chains sat down first vacant seat and were taking
a look round for a change before drowsing away

B:
or that time alone on your back in the sand and no vows to break the peace when was
that an earlier time a later time before she came after she went or both before she
came after she was gone and you back in the old scene wherever it might be might have
been the same old scene before as then then as after with the rat or the wheat the
yellowing ears or that time in the sand the glider passing over that time you went
back soon after long after

A:
eleven or twelve in the ruin on the flat stone among the nettles in the dark or moonlight
muttering away now one voice now another there was childhood for you till there on
the step in the pale sun you heard yourself at it again not a curse for the passers
pausing to gape at the scandal huddled there in the sun where it had no warrant clutching
the nightbag drooling away out loud eyes closed and the
white hair pouring out down from under the hat and so sat on in that pale sun forgetting
it all

C:
perhaps fear of ejection having clearly no warrant in the place to say nothing of
the loathsome appearance so this look round for once at your fellow bastards thanking
God for once bad and all as you were you were not as they till it dawned that for
all the loathing you were getting you might as well not have been there at all the
eyes passing over you and through you like so much thin air was that the time or was
that another time another place another time

B:
the glider passing over never any change same blue skies nothing ever changed but
she with you there or not on your right hand always the right hand on the fringe of
the field and every now and then in the great peace like a whisper so faint she loved
you hard to believe you even you made up that bit till the time came in the end

A:
making it all up on the doorstep as you went along making yourself all up again for
the millionth time forgetting it all where you were and what for Foley’s Folly and
the lot the child’s ruin you came to look was it still there to hide in again till
it was night and time to go till that time came