The Cryptogram

D
AVID
M
AMET
T
HE
C
RYPTOGRAM

David Mamet was born in Chicago in 1947. He studied at Goddard College in Vermont and at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in New York. He has taught at Goddard College, the Yale Drama School, and New York University, and regularly lectures to classes at the Atlantic Theater Company, of which he is a founding member. He is the author of the acclaimed plays
Oleanna, Speed-the-Plow, Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo
, and
Sexual Perversity in Chicago
. He has also written screenplays for such films as
Homicide, House of Games
, and the Oscar-nominated
The Verdict
, four collections of essays, a novel, and a book of poems. His plays have won the Pulitzer Prize and the Obie Award.

PLAYS
The Cryptogram
Oleanna
Speed-the-Plow
Bobby Gould in Hell
The Old Neighborhood
The Woods
The Shawl
and
Prairie du Chien
Reunion
and
Dark Pony
and
The Sanctity of Marriage
The Poet and the Rent
Lakeboat
Goldberg Street
Glengarry Glen Ross
The Frog Prince
The Water Engine
and
Mr. Happiness
Edmond
American Buffalo
A Life in the Theater
Sexual Perversity in Chicago
and
The Duck Variations

FICTION
The Village

NONFICTION
The Cabin
On Directing
Some Freaks
Writing in Restaurants

SCREENPLAYS
Oleanna
Glengarry Glen Ross
We’re No Angels
Things Change
Hoff
The Untouchables
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1980)
The Verdict
House of Games
Homicide

A VINTAGE ORIGINAL, MAY
1995

Copyright © 1995 by David Mamet

All rights reserved under International and an-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Originally published in Great Britain by Methuen, London.

CAUTION
: This play is protected in whole, in part, or in any form, under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America, the British Empire, including the Dominion of Canada, and all other countries of the Copyright Union, and is subject to royalty. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved. All inquiries concerning performance rights for the plays in this volume should be addressed to: Howard Rosenstone, Rosenstone/Wender, 3 East 48th Street, New York, NY 10017.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mamet, David.
The cryptogram / David Mamet. — 1st Vintage Books ed.
p.   cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-81763-1
I. Title.
PS3563.A4345C79    1995
812′.54—dc20          94–46518

Author photograph
©
Brigitte Lacombe

v3.1

This play is dedicated to Gregory Mosher

Cover

About the Author

Other Books by This Author

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Characters

Last night when you were all in bed
Mrs. O’Leary left a lantern in her shed

Camping song

The Cryptogram
was first produced at the Ambassadors Theatre, London on June 29, 1994, by Frederick Zollo, Nicholas Paleologos, Gregory Mosher, Susan Gallin, David Richenthal, Suki Sandler, and Frank and Woji Gero, with the following cast:

Directed by Gregory Mosher; designed by Bob Crowley; lighting by Rick Fisher.

The American Premiere of
The Cryptogram
was produced on February 8, 1995, by the American Repertory Theatre, as part of their New Stages ’95 Series, by special arrangement with Frederick Zollo, Nicholas Paleologos, and Gregory Mosher, with the following cast:

Directed by David Mamet; sets by John Lee Beatty; costumes by Harriet Voyt; lighting by Dennis Parichy.

The Cryptogram
was produced at the Westside Arts Theater in New York on March 28, 1995, by Frederick Zollo, Nicholas Paleologos, Gregory Mosher, Jujamcyn Theaters, Herb Alpert, and Margo Lion, with the following cast:

Directed by David Mamet; sets by John Lee Beatty; costumes by Harriet Voyt; lighting by Dennis Parichy.

The action takes place in Donny’s living room in 1959.

JOHN
: I couldn’t find ’em.

DEL
: … couldn’t find ’em.

JOHN
: No.

DEL
: What?

JOHN
: Slippers.

DEL
: Yes?

JOHN
: They’re packed.

DEL
: … slippers are packed.

JOHN
: Yes.

DEL
: Why did you pack them?

JOHN
: Take them along.

DEL
: How are you going to use your slippers in the woods.

JOHN
: To keep my feet warm.

DEL
: Mmm.

JOHN
: I shouldn’t of packed them?

DEL
: Well, put something on your feet.

JOHN
: What?

DEL
: Socks.

JOHN
: Put something on my feet now.

DEL
: Yes.

JOHN
: “As long as I’m warm.”

DEL
: That’s correct.

JOHN
: I have ’em. (
Produces socks. Starts putting them on
.)

DEL
: That’s good. Think ahead.

JOHN
: Why did you say “why did you pack them?”

DEL
: I wondered that you’d take them with.

JOHN
: Why?

DEL
: Out in the Woods?

JOHN
: No, but to wear in the Cabin.

DEL
: … that’s right.

JOHN
: Don’t you think?

DEL
: I do.

JOHN
: I know I couldn’t wear them in the woods.

DEL
: No. No. That’s right. Where were we?

JOHN
: Issues of sleep.

DEL
: … is …

JOHN
: Issues of sleep.

DEL
: No. I’m sorry. You were quite correct. To take your slippers. I spoke too quickly.

JOHN
: That’s alright.

DEL
: Thank you. (
Pause
.) Where were we? Issues of Sleep.

JOHN
: And last night either.

DEL
: Mm …?

JOHN
: … I couldn’t sleep.

DEL
: So I’m told. (
Pause
.)

JOHN
: Last night, either.

DEL
: Fine. What does it mean “I could not sleep”?

JOHN
: … what does it mean?

DEL
: Yes. It means nothing other than the meaning you choose to assign to it.

JOHN
: I don’t get you.

DEL
: I’m going to explain myself.

JOHN
: Good.

DEL
: A “Trip,” for example, you’ve been looking forward to.

JOHN
: A trip. Yes. Oh, yes.

DEL
: … absolutely right.

JOHN
: … that I’m excited.

DEL
: … who wouldn’t be?

JOHN
:
Anyone
would be.

DEL
: That’s right.

JOHN
: … to go in the
Woods
…?

DEL
: Well. You see? You’ve answered your own question.

JOHN
: Yes. That I’m excited.

DEL
: I can’t blame you.

JOHN
: You can’t.

DEL
: No. Do you see?

JOHN
: That it’s natural.

DEL
: I think it is.

JOHN
: Is it?

DEL
: I think it absolutely is. To go with your
father
…?

JOHN
: Why isn’t he home?

DEL
: We don’t know.

JOHN
: … because it’s something. To go out there.

DEL
: I should say.

JOHN
: In the Woods …?

DEL
: … I hope to tell you.

JOHN
: Well, you
know
it is.

DEL
: That I do.