15 Mother and son and contempt French

To Begin…
Subtitles in bold underneath spoken line (numbers indicate slide number)
Credits
A Note on Translation
1. Beginning 1: Overture (Annie Gardening)
(Annie gardens and smokes as the audience enters)
2. Beginning 2: The Preface (3 bodies)
(3 bodies burst out of the earth)
3. Beginning 3: Introduction (11 chairs)
(chairs are brought on at front of stage, all look to audience, then cough, then hold
breath)
4. Beginning 4: The Seduction (Andy Seduction)
(Andy centre stage seduces the audience)
5. Beginning 5: The False Start (Sam Beckett Walk)
(Sam walks right to left, left to right, exits, enters and blackout)
6. Beginning 6: Lost Beginnings (Persona)
(2 more bodies come out of earth and 5 bodies repeat Persona choreography)
7. Beginning 7: ‘in media res’ (Mother and Son )
(Jonquil and Lisa enter and perform upstage right, in corner. Lisa is lying on
Jonquil’s lap)
8. This is the first word of this show.
Jonquil: Mne vchera prisnilsia strannyi son. Ya dolgo shol po trope,
9. Last night I had a dream. It was strange.
Jonquil: I kto-to shol za mnoi po piatam.
10. For a long time I was walking along a path and someone was following me.
Jonquil: Ya razvernulsia ee sprosil kto on.
11. Finally I turned around and asked him why he was following me.
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Jonquil: Znaesh shto on mne otvetil?
12. Guess what he said?
Lisa: On poprosil tebia napomnit o neskolkih linei.
13. He asked you to remind him of several lines.
Jonquil: Kakih linei?
14. What lines?
Lisa: Ya ohvachena udushaushim koshmarom.
15. I am seized by a suffocating nightmare.
Jonquil: Moi son…. Udushaushiy koshmar.
16. My dream… A suffocating nightmare.
Lisa: Ya prosypaus v uzhase. Bog obitaya b moeie dushe, imeya effect tolko na
moyo soznanie.
17. With terror, I wake. God dwelling in my soul, affects only my
consciousness.
Jonquil: Bog obitaya b moeie dushe.. Moyo soznaniye.. On nikogda ne vyhodit iz
menia.
18. God, dwelling in my soul… My consciousness. He never extends beyond
me.
Lisa: On nikogda ne vyhodit iz menya.
19. He never extends beyond me.
Jonquil: Vo vneshniy mir.
20. To the outer world.
Lisa: Vo vneshniy mir.
21. To the outer world.
Jonquil: V techeniye veshei.
22. To the course of things.
Lisa: V techeniye veshei.
23. To the course of things.
Jonquil: Moyo serdtse stradaet izza etovo.
24. My heart is heavy from such imperfection.
Lisa: Moyo serdtse stradaet izza etovo.
25. My heart is heavy from such imperfection.
Lisa: Ya videl ee slyshal vse eto.
26. I saw and heard all of this.
Jonquil: V tvoyom sne?
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27. In your dream?
Lisa: Da, v moyom sne.
28. Yes, in my dream.
Jonquil: Eto znachit shot nam sniatsia odni ee tezhe sny.
29. That means we have the same dreams.
Lisa: Da. Ya hochu pogulat
30. Yes, we do. I want to walk.
Jonquil: Da
31. Yes.
(Jonquil carries Lisa off on diagonal)
Beginning 7a: Becci text
The beginning is never the start; it is just where we interrupt the story. We are
influenced by everything we have seen and everything we have not. We never see
anything isolated but everything in connection with something else, which is before it,
beside it, under it and over it.
You are expecting a coherent resolution of ideas. A beginning, a middle, and an end.
It is only natural for plays to end in applause. I am not blaming you, for beginning
with the ending covered by clouds is a daunting task. But with this preoccupation
with our inevitable finale you may lose sight of the voyage. While you are vainly
scrutinizing yourself in a mirror your vulnerable observations become buried in a
deep layer of cold earth. You do not want to follow in the footsteps of the old man
who is missing in his dream faced with only the vision of his dead body for company.
While you are dreaming of your endings you might miss the way the sunlight casts
shapes across her mother’s face, or the three birds meandering through the moving
bush. You may miss the footsteps of a stranger leaving through a door out of sight.
You may miss the inaccuracies of our translations, or the repetition of certain
phrases or movement. You may miss the moment the dizziness fades, or the
moment we purposefullly become out of time with each other, You have missed the
dead woman’s eyes opening-glaring straight at you. You will miss the man on top of
the building above you.
Openings should always begin with the word ‘perhaps’. Be like a child again and
look at this stage as if for the first time. Rediscover a boundless, insatiable curiosity,
that is always new and pushes us forwards-a curiosity that never leaves us alone
and has completely replaced our craving for reality. Keep your eyes open: everything
is unreal, fantastic, frightening or ridiculous. Now is the time to explore this foreign
and unfamiliar landscape. Let this journey be slow and littered with pauses. [Let the
plain and unassuming figure you meet on the way approach your nervous and
apprehensive world, let him reach for your hand and invade your personal space
before he disappears again]. Let the construct of love stories be challenged.
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At this point in time you will believe that this is just the beginning and it will all
become clear later. But the pen is in our hands. You will try to make sense of
anything we show you or tell you, even if all signs lead to chaos and confusion. You
are so quick to assume that this is all leading somewhere-that the beginning has
been written with the ending in mind. For you are not used to our way of storytelling.
Our reality is depicted as a set of fragmented images and distorted memories.
Unseen angels and moving bushes, total darkness and endless running. We supply
the world with dreams, intellectual excitement, fantasises and fits of lunacy. Buried
books and damaged dresses, missing men and forgotten scripts. But why do we
need so many beginnings? We are essentially creating a new language which you
as the audience must decipher.
Do not let this opening fade into the predictable plot; do not assume that the ink
won’t run out before you are ready. The missing man is still stuck in his dream; a
character without a resolution, a story without a conclusion, a beginning without an
ending.
32. Beginning 8: Exposition (23 Beginnings)
Jo: We have 23 beginnings,
Susie: some we’ve made up.
Sophie: Others we have stolen
Susie: Some are ours
Sophie: and some are not.
Jo: We make no apologies for this.
Sophie: nor think we need to do so.
Susie: We don’t get to have an ending. Opening # 1 was Annie gardening and
smoking.
Jo: #2 was Rachel, Jo and Ninz coming out of the earth.
Sophie: #3 was eleven chairs.
Susie #4 was Andy seducing you – did it work?
Jo: #5 was Sam wandering across the stage.
Sophie: Did we put that in?
Susie: She put it there.
Jo: Left to right, right to left, left to right etc.
Sophie: #6 was Rachel, Jo, Ninz, Jonny and Becci waking up.
Susie: #7 is first Lisa lying down with Jonquil; and then it was Becci offering a
manifesto on beginnings.
Jo: Why do we have so many beginnings?
Sophie: Why do we have so many beginnings?
Susie: Because we don’t get to have an ending!
Jo #8 is this one now telling you about 23 beginnings.
Sophie: #9 will be nobody.
Susie: #10 will be Becci running.
Jo: #11 will be Sam and Annie falling together and Sarah and Charlotte regarding
each other and you.
Sophie: #12 will be Andy following Jonny. But Jonny doesn’t know it yet, so don’t
tell him.
Susie: #13 will be all of us watching and applauding. Much like you
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Jo: #14 will be Andy and Lisa speaking the language of love.
Sophie: #15 will be Fraz and Amy running, as well and Jonquil and Lisa, Sam and
Annie and Sarah and Charlotte, Jo, Rachel, Ninz, Becci, Ali, Sam and Annie, Mel
and Jo, Susie, Lauren, Kiran, Jonny, Andy and me sharing the beginnings we’ve all
stolen. We make no apologies for this
Jo: #16 will be Kiran and Lauren being translated by Fraz and Tina (badly)
Susie: #17 will be Andy, Lisa and Jo running. They will get tired. You will get tired
watching them.
Sophie: #18 will be conducted in an orchestra of languages. Rachel will be buried
alive.
Susie: #19 will be Amy, Shani, Fraz, Andy and Tina – speaking in German.
Jo: #20 Andy will struggle to carry Amy and Fraz.
Sophie: #21 will be Ali in the corridor.
Susie: #22 Will be all of us dancing, Charlotte will be buried alive. Again you will not
speak our language.
Jo: #23 will be Sam.
Sophie: She will get quite angry with you.
Susie: Don’t worry. This will not be the ending.
Jo: We don’t want Sam to end the show.
Sophie: Or indeed to begin it.
Susie: Sam wanted to be in a film.
Sophie: She wanted this to be like a film.
Jo (and Susie): We didn’t. So Sam will not be the ending.
Sophie: We merely hope that she marks the beginning.
33. Beginning 9: The Rhetoric of the Preface (Corridors 1)
(Jonquil speaks offstage – no-one on stage – corridor lights only)
Jonquil: J’avancé un fois de plus le long de ce couloirs
34. I made my way once again, along these corridors,
Jonquil: dans cetait construction
35. through these great rooms and in this building
Jonquil: d’un autre ciecle un theatre imense, luxueux, baroque
36. that belongs to the past this dismal baroque theatre
Jonquil: où les couloir a termine au success des coloirs.
37. where corridor follows corridor.
Jonquil: Les salles silencieuses où le bruit de pas est absorbé par les tapis si lourds
38. Silent rooms where the sound of footsteps is absorbed by carpets so
heavy
Jonquil: si épais que tout le bruit ne veindra pas passe à l'oreille.
39. so thick that all sound escapes the ear.
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Jonquil: Comme si l'oreille lui-même, etait tres loin de tapis, tres loin de ce décor
lourd et vide tres loin
40. As if the ear itself were very far from the ground
Jonquil: tres loin de ce freize complice qui cours sur la plafond
41. Far from this empty decor from the ceiling
Jonquil: avec des guirland et des branches comme le feuillage ancien
42. with its branches and garlands like classical foliage.
Jonquil: Comme si la sol etait en cours du sable du gravier et de dalles de Pierre
sur lequelles 43. As if the ground were still sand and gravel and stone paving
which
Jonquil: j’avance un fois de plus que me va du rencontrer.
44. I crossed once again on my way to meet you.
45. Beginning 10: The Chase (Becci Running)
(Becci runs in centre of space)
46. Beginning 11: To Begin at the Beginning (Mirror)
(Ali plants tree, Sam enters)
Sam: Ya na pravilnom puti v Tomshino?
47. Am I going the right way to Tomshino?
Annie: Vam ne stoilo povorachivat u tovo kusta
48. You shouldn't have taken a turn at that bush.
Sam: Pochemu vy sdes sidite?
49. Why are you sitting here?
Annie: I sdes zhivu.
50. I live here.
Sam: Gde, na zabore?
51. Where, on the bench?
Annie: Vam interesno kaka idti do Tomshino, ili gde ya zhivu?
52. Are you interested in where the way to Tomshino or where I live?
Sam: Pochemu vy takie nervnye? Daite mne vashy ruku, ya doctor.
53. Why are you so nervous? Give me your hand, I'm a doctor.
Annie: Net. Vy hotite shtoby ya pozvala moevo muzha?
54. No. Do you want me to call my husband?
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Sam: U vas net muzha. Ya ne vizhy koltsa.
55. You haven't got any husband. There is no ring.
Sam: Pochemu vy takie pechalnye?
56. Why do you look so sad?
(Sam falls)
Annie: A pochemy vy takie redostnye?
57. And why do you look so happy?
Sam: Vy znaete, ya pochustvoval I nashol sdes strannye veshi – korni, kusty.
58. You know, I fell and found strange things here- roots, bushes.
Sam: Vy kogda-nibut dumali shot rasteniya mogut chuvstvovat, dazhe ponimat.
59. Has it ever occured to you that plants can fall, know, even comprehend.
Sam: Dereviya, etot kust.
60. The trees, this bush.
Sam: Oni ne begaut, ne zanimaut sebe nenuznnymi veshiami.
61. They don't run about, like us who are rushing, fussing, uttering banalities.
Sam: Eto potomu, shot my ne doveriaem prirode vnutri nas.
62. That's because we don't trust the nature that is inside us.
(Sam goes to leave)
Annie: U vas techiot krov.
63. You've got some blood.
Sam: Gde?
64. Where?
Annie: Za uhom.
65. Behind your ear.
(Sam leaves)
66. Beginning 12: Betwixt and Between (Le Mepris/Andy and Jonny Digging)
(Sarah and Charlotte on opposite chairs)
(Jonny walks on to the pit and starts digging Andy watching and walks onto pit)
Jonny: Ohh I bloody love digging…So many holes, so many tiny beginnings…Its
hard to know what to do with them all
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(Andy gets closer)
Jonny: You know a wise man once said (long pause, he struggles to remember)
Yes…Ohh I bloody love digging.
Sarah: Qu’est que vous prefere?, mes seins ou mes mamelons?
67. Which do you prefer, my breasts or my nipples?
Jonny: Did you hear something?
(Jonny looks to the right sharply. Then looks to the left and behind and Andy ducks
dow, back to front. Then turns back again quickly and sees Andy)
Jonny: Jesus man you scared the shit out of me.
(Jonny gives Andy a spade and they both start digging a big hole)
Jonny: I bloody love digging
Sarah: Voir mes pieds dans le miroir?
68. Can you see my feet in the mirror?
Charlotte: Oui.
69. Yes
Sarah: croyez-vous qu'ils sont jolis?
70. Do you think they are pretty?
Charlotte: Oui.
71. Yes
Sarah: Vous aimez mes chevilles?
72. Do you like my ankles?
Charlotte: Oui.
73. Yes
Sarah: Et mes genoux aussi?
74. And my knees too?
Charlotte: Oui. Je vraiment aime vos genoux.
75. Yes I like your knees
Sarah: Et mes cuisses?
76. And my thighs?
Charlotte: Vos cuisses aussi.
77. Your thighs too
Sarah: Voit mon derrière dans le miroir?
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78. Can you see my behind in the mirror?
Charlotte: Oui.
79. Yes
Sarah: croyez-vous que j'ai un âne joli?
80. Do you think I have a cute arse?
Charlotte: Oui. Vraiment.
81. Yes. Really.
Sarah: monterai-je sur mes genoux?
82. Shall I get on my knees now?
Charlotte: C’est pas neccessaire
83. It isn’t necessary
Sarah: Et mes seins ? Vous les aimez?
84. And my breasts, you like them?
Charlotte: Oui extrêmement.
85. Yes, extremely
Sarah: Qu’est que vous prefere?, mes seins ou mes mamelons?
86. Which do you prefer, my breasts or my nipples?
Charlotte: je ne sais pas. Je les aime le même.
87. I don’t know, I like them both.
Sarah: Fait vous aimez mes épaules?
88. Do you like my shoulders?
Charlotte: Oui.
89. Yes
Sarah: je ne crois pas qu'ils soient autour d'assez. Et mes bras?
90. I don’t think they’re round enough. And my arms?
Charlotte: Oui
91. Yes
Sarah: Et mon visage?
92. And my face?
Charlotte: Votre visage aussi.
93. Your face too
Sarah: Toutes? Ma bouche, mes yeux, mon nez, mes oreilles?
94. All of it? My mouth, my eyes, my nose, my ears?
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Charlotte: Oui toutes.
95. Yes all of it
Sarah: Alors vous m'aimez totalement.
96. Then you love me totally
Charlotte: Oui. Je vous aime totalement, tendrement, tragiqument.
97. Yes, I love you totally, tenderly, tragically
Sarah: Moi aussi
98. Me too
(The hole is dug. Jonny lights fire)
99. Beginning 13: In the Beginning… (Marienbad/Werckmeister)
(all enter and look at audience. Sophie falls from chair)
Kiran: Tiz orakov. Zaras Megjelol
100. Ten O’clock closing up
(Kiran puts out fire)
Mel: cask var egy darab erte-hoz mutat minket
101. Just wait a bit for him to show us
Kiran: Hagy ez ki
102. Leave it out
Mel: Valuska Gryere be
103. Valuska Come on
Mel: Mutat Minket
104. Show us
Mel: Csinal namely lelye Valuska – loz mutat minket
105. Lets make room for her to show us
Jo: Te be ya non, ich a non nem mozog ez ech eli
106. You are the sun, the sun doesn’t move this is what it does
Jo: Te be ya fold, a fold can vit nezze egy elkezd astan a fold vevek a nop
107. You are the earth, the earth is here for a start and then the earth goes
round the sun
Jo: Es most…. Mi akaral volna egy magyyakasal amit egy szeru nepi szeret
minket tut ert kishsakull
108. And now we’ll have to have an explanation that simple folks like us can
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understand about immortality
Jo: Minden es kerdesek von amit on lep, welem bo hol, allandasag, hyugalon, a
beke es veglelen van amit a uralon
109. All I ask is that you step with me into the boundlessness where
constancy, quietude, peace and infinite emptiness reign.
Jo: Ez a hold, a hold forgal korul a fold…
110. You are the moon, the moon goes round the earth
Jo: Me mo terric?
111. What is happening?
Jo: Mi hirlelen lat amet a Korong-boi hold, a Korong-boi hold.. on napok
langologomb ideigieners lakolmany egy beragas
112. We suddenly see that the disc of the moon, the disc of the moon on the
suns flaming sphere makes an indentation
Jo: Es hirlelen a levego nem stracio hideg
113. And the air suddenly turns cold
Jo: Erzed ez?
114. Can you feel it?
Jo: Megelzzuh nem tud nezzene egy egerzz fogyayaekozars eyott ozon minket!
115. We don’t know for a total eclipse has come upon us!
Jo: Aztan kolegsizit send… minden amit el van esendes
116. And then complete silence everything that lives is still
Jo: Dar…. Dar, nem zuksig-hos aggodalomez nem felso
117. But, but, no need to fear its not over
Jo: Nezzene kenezlue a napok eszo gomb a hold noi fundsruka el
118. Far across the sun glowing sphere slowly the moon swims away
Jo: Molly ergelem zur minden hi nelak van menekuhs a sueya sotetzeg
119. Deep emotion pierces everyone. They have escaped the weight of
darkness.
(Dancing, spinning as Kiran bursts in)
Kiran: Amite leg ki innen dezsak-bol sor!
120. That’s enough! Get out, you tubs of beer!
121. Beginning 14: The First Glance (Love Story)
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(Andy and Lisa are translated live by Jonquil and Ali)
Lisa: Il faut que nous attendre Quelques minutes encore. Plus que quelques
minute, Quelques secondes. Toutes cette histoire sont maintenant deja passé.
Quelques seconds il se figer
Ali: We must wait a little. A few minutes, a few seconds no more. This story is
already over. In a few seconds it will freeze forever.
Andy: Dans un passé de marbre comme ces statues travaillées en pierre.
comme cette theatre lui-meme.
Jonquil: Into a marble past like these statues worked in stone. Like this very
theatre, filled with emptiness, these static silent characters long since dead.
Lisa: Voila Maintenant, je suis a vous
122. Beginning 15: Initiation (Mother and Son/Le Mepris/Mirror)
(3 scenes overlap)
Sarah: monterai-je sur mes genoux?
123. Shall I get on my knees now?
Lisa: On poprosil tebia napomnit o neskolkih linei.
124. It’s not necessary
Jonquil: Kakih linei?
125. Do you want to lie down?
Lisa: Ya ohvachena udushaushim koshmarom.
126. No. Do you think I have pretty arms?
Jonquil: Moi son…. Udushaushiy koshmar.
127. Not any more… but they were pretty once
Lisa. Ya prosypaus v uzhase.
128. Beautiful arms and beautiful legs I had once.
Lisa: Bog obitaya b moeie dushe, imeya effect tolko na moyo soznanie.
129. I had a dream, a suffocating nightmare. A man was following me
Jonquil: Bog obitaya b moeie dushe.
130. I saw and heard all of this, in my dream.
Jonquil: Moyo soznaniye.
131. We must have the same dreams.
Jonquil: On nikogda ne vyhodit iz menia.
132. Shall I take you inside now?
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Charlotte: C’est pas neccessaire
133. It’s not necessary
Sarah: Qu’est que vous prefere?, mes seins ou mes mamelons?
134. Which do you prefer? My breasts or my nipples
Charlotte: je ne sais pas. Je les aime le même.
135. I don’t know, I like them both
Jonquil: V techeniye veshei.
136. I like them both
Lisa: V techeniye veshei.
137. I like them both
Sarah: Fait vous aimez mes épaules?
138. Do you like my hips?
Charlotte: Oui.
139. Yes
Jonquil: Moyo serdtse stradaet izza etovo.
140. Perhaps they should be a little fatter
Lisa: Moyo serdtse stradaet izza etovo.
141. Perhaps they should be a little fatter
Sarah: je ne crois pas qu'ils soient autour d'assez. Et mes bras?
142. I don’t think they’re round enough. And my arms?
Charlotte – Oui
143. Yes
Sarah: Et mon visage?
144. And my face?
Lisa: Ya videl ee slyshal vse eto.
145. Your face reminds me of someone.
Jonquil: V tvoyom sne?
146. Of someone you know?
Lisa: Da, v moyom sne.
147. Yes, someone I know.
Charlotte: Votre visage aussi.
148. Your face also
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Sarah - Toutes? Ma bouche, mes yeux, mon nez, mes oreilles?
149. All of it? My mouth, my eyes, my nose, my ears?
Charlotte: Oui toutes.
150. Yes, all of it
(As Sam goes to start her scene, all leave abruptly)
151. Beginning 16: The more I write the more I shall have to write (Mel Text/3
Running)
(Jo, Andy and Lisa run as Lauren and Kiran speak and Fraz translates)
Lauren: An idea starts as one persons secret, when the secret is shared it becomes
a beginning. all I ask is that you step with me into the boundlessness where
constancy, solitude, peace and infinite emptiness reign. we are essentially creating
a new language which you must decipher using the images that we present to you.
your own experience is based on your own translation.
Fraz: un idée commence comme un secret de la personne, quand le secret est
partage il devient un commencement. Tout je demande suis que vous marches
avec moi dans l’ininit, ou la constance, la solitude, la paix et le vide infini restee.
Nopus creons essentiellement une nouvelle langue que vous devez utillisant les
images que nous presentons. Votre experience est basee votre traduction.
Kiran: at first we are completely still for a long time as though posing for an oil
painting. The art has begun.
Fraz: L’art commence…er…um
Kiran: The smile takes you by surprise. A creative web is being woven. There is
sunlight casting shapes across our faces, as three birds meander through the
bushes.
Fraz: Trois oiseau…er…um
Kiran: The light has a pink tinge to it, an unnatural feeling to a natural beginning.
Fraz: rouge…rose…er…um
Lauren: once the art has begun, will it ever end?
Fraz: Quand l’art commence c’est…
152. Is the beginning the start of things or where we have simply interrupted
the story?
Kiran: To begin is always an ending in itself.
Fraz: er…um…
153. The situation is new to you, you want to know more.
Lauren: In the theatre you never see anything isolated but everything
154. The information given is not enough.
Lauren: in connection with everything else which is before it, beside it, under it and
over it.
Fraz: Dans le theatre ne vu pas isolation, mais…sous…sur…dans…
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155. You see a bed.
Kiran; You are new, inexperienced, preparing…
156. Lying on top of it is a man and a woman, the woman is naked.
Kiran: you want to feel as though you have arrived at just the right moment of the
story, just when things are beginning to happen.
Fraz: er…um…
157. You are introduced to the characters – the lovers.
Lauren: In the beginning of this piece of theatre there is a woman gardening and
smoking.
Fraz: La commencement de la theatre…. fume…
158. Is it a love story?
Kiran; Jo plays God, she gathers the sun, a twinkling centre to her small alcohol
drenched universe.
Fraz: mon dieu…er…um…
159. It is the satisfaction of knowing that you do not yet need to know that
keeps you stuck to your seats.
Lauren: Where can this possibly be going?
Fraz: voulez vous couche avec moi?….
160. The moon orbits the earth and together in their clumsy dance they circle
the sun.
Kiran: Who are they?
Fraz: ce soir…
Lauren: Why are they doing this?
Fraz: oui? Non? …
Kiran: And at that moment, a most dramatic event occurs.
161. It is not the end. It is the beginning.
Fraz: J’avancé un fois de plus dans ces couloir a traverse le long
162. Are there bodies still buried beneath the ground?
Fraz: de ces salles dans cetait construction d’un autre ciecle un theatre imense,
luxueux, baroque
163. Could we shock you again?
Fraz: où les couloir a termine au success des coloirs.
164. There will come a time when everything is finished.
Fraz: Les salles silencieuses où le bruit de pas est absorbé par les tapis si lourds, si
épais que tout le bruit ne veindra pas passe à l'oreille.
165. That will be the beginning.
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166. Beginning 17: To Begin Again (Transcripts)
(chair dance - coughing)
Jo: Hungarian.
Sarah: Qu’est que vous prefere? Mes siens ou mes mamelons?
Charlotte: That actually makes me feel a bit uncomfortable Sarah.
167. You are making me feel a bit uncomfortable
Charlotte: It makes me think why she’s like that, is it something to do with you?
168. Is it something to do with you?
Lisa: Yeah, exactly. Is she making me ill, am I actually ill or what? I look like I’m
dead.
All: Yeah.
Lisa: Yo ohvachena udushaushim koshmarom
169. I am seized by a suffocating nightmare
Lisa: I wonder if it’s always going to be just me and you?
170. I wonder if it’s always going to be just me and you?
Sophie: I think she’s trying to say something about seeing an eclipse and
thinking the world is going to end.
Jo: Hungarian.
Sarah: monterai-je sur mes genoux?
171. Shall I get on my knees now?
Charlotte: You probably know I’m going to say yes, kinda teasing me.
172. Oui
Lisa: Moyo serdtse stradaet izza etovo
Sarah: Yeah some girls do that for attention.
Jo: Hungarian.
Jonquil: Guys it’s really annoying me because there is actually something that she
is trying to say but I can’t tell what it is?
Lisa: Have you the English?
Sarah: Yeah I do. And my breasts, you like them?
Jonquil: I think maybe she’s a prostitute or something.
Sarah: Gently, not so hard. You look at my body. You focus on my face. All of it? My
mouth, my eyes, my nose, my ears?
173. Tout es? Ma bouche, mes yeux, mon nez, mes oreilles?
Charlotte: Because you can.
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Mel: I don’t know whether we’ve seen the eclipse, maybe the eclipse is coming.
Susie: Maybe she’s seen an eclipse in the past?
Sophie: Why do they want to know about the eclipse?
Lauren: Why do we want them to know about the eclipse?
Susie: And like…um…why’s she telling them when they’re not even listening?
Jo: Hungarian.
Sophie: Jo has been trying to tell them about it all night, and this is the only time
she can.
Mel: They don’t even speak Hungarian. Maybe it’s a metaphor; you know if she
could explain what’s happening…
Jo: You get stuck in like, conventions ‘coz I keep wanting you all to be relevant,
when actually you might just not be anything at all. Hungarian.
Lauren: We are looking for a meaning, but perhaps there just isn’t one.
Jo: Hungarian (continues to end).
Jonquil: This room is so incredibly tiny
Charlotte: Yeah, I love it; it looks like a painting. I actually thought it was a painting.
Jonquil: With the light coming in the door.
(All hold their breath, then leave).
174. Beginning 18: Conception (Rachel buried alive)
(Rachel who has been buried alive comes up choking and retching)
175. Beginning 19: Curtain Up? (To Pause or not to Pause)
Amy: Has it started yet?
Andy: Yes
(Pause they look at Andy)
Fraz: Are you sure?
Andy: It’s a pause
Shani: You can’t start with a pause
Andy: I have nothing to hide (you know how these misunderstandings get about).
Amy: Should a stranger enter our midst?
Andy: I’m half afraid I’ll vanish if he does
Fraz: What’s the stranger like? the outsider?
Tina: The stranger is plunging through the centre of an ordered world and setting up
the disruptions,
Shani: The shock waves, which if I am mistaken will strip these comfortable people.
Amy: these crustaceans in the rock pool of society
Andy: Strip them of their shells and leave them exposed as the trembling pieces of
raw flesh, which at heart is all of them. But there’s more to it than that
Fraz: A pause is a reaction, surely you have to start with an action?
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Amy: has it started yet?
Fraz: Yes
Andy: Are you sure?
Fraz: it’s a pause
Tina: Well how long is a pause?
Amy: Does it start when the curtain goes up?
Andy: Or has it already begun before the curtain goes up
Fraz: How do you know whether the pause is the start of the show and not simply
the moment before the show starts?
Shani: Is the action after the pause or is the pause the action?
Tina/Andy: Well the script says you start with a pause so you start with a pause
(pause)
Amy: How long is a pause?
Andy: has it started yet?
(pause)
176. Beginning 20: Untimely Meditation (Heel Dance)
(All women walk quickly around pit. Andy chases and carries Amy, Tina and Fraz)
177. Beginning 21: A Moment of Clarity (Corridors 2)
Ali: J’avancé un fois de plus dans ces couloir a traverse le long
178. I made my way once again, along these corridors,
Ali: de ces salles dans cetait construction.
179. through these great rooms and in this building
Ali: d’un autre ciecle un theatre imense, luxueux, baroque
180. that belongs to the past this dismal baroque theatre
Ali: où les couloir a termine au success des coloirs.
181. where corridor follows corridor.
Ali: Les salles silencieuses où le bruit de pas est absorbé par les tapis si lourds,
182. Silent rooms where the sound of footsteps is absorbed by carpets so
heavy,
Ali: si épais que tout le bruit ne veindra pas passe à l'oreille.
183. so thick that all sound escapes the ear.
Ali: Silent rooms where the sound of footsteps is absorbed by carpets so heavy, so
thick that all sound escapes the ear. As if the ear itself were very far from the ground.
I made my way once again, along these corridors, through these great rooms and in
this building that belongs to the past this dismal baroque theatre where corridor
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follows corridor. Silent deserted corridors heavily laden with woodwork and panelling,
with marble, mirrors, pictures and darkness, pillars, alcoves and rows of doorways.
Cross corridors leading in turn to empty rooms, rooms heavily laden with decor of the
past silent rooms where the sound of footsteps is absorbed by carpets so thick that
all sound escapes the ear. As if the ear itself where very far from the ground, far from
this empty decor from the ceiling with it’s branches and garlands like classical
foliage. As if the ground were still sand and gravel and stone paving which I crossed
once again on my way to meet you.
Ali: Entre ces murs charges des boiserrie,
184. Between these walls laden with woodwork,
Ali: de stuc, de moulure des tableux, des gravulle encadrees par lesquelles je
m’advance, parmi lequlle j’etais deja.
185. with pictures and framed engravings through which I made my way.
Ali: Moi meme, en train de vous entendre.
186. Amongst which I was already waiting for you.
Ali: Tres loin de cette ecove ou je me trouve maintenant, devent vous.
187. Very far from the setting where I find myself now, without you.
Ali: En train d’entendre encore aussi lui qui ne viendra pas.
188. I still wait for someone who will not come.
Ali: Qui ne risqu e plus de venire. De nos separer de nos vous, de vous arache a
moi.
189. Someone who will never come to separate us again, to take you away
from me.
Ali: Venir vous.
190. Beginning 22: Starting Over (Dance)
(Jo R runs across diagonal, increasingly falling until exhausted, followed by pair
dance, then group dance)
Beginning 22a: Multiple Foreign Scenes
FRAZ
Fraz: J’avancé un fois de plus dans ces couloir
191. I made my way once again, along these corridors,
Fraz: a traverse le long de ces salles dans cetait construction d’un autre ciecle
192. through these great rooms and in this new building that belongs to the
future
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Fraz: un theatre imense, luxueux, baroque
193. this huge new theatre
Fraz: où les couloir a termine au success des coloirs.
194. where corridor follows corridor.
Fraz: Les salles silencieuses où le bruit de pas est absorbé par les tapis si lourds,
195. Rooms where the sound of footsteps can be heard echoing on and on,
Fraz: si épais que tout le bruit ne veindra pas passe à l'oreille.
196. where the sounds of new beginnings affront the ear.
AMY
Amy: Als das kind, kind war
197. When the child was a child,
Amy: Kingus mit hangen den arment
198. It walked with arms swinging,
Amy: War die bach sie ein fluss
199. It wanted the sea to be the river,
Amy: der fluss ei ein strome
200. the river a torrent,
Amy: Und diese futse das mier
201. and this puddle to be the sea.
Amy: Als das kind, kind war
202. When the child was a child everything was full of life
Amy: wuste es nicht das kind kind war
203. and all of life was one when the child was a child.
Amy: Alles on bazille dunt al alles zalen walen eins
204. It had no option about anything, it had no habits and didn’t pull a face
Amy: Kein photographien
205. when photographed.
JO
Jo: Hungarian
(1) 206. Where shall I begin please?
(2) 207. Begin at the beginning and go on till the end, then stop.
(3) 208. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born
on a Friday at 12 o’clock.
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(4) 209. I am born.
(5) 210. Before we started this show, before we began it, the fictional universe
was a chaotic tangle of potential situations, events, words, images.
(6) 211. But, all of a sudden, when the show began, you found yourselves in
this new world, in a sort of pact of alliance with us, or, at least, a compromise
agreement.
(7) 212. We cannot go back now, and we cannot grasp that which has not yet
begun.
(8) 213. So many fragments, so many interruptions, so many pleasures.
(9) 214. You demand some sense of order, some sense of narrative, a
beginning, middle and end.
(10) 215. You are very demanding
(11) 216. We are untrustworthy
SARAH (overlapping with Jo above at (5) 210)
(5) Sarah: Voir mes pieds dans le miroir? croyez-vous qu'ils sont jolis?
210. Are you looking at my feet? Do you think they are pretty?
(6) Sarah: Vous aimez mes chevilles? Et mes genoux aussi?
211. You’re looking at my ankles aren’t you? And my knees too?
(7) Sarah: Et mes cuisses? Voit mon derrière dans le miroir?
212. And my thighs? Have you been looking at my arse?
(8) Sarah: croyez-vous que j'ai un âne joli?
213. Do you think I have a cute arse?
(9) Sarah: monterai-je sur mes genoux?
214. You want me to get on my knees now don’t you?
(10) Sarah: Et mes seins ? Vous les aimez?
215. And my breasts, you’re looking at them aren’t you?
(11) Sarah: Qu’est que vous prefere?, mes seins ou mes mamelons?
216. Go on then, which do you prefer, my breasts or my nipples?
Sarah: Fait vous aimez mes épaules?
217. Are you looking at my fucking breasts?
Sarah: je ne crois pas qu'ils soient autour d'assez. Et mes bras?
218. You don’t think they’re round enough do you? You want to see more of
them
21
Sarah: Et mon visage?
219. And my face
Sarah: Tout es? Ma bouche, mes yeux, mon nez, mes oreilles?
220. All of it. You want to look at my mouth, my eyes, my nose, my ears, my
breasts, my backside, my hips, my belly.
Sarah: Alors vous m'aimez totalement.
221. You want to see all of me, totally
LISA
Lisa: Russian
222. Is she making me ill?
223. Am I actually ill or what?
224. I look like I’m dead.
225. Am I dead?
226. I wonder if it’s always going to be just me and you?
227. Am I actually dead?
SAM
Sam: Russian
228. Я идя правая дорога к Tomshino?
(Tomashino)
229. Вы не должны принять поворот на тот кустик.
230. Почему вы сидите здесь?
(doctor)
231. Я живу здесь. Где на загородке?
232. Почему вы настолько слабонервны? Дайте мне вашу руку, я будьте
доктором.
(Sam falls)
233. Вы знаете, я упали и нашли странные корни вещей здесь, кустики.
234. Имеет оно всегда происходил к вам что заводы могут упасть, знает
даже постигает.
235. Валы, этот кустик фундука. Они не бегут о, как мы которые спешят,
суетиться, шаблонности.
236. То потому что мы не доверяем природе внутри нас.
237. Вы получаете некоторую кровь.
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(Sam stands)
238. Вы знаете, я упали и нашли странные корни вещей здесь, кустики.
239. Имеет оно всегда происходил к вам что заводы могут упасть, знает
даже постигает.
240. Валы, этот кустик фундука. Они не бегут о, как мы которые спешят,
суетиться, шаблонности.
241. То потому что мы не доверяем природе внутри нас. Вы получаете
некоторую кровь.
(Sam smiles)
242. Где?
(Sam shouts ‘I wanted…’)
243. За вашим ухом….
244. Beginning 23: The Imagined Beginning (‘I wanted…’)
(Sam improvises from the following)
Sam: To begin I wanted a women buried under the soil with a background of foreign
languages. I wanted her to be dug up with bare hands and pulled out. Dead silence.
But they wanted three women buried in the soil and they burst out of the ground. She
wanted a women bursting out of the soil and quickly exciting whilst nervously looking
behind her. I wanted people buried alive in the soil and we have to search for them. I
wanted to lie back on the ground and re-bury myself. I wanted buried people under
the ground with one limb hanging out. I wanted the limbs to slowly come to life and
start dancing in a pool of light from above, sunlight or moonlight
I wanted water to fall from the ceiling drenching us, like a thunder storm. I wanted to
fly above the stage with a watering can, or a hose. No one notices me until I pour a
torrent of water from above. I wanted to point a hose at the audience and drench
them. I wanted a wild wind to blow us all over so we’d have to fight to stand up and
rain to fall on us till we’re cold and wet and shivering , but none of that happened.
Could you imagine having feathers fall from the sky and a blizzard covering the
stage and a man with wings that grow from his back, whilst French jazz music is
playing?
I wanted flowers to grow quickly out of the ground and I would enter and pick the
flowers. Then someone in white pants a rose blossom tree there ( upstage left) whilst
someone in black, plants a dead tree there ( upstage right). I wanted two people with
messed up hair to plant box hedge trees along the edge of the world. I wanted
flowers to grow quickly from the earth and then die. I wanted dead leaves and
blossom to fall from the sky onto the earth
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I wanted a solo performer to walk centre stage, look at the audience as if they are
about to start speaking but then not speak, then exit quickly. I wanted a solo
performer to sit alone on stage hugging her knees with a single light shining down on
her as if moonlight. As the light catches her, she looks slowly up at you. But no-one
listened to me. I wanted to walk across stage from left to right, from right to left, from
left to right, to exit and then re-enter and I wanted a women to walk quickly across
the stage in high heels breathing heavily.
I wanted us all with cupped hands to kneel down, open our hands and release
butterflies into the air. I wanted an orchestra on stage playing loud dramatic music. I
wanted foreign languages. I wanted a grotesque circus performance with distorted
clown faces. I wanted credits in French, rolling on the screen in black and white. It
would have been beautiful had someone listened to me.
I wanted a real angel that flies a snowstorm of feathers, a huge dangerous, out of
control fire, and a giant. I wanted a giant.. Its too late now isn’t it?! Its too fucking late
now. I wanted so many things, so many beautiful things, I wanted more earth, I
wanted real earth that stinks, that stops you breathing, that turns to mud. This is
mulch not earth. It’s too late. Fuck you
245. Before the Beginning (Anti Climax)
(All are still and silent – subtitles only)
246. What does everyone think happens next?
247. I think this dream is maybe her worrying about death, or maybe it’s a
premonition or something…
248. Maybe it’s repeated throughout… but changed slightly.
249. Maybe we see many different versions.
250. Something is about to happen which will affect the course of the show.
251. Perhaps she starts to notice things that are significant from her dream,
252. like she hears the wind in tall grass, or sees a man in wings.
253. Last night I had a dream. It was strange.
254. For a long time I was walking along a path and someone was following me
255. following me he was.
256. Finally I turned around and asked him why he was following me.
257. Guess what he said?
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258. He asked me to remind him of his lines.
259. The problem of the beginning is how can it get us from where we are,
which is, as yet, nowhere, to the end.
260. It’s a simple bridging problem, a problem of knocking together a bridge.
261. What kind of show do you think it’s going be? I can’t picture it.
262. I think it’s very difficult to tell from these fragments of beginnings.
263. Yes.
264. As for time, I think it might stay at quite a slow pace.
265. It might even just follow that one and a quarter hour.
266. What if, as a way to begin, we ask the wrong question?
267. For instance, what if, instead of asking what it represents, we ask “where
did it begin?” or “when have I begun?” or ‘Is it enough to say that I have
begun?”
268. When I open a book I know where I am. I tell myself, I am a third or a
quarter of the way down the page,
269. I am here on the page.
270. Here on this line.
271. Here on the screen.
272. So many fragments, so many interruptions, so many pleasures.
273. You demand some sense of order, some sense of narrative, a beginning,
middle and end.
274. You are very demanding
275. We are untrustworthy
276. I think that the middle will be a series of fragments, or interruptions, or
beginnings in alphabetical order.
277. Yes
278. And the end will be a twist, an anti-climax…
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