Etext by Dagny
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C 1984
Characters:
Allan Wayworth, a young playwright
Mrs. Alsanger, a wealthy patron of the arts
Violet Grey, a young actress
Nona Vincent
Scenes:
A London flat belonging to Mrs. Alsanger. In the 1890s.
Wayworth's apartment.
A handsomely appointed drawing room. Allan Wayworth, a good- looking young man, very ill at ease, has just finished reading his play to Mrs. Cora Alsanger. Mrs. Alsanger is a quite lovely hostess and the owner of the premises. She is in her early thirties, calm, under perfect control, and, like most successful hostesses, a little calculating.
Allan (reading)
“Nona: Goodbye, Alfred. — The Curtain falls.”
(A slight pause. Cora Alsanger sits absolutely silent, moved. She brushes a tear from her eye. Uneasily Allan waits for a reaction of some sort.)
Allan
Well, we who are about to die salute you. What do you think of it?
Cora (quietly)
I think—I think it's absolutely stupendous.
Allan (joyously)
Do you? You like it! You think it's good!
Cora
It's beautiful. And now, to get it produced. To get it done.
Allan
But, that's completely unimportant. The important thing is to get
it right.
Cora
But, you want to see your play acted, don't you?
Allan
Of course, of course. I want to intensely. But, you don't know how
important your approval is to me. I want to share it with someone who
has—taste, for lack of the right word. I want to be a huge success,
too. But, that is something to guard against.
Cora
Why so?
Allan
Because it's easy to sell out in the theatre. To do something just
because it's commercial. It's more important to be artistically right,
than to have a long run.
Cora
The reason I've always liked your work is that you never
compromise. You must leave it with me. I want to read it again—over
and over. Who in the world will do it? Who in the world can, without
spoiling it? Who in the world can play “Nona”?
Allan
We'll find people to play every part.
Cora
But, not actors and especially actresses who are worthy.
Allan (enthusiastically)
I'll work with them. I'll grind it into them.
Cora (laughing)
You speak as if you'd been producing plays for twenty years at
least. (seriously) You mustn't let them spoil “Nona”. She's the life of
the play.
Allan
First, I've got to find someone to produce it. I've had no luck at
that. I've got to get a manager to believe in me.
Cora
Yes, they're so stupid.
Allan (waving the script)
Do you see me hawking it about London?
Cora (with revulsion)
It would be sickening.
Allan
From what I've discovered so far, most theatres make up their
schedules more than a year in advance. So even if I were accepted
today, it might be a while. (glumly) I'll be an old man before it's
produced.
Cora
I shall be old very soon if it isn't! I know some theatre people.
My husband knows them, too.
Allan
Do you mean you would speak to them?
Cora
The thing to do is to get them to read it. Otherwise, they might
never. I could do that.
Allan
That's the utmost I dare ask. But, even for that, I shall have to
wait.
Cora
You shan't wait.
Allan
You're too kind.
Cora
You may have to wait, but I won't! I'll make them. We'll see what
money can do. Will you leave me your copy?
Allan
Certainly! I have another. Oh, if you were only an actress!
Cora
Good heavens! Why?
Allan
You could be Nona. You're perfect for it.
Cora (a little disconcerted)
That's the last thing I am. There's no passion in me.
Allan
Is there any tragedy?
Cora
Perhaps. That will be for you to determine.
Allan
I?
Cora
Let's talk of more pleasant things. Nona, for instance. I can't
tell you how I like that woman. She's so alive.
Allan
I'm awfully glad you feel that way about her. She's a good deal
like you.
Cora (uncomfortable)
Not at all. (guardedly) I'm not impressed with the resemblance. I
don't see myself doing what she does.
Allan
It's not so much what she does—
Cora
But what she does is the whole point. I could never do that.
Allan
But, if you don't like what she does, how is it you like her for
doing it?
Cora
That isn't what I like her for.
Allan (puzzled)
What, then?
Cora
I like her because you made her.
Allan (sincerely)
You made her a little. I've described her as looking like you.
Cora (looking in the mirror)
She should look much better. No, I couldn't do what she does.
Allan (coaxingly)
Not even in the same circumstances?
Cora
Not under any circumstances! Her behavior is natural for her.
Allan
It's you, Cora. Nona is you.
Cora
Then, she'll ruin your play!
BLACKOUT
When the lights go up we are still in Cora Alsanger's drawing room. It is about ten years later.
Allan
I told you I'd be an old man. It's ten years trying to get this
play produced.
Cora
But we've succeeded at last. I'm the one who's old. You're only
thirty-eight, whereas a woman is reckoned old after she turns forty.
Allan
Nonsense. You don't look a day older than you did the night I first
read you my play.
Cora
Well, I feel it. Anyway, I'm so thrilled for you.
Allan
You did it. You got the Renaissance to agree to it.
Cora
Because it's a good investment. My husband is willing to be a
backer, and he wouldn't do it unless he knew there was money in it.
Allan
I wish you'd come to the rehearsals.
Cora
No. I really don't care to. How is it coming?
Allan (guardedly)
Well enough.
Cora
And the actress who plays Nona?
Allan
Violet Grey.
Cora
Is she good?
Allan
She's a fine actress. She does Hedda Gabler and Nora to a marvel.
But, frankly, she isn't turning out the way I hoped. She makes Nona so
different from you.
Cora
So much the better.
Allan
I wish you'd train her. You could so easily.
Cora
Please don't make fun of me.
Allan
I'm not making fun at all. I'm serious.
Cora
What is Miss Grey like?
Allan (after a pause)
She's charming, talented.
Cora
Married?
Allan
No.
Cora
Lovers?
Allan
Innumerable.
Cora
Does she like the part?
Allan
Yes. Very much. She's been fascinated from the first. She has many
good ideas for the part.
Cora
That's fine. Do you like her?
Allan
Yes. She's funny.
Cora
She is funny. I met her, you know.
Allan
When?
Cora
She has a part in Hedda Gabler which I saw with my husband the
other night. We were introduced then.
Allan
What do you make of her?
Cora
Very talented and very pretty. She's in love with you, you know.
Allan (nervously)
Don't make jokes.
Cora
I'm perfectly serious.
Allan
Well, that's convenient to know.
Cora
It may be no joking matter to Violet Grey.
Allan
Well, it can make no difference to you.
Cora (with asperity)
How in the world do you know what makes a difference to me?
Allan
I'm sorry, I seem to say the wrong things today.
Cora
You're nervous about Nona. But, much more nervous about Violet
Grey?
Allan
She IS Nona Vincent.
Cora
No. She's the woman you love.
Allan (laughing nervously)
Not quite, not quite. I'm not used to theatre people. I'm
fascinated, that's all.
Cora
If she's a success you'll love her.
Allan (glumly)
She won't be.
Cora
I'll pray for her.
Allan
You're the most generous of women. The play's all right, but she's
all wrong. She does what she can and she's loaded with talent and
energy, but she just doesn't see the woman I had in mind. I wish to God
she had known you! She can't pull me through.
Cora
Forgive her. Be kind to her.
Allan
Oh, I will. It's not enough to write a good play. That won't
prevent it from going to the dogs.
Cora (emphatically)
It shan't go to the dogs!
BLACKOUT
When the lights go up we are in Allan's small, scantily furnished apartment. There is a bed at back and a window. Allan is absorbed in reading. A clock shows ten minutes to midnight. The door opens and a very well-dressed woman enters. Allan is not aware of her. She glides quietly to the window and closes the blinds. She dims the light.
Allan (startled)
What the devil!
Woman
Shh! It's very late, not so loud.
Allan
Mrs. Alsanger—Cora, what are you doing here?
Woman
I'm not Cora Alsanger.
Allan (puzzled)
Is it you, Miss Grey?
Woman
Don't you recognize me?
Allan
I'm not sure, in this light.
Nona
It's me, Nona.
Allan (astounded)
Nona! But—
Nona
I'm alive! I'm alive—
Allan
I'm very tired. I'm hallucinating.
Nona
No, dear. You're tired, that's true, but you're not hallucinating.
I could sense how unhappy you are, so I came to you. Things went wrong
at the theatre tonight. Poor Violet can't do anything with me. The play
will be all right, but Violet can't seem to get me right.
Allan
That's true. She'd improve if she knew how, but she doesn't.
Nona
You've got to show her.
Allan
She has to trust me.
Nona
How can she trust you when she knows she's losing you?
Allan
Losing me?
Nona
She's in love with you.
Allan
Someone else told me that.
Nona
Oh, Mrs. Alsanger. She's in love with you, too, poor thing. But she
can't do anything. Her husband doesn't love her, but she can't give in
to her feelings about you. She's not like me in that respect. I can
love.
Allan
No, Cora's different. But I made you like her.
Nona
And you gave me a heart. Cora Alsanger is a prisoner of her own
pride. She could never come to a man's room and kick her shoes off and
make love to him.
Allan
I thought she could. I really believed she could. For so many
years, I believed that.
Nona
She wants to, but she can't.
Allan
Violet could do that.
Nona
Yes, but she hasn't got Cora's pride. Violet can defy conventions
easily enough. She just can't understand anyone who lives by
conventions.
Allan
Two half women.
Nona
United in me. I am whole. Conventional and unconventional at the
same time. Chaste and adulterous.
Allan
This can't be happening.
Nona
It's happening, just as it happened in your play. I've come to you.
Allan
Nona— (huskily) Nona.
Nona
Hurry. I can't stay long, you know. But I had to come just once.
(Nona coils around Allan as the scene fades.)
BLACKOUT
Allan's apartment. When the lights go up, Allan and Violet Grey come in. Violet throws off her cloak. Violet is very good- looking; she is in an exuberant mood. Both have been celebrating.
Violet
I was better! I was better!
Allan
You were perfection. You'll be like that every night, won't you?
Violet
Every night? There can scarcely be a miracle every day.
Allan
What do you mean by a miracle?
Violet
Oh, I had a revelation.
Allan
Tell me.
Violet
Well, last night, I was so disappointed with the rehearsal that I
made up my mind I was going to quit. I was ruining the play and I knew
it.
Allan
Violet, that's not true. You were growing into it, that's all.
Violet
Not a bit of it. I had no idea what to do. Then, late last night, I
had an unexpected visitor.
Allan
Who? When?
Violet
Oh, about this time last night. It was Mrs. Alsanger. She stayed
two hours.
Allan
Wh—what did she say to you?
Violet
She was very kind. She said the nicest things about you. She loves
you, you know.
Allan
Did she talk about Nona?
Violet
She said that you'd told her she was like Nona. She is. She's
exquisite. That's why I couldn't get her. I've never known anyone like
her before. So conventional, yet so sensual. I drank her in.
Allan
What was she wearing?
Violet
Oh, you know what she wears. Altogether too well, I suspect, my
darling. Have you been to bed with her?
Allan
No, not exactly. I've sort of dreamed of it.
Violet
There's no need to lie. I am not jealous of her. You don't love
her.
Allan
Please tell me what she was wearing.
Violet
Oh, something blue, with some pearls. Don't try to change the
subject.
Allan
That's impossible.
Violet
Why?
Allan
Mrs. Alsanger was killed with her husband in an accident last
evening about ten o'clock. The train was derailed.
Violet
Then, I saw a ghost. I think I'd better sit down.
Allan
Do. There's more I have to tell you.
CURTAIN