The Complete Plays of J. M. Barrie - 30 Titles in One Edition. Джеймс Барри

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СКАЧАТЬ and that is not all, for Parson Greig kissed me on Tuesday, and Henrik Borsam on Wednesday and Baron Kleig on Thursday, and I am going mad, mad! mad! (falls on sofa)

      PETER: Ghosts! So the bolt falls. For nearly 40 years, have I kept my crime to myself and now it must out, it must out — Tia — I — ah — men don’t do these things.

      TIA (starting up): They do, they do, and oh grandpapa — I like it.

      PETER: Ghosts.

      TIA: And so grandpapa I must leave George. Oh grandpapa, you who have lived a blameless life — Do not, cannot understand how unworthy I am of George. It is idle to tell me to be more careful. It is in my blood. (Peter jumps) and I know — I feel that as I have been in the past so shall I be in the future. I cannot look upon a man without wanting him to kiss me, and he reads my thoughts and does it. Oh Grandpapa, how can men read a woman’s thoughts so well, (aside) so well, that is your cue —

      PETER (aside): No, ‘other women’ is my cue. I am using Gosse’s version you know.

      TIA: I am using Archer’s. Say something.

      PETER: All right. Ghosts.

      TIA: Grandpapa, you who are so wise and good, tell me why I experience this overpowering desire to be kissed? It seethes through my being. It is a wild uncontrollable passion, that I cannot master. Why, oh why am I so different from other women?

      PETER: ‘Other women’. Ghosts.

      TIA: George wonders why he cannot keep a secretary for more than one day. It is because my kisses frighten them — grandpapa they run from me. (Secretary enters C.) Ha! See! (Tia runs after him, he dodges her round table C. she catches him, he kisses her and Exits L.) Grandpapa, tell me, oh tell me why I did it.

      PETER: How — how should I know? (sinks in chair L. )

      TIA: You do know. I can see it in your face —

      PETER: Ghosts, she sees them in my face — and I thought I had kept them hidden inside — inside (aloud) So be it. Let the bolt fall — Tia I will tell you all, but first, the brandy, quick the brandy. (Tia gives glass of brandy, he drinks, mutters Ghosts) Tia what I am about to tell you I have kept to myself for almost — almost 40 years. Ah do not say I have not suffered, (flinging himself at her) Do not say it.

      TIA: You frighten me, Grandpapa — That your cue.

      PETER: Ah! revile me Tia if you choose, but do not say I have not suffered, even if you think I have not. Don’t let on, it makes me jump so — Tia, weep no more or if you must weep and wring your hands, because that is your idea of the character, let it be for me, for it is I who have done this; it is I who have made you what you are! Quick more brandy (she brings it, he drinks) Ghosts, (whispers) You don’t think I’m saying Ghosts too often do you?

      TIA: No, not at all. (aloud) You have not made me what I am, Grandpapa. It is only a wicked impulse of my own.

      PETER: Poor Tia Tesman, and whence comes that impulse? It comes from me. It is hereditary, as all impulses are —

      TIA: Speak quickly, grandpapa, speak quickly, (seizes him by shoulders).

      PETER: Thickly? Is it quickly or thickly in Archer’s version never mind. The brandy — (drinks) Tia Tesman, nearly 40 years ago I married your grandmother, my confiding little baby wife Delia — and I have never had a moment’s happiness since! That was not her fault, it was mine — mine. Two evenings before the wedding one of her bridesmaids was staying with her and it so happened that the gas suddenly went out (Music) It was relit in a moment but during that time — Tia can you not help me out!

      TIA (coldly): Go — on —

      PETER: She was pretty — tobacco coloured hair impudent nose, soft chin, pleading eyes, laughing shoulders, rather plump and twenty round the waist — round the waist — I never saw her without a mad longing to take her face in my hands, gather her up, and — in short she was the kind I liked — Until that black night however, I succeeded in stepping back from her, in order to prevent myself stepping nearer — but when the gas went out — when the gas went out. Remember Tia, it must also have been hereditary in my case, otherwise I could not have done it. Tia, I offer no excuse for the impulse was not then so strong (It came from my great aunt on my mother’s side) but that I could have resisted it.

      TIA: The gas went out?

      PETER: Went out — it must have been hereditary — and then, ha, ha! I kissed her, yes Tia I kissed her — she was the kind I liked (crosses) in another second the gas was lit, and she was at the opposite end of the room, looking at some photographs. Ay, glare at me Tia, glare at me. It is I who have given you this fell disease —

      TIA: I see, I see, the scales fall from my eyes. Oh you wicked old man. (faints R.)

      PETER: She was the kind I liked — Fainted — Dead! Don’t say you’re dead, Tia. Ha, the brandy, (pours out) say when Tia, say when. Water?

      TIA (faintly): Potash.

      PETEF.: No, thank you, Tia. I take it neat, neat. (Drinks it off)

      TIA (sitting up ): Ghosts.

      PETER: Have you got ‘em too, Tia — What change is this that has come over you —

      TIA: You notice it? Grandpapa, your confession has made a woman of me. It has turned me into a Hedda. Look! Look! I am no longer Tia Tesman. I am a Hedda Gabler.

      PETER: She is a Hedda now. (Bell rings) Ha Grandmama.

      TIA: I must away to think — to think.

      PETER: About your future Tia. I mean Hedda.

      TIA: No, about yours. How will you do it Grandpapa? (she now imitates Hedda)

      PETER: Do it?

      TIA: You don’t mean that you will go on living — No, put vine leaves in your hair and do it. Oh, why should you have been able thus to destroy me? Hereditary! Why should I suffer for your sins? Grandpapa, I shut my eyes and see a new Era dawning. I tell you, I warn you, that the day is fast approaching when there will be no heredity, a day when old conditions will be played out, and new conditions will take their place — conditions under which there shall be no such things as Grandfathers.

      (Exit C. )

      PETER (in chair L.): Tia, Tia Tesman, you would not blame me so much if you understood she was the kind I liked I don’t think I can do it, Tia, it will be a more severe punishment to live on, and Delia would not like me to do it. I am glad Delia is coming womanly, homely Delia. I wonder if Delia uses Gosse’s version or Archer’s. (Enter Delia L. She coughs.) Ah, my pet, and how did she like The Doll’s House? Delia my dear wife, I don’t quite care for Tia. I want to go home.

      DELIA (glaring at him): Wife! Home! Oh, how I hate the words!

      PETER (jumps up and then falls into seat): You too Delia! The Brandy! (she snatches bottle from him) Gosse — I mean Ghosts.

      DELIA: How did I like The Doll’s House? It has made a woman of me. Peter Terence — I have come here to call you to account. I am your doll no longer (triumphantly)

      PETER: Have we not been happy, Delia?

      DELIA: СКАЧАТЬ