Real and Phantom Pains: An Anthology of New Russian Drama. John Freedman
Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу Real and Phantom Pains: An Anthology of New Russian Drama - John Freedman страница 30

Название: Real and Phantom Pains: An Anthology of New Russian Drama

Автор: John Freedman

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Зарубежная драматургия

Серия:

isbn: 9780990447177

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ

      VOLODYA stands in front of BLIZZARD.)

      BLIZZARD: What are you, Volodya, James Bond or something?

      (VOLODYA hand-cuffs BLIZZARD.)

      VOLODYA: You can’t run from yourself

      (They get into a police car.)

      BLIZZARD: I don’t understand anything at all. I’m screwed now. I’m already on two years parole. What is happening. Why? I must have a concussion. I’m sick to my stomach. They’re probably going to put me in prison. What about my job? What about everything? What about my dreams? My Lord, how did this happen to me? A complete and total breakdown. What I’d really like is to wrap myself in a blanket and go to sleep. So that when I wake up, all of this will be yesterday and not today

      (BLIZZARD looks at his bloody hand, sliced in the fight. His lifeline has now been extended. He closes his eyes and slips into an indifferent sleep.

      The Office. MANIAC, SNOWFLAKE, LENOCHKA and SNOWSTORM. BLIZZARD’s face has been replaced everywhere by SNOWSTORM’s.)

      MANIAC: We all stand neck-deep in darkness. The only difference is that some of us look in the direction of the light. Others look to the dark

      SNOWFLAKE (On the phone): Forty days without sex?!

      LENOCHKA: That’s unfeasible

      MANIAC: Like during the war. You huddle under a flag and defenders appear at your side. You know who you’re fighting for and against. With the whites or the reds. For good or for evil

      SNOWSTORM: Most of the time I spend in the space between black and white. It’s rather gray, of course, but at least there’s movement. I know who’s sleeping with who. I know who does what where when and why and I appreciate every one of them equally

      MANIAC: It’s nothing more than a mask

      SNOWFLAKE: Fifty?!

      LENOCHKA: Strange

      SNOWFLAKE: I don’t think that’s my style

      SNOWSTORM: I don’t use masks at all. I win people over with my extreme sincerity. I achieve results by means of the utmost candor. Basically, I never hide a thing. I don’t fear my emotions

      MANIAC: I lead a double life.

      LENOCHKA: Really?

      MANIAC: I keep my manias and phobias in check. And I’ve got those babies up the ying-yang. Both manias and phobias

      SNOWFLAKE: I didn’t know that; that you can’t. I realize that doesn’t justify me

      SNOWSTORM: Hey you phobias of mine, you manias, you late anxieties and early fears

      SNOWFLAKE: It’s just I’m a very emotional person

      LENOCHKA: I confessed for three days

      MANIAC: I did two

      LENOCHKA: And he looked me so hard in the eyes, with that same kind of insolence I have when I’m showing off, and he had this two-faced smile

      MANIAC: He can’t be two-faced

      SNOWSTORM: You don’t even have the right to look him in the eye

      MANIAC: You’re supposed to lower your gaze

      SNOWSTORM: At least bow your head

      SNOWFLAKE: This weather is oppressive

      LENOCHKA: And he says, “At least bow your head.”

      SNOWFLAKE: I’m sick and tired of this black-and-white film

      MANIAC: All this Adam and Eve and the apple

      LENOCHKA: I mean it wasn’t us that picked it

      SNOWSTORM: Well, it’s time to pay up now

      SNOWFLAKE: Could it be because I spent so much time on tranquilizers?!

      MANIAC: That’s all really useful when you have to define all your shortcomings

      LENOCHKA: You know what you’re supposed to do but you don’t do it

      ORANGINA: After that it’s a matter of will power

      MANIAC: You’ve got to make sense of your will power

      SNOWSTORM: See if you have any or not

      LENOCHKA: I don’t

      SNOWFLAKE: Whenever it’s cold my mood and character go sour

      SNOWSTORM: We are really lucky we live in a climate like this

      MANIAC: It helps calm us, calm our flesh

      LENOCHKA: Which is almost impossible to do in the more southerly countries

      SNOWFLAKE (Hangs up the phone. Sighs): Maybe we ought to fly somewhere, huh? Like Bali

      MANIAC: It’s a good idea, though

      (The jail cell.)

      BLIZZARD: I’ve changed lately. I haven’t exactly figured out how yet. All my thoughts on it are still at loose ends. Basically everybody just goes along paying no attention to where they’re going. What the hell is the meaning of life? Career? Fame? Money? I mean, in my mind I know that’s not what’s important. But what is important – I don’t know. But I think about it. Why? Because that’s what everybody talks about. And I know there is love.

      (BLIZZARD thinks about ORANGINA. ORANGINA walks down the street, as beautiful as a character from a Bergman movie. Men look her in the eye and watch her pass; she lowers her eyelashes.)

      ORANGINA: When will I achieve perfection? When will this sin leave me? When will I quit having all these voluptuous dreams? When will I quit dreaming? When will I become more pure spiritually? When? Lord, purify me of all this filth. Lord, absolve me of my youthful sins.

      (The bar at a café. The television is on, showing the BCH news with the sound turned off. The star presenter SNOWFLAKE (no longer smiling) reports on a war. VOLODYA looks her over carefully, drinks beer, chews pistachios.)

      VOLODYA: The only thing I can’t figure out is why people wage war. Man, they’re always at war... For what? Why? Money? Principles? I don’t get it. I mean, with Hitler it made sense. But what’s this going on now? Man, live and let live. I just really don’t know. I don’t get this politics. I mean, have these people never felt pain or something?

      (“BCH” station identification and an ad for “Eternity is Ahead! Infinity is no Limit!” BUSHY-TAIL appears on screen, says something and smiles. She is framed by the words “Icon of the Season.” VOLODYA turns on the sound.)

      BUSHY-TAIL: In the Far North we have icicles like you’ve never seen here. Our icicles flow off the roof over the windows and it’s like the houses СКАЧАТЬ