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Doctor Kronos |
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Scene VII |
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(THE NIGHT OF SAN LORENZO. IN THE ATTIC. THERE IS A PICTURE BY MAGRITTE ON THE WALL. DR. KRONOS SITS BY A TELESCOPE TO WATCH THE SHOWER OF SHOOTING STARS- WHICH HE NEVER SEES – HE TALKS TO MARIE) Dr KRONOS: In my definition of beauty there must exist the concept of
melancholy. MARIE: In your definition?
Where
exactly? Dr KRONOS: Anywhere
in a sense everywhere
but impossible to grasp
Impossible to put a finger on MARIE: In the middle Dr KRONOS: Yes
At one time
but when you see it
it moves
switches
disappears
so fast
that you cannot even be really sure that you saw it
Beauty is an instance that lies beyond all instances MARIE: Then your definition is a very subtle thing Dr KRONOS: Oh, if only it were
Not only does it lie beyond
it is in all parts
heavy and weightless at the same time MARIE: Yes
Very difficult
I don’t know that I can grasp it
Impossible to put a finger on Dr KRONOS: Impossible
Beauty is within the universe
and the universe is a complex labyrinth
We look up from here
and we think it is simple enough
but if we were suddenly in another constellation
we could not understand anything MARIE: We would have to re-learn it Dr KRONOS: And forget what we already know
Remembering could be confusing
Perhaps we would see Orion
but it would not be Orion at all
The same pattern but different stars MARIE: In another corner of the universe our sun would be in the tail of
Scorpio Dr KRONOS: A different Scorpio MARIE: More lethal (PAUSE)
What kind of horoscopes must they have on Andromeda? Dr KRONOS: Lethal ones
determined by planets full of humans MARIE: Whereas ours are determined by dry rocks
or balls of gas Dr KRONOS: Forget about such things Marie
It will do you no good
Being human is all about the way you have been taught to think
the way you have been taught to believe you feel MARIE: Perhaps
Perhaps it is true that I believe in destiny because I’ve been
told that I can
But so what? Dr KRONOS: I look at the universe and I see violence
Violence and suffering MARIE: Out there is real violence
real suffering
Here on earth suffering has been humanised
In my definition of suffering I would include the concept of
sweetness Dr KRONOS: That is a monstruous idea,
That suffering could be sweet MARIE: How else could we have endured it for so long?
Don’t you think that we even seek it? Dr KRONOS: My patients don’t seek their anguish MARIE: I have heard that all illness is a creation of the mind Dr KRONOS: That is an interpretation,
pain is never imagined,
the cause of it may not exist but the pain is real MARIE: How do you cure this unimagined
pain? Dr KRONOS: I amputate the head. MARIE: Please father,
no jokes,
not today. Dr KRONOS: Why do you think I am joking?
I am mad.
I told you so.
I tell you every day.
Why do you think me so impotent? (ENTER SERGE, BREATHLESS) SERGE: The revolutionaries have taken control of the government
democracy is dead
martial-law has been imposed
I have heard that they have been arresting the cannibals
soon they will come for us Dr KRONOS: The innocent are always guilty. SERGE: I have heard they are imposing the death penalty.
Cannibals are dropped into acid baths. Dr KRONOS: Such a barbaric time. MARIE: You said that ’68 was worse. (Dr KRONOS HANGS HIS HEAD) SERGE: I have prepared supper. MARIE: I thought we had run
out of food. Dr KRONOS: I told him to prepare your mother. MARIE: What? Dr KRONOS: We have no choice.
Do you want to starve? (SERGE LEAVES AND RE-ENTERS WITH THE FOOD)
Don’t look so grim Marie,
we have been eating human flesh for years. MARIE: But it is different
when you know. SERGE: Consciousness is a cruel thing.
If our lives were not so complex we would be happier.
Don’t you think so, father? MARIE: Why did we progress? Dr KRONOS: We are not
really as bad as you think,
as we say we are.
Cannibalism was a developing fad,
if there had not been a revolution to spoil it,
it would have become a primary industry. SERGE: With an aim to reduce the asphyxiating population by half in ten
years. MARIE: Ten years of hell. SERGE: Of sacrifice. MARIE: (LOOKING HARD AT HER FATHER)
You knew about all this all the time,
didn’t you?
How could a monster like you not know?
You told us you were mad, and when we are finished with mother
who will you have?
Serge or I?
Who will be the first? Dr KRONOS: Darling please. MARIE: You should have been an architect father,
not a surgeon. Dr KRONOS: Eat.
(SHE
EATS) SERGE: According to the Internet the cannibals are regrouping. MARIE: You say that as if it were a good thing. SERGE: We are cannibals Marie. MARIE: Don’t remind me. SERGE: Just look at the lump of meat in front of you. MARIE: Don’t remind me,
I don’t want to be a monster.
I want to be normal. DR KRONOS: Amongst our own we will be normal
(HE STANDS UP)
Let’s have some music. (GOES TO THE CD PLAYER, LOOKS THROUGH HIS COLLECTION. HE PUTS ON SOME
SLOW, COOL JAZZ)
This
will do. SERGE: It is the completely wrong mood. DR KRONOS: Yes,
completely
wrong
just as this is the completely wrong end to all our lives.
It should not be like this.
Trist,
but not violent.
All this blood distorts judgement.
It becomes too hard to plead my own case. MARIE: When they find us,
what will we do?
I don’t want to die in an acid-bath. Dr KRONOS: I don’t want to die. SERGE: But you hate life? DR KRONOS: I hate my life. MARIE: Why did you want children? (Dr KRONOS SINKS HIS HEAD INTO HIS HANDS) Dr KRONOS: My stomach hurts.
Did you clean the flesh well Serge? MARIE: Yes,
the flesh of mother is so tough. SERGE: Hardened by heroin. Dr KRONOS: I think my small intestine is inflamed.
So much pain. (THEY GET UP AND BEGIN TO DANCE SLOWLY, THE THREE OF THEM IN A
CONTINUOUS CHANGE OF PARTNER. THE LONELY THIRD PARTY DANCING ALONE) SERGE: The Internet was buzzing with news of a new plague. MARIE: When I first heard of the apocalypse
I only half believed it. SERGE: I thought it would be more real.
This seems like a dream. Dr KRONOS: God moves in mysterious ways. MARIE: Why did we never have a religious education? Dr KRONOS: We are a family of atheists. SERGE: Is that why we are damned now? MARIE: What did he say? SERGE: Who? MARIE: The poet you found on the Internet. SERGE: Which poet? MARIE: “…not with a bang but a
whimper…” Dr KRONOS: I remember that,
a film,
with Charlton Heston SERGE: Mother said that Hell was a happy place MARIE: We were a happy family,
deep down.
Weren’t we? Dr KRONOS: Happiness can be manifested in so many ways,
but we were never a real family
until now SERGE: Things are not what we think MARIE: what they seem SERGE: to be MARIE: If we go to hell
does that mean
that we will not see God. Dr KRONOS: I believe He went to Hell centuries ago. SERGE: Who won the war? MARIE: What war? SERGE: What is war? MARIE: We believe that humanity is good
because we are human SERGE: Being a cannibal opens your eyes to the hearts of other cannibals Dr KRONOS: I have decided that I will eat Serge first. (TO MARIE, WHISPERING)
When Serge is gone we will be lovers. MARIE: I have always wanted that. Dr KRONOS: Even Hell can be romantic. SERGE: People will accuse us of seeming false. Dr KRONOS: Let them!
Each one understands his own reality.
What is the reality of an earthworm?
Blind, deaf, unable to smell.
Can a worm be happy? MARIE: I cannot imagine it unhappy. Dr KRONOS: It’s as if we could grasp the whole universe in a flash. MARIE: Perhaps we could call it love. Dr KRONOS: Such a word could be used,
sometimes,
to describe our feelings SERGE: The meaning of the word lies in its use. MARIE: I love you father. Dr KRONOS: Can we really be so evil if we can say such things? SERGE: And yet everything seems so queer today. MARIE: It is the apocalypse,
what did you expect? SERGE: Such a queer revelation. Dr KRONOS: Sublime.
We
are standing on another plane. MARIE: I did not understand metaphysics until I read Schopenhauer. SERGE: Shouldn’t we be dancing to Wagner? MARIE: You cannot dance to Wagner SERGE: We could try Dr KRONOS: It’s too late
In a sense we are already dead. MARIE: I want to learn a foreign language,
a new foreign language Dr KRONOS: Too late MARIE: I want to say “amor” instead of “love” SERGE: say “amor” instead of “amour”. Dr KRONOS: Language,
we speak to each other but only pretend that we understand.
Have you really understood a word of what I have told you? MARIE: I love you father.
Don’t you understand that? SERGE: Nothing can be understood exactly. Dr KRONOS: Language is a labyrinth that destroys all contact with our
souls. SERGE: As soon as we begin to communicate we are doomed. Dr KRONOS: The first gesture,
the first twitch of lips,
they sealed our fate. MARIE: What you are saying,
is that a worm is happier. (SHE WEEPS) Dr KRONOS: Do not fret Marie,
soon it will be all over.
Soon we will be dead,
released,
and we can be worms again. SERGE: A worm can fuck itself. Dr KRONOS: Nature is so much more magnificent than we ever were.
We were anti-nature,
that was our problem. MARIE: The apocalypse restores the perfect order. Dr KRONOS: Serge, my son, take off your clothes. MARIE: Shall I fetch the oil father? (KRONOS NODS HIS HEAD, MARIE GOES OUT) SERGE: So it is true (TO AUDIENCE)
I am next.
I should resist, but I have no more will.
What have I done to them? Dr KRONOS: A son’s debt to his father.
You owe me everything.
I brought you into this world with my seed,
now I remove you from it. SERGE: (LOOKING OUT OF THE WINDOW AS HE REMOVES HIS CLOTHES) It is
starting to snow,
winter has arrived so soon. Dr KRONOS: Too soon.
If we were not so unreal,
humanity would really fear us. SERGE: What is their world compared to ours? Dr KRONOS: A world of individuals,
of crashing,
smashing egos. SERGE: I never realised we would ever become so moral. (MARIE COMES BACK WITH A BUCKET AND A FIVE LITRE BOTTLE OF OIL. SHE
POURS THE OIL OVER SERGE’S HEAD) Dr KRONOS: You are soon to become part of us, Serge,
just as your mother is now part of us.
Soon we will be one again.
The real evolution. (HE PUTS THE KNIFE BEFORE SERGE’S THROAT)
Why these tears? SERGE: Your knife is gleaming father.
The sharp light makes my eyes smart. (KRONOS CUTS HIS THROAT. MARIE CATCHES THE BLOOD IN A BUCKET. OUTSIDE
THE CACOPHONY BEGINS TO RISE) MARIE: They are nearly here. Dr KRONOS: Why have they taken so long? MARIE: Is it true that we will be immortal? Dr KRONOS: I have never uttered a more truthful phrase. (THER IS A TREMENDOUS BANGING AT THE DOOR) MARIE: (LOOKING AT SERGE’S LIFELESS BODY)
We have no more time father.
My stomach is full of mother.
I have no space for Serge. Dr KRONOS: Soon they will take us. MARIE: And kill us. Dr KRONOS: Or not...
They will need us for their revolution.
For their catharsis
they will need their monsters alive.
We will be spared the acid-bath. MARIE: You really think so?
Yet we are not real enough for their myths? Dr KRONOS: This universe lost touch with reality millennia ago.
There has never been a more barbaric age than this.
They need demons to make their own insipid perversions righteous
again.
Any monster will do.
Now,
turn off the light.
It will be better for them to find us in darkness (MARIE TURNS OFF THE LIGHTS. AS BLACKNESS HITS THERE IS A TREMENDOUS
UGLY NOISE) END OF SCENE VII) SCENE
VIII as
an epilogue (THE
SAME AS THE PREVIOUS SCENE. THE KRONOS FAMILY LIE DEAD. THE BABIES 1 &
2 STAND OVER THEIR CORPSES WITH SMOKING GUNS.) BABY 1: What warlike noise BABY 2: these guns BABY 1: their screams BABY 2: so sweet
in our ravaged ears BABY 1: Another monster dies BABY 2: Futile BABY 1: death BABY 2: The corpse BABY 1: A body, BABY 2: matter BABY 1: without spirit, BABY 2: that we call corpse BABY 1: cadaver BABY 2: Victims BABY 1: of their own cruel schemes BABY 2: or of an impetus BABY 1: from a money-lust society BABY 2: a carcass-system BABY 1: of matter BABY 2: devoid of soul BABY 1: functioning in a world BABY 2: of speculative illusion (THEY ROAR AND SCREAM) BABY 1: But enough of morality BABY 2: Let us be their killers BABY 1: but not their judges BABY 2: No righteous one should ever give sentence of death BABY 1: let us not be confused BABY 2: there is nothing righteous in the justice of revenge BABY 1: in vengeful false-justice (THEY SCREAM) (BABY 1 SPIES A CRATE OF WHISKY BOTTLES. HE GOES TO IT, LAYS HIS GUN
DOWN AND LIFTS OUT A BOTTLE. HE OPENS IT, TAKES A LONG MOUTHFUL, COUGHS,
THEN PASSES THE BOTTLE TO BABY 2) BABY 2: We look innocent (SWIGGING THE BOTTLE) BABY 1: but that does not make us good (SNATCHES THE BOTTLE BACK) BABY 2: Even compared to these monsters BABY 1: don’t confuse our opposition with virtuousness BABY 2: (LIFTING Dr KRONOS’ FACE) If this mouth BABY 1: had the ability still BABY 2: to thank us BABY 1: He would give us commandment of his death (THE WHISKY IS POURED OVER Dr KRONOS’ FACE) BABY 2: but that does not mean that one should glorify us (THE WHISKY IS POURED OVER THE REST OF KRONOS’ BODY) BABY 1: When we grow BABY 2: what bloody cruel and carnal acts will we perform BABY 1: on our own? BABY 2: on our own descendents? BABY 1: What revenge will our siblings reek on us? (THEY GO TO THE CRATE AND TAKE OUT MORE BOTTLES) BABY 2: Humanity is such a fragile species BABY 1: made human BABY 2: by an intellect it hardly ever uses (DRINKING WHISKY) BABY 1: But as an animal BABY 2: our species is doomed (PORING WHISKY OVER THE CORPSES) BABY 1: Only intelligence can save us BABY 2: Our ability to see our own BABY 1: internecine destiny BABY 1: Our own BABY 2: anthropological suicide BABY 1: that is humanity’s only hope BABY 2: Only BABY 1: when we realise BABY 2: that the grey matter should be applied BABY 1: to all circumstances BABY 2: and that our minds BABY 1: possess the clandestine voice of our souls BABY 2: Only then BABY 1: when we can listen to mind and soul BABY 2: when we can think BABY 1: and feel BABY 2: when judgement becomes BABY 1: forgiveness BABY 2: Only then BABY 1: will the carnal BABY 2: bloody BABY 1: and unnatural acts… (THEY GASP AND DRINK) BABY 2: the accidental judgements BABY 1: casual slaughters… (THEY GASP AGAIN AND DRINK THEN SHUDDER AS THE SOUND OF ANGRY PROTEST IS
HEARD FROM OUTSIDE) BABY 1: Men and women’s minds are wild BABY 2: What hope of no more mischance? BABY 1: plots? BABY : or errors? (THEY GASP. BABY 2 GOES TO THE OPEN WINDOW AND CLOSES IT) BABY 1: If there is one BABY 2: (HOBBLING BACK FROM THE WINDOW) one truly compassionate soul BABY 1: in the audience BABY 2: that is this world BABY 1: Let them come forth BABY 2: and teach us BABY 1: the art of brain and heart BABY 2: of heart and brain BABY 1: Teach us how BABY 2: to see the absolute sadness that is all cruelty BABY 1: and perhaps then BABY 2: only then (GASPING) BABY 1: will barbarity disappear (BABY ONES LIGHTS A FLAME AND STANDS OVER THE WHISKY SODDEN CORPSES) (BABY 2 STEPS FORWARD. THE LIGHTS SLOWLY FADE UNTIL THE ONLY
ILLUMINATION AT THE END OF THE FOLLOWING SPEECH COMES FROM THE NAKED
FLAME) BABIES 1 & 2: We need a father
a mother
Someone real
who can really take us
hold us
take us to a school
where we can really be educated
how to think abstractly
How to find the will
be instilled with a will
a determination
to want
to learn
to be taught
in a way that will allow the intellect to transcend
the baser instincts
that have us trapped
in a closed spiral
of imminent destruction (LONG PAUSE) BABY 2: If only this were the beginning (LIGHTS BLACK. SOUND OF BURNING. THE END OF Dr KRONOS) |