THE LAST SUPPER
Characters
LVOV
A Thinker
MARYA
A Nurse
ARNOLD
A Salesman
IVORY
An Aristocrat
SUSANNAH
A Cook
SLOMAN
A Carpenter
JUDITH
A Widow
GISELA
A Diaryist
DORA
A Teacher
ANNA
A Prostitute
FORJACKS
A Scholar
APOLLO
A Poet
ELLA
A Student
FIRST OFFICER
SECOND OFFICER
FARMER
THE ACTORS OF THE PARABLES
MacATTLEE
McSTAIN
McNOY
Soldiers
LITTLE MONK
ABBOTT
A FEMALE CHILD
A WIDOW
VIOLINIST
NUN
WOMAN LOOTER
MALE DOCTOR
A CHILD
A WOMAN
A GUNNER
A SEAMSTRESS
THE CHORUS
THE FIRST PROLOGUE
ELLA: We found God after all
Thinking He had disappeared
DORA: He had not disappeared
We found Him after all
Like the vagrant under the wall
He was only out of sight
ELLA: And He stood up in the light
Of all our shame and said
In the beam of our shame
Rubbed His eyes and said
DORA: I am not dead
I am the Public
ELLA: To me the heretics will
DORA: I am not dead
I am the Public
ELLA: And the transgressors
DORA: Genuflect
ELLA: The incurably deviant
DORA: Adore
ELLA: The breakers of vows
DORA: Applaud
ELLA: The habitually glum
DORA/ELLA: LAUGH YOU BASTARD, THIS IS MY CREATION, LAUGH.
DORA: Did you think Iād died with religion?
Did you think I would succumb?
I have endured worse winters
Under the arches entertained the louse
ELLA: Quitting the cathedral in the night
DORA: God the Public needs no house
ELLA: And the sexually active bishops
DORA: The theologians with radio technique
ELLA: The fathers of gifted children
DORA: The rock musicians with castles
ELLA: The summer school students in states of undress
DORA: The carnival organizers
ELLA: The sweet-natured pickpockets
DORA: Shop stewards red-eyed in the billiard hall
ELLA: Popes and Mercenaries all
DORA: Concurred
ELLA: The Public We
The Public We
The Public Had to be God
DORA: Since God had to be
DORA/ELLA: APPLAUD YOU BASTARDS!
(The terrible sound of laughter.)
THE SECOND PROLOGUE
IVORY: I bring you an invitation
Oh, no, she says, not an invitation
Yes
We are all so afraid
Yes
An invitation to hang up the
SUFFOCATING OVERCOAT OF COMMUNICATION
Hang it up
And those with biros write upon your wrist
THE PLAY CONTAINS NO INFORMATION
Arenāt you tired of journalists?
Oh, arenāt you tired of journalists?
No one will hold your hand tonight
Nor oil you with humour
As the swimmer is greased to pass through
Water quicker
No
When the poem became easy it also became poor
When art became mechanized it became an addiction
I lecture!
Oh, I lecture you!
(A terrible storm of laughter.)
Forgive!
Forgive!
THE PLAY
A FIGURE asleep in a hammock. An engine labouring. A WOMAN enters.
MARYA: Iām still insane.
Obviously insane as ever.
(The train passes.)
Goodbye you male scum! Goodbye you meat and gristle! (She bares her breasts. A MAN enters, watches her. The wheels fade.)
ARNOLD: You shout at all the trains. You smear your breasts on all the windows. Goodbye you male scum! But how dedicated you are at the hospitals. Meeting the ambulances and wiping the broken bodies. Now, this is his influence. Isnāt it? Your influence?
(The FIGURE is still.)
Pretend to be asleep. But I say itās your influence. YOU HAVE NO DESIRE TO CURE ANYBODY. Sleep on, sleep on.
(IVORY enters.)
Cunt!
IVORY: Let him sleep.
ARNOLD: Sleep? How can anyone sleep in the current state of things? We can only pretend, just as he is now pretending. He is fictive, arenāt you? Fictive!
IVORY: We know he is fictive.
ARNOLD: We know it, but does he? Sleep is for times of stability. Even gardening has become impossible. Why do you say?
IVORY: No, I didnāt say.
ARNOLD: Because it is absurd to plant what will never be allowed to nourish. I know you say plant anyway. Plant, and if it is trodden down, plant again. I have heard him say that.
MARYA: Plant, and even though armies trample fifty gardens one they w...