Slowly/Hurts Given and Received

Howard Barker

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781849433327
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literatura
• Subtopic: Arte dramático británico

Two new plays by Howard Barker Slowly As barbarians approach the palace of a decaying culture, four princesses debate their fate. Decorum demands suicide. But, for some, the possibility of life is all too compelling. In a culture of conformity, it may not be up to the individual to decide... Hurts Given and Received Howard Barker re-examines the creative life of the artist through one of his most fascinating and appalling creations. Provocative ideas, pungent poetic language, and savage wit build a thought-provoking allegory of the artist's relationship with society.

HURTS GIVEN AND RECEIVED

DURING THE MAKING OF A WORK OF ART
REVILED AND SUBSEQUENTLY REVERED

Characters

BACH	A Proprietor
ALWAYS	An Aged Servant
FELLTRAY	A Mistress to Bach
DETRIMENT	A Friend to Bach
GLOVE	The Mother of Detriment
RIB	An Undertaker
UMBER	“ “
ALZARIN	“ “
SADOVEE	A Schoolgirl
SEPTEMBER	A Female Police Officer
MCNOY	A Brutal Man and a Father
SADOVEE TWO	Twin Sister to Sadovee
OBLAST	A Visitor
BOLLY	“ “
HAYDN	“ “
STAYS	“ “
TABLET	“ “
GNATCH	“ “
BULOW	“ “

1

A man seated at a high desk, inscribing. An older man enters, frowning and afraid.

ALWAYS: Master / I’m ill /

(His appearance goes unremarked.)

Master /

BACH: (Without lifting his eyes.) I heard you /

(BACH writes. He descends from his stool and leaves the room. The older man shrinks, decays. BACH returns with a book, and resumes his work. In the silence, the sound of his pen.)

ALWAYS: Master / I’m ill /

(The pen. The creak of the high stool. ALWAYS goes to leave, his movements pained.)

BACH: This illness /

(He does not lift his eyes from the page.)

The severity of which entitles you to march into my study to announce it / this illness restricts your capacity for labour / I daresay / is that a sufficient reason / I ask myself / why it should also restrict mine? /

(At last BACH lifts his eyes to ALWAYS.)

Find some shade / lie down / drink vinegar / nine parts vinegar / to one part wine /

ALWAYS: Master / I’m dying /

(BACH studies the old man. He closes his book.)

BACH: Go home then / go home to die /

(ALWAYS turns to leave.)

And put your tools away / it does not matter that they are not cleaned / just hang them on their hooks / if tools are left about they are invariably stolen /

(ALWAYS shuffles away. BACH returns to his page.)

You have been loyal / and scrupulous / and honest / both to my father / and to me /

(ALWAYS limps on, and stops.)

ALWAYS: Master /

(He is hesitant.)

My wife / my old wife / she /

BACH: When I commended your long service I did not expect to be importuned for favours / please do not embarrass me by asking for what you know cannot be granted / she must surrender the tenancy in the normal way / one week and one day / after your death /

(ALWAYS suffers.)

ALWAYS: I wish I had not asked /

BACH: Yes /

(He looks up from his desk.)

Yes / I wish you had not asked / it stains the memory of a man to know with his last breath he begged /

(ALWAYS leaves, broken. BACH ponders his disappearance. He descends from his stool. He leans against the desk. He exults, a silent writhing. A woman enters.)

2

BACH: You’re bruised /

(The woman poses, defiantly.)

Beneath your eye / you’re bruised /

(She stares at BACH. She moves languorously, stops, and regards him again.)

This bruise / which you have not attempted to disguise / is not the only bruise / is it? / the only bruise? / I might discover others / on your arms / and on your thighs / I have / I think / consciously or unconsciously /
allowed myself to be complicit in your misdemeanours / or worse / yes / why deny it? / I have promoted them / actively promoted these mischievous encounters between you and others which / let us confess it / could properly be described as sordid / were it not for the fact that I / in my fascination with you / created a faith so frenzied that my pain became a ritual / necessary even / proof of the divine / kiss me / kiss me / and then it must stop /

(FELLTRAY frowns.)

Yes /

(Her mouth turns down.)

Yes / because /

(Her shoulders heave.)

NOTHING MUST DISTRACT ME FROM MY /

(She lets out an animal cry.)

DO NOT CRY PLEASE /

(She shakes her head. She bites her lip.)

NEITHER CRY / NOR SOB /

(She fights her inclination.)

I am a poet / and in the lives of poets / once only it appears / or twice at the most / a collision occurs / of mood and circumstance which /

(FELLTRAY is overwhelmed by grief. She turns away as a howl rises from her depths.)

SHUT UP / SHUT UP I SAID /

A collision which shakes the very foundations of his talent and /

OH / DO BE QUIET / FELLTRAY /

(She wails. He persists.)

Compels him to repudiate all those obligations of love and civility which / in normal times / he would gladly acknowledge as deserving precedence /

(He is adamant.)

THE POET MAY NOT VIOLATE HIS OATH / I SWORE AN OATH / I SWORE AN OATH TO POETRY /

(FELLTRAY rushes to BACH and wraps her arms about him. BACH declines to admit her intimacy. He lifts his hands in the air as she weeps on his shoulder. She recovers. She sniffs. She removes herself.)

FELLTRAY: How long will it take / this / this /

BACH: Poem /

FELLTRAY: Poem / yes / this poem? /

BACH: I don’t know / it is a major work /

FELLTRAY: Yes /

BACH: With something so ambitious / so intransigent / so utterly draining of his resources / a poet would be rash to announce / even approximately / the time of its completion / the expense of energy / and of imagination / inevitably induces a frailty / a sickness / even a morbid exhilaration / which frequently obstructs the process /

(He observes the effect of his words on her.)

I think you would be advised to forget your intimacy with me and / however reluctantly / attach yourself to another man / the one / perhaps / who ha...