|
7a 1911 POST COITUS, POST MORTEM
>
download Word-Doc
ALMA 1 & 2 Walter!
Walter!!! Oh, Walter, I'm burning for your naked body to lie
at my side, with nothing to separate us but sleep! Come, my
love! I I live only for the time when I'll be completely yours!
Your wife. My Walter - I want your child - to cherish and
nurture - until the day comes when we can be united and drown
in each others' arms without remorse. Your spirit and my body
- such dual perfection could only engender a demigod. I want
to have you over me again, physically, inside me! I want to
see you like your god created you - for only a god could produce
such a creature. I want your whole beauty to melt inside me!
I am aching for your embraces! I'll never forget the touch
of your hand on my most intimate parts. You sent fire and
joy flowing through me. Yes, one can be entirely happy, there
is such a thing as perfect joy. In your arms I have known
it. One little nuance more, and I would have become a god.
Everything about you is holy to me. I want to kneel down &
kiss your loins-kiss everything, everything. Amen!
ALMA Oh,
Walter, I missed you so much!!! If you knew how much I missed
you all these months, you would have left everything and come
to be with me! Finally an end to all those secret games! Woowww!!
We don't have to hide anymore, We don't have to wait until
he leaves for rehearsals, We don't need to make secret last-minute
appointments anymore in all those hotels, and sneak in and
out like thieves in the night…!
GROPIUS I
couldn't, while Gustav was still alive. It would have been
too cruel.
ALMA Oh yes,
it was cruel. Very cruel .
GROPIUS How
did he die exactly? Did it happen all of a sudden?
ALMA What
difference does it make, , my love? We're finally together.
That's what counts. Only that. I need you so much… I
need you! I want to forget all about him.
GROPIUS I
need you too, my love. I'm shattered too by the death of my
father. There are so many questions I want to ask you. You
never said anything. Did it happen out of the blue? Was he
sick…? I mean… was he still able to function or…
had he been neutralized and bed-ridden all these months? Was
he an invalid?
ALMA Why
all these questions, Walter?! I'm free! We're free! Finally
free! It's so humiliating to have to lie when you'd rather
be shouting your love to the world. Instead you have to live
with delusion, treachery and deceit, like thieves in the night…
But now we are finally free to fulfill our desires…!
GROPIUS Did
he know he was going to die?
ALMA No,
he didn't. The doctor lied to him.
GROPIUS I
see! So he was... fit?
ALMA Embrace
me.
GROPIUS Was
he fit?
ALMA Oh Darling!
GROPIUS Why
don't you answer my questions, Alma?
ALMA What
do you want to know? We haven't seen one another for months
and you're still thinking about Gustav's death... Why talk
about him all the time?
GROPIUS You're
avoiding me.
ALMA Come
on! Why torture yourself with useless questions with no answers?!
You should be happy that there's nothing to separate us anymore
!
GROPIUS That's
exactly why the time has come to ask ourselves some serious
questions. About our feelings for one another... about us
living together, about the future...
ALMA Have
you got any doubts about your feelings towards me?
GROPIUS No.
Of course not. I have no doubts about my feelings at all.
I love you, Alma. I love you, and I want to marry you.
ALMA Oh,
Darling!!!
GROPIUS I
want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?
ALMA I am
your wife. I am already. I was your wife when Gustav was still
alive. You know that.
GROPIUS Yes.
Yes. That's true. - It was his heart that failed, wasn't it?
ALMA Yes,
it was his heart. It stopped beating.
GROPIUS He
must have been very feeble all these months, very frail, very…
weak. There's no other explanation…
ALMA He was.
GROPIUS But
you said his heart was never very healthy.
ALMA That's
right. His heart was never very healthy…
GROPIUS Strange.
And still he used to swim a lot, take long walks, exercise,
sports... You told me that, didn't you?
ALMA 2 He
didn't know his heart was weak. Until our daughter Putzi died,
four years ago. That was when Doctor Blumenthal gave him a
routine check-up, and brought it out into the daylight. And
just like that he had to give up all physical exertion.
GROPIUS But
he didn't change his way of life, did he? I mean, he went
on working and exerting himself exactly as before, didn't
he? He went on directing, giving concerts… it must have
been incredibly tiring!
ALMA 2 Yes,
he used to work until he collapsed. In total exhaustion. There
was no talking to him. Only his body could have stopped him.
Nothing else had any influence over him. Not even his common
sense. He didn't know how to cope with his fragile health.
GROPIUS He
simply destroyed himself.
ALMA 2 You
could say that .
GROPIUS Why?
ALMA I don't
know!!!
GROPIUS But
you should. You should. He was trying to move you. That's
obvious. You felt how he struggled for you. That was evident.
He was fighting for you like a lion. Why did he have to fail
?
ALMA Why
all these questions, Walter?! It's over now, it's gone! He's
dead.
GROPIUS No,
he isn't. He isn't. He's still there, between the two of us.
He is here, I can feel him. He is lying here, between the
two of us, between you and me.
ALMA Walter,
will you stop that nonsense! Gustav is dead and buried! He's
six feet under…!
GROPIUS I
doubt that. I doubt that. I think he's trying to get close
to you. He must be here somewhere. What have you done with
him, Alma, what have you given to him, that he can't detach
himself from you?
ALMA Nothing!
Nothing at all! I took care of him. That's all. I nursed him,
to make dying easier. .
GROPIUS You
gave him all he needed…?
ALMA Yes,
I did.
GROPIUS You
gave him all he asked for?
ALMA Yes.
GROPIUS And
when he asked for sympathy…?
ALMA Then
I gave him sympathy.
GROPIUS And
love --- ?
ALMA Yes.
Love, too. Lots of love.
GROPIUS What
kind of love?
ALMA Love.
Love.
GROPIUS I
mean... When you say “love”, what… do you mean
exactly?
ALMA 2 What
precisely do you want to know?
GROPIUS Did
you ever… make love to him?
ALMA 2 Come
on, Walter! I had two daughters with him!
GROPIUS No,
no, I mean… during those last few months... as he lay
dying... You knew it was coming to an end, didn't you? Did
you ever… Did he ever... Did you… fulfil that wish
for him too?
ALMA Yes,
I did.
GROPIUS How
often?
ALMA As often
as he asked for it.
GROPIUS That
is?
ALMA As often
as he desired me.
GROPIUS Once?
More than once?
ALMA Dying
people revolt desperately against their fate, you know...
GROPIUS You
really gave him… It's remarkable!
ALMA I gave
him all the warmth and tenderness that he needed.
GROPIUS How
could you be so cold-blooded! That's unbelievable!
ALMA Who
said I was cold-blooded?
GROPIUS What
do you mean?
ALMA I told
you already: I made love to him. I'm not the good Samaritan.
And I'm not from the Red Cross either.
GROPIUS But
... but… after he found out about us, he… became...
I mean… he wasn't able to... anymore…? I mean…
he became… “powerless”! You told me that!
ALMA 2 He
recovered.
GROPIUS He
recovered?!!! - When?
ALMA After
he returned from his meeting with Doctor Freud. I told you
that.
ALMA 2 Really,
an extraordinarily astounding man, this Sigmund Freud. Gustav
was only with him for four hours. And do you know what happened?
Afterwards, he was as active as ever before. Active and strong
and passionate. Curiously enough, he even became very sexually
effective. It was exciting. Very exciting...!
ALMA I remember…
GROPIUS Oh
my God! And I thought you were mine all those months...!
ALMA 2 It
puzzles me that after Gustav's death, he sent me a bill. I
mean, a man in
his position?!
ALMA Maybe
he wanted to get to know you…
ALMA 2 Who
knows what Gustav told him about me...?
GROPIUS Why
did you do that?
ALMA 2 Oh
Walter, sometimes you're such a bore...! I wanted him to die
making love to me. I wanted him to die inside me. I'm so sorry
it didn't happen.
GROPIUS You
loved him?
ALMA 2 Yes.
I loved him. I loved that lonely man. That profound and wounded
man. His love gushed out from his wounds in boiling, powerful
torrents. You can't imagine how much he needed my love.
GROPIUS Of
course I can't. And I don't want to either. - What am I for
you after Gustav Mahler? nothing but a thorough-bred. An animal.
A pedigree! But I'll never reach the depth of feelings you
had with Gustav, and I'll never awaken your emotions the way
he did.
ALMA No,
you won't. You're probably right about that . I shouldn't
hide that from you. No. What he made me give him on that last
night you'll get from me in a lifetime.
ALMA 2 But
that's not your fault, Walter. I gave myself away too early.
But there's no need to worry. There's enough left for you,
Walter. I have taken you deep into my heart. That's your place,
that's where you belong. I want you, Walter. Come on! I like
you…
GROPIUS Adieu!....
(He exits.)
ALMA 2 Poor
Walter!... My poor Walter! (She answers in his absence his
former question:) Yes, I'll marry you.
ALMA Now
you lost him.
ALMA 2 To
hell with him.
ALMA You
don't mean it.
ALMA 2 I'm
sick and tired of his jealousy. I'm fed up with his pestering
me with his endless questions: “Did you make love to
him? How many times did you do it? How good was it? Did you
enjoy it?” He is sick in his mind and it sickens me to
have to answer all these stupid questions.
ALMA You
could have lied to him.
ALMA 2 I
wanted him to know the truth.
ALMA Why?
ALMA 2 I
wanted him to know once and for all he is not the perfect
male he thinks he is. I wanted him to know that he is not
doing me an act of Godly grace by making love to me. I couldn't
stand any longer his stupid masculine vanity about his great
sex performances.
ALMA But
this is the stuff men are made of.
ALMA 2 Gustav
was different.
ALMA He had
his reasons. He knew his limits.
ALMA 2 They
all have their limits.
ALMA We too
we have ours.
ALMA 2 No,
we don't.
ALMA We women
we don't have our limits?
ALMA 2 Not
when it comes to love.
ALMA Can
we make love without limits?
ALMA 2 I'm
not talking of making love. I'm talking of loving. It is always
after making love that I am filled with that exquisite feeling
of overwhelming love for my partner. You know what I'm talking
about.
ALMA Yes,
It is that feeling of gratefulness for the pleasure given
and received. It is the moment of magic when your partner
seems to you more beautiful than ever---
ALMA 2 And
you want to extend that moment of happiness,
ALMA That
magic moment of relaxed happiness
ALMA 2 You
want to embrace him and to be embraced---
ALMA Endlessly,
forever and ever---
ALMA 2 And
exactly at that precious moment you feel him withdrawing and
letting go of you.
ALMA Losing
contact with you---
ALMA 2 Letting
you down.
ALMA You
are left to yourself, and you have to overcome it all alone.
ALMA 2 Our
capacity of giving love is much too much for what men can
take.
ALMA This
is not fair.
ALMA 2 That's
how it is.
ALMA It's
tragic.
ALMA 2 No,
it isn't.
ALMA How
do you mean?
ALMA 2 If
you can give more love than one man can take, then you must
take more than one man.
ALMA But
men are not ready to accept it.
ALMA 2 Then
they have a problem.
ALMA Of all
the men I had, no one was ready to share me with another man.
ALMA 2 It
only shows you how possessive and primitive they are.
ALMA Would
you be ready to share Walter with another woman?
ALMA 2 Why
should he need another woman if I can give more than he can
take?
ALMA Yet
it seems he is going to look for another woman.
ALMA 2 That's
impossible!
ALMA What
makes you think so?
ALMA 2 No
man who has been with me had ever left me for another woman!
ALMA There's
always the first time, and I'm afraid you should prepare yourself
for I see it coming with Walter Gropius.
ALMA 2 Don't
worry, I'll only make a sign with my little finger, and he
will come running back to me like a good little puppy with
his tail between his legs.
(The bell rings for Gustav Mahler's funeral.)
ALMA 2 What's
that?
ALMA It's
the funeral.
ALMA 2 Don't
tell me poor Walter committed suicide!
ALMA Shame
on you, Alma! Don't tell me you forgot whose funeral it is!
ALMA 2 Whose
funeral is it?
ALMA Alma!
It is your husband's funeral!
ALMA 2 I
hate funerals.
ALMA Don't
worry, you won't have to go to yours.
ALMA 2 Ha,
ha!
ALMA Come
now! You have been waiting for some time for this one. Let's
not miss it.
(They go.)
|
