| 10 1915 MARRYING THIS ORDINARY MAN
> download Word-Doc Berlin Train station, 1915. World War I RESERL Da-svidanye, Sabina! A bientot! Bon voyage et bon retour! A bientot! ALMA Can I have a coffee please? RESERL Yes, of course, just a moment. GROPIUS Alma! Alma! ALMA Walter?! What is it, darling ? GROPIUS Don't leave me standing like this. Say something to me! ALMA We've said everything we had to say, Walter, haven't we? GROPIUS Say something that will stay with me all the way to Hannover. Say something unforgettable. Say something I can take with me to the battlefield! ALMA Walter! You are such a handsome, beautiful man! You look so dashing in your uniform! So Aryan! You are such a wonderfully strong man! Isn't it beautiful that I can tell you everything? GROPIUS Alma! Did you ever really love me? ALMA I told you so often! In so many ways. How can you doubt it? GROPIUS I don't doubt it. I just want to know. ALMA Take care, my dear! (She kisses him. The train whistles.) And write to me! GROPIUS I will. Gropius leaves. ALMA I love your letters. (to Reserl) I should have never come to Berlin. RESERL That man loves you. ALMA It's so perverse, so pointless. Trying to re-start a worn-out liaison! GROPIUS Alma!! RESERL He's coming back! ALMA Walter! Do you really have to visit your mother, before going back to the front - GROPIUS Darling - I told you a thousand times…! ALMA I came all the way from Vienna to Berlin to be with you. But if you really think you have to visit her before going to the front - GROPIUS Please Alma! We've been together for a week, we haven't been apart for a single moment! That's... ALMA Fine, if that's enough for you, go see her. Go! Go to her. I won't stand in your way. Heaven forbid! GROPIUS Alma! Why won't you come with me to Hannover? ALMA Your mother doesn't like me. You know that . GROPIUS Alma, you've had enough of me, haven't you? You're already missing Vienna. ALMA Oh, you aren't going to start that all over again, I hope! GROPIUS Alma! Tell me the truth: did you really put an end to your relationship with Oskar Kokoschka? ALMA Walter, please! GROPIUS Alma! Tell me: Did you put an end to your relationship with Kokoschka, yes or no?! ALMA I can't stand this anymore…
Alma leaves the room. Gropius follows her. GROPIUS Did you put an end to your relationship with Kokoschka, yes or no?! ALMA I told you a hundred times: I don't want to see that person ever again! And I will not see that person ever again! GROPIUS Then why did he publish that poem? »Allos-Makar« ? ALMA Oh God! Not that silly poem again? GROPIUS It's not a silly poem. I re-read it tonight. Every line is pregnant with secret signs and meaning!
How was I twisted magically,
since from a hazy world,
prospecting her,
a small white bird me summoned,
ALLOS, ALLOS,
to whom I never came across.
As in an instant
swiftly she transformed into my being,
like a back door.
Suffers ears.
Strive, you eyes, to spot her!
I into the needy summer night,
which faded
crying from a rift.
Not to mention the title: »Allos-Makar«! All of a sudden figured it out... ... ALMA I've told you! He chose the title for its Greek meaning: It means »To be happy in a different way«. GROPIUS Alma, don't take me for a fool!! It's an anagram of Al-ma-Os-kar: All-os-Ma-kar. It's so obvious! ALMA You're getting on my nerves, with all your snooping and spying! You'd smell an affair in a laundry receipt! You're obsessed! It has nothing to do with me. ! It has nothing at all to do with me ! But I do appreciate the artistic value of the poem... GROPIUS »The artistic value of the poem«...! ALMA Yes! That's all! GROPIUS Alma, please!!!... Don't take me for a fool!! RESERL Madame! Your suitcase! ALMA Can you keep an eye on it? I'll be right back. - RESERL Sure, Madam!!
Gropius has disappeared. Alma is looking for him on the platform. ALMA Walter?! Walter?! Where are you?!!! Walter?!!! GROPIUS Alma!!! Alma, come here!! Come here! Look in my eyes! Alma, I'm not asking about what you did. I'm just asking if you told him that you didn't ever want to see him again? ALMA Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!! How many times do I have to tell you: I don't ever want to see that man again! I will not see that man ever again! GROPIUS Yes, you told me. But did you tell him too? ALMA Yeeeeess!! He has practically destroyed my mind! He's the only person I've ever let to do that to me. I wish I'd never met him! GROPIUS Come here! Look in my eyes! Promise me that you are not going to see him or even open his letters - if he sends you any - ever again! Don't tear them up, just send them back! ALMA Is that all you want me to promise you? What else am I supposed to not do?! I am not your wife yet! I hope you are aware of that! Alma tears herself away from him, and walks fast away. ALMA (to Reserl) Oskar has the right to say whatever he wants,, but not this man, not this little ordinary man!
Gropius's train whistles. It is going to leave the station. Gropius shouts: GROPIUS Alma! Alma! Alma! Wait! Please! Wait!! Come with me to Hannover! I'll marry you! Come on, get on the train! Come on! Hurry !! RESERL Madame! Your suitcase, Madame! Your suitcase!... GROPIUS Hurry up! RESERL Your suitcase, Madame! Your suitcase!
The train leaves. RESERL opens the suitcase and finds some letters: »Oskar Kokoschka, Care of Dresden Art Museum...« (She closes the suitcase, picks it up, and walks off murmuring to herself:) »Oskar Kokoschka, Care of Dresden Art Museum...« | 
