Act 1 , Scene 1 Flashcards
“Please, Mrs Paddy, let us keep the lights on.”
“Some night you’re going to turn out the lights and the wrong time and hurt somebody. Then you’ll be sorry. I do wish you’d chosen something else to give up for Lent”
“It looks like Mrs Paddy is back.”
Walk in and switch on lights
“Other people like electricity”
“Now you sit at your easel like a good girl. And leave the lights alone, okay dear “
“…We thought you were in the front office.”
“For the love of Pete, Fairy, what are you up to ?”
“I was trying to get a book for Jeffrey”
“With a violin bow?”
“…You may take my hand, Hannibal.”
“The next time anyone wants a book from the top, Fairy, call me. Why, the whole shelf might have fallen on you.”
“Oh, who ever heard of anyone being hurt by good books?”
“Enough of them might, darling. And I’d hate that to happen.”
“What is she like, Miss Willie?”
“I haven’t seen her. Now, let’s tidy the room a bit. give bow to Hannibal Fairy, will you put the parcheesi board away please.”
“Competition exhausts me”
go over to Jeff “well, bingo , you tied that one in a hurry.”
“….it’s a pet name my wife uses.”
“I’m sorry….I forgot “kiss Jeff on forehead
“And I wish you wouldn’t single me out to kiss”
“But, you’re the handsomest.”
“…She’d explode”
“She would if I know her”
“….please try to remember “
“I’ll try. Forgive me”
“…-a-ling-a-ling”
“Hello. Yes, Dr. Emmet. Right away. Put the dart up now would you Hannibal. Please don’t clutter the place darlings. Let’s make a good first impression.”
“Will we meet her know?”
“I don’t know”
“…I’ll get hiccups and betray us.”
walk in “Doctor Emmet will join you in a moment.”
“…we’d like to get started back.”
“Yes, senator savage. There are magazines on the table. Please make yourselves at home” go out
“Of course (laughter)
walk in
“Yes, Miss Willie?”
“I beg your pardon, Dr Emmet, but Dr. Johnson won’t be able to complete Mrs Savage’s file for the moment.”
“Why not?”
“He finds her a bit uncooperative”
“Then bring her in here, please”
“Yes, Doctor”
“We’ll have to give her a little more time to get over her resentment”
walks in “Will you come in Mrs Savage”
“If there’s anything you need, Mrs savage - Miss Wilhelmina will take care of you.”
crosses to her “We’ve a lovely garden out there - you’ll be able to see it in the morning. (PAUSE) When I was a child we’d always say thirty needles & thirty pins. You’ve added 20 more Republi-kins.”
“Well, I suppose it has to be exasperating to be funny later.”
“I notice one of its eyes is gone. It must have dropped in the office. I’ll look as soon as they go.”
“You know what it is , don’t you?”
“Suppose you tell me”
“…surely you’ve seen one before?”
“Not that big”
“Do you know what I do with it?”
“I couldn’t possibly guess”
“I sleep with it”
“Do you ?”
“….are you going to talk to me as if I were an imbecile, too?”
“Here, here. We mustn’t be hostile”
“…Would you care to know why I sleep with it”
“If you’d care to tell me”
“…too fastidious to sleep with a cat.”
“Then by all means, you must take it to bed with you here. Would you care to take off your heart.”
“…I might as well”
“It’s a might saucy hat”
“…why economy should be so expensive - I don’t know.”
“It takes imagination”
“…maybe you can use it for something -I’m not at all sure what.”
“Oh, you’d better keep it. You might need it.”
“…hair looks like the matter end if a coconut”
“Oh, I don’t think so. It’s a heavenly colour.”
“…it goes with everything.”
“It’ll certainly go with your room. Wouldn’t you like to go up and get settled?”
“Is it time to lock me up?”
“I wouldn’t dream of locking you up. Did you bring a suitcase?”
“…I wasn’t consulted.”
“I’ll get it and take you up. There’ll be time to explore your surroundings tomorrow. start walking Oh you can wait here.”
“Alone?”
“Of course”
“No handcuffs “
“We have the honour system “ walk out
“Today’s the only certainty”
walk in carrying suitcase “Hannibal , you heard the buzzer, why aren’t you in your room”
“…fight the night. “ goes out
“Did they all come in to meet you ? “
“…no business at their age.”
“I quite agree”
“Do you think I belong here?”
“We’re understaffed, Mrs Savage. I’m kept too busy to have any opinions .”
“I’d like to know what they told you about me.”
“Was there anything to tell?”
“…mention my Memorial Fund?”
“Not to me”
“…my husband’s death affected my reason.”
“That would be understandable.”
“But untrue”
“Why, weren’t you happy with your husband?”
“…do you know what that meant?”
“I think so”
“…and that meant that all the other things I ever wanted had to be forgotten.”
“But surely you had no regrets”
“…I remembered all the foolish things I’d always wanted to do.”
“What had you always wanted to do?”
“Things that would have shocked poor Jonathan .”
“Such as dying your hair blue”
“…I decided to be one.”
“But don’t you think you waited too long, mrs savage?”
“…noticed the difference in my old age.”
“Oh, I’d never think of you as old , Mrs Savage.”
“…and that insane idea has brought me here.”
“Well, you won’t find it too unpleasant here. Shall we go up to your room now?”
“…from my French lessons.”
“What’s that?”
“…that’s dead duck” - I think.”
“Now it’s not that bad.”
