Act 1 Scene 3 Flashcards
Roy: “My Dorabella wouldn’t do such a thing-“
“Where’s the coffee?”
Roy: “Props! There. We’re drinking coffee then.”
“But there’s none in there.”
Lewis: “We might pretend for a moment.”
“I can live with illusion as long as I know it’s illusion, but this coffee is not real, is it?”
Lewis: “No, they’re pretending.”
“The audience thinks it’s real coffee?”
Lewis: “If the acting is good enough, yes.”
“An illusion of reality. A real illusion, in other words?”
Roy: “Ruth?”
“Yes?”
Roy: “Shut up. The theatre is no place for metaphysics.”
“It’s about coffee-“
Lewis: “Ruth! We might move on. Until we get real coffee we’ll pretend.”
“All right.”
Lewis: “We’ll do scene two. It’s a garden by the seashore.”
Cherry whines
Lewis: “You’re in a garden by the seashore.”
“An illusion again. Patently, we are in a theatre.”
Lewis: “An illusion, yes. And you’re both gazing at miniatures of your lovers.”
“Miniature what?”
Lewis: “Paintings. Tiny ones.”
“Not real ones?”
Lewis: “We’ll get the real ones later.”
“Another illusion”
sit down
“Do you want me to give an illusionary performance too?
Roy: “Someone strangle her.”
Lewis: “What do you mean?”
“We’re in an illusion of a garden, carrying an illusion of tiny paintings, so should I sit here and pretend I am acting?”
Lewis: “Ruth, just pretend.”
“You’re doing a fine job of messing with my head.”
Julie: “Ruth, it’ll be fine. Let’s act out the words. All right?”
Julie: “Tell me sister, if one could ever find, a sweeter mouth or a more noble face.”
“Look, see what fire-
Now, am I pretending to be looking at the miniature of my lover here?”
Lewis nods grimly
“I just wanted to be certain.
See what fire is in his eyes
This is the face
Of a soldier and a lover.”
Lewis: “You can walk if you like. Like you’re strolling in the garden, staring at the miniatures, talking about them.”
“What if we trip?”
Lewis: “All the rocks are an illusion, so you won’t.”
“Of course.”
stand up
“This is the face
Both charming and dangerous.”
Lewis: “Why aren’t you strolling, Ruth?”
“I was wondering where you wanted me to walk and how many steps?”
Lewis: “Wherever you want to walk and as many steps as you like. Just try to make it natural.”
[smug] “Real?”
Lewis and Roy debate
Roy: “That’s what you want isn’t it Ruth? I’m not trying to teach you to suck eggs, Jerry, but that woman is crying out for direction.”
“How many steps would you like me to take?”
Lewis: “Walk to that step there and count the stops.”
“One two three four five six. Six.”
Lewis: “It’ll be six steps, then.”
“Large or small? Because if it’s small then I could do up to ten, maybe eleven.”
Zac accordion, Mozart chat
Lewis ~people don’t care about overtures~
Roy: “I think his lithium should be upped. You can play the Wagner.”
“I can make it nine, ten or eleven. If I took really big steps I could make it five.”
