Catastrophe Practice (27 page)

Anderson looks at the audience
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Dionysus unscrews his rods. He lays them by the edge of the first-floor level by his flute. Then he goes to the back half of Siva and holds her by the hips. It is as if he is not sure what to do with Siva. He moves her slightly this way and that
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Dionysus leaves Siva. He moves along the central partition towards the back, looking on the ground. He moves the bed to the right; looks on what has been the ground underneath it
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Dionysus feels on the ground at the bottom of the partition at the back He seems to find what he is looking for. It is as if it were a bolt, which he is withdrawing
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Dionysus comes back to Siva and takes her by the hips and tries to move her towards the back, then the front, as if the partition might swivel on a central vertical hinge
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Hortense speaks with her head in her hands —

Dionysus lets go of Siva. He seems to give up. He looks at the audience
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Hortense gets up off the bed and gets behind the screens, left. She seems to be changing her clothes
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On the left side of the partition, the Moor bends down and stares into Siva's eyes
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Dionysus bends down and stares at Siva's behind
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Hortense comes out from behind the screens, left. She has changed back into her shorts and T-shirt. She waits, with her hands on her hips
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Anderson goes and puts his arms round his stove in the lower level. He tries to shift it. The Moor leaves Siva. He moves along the central partition to the front, looking on the ground
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Anderson gives up trying to move his stove. He comes to the front of the structure and looks at the nest
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Anderson looks up at the hook
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The Moor seems to find what he is looking for on the ground at the front of the partition
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He pulls at it, as if it were a bolt. He looks at the audience
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Then he goes back to Siva. He takes her by the hands
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Dionysus takes Siva by the hips again
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This time they manage to swivel her, together with the whole of the central partition — the Moor on the left to the back, Dionysus on the right to the front — so that the partition pivots on a central vertical hinge. Siva's behind comes round towards the audience with Dionysus: her head goes out of sight towards the back with the Moor. As the partition swivels, the wire with the hook on it in front of the first-floor level is drawn up into the flies
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Anderson watches it
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Florence stands. She rests her fingers on the table in front of her — as if at the end of a session. Hortense and Anderson look at the audience. The partition comes to rest against what seems to be the Moor's stove behind it
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The Moor's voice comes from behind the central partition
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Dionysus looks round as if for something to rest Siva's feet on. Then he leaves Siva, with her legs dangling, and moves over into the Moor's room, left
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The Moor appears from behind the partition on the right. He is carrying some books
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Dionysus has gone out of sight behind the partition in the Moor's room, left
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The Moor puts the books under Siva's feet so
that she has somewhere to rest them. Florence speaks standing with her hands on the table
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Dionysus reappears from behind the partition on the right. He is carrying some books, which he puts on the bed against the back wall on the right
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The Moor has stepped back and is looking at Siva's behind
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Florence sits down behind her table again
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Hortense and Anderson sit on the bed. They put their arms round one another. They look at the audience
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Siva's voice comes from behind the partition
—

The Moor leaves Siva and moves to the left
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Dionysus goes round the back of the partition, left, and reappears on the right carrying more books
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The Moor disappears left and takes hold of his stove which is behind the left-hand end of the partition
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The Moor gradually drags his stove clear of the partition on the left. He pulls it to the left side of his room
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Dionysus circles the partition, clockwise, carrying more books from the Moor's room, which he piles on the bed in his own
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Siva's voice comes from behind the partition
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Forence looks at the audience
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The Moor has succeeded in dragging his stove clear of the partition on the left. He stands back Dionysus seems to have carried sufficient books from the left to the right
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The Moor goes and takes hold of the left-hand end of the partition. Dionysus goes and takes hold of the right. They seem to be trying to swivel the partition further, clockwise. It still seems stuck. Dionysus looks up at the ceiling
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Now you see it —

The Moor goes to the front of the stage and looks over
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Siva, from the back of the partition, speaks as if in increasing desperation
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Dionysus and the Moor look at the audience
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They wait
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After a time Hortense and Anderson look up at the ceiling
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Anderson looks at his stove, left
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Dionysus goes and looks up at the grille on the right: then he looks down at the floor underneath it
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The Moor goes to the back wall of his room on the extreme left. He feels on the ground behind some books which are still there
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Siva calls out —

Dionysus bends down in the extreme right-hand back corner of his room and seems to withdraw a bolt that he finds there. He and the Moor go to the ends of the partition again. They try to swivel it. It will not move. They look up to where it seems to be caught against the ceiling
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At the lower level, Anderson goes and takes hold of his stove again. He tries to shift it
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Dionysus and the Moor let go of the partition. Dionysus moves to the front of the first floor and tries to see over
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The Moor watches the audience
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Dionysus and the Moor move about, at each end of the first floor, as if testing it; as if it might be balanced on a central horizontal back-to-front axis. They stamp on the ground, as if they might thus shift it. They also seem to take care to be balancing each other on either side of the horizontal axis. But the floor seems to be prevented from moving on this axis by the angle of the central partition against the ceiling
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Downstairs, Anderson lets go of his stove
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Dionysus and the Moor take hold of the ends of the partition again
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Anderson looks at the audience
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Dionysus and the Moor try to swivel the partition again on its vertical central axis. Anderson goes and takes hold of his stove again
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Anderson seems to shift his stove slightly. Dionysus and the Moor manage this time — as if the top of the central partition were now clear of the ceiling as a result of Anderson's managing to move his stove-pipe underneath their floor — to swivel the partition on round: the Moor towards the back, Dionysus towards the front. Siva's head appears on the right
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