Play About the Baby by Edward Albee

Author:Edward Albee [Albee, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Drama, American, General, DRA000000, DRA001000
ISBN: 9781468307535
Google: UWSqAAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00EOARZ96
Barnesnoble: B00EOARZ96
Goodreads: 19090632
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2004-01-06T05:00:00+00:00

Act Two

(No one on stage; otherwise everything as it was at the end of Act One)

MAN

(Enters, waves a little to audience. To someone) Is this where I was at the end of one—Act One? Right about here? (Takes exact position as of the end of Act One. Generally; out) Yes? Good. (To stragglers) Hurry back in, now; you don’t want to miss the exposition. Well, maybe you do. (Irritated complaint) “Honestly! You’d think they’d have it in the first act!” (Thinks about it) No; you couldn’t possibly. Well, let me tell you: intermissions are never long enough, are they. Did you enjoy yourselves while you were out for your cigarettes, or whatever? (Wrinkles his nose, etc.) Don’t smoke; bad for you. Half a million die of it every year. In this country alone, subsidized murder. Not you, of course—someone you know. So; you had your cigarette, or your drink—not quite so bad, one or two a day good for the old heart, they say. Or your coffee. (Harpy; shrill) KEEP AWAKE! KEEP AWAKE! Or merely … stretching your legs, having a pee. (Annoyed woman imitation) “You’d think they’d build the ladies’ restrooms bigger; after all these years you’d think they’d have noticed the lines! Honestly!” Or maybe just a phone call? Or a talk with friends—or strangers. Whatever. (Shift of tone) I must tell you something here: I have a troubling sense of what should be—rather than what is. It chokes me up at simpleminded movies—where good things happen to good people? My throat clots, and I think I’m going to cry. Because I know it can never happen in what they call “real life”? Good things to good people and happy endings? That it’s all … fantasy? Is that what allows me to believe? To weep in relief? If I saw it really happening—all good things to all good people?—would I turn away in horror? Yes, probably: because it could all … stop, could go away, be a single instant of glory, desperately cruel. We can’t take glory because it shows us the abyss. That is why we cry at movies—because it’s safe to; it’s all so … beautifully false. But I have, as I say, this sense of what should be rather than what is. And I file it away; file it away under “unwanted on the voyage, dangerous cargo,” for I know it does not apply? Because it is an impediment to … what do they say? … to “getting through it all”? (Smiles grimly; demonstrates shuddering) It’s troubling, though, I tell you. As … (gestures) … as in, well … here; now; all this. Troubling, but I’ll get through it. (Snaps fingers) O.K.!! So, where did we leave off? “We’ve come to take the baby.” “I don’t understand.” “What baby?” etc. That was it … casual—more or less—straightforward, but casual. “We’ve come to take the baby.” Remember it? Good. We’ll see if they let us take the baby from them. (In) Where were we all? (Off)

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