PIESA DE
TEATRU „RÂSUL”, ÎN ENGLEZĂ
12 decembrie
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DESPRE PIESA DE TEATRU ”RÂSUL”, CITITĂ
ÎNTR-UN SPECTACOL LECTURĂ MEMORABIL PE
SCENA TEATRULUI MAJESTIC DIN
BUCUREȘTI DE CĂTRE UN COLECTIV AL
TEATRULUI GIULEȘTI ÎN APRILIE 1981, CRITICUL DE TEATRU VALENTIN SILVESTRU
SPUNEA CĂ ESTE UNA DINTRE CELE MAI MARI
PIESE DE TEATRU ALE
DRAMATURGIEI EUROPENE. ȘI DUPĂ 40 DE ANI
PIESA „RÂSUL” ESTE LA FEL DE ACTUALĂ, LA FEL DE VIE, LA FEL DE MARE. O REDĂM CITITORILOR DIN LUMEA ÎNTREAGĂ ÎNTR-O
EXCELENTĂ TRADUCERE ÎN ENGLEZĂ. LECTURĂ PLĂCUTĂ CU DOMNUL !
RÂSUL, ÎN
ENGLEZĂ
A play in 14 scenes
(translated
into English by Alisa Cregan and Monica Dumitrescu)
Men of
culture about the play LAUGHTER and its author
The play
LAUGHTER was read for the first time in the Dramatic Club of the Writers Union
in the evening on 2nd March 1981 and eulogistic appreciations were given about
it. “The Theatre” magazine (“Teatrul” ), No 4 / 1981 :
DORU MOTOC,
dramatist :” LAUGHTER by Stefan Dumitrescu is one of the most intelligent plays
of the Romanian dramaturgy. Got up on the European stages, this play would work
havok and would be acted with full halls
for ten of years. I am sorry I did not write this play, and this is, I think,
the most beautiful elogy that can be uttered about a literary work”.
TUDOR
GHEORGHE, actor at Craiova National Theatre: “LAUGHTER by Stefan Dumitrescu is
a scream against the terrible and
cancerous race of armament. At least, this is the way I thought it. An
evening before I read LAUGHTER, I had seen
the play “ Who`s afraid of
Virginia Wolf?” by Eduard Albee performed at Pitesti Theatre. Dumitrescu`s play is much better”.
PAUL
TUTUNGIU, editor, The Theatre magazine: “ Stefan Dumitrescu is a dramatist who
seems to be very serious”. ( No 3 / 1981)
TEODOR
MANESCU, dramatist, chief editor of “The Theatre” magazine : “Stefan Dumitrescu
does not write locally, and this is very important. The author of LAUGHTER
writes with an inner freedom that caused envy and admiration. When he writes,
the author does not think of the fact whether “The Theatre “ magazine appoves
him or not. When he writes, Stefan Dumitrescu does not live the mean and low
self- censorship that nullifies the writer and the thinker. Stefan Dumitrescu
will be, I am sure, an important dramatist in the tomorrow`s dramaturgy. This combative and optimist young
man is made to build up colossuses in
theatre”.
MARGARETA
BARBUTA, critic of art : “LAUGHTER is a play rich in meanings. It is a
parable…In this play it is about of a phenomenon called “ ridocerization”. In
the first part of the play, “ridocerization“ goes to a fantastic process. I
think the author`s intention was to combat a certain phenomenon: mimesis. I try
to decode the author`s intentions. The play could have the motto : “ Laugh,
you, laugh, Harap Alb, but…”This “but” is the final catastrophe.. or “
everything that is much is not good “, even the laugh that is a positive
reaction of the human being”. The Theatre magazine, No 3 / 1981
TUDOR
POPESCU, dramatist : This play has a very interesting idea…His trump card seems
to be the idea, it is original and interesting; and who looks for interesting
ideas knows how hard it is to get an idea just like that and exposed as such, it can produce a
shock. Stefan Dumitrescu will be a very interesting dramatist.” The Theatre
magazine, No 3 / 1981
FRANCESCA
PINI, critic of art: “The play LAUGHTER by Stefan Dumitrescu is an event in the
history of the Romanian and universal dramaturgy. Therefore, after 10 years
since the play LAUGHTER was written, my conclusion beyond doubt is that we are
in front of one of the most important masterpieces of the universal literature
in this century, and its publication ,at last, in a Romanian review, after it
was read illigally , in xerex copies, sold with 2000 lei each copy, seems to be
one of the greatest editorial events in the national and universal dramaturgy.
The review “ Political and Literary Dacia”, No 1 / 1990
CEZAR
FORTUNESCU, literary critic : “LAUGHTER” is a masterpiece and many books will
be written about it. I do not know such a play written in the Romanian or
European literature in the last 50 years which contains all the truths of its
epoch, it simply makes you confused, it scares you.” Political and Literary
Dacia”, No ! / 1990
“ I have
read your play “ LAUGHTER” and I consider that it is original, interesting and
amusing! I am at your side. I will help you to break the crust of indifference.
I intend to give it to the “Theatre de poche”, founded by Eugen Ionesco, where
his plays were acted and by virture of which he became member of the French
Academy. I also think to give it to an actor, who is well known in France and
who masters the art of laughing perfectly.
CELESTIN DUCA, 16 July 2000, Paris
“I
understand why for thirty years Teatrul Mic ( the Small Theatre) put the play
LAUGHTER in the drawers. They were scared , of course, by its modern style, and
were worried about the possible hints and comparisons with the present “
LIVIU CIULEI, 20 July 2000
Stefan Dumitrescu
is a chance of Romanian literature. He is a great chance of the Romanian
literature. Review, 17th September 1973
“Poet,
fiction writer, playwright, essay writer, literary critic and historian,
philosopher and political analyst, this man so good, with a face expression of
ever wondering child, is one of the most anxious, burning and sensitive
consciousness of this century. When the Romanian really know Ştefan Dumitrescu
the entire depth and intensity of this work, they will be surprised that a writer
of the same stature as Thomas Mann and Albert Camus was unknown, among them. At the end of this
century Ştefan Dumitrescu is a point of lance thrusted deeply into
universality. I would compare Ştefan Dumitrescu with Mircea Eliade if I didn’t
know (because I know the main part of his work) that Ştefan Dumitrescu looks
like himself.”
Francesca
Pini, university lecturer, literary critic, (4th cover of the book Ancestral
Bed,1993)
“Laughter”
by Stefan Dumitrescu. His vocation to dramatic literature gets the colours of
certainty.
“Laughter”
by Stefan Dumitrescu makes up a lasting opus regarding its structure and the
problems that spur the interest and the expressive literary phrases. His talent
is obvious, as well as his dramatic experience. Intelligent, thorough and
allusive-document and fiction, art of
moral portrait and of struggle intensity-the man and the drama create a
structure which the literary guild has to enlighten.”
Ion
Tobosaru, academician, professor, doctor aesthetician 1984
CAST IN
ORDER OF APPEARANCE
JEAN ALAIN,
a psychiatrist, wears glasses
IVAN
HARASHOV, a hugely fat biologist
SPECTATORS,
seated in various parts of the auditorium
ASSISTANT OF
JEAN ALAIN
SECRETARY OF
JEAN ALAIN
THE MINISTER
OF FINANCE
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
A SECRETARY
LUIS PASTEL,
psychiatrist- elderly, balding, wears glasses
MRS
ROMANENCO, a middle-aged woman
MR
ROMANENCO, her husband
HENRY COMAN,
a teacher
ELISABETA
COMAN, his wife
Their two
sons, university students
JULIU
PISARO, President of the National
Council of Anthropology
CEZAR
VERDI )
EMANUEL
BRUNO ) anthropologists
ELENA
CATINA )
PRIME
MINISTER
MINISTER OF
HEALTH
MINISTER OF
EDUCATION
OTHER
MINISTERS
LI TAI NE, a
prophet of the future-
high forehead, gold spectacles, red
beard
PROFESSOR
HERMAN HERBERT, philosopher, very prestigious
NICOLAS
GAMA, from an ordinary family
MARGRIT
GAMA, his wife
THEIR SON, a
young adolescent
A PATIENT OF
JEAN ALAIN
MRS LI TAI
NE
VOICE ON RADIO
THE ACTION
OF THE PLAY TAKES PLACE IN THE NEAR FUTURE, IN THE STATE OF HUMANA ON THE
ISLAND OF THE SAME NAME.
SCENE 1
THE
CONSULTING ROOM OF THE PSYCHIATRIST JEAN ALAIN. HE IS AT HIS DESK AND WEARS
GLASSES. JEAN ALAIN IS A BOLD MIDDLE-AGED MAN. THE SING OF A NIGHTINGALE IS
HEARD FROM SOMEWHERE IN THE PAR.K. THE BIOLOGIST IVAN HARASHOV ENTERS. THE
SIREN OF A FIREMAN ENGINE IS SOUNDED IN
THE STREET.
JEAN ALAIN :
(RAISING HIS
EYES FROM THE BOOK HE IS CONSULTING) Do come in.
IVAN
HARASHOV :
Good
morning, doctor. That’s all right, is it?
JEAN ALAIN :
Yes, yes,
please.(INVITES HIM TO SIT ON THE CHAIR OPPOSITE)
IVAN
HARASHOV :
(SOMEWHAT
PRECIPITATELY) I’m not here for myself,
doctor. I’m here to beg a consultation on behalf of a friend of mine. Like me
he’s a biologist.( THE TRAGIC SCREAMS OF THE SEAGULLS ARE HEARD OUTSIDE )
Forgive me- I haven’t introduced myself. Ivan Harashov…( HE STANDS UP AND
SHAKES THE DOCTOR`S HAND OVER HIS DESK)
JEAN
ALAIN :
( EXAMINING
HIM ATTENTIVELY) I’m listening, Mr Harashov.
IVAN
HARASHOV
Oh, doctor,
I’ve forgotten to tell you the name of my friend. He’s called Theo Fecuda and
we work together researching the ecology of mountain regions. I know him well.
We were at university together.(SUDDENLY BEGINS TO LAUGH) Ha, ha, ha. He was an
earnest young man, very capable.(INCREASINGLY ANIMATED)In fact I can’t say when
it began. But I think it’s something pathological. (HE LAUGHS SLOWLY) He always
used to laugh, almost from the time he was born. I ask you, is that normal?(HE
BEGINS TO LAUGH) Ha, ha, ha.
JEAN ALAIN
(LOOKING AT
HIM CLOSELY, HE SMILES THEN LAUGHS A
LITTLE.) Ha, ha, ha…
IVAN
HARASHOV
(SUDDENLY
GRAVE) If you’re not too busy…Perhaps you have some serious cases to deal with.
Mine is not serious. I can wait.
JEAN ALAIN
(PUZZLED) No, no ,go on. I’m listening.
Anyway, you’re here…
IVAN
HARASHOV
It was one
evening a few years ago. We’d lit the fire and were chatting away. I was
hearing about the problems of his field of study. I remember I heard this idea
then for the first time, but I believe it had come to him some time earlier.
And at this point, sir, I would like to ask you something: why does man laugh?
JEAN ALAIN
(A LITTLE
SURPRISED) What are you referring to? The interior cause or the object which
provokes laughter?
IVAN HARASHOV
( SHRUGGING HIS SHOULDERS) Why does man laugh?
It is natural to laugh?
JEAN ALAIN
Of course,
it’s perfectly natural. Haven’t you noticed, all men laugh. It’s nothing in the
least serious.
IVAN
HARASHOV
(INSISTENTLY,ALMOST
LAUGHING)But why do they laugh?
JEAN ALAIN
Well, for
different reasons. When someone makes a joke, naturally we laugh. If we see
something incongruous, in contrast to what we expect, we laugh.
IVAN
HARASHOV
(
POINTING WITH HIS FOREFINGER)You’ve used
the word “contrast” ( EMPHATICALLY) and I believe this is the cause.
JEAN ALAIN
Or a certain
mechanical schematisation, reminiscent of Chaplin, of his gestures, of his
behaviour.
IVAN
HARASHOV
You’ve
affirmed the contrast.
JEAN ALAIN
Yes,
contrast provokes laughter.
IVAN
HARASHOV
My friend would agree. Between ourselves and
the animals there is a huge contrast.(SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY BELLOWING OF BUFFALOS
OR HIPOPOTAMUSES FLOCKS SEEM TO BE
HEARD) This contrast makes him laugh. So he has begun to laugh a great deal.
When he sees a snake, or come to that any animal, he starts laughing. He bursts
into fits of laughter. He laughs round the clock. He laughs till his stomach
aches. He laughs till the tears roll down his cheeks. ( HE IS LAUGHING
IMITATING HIS FRIEND) Ha, ha, ha. To begin with, his wife and I were almost
frightened, certainly amazed, watching the way he laughed. Then he explained
why and we began to laugh as well. Just a little at first, then so we couldn’t
stop.( HE LAUGHS HEARTILY) Ha, ha, ha !
JEAN ALAIN
Right. I’m
listening.
IVAN
HARASHOV
(HE IS STILL
LAUGHING)
To begin with,
it was fun. The first months, the first year. When he laughed, we started
laughing too. It made for general good humour. If we were in a bigger group and
work wasn’t going well, it immediately changed the atmosphere. He laughed fit
to burst when he saw a bird flying overhead and shot it in the eye, so it
plummeted to the ground. Ha, ha, ha.
JEAN ALAIN
(FOLLOWING ATTENTIVELY. MORE AND MORE WORRIED) Go on.
IVAN
HARASHOV
When the
bird fell, he stopped laughing. (HE
IMITATES HIS FRIEND) He became bery serious. That amazed me. But I
noticed that his wife would go and stand beside the bird or animal that had
fallen and begin to laugh even harder.( MIMING) She would stay the whole day
beside it, in fits of laughter, holding her hands to her stomach. Her husband
would go off leaving her laughing away.
JEAN ALAIN
(INCREASINGLY
AMAZED) Go on. It’s very interesting what you are saying. It nearly makes me
laugh, too. Ha, ha, ha! It is very curious. Ha, ha, ha!
IVAN
HARASHOV
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha! That’s it, isn’t it. To begin with, I couldn’t believe my eyes either.
( MIMING) I rubbed them to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I looked at her
standing beside the animal, laughing.She blushed as a red beet. The first time,
I thought she’d gone mad. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Nothing of the kind! She was
perfectly normal. ( LITTLE BY LITTLE HE BECOMES SAD. AN ACCORDION IS SOUND AS
IF IT COMES FROM BEYOND THE WORLD) Then I got used to her and began to laugh
myself. We two were the ones who laughed the most. Within a year I’d put on
twenty kilograms now, after four years, just look at me.
JEAN ALAIN
(SMILING
FALSELY)
That’s due
to your good humour.
IVAN
HARASHOV
Wait, you’ll
understand. Now is now. Ha, ha, ha. You’ll be in stitches, ha, ha, ha…I asked
them why they were laughing.(HE HOLDS HIS HANDS TO HIS STOMACH. TEARS RUN DOWN
HIS CHEEKS AS HE LAUGHS). One day I
asked her why she was laughing.
JEAN ALAIN
(STILL
LOOKING AT HIM CLOSELY, A LITTLE IMPATIENT) Continue, please.
IVAN
HARASHOV
This is what
Fecuda said. Animal species are inferior to us. Only man is above them. He says
whenever he saw an animal he laughs simply because of its lower level of
development. Because they are so stupid. An animal makes me laugh because it is non-evolved. That`s why we have to
laugh at it. To stop himself laughing, he kills it. The moment it’s dead, it’s
no longer an animal. Ha,ha,ha.(HE LAUGHS A LONG TIME,THEN GATHERS HIMSELF)
Listen, it’s no longer an animal ,is it? Because it`s dead!
(A SPECTATOR
AT THE BACK OF THE AUDITORIUM LAUGHS) Ha, ha, ha ! It` s so strange!
JEAN ALAIN
(NOTING DOWN
SOMETHING) Ok, but what is it?
IVAN HARASHOV
Ha,ha,ha!…He
says that the moment the animal is no longer an animal it becomes matter. Ha.
Ha, ha… When I heard that, I crossed myself.
( HE BURSTS OUT LAUGHING ) Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha !
(A COUPLE OF
SPECTATORS LAUGH IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE AUDITORIUM.) Ha. Ha., ha, ha ha !
JEAN ALAIN
:
( WATCHES
IVAN HARASHOV WITH AMAZEMENT, NOT TO SAY FEAR.) I can`t understand…
IVAN HARASHOV
The moment
the animal is matter, it becomes All. Man no longer has the right to laugh at
it. That’s when he should cross himself. Because now it is greater than the
man, it is above the man Ha, ha, ha.(HOLDING HIS HANDS TO HIS STOMACH HE FALLS
ON TO THE DESK) Ha. Ha, ha, ha !
JEAN ALAIN
(AFTER SOME
TIME ,WATCHING HIM WITH COMPASSION BUT ALSO INTEREST)Mr Harashov, do calm
down.(GIVES HIM A GLASS OF WATER,WHICH HE DRINKS)Please try to stop laughing,
so you can tell me everything. As many details as you can.
IVAN
HARASHOV
Hee, hee,
hee(HANDS TO STOMACH). Right, doctor, I’ll do my best. But how can one not
laugh when you see him cross himself in front of a dead animal as if it were a
holy and a beautiful icon, while his wife is rolling about on the ground, faint
with laughter. Once he had to pour water over her to bring her to her senses.
Ha, ha, ha.
(A FEW
SPECTATORS LAUGH HEARTILY IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE AUDITORIUM).
JEAN ALAIN
(VERY
SERIOUS)But his wife, why did she laugh, Mr Harashov?
IVAN
HARASHOV
(PULLING
HIMSELF TOGETHER BETWEEN BURSTS OF LAUGHTER) What his wife told me, ha, ha, ha,
she told me he first gave her the idea. You laugh at animals because the
species is inferior. Man’s ability to laugh makes him superior because no other
species laughs. He shows his superiority by laughing. Ha, ha, ha, hee,
hee(LEANING ON THE DESK WITH LAUGHTER)
(SEVERAL
SPECTATORS LAUGH, INFECTING SOME MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE. Some others look
indignantly to them)
IVAN
HARASHOV
( Trying to
keep his temper) Hee, hee, hee …
To date, her
husband hasn’t commented, but she believes that when the animal dies it
declines millions of years further on the evolutionary scale, so you should
scorn it still more. So she goes on laughing till she can’t stop. Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha.
JEAN ALAIN
(WRITING
impatiently) Try to pull yourself together, sir. Tell me now, is there anything
else strange? Anything else unnatural about them?
IVAN
HARASHOV
Hee, hee,
hee(PULLING HIMSELF TOGETHER)Let me think. When they were beside the animal and
he was solemn and frowning and she was beside herself with laughing, that was
the funniest moment. I couldn’t stop either. Ha, ha, ha, ha. His wife and I
were rolling about, but he stamped off with range.
This sort of
thing lasted a year, a year and a half, and they didn’t split up. Now they
don’t get on. He goes around alone and wants nothing more to do with her. He
sees animals and bursts out laughing, then he shoots or kills them and stops
looking at them frowning. He’s always going off on his own. I’m left with his
wife. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, we, both of us laugh while we’re looking for him. I
soon have realised-especially if other people follow his footsteps-it won’t be
long before all the animals on our island are killed. I’ve tried persuade
people to stop, but it’s hopeless.
JEAN ALAIN
(TRYING TO
BREAK IN) Mr Harashov…
IVAN
HAR5ASHOV
Hang on.
Listen. Ha, ha, ha, ha! You see it`s no question of work.. In the end, we
biologists have a duty to preserve the ecological balance or in a couple of
years’ time it won’t just be a matter of laughing and shooting animals. That`s
our entertainment. I tell you, I’m here because they’re endangering the country’s
ecological system. We’ve got to stop them. What can we do about my friends?
He’s gone off to the ecological research station up in the mountains and now
he’s managing to convince the biologists there to shoot the animals and laugh
at them. And all of them die with laughter… Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
ha! That’s why I’ve come.
(SEVERAL
SPECTATORS LAUGH) Ha, ha, ha, ha!
JEAN ALAIN
What do you
say your friends are called?
IVAN
HARASHOV
(UNABLE TO
STOP LAUGHING) Hee, hee, hee! Tao Fecuda
and his wife. Ha, ha ,ha, ha.
JEAN ALAI N
(WRITING)
How many biologists are there at the research station?
IVAN
HARASHOV
(STOPPING
LAUGHING) Ten, all men.
JEAN ALAIN
(RINGS FOR
HIS ASSISTANT WHO ENTERS) Mr Harashov, please go into the next room with my
asistant. I`ll examine you.(IVAN HARASHOV EXITS WHILE JEAN ALAIN SPEAKS TO HIS
ASSISTANT) Put the gentleman through a few tests. Start with memory and
attention. If the results are abnormal, we’ll get him to hospital. And send in
my secretary.(THE ASSISTANT EXITS AFTER IVAN HARASHOV AND THE SECRETARY ENTERS.
JEAN ALAIN CONTINUES.) Would you telephone the Ministry for Afforestation. Find
out what the ecological biologists are doing at the mountain research station.
Tell them we have evidence of collusion in the massacre of animals. If it’s
confirmed, I’d like the Fecuda couple be investigated.
SECRETARY
( Turning
back int the office)Yes, sir.
JEAN ALAIN
(ANXIOUSLY
he bite his lower lip) And another thing. Don’t let the Fecudas know they are going to a psychiatric
hospital.
SECRETARY
I
understand, doctor. ( she gets out)
JEAN
ALAIN
(STRIDES AROUND THE ROOM THINKING.
He lights a cigarete.) Bother it! (THE ASSISTANT ENTERS)
ASSISTANT
(HANDING
OVER PAPERS) The results are normal, doctor. Psychic function is totally
normal. ( For a moment both of them are looking full in the face ) What should
we do? Let him go?
JEAN ALAIN
(CHECKING
THE RESULTS) Let him go. But first get hold of his address and the phone number
of the Research Station. Better still, ask him to pop in in a week’s time. The
case is interesting. Very strange.
SCENE
II
A week
later.THE OFFICE OF THE MINISTER OF Finance. HE SITS AT HIS DESK, IMMERSED IN
PAPERS. HIS DEPUTY Stefan Desay APPEARS
AT THE DOOR., CARRING MORE PAPERS.
DEPUTY MINISTER OF
FINANCE
Am I
disturbing you, minister?
MINISTER OF FINANCE
( The
background noise of the town gets into the room. From time to time the horns
are heard.) No, no, not at all, my dear man. In fact I was waiting for you.
You’ve brought the financial report on the last quarter ? How do we stand?
DEPUTY MINISTER OF
FINANCE
(SITTING
DOWN in an armchair) It is fine, minister. We’ve improved on our calculations.
(PLACING HIS PAPERS ON THE DESK ) You won’t believe your eyes.
MINISTER OF FINANCE
(Running
through THE PAPERS amazingly) Ah, well,
well…(A PAUSE, WHILE HE EXAMINES THEM ) But it’s impossible. Would you check
again? There must be a fault on the computer, or the figures are false. It’s
impossible…
DEPUTY MINISTER OF
FINANCE
(Smiling
meaningfully )Not so, minister. I’ve checked everything. When I first saw the
figures I couldn’t believe them either. Then I checked them at source. Not a
single mistake. And the figures for the larger enterprises are completely
impartial.
MINISTER OF FINANCE
(RAISING HIS
EYES, RADIATING SATISFACTION.)Then all is well. Tomorrow, when we make our
report to the Prime Minister, we will be congratulated .(RUBS HIS HANDS WITH
SATISFACTION,
THEN PAUSES)
But still, we should recheck the figures. Bring in the system for overall
control.
DEPUTY MINISTER OF
FINANCE
It is no
use. I’ve done already. Three times I’ve checked everything with the greatest
care.(LAUGHING) I tell you, we’d be better considering how to celebrate and how we can publicise what we’ve achieved.
Ha, ha, ha!
MINISTER OF FINANCE
(HIS GOOD
HUMOUR INCREASING ALL THE TIME. HE RINGS A BELL.)Don’t let’s get excited too
soon. Let’s take every precaution we can before blowing our trumpet.
(A SECRETARY
ENTERS WITH A BOTTLE OF COGNAC AND TWO GLASSES ON A TRY)
DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE
I’ve already
taken all possible precautions, minister. We are invulnerable.
(THE
SECRETARY EXITS ,CLOSING THE DOOR)
MINISTER OF FINANCE
I wish you
joy of it!.(PAUSE)But, my dear chap, can you explain how production can
possibly be double what we envisaged? Have you done something special?
Introduced a new factor into the economy?
I still
can’t believe it.
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
(LAUGHING)
Ha, ha, ha ! Nor can I, minister. During the period in question, there have
been only five modifications benefiting the technological process. Very few in
fact .Even so, production has doubled.
MINISTER OF
FINANCE
(BECOMING
SERIOUS)
But can you
explain it?
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
Believe me,
I haven’t found a valid explanation. In practical terms, I can’t find any
precise cause.
MINISTER OF FINANCE
(BECOMING
IMPATIENT)Then what can we do? Let’s hope there’s been no mistake. It is somebody playing games with us?
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
Minister, I
repeat: everything is for real.
MINISTER OF
FINANCE
(LOOKING
OVER THE REPORT AGAIN) I see the signatures are genuine. The documents are
signed by the chiefs of departments.Just talk me through it. We must be fully
prepared, old chap.(REREADS THE DOCUMENTS STILL MORE CAREFULLY)
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
How can I
explain, minister? If you remember, in the previous quarter we exceeded the
production anticipated by one and a half times and we weren’t surprised. Now
we’ve exceeded in twice over.(LAUGHTER IS HEARD FROM A NEIGHBOURING OFFICE AND
THEN IN OTHER MORE DISTANT OFFICES. BOTH MEN ARE PLEASED WITH THE REPORT)Why
should we be surprised? It’s great! It means that we’ve got an efficient and
healthy economy and the standard of living will rise, as will exports.
MINISTER OF
FINANCE
Then we have
to find the cause, don’t we? It must be
an explanation. So we can stimulate growth in production and even greater
efficiency. Draw me up plans for a commission to study the causes of growth in
production.(MORE LAUGHTER IS HEARD)
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
( Becoming
serious)
This very
day I’ll sort it out, minister…And may I elaborate on my personal point of
view? The problem has interested me right from the first quarter of the year.
I’ll tell you what I heard from the directors of these various enterprises at
our meeting a couple of months ago. I asked them what measures they had taken
to increase production by 1.5 times. Ha, ha ,ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, you won’t believe the answer. One director
said: ”Sir, I’ve done nothing. I have simply been aware of good humour within the
workforce. You’ll hardly credit how my factory workers no longer go around with
frowns on their faces, heads down. They smile, they laugh, there’s good humour
everywhere and I’ve given instructions that it should be encouraged.”
MINISTER OF FINANCE
(RAISING HIS
EYES FROM THE DOCUMENTS) And do you
believe him ?…Hmm (LAUGHTER IS HEARD FROM THE STREET OUTSIDE)
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
Completely.(HE
LAUGHS BRIEFLY) Ha, ha, ha…
MINISTER OF
FINANCE
( biting his
lips ) Hm, perhaps. Perhaps good humour leads to an increase in man’s capacity
to give of his best… It’s natural . But to double production, dear boy, that’s
right over the top.
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
Ha, ha, ha!
Nevertheless, that’s the way it is, minister.I wish you every success! This
quarter, production will triple. I give
you my word. Ha, ha, ha, ha!
MINISTER OF
FINANCE
(LAUGHING
TOO) Well so be it! Cheers!(AFTER A PAUSE) If that’s the way it is, that’s
splendid. Do you think if we double investment production will double?
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
(LAUGHING)
I’m convinced of it, quite convinced of it, minister.
MINISTER OF
FINANCE
(RUBBING HIS
HANDS) Well, old chap, if that’s so, it’s excellent. Instruct the directors of
all commercial enterprises to cultivate laughter. Ha, ha, ha, ha So much
economy I studied, so many hey factors I tried to discover and manipulate ! But
I never thought it would come to this. Just think of it: laughter. Laughter! You
simply laugh! Ha, ha, ha, ha.
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha! That`s he way it is! Triple this
quarter, minister, you’ll see. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
MINISTER OF
FINANCE
(REASONING
IT OUT) If we go on like this in this quarter, and then in the final quarter,
that means we’ll have the best economy in the country’s history. Production
this year will be equivalent to the past five years. It’s brilliant! (RUBBING HIS
HANDS)
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
Ha, ha, ha!
That I promise you, minister. This quarter production will triple and in the
fourth quarter it will increase four times over.
MINISTER OF
FINANCE
(DELIGHTED)
It would be wonderful. The best of health to you! Today has brought me great
joy.
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
Ha, ha, ha!
Think how happy we are just the two of us.. But when the time comes, millions
of people in the country will be celebrating.
MINISTER OF
FINANCE
(GETTING TO
HIS FEET) You’re quite right. First let’s think of the man in the street. It
means that this year his standard of living will increase several times over.
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
That’s
right.
MINISTER OF
FINANCE
(LAUGHING)
Then we might get a medal each. (HE RAISES HIS EYEBROWS. THEY BOTH LAUGH WITH
SATISFACTION. LAUGHTER IS HEARD AGAIN FROM OUTSIDE THE OFFICE. THE MINISTER OF
FNANCE REFILLS THEIR GLASSES AND CONTINUES) Then once again, my dear fellow,
your good health! You don’t mind if I check it all out personally? (LAUGHING,
HE ESCORTS HIS DEPUTY TO THE DOOR.)
DEPUTY
MINISTER OF FINANCE
I tell you,
it’s just not possible there’s a mistake.(GOES OUT)
MINISTER OF FINANCE
(RADIATING
HAPPINESS) Gracious me! I never imagined such a thing. It means this will be my
best year. If I concentrate on this I can write a book. A new economic theory.
(ANNOYNGLY,
SEVERAL SPECTATORS LAUGH)
SCENE III
A week
later. THE CONSULTING ROOM OF DR LUIS PASTEL. The PSYCHIATRIST is an bald old man. He is
wearing glasses . DR PASTEL IS WALKING ROUND THE ROOM, HANDS BEHIND HIS BACK,
WAITING FOR THE FIRST PACIENT. Mrs Romanenco, a middleaged lady, ENTERS.
MRS ROMANENCO
Good
morning, Dr Pastel. May I come in?
DR PASTEL
Yes, yes,
certainly, Mrs – er
MRS
ROMANENCO
Romanenco
DR PASTEL
Mrs
Romanenco, do come in.(HE INVITES HER TO SIT DOWN ON THE ARMCHAIR IN FRONT OF
HIS DESK, BUT SHE TAKES A SEAT ON THE UPRIGHT CHAIR BEHIND IT. HE OPENS HIS
NOTEBOOK)
MRS
ROMANENCO
(VERY
AGITATED) I beg your support in a very delicate matter. It concerns my husband,
who’s a civil servant. Two years ago he read some book and every two weeks or
so he goes crazy talking about it. He goes on and on and on. He’s obsessed with
it. In fact, doctor, my husband has changed completely. Slowly at first.(The
siren of an ambulance is getting nearer. It is heard tragically, more and more
loudly). He went through a silent period. He seemed to be thinking about it,
not entering into discussions, as if he’d become something else. He was more
reserved, wiser, sizing things up from above- I was obviously pleased with
him.Then, from this position of superiority, he began to employ a sort of irony
in the way he addressed other people. Nothing out of the ordinary at that
point.(The ambulance is heard more and more slowlz and remotely) Then after
this initial period he was making fun of people, one after another. Lots of his
friends deserted him. But he didn’t mind, he was actually happy about it. He
began to laugh at them. This one was like this, that one was like that, someone
else did such -and-such.
At first he laughed naturally and calmed
down the afterwards. Then he began to laugh more and more. I used to laugh with
him, especially since he was having fun. But there came a point when this
laughing became intolerable. Then I realised it was too late. He was laughing
at everybody…
No one would speak to him any more.
Whether he was walking down the street or looking out of the window, he was in
fits of laughter. To begin with he got fat. Laughing makes you fat. Then he
began to lose weight because he couldn’t eat for laughing. Just looking at
somebody would make him laugh and he’d laugh fit to burst. Tears ran down his
cheeks. He couldn’t breathe, but he couldn’t stop.( Meanwhile laughter is heard
outside on the street outside, then, remotely, the noise of a flock of bisons).
DR PASTEL
(LOOKING
INTENTLY AT HER) Don’t worry, Mrs Romanenco. Two weeks ago, a colleague of
mine, Dr Jean Alain – you may have heard of him – came to certain important
conclusions in his psychiatric work. A former pupil of mine. He is famous
now. – yes, he had come across a similar
case. A whole series of tests were carried out on the man and the results were
completely normal. So don’t worry.
MRS
ROMANENCO
(STILL
ANXIOUS, SPEAKING IN A RUSH) But doctor, I can’t live like this. Imagine a
laughing machine. When he walks down the street, he’s in stitches. People look
at him as if he’s from another planet. People laugh at him, of course ( almost
screaming). I can’t send him out to do shopping, he can’t go anywhere. He’s
stuck in the house. I’ve blocked up the window facing the road so he can’t see
people. I’ve locked the door so he can’t get out. So he doesn’t get hurt,
doctor. I’ve had to shut him in, turn him into a prisoner! ( shaking and
becoming short of breath)
DR PASTEL
(WALKING
ABOUT GRAVELY,HANDS BEHIND HIS BACK)Yes, Mrs Romaneco, it’s hard, it certainly
is. Laughing in itself isn’t serious, but the particular implications it has
for you, or other people, and these measures you should put in place.
(SEVERAL SPECTATORS LAUGH ,INFECTING OTHERS IN
THE AUDIENCE)
It’s not
laughter that has made your husband a prisoner, it’s you yourself and people in
general. That’s why it’s serious.(FROM THE STREET, LAUGHTER IS HEARD.)
MRS ROMANENCO
(IMPLORINGLY)
Then, doctor, please tell me what to do. I’m afraid. I’m desperate. Could you
see him?.
DR PASTEL
I’d like to
see your husband. And talk to him. I’m sure we’re making mistakes about these
people. Dr Alain – he hasn’t done anything about the biologist who laughs
either. The main thing is not to look as if we regard them as sick. That’s the
very thing that will make them ill. We mustn’t appear to keep them under
observation and should pay no attention to what they are doing. Right now I’d
like you to take me to your husband and so I can talk to him. I wouldn’t want
him to come in to my consulting room.(Laughter is heard from outside)
MRS
ROMANENCO
(SHE HAS
BEEN FOLLOWING THE DOCTOR, WHO IS WALKING AGITATELY ROUND THE ROOM) .But I’ve
brought him with me, doctor. He’s outside.
DR PASTEL
What? You’ve
brought him to my rooms?
MRS
ROMANENCO
Yes. Don’t
worry .He doesn’t know why I’ve brought him .I told him I had to go to the
doctor’s and I asked him to come with me.
DR PASTEL
(MOVING BEHIND HIS DEsk) Right ,call him in.
(MRS ROMANENCO GETS UP AND GOES TO THE DOOR.
FROM OUTSIDE GALES OF LAUGHTER CAN BE HEARD. FOR A MOMENT SHE STANDS QUITE
MOTIONLESS,THEN CALLS HER HUSBAND IN. A
FAT MAN DOUBLED UP WITH LAUGHTER COMES
IN. THE WOMAN SHUT THE DOOR. SHE IS OVERCOME WITH EMOTIONS.)
MR
ROMANENCO
Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!(HE
IS DOUBLED UP WITH LAUGHTER) Look! Ha, ha, ha, ha, haha!Just
look!Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,!
(A COUPLE OF
SPECATORS LAUGH AT THE SIGHT OF MR ROMANENCO)
DR PASTEL
(FRIGHTENED
OF HIM) Mr – er ,Mr – er…
MRS
ROMANENCO
Romanenco
DR PASTEL
(CLAPPING
HIM ON THE SHOULDER) Mr Romanenco, please pull yourself together so we can
talk.
MR
ROMANENCO
(UNABLE TO
STOP LAUGHING) Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!
(SEVERAL
SPECTATORS LAUGH – Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!)
SCENE IV
IN DR
PASTEL’S CONSULTING ROOM, DR PASTEL IS GETTING READY TO INTERVIEW MR ROMANENCO,
WHO IS LAUGHING IN A BIZARRE WAY AND CAN`T MASTER HIMSELF. THEY ARE TALKING
TOGETHER, THOUGH WE CAN’T HEAR WHAT THEY ARE SAYING , THEY SEEM NOT TO
UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER. SOMETIMES THE DOCTOR SEEMED PUZZLED, SOMETIMES HE
LAUGHS. MRS ROMANENCO WATCHES, SOMETIMES LAUGHING TOO.
LAUGHTER CAN
BE HEARD ON THE STREETS, A ROLLING TIDE WHICH CONTINUALLY INCREASES IN VOLUME.
THROUGH THE WINDOWS AND THE OPEN DOOR WE SEE A DEMONSTRATION WITH NOISE,
SHOUTING, LAUGHTER. SOME PEOPLE CARRY PLACARDS, ONE HAS A NOTICE ON HIS CHEST.
A FLAG DEPICTS AN UNEARTHLY FACE, DISORTED AND LAUGHING.
SEVERAL
SPECTATORS IN THE AUDIENCE BEGIN TO LAUGH.
MR ROMANENCO
AND HIS WIFE DIE WITH LAUGHTER. DR. PASTEL LAUGHS TOO.
MR
ROMANENCO, IN THE MIDST OF HIS LAUGHTER, POINTS AT DR PASTEL, WHO IS AGHAST AT
WHAT IS GOING ON BUT ALSO LAUGHING, HIS FACE CONTORTED.
MASKED
DEMONSTRATORS WEARING CLOWN CLOTHES AND CARRYING A PLACARD OF A LAUGHING
DEATH’S – HAD BURST INTO THE CONSULTING ROOM. THEY JUMP AND SHOUT WILDLY, GRAB THE DOCTOR AND HURL HIM TO THE
GROUND. THEY TAKE MR AND MRS ROMANENCO IN THEIR ARMS AND THROW THEM UP IN THE AIR. MRS ROMANENCO
IS CARRIED PIGGY-BACK AROUND THE CONSULTING ROOM. THERE IS SHOUTING AND
ARGUMENT AND EVERYWHERE LAUGHTER – LIKE AN APOCALYTIC CARNIVAL. THEY SHOUT AND
SCAN : LONG LIVE LAUGHTER, WHO DOES NOT LAUGH IS OUR ENEMY!
THE
DEMONSTRATION PASSES AND THE SOUND OF LAUGHTER GROWS FAINTER MR AND MRS ROMANENCO ARE CARRIED OFF. ALL IS QUIET.
THE DOCTOR BEGINS TO PICK HIMSELF UP FROM THE GROUND.
DR PASTEL
(WIPING HIS
EYES. TRYING TO WORK THINGS OUT) God! What was that? Has everybody gone mad?
Phew!
(HE WALKS
UNSTEADILY AROUND THE ROOM, STILL IN DISARRAY, THEN BEGINS TO LAUGH. SEVERAL
SPECTATORS LAUGH, SETTING OFF OTHER MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE.)
DR PASTEL
Not bad at
all… A superb spectacle. No one would imagine… I think I’ll join them..
Ha,ha,ha,ha… ( HE GOES OUT, HEADING TOWARDS THE DEMONSTRATION.)
SCENE V
A WELL –
FURNISHED, BOOK-LINED APARTAMENT, CLEARLY BELONGING TO A PERSON OF CULTURE.
HENRY COMAN, ELISABETH COMAN AND THEIR TWO SONS, SDTUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY, ARE
WATCHING TELEVISION, WAITING FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT. OUTSIDE ON THE STREET, CROWDS
CAN BE HEARD LAUGHING.
HENRY COMAN
I’d never
have believed it.
ELISABETH
COMAN
Look, I’ve
heard myself. Teacher Henry Coman has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Ha,ha,ha,ha!
HENRY COMAN
That’s just
it. I can’t believe it. (HE IS OBVIOUSLY EXCITED) I simply work as a teacher.
FIRST SON
Up to now,
not a single teacher has won the Nobel Prize.
SECOND SON
But if his
work is very important, and introduces a new concept, true humanity in
education, if it promotes education for spiritual peace and understanding, I
think it might well be recognised with the prize. Ha, ha, ha.
HENRY COMAN
What time
was the announcement, Elizabeth?
ELISABETH COMAN
On the six
o’clock news. I was just dusting the books when I heard the news summary. I
couldn’t believe it either to begin with. Then I heard it for certain with my
own ears. Ha,ha,ha,ha.
HENRY COMAN
Think back.
Perhaps you imagined it.
ELISABETH
COMAN
No, my love,
I heard it for sure.
FIRST SON
Even so I
don’t believe it.
SECOND SON
But you are
an idiot. You haven’t even read Dad’s work and you tell us what you think of
it. (TO HIS FATHER) Dad, maybe it’s a revolution in teaching. It introduces the
concept of real humanity in education. It’s a daring work, the most human and
the most efficient. In our schools your ideas were introduced ages ago, but now
they’ll spread to schools around the world. (A COUPLE OF SPECTATORS LAUGH) And your ideas have begun to bear
fruit.
FIRST SON
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, you make me laugh.
ELISABETH
COMAN
Be quiet and
don’t interfere. Only five more minutes till the news. They’ll have to announce
it.
(ON THE
STREETS, BIZARRE AND THREATENING LAUGHTER IS HEARD AS WELL AS REMOTE BELLOWINGS OF FLOCKS )
SECOND SON
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, the most daring work, the most important… Look, from the start I’ve said
that Dad is a great dreamer of dreams. Hee, hee, hee.
HENRY COMAN
(SMILING
ANGRILY) Be quiet, all of you, and don’t argue.
SECOND SON
OK, but it
won’t stop your work being the best. Just opposite.
FIRST SON
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha. A work which says that man learns best through laughter. That he adapts
best to his environment by laughing. That he develops best by laughing, in an
environment where people laugh. Do you really think it is a revolutionary
outlook in teaching? Good God, don’t make me laugh. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
SECOND SON
You are just
showing off. You know Dad likes debate and laughter. You’d best listen to me,
ha,ha, ha, ha, ha, ha..
HENRY COMAN
(LOOKING AT
HIM) Look who’s laughing! (LAUGHING AT HIM. IN A GOOD HUMOUR, ESPECIALLY SINCE
HE IS SURE OF THE NOBEL PRIZE. HE JUST WANTS TO HEAR IT WITH HIS OWN EARS) Look
at them, Elisabeth, they’re like children.
FIRST SON
Teaching
through laughter. You’d think you were at the circus. Hee, hee, hee, hee.
SECOND SON
Remember you
benefited from this teaching, too. Look at your results…Both of us know them…
Total efficiency.
FIRST SON
Ha,ha,ha,ha,
you make me laugh. Teaching which makes you laugh. Why go to the circus or to
the theatre? You’re always cheerful in any case.
SECOND SON
Yes, but
this cheerfulness, it’s a fund of good humour which lets you assimilate more
information. So you learn more efficiently. Psychic capacity of the human being
increases.
ELISABETH
COMAN
(LAUGHING A LITTLE) Then, my boy, think about the effect it’s had on
society. People are happier, better humoured, families are living more
harmoniously together, crime has dropped, economic efficiency has risen.
FIRST SON
Ha, ha, ha,
so people can laugh even more.
HENRY COMAN
(LAUGHING
TOO) But that’s exactly what I’ve suggested. To teach people laughing.(THE TIME
IS ANNOUNCED ON TELEVISION)
ELISABETH
COMAN
Now, be
quiet children, let’s listen.
(THEY ARE
QUIET, ONE OF THE SONS IS OVERCOME WITH LAUGHTER AND HENRY COMAN STARTS LAUGHING TOO. THE NEWS BEGINS.)
SECOND SON
Sh…..(OUTSIDE,
LAUGHTER CAN BE HEARD EVERYWHERE)
TELEVISION
ANNOUNCER
The CTK news
agency had announced that the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is the well-known
teacher Henry Coman. Henry Coman is
the author of a new educational concept,
whose efficiency has proved superior to other educational systems. In the
future it will lead to a change of atmosphere in lecture halls and to the
training of people who will be more open, freer, healthier, and indeed happier.
(ALL KISS
AND HUG HENRY COMAN.A FEW SPECTATORS LAUGH)
ELISABETH
COMAN
(HUGGING HER
HUSBAND) Congratulations, darling! I’m so happy! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
FIRST AND
SECOND SONS
(HUGGING
HIM) Well done, Dad, well done!
(WHEN HIS
EUPHORIA PASSES, HENRY COMAN
DETACHES HIMSELF AND BURSTS OUT
LAUGHING)
HENRY COMAN
I’ve won the
Nobel Prize.Ha,ha, ha, ha.And just think,it never crossed my
mind.ha,ha,ha.(PULLING HIMSELF TOGETHER) I’ve worked on this for twenty years,
but I’ve been afraid to write about it, ha, ha, ha. I’ve been afraid that
people would laugh at me. Ha, ha ,ha, and now I’ve won the Nobel Prize, ha, ha,
ha.
(FIRST AND
SECOND SONS LAUGH HEARTILY,THEIR HANDS
TO THEIR STOMACHS)
FIRST SON
The
important thing is that we’ve won the Nobel Prize. Nothing else matters, ha,
ha, ha.
SECOND SON
The Nobel
Prize in our house! Not even God would have dared enter, but now, lo and
behold, the Nobel Prize, ha, ha, ha.
ELISABETH
COMAN
Ha, ha, ha,
let’s laugh in the spirit of Henry Coman`s pedagogy, the teaching spirit, ha,
ha.(EMBRACING HENRY) I’m laughing and I love you, my darling.
HENRY COMAN
(LAUGHING
UPROARIOUSLY) Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
A FEW
SPECTATORS
( Stand up
and laugh pointing to the scene )Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha !
FIRST SON
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha . But you see, we’ll laugh even more when everybody’s laughing during
their teaching through laughter. Ha, ha, ha, ha.
SCENE VI
SIX MONTHS LATER. A MEETING OF MEMBERS OF THE
COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY-PROFESSORS, VASTLY LEARNED.
SRANGE,
GROTESQUE AND ROARING LAUGHTER IS HEARD
FROM THE STREETS.
PRESENT ARE
JULIU PISARO (PRESIDENT),CEZAR VERDI,EMANUEL BRUNO AND ELENA CATINA.
ON THE
STREET, GALES OF BIZARRE LAUGHTER CAN BE HEARD.
JULIU
PISARO
The subject
of this meeting of the National Council of Anthropology was announced three
months ago. We then proposed a debate on mankind from an anthropological point
of view, our especial concern being the current psycho-social phenomenon which
is involving the whole of society: laughter. I have received reports from the
study commission at our Institute. We are aware of the present situation and
must now see what conclusions had been reached.
CEZAR VERDI
May I speak
first, Professor Pisaro. It is true that of late this phenomenon has gained
very significant proportions in our society. Most significantly, a great many
people are involved. Indeed, the whole of civilisation. From the start the
phenomenon has pre-occupied me and I have dedicated myself
to intensive and passionate study of it. Anthropology finds itself in a
dilemma. We may ask: did this phenomenon involving the whole of society erupt
spontaneously, like an explosion, or did it appear slowly, having its roots
deep in history?
(A FEW
SPECTATORS LAUGH IN THE AUDITORIUM.)
EMANUEL
BRUNO
Man has
always laughed, Professor Verdi. We can say laughter is an intrinsic and
permanent characteristic of the human phenomenon.
CEZAR VERDI
That’s just
what I’m pointing out. This would seem to be a recent phenomenon, but in
essence its roots lie deep in the history of mankind, in the human society, in
the human being.
ELENA CATINA
I am in
complete agreement with you.
CEZAR VERDI
One moment ,
Professor Catina. It is true that this phenomenon has appeared, as it were
exploded upon society and initially this was puzzling. In the psychiatric
field, I might even say we were afraid. But having observed that it was not
imbued with evil, psychiatrists calmed down. I wonder if – I might even assert
that it’s not a matter of a sudden and spontaneous appearance, but rather it is
a phenomenon which occurs once in a thousand of years, during its uninterrupted
evolution.Today we are seeing no other than the age-old psychological
phenomenon of laughter, which, following its quantitative accumulation over
thousdands of years, has made a qualitative leap and is society’s current mode
of laughing.
(SICKENING
LAUGHTER IS HEARD FROM A SPECTATOR)
ELENA CATINA
If you would
permit me. Of course laughter also has a social character.
CEZAR VERDI
Indisputable
it may be , my dear colleague, that laughter has always had a social character,
but today this has reached unprecedented proportions. It is involving all
society, it’s a veritable epidemic. It has become a social and cultural
universe.
ELENA CATINA
I would
agree…
EMANUEL
BRUNO
And in your
opinion what would be the causes?
CEZAR VERDI
The first
cause derives from the evolution of the human species. We might consider three
levels. One, the animals don’t laugh. Two, man laughs because he has evolved
further. In other words, we can see laughter as a measure of evolution. Man’s
laughter throughout history has maintained him at a certain level according to
the conditions of the time. And now the third level. The phenomenon has made a
qualitative leap and I would suggest that similarly society has evolved with a
qualitative leap. At this point in time there’s no need to pin it down and
measure it. It’s part of a long term process. It takes a long time to observe
human progress.
(A FEW
SPECTATORS LAUGH IRRITATINGLY)
ELENA
CATINA
But,
Professor Verdi…
CEZAR VERDI
The second
cause derives from the first and has helped us to understand it. It is that due
to techno-scientific development over the last century and our continually
rising standards of living, man is ever more fortunate. He realises his
potential more fully, more deeply. The causes of stress and suffering have
disappeared, so man is geared to be happy. Over time this had led to the
present all-pervading phenomenon. These are my conclusions and I believe it is
from the perspective that we must consider laughter and its contribution to
man’s future evolution. (HE FINISHES WITH AN ORATORICAL FLOURISH. In the
background noise of the town a muffled rattle is heard, as if a flock of bisons
chased in the streets)
EMANUEL
BRUNO
In general
terms, I believe we are seeing a leap in human society, similar in dimension to
that from primitivism to civilised man. The problem is how we should regard
laughter with all its social and human implications.
We know its appearance has released
unprecedented growth in economic efficiency. A few years hence we shall be one
of the most developed countries in the world. In scientific research, our
results are undreamed of. And just as laughter has stimulated growth in man’s
creative capacity, so we must seek progress in all his psychic functions
Henry Coman’s book on teaching , the
book that won Nobel Prize, shows that the training of human beings is
exceptionally efficient when mediated by laughter. Memory capacity, the power
of attention and intellectual effort increase by up to 50% since the metabolic
reaction of the neurones, indeed of the entire biological system, intensifies.
This leads to better functioning of the nervous system. We can look into the
problems still more deeply. We have watched what happens at the unconscious
level. What about consciousness, how it may change over time, with what effect?
If laughter maintains humanity, and is the opposite of animality, perhaps
unconscious laughter, which smacks of animality, will become less important in
human psychology. Will consciousness then develop further?
And if we develop a deeper consciousness,
may that not assist development of the brain, over the next few decades
presumably, and the development of a new neocortex or an enlargement of the
neocortex? This is the question which exercises me.
(LAUGHTER
CONTINUES ON THE STREETS)
And if the
brain develops, from that may we not infer growth in a man’s average age, so he will live for more than a
hundred , reaching 150 or even 200 years of age? In other words, my dear colleagues,
we will see the appearance of a being new within our history. If so, within the
foreseeable future we will surely witness the appearance of a new society,
composed of individuals who think in a new way, who are superior to the man of
today, who have a new morality and establish different relationships with their
fellows. We might witness a Superman.
ELENA
CATINA
And this new
human species , we temporarily called it so, might begin a new cosmic, galactic
area. We could colonize the Solar System. Then even the Galaxy.
EMANUEL
BRUNO
We may
observe that since laughter appeared as a common phenomenon, the social climate
has changed. There is a greater serenity and more good feeling in the world.
People no longer quarrel among themselves but laugh and joke together.
Previously, because of the stress, human society had become psychopathic,
irritable. A neurotic society which – look at it now – through laughter, is
becoming sane again, regaining the serenity which was lost in the course of
man’s troubled and unhappy history.
People have responded to the books of
Henry Coman: they are famous now throughout the world. The way we teach, our
system of education, is being applied in other countries. The psychiatrist Jean
Alain has published a book dealing with the practice of psychiatry based on
laughter. It has been translated throughout the world and has a high
reputation..
One hears that, following unprecedented
development of our economy, the Minister of Finance has worked according to a
new economic theory based on laughter . In the two years since all this
laughter appeared, standards of living have risen extraordinarily. Improved
quality of life has led to the disappearance of illnesses, and we know that
hospitals are now quite simply empty, doctors have nothing to do, road
accidents are insignificant and technicians have resolved the problems they
faced.
CEZAR VERDI
We are all
aware of that.
(A SINGLE
SPECTATOR LAUGHS)
In other words, the giant
phenomenon has changed and will continue to change the foundations of our
lives, our way of thinking and of living. For thousands of years, happiness has
been man’s dream. What is history if not the path by which man has sought
happiness ? The course of history is hard and has brought him only unhappiness
, but now he has found happiness. At least he is happy!
Consider weaponry, armaments, which have
fruitlessly exercised our minds for decades; now laughter has solved the
problem. And I am convinced that among countries and peoples of the world, as
among individuals in society, it will lead to the extinction of conflict.
Nations will share laughter and forget about killing each other. Within a
decade, a universal human society will be formed, harmonius and united, a
nation of mankind.
ELENA
CATINA
The whole
human species and Civilization will be a unit nation.
EMANUEL
BRUNO
As never before, the human species will not be
disunited, torn apart , as it has been throughout time. We latter – day
anthropologists should rejoice to be present as this giant leap forward occurs.
What has not been achieved by any religion, not excepting christianity, not by
numerous Napoleons or conquerors of the world, not by any philosophical concept
or political doctrine, what has led to the progress of mankind, a step up to a
superior level of evolution and worldwide political unity, this I tell you, has
been brought about by laughter.
We are
witnesses of a phenomenon unforeseen in past decades by any prophet of the
future. Anthropologically, we are watching the appearance of homo risus,
laughing man. This brings to mind homo ludicus, playing man, the period from
which man is emerging. Anthropology is now the science most in demand; we have
much to occupy our thinking and much to do.
This, in general terms, is my opinion.
ELENA
CATINA
( Very
excited, clapping )
May I thank
my colleagues who have spoken so eloquently before me. I will be brief since
Professor Verdi and Professor Bruno have touched on most of the many problems
encompassed by the subject and virtually exhausted it.
We know that cultures abound with
problems of death, suffering, despair and suicide. The history of man up to the
present time is saturated with death. Culture, like history, is full of
violence and oppression. But now consider the last five years or so: culture,
literature, art, music – in a word, all the arts – are becoming brighter. Thus
I deduce that this psycho-social phenomenon dates from five years ago, not two
years , or a year, as it might seem. And at this point I wonder if perhaps ,
slowly and imperceptibly, things started to happen even longer ago.
CEZAR
VERDI
Yes, you`re
right! ( People laugh strangely in the streets. Then suddenly the screams of
some coming seagulls)
I propose that we undertake a detailed
study of laughter, approaching it from every point of view. To enlarge upon
this: since the phenomenon results from
man’s progress, and is a contributory factor in that progress , how can we use
it most effectively in the historic processes in the future ? My revered
colleagues, I should mention certain possible stumbling blocks . Professor
Verdi has stated that its roots lie deep within the human race, in man’s
unconscious mind. In general I would agree, but I ask you: since this
phenomenon appeared on our island, within our society, has it by any chance a
national character belonging to the psycho-ethnic nature of our people?
(LAUGHTER)
CEZAR VERDI
If I may,
dear madam, if I may put this question. The fact that the phenomenon first
appeared on our island must be explained convincingly and scientifically. But,
we might ask, because the origins of capitalistic society and capitalism first
appeared in Italy ,should we conclude that capitalism is Italian? Or because
communist society first appeared in Rusia, do we say ,,Gentlemen , communism is
Russian”? No one makes such a claim .In any case, a historical phenomenon which determines outcomes in space and time
has to appear at some point on the glob. Look how we have reacted : laughter
has in the first instance a human, and ultimately a national character, the proof being the extraordinary
rapidity with which it is involving the whole world. It is simply one aspect of
the broader human phenomenon.
ELENA
CATINA
I agree,
professor, but we have to establish what caused its appearance in our society.
CEZAR VERDI
And I would
agree with your good self.(EVERYONE LAUGHS)
JULIU
PISARO
My dear
colleagues, permit me to sum up .Our discussions have been welcome, but of most
importance is our shared perception of this phenomenon. Not because we have
decided to agree, but because our perception has led to particular steps,
theoretical and epistemological, in our researches.
We should
appreciate that the closer our perceptions ,independently reached, of this
historic moment, the truer our image of it is likely to be .So the shared
perception we anthropologists have of the phenomenon of laughter is real . Our
researches will therefore be channelled in the same direction, preserving us
from time-wasting avenues of enquiry. I
also take Professor Catina’s point ,that we should study all aspects of the
phenomenon and its implications ,so we are best prepared for the future.
In conclusion ,this present generation of anthropologists should be proud and happy that on us falls the responsibility of studying the qualitative leap which has occurred in
the evolution of man.
(LAUGHTER
POURS ALONG THE STREETS LIKE A RIVER)
So, my
respected colleagues, let me congratulate you, let us congratulate
ourselves, and let each one of us set to work to assemble our research. Let us
turn our hands to the plough with the greatest energy and enthusiasm. Once more
I congratulate you(HE RISES TO HIS FEET)and wish you every success in all that
you undertake.
ALL
(RESING TO
THEIR FEET)Thank you, thank you.
(THEY
TALK AMONG THEMSELVES
AS THEY LEAVE THE OFFICE. FROM OUTSIDE, OTHER-WORDLY LAUGHTER
IS HEARD EVER STRONGER. A FEW OF THE SPECTATORS ARE FALLING ABOUT WITH
LAUGHTER.)
SCENE VII
EIGHT MONTHS
LATER. A MEETING OF THE GOVERNMENT CHAIRED BY THE PRIME MINISTER. THE ACTIVITY
OF ALL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DOMAINS IS ANALISED. THERE IS AN ATMOSPHERE OF GOOD
HUMOUR , COMPLETELY LACKING IN STRAIN. PEOPLE LAUGH A GREAT DEAL. OUTSIDE ON
THE STREETS LAUGHTER IS HEARD.
PRIME MINISTER
May I ask
ministers to sit down .As you know ,we are meeting to analyse ministerial
activity for the past year.
(MURMURING
AND LAUGHTER STOP.)
Will each
minister in turn report on the situation within his ministry. I might add that
I think this is one of the happiest meetings of our government, the present
situation being excellent in all respects.
MINISTERS
(APPLAUDING
AND LAUGHING A GREAT DEAL. A FEW SPECTATORS ARE OVERCOME WITH LAUGHTER- Ha, ha,
ha, ha, ha, ha.)
FINANCE MINISTER
My dear
Prime Minister, may I speak first as usual? In the economic domain we have an
excellent situation.(LAUGHS HAPPILY). Since two years ago, when I focused on
laughter in relaunching and stimulating the economy, I have witnessed growth in
production at a rate we never imagined could be achieved and which no other
nation has reached. In the second year, that is to say during this year which
is now ending, the rate of production increased fourfold as compared with the
preceding year .To begin with I didn’t believe it. This is the first time in
history that economic development of such gigantic proportions has been
realized .We are proud of our nation’s achievement. At the present, just two
years after the appearance of laughter, we have the highest rate of development
in the world, even though investment has remained at the same level. The
country with the next highest rate of development has achieved only half what
we have. To date it’s all good news, Prime Minister. We are happy and
congratulate ourselves.
There is
only one thing that will cause us anxiety in the future, and that is the fact
that laughter as a social phenomenon is spreading throughout the world.
(HE STOPS
AND WIPES THE PERSPIRATION FROM HIS FOREHEAD.THERE IS A MOMENT OF SILENCE .HE
LAUGHS. ON THE STREETS MANY PEOPLE
CAN BE HEARD LAUGHING.)
This will
lead to many more countries increasing their rate of development and I wonder
if they may even overtake us. I therefore propose that laughter should be still
further stimulated within the economy and ,I now regret, though rather too late
,that the economic theory of laughter
that I published at the beginning of the year has spread the world over, when
it might better have been kept secret.
(MINISTERS APPLAUD. SOME PROTEST, THEN ALL LAUGH. THEY ROAR WITH
LAUGHTER. SEREVAL SPECTATORS LAUGH FIT
TO BURST.)
MINISTER OF HEALTH
Prime
Minister ! My good colleagues! Also in the domain of health we have achieved
historic results this year.
MINISTERS
(
INTERRUPTING, APPLAUDING) Well done! Bravo, bravo! (THE APPLAUSE TURNS INTO
LAUGHTER) Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
ha. Bravo! Well done! Ha, ha, ha, ha!
MINISTER OF
HEALTH
(LAUGHING
TOO) And so, good sirs, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, the mortality rate has fallen
practically to zero. We are the foremost country in the world.
MINISTERS
(RISING TO
THEIR FEET) Hurray, hurray, hurray! (THEY APPLAUD) Ha, ha, ha, ha!
MINISTER
OF HEALTH
The number
of births is beyond belief. We are the country with the most birthrate.
MINISTERS
(RISING TO
THEIR FEETS AGAIN) Hurray, hurray, hurray! Long live the nation! Long live the
human people! The most fertile people in
the world! Hurray, hurray…. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
MINISTER OF
HEALTH
People are
living longer and medical discoveries are extraordinary. (HE SITS DOWN)
MINISTERS
(APPLAUDING)
Bravo! Well done! Ha, ha, ha, ha ,ha!
MINISTER OF
EDUCATION
Respected
colleagues. In the domain of education too, as in your own ministries,
important results have been achieved. Spectacular, historical, I could say.
Material which pupils used to take ten years to absorb, they can now manage in
two. So, beginning next year, we are completely changing the structure of the
educational system. The amount of information which can be imparted to the next
generation will be ten times greater. Just imagine the people of tomorrow! (HE
FINISHES EMOTIONALLY, RAISING HIS ARMS IN THE AIR) How educated our nation will
be !
MINISTERS
(GETTING TO
THEIR FEET) Bravo. well done, bravo! Ha
,ha, ha, ha, ha!!
PRIME
MINISTER
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha(HOLDING HIS HANDS TO HIS STOMACH)
MINISTER OF
HOME AFFAIRS
(LAUGHING
AND WIPING AWAY THE TEARS. MINISTERS GRADUALLY QUIETEN DOWN) Prime Minister, in
the domain of justice and the law, the results are also excellent. What more can
I say? We are living in a golden age in the history of this country and of
mankind.
MINISTERS
(RISING TO
THEIR FEET) Well done, bravo, bravo! Ha, ha, ha, ha ,ha!
PRIME
MINISTER
(WHEN THE
NOISE HAS SUBSIDED) My good ministers, dear gentlemen, we are indeed coming to
the end of a golden year. A historical year! I propose that we celebrate the
occasion with a glass of champagne.(EVERY ONE LAUGHS HEARTILY)
MINISTERS
Hurray,
hurray, hurray,hurray, hurray. Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!
(SPECTATOES
1,2,3,4, BURST OUT LAUGHING)
SCENE VIII
THE
LIBRARY OF LI TAI
NE .OUTSIDE CAN BE HEARD ENDLESS LAUGHTER,OF EPIC PROPORTIONS. INSIDE, THE
PROPHET OF THE FUTURE IS READING A
NEWSPAPER. HE BURSTS OUT LAUGHING.
LI TAI NE
Ha ,ha,
ha ,ha, ha. Look what the government is
saying after its meeting. Ha ,ha, ha, ha! Just listen. It says we must laugh
ourselves to death.
(SUDDENTLY
BECOMES VERY GRAVE AND EARNEST, EVEN SAD. A FEW SPECTATORS ARE OVERCOME WITH
LAUGHTER.)
These people
have gone mad. Or I am mad!(LOOKING INTO THE DISTANCE)Anyway they believe that
no other solution exists –this is the only way you will succeed in changing
human consciousness.
(HE TAKES AN
ENVELOPE AND SHEET OF PAPER AND WRITES. HE SEALS THE ENVELOPE AND WRITES
SOMETHING ON IT. FOR A MOMENT HE IS LOOKING FAR AWAY IDLY. HE WALKS AROUND THE
ROOM AND LOOKS OUT OF THE WINDOW. HE GIVES A PAINFUL SMILE, THEN LAUGHS MORE
AND MORE LOUDLY.)
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha. You should split your sides laughing. Who would imagine that so many
thousands of years….ha, ha, ha…millions of years of history and then
laughter….ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Nothing in the whole universe is more
comical and more ridiculous.(HOLDING HIS HANDS TO HIS STOMACH.)
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, now I hate not being able to stop laughing! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! All the
same, who could imagine it! Not a single prophet of the future over millions
and trillions of years would have thought of it. Ha, ha, ha ,ha!
But if you
stop and think, everything up to now has been no more than laughter, an entire
history. Ha, ha, ha. And that’s what it will be, it will be a burst of
laughter, a gigantic laugh. Ha, ha, ha.(HE SEARCHES IN A DRAWER,TAKES OUT A
PISTOL AND WALKS ABOUT WITH IT IN HIS HAND.)
Ha, ha, ha,
who would have thought it. No one would have believed it. Suicide like
laughter, ha, ha, ha…and laughter like, ha, ha, ha.(HE LOOKS AT THE ENVELOPE.)
I have
written what I had to say. ( A GREAT
SORROW IS ON HIS FACE. THE SCREAMS OF SEAGULS ARE HEARD CLEARLY AND WILDLY. ) I
have written it down and it will not be revealed for two years.(HE LOOKS AT THE
ENVELOPE) Ha, ha, ha, ha.(WAVES THE PISTOL IN THE YEAR.)
Ha, ha, ha.
Miserable species! (HE PUTS THE PISTOL TO HIS TEMPLE AND WE HEAR THE SHOT.)Ha,
ha, ha, ha.
(HIS BODY
FALLS TO THE GRUOND. THE MOUTH IS
DISTORTED AS IF LAUGHING. ON THE
STREETS LAUGHTER IS HEARD AS A LOW ROAR,
AS A SONOROUS BACKGROUND)
SCENE IX
TWO WEEKS LATER. A LECTURE HALL AT THE
UNIVERSITY. STUDENTS ARE SITTING ON BENCHES READY TO TAKE NOTES .WE SEE
ANIMATION, GAIETY, SOME STUDENTS ARE OVERCOME WITH LAUGHTER. PROFESSOR HERMAN
HERBERT, ONE OF THE PRESTIGIOUS SCIENTIST,
ENTERS AND THE NOISE QUIETENS.
PROFESSOR
HERBERT
Good
morning, students. (STEPPING UP TO HIS LECTERN)
STUDENTS
Good morning
,professor. (AS ALWAYS , LAUGHTER IS
HEARD ON THE STREETS.)
PROFESSOR HERBERT
(UNDOING HIS
FOLDER AND TAKING OUT HIS NOTES. SMILING.)
Today, my
students, we will talk about the problem of death in philosophy. We will
consider what we know of human death, looking at the ontological and gnostic
significance of this concept in different environments, creeds and
philopsophical theories extant at this time, when we live one of the greatest
moments in the history of man.
(SOME OF THE
STUDENTS ARE MAKING NOTES, SOME ARE LOOKING AT THE PROFESSOR, OTHERS ARE
LAUGHING INTO THEIR HANDKERCHIEFS, SOME CANNOT CONTAIN THEIR LAUGHTER.)
PROFESSOR HERBERT
I think you
must have heard of the event that occurred a short time ago, the subject of
much commentary in the press. I am speaking of the suicide of the great prophet
of the future, Li Tai Ne, whose reputation is not only national but also
international. Well, my good students, I want to refer to this event with its
massive implications for philosophical thinking. The great prophet was a
personal acquaintance of mine. He was a man with of vast culture- one of the
most remarkable men I have ever met. He had knowledge of man life, the deepest
aspects of society. He was clear-sighted, a man of vision. I have thought much
about his action , this supreme gesture, and I have sought its philosophical significance.
My
conclusion was quickly reached because something led me directly to it. I
myself went to see Li Tai Ne , I saw him
dead. You will recall how the press described the body and how it appeared on
television. When I first saw it , I had the impression that Li Tai Ne was
laughing. He was showing his teeth as if he were alive and laughing with his
mouth open.
(LAUGHING HIMSELF) Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha ,Ha.
Laugh , my students. Let us laugh because this is the highest gesture with
which we can honour the memory of this man who has passed away. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha,
(HIS LAUGHTER IS INFECTIOUS.)
STUDENTS
(ROUSED TO
HILARITY AND ENTHUSIASM) Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
(SEVERAL
SPECTATORS LAUGH IN THE AUDITORIUM)
PROFESSOR HERBERT
(AFTER
LAUGHING TOO.GATHERING HIMSELF) Let us therefore carry on with our lecture.
Like everyone else, we know this great prophet killed himself while laughing.
Through his act, he has sent us a deep and disturbing message: he reminds man
to laugh. To defying death. And further, that we should laugh in death, as he
laughs. Truly ,this is the hugest thing in the human thinking, the fact that we
should laugh in death. That we should laugh eternally beyond death.
STUDENTS
(SHUDDERING
FOR A MOMENT AT THE PROFESSOR’S IDEAS) Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
PROFESSOR HERBERT
(WHEN THINGS
HAVE CALMED DOWN) We will look now at the historic state of human beings,
namely, death. Upon the relationship
HUMAN BEING – DEATH, we can see that man has been terrified by death all along
history. We see the human beings have been terrified by the idea of death. This
fear has led us to imagine a life hereafter in which man finds joy or pain as he
deserves. It has led to appearance of existentialism as a shout in the face of
death. Now, at last, there appears (RAISING HIS VOICE ORATORICALLY) a being, a
conscience, that laughs in the face of death! Indeed, my students, he laughs at
death itself! Here you see the greatest gesture in human history!
THE
STUDENTS
( Shocked
for a moment by his ideas. GIVING HIM AN OVATION)
Hurray,
hurray , hurray!
.
A
VOICE
Long live Li
Tai Ne!
PROFESSOR HERBERT
(LAUGHING
TOO AND WAITING FOR THE STUDENTS TO QUIETEN DOWN) That is the great truth that Li Tai Ne has
revealed to us, my dear students ! Through suicide he laughed at death , he
defied it, he trod it down, telling us that man, all mankind ( RHETORICALLY WITH LOUD VOICE ) have not to
fear of death, but on the contrary to laugh at it! Because laughing man will
conquer death! When man laughs he will conquer death! This is the road we
should follow. ( STRESSING) As man
conquers death, he will become all but eternal, immortal!
THE
STUDENS (TREMBLING WITH EMOTION)
Hurray,
hurray , hurray!
OTHER
STUDENTS (BURST WITH LAUGHTER): Ha, ha,
ha,ha!
PROFESSOR HERBERT
( His hand
up. The screams of the seagulls are getting deafening )
Following in
the footsteps of Li Tai Ne, in his memory we shall laugh for three minutes. He
would not forgive us if we withheld three minutes of contemplation.
THE
STUDENTS
(RISING TO
THEIR FEET)
Ha, ha, ha,
ha!
PROFESSOR HERBERT
Ha, ha, ha,
ha,!
(EVERYONE
LAUGHS AND LAUGHS)
A
STUDENT
Long live
LI Tai Ne, the immortal, who has opened up a new era in history! Soon we will be
eternal!
ALL
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha, ha, ha!
SCENE X
A YEAR
LATER. THE LAUGHTER PHENOMENON HAS SPREAD ALL OVER THE WORLD,INVOLVING ALL THE
HUMAN SOCIETY. THE MODEST APARTMENT OF AN OFFICE WORKER’S FAMILY. MARGRIT GAMA
IS KNITTING, NICOLAS GAMA IS READING A NEWSPAPER. HIS SON IS READING A BOOK.
ON THE STREETS,LAUGHTER,RATHER
COLOURLESS.
NICOLAS
GAMA
(THROWING
AWAY HIS PAPER)There’s nothing in the papers.(BORED)Margrit!
MARGRIT
GAMA
(KNITTING,
LAUGHING LIGHTLY) That’s true, my love. We laugh with everyone else and it’s
all very monotonous. People use to laugh at everything, at work, at anything
that happened, at things, at phenomena, at their stupidity, at their wickedness
or brabery, at other people, at life, at death. Now we laugh at monotony.
NICOLAS
GAMA
( LIKE A
BLEATING ): Ha, ha, ha, ha, that’s true,.my darling.
THE SON
( READING A
NOVEL ): Ha, ha, ha, ha ,ha, ha.
(THE
ATMOSPHERE IS CHEERFUL AND DULL AT THE
SAME TIME.)
MRS GAMA
(KNITTING
AND LAUGHING QUIETLY) You know what I think? This laughter actually empties our
lives, Nicolas. It doesn’t enrich us, it makes us sort of impersonal, ha, ha,
ha, ha ,ha, ha.
NICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha. I think so too, my love. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Do you remember, we were really
happy four or five years ago when we started laughing? We really were happy .
It`s was something new, fresh.Ha, ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha. Yes, yes, indeed. I remember. We were very happy to begin with. It was
a kind of euphoria. We laughed at anything.( NOSTALGICALLY) We stopped ever
being embarrassed when we laughed .People laughed everywhere. At the cinema, in
shops, on the streets. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, they were wonderful years, those
first years of laughing. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, as if a new age was beginning.
That was four years ago. Then laughter began to spread worldwide.
NICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, laughter spread across the planet like a pandemic. That’s how I think of
it, ha, ha, ha.
(A FEW
SPECTATORS LAUGH EXHAUSTEDLY)
MRS GAMA
Like a
pandemic? Ha, ha, ha, ha, why didn’t you mention that word so I could laugh
too? Ha, ha, ha, ha.
THE SON
(LISTENING)
Like a pandemic, ha, ha, ha. I haven’t heard that word before.
MICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha, that does make me laugh. You remember after the first two years of
laughter what enthusiasts we were, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! That teacher of ours,
what was he called…..a….a…a..a..a……..a…..ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I can’t recall,
ha, ha, ha. What was he called?
MRS GAMA
(TRYING TO REMEMBER)
What was he
called? A..a..a…a…ha, ha, ha, ha-oh, let’s leave it. Go on.
NICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
perhaps we’ve lost our memory. Ha, ha, ha, ha, and I’ve forgotten what I wanted
to say anyway, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha. After the first two years of
laughter.
NICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha
,ha ,I remember. After the first two years of laughter we didn’t know if we
were communists or converts in paradise. The teachers, psychologists,
anthropologists, politicians, I don’t know who, had begun to trumped the
beginning of a new era in the history of man, ”a great qualitative leap”. Ha,
ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! And we used to believe it .Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
THE SON
(LAUGHING AT
THEM)
Ha, ha, ha,
ha. That’s it, Dad. That’s the way of it.
NICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, these are jokes for children, ha, ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, why are you laughing, my love, when you know that it’s not going to be like
that? Wait and see what will have happened in ten or twelve years’ time. Ha,
ha, ha, ha, or after a few centuries.
NICOLAS GAMA
A few
centuries of lauhgter, ha, ha, ha, ha.(OVERCOME WITH LAUGHTER) Imagine a race
of man that laughs for a few centuries. You make me laugh, Margrit, ha, ha, ha.
(MORE CALMLY)But you said yourself that, after four years of continual
laughter, laughter has lost its charm. We’re bored with it. We feel
depersonalised. Exhausted, emptied, dried. Ha, ha, ha, don’t we?
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, that’s so. Maybe before, who knows, it was because we were young. We’d only
been married a few years. Hee, hee, hee, hee, weren’t they lovely, those first
few years of marriage?
NICOLS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha, we were young and crazy, that’s why. Ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha. Especially you, Nicolas. You were a charmer. You had a devilish
imagination, ha, ha, ha, ha. Do you remember? Hee, hee, hee.
NICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, you’re right. Those may have been beautiful years, but so were the first
two years after laughter began. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
the first two years were wonderful. Ha, ha, ha, we nearly died laughing.
NICOLAS
GAMA
To begin
with, I thought it was just a fashion. Ha, ha, ha, I hate fashions and refused
to laugh. But the more I held back, the more I burst out laughing and I liked
more. Then I just let go as well .Ha, ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, you`ve never told me, and I laughed right from the start, ha, ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha.
(A LONG
MOMENT OF SILENCE. MRS GAMA GOES
KNITTING AND NICOLAS GAMA GAZES AT THE GROUND MEDITATIVELY AS THEY BOTH
LAUGH QUIETLY.)
NICOLAS
GAMA
Oh, well,
they were great years and why shouldn’t we remember that ? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
ha. In years to come, people will talk about the historic moment of laughter,
like they do about a time of slavery or an invasion by migrants. Ha, ha, ha,
ha!
MRS GAMA
That’s
right, or like christianity was. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Christianity
and laughter. Just imagine a book called ”Christianity and laughter” and
wouldn’t you die laughing, ha, ha, ha, ha.
NICOLAS
GAMA
“Christianity
and laughter, or the enlightenment of laughter.” Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
THE SON
(LAUGHING
HEARTILY) Ha, ha, ha, ha, stop laughing like that, you’re making me laugh, too.
MRS GAMA
(LAUGHING,THEN
CALMING DOWN.) What a lovely day! (AFTER A PAUSE.) Listen, Nicolas, do you know
what I think, ha, ha, ha, and this thought seems to me more important than that
prophet’s-the one who laughed at death ,ha, ha, ha, ha. What funny! We`ve laughed
at everything and at last we`ve laughed even at death.When I read in the paper
that you should laugh at death, I died laughing. Yes, I think my thought is
more important ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
NICOLAS GAMA
( LAUGHING
HEARTILLY )Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, well, tell me. Tell me quickly, I die laughing!
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, do you know why we laughed just now, my love?
NICOLAS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, why did we laugh?
MRS GAMA
We laughed
at laugher, ha, ha, ha, ha.
NICOLAS
GAMA
(EXPLODING
WITH LAUGHTER) Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. That’s right, Margrit. Till now we’ve
laughed at everything that we’ve seen and not seen, at all sorts of things. We
only haven’t laughed at laughter. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Come on,
let’s all laugh at laughter.(BURSTING OUT LAUGHING) Ha, ha, ha, ha. I think if
I wrote a book on death, I would get the Nobel Prize. My idea is greater than
that of the prophet who laughed at death. You should laugh at laughter!
NICOLAS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
don’t get excited –it’s better no one hears. Ha, ha, ha, ha. I think they’d
more likely arrest us than give us a prize. Ha, ha, ha, imagine you would be in
prison ha, ha, ha…if they heard us that we laughed at laugh!
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha. You’re right ,my love. I think they’d more likely arrest me. The government
wouldn’t allow it. They cultivate laughter. Every government in the world
cultivates laughter. Ha, ha, ha, ha…
NICOLAS GAMA
They say it
brings progress and happiness. Ha, ha, ha, ha. It’s nonsense that we laugh so
we can laugh. Ha, ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, we laugh so we can laugh. You’re right my love. Ha, ha, ha, ha. We used to
laugh in order to live, but now we live in order to laugh. Ha, ha, ha, ha
THE SON
Ha, ha, ha,
ha. We laugh in order to laugh. That’s brilliant .ha, ha, ha.
NICOLAS GAMA
(CALMING
DOWN) Anyway, this laughter was a great event. It brought relaxation into a
sombre history. Too tragic and full of wickedness and dirt! Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha.
So it was, indeed. We too, you say , we too laughed fit to burst. It’s more
important that we live in order to laugh. Not that we live, my love, but that
we laugh ,ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Laughter has become the substanece of life, its
essence. This is where we`ve got to, ha, ha , ha !
NICOLAS GAMA
Anyway, It’s
good thing that God knows what isn’t happening to us, ha, ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha. You’re talking as if something might happen. You don’t think that since
monotony has spread everywhere nothing else will happen? We all laugh like
fools, we laugh by inertia because so we used to. Nothing happens and we laugh
because it doesn’t happen anything. Ha,
ha, ha, ha.
NICOLAS GAMA
Everybody
laughs, don`t you see? People laugh all over the world. If you laugh you don’t
think, ha, ha, ha, ha. Why should something happen to make us laugh when we can
laugh like this?-ha, ha, ha, ha! Once upon a time we needed something to make
us laugh, something comic, ha, ha, ha, but now we just laugh. Now we’d need
something to make us stop laughing. ha, ha, ha, ha! Listen, here’s something to stop you. Ha, ha. ha, ha! To stop you
laughing they should set up a police force which wouldn’t be able to do
anything. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Nothing can meke people stop laughing… ( SUDDENLY HE
BURST OUT LAUGHING ) Ha, ha, ha, ha !
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, a police force that wouldn’t let the people laugh, ha, ha. Oh, no, it`s
terrile indeed! A police for laughter!
Ha, ha, ha, ha! Or they should invent a machine, a machine would be
better to stop laughter. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Or some medicine, some pills, ha, ha,
ha, haa
NICOLAS
GAMA
But why,
when the only thing the state wants us to do is laugh? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.Let`s
laugh, if the state wants to! Ha, ha, ha, ha!
MRS GAMA
You’re
right, but don’t you think that laughter has made our lives and our souls
poorer? The way we think is poorer. Actually I feel desolate and empty, maybe I
don’t even have a body. Ha, ha, ha, ha, we’re dematerialised, my love,
depersonalised. Everybody, the whole planet, millions and billions of people,
are doing the same thing, just laughing, laughing, fit to burst , ha, ha, ha,
ha.
(TWO OR
THREE SPECTATORS LAUGH WITH A SAD YELP)
NICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha.
Listen. We are dematerialised, depersonalised, one-dimensionalised, Margrit,
you make me laugh, you’re talking like a philosopher. Ha, ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, I was talking my love, and you’re laughing at me. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Listen,
Mrs Philosopher-I’m turning into a philosopher, ha, ha, ha. Well ,Nicolas, what
else do you think of my ideas? Hee, hee, hee!
NICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha. Tell me, Margrit, wouldn’t you laugh if you heard someone going on in this
ridiculous way, with such silly jokes? Ha, ha, ha, ha! Such shocking things!
Ha, ha, ha, ha!
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, you’re right, my love. When we laugh, we don’t have time to think of
anything else. We’ve forgotten how to think. Ha, ha, ha, ha. We haven’t thought
for ages and when we hear someone thinking it’s weird, ha, ha, ha.
NICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha. But it’s a thousand times nicer to laugh than to think. Ha, ha, ha, ha,
ha! To think is extremely hard, so we`d better laugh! Ha, ha, ha, hee, hee,
hee!
THE SON
You’re right
,Dad, it’s better laughing than anything else. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
MRS GAMA
It’s true
we’ve learnt to do nothing but laugh, and we’ve forgotten how to do anything
else, ha, ha, ha, ha.. We`ve forgotten to feel, to think, to love, to suffer!
Now it`s hard to do anything else, ha, ha, ha, for example, get a meal ready,
or eat it, ha, ha, ha.
NICOLAS GAMA
You’re
right, Margrit. It’s suppertime and we’ve got to eat. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
You’ll have to get a meal ready so we can eat it, ha, ha, ha, ha.
MRS GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, when I prepare food I die laughing. I watch the pot boiling and laugh as
a fool. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
NICOLAS GAMA
And I’m not
even hungry, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Let`s laugh at not being hungry!
MRS GAMA
Because
you’ve been laughing, ha, ha, ha, ha. You’re right, my love, laughter stops you
feeling hungry. Laughter stops you being hungry, you have laughter instead of
food, ha, ha, ha. Laughter can be instead of eveything, ha, ha, ha! ( SHE BOWS
WITH LAUGHTER)
MRS. GAMA
(LOOKING AT
AND POINTING TO HIM): Ha, ha, ha, you`ve thought, Nicola, you`ve been thinking,
you make me die laughing! You`ve been thinking, you`ve been thinking, ha, ha,
ha, I`ll be laughing at you all night long, ha, ha, ha, and all day long,
because you have been thinking! Hee, hee, hee!
NICOLAS
GAMA
But we have
to eat to stay alive.
THE SON
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, you’ll be laughing all night. I haven’t heard that before, ha, ha, ha.
NICOLAS
GAMA
Ha, ha, ha,
ha. You’re right, Margrit, ha, ha, ha. Your husband’s thinking, too. Did you
hear, he’s thinking, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Instead of sleeping so you’re
unconscious and you’re not having a good time, you’re better off laughing, ha,
ha, ha, ha, ha. That’s brilliant, my darling, its brilliant, isn’t it? Ha, ha,
ha, ha, ha!
MRS GAMA
( EXHAUSTED
WITH LAUGHTER ):Yes it is, ha, ha, ha!
THE SON
( HE IS DYING LAUGHTER, IS BREAKING HIS SIDES WITH
LAUGHTER, THE OTHER TWO, HIS PARENTS ARE
LAUGHING HEARTILY ) Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
SCENE XI
GENERAL
LAUGHTER. ONE YEAR LATER. THE CONSULTING ROOM OF THE PSYCHIATRIST JEAN ALAIN,
FIRST THING IN THE MORNING. HE IS SMOKING THOUGHTFULLY AND DEPRESSED. IT`S EIGHT O`CLOCK IN THE MORNING. THE SECRETARY APPEARS.
SECRETARY
Shall I let
him in, doctor? (LAUGHS QUIETLY): Ha, ha, ha!
JEAN ALAIN
Yes, yes,
I’m ready.
PATIENT
( HE ENTERS
HAVING A LOOK OF A FRIGHTEN PERSON) Ha,
ha, ha, good morning, doctor.
JEAN ALAIN
Good
morning,sir. Do sit down.
PATIENT
Doctor, ha, ha, ha, things aren’t going very
well at all. I can remember now, I forgot to tell you you last time. Before I climbed onto the roof
of the flats to look at the moon, ha, ha,
I had a feeling of lightness. As
if I was thistledown, as if I hardly had a body. I wanted to float up in the
air, ha, ha, ha; I flapped my arms like
wings, but I didn’t float. Then I wanted to…
(TWO OR
THREE SPECTATORS LAUGH
PITEOUSLY.)
JEAN ALAIN
Just a
moment. If you’d just wait a moment…(HE TURNS ON A CASSETE RECORDER).Yes, go on
,please (BRIGHTENING).You felt you wanted to fly, that`s why yoy climbed up
onto the roof, nothing unnatural so far. Ha, ha, ha…but nothing happened.
PATIENT
Ha, ha, ha,
ha. As I recall, I start laughing. ( THE SREAMS OF THE SEAGULLS ARE HEARD FULLL
OF NOSTALGIA) I wanted to reach the sky – and I kept laughing and I couldn’t
stop. To begin with I tried climbing a tree , but I couldn’t get high enough. I
wanted to get higher, but I couldn’t
work out how to do it. I couldn`t realised what I was doing. ( HE CAN`T HELP
LAUGHING) Ha, ha, ha… I was laughing and I couldn’t think properly., I wasn`t
really conscious. I didn`t know what I was doing, I hadn`t the slightest idea
where I was and what was hapenning to me. Ha, ha, ha…Then I climbed onto the
roof of the flats. Ha, ha, ha, the sun had just set and I could see the moon.
That’s how I recall it now, because then I wasn’t really conscious. Ha, ha, ha,
ha, you’re not really aware of what’s going on, it’s never happened to me
before. I lifted up my head like a dog to the moon and howled. Then I dropped
onto all fours and howled.
JEAN ALAIN
(LAUGHING
SOBERLY.) Ha, ha, ha, ha. (THE LAUGHTER COMES FROM DEEP WITHIN HIM.)
PATIENT
There were a few other people on the flats and
on the neighbouring block, too. Ha, ha, ha, ha, this I haven’t told you, ha,
ha, ha, ha. I laughed, they laughed until they were dying of laughter. Then
they began to howl to the moon like me,
ha, ha, ha ( CALMING HIMSELF). Men on the street who saw us howling to the moon
like dogs, standing out against the sky as darkness fell, thought we were
performing for them and started laughing.
JEAN ALAIN
But did it
never occur to you that you were doing this to make people laugh?
PATIENT
No, doctor,
no.
JEAN ALAIN
Try to
remember. Perhaps not at that moment, but at some point earlier on, had the
idea never entered your head? Try hard to remember, it’s very important.
PATIENT
(LAUGHING A
LITLE, TRYING TO RECALL) No, no I
remember clearly, I’d never thought of that. It had just never occurred to me.
JEAN ALAIN
(CHEWING HIS
LIPS) Yes, yes…
PATIENT
(BRIGHTENING
UP) Ha, ha, ha, ha, and the whole street began to laugh ,everyone who was
looking at us. Then they all stopped laughing. The first people who had been
watching us howling began howling ,too. Then it spread and spread and spread
until every one was howling.
JEAN ALAIN
(LAUGHING)
Ha, ha, ha, ha, .I can imagine everyone around you howling to the moon.
PATIENT
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, yes doctor, that’s how it was and it was spreading-but it began to get
light and the police came. Ha, ha, ha, ha…think of a whole town howling with
people’s heads lifted to the moon, like dogs, ha, ha, ha, ha. You should try
it, it’s wonderful, ha, ha, ha.
JEAN ALAIN
(BRUSTING
OUT LAUGHING) Well, so you say. Despite all the police could do, by the next
day everyone in town was howling to the moon.
PATIENT
Ha, ha, ha…
I would never dreamed it. Ha, ha, ha..(HE IS IN TEARS OF LAUGHTER.)
JEAN ALAIN
Ha, ha, ha,
ha…
PATIENT
Ha, ha, ha…I
can imagine what it would be like if it spread through the whole country, like
laughter did-and then through the whole world, ha, ha…Imagine the whole planet,
millions and
billions of
people with long necks like storks ,howling. Ha, ha, ha. A whole planet howling
to the moon, ha, ha…
JEAN ALAIN
Ha, ha,
ha.(QUIETING)And what else do you remember?
PATIENT
Ha, ha, ha,
ha… Nothing, doctor. The police came and took me away and shut me up
here. Ha,
ha, ha, ha.
JEAN ALAIN
I’ve
listened to every word you’ve said. Today we can sort out the papers to
discharge you. But why don’t you think that’s a good idea?
PATIENT
Ha, ha… I
feel as if it’s not right, doctor. After all that laughing, it’s like the
stuffing’s knocked out of me. I feel empty, dry, I’ve no life left. When I look
in the mirror I’ve grown old. How can I put it? – I’m not myself any more, ha,
ha.
SCENE XII
SOME MONTHS
LATER. THE OFFICE OF THE FINANCE MINISTER ,WHERE HE IS SMOKING NERVOUSLY,
FROWING DEEPLY. HE RINGS
FOR HIS SECRETARY.)
SECRETARY
(ENTERING) Hee, hee, hee…( SPEAKING SMOOTHLY) Yes,
minister?
FINANCE
MINISTER
(WITHOUT
LOOKING UP) Call in the Deputy Finance Minister , please.
SECRETARY
Yes,
minister. Anything else?
(THE
MINISTER DOESN’T REPLY. HE RIFFLES THROUGH SEVERAL REPORTS, FROWNING. ONE CAN
READ FEAR FROM HIS EYES.)
Oh, no! It
can`t be true!
(THE
SECRETARY GOES OUT, LETTING IN THE DEPUTY FINANCE MINISTER.)
DEPUTY
FINANCE MINISTER
Good
morning, minister.
(THE FINANCE
MINISTER DOESN’T REPLY)
DEPUTY
(STILL
STANDING) I’ve checked the figures. To begin with, I couldn’t believe them. But
they’re all correct. I`ve superintended and found the same results…I’ve taken
immediate measures. I`m sure it`s just a provisional situation…Economy will be
brought to an efficient state. It will be very soon.
FINANCE
MINISTER
( SADLY) Sit
down, please. (BURSTING) Right, why didn’t you notice this to at first? Why
haven`t you taken measures? I presume they haven’t begun immediately?
DEPUTY
(SITTING
DOWN) That’s so, they haven’t begun immediately, sir. The first signs appeared
two months ago, but they were so vague I thought they wouldn’t amount to
anything.
FINANCE
MINISTER
Right, my
dear sir, but it’s not just some small matter. This is called bankruptcy,
disaster.
DEPUTY
(MORE AND
MORE TENSE) I agree that the way things stand is bad, minister, but despite
that I don’t think we need worry too much. We non`t need to despair. Remember
how it was five years ago – we had economic prosperity, a true miracle. It`s
about the recurring economic crisis. You know it well. We have sufficient
resources. It’s natural that after the economy has peaked there should be a
slight recession. Modern history is full of peaks and troughs.
FINANCE
MINISTER
(WITH A
HARSH STRANGE COUNTENANCE)
Ha, ha, ha,
ha, you call this a slight recession. This is an economic catastrophe, my good
man. Ruin awaits us. ( LOUDLY, POUNDING THR TABLE) I`m telling you, ruin awaits
us, disaster!
DEPUTY
(TURNING
SHY, SCARED TOO) I don’t think we should despair, minister. On the contrary, we
should be clear-sighted and strong ,so we dominate the situation.
FINANCE
MINISTER
Right,
right, but I don’t think we are dominating it now and I don’t see how we can.
From now on, please bring me daily reports. And think of extensive and radical measures for stopping the economic
decline.
DEPUTY
I will deal
with the matter personally, minister. I have taken drastic measures which I
think will prove their efficiency in the shortest possible time.
FINANCE
MINISTER
( HE LIGHTS
HIS CIGARETTE SADLY) In your opinion ,why has the economy stopped
expanding-indeed, what’s caused it to shrink?
DEPUTY
I don’t
precisely know. I can only suppose. I have visited a number of large
enterprises and also set up a commission to look into the causes of the
recession. To study this phenomenon and suggest solutions.
FINANCE
MINISTER
Are you
aware of the row it’s causing? Exports are at rock bottom this month, economic
relations with other countries… the balance of payments is in deficit , the
internal market is in a desperate state.
DEPUTY
We have a
large quantity of products in stock that have been rejected for export; the
internal market can be supplied. There`ll be no sign of time wasted.
FINANCE MINISTER
( SIGHING)
Nor can I imagine how it will appear to the Prime Minister. I want to hide my
head in shame.
DEPUTY
Let’s be
patient, minister. In a week or so the situation will be back to normal. My
advice would be not even to tell the Prime Minister.
FINANCE MINISTER
This very
evening members of the cabinet are getting together. I want a meeting to
analyse the situation and its causes. We have to decide on a course of action.
DEPUTY
At what time
, minister?(HE GETS TO
HIS FEET.)
FINANCE MINISTER
Six o’clock .
( HE SIGHS UPLIFTTING HIS SHOULDERS) Come on, we must get to work. I’m telling
you ,the situation is desperate.
DEPUTY
(GOING OUT)
We will take all possible measures, minister.
SCENE XIII
A MONTH
LATER. A MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS AND THEIR DEPUTIES, CHAIRED BY THE
PRIME MINISTER.
PRIME
MINISTER
(FROWNING,
HE SOMETIMES COUGHS )
Let us
begin, gentlemen.(HE WAITS FOR SILENCE. ALL HAVE GRAVE FACES, EXHIBITING
STRESS. ONE MINISTER CANNOT CONTROL HIS LAUGHTER; HE LAUGHS, HIDING BEHIND
SOMEONE ELSE.)As you know, the situation is serious. We have not slept for a
month. We never leave our desks. We face catastrophe. I will ask each minister
to present the situation within his ministry and relevant proposals. Minister
of Finance.
MINISTER OF FINANCE
(STANDING
UP) Here is my report, Prime Minister. Despite stringent measures taken in
recent times, the situation has not improved. On the contrary, even as we
speak, the economic situation is worsening. I have taken strong action. I have
brought in members of the armed forces to replace workers and chiefs of
industry who have lost their wits. I have taken the most draconian measures
against laughter. Into factories and offices I have introduced stressful
factors, so as to stop individuals from laughing who have not been able to stop
themselves. But members of the armed forces have themselves begun to laugh,
necessitating their own replacement. Quite simply, within the economy there is
no longer a workforce.
Whole
factories are stagnating. Laughter has brought about a kind of light-headedness
which has led some workers to destroy machines and installations. It has reduced
the level of care and attention, which had led to catastrophic errors. In
economic terms, we cannot avoid disaster. Millions of workers have gone crazy
and are confined to psychiatric hospitals, where laughter resounds morning,
noon and night. Our only possible saviours are psychiatrists and doctors; on
them depends the continuing life of the nation. We have to find a remedy for
this fearful sickness which has overtaken us all.
PRIME MINISTER
(HAVING A
GLOOMY LOOK COUNTENANCE)
Minister of
Health. We are listening, Minister. I ordered you to seek a remedy for
laughter-of whatever nature, medical, electro-physiological…Anything, but it
should be found speedily. How are you placed? What is the state of current
research
MINISTER OF
HEALTH
(HE IS SAD
AND HASN`T SLEPT ENOUGH FOR A LONG TIME)
I will tell
you, Prime Minister. For some months our laboratories have been working day and
night to discover a product, some form of medication, to dam up this flood of
laughter. Just prior to this meeting I looked into the situation in the
country’s laboratories. To date no one has succeeded in finding any such
substance. We must wait a little longer…
PRIME MINISTER
( RAISING
HIS VOICE. SOME JET PLANES ARE FLYING OVER THE CITY ) Minister, it seems you
are permitting yourself to play with the
life of a nation. Tell me, ( HOWLING) have you or have you not carried out my
orders? I didn’t ask you to find an effective product, I ordered it. Do you
understand me? ( THE SIREN OF AN AMBULANCE IS HEARD PASSING AWAY) And again I’m
giving you the same order. In 48 hours time, if you have found no remedy for
this illness, as Minister of Health you will be executed. Is that clear?
MINISTER OF
HEALTH
(
FRIGHTENED, MUMBLING)
Prime
Minister, let me present my report. I will do everything possible. By every
conceivable route, not only pharmacology, we have been seeking a remedy. You
well know that many researchers have gone crazy, many doctors have committed
suicide or died or gone mad. The number of researches is lessening day by day.
Believe me, we are doing everything possible
A MINISTER
Ha, ha, ha,
ha! ( THE OTHERS TURN TO HIM BEING TERRIFIED )
PRIME
MINISTER
(JUMPING TO
HIS FEET) What is this? Are you too losing your minds? How can we permit such a
thing? Arrest that man immediately and remove him.(HE IS BESIDE HIMSELF.HE
SCREAMS)Execute him!
THE
MINISTER WHO LAUGHED
(AS HE IS
TAKEN AWAY BY SECURITY GUARDS) Ha, ha, ha, huooooo! Like me, you will all
perish! You are scoundrels who have laughed but now want to survive. Why
survive? So you have stronger nerves, the stronger nerves of animals? Ha, ha,
ha, ha! Every last one of you will perish, ha, ha, ha…
PRIME
MINISTER
(AFTER AN
ICY SILENCE) Let us continue. Remember that the nation’s life depends on our
strength and clarity of mind. Minister, make sure you find a remedy for this scourge
within 48 hours
MINISTER
OF HEALTH
I
understand, Prime Minister
PRIME
MINISTER
Minister of
Defence.
MINISTER
OF DEFENCE
Prime Minister,
here is my report .Not only on our island is the situation desperate. The habit
of laughter has caused people to lose their reason or commit serious errors,
endangering millions. Even those responsible for peace are confused and civil
wars have broken out in Europe and Asia.
Simply on
account of negligence, today in America, at four o’clock there was an explosion
ten thousand times more powerful than at Hiroshima. To all intents and
purposes, the United States of America has been destroyed. I am secretly
informed that the man who allowed the explosion to take place were laughing.
My ministry
now has the practical problem of protecting the population from radioactive
fallout. The explosion triggered an earthquake measuring seven points of the
Richter scale. So, Prime Minister we have to take immediate action against
contamination, which will surely spread throughout the world. My inclinations
is to bring in the army.
PRIME MINISTRE
(HANDS TO
HEAD,BEWILDERED) Impossible! It can’t be done . (HOWLING) I do not believe that
this is the end of the world. A few years ago, it seems like yesterday, we were
trumpeting economic progress, a leap in human evolution, the promised happiness
of the history- and now disaster has struck.(HE STANDS UP AND BEATS THE TABLE
WITH HIS FISTS) We will do everything possible to survive. We will do the
impossible. I order the arrest and execution of all who have preached the
benefits of laughter, leading the whole nation into error. They shall be
arrested and executed immediately (WIPING HIS BROW) Gentlemen, gentlemen, it is
quite clear that the situation is grave.
A MINISTER
( WHO HAS
LOST HIS MINDS EXPLODING WITH LAUGHTER) Ha, ha, ha!( HE IS BOWiNG WITH
LAUGHTER)
PRIME
MINISTER
(SHOCKED)
There is an earthquake! (HE WAVES HIS HAND) Take him away. Do not execute him.
At this moment in time only a madman could laugh. I myself am afraid of losing
my mind. (HE IS PANTING. THERE IS A MOMENT OF SILENCE. A FLOW OF LAUGHTER IS
SPREAD INTO STREETS ) Gentlemen, we must do everything, absolutely everything,
to bring under control this difficult situation in which we find ourselves. I
congratulate the Minister of Defence for his prompt measures to protect the
population. (WIPING HIS BROW) Our first duty, gentlemen, is to remain calm.
This is crucial. And I can see we don’t remain so.
(THE
MINISTERS ARE IN A BAD WAY, STRAINED AND TERRIFIED)
PRIME
MINISTER
Minister of
Health, what do you suppose is the nature of this epidemic of laughter that has
haunted us for five years and which you have been glorifying? This is where we
should begin.
MINISTER OF
HEALTH
I have
studied it carefully to see if it is some kind of virus. There is no indication
that it is genetic in nature, though these investigations are not yet
completed. We know it has not produced any genetic mutation or at least
mutations are not contagious. It seems most probable that this laughter
epidemic, which has ultimately proved more dangerous than cancer, has its seat
in the human subconscious and is the emanation of the deepest latent forces in
man’s unconscious mind. Our researches have not yet exhausted all the
hypotheses. In any case, Prime Minister, I assure you we are doing all we can
for the nation’s survival. Man cannot disappear from history; his destiny is to
evolve.
PRIME
MINISTER
(HE HAS SAT DOWN AND IS VERY CALM) Right ,
this is our course of action. These are my orders which must be obeyed.
Minister of
Defence, take all protective measures necessary against rodioactivity and any
form of attack from outside.
Minister of
Home Affairs, you will take actions within your sphere of activity, of order
and home safety..You know what you must do.
Minister of
Health, you are to discover a remedy for laughter in the shortest possible
time. Take all measures necessary for the security of the millions of people in
hospitals for nervous diseases.( HE BECAME HOARSE, SOME TIMES COUGHS) I think
there are many people in these trying times whose balance of mind will be
disturbed.
At this
point I will bring our meeting to a close. Each one of us must strive to do his
duty to the last. I wish you success, and may there be a happy outcome. I
repeat: the gravity of the situation is extreme. We must achieve the impossible.
Goodbye. I
shall see you at the meeting tomorrow.(MINISTERS REMAIN SILENT AND STILL AS
HE LEAVES THE
ROOM. CROWDS OF PEOPLE ARE HEARD LAUGHING IN THE STREETS)
PRIME
MINISTER
( GETS OUT
OF THE ROOM HORRIFIED)
A MINISTER
(OUT OF
HIS MIND) Ha, ha, ha, ha.
(MINISTERS ,
STRICKEN, MOVE ABOUT MECHANICALLY.)
SCENE XIV
ONE WEEK
LATER. LI TAI NE’S LIBRARY. IOT`S THE SAME LIBRARY WHERE THE PROPHET COMMITTED
SUICIDE. MRS LI TAI NE IS LYING ON THE GROUND,A GASMASK OVER HER FACE .ON THE
TABLE IS A RADIO WHICH IS TURNED ON.
MRS LI TAI
NE
(TAKING OFF
HER MASK) Ha, ha, ha…I’m a young girl again, a teenager going to a masked ball.
Ha, ha, ha, I remember the masked balls I went to. Ha, ha, ha (SHE REPLACES THE MASK.)
RADIO
Citizens.
Here are the latest news. Today, at ten o’clock, the Prime Minister along with
the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Health, committed suicide.
Government of the country has been taken over by the Minister of Defence.
The
radioactive fallout which struck our island yesterday has caused some damage to
the national economy. Those in shelters or suitably constructed blocks of flats
were saved. Anyone protected by a three metre layer of cement has every change
of survival. The atmosphere remains radioactive , so you should continue to
breathe only from uncontaminated oxygen bottles.
Citizens of
our nation! Continue to show the strength you have shown up to now. We hear
there are no survivers on the continents of America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
We who have survived the atomic catastrophe and the epidemic of laughter must
resist to the last. Ours is the responsibility for the survival of the human
race, threatened as it is with extinction.
Please await
our next bulletin in half an hour’s time.
( THE RADIO
STOPS. THE LASTING EMPTY HOWL OF A HYENA IS HEARD SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY )
MRS . LI
TAI NE
(TAKING OFF
HER MASK) The epidemic of laughter ,ha, ha,
ha, ha, ha –
what
expression! WE survived the atomic disaster, but we can`t help laughing, we
cannot maintain control, ha, ha, ha, ha… Who would have dreamed…It’s like a
film, ha, ha, ha…The world will perish and we have no chance of survival either
because we’re dying of laughter or we’re dying, ha, ha…my God, I think I’m
crazy.(SHE PUTS ON HER GASMASK,CONTINUES
LAUGHING AND THEN TAKES IT OFF
AGAIN.)
I’m laughing
too much to keep the mask on. God, I will die, I’m sure of that, ha, ha…and I
can’t stop laughing, ha, ha…(GATHERING HERSELF
.A MOMENT OF SILENCE.) The Prime Minister has committed suicide. There
is no-one to lead the country. Who knows if any others have escaped with their
lives?(A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE.)
(SUDDENLY
BURSTS OUT LAUGHING) Ha, ha, ha…I think I know why I’m laughing. I don’t care
about death. Ha, ha…look ,I just don’t care
about death. How extraordinary! That’s what the newspapers said about Li
Tai Ne, ha, ha, ha, and it’s wonderful to reach the same state.(ABOUT TO PUT ON
HER GASMASK,THEN LOWERS IT.)
I’ve just
remembered. Li Tai Ne left a letter to be opened two years after his death. And
here we are just two years on. Ha, ha…what a coincidence! Ha, ha…I’ve got
nothing to laugh about but I can’t stop laughing. Ha, ha…Where’s that
letter?(HER HAND TO HER HEAD,TRYING TO REMEMBER) Yes, I put it in here next to
the Dialogues of Plato.(SEARCHES FOR AND FINDS THE LETTER, RIPS IT OPEN AND
BEGINS TO READ. HER EXPRESSION BECOMES MORE AND MORE SERIOUS, THEN SHE BURSTS
INTO IRREPRESSIBLE LAUGHTER.)
RADIO
Citizens. We
broadcast our latest bulletin. It may be the last. The situation is worsening.
The explosion of the American bomb was followed shortly by an explosion in
Africa. Further radioactive fallout will soon strike our island, spreading from
the north-west to south-est. Please stay in your shelters and do your best to
extend the thickness of protective walls to the north-west.(A DEEP SILENCE
FOLLOWS)
MRS LI TAI
NE
Ha, ha, ha…
an amazing prophecy!(READING THE LETTER ALOUD)
“ Dear wife, my dear fellow men, who may or may not
survive the fearful and horrible end which awaits you. Something tells me that
no one will survive. I kill myself not from cowardice but from clarity of mind.
Laughter, this sickness which today is glorified by every wise man, is in
reality a dreadful thing, a disease from which all will perish.
For thousands of years, man has imagined
the end of the world. Christianity has hallowed it with images of rising from
the dead. We believed it would be the result of an atomic war or supreme
disaster. No one dreamed it would end on account of laughter. I, Li Tai Ne, am
a prophet, able to scrutinise the future and offer warnings. But do not condemn
me for my silence at a time when all were praising laughter and seeking to
nurture it. Do not condemn me for failing to warn you of the danger to the
human race. Had I spoken, I would have been ignored. I would have been
denigrated, disgraced, punished, imprisoned.
(MRS . LI
TAI NE PAUSES A MOMENT. A TEAR RUNS DOWN
HER CHEEK.)
I could have
been present at the end, remaining conscious and clear –minded to the ultimate
moment, but only if it came about through a cosmic cataclysm. Not through
laughter, as if the human race were joking and all history were to be laughed
at-though if untold millions of years of history have led to extinction, that
is indeed a reason of laugh.
Man deserves a different and more
dignified fate . I, man and scientist, cannot be witness to an end so
grotesque, so pitiful
RADIO
Here is our
final bulletin. Our strength is exhausted and will surely die. If survivors
exist, on you we pin our hopes. Goodbye.
ROMANIAN MEN OF
CULTURE ABOUT ŞTEFAN DUMITRESCU
“Stefan
Dumitrescu’s coming in our literature will bring great changes.”
Ana Blandiana,
Amfiteatru Review, No12,1971
“Stefan
Dumitrescu is a chance of Romanian literature. He is a great chance of Romanian
literature.”
Adrian Paunescu, Flac`ra Review,17th
September 1973
“Poet,
fiction writer, playwright, essay writer, literary critic and historian,
philosopher and political analyst, this man so good, with a face expression of
ever wondering child, is one of the most anxious, burning and sensitive
consciousness of this century. When the Romanian really know Stefan Dumitrescu
the entire depth and intensity of this work, they will be surprised that a
writer of the same stature as Thomas Mann and Albert Camus was unknown, among them. At the end of this
century Stefan Dumitrescu is a point of lance thrusted deeply into universality.
I would compare Stefan Dumitrescu with Mircea Eliade if I didn’t know (because
I know the main part of his work) that Stefan Dumitrescu looks like himself.”
Francesca Pini, university lecturer,literary critic,(4th cover of the
book Ancestral Bed,1993)
“Laughter”
by }tefan Dumitrescu. His vocation to dramatic literature gets the colours of
certainty.
“Laughter”
by Ştefan Dumitrescu makes up a lasting opus regarding its structure and the
problems that spur the interest and the expressive literary phrases. His talent
is obvious, as well as his dramatic experience .Intelligent, thorough and
allusive-document and fiction, art of
moral portrait and of struggle intensity-the man and the drama create a
structure which the literary guild has to enlighten.”
Ion Toboşaru, academician, professor,
doctor aesthetician 1984
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