Eleuthéria Read online

  They sit there gaping at the board

  like two horses' asses and you' re

  also there, even more of a horse 's

  ass than they are, nailed to the

  spot, disgusted, bored, worn-out,

  filled with wonder at so much

  stupidity. Up until the moment

  when you can 't take it anymore.

  Then you tell them, So do that, do

  that, what are you waiting for, do

  that and it's all over, we can go to

  bed. It's inexcusable, it goes

  against the most elementary

  know-how, you haven't even met

  the guys, but it's stronger than

  you, it's either that or a fit. There

  you have pretty much what's

  happening to me. Mutatis

  mutandis, of course. You get me?

  GLAZIER

  No. We are not playing chess.

  AuDIENCE MEMBER It's this servant business that has

  done us in. Your comic, what do

  you call him - (He consults his

  program) - Victor, he makes a

  pretense of wanting to speak to us

  and then into the wings he goes to

  tell his paltry little tales to some

  numbskull flunkey. No, no,

  there 's a limit.

  ELEUTHERIA

  1 45

  GlAZIER

  (To Jacques) You put up with

  being treated in this way?

  jACQUES

  You need a manservant. Allow

  him to have the soul of one.

  GlAZIER

  Wham ! (He covers his eye)

  AuDIENCE MEMBER Such a lack of awareness -

  GlAZIER

  Ultimately you are tiresome, you

  are truly tiresome . You understand nothing of what's going on .

  You get here all frolicking and

  rollicking, your pockets stuffed

  full of solutions. But which ones?

  For ten minutes you've been

  chewing our ear off and we ' re still

  waiting. Aside from your chess

  story, which doesn ' t hang together, you still haven ' t said

  anything that I myself haven ' t

  already said a hundred times over,

  and much better. You ' re disturbing us, that's all. You think he's

  going to confide in you? Of

  course not, you ' re hateful to him,

  one more pain in the ass, no

  more, no less. (He gets up, suddenly furious) But what did you

  come here to do? Just when I was

  in the midst of worming his secrets out of him ! Just when everything was going to work out! (He moves forward) Get the hell out

  of here ! Get the hell out! (He

  turns around at the sound of

  1 46

  SA.1UEL BECKETI

  Victor getting up and clumsily

  springing toward the door. The

  Glazier makes a headlong dash,

  catches Victor, lands him a slap,

  leads him back to the bed, forces

  him to sit down . To Victor) Bastard ! (He raises his hand. Victor

  shrivels up)

  AuDIENCE MEMBER Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Not like

  that! Not like that!

  GLAZIER

  I ' m giving you the floor for the

  last time. Then I ' m booting you

  into the pit, with a kick in the ass,

  in your thousand asses. Gladly!

  Gladly!

  AUDIENCE MEMBER That would be to let all hell break

  loose.

  GLAZIER

  Well then, I ' ll let it break loose ,

  hell, I mean . That will still be

  better than your bleating like a -

  like a season-ticket holder! (He

  bends raging over Victor and

  shakes him) Vermin ! Son of a

  bitch ! Will you speak at last?

  Speak! ( He lets him go all of a

  sudden, collapsing on the bed)

  Victor! (He takes his head in his

  hands)

  AuDIENCE MEMBER (He returns to his chair, leans

  with his fingertips against its back

  in an elegant stance) I will be

  brief. I make out, in this racket,

  two stances confronting each

  ELEUTHERIA

  1 47

  other. I make them out dimly but

  I do make them out. First (To the

  Glazier) yours. About which I

  cannot tell if it is moral, esthetic,

  intellectual or whether it doesn ' t

  stem quite simply from a kind of

  taylorizing sentimentality, so

  vague and entangled are your

  references. And then that, much

  simpler, of Dr. - (He consults his

  program) - Dr. Piouk, who

  seems to believe, in so far as he

  knows French, that one turns away

  from pain as necessarily and, let's

  be fair, with as much blindness as

  the butterfly from the darkness. I

  say confronting each other, but

  they don ' t even confront each

  '

  other. Set forth with vagueness,

  with weariness, they coexist, if you

  can call that coexisting, six of one

  and half a dozen of the other, so

  little does anybody give a damn.

  And it's with that you are laying

  claim to making this unfortunate

  (Program) - this unfortunate

  Victor a figure of farce. (He wipes

  his forehead) But that's just the

  tip of the iceberg. The awful thing

  is that all the time you graze

  something, oh I ' m not saying it's

  important, but it could nonetheless make for our spending a

  1 48

  SAMUEL BECKETT

  halfway decent evening. There's a

  grazing, a grazing, and never a

  touching, it's terrible . (Pause) By

  the way, who put together this

  flop? (Program) Beckett (he says

  Bequet) , Samuel, Bequet, Bequet,

  that's got to be a jew from

  Greenland crossed with an

  Auvergnat.

  GLAZIER

  Don 't know. Appears that he eats

  his soup with a fork.

  AUDIENCE MEMBER No matter. Pulp it. No, but seriously, this could have been really something. Imagine it with clearheaded types, fresh-sounding

  mouthpieces, the two ways of life,

  the two mainsprings, faith and

  pleasure, faith in anything at all

  and the least displeasure, and the

  unfortunate who wants neither

  one nor the other and who goes

  to rack and ruin looking for

  something different. I mean,

  there we would have had ourselves a good laugh . Well then, go

  to hell.

  GLAZIER

  You like states of affairs that are

  straightforward and clear-cut,

  preposterous and side-splitting.

  AUDIENCE MEMBER And what about you?

  GLAZIER

  Oh me, you know, I ' m somebody

  who doesn 't ask for a lot anymore .

  My requirements are shrinking by

  ELEUTHERIA

  1 49

  the minute . The merest

  streetlamp, just something to set

  off the fog, and I ' ll go happy back

  to nothingness.

  AUDIENCE MEMBER Listen. Let's drop the subject of

  what isn ' t and cannot be, unless

  we take everything from the very

  beginning. Let's view things as

  they are .
You want -

  GLAZIER

  Let's view things as they are ! But

  where have you been all your life?

  On the Canebiere?

  AuDIENCE MEMBER You want him to speak, yes or no?

  GLAZIER

  Well! that's an idea. I hadn ' t

  thought o f that.

  AUDIENCE MEMBER Let him tell us a little of what he

  told that would-be music buff.

  What do you think of that?

  GLAZIER

  Why, that's an idea of genius. (He

  turns politely toward Victor, lifting

  his beret) Excuse me, Monsieur.

  (He taps his shoulder) Excuse me,

  Monsieur, forgive me for interrupting your conversation , but if

  you could summarize for us last

  night's pronouncements, made in

  the wings, under the sway of

  alcohol, you would be doing us a

  supremely good turn . (Attitude

  increasingly humble and coaxing)

  A whopping good turn !

  AuDIENCE MEMBER You're going about it like an ass.

  1 50

  SAMUEL BECKETI

  GlAZIER

  ( Going down on his knees, joining his hands) Monsieur! Monsieur! I entreat you ! Have pity, have pity for those who crawl

  around in the darkness. ( He

  makes a show of giving ear)

  Quiet! You ' d think it was Pascal's

  space . (He gets up dejectedly,

  dusts off the knees of his trousers.

  To the Audience member) You

  see. (He reflects) I ' m leaving.

  You're taking my place, aren ' t

  you? Here with him, here ( Gesture toward the audience) with

  them. Thanks in advance .

  AUDIENCE MEMBER Why, you ' re mad ! Is it possible

  you've forgotten? Or that you

  haven't noticed? A thing that's

  right before your very eyes!

  GlAZIER

  I am going back home, to

  Crevecoeur-sur-Auge. Goodnight,

  everybody. (He goes)

  AUDIENCE MEMBER ( So forcefully that he coughs) He

  is afraid of pain ! (The Glazier

  turns around. Coughing fits) It's

  you he said it to ! Imbecile! The

  sole assertion that escaped him !

  GlAZIER

  You're exaggerating.

  AUDIENCE MEMBER His one and only mistake - and

  you don 't take advantage of it!

  (He coughs frenziedly)

  GlAZIER

  Something went down the wrong

  ELEUTHERIA

  1 5 1

  way?

  AUDIENCE MEMBER (Calming down) You'll be telling

  me that it's no longer any use ,

  that it's too late, that we 've lost

  the match. It's possible. It doesn ' t

  matter. I t ' s all you have left, a t the

  point you' re at. You'll be telling

  me that what's said under duress

  has no value whatsoever as evidence. But it does, it does, whatever one says, one gives oneself away.

  (Mme. Piouk rushes in)

  MME. PIOUK

  Andre ! Andre ! Qacques gets up)

  My husband. You haven ' t seen my

  husband?

  GLAZIER

  (To the Audience member) You

  haven ' t seen her husband? No?

  Me neither. (He looks under the

  bed) He isn 't here , Madame.

  MME. PIOUK

  He didn ' t come !

  AuDIENCE MEMBER Why, no, Madame. We were expecting him, even with a certain eagerness, and then we were told

  that he ' d had an attack during the

  night. Of the liver, no doubt. . . ? At

  any rate , it matters little . An attack

  of one sort or another. During the

  night. So we concluded from this

  that he would not be keeping his

  appointment. (To the Glazier)

  Am I right?

  152

  SAMUEL BECKETI

  GlAZIER

  I followed the exact same line of

  reasomng.

  MME. PIOUK

  Yes, indeed. He is very ill. He had

  to stay in bed, with ice packs, on

  his forehead and on his - his

  stomach. I left the room for a

  moment - (She wrings her

  hands) - miserable creature that

  I am, but I couldn ' t do otherwise,

  and when I went back in he wasn 't

  there anymore ! He 'd gotten away!

  Half-undressed! With no hat!

  ( Sobs) Andre ! With no hat! I

  knew he was supposed to be

  coming here this afternoon. So I

  took a taxi. And he's not around !

  GlAZIER

  What a family!

  AUDIENCE MEMBER ( Politely) But doubtless you've

  quite simply gotten here before

  him, Madame. Give him a little

  time. He won 't be long.

  MME. PIOUK

  But he no longer knows what he 's

  doing! It's dreadful !

  AUDIENCE MEMBER ( Shocked) He no longer knows

  what he's doing?

  GlAZIER

  You've been to your sister's, Madame?

  MME. PIOUK

  Violette? No. Why? You believe he

  may have gone there?

  GlAZIER

  Seeing that he doesn 't know what

  he's doing. (Pause) He perhaps

  wanted to ask after her.

  ELEUTHERIA

  1 53

  MME. PIOUK

  But he didn 't even know - yes,

  he knew she was ill. I told him last

  night. But he must have forgotten .

  He ' d forgotten everything. He no

  longer recognized me.

  AtmiENCE MEMBER If he has forgotten everything, the

  chances are slim that he ' ll be

  coming here . Stop and think a

  little, dear lady.

  MME. PIOUK

  But everything may have come

  back to him ! All at once ! (The

  Glazier's hysterical laughter. He

  goes back and forth with wayward

  gestures) What's to be done?

  (This passage comes abruptly to

  an end, as if overrun with a feeling of fatigue and fatuity. A silence. Gestures of helplessness, of indifference, shrugs. Even jacques

  who has been within an inch of

  saying, What if Madame were to

  notify the police? , lifts up his arms

  and drops them listlessly. Mme.

  Piouk completely overcome . She

  goes to the door, hesitates, turns

  around, wants to speak, changes

  her mind, exits. Foreboding that

  the entire play could come to an

  end in the same way)

  jACQUES

  Let me go .

  GLAZIER

  (To the Audience member) Does

  anybody need him anymore?

  AUDIENCE MEMBER I don 't.

  1 54

  SAMUEL BECKETI

  GI.AZIER

  (To Jacques) Then you may go.

  jACQUES

  (To Victor) Monsieur does not

  wish for anything?

  GI.AZIER

  Go, go, go. Monsieur is without

  wishes. Buzz off. Qacques hesitates, looks at Victor with sadness,

  lifts up his arms, exits)

  AUDIENCE MEMBER Come on . One last effort.

  GI.AZIER

  You think so?

  VrcroR

  I am thirsty.

  AUDIENCE MEMBER What did he say.

  GI.AZIER

  That he's thirsty. (Pause) I don 't
r />   know where we were anymore . All

  these interruptions .. .

  AUDIENCE MEMBER H e fears pain.

  GI.AZIER

  Ah yes. Maybe he was lying.

  AUDIENCE MEMBER We 're going to find out.

  GLAZIER

  He can 't be tortured.

  AUDIENCE MEMBER Why not?

  GI.AZIER

  It isn ' t done.

  AUDIENCE MEMBER Since when?

  GI.AZIER

  I couldn 't.

  AUDIENCE MEMBER Me neither.

  GI.AZIER

  Well then?

  AUDIENCE MEMBER You'll find out. (He turns toward

  the stage-box) Tchoutchi ! Come

  along. (Tchoutchi comes down

  onto the stage, steps forward with

  a broad oriental grin) You understand. (Dilatation of grin) You

  have the pincers. (Tchoutchi

  ELEUTHERIA

  1 55

  displays the pincers. To the Glazier) Fill him in .

  GLAZIER

  Victor! (He shakes him) You must

  speak, right now.

  VICTOR

  What?

  GLAZIER

  You must explain yourself.

  VICTOR

  Explain what? I don ' t understand.

  Go away. (A gesture from the

  Audience member: Tchoutchi

  moves forward)

  GLAZIER

  (To the Audience member) He's

  Taoist?

  AUDIENCE MEMBER Unremittingly.

  GLAZIER

  Ow! (Tchoutchi moves forward)

  Victor! Wake up! This time it's

  serious. Your nails are going to be

  torn out. (To Tchoutchi) Isn ' t that

  so?

  TCHOUTCHI

  All flewll llnaills to llstarllt with .

  GLAZIER

  (To Victor) You hear? A few n ails

  to start with .

  (Victor lifts his head, sees the

  Chinaman , smiles at him, pinches

  him, draws back in terror)

  AUDIENCE MEMBER He understands.

  GLAZIER

  (He keeps a strong hold on Victor) Speak! (Tchoutchi moves

  forward)

  VICTOR

  (Frantic) What? Speak of what? I

  don ' t know how to speak. What

  do you want from me? Murderers !

  1 56

  SAMUEL BECKEIT

  AUDIENCE MEMBER (To the Glazier) Ask him some

  questions.

  GLAZIER

  Repeat what you said to Jacques.

  VICTOR

  But I didn ' t say anything to him ! I

  don 't know any more ! I forget!

  What do you all have against me?

  I haven't done anything to you!

  Let me be !

  AUDIENCE MEMBER It's vague. Well, it's beginning to

  flow. (To Tchoutchi) By the way,

  you have the catheter? (Tchoutchi

  takes a broach out of his pocket

  and displays it. Grin)

  GLAZIER

  It is true that he hasn 't done

  anything to us.

  AuDIENCE MEMBER His offense is not to have known

  how to hide. Ask him some ques-

  tions.

  GLAZIER