A converted farmhouse.
A long window up centre. Bedroom door up left.
Front door up right.
Spare modern furniture.
Two sofas. An armchair.
Autumn. Night.
Act One
Light dim. Three figures discovered.
DEELEY slumped in armchair, still.
KATE curled on a sofa, still.
ANNA standing at the window, looking out.
Silence.
Lights up on DEELEY and KATE, smoking cigarettes.
ANNA's figure remains still in dim light at the window.
KATE
(reflectively)
Dark
Pause.
DEELEY
Fat or thin?
KATE
Fuller than me. I think.
Pause.
DEELEY
She was then?
KATE
I think so.
DEELEY
She may not be now.
Pause.
Was she your best friend?
KATE
Oh, what does that mean?
DEELEY
What?
KATE
The word friend … when you look back … all that time.
DEELEY
Can't you remember what you felt?
Pause.
KATE
It is a very long time.
DEELEY
But you remember her. She remembers you. Or why would she be coming here tonight?
KATE
I suppose because she remembers me.
Pause.
DEELEY
Did you think of her as your best friend?
KATE
She was my only friend.
DEELEY
Your best and only.
KATE
My one and only.
Pause.
If you have only one of something you can't say it's the best of anything.
DEELEY
Because you have nothing to compare it with?
KATE
Mmnn.
Pause.
DEELEY
(smiling)
She was incomparable.
KATE
Oh, I'm sure she wasn't.
Pause.
DEELEY
I didn't know you had so few friends.
KATE
I had none. None at all. Except her.
DEELEY
Why her?
KATE
I don't know.
Pause.
She was a thief. She used to steal things.
DEELEY
Who from?
KATE
Me.
DEELEY
What things?
KATE
Bits and pieces. Underwear.
DEELEY chuckles.
DEELEY
Will you remind her?
KATE
Oh … I don't think so.
Pause.
DEELEY
Is that what attracted you to her?
KATE
What?
DEELEY
The fact that she was a thief.
KATE
No.
Pause.
DEELEY
Are you looking forward to seeing her?
KATE
No.
DEELEY
I am. I shall be very interested.
KATE
In what?
DEELEY
In you. I'll be watching you.
KATE
Me? Why?
DEELEY
To see if she's the same person.
KATE
You think you'll find that out through me?
DEELEY
Definitely.
Pause.
KATE
I hardly remember her. I've almost totally forgotten her.
Pause.
DEELEY
Any idea what she drinks?
KATE
None.
DEELEY
She may be a vegetarian.
KATE
Ask her.
DEELEY
It's too late. You've cooked your casserole.
Pause.
Why isn't she married? I mean, why isn't she bringing her husband?
KATE
Ask her.
DEELEY
Do I have to ask her everything?
KATE
Do you want me to ask your questions for you?
DEELEY
No. Not at all.
Pause.
KATE
Of course she's married.
DEELEY
How do you know?
KATE
Everyone's married.
DEELEY
Then why isn't she bringing her husband?
KATE
Isn't she?
Pause.
DEELEY
Did she mention a husband in her letter?
KATE
No.
DEELEY
What do you think he'd be like? I mean, what sort of man would she have married? After all, she was your best – your only – friend. You must have some idea. What kind of man would he be?
KATE
I have no idea.
DEELEY
Haven't you any curiosity?
KATE
You forget. I know her.
DEELEY
You haven't seen her for twenty years.
KATE
You've never seen her. There's a difference.
Pause.
DEELEY
At least the casserole is big enough for four.
KATE
You said she was a vegetarian.
Pause.
DEELEY
Did she have many friends?
KATE
Oh … the normal amount, I suppose.
DEELEY
Normal? What's normal? You had none.
KATE
One.
DEELEY
Is that normal?
Pause.
She … had quite a lot of friends, did she?
KATE
Hundreds.
DEELEY
You met them?
KATE
Not all, I think. But after all, we were living together. There were visitors, from time to time. I met them.
DEELEY
Her visitors?
KATE
What?
DEELEY
Her visitors. Her friends. You had no friends.
KATE
Her friends, yes.
DEELEY
You met them.
Pause.
(abruptly) You lived together?
KATE
Mmmnn?
DEELEY
You lived together?
KATE
Of course.
DEELEY
I didn't know that.
KATE
Didn't you?
DEELEY
You never told me that. I thought you just knew each other.
KATE
We did.
DEELEY
But in fact you lived with each other.
KATE
Of course we did. How else would she steal my underwear from me? In the street?
Pause.
DEELEY
I knew you had shared with someone at one time …
Pause.
But I didn't know it was her.
KATE
Of course it was.
Pause.
DEELEY
Anyway, none of this matters.
ANNA turns from the window, speaking, and moves down to them, eventually sitting on the second sofa.
ANNA
Queuing all night, the rain, do you remember? my goodness, the Albert Hall, Covent Garden, what did we eat? to look back, half the night, to do things we loved, we were young then of course, but what stamina, and to work in the morning, and to a concert, or the opera, or the ballet, that night, you haven't forgotten? and then riding on top of the bus down Kensington High Street, and the bus conductors, and then dashing for the matches for the gas fire and then I suppose scrambled eggs, or did we? who cooked? both giggling and chattering, both huddling to the heat, then bed and sleeping, and all the hustle and bustle in the morning, rushing for the bus again for work, lunchtimes in Green Park, exchanging all our news, with our very own sandwiches, innocent girls, innocent secretaries, and then the night to come, and goodness knows what excitement in store, I mean the sheer expectation of it all, the looking-forwardness of it all, and so poor, but to be poor and young, and a girl, in London then … and the cafés we found, almost private ones, weren't they? where artists and writers and sometimes actors collected, and others with dancers, we sat hardly breathing with our coffee, heads bent, so as not to be seen, so as not to disturb, so as not to distract, and listened and listened to all those words, all those cafés and all those people, creative undoubtedly, and does it still exist I wonder? do you know? can you tell me?
Slight pause.
DEELEY
We rarely get to London.
KATE stands, goes to a small table and pours coffee from a pot.
KATE
Yes, I remember.
She adds milk and sugar to one cup and takes it to ANNA. She takes a black coffee to DEELEY and then sits with her own.
DEELEY
(to ANNA)
Do you drink brandy?
ANNA
I would love some brandy.
DEELEY pours brandy for all and hands the glasses. He remains standing with his own.
ANNA
Listen. What silence. Is it always as silent?
DEELEY
It's quite silent here, yes. Normally.
Pause.
You can hear the sea sometimes if you listen very carefully.
ANNA
How wise you were to choose this part of the world, and how sensible and courageous of you both to stay permanently in such a silence.
DEELEY
My work takes me away quite often, of course. But Kate stays here.
ANNA
No one who lived here would want to go far. I would not want to go far, I would be afraid of going far, lest when I returned the house would be gone.
DEELEY
Lest?
ANNA
What?
DEELEY
The word lest. Haven't heard it for a long time.
Pause.
KATE
Sometimes I walk to the sea. There aren't many people. It's a long beach.
Pause.
ANNA
But I would miss London, nevertheless. But of course I was a girl in London. We were girls together.
DEELEY
I wish I had known you both then.
ANNA
Do you?
DEELEY
Yes.
DEELEY pours more brandy for himself.
ANNA
You have a wonderful casserole.
DEELEY
What?
ANNA
I mean wife. So sorry. A wonderful wife.
DEELEY
Ah.
ANNA
I was referring to the casserole. I was referring to your wife's cooking,
DEELEY
You're not a vegetarian, then?
ANNA
No. Oh no.
DEELEY
Yes, you need good food in the country, substantial food, to keep you going, all the air … you know.
Pause.
KATE
Yes, I quite like those kind of things, doing it.
ANNA
What kind of things?
KATE
Oh, you know, that sort of thing.
Pause.
DEELEY
Do you mean cooking?
KATE
All that thing.
ANNA
We weren't terribly elaborate in cooking, didn't have the time, but every so often dished up an incredibly enormous stew, guzzled the lot, and then more often than not sat up half the night reading Yeats.
Pause.
(to herself) Yes. Every so often. More often than not.
ANNA stands, walks to the window.
And the sky is so still.
Pause.
Can you see that tiny ribbon of light? Is that the sea? Is that the horizon?
DEELEY
You live on a very different coast.
ANNA
Oh, very different. I live on a volcanic island.
DEELEY
I know it.
ANNA
Oh, do you?
DEELEY
I've been there.
Pause.
ANNA
I'm so delighted to be here.
DEELEY
It's nice I know for Katey to see you. She hasn't many friends.
ANNA
She has you.
DEELEY
She hasn't made many friends, although there's been every opportunity for her to do so.
ANNA
Perhaps she has all she wants.
DEELEY
She lacks curiosity.
ANNA
Perhaps she's happy.
Pause.
KATE
Are you talking about me?
DEELEY
Yes.
ANNA
She was always a dreamer.
DEELEY
She likes taking long walks. All that. You know. Raincoat on. Off down the lane, hands deep in pockets. All that kind of thing.
ANNA turns to look at KATE.
ANNA
Yes.
DEELEY
Sometimes I take her face in my hands and look at it.
ANNA
Really?
DEELEY
Yes, I look at it, holding it in my hands. Then I kind of let it go, take my hands away, leave it floating.
KATE
My head is quite fixed. I have it on.
DEELEY
(to ANNA)
It just floats away.
ANNA
She was always a dreamer.
ANNA sits.
Sometimes, walking, in the park, I'd say to her, you're dreaming, you're dreaming, wake up, what are you dreaming? and she'd look round at me, flicking her hair, and look at me as if I were part of her dream.
Pause.
One day she said to me, I've slept through Friday. No you haven't, I said, what do you mean? I've slept right through Friday, she said. But today is Friday, I said, it's been Friday all day, it's now Friday night, you haven't slept through Friday. Yes I have, she said, I've slept right through it, today is Saturday.
DEELEY
You mean she literally didn't know what day it was?
ANNA
No.
KATE
Yes I did. It was Saturday.
Pause.
DEELEY
What month are we in?
KATE
September.
Pause.
DEELEY
We're forcing her to think. We must see you more often. You're a healthy influence.
ANNA
But she was always a charming companion.
DEELEY
Fun to live with?
ANNA
Delightful.
DEELEY
Lovely to look at, delightful to know.
ANNA
Ah, those songs. We used to play them, all of them, all the time, late at night, lying on the floor, lovely old things. Sometimes I'd look at her face, but she was quite unaware of my gaze.
DEELEY
Gaze?
ANNA
What?
DEELEY
The word gaze. Don't hear it very often.
ANNA
Yes, quite unaware of it. She was totally absorbed.
DEELEY
In 'Lovely to look at, delightful to know?'
KATE
(to ANNA)
I don't know that song. Did we have it?
DEELEY
(singing, to KATE)
You're lovely to look at, delightful to know …
ANNA
Oh we did. Yes, of course. We had them all.
DEELEY
(singing)
Blue moon, I see you standing alone …
ANNA
(singing)
The way you comb your hair …
DEELEY
(singing)
Oh no they can't take that away from me …
ANNA
(singing)
Oh but you're lovely, with your smile so warm …
DEELEY
(singing)
I've got a woman crazy for me.
