Howard Barker: Plays Nine. Howard Barker

/ And you were never sentenced /

      ENGINE: Few are / Mr Wardrobe /

      WARDROBE: So I understand / and as a consequence our torment is the greater / if we knew the duration of our punishment / let alone /

      ENGINE: (Admonishing.) Mr Wardrobe /

      WARDROBE: Let alone the offence that gave rise to it /

      ENGINE: Mr Wardrobe / you may not speak contempt /

      WARDROBE: I am articulating the intolerable nature of the conditions under which /

      ENGINE: You are / you are doing exactly that / and it is contempt /

      (WARDROBE disciplines himself. THRASH sorts through his garments, hanging some on hooks, examining others for wear.)

      As I understand it / the Emperor invited Mr Bible and you to visit the frontier /

      WARDROBE: (Forlornly.) Visit /

      ENGINE: And to perform here for the troops / some of whom / and I count myself among them / have deeply appreciated this privilege /

      WARDROBE: Visit /

      ENGINE: Of course the bravura techniques of your playing / and Mr Bible’s innovative poetry / do not appeal to everyone / but I think you will admit /

      WARDROBE: (As if discovering the word.) Visit /

      ENGINE: Even those who find little to enjoy in it / nevertheless /

      WARDROBE: Oh / to visit /

      ENGINE: Are stimulated /

      WARDROBE: Dear God / let me be a visitor /

      (WARDROBE falls back on the cot, gazing at the ceiling. His humour swiftly collapses in bitterness. A great sob rises, which he constrains by a deep breath. Both ENGINE and the OLD WOMAN gaze at him. ENGINE leaves. The wind lifts dead leaves and litter over the floor.)

      THRASH: It’s all right / I love you /

      5

      WARDROBE is motionless. THRASH is tender.

      THRASH: Darling / I do /

      (She gazes. At last WARDROBE turns onto his side to observe her. At the same moment BIBLE lurches into the room, triumphant.)

      BIBLE: I was good / I was very good / if only Sisi could have seen me /

      WARDROBE: (Drily.) If only /

      BIBLE: For one thing / in these poems / I made radical advances in technique / and this was a consequence not of study / or meditation / but of spontaneity / instinct / bad temper / possibly / I was / briefly / or permanently / it’s impossible to judge / delivered from those inhibitions and constraints which / until now / I had submitted to / thinking them necessary disciplines / after all / it is not only choice that makes the poem / but equally / the denial of choice / what one puts in / obviously / but also / what one leaves out / all this I knew / and yet / somehow / abolished / I was reckless / I was rash / I did not weigh words for their suitability / I grabbed them from the darkness / violently / as men might be dragged out of the deepest prisons and flung screaming on their backs / I was / I was /

      (In his exhilaration, BIBLE lifts his hands over his head.)

      WARDROBE: Rash? /

      BIBLE: Rash / yes / I said rash / didn’t I? / and this rashness was wholly correct / after all / under these circumstances / had I been mistaken / how could it matter? / who hears out here? /

      (He looks at WARDROBE.)

      But I was not mistaken /

      (He smiles.)

      Sisi would have /

      (He stops. He lifts his shoulders pitifully.)

      What would Sisi have done? /

      (He taunts himself.)

      SAID THAT’S SHIT / BIBLE / UTTER SHIT THAT STUFF /

      (He shakes his head.)

      But Sisi would be wrong /

      (For a moment BIBLE savours his conviction. His satisfaction rapidly decays.)

      I must lie down /

      (He shrinks.)

      I must lie down /

      (He turns forlornly to WARDROBE.)

      WARDROBE: It’s not your turn /

      BIBLE: It’s not my turn / still I must lie down /

      WARDROBE: Silly /

      BIBLE: Wardrobe /

      WARDROBE: Silly / I said /

      BIBLE: I am in a condition of horrible frailty / Wardrobe /

      WARDROBE: You are / I know /

      BIBLE: The more so because to innovate in poetry / whilst intellectual obviously / drains your physical resources /

      (He half-sobs.)

      My knees are going /

      WARDROBE: Who asked you to innovate? / not me /

      BIBLE: LET ME HAVE THE BED / WARDROBE /

      (By way of reply, WARDROBE turns his back, and plucking up a sheet, examines the enlarged image of SISI’s nakedness. BIBLE wails like a child. THRASH goes to him and in the fashion of a pieta, drapes him across her lap. He falls silent.)

      WARDROBE: It would be very easy for me / every time some weakness overcame you / to concede the bed to you / whether it was your turn or not / but let us admit / the consequences of this generosity would be to shift the weakness from you to me / which is neither sensible / nor just /

      (He lets this sheet fall, and drags up another, which he pretends to peruse.)

      We agreed very early on / in a spirit of profound comradeship / that we had an equal right to life / and an equal right to whatever miserable facilities might serve to preserve it / did we not? /

      (BIBLE snorts.)

      We did / and among these facilities / this wretched bed is uniquely and pitifully significant / I do not recall / when I returned from my recital / you dragging yourself off the bed and surrendering it to me / nor did I plead for it / and I assure you / my shoulders ached worse than your knees /

      BIBLE: (Sullenly.) You don’t know that /

      WARDROBE: Allow me to confirm for you / Bible / that the exhaustion / spiritual and physical / consequent on a public performance given by me / I can’t speak for every soloist / obviously / is vastly more enervating than the mere weariness associated with reading poetry /

      (BIBLE snorts.)

      Yes / and this you were more than willing to admit during the first weeks of our exile / offering / if I recollect precisely / to allow me three spoonfuls of porridge to your every two / yes / yes / a privilege I declined in a spirit of equality which you / apparently / find yourself unable to /

      THRASH: Shh /

      WARDROBE: Imitate /

      THRASH: Shh /

      WARDROBE: Besides / when you came in / you were uncommonly energetic / claiming to have smashed / yet another obstacle / to greater poetry /

      THRASH: Shh /

      WARDROBE: Be quiet / you stink /

      (THRASH accepts the rebuke.)

      This weakness overcame you only when you contemplated the effect this revolution would have on Sisi /

      (He exchanges one photograph for another.)

      Sisi weakens you /

      (Now BIBLE sinks into despair.)

      She does / it’s a fact / she always did / she possesses an extraordinary talent for weakening you /

      THRASH: Shh / shh /

      WARDROBE: