The Ride Across Lake Constance and Other Plays by Peter Handke Page B

of the right sofa leans a guitar in a bag embroidered like the tea cozy. Beneath the sections of the staircase hang two pictures on the wall concealed behind white sheets. Downstage to the extreme right, in line with the table, is a Japanese screen of the kind one usually sets up in front of beds. It is small and has three panels; two of them are slightly pushed together, the third is open and visible to the audience. The screen has the same pattern and color as the back wall.
    All objects are in such a position that it would be difficult to imagine them standing elsewhere; it is as though they could not bear being moved ever so slightly. Everything appears as though rooted to the spot, not only the objects themselves but also the distances and empty spaces between them.
    The light is that of early morning.
    After the curtain has opened, two portieres to the right and left of the proscenium are revealed, as portieres to a chambre séparée.
    A WOMAN, her hair wrapped in a WHITE SCARF , moves
quickly but not hastily among the objects with a vacuum cleaner. She is in blackface. The vacuum cleaner, which was turned on the moment the curtain began to open, makes a more or less steady noise.
    On a fauteuil beside the table, his legs on the appropriate footstool, sits EMIL JANNINGS , his eyes closed. He is quite fat. His boots stand next to the stool. He is wearing red silk socks, black pants, a light-colored shirt, open at the collar. He seems costumed although only hints of a costume are visible: rather long frills on the sleeves of the silk shirt, a wine-red silk sash around his stomach.
    He is heavily made up, the eyebrows are painted. On the right hand, whose nails are lacquered black, he wears several large rings.
    He has not moved since the curtain opened, and the WOMAN has nearly completed her work. Pushing the vacuum cleaner back and forth near the newspaper table with one hand, she turns on the record player with the other.
    However, one hears only a few isolated sounds; the vacuum cleaner is too noisy.
    She takes the cleaner to the back wall and turns it off so that the music becomes audible: “The Garden Is Open” by T. Kupferberg. She pulls the plug out of the socket, rolls it up on the machine, and places the machine behind the tapestry door.
    While the record continues to play, she walks from object to object and takes off the dropcloths, except those on the paintings and on the statue. Although she moves fairly slowly, her work is proceeding quite rapidly; at least, one barely notices it. She pulls the cover from under EMIL JANNINGS with a single movement and walks off to the left while the record is still playing.
    Then nothing moves onstage for a while except for the record.
    The record player turns itself off, and after a moment JANNINGS slowly opens his eyes.

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    JANNINGS
    ( With a cracked voice ) As I said—(He clears his throat once and repeats in a firm voice .) As I said. ( Pause. ) A bad moment. ( Someone behind the screen with a cracked voice: “Why?” He clears his throat twice; the second time he does so he steps out from behind the screen, repeats then in a firm voice : “Why?” It is HEINRICH GEORGE, quite fat, his clothes also suggesting a costume, with braids trimming his jacket and with lace-up shoes. He stands there . JANNINGS has turned his head away slightly .) It’s over already.
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    GEORGE
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    ( Takes a step toward JANNINGS and collapses . As he slowly rises again ) My foot has fallen asleep.
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    JANNINGS
    ( Reaches for the cigar box. He lifts it but cannot hold on to it so that it falls to the floor .) So has my hand. (GEORGE carefully walks up to JANNINGS, stops next to him. Both of them glance at each other for the first time, then look away again. GEORGE leans against the edge of the table, now sits down on it. The cigar box is lying on the floor between them. Both look at it . JANNINGS turns his head toward GEORGE. GEORGE slides of the table