History of Western Theatre: 17th Century to Now/English Post-WWII
The post-World War II British period started much the same as the pre-war period with Terence Rattigan (1911-1977), famous for "The deep blue sea" (1952) and "Separate tables" (1954) and Robert Bolt (1924-1995) for "A man for all seasons" (1960), based on the life of Thomas More (1478-1535).
Then the Kitchen Sink School took control with Harold Pinter (1930-2008), John Osborne (1929-1994), Arnold Wesker (1932-?), Edward Bond (1934-?), Shelagh Delaney (1939-?), and the Irish playwright, Brendan Behan (1923-1964), most of whose best plays seem to arise from the start of their careers.
Vastly influential plays by Pinter include "The homecoming" (1965), "Old times" (1971), and "No man's land" (1975). In his first plays, Pinter describes a Kafka-like atmosphere of paranoid behavior. Pinteresque mannerisms in speech occur, in which little new information is conveyed and terms are needlessly repeated.
Of importance as well are the following plays: "Look back in anger" (1956) by Osborne, "Saved" (1965) by Bond, "Chicken soup with barley" (1958) by Wesker, "A taste of honey" (1958) by Delaney, "The hostage" (1958) by Behan.
More recent playwrights with worthy plays include Joe Orton (1933-1967) with "Loot" (1966), Peter Nichols (1927-?) with "A day in the death of Joe Egg" (1967), Peter Barnes (1931-2004) with "The ruling class" (1968), Simon Gray (1936-2008) with "Butley" (1971), David Hare (1947-?) with "The secret rapture" (1988), Martin McDonagh (1970-?) with "The cripple of Inishmaan" (1996), William Nicholson (1948-?) with "The retreat from Moscow" (1999).
"Separate tables"
"Separate tables". Time: 1950s. Place: Near Bournemouth.
John, a journalist, unexpectantly meets his ex-wife, Anne, in a hotel. She has since divorced a second time, obtaining little, as she says, in the way of alimony. Because John had hit her head, sending her to a hospital, the divorce had destroyed his political career. Since then, he entertains amorous relations with Patricia, the proprietess of the hotel. Anne is lonely and with age this state is likely to worsen. Pointing to the dining-room, she says: "I can just see myself in a few years' time at one of those separate tables." She invites her ex-husband in her room, and, after some hesitation, he accepts, but his progress is impeded by Patricia, who reveals that Anne is on the telephone with his editor. When John confronts Anne, he learns she has lied about their apparently chance meeting, for she knew in advance where he would be. She also lied about the amount of the alimony, being twice the one mentioned. In spite of these lies, John is still subjugated to her, and accepts continuing their relation. "You realise, don't you, that we haven't much hope together?" he queries, to which she answers: "Have we all that much apart?" Meanwhile, a man known as Major David Pollock is looking feverishly for a copy of the local paper belonging to Mrs Railton-Bell. Before he can take off with it, she enters with her daughter, Sibyl. He asks to borrow it and she accepts, until discovering the very same paper on the floor, which the major inadvertently dropped. The major is forced to give the paper back, in which she learns that David has been held over for sexual harassment towards a woman at a cinema-house. Moreover, the major is no major but a lieutenant. The indignant Mrs Railton-Bell consults with the other regulars at the hotel about what to do, she being in favor of chucking the major out. Three other people agree, only a medical student, Charles, being against it. Sibyl is the one most distressed by these news, she being a particular friend of the false major: "It makes me sick," she repeatedly says, in rising tones of hysteria. Though voting against him, Mr Fowler, a former housemaster, ruefully admits: "The trouble about being on the side of right, as one sees it, is that one sometimes finds oneself in the company of such questionable allies." David reappears with an air of pathetic jauntiness, until confronted by the despairing Sybil, who asks him pointedly why did he do such a thing. He answers he has always been shy towards the opposite sex:: "It has to be in the dark, you see, and a stranger, because-" Sybil puts her hands to her ears. When asked why such lies, he responds: "I don't like myself as I am, I suppose, so I've had to invent another person." Despite Patricia's mild protests, he announces his intention to leave. At dinner, each at their separate tables, everyone is silent as David enters. Not surprisingly, Charles greets him, followed by a woman indifferent to these goings-on. Then Fowler imitates them, followed by Gladys, Mrs Railton-Bell's close friend, and finally Sybil, in defiance of her mother. Suddenly, the occupants of the separate tables are not so separate anymore.
"A man for all seasons"
"A man for all seasons". Time: 1530s and 1540s. Place: London, England.
Cardinal Wolsey asks Sir Thomas More's support of King Henry VIII's repudiation of Catherine of Aragon in favor of Anne Boleyn, to obtain a male heir to the throne. More does not agree, specifying that when statesmen act against their conscience "they lead their country by a short route to chaos". Yet it is done. After Cardinal Wolsey's death, his secretary, Thomas Cromwell, rises in power. Against his wishes, More is named chancellor of Engand. King Henry specifies he will tolerate no obstruction in the succession, but since he will be silent in the matter, More says to his family: "I truly believe no man in England is safer than myself." He will not write against the Act of Supremacy, as this may be got around by its wording and refuses any dealing with Spain, yet the severing with Rome prompts his resignation as chancellor. Cromwell seeks to trap him with charges of bribery. More refuses to receive money from the bishops, charity sometimes interpreted as payment. Cromwell is unable to trap him legally, but reveals that the king is displeased with him. Fearing for his friends, More requests the duke of Norfolk to see him no more. Norfolk is named on the commission to inquire about More's opinions with Cromwell and Thomas Cramner, archbishop of Canterbury. More refuses to sign his agreement with the Act of Succession but without divulging why. He is imprisoned for over a year in a pitiful cell. Although the commission can never force him to say why, he is illegally condemned to death. On his way to the gallows, a woman reminds him of a false judgment pronounced against her, to which he comments: "Woman, you see how I am occupied."
"The homecoming"
"The homecoming". Time: 1960s. Place: London, England.
After a six year absence in the USA, Teddy returns for a short holiday with his wife, Ruth, to his father's house. A retired butcher, Max cooks for his brother, Sam, and two other sons, Lenny and Joey. Without warning anybody of his arrival, Teddy enters at night with a key he still held on to. No family member is aware he is married with three children. Teddy having retired to sleep, Lenny finds Ruth alone. Alhough he tells her threatening stories of how he handles women, Ruth is unafraid. As he is about to take away her glass of water despite her objections, Ruth says: "If you take the glass, I'll take you." Lenny wonders whether that is "some kind of proposal". The next morning, Max immediately assumes that Ruth is Teddie's whore and wants to chuck both out. Joey comments: "You're an old man," which so infuriates his father that he hits him hard in the stomach and then strikes Sam's head with a stick when he approaches him. That afternoon, Max becomes reconciled to the couple's existence, announcing: "I want you both to know you have my blessing." Lenny mocks at Teddy's knowledge as a university professor in the philosophy department. Altogether, Teddy feels threatened, suggesting to his wife that they should go at once, but she does not want to. The feeling is increased by seeing Lenny dance with Ruth and kiss her. He defends himself only by boasting of his knowledge in philosophy. That evening, Lenny is upset at discovering Teddy stole the cheese-roll he prepared for himself, the latter adding he did it deliberately. They are interrupted by Joey, who has been with Ruth for two hours, though admitting he did not go all the way, at which Teddy sarcastically comments: "Perhaps he hasn't got the right touch." But Lenny denies this, having accompanied his brother in the company of women. When Lenny comments that Teddy "gets the gravy" from his wife and Sam finds that normal, Joey denies it. When Max decides: "Perhaps it's not a bad idea to have a woman in the house," Lenny has the idea of having Ruth pay for her upkeep by allowing her an apartment where she can whore for them, to which Joey objects, not wishing to share her, an opinion that is rejected by his father. Intimidated, Teddy says little to this plan. When Ruth hears of this idea, she negotiates for the number of rooms and for new clothes. Feeling sickly, Sam cries out that long ago Max' wife committed adultery in his taxi cab, then has a stroke, but helped out by none. As Teddy prepares to leave, she calls out: "Eddie! Don't become a stranger." Although his two remaining sons seem fairly content, Max weeps, likely because he is unable to participate directly in the action.
"Old times"
"Old times". Time: 1970s. Place: England.
Deeley and Kate receive the visit of her girlhood friend, Anna. He asks Anna questions about Kate, surprised to learn she sometimes would not know the day of the week, having the false impression of sleeping through entire days. They revive old times, Deeley and Anna singing different songs. Deeley first met Kate in a cinema-house watching: "Odd man out", where he was "off center and has remained so". He is puzzled when Anna comments: "There are things I remember which may never have happened but as I recall them so they take place," notably about a man crying in the room she and Kate lived in. As Anna's voice caresses Kate, Deeley warns her to stop it. Not to be deterred, to mark a claim on her, Anna specifies she once saw a film with her, called: "Odd man out". Deely quickly changes the subject. As Anna and Kate talk, Deeley tries to break up the conversation with absurd comments. The two women continue as if they had gone back to living together again in the past, as helpless Deeley can only look on. As Kate takes a bath, Deeley mentions that he and Anna have met before, at a tavern when he, short of seducing her, spent a good amount of time looking up her skirt. When Kate comes out, he suggests Anna might dry her, or at least supervise his drying her. Deeley and Anna take turns singing again, this time the same song, resembling a serenade. In a short while, Anna and Kate are at it again, as if living in the past. Anna reminds her- did it happen?- that Anna once borrowed Kate's underwear and that a man spent an evening looking up her skirt. Deeley is starting to worry about Anna's husband: should she not go to him? On one side, Kate cuts him short: "If you don't like it, go," and on the other says to Anna: "I remember you dead," seeming to reject both. Deeley sobs, as perhaps he did in their room years ago.
"No man's land"
"No man's land". Time: 1970s. Place: England.
Two poets together, Hirst invites Spooner to his house to drink. Spooner points out: "My only security, you see, my true comfort and solace, rests in the confirmation that I elicit from people of all kinds a common and constant level of indifference." Hirst switches from vodka to what Spooner is drinking, whiskey, but this weakens him. Spooner continues: "I have never been loved. From this I derive my strength." He questions Hirst about his wife. Angered, Hirst ineffectually throws his glass at him and says: "Tonight, my friend, you find me in the last lap of a race I had long forgotten to run," to which Spooner ironically comments: "A metaphor! Things are looking up." Hirst drops to the floor and crawls out. Hirst's friends and associates, Foster and Briggs, wonder about who Spooner is and what is he doing here. Briggs recognizes him: "You collect the beer mugs in a pub in Chalk Farm." Spooner explains that matter by saying he is the proprietor's friend and only wished to help him out temporarily, but Foster knows the owner and has never heard of Spooner. When Hirst returns, he does not remember who Spooner is. Hirst recalls his dream about a man in the water, at which Spooner comments: "It was I drowning in your dream." To Foster and Briggs' disapproval, he requests to become Hirst's personal secretary, but is not encouraged by Hirst's replies. After the other two leave, Foster turns out the lights on Spooner. The next morning, Spooner eats and drinks champagne at breakfast, joined by the others. Spooner says he must be off at a board meeting of a poetry magazine at Chalk Farm, but stays awhile after being recognized by Hirst, who remembers seducing his wife long ago. Hirst points out: "I see a fellow reduced. I feel sorry for you. Where is the moral ardor that sustained you once? Down the hatch." In a final attempt to interest him, Spooner says he organizes poetry readings at a public house, the landlord being a friend of his, and would have Hirst there reading from his works, but Hirst says he'll change the subject for the last time, then wonders about what he just said, repeated by Foster, Hirst still wondering about the meaning of that statement. Hirst hears sounds, sees himself walking by a lake, a man perhaps drowning, but there is no one, to which Spooner comments: "You are in no man's land, which never moves, which never changes, which never grows older, but which remains forever, icy and silent." "I'll drink to that," approves Hirst.
"Look back in anger"
"Look back in anger". Time: 1950s. Place: English Midlands.
In an attic room from income derived from a stall in the market-place, he and his friend, Cliff, read newspapers while Alison irons shirts. He belittles her, mainly for being pusillanimous, and initiates mock-fighting till the ironing board overturns and she burns her arm. He goes out to play the trumpet. Alison tells Cliff she is pregnant. He urges her to tell Jimmy. Instead, she tells him her friend Helena is coming to stay awhile at their appartment, a woman he hates. One week later, Alison reveals to Helena the nature of her relation to Jimmy, intially a defiant gesture against her upper-class family in accepting a lower-class man and his own defiant attitude to modern life. Helena suggests she defend herself against him better. Jimmy enters to complain and rant again, even more bitterly against Helena. When the women prepare for church, he feels betrayed and leaves before they do. Helena tells Alison she has called her parents to take her away from him, to which she agrees. Her father is set to go with her, while Helena stays, a surprising choice in Alison's view. Helena is still there when Jimmy reads Alison's farewell note. She tells him his departed wife is pregnant. They hit each other, then kiss and fall on the bed. Several months later, Helena is ironing and laughing with Jimmy and Cliff. The latter decides to leave fro a place of his own. As Jimmy opens the door for a final night out, he finds Alison, not looking well, and leaves without speaking to her. Alison reveals to Helena she had a miscarriage. Saddened by Alison's unhappy state, Helena wishes to leave Jimmy, to which he sarcastically agrees. Jimmy and Alison decide to renew married life, reviving their old game of bears and squirrels.
"Saved"
"Saved". Time: 1960s. Place; London, England.
Although their baby is crying, Pam and Len are too lazy to get up. Pam wants Len out, but he, being reliable in his payments as a lodger at her parents' house, Harry and Mary do not want to. Pam offers him the baby to go away with, but he prefers to stay. She replaces him with Fred, who then neglects her. In an effort to have him visit her, she says the baby is his, but he is not influenced. Angrily, she leaves the pram behind with him and his friend, Mike, in the street. Three other toughs arrive and look curiously at the baby inside. Annoyed by Colin, Barry angrily projects the pram towards him but hits Pete, who violently sends it back. Out of curiosity, Pete then pulls at the baby's hair. For fun, Barry pinches it, removes the diaper, and throws it in the air. Thinking babies feel nothing, he punches it, as do Barry and Colin. Then all throw stones at it and Mike flaming matches, Len at a distance looking and not interfering. Pam eventually returns, without looking inside saying to it: "Lucky yer got someone t'look after yer." The baby dies, Fred being the only one to receive a jail-sentence. After getting out, he wants no more to do with her. Pam keeps nagging for Len to go away but is ignored. On her way out one evening, Mary notices a run in her stockings, mended by helpful Len with his needle. Harry enters and sees the equivocal scene, his only comment being: "Go easy". Later, Harry quarrels with Mary, during which she throws a tea pot filled with boiling water at him. Len packs his bags to live elsewhere, but is dissuaded from leaving by a sympathetic Harry.
"Chicken soup with barley"
"Chicken soup with barley". Time: 1930s-1950s. Place: London, England.
In 1936, members of the socialist party and other groups seek to prevent a meeting among fascist members and are successful, despite arrests and violence erupting. In 1946, Ronnie, only a child ten years before, carries on the family tradition by distributing leaflets announcing May Day demonstrations. His older ssister, Ada, is no longer interested in such activity, declaring "The only rotten society is an industrial society," and so she plans with her husband Dave, still in Spain to combat fascists, to move into the country. Their mother, Sarah, complains of her husband's apathy: "When did you last change your shirt?" she asks him. She remonstrates and nags till she sees him suffer a stroke. In 1947, Harry cannot keep any job long and merely shuffles about. Ronnie is a bookshop assistant and plans to write poetry and novels, while Sarah is stuck with her apathetic Harry: "He sits and sits and sits and all his life goes away from him," she says. When Harry holds a letter written to the hospital about his health but not meant to be read by him, Ronnie prevents his reading it, but then is frightened while hearing him shout. In 1955, Harry's condiiton has worsened after two strokes, being half-paralyzed, incontinent, and demented. Ronnie has gone off as a cook in Paris. When Sarah receives the visit of her old party member, Monty, now a greengrocer. she learns he has abandoned it. He says: "It's all broken up, then? "What's broken up about it?" she responds. "The fight still goes on." In the midst of their conversation, Harry whines that he must go out, dragged by Sarah to prevent an incontinence attack. In 1956, while playing cards, Sarah complains her glasses fall in her mouth but was told she could not exchange them since they are National Health ones, but intends to fight their officials as she has always done. Ronnie returns from France, but unlike his cheerful letters, he admits: "I hated the kitchen." He wonders: "What has happened to all the comrades, Sarah?" admitting to have lost his faith and ambition. Sarah complains that most are satisfied with "a few shillings at the bank" and a television set. Her belief rests on help once received from a friend when Ada was sick with diphtheria. The woman offered chicken soup and barley at a time when Harry refused to take her to the hospital. Seeing her Ronnie beginning to show signs of apathy, she cries out in fear: "Ronnie, if you don't care, you'll die."
"A taste of honey"
"A taste of honey". Time: 1950s. Place: Manchester, England.
Helen, a "semi-whore", enters a new apartment with her daughter, Jo. Helen is in ill temper because of a cold and Jo is no help, criticizing the shabby state of the apartment. They receive a surprise visit from Peter, a brash car salesman, who seduces Helen in front of her daughter. Later, Jo is wooed by Jimmy, a black sailor, who asks her to marry him. After he leaves, Jo speaks favorably of him to her mother. Jo learns that Peter and Helen will marry. Jo meets her sailor-boy once more, who cuddles up to her more comfortably. After Jimmy embraces her, Jo warns him : "Don't do that." "Why not?" he asks. Because, says Jo: "I like it." Later, Helen confronts her daughter about the ring she is wearing, the boy's wedding present. When she finds out the truth, Helen is outraged, advising Jo not to repeat the mistakes of her own youth. Several months later, the sailor is sailing and Jo is pregnant. While Helen is off with Peter, Jo meets a new friend, Geoff, a homosexual who takes care of during the pregnancy. He even asks her to marry him, but she refuses, specifying: "I hate love." Nevertheless, she is glad to have him as "a big sister". When she is nearing delivery, a nervous Geoff asks Helen to see her. But when Helen arrives, she wishes only to get rid of him, an attitude aggressively supported by Peter, who "can't stand 'em at any price". Later, her marriage with Peter over, Helen decides to stay with her daughter alone. Geoff declines to resist, so that mother and daughter, despite mutual dislike, are reunited.
"The hostage"
"The hostage". Time: 1950s. Place: Dublin, Ireland.
Pat and Meg, an unmarried couple, keep a brothel-house for Monseuwer, the owner, believing himself to be in charge of a military campaign. One of the tenants, Mulleady, has entered his companion, Miss Gilchrist, inside his room, to Meg's disapproval. When called down, Miss Gilchrist says she must first complete her first novena. Pat harasses the homosexual Rio Rita for rent-money. An Irish Republican Army (IRA) officer and volunteer arrive, to check out the house for their purposes. An IRA member has been captured by British troops and is condemned to death in Belfast jail. In reprisal, the IRA capture a British soldier, Leslie, to be kept as hostage in the brothel-house. The British hostage is befriended by nearly every Irish tenant, especially Teresa, a skivvy (servant), who eventually sleeps with him. Pat asks the IRA officer for rent-money, but is sarcastically answered, since "the hearts of all true Irishman are beating for us". The IRA member is condemned to die, the hostage cannot escape, and is shot to death by IRA members.
"Loot"
"Loot". Time: 1960s. Place: England.
Hall and Dennis have robbed a bank next door to where the latter works as an undertaker. On the day of his mother's funeral, Hall takes out the corpse with Dennis' help and puts the money inside the coffin, placing the body in a wardrobe. A man named Truscott identifies himself as a member of the water board and starts to investigate. The dead woman's nurse, Fay, announces to the widowed husband, McCleavy, that his wife changed her will in her favor, then proposes marriage to him, to Dennis' disappointment. By asking Hall a few questions, Fay quickly discovers his part in the bank robbery and where the money is, promising to keep quiet for one third of the haul. She takes out the corpse and wraps it in bandages, to be disposed of later. The suspicious Truscott orders the wardrobe to be opened, but finds it empty. When asked what the disguised corpse is, Fay answers: "It's not a mummy. It's a dummy," which she uses for sewing. Truscott narrowly interrogates Hall, and, not satisfied with the answers, hits him on the neck and kicks him when he is down. On the way to the cemetery, Hall and Dennis have a road-side accident and are forced to return in the room with the coffin. Truscott find a glass eye on the floor, which he assumes dropped from the dummy. Truscott then interrogates Fay and discovers she murdered Mrs McCleavy. However, he is unable to prove it, because, during the accident, the contents of the casket containing the remains were destroyed. When told about the glass eye, McCleavy assumes it dropped from the corpse, unscrews the coffin lid, and staggers in disbelief on discovering what is inside. With Truscott and McCleavy away, the robbers agree to put the money in the casket and the corpse in the coffin, but their plot is foiled when Truscott asks for the casket, to certify it as being empty. He discovers the money, but Hall succeeds in bribing him. For their safety, Hall suggests he may arrest his father on a trumped-up charge. Truscott agrees.
"A day in the death of Joe Egg"
"A day in the death of Joe Egg". Time: 1960s. Place: England.
On returning home from work, Brian wishes to make love to his wife, Sheila, but she has no time, all the more so as their 10-year-old daughter, Josephine, a blind spastic quadraplegic susceptible to epileptic seizures, must be fed, bathed, exercised, and put to bed. Sheila notices she is wet below and wonders how in the special daycare center they could have left her daughter "sit like Joe Egg in the damp all day". The couple remind themselves of her slow birth, with Brian specifying: "Though not a religious man- for everyday purposes the usual genuflections to Esso Petroleum and M.G.M.- I don't mind admitting it, I prayed." In his anguish, preferring his child die rather than his wife, he imagined God saying: "I'll fix that bastard." "And he did," notes Brian. He play-acts their German doctor: "Do you know vot I mean ven I say your daughter vos a wegetable?- Still is, still is. I have trouble with vis Englisch werbs." Then play-acts the vicar, who proposed the "laying on the hands bit", which he declined. Their friend, Freddie, proposes they send her to an institution, but Sheila refuses. During the rehearsal of an amateur theatreical production, Sheila broke down because of Brian's jealousy over the innocent Freddie. Brian suddenly announces that after Josephine's latest seizure, he had smothered her to death with a cushion, but this turns out to be false. However, Sheila notices that the anticonvulsant is suspiciously unavailable. Brian proposes to get some more, but Freddie discovers he had just sat in his car doing nothing. While Freddie's wife leaves for the medication, Freddie calls an ambulance, because Josephine is unconscious and unresponsive. While no one is looking, Brian lifts the child up and goes away. Sheila frantically searches for them, finally discovering him outside in wintertime "running about": When Brian returns, he stoically announces: "Its all over." But it is not. They reach the hospital in time, and then return, at which time Brian decides to leave, but when Sheila tempts him back with sex and proposes occasional respites for up to a month per year, believing she asked too much of her husband, Brian yields. "Aren't we lucky?" Sheila comments.
"The ruling class"
"The ruling class". Time: 1960s. Place: England.
The 13th earl of Gurney commits suicide. According to his will, there is no provision of any guardian appointed for the 14th earl of Gurney, although his family knows he is insane, considering himself: "the one true God, the God of love, the Naz," sometimes seen suspended on a cross. Claire, wife to his half-brother Charles, nervously sees him greet society ladies and then eat the artificial fruit on one of their hats. Jack may be got rid of provided he produces an heir, which to Claire's disgust, Grace, Charles' mistress, agrees to, as Marguerite, lady of the camelias. They wed. Dr Herder, a medical research worker on schizophrenia confers with Claire on the possibility of curing Jack. He confronts him with another madman thinking he is God, so that at the moment a baby boy is born Jack suddenly regains his senses. Receiving another visit from the two society ladies, it is obvious that Jack has switched from being the God of love into a very conservative aristocrat. In hope of manipulating Jack, Claire plays the seductress and is murdered for it. Thanks to a misleading detail given to the investigator, the butler is blamed for the murder and sent away. Unaware of her husband's guilt, Grace cuddles up to him and becomes his second victim.
"Butley"
"Butley". Time: 1970s. Place: London, England.
A student asks Ben Butley, university teacher of English literature, about tutorials on Wordsworth. He sends her off for the following week, shuddering at the thought. Ben's roommate and colleague, Joey, is returning from a visit with his homosexual friend, Reg. Ben asks to be invited for dinner with them, but Joey tries to discourage him by saying Reg does not like him. Looking at the essays he must read and mark, Ben lets them drop one by one on the floor. He learns fron Anne, his estranged wife, that she intends to re-marry with Tom. He reminds her she had once named him: "the dullest man you'd ever spent an evening with". She responds he is now "The dullest man I've ever spent the night with." Ben intends to make difficulties. Another student, Carol, corners him to her read aloud an essay on Shakespeare's "The Winter's tale". As she goes, her essay in hand, he pinches his nostrils and gags, which she, returning, notices and runs off. Ben calls up the headmaster where Tom works, informing him of who he is and the situation with Anne, specifying she intends to work as teacher there. He is angry at Joey for failing to inform him about Tom. A colleague of theirs, Edna, is angry at Ben for allowing a "feathered youth" to believe he could leave her seminars for his. She is also angry at Joey for supporting him, which he denies, needing her support for a promotion, at which Ben comments; "Toadying is the sincerest form of contempt." Reg informs Ben that Joey is leaving him for his own person. Ben heaps insults and abuse on Reg's parents and background, to which Joey sputters while stifling laughter, but they do not achieve their aim, because Joey lied about his friend's background. Reg hits Ben and then retires. Ben receives the feathered youth, asks him to read aloud TS Eliot's poetry, then tells him to go away.
"The secret rapture"
"The secret rapture". Time: 1980s. Place: England.
Marion and Isobel's father has just died. To prevent her stepmother, Katherine, from taking from her a valuable ring, a gift to her father, Marion removed it from his finger. She resents her sister's silent disapproval of the deed. Frightened and lonely, Katherine proposes that Isobel hire her in a small firm specializing in book designs. Despite her qualms about Katherine's usefulness, she agrees, approved by Marion, but her qualms become all too justified on discovering her incompetence and bad judgment. Isobel agrees with Irwin, her lover and employee, that she should sack Katherine, but while speaking to her, she hesitates, at which Irwin forcibly expresses her decision, but then Isobel changes her mind, keeping Katherine after all. Marion's husband, Tom, reveals to Isobel that the company he works for has the means to invest in her company, but Isobel hesitates, since this implies that the real owner will be his company. Marion is hurt and infuriated at her sister's indecision, as a sign of a lack of trust in her husband. When Isobel turns to Irwin for advice, she discovers that he is offered twice his salary if the deal is accepted. In an effort to gain a new client, the unstable Katherine lunges towards him with a knife and in a highly nervous state is taken to the hospital. Keeping Katherine causes turmoil in the relation between Isobel and Irwin. She says she no longer loves him. He counters that this is mainly because he sided with Katherine, insinuating that she loved him only while he was subservient: "You saw me as poor and under your spell," he specifies. Because Irwin cannot accept her rejection of him, Isobel is rarely present at work. Meanwhile, Tom's company has received an advantageous offer to sell Isobel's workplace. He offers her a new place rent-free, but since it appears dilapidated, she refuses, which angers Marion, who blames her for messing up the expansion, specifying: "You spoil everything you touch." Isobel blocks the selling of her father's house, wishing to live in it, but she has no money. One night, Irwin returns to make up. She rejects him again. While heading outside to call for help, he shoots her. In the aftermath, Marion is disoriented: "I can't interpret what people feel," she moans.
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"The cripple of Inishmaan"
Time: 1934. Place: Island of Inishmaan, Ireland and Hollywood, USA.
Billy, a man crippled by an arm and leg, learns that a crew from Hollywood has arrived for filming at Inishmore. He visits Bobby, to ferry him over from the island. Bobby at first refuses, considering it bad luck to carry a cripple, but changes his mind after reading a letter from Billy's doctor, stating that the man may die of tuberculosis within three months. Johnny, the news-carrier, insists on seing this letter, but is quickly discouraged when Bobby throws a rock at his head. He next brings over Dr McSharry to his house for a specious reason, but without any luck of learning more. Johnny angrily accuses him of harming his patient, who left for Inishmore early on a cold morning. Bobby returns with the news that Billy has been taken to Hollywood for a screen test in a film with a cripple in a minor role. In a squalid Hollywood hotel room, Billy deliriously talks to his dead mother about his miserable state, wheezing: "I do wonder would they let cripple boys into heaven at all. Sure, wouldn't we only go uglifying the place?" Billy's two aunts learn of his probable death when Johnny blurts out the news during the viewing of the picture filmed at Inishmore. However, at the end of it, Billy walks towards them. He had forged his doctor's letter but refused Hollywood's offer, being lonely for home, not so difficult a choice, he says, considering "the arse-faced lines they had me reading for them." One of his friends informs him that his Aunt Kate has been talking to stones in his absence, to the amusement of almost the entire island, including himself, at which Billy reproves: "You shouldn't laugh at other people's misfortunes, Bartley." "Why?" asks a confused Bartley. Though relieved to see him, Aunt Eileen strikes him on the head for not writing. Billy then explains to Bobby that he lied to them, having been rejected for his acting in favor of a blond-haired American. For having been tricked, Bobby strikes him several times with a lead pipe. While being examined by the doctor after his beating, it turns out Billy has tuberculosis after all. He asks a woman he is fond of, Helen, whether she would be interested in walking with him one evening. Helen sniggers and goes out, but later comes back to say she would. As she leaves, his coughing becomes worse and there is blood on his hand.
"The retreat from Moscow"
"The retreat from Moscow". Time: 1990s. Place: England.
Both dissatisfied after 33 years of marriage, Alice pushes Edward to express himself more about what they should do, but he is unable to. When he says it is her problem, she slaps his face. To his son, Jamie, Edward says he has found another woman. When Edward starts to talk about their marriage problems, Alice is relieved, then learns he intends to leave her. She accuses him of sneaking out without making the least effort to improve the marriage. "You'll kill me," she warns. Then she begs to do anything he wishes, but Edward says if he comes back it would not be he. He must change his phone number because she calls him up without saying a word. As with Napoleon's army, Alice says to Jamie it is her husband's retreat from Moscow: "It's his rotten stinking cowardly way of making out it's alright to dump me in the snow." In agony, she accuses her son of taking his father's side. Looking back, Edward can only say he got on the wrong train. She sends scathing letters to his place of work with no name on the envelope so that the secretary can read what she says, in his view a "power play" on the part, she being used to have her own way with him. Alice next buys a puppy called "Eddie", and teaches him to lie dead in the yard, and goes out in her pyjamas, looking like a "clown", in Jamie's view. Edward provides for a handsome settlement for her, including the house, to which she responds "How can you sit there and say I get the entire value of the family home, when the entire value of the family home is precisely what you've taken from me?" She would have been better off as a widow in every way, for he has poisoned all her memories. Alone with Jamie, she admits: "I'm sunk, I'm done for. I want to get out." He pleads with her not to give up, because in his own life: "I'll know that, however bad it gets, I can last it out, because you did, before me." Though understanding his viewpoint, Jamie is disappointed about his father's manner throughout the marriage, namely by pretending all the time. As Edward prepares to move away to Scotland, Alice offers him an anthology of love-poems she collected. While he examines the collection, she takes a knife from it, then puts it down: "But I suppose I'll go on," she concludes. The question of another man for her never comes up.