<nettime> play/s

[Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>]

=



LEST WE FORGET, A MORALITY PLAY BY JENNIFER, NIKUKO, JULU, AND ALAN


PROLOGUE BY BUKHARIN: Repentence is often attributed to the Dostoyevsky
mind, to the specific properties ofthe soul ("l'ame slave" as it is
called), and this can be said of types like Alyosha Karamazov, the heroes
of the "Idiot" and other Dostoyevsky characters, who are prepared to stand
up in the public square and cry: "Beat me, Orthodox Christians, I am a
villain!" But that is not the case here at all. "L'ame slave" and the psy-
chology of Dostoyevsky characters are a thing of the remote past in our
country, the pluperfect tense. Such types do not exist in our country, or
exist perhaps only on the outskirts of small provincial towns, if they do
even there. On the contrary, such a psychology is to be found in Western
Europe. 

JULU: Excellent. And this is what I want you to do, Alan, and this is what
I want you to say. You will learn from a very good way to learn: 

VYSHINSKY: Tell us the nature of your wrecking activities.  

ZUBAREV: When I was working in the seed cultivation department of the Peo-
ple's Commissariat of Agriculture of the U.S.S.R., they were of the nature
that the accused Chernov spoke about yesterday: causing confusion in seed
cultivation, lowering the quality of the seeds, employing bad quality mat-
erials, bad sifting, careless storing, and the result of all this was not
only a reduction of yield, but also a hostile mood of the peasantry, dis-
satisfaction with these so-called selected seeds.

Alan: This is excellent, and I will do my very best. 

VYSHINSKY: What was the nature of your criminal activities in the People's
Commissariat of Agriculture of the R.S.F.S.R.?  ZUBAREV: Here my criminal
activities consisted first of all in wrongly planning the sowing of
vegetables; in particular, little attention was paid to the development of
vegetable growing in our eastern districts, where the developing of
vegetable growing was of enormous importance... 

Jennifer: I am learning so very hard here. 

PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT OF JUSTICE OF THE U.S.S.R. REPORT OF COURT PROCEED-
INGS IN THE CASE OF THE ANTI-SOVIET "BLOC OF RIGHTS AND TROTSKYITES" Heard
Before the MILITARY COLLEGIUM OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE U.S.S.R. Moscow,
March 2-13, VERBATIM REPORT, Published by the PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT OF
JUSTICE OF THE U.S.S.R. MOSCOW 1938. 

Jennifer, Julu, and Nikuko applaud.  All three together: This is
wonderful! 

VYSHINSKY: How matters stood with butter, this is of interest to me at
this stage of the investigation. You have spoken of salt, of sugar, how
you held back these commodities from sale to the population by sabotage,
etc. But how did matters stand with butter?  ZELENSKY: We don't sell
butter in the rural districts.  VYSHINSKY: I am not asking you what you
sell. You were above all selling the main thing - your country... 

Alan: I see how this goes. This is amazing. They have been found out, and
it is clear at the very end that the wreckers are executed. Nothing could
be clearer. One must be at the service of one's country. 

LEVIN: ...Gorky loved fire, flames, and we made use of this. A bonfire
would be lit up for him. Just when Gorky would feel the fatigue after his
work, all the chopped branches were gathered together, and a flame kind-
led. Gorky would stand near this bonfire, it was hot there, and all this
had a harmful effect on his health... ...And in fact, on the second or
third day after his arrival in this grippe-infected house, Gorky fell sick
with the grippe. This was soon complicated by croupous pneumonia and imme-
diately took a serious turn. Nonetheless, Professor Pletnev and I consid-
ered that the plan we had drawn up must be carried through, and that for
this purpose use must be made of medicines which would be harmful to him. 

Julu: Oh oh, that is so awful! This is such an awful thing! I cannot be-
lieve how awful this is! 

THE PRESIDENT: As regards wrecking work, that it was necessary to bring
about a decrease in the number of livestock.  

RYKOV: Even more than that.  These instructions, as Goloded said, were
duly received from the poles...

Jennifer: Oh! Oh! Oh! Attacks from every side!  

Nikuko: Oh! Woe! Attacks from within and without!

KRESTINSKY: ...Further Trotsky developed the idea of the necessity of ter-
rorism, wrecking activities and diversions. In speaking of them, Trotsky
considered diversionist acts and acts of terrorism from the point of view
both of applying them in time of war for the purpose of disorganizing the
defensive capacity of the Red Army, for disorganizing the government by
the moment of the coup d'etat, and at the same time, these diversionist
and terrorist acts would make his, Trotsky's, position stronger and would
give him more confidence in his negotiations with foreign governments, be-
cause he would be able to refer to the fact that his followers in the Sov-
iet Union were both sufficiently strong and sufficiently active... 

Julu: Oh dearest us! How awful is Trotsky! Something must be done and now! 
There are foes on every side! There are foes inside and out! 

KAKAZOV: ...Now when I stand before you, Citizens Judges, as the murderer
of Menzhinsky, I cannot help shuddering and being overcome with horror
when I think of the despicable crime into which I was dragged. Not for a
minute do I want to disclaim the blame for this crime. On the contrary I
want to repent of this crime to the end and rid myself of this nightmare. 

Alan: Oh curses on Kakazov for his perfidious crime! To death with perfid-
ious Kakazov! 

On the basis of the aforesaid, and guided by Articles 319 and 320 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure of the R.S.F.S.R., The Military Collegium of
the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. Sentences...[list of 18 men]...to the
supreme penalty - to be shot, with the confiscation of all their personal
property. 

All: Oh we are saved from the wrecking and saboteurs of our country! Death
to the traitors! Death to the BLOC OF RIGHTS AND TROTSKYITES! Death to the
Jews! 

Nikuko: This is a wonderful play, Ladies and Gentlemen, and we hope you
have enjoyed it. We have given you much to think on, because the truth,
which is always difficult, is the best play in the world! Please take care
on your way out! Thank you! 

KIM IL SUNG: Hello, I am a member of the audience and I am very happy to
see this play. If more countries, even though small, pool their strength
and fight resolutely against imperialism, the peoples can knock down U.S. 
imperialism with decisively overwhelming power on each and every front. 
The people of every country making revolution should tear limbs off the
U.S. beast all over the world and behead it. The U.S. imperialists appear
to be strong, but when the peoples of many countries attack them from all
sides and join in mutilating them in that way, they will become impotent
and bite the dust in the end.. 

Jennifer: But oh Great Leader, what is to be done? 

KIM IL SUNG: Hello, Our Party will fight against Right and 'Left' oppor-
tunism, while upholding the banner of unity. 

Julu: Oh that is so good, we will drag down the renegades of the revolu-
tion! 

PRESIDENT AND KIM IL SUNG: Yes, ABSOLUTEly! 

All Laugh! 

Exeunt Omnes. 

___________________________________________________________________________


The Curtain Rises

JENNIFER: I beg pardon for the horrible crimes I have committed against my
beloved Julu, having carefully prepared for her death, wrecking her diet,
sabotaging her asthmatic medications. I cannot sleep at night, recognizing
the misery I have caused the State; I can only hope that my punishment of
death will deter future generations from murder and mayhem. 

JULU: I am of course alive, Jennifer, what ever are you talking about? 

JENNIFER: Julu's corpse is here before us: Poor, poor Julu! My misery
knows no bounds; for the next several months, I will live grieving for my
beloved Julu, realizing I can never atone for my hideous crimes against
her, and through her, against the very State, my beloved Country, itself. 

JULU: Jennifer, will you stop that? This is silly and besides, you're be-
ginning to scare me! 

JENNIFER: My guilt is aggravated by the fact that I for a long time de-
ceived my Country, betrayed the confidence placed in me; I wormed my way
into Julu's dearest graces. I need hardly mention that I repent, that my
repentance does no good at all. The proof of my repentance is my exposure
here in the broadest light of day, for the benefit of my Country, which
has been deprived of my dearest Julu. 

JULU: Please, Jennifer, come with me! This is getting ridiculous - you
have done nothing, I'm quite well, thank you, and right in front of you. 
Are you crazy? 

JENNIFER: Disgraced, thrown in the dust, leaving life, I want to recount
my sad, tragic career, which should serve as a lesson for those who mur-
der and commit mayhem, as I have done against my beautiful Julu. But what
is there to recount? Only our friendship together and our service to our
State and Country and my disgraceful behavior towards her. I have no de-
fense whatsoever, and for just a millionth part of my crimes, for even
thinking through "the criminal imagination," I should be sentenced to
death. I have committed heinous crimes and realize this and it is hard to
live after such crimes. I do not want to sit in prison for tens of years! 

JULU: You have gone mad! You have been reading too many novels! You have
been believing too many lies! Look at me! I am alive before you! Jennifer,
it's me, Julu! Jennifer! Jennifer! 

JENNIFER: Years weigh heavily on me with the nightmare of the crimes which
I have committed, and by this sincere repentance, I admit everything, want
to rid myself of my nightmare. I never thought I would become a criminal. 
It is hard for me to talk of my crime, because as a friend, my calling has
been to help Julu, not to harm her. I blackened the calling of a friend,
and trampled on the most valuable thing, the bond between us. I became a
murderer because I hastened dearest Julu's death, when she was in the
prime of life, her only problem that of asthmatic medications. I now beg
you to sentence me to the death I so richly deserve. 

THE COURT: Jennifer, in the name of the commission duly entrusted to us -

JULU: JENNIFER!! JENNIFER!! 

The Curtain Falls

_________________________________________________________________________


CURTAIN RISES

Curtain Rises

There are people on the stage.

PRESIDENT: You're going to die.

JENNIFER: I'll kill you.

ALAN: Look I'm fucking myself.

JULU: I'll fuck anyone I want to.

NIKUKO: I won't be fucked by anyone.

Curtain Falls

Curtain Rises

There are people on the stage.

PRESIDENT: I've killed Jennifer.

ALAN: Look, I'm fucking myself.

JULU: I'll kill both of you.

NIKUKO: I'll kill all three.

Curtain Falls

Curtain Rises

There are people on the stage

PRESIDENT: You're going to die.

JENNIFER: I'll kill you.

ALAN: Look I'm fucking myself.

JULU: I'll fuck anyone I want to.

NIKUKO: I won't be fucked by anyone.

Curtain Falls

Curtain Rises

There are people on the stage.

PRESIDENT: This is what I mean.

JENNIFER: I'll kill you.

ALAN: I'll fuck anyone I want to.

NIKUKO: Look I'm fucking myself.

JULU: I'll kill all of you.

Curtain Falls

Curtain Rises

Julu is on stage.

JULU: Where is everyone?

Curtain Falls

CURTAIN FALLS


_______________________________________________________________



The Breathing of the Death of All Being


The PRESIDENT is in the audience.

The curtain rises.

<Empty stage: Noon lighting, bright, yellow.>

The curtain falls halfway.

Blood seeps from the curtain, oozes from the curtain onto the floor.
The color of the blood: Bright red.

The curtain falls.

The curtain rises.

<Empty stage: Late afternoon lighting, medium, orange-yellow.>

The curtain falls, three-quarters down.

Blood seeps from the curtain, oozes from the curtain onto the floor.
The color of the blood: Red-brown.

The curtain falls.

The PRESIDENT coughs.

The curtain rises.

<Empty stage: Dusk lighting, dark orange-red.>

Bones fall from the curtain, spatter and break on the floor.

The curtain falls.

The curtain rises.

<Empty stage: Evening lighting, dim red.>

The curtain falls half-way.

Bones and black blood fall from the curtain.

The curtain falls.

The curtain rises.

<Empty stage: Night, no lighting.>

The curtain remains up for twenty minutes.

The PRESIDENT leaves the theater.

The curtain falls.

The hem of the curtain is wet.


_______________________________________________________________



V.


Curtain rises.

The PRESIDENT is on stage.

THE PRESIDENT: I am in charge of agriculture. Please forgive me for my
rudeness, but I am in charge. Either you are bad leaders or good follo-
wers. Forgive me. I am a member of your organization. I would like to
know, what form did your provocateur work take. Please, do not answer all
at once. 

<Pause.>

THE PRESIDENT: Who have you betrayed. This is of utmost importance to the
survival of this country. I am responsible for what you see.

<Jennifer enters.>

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Jennifer. You and I know I am responsible for
your sight. I am responsible in two ways. 

Jennifer: You are responsible for what I see and you are responsible for
my eyes. 

THE PRESIDENT: Exactly, thank you, Jennifer. The same is true for every-
one. Time will pass. I bear a heavy responsibility. 

<Pause.>

THE PRESIDENT: The graves of the hateful traitors will grow over with
weeds and thistle, they will be covered with the eternal contempt of our
country's honest citizens, of our entire people. But over us, over our
happy country, our sun will shine with its luminous rays as bright and as
joyous as before. Over the road cleared of the last scum and filth of the
past, we, our people, with our beloved leader and teacher, the president
of this beloved country, at our head, will march as before, onwards and
onwards, towards greater and greater goals. 

<Pause, silence.>

<Jennifer and The President leave.>

<Pause, silence.>

Curtain falls. 


_______________________________________________________________


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