Remembrance and Pantomime Read online

  (Pause)

  shipwrecked. So I … if I am supposed to play Robinson Crusoe my way, then I will choose the way in which I will get shipwrecked. Now, as Robinson Crusoe is rowing, he looks up and he sees this huge white sea bird, which is making loud sea-bird noises, because a storm is coming. And Robinson Crusoe looks up toward the sky and sees that there is this storm. Then, there is a large wave, and Robinson Crusoe finds himself on the beach.

  HARRY

  Am I supposed to play the beach? Because that’s white …

  JACKSON

  Hilarious! Mr. Trewe. Now look, you know, I am doing you a favor. On this beach, right? Then he sees a lot of goats. And, because he is naked and he needs clothes, he kills a goat, he takes off the skin, and he makes this parasol here and this hat, so he doesn’t go around naked for everybody to see. Now I know that there is nobody there, but there is an audience, so the sooner Robinson Crusoe puts on his clothes, then the better and happier we will all be. I am going to go back in the boat. I am going to look up toward the sky. You will, please, make the sea-bird noises. I will do the wave, I will crash onto the sand, you will come down like a goat, I will kill you, take off your skin, make a parasol and a hat, and after that, then I promise you that I will remember the song. And I will sing it to the best of my ability.

  (Pause)

  However shitty that is.

  HARRY

  I said “silly.” Now listen …

  JACKSON

  Yes, Mr. Trewe?

  HARRY

  Okay, if you’re a black explorer … Wait a minute … wait a minute. If you’re really a white explorer but you’re black, shouldn’t I play a black sea bird because I’m white?

  JACKSON

  Are you … going to extend … the limits of prejudice to include … the flora and fauna of this island? I am entering the boat.

  (He is stepping into the upturned table or boat, as HARRY halfheartedly imitates a bird, waving his arms)

  HARRY

  Kekkkk, kekkkk,

  kekkk, kekkkk!

  (Stops)

  What’s wrong?

  JACKSON

  What’s wrong? Mr. Trewe, that is not a sea gull … that is some kind of … well, I don’t know what it is … some kind of jumbie bird or something.

  (Pause)

  I am returning to the boat.

  (He carefully enters the boat, expecting an interrupting bird cry from HARRY, but there is none, so he begins to row)

  HARRY

  Kekk! Kekkk.

  (He hangs his arms down. Pause)

  Er, Jackson, wait a minute. Hold it a second. Come here a minute.

  (JACKSON patiently gets out of the boat, elaborately pantomiming lowering his body into shallow water, releasing his hold on the boat, swimming a little distance toward shore, getting up from the shallows, shaking out his hair and hands, wiping his hands on his trousers, jumping up and down on one foot to unplug water from his clogged ear, seeing HARRY, then walking wearily, like a man who has swum a tremendous distance, and collapsing at HARRY’S feet)

  Er, Jackson. This is too humiliating. Now, let’s just forget it and please don’t continue, or you’re fired.

  (JACKSON leisurely wipes his face with his hands)

  JACKSON

  It don’t go so, Mr. Trewe. You know me to be a meticulous man. I didn’t want to do this job. I didn’t even want to work here. You convinced me to work here. I have worked as meticulously as I can, until I have been promoted. This morning I had no intention of doing what I am doing now; you have always admired the fact that whatever I begin, I finish. Now, I will accept my resignation, if you want me to, after we have finished this thing. But I am not leaving in the middle of a job, that has never been my policy. So you can sit down, as usual, and watch me work, but until I have finished this whole business of Robinson Crusoe being in the boat

  (He rises and repeats the pantomime)

  looking at an imaginary sea bird, being shipwrecked, killing a goat, making this hat and this parasol, walking up the beach and finding a naked footprint, which should take me into about another ten or twelve minutes, at the most, I will pack my things and I will leave, and you can play Robinson Crusoe all by yourself. My plans were, after this, to take the table like this …

  (He goes to the table, puts it upright)

  Let me show you: take the table, turn it all around, go under the table …

  (He goes under the table)

  and this would now have become Robinson Crusoe’s hut.

  (Emerges from under the table and, without looking at HARRY, continues to talk)

  Now, you just tell me if you think I am overdoing it, or if you think it’s more or less what we agreed on?

  (Pause)

  Okay? But I am not resigning.

  (Turns to HARRY slowly)

  You see, it’s your people who introduced us to this culture: Shakespeare, Robinson Crusoe, the classics, and so on, and when we start getting as good as them, you can’t leave halfway. So, I will continue? Please?

  HARRY

  No, Jackson. You will not continue. You will straighten this table, put back the tablecloth, take away the breakfast things, give me back the hat, put your jacket back on, and we will continue as normal and forget the whole matter. Now, I’m very serious, I’ve had enough of this farce. I would like to stop.

  JACKSON

  May I say what I think, Mr. Trewe? I think it’s a matter of prejudice. I think that you cannot believe: one: that I can act, and two: that any black man should play Robinson Crusoe. A little while aback, I came out here quite calmly and normally with the breakfast things and find you almost stark naked, kneeling down, and you told me you were getting into your part. Here am I getting into my part and you object. This is the story … this is history. This moment that we are now acting here is the history of imperialism; it’s nothing less than that. And I don’t think that I can—should—concede my getting into a part halfway and abandoning things, just because you, as my superior, give me orders. People become independent. Now, I could go down to that beach by myself with this hat, and I could play Robinson Crusoe, I could play Columbus, I could play Sir Francis Drake, I could play anybody discovering anywhere, but I don’t want you to tell me when and where to draw the line!

  (Pause)

  Or what to discover and when to discover it. All right?

  HARRY

  Look, I’m sorry to interrupt you again, Jackson, but as I—you know—was watching you, I realized it’s much more profound than that; that it could get offensive. We’re trying to do something light, just a little pantomime, a little satire, a little picong. But if you take this thing seriously, we might commit Art, which is a kind of crime in this society … I mean, there’d be a lot of things there that people … well, it would make them think too much, and well, we don’t want that … we just want a little … entertainment.

  JACKSON

  How do you mean, Mr. Trewe?

  HARRY

  Well, I mean if you … well, I mean. If you did the whole thing in reverse … I mean, okay, well, all right … you’ve got this black man … no, no … all right. You’ve got this man who is black, Robinson Crusoe, and he discovers this island on which there is this white cannibal, all right?

  JACKSON

  Yes. That is, after he has killed the goat …

  HARRY

  Yes, I know, I know. After he has killed the goat and made a … the hat, the parasol, and all of that … and, anyway, he comes across this man called Friday.

  JACKSON

  How do you know I mightn’t choose to call him Thursday? Do I have to copy every … I mean, are we improvising?

  HARRY

  All right, so it’s Thursday. He comes across this naked white cannibal called Thursday, you know. And then look at what would happen. He would have to start to … well, he’d have to, sorry … This cannibal, who is a Christian, would have to start unlearning his Christianity. He would have to be taught … I mean …
he’d have to be taught by this—African … that everything was wrong, that what he was doing … I mean, for nearly two thousand years … was wrong. That his civilization, his culture, his whatever, was … horrible. Was all … wrong. Barbarous, I mean, you know. And Crusoe would then have to teach him things like, you know, about … Africa, his gods, patamba, and so on … and it would get very, very complicated, and I suppose ultimately it would be very boring, and what we’d have on our hands would be … would be a play and not a little pantomime …

  JACKSON

  I’m too ambitious?

  HARRY

  No, no, the whole thing would have to be reversed; white would become black, you know …

  JACKSON

  (Smiling)

  You see, Mr. Trewe, I don’t see anything wrong with that, up to now.

  HARRY

  Well, I do. It’s not the sort of thing I want, and I think you’d better clean up, and I’m going inside, and when I come back I’d like this whole place just as it was. I mean, just before everything started.

  JACKSON

  You mean you’d like it returned to its primal state? Natural? Before Crusoe finds Thursday? But, you see, that is not history. That is not the world.

  HARRY

  No, no, I don’t give an Eskimo’s fart about the world, Jackson. I just want this little place here cleaned up, and I’d like you to get back to fixing the sun deck. Let’s forget the whole matter. Righto. Excuse me.

  (He is leaving. JACKSON’s tone will stop him)

  JACKSON

  Very well. So I take it you don’t want to hear the song, neither?

  HARRY

  No, no, I’m afraid not. I think really it was a silly idea, it’s all my fault, and I’d like things to return to where they were.

  JACKSON

  The story of the British Empire, Mr. Trewe. However, it is too late. The history of the British Empire.

  HARRY

  Now, how do you get that?

  JACKSON

  Well, you come to a place, you find that place as God make it; like Robinson Crusoe, you civilize the natives; they try to do something, you turn around and you say to them: “You are not good enough, let’s call the whole thing off, return things to normal, you go back to your position as slave or servant, I will keep mine as master, and we’ll forget the whole thing ever happened.” Correct? You would like me to accept this.

  HARRY

  You’re really making this very difficult, Jackson. Are you hurt?

  Have I offended you?

  JACKSON

  Hurt? No, no, no. I didn’t expect any less. I am not hurt.

  (Pause)

  I am just …

  (Pause)

  HARRY

  You’re just what?

  JACKSON

  I am just ashamed … of making such a fool of myself.

  (Pause)

  I expected … a little respect. That is all.

  HARRY

  I respect you … I just, I …

  JACKSON

  No. It’s perfectly all right.

  (HARRY goes to the table, straightens it)

  I … no … I’ll fix the table myself.

  (He doesn’t move)

  I am all right, thank you. Sir.

  (HARRY stops fixing the table)

  (With the hint of a British accent)

  Thank you very much.

  HARRY

  (Sighs)

  I … am sorry … er …

  (JACKSON moves toward the table)

  JACKSON

  It’s perfectly all right, sir. It’s perfectly all … right.

  (Almost inaudibly)

  Thank you.

  (HARRY begins to straighten the table again)

  No, thank you very much, don’t touch anything.

  (JACKSON is up against the table. HARRY continues to straighten the table)

  Don’t touch anything … Mr. Trewe. Please.

  (JACKSON rests one arm on the table, fist closed. They watch each other for three beats)

  Now that … is MY order …

  (They watch each other for several beats as the lights fade)

  Act Two

  Noon. White glare. HARRY, with shirt unbuttoned, in a deck chair reading a paperback thriller. Sound of intermittent hammering from stage left, where JACKSON is repairing the sun-deck slats. HARRY rises, decides he should talk to JACKSON about the noise, decides against it, and leans back in the deck chair, eyes closed. Hammering has stopped for a long while. HARRY opens his eyes, senses JACKSON’s presence, turns suddenly, to see him standing quite close, shirtless, holding a hammer. HARRY bolts from his chair.

  JACKSON

  You know something, sir? While I was up there nailing the sun deck, I just stay so and start giggling all by myself.

  HARRY

  Oh, yes? Why?

  JACKSON

  No, I was remembering a feller, you know … ahhh, he went for audition once for a play, you know, and the way he, you know, the way he prop … present himself to the people, said … ahmm, “You know, I am an actor, you know. I do all kind of acting, classical acting, Creole acting.” That’s when I laugh, you know?

  (Pause)

  I going back and fix the deck, then.

  (Moves off. Stops, turns)

  The … the hammering not disturbing you?

  HARRY

  No, no, it’s fine. You have to do it, right? I mean, you volunteered, the carpenter didn’t come, right?

  JACKSON

  Yes. Creole acting. I wonder what kind o’ acting dat is.

  (Spins the hammer in the air and does or does not catch it)

  Yul Brynner. Magnificent Seven. Picture, papa! A kind of Western Creole acting. It ain’t have no English cowboys, eh, Mr. Harry? Something wrong, boy, something wrong.

  (He exits. HARRY lies back in the deck chair, the book on his chest, arms locked behind his head. Silence. Hammering violently resumes)

  (Off)

  Kekkk, kekkkekk, kekk!

  Kekkekk, kekkkekk, ekkek!

  (HARRY rises, moves from the deck chair toward the sun deck)

  HARRY

  Jackson! What the hell are you doing? What’s that noise?

  JACKSON

  (Off; loud)

  I doing like a black sea gull, suh!

  HARRY

  Well, it’s very distracting.

  JACKSON

  (Off)

  Sorry, sir.

  (HARRY returns. Sits down on the deck chair. Waits for the hammering. Hammering resumes. Then stops. Silence. Then we hear)

  (Singing loudly)

  I want to tell you ’bout Robinson Crusoe.

  He tell Friday, when I do so, do so.

  Whatever I do, you must do like me,

  He make Friday a Good Friday Bohbolee

  (Spoken)

  And the chorus:

  (Sings)

  Laide-die

  Laidie, lay-day, de-day-de-die,

  Laidee-doo-day-dee-day-dee-die

  Laidee-day-doh-dee-day-dee-die

  Now that was the first example of slavery,

  ’Cause I am still Friday and you ain’t me,

  Now Crusoe he was this Christian and all,

  Friday, his slave, was a cannibal,

  But one day things bound to go in reverse,

  With Crusoe the slave and Friday the boss …

  Caiso, boy! Caiso!

  (HARRY rises, goes toward the sun deck)

  HARRY

  Jackson, man! Jesus!

  (He returns to the deck chair, is about to sit)

  JACKSON

  (Off)

  Two more lash and the sun deck finish, sir!

  (HARRY waits)

  Stand by … here they come …

  First lash …

  (Sound)

  Pow!

  Second lash:

  (Two sounds)

  Pataow! Job complete! Lunch, Mr. Trewe? You want your lunch now? Couple sandwich or what?
<
br />   HARRY

  (Shouts without turning)

  Just bring a couple beers from the icebox, Jackson. And the Scotch.

  (To himself)

  What the hell, let’s all get drunk.

  (To JACKSON)

  Bring some beer for yourself, too, Jackson!

  JACKSON

  (Off)

  Thank you, Mr. Robinson … Thank you, Mr. Trewe, sir!

  Cru-soe, Trewe-so!

  (Faster)

  Crusoe-Trusoe, Robinson Trewe-so!

  HARRY

  Jesus, Jackson; cut that out and just bring the bloody beer!

  JACKSON

  (Off)

  Right! A beer for you and a beer for me! Now, what else is it going to be? A sandwich for you, but none for me.

  (HARRY picks up the paperback and opens it, removing a folded sheet of paper. He opens it and is reading it carefully, sometimes lifting his head, closing his eyes, as if remembering its contents, then reading again. He puts it into a pocket quickly as JACKSON returns, carrying a tray with two beers, a bottle of Scotch, a pitcher of water, and two glasses. JACKSON sets them down on the table)

  I’m here, sir. At your command.

  HARRY

  Sit down. Forget the sandwiches, I don’t want to eat. Let’s sit down, man to man, and have a drink. That was the most sarcastic hammering I’ve ever heard, and I know you were trying to get back at me with all those noises and that Uncle Tom crap. So let’s have a drink, man to man, and try and work out what happened this morning, all right?

  JACKSON

  I’ve forgotten about this morning, sir.

  HARRY

  No, no, no, I mean, the rest of the day it’s going to bother me, you know?

  JACKSON

  Well, I’m leaving at half-past one.

  HARRY

  No, but still … Let’s … Okay. Scotch?

  JACKSON

  I’ll stick to beer, sir, thank you.

  (HARRY pours a Scotch and water, JACKSON serves himself a beer. Both are still standing)

  HARRY

  Sit over there, please, Mr. Phillip. On the deck chair.

  (JACKSON sits on the deck chair, facing HARRY)

  Cheers?

  JACKSON

  Cheers. Cheers. Deck chair and all.

  (They toast and drink)

  HARRY

  All right. Look, I think you misunderstood me this morning.

  JACKSON

  Why don’t we forget the whole thing, sir? Let me finish this beer and go for my sea bath, and you can spend the rest of the day all by yourself.