GLAZIER
It's a good start.
DR. PIOUK
If you please . This young man, for
reasons still to be determined,
seems to have lost his taste for life .
H e was working - (To Mademoiselle Skunk) - he was writing, I
believe?
MLLE. SKUNK
Yes. The critics said he would be
talked about.
GlAZIER
That must have dealt him a low
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SAMUEL BECKETT
blow.
DR. PIOUK
Good. He was writing. He no
longer writes. He was associating
normally with his family. He has
left and no longer wants to see
them. He got engaged, which is
normal at his age, to a ravishing
girl, oh yes, oh yes, Mademoiselle,
ravishing, and he denies her right
of entry. (To the Glazier) Excuse
me?
GlAZIER
Nothing.
DR. PIOUK
He was taking an interest in the
inexhaustible variety of the Parisian scene, in art, in theater, in
science, in politics, in every new
school of philosophy, in the -
GlAZIER
Get to the point, get to the point.
DR. PIOUK
And he had made himself a veritable specialty out of the idle
kings. Isn ' t that so, Mademoiselle?
Good. All that is now dead for
him, just as if it had never existed?
Do I exaggerate, dear Mademoiselle?
MllE. SKUNK
No.
DR. PIOUK
He travelled, for his amusement
and for his edification . Now -
GlAZIER
Which class?
DR. PIOUK
Now he no longer leaves, for
months on end, this (circling
look) - this foul sty. He had
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1 07
money, now -
GLAZIER
All right, all right, we have understood.
DR. PIOUK
If you interrupt me every minute,
I have no choice but to leave . In
fact, I ask nothing more .
GLAZIER
But you go on and on. We are not
asking you for a catalogue. He no
longer does anything, he is no
longer interested in anything, he
no longer wants to see anybody,
that's settled. Now what? What
must be done to get him put up
with?
DR. PIOUK
Get him put up with?
GLAZIER
But of course. It makes no sense, a
creature like that. I t does not hold
water.
DR. PIOUK
But get him put up with? By
whom? No, it is quite simply a
matter of coming to his assistance
and, in coming to his assistance,
of coming to the assistance of
those closest to him and -
GLAZIER
Oh no, oh no, you don 't get it.
Nobody gives a damn if he drops
dead, provided that -
DR. PIOUK
Monsieur, if you have something
to say, something reasonable,
which I strongly doubt, you will
say it in a little while, when I
myself have finished. You ask me
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SAMUEL BECKEIT
my opinion, I am giving it to you.
There is no arguing on that score.
I never argue. Sorry. Am I to go
on? Or am I to leave?
MllE. SKUNK
Go on, go on, you are the only
one saying things I can understand.
DR. PIOUK
Ah , Mademoiselle, if you only
knew, if you only knew! ( He woolgathers)
GlAZIER
Go ahead, go ahead, she will
never know.
DR. PIOUK
Where was I?
GlAZIER
Raving right along, about the
need to help him and, while
helping him, to help his family
and, while helping his family, to
help who knows who else, quite
the whole of mankind, probably.
You must love mankind, Doctor.
DR. PIOUK
You are crude. No matter. Good.
Yes. I was in effect saying that in
helping him I would be helping
those close to him and, first of all,
you , dear Mademoiselle, so incomprehensibly forsaken , so
cowardly, insanely abandoned.
The problem thus reduces to this:
finding a suitable means to -
how should I put it? - to restore
him to himself and therefore to
others. (A silence) As for the
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means, I have it - (He pats his
belly) - here .
MllE. SKUNK
Oh Doctor, if only you could !
DR. PIOUK
Yes. (He reflects) When I was the
director - There wouldn ' t be a
chair over that way?
GLAZIER
No . He is no longer interested in
chairs. But there is a bed, of all
the objects that poison existence
the only one he still tolerates. Ah,
beds ! Sit down .
DR. PIOUK
(With a glance toward the bed)
Thank you. So much the worse.
What was I saying?
MllE. SKUNK
When you were the director -
DR. PIOUK
Oh yes. When I was the director
of the Hospice Saint-Guy, in the
Haute-Marne, every day, every
other day rather, I would see an
unbalanced person whose nationality was Romanian and who
believed he was afflicted with -
(He glances toward Mlle. Skunk,
lowers his voice) - with syphilis.
Need I say he was not.
GLAZIER
Of course you need to say it.
DR. PIOUK
He would ask me every time, in a
desperate tone of voice, if I was
bringing him the poison. The
poison? I would say, which poison,
my friend, and to do what with?
To put an end to my torment, he
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SAMUEL BECKEIT
would reply. But my dear fellow, if
you absolutely insist on putting an
end to your torment, you have at
your disposal all that is needed for
that. Three times a day you eat in
the refectory, surrounded by
plates, cups, forks and even
knives, with which to put an end
to a thousand torments. Then he
would get angry, saying that it
behooved me, as his physician ,
and not him, to put an end to his
torment. But what torment after
all, I would say. There is nothing
wrong with you. Fourteen physicians have examined you under
conditions of the most thoroughgoing independence of each
other and found nothing.Yes they
have, yes they have, he would
reply. I have - ahem - (Same
business as before) syphilis and it
is your duty to do away with me. It
is on that note that our dialogue,
always identical, would come to a
close . (Pause) Up until the day
I
brought him the poison he had
been clamoring for.
(A silence)
MllE. SKUNK
( Gasping for breath) And then
what?
DR. PIOUK
His recovery was swift.
(A silence)
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I l l
GLAZIER
He wasn 't a true madman .
DR. PIOUK
I will not waste my time arguing
about that. (Pause) And Victor, he
is a true madman? (A silence . All
of a sudden Dr. Piouk has slightly
disjointed gestures, starts a dance
step, makes odd movements with
his arms, like signals, in other
words, such as suit the actor's
fancy, then comes to a stop. Mild
embarrassment) Yesterday I set
forth, before the late lamented
Monsieur Krap, a remarkable
man, I might add, in his O'\-TI way,
the manner in which I view the
problem of human existence, for
a problem it is, in my opinion ,
despite the efforts today being
made to demonstrate the contrary. (Pause) I will even say that I
see no other. Not being an ant,
for example, or a whale. (Pause)
You were there , Mademoiselle .
MllE. SKUNK
Yes.
DR. PIOUK
You see, I am not making up
anything. I therefore said,
plagued with questions, for I don 't
like to put myself too much in the
picture , I said that I was taking up
again on my own behalf the
solution already put forth by
numerous thinkers to this problem of consciousness and which
SA.tUEL BECKEIT
consists quite simply of suppressing the latter. I said it was the
modalities of that suppression, the
technical aspect, that interested
me very particularly, for I am a
man of action, and I pointed out
some of the means best suited, in
my view, to bringing it about with
the utmost promptness and the
least inconvenience. Need I say I
don ' t believe in them one bit, not
for a minute? I mean that life has
cured me of all hope of seeing it
end, on a grand scale. At the very
most it could be curbed. (Pause)
But I am a methodical man, in my
own way, courageous, in a sense,
and I venture to say upright, and I
remain at the disposal of those
who, while being of my opinion
concerning them, surpass me in
sadness and resolve.
MLLE. SKUNK
But you want to kill him !
GlAZIER
You think he needs you to end it
all, assuming he wants to end it
all?
DR. PIOUK
My dear fellow, it is amazing the
help people need in ceasing to be.
You have no idea. You almost have
to hold their hand. ( Pause) Take
my Romanian, for example . Did
he need me to put an end to his
torment? Of course not. What is
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more , he is now a cattle-dealer in
Iassy. He writes to me from time
to time. A postcard . He calls me
his savior. His savior! Hal
GLAZIER
There is no similarity. He believed
he was gravely ill .
DR. PIOUK
I am in ignorance as to what this
young man is complaining of
exactly. Of something more
severe, I think, than any given
illness and assuredly more vague
as well. I was told that he enjoys
robust health. Let us assume that
he is complaining quite simply of
existing, of the life syndrome. It's
conceivable, isn ' t it? We are no
longer in the nineteenth century.
We know how to look things full
in the face. Good. I am putting
him in the way of existing no
more , of passing over, with the
greatest smoothness, from the
state of consciousness to that of
pure extension -
MuE. SKUNK
No ! no! I won 't allow it!
DR. PIOUK
(Breaking out) - while I ' m
telling him I will stay a t his side to
see to it that the transition is
carried through without let. So,
my dear friends, either he discovers good reasons - for he's a
thinker, that's obvious - to go
back among his fellow creatures
1 1 4
SAMUEL BECKETI
for the same old shit, or - (Expressive gesture) But rest assured
it's more than likely he is as
scummy as the rest of us.
(A silence. The Glazier walks up
and down . Olga crushed. Dr.
Piouk beaming)
MLLE. SKUNK
It's abominable. You mustn 't!
DR. PIOUK
Mademoiselle, if I 've been a little
bit off in my own world, if I have
minced words insufficiently, lay it
to the account of an old enthusiasm, about to be snuffed out. For
me to speak thus is to breathe
another air, that of my youth, of
my ardors, of my innocencies,
before the black flag and the
bowed skull. (Moved) Mademoiselle (He takes her chin and lifts
it) , look at me. Do I seem like an
ogre? (He smiles hideously) Do
be confident! I will save him ! As I
saved Verolesco.
MLLE. SKUNK
But if he takes it?
DR. PIOUK
What?
MLLE. SKUNK
The - the - poison .
DR. PIOUK
He will not take it.
MLLE. SKUNK
But if he wants to take it?
DR. PIOUK
Well - (Straining) - well, it is
against my principles, but, to
please you, well, we will prevent
him. You see, dear Olga, yes, let
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1 1 5
me call you Olga, I am ready for
anything to oblige you.
MLLE. SKUNK
But if we get there too late?
DR. PIOUK
(Laughing) It is easy to see this is
things that pretty little head is
unaware o£1 How many nasty
things ! The very idea! Why, I ' ll
know immediately if he is serious
or not. Even before I hand him
the tablet.
Mu.E. SKUNK
It's a tablet?
(Dr. Piouk takes a phial out of his
vest pocket, rolls a tablet out into
the palm of his hand, holds it out
toward Mlle . Skunk who hesitates,
then takes it)
DR. PIOUK
There .
(Enter Michel. He gives the Glazier a sandwich)
GLAZIER
You ate yours?
MICHEL
Yes, papa.
GLAZIER
You were gallivanting about.
MICHEL
No, papa.
GLAZIER
Hand over the change. ( Michel
g
ives him the change , which he
counts) Good. Here, hold this.
(He gives him back the sandwich)
Take this too. (He gives him the
hammer and chisel) Get over
there and be quiet. (Michel goes
and sits down on the toolbox,
1 1 6
SAMUEL BECKETI
near the window)
MLLE. SKUNK
(Tearing herself away from gazing
at the tablet) Quite so.
(Dr. Piouk takes back the tablet,
puts it back in the phial and puts
the phial back in his pocket)
DR. PIOUK
Yes, quite so, that little thing,
languor, rockabye, bottomless
blanknesses, rock bottom, peace,
standstill. What time is it. (He
pulls out his watch) Five past five
(He puts back his watch) My
goodness!
MLLE. SKUNK
And what if you -
GLAZIER
(His mind made up) Agreed. It is
not -
DR. PIOUK
(To the Glazier) Be quiet! (To
Mlle. Skunk) You were saying?
MLLE. SKUNK
What if you gave him a simple
aspirin?
DR. PIOUK
( Straightening up) Mademoiselle,
I am only a poor Joe, but I do not
trifle with sedatives. No. I don 't
get mixed up in things like that.
Anything to please you, but not
that.
(A silence)
GLAZIER
I am set -
DR. PIOUK
Will this take long?
GLAZIER
Not as long as you.
DR. PIOUK
You've got five minutes.
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1 1 7
GLAZIER
I am set within a viewpoin t
DR. PIOUK
One moment. May I? What is your
stake in the matter? It is not very
clear to me.
GLAZIER
Don ' t concern yourself about that.
DR. PIOUK
All right, all right, I am listening.
GLAZIER
Within a viewpoint that is not the
same as yours, far from it.
Whether he gets a new lease on
life , as you put it so prettily, or
goes on wallowing here or
whether he croaks, it is completely
one and the same to me, provided
that the thing is not groundless,
understand?
DR. PIOUK
I admit -
GLAZIER
You need reasons, God damn it!
Why has he given up everything?
Why this senseless existence? Why
consent to die? Reasons! Jesus
himself had his reasons. Whatever
he does, it has to be known more
or less why. Otherwise he is going
to be spewed out. And the rest of
us with him. Whom do you think
we are dealing with? With esthetes?
DR. PIOUK
I don ' t get you and no mistake.
GLAZIER
Don ' t you see that we are all busy
focusing over and over on something that has no meaning? A
meaning for it must be found ,