Аннотация: Peter comes to his ex-wife Anna to agree on some details of the upcoming divorce but as a result finds out unexpected details of their family life.
Declaration of Love
Ludmila Anselm
translated by Jim Clinton
CAST: Anna -a woman, about 40 years.
Peter - her husband, a man the same age.
PLACE: American apartment.
Anna"s apartment. Piles of clothes on the floor. Enter Peter.
PETER: Can I come in, Anna?
ANNA: Why didn"t you call, Peter?
PETER: It"s not a telephone conversation. Can I...
ANNA: Peter, you"re here, come in.
PETER: I"ve come to talk...you know what I mean.
ANNA: Come on in, and let"s talk... I'm spring cleaning. Careful!
PETER: Want me to take my shoes off?
ANNA: No. Men in socks looks silly.
He walks around piles of clothes on the floor.
Step on the rugs. Here, then over here, and here; now sit on the sofa. Relax.
Peter sits on the sofa.
PETER: I finally want... to talk about our divorce papers...
ANNA: I knew you will come today...
PETER: Why?
ANNA: I saw you in my dream last night... You go along the beach swinging your arms, and I steal along behind you, it was so funny...
PETER: So me at the beach, what"s funny?
ANNA: I'm not done. A friend of mine follows you swinging his arms just like you: he is mocking you.... And I follow both of you... can"t help laughing.... I hide when you look round. You seem to be looking for me and don"t pay any attention to my friend.
PETER: What"s his name... your friend?
ANNA: You didn"t seem to know him well. Maybe you have met him at our office parties.
PETER: So I know him!
ANNA: There were lots of people there: you didn"t pay much attention to him.
PETER: Why, is he inconspicuous?
ANNA: Inconspicuous to you perhaps, you were more interested in chatting up the ladies.
PETER: Describe him to me maybe I"ll remember him.
ANNA: He is taller than you; his eyes are blue, and his hair ...
PETER: Where did you meet?
ANNA: At work... in the office.
PETER: You used to tell me about your work friends in detail. You probably told me about him.
ANNA: I might not have told you much about him...
PETER: Why?
ANNA: It"s not important now.
PETER: Yes, it"s important, since you brought him up. It is important! How well do you know him?
ANNA: None of your business. You decided to have a divorce, and we separated. Now you have your own life, and I - mine.
PETER: Do you think that I don"t still care? After fifteen years!
ANNA: Fifteen years six months and two weeks.
PETER: Anna!
ANNA: Anyway, I don"t see him any more.
PETER: When did you stop?
ANNA: I can"t remember...
PETER: Think... Real... Hard...
ANNA: About a half of year ago, after he quit our office.
PETER: So it is "out of sight, out of mind". And what kind of relationship did you have?
ANNA: What kind of relationship can be between man and woman? Need me to spell it out?
Pause.
PETER: You cheated on me...
ANNA: Yes.
PETER: And you told me none of this?
ANNA: I didn"t want to.
PETER: You found somebody and kept on living with me as if nothing had happened!
ANNA: And while living with me you didn"t waste time too...
PETER: That"s why we"re going to divorce. Why didn"t you tell me about him?
ANNA: Peter, if I had made up my mind to divorce you, I would"ve told you everything.
PETER: Why didn"t you want to divorce me?... May be he didn"t want to marry you?
ANNA: When we fell for each other, he was married.
PETER: I suppose, he didn"t want to divorce his wife. How long did your relationship last?
ANNA: I don"t remember exactly... about two...
PETER: What a two-timer you really are! And still I wonder...did you stop seeing each other when he got a new job?
ANNA: At first we met often, but then... He had to drive across the whole city. You know the traffic jams...
PETER: Traffic jams! Was it just traffic jams you blame? Couldn"t you make up anything more interesting? Say, a plane crash: your lover dies falling down from a huge height, or you are attacked by thugs, he defends you but is stabbed in the back, bleeding badly...
ANNA: Peter, stop mocking!
PETER: Ha! Who is mocking who? Your lover moves to the other end of the city, and then - end of love! I would"ve understood you if it was a real passion... but I don"t know what to call this. Some nonsense! Stupidity! Because of this nonsense our whole relationship goes to hell?
ANNA: Our relationship? What did I get? Just humiliation. Did you really love me? Every party you ignored me and quickly found a woman and started flirting. What chance did I have? Just to be a wallflower?
PETER: Did you do all that in revenge? If yes, then that"s different.
ANNA: It doesn"t matter whether I did this in revenge or not...
Pause.
He was extraordinary, very considerate, loved me, used to bring me flowers...
PETER: Considerate: traffic jams and end of love! Don"t you feel ashamed to tell me, your husband, all this? After fifteen years together...
ANNA: Fifteen years six months and two weeks.
PETER: Anna!
Anna (comes close.): Peter!
Peter (pushes her away.): Give me his phone number.
ANNA: What for?
PETER: I want to meet him... and his wife.
ANNA: And why his wife?
PETER: I"ll compare her and you! Give me his phone number!
ANNA: I don"t have it.
PETER: That"s a lie, Anna. You"re lying!
ANNA: I don't have it... not since we parted.
PETER: Then - his last name. Well, come on!
ANNA: I won"t.
PETER: Oh, I understand, it means that you didn"t have anybody and any relationship. You"ve made up the whole romance. Nobody hankered after you, just your sick imagination: love, infidelity, traffic jams-all this is a lie. Our whole life together was a mistake.
ANNA: Peter, but we had such fun together.
PETER: Fun? Me? Never! What"re you talking about? All our life together was a complete and utter torture for me.
ANNA: Our "grunge" costume party...
PETER: Ya, friends still mention it, but that was different.
ANNA: Why?
PETER: I"ve never loved you, not a moment!
Anna (slowly): Full moon... Lake George... when we slipped off the paddle boat... You like to sleep touching me...
PETER: (pause) It was long ago.
ANNA: Peter, why did you marry me?
PETER: Your pregnancy.
ANNA: But it was a mistake.
PETER: I decided that I was committed to marry you...Well, I"ve come to see you on business. I finally wanted to dot all the "i"s. Now I understand everything. You"re a liar and disgusting trash! I feel suffocated! I"m divorcing you. I"ll complete the divorce agreement myself. Good-bye!
Peter leaves. Anna runs after him.
ANNA: Peter, wait stop! I told you a lie!
PETER: (stops at the door). More lies?ANNA: Listen, I had a love affair and it ended when he, my lover, died in a car crash. He was hurrying to be with me when...(Anna swallows hard.) passed a bus and hit another car...
Pause.
PETER: Passed a bus? Passed... When did it happen?
ANNA: Six months ago.
PETER: Six months... It was Michael! My best friend!
ANNA: Yes, Michael.
PETER: How did it happen?
ANNA: He was hurrying to see me...
PETER: I introduced you to Michael! I was proud for you to see what a wonderful friend I had.
ANNA: He was really a wonderful...
PETER: You"re going to say "a lover"? I can"t believe... it can"t be true. If there had been something between you, I certainly would have noticed it.
ANNA: You and Michael didn"t meet so often lately... He was afraid that you would suspect us.
PETER: I respected him so much: joyful, full of life, and so tragically... We"d been friends as kids: at school, at college...he had always rescued me... when we were about twelve; a dog jumped out and grabbed my leg... Michael found a stick and beat the dog away. I still have the scar; I can show it to you.
ANNA: I"ve seen your "dog bite" a lot of times...
PETER: We used to be close friends... Used to read each other well, so quick on the uptake... How come I didn"t notice anything?ANNA: You were busy... You so persistently hung round his wife.
PETER: It was nothing serious... (angry silence.) Oh, and she must"ve noticed that there was something between you. Women - they notice everything. I"ll call her right now...
Grabs his cell phone.
ANNA: Stop it! Can you really call a woman who lost her husband just six months ago and ask her about her husband"s infidelity?
Peter silently closes his cell phone and throws it.
ANNA: Didn"t you have an affair with her? I thought that you were seeing each other, especially after his death.
PETER: How could he? I cannot believe... My best friend...
Silence while Peter stares with confused interest at Anna.
ANNA: Why are looking at me like that?
PETER: Anna, what did he see in you?
ANNA: Think...
PETER: I don"t ... Tell me, please...
ANNA: He loved me... It was real passion...
PETER: Amazing! So unexpectedly. He was striking, brilliant, so able...