Gray Simon Gray: Plays 1

Butley; Wise Child; Dutch Uncle; Spoiled; Sleeping Dog
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ISBN: 978-0-571-30763-0
Verlag: Faber & Faber
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 560 Seiten

Butley 'What is so wondrous about a play so basically defeatist and hurtful is its ability to be funny. The stark, unsentimental approach to the homosexual relationship, the cynical send-up of academic life, the skeptical view of the teacher-pupil associations are all stunningly illuminated by continuous explosions of sardonic, needling, feline, vituperative and civilised lines.' Evening Standard

Simon Gray was born in 1936. He began his writing career with Colmain (1963), the first of five novels, all published by Faber. He is the author of many plays for TV and radio, also films, including the 1987 adaptation of J L Carr's A Month in the Country, and TV films including Running Late, After Pilkington (winner of the Prix Italia) and Emmy Award-winning Unnatural Pursuits. He wrote more than thirty stage plays amongst them Butley and Otherwise Engaged (which both received Evening Standard Awards for Best Play), Close ofPlay, The Rear Column, Quartermaine's Terms, The Common Pursuit, Hidden Laughter, The Late Middle Classes (winner of the Barclay's Best Play Award), Japes, The Old Masters (his ninth play to be directed by Harold Pinter) and Little Nell, which premiered at the Theatre Royal Bath in 2007, directed by Peter Hall. Little Nell was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006, and Missing Dates in 2008. In 1991 he was made BAFTA Writer of the Year. His acclaimed works of non-fiction are: An Unnatural Pursuit, How's That for Telling 'Em, Fat Lady?, Fat Chance, Enter a Fox,The Smoking Diaries, The Year of the Jouncer, The Last Cigarette and Coda. He was appointed CBE in the 2005 New Year's Honours for his services to Drama and Literature. Simon Gray died in August 2008.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gray, Simon

Leseproben

Act One

Ben Butley, English. Hello, James, have a nice break? (.) Sorry, James, I can’t talk now – I’m right in the middle of a tutorial – bye. () Bugger! () Bugger! Just a minute! () A minute, I said. () Hello.

Student () Hello.

Ben () Can I help you?

Student () Well, it’s my tutorial. On Wordsworth. ‘The Prelude’.

Ben Oh. No, I can’t give tutorials during the first week after the break, I’m afraid. Too much administration.

Student () Oh? When should I come, then?

Ben Come at the same hour of the same day of next week.

Student () Next week?

Ben Next week. If we keep to our timetable we’ll know where we are, won’t we? All right?

Parsley’s Nursery Rhymes.

‘The Prelude’.

Good morning.

Joey Good morning.

Ben Nice to see you.

Joey Nice to be seen. What’s the matter with your chin?

Ben I’m trying to cultivate cotton wool on it. Your own is shining pleasantly, what did you have to work with, a razor?

Joey What did use?

Ben Anne left one behind. Behind the fridge, to be exact. So either mice have taken up shaving, or that stubble was sheared from her calves. I thought of mounting a tuft in a locket. You needn’t have taken the only one we have.

Joey It also happens to be the only one I have.

Ben Couldn’t you have shared Ted’s? It’s no pleasure slicing open my chin with my estranged wife’s razor blade. The symbolism may be deft, but the memory still smarts.

Joey I didn’t mean to take it, in point of fact. I put it in the bag without thinking.

Ben Lust is no excuse for thoughtlessness. And where is your bag? ()

Joey What? Oh, I left it with Reg.

Ben Reg? Who’s Reg?

Joey Reg is his name.

Ben Whose name?

Joey Ted’s.

Ben Reg is Ted’s name?

Joey The one you call Ted is the one I call Reg. He calls himself Reg too.

Ben How sweet.

Joey In fact, everybody calls him Reg except you. You call him Ted.

Ben Why do I do that, I wonder?

Joey To embarrass me.

Ben Oh yes, that must be it. (.) Did you have a good weekend?

Joey It was all right. (.) Have you seen James this morning?

Ben Ah! Our professor! He’s just been hounding me on the telephone. He and Hazel spent most of the break in bed recovering from one of Hazel’s gastric goulashes.

Joey Did he say anything? I mean, are there any details yet?

Ben You want details of James’s diarrhoea?

Joey You know what I mean. About my board.

Ben Ah. About your board. Now when is that, exactly?

Joey A fortnight tomorrow.

Ben Indeed? A fortnight tomorrow? Mmmm. Where the hell is it?

Joey What?

Ben It’s no real advance. (.) But it’s got some interesting things in it. Damn! Anyway –

‘How do you do, Mistress Pussy?

Mistress Pussy, how do you do?’

‘I thank you kindly, little dog,

I fare as well as you!’

Joey Did he say anything?

Ben You’re genuinely interested in this promotion of yours, aren’t you? Why? () No, he didn’t say anything. Your name didn’t come up, and there’s no reason that it should until, in the normal course of events and strictly according to the rules, the board is rigged, the strings are pulled, and it’s passed over for that of someone more closely related to the Principal, or with more distinguished qualifications. I should warn you that there are almost as many of the latter as of the former.

Cecily Parsley lived in a pen,

And brewed good ale for gentlemen;

Gentlemen came every day.

Till Cecily Parsley ran away.

Why? (.) Why has he got your bag?

Joey He happened to pick it up for me when we got off the train.

Ben Not many young men are as gallant these days. You haven’t been home yet, then?

Joey To the flat? No. (.)

Ben Ah. Why not?

Joey Because I didn’t have time, obviously. ()

Ben I waited for...