Maria\'s Pictures: A Monodrama

© Lydia Scheuermann Hodak HR-31000 Osijek Vijenac Jakova Gotovca 13 Tel/Fax: 00 385 31 210 209 e-mail: [email protected] Handy: 00 385 98 252 252

EVE IS NOT ADAM

Translated by: Nina Kay Antoljak

Characters: HELENA ONYX PETER Helena, a feminine, model type, and Onyx, reserved, a masculine type, two modern young women, who share a large apartment with Peter. Both are doing well in their professions; they have been in an intimate relationship for some time. In the first act, Helena is dressed in the very latest fashion, her hair falling freely; in the second act she wears a suit, always modern but never quite modern, and her hairdo suits her clothes. In both acts Onyx wears a male suit or unisex clothes. Peter, an unemployed photographer, nurtures dreams of making a worldwide name for himself. His clothes suit his age, occupation and financial situation.

ACT 1 The living room. The atmosphere is cheerful and friendly. ONYX:

(sitting at a table listing through some documents, and talking to herself) Not a chance. Ah well, perhaps it's better that way.

HELENA: (comes in, cuddling up to Onyx) Good morning. ONYX:

Good morning.

HELENA: Have you been up long? ONYX:

Since around eight.

HELENA: And what about breakfast? Where's breakfast? ONYX:

Wait till Peter gets up.

HELENA: Aah! Till midday, you mean? I am really fed up with Peter. Why on earth do we put up with him? ONYX:

I should ask you that.

HELENA: Ask me? I wasn't the one who offered Peter the spare room! ONYX: HELENA:

ONYX:

But wasn't it you who asked him to dinner? Alright, I brought him to dinner. There was nothing wrong with that. He did such great photos of me for that grand performance, so he probably deserved a decent meal. And then?

HELENA: And then he moved in with us. But that was your idea.

ONYX:

We both thought of it. Remember? He was evicted from his apartment and we offered him a room. On a temporary basis, until he found a permanent job.

HELENA: Temporary? It has been going on for three years! ONYX:

What do you actually want? Should we ask him to leave?

HELENA: I want some coffee and I want my breakfast! Just that some coffee and my breakfast! (calling) Peter! Peter! Will you get up! It's your turn for breakfast today. ONYX:

Listen Helena…

HELENA: Yes? ONYX:

All this correspondence, all this effort, it's all for nothing, nothing will come of it. Nothing will ever come of it.

HELENA: What do you mean, it's all for nothing? ONYX:

Just what I say. It's all too complicated. Perhaps we should just give up. Perhaps all these problems are a sign that we should forget it. Think about it.

HELENA: Since when have you been superstitious? ONYX:

Of course I'm not. But I have thought about every detail.

HELENA:

So have I. Not just once, I have always been thinking about it. And I've told you a hundred times and explained it all. I want to be a mother, I want to have a child. I want you to be a mother, too. Both of us. In any way we can. I want that more than anything in the world. In any case, we agreed on it!? How many times have we spoken about it?

ONYX:

Alright, but since you are so insistent, you have to face up to the unpleasant facts.

HELENA. Like what, for example?

ONYX:

Let's go through them, one by one. You know that same-sex marriages have not been legalised here.

HELENA: So far! But it's really all the same to us. We are married, and the fact that no one in this narrow-minded, backward country of ours realises it or accepts it, doesn't worry me at all. ONYX:

Leave our country out of it, because this is your worry, and it's mine, too. Because we have none of the rights of married couples. In other words, marriage is one thing, but children and a family are another. There is no clinic that does extrauterine conception, there's no legitimate clinic prepared to even talk about it. The condition for entering the programme for a test-tube baby is marriage, heterosexual marriage. Whoever I contacted, shut the door in my face. Is that clear? You and I don't stand a chance. We don't even have a chance as single mothers, but as a couple – just forget it. We really should give up the idea.

HELENA: But, Onyx, you promised! You promised we would share the bad with the good. ONYX:

Yes, I did, I promised, but we were not talking about children then. You never even mentioned it, and now, when we have been together for so long, now all of a sudden children are the most important thing in the world.

HELENA: They have always been the most important thing, the most important thing to me. I simply did not realise that I had to emphasise it. Surely it's understood. No explanation needed. I'm a woman, a real woman from head to toe, I'm a woman in our relationship, too! I want a child. I want to be a mother. I want to feel my baby growing inside me, I want to listen to its heart, talk with it, and then suckle it, and hold its hand, I want to show it the birds in the park, take it swimming....I want to be a real woman, a mother. Please, can't you understand that, once and for all! I am a woman to the core! ONYX:

I don't have that instinct.

HELENA: (cuddling up to Onyx) You promised. ONYX:

Alright, Helena, I did promise. But, unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, we can't settle the matter legally. It's not just that we can’t have a baby as a couple, we can't even adopt one. Not even that.

HELENA: Why not? ONYX:

HELENA:

ONYX:

The Law is very clear. A couple that is unable to offer a child the appropriate living conditions and the appropriate upbringing, cannot adopt a child. That's great. Really great! The fact that we live in a harmonious relationship, that we are educated, financially established, responsible people, all that doesn't hold water as far as the Law is concerned! Alcoholics, violent parents, chance parents, minors, bullies, and drug addicts can all have children, but we can't. We can't have children because we have come out in the open, not like the many people who do it in secret. But, they'll see, I will have a child. I'm afraid you won't. Not legally, anyhow.

HELENA:

If it can't be done legally, then let's do it illegally. That's my right, my choice. Luckily, there are clinics and doctors who do it illegally in most countries, and even here. You pay a bit more and then everything is possible.

PETER:

(still in his pyjamas, dishevelled, stretching and slowly waking up) Oohh, I completely forgot, it's my turn today!

HELENA: Well at least you remembered now. It's ten o'clock, we haven't had any tea or coffee, the fridge is empty, there's no fruit. Of course, that's not unusual when it's your turn. And apart from that, it's Saturday – you have to do the week's shopping. PETER:

Alright, alright, right away, I understand! (bowing theatrically) And what would the ladies like first?

HELENA: First tea, and then coffee.

ONYX:

Coffee for me, too. Filtered coffee.

HELENA: And breakfast! PETER:

My pleasure. (he leaves)

ONYX:

(calling after him) You are allowed to dress decently!

HELENA:

Let's get back to the subject and discuss it a bit with a cool head. I think you are dramatising it all a little too much. We can simplify everything.

ONYX:

And how would we do that? I'm listening.

HELENA:

I just told you. If the legal clinics are off-limits to us, surely there are others that are illegal, and completely anonymous. Don't tell me we couldn't find a doctor who would be willing to do it..

ONYX:

Do you ever really think things through? Can you imagine the risk you would be taking, going to an illegal clinic?

HELENA: Where's the risk? The treatment would be the same. ONYX:

I'm not talking about the treatment. But even if the procedure, the equipment and the hygiene is all in keeping with modern medicine, an illegal clinic would mean an anonymous donor. An anonymous father for your child. An anonymous criminal.

HELENA: Why a criminal? The clinics are just fulfilling normal biological needs. ONYX:

Yes, you are quite right, they fulfil needs. But not your needs and not in the way you imagine.

HELENA: How then? ONYX:

They have their material interests, their profit considerations that have absolutely nothing to do with your needs and your future children. Do you think that a furniture factory sheds

tears over the fate of the oak trees that have been cut down? You and your future child or children are just raw material in such sterility plants. Admittedly, you get a child, but from an anonymous father, and you get all the anonymous risks that go with such a child, anonymous genetic features, inherited talents but also inherited diseases. HELENA:

You're dramatising. Surely you don't think that the average classic couple think about that when they are making a baby? Do you think they give a thought to the genes the baby could inherit from some grandmother, greatgrandmother or extra-marital grandfather? As if those young couples creating theatre in front of the church every Saturday are thinking about the genetic characteristics of their future children? Anyway, the majority marry because there is a baby is on the way. Every second bride in white has to let out the waist of her dress. In any case, all married couples have to count on some risk. Every child is a risk. If people looked at things the way you do, the human race would have died out long ago.

ONYX:

Just a moment, let me finish what I am trying to say.

HELENA: Be my guest! ONYX:

Let's assume that it all functions brilliantly. You get your baby, not quintuplets, or sextuplets or some horrendous number that happens with artificial insemination, you get an average, normal, healthy baby. OK? And then your child of anonymous descent grows up and one day meets an equally anonymous genetic brother or sister, and marries. You don't think that your anonymous donor at the illegal clinic is exclusively yours, do you?

HELENA:

Oh! I don't think that, of course I don't. Actually I never thought about that at all.

ONYX:

Ah, but you should have.

HELENA:

If that's the way it is, we can find our own exclusive donor. An exclusive one, just for us.

ONYX:

Nothing simpler. Immediately, if not sooner. The streets are teeming with charming young men, intelligent, ambitious and attractive, financially secure, bursting with health up to nine generations back. There they are, standing in line in front of our door just waiting for two chicks like us to appear so that they can make us a gift of their genetic material: here's the test-tube, ladies, it was an honour to fulfil your wishes. And we even dream that the attractive young man will voluntarily admit paternity. Come on, be honest, where do we find such a man? Where is he?

PETER:

(bringing in the tea). Here I am, girls, here I am, thinking of you! First some green tea, and coffee coming up.

HELENA and ONYX: (exchange looks, caught off-guard) PETER:

What's going on here? Have I said something wrong? Or have I become the ghost in the castle? The ghost in the condominium!

ONYX:

Don't worry, you're no ghost. And nothing's going on. Everything is alright. But you still have to go shopping, the list is on the kitchen table.

PETER:

OK. I know. But after breakfast. (He exits.)

The women look at each other in silence. HELENA: Are we thinking the same thing? ONYX:

Perhaps, I'm not quite sure.

HELENA:

But I am: Peter. Peter would be the ideal donor. We have known him for years: healthy, young, intelligent, unemployed, short of money...

ONYX:

Light-headed, promiscuous…

HELENA: What does that matter? Who isn't promiscuous nowadays? In any case, Peter is not your partner and he's not mine, so why should that bother us. He is the ideal solution. We know him, he's not stupid, he looks good, and we can easily talk

him into it. We would take him to the clinic as the donor and everything would be perfect. ONYX:

I'm not so sure.

HELENA: You promised. ONYX:

I know I promised, will you stop reminding me! I promised, but I have found out a lot about it since then. It's not as simple as you think. I promised, and I shall keep my promise. If there is a way, a legal and safe way, we will have children. Both of us. But any anonymous clinic is quite out of the question. I don't want an anonymous child! I don't want an illegal clinic!

HELENA: Why not? If we bring our own donor, where's the risk? ONYX:

It's not just the donor. If it's an illegal clinic, there is a lot of unfinished business remaining after each test-tube baby?

HELENA: Like what? ONYX:

Think about it. They take genetic material from your ovaries, but they take a little extra, just in case. If that surplus is treated as collateral damage, as the popular phrase goes, then you are tacitly leaving your fertilised or unfertilised ova at the clinic. And there is nothing to stop the clinic from using them later.

HELENA: The clinic could use my genetic material? What do you mean? ONYX:

As far as I know, they could do it in a number of ways. For producing stem cells, selling them for research, for experiments, for prolonging the life of some rich doddering old man, in the manufacture of expensive cosmetics, and perhaps even for cloning experiments. If you have no objections, then that's OK. But I definitely have. I don't want to have anything to do with experiments on unborn foetuses. I don't want to go against Nature. I am just not prepared to hold the ladder for crooks.

HELENA: They are not necessarily crooks. Perhaps they don't do anything that is against the law. Perhaps they are quite ethical in what they do. ONYX:

Of course. They are so ethical that they can't get a licence and have to work illegally.

A pause. HELENA:

If things are really the way you describe them, then I am desperate. Where is this world going when it denies a woman the elementary, natural right to bear a child? The normal, natural right to have a child. If that's the way things are, what have our future children got to look forward to?

PETER:

(He has changed out of his pyjamas. Carries in a tray of food) Breakfast, breakfast is served, my ladies.

ONYX:

What's this? Have you already done the shopping?

PETER:

I just bought some buns here at the corner shop, I'll do the real shopping later. (sitting down)

They breakfast in silence. PETER:

Well, then? Are you asking me to leave?

ONYX:

What are you talking about?

PETER:

Are you throwing me out?

ONYX:

Where did you get that idea?

HELENA: It never entered our heads? PETER:

There's either something strange going on here, or I just didn't get enough sleep.

ONYX:

What do you think is going on?

PETER:

We have been living together for three years now, sharing expenses, chores, secrets, and all the rest. You have even

managed to force me to do the housework every third week, and scrub the bathroom and the toilet and all sorts of other disgusting jobs! I don't have to go into the details! The neighbours have even gotten used to us and accepted our set-up. They don't even gossip about us any more. But what's happening now? I come in and the two of you exchange meaningful looks and say nothing. You ring the curtain down! It's happened twice today. Well, then? What's it all about? HELENA: Children. It's all about children. PETER:

Ah, that? I thought I was getting the heave-ho. (He pauses.) But there is still something else, isn't there? If I know your plans, and if it concerns children, why stop talking when I come in? It's as though I'm involved somehow? As if it has something to do with me?

HELENA: Well, it does. That is, of course, if you agree? PETER:

If I agree? To what? I know! You need a baby-sitter! Count me out this time! Fair enough, I even wash dishes, but I couldn't be a nanny. Ugh! Nappies and baby slops and all the rest. No way. I just couldn't! And you know what, you two will always be a mystery to me. The ladies want to bear a child. Good. Alright. I have nothing against that. You two want children. But for whom?

HELENA: For us. PETER:

Why do you need a baby-sitter then? You want kids? Just get married, each of you finds a tycoon, you can even find lovers, have as many children as you want and look after them yourselves. Without a baby-sitter! Without me. I'm sorry, but no way!

ONYX:

You're mistaken, Peter. We don't need a baby-sitter. The two of us want children for ourselves. We will raise our children, but we have a completely different problem at the moment. We need genetic material. We need a donor.

PETER:

You solve that at the clinic.

ONYX:

Yes, but clinics will only accept heterosexual couples. All we can do is go to an illegal clinic, and we don't want an anonymous donor.

HELENA: And we think you would be the ideal donor. PETER:

What did you say? I beg your pardon? What is it you need from me?

ONYX:

Genetic material.

PETER:

I don't think I could have heard you properly.

HELENA: Yes, you did. ONYX:

You heard us very well.

PETER:

Hang on, there! Just a minute! You two need my genetic material? My … You know what, girls, I have done all sorts of things, and I've had all sorts of offers, but you have really shocked me. Has this world gone completely crazy? Have you two ever heard of safe sex? I practise only safe sex, I don't want to mess up anyone's life, not any girl's life and not my own..

ONYX:

It's not sex that interests us.

PETER:

What then? My genetic material? Out of the question! I am not your husband, for goodness sake. I am not a service bull? They want my genetic material? There are banks for things like that. Successful professional women like you should know that there are sperm banks for such things. Soon my brothers-in-arms and I will become completely superfluous. Genetic material! How wonderful that sounds! Genetic material? You mean that stuff in the yoghurt cup, or in the Petri dish...?

ONYX:

That's exactly what we mean. And you don't have to go on about it and pretend that you have never heard of anyone being a donor of genetic material.

HELENA: It's nothing new, people do it. Just like donating blood, today they donate sperms. Or sell them. They get paid. And it works. PETER:

It's not the same. Ethically, it's not the same.

ONYX:

Why not? If is ethically acceptable to transplant organs, and donate blood and bone marrow, what could possibly be wrong with donating genetic material? All you would be doing is donating certain body secretions that you don't have any use for. In any case, you waste them now, to no effect whatsoever. You have absolutely nothing to lose.

HELENA: In fifty years time, or maybe one hundred, when today's form of marriage has died out, it will be the customary practice. Perhaps even the exclusive practice. PETER:

What will be customary? Exclusively? I am not sure I understood you fully.

HELENA: Well, instead of stereotyped marriage for production of offspring, marriages out of interest because of money, status and the like, unselfish love and absolute freedom will rule the world. People will sit down at their computers, practice cyber-sex, instead of having sexy underwear in their wardrobes, they will have vibrators, plastic dolls and other equipment, and they will rear test-tube babies or babies from cloning clinics. And only grotesquely backward eccentric hetero-couples will take the risk of bearing a child in the old-fashioned way. A risky child that is not genetically programmed. PETER:

Where is there any elementary ethics in that?

ONYX:

Unfortunately, in the world of cutting-edge technology, talk about ethics will all be just blah blah. Ethics? Spare me!

PETER:

Are you two in the throngs of pre-menstrual syndrome, or are you just trying to be clever?

HELENA: No, no. We are being very serious.

ONYX:

Evolution! It's evolution!

PETER:

Evolution? If you have by chance forgotten it in your maternal ecstasy, all the plant and animal species in this world of ours reproduce in a natural way that is ideally suited to them. And why should homo sapiens meddle in evolution? It has all been solved in a fairly successful way, give or take a bit of pleasure and pain. There's no call for experimentation, it has all been settled by evolution and there are no secrets!

ONYX:

No secrets at all! But we pretend to have forgotten. What is evolution but an imitation of history? Evolution is the recollection of the forgotten. What is Adam's rib other than genetic material? Eve was made out of Adam's genetic material.

PETER:

When I listen to the two of you and when I read about Dolly the sheep and the other most recent experiments, I am not so sure that the production you are talking about was so successful and wise. Perhaps God simply ran out of ideas, or perhaps he needed a day off after creating the world in six days. Or maybe a holiday on the Adriatic.

ONYX:

You can think whatever you like, but Eve was made out of Adam's rib. Straightforward cloning!

PETER:

My dear ladies, I am very sorry to have to disappoint you, but that was not straightforward cloning. If it had been, then Eve would be Adam. And, as we all know, Eve is not Adam! The Creator did have to intervene. He intervened just a little. Alright, he didn't have to create the Serpent, but he could have given Eve a little more charm and grace...

ONYX:

Since when have you been a male chauvinistic pig? Eve is Eve, and the Serpent is the Serpent. Is that clear? Can we get back to what we were talking about?

PETER:

Just one more question? A small detail? OK?

ONYX:

Go ahead.

PETER:

If it's true that Eve is Eve, and the Serpent is the Serpent, then I have a question.

HELENA: Let's hear it. PETER:

You know some of those depictions of Eden? Adam and Eva are standing naked beside the tree, fig leaves and all that stuff, the apple is hanging on a branch, and the Serpent is wound around the tree. Why does the Serpent have Eve's face on some of the pictures you see? A-ha?

HELENA: Because the painter was a male chauvinist pig! PETER:

OK. I get it. Good.

They eat in silence. ONYX:

Alright then, Peter, have we settled the ethics of it all?

HELENA: Any more questions? PETER:

No more questions. Actually, I am perhaps a little sad.

HELENA: Why should you be sad? There's no reason to be sad. PETER:

Because if you are even on the trail of the truth with these morbid stories, then our prospects are really miserable. But, I hope that your stories will stay in the laboratories. It is much lovelier to conceive your child in a grassy meadow, or on a sandy beach.. Maybe even in the marriage bed, or on the kitchen table, why not? Even with all the risks of the child inheriting Dumbo ears from some unfortunate forebear. But extra corporal conception? Test-tube babies? No, thanks! Nobody accepts that, nobody normal, that is.

ONYX:

Childless couples have already accepted it.

PETER:

Alright, maybe I can accept that. There are exceptions. Exceptions that will never become the rule.

ONYX:

Yes, they will. They will, and how! People can be talked into anything. The more senseless it is, the more grateful they are in the end. There is a method for everything. Everything has its price.

PETER:

Do you think there is any chance you are mistaken?

ONYX:

No, not at all. Things change very quickly. When Winnetou and Old Shatterhand mixed their life-blood, they mixed what was divine within them. Forever. That's what they believed. Today, every second addict without money sells blood and buys a shoot. Some sell a dose of genetic material and buy a shoot! Everything has its price.

PETER:

No amount of money...

ONYX:

I'm not talking about money. I was referring to the price. And don't forget, everyone has his price.

HELENA: You just think about it. Our offer stands. PETER:

Aha! That's the way it is. You are still persisting. But, if I may ask, why don't you adopt a child? The children’s homes are full of abandoned kids, of all shapes and sizes, all colours and all possible genetic combinations. Adopt a child!

ONYX:

Unfortunately, the Law does not allow us to.

HELENA: All we can do is bear our own children. PETER:

I see. Well, really… it's up to you. (He stands up.) But now I have to go out in the fresh air. I have to take a walk. But please, don't hold out any hope! Even though, in principle, I have nothing against the procedure if someone else is involved. Or it's for a marriage without children. But only in principle, because I am not interested in experiments. Not even with the two of you. I think you are quite OK, but you have really shocked me with this. I am surprised at both of you, especially you Onyx..

ONYX:

Why me?

PETER:

What the point of a man's suit if you want children? I don't get the impression that men yearn so much for children. But, that was just a bad joke, I have to take a walk. (He leaves.) I have to clear my head.

ONYX and HELENA continue their breakfast in silence. PETER:

(coming back and sitting down)

HELENA: And? Is the walk over? PETER:

It's over. I changed my mind.

ONYX:

Have you thought it over?

PETER:

I don't have time for thinking it over. I don't have time for your ideas. Why should I spend my time on what you want? Why should I concern myself with your plans?

ONYX:

But haven't you even thought about our proposal?

PETER:

There's nothing to think about, even in principle. Anyone interested in this sort of thing can think about it, not me. It's not my story. I don't want to sow my seed all over the world.

HELENA: It wouldn't be sowing your seed all over the world. In any case, almost all men have children all over the place. In this day and age? PETER:

There may be men who have children they know nothing about, but not me.

ONYX:

Since I know you so well, I find that hard to believe.

PETER:

Believe it or not, it's up to you. But, maybe you haven't heard about it, or read about it, but there is such a thing as safe sex. I told you before. Even without the risk of AIDS, I am for safe sex! I neither give, nor sell, nor make a gift of my genetic material.

ONYX:

May I ask why?

PETER:

Why? Because I don't want to make rootless people, people who don't know their father's name.

HELENA: How melodramatic! Real soap-opera stuff! Such a sense of accountability! Lots of children don't know their fathers’ names, or bear someone else's name because their mother got married at the last moment to some poor dope. Big deal! Half the test-tube babies don't know their fathers’ names! And clones won't even really have a father, let alone know his name. What's so important about the paternal name? Who cares any more? As if it has any bearing on anything? PETER:

It does to me.

HELENA: It's not worth the effort. PETER:

What do you mean?

HELENA: It's not worth the effort. You certainly won't change the world, and you won't slow down progress. No one is irreplaceable, not even you. They trade in and experiment with all sorts of things these days. They transplant hearts, although it was not so long ago that the heart was thought of as the home of the soul. But where does the soul really dwell? Who knows? And what do we transplant when we transplant the heart? And whose eyes are we looking through when we transplant the cornea? These are all senseless questions. It's just material, and that's it. It's the same with genetic material. You aren't giving anything other than material, which is subject to change. Why should anything connected with sex be taboo? PETER:

Sex hasn't been a taboo for ages. But the consequences?

ONYX:

What are you talking about? Things change!

PETER:

Alright! Perhaps it will be normal one day that we all live like extensions of a computer, which you described so well, Helena. We will be bisexual, or transsexual or cyber sexual or asexual creatures, and huge data banks will decide on our offspring. Cloning will be an everyday thing. Maybe children will be sold at the supermarket or arrive by home delivery. But, it's not like that yet. Thank God! And, for your information, I cannot accept such a future. And I won't!

HELENA: You don't have to want to accept it, and nor do I, but that is your future. PETER:

Since you two are so well-informed, may I ask you something?

HELENA: Of course you may! PETER:

What is your non-classical idealised absolute love that I hear so much about going to look like in this high-tech future world?

HELENA: Like a universal perception without any proprietary instincts whatsoever. All creatures, whether born to mothers, or test-tube babies, clones, anonymous, without roots, all of them will be a part of limitless love. PETER:

Helena, forgive me, but that is all a lot of shit. That is against Nature. And if I may be indiscreet, your relationship is also against Nature.

ONYX.

Why should it be against Nature?

PETER:

You don't have the tools for love. You don't have the tools, my dear ladies! If you had them, you wouldn't be nagging me on this lovely Saturday morning.

ONYX:

Just a minute. You are wrong. Love is one thing, and the way of expressing it is another.

PETER:

I'm not sure I understood that?

ONYX:

You must have heard how the Eskimos kiss by rubbing noses. Where is it written that the movie screen kiss is the right one? Where is it written what tools are the right ones? Creating descendants is one thing, and love is another. The practice of love and the tools of love can be diverse.

PETER:

If that’s so, then sort out your diverse tools and leave me in peace. I am uncompromisingly old-fashioned as far as this subject is concerned.

HELENA: Old-fashioned or not, fifty or a hundred years from now, no-one will be interested in the obsolete principles you are talking

about. In a few generations, modern gene technology will triumph. And all the reasons that we get married for today, or divorced, or to court, all subjects like family, heritage, ownership, property, and love in the classic sense, all such subjects will be comical. No-one will have any use for the family as we know it today. PETER:

And how will we live? Will we just roam around the world alone?

HELENA: We will live in free communities as long as it suits us. We will live as the most diverse but harmonious, natural couples, without any framework or limitations. PETER:

You sound as if you are delirious. Has someone wound you up, or are you being paid to talk such nonsense?

HELENA: Why? PETER:

First of all, I am sure that property will never die out. But, even without that, if we won't need the family in this virtual cyberworld of yours, why should there be couples? Aren't couples a surrogate for the family?

HELENA: A person has to have a nest. PETER:

Yes, yes, in order to be able to shit in that nest.

ONYX:

Peter, I can see that this whole thing frustrates you. I am not surprised, because men are always immovable and oldfashioned. You all function on the principle: don't make waves! But, I have to disappoint you. Although you don't know it, or perhaps don't want to know it, things are already changing. A new type of creature is already walking the earth.

PETER:

What do you mean by that?

ONYX:

The streets are full of people who were not created in the classic way. It's just that we don't recognise it as yet.

PETER:

And what's going to happen when these future creatures of yours, without feelings, a sense of belonging and roots, these

fruits of modern biotechnology, unite and turn on us? What then? HELENA: I am not sure I know where you are going with that? PETER:

Do you want me to draw pictures?

HELENA: I am not that stupid. But, if I understood you, you are against progress in general. Are you against science? If it was up to you, we would still be living in the Stone Age. ONYX:

If there had been no progress, we would still be dying of TB, typhus and smallpox. We would be dying of the most banal children's diseases. Without science, childless couples would never have a chance to become parents! If Man had not set out for the Moon, who knows? We probably wouldn't even have microwave ovens. Or desiccated food.

PETER:

I'm just crazy about desiccated food. I beg for it three times a day.

ONYX:

Joke if you like! You are hypercritical. You are just like the Greens who are against nuclear energy, but drive their cars, travel by plane, use air-conditioning units and, instead of walking everywhere and living in a log cabin, waste energy like drunken millionaires. You are just the same. You say one thing but do another. You are against progress, but enjoy from morning to night everything that science can offer.

PETER:

That's right! I also enjoy technical innovations. Every day. I am happy every day that we have cars and refrigerators. I constantly dream about an electronic camera. But let's be realistic! How much have we destroyed by our own technical, technological, biological and similar laboratory creations? How much are they destroying us? Everything we invent, everything we bring to technical perfection, it all leads to extremes. And do you know why?

HELENA: No, but I would love to. PETER:

Because we have no sense of moderation. We always want more, and more. We want more than the most!

HELENA: For example? PETER:

Television. Energy. Food. Why are you surprised? If there is no TV programme, we don't know what do to with ourselves. We have forgotten how to talk. If there is no electricity, we can't go to work, wash our feet, drink, or eat. That mediaeval knight, the wanderer who played his guitar and kept a piece of raw, salted beef under his saddle, would die if he had to eat what we eat today. We no longer have any feelings, simply an overwhelming desire to own more and more things. Nothing except pure greed! And there is always someone who has more!

HELENA: What's wrong with that? PETER:

Every day we become more dependent, weaker, more incompetent and heartless. We are allergic to almost anything you can think of, we are allergic to the air, the rays of the sun, and to ourselves. And one day when we become completely incompetent, we will become extinct like the dinosaurs.

ONYX:

What makes you think that we are interested in such morbid, gloomy forecasts? Such cataclysmic projections? At the beginning of the 20th century, the British Parliament voted against the electrification of the kitchen, and nowadays we have electricity in every pigpen and chicken house.

HELENA: At the beginning of the last century, the bicycle was considered dangerous to health, but today we even buy exercise bikes to improve our health? Instead of forecasting the catastrophe, perhaps it would be better that we return to the subject. PETER:

But that is the subject.

ONYX:

Only in principle. You are talking about a long-term, millennial forecast of the general world cataclysm. Even if you are right, there is nothing that you and I can do to prevent it.

PETER:

But we don't have to do our best to hurry it along!

HELENA: Giving us your genetic material certainly won't bring it on sooner. In some former times, you would just have had it off

with both of us and disappeared. Young fellows used to get girls pregnant and then run for their lives, because that was how young women trapped men into marriage. But, as you can see, times have changed. We don't want you, you won't lose any of your freedom. We just want your genetic material. Do you understand? PETER:

Not quite.

HELENA: Oh, my God! I never thought you had a low IQ? PETER:

Yes. And I used to think you were intelligent women. Let's look at the practical side. How do you imagine all this? I mean the whole procedure. Let's say I agree, we come there to the counter, the nurse on duty takes my data, gives me a test-tube, a porno magazine, and I retire to isolation for a short time, come back, hand the tube back to the nurse – here's my genetic material – I am healthy, strong, I don't take drugs, I don't have a permanent job, I have no money and I am a bit feeble-minded.

HELENA: I don't why you would have to be feeble-minded. PETER:

Ladies, who are we kidding? Let's be open about this. We come to an agreement and I accept. We take the doctor the tube with the genetic material. He says abracadabra and you two become mothers. That's what you had in mind? Yes, that's it. The only thing I don't know is how you will like it when the kids grow up and reach puberty, I am not at all sure about that part of it. But it's not my concern.

ONYX:

You're quite right. That's our concern and I don't see the problem.

PETER:

It's all a problem. My genetic material is not fruit and vegetables, with you two buying a pear, an apple, and half a kilo of onions. In case you have forgotten, the unit of measure for male genetic material is in the millions and trillions. I don't know exactly, but the numbers are huge. So I am supposed to deliver you, sorry, deliver the doctor millions of units of expensive material in a test-tube.

HELENA: Yes, that right.

PETER:

Right until now - but what about later?

ONYX:

What later?

PETER:

Do the two of you think at all? Or don't details interest you?

ONYX:

Could you be a bit clearer?

PETER:

You might be naive enough to believe that all that priceless material is going to be squandered on just the two of you. And you expect me to be just as stupid and believe it, too. Well, that's where you're wrong. You underestimate that sterility expert because you think like women, and he thinks in economies of scale. And he will make a lot of babies from that one test-tube, because he doesn’t believe in waste! Not at all! He knows how much that test-tube is worth. And here's the hitch: I don't want to have anonymous children. I don't want to walk along the street and look into the face of each passing child to see if it looks like me, because some doctor has made misuse of my genetic material. I don't want my anonymous child to marry another of my anonymous children. Or one of my legitimate children, for that matter. I don't want my children to pay for my mistakes. And I don't want my genetic material to be used in the production of stem cells to grow organs for some inhuman dictator who wants to live forever. I don't want to take part in the creation of embryos that don't stand a chance! You are free to call me backward, old-fashioned and stupid – but that is the way I feel! And now I'm going shopping to buy a pear, an apple and half a kilo of onions. (He leaves.)

ONYX:

Go and see if there is any more coffee in the kitchen.

HELENA: (She brings in the pot. ) Just a little at the bottom. They sit in silence, looking at each other. HELENA: I would never have thought that Peter could string ten sentences together at the same time. ONYX:

And ten sensible sentences at that! But the thing is, Peter is right. Unfortunately, he's right.

HELENA: So all that is left is the classic way. ONYX:

What do you mean?

HELENA: Surely you haven't forgotten how babies are made. ONYX:

Oh, no. Not that. Not ever. If I wanted to make babies that way, I would have married some man.

HELENA: But Peter is not some man. Peter is Peter. Actually, it would be the ideal solution. He has wit, I believe he would be good in bed, not that it matters. We can take is as just one more experience. ONYX:

No, thank you. I don't want to bear a child and I don't want a man in my bed. And even less in your bed. No. Thank you, but no thank you!

HELENA: You're not jealous of a man, are you? ONYX:

Yes, I am. I'm jealous. You know very well just how jealous I am. Even of a man.

HELENA: Don't be childish! Look at it realistically. If that is the only reliable and only possible way for us, to have a child, why not? ONYX:

It makes me sick just to think of it.

HELENA: Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. In any case, there are worse things. ONYX:

For example? What could be worse and more disgusting than a hairy man in your bed?

HELENA: Oh, I could tell you something about that. A drunken, hairy man, for example, is much worse. Or a macho, or one with an Oedipus complex. There are many more, but I won't do into detail. ONYX:

I'd be grateful if you didn't.

HELENA: Anyway, why do you think that Peter would be a bad choice? He's not hairy and he's never drunk. ONYX:

Alright, Peter showers every day and he is not stupid. But I simply can't imagine having to repeat that senseless procedure in bed for days with Peter or any other man. I can't image it would be at all pleasant.

HELENA: Do you think artificial insemination would be pleasant? Being pumped up with all those hormones, and walking around with a red and swollen face, looking like a boiled crab? And all those syringes, and test tubes and all that equipment. Not to mention the mocking comments with double meanings from the odd doctor or other staff at the clinic. (listening to something) Just a moment! I think Peter is back. ONYX:

He probably forgot to buy half of the stuff, as usual.

HELENA: Come on now, we have to win him over. ONYX:

But how?

HELENA: In any way you know. ONYX:

How do you expect me to convince Peter? I have no idea how to go about it. I have never taken any man seriously in my whole life, and I have never made an effort with any man. I don't even look like the seductive type. What possible trump cards could I hold?

HELENA: But we are not trying to seduce Peter. We have a project, and Peter is the donor in that project. He is only one of the elements in our plan. And if you think you don't hold trumps, I don't hold them either where Peter is concerned, but we do hold them together. Don't you remember? ONYX:

Remember what?

HELENA: Have you forgotten what Peter wanted? He begged us for two years to do it. He would sell his soul to the Devil if he could shoot that silly film about us. Well?

ONYX:

Oh, no. It's out of the question. That is our intimate life and it is nobody's business, it would kill all the romance between us.

HELENA: It's nothing to do with romance. Peter wants to make an authentic film about lesbian love. Of course, we would wear wigs and he wouldn't do any facial shots. Peter believes that that film, or that series of art photos, will open the door to success for him. He wants that more than anything, and we want children more than anything. Let's weigh our respective wishes. ONYX:

Only as a last resort. The last resort of the desperate. If all our other arguments fail. Only then.

HELENA: What arguments? What on earth can we offer him? ONYX:

Money. A pile of money. Enough money to buy equipment, open a studio and make a name for himself. Money always works.

HELENA: Not in this case. No. But alright then, we can only try. A cash offer in the first round, but if he says no, what then? ONYX:

Then let him make his stupid film. I never even dreamt what I would be prepared to do for you.

HELENA: For yourself, Onyx, for yourself, not for me. You are the one who is always saying that we never do anything for other people and because of other people. It sounds better if we are sacrificing ourselves for others, playing the martyr, wallowing in self-pity. ONYX:

Do you have to sprout philosophy right now?

PETER:

(comes in, looks around, leafs through the paper)

ONYX:

One question, Peter. Just one question.

PETER:

Yes?

ONYX:

Why do I have the impression that you are actually afraid?

PETER:

Me afraid? What of?

ONYX:

What we were talking about.

PETER:

Well, if I think about it a bit, yes, I am afraid.

ONYX:

I don't see what there is to be afraid of. It's just an ordinary testtube, and everything else is subject to negotiation. You aren't taking any risks, you are just doing what comes naturally. Helping Nature along. Imitating Nature.

PETER:

Nature cannot be imitated, at least not successfully.

ONYX:

You are very mistaken. The procedure has been tested and is secure.

PETER:

You're the one who is mistaken, and not only you. When Man imitates Nature, the only certainty is uncertainty, the only safety is lack of safety, because there are some inviolable rules, an inviolable and immeasurable harmony that supersedes everything. Take a look around you. Everything in Nature is inimitable and irreplaceable, so unique that it can't be copied. Nature is like love.

ONYX and HELENA: O-ho-ho-ho! PETER:

It's not funny.

HELENA: Why not? PETER:

Because love is just like Nature, free and unrepeatable. You can't conquer it. You can't change it at will, you can't replace it with surrogates. At least, not successfully.

HELENA: You are so romantic, how is it that you are not already married? Why don't you have a partner? Of either sex, of course. ONYX:

Wait on, Helen, leave marriage for the moment. This comparison that Peter has made is quite cute but not at all convincing. Perhaps love in Nature? That's sounds better to me. Can you explain or is it simply that you have joined the Greens Party.

PETER:

I haven't joined any parties, but I can explain what I said. Love is not a house, a bank account or a piece of land. You can't prove ownership rights, you can't buy it, or even steal it. You can't conquer it. You can only give it, and feel it and respect it.

HELENA: What has that got to do with what we are talking about? PETER:

Feelings are outside our power. Just as Nature is. Untouchable and unrepeatable. And you have to respect that.

HELENA: Where did you hear all this wisdom? Has Nature herself been whispering to you? PETER:

Yes. Just that. Nature is constantly talking and even weeping, because her tears are what flood the concreted river beds.

HELENA: Aaah, I'm going to throw up! This is becoming so sickly sweet. Have you maybe lost it? There were floods before anyone even thought of concrete, and what about the Great Flood. Was that just a performance? The Great Flood was a magnificent performance by Nature! PETER:

Yes, but the audience drowned.

HELENA: But the performers survived! ONYX:

Let's get back to our subject!

PETER:

That's all settled. Please don't be so insistent. You really are aggressive.

HELENA: We are not insistent and we are not aggressive. We have just realised that you are in love with natural processes and we have a completely new suggestion. We have an idea that should be very attractive to you – as a friend of Nature, that is. PETER:

Yes?

HELENA: Let's do it the natural way. Then there is no risk of collateral damage , and you won't be squandering your genetic material on any number of unknown recipients.

PETER:

What? Me with you? And with you? Me with both of you? (He examines the plates on the table.) Did someone slip some hallucinogens into your breakfast? (He taps his forehead.) Are you both drunk? Or do you think I'm sexually handicapped?

HELENA: No, we don't think that, far from it. But you must admit it's an original idea. In harmony with Nature. Everything taking place in the old, well-tried fashion. No clinic, no test-tube, nothing artificial, only the real thing. Instead of collateral damage there might even be collateral pleasure. And that's not to be sneezed at. PETER:

When I think about, it's not. But with the two of you? How can I enjoy it with you two? I feel as though we have been married for twenty years! To me, you don't have bodies and are completely asexual, I don't even know if you are dressed or naked. I can't imagine it, It would be like banging my aunt or my grandmother! As the Germans say: tote Hose! I am afraid my own nature would leave me in the lurch. Sabotage the whole thing.

HELENA: You really are a pain with this nature business! Politicians also wax on about Nature when they can't solve a problem! ONYX:

PETER:

Let's leave the nature thing. serious plans with you.

We are serious, we have very

You can't have plans with me, when I don't have plans with myself. I don't have a job, no-one recognises my talent, I am working with an old camera, with cheap film, and they pay me rock-bottom prices if they pay me at all. But at least since I don't have a job, no-one can sack me, so I am really doing rather well. As long as I can stay here, of course.

HELENA: (suddenly) Do we have any fruit, Peter? I'd love some fruit. PETER:

A-ha! You want to talk alone? OK. I'm out of here. OK!

ONYX:

All the same, bring us some fruit.

PETER:

Thank God, a reasonable request, finally. (He leaves.)

HELENA: (conspiratorially) So? Are we going though with it? ONYX:

Yes. You try with the money, make him a direct offer. Whatever he wants, a studio, recommendations, whatever he needs. A pile of money. And if he doesn't accept, I'll take over.

HELENA: OK. PETER:

(bringing in a tray of fruit and looking at the clock) Have I been away long enough?

HELENA: Only in principle. We haven't agreed on the amount. PETER:

The amount?

HELENA: Yes. We are offering you a studio, an electronic camera, travel, seminars, and we are offering you money. In fact, a start to your career. We are prepared to pay for your services. PETER:

That wouldn’t be my style. I'm sorry, but none of that would guarantee success. All of that would not mean that I would become a name. And that's what I intend to be. Is that clear?

ONYX:

Fairly. (Taking a large apple, she starts to eat it slowly.) You know what occurred to me, Peter?

PETER:

What?

ONYX:

No-one in the whole world could understand us like you do.

PETER:

Why me?

ONYX:

Because you, too, had a driving wish? Do you remember?

PETER:

Yes. I remember. I remember trying to talk you into letting me shoot that film.

ONYX:

Why did you insist on it being the two of us? You know that a film like that would have ruined our careers. Well, maybe not Helena's, not in the fashion business where a small affair could even be helpful. But me? Just imagine it, the financial director

of a large international bank acting in a porno film. My career would be over. PETER:

If I remember rightly, I offered you complete anonymity, didn't I? Firstly, you would wear wigs, secondly, I would not show your faces, and I would never reveal the secret. And last of all, but most important of all, it would not be a porno film.

ONYX:

Well it certainly wouldn't be science fiction!

PETER:

It would be a film about love.

ONYX:

Well then, why didn't you want to engage professional actors.

PETER:

Why? I wanted body language, and not acting. Look at those sex films. Hetero and homo couples. Compared with them, Pinocchio is a ballet dancer! And I don't want to film Pinocchio, I want to film love.

ONYX:

Peter, you don't live in the real world at all.

PETER:

Why do you say that?

ONYX:

If the whole world is satisfied with the way love is shown on screen, why do you think you have to do something more. Or different.

PETER:

Not more, or different. Just real and recognisable. I need an entry ticket.

ONYX:

An entry ticket? To what?

PETER:

To the circle of the social and art upper crust, of the financial cream, whatever comes along. I need to make a name for myself and the only way I can do it is by making something authentic and original, something that has not been seen before, something to take their breath away! How many photographers would you think there are around the world, all dreaming of a career?

HELENA: Thousands?!

PETER:

Tens of thousands! And I am not talking about poverty-stricken enthusiasts or people without any support like me. They are photographers who have the latest in equipment, laboratories, and friends in the right places! All of them trying to become world names. And why don't they succeed? Because everything they do has been seen before, they produce quasi-art works. Déjà-vu! While real art is the truth.

HELENA: (mockingly) You mean like real love? PETER:

You can babble on, but when I shoot the real thing I'll have a name, and when you have a name, then it doesn't matter any more whatever you do. Then your signature is sold for big money, and not your work. You see, that my objective! Then I will be financially independent. Free to the end of my life. And then I can shoot whatever I want to.

HELENA: Floods probably, and butterflies and flowers?! PETER:

That, too. Primarily that!

ONYX:

I am afraid that your whole story is fairly transparent and contradictory. Not to mention cheap. As you so poetically put it, you want to shoot the truth? And later you will sell anything under your name. Even what's false?

PETER:

Yes, and that will be alright. Quite alright. That's the market. I cannot change the world. I shall offer what the market wants, in order to get what I want. I shall barter art for money, and then I shall be able to use that money to live for the art I want. Then I shall be able to do as I like, because I shall be free. Financially free. I shall be able to photograph anything I want. (to Helena) Even if it is only butterflies and flowers.

HELENA: Floods, butterflies and flowers! ONYX:

So you still haven't given up?

PETER:

No, and I don't intend to.

HELENA: All you need to say now is that you are going to establish a society for the protection of animals and plants.

PETER:

No, no, they already exist, there are many such societies. But, it's not a bad idea! Perhaps I could establish a society for protection of the human race? There is nothing like that.

ONYX:

Come on, Helena, you keep on interrupting? Alright, Peter, if I have understood you, you want that film more than anything? Right? And how much would you be prepared to pay for the fulfilment of your dream?

PETER:

I would pay any price. For a chance like that, I would pay any conceivable price. I would sell my soul.

ONYX:

Sell your soul? Like Faust?

PETER:

Yes, like Faust.

A pause.

ONYX:

Would you repeat that? You would pay any conceivable price?

PETER:

Yes. Any conceivable price. Get it?

ONYX:

Got it. (throwing away the core of the apple) If that is the way it is, then we will shoot your stupid, fucking film. (extending her hand to him across the table) Is it a deal?

PETER:

(caught off-guard, he extends his hands to both of them) It's a deal!

ACT 2 The same living room. Seven years later. Piled in the corner of the room are travel bags, toys, and coats thrown over the back of a chair. The atmosphere is strained.

ONYX: paper)

(carries in breakfast, sits at the table, and leafs through the

HELENA: (Coming in from outside, she pauses, in two minds.) Good morning. ONYX:

Morning.

HELENA: I'm here. ONYX:

I can see that.

HELENA: Couldn't you be a bit more welcoming? ONYX:

I suppose I could. Are you coming back?

HELENA: No. I'm not coming back. I just came to pick up my things. ONYX:

Interesting.

HELENA: What's interesting? ONYX:

I was expecting a taxi. You said you'd send a taxi for your things.

HELENA: (She is hesitant, looks through her things in the corner, adds some items, packing them.) Did any one phone me today? ONYX:

Are you expecting a call?

HELENA: No. Well, yes, actually. ONYX:

From whom?

HELENA: It's not important. ONYX:

It seems that it is.

HELENA: Look, Onyx, I came to have a talk with you. We should talk. Alright? ONYX:

Of course. When?

HELENA: Now would be best. (She piles up the packages.) Right away, if you like. ONYX:

Now or later. It's all the same. Sit down.

HELENA: Why do I have to sit down? ONYX:

I don't want to talk while you are poking through the wardrobes and packing your dresses.

HELENA: Why not? ONYX:

We lived together for more than ten years, sat the same table, slept in the same bed – and we talked. And if you want to talk to me as we say good-bye, please sit down.

HELENA: (sitting) If you insist. ONYX:

Coffee?

HELENA: Yes, please. A pause. ONYX:

(passing the coffee) There you go. What's this about?

HELENA: We have some things to solve, I mean now, when we are separating... ONYX:

We are not separating; you are leaving. You are leaving me and going away.

HELENA: Call it what you like, but it's finished between us.

ONYX:

I know that, although I never would have believed that it would be.

HELENA: I wouldn't have believed it either. I never even thought of the possibility. But, let's not talk about that now. Please. ONYX:

Why not?

HELENA: Because there’s no point. You will never talk me into staying. ONYX:

I'm not trying to. You have made up your mind and you are leaving. The only thing is, why get married so suddenly? Why rush from one relationship into another? Just think about it a little.

HELENA: What have I got to think about? ONYX:

I just told you. You are plunging right into a new relationship. That can't be good.

HELENA: Surely you're not still jealous? ONYX:

Perhaps I am, but what I'm saying has nothing to do with jealousy.

HELENA: What then? Why shouldn't this new attempt work out? It might be better that what you and I have had. This time, it might be the real thing. ONYX:

It's all too fast. You can't just change your life overnight.

HELENA: As you can see, that's just what I'm doing? ONYX:

You will regret such a hasty decision.

HELENA: What a lovely gloomy forecast! Why should I regret it? After all, I'm not fifteen any more. ONYX:

It's nothing to do with how old you are. You have to give yourself time after every break-up. Time to mourn the loss. The

loss of the love that meant something to you. The love that is gone. HELENA: Love? Ah yes, love! How romantic that sounds! ONYX:

Don't make a joke of it! It was your life, too.

HELENA: My life! No. It was just an episode in my life! ONYX:

But you see, I thought it was love.

HELENA: A delusion. You were under a delusion. We both were. We just convinced each other that it was love. ONYX:

If it wasn't love, what was it? Consolation, perhaps? After all your adventures, were you looking for consolation with me?

HELENA: No. No, I wasn't looking for that. ONYX:

Then, why did you come to me? Disappointment?

HELENA: You’re mistaken, Onyx, you don't climb into somebody's bed because you are disappointed. ONYX:

What then? I want to know what brought you to me.

HELENA: Why are you being so insistent? Why did I come? I don't really know. It was in, I suppose. It was simply the fashion. ONYX:

How can you? After all our years together? It was in? The fashion? What we had was the fashion?

HELENA: You know very well what I mean. And please, don't start complicating things now! ONYX:

I want the truth. I am interested in the truth. So, our relationship was fashionable? You mean fashionable, as in clothes?

HELENA: No, not our relationship. Freedom was in fashion. The right to choose! A right that no-one could take away from me! Not my priest, not my father, no judge, simply no-one! Freedom was in fashion. A freedom of choice that my mother and my

grandmother never had. I simply made up for their lack of it. It was my choice and you know that very well. ONYX:

What does that mean now? Has freedom suddenly gone out of fashion?

HELENA: Forget the clichés, please! I am simply going on my way. ONYX:

But you do owe me an explanation at least...

HELENA: Why should I owe you anything? ONYX:

Because we are still married. Because we are a couple.

HELENA: Oh! We're still married? Surely you don't take that cloyingly sweet ceremony seriously? Marriage at sunset, beside the sea. The waves beating on the rocks. Exotic music. Floral wreaths in our hair, the smoke from joss sticks and the chords of a guitar. Did you really think that was a real wedding? ONYX:

Where does it say which ceremony is the real thing?

HELENA: Whatever, I'm not interested in that. As far as I am concerned, it's the past. But let's face up to the truth! Everything changed when we got really close to each other, and married, and when we had a baby. ONYX:

Everything was the same.

HELENA: For you, maybe? But some things changed. In any case, it's even better for you now. ONYX:

Better? What's better for me?

HELENA: Everything? You always knew what you wanted. Everything was always clear to you. Yes. You have even climbed further up the social ladder. ONYX:

That's got nothing to do with the two of us.

HELENA: Ah, yes it does.

ONYX:

You didn't think that before.

HELENA: I used to be ten years younger. I used to earn ten times more than I do today. ONYX:

I don't have the impression that you are short of a crust of bread.

HELENA: I'm not short of bread and I still earn a decent living. But I don't earn those fat fees anymore. Today, I can't strut up and down the catwalk. Instead of going for fashion shoots to exotic islands for big bucks, I have become an ordinary salesperson. ONYX:

You are not an ordinary salesperson. You sell designer clothes in our own salon! In the very centre of town!

HELENA: Yes. It is my salon. In the centre of town. You are right! It's just that I have to be on my feet for ten hours a day in that salon of mine, being charming to rich, brainless matrons! Apart from that, I have a child who is going to start school soon. And because of that child, I have to set my life in order. ONYX:

Suddenly, the child is the reason for everything! Until now, all these years, everything was in order. Suddenly the child becomes the reason! The child is only an excuse. A cheap, transparent excuse.

HELENA: She is not an excuse. My daughter starts school in the Autumn. ONYX:

My daughter is starting school in the Autumn, too! And I don't see what that changes?

HELENA: That's the point. Some things don't change. ONYX:

What are you actually explaining to me? Two minutes ago, you said that everything is changing! And now, some things don't change!

HELENA: Unimportant things are changing, the backdrop and the props! The essential things remain the same. Some things have remained the same for centuries. ONYX:

Such as?

HELENA: Think back to your schooldays. The papers of thirty of the kids are in order, but one pupil has an empty item in her papers. Instead of her father's name, the teacher writes in a tiny line. ONYX:

And what's so terrible about that?

HELENA: Those sideways glances are what are terrible! Remember the looks! Remember the teacher shrugging her shoulders! ONYX:

That's history! Times have changed.

HELENA: That's what I'm trying to tell you all the time! Nothing has changed! You will always find that bigoted, old-fashioned teacher. ONYX:

And that's why you are getting married? You are getting married because of some unimportant primitive old hag who might shrug her shoulders?

HELENA: Partly because of that. But, if you want the truth, I want a family! ONYX:

And me? What about me? Aren't we a family? The two of us and our daughter?

HELENA:

Don't kid yourself. If we are a family, why aren't we accepted as a family? Why do we socialise only with singles or homocouples?

ONYX:

Because that's our choice. We choose the friends who suit us.

HELENA: And where is my daughter going to find friends, if we live in a ghetto? What about her choices? ONYX:

Our daughter!

HELENA: My daughter! I brought her into the world! ONYX:

Yes, you did. You gave birth to her. But don't forget, I have been her parent all this time! When you went off to your fashion shows, I took care of our daughter! I fed her, and took her to

kindergarten, and comforted her. I held her hand while she took her first steps, I sang lullabies to her. HELENA: But I am her biological mother. ONYX:

I know. You are her biological mother. And that's the point. You are her biological mother – and nothing more. How many days have you spent with your daughter? How much time have you had for her? How often did you cancel an appointment with the hairdresser, or the beautician, or the masseur because of that little girl? How many times have you taken her to kindergarten? Will you be taking her to school on her first day or will you simply call a taxi?

HELENA? Listen, Onyx! That's enough! I don't have any illusions about our break-up being painless, but I can't allow you to talk to me like that. There is no point in you accusing me, because I just don't feel guilty about anything. And you can go on about it until tomorrow, but it will just be a waste of time! She is my child! I bore her! ONYX:

Yes. You bore her. But I just don't see that is such a big deal!

HELENA: If it's not, why didn't you have a baby? A pause. ONYX:

Why didn't I have a baby? There were many reasons, but in case you have forgotten, we wanted a joint child.

HELENA: A joint child? You now very well what I think about that! ONYX:

No, I don't, but I very much fear that you don't either. In any case, what you have been saying is no argument whatsoever. You won't solve anything by getting married. Our daughter will remain a child without a father. That item will still remain empty.

HELENA: No, it won't. ONYX:

Why not?

HELENA: It simply won't. My daughter has a father. ONYX:

You mean Peter?

HELENA: Who else could I mean? Admitting paternity is a formality. ONYX:

That's not fair to Peter.

HELENA: Why not? After all, Peter is her biological father. What's unfair about it? ONYX:

It's unfair because we had an agreement! Remember what we said. We spoke for hours in this very room. You haven't forgotten, have you? Remember the details?

HELENA: What details? ONYX:

Remember what we agreed: Peter would make the film about the two of us, in wigs, anonymous, faces hidden and so on. And in return, he would be the anonymous donor, the anonymous father. After that, Peter was to leave. He left, and remained an anonymous parent. An identified, anonymous parent, known only to the two of us. We would not see each other again, no contacts, no alimony, nothing. As if we had never known each other. We would tell the child when it reached adulthood. Isn't that what we agreed?

HELENA: Yes, it is, but why all this drama now? ONYX:

Don't provoke me, please! In case you have forgotten, people stick to their undertakings and promises!

HELENA: If I remember rightly, the agreement was that you would have a baby, too. Didn't you also want a child? ONYX:

You are getting things a bit mixed up. I wanted to have a child, but I didn't want to bear a child. I did not break the agreement. Do the right thing now, and leave Peter in peace.

HELENA: But he doesn't object at all. ONYX:

Who doesn't object?

HELENA: Peter. ONYX:

How am I supposed to understand what you are saying?

HELENA: Understand it just as you heard it. ONYX:

Does that mean that you have spoken to Peter?

HELENA: Yes. We talked about it. ONYX:

And you told him all about what you intended to do?

HELENA: Yes, I told him. ONYX:

And?

HELENA: In principle, Peter has nothing against it. In principle. ONYX:

What does that 'in principle' mean?

HELENA: He'll tell you himself. He will be phoning. ONYX:

Aha! That's why you are waiting for a phone call? You are waiting for Peter to ring you?

HELENA: Yes. I want to be fair and I asked Peter to come here. So the three of us can talk. The way we did then, at the very beginning. ONYX:

So, you have thought of everything?

HELENA: Yes, I have. ONYX:

Why didn't you ask me? Couldn't you have told me earlier?

HELENA: I didn't think it would interest you. ONYX:

And now you suddenly think it would?

HELENA: I don't think anything. Peter does.

ONYX:

Peter does? What does Peter think? Peter thinks that I am interested in your whims?

HELENA: I don't know what Peter thinks, but he wants the three of us to talk. He wants to be fair. He is fair. ONYX:

Alright, I understand. But let's get back to the subject: The child has a father. The item is not empty. The only thing now is, why are you getting married in such a hurry?

HELENA: I don't want anyone to point the finger at my child. I don't want to raise my child alone. ONYX:

Oh, I see! That would be so unusual! You would not be the first single mother, or the last. You know what, Helena? Your child is definitely not the reason for you getting married.

HELENA: Well, perhaps not. Perhaps the reason is our relationship. Yours and mine. ONYX:

Our relationship is the reason? Why? You are leaving me? You are leaving?

HELENA: Yes, I'm leaving, but I don't want to be the subject of anyone's gossip. Our relationship compromises me. ONYX:

Our relationship did not compromise you for more than ten years? For more than ten years, everything was alright.

HELENA: That's over now. I no longer want to be a cheap sensation. ONYX:

You are talking nonsense. Same-sex relationships haven't been a sensation for ages now. The mayor of Berlin came out, and he still won the election. A minister in the government of one of those Nordic countries has just married his doctor, his male doctor. So? Why should that bother you'

HELENA: Because I am neither a minister nor a mayor! And I am not interested in what happens to them, because it is me that people turn their heads away from. They come into my salon and peer at me as if I was a rare animal. They point their fingers at me! Sometimes, they even cross over to the other side of the street!

ONYX:

You are exaggerating. And in any case, how many times do you think similar things have happened to me? As if that's important?

HELENA: It's important to me. ONYX:

For years, the publicity suited you. So what has happened now? I don't understand!

HELENA: Of course, you don't! You never do understand! It's easy for you because everything you do is out of personal conviction. Whatever! Think what you like but I am getting married! I am getting married because that's what I want to do. I need someone to lean on, a feeling of security and permanence! Even if one day my marriage turns into one of those boring bourgeois marriages! And in any case, despite everything, marriage has proved to be a fairly enduring institution. A bit wobbly, but enduring. Get it? ONYX:

There will certainly be nothing permanent about your marriage.

HELENA: Why not? My future husband is rich, interesting, tolerant, wellrespected, good-looking, influential and witty. Not in that order, but all of those things. So he was in a position to be choosy. ONYX:

And it was you he chose!

HELENA: Yes, if you have no objections, he chose little old me! And he is happy with me. ONYX:

And how did you manage to trap this extraordinary man?

HELENA: Trap him? I didn't have to trap him? I have always been a huge challenge to him. Just imagine it: winning a woman who belongs to another woman! It's total perversion! It's like winning one woman, and conquering the other one. A twofold sexual triumph. ONYX:

Who on earth would be interested in that?

HELENA: What do you mean?

ONYX:

I'll explain. Which audience is applauding this twofold sexual triumph of your future husband?

HELENA: Thanks for the sarcasm. If you are interested, his brothers-inarms are green with envy! ONYX:

So his friends and business partners are not bothered by your past?

HELENA: Oh yes they are. And how! At home in their very decent family circles, they are probably scandalised by my past. But they are secretly fascinated! What does that woman have, what does she know, when she managed to seduce another woman? ONYX:

How cheaply you sell yourself!

HELENA: Call it what you will! But since you are so insistent, I must tell you the truth. I wanted to save you from it, but you are so stubborn. The fact is, I love this man. I really love him. Believe it or not, I have fallen in love with a man. ONYX:

Out of the blue?

HELENA: Well, it not exactly out of the blue. We have known each other for ages, we had a short affair, but we realised how things stood only lately. We simply ran into each other after a long time. And we understood. ONYX:

What did you understand?

HELENA: We understood how we have really always belonged to each other. ONYX:

How very romantic! And how long has this been going on?

HELENA: For quite some time. ONYX:

Does he know you have been sitting on two chairs the whole time?

HELENA: On two chairs or on Mars, it's all the same to him. And I don't want to talk about it anymore. I am starting out afresh.

ONYX:

Wiping out the past?

HELENA: Exactly that! You have put it so well. I am wiping out the past! And I don't want you accusing me of anything! I have too many everyday problems without feeling guilty about you. ONYX:

I am just asking.

HELENA: Yes, you are just asking, but, in actual fact, it's all your fault! ONYX:

My fault?

HELENA: Yes. We could have kept quiet about our relationship. Perhaps I would never have even thought of marrying, if our relationship had remained a secret. But no, you yearn for the truth! You have to declare yourself in public. You are so stubborn! Your stubbornness is to blame for everything! ONYX:

It's not stubbornness. It's principle. Principles are what are important.

HELENA: What principles? We are not living in the Middle Ages, for goodness sake! Your principles! So impressive! Principles are just another name for obstinacy. Who are you defending, anyway? ONYX:

I am defending our relationship.

HELENA: Stop kidding yourself. You are lying to yourself! You see yourself as being brave, but you are not defending our relationship. You are not even defending your sexual predilection! You are only defending your own spite, your own inflexibility and lack of adaptability. Forget it! Start out again. And leave me to my choices! ONYX:

Your choices? Are you sure this is a choice?

HELENA: No, I am not sure, and I don't give a damn. ONYX:

You should be interested.

HELENA: Well I'm not!! And you know why? ONYX:

No, I don't.

HELENA: Because we are just going around in circles the whole time. I am getting the feeling that we are two sides of the same coin. We mirror each other. Why does everything suddenly become so grotesque? ONYX:

You would know more about that!

HELENA: Alright then. If that's the way it is, then someone has to end this ridiculous situation. ONYX:

Does that mean that you are going to look at only one side of the mirror from now on?

HELENA: No, not even that. ONYX:

Are you afraid of your new reflection?

HELENA: No. Not at all! And I can always break the mirror if I don't like what I see. ONYX:

I find that hard to believe. Will you be looking at your reflection in water when you are putting on your make-up?

HELENA: My dear! You haven't got a clue! Very soon, I shall have a husband. I shall be a respectable married lady. And don't forget, I shall be very, very rich, and the rich don't need mirrors. The rich have the public. Looks of admiration are all that the rich need. ONYX:

So that's the way it is?

HELENA: Yes! That's it. If I need to, I shall break all the mirrors. ONYX:

Great!

HELENA: That's the way it is! ONYX:

You didn't think like that once.

HELENA: What do you think I thought? ONYX:

Why are we wasting time being clever? All this is getting us nowhere.

HELENA: We are waiting for Peter to come and solve the whole thing. ONYX:

I don't understand why we need Peter. Has he really agreed?

HELENA: In principle. ONYX:

What does that mean? In principle 'yes' or in principle 'no'?

HELENA: Look, Onyx… The telephone rings. HELENA: That's Peter. (She picks up the receiver.) Hello. ONYX:

Turn on the conference switch!

PETER:

(voice on the telephone) Hello, hello! Good day, girls! Good day!

HELENA: Hi there, Peter. ONYX:

Good day.

HELENA: Where have you been for so long? Are you coming? PETER:

Yes, I'm coming. In about an hour. I still have some people here, but I'll be there in about an hour's time.

HELENA: Can't you come right away? PETER:

No I can't, but I'll be there as I promised.

HELENA: Alright. We'll wait for you. PETER:

'Bye for now…

A pause. ONYX:

Look, Helena, why do I have a strange feeling the whole time that you are keeping something from me. What else should I know that I don't already?

HELENA: Perhaps Peter won't recognise our daughter, if you are against it. ONYX:

Why didn't you tell me that before?

HELENA: I don't know. I suppose I hoped that Peter could talk you around. ONYX:

Peter could talk me into it? Why did you think that?

HELENA: He has some rationales of his own. He also wants to recognise our daughter. ONYX:

So suddenly?

HELENA: Well, it's not really so sudden…. ONYX:

You obviously know some other details?

HELENA: Well, alright, I do. When I suggested he admitted paternity, he was very pleased. He has become rich and famous in the meantime. Thanks to that stupid film about us, he became very well-known. And rich. He was very happy with my suggestion. But he wants your consent. We want the three of us to decide on it. ONYX:

I'm sorry, but leave me out of it. My daughter will decide about that herself. When she comes of age.

HELENA: But if we beg you? ONYX:

No way.

HELENA: Is that final? ONYX:

Yes. That's final. I have to disappoint you. I'm sorry, but that's the way I feel.

HELENA: Just like that? You're sorry? That's wonderful! You are definitely sorry, but you have to disappoint me? ONYX:

Yes, just that. I am sorry, but I have to disappoint you.

HELENA: You see, you are presenting me with a fait accompli. And I'm sorry, but I have to disappoint you, too. ONYX:

You have already done that.

HELENA: There's more. You will be surprised, but there is more. ONYX:

I'm not in the least interested. As far as I'm concerned, the subject is closed.

HELENA: Ah, no! We are only at the beginning! If you don't consent, I will still talk Peter into it. ONYX:

Are you so sure?

HELENA: Yes, quite sure. You can talk men into anything. ONYX:

Let's assume for a moment that you don't succeed. What then? Then you will just have to come to terms with it.

HELENA: Not me, Onyx, not me. You are the one who will have to come to terms with it. You and Peter. ONYX:

Me? Why me? And why Peter?

HELENA: If it should happen that Peter does not want to recognise our daughter, because of you, then I could always ask for DNA analysis. ONYX:

Helena!? You would be prepared to do that? After everything, you would be prepared to take Peter to court?

HELENA: Why not? My daughter is entitled to know who her father is. ONYX:

At any price?

HELENA: At any price! But don't worry, Peter will definitely agree. We only wanted to be fair to you. ONYX:

So you have definitely decided?

HELENA: I am only doing what is best for my child. And for me. Why shouldn't I decide? It's my right! ONYX:

Yes, it's your right. You have the right to choose and decide. And Peter does, too. Even I can decide. We all have rights, everyone except our daughter.

HELENA: What sentimental nonsense are you talking now! Everyone has rights except our daughter. What are you babbling about? You are twisting the facts. Every child has the right to a father, and our daughter is no exception. ONYX:

I only want her to have a chance to decide on it when she becomes an adult.

HELENA: ‘I want to’ and ‘I don't want to’ don’t exist anymore. Everything has become simple since DNA analysis exists. I don't see why your are making such a drama of it all! ONYX:

You don't see because you don't want to see. Everyone can choose except our little girl. You are choosing for her. Everyone has rights except her. Who's asking her anything?

HELENA: Why should I have to ask her? It's normal for children to know their father, the majority do. Why should my daughter have to wait until she is eighteen, yearning after some imaginary father? Because of some concocted right to make her own choices? Please don't try to complicate things for me with such stupid ideas! Anyway, it's not my fault. ONYX:

Oh, yes it is! You are playing with fate.

HELENA: You're starting up your story again! Those impressive words! Me playing with fate? What about you? Nothing is ever your fault! Does it occur to you that we were perhaps both playing with fate? Remember, everything we did in order to have a child. But that's in the past. Now, I am only taking advantage of my

rights. I am improving on the decision I made then. Anyway, Peter wants to talk to you about it all. ONYX:

He wants to talk to me, or he wants to talk me into it?

HELENA: However you look at it. The telephone rings. HELENA: That must be Peter! (She clicks on the conference button) Yes, hello? VOICE:

Hello. This is Peter's secretary. He apologises, but he had to go with his guests. He will call tomorrow, or the day after. He apologises and he said to tell you that, even though he can’t be there, he will agree with everything you decide. Thank you. Good-bye.

A pause. HELENA: Well? What have you decided? ONYX:

Why are you even asking me? Do whatever you want.

HELENA: Thank you. (taking her coat and handbag) I'll send a taxi to pick up these things… (a pause) But, can I ask you to do something? ONYX:

Yes, what is it?

HELENA: Don't get me wrong, but, please, let's not part like strangers! I am just thinking of my future? And the future of my daughter. ONYX:

You should have thought about that long ago. Long, long ago.

HELENA: Yes, I should have thought about it long ago. ONYX:

It's all the same now. But there are some facts you can't ignore.

HELENA: Well, as you see, I can. But I don't want to talk about it any more. I don't want to go over it all again. I can't, and I won't. You will start in with your principles again and with those age-

old agreements. From your Mediaeval principles. I wouldn't be surprised if you started with Adam and Eve. ONYX:

We settled that.

HELENA: What did we settle? ONYX:

We settled Adam and Eve when we still believed in dreams. Now, all we have left is mundane, everyday life.

HELENA: Exactly. That's what it's all about. Everyday life. That's what's important to me. ONYX:

At any price!

HELENA: Don't start making it difficult for me again. ONYX:

I don't see how I could make it any easier. And why should I?

HELENA: (putting down her coat and handbag, hesitating) You know what? I expected a different parting. It hurts me to see how superior and dominating you are being. After all these years? ONYX:

What do you want exactly?

HELENA: (pausing) I don't know. I don't know, but it would be much easier if you got angry, if you made a scene. I think it would be easier for me if you were shouting and breaking things, and tearing up photographs... Anything, any sort of insult, would be better than this controlled coldness. You’re as cold as a judge. ONYX:

If I understand you correctly, you would prefer a jealous scene. You present me with the accomplished facts, you offend me, you forget all the promises you made, and now you expect a jealous scene? You want me to comfort your ego? After everything that you have destroyed, you expect solace from me?

HELENA: Perhaps I do. Perhaps not. But I don't like the way we are parting. As if we were a common, primitive married couple! Accusations. Offensive words. What a way to end it all! And I would have preferred a friendly parting. Please, make it easier for me! Do something for me!

ONYX:

How selfish your are! Selfish to the very last!

HELENA: Oh, Onyx, you are not listening and you don't hear me. Or, at least, you don't understand a word I am saying. Can you possibly believe that this is easy for me? ONYX: decisions.

I have not given that a thought. You have made all the

HELENA: Onyx, you are trying very hard to make me feel guilty! As if I set out to hurt you on purpose. You know, there is something I have to tell you, but please… ONYX:

No, no! There is nothing more to tell me or ask me. No heartbreaking confessions. In any case, as far as you are concerned, everything is settled. And why are we talking about it? You are in the right, aren't you?

HELENA: No. No, I'm not. ONYX:

What's this now? We have been going around in circles since you arrived. You explained in detail how right you were. You convinced me how this is all your choice.

HELENA: My choice? My choice?! You know what, Onyx? Perhaps I have convinced you but I haven't convinced myself. I am scared to even think about it. Because we all have our arguing points. But if we are all in the right, me, you and Peter, if we are all right, then I am afraid that none of us are. (She takes her handbag and coat. Makes as if to leave and then hesitates.) Still, I feel much better if I think I'm right. Good-bye. (She leaves..) ONYX:

(suddenly) One moment, just a moment, Helena. Please, come back for a minute.

HELENA: (stopping) Yes? ONYX:

Do you remember that day, when you and I were talking Peter into it all in this room? Do you remember?

HELENA: Yes, and... ?

ONYX:

Well, at one moment Peter said that he had the feeling that ghosts had appeared in our condo?

HELENA: Yes, I remember, but I don't see the point. ONYX:

Well, you see, I have suddenly realised! I have this same feeling all the time. The feeling that there is something I should know, but don't. I asked you if there was anything else.

HELENA: I have told you everything. detail. ONYX:

I have explained everything in

That's just it! You have given me a detailed explanation! Too much detail. There’s too much rationale, but not one authentic argument in this endless, empty discussion as we say good-bye. You have tried too hard, and you haven't convinced me. It's as though you have left something out. As if there is something else I should know.

HELENA: You know everything. Except, perhaps I should tell you who my future husband is? ONYX:

Why should that interest me? One man is very much like another.

HELENA: Not quite. I am going to marry Peter. (She leaves.)

The End