Myhusnus
My Hustand!
hui - in gania poinay coluin, a. selan BAi
2 he 20, in oyle.
ble
unth STASH iu diag digiif ne a hs dougp
pren
Prpn the Bois Ballsia (
Uuola uhistor lÉd5,
u the euol
unth Humpiy accompanivae,
'hedie,
te audiace :
a poy pichs orl
Panpy!
mdgullene -
Z Lo juu Les
Be ws
7 dei
we nti paes.
be ec prul
like al nay
nthi
ke S . eker
Lada 300
ulay
AST 7
gued
leny P -
botin,
ho th + tilk un
hi Men m
sue
hon ) hmy
fturr
Auola
Brde,er ul
Medans
(umd
la lom 2L)
tLl
Backl Well.
nri
anrgy


M5 hisnalds tunad!
h le decme A
ke Orep.
a dipn tr oppiy
tag


MY HUSBAND! MY HUSBAND!
MAURICE ROWDON


CHARACTERS
STASH
MAGDA BRONIATOWSKA
PAUL BRONIATOWSKY
PETER BRONIATOWSKY
ANDREW MYERS
TWO YOUNGGIRLS, CASHIER (POLISH),
SHOPPERS (POLISH).


A POLISH DELICATESSEN---HELP-YOURSELF WITH
A CASH DESK NEAR THE ENTRANCE. MAGDA
BRONIATOWSKA, A MIDDKE-AGED POLISH WOMAN
RA THER UNFASHIONABLY DRESSED, IS WALKING
ROUND CHOOSING ARTICLES QUIETLY.
THERE
ARE A NUMBER OF OTHER SHOPPERS. THE WOMAN
AT THE CASH DESK IS TALKING TO ONE OF THE
SHOPPERS IN POLISH.
THE MURMUR OF THEIR
TALK COMES OVER AS WE FOLLOW MAGDA BENDING
AND SELECTING.
STASH, ALSO POLISH AND SOME YEARS YOUNGER
THAN MAGDA, ENTERS THE SHOP AND STANDS
THERE, FDLLOWING MAGDA WITH HIS EYES.
THE MURMUR OF THE WOMEN'S VOICES CONTINUES
TO COME OVER. MAGDA GLANCES IN HIS DIRECT-
ION BUT DOES NOT SEEM TO SEE HIM, AND SHE
GOES ON SHOPPING. HE GETS INTO A POSITION
WHERE SHE CANNOT AVOID SEEING HIM.
MAGDA RAISES HERSELF AND TURNS TO WALK
IN HIS DIRECTION. SHE GLANCES AT HIM,
LOOKS AGAIN, STARES, GASPS---SHE IS so
ASTONISHED THAT SHE DROPS HER SHOPPING AND
IT CRASHES TO THE FLOOR.
THE OTHER SHOPPERS
TURN. THE WOMAN AT THE CASH DESK RUSHES
ROUND TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED.
MAGDA AND STASH STAND STARING AT EACH OTHER.
STASH (IN ENGLISH, QUIETLY)
It's Magda,
isn't it?
MAGDA (IN POLISH)
Stash! Stash! It's
you!
THEY CLING TOGETHER.
SHE LOOKS INTO HIS
EYES CLOSELY.
MAGDA (STILL IN POLISH)
COme back to my
housel Oh Stash!


STASH (WITH A TOUCH OF FEROCITY)
Speak
in English!
MAGDA (BEWILDERED) What?
STASH: I don't want to hear that language!
Come on!
HE ALMOST DRAGS HER OUT OF THE SHOP. HER
SHOPPING IS LEFT IN THE HANDS OF THE WOMAN
AT THE CASH DESK.
MAGDA (TO ANYONE, AS THEY LEAVE, IN ENGLISH)
It's my husband! my husband!
THE TITLES COME UP OVER THE DELICATESSEN AS
THE WOMEN CLEAR UP THE MESS. THE MURMUR
OF POLISH TALK, MORE ANIMATED NOW, CONTINUES.
CUT TO THE BASEMENT FLAT OF THE BRONIATOWSKYS.
THIS IS IN THE FORM OF TWO ROOMS.
THE
FIRST LEADS STRAIGHT FROM THE EONT DOOR,
AFTER A TINY HALL FOR COATS. THE SECOND
LEADS OUT OF THIS ROOM ON TO THE GARDEN SIDE.
THE FIRST ROOM IS USED AS AN OFFICE CUM SIT-
TING ROOM, WITH IKONS AND CARPETS ON THE
WALL, AND CROSSED SWORDS. THE SECOND HAS
A GRAND PIANO, BOOKSHELVES, A SETTEE AND ARM-
CHAIRS. THERE IS A RATHER IMPRESSIONISTIC
PAINTING OF STASH IN HIS YOUTH ON THE KALL.
THE DOOR TO THIS SECOND ROOM IS AJAR.
THERE IS THE MURMUR BF MORE POLISH VOICES,
FROM THE SECOND ROOM, WHERE PAUL BRONIAT-
OWSKY (AGED 19) IS GOING THROUGH A POLISH
PLAY WITH TWO GIRLS OF THE SAME AGE: THEIR
POLISH IS THAT OF BEGINNERS.
MAGDA ANDSTASH COME INTO THE FIRST ROOM
ROM THE STREET, BREATHLESS, STILL HALF CLING-
ING TO EACH OTHER, STARING.
STASH: You said that well---'my husband'!
After thirty years!
MAGDA (IN POLISH) Oh Stash, I've thought
(STOPPING) What's wrong with
Polish? Have you committed a crime?
STASH (TOUCHING HER, FACE)
That same wicked
little lookl,
THEY KISS FOR THE FIRST TIME, IN THE FAMILY
WAY, ON BOTH CHEEKS.


STASH: Won't they talk about you in the
shop?
MAGDA: I don't carel
STASH:
Your accent's appalling. And
you've been living here how long---since
the war?
MAGDA:
When did you come?
STASH: To England?
MAGDA:
Yes.
STASH: Five years ago.
MAGDA:
Five years---! Why doesn't anybody
know?
STASH: Anybody meaning a Pole I suppose--
a real human being---not an Englishm an, not
a foreigner!
MAGDA:
Stash, what happened? Why dp you
hate us?
STASH: And why do you have to say 'us'---
not me? Always' 'us'! 'We Polest!
MAGDA:
You haven't change d in your face---
hardly at all.
STASH: After th rty years? That's diff-
icult to believe.
NAGDA:
Your expression's more open---
you were locked'up inside then---
STASH: You knew where I was living didn't
you---all this time? You never once tried
to'see me. You came back to Warsaw God
knows how many times with your war-hero hus-
band in tow, and you didn't think to call me
up. "We Poles' seem to have let 'us Poles'
down!
MAGDA: Perhaps I did come to see
you.
Perhaps I turned away drom the door because
I was fraghtened.
STASH: The story I heard was that you saw
me in bed with a boy. And turned away.


And vomited all night.
MAGDA REMAINS SILENT.
STASH: I wrote you. a million letters!
Unanswered letters for twenty-odd years!
MAGDA: And why didn't you come"here
straight away when you arrived---five
years ago?
STASH: Good God! It just seemed to me
that not having had a reply for twenty years
THE YOUNGSTERS LAUGH NEXT DOOR.
STASH: Who's that?
MAGDA:
My boy. I have a son. He's
learning Polish with some other chi ldren.
STASH: Learning Polish? Shouldn't they
be learning English?
MAGDA: English is what they grew up in---
STASH (GOING TO THE DOOR LEADING TO THE NEXT
ROOM) So they might forget they're Poles!
You wouldn't like to breed an Englishman WEE
would you?
MAGDA (WATCHING HIM) Be careful. Your
portrait's in there.
STASH: Do you still paint?
MAGDA
STASH: You brought it all this way?
MAGDA: In the car, rolled up. My mother
had it.'
STASH I( WITH A CHUCKLE) Then you must
have---a little feeling for me---?
HE PEEPS THROUGH TO THE SECOND ROOM. FROM
HIS PV WE SEE THE THREE YOUNGSTERS REHEARS
ING FROM PLAY SCRIPTS AND FINDING IT A LARK.
THEY STOP WHEN' THEY SEE HIM. STASH IS GAZ-
ING ACROSS AT HIS OWN PORTRAIT ON THE WALL.
HE BOWS TO THE YOUNGSTERS WITH MOCK FORMALITY.


STASH (TO THE YOUNGSTERS) I was looking
at my portrait. That's me.
PAUL: I thought you were dead!
STASH: Not really. Only a little now
and then.
What are you reading? It
sounded like Sluby Panienskie.
PAUL: Yes.
STASH: But you're oneshort---you need
two girls and two boys, to fall in love
with each other.
PAUL: Yes I know but---
STASH HAS ALREADY TURNED AWAY.
BACK TO
THE FIRST ROOM.
MAGDA: What did you think of him---my
boy?
STASH: I was looking at my portrait.
I'm one of those people who aever change.
You're quite right. Our spirits s tay the
same. (LOOKING ROUND)
Is the whole house
yours?
MAGDA: Yes.
STASH: Do you know I make terrible
mistakes now when I speak Polish---just
after five years---I must have spat the
Pole out---like that (MOCK SPITTING).
Don't look so damned martyred! You've
been martyred so many times before---by
the Germans! by the British! Then the
Russians! You've been martyred by your own
husband too, I mean your second one, your
illegal onel
MAGDA: My husband! And what do you
know about him? He's given me a beaut-
iful child---and a home---it's more than
you could provide!
STASH (LIGHTLY)
I've a nice enough home.
Top floor flat. At least it isn't a base-
ment.
MAGDA: There's---
STASH (TURNING ON HER SUDDENLY) You're
a liar! Liar! The# house isn't yours!
Only this basement! I can tell when


you're, lying. 'We Poles' lift our chins
and pout in a certain way when we're lyi ng.
MAGDA:
Do we?
STASH: So you found me in bed'with a
boy.. And you vomited. Some say all
night. Others say just thè evening's dinaer.
And you'd already been married perhaps
eight years---to another man! I coudd
spend an amusing day undoing all your lies.
I can see them all round your-head! They're
twined in your hairl They're in that
ghastly old-fashioned coat you just threw
off!
MAGDA: I was martyeed. I'd had eight
years of itand wanted something different--
when I came to.see you--
STASH: Ah! Just now he gave you a home
and a beautiful child. And the truth is
he did! And you weren't martyred!
MAGDA: You always stripped me bare
didn't you? All right, I'm nothing---I
STASH: You married him in Italy didn't
you? in the war?
MAGDA: On the front, yes.
STASH: To hell with 'on the front'!
He was a headquarters man! You were
miles---miles behindthe lines!
MAGDA (WATCHING HIM LEVELLY) And you
make me believe we really Here.
STASH:
If people saw us toge ther
they'd take. us for mother and son.
MAGDA:
Thank you.
STASH: Notat all.
WICES ARE RAISED AGAIN NEXT DOOR IN
MAUGHTER.
MAGDA:
liked
can see you
my son.
You hardly lohked at the portrait.
I can tell your lies tool
STASH: The boy's got his face---
which doesn't recommendit to me.


How did you get over the legal side by
the way? I mean you were already married---
our marriag e was as legal as another--
MAGDA: Oh the war. I didn't think
you'd survive theconcentration camp---
STASH: Ah, so you knew the Germans had
arrested me.
MAGDA: Yes.
STASH: I learned to do without women in
that camp. Forced myself to learn!
MAGDA: Yes, I heard that too. I heard
you got food that way---
MAGDA:
Ohl
STASH: I was the camp doctor's wife for
two months.
Then I graduated to the
commandant. You're looking at me with
disgust.
MAGDA: I was thinking of what a doctor
told me.
STASH: What did a doctor tell you?
MAGDA: That nearly all homosexuals end
in mental homes.
STASH: And you're straight, are you?
Andthat 'chestnut'-merchant of yours is
straight is he? the man who made his money
travel across frontiers-- --emerged from the
war a rich man!
MAGDA: Ah, you pick up filth as well do
you?
STASH: That isn't what I have against
him. Don't worry. I've done far worse
things than swindle on the currency. exchange.
It's the lying---that damned erect back
MAGDA: And how do you know him?---by a
dirty lot of gossip at the Polish clubs!
And it's really your own father you're talk-
ing about---it's a father complex---some-f.


thing like that---!
STASH (LAUGHING) My father was a darling!
I adored him! He wasn't erect! And as
for the father-complex---you've barely read
a book. in your life!
MAGDA (GAZING AT HIM WITH A REMINISCENT
SMILE) You always used to win like that.
And I do really feel I haven't read a bookl
And I've read more books than you've had
cups 6f coffee. Do you still drink coffee
all day?
STASH (NOT LISTENING) I3 tood outside
that shop a hundred times. And this evening
I decided to walk in..
MAGDA: Ah! You planned it! Every.thing
planned! Always up here in the brain!
'Do you want sex'? I remember you asking
that. A boy of---what were you---sixteen,
eighteen?
STASH: 'Do you want sex'?
MAGDA: I'm an old woman, according to
you.
STASH: But I can sleep with anything!
MAGDA:
Skatina (bitch)!
HE LAUGHS.
THE PHONE BELL RINGS NEXT DOOR.
SOMEONE
ANSWERS IT.
MAGDA: It's my 'erect.hu band'. He
always phones about now.
PAUL APPEARS AT THE DOOR.
PAUL: It's dad. He's on his way.
MAGDA: Yes, all right. Go back to your
play.
(TO STASH) We can't talk here.
STASH: Afraid of him?
MAGDA:
He won't understand---he's not
an understanding man--
STASH:
Then why bring me heze? We
could have gone to wy-place!


MAGDA:
I didn't think!
STASH: And doesn't he want you to. cook his
dinner for him like a good Polish wife?
And where's all: that shopping---on the floor
of the delicatessen---I
MAGDA (GRABBING HER COAT) We'11 pick it
STASH (GOING WITH HER) Ah---you're interest-
ed in me---it's. an escapade!
HE GIVES HER A QUICK KISS AS THEY REACH
THE FRONT DOOR.
THEY LEAVE.
PAUL HAS BEEN WATCHING.
PAUL (TURNING BACK TO THE GIRLS) They're
lovers!
It's absolutely obvious!
(THE
GIRLS LAUGH)
He's better looking than the
old man. Come on; let's have a smoke!
CUT BACK TO THE DELICATESSEN. THE MURMUR
OF WOMEN's TALK COMES OVER AGAIN. THE
CASHIER IS TALKING TO ONE OFT THE SHOPPERS
AS .BE. IORE, IN POLISH. MAGDA AND STASH
COME. IN, ARM IN ARM.
MAGDA (IN ENGLISH) My shopping. I'm
so sorry!
CASHIER (IN POLISH) Mrs Broniatowska!
I wondered! Such a shock! Your husband
you said (HANDING MAGDA THE BAG)---look,
I replaced the jam, what you smashed--
that's all right---your husband, you said?
MAGDA TAKES THE BAG.
MAGDA (IN POLISH) Thank you.
STASH (TO THE CASHIER, IN ENGLISH) That's
right, her husband! She's got two hushands!
THEY LEAVE.
CASHIER (TO SHOPPER, IN POLISH) Did you
hear?
Mrs Broniatowska---two husbands!
CUT BACK TO THE BRONIATOWSKY BASEMENT, WHICH
IS IN SEMI-DARKNESS. THE DOOR TO THE SECOND
ROOM IS AJAR, WITH LIGHT POURING THROUGH.
SILENCE.


PETER BRONIATOWSKY, MAGDA 1 SHUSBAND,
COMES IN THE FRONT DOOR WTTH ANDREW MYERS,
AN ENGLISHMAN IN HSS MIDDLE AGE.
THE MEN HANG UP THEIR COATS WITH END-OF-
HARD-DAY SIGHS, AND ENTER THE FIRST ROOM.
BRONIATOWSKY SWITCHES ON THE VARIOUS KIGHTS
CAREFULLY.
BRONIATOWSKY: Come in Andrew.
BRONIATOWSKY WALKS THROUGH TO THE SECOND
ROOM AUTOMATICALLY.
BRONIATOWSKY: : Magdal Andrew's here--
(PEERING THROUGH TO THE CORRIDOR BEYOND)
Magda? Magda?
MYERS SITS DOWN WITH THE GROAN OF A MAN
AFRAID AF WORK. HIS BRIEFCASE DROPS TO
THE ' SIDE OF THECHAIR.
BRONIATOWSKY HAS DISAPPEARED.
CUT TO STASH'S TOP-FLOOR BED-SITTER.
IS SIMPLY, EVEN RATHER MONASTICALLY
FURNISHED, WITH DIVAN BED, WARDROBE,
SCREENED-OFF KITCHEN AREA, DINING TABLE,
LOUNGE CHAIRS.
STASH IS MAKING COFFEE WHILE MAGDA SITS
AT THE TABLE, HER FUR COAT STILL ON.
SHE IS HOLDING IT TIGHT ROUND HER NECK.
MAGDA
Is it always this cold?
STASH:
It'1l warm up soon. I'm hardly
ever here.
MAGDA: It makes you a liar too (LOOKING
ROUND) You said a top-floor flat. This
is a pokey room, and I expect you have to go
down the corridor for the lavatory.
STASH:
Yes I do.
MAGDA:
Still, you've got a phone.
STASH: Ye S.
MAGDA: He'11 be wondering where I am.
STASH: You're excited aren't you?---
like when you came to my room in Wan aw--
it excited you being away from your family---


all those counts and army officers---
the people you belong to!
MAGDA: I was excited by you---that's alll
STASH: So you didn't answer one of my
letters for over twenty years. Yest
MAGDA: I knew all about you---friends
from Warsaw gave me reportsl
STASH: Did they tell you I'd come to
England?
MAGDA: No.
STASH (BRINGING THE COFFEE TO THE TABLE)
Because they didn't know. Because I slogged
at my English for a good ten years, and
schemed to get away, and never told a soul,
and at last I made it. And not one of
them knew where I'd gone.
MAGDA:
Your visa was for Paris. I heard
that.
STASH: Sugar?
MAGDA: I don't take it.
STASH: You used to.
MAGDA:
It's a strange room. It doesh'e
seem in London.
STASH: Warsaw perhaps?
MAGDA: No, just strange.
STASH: Suppose your son tells him I was-
there?
MAGDA: Well? He doesn't know who you"are!
STASH:
But it's on your mind isn't it?-
If we Poles got to learn that Mrs Broniatowska
was married before, and to a man your husband
despises, a man you don't want your husband
to meet, 80 you almost push me out of that
MAGDA: You think I can look at you and just
think what my husband might say?
STASH: (GAZING AT HER) I don't know. I'm
not sure.


MAGDA: So why did you come to the shop---
if you're not sure of me---of my feelings?
STASH: Why did I write you a thousand let-
ters?
MAGDA: After a time I threw them away
unopened. He made me.
STASH: A man can make a woman throw a
lover's letters away! Not on your hifel
MAGDA: Ah, you were a 'lover'!
STASH: You managed to get to Italy and
there you'saw a lot of medals on a man's
chest, and you thought I might end in a
gas chamber! You hoped!
MAGDA:
Shut up!
STASH:
Ti àt's better! A little of that
poise is flaking off!
MAGDA: And did you never run away from
STASH: No!
MAGDA: You did, every moment! Every
time you turned over in bed. You were
never with me---not for a single moment!
You were always alone!
STASH: I wonder if anyone else has known
you and loved you like I have---remembèred
you-- -registered every mark on your face---
those lines---that pout---the pucker of the
eyebrows-
MAGDA: Don't you dare touch---!
STASH:
Ah I've got the flames rising
We'll get to the little savage yet---
underneath the fur coat! Mrs Broniatowska--
the Countess Broniatowska! I wouadn't mind
if you'd torn the letters up---burned them--
stamped on them- -sent them back in shreds!
But not to answer! You couldn't anseer!
MAGDA:
What could I have said---that I
was happy?
STASH: He didn't give you a single happy


moment?
MAGDA: I got used to him.
STASH: You choose to marry a man you
can't stand---are you telling me that?
MAGDA: I needed him.
STASH (IN A FLASH) When---in the war---
after the war---now?
MAGDA: Always---right from the beginning.
STASH: And you were never happy?
MAGDA: Oh very---sometimes---
STASH (WITH A SHRUG) I suppose he made
you respectable. - You always needed that.
He hasn't got much of a job but while people
go on eating Polish gherkins you won't starve.
And everybody looks up to hin---the Telegas
and the Ledakowskys and the Gazdas. Such
a brave man---tortured by everybody except
the English, and even they reserved a special
kind of torture for him at Yalta, didn't
they? They sold his country to the Reds!
Yes, I know it all by heart-- -and you fived
on it all---and you too, refused to speak
English didn't you; because you and your
husband had given England your blood---'the
red poppies at Monte Cassino' were) fsed with
Polish blood'---and what did they give you
in return? Nothingl. So you owed England
nothing. She owed you something! Your
blood! So you didntlearn her language!
You didn't mix---no! But thén your
children had'to go to English schools---
they had to speak the languag e- --they had
to fit in---and you found after a time that
they rather despised you for being an. out-
sider! They wanted to be English!
Disaster!
MAGDA:
You've learned a lot about us in
five years.
STASH:
I'm reading it all in the lines
of your face---I You're not going to drink
that coffee?
MAGDA:
It's horrible.
You always made
such good coffee in Warsaw.


STASH: That's because I've forgotten
to do it the Polish way. That's the real
way isn't it? Not Italian coffee or French
coffee or American coffee. But real coffee.
Polish coffee.
MAGDA: Did you trouble to come out of
your little shell of hatred for a moment
to meet some of us?
STASH: From tide to timel
MAGDA: How is it I've never heard them
speak your name? My hushand aeter mentions
itl If we're such a tight little community
how is it I never heard your name as one of:
STASH:
You did hear of it. And he did
mention it to you---often.
MAGDA:
And I'm telling you he never
mentioned Stanislav Boczkowsky oncel
(COLLECTING HIS CUP) And now let me
m ake you a real cup of coffee---Polish
coffeel
SHE STALKS TO THE KITCHEN AND TIPS THE
COFFEE DOWN THE SINK WITH A FLOURISH.
CUT TO THE BRONIATOWSKY FLAT, THE FIRST
ROOM. ANDREW MYERS IS SITTING AT A
TABLE WITH ACCOUNTS BEFORE HIM. PETER
BRONIATOWSKY IS CHECKING ENTIRES IN A
LARGE LEDGER, HIS SPECTACLES ON.
BRONIATOWSKY LOOKS ROUND ANXIOUSLY.
MYERS: Ah wait a minute. There were 0
those bottled gherkins if I remember
rightly.
BRONIATOWSKY: It's past eight.
MYERS: She's with friends. I can feel JU
A NOISE OUTSIDE.
BRONIATOWSKY:
There she isl You'1l
get your piroshki after all.
PAUL COMES IN FROM THE STREET.


PAUL: Hullo:
MYERS: Hullo Paul.
It's the bloke
from upstairs again.
BRONIATOWSKY: Where's your mother?
PAUL: Isn't she in?
BRONIATOWSKY: Have you been smoking ?
PAUL: No.
BRONIATOWSKY GOES TO HIS SON AND SMEELS
HIM AT CLOSE QHARTERS.
BRONIATOWSKY:
You're a liar.
PAUL: Oh thanks!
BRONIATOWSKY:
Better than tell lies
smoke until you're sick, but tell mel
Did your mother leave a mesaage?
PAUL: No. She went out, I. think.
BRONIATOWSKY: She
went out shopping?
PAUL: I don't know.
BRONIATOWSKY: What, she just went out---
she must have said something!
PAUL: No she dddn't.
BRONIATOWSKY: Anyway, I'11 take Andrew
to the club---she's probably with Hanya,
licking up culture.
PAUL:
She was with a man.
BRONIATOWSKY: What man?
PAUL: He was the man over the piano
(NODDING TOWARDS THE SECOND ROOM).
MYERS:
'Man overt the piano'---I like
that.
What does your mum do---take him
down and give him a dust when she wants
a walk?
BRONIATOWSKY: That portrait you mean? -
He's been dead for God knows how many years.


PAUL: Well he said so himself. He
pointed at it and said that's me.
BRONIATOWSKY: He was here?
PAUL: She went out shopping and she came
back with him, then they went out again.
MYERS (TO BRONIATOWSKY)
What sign were
you born under?
BRONIATOWSKY: I tell you twice a ponthi
Leo.
MYERS: You're g oing. to fall in love.
BRONIATOWSKY: What, again? I hope
she's nicel
MYERS: She's your wife.
BRONIATOWSKY: My wife? What tells you,
that?
MYERS: The stars.
BRONIATOWSKY LAUGHS.
MYERS: What's so funny? Here's a man
suddenly comes back from the dead. Eh
Paul? The young know about these things.
BRONIATOWSKY: Let's grab some dinner.
We can straggle with this lot afterwards.
(TO PAUL)
Take one of your girls out
(GIVING HIM MONEY). You like it better
than eating here anyuay.
PAUL: Well mum always seems to be burning
things lately.
MYERS (PUTTING HIS COAT ON)
She's burnt
her boats tonight by the look of it--- !
going out with a dead man, eh, Peter?
BRONIATOWSKY (TO PAUL, AS THEY LEAVE) (o
See you later.
PAUL WATCHES THEM GO. THE FRONT DOOR
SLAMS. PAUL LIGHTS A CIGARETTE AT ONCE:
HE STROLLS NEXT DOOR.
WE TRACK AFTER
HIM TO FIND HIM STUDYING THE PORTRAIT ON
THE WALL.


CUT ' BACK TO THE STASH BED-SITTER.
STASH IS RAISING THE NEW CUP OF COFFEE
TOHIS LIPS.
STASH: And your husband kisses the
Countess Gobrowska's hand once a week,
and you all remember how she played in
cabaret forty years agoland was the
heart-throb of Warsaw---oh good God!
I took one look at you all and decided
I'd rather be an Englishman---!
MAGDA (QUIETLY)
Even that---better than
a Pole eh?
STASH: And you're great friends with
Gazda, the smartest little crook in the
community! What.does he talk about with
Count Peter Broniatowsky---all the chest-
nuts they ate together during the war?
(LAUGHING) I hear Gazda ate so many
chestnuts he farted all the way from
Cassino to Dieppe at the end of the war,
and the British army caught trench mouthl
MAGDA: You did something terrible didn't
you? In Warsaw? Is that why you left?
STASH: 'Why I left'(WITH A SHRUG);
same reason as you. I heard of a place
where people were free. And I went there.
I don't mean about the régime, the Russians--
communism---I can live under anything---I.
mean - I wouldn't have felt free in_ any
kind.of Poland!
MAGDA:
Why do we love our country 80
much?---when you talk against it I feel
like something burningand tearing me---
and it's burning you too---I can see it--
STASH: You think, you're Polish? And what
Poland do you love? I don't see you or
your husband with his belly full of chest-
nuts as very Polish! You're a sortof
MAGDA: Did you come to the shop to tell
me what I know already---?
STASH:
You even look a hybrid. You
never eould dress. I rémember those
ghastly crinoline things you used to put
on for a party-- -and those cutglass necklaces-


and you're just the same now! Even
your coffee's horrible! It's perfect
Polish coffee therefore it's horrible.
Imean it's untrue.
It's untrue coffeel
Because the Poles are crippled---twisted---
I mean the real Poles, over there---they're
bent---and you're not bent---s0 you're not
a Pole---you're an untrue Pole---you're
sick because you're not.sick.
MAGDA: Perhaps you don't know how sick vë
arel
STASH:
'Poland'! Go there---go and
live there---you won't teach your children
the language any more! Why Polish? Why
not Latin and Greek---they're no more dead
than Polish! What are you hoping for---
you and your chestnut-man---a new revolution?
There won't be onel The 'old Poland'?
It never even existed! You made it up,
like people made up old England and old
France and everywhere else, we're all one
people---one world---and you scuttle round.
like rats in a loft' with your blasted
Polish newspapers and celebrities and Warsaw
tittle-tattlel It's a big fart---a fart 1
from achestnut!
MAGDA: Did my husband do any more trade
in chestnuts than other people?
STASH: He made a fortunel Which you
wouidn't think seeing the basement you
tive in.
MAGDA: The house is ours. We let the upper
floors. Mr Myers has most of it. He's :
a retailer---he works with my husband.
STASH: You ran out of money?
MAGDA: Yes.
STASH: He can't manage his affairs?
MAGDA: His love affairs, yes!
STASH: He has many?
MAGDA : Oh!
STASH (QUIETLY) You suffered a lot eh? - - -


MAGDA: I suppose.
STASH:
He keeps the girls---I mean
incomes---that kind of thing?
MAGDA: Oh no. Just dinners out.
And hotel rooms. Little bits of
jewellery. Not that I know. I never
had control.
STASH: It surirised you, thé way he
turned---such an honourable, such an
upright man?
MAGDA: What? He's been likethat ever
sincé I met him I I was one in' twenty girls,
in Italy. But he wanted to marry me.
Some girls he wanted for a night, some for
a week, and me to marry!
STASH: And you needed him---right from the
start---how 'needed' him ?
MAGDA: I could see my future when I looked
at him. I can't explain it. And when
I thought of you I could see no future.
STASH: Looking at me now---do you think I
could have given you a future---?
MAGDA: No of course I don't.
STASH: I'd have given you something
more exciting---more terrible---and you
couldn't have stood it? could you?
MAGDA: You would have been more faithful--
STASH: Me?
MAGDA: Oh I think so.
STASH: I've never been faithful to
anything for more than five minutes!
MAGDA (A SHRUG) It's what I feel. But
he gives me this other thing---that I
needed.
STASH: Ah!
Bed! And what did I
give you?
MAGDA: You dddn't make me feel there was
a future in it---that's all.


STASH: Children - you mean?
MAGDA:
Just future. I can't explain.s
STASH: You mean about me having that C
MAGDA:
No. It was just a feeling.
That I was never réally with you.
STASH: And you're really with him ?
Gre
MAGDA: Always. Every time. And
it's something I can't help. His girls
don't make any difference to that. That's
what I mean by need. I can't get away /
from the need so I can't get away from
him. That's why I never answered the
letters. I couldn't explain---I hadn't
thought it out.
STASH: Did you read any of those letters?
MAGDA:
The first ones.
STASH: They made him jealous?
MAGDA:
Oh---I just said a family friend.
STASH: And what about when they kept on
coming in? over
years and years and years?
MAGDA: I' threw them away---in front of-him--
it made him laugh---he began to guess it
might be a lover---and he felt good seeing
me throw them away unread---
STASH: That was a dtrty thing to do.
MAGDA: Yes.
STASH: Yet you kept my portrait on the
wall.
MAGDA: It was closer to me than the
letters. The letters seemed strange €--.
all about Warsaw when I didn't live there.
any more- --and most of the people you
talked about I didn't know---80 your
portrait was closer to me.
STASH: And what did he think about the
portrait? Surely that meant your lover
had won after all didn't it---if you kept
a portrait of him over the piano, slap in
front of all the guests---?


MAGDA: I told him it was somebody
else. He didn't know it was the same
man as wrote the letters.
STASH: How devious you are.
MAGDA:. And I told him you were dead.
STASH:
The portrait, not the letter-
writer? Well! And I thought I could
play a trick or two in the war of survivall
MAGDA: And I got used to you being dead.
Even with your letters arriving. So when
I saw you in the shop just nowit was like
somebody coming out ofthe dead---like
seeing my brother and I knew the nazis.
shot him in the street---
STASH: Meaning you killed me - In your
mind.
MAGDA: Yes.
STASH: Not a soul here knew we were
married?
MAGDA: No.
STASH: Surely we had a witness---I can't
remember---it was dangerous- -we ran all the
way---there was firing---do you remember?
My father ased to fake passports for the
Jews---and he faked my age---he faked a birth
certificate for me---he didn't want to do
it because it made me elig ble for military
service---but I begged and begge d for three
whole days---and we went and found a priest,
do you remember?---not even my parents
knew---but we must have had a witness.
MAGDA: It was : Gustaw, your room-mate.
He was from Krakow. He died in Siberia.
STASH:
You see how war favours the illegal
and underhand? The witnesses die off,
the witnesses of truth! I me an your second
marriage---did you eealise after the war,
and all these years since, that I was help-
ing you? By not coming forward and saying
she's my wife?
MAGDA: I didn't think you took it
seriously enough!


STASH: With thirty letters a year
arriving? And me addressing you correctly
as Mrs Broniatowska, you didn't realise
a) I was helping you and b) I was taking you
very seriously indeed?
MAGDA: You talk like a lawyer. You never
did before.
STASH: I've been weighing the case up all
these years---that's why.
MAGDA: And now you've come to prosecute,
what do you mean to do with me?
STASH:
What could I do? declare you
unlawfully married---divide you from your
family---expose---denude---defame! Do you
see all that in my face? And you ask me
if you've changed. And the answer is a
million times no, nol----if only you had!
You always had something small in you-- -
'prosecute'!
MAGDA: - Who was there to change me?---
Peter does the same things every day---
the samé vodka, the same nights out.
STASH:
But he's an amusing man! He's
got loads of personality, Peter Broniatowsky!
I've talked to him!
MAGDA: You've talked to him?
STASH: A dozen times. Ask him yourself---
doesn't he know Stephen Bolek?
MAGDA (HUSHED WITH HORROR) Bolek?
(JUMPING UP, PUSHING BACK THECHAIR)
Bokek? You're not him---!
STASH: That's my name. I changed it when
I came to Enghand---Stephen Bolek! Yesl
MAGDA:
You ought to be in prison! He's
said it a thousand timés. He goes red in
the face when your name is mentioned---the
veins stand out on his neck---if he knew I
was here with you---with Stephen Bolek!
That's your face, yes! I've seen it in
the papers- -a hundred times! And I didn't
connect! 'Stephen Bolek'---that's for
Bolek-- -that-- -and that! (SPITS ON THE GROUND


HE SITS GAZING AT. HER.
STASH: At least you didn't spit in my
face.
MAGDA: How could you?
(SUBSIDING INTO
HER CHAIR AGAIN) My poor darling! (TAKING
HIS HAND)
STASH: Perhaps you should have answened
those letters---then you could have influénced
MAGDA: Let me phone' him---let me go back---
STASH: Ahl You feel I can't do you harm
any more eh? I can't'prosecutel But don't
provoke me---!
MAGDA: Oh I wouldn't provoke you. Know-
ing who you arel I just want to tell him i
I'li be back---soon.
STASH: Why---did you think of staying---
before---before I was Bolek?
MAGDA: I almost---felt it again---like we
were before---knowing how hope less it would
probably be but better than what' I've got.
STASH:
But never. with Stephen Bolek, eh?
MAGDA: Never in tén million lifetimes.
STASH: Did they ever.specify what was
wrongwith me?
MAGDA: Oh yes!
STASH: And the case was proved?
MAGDA:
You went to prisont
STASH: I needed money.
MAGDA: That's why you were shouting about
my crimes and his crimesj becausé you're'sblack
withcrimes yourself---the guilty like to
spread their guilt! Well
husband needed
1my
money tool. So he bought gold sovereigns in
Cairo and sold them in Naples---like evéry-
body elsel He didn't sell his country!
STASH: I was helping my country surely--.


wasn't that the case against me? Yes, SC
I did get money. It did come from some-
body donnected with their embassy.
MAGDA: And you sold nothing for that
money?
STASH: The case was cleared. They let me
become an Englishman. So it must have bee n
'all right.
MAGDA:
Not one of us believes that.
STASH: Not one of you is in a position
to judge.
MAGDA: You're judging yourself! It's
in your facel You're not so cool nowl
STASH: Aren't you relieved? that I'm
a criminal too? Not just you and your
husband?
MAGDA: Oh, 'criminal'l
STASH: A11 you mean is my.case went to
a court of law---yours didn't---for shutting
your mouth forthirty years---illegally re-
marryingl---and him and his illegal fortune--
those cases didn't go to the lawcourts! But
my case did! And my case was disproved!
And 'I was acquitted! They let me go!
They gave me my naturalisation papers!
I never did anything wrong!
MAGDA (GOING TO HIM) Stash, it's like
when you were sixteen---the same tears--
when I wouldn't marry you!
STASH: And I wasvso good! I let you
go fre k I didn't say a thing---not to
anyone in Warsaw. And I wrote to you;
asking you why you'd gone---and I came to
England because it was your country---and >
I learned the language just for you---I
grabbed every English student I could find
and made him talk to me in English---until
I mastered it. And I didn't tell a soul.
I didn't let a soul knowhow fluent my
English was. And it went on for over
ten years---after I decided to get away.
And then the chance came. They sent me to
Paris.
They trusted me.


SHE DETACHES HERSELF FROM HIM THOUGHT-
FULLY.
MAGDA: And what about the boy? being
in béd with a boy? If you were so much
in love with me, a woman, how could youlhy
do that?
STASH: Oh---you know the answer better
than I do---I could sleep with a buffalo.
if I had to---it's what the war taught
me---you know how I got through the
concentration camp---
MAGDA: A lie!
STASH: Oh? What's a lie?
MAGDA: That the camp corrupted you---
that the camp commandant, being such a
beautiful man---! It's a liel You
were like that always! At sixteen! At
fourteen! It showed in the way you
made love to mel It's a liel A lie! S
STASH: And the English court of law lied
too, when they gave a verdict of not guilty?
MAGDA: No. I believe that. I
believe you were innocent. Because
you were never like that, you never had -
a touch of Stephen Bolek in you.
STASH: And why did I pour out my lifeSy
in hundreds of letters? were the letters
all lies?
MAGDA: You wanted to pour out to someone--
you felt a prisoner there---you needed me--
I was the only one who might listen! the.
only one you knew, body and soul, in the-
outside world.
STASH: So I do knowyou body and soul?
MAGDA: Yes, I believe you do. And he.
goesn't know me at all. We're strangers.
Which is why the marriageflasts.
STASH: And hasn't our marriage lasted too?
if I know you body and soul? and if you
come to me for help against your husband?


MAGDA: Help?
against Peter?
STASH: Do you think I came to the shop
for no reason at all? do you think I
didn't feel. what you were going through?
and especially in the last two yéars,
here in London, close to you---knowing
you. were round the corner---almost not daring
to comé to your house and look at you when
you went out shopping in the evening?
MAGDA: You watched me?
STASH: Do you think I saw nothing in your
face?
MAGDA: Ahl So I'm back in the old
position am I? You're helping mel
You. implore me to marry you, you cry hot
tears all over my blouse, and when I
marry you it appears you've been helping
mel But thank you very much, I didn't ask
for help! And I'd like to know what help
you could give me---here---in a pig sty---
with a background everybody thinks is criminat
--and living from hand to mouth! Do you
still play the fool in clubs?
STASH: Why not?
MAGDA: It's hardly a man's work!
STASH: You still think of things that way
round---first if it's a man's work---if it
looks right---and then if it's good in itself?
Yes, I play the fool in clubs!
MAGDA: And you aren't ashamed?
STASH: I'm not fit for anything else---I
mean, I could do plenty of things but I'd
rather do that if I get money for it. I don't
want a life like your husband's---with that
gloomy house and the swords on the wall and
all that fake responsibility and one girl after
another to compensate for the horror of it
all---I don't want it! I mean, I have
girls enough---and boys---I like a decént
mixture---but it's for the pleasure, even
for the love---it isn'e to escape the
horror of what I've been doing in the day.
So the first thing I ask myself is do you
feel pure? If you don't, don't do it.
If you do, that's OK, whatever it is and
whatever other people think! That's
what I go by! And one day in Paris some-


body gave m e money, it saved my life,
I felt pure about taking it. I mean (
he only wanted an hour in bed, he was ugly
but I thought why nat, I don't care, my
body isn't so lovely either---80 why not,
and I took the money, and I got to England
with it, and here I am---and then this man
turns up again in London and wants me to find
out certain thing 8 for him---wants me tp.sell
my country as you describe it---and I 71
couldn't do it, I didn't feel pure about it,
80 he kept on coming and telephoning me,
until the police began to ask themselves
why---and then, before I knew where I was,
I had prison bars in front of me---but still-
I felt pure, because I hadn't done anything
wrong!
MAGDA: My husband called you Madame
Bolek during the trial.
STASH (WITH A LAUGH) They all did!
MAGDA: You can laugh! But they ridiculed
you---there were dirty jokes about you---1
STASH: But I'm not dirty! So what does
it matter?
MAGDA: But doesn't it make you feel L
unnatural? You must feel wrong after-
STASH: After what?
MAGDA: Well---after being almost a
woman?
STASH: You mean at the clubs or here,
in my room, on this bed?
MAGDA: Bothl
STASH:
The answer is I don't think of
things from the outside.
I think of whether
I enjoy itl
MAGDA: Is that all there is---enjoyment?
Isn't that sad?
STASH: Enjoyment sad?
MAGDA GAZES AT HIM.
MAGDA: But you were made a man.


STASH: Well---I am - a man! Women like.
me don't they? They even run after mel
One said---a couple.of weeks ago---she said
that when she saw mé first her legs went-
weak. Yes, her legs went weak.
MAGDA: You have lots of friends?
STASH: Oh---this room's full all day---
even when I'm not herel
MAGDA:
And théy don't find you unnatural?
STASH: Me? Of course not! Seeing that
they're nearly all crippled insome way tool
MAGDA: Ah, we're all crippled! I remem-
ber you saying thatl There's no nature!
And that woman's coat---an American offered
you forty thousand dollars for it---
STASH: Would you like to see it?
MAGDA:
You didn't sell it? But you needed
money so badly!
STASH GOES TO THE WARDROBE.
STASH (TAKING OUT AN ELEGANT WOMAN'S COAT)
I preferred the coat. There!
MAGDA (TOUCHING IT) And this is what was
in the papers?
STASH (GAZING AT HER) Yes.
MAGDA: And is it true---I read something
of the kind---that theclubs pay you a big
s'tar's salary?
STASH: You always used to read the cheap-
est papers, in Warsaw! Oh I get enough to
live on---it's a sort of position I suppose--
being a source of dirty jokes, that's somet
thing---I wasn't even that before! And
it gave me the courage to get in touch with
you! I knew what a stickler you were for
position! Eh? (AS HE TRIES THE COAT ON)
How do you like it?


MAGDA (WITH A LAUGH)
'Like' it!
STASH: Come on! Don't you remember?
You were the first to dress me up---your
wig---I have it somewhere---all yellow
and shaggy---(TAKING A NEW WIG OUT OF THE
WARDROBE) this is a nice one---look!
HE PUTS THE WIG ON.
MAGDA (LAUGHING AGAIN)
Did you have it
on for that picture---it was this coat wasn't
STASH: Yes.
(TAKING A LONG SKIRT FROM
THE WARDROBE) And thist
MAGDA (AS SHE LOOKS IN THE WARDROBE) What
lovely things!
(FINGERING THE HANGING
SKIRTS ETC)
Look!
STASH CLIPS THE SKIRT ROUND HIM AND DEFTLY
DROPS HIS TROUSERS TO HIS FEET. SHE LOOKS
AT HIM SPELLBOUND. HE TAKES OFF THE COAT,
AND HIS SHIRT, AND PUTS A BLOUSE ON.
MAGDA: Oh Stash!
The way you.broke my
heart! We used to die of laughter!---
remember?---I haven't laughed sincel
THEY CATCH EACH OTHER's GLANCE AND BEGIN
LAUGHING. THEY LEAN ON EACH OTHER.
MAGDA: Let me phone him now! While I
can laugh!
CUT TO THE BRONIATOWSKY FLAT---THE PIANO
ROOM. PETER BRONIATOWSKY IS SLUMPED IN
A CHAIR IN HIS OVERCOAT.
PAUL APPEARS FROM THE BEDROOM IN HIS
PYJAMAS AND BRONIATOWSKY STARTS.
PAUL: Mum not back?
BRONIATORSKY: What's the time?
PAUL: Naerly -
four. Did you know him
in Warsaw-- --that man?
BRONIATOWSKY: No.
Can't even remember
his name. Stanislav somebody.
She said
he died at Auschwitz.
Well, that happens
sometimes. A man suddenly turns up from the
past.


PAUL: Shouldn't you go to the police?
BRONIATOWSKY: Oh she'11 turn up. We'rer
Poles! We do things like that!
PAUL LEAVES AGAIN WITH A SHRUG.
BRONIATOWSKY CONTINUES TO SIT THERE.
BRONIATOWSKY: Paull
PAUL RETURNS.
BRONIATOWSKY : Have you got a cigarette?>
PAUL: I thought' you said smoking was
bad?
BRONIATOWSKY: Get me a cigarettel
PAUL: A11 right, all right!
PAUL GOES AND AT THAT MOMENT THE PHONE 7
RINGS. BRONIATOWSKY GRABS THE RECEIVER
BEFORE THE FIRST TONE IS OUT.
MAGDA (OVER, INPOLISH) Peter!
It's
Magdal---I'm al'1 right!
BRONIATOWSKY (ALSO IN POLISH, WITH VAST
RELIEF) Magdal Megda!
MAGDA (OVER, IN POLISH) Stanislav
Boczkowsky came back to lifel
Can you
imagine? We're talking---
BRONIATOWSKY (IN POLISH, WITH EVIDENT
ANGER) Magda, what are you doing? Here
am I sitting here---come back home at once---!
MAGDA (OVER, IN POLISH)
We forgot every-
BRONIATOWSKY (IN, POLISH) I said come back
home---do you hear?---where are you---?
THE SOUND OF THE RECEIVER BEING PUT DOWN AT
THE OTHER END AND THEN THE DIALLING TONE.
BRONIATOWSKY SLAMS HIS RECEIVER DOWN. HIS
FURY IS FED BY HIS RELIEF.
BRONIATOWSKY (JUMPING UP) Paul! Paul!
She's out with a man! (STRIDING TO THE
DOOR) I'm going to find him---Stanislav
Boczkowsky---I'li hunt them out!


CUT BACK TO THE STASH BED-SITTER.
STASH IS STANDING IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR
P UTING THE LAST TOUCHES TO HIS HAIR.
HE NOW HAB HIGH-HEELED SHOES ON, AND
SPARKLING EAR-RINGS.
MAGDA HAS JUST PIT THE PHONE DOWN.
STASH: He's very angry?
MAGDA: I shouldn't have touched that
phone! The number of times he's rung
me in the middle of the night to say I'm
sorry, we got talking, don't worry I'11
be back some timel
STASH: Never mind.
MAGDA: And now he'11 do something
courageous like banging on the doors of all
the Boczkowskys he knows in LondonlLucky
for you you changed your name to Bolek!,
STASH (WITH A LAUGH) A11 the Boczkowskys
in town are going to get broken noses
tonightl---while Miss Boczkowsky herself
doesn't give a damn! Isn't that why you
came to my dirty little room in Warsaw---
because I never gave a damn---and your :
head was so full of duties and shames
and little reminders about 'don't do this,
be careful of that, watch out for him,
be nice to her, in case they talk againse
you, in case they think bad about you'l
Is that the way to live?
(TURNING HIS
FULL SPLENDOUR TOWARDS HER) You can r
honestly put your life against mine and/say
it's better? Can you?
MAGDA: I don't know who you arel
STASH (SINGING) Milosc si wszsko wybaczy
('LOVE WILL FORGIVE YOU EVERYTHING'---A
CABARET SONG FROM PRE-WAR WARSAW).
HE BEGINS DANCING.
SHE JOINS IN THE SINGE
ING.
STASH: Milosc si wszsko..!
MAGDA THROSSOFF HER COAT. SHE BEGINS
DANCING WITH HIM, SHOWING HIM NEW STEPS.


STASH: Ah! You witch!
THEY SING TOGETHER. THEY MANAGE TO
DANCE PRECISELY THE. SAME STEPS TOGETHER,
AS IF THEY HAD DONE THEM LONG AGO. SHÉ
LIFTS UP HER SKIRTS: HER DANCING BECOMES
SKITTISH, EXTRAVAGANT.
THEY BEGIN WHIRLING ROUND TOGETHER, SKIRTS
FLYING.
MAGDA IS SCREAMING WITH LAUGHTER.
THEY ALMOST FALL FROM GIDDINESS. IT - :
BECOMES A CHASE ROUND THE ROOM---IN WHAT
LOOKS LIKE A PATTERN FROM EEARS AGO,
MAGDA CHASING STASH. AS HE DASHES ROUND
THE TABLES AND CHAIRS, UPSETTING EVERITHING,
HE MAKES SCREECHING NOISES LIKE AN HYSTER-
ICAL WOMAN.
HE SUDDENLY STOPS AND THEY END IN A HEAP-
ON THE DIVAN, PANTING, LAUGHING.
MAGDA (STILL BREATHLESS) Why did they
givé you a British passport?
STASH: Mm?
THEY LAUGH AGAIN.
MAGDA:
They thogght you might make a -
good spy for this side---one day---in
those clothes?
THEY LAUGH.
MAGDA: Do you know something?---I don't
like men much---strong men. I like you
like this---I
STASH: You taught mé how to do it! And
you say we'ré not all crippled! You
corrupted mel
MAGDA (LAUGHING) Ah, corruption again.
First me, than the camp commandant---
don't you have a little bit of wicked-
ness somewhere?
STASH: Would you stay with me?
MAGDA: You mean now---always?


STASH: Yes.
MAGDA: I might.
STASH: Give up an upright husband--
safety---? You know, I always thought
you married me for a reason. Was there
one?
A PAUSE.
MAGDA: Yes.
STASH: There wàsl
MAGDA: Mine was a wanted name. The
Germans were after my father---they found
him and took him away. By that time I
was married to you. I got away tp Lvov as
Mrs Boczkowskg.
Yet I loved you. Stash--
I did wrong to marry you---but you pleaded---
and it was useful---and anyway you seemed not
the marrying kind---I mean, not interested
overmuch---I mean, I'm not good, Stash---
neither of us are---darling (TOUCHING HIM)
--I mean Peter and I aren't good. We
aren't good.
STASH: Did you think you were good---all
these years?
MAGDA NODS.
STASH: How can he bear you walking
round in that coat? For God's sake take
this one.
MAGDA (TAKING HIS COAT) He doesn't see me.
(GETTING UP AND TRYING IT ON BEFORE THE
MIRROR) He just féels me. He's feeling
me now. And, you know, it excites me--
the animal thing! I can talk to you---as
a woman---almost to a woman!
STASH: Ahl
MAGDA: It was something you could never
satisfy.
STASH:
Shall I try again?
MAGDA (A LAUGH ESCAPING HER AGAIN)
those clothes?


SHE CONTINUES TO LOOK AT HERSELF IN THE
MIRROR.
STASH: Your hair too.
Look--- (GETTING
UP AND GOING TO HER)
L 1
HE LIFTS HER HAIR IN A CERTAIN WAY---DRAWS
IT HIGH UP FROM THE EARS: AND IT CHANGES
HER FACE.
MAGDA: Not so old now eh?
THEY CHUCKLE. HE CLIPS HIS EAR-RINGS ON
TO HER EARS.
STASH (STANDING CLOSE TO HER AND LOOKING -
IN THE MIRROR TOO) You're attracted to'
him aren't you---immensely?
MAGDA: Am I?
STASH: Imagine him now---panting after n
you---in the streets---knocking men down 2
perhaps. It excites you! You're dressing
up for him! You lèt me put your hair up
for himT You couldn't s'tay loyal to
the man you married in Warsaw---
MAGDA:
The man?!
STASH: You want the animal---a panting
brute---the veins sticking out of his
neck when he loses his temper---you hate
each other, passionately, like brutes,
and then it turns to lovel He's going
to fall on you when he finds you again---
fall on your neck---bite you---eh?
(MAKING TO BITE HER NECK)
MAGDA: Stashi
Don't touch me---Stash!
HE ONLY BRUSHES HER' SHOULDER WITH HIS LIPS.
STASH: You're trembling. So I am a
man.
MAGDA:
Don't drag me back---into all
that-- a
STASH:
Would you?
MAGDA: Don't try! It's funny how everything
suddenly turns upside down. And life went
like a little clock beforel Thirty years-.
like a minutel You realise I can't go back


to him, don't you, even if I wanted tol
I do want to but I can'tl And you---in
those clothes---I feel I'm a thousand
different people!
(SLUMPING INTO A CHAIR)
You'd leave me in a day wouldn't you?
STASH: I never let you out of my sight-
not once---in Warsaw!
MAGDA: Inside you did---I've never felt
as lonely since---and you there, in those
clothes---it makes me feel the same as
then---I can remember---that terrible
loneliness---!
STASH: For God's sake don't cry!
MAGDA: And that same voice---'for God's
sake don't cry'!
STASH: Perhaps you leaned on me too much---
suffoaated me---
MAGDA: Ahi
STASH: Like half the cripples who come here
every day---sit in that séat---pour out
their troubles-- -cry just like that---and
I ask myself---how long can it go on, how
many more can I have sucking my strength---
they flock here, I tell youl---they pour
out their troubles! And now you! Is it
my fault you chose the wrong man? I thought
at least you had a bit o'f strength---you,,
looked so solid walking down the street---
your husband 80 erect---a fine son---evergy
thing fine from the outside!
MAGDA: Ah, that's how you saw us is it---
puppets! Like' you always saw people---
big and strong until you got to know them
and then they were weak weren't they, all
mixed-up!---when they showed théy'd got
hearts! And you're the cripple, not they!---
you're afraid to get too close, be looked-at
too much---yes, we suffocate the, little child
because he doean't know who he is; insi del
And then we're all to blame aren't we? I'm
to blame for keeping you up all night---oh how
I know youl---and that's why I never answered
à single latter---I didn't want you to twist
every word I wrote into a cry for help---
well, you can stay as alone as you likel


And shall I tell you why you married
me? (TEARING OFF HER EAR-RINGS AND
FLINGING THEM ON THE TABLE) To cover for
your boysl A cover!
STASH: Anything's possible!
MAGDA: Ah that's amusing is it? That's
detached! Well I was detached for thirty
yearsl
(TAKING OFF THE COAT) And I'm
going to be the same again!
SHE FLINGS THE COAT AT HIM AND THEN RUSHES
OUT OF THE APARTMENT.
STASH (RUNNING AFTER HER) Magdal Magdal
HE STOPS AT THE DOOR. HE LISTENS TO
HER FOOTSTEPS ECHOING DOWN THE STAIRS.
STASH (TAKING OFF HIS WIG AND UNCLIPPING
HIS SKIRT, WITH A CHUCKLE)
She's
magnificent!
FADE.
OPEN ON THE STASH PORTRAIT IN THE
BRONIATOWSKY FLAT.COME DOWN TO FIND
MAGDA, COATLESS, ON THE SETTEE. SHE WIPES
AWAY TEARS.
SHE DRAGS HERSELF UP. SHE WALKS TB THE
DOOR LEADING TO THE BEDROOMS.
A NOISE MAKES HER TURN. SHE STARES
ACROSS THEROOM.
PETER BRONIATOWSKY HAS
JUST COME IN ROM THE STREET.
THEY STAND GAZING AT EACH OTHER.
BRONIATOWSKY (IN POLISH)
Well, who
were you with?
MAGDA (ALSO IN POLISH)
Who were you
with all those years---a different one
every night!
BRONIATOWSKY (IN POLISH)
Stanislav who?
MAGDA:
Stanislav Boczkowsky.
BRONIATOWSKY (IN POLISH) He doesn't
PAUL APPEARS IN HIS PYJANAS, SCREWING UP HIS


EYES AGAINST THE LIGHT.
PAUL: What's the trouble?
BRONIATOWSKY (IN ENGLISH, TO MAGDA)
There isn't a Stanislav Boczkowsky in
London!
(TO PAUL) You see what kind
of mother you havel Five o'clock in
the morning! And I saw you in the street--
running along without a coat---can you
imagine, if someone saw you---!
MAGDA: That's right, that's right---
talk to me about appearances!
BRONIATOWSKY: At least I've never brought
anybody back---
MAGDA: I wish you had---to clear the air--
and give me sone company. You and your
Andrew Myers---the two war-heroas---always
remembering over a bottle of vodka--
PAUL:, Come on mum!
MAGDA:. How he came in the command post
just as you were giving the order to fire
and the order went out to the guns as
'Andrew'! Yesl Yes! A million times--
winters and summers---the same story---'And-
rew, Andrew', it went, out as 'Andrew', and
'the silly buggers fired'! OB God!
THE FRONT DOOR BELL RINGS.
BRONIATOWSKY (TO PAUL) Answer the door.
MAGDAA He's in his pyjamas!
BRONIATOWSKY (IN POLISH, AS HE GOES TO THE
DOOR HIMSELF)
Damn and blast!
BRONIATOWSKT OPENS THE FRONT DOOR. IT
IS ANDREW MYERS, IN A. DRESSING GOWN.
MYERS: Hullo Peter. I heard a bit of
movement.
BRONIATOWSKY: Come in Andrew. She's
back.
ANDREW MYERS COMES IN


MYERS : Hullo Magda.
MAGDA: Hullo.
MYERS: Paul tells us you've been out with
the man over the piano.
MAGDA:
That's right.
MYERS (GAZING AT THE PORTRAIT) I'm sure
I've seen that face before.
It's the
first time I've really looked at it.
PETER BRONIATOWSKY GOES TO THE SIDEBOARD
AND POURS A VODKA, WHICH HE HANDS TO MYERS
IN AN AUTOMATIC WAY.
MYERS: What, early-morning fire? Well,
we both need it.
(SWALLOWING IT IN ONE
GASP) We walked the streets all night
for you Magda. I hope he was worth it.
MAGDA:
Oh yes, I think so.
MYERS: Yes (SUBSIDING INTO AN ARMCHAIR)
war does terrible things. Divides people.
And then they come together again.
BRONIATOWSKY (TO MAGDA)
Is this Stanislav
of yours married?
MAGDA: Yes.
BRONIATOWSKY: She was there?
MAGDA: Yes.
A PAUSE.
BRONIATOWSKY: What's she like?
MAGDA:
Who?
BRONIATOWSKY:
The wife.
MAGDA: Oh---(WITH A SHRUG) rather lost.
(TURNING TO HER SON) : All right Paul.
The fun's over.
You can still get some
sleep.
PAUL: Good night Mr Myers.
MYERS:
'Night'! It's close on dawn.
If your room wasn't so smokey you'd have


seen it (WITH A WINK).
PAUL GOES, AND PETER BRONIATOWSKY
SUBSIDES INTO A CHAIR TOO, EXHAUSTED.
MYERS (GAZING AT STASH'S PORTRAIT)
Now where have I seen that face before?
WE SEE THE PORTRAIT FROM HIS PV.
IT DISSOLVES INTO STASH IN HIS DRAG
OUTFIT PERFORMING MILOSC SI WSZYSKO
WYBACZY IN THE PRE-WAR MODE, TO THE
ACCOMPANIMENT OF A PIANO, WITH BOLD
FEMININE MOVEMENTS.