Tom Morton-Smith - Ravens: Spassky vs. Fischer

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First published in 2019 by Oberon Books Ltd

521 Caledonian Road, London N7 9RH

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7607 3637 / Fax: +44 (0) 20 7607 3629

e-mail:

www.oberonbooks.com

Copyright Tom Morton-Smith, 2019

Tom Morton-Smith is hereby identified as author of this play in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The author has asserted his moral rights.

All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before commencement of rehearsal to United Agents, 12-26 Lexington Street, London, W1F 0LE. No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained, and no alterations may be made in the title or the text of the play without the authors prior written consent.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or binding or by any means (print, electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

PB ISBN: 9781786829320

E ISBN: 9781786829337

Cover: Image by SWD / Photography by Shaun Webb

Printed and bound in the UK.

eBook conversion in India.

Visit www.oberonbooks.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters and be the first to hear about our new releases.

Printed on FSC accredited paper

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Hester

With thanks to Jack Bradley, Rose Cobbe, Annabelle Comyn and Jen Tan

Ravens: Spassky vs. Fischer was first performed in a Hampstead Theatre World Premiere on 29 November 2019 with the following cast:

GUMUNDUR RARINSSON	Gunnar Cauthery
MAX EUWE	Simon Chandler
FRED CRAMER /
LINA GRUMETTE	Buffy Davis
LOTHAR SCHMID	Philip Desmeules
BOBBY FISCHER	Robert Emms
WILLIAM LOMBARDY /
HENRY KISSINGER	Solomon Israel
IIVO NEI	Beruce Khan
REGINA FISCHER	Emma Pallant
BORIS SPASSKY	Ronan Raftery
NIKOLAI KROGIUS	Rebecca Scroggs
EFIM GELLER	Gyuri Sarossy
SMUNDUR SMI-ROKK PLSSON	Gary Shelford

Creative Team

Writer	Tom Morton-Smith
Director	Annabelle Comyn
Designer	Jamie Vartan
Lighting	Howard Harrison
Composer & Sound	Philip Stewart
Video	Jack Phelan
Movement	Mike Ashcroft
Casting	Juliet Horsley CDG

Contents

Characters

The Americans

BOBBY FISCHER challenger

FRED CRAMER manager

HENRY KISSINGER foreign policy advisor

LINA GRUMETTE chess mother

WILLIAM LOMBARDY Fischers second

REGINA FISCHER communist

The Soviets

BORIS SPASSKY world champion

NIKOLAI KROGIUS psychologist

EFIM GELLER strategist

IIVO NEI sparring partner

Others

GUMUNDUR RARINSSON organiser

MAX EUWE President of FIDE

LOTHAR SCHMID arbiter

SMUNDUR SMI-ROKK PLSSON policeman

Authors Notes

The play takes place in July and August 1972.

Included are the move lists for the twenty-one chess games of the championship though it is not expected that each game be faithfully recreated. The games need not take the form of a literal chess game. The form of the contest matters less than the result.

Lines within [square brackets] are to be spoken in Russian. Translations can be found at the end of the script.

Russian characters, when speaking Russian amongst themselves, speak with the actors own accents. When the Russian characters speak English with the English-speaking characters they should do so with Russian accents. All other characters should be assumed to be speaking English with accents consistent with their nationalities.

Act One

The Loftleiir Hotel, Reykjavk.

EFIM GELLER , NIKOLAI KROGIUS and IIVO NEI are waiting.

EFIM : [Stop.]

IIVO : [What?]

EFIM : [Stop shaking your leg.]

IIVO : [Im not shaking my ]

EFIM : [You are.]

IIVO : [I can shake my leg if I want.]

EFIM : [Why does a man shake his leg, Nikolai? Is it symptomatic of something?]

NIKOLAI : [A soothing ritual. Dont read too much into it.]

EFIM : Are you anxious, Iivo?

IIVO : Dont we have reason to be?

EFIM : Its a weakness of character.

NIKOLAI : That goes a bit far.

EFIM : Its what the American will think.

NIKOLAI : Is the coffee good?

EFIM : Yes.

GUMUNDUR RARINSSON enters.

GUMUNDUR : Is Mr Spassky Comrade Spassky ? I thought he was ?

NIKOLAI : Hes in the bathroom.

GUMUNDUR : Ah. Were still waiting on Mr Euwe and Mr Schmid

IIVO : And Mr Fischer.

GUMUNDUR : Yes. Very good.

EFIM : Any word from ?

GUMUNDUR : I think we should probably wait for

NIKOLAI : Of course.

Silence.

GUMUNDUR : Ill just go and see if (Exits.)

IIVO : Ill take a cigarette.

NIKOLAI : (Passes him a cigarette.)

EFIM : What do you think?

IIVO : Of what?

EFIM : The Western brands.

IIVO : (Shrugs.) What else am I to smoke?

NIKOLAI : Theyre better on the lungs.

EFIM : Ill stick with what I know.

NIKOLAI : These are smoother.

EFIM : I like to feel what Im smoking.

IIVO : I prefer the taste.

NIKOLAI : Theyll give us the game.

EFIM : Im not so sure.

NIKOLAI : They dont have a choice.

EFIM : Theyre scared of the Americans.

IIVO : The Chess Federation?

EFIM : The Icelanders.

NIKOLAI : Theyre scared it might all fall apart.

EFIM : We should have insisted on a neutral location.

IIVO : Reykjavk is neutral.

EFIM : Theres an American military base not thirty miles from here.

IIVO : Theres no special love between Iceland and the US.

EFIM : They are allies.

NIKOLAI : And we are trade partners Iceland has a foot in both camps. Leave the shadows alone, Efim not everything is a conspiracy.

BORIS SPASSKY enters.

IIVO : Weve got coffee.

BORIS : Is it good?

IIVO : Makes you feel like part of the Muscovite art set.

BORIS : When we get home I can get you coffee.

IIVO : Like this?

BORIS : Of course.

NIKOLAI : What Boris can get is coffee-flavoured drink.

EFIM : Ive asked for tea.

BORIS : Can we arrange fresh orange juice?

EFIM : Ill call reception.

BORIS : No I meant I would like fresh orange juice before each of the games.

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