Samuel Beckett [Samuel Beckett] - The Complete Dramatic Works

NextDay.SameTime.SamePlace.

Estragonsbootsfrontcentre,heelstogether,toessplayed.

Luckyshatatsameplace.

Thetreehasfourorfiveleaves.

Enter VLADIMIR agitatedly.Hehaltsandlookslongatthetree,thensuddenlybeginstomovefeverishlyaboutthestage.Hehaltsbeforetheboots,picksoneup,examinesit,sniffsit,manifestsdisgust,putsitbackcarefully.Comesandgoes.Haltsextremerightandgazesintodistanceoff,shadinghiseyeswithhishand.Comesandgoes.Haltsextremeleft,asbefore.Comesandgoes.Haltssuddenlyandbeginstosingloudly.

VLADIMIR: A dog came in

[Havingbeguntoohighhestops,clearshisthroat,resumes.]

[He remains a moment silent and motionless, then begins to move feverishly about the stage. He halts before the tree, comes and goes, before the boots, comes and goes, halts extreme right, gazes into distance, extreme left, gazes into distance. Enter ESTRAGON right, barefoot, head bowed. He slowly crosses the stage. VLADIMIR turns and sees him.]

You again! [ ESTRAGON halts, but does not raise his head. VLADIMIR goes towards him.] Come here till I embrace you.

ESTRAGON: Dont touch me!

[ VLADIMIR holdsback,pained.]

VLADIMIR: Do you want me to go away? [Pause.] Gogo! [Pause. VLADIMIR observeshimattentively.] Did they beat you? [Pause.] Gogo! [ ESTRAGON remainssilent,headbowed.] Where did you spend the night?

ESTRAGON: Dont touch me! Dont question me! Dont speak to me! Stay with me!

VLADIMIR: Did I ever leave you?

ESTRAGON: You let me go.

VLADIMIR: Look at me. [ ESTRAGON doesnotraisehishead. Violently.] Will you look at me!

[ ESTRAGON raiseshishead.Theylooklongateachother,thensuddenlyembrace,clappingeachotherontheback.Endoftheembrace, ESTRAGON , nolongersupported,almostfalls.]

ESTRAGON: What a day!

VLADIMIR: Who beat you? Tell me.

ESTRAGON: Another day done with.

VLADIMIR: Not yet.

ESTRAGON: For me its over and done with, no matter what happens. [Silence.] I heard you singing.

VLADIMIR: Thats right, I remember.

ESTRAGON: That finished me. I said to myself, hes all alone, he thinks Im gone for ever, and he sings.

VLADIMIR: One isnt master of ones moods. All day Ive felt in great form. [Pause.] I didnt get up in the night, not once!

ESTRAGON: [Sadly.] You see, you piss better when Im not there.

VLADIMIR: I missed you and at the same time I was happy. Isnt that a queer thing?

ESTRAGON: [Shocked.] Happy?

VLADIMIR: Perhaps its not the right word.

ESTRAGON: And now?

VLADIMIR: Now? [Joyous.] There you are again [Indifferent.] There we are again [Gloomy.] There I am again.

ESTRAGON: You see, you feel worse when Im with you. I feel better alone, too.

VLADIMIR: [Vexed.] Then why do you always come crawling back?

ESTRAGON: I dont know.

VLADIMIR : No, but I do. Its because you dont know how to defend yourself. I wouldnt have let them beat you.

ESTRAGON: You couldnt have stopped them.

VLADIMIR: Why not?

ESTRAGON: There were ten of them.

VLADIMIR: No, I mean before they beat you. I would have stopped you from doing whatever it was you were doing.

ESTRAGON: I wasnt doing anything.

VLADIMIR: Then why did they beat you?

ESTRAGON: I dont know.

VLADIMIR: Ah no, Gogo, the truth is there are things escape you that dont escape me, you must feel it yourself.

ESTRAGON: I tell you I wasnt doing anything.

VLADIMIR: Perhaps you werent. But its the way of doing it that counts, the way of doing it, if you want to go on living.

ESTRAGON: I wasnt doing anything.

VLADIMIR: You must be happy, too, deep down, if you only knew it.

ESTRAGON: Happy about what?

VLADIMIR: To be back with me again.

ESTRAGON: Would you say so?

VLADIMIR: Say you are, even if its not true.

ESTRAGON: What am I to say?

VLADIMIR: Say, I am happy.

ESTRAGON: I am happy.

VLADIMIR: So am I.

ESTRAGON: So am I.

VLADIMIR: We are happy.

ESTRAGON: We are happy. [Silence.] What do we do now, now that we are happy?

VLADIMIR: Wait for Godot, [ ESTRAGON groans.Silence.] Things have changed since yesterday.

ESTRAGON: And if he doesnt come?

VLADIMIR: [Afteramomentofbewilderment.] Well see when the time comes. [Pause.] I was saying that things have changed here since yesterday.

ESTRAGON: Everything oozes.

VLADIMIR: Look at the tree.

ESTRAGON: Its never the same pus from one second to the next.

VLADIMIR: The tree, look at the tree.

[ ESTRAGON looksatthetree.]

ESTRAGON: Was it not there yesterday?