Beckett - The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett

ESTRAGON

VLADIMIR

LUCKY

POZZO

A BOY

A country road. A tree. Evening.

ESTRAGON, sitting on a low mound, is trying to take off his boot. He pulls at it with both hands, panting. He gives up, exhausted, rests, tries again. As before.

Enter VLADIMIR.

ESTRAGON: [Givingupagain.] Nothing to be done.

VLADIMIR: [Advancingwithshort,stiffstrides,legswideapart.] Im beginning to come round to that opinion. All my life Ive tried to put it from me, saying, Vladimir, be reasonable, you havent yet tried everything. And I resumed the struggle. [Hebroods,musingonthestruggle.Turningto ESTRAGON .] So there you are again.

ESTRAGON: Am I?

VLADIMIR: Im glad to see you back. I thought you were gone for ever.

ESTRAGON: Me too.

VLADIMIR: Together again at last! Well have to celebrate this. But how? [Hereflects.] Get up till I embrace you.

ESTRAGON: [Irritably.] Not now, not now.

VLADIMIR: [Hurt,coldly.] May one inquire where His Highness spent the night?

ESTRAGON: In a ditch.

VLADIMIR: [Admiringly.] A ditch! Where?

ESTRAGON: [Withoutgesture.] Over there.

VLADIMIR: And they didnt beat you?

ESTRAGON: Beat me? Certainly they beat me.

VLADIMIR: The same lot as usual?

ESTRAGON: The same? I dont know.

VLADIMIR: When I think of it all these years but for me where would you be ? [Decisively.] Youd be nothing more than a little heap of bones at the present minute, no doubt about it.

ESTRAGON: And what of it?

VLADIMIR: [Gloomily.] Its too much for one man. [Pause.Cheerfully.] On the other hand whats the good of losing heart now, thats what I say. We should have thought of it a million years ago, in the nineties.

ESTRAGON: Ah stop blathering and help me off with this bloody thing.

VLADIMIR: Hand in hand from the top of the Eiffel Tower, among the first. We were presentable in those days. Now its too late. They wouldnt even let us up. [ ESTRAGON tearsathisboot.] What are you doing?

ESTRAGON: Taking off my boot. Did that never happen to you?

VLADIMIR: Boots must be taken off every day, Im tired telling you that. Why dont you listen to me?

ESTRAGON: [Feebly.] Help me!

VLADIMIR: It hurts?

ESTRAGON: Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts!

VLADIMIR: [Angrily.] No one ever suffers but you. I dont count. Id like to hear what youd say if you had what I have.

ESTRAGON: It hurts?

VLADIMIR: Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts!

ESTRAGON: [Pointing.] You might button it all the same.

VLADIMIR: [Stooping.] True. [Hebuttonshisfly.] Never neglect the little things of life.

ESTRAGON: What do you expect, you always wait till the last moment.

VLADIMIR: [Musingly.] The last moment [Hemeditates.] Hope deferred maketh the something sick, who said that?

ESTRAGON: Why dont you help me?

VLADIMIR: Sometimes I feel it coming all the same. Then I go all queer. [Hetakesoffhishat,peersinsideit,feelsaboutinsideit,shakesit,putsinonagain.] How shall I say? Relieved and at the same time [Hesearchesfortheword.] appalled. [Withemphasis.] AP-PALLED . [Hetakesoffhishatagain,peersinsideit.] Funny. [Heknocksonthecrownasthoughtodislodgeaforeignbody,peersintoitagain,putsitonagain.] Nothing to be done. [ ESTRAGON withasupremeeffortsucceedsinpullingoffhisboot.Helooksinsideit,feelsaboutinsideit,turnsitupsidedown,shakesit,looksonthegroundtoseeifanythinghasfallenout,findsnothing,feelsinsideitagain,staringsightlesslybeforehim.] Well?

ESTRAGON: Nothing.

VLADIMIR: Show.

ESTRAGON: Theres nothing to show.

VLADIMIR: Try and put it on again.

ESTRAGON: [Examininghisfoot.] Ill air it for a bit.

VLADIMIR: Theres man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet. [Hetakesoffhishatagain,peersinsideit,feelsaboutinsideit,knocksonthecrown,blowsintoit,putsitonagain.] This is getting alarming. [Silence. VLADIMIR deepinthought, ESTRAGON pullingathistoes.] One of the thieves was saved. [Pause.] Its a reasonable percentage. [Pause.] Gogo.

ESTRAGON: What?

VLADIMIR: Suppose we repented.

ESTRAGON: Repented what?

VLADIMIR: Oh [Hereflects.] We wouldnt have to go into the details.

ESTRAGON: Our being born?
[ VLADIMIR breaksintoaheartylaughwhichheimmediatelystifles,hishandpressedtohispubis,hisfacecontorted.]

VLADIMIR: One darent even laugh any more.

ESTRAGON: Dreadful privation.

VLADIMIR: Merely smile. [Hesmilessuddenlyfromeartoear,keepssmiling,ceasesassuddenly.] Its not the same thing. Nothing to be done. [Pause.] Gogo.

ESTRAGON: [Irritably.] What is it?

VLADIMIR: Did you ever read the Bible?

ESTRAGON: The Bible [Hereflects.] I must have taken a look at it.

VLADIMIR: Do you remember the Gospels?

ESTRAGON: I remember the maps of the Holy Land. Coloured they were. Very pretty. The Dead Sea was pale blue. The very look of it made me thirsty. Thats where well go, I used to say, thats where well go for our honeymoon. Well swim. Well be happy.

VLADIMIR: You should have been a poet.

ESTRAGON: I was. [Gesturetowardshisrags.] Isnt that obvious.
[Silence.]

VLADIMIR: Where was I Hows your foot?

ESTRAGON: Swelling visibly.

VLADIMIR: Ah yes, the two thieves. Do you remember the story?

ESTRAGON: No.