Read Online Brecht Collected Plays: 1: Baal; Drums in the Night; In the Jungle of Cities; Life of Edward II of England; & 5 One Act Plays: "Baal", "Drums in the Night", "In the Jungle of Ci (World Classics) by Bertolt Brecht - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Bertolt Brecht
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get up! Walk in a straight line and then try and tell us it’s the shock, it’s because you’recompletely rotten, body and soul, you swine! – Get him on his legs! Liven him up, boys. Besmirching Teddy’s poor old name!
They put Baal on his feet
.
BAAL : Bastards! Don’t trample on poor Teddy!
He sits down and takes the arm of the corpse under his arm
. If you do anything to me, Teddy’ll fall flat on his face. Is that piety? Anything I do will be in self-defence. There are seven of you, seven, and sober. And I’m on my own and drunk. Is that right, is that honourable? Seven against one! Calm down! Teddy’s calmed down.
SOME
sad and indignant
: Nothing’s sacred to him. – God forgive his drunken soul! – He’s the blackest sinner on God’s earth.
BAAL : Sit down, I don’t like this preacher’s cant. There are some with brains and some without. It makes for a better division of labour. Now you’ve seen for yourselves. I work with my brains.
He smokes
. You’ve always been too irreverent, friends! And what effect would it have if you sank that good gin? Me, I make discoveries, let me say. I was telling Teddy some most important things.
He takes papers from Teddy’s jacket and looks at them
. But you had to run after that wretched gin. Sit down. Look at the sky growing dark between the trees. Is that nothing? There’s no religion in your blood!
A Hut
You can hear the rain. Baal. Ekart
.
BAAL : This is the winter sleep of white bodies in the black mud.
EKART : You still haven’t been to fetch the meat?
BAAL : You’re working on your mass, I suppose?
EKART : Why worry about my mass? Worry about your woman! Where have you driven her to this time, in the rain?
BAAL : She runs after us like a mad woman and hangs round my neck.
EKART : You’re sinking lower and lower.
BAAL : I’m too heavy.
EKART : You’re not reckoning to peg out, I suppose?
BAAL : I’ll fight it to the last ditch. I’ll live without a skin. I’ll retreat into my toes. I’ll fall like a bull. On the grass, where it’s softest. I’ll swallow death and know nothing.
EKART : You’ve got fatter while we’ve been lying here.
BAAL
putting his right hand under his left armpit
: My shirt has got bigger. The dirtier it gets the bigger it gets. There’s room for someone else, but no one fat. What are you lolling about for, you lazy bag of bones?
EKART : There’s a kind of sky in my head, very green and vast, where my thoughts drift like featherweight clouds in the wind. They’re completely undecided in their course. All that’s inside me.
BAAL : It’s delirium. You’re an alcoholic. You see, it gets you in the end.
EKART : When I’m delirious I can feel it by my face.
BAAL : Your face has room for the four winds. Concave!
He looks at him
. You haven’t a face. You’re nothing. You’re transparent.
EKART : I’m growing more and more mathematical.
BAAL : Nobody knows your history. Why don’t you ever talk about yourself?
EKART : I shan’t ever have one. Who’s that outside?
BAAL : You’ve got a good ear! There’s something in you that you hide. You’re a bad man, like me, a devil. But one day you’ll see rats. Then you’ll be a good man again.
Sophie at the door
.
EKART : Is that you, Sophie?
BAAL : What do you want this time?
SOPHIE : May I come in now, Baal?
A Plain. Sky
Evening. Baal, Ekart, Sophie
.
SOPHIE : My knees are giving way. Why are you running like a mad man?
BAAL : Because you’re hanging round my neck like a millstone.
EKART : How can you treat her like this? You made her pregnant.
SOPHIE : I wanted it, Ekart.
BAAL : She wanted it, and now she’s hanging round my neck.
EKART : You behave like an animal! Sit down, Sophie.
SOPHIE
sits down heavily
: Let him go.
EKART : If you throw her out I’ll stay with her.
BAAL : She won’t stay with you. But you’d desert me!
Because of her? That’s like you.
EKART : Twice you took my place in bed. You didn’t want my women.
They put Baal on his feet
.
BAAL : Bastards! Don’t trample on poor Teddy!
He sits down and takes the arm of the corpse under his arm
. If you do anything to me, Teddy’ll fall flat on his face. Is that piety? Anything I do will be in self-defence. There are seven of you, seven, and sober. And I’m on my own and drunk. Is that right, is that honourable? Seven against one! Calm down! Teddy’s calmed down.
SOME
sad and indignant
: Nothing’s sacred to him. – God forgive his drunken soul! – He’s the blackest sinner on God’s earth.
BAAL : Sit down, I don’t like this preacher’s cant. There are some with brains and some without. It makes for a better division of labour. Now you’ve seen for yourselves. I work with my brains.
He smokes
. You’ve always been too irreverent, friends! And what effect would it have if you sank that good gin? Me, I make discoveries, let me say. I was telling Teddy some most important things.
He takes papers from Teddy’s jacket and looks at them
. But you had to run after that wretched gin. Sit down. Look at the sky growing dark between the trees. Is that nothing? There’s no religion in your blood!
A Hut
You can hear the rain. Baal. Ekart
.
BAAL : This is the winter sleep of white bodies in the black mud.
EKART : You still haven’t been to fetch the meat?
BAAL : You’re working on your mass, I suppose?
EKART : Why worry about my mass? Worry about your woman! Where have you driven her to this time, in the rain?
BAAL : She runs after us like a mad woman and hangs round my neck.
EKART : You’re sinking lower and lower.
BAAL : I’m too heavy.
EKART : You’re not reckoning to peg out, I suppose?
BAAL : I’ll fight it to the last ditch. I’ll live without a skin. I’ll retreat into my toes. I’ll fall like a bull. On the grass, where it’s softest. I’ll swallow death and know nothing.
EKART : You’ve got fatter while we’ve been lying here.
BAAL
putting his right hand under his left armpit
: My shirt has got bigger. The dirtier it gets the bigger it gets. There’s room for someone else, but no one fat. What are you lolling about for, you lazy bag of bones?
EKART : There’s a kind of sky in my head, very green and vast, where my thoughts drift like featherweight clouds in the wind. They’re completely undecided in their course. All that’s inside me.
BAAL : It’s delirium. You’re an alcoholic. You see, it gets you in the end.
EKART : When I’m delirious I can feel it by my face.
BAAL : Your face has room for the four winds. Concave!
He looks at him
. You haven’t a face. You’re nothing. You’re transparent.
EKART : I’m growing more and more mathematical.
BAAL : Nobody knows your history. Why don’t you ever talk about yourself?
EKART : I shan’t ever have one. Who’s that outside?
BAAL : You’ve got a good ear! There’s something in you that you hide. You’re a bad man, like me, a devil. But one day you’ll see rats. Then you’ll be a good man again.
Sophie at the door
.
EKART : Is that you, Sophie?
BAAL : What do you want this time?
SOPHIE : May I come in now, Baal?
A Plain. Sky
Evening. Baal, Ekart, Sophie
.
SOPHIE : My knees are giving way. Why are you running like a mad man?
BAAL : Because you’re hanging round my neck like a millstone.
EKART : How can you treat her like this? You made her pregnant.
SOPHIE : I wanted it, Ekart.
BAAL : She wanted it, and now she’s hanging round my neck.
EKART : You behave like an animal! Sit down, Sophie.
SOPHIE
sits down heavily
: Let him go.
EKART : If you throw her out I’ll stay with her.
BAAL : She won’t stay with you. But you’d desert me!
Because of her? That’s like you.
EKART : Twice you took my place in bed. You didn’t want my women.
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