Ask your friends.
MAX What friends?
MILAN Last nightâthe friends you skipped the dinner for. (
reproachful
) That was ungrateful, Max. The Philosophy Faculty was under pressure to withdraw your invitation to the conference.
MAX Pressure from you?
MILAN Tsk, tsk, Max. You donât know who your friends are.
He uncrumples the leaflet.
MILAN (
cont.
) âRelease the prisoners of Charter 77.â (
in jest
) I hope you didnât spend your evening blowing up balloons.
He takes his Party pin from his lapel.
MILAN (
cont.
) Party pin. Balloon.
He pops the balloon.
MILAN (
cont.
) Symbolism!
He laughs and replaces the pin.
MAX When I left the Party, I didnât go public, you know.
MILAN Max, Max â¦
MAX There were people in â56 who burned their Party cards in Trafalgar Square. I only told my family. It turned out my son-in-law was sleeping with a woman on his paper, so ⦠Whooh! Iâm glad Eleanor missed it. You canât imagine what itâs like to be this weekâs carcass for the British press. Esme and her husband are trying to patch things up for the sake of the child, but I entertain some hope that nothing will come of that.
MILAN I am so sorry about your wife.
MAX Thank you.
MILAN So ⦠what did you want?
MAX You remember Jan. Anyone who gives him a job gets a visit next day and he loses the job. Iâm told heâs sleeping on friendsâ floors, living as a beggar. I thought Iâd try to do him a good turn.
MILAN Max, this is beneath you. Ask me for something worthwhile. Your friend is so unimportant, Iâd be ashamed to notice his existence.
MAX I have nothing to offer.
MILAN Well ⦠let me know when you have.
MAX Do you know you turned Jan into a Chartist?
MILAN No, but hum it to me and Iâll pick it up ⦠(
contemptuously
) Chartist! Normal people donât like Chartists, they like a quiet life, nice flat, a car, a bigger TV ⦠All this âhuman rightsâ is foreigners thinking theyâre better than us. Well, theyâre not better than us.
MAX (
more in anger than in sorrow
) But it was you who called the Charter up from the deep! Is this what I was keeping the faith for? For some stupid policemen to make a pigâs arse out of a pigâs ear? Czechoslovakia was forgotten. You had it all to yourselves. And simply out of annoyance, for the sake of venting your spite on a few drop-outs who were of no danger to youâ
no danger at all
âyou made a festival for the Western press to shit all over the idea that a better way is still possible and looksâdespite everythingâlooks east to the source.
MILAN Max. You know something? You fascinate me.
Max and Milan split and leave.
Jan finishes reading.
FERDINAND Weâve got over two hundred signatures.
JAN So. What are you going to do with it?
FERDINAND Post it to Husák.
JAN Post it.
FERDINAND With copies to the foreign press.
JAN Though itâs not a dissident thing. Youâre an imbecile.
FERDINAND Okay.
JAN Everythingâs dissident except shutting up and eating shit. I wish to Christ Iâd learned to play the guitar, but itâs too late now. Have you got a pen?
Ferdinand gives him a pen. Jan signs, gives the Charter and the pen back to Ferdinand. He tries the turntable. He puts the Beach Boys on it, choosing the track. Ferdinand watches him uncomfortably.
FERDINAND Iâll do tapes for you. I know itâs not the same. Iâm really sorry, Jan.
JAN Hey, Ferdo, itâs only Rock ânâ Roll.
The Beach Boys start singing âWouldnât It Be Niceâ. Jan starts picking up broken records, dumping them in a bin.
Fade to black.
End of Act One.
ACT TWO
Blackout and âI Still Havenât Found What Iâm Looking Forâ by U2.
Smash cut to Cambridge. Summer 1987. Garden and interior as before. Night, the interior in near-darkness.
Esme is in the garden, little more than a shadow and a glowing
MAX What friends?
MILAN Last nightâthe friends you skipped the dinner for. (
reproachful
) That was ungrateful, Max. The Philosophy Faculty was under pressure to withdraw your invitation to the conference.
MAX Pressure from you?
MILAN Tsk, tsk, Max. You donât know who your friends are.
He uncrumples the leaflet.
MILAN (
cont.
) âRelease the prisoners of Charter 77.â (
in jest
) I hope you didnât spend your evening blowing up balloons.
He takes his Party pin from his lapel.
MILAN (
cont.
) Party pin. Balloon.
He pops the balloon.
MILAN (
cont.
) Symbolism!
He laughs and replaces the pin.
MAX When I left the Party, I didnât go public, you know.
MILAN Max, Max â¦
MAX There were people in â56 who burned their Party cards in Trafalgar Square. I only told my family. It turned out my son-in-law was sleeping with a woman on his paper, so ⦠Whooh! Iâm glad Eleanor missed it. You canât imagine what itâs like to be this weekâs carcass for the British press. Esme and her husband are trying to patch things up for the sake of the child, but I entertain some hope that nothing will come of that.
MILAN I am so sorry about your wife.
MAX Thank you.
MILAN So ⦠what did you want?
MAX You remember Jan. Anyone who gives him a job gets a visit next day and he loses the job. Iâm told heâs sleeping on friendsâ floors, living as a beggar. I thought Iâd try to do him a good turn.
MILAN Max, this is beneath you. Ask me for something worthwhile. Your friend is so unimportant, Iâd be ashamed to notice his existence.
MAX I have nothing to offer.
MILAN Well ⦠let me know when you have.
MAX Do you know you turned Jan into a Chartist?
MILAN No, but hum it to me and Iâll pick it up ⦠(
contemptuously
) Chartist! Normal people donât like Chartists, they like a quiet life, nice flat, a car, a bigger TV ⦠All this âhuman rightsâ is foreigners thinking theyâre better than us. Well, theyâre not better than us.
MAX (
more in anger than in sorrow
) But it was you who called the Charter up from the deep! Is this what I was keeping the faith for? For some stupid policemen to make a pigâs arse out of a pigâs ear? Czechoslovakia was forgotten. You had it all to yourselves. And simply out of annoyance, for the sake of venting your spite on a few drop-outs who were of no danger to youâ
no danger at all
âyou made a festival for the Western press to shit all over the idea that a better way is still possible and looksâdespite everythingâlooks east to the source.
MILAN Max. You know something? You fascinate me.
Max and Milan split and leave.
Jan finishes reading.
FERDINAND Weâve got over two hundred signatures.
JAN So. What are you going to do with it?
FERDINAND Post it to Husák.
JAN Post it.
FERDINAND With copies to the foreign press.
JAN Though itâs not a dissident thing. Youâre an imbecile.
FERDINAND Okay.
JAN Everythingâs dissident except shutting up and eating shit. I wish to Christ Iâd learned to play the guitar, but itâs too late now. Have you got a pen?
Ferdinand gives him a pen. Jan signs, gives the Charter and the pen back to Ferdinand. He tries the turntable. He puts the Beach Boys on it, choosing the track. Ferdinand watches him uncomfortably.
FERDINAND Iâll do tapes for you. I know itâs not the same. Iâm really sorry, Jan.
JAN Hey, Ferdo, itâs only Rock ânâ Roll.
The Beach Boys start singing âWouldnât It Be Niceâ. Jan starts picking up broken records, dumping them in a bin.
Fade to black.
End of Act One.
ACT TWO
Blackout and âI Still Havenât Found What Iâm Looking Forâ by U2.
Smash cut to Cambridge. Summer 1987. Garden and interior as before. Night, the interior in near-darkness.
Esme is in the garden, little more than a shadow and a glowing
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