Bertolt Brecht: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder 1

Pause.

  GIRL: He’ll find us.

  LAD: He will if you don’t keep quiet.

  Noise of the door being broken open.

  GIRL: He’s busting open the door.

  LAD: And he can hear us, damn it.

  GIRL: He’s looking for us. Now he’s going downstairs. What will he think?

  LAD: He’s going back to bed.

  GIRL: He’s taken away the ladder. He’s not going to bed.

  LAD: I suppose he’s looking for you.

  GIRL: What did I come for?

  LAD: You could perfectly well have stayed.

  GIRL: Then there wouldn’t have been any trouble.

  LAD: This way it’s touch and go.

  GIRL: Shall I go down?

  LAD: It’s dull on one’s own.

  GIRL: But suppose he asks where I’ve been?

  LAD: On the toilet.

  GIRL: Whatever did I let you in for?

  LAD: Oh, drop it. Things went wrong, that’s all. It was good earlier.

  GIRL: He’ll chuck me out.

  LAD: He won’t do that. Think what the neighbours would say. But I’ll never hear the end of it.

  GIRL: Always thinking of yourself.

  LAD: What did you have to hang your washing up in the yard for?

  GIRL: Do you mean you didn’t look through the crack?

  LAD: How about going down now?

  GIRL: Are you trying to get rid of me? I’m so frightened.

  LAD: Ah. And up here you can look at the stars. Quiet!

  8

  The father arrives muttering. Stands left front and looks up.

  FATHER: Anna! If I wake the missus up the whole village will hear about it. She can’t have gone. He wouldn’t have climbed in otherwise, sod it. And I was on the stairs. Mutters his way off right.

  LAD: Quick now.

  GIRL: My body’s not so soft now, is it?

  LAD: You’d better think about how to get down. Or he’ll have the hide off you.

  GIRL: I wish I hadn’t come up here.

  LAD: Just what I’m feeling.

  Girl sets out to crawl to the attic window.

  LAD: Whoa, somebody coming. Keep quiet or I’ll bash your teeth in.

  GIRL: The vicar!

  9

  The parson and the night watchman.

  PARSON: Who did you see today?

  WATCHMAN: Nobody so far. You can’t look inside the houses.

  PARSON: True, true. That is why they are such hotbeds of immorality.

  WATCHMAN: Ah. More babies made there than any other place.

  PARSON: It is a beautiful night. I’ve been for a last stroll. It is much pleasanter out of doors. Inside it is stuffy.

  WATCHMAN: I thought we were going to have thunder at first. But it’s turned out beautiful.

  PARSON: The wind has driven the clouds away. And it’s light.

  WATCHMAN: It’s getting lighter pretty well every minute.

  That’s the stars.

  PARSON: There’s Cassiopeia. Like a big W. See her?

  WATCHMAN: Ah. It’s marvellous.

  PARSON: What are you looking that way for? It’s over there.

  WATCHMAN: Your Reverence.

  PARSON: Yes; what?

  WATCHMAN: Somebody’s sitting up there.

  PARSON: Where?

  WATCHMAN: On Fisher’s roof.

  PARSON: Indeed yes. Two of them.

  WATCHMAN: Let’s get closer.

  They do so.

  PARSON: Of diverse sex. A scandal.

  WATCHMAN: Well I never!

  PARSON: They’ve started doing it on the roofs now.

  WATCHMAN: Maybe it’s too stuffy for them downstairs.

  PARSON: That’s Anna.

  WATCHMAN: Or they might want to look at Cassiopeia too.

  PARSON: Don’t joke about it. It’s a terrible thing. Hullo, who’s that sitting up there?

  Silence.

  WATCHMAN: They think they can’t be seen if they don’t say anything. And perhaps they can’t think of anything to say.

  PARSON: But it is Anna. Can’t you hear me, you there up on the roof?

  SCHOOLMASTER’S VOICE: What’s happening?

  PARSON: Do come here. Something absolutely disgraceful.

  SCHOOLMASTER enters with the mayor: What’s the trouble?

  How about a hand of whist?

  PARSON: Look: up on the roof.

  SCHOOLMASTER: Holy smoke! That’s a fine view they’ve got.

  MAYOR: Well, what a business. What are they doing up there?

  WATCHMAN: Been waiting for us, I expect. They’re deaf.

  PARSON: Go and wake up Mr Fisher.

  SCHOOLMASTER: Tell him there’s something worth seeing.

  MAYOR: Our new weathercock.

  WATCHMAN: Stork’s nest, you mean. Knocks.

  FARMERS entering: Good evening, your Reverence. Ho, on old Fisher’s roof! That beats the band. They can’t hear a thing. All that way up!

  Laughter.

  FATHER comes out: What is it? A fire?

  Farmers laugh uproariously.

  SCHOOLMASTER: No. No fire.

  FATHER: What’s it about then?

  Laughter.

  MAYOR: Nothing. We’re just having a good time.

  FATHER: What the hell! Tell me.

  Laughter.

  PARSON: The way you run your house is an abomination to the Lord.

  FATHER: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

  Laughter.

  WATCHMAN: The devil has come for your daughter.

  FATHER: Well, where the devil is she?

  WATCHMAN: He’s settled down with her on your roof!

  Gigantic laughter.

  Lux in Tenebris

  Translators: EVA GEISEL and ERNEST BORNEMAN

  Characters

  Paduk • Frau Hogge • The reporter • The chaplain • The assistant • People • Frau Hogge’s girls

  Brothel alley. To the right and at the back brothels, their red glass doors open, red lanterns above them. The alley leads to the back and turns sharply left. Left front, a large canvas tent, its entrance closed by a flap. Right of the entrance, a table and a chair. A picket fence surrounds the tent. On the top of the tent a large sign, ‘Let there be Light! Mass education!’ From the top of the tent a floodlight pours chalky white light over the alley.

  1

  Night. At the table outside, Paduk, a red-haired man, a cash box before him. People are buying tickets.

  PADUK: Soft chancre one mark! Clap one sixty! Syphilis two fifty! Don’t push!

  A MAN: Is there a lecture on now?

  PADUK: In three minutes.

  A WOMAN: Is it made of wax?

  PADUK: Here, forty pfennigs change. You don’t want syphilis?

  THE WOMAN: Is it wax or …

  PADUK: Wax and things in alcohol.

  THE WOMAN: All right, then syphilis too.

  PADUK: That’ll be two marks fifty.

  A MAN: The clap.

  PADUK: There you are! Correct.

  A WOMAN: Syphilis. No, only syphilis. That’s the most gruesome of the lot, isn’t it?

  PADUK: You can’t have syphilis by itself. The lecture starts with clap. The clap it is, then.

  A WOMAN among those queuing up: My sister couldn’t sleep a wink all night, she was that excited.

  ANOTHER WOMAN: Why not come here for a change, I said to myself. Normally I go to the cinema Thursdays.

  FIRST WOMAN: That alley alone’s worth my money.

  PADUK: Move along, please! Keep your money ready! Clap one mark. Soft chancre one sixty. Syphilis two fifty.

  MAN: Clap.

  PADUK: One mark. That’s only fifty pfennigs.

  MAN: That’s all I intend to pay.

  PADUK: Then you can’t get in. Next one!

  MAN: Let’s see about that. D’you mean I must catch these hideous diseases just because I haven’t got more than fifty pfennigs on me?

  PADUK addressing the man behind:
Syphilis two marks fifty. Right.

  MAN: I won’t get a ticket then?

  PADUK: No.

  MAN: And what about my health? My wife! The kids!

  PADUK: What about me? My equipment? Expenses? Taxes?

  The whole lecture? Run along, or I’ll call the police!

  The man leaves, cursing, right.

  WOMAN: He’s in the mood, that one.

  SECOND WOMAN: Wonder where he’ll go now?

  THIRD WOMAN: He looked as if he was going to pay him back!

  FIRST WOMAN: Well I never! He’s going that way!

  MAN disappears right into the brothel: Bloody swine!

  PADUK: On fifty pfennigs! That’s a laugh! The clap one mark. Ladies and gentlemen, lecture’s starting right now. If you can’t get in now, come back in half an hour. We’re open all night. He gets up, pulls the tent flap shut. Some people are left standing left. They are joined by fresh arrivals. From inside the tent a monotonous, unintelligible voice.

  2

  THE REPORTER to Paduk: My name is Schmidt. I represent the Evening Chronicle. Have you got a moment?

  PADUK: The gentleman is from the Press? Certainly.

  REPORTER: Quite a show you’re having here.

  PADUK: Sold out!

  REPORTER: That must be gratifying! Very gratifying!

  PADUK: You’re right.

  REPORTER: In view of the good cause, I mean.

  PADUK: That’s what I meant.

  REPORTER: Tell me, what is it you’re actually showing?

  PADUK: In my hestablishment you can view the dread harvest of venereal disease. A warning against that whoredom which undermines our society. A fiery call to the victims to have themselves treated before the poison destroys body and mind.

  REPORTER: Are you drumming up trade for any particular physician?

  PADUK: What do you mean by that? Sir, I’m doing this out of pure concern for my fellow-beings! Think of those thousands of sufferers!

  The reporter makes notes.

  PADUK: Thousands of victims, led astray in a moment of weakness, driven by the demon alcohol into the arms of diseased harlots.

  REPORTER: I see you’re an idealist. What made you decide to devote your life to the service of your fellows?

  PADUK: For years I have observed the wanton ways of our cities. How they destroy the soul and wear away the body. How drink and alcohol only prepare the way for prostitution and crime.

  REPORTER: And crime. You speak excellent prose, did you know that? As if you had worked for years in a newspaper office. Did you have the advantage of a higher education?

  PADUK: Only elementary school, I’m afraid. My parents were too poor to make a good breadwinner of me.

  REPORTER: Make a good breadwinner of me. Beautiful. May I ask you a few questions about your life and career? In view of the public interest your enterprise has aroused.

  PADUK: My life is an open book. I am a man who likes things tidy. A self-made man. My father was a small shopkeeper ruined by drink. My mother was always ailing. My early years were marked by poverty, deprivation, and humiliation.

  REPORTER: So you acquired your profound understanding of social injustice quite young?

  PADUK: Precisely.

  REPORTER: And realized that prostitution lay at the root of it all?

  PADUK: That’s right!

  REPORTER: And accordingly selected this alley for your mission?

  PADUK: Of course. The enemy has to be fought on the spot. The frequenters of these dens of vice must be confronted right here with the consequences of their iniquity. I shall not rest until the last of these unfortunates turns his back on those breeding places of misery.

  REPORTER: It’s a pleasure to listen to you. Are you open only at night?

  PADUK: Yes, sir. For just that reason.

  REPORTER: But it means sacrificing your nights?

  PADUK: I’m used to that.

  REPORTER: May I ask what has led you to choose such a highly ingenious form of attack upon this social evil? It strikes me that only fanatical hatred could hit upon a scheme of such ingenuity.

  PADUK: What do you mean?

  REPORTER: Was it something you’d read somewhere; did you have a model and if so, what? Or was it a personal experience, some kind of revelation?

  PADUK: Let’s say it was a revelation.

  REPORTER: Like what?

  PADUK: I saw people deprived of their money so that they could be deprived of their health as well. How much better, I thought, if in exchange for that money they at least got a chance to keep their health.

  REPORTER: So it was primarily for financial reasons …

  PADUK taken aback: Good God, no. What gave you that idea?

  It was for purely moral reasons. I thought ignorance of danger drives these souls to their destruction. One must show them what these dens of vice do to them. Then the stews will go bankrupt, and the customers be saved.

  REPORTER: But you charge admission. For educational reasons?

  PADUK: Yes. What people don’t have to pay for they don’t appreciate. I charge them two marks fifty for syphilis. Over there they have to pay at least five marks, wine not included.

  REPORTER titters: But at least they get the real thing.

  PADUK: This is no laughing matter, sir.

  REPORTER: I’m sorry. And what has been the effect of your lectures?

  PADUK: Sold out every night.

  REPORTER: I mean on your audience.

  PADUK: The best that could be imagined. Fainting and vomiting.

  REPORTER: That’s splendid.

  PADUK: And what’s more: those brothels over there are empty now. To let.

  REPORTER: How do you know?

  PADUK: Under my floodlight here no visitor remains unnoticed. Do you notice any now? And you can tell by the piano if there’s anyone inside to be led astray.

  REPORTER: Excellent way to check on your success! Positively ingenious. It can’t have been easy to organize all this.

  PADUK: It’s always hard to break new ground. The municipal authorities were against it, naturally. Particularly because of the late hour.

  REPORTER: But in the end they put the site at your disposal?

  PADUK: They did.

  REPORTER: And the whole thing was financed by anonymous private benefactors?

  PADUK: It was. But the lecture’s just finished now.

  REPORTER: I have enough for my editor. Thank you very much. It will all appear in the newspapers. I love the newspapers!

  PADUK: A pleasure. Would you like to attend the next lecture?

  REPORTER: No, thanks. I don’t care for that sort of thing.

  PADUK: But perhaps you’ll wait a few moments before the next performance starts? I’m giving a brief address.

  REPORTER: Thank you very much. That I’ll do. You’re such a good speaker.

  3

  People come out and disperse.

  PEOPLE: I feel quite sick. – I’ve thrown up. Thank God they’ve provided buckets. – That feeling of disgust afterwards, it’s just like coming out of a brothel oneself.

  A MAN waiting to go in: Is it worth it?

  A MAN WHO HAS JUST COME OUT: Absolutely. Specially the syphilis section. Some beautiful things there.

  A CHAPLAIN to Paduk: Allow me. My name’s Benkler. Chaplain. President of the Christian Catholic Young Workers’ Association. We were thinking of visiting your exhibition.

  PADUK: It’s open to everyone.

  CHAPLAIN with Young Workers lining up behind him: May I ask if there are any reductions?

  PADUK: No. Not as a rule. But you’re from the official Young Workers’ Association?

  CHAPLAIN: We are.

  PADUK: Catholic?

  CHAPLAIN: Christian Catholic.

  PADUK: Then we’ll make an exception. How many gentlemen are there?

  CHAPLAIN: Unfortunately only half of them. Seventy-three.

  PADUK: Then you can book the whole lecture. That will be one hundred marks the lo
t.

  CHAPLAIN: And would that cover all sections?

  PADUK: Yes. Gonorrhoea, chancre, and syphilis.

  CHAPLAIN: Here you are. One hundred marks.

  PADUK: But mind you, no singing.

  CHAPLAIN: Of course not.

  PADUK waggish: Can’t disturb people’s sleep.

  CHAPLAIN: Sleep? Nobody’s living here.

  PADUK: How about there, across the street? They sleep all night now I’m here.

  CHAPLAIN: Oh yes, I see, that’s splendid. No, we won’t sing.

  PADUK: Please recommend me to your friends. Leads the Young Workers’ Association into the tent. Re-emerges. Ladies and gentlemen, kindly be patient for another quarter of an hour. I can assure you it won’t take longer this time. To the reporter: Perhaps you’ll look in tomorrow night?

  REPORTER: I will. Thank you. Exit.

  PADUK alone: How quiet it is now. After midnight there’ll be no customers. It’s hell having to stay up after that. But it’s the light … Looks up. The light is beautiful. Goes to the picket fence. Silence. Bankruptcy. A dry river bed. The water’s gone. How quiet they are! I wonder when they will be able to get that piano going again.

  4

  Frau Hogge appears on the right, in the red doorway.

  FRAU HOGGE: Paduk!

  PADUK: Eh?

  FRAU HOGGE emerges into the alley: Have you a moment?

  PADUK: By all means. The lecture’s on.

  FRAU HOGGE: Business booming?

  PADUK: Sold out.

  FRAU HOGGE: Paduk …

  PADUK: Mister Paduk to you.

  FRAU HOGGE: Beg your pardon. Mr Paduk. I merely thought you’re an old friend.

  PADUK mumbles: Not to my knowledge.

  FRAU HOGGE: Old customer, then.

  PADUK glances around: What do you want now? Haven’t you got anything to do?

  FRAU HOGGE: We’re spring-cleaning. I want to apologize because of that misunderstanding the other day.

  PADUK aloof: Oh, don’t bother.

  FRAU HOGGE: Because of the way you were treated!

  PADUK: I’m overwhelmed.

  FRAU HOGGE: We were so busy, and you know how it is …

  PADUK: You’re still busy?

  FRAU HOGGE: Now you’re being sarcastic again!

  PADUK: I thought I was doing you a favour, reducing your business a little so that you can treat your customers better.

  FRAU HOGGE: But you didn’t have any cash on you.

  PADUK: That’s right. And that’s why I thought I’d better earn some.