Wake: the silver dusk returning Up the beach of darkness brims, And the ship of sunrise burning Strands upon the eastern rims.

1 Alik – A

2 Mark – M

3 Nastya Pyatina – NPy

4 Nastya Pletnyova – NPl

5 Anna –An

6 Alyona – Al

7 Lena – L

8 Rita – R

9 Eugene –E

10 – Katya -K

Марк бежит с верха зала к зрителям с ярким галстуком в руке. Примеряет его к зрителям. Надевает на себя как удавку. Смеется. Вбегает на сцену, скрывается за занавесом.

На сцену выходит Алик. Говорит свою речь. Хлопушки. Марк затягивает Алика за кулисы. Вскрик Алика, листик падает. За занавесом слышится ругань Алика на каком-нибудь языке. Алик, ругаясь, обходит занавес, поднимает листик, отряхивает его, идет в зал, садится.

Занавес открывается.

0 сцена.

1 сцена. (Все, кроме Риты и Кати)

A –Silence!

NPl –You know what? We have been rehearsing for 68 times!

An –We are tired!

L –Do you understand, that…

All together:

NPy catch gesture.

Al –All night I have been creating my…

L –You can`t force us…

NPl –How can we work…

Al –This is not right…

An –We are circus actors, not…

M is standing nearby.

A –Silence!

Alik comes onto the stage.

A –It is not what we need! (Turns to L) Why aren`t you doing your best? What are you afraid of? Perfection? Don`t be afraid of it! You won’t achieve it anyway. (Turns to Al) What are you doing? Do you really think this is beautiful? (Turns to NPl) Who are you? A magician or what? Where is your magic?!

A Turns to the side scene.

A -Why do you always forget that it is your turn?! What’s wrong with you?!

Drags Eugene out.

E –I…I…I… I have lost my…

A –What?!

E –My… Razor!

Everyone is scared.

A –Excellent! Besides we still have problems with costumes, our show is not ready yet, we don`t have a tight-rope walker, and Anna will ruin our performance, as usual, you have lost your Razor!

Everyone is scared.

A –Do you realize that we won’t finish the rehearsals on time? This is our last show and something tells me that we will fail it! What`s the point in doing it, if you don`t want to?

E –But we want to do it!

A –Oh, really? And how would I guess if you didn’t tell me? NPy does her catch gesture.

M does his catch gesture.

A –You`ve got 40 minutes to settle the matter!

Goes away.

2 сцена. ( Все, кроме Алика, Риты и Кати)

E –I can`t stand it! Why is he been so rude to us?

An –He became so clamorous since Paulo had died.

NPl –Yes, Pablo always knew, how to cheer him up…

L –Not only him.

Al –It`s so hard to work without our best clown.

E –That’s why it’s our last performance. We cannot work without him anymore.

M –He wasn’t just a clown. He was my brother.

NPl –And our brother too. I remember, that he used to say, that we were a family. A circus family. And this meant that all we needed was the sky above our heads, a road under our feet, a spark in our eyes and passion in our hearts.

An –And now all this will be gone. After the last show we will pack our suitcases and go. Everyone his own way.

M –But I can` t live without the circus. I will be put in jail.

M достает плакат wanted.

NPy does her catch gesture.

An –Yes, why are they looking for you?

M –I escaped from a /// circus a year ago, since then I have been stalked by my master… But I don’t want to talk about it now. It’s a long story.

Al –Look, it`s our last performance and it is dedicated to Paulo. It should be a great ending of a great circus! We are bound to do our best!

E –I am afraid that an unhappy ending is awaiting us.

An –But the beginning was great!

NPl –The beginning was tremendous! I remember how it all started. We were all so different but we all had a desire to create magic and happiness. We all wanted to make people smile, to change the world.

M –Pablo wanted to make people smile, too.

E - Oh, I've nearly forgotten! I promised Yan Lin to visit her after the rehearsal!

Goes away.

An –I think, that we should just go for it and make our last performance. Show people places, where they’ve never been before, make them feel something they’ve never felt before. At any cost. For Paulo.

Al –Castigare ritendo mores – one corrects customs by laughing at them. Let’s correct them for the last time.

E comes onto the stage.

E –I found Razor!!!

Everybody runs away.

3 сцена (Лена)

4 сцена (Рита, Алена, Настя Пят) – без изменений, только Рита хочет спать

Alyona is standing on the table. P is hiding under the table. Rita is running aroud her and trying to make her dress look more beautiful. Alyona is looking upset.

R -. . . the length is perfect! It fits you very well! You look sooo gorgeous! Here we will add some flowers, behind we will sew on feathers. On one side there will be a big bright green spot, on the other – a pineapple!

A – Are you kidding me? Flowers? Feathers? Bananas?!

R –What do bananas have to do with it? Bananas won't match your beautiful dress! Pineapples are the perfect variant!

A is angry.

R – Ok, ok. If you don't like pineapples let it be... cucumbers!

A – Are you mad?! We're in the circus, not in an Opera House! Jokes aside! I have to jump, dance, turn somersaults. How do you imagine it?

P crawls from under of the table.

R –Speak of the devil!

P starts to rip off pieces of fabric.

R – How dare you?! (R and P start running around the table. R beats P with a big ruler. )

A – Hey-hey! I'm still here! And I've to be on stage in 10 min! I can't perform in such a dress!

R and P don't pay any attention to what A is saying.

R – Stop it! You're ruining my masterpiece. I spent sleepless nights sewing it!

A – Sleepless nights?! But I look like an over-roasted chicken.

P snatches a feather and starts waving it and shows a chicken.

R – Oh, my precious feathers! My precious feathers! Do you realize how hard it was to pluck them out of the peacock?

P rips of the last piece of fabric.

A – Stop it immediately!

Everybody stops.

A - My dress is aw... ohh!!!

P points at A

R – What have you done?! Now I'll have to make it all over it! All my work is down the drain!

R runs away crying.

A – Wow! It's awesome! I've never seen such an amazing costume! One problem less! Thank you so much!

P shows you're welcome.

Behind the stage E screams “Razor! ” P and A are scared and run away.

5 сцена. (Женя) - 1 изменение

Eugene comes onto the stage and screams ones again “Razor”, looking around. He tries to find his pet.

E – Oh, god! I've lost him again! Damn it! I always loose him and find, loose him and find. I've already forgotten how he looks like!

Takes out a big heart with the picture of his animal. Starts kissing it.

E – Oh, I have to feed him! Today I gave him only 5 kg of food. He's starving somewhere now.

Hugs his heart. (All this time E is searching for him)

E – Maybe my lovely Razor is sleeping on the arena? It's his favorite place. I'll look for him there.

Goes away. Lights out.

6 сцена (Алена, Аня, Марк)

Зеркало.

7 сцена (Женя, Аня, Алена, Марк, Алик, Настя Пл)

Al –Oh, my leg! I feel so tired, and my muscles hurt so much.

An –Me too. I’m exhausted. Last night I couldn’t fall asleep, because I was so nervous about the show. We need to make it colorful, bright, full of magic and laughter.

Npl runs onto the stage with a newspaper.

-AAA!!!

Прячется за спину марка

M –What’s up?

Npl – I heard a rustle in my dressing room, and I thought that it might be… Razor!!!

Al – It must be so scary! But don’t be afraid. Stephan must have found him.

Eu –Did you Razor?

Npl faints. Mark catches her.

M –Hey! Come to yourself!

Al –Again you came at the wrong time! Go and fetch a glass of water!

Eu – вечно я крайний

Уходит

An –Why can’t he make a descent cage for his bloodthirsty Razor?

Приходит Женя, приносит воду, Настя пьет, просыпается.

Eu –Are you OK?

Npl –Do I look like I am OK?

Eu –Not really!

Npl –How dare you? Do you mean I am ugly?

Eu –No, no you are very beautiful! Even Mateo wanted to marry you!

Npl –Who’s Mateo?

An –Our previous director. He got married to another woman and then he choked with a toothpick, and died…

Eu –Alfred Nobel also ended tragically…

Npl –Did he also choke with a toothpick?

Eu –Worse! He got married.

Npl –Oh, Shut up! Your silly jokes again! I don’t want to listen to them! Better tell me where my newspaper is!

Eu –What newspaper?

Npl –Oh, I was just reading a stupid article about a new book –picks up the newspaper - by some Bertrand Rus... Russel. Or Russel. Can you imagine, he thinks, that knowledge could be divided on “individual” and “scientific”! He also thinks, that philosophy could become a science with the help of mathematics. What a foolish donkey!

You need to be totally brainless to say such nonsense! I think he won’t be very successful. I bet nobody will remember him in a couple of years.

An -Where did you get this newspaper? And I found a lot of books in your room.

N -Actually, I was born in a rich family. Education was the most important for my parents. I took math lessons, learned to play a violin, studied Spanish, French, Italian and even Russian. I spent my childhood in the libraries learning Faust and the Divine Comedy by heart.

M -But how did you end up in the circus then?

N -I remember it very clearly. It's like a flashbulb. I was going home from the ballet classes, when I saw a circus performing in the street. The costumes were so bright, and the smiles were so sincere, their movements so elegant... They were full of joy, and they wanted to share this joy with every living creature. That moment I realized, that I also want to be one of them. My dream has come true.

Al –So what is the problem?

N – Well, I sometimes think: Did I make the right choice? If I had continued my education and completed my degree, if I hadn't run away with the circus, I would maybe be able to develop and test scientific theories. And now, I'm sitting here and reading about someone, who is living my dream. It’s so unfair! I even don't have talent to perform on stage. I can't find the balance; I can't decide what to choose: science or circus? This means that I cannot move one way or another. When a person decides that he won't do something, he feels relieved. And I can't do it.

Eu–You see, the thing is, that the reasons for coming to the circus, as doing science, are the same: I think, that you desperately want to make the world better. You want to make people smile, to change the world. You want to surround yourself with magic. Science, as art, is also magic.

Al –Science, as art, doesn’t have an end. As Robert Louis Stevenson said, It’s better to continue moving with hope, than to arrive at the destination.

N –But I don’t know which way to move. I don’t think I have talent to perform on stage.

Al –Don’t talk rubbish! If you didn’t have talent, you wouldn’t be here.

M –She’s right. If you don’t have a feverish glitter in your eyes, if instead of excitement you choose confidence, if instead of hatred and passion you choose indifference, if instead of never-ending holidays you choose sound sleep, if instead of songs and music you choose silence, then you aren’t a circus actor. And you have this sparkle. You were born to become the person who you are now.

An –The source of all your problems – any problems – is in your head. Where do you think is their solution?

N –But what should I choose?

Eu – Look, when you contribute to the development of science, you, of course, benefit to society, but you can’t see smiles on people’s faces. In the circus, it’s different during the performance; you actually feel the happiness that comes from the people. You give them hope for a better life and you see that they believe you.

Al – You have to choose, weather you can live without feeling the joy of creating something new, or you can do without it.

Npl – Oh, no. To create, I need to be surrounded by people, whom I can see, whose emotions I can feel, not by lifeless flasks, cones and test-tubes. Now, I have made the decision: I choose the circus!

An –I knew that you will choose the circus! There was no doubt about it.

N –You know, I didn’t think that I would ever make this decision. But now I can move forward.

M –We cannot move forward without Paulo. I feel that downfall under my feet…

Eu –But when life turns upside down, the downfall under our feet becomes the sky.

M –A cloudy sky! And a thunderstorm is beginning…

Al -you know, - пробует шевельнуться –Ouch!!! My leg!

Alik cots.

An –And here is the thunderstorm!

A –Silence! You don’t seem to understand the seriousness of the situation! The performance starts in 20 minutes, and you are lazing you time away! You should work, you should give your sole to their hearts – points to the audience.

Eu –But…

A –Silence!!! Go away, all of you! And rehearse!

Everyone goes away, Al can’t stand up. M helps her, they go slowly.

A –The audience doesn’t care about your bruises, splinters, and broken bones, so move faster!

Everybody is gone. A ots. Takes off his hat. Looks around.

A- What am I doing here?! In this swamp.

Сцена 8. (Алик, Лена)

L cots.

A –Oh, god, you’ve come. Why can’t you just leave me alone! For once in my life?

L –It’s you who are stalking me.

A –How dare you!

L – I dare even more: I dare to say, that you’ve changed.

A–When Paulo died, I thought didn’t even that it would become such a tragedy. I often think about him and about all the happy moments we had in the past, and will never have in the future. We can’t work without him.

L- And we can’t live without working.

A –Do you think I can? Do you really think, that I hate the circus?

L –You always say it’s a swamp…

A –And a swamp it is! Once in, never out.

L –So what’s the problem?

A –I used to think that what I did would make a difference, you know, change the world. That nothing would ever be the same again. But it’s no good. The world is too old and there is nothing new. It’s all been said… But I have some things that I would like to do before it’s too late. I want to travel to India, to see the moon shine on the other side of the world.

L –The moon’s the same. It won’t become different.

A –You will. I cannot sit here and see the circus, the people, who were once so passionate, fading. I love the work I’m doing, but passion burns a man down. On the other hand, I can’t stop working in sweat, and finishing in style. It’s hard, but it’s even harder without Paulo.

A –Why are you keeping silent? Say something!

L –I wouldn’t say that you are the kindest person I’ve ever met, because it is not true. I wouldn’t say, that you are the best person I’ve ever met, because it’s also a lie. But one thing I know for sure: you need the circus because you are a part of it, and you need to develop. Otherwise… you don’t want to be a cobbler (shoemaker) again, do you?

A –Silence!

Lgo.

Сцена 9 (Настя Пятина)

Сцена 10 (Рита, Настя)

R – Oh, here you are! Finally I found you! I have been searching for you everywhere!

P shakes her shoulders.

R -Can you even start to understand how...

P tries to go away.

R -Where do you think you are going? This time you won't escape.

P is upset.

R -Ok, for a millionth time: What exactly do you want your costume to look like?

P tries to explain.

R -You want a swimming costume?

P disagrees. Tries to show what she wants again.

R -Oh rubber boots, no, rubber boots are not in trend now.

P tries to show again.

R -A midevel helmet!

P tries again.

R -Can you say it in words?! Why do you always keep silent? Aren't you fed up with it? We are!

P tries to show something else.

R -A!!!!!!!!!!! A wedding dress!!!

P disagrees. Tries to show something again.

R (thinks) – Aaa! I know! You need a....

After a little pause, she goes to the side scene and takes out a tutu. Comes back.

R -A tutu!

P is very angry. She puts off her gloves and throws them on the floor.

P -(SAIS) something in Italian. Oh, no. Are you a pumpkin-head? I have been trying to explain what I want since the moment we met! How can a person be so stupid!? Rubber boots? Helmets? A tutu!?!? Seriously? Do you think, before you speak?

R is amazed. -You speak?!

P -Of course I do!

R -But I never heard you speaking.

P -Exactly! And it's all your fault, you, stupido! I haven't spoken for 15 years, all this time I was creating my character days and nights! And now you have forced me to speak! All in vain. I can't be a mime anymore.

R –Then, then. Everything will be fine. Don't worry. There should be balance between being silent and being talkative.

P -Everything won't be fine. I am a bad mime.

R -No, you are a great mime with a beautiful voice.

P -Oh, thanks. You know, I finished the Italian Academy of the art of public speaking. I still remember:

The Guide and I into that hidden road

Now entered, to return to the bright world;

Npl –And without care of having any rest
We mounted up, he first and I the second,

P –Till I beheld through a round aperture

Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear;

Npl –Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.

Сцена 11 (Все)

Сцена 12 (Все, Женя)

Все со свечками стоят сзади, у Npy 2 свечки, одну она дает Eu

Eu -Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

E looks at the side-scene and sees Razor.

E – Razor, Razor....

E crawls away.

A –All right, enough now!

A –You! – turns to Mark – are responsible for her. The performance starts in 10 minutes!

Lights don’t go out.

Сцена 13 (Kate, Mark)

Сцена 14 (Марк, Лена, Алена, Аня, Насти, Женя)

0 сцена -2

Сцена 15 ( Марк, Лена, Алена, Аня, Насти, Женя, Катя)

Сцена 16 (Марк)

Марк падает ОЧЕНЬ СМЕШНО. Зрители смеются.

М -???

Сцена 17 (Настя Пят)

" Has it never occurred to you that that miserable clown may have a soul--a living, struggling, human soul, tied down into that crooked hulk of a body and forced to slave for it? You that are so tender-hearted to everything--you that pity the body in its fool's dress and bells--have you never thought of the wretched soul
that has not even motley to cover its horrible nakedness? Think of it shivering with cold, stilled with shame and misery, before all those people--feeling their jeers that cut like a whip--their laughter, that burns like red-hot iron on the bare flesh! Think of it looking round--so helpless before them all--for the mountains that
will not fall on it--for the rocks that have not the heart to cover it--envying the rats that can creep into some hole in the earth and hide; and remember that a soul is dumb--it has no voice to cry out--it must endure, and endure, and endure. Oh! I'm talking nonsense! Why on earth don't you laugh? You have no sense of humour! "

Lights out.

Сцена 18 (Все)

Каморка Риты. Рита спит.

Reveille by A. E Houseman

Wake: the silver dusk returning Up the beach of darkness brims, And the ship of sunrise burning Strands upon the eastern rims.