Never

Main Characters:

Olga (Olya, Olechka, Olen'ka – possible name variations)– A forty-two year old tall and very attractive woman with the beautiful hair.

Artem – A fifty year old handsome man in a great physical shape. He is very energetic.

Their daughter —A sixteen year old tall and beautiful. She looks rather twenty than sixteen.

Oleg, Leonid (Lenya) and Lida – Olga's friends.

Scene description:

The drop-curtain is not up. A tall, elegant and good-looking man of the age of fifty or so enters the stage. He seems to be lost and depressed. He tries to keep up the appearance without much of a success, however.

ARTEM: I would like to tell you a story of an evening… Just one… That evening irreversibly destroyed my life. It's terribly simple and hopeless now… I am in my fifties and I don't know how to live the rest of my life. (He is leaving the stand).

ACT 1.

Scene description:

The curtain is up. The stage is a very modestly decorated and furnished room. Olga, Lida, Oleg and Leonid enter the room. Olga turns on the light.

OLGA: Come in guys… have a sit… tea anyone?

OLEG: It's okay Olya, no need to fuss… You are amazing Olen'ka! Simply amazing!

LIDA: (to Oleg) what are you talking about?

OLEG: (replies) about the theater. We are always busy. If Olga did not organize us I don't know when else we would make time for it.

LEONID: The play was good but not very optimistic.

OLEG: Hey, that's like in the real life. I mean, there are not too many things around making you optimistic and upbeat, am there?

LIDA: I really liked the actress that played the main role. In my opinion she is very talented and intelligent, not every actress can pull off such a fine role.

OLGA: I see there are no regrets about me pulling you out of your houses and away from Ns for a change.

OLEG, LEONID and LIDA: (in unison) what are you talking about! Of course not! It was treating! Thanks a lot!

OLGA: (talking to Lida) Lida, Tell me… As a woman didn't you feel disappointed to hear one more time that the greatest love comes at the greatest price?

LEONID: (hopelessly in-love with Olga) It is strange isn't it? Love is the strongest human seeling yet brings so much suffering. However, it seems that suffering is not enough and to top it off the reckoning day is to follow.

LIDA: Life is full of pessimism as is and the theater plays don't seem to let you forget about hat.

OLEG: Well… You know what they say that theater is just a reflection. If you don't like it than you might want to consider a sci-fi movie instead.

LIDA: Let's not to run to extremes.

OLGA: Guys, what do you think about doing it again next week?

LEONID: What's today's date?

LIDA: It is the twenty third.

LEONID: It means on the thirtieth. How about if we decide tomorrow?

OLGA: Well… tomorrow it is. (She turns to Lida and changes the subject). Artem turned fifty yesterday.

LIDA: For God's sake Olga… You are smart realistic and down-to-earth person. Where is that incomprehensible romanticism coming from? He (about Artem) is not in your life any longer and has not been a part of it for what… seventeen years or so?

OLGA: We do have a daughter. Remember?

LIDA: You do understand that she is only yours and has nothing to do with him.

OLGA: I understand. I've been understanding it for quite some time now. It does not change anything anyway. Kids are not born without men.

(Oleg and Leonid quietly hopping TV channels without paying much attention to the woman's talk.)

LIDA: (Decided not to continue the conversation. Asking the men.) Guys, let's go. We all have to work tomorrow.

LEONID: How about some tea?

LIDA: It's late.

OLGA: Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow guys. Think about the next week. (The phone rings. Olga picks it up.) Hello! (Silence). I can't hear you (Silence). I'm sorry I can't hear you. Can you call again please? (Hangs up the phone).

LIDA: Wrong number?

OLGA: I don't know… Perhaps.

(The phone rings again).

OLGA: (Picks up) Hello! (No answer again).

(Olga walks her friends to the door).

(Olga is coming back to the room. She picks up the phone and calls.)

Hello. Good evening… Are you still hanging out? Svetik, tell my beautiful daughter that I am home already. (Pause… Olga hears that the message is being delivered). Okay, don't stay too late guys, keep watching the movie I won't interrupt any more. Can you ask her to call me later, please?

(She takes out of the purse the theater's program and starts reading).

(The phone rings again. Olga picks it up again.)

Hello! (Silence). I don't hear you (Silence). ARTEMs voice in the receiver: Hello!

OLGA: (Surprised… reluctant to believe her guess) I'm listening…

ARTEM: Hello…(Silence)

ARTEM: Hello! (silence)

OLGA: (overwhelmed). Artem? (pause) You? (pause). Oh my God. Hello!

(Long silence)

ARTEM: Olya (silence)?

ARTEM: Olya?

OLGA: You?! (Long pause)… You?! (Pause)

Olya. It's me. Can you hear me?

OLGA: (pause) yes.

ARTEM: Are you busy? (Pause) Can we talk?

OLGA: I'm listening (hesitant).

ARTEM: (sensing hesitation) should I call tomorrow?

OLGA: (regrouped) its okay. We can talk. I am listening.

ARTEM: (apparently he is caught off guard) It's late. You are probably tired. Are you sure it's Lot to late?

OLGA: It is late but never mind. I can talk.

ARTEM: Do you really want to hear me?

OLGA: (pause) yes.

ARTEM: Do you want to see me too?

OLGA: Yes.

ARTEM: I haven't seen you for so long.

OLGA: Me too.

ARTEM: I want to imagine how you look now…

OLGA: Let me guess… You can't.

ARTEM: It's not that. It's not about the physical appearance. It's about the feelings.

OLGA: How is that?

ARTEM: It's simple. The feelings don't go away, they hide deep and mask but don't disappear.

OLGA: Interesting.

ARTEM: I just realized… it happens because they want to preserve themselves from our ational selves.

OLGA: I can "see" you well though.

(The screen is being pulled down in the background).

On the screen: The almost empty street of the city at night and the lonely payphone booth on the corner.

(The camera zooms on Artem a booth. He listens).

OLGA: You are on the quiet street. You can speak easy. There are almost no people. You can begin the dialog that sounds more like a monolog.

ARTEM: You are right. Payphones give you the illusion of independence but at the price of real loneliness. Olya… Invite me please, would you?

OLGA: (caught off guard) Now?

ARTEM: Yes

OLGA: Okay… (Pause) You are invited…

ARTEM: I am coming.

(Olya starts dashing around the room trying to organize things around and her own thoughts. She turns on the TV and unlocks the entrance door.)

(She hears the doorbell).

OLGA: (She turns to the door and speaks loud) Come in its open.

(Artem enters the stage with the bouquet of flowers and a cake. He beams with confidence. He is sure that he is a welcome guest).

ARTEM: Well… Hi…

OLGA: Hi again… Have a sit (subtle irony in her voice). Long times don’t see… and… Here you are.

(Artem comes to the table and opens up the box with the cake.)

ARTEM: (presumptuous and flirtatious tone of voice. He got used to be welcome. In his mind it cannot be otherwise). Madam, do you have a vase for the flowers and the tea. Tea is great it brings people closer.

OLGA: (suspiciously. She does not like the frivolous tone). Give me a minute. The tea is coming. (She goes to the kitchen)

ARTEM: (Speaks very loudly, so she can hear him in the kitchen). You know, I did not take a bus. I walked. I felt like I was going to… nowhere. No address… no purpose… nothing complete drift away from reality. (He lowers his voice and further seems to be speaking to himself) It is good to be alone sometimes… Not lonely but alone. I am not talking about the depressing loneliness but rather about the deep and significant solitude. The time when you face either the infinity or yourself. It feels so cozy and intimate. If you think about it, we are not really eager to know much. All we need are the night sky with the stars and the peace in our souls. (Suddenly he snaps out of the pensiveness and starts speaking loudly and demanding again) Olya! What's taking so long? That was enough time to boil the water twice.

OLGA: (enters the room. She speaks calmly) Do you still like a good wine? I was looking for the bottle of Muscat.

ARTEM: You know, I am an idiot. I thought about it but opted for the cake. I did not think that a wine would be a good choice considering the circumstances. I was wrote. I'm sorry. I am getting old… losing touch…

OLGA: I will enjoy sharing this wine with you! I will indeed! (She goes to the kitchen again)

ARTEM: (thinking out-loud again). The wide horizon of interests is a great thing. On the other hand, it actually is just a pretentious and superficial curiosity. You walk the street thinking to you yourself discussing, arguing, justifying and what not. You reach the dead end of your thoughts. You call yourself a fool but you can't help it you are already in the loop… There is just one good thing in it – you never need to apologize.

(Olya comes in with the kettle and puts it on the table. Artem continues like he did not notice that she was not in the room all this time. He sits down in the arm-chair.)

ARTEM: I think that it's fair that eventually the time comes when we have to face what we have done with our lives. After a while people speak freely about the things that they were reluctant to discuss when they were fresh. People will talk… some of them will talk to your face, some will talk behind your back but they all      All of a sudden you can see that the small shitty thing you did and thought was not worth even mentioning or hopped that it slid unnoticed was actually the pivoting point in your life. What do you think you are going to do? You will try to justify what you did. You will try to forgive yourself protecting your pride and… (Pause) You will calm down later on. Unfortunately you will never understand the difference between the pride and the arrogance.

OLGA: What are you talking about?

ARTEM: Well… Nothing really… Just thinking out loud.

OLGA: I don't understand. It sounds like you either confess or asking for forgiveness. ARTEM: Both actually.

OLGA: (turns to him) you know, I still remember your expression: "The greatest truth is said for the sake of the greatest lie."

ARTEM: I can add to it. French say: "Tell the truth… tell a lot of truth…tell as much truth as no one expects… but don't you dare to say the entire truth." (Pause). No Olechka it is not lie. You happen to witnessed me in the moment of undisguised vulnerability… that's all. (Pause. He smiles) We forgot about the tea. Let’s have some tea and talk openly with no fear to be exposed.

OLGA: Can you do it?

ARTEM: No

OLGA: its okay here, you know. No one hears or sees us. (They sit down at the dinner table.)

ARTEM: (toast) "To our meeting!"

(They drink wine, Olga gets up and starts pouring the tea in the cups).

ARTEM: I turned 50 yesterday.

OLGA: I remember… My condolence to you…

ARTEM: Today is the beginning of the road back. It feels like it's going to go faster.

OLGA: Well… What do you want… It's the same for all of us.

ARTEM: I was having a party yesterday. There were only people I am close with… I spent the entire evening in silence. I was sad… I was trying to remember… I was saying -"goodbye" to my dreams and for a second I realize my last threshold. There is no more "beyond" to this threshold (pause). I am not sure my friends understood my state. But it did not bother me. I was far away. I think jubilees exist for us to take a cold look around as well as at ourselves and realize our limits. Are you still listening?

OLGA: Yes, I do. There is a bitter taste of the word "Never" in “Jubilee".

ARTEM: I am not sure I understand.

OLGA: You grieve over your 50. I grieve over my 40. You know for women it is "she is 40already" but for men it is "he is only 40". What I am trying to say is that when you cross that line you start quietly thinking "NEVER" with regard to many things. It is not obvious. Everything is seemingly there: Your child still needs you; men are still interested; you still like to know and learn more; you are not seek and tired of your job yet but a small event gives a rise to a small question and the answer to that question is "never". That's where the trap opens up.

ARTEM: I don't want to toast to it. I still need at least an illusion of the romanticism. (Pause) (Changing the topic) Olya do you have a guitar?

OLGA: I do (she brings the guitar)

ARTEM: (Gets up) you didn't know about one of my virtues. I sing Romances.

OLGA: It is a virtue, alright.

ARTEM: Please, don't pick on me. Just listen.

I am inviting you to waltz

When I am lonely

I am inviting only you

Please don't consider that it's a coincidence

I am inviting you to waltz

Longing for you and hopping

I am inviting only you

No, I've not done it before

I am not your friend or an acquaintance

I am just a remote image

I am inviting you with the verse,

The pray, the music and the prose

I am inviting you to waltz

I am striving for perfection

I am inviting only you

As magic and as perfect bliss

I am inviting you to waltz

Like we are parting before a voyage

I am inviting only you

In delight of the first date

I am inviting you to live

Life’s lessons are not in vain.

Let's value life

Its wishes are beautiful

(Pause)

OLGA: I am speechless. Why did not I hear it seventeen– eighteen years ago.

ARTEM: (surprised) you did not like it, did you? I have to admit, it's my creation.

OLGA: I liked it. It just sounds like a romance from a man's courting book.

ARTEM: You are very harsh Olya.

OLGA: I am sorry, but am I mistaken? (Phone rings) Hello. Yes mom. (Pause) No, I came back just recently. I was with Oleg, Lida and Lenya. (Pause) Yes they walked me to the door. (Pause). No, she is not back yet. (She turns to Artem and silently apologizes).Yes the play was good and interesting. (Pause) What was the main point… The main point was that nothing in life is for free. We have to pay for everything (pause). For example for love. The greater the love the heavier the retribution. (Pause). Life is cruel in general. I know you love Aytmatov's books (pause). Okay mom, I have to work tomorrow. Good night.

ARTEM: That's it. Let's drink our tea and dig deeper and deeper.

OLGA: What do you mean?

ARTEM: Let's step up our soul-opening conversation.

OLGA: I don't know if I can. You know, I am thinking sometimes that I emphasized wrong things in my life. I did it when I was young. I believed in the simple soviet propaganda that material goods are on the bottom of the written in stone pyramid of soviet values and that only the spirituality and the education should be our goals. I believed that the wish to have a career is actually wrong. I believed that the nice and comfortable lifestyle is a sign of a narrow mindedness, a mean nature and a bad taste. (Pause) Well… things did not add up as it turned out to be. I was doing a lot of self-education. I learned to be the hardest critic of myself. I realized that my life in reality is just an existence, survival if you will. You'll be surprised but I still like opera. Do you remember the line"Boris Godunov" – "bread?! Bread?!"? Did anything change but the way to ask for that bread? You know, in times of loneliness, frustration and misunderstanding, my small and isolated world turned out to be my greatest salvation. (Pause) You are not interested aren't you? I'm sorry.

(During the monolog Artem gets up. He looks extremely interested).

ARTEM: What are you talking about? I enjoy listening to you very much. Frankly, I think that it is exactly what was missing from my life – a woman's way of thinking and understanding. I guess, that's why my memory has kept those two weeks of the spiritual union. Looking back, I realize that it has not happen since, but who knows, maybe I did not look for it. We – men need to assert ourselves before your -women eyes. To build self-confidence for one more swing at life… It's necessary… The only thing that matter is a "threshold". It differs from man to man (pause). You are the complex one – the high threshold one… Very high… (He sits down). After a while everything changes. You know… As years go by… It seems that everything is in place. It feels that the goals are accomplished; but deep inside you face the fact that not all of them actually are and there are the heights out there you will never be able to conquer even if you want to. That's it. You are in the groove. It's good, comfortable and easy but some things are lost: the soul, the sincere look in peoples eyes… And (pause) and you start searching. Let’s be honest, you can find it only in very young women. They are naïve and they want to believe. I am still finding them, madam. I am still good at it.

(Very long pause)

ARTEM: It's so good to speak out-loud. I mean to speak without looking over the shoulder and weighting every word. Olya if you would only know how good it feels!

(There is a change in Olga's behavior. It feels that she is holding back an old and deep mortification. She is depressed. She tries hard not to reproach Artem with it.)

OLGA: I am listening to you and thinking how different we are. You are so laid back and easy going. It's nice and easy to be in your company. Your people skills are amazing; they are the warranty of personal success and your life in general. You are the one to envy. I envy you too. (Pause). You can't change your nature, however. You know that expression in Ukrainian " Yake u kolisci take i u truni".

Deep people are usually being difficult to themselves first of all. They want but they can't and don't know how to look at life with ease. Their feelings are deep and heavy and they carry the enormous pressure of responsibilities. It's not easy to be around them. Their reliability and accountability are the silent rebuke to the blind carelessness and simplicity of shallow people, so are their feelings. We are what we are. I can't change myself. No one was able to inhabit my soul but you. (Pause). Women cannot stop loving but they can get disappointed. I did not have that opportunity. I simply did not have you around. (Pause). Your phone call was a complete surprise. (Pause) The statement that opposites attract is not true. They envy and blame each other silently or out loud.

ARTEM: You are philosophizing even more now.

OLGA: No, this is not philosophizing. This is a banal analysis of myself, my missteps and failures.

ARTEM: Olen'ka can you turn off the TV please? It feels like we are being constantly interrupted.

(Olga turns off the TV)

ARTEM: (continues) so, what do you think we will never be able to achieve.

OLGA: For example, to give birth… to create a life.

ARTEM: (flirtatious) How is that?

OLGA: I was talking about not a physical form of life but rather of our abilities to raise and teach taking into consideration the previous mistakes. We don't possess the beautiful and naïve delight of youth and the wish to believe, Artem. It is a sad word "NEVER". It already hangs over our heads and let us knows that it is there, not too frequently just yet.

ARTEM: That's depressing.

OLGA: I am sorry.

ARTEM: It's okay (he has not used to the serious conversations with women. He tries to look interested.) I am listening to you with so much interest.

OLGA: Are you?

ARTEM: Very much.

OLGA: You know, I am thinking now… My life was ultimately divided in two parts. Before you left everything was like rings on a chain – little girl was growing up and was waiting for love and she got it. That life was simple. However, there was another life to follow. There was no little girl anymore. There was a woman and that woman was not waiting for love she was waiting for the lover. Silly me, should have understood, that the life was different but I kept living my second life having the wishes of the first one. As a result, now I have what I have. No one understands. How is that? The good looking and intelligent woman is unfortunately to no avail.

ARTEM: (Feels uncomfortable. Tries to change the topic). It's late already. Should I go now?

OLGA: Oh, stop it? You such a rare guest.

(Doorbell rings. Olga leaves the room.)

ARTEM: (Takes out of the pocket a small phone-book. Speaks quietly out loud). I think I got a wrong number. That's unfortunate.

(Olga comes back in the room).

OLGA: It was my neighbor. She is curious as usual.

ARTEM: (Jokingly) let me guess. Was she in a desperate need of salt?

OLGA: No, her TV unexpectedly broke down.