A Small Theatre In Montpellier

A VOICE (down in the garden)
The master builder is dead!

OTHER VOICES
His head is all smashed in.... He fell right into the quarry.

HILDE (ROSE) (turns to RAGNAR and says quietly)
I can't see him up there now.

RAGNAR
This is terrible. So in fact he couldn't do it.

HILDE (ROSE) (with a kind of quiet, bewildered triumph)
But he got right to the top.
My...my...master builder!

ROSE
The toast of the town?
The hit of the year?
The birth of a star?
The end of a career!

MARCEL
Darling, these things happen...

ROSE
You turn round and tell us
We're closed for two weeks!

MARCEL
Rose, I thought of everything...

ROSE
You thought of nothing!

MARCEL
...There are posters in the streets
And banners in the squares.
Scream away, feel free,
But at Ibsen, not at me...

ROSE (interrupting)
Why did I agree
To accept this bloody tour?
The only thing in store
Is two weeks of nothing!

ACTORS (in the background, to one another)
Win some, lose some...
What the hell...

ROSE
Working till I drop
For an audience of four:
Three nuns and your mother...

MARCEL
It's no good complaining...

ROSE
And she only bothered
Because it was raining!

MARCEL
Love...

ROSE
Don't call me 'Love'!

MARCEL
This isn't personal.

ACTORS (departing, to one another)
I don't care... The theatre's my life...

MARCEL
We will start the tour again
In Lyon in two weeks!
Rose, the people there
Are all Ibsen mad, I swear!
Come on, show me a smile!

ROSE (turning away)
God, I'm not in the mood...

MARCEL
What's a fortnight or so?

ROSE
With no money or food...

MARCEL
Don't be glum...

ACTORS
Don't let's be downhearted!

ROSE
Don't waste your breath.

ACTORS
We'll get by...

MARCEL
Now Rose, you must meet this young man!
He's a dedicated fan --
Been in every evening!

ROSE
Marcel, don't run away --
I can see your little plan.

ALEX (approaching nervously)
It's an honor, mam'selle,
I could watch you for hours...
You can't have forgotten,
I threw you the flowers...
Mam'selle, seeing you on stage
Has changed my life!

ACTORS (exiting, to one another and to ROSE)
Join us in the café
In the square!

ROSE
See you...
The café...
The square...

ALEX (to ROSE, tentatively)
Would you let me walk you there...?