February 1 Play: ENGLISH ROSE

32: ENGLISH ROSE - by Ed Valentine
© February 1, 2010 * ed@edvalentine.com

LIGHTS UP: On table, a rose-covered teacup, a London paper, and a rose in a flowerpot. Maybe the tablecloth and the wallpaper behind them are covered with roses as well. A MAN stands by the table with a watering can. He waters the rose. The ROSE opens. She has a beautiful face. They are middle-aged, middle-class Londoners.

ROSE: Aah!

MAN: Good morning.

ROSE: Good morning to you, luv!

MAN: You say the sweetest things.

ROSE: Ooh! I can feel the cold water trickle down my stem, past my roots –

MAN: More?

ROSE: Thanks, soaking my soil and filling up my xylem and phloem, running through my long green veins to every corner of my blushing beauty. Aah!

(She extends her leaves, opens a little wider.)

MAN: Good, then?

ROSE: Thanks.

MAN: Right.

(He sits with tea, reads paper. She tries to lean over to read the paper. Can’t.)

ROSE: Anything new, luv?

MAN: Manchester lost. Liverpool won. The market’s up. Then down. Then up.

ROSE: Oh.

MAN: And a war started.

ROSE: Where?

MAN: Everywhere.
-
Nothing new.

ROSE: Things have changed between us, Martin.

MAN: Mmm?
(He never looks up from his paper.)

ROSE: Things have changed between us. Don’t you feel things have changed?

MAN: I don’t know why you’d say that. Everything’s the same as it ever was. Nothing’s changed. Nothing will change. We go on and on and on, muddling through. Doing the best we can. Trying not to hurt. More water?

ROSE: No, thanks.
(She sags a little. Then brightens.)
Well, I think we can do better.

MAN: Mm?

ROSE: I said, I think we can do better. Let’s find a place in the country. A place with air and sun and grass –

MAN: Expensive.

ROSE: That’s all I want. A little place with land.

MAN: The only place with land we’ll have is a 6 by 4 by 6 plot someday.
(She is very sad. He notices.)
Unless the market picks up.
The market might well pick up yet.
(Closes paper.)
A place with land? Yes, perhaps.

ROSE: Good then! Yes, perhaps.

(He goes back to his paper.)

MAN: Right, then.

ROSE: Water me?
-
More water?

(They sit. She looks out. He looks at his paper.)

END OF PLAY.