GYPSY DWAN Act1 Scene7

Scene 7

We are back in the gypsy camp. ALL are dancing exactly as we last saw them, except MARITZA is getting more and more exhausted. Finally, SHE leaves the group and collapses to the downstage left. NIKKO sees this and goes to her.

MARITZA

Is that all you gypsies do is dance all day and all night?

NIKKO

No. We sometimes read palms and steal fruit.

(In the background GYPSIES have now stopped dancing and disperse, some to the right and some to the left. STEFANA and ANGELU approach Nikko and Maritza.)

STEFANA

What's the matter? Your little friend from Bratwurst doesn't have much stamina, does he? I wonder how he'll be at the wrestling contest.

MARITZA

What wrestling contest??!!

ANGELU

All new gypsies must test their strength against that of Betamo.

(Spotlight falls on Group upstage left, and out emerges the biggest, brawniest gypsy of them all, whom we saw in Scene 1. MARITZA yelps. BETAMO swaggers toward them.)

BETAMO

Ready?

NIKKO

He's my friend. I found him. And by rights he should wrestle me.

MARITZA

What?

NIKKO

(in a whisper)

Play along with me.

STEFANA

Listen! Nikko is going to wrestle the new boy in camp!

MARITZA

This has gone far enough!

NIKKO

Would you rather wrestle him?

MARITZA

(aside)

Marianne, I could kill you!

(MARITZA regards Betamo with terror. GYPSIES gather in semicircle downstage. Through the scene, NIKKO whispers instructions to Maritza.)

NIKKO

Come on. Come at me as though you were going to beat the tar out of me…Not like that, for heaven's sake. Haven't you ever seen men wrestle?

MARITZA

I don't travel in those circles.

NIKKO

Make believe you hate me instead of loving me the way you obviously do.

MARITZA

How dare…!

(SHE is so furious SHE charges at him.)

NIKKO

Good. Now grab for my head. I said grab not fondle.

(Again SHE is so furious, SHE really grabs his head as hard as she can.)

NIKKO

Now get your arm around my throat and tighten it as though you were going to choke me to death.

MARITZA

With pleasure!

(NIKKO pretends she is really hurting him and gasps for breath. MARIANNE and VASILY enter stage right.)

VASILY

Hey! What is going on?

(As soon as STEFANA and ANGELU see Vasily, THEY run to him and observe Marianne with hostility. MARITZA glances up, sees Marianne and the tattered dress and shrieks.)

MARITZA

Marianne!

NIKKO

Marianne? I thought you were Marianne.

MARITZA

(to Marianne)

You fool!

(to Nikko)

You fool!

(MARITZA is so angry she decks Nikko hard enough for him to fall to the ground. GYPSIES gather around and cheer "the new boy", then THEY disperse, a FEW, including TAPIA and JOAKU, walking off stage left, and a FEW retiring upstage right to play a knife game on the ground. MARITZA lunges at Marianne, seizes her arm and drags her downstage left. NIKKO gradually revives, feels his jaw, smiles and follows Maritza.)

MARIANNE

Unhand me, young man!

MARITZA

What are you doing here?

MARIANNE

What business is it of… Your highness!!!

MARITZA

You're supposed to be in Kielbasa.

MARIANNE

Oh, your highness. Everything went awry.

(By this time, both NIKKO and VASILY have joined them.)

MARITZA

And my lovely dress in tatters!

NIKKO

Your dress?

(pointing to the torn one Stefana is wearing)

I thought that was your dress.

MARIANNE

That was my dress.

MARITZA

Hush, you fool! That was my dress.

MARIANNE

But your highness…

VASILY

Whose highness? I thought you were her highness.

MARITZA

Of course she's your highness. Oh, Marianne, you are such a ninny!

NIKKO

Marianne? But I thought you were Marianne.

MARITZA

Of course I'm Marianne. Tell him…your highness.

MARIANNE

She's Marianne. I am a highness.

NIKKO

Then what's this about your dress and my dress?

MARIANNE

My dress belongs to me.

NIKKO

What's going on here?

MARITZA

It's none of your business.

NIKKO

Hold on, your highness…

MARIANNE

Then he knows you're his highness.

MARITZA

He knows nothing of the sort. Will you please not say another word…your highness.

MARIANNE

Yes, your highness.

VASILY

What is going on here?

(Suddenly the sound of cannons. Lights flash on and off across the stage. TAPIA and JOAKU come rushing back.)

JOAKU

War! Montavia is at war! Let's get out of here!

MARITZA

War? Who are we at war with?

TAPIA

Kielbasa!

MARITZA

(turning on Marianne with fury)

You never showed up for the treaty!

MARIANNE

Oh, but I did, your highness…only they didn't believe I was you…

VASILY

This is all my fault.

MARIANNE

No, it is my fault.

MARITZA

Stop it, both of you. It is my fault for not going in the first place.

JOAKU

(calling out to both sides of the stage)

Gypsies, come! We must flee! This is not our war. We belong to no country.

(GYPSIES come rushing from both sides, grabbing their belongings and running off left. MARITZA seizes Marianne's arm.)

MARITZA

Hurry! We must get back to the palace.

MARIANNE

Yes, your highness.

NIKKO

Then you are the Princess Maritza!

VASILY

Then you are not the Princess Maritza.

MARIANNE

(bursting into tears)

I am only Marianne.

MARITZA

What difference does it make who is whom? And why are you standing there? Why aren't you fleeing like the rest of these cowards?

NIKKO

Because fleeing is not my job. Fighting is.

MARITZA

Fighting defenseless women?

NIKKO

I can't say you were that defenseless.

(NIKKO rubs his jaw and grins. A great roar of cannons. MARIANNE screams and falls into Vasily's arms. Through the exchange between Maritza and Nikko, VASILY holds her and comforts her downstage left.)

MARITZA

Marianne, come!

NIKKO

Your highness, wait! Vasily and I will see you safely to the palace.

MARITZA

I need no escort.

NIKKO

But it is dangerous. You do not know what the Kielbasians are capable of.

MARITZA

What do you know about the Kielbasians? You, a gypsy!

NIKKO

I am not a gypsy. I am Dick Remington of the British Secret Service.

MARITZA

What?

NIKKO

We must speak in whispers. I have told no one---not even my friend Vasily. We are here to stop all wars.

MARITZA

Stop wars! Ha!

NIKKO

You know General Shuckendorf of the Kielbasian army?

MARITZA

Naturally.

NIKKO

He is not General Shuckendorf. He is a munitions manufacturer posing as a general.

MARITZA

Surely you can't be serious!

NIKKO

There are many munitions manufacturers posing as generals and admirals in order to further the mayhem and destruction of war. It is my job to track these men down and see they are not allowed to continue their dastardly deeds.

MARITZA

I'm sorry I misjudged you.

NIKKO

I'm not. You can clip me on the jaw any time you choose…your highness.

(MARITZA smiles as spot falls on Vasily and Marianne.)

VASILY

Don't cry, Marianne, don't cry---
Look at the grander view.
No one can tell you why
Things happen the way they do. (During the song, cannons roar, lights flash and GYPSIES, carrying their belongings, race to and fro.) War is a part of living
Just as love is;
The hawk is a part of nature
As the dove is.

NIKKO

Light is a part of living
As the dark is;
The dolphin is God's creation
As the shark is.

MARIANNE
Clothes can be made of burlap,

MARITZA
Clothes can be made of laces;

VASILY
One man can be dealt the deuces,

NIKKO
Another can hold the aces.

MARIANNE
And every desert has its oasis.

NIKKO
Swamps occupy the planet
As the lakes do;

MARITZA
The lambs have a place in nature
As the snakes do.

ALL FOUR
There is some greater plan
Which is unknown to man
So all we can do
Is love while we can.

MARITZA

Now my maid and I must return to the palace.

NIKKO

You're sure you do not want Vasily and I to escort you?

MARITZA
No. We shall be safe. But...

NIKKO
Yes?

MARITZA
Would you please just once sing that song again?

NIKKO

Light is a part of living

As the dark is...

MARITZA

Not that one.

NIKKO

My love

Is like the waters of the moon;

They gleam

Somewhere way above the sky.

My love
Is like a runaway balloon,
It's there
But we can never see it fly.

I play at romance
But my heart isn't in it,
And I pray any minute
My one true love will appear.
And when she is here,
Well be singing together
Some undiscovered tune,
And then we'll go sailing
On the waters of the moon.

(Lightning flashes, more cannons roar. For a moment MARITZA

regards Nikko with love in her eyes. Then SHE grabs Marianne's

arm and together THEY dash off stage.)

LIGHTS SLOWLY DIM