WORLD'S END
By Michael John McGoldrick
1010 South Butte Avenue
Tempe, AZ 85281
973-898-3636
[email protected]
ii.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
GERTRUD, female. German. When participating in the action of the play, she is in her mid-20s.
A spiritual seeker. Naive and idealistic. When speaking to the audience, she is in her early 40s.
Reflective. M ade wise by her experiences.
ERNST, male, mid-40s . German. Gertrud's lover. A doctor and pseudo-philosopher. Selfdisciplined. Determined. Arrogant. Intelligent, but not as intelligent as he thinks he is.
THE BARONESS, female, mid-40s . German. A former actress now posing as an aristocrat.
Although older, she has preserved much of the beauty of her younger self. Shrewd.
M anipulative. Extremely sexual.
FELIX, male, late 20s . German. The Baroness' lover. Boyishly handsome. Frail. Thoughtful.
Guileless. Submissive.
KONRAD, male, early 30s . German. The Baroness' other lover. Thuggish. Stupid. Sadistic
toward those he sees as inferior; cowering before those he thinks are superior. A figure of quiet
menace.
CAPTAIN M CCLINTOCK, male, early 50s . American businessman and science enthusiast.
Considerate. Curious. Formal.
If necessary, the parts of Konrad and Captain M cClintock can be doubled.
Time:
1928-1945.
Place:
Berlin and Encantada (a fictional island imagined to be part of the Galapagos
archipelago).
NOTE: When the German characters speak to each other or the audience, they should do so
without an accent. However, when speaking to the play's sole American character, they should
have a German accent. The conceit of the play is that unaccented delivery represents the
characters' "normal" mode of address (i.e., they actually speak German in the world of the play,
even though we hear it as English) while an accented delivery indicates the characters are
speaking English at that particular moment.
iii.
ACKNOWLEDGEM ENTS
The author would like to thank various people for their support and encouragement: Antoinette
Nwandu, Guillermo Reyes, Jeff M cM ahon, Paco M adden, Yi Hsuan Tseng, Amanda Prahl,
M icky Small, Janine M cGoldrick, Elise Faust, Dan Pieraccini, Wyatt Kent, Vickie Hall, Dan Bird
Tobin, Elisa Gonsales, Chris Weise, M ike Alexander, Chris Pillette, M ark Anthony Spina, Justin
Bennett, Valerie Stack Dodge, Gary Glor, Angela Della Ventura, David Federman, Stephen M ir,
Scott M cGowan, Elena Zazenis and John O'Connor.
ACT ONE
An undefined space. The interior of the stage
remains concealed from the audience.
GERTRUD, alone. The sound of a bomb
exploding.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
The real story. What actually happened. Isn’t that what you want to know? I’m not
offended, liebchen. If anything, I’m grateful. How kind of you to remember, because it
was so long ago. M ost don’t remember it happened at all.
The sound of a bomb exploding.
GERTRUD (CONT’D)
(to the audience)
Of course, people today have other things to worry about. But when I first came back mein Gott! Everyone wanted to know. “That can’t be the real story. What are you not
telling?” I said no, that’s the truth. But many didn’t believe. That’s all right. I doubt I’d
believe, either.
The sound of a bomb exploding.
GERTRUD (CONT’D)
(to the audience)
But the time seems right. For a full confession. The past few years, I’ve been wandering
in my mind, trying to understand it all. And the fact that I’m here must mean something The sound of a bomb exploding.
GERTRUD (CONT’D)
(to the audience)
Well. A full confession. The part everyone knows and the part only I know. But where
to begin?
THE BARONESS appears on stage alongside
KONRAD and FELIX.
BARONESS
Oh. This simply won’t do at all.
2.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
No. Too soon.
The Baroness and her entourage disappear.
ERNST appears.
ERNST
Think in a way that makes you well. And you will become well.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
Still too soon.
Ernst disappears.
GERTRUD (CONT’D)
(to the audience)
Let me take you back further. I’m twelve. M y mother and I are on our way to a funeral.
And suddenly I’m overcome with - doubt. Dread. I turn to my mother and ask, “But
what’s the point of life? What’s it for?” She looked at me and said, “To leave a good
name behind when you go.” “That’s all?” “That’s all.” No, that couldn’t be all! Then we
reach the church. I look up at the cross and suddenly I feel ashamed. “Getting to Heaven,
mutter. Isn’t that what life is for?” “Oh, yes,” she says. “That, too.” And, just then, I
knew my mother didn’t really believe in Heaven. Ach mein Gott! What else didn’t she
believe in? Then I look around the church and all the ‘good people’ were there. Burghers
and Hausfraus, Hausfraus and Burghers, all singing the same old hymns in the same
empty way. I look around and whisper, “I don’t think you really believe, either.” Then I
look up and say, “God, if you really are there, I don’t think you’re here.” So that was the
day I decided. That my life had to be different.
(beat)
But how? I grew up weak, liebchen. M ultiple sclerosis has kept me so feeble. So
uncertain about whether I’d have the strength to walk a different path. And when The
Great War came - that was not a time to defy convention. But when it ended, the Kaiser
fell and I celebrated. Change was here! Perhaps now I could change, too! How could any
of us know everything would change for the worse? Inflation. Unemployment. The
suffocating sense that nothing could ever get better. Weimar Germany. Where chasing the
pleasures of the moment was our highest ideal. And people died not even caring if they
left behind a good name.
(beat)
(MORE)
3.
GERTRUD (CONT’D)
But still I felt myself born for something else. God - you were somewhere. But where?
Soon I fell into hopelessness. Then my M ultiple Sclerosis became so much worse. I had
an operation that relieved some of the pain, but it also took away my ability to have
children. After that, something inside broke.
(beat)
Pain. That’s all there seemed to be in life. Perhaps the best thing would be to end it all.
And I might have done it. But then I met him.
Ernst appears next to Gertrud.
ERNST
Think in a way that will make you well. And you will become well.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
I saw a number of specialists after my operation. They all said my situation could never
improve. But this one - he said something new.
ERNST
M ental power can cure you. You must only believe.
GERTRUD
But there must be something else ERNST
No. Willpower is all.
GERTRUD
How can that be?
ERNST
It’s our natural instinct. Primitive men had an infinite capacity to heal themselves. But
that’s been neutered in us. Do you know by what?
GERTRUD
No.
ERNST
The degeneracy of the age. But that power - we can win it back, if we try.
4.
GERTRUD
How do I do that?
ERNST
Live contrary to the age. Change your thoughts and habits.
GERTRUD
Which habits?
ERNST
All of them.
GERTRUD
Where - where would I start?
ERNST
Your diet. Are you a vegetarian?
GERTRUD
No.
ERNST
Then you have not read Schopenhauer.
GERTRUD
No.
ERNST
You must. Any intelligent person who reads him must be persuaded. And I take you to
be intelligent, Fraulein Wasserteil.
GERTRUD
You think I’m intelligent, Doctor?
ERNST
Yes. As intelligent as you are beautiful.
(beat)
But your habits are the least of it. Change your mental world. The mind must overcome
the body. Nietzsche tells us that. And M ulfort. Have you read them?
GERTRUD
No.
5.
ERNST
You must. Let these great thinkers be your cure.
GERTRUD
You’re telling me to seek my cure in philosophy?
ERNST
Yes.
GERTRUD
But I have no schooling in it. How could I understand it all?
ERNST
Perhaps I might explain these things to you. As your doctor.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
And so it began. Night after night, I bathed in the rejuvenating waters of this man’s ideas.
And I slowly began to feel better. I willed myself well! Just as he said! How could I not
fall in love with the man who gave me that?
ERNST
So. That is Nietzsche’s idea of the Ubermensch.
GERTRUD
The way you talk. You fascinate me.
ERNST
You fascinate me.
GERTRUD
No, I don’t!
ERNST
It’s true!
GERTRUD
A man as brilliant as you? You must think me silly.
ERNST
I’ve never met a woman with a keener mind for philosophy. We’re kindred spirits,
Gertrud. Don’t you believe that?
6.
GERTRUD
I do. I owe you so much, Ernst. You’ve given me back my life.
ERNST
You’ve given me something as well.
GERTRUD
No. I don’t have anything to give.
ERNST
You’ve given me your trust. That makes me want to share a secret. Because I feel only
you would understand.
GERTRUD
What?
ERNST
I’m writing my own philosophy.
GERTRUD
Ernst! Is that true?
ERNST
I’ve only just begun. But I think I have the core of something - revolutionary. Something
that will change the world.
GERTRUD
Tell me!
ERNST
I want to reconcile Nietzsche with Lao Tsu. If I can combine their ideas, I think I can map
the whole of human consciousness.
GERTRUD
The whole of it?
ERNST
Yes.
GERTRUD
That would change the world.
7.
ERNST
Yes.
GERTRUD
How much have you written?
ERNST
Not much. But the core - I see it clearly. Can I tell you?
GERTRUD
Of course!
ERNST
The mind. It’s divided into four quadrants. The first deals with emotion. When emotional
energy enters the mind, the first quadrant undergoes a chemical process that GERTRUD
(to the audience)
And so he explained it. All I could feel was in awe. This man - he trusted me. With ideas
that would change the world.
ERNST
And that’s the fourth quadrant. The highest part of ourselves. Once we expand it, we can
perceive the theo-sphere as it permeates the material plane.
GERTRUD
The “theo-sphere”?
ERNST
What laymen call “the divine.”
GERTRUD
So the fourth quadrant lets us see the divine?
ERNST
Yes, but it can do more. If we devote all our energies to it, we can perfect ourselves and
become as gods. That must be our goal. Our lives can have no other purpose.
(beat)
Perhaps you think I’m foolish.
8.
GERTRUD
No! Everything you said - I believe it. Seeing God. Becoming perfect. I want that, too.
ERNST
(beat)
Gertrud, I think I’ve found it. In you.
GERTRUD
What?
ERNST
A fellow pilgrim. To the country of the soul’s fulfillment.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
And here it was. The means to make my life different. I felt he was showing me the path
to God.
(to Ernst)
Yes, Ernst! I’m your fellow pilgrim!
They embrace awkwardly.
GERTRUD (CONT’D)
But your ideas - you have to write them down!
ERNST
I know. But the distractions of Berlin are so overwhelming. I can’t concentrate here.
Pause.
GERTRUD
Then we must leave.
ERNST
“Leave”? “We”?
GERTRUD
I meant what I said. I’m your fellow pilgrim. I’ll follow wherever you go.
ERNST
But we can’t - how could we -
9.
GERTRUD
It’s your duty to write, Ernst. Take me where you can do that. Let me help you change
the world.
Pause.
ERNST
Then we’ll leave.
GERTRUD
Where?
ERNST
I don’t know. I want to live out my ideas. But I can’t do that in Europe. The culture is
deadening.
GERTRUD
We live in a degenerate age.
ERNST
We live in a degenerate age.
GERTRUD
Then what should we do?
ERNST
I’ll tell you what I would do. If I had the courage.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
And he told me. An impossible idea. But, after a week, it seemed not so impossible. In
two weeks, I had decided.
ERNST
You can’t be serious! What I said - that was only a dream!
GERTRUD
“Dreams are portals to the potentiality of the fourth quadrant.”
ERNST
Don’t quote me back to myself!
10.
GERTRUD
Ernst, we can’t live out your ideas here. But there! We’ll find “the country of the soul’s ERNST
That’s poetry! The reality will be hardship and pain!
GERTRUD
We won’t feel it as hardship and pain. “He who has a why to live can bear any how.”
ERNST
Nietzsche.
GERTRUD
Nietzsche. And what did you say? “Our lives can have no other purpose.” Do you
believe that or not?
ERNST
I do.
GERTRUD
So do we really have a choice?
ERNST
(beat)
Then we’ll go. To World’s End.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
And so we left. First to New York, then through the Panama Canal to Ecuador. Then a
month in Guayaquil, gathering supplies. Then two more days at sea and we were there.
The islands of Galapagos! Past San Cristobal, past Isabella, until we reached ERNST
(pointing)
Encantada!
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
One of the last unsettled places on earth. No natives, no colonizers. No people, now or
ever! Here we’d find the spiritual fulfillment of the world’s first humans. Adam and Eve
in our very own Eden!
11.
The lights change to signify bright wonder. The
interior of the stage still remains concealed from
view.
ERNST
Mein Gott! Have we returned to the earth’s first age?
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
The colors of the island. So unreal! Vegetation, gray-blue. Sand, yellow-white. Behind us,
the aqua-green of the sea. And, ahead, the volcano in red-brown.
ERNST
Look at all the creatures!
GERTRUD
An iguana! Why doesn’t he run?
ERNST
He hasn’t learned to fear humans. Nor will he.
GERTRUD
Look! A swarm of butterflies!
ERNST
And the bird song! Can you hear?
GERTRUD
Where is it coming from?
ERNST
That tree.
GERTRUD
I can’t see - oh, yes! Those birds are so tiny!
ERNST
They’re finches. Darwin studied them.
12.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
Darwin’s finches! They filled the air was with the world’s most exotic song. God’s
enchantment came down and captured us completely!
ERNST
Look - a path!
GERTRUD
How can that be? There haven’t been people ERNST
Not people. Tortoises! Look at the contours. They must have dragged their shells along
here for a millennia.
GERTRUD
But why? Where are they going?
ERNST
I think I know. Come on!
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
We walked up the slope of the volcano and came to a clearing. And then we saw it.
ERNST
(pointing off-stage)
A spring!
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
The island’s only source of fresh water.
ERNST
Here, Gertrud. Here is where we must live.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
And so we decided. Within a month, it was built. Our new home!
13.
The lights now reveal the interior of the stage Gertrud and Ernst’s bungalow. Eight thin tree
trunks support a roof-lattice of branches
wrapped with tar paper. The structure has no
walls. Inside are two beds surrounded by
mosquito netting. Somewhere is a kitchen area
with a small charcoal stove. Scattered around are
the various items the pair have brought with
them or constructed to make their life habitable a large box converted into a table, wooden cases
converted into cupboards, dairy milk cans for
storing food, several chairs, etc.
ERNST
(grabbing one of the trunks)
Hmm. Acacia trees simply won’t grow straight. These will have to do.
GERTRUD
What about the roof? Will it be enough when it storms?
ERNST
We’ll see.
GERTRUD
We should have brought tin sheets from Guayaquil.
ERNST
It’s too late now.
GERTRUD
M aybe we can find a way to have some delivered ERNST
No! Our experiment begins now. No more commerce with the outside world. This will do
until I build our permanent home.
GERTRUD
Permanent home?
ERNST
There, on the other side of the spring! I’m going to build a stone tower. Think of it. A
tower reaching up to the heavens!
14.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
The stone tower! How he talked about it. But building had to wait. We had more
immediate problems to solve.
ERNST
M y hands. The calluses.
GERTRUD
(grabbing his hands)
Let me see.
ERNST
I thought you said you weeded by the tomatoes.
GERTRUD
I’ll put salt in hot water. You can soak them.
ERNST
The tomatoes. Why didn’t you weed?
GERTRUD
I did! They must have grown back.
ERNST
And the path to the spring. You said you cut back the undergrowth.
GERTRUD
I did!
ERNST
That’s come back as well?
GERTRUD
I guess so.
ERNST
Unbelievable!
15.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
The island’s fertility. How it worked against us. Everything grew except what we
wanted.
ERNST
(holding a yam)
The yams! They’re overwatered!
GERTRUD
I watered like you told me!
ERNST
No, you must have done it wrong! They’re ruined!
GERTRUD
(pointing to a spot on the yam)
What’s this? Is that from an insect?
ERNST
I don’t know.
GERTRUD
Do the rest of the yams have them? Is this an infestation?
ERNST
I don’t know! Damn it to hell!
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
Adam and Eve were commanded to work in the garden. And how we worked. The
planting and weeding and tending - all that effort, for so little reward. And then the
cooking and cleaning and repairing. Every hour seemed wasted in some stupid, exhausting
pursuit. Only one good thing came of it. For a time, it actually brought us together.
ERNST
The boar was in the garden again.
GERTRUD
How much did he eat?
16.
ERNST
Not much, fortunately.
GERTRUD
Well, that’s something.
ERNST
The cucumbers are growing nicely. So that’s something else.
GERTRUD
If only you liked cucumbers.
ERNST
(laughing)
How was your day?
GERTRUD
I had another dizzy spell.
ERNST
Are you all right?
GERTRUD
I am now.
ERNST
You can control those moments, Gertrud.
GERTRUD
I try to. Honestly.
ERNST
Sit with me. Let’s do it again.
They sit and attempt to enter a meditative state.
ERNST (CONT’D)
Subject body to mind. Let the stillness awaken the fourth quadrant. Open yourself up to
the theo-sphere.
Pause.
17.
GERTRUD
Enchantment.
ERNST
Hm?
GERTRUD
I think that’s when I experience it. The theo-sphere. When I feel enchanted.
ERNST
Enchantment, yes.
Long pause.
GERTRUD
But I’m not sensing it now.
ERNST
Neither am I.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
The spiritual life we’d imagined for ourselves. That was nowhere to be seen. And I
suffered the blame.
ERNST
The chickens. You were supposed to collect the eggs.
GERTRUD
I’ve fallen behind.
ERNST
And the coconuts. I asked you GERTRUD
I know. But I can’t swing the machete with enough force. Let me rest. I’ll do it later.
ERNST
You won’t. I’ll waste my day doing my chores and yours and I won’t have time to write.
Which is the entire reason I’m here.
GERTRUD
I’m sorry. I -
18.
ERNST
The capacity to heal lies within. If you’re weak, who’s to blame? Enslaved by the first
quadrant. You indulge your emotions and that enfeebles you. And who bears the cost?
GERTRUD
I’ll collect the eggs. Get your paper. You can write now.
ERNST
No. You’ll feel better tomorrow. I’ll do it.
GERTRUD
(to the audience)
M y M ultiple Sclerosis came back with a vengeance. And I seemed powerless to conquer
it.
Gertrud suffers from a dizzy spell.
ERNST
Is it bad?
GERTRUD
Give me a moment.
ERNST
You can control it. Subject body to GERTRUD
Stop. It’s not helping.
ERNST
(beat)
If I’m harsh with you, it’s for your own good.
GERTRUD
I know.
ERNST
Self-discipline is all you need. Think in a way that GERTRUD
I’m trying. Honestly. I just need to sit.
19.
ERNST
Then sit with me. We’ll get through it together.
GERTRUD
Please. Just - stop talking.
ERNST
(beat)
Then we won’t get through it together.
GERTRUD
M y weakness. Why couldn’t I conquer it as I had in Berlin? Was I just not good enough?
No! Banish negative thoughts! The capacity to heal lies within! If I think in a way that
makes me well, I’ll become well. And if I don’t, I must try harder!
Gertrud is now in the kitchen area, preparing a
meal. She places food on two plates.
GERTRUD (CONT’D)
It’s coming!
ERNST
So much work. The wire fence in the garden is down again.
GERTRUD
Was it the boar?
ERNST
Of course it was the boar. I can’t string the wire any tighter. But still he breaks through.
GERTRUD
We need better wire.
ERNST
We can’t get better wire.
GERTRUD
Perhaps just this once. We could find a way to have it ERNST
No commerce with the outside world! Absolutely not!
20.
GERTRUD
Then something else. A trap. Have you thought of that?
ERNST
A trap? What would I do if I caught it?
GERTRUD
You could ERNST
Kill it? We pledged to harm no living creature. Only six months here and you’re ready to
throw away our ideals?
Gertrud picks up the plates and brings them to
Ernst. She accidently drops the plates.
ERNST (CONT’D)
What are you doing?
GERTRUD
I’m sorry! The tremors - I can’t stop them ERNST
Guavas are one of our few sources of protein. Protein I need to do the work you can’t. So
I have to eat that. Off the ground, like an animal. That’s what I’ve become. Not a
philosopher. An animal.
Ernst picks up the guavas and puts them on the
plates. Slight pause. He takes one plate for
himself and gives the other to Gertrud.
ERNST (CONT’D)
Eat. Protein might help.
GERTRUD
Ernst, forgive me. I ERNST
Stop talking. Just stop.