Free Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet Page A

sets by Michael Merritt; costumes by Nan Cibula; lighting by Kevin Rigdon.

SPEED-THE-PLOW

CHARACTERS
    B OBBY G OULD , C HARLIE F OX , two men around forty
    K AREN , a woman in her twenties
    SCENES
    O NE : Gould's office, morning
    T WO : His home, that evening
    T HREE : His office, the next morning

ONE
    Gould's office. Morning. Boxes and painting materials all around. Gould is sitting, reading, Fox enters.
    G OULD : When the gods would make us mad, they answer our prayers.
    F OX : Bob. . .
    G OULD : I'm in the midst of the wilderness.
    F OX : Bob . . .
    G OULD : If it's not quite “Art” and it's not quite “Entertainment,” it's here on my desk. I have inherited a monster.
    F OX : . . . Bob . . .
    G OULD : Listen to this . . . ( Reads :) “How are things made round? Was there one thing which, originally, was round . . .?”
    F OX : . . . Bob . . .
    G OULD ( leafing through the book he is reading, reads ): “A certain frankness came to it. . .” ( He leafs .) “The man,
    downcast, then met the priest, under the bridge, beneath that bridge which stood for so much, where so much had transpired since the radiation.”
    F OX : . . . yeah, Bob, that's great. . .
    G OULD : Listen to this: “and with it brought grace. But still the questions persisted . . . that of the Radiation. That of the growth of animalism, the decay of the soil. And it said ‘Beyond terror. Beyond grace’ . . . and caused a throbbing . . . machines in the void . . .” ( He offers the book to Fox. ) Here: take a page.
    F OX : I have to talk to you.
    G OULD : Chuck, Chuck, Chuck, Charles : you get too old, too busy to have ‘fun’ this business; to have ‘fun,’ then what are you . . .?
    F OX : . . . Bob . . .
    G OULD : What are you?
    F OX : What am I. . .?
    G OULD : Yes.
    F OX : What am I when?
    G OULD : What are you, I was saying, if you're just a slave to commerce?
    F OX : If I'm just a slave to commerce?
    G OULD : Yes.
    F OX : I'm nothing.
    G OULD : No.
    F OX : You're absolutely right.
    G OULD : You got to have fun. You know why?
    F OX : Okay: why?
    G OULD : Because, or else you'll die, and people will say “he never had any fun.”
    F OX : How close are you to Ross?
    G OULD : How close am I to Ross . . .? I don't know How close should I be?
    F OX : I have to ask you something.
    G OULD ( pause ): Go ahead, Charl.
    F OX : You wanna’ greenlight a picture? What's your deal, what's your new deal?
    G OULD : What's my new deal, that's all you can talk about?
    F OX : What's your new deal?
    G OULD : Alright. Over ten mil I need Ross's approval. Under ten mil, I can greenlight it. So what. ( Pause. )
    F OX : This morning, Bob.
    G OULD : . . . Yes . . .?
    F OX : This morning a man came to me.
    G OULD : . . . a man came to you. Whaddayou, already, you're here to “Promote” me . . .?
    F OX : Bob . . .
    G OULD : You here to promote me? Charl? Because, Charl, one thing I don't need . . .
    F OX : Bob.
    G OULD : When everybody in this jolly town is tryin’ to promote me, do you wanna see my messages . . . ?
    F OX : Bob.
    G OULD : “Get Him While He's Hot” . . .
    F OX : Yes, yes, but. ..
    G OULD : My good, my “good” friend, Charles Fox . . .
    F OX : Bob . . .
    G OULD : That's why we have “channels.”
    F OX : Uh huh.
    G OULD : All these “little” people out there, that we see. Y'unnerstand? Fellow asks “what are they there for?” Well, Charl, We Don't Know. But we think, you give the thing to your boy, gives it to my boy, these people get to eat, they don't have to go beg, and get in everybody's face the airport the whole time. This morning the phone won't stop ringing. Do you know who's calling? Everybody says they met me in Topeka, 1962, and do I want to make their movie. Guys want me to do remakes of films haven't been made yet.
    F OX : . . . Huh, huh . . .
    G OULD : I'm drowning in “coverage.” ( He picks up a script and reads :) “The Story of a Horse and the Horse Who Loved Him.” ( He drops script .). . . Give me a breather