EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT
Vlada Khmel
Translated into English by Volha Tsiashkevich, edited by Apeksha Harsh
Copyright by Vlada Khmel. All rights reserved.
SYNOPSIS
A play about trying to find inner freedom. The roles here are not defined: sister, mother, grandmother, daughter or great-grandmother – the voices of generations are heard through the painful dialogue of two heroines. Women strive to break the vicious circle of ancestral memory and learn to love. However, acceptance and forgiveness turn out to be more difficult than hating. Especially when you notice in yourself the traits of those to whom you would never want to compare yourself.
CHARACTERS
Woman-1 a woman of an indefinite age
Woman-2 a woman of about the same age as Woman-1
empty room. long table with three chairs. three glasses of water, one near each of the chairs. Woman-1 and Woman-2 seated side by side at the table. the third chair is empty.
long pause.
W1: i, well… here’s what i thought. i thought we could split the apartment. (pause) i mean, no one’s going to move into the house anyways, so we should split the apartment. i mean, we could split it. why would a single woman need all those four rooms, really, four rooms is too much for a single aging person. i just need to think of how to tell her about it. here. so i come and i say (turns in her chair facing woman-2), “i think we should sell the apartment.” right. “i think we should sell this apartment to buy two smaller ones, so we can finally separate, so you’ll stop bugging me and my future child.” here’s what i’ll tell her. and she’ll go: “sasha, are you out of your fucking mind? what child? i haven’t seen you next to a man in all your 26 years.” (of course, she wouldn’t say “out of your fucking mind”, but that’s what she’d mean.) and i’ll say, “the child that’s allegedly 5 weeks and 2 days old and that i’m still thinking of not having.” and she’ll say nothing, because what can you say to that. (returns to her previous position of side to table and woman-2).
a couple months ago i was in rome, in a church. no, i don’t believe in god, it’s just that it’s an architectural monument – there’re tons of those in rome – so i just popped in to have a look at the wall-paintings – or, no, those were mosaics, and i came to look at them because that’s what my term paper was about in my third year at the university, and that was the spring of my third year when i went to rome. i mean, the mosaics were not the reason, i wasn’t making that much money to go to rome just for the mosaics for my term paper. not like i’m making that much now, i’ve just expressed myself incorrectly. so, i was walking around looking at those mosaics – early morning it was, the church was almost empty – and a nun approached me and told me something in italian, and i didn’t understand a thing and just walked out. and there was a huge crowd outside on the stairs – a wedding ceremony was about to begin, that’s what it was. and i left, of course, like, why would i stare at strangers, and just… it’s a very intimate moment, isn’t it, i wouldn’t want some strange girl to stare at me at my wedding. i mean, if i believed in god and would go for a wedding ceremony in church, of course.
so i left, and then felt terribly sorry that i wouldn’t see it.
W2: you’ve been to rome?
W1: but, of course, i didn’t go back, because, i mean, i don’t care about god, i just wanted to learn what those catholic ceremonies looked like. so i clicked on the first website and read some father paul’s interview where he tells newly-wed couples how to prepare for their wedding. and it was all nice in the beginning, about the prayers, the catholic faith, and then he goes like, “we explain that our faith strictly forbids the use of any contraception.” and i thought, “oh, fuck you!” and closed the site. it’s been five years and i still don’t know what catholic weddings are about.