One of my favorite plays is a little gem called, “The Madwoman of Chaillot”. It was also made into a wonderful film in 1969 starring Katherine Hepburn, Danny Kaye, and…almost everyone. It speaks to our current social and economic troubles quite eloquently. The following is an example.
“What?” she demanded. “What are you hiding from me?”
“Nothing, Countess. It is you who are hiding.” The Ragpicker spoke sadly. “The world has changed since the time you knew. Even the people are different. No one is involved with anyone else any more. The world is no longer beautiful. No one is happy.”
The tears in her eyes were brighter than the paste gems in her bracelets. “This is true? The world is not beautiful? The world is not happy? Why wasn’t I told?”
“Because you’ve been dreaming a long time, Countess. And nobody wanted to disturb you. Today, the world is full of faceless people. People who look back at you with gelatine eyes. Once you stop dreaming, you can see them quite clearly. They were here today.”
“But who are these people? What do they do?”
“They do nothing, Countess. They feel nothing, make nothing, give nothing. The poets, the jugglers, the innocents, all are disappearing. The world’s been taken over by the pimps. The rest of us are finished. They want to make us all like them.”
Slowly, behind the teardrops in the Countess’s eyes, anger began to glow. “Are you all cowards? If these men are the cause of the trouble, all we have to do is get rid of them.” She looked about her slowly at each of her old friends.
“Some of us have tried,” Roderick muttered. “They’re too strong. There are too many of them. They have all the power, and they’re greedy for more.”
“If they’re greedy, they’re lost!” And now the Countess was smiling. “I know exactly what to do.”
Be seeing you.
Source: richardchamberlain.net
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