SETTING:	EISENSTEIN's bedroom (as before).


		AT RISE:	The sound of someone knocking. Spotlight
			        up on SERGEI EISENSTEIN,  in pyjamas
			        and dressing gown. HE peers through the
                                bars of his bed. The knocking stops. Footsteps. 
                                UPTON SINCLAIR's shadow looms up against the 
                                back wall. 

                                Spotlight up: center stage. SINCLAIR, dressed 
                                in a tux (circa 1932), enters. HE steps gingerly
                                into the circle of light, pats his forehead with 
                                the corner of a neatly folded handkerchief, and 
                                gestures somewhat gratuitously to a familiar face 
                                in the audience.


			SINCLAIR
		(Addressing the audience)
	Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, members of 
	the press… as you can see, my lovely wife has managed to 
	cajole me into saying a few words here tonight by way of 
	introduction, although now that she’s got me up here, I’m 
	not too sure where to begin.

		(EISENSTEIN watches and listens 
		with increasing consternation)

			SINCLAIR (Continued)
	I am aware of the criticisms that have been levelled against us.
	I have no intention of apologizing for what we have done. You 
	know what I stand for. And those of you who don’t… well, let 
	me just remind you that my only wish was to give a fellow artist -
	a fellow worker - the chance to make his own picture in his 
	own way…

			EISENSTEIN
		(A hoarse whisper)
	Cut!
		
			SINCLAIR
	...without fear of coercion, or bureaucratic super…

			EISENSTEIN
		(Louder)
	I said, "CUT"!

			SINCLAIR
	...vision.

		(Stage lights up. EISENSTEIN clasps
		his dressing gown to his neck as HE
		comes forward)

			EISENSTEIN
	You understand this word, "cut"?  As in "to cut the heart 
	out"?
		(Turning to the audience)
	Who are these people?

			SINCLAIR
	Guests. Invited guests.

			EISENSTEIN
	Investors.

			SINCLAIR
	What’re you doing here?

			EISENSTEIN
	If your wife has no faith in me, I am sure there is someone 
	who will…

			SINCLAIR
	The film is finished, Mr Eisenstein.

			EISENSTEIN
	No, no. Your film is finished. Not mine.
		(Beat)
	Comrade, we must talk.

			SINCLAIR
	I don’t think so.

			EISENSTEIN
        Oh yes, I think so. Before everything disappears. Before
        I disappear. Look what you do! Speeches, interviews, 
        letters to critics! This morning I was a genius in fifty-
        three newspapers.

			SINCLAIR
	I s’pose "genius" was a bit strong.

			EISENSTEIN
	No! Genius is right. Genius is true. But this... what is this?
		(Gesturing to audience)
	After a life-time of choosing they end up here, alone in the dark, 
	waiting to see M e x i c o!  as it really is, brought to life by the 
	greatest film-maker who ever lived. You offer these people
	something you cannot give them.

			SINCLAIR
	The Mexican film is a masterpiece.

			EISENSTEIN
	The Mexican film is a lie.

			SINCLAIR
	A small lie.

			EISENSTEIN
	For the sake of making money.

			SINCLAIR
	For the sake of saving our lives.

			EISENSTEIN
	Hypocrisy.

			SINCLAIR
	Why don’t we wait and see what the critics say?

			EISENSTEIN
	Leeches.

			SINCLAIR
	You might be surprised.

			EISENSTEIN
	I have no respect for critics. The critics liked Moonlight and 
	Pretzels. 

			SINCLAIR
	And it ran for six months on Broadway!

			EISENSTEIN
	A film with no ideas, no poetry, and six weddings. Of 
	course it did! 
		
			SINCLAIR
	I wouldn't argue with success.

			EISENSTEIN
	Not even to save the truth.

			SINCLAIR
	And which truth is that?

			EISENSTEIN
	You gave your word. You said you would send the 
	film on the next boat. Here… in your letter. 
		(HE takes a crumpled letter from
		his pocket)
	It was my life. My work. And you hand it over to a man 
	who makes Tarzan movies.

			SINCLAIR
	And finishes them.

			EISENSTEIN
	We were so close.

			SINCLAIR
	With no end in sight.

			EISENSTEIN
	A great idea takes time.

			SINCLAIR
	A great idea no one sees or hears isn't worth having.
				
			EISENSTEIN
	But I saw it. I saw it, comrade!

			SINCLAIR
	You didn't think we’d let you go on shooting film forever.

			EISENSTEIN
	I thought we were working for the same cause.

			SINCLAIR
	What! My cause? Your cause? Their cause? Mr Eisenstein,
	I am drowning in causes.

			EISENSTEIN
	Did you think I was having a holiday?

			SINCLAIR
	No. No, at first I thought you were making a movie. 
	Then I thought you must have emigrated.

			EISENSTEIN
	You have very strange ideas.

			SINCLAIR
	Yes. I hired you.

			EISENSTEIN
	Before you deserted me.

			SINCLAIR
	I believed in you. We all did.

			EISENSTEIN
	Odd, isn’t it, how we make up stories about ourselves, 
	then try 	to live them out?

			SINCLAIR
	You had my full support.

			EISENSTEIN
	I never cut one inch. Not one frame.

			SINCLAIR
	I see what Hunter means about your humility.

			EISENSTEIN
	One does not capture Mexico in cold-blood. It is not
	like the gold one rips from the ground.

			SINCLAIR
	No. Gold would’ve been easier to find.

			EISENSTEIN
	The life is in the looking. One can go blind from too 
	much finding.

			SINCLAIR
	There’s nothing wrong with my eyesight, Mr Eisenstein.

			EISENSTEIN
	It was not your eyesight that failed you, comrade. It was
	your courage.

			SINCLAIR
	You didn’t even know what you were looking for.

			EISENSTEIN
	And you? What were you looking for? The roots of 
	oppression? Some primitive form of socialism? Or 
	merely immortality?

			SINCLAIR
	Death doesn't frighten me.

			EISENSTEIN
	What frightened you was the idea I might have wanted 
	to try something dangerous, to uncover what the world 
	would rather keep hidden. You think there are dollars 
	to be made by parading something indigenous to feed 
	the predators who sit in the dark. There is something else,
	something that cannot be stolen, and will not be sold,
	something that dances between the frames. Something 
	we once had; something we have not yet become. It is not 
	enough to simply point the camera and spend the money. 
	One must be captured by it. That was what scared you.
 				
			SINCLAIR
	If I hadn’t stopped the money you’d probably still be 
	there.
				
			EISENSTEIN
	All for nothing.

			SINCLAIR
	It isn’t nothing that brings these people here tonight.

			EISENSTEIN
	Idleness is what brings these people. 

			SINCLAIR
	Beautiful pictures.

			EISENSTEIN
	Glorious lies.
		(Beat)
	If you knew what my life has been like. . . 
		(Beat)
	You have no idea what I have been through. . .

			SINCLAIR
	And what about me? What about what I've been through? 
	I made five trips to Palm Springs in one month, begging 
	money from society ladies whose proclivity for left-wing 
	causes is matched only by their unshakeable belief in the 
	edifying properties of dry martinis. Do you have any idea 
	how much I loathe cocktail parties? I would crusade 
	against cocktail parties tomorrow if I had more time.
        Cocktail parties are what's wrong with America. But I 
        went. Yes, I went… because I believed in what we were 
        doing. And what do I get in return? Accusations. Insults. 
        If I was in your shoes I’d be ashamed of myself.

			EISENSTEIN
	I am not wearing shoes.

			SINCLAIR
	There! That’s exactly what I'm talking about. Here I 
	am trying to salvage your reputation, and all you can 
	do is quibble over details.

			EISENSTEIN
	Not details, comrade. The truth. Only the truth. This 
	is not my picture. It is madness. And now my heart…
	my nervous system…

			SINCLAIR
	My wife came that close to dying, Mr Eisenstein. She 
	spent three weeks in hospital, thanks to you. You and 
	Mexico.

			EISENSTEIN
	Comrade, if I have been the source of any upset to your 
	wife, I am sorry.

			SINCLAIR
	How magnanimous! How truly magnanimous! I am 
	impressed. Though I don't s’pose it’s all that difficult 
	if there are enough people watching.

			EISENSTEIN
	They are watching both of us.

			SINCLAIR
		(To audience)
	Can you believe it? I gave money to this man!

			EISENSTEIN
	Talk to me, comrade. To me! You owe me that much.

			SINCLAIR
	I don’t owe you a damn thing. And stop calling me 
	“comrade”!

			EISENSTEIN
	I thought you had values.

			SINCLAIR
	I promised everyone who put money in this picture 
	that if they helped us they’d have something to show 
	for it. I don’t intend to let them down.

			EISENSTEIN
	Yes. A socialist through and through.

			SINCLAIR
	A man is only as good as his word.

			EISENSTEIN
	I know about your promises.

			SINCLAIR
	At least I do what I say I'm going to do.

			EISENSTEIN
	You betrayed me.

			SINCLAIR
	No sir. You managed that all by yourself.
		(Beat)
	Just as well you got out when you did.

			EISENSTEIN
	I didn’t get out.

			SINCLAIR
	No… I guess not.
		(Turns to leave)

			EISENSTEIN
	Comrade, wait!

		(SINCLAIR stops)

			EISENSTEIN (Continued)
	What about my movie?

			SINCLAIR
	It’s finished, Mr Eisenstein.

			EISENSTEIN
	But… the secret police… if I go back with nothing. . .

			SINCLAIR
	It's over.

			EISENSTEIN
	Comrade, please…  I can do it.

		(Pause)
	
			SINCLAIR
	Go home, Sergei.

			EISENSTEIN
	Home?

		(SINCLAIR’S stony expression 
		softens. There is a moment in 
		which it seems sympathy might be
		possible, then only an acute sense
		of embarrassment. SINCLAIR
		quickly turns and hurries off)
		
		(EISENSTEIN moves back to his 
		bed. The silence is broken by several
		loud knocks on the door. A look of 
		fear crosses his face. HE climbs into
		bed, pulls the blankets over his head. 
		The knocking continues… more
		insistent)

			EISENSTEIN
		(From under the blankets)
	Ya? Who is it? Eduard?
		(HE peeks out, then, hearing 
		someone coming, goes back into 
		hiding)

		(KIMBROUGH and MARY CRAIG
		enter, as if on an art gallery tour.
		KIMBROUGH, playing the part of 
		the guide, wears a dark-blue blazer, 
		cravat and white slacks (circa 1947). 
		MARY CRAIG, in a conservative 
		woollen suit, follows a few paces 
		behind)

			KIMBROUGH
	Mr Eisenstein doesn't smoke, drink, or chew. An’ from 
	what I gather, has absolutely no interest at all in women.

			MARY CRAIG
	You make him sound like a saint.

			KIMBROUGH
	Oh, he has his vices.

			MARY CRAIG
	Is he asleep?

			KIMBROUGH
	He appears to be, but one can never be sure. I had a 
	conversation with him once in Oaxaca when his eyes 
	were wide-open, an’ he didn’t hear a word I said.
			
			MARY CRAIG
 	Hunter, I think he’s dead.

		(KIMBROUGH has a closer 
		look)

 			KIMBROUGH
	No ma’am. Not this boy. He’s one of the immortals. Least 
	he thinks he is.

			MARY CRAIG
	I don’t want any trouble.

			KIMBROUGH
	Trouble! I'm not lookin’ for trouble. I’m finished with 
	trouble.

			MARY CRAIG
	Keep your voice down.

			KIMBROUGH
	Shall I draw back th’ covers?

			MARY CRAIG
	Don’t touch him! I don't want to look at him. When I 
	think of all the money I threw away on nothin’.

			KIMBROUGH
	It wasn’t all yours, Mary.

			MARY CRAIG
	Two of my dearest friends never spoke to me again.

			KIMBROUGH
	They didn’t realize what you were up against.

			MARY CRAIG
	Upton could’ve been governor of California. Franklin 
	wanted him. He would've made a very good governor, 
	too. He deserved to be governor. We both did. Ruined, 
	all because of that silly little film.

			KIMBROUGH
	Well, that’s Hollywood for ya.
		
			MARY CRAIG
	I never felt like such a fool in my life. I could’ve been 
	somebody. I could’ve been famous. 

			KIMBROUGH
	Don’t trouble yourself about it, sister.

			MARY CRAIG
	I don’t want to be forgotten.

			KIMBROUGH
	Yes ma’am.

			MARY CRAIG
	You sound pleased.

			KIMBROUGH
	You had no way o’ knowin’ how it’d turn out. No sense 
	makin’ yourself miserable about it. 

			MARY CRAIG
	I should’ve paid more attention Whenever Upton gets that 
	optimistic somethin’ always goes wrong. A good socialist 
	ought not fool around with money-makin’ schemes in a 
	capitalist society.
		(Beat)
	How did you find him, Hunter? 

			KIMBROUGH
	Who?

			MARY CRAIG
	Mr Eisenstein! I mean, did he do what normal men do? I 
	always had a funny feelin’ about him. Somethin’ in his eyes. 
	Th’ eyes’ll give you away every time. Daddy used to say 
	people like that weren’t dependable with money.
	
			KIMBROUGH
	People like what?

			MARY CRAIG
	Queer people.

			KIMBROUGH
	Such as?

			MARY CRAIG
	Th’ size of his head.  D’you ever feel like touchin’ it? I 
	always imagined it had a strange kind o’ glow.

			KIMBROUGH
	There’s all sorts of people who have trouble with money, 
	Mary. That doesn't mean they’re all…

			MARY CRAIG
	I'm not makin’ it up!

			KIMBROUGH
	I didn’t say you were makin’ it up.

			MARY CRAIG
	So it’s true.

			KIMBROUGH
	What?

			MARY CRAIG
	About him.

			KIMBROUGH
	I’m sure I wouldn’t know.

			MARY CRAIG
	Well, you were down there!

			KIMBROUGH
	I was in Mexico.

			MARY CRAIG
	With him!

			KIMBROUGH
	Yes! Thanks to you.

			MARY CRAIG
	And what’s that s’pose to mean?
			
			KIMBROUGH
	I wouldn’t have been there at all if it’d been up to me.
		
			MARY CRAIG
	I s’pose I forced you.

			KIMBROUGH
	You know what you did.

			MARY CRAIG
	Are you trying to accuse me of something, Hunter?

			KIMBROUGH
	Don’t act so innocent. I’m not mother.

			MARY CRAIG
	Leave her out of it.

			KIMBROUGH
	I’ve lived my whole life bein’ blamed for things I never did.

			MARY CRAIG
	You never did anything.

			KIMBROUGH
	Between you an’ mother, my life was preordained. Everything 
	planned out accordin’ to th’ way you would’ve lived it if you’d 
	been a man.

			MARY CRAIG
	I was more of a man than you were.

			KIMBROUGH
	Yes ma’am. You saw to that.

			MARY CRAIG
	I loved you.

			KIMBROUGH
	You smothered me. You and mother.  
	
			MARY CRAIG
	You were such an ungrateful child.

			KIMBROUGH
	I guess I oughta be thankful you didn't take any more.

			MARY CRAIG
	I’m glad daddy never lived to see what you turned in to.

			KIMBROUGH
	Least he found peace.

			MARY CRAIG
	He would’ve been ashamed.

			KIMBROUGH
	Oh yeah, he set a fine example. I musta been his last 
	noble act. By th’ time I got to know him he was well 
	and truly castrated.

			MARY CRAIG
	You always got what you wanted.

			KIMBROUGH
	Well then, we're a match for each other.

			MARY CRAIG
	Are you finished? Or have you made other arrangements 
	for payin’ off your debts?

			KIMBROUGH
	What do you want from me?

			MARY CRAIG
	Dig deep…  I'm sure there’s bound to be an apology 
	there somewhere.
		(Beat)
	Hunter?

			KIMBROUGH
	What?

			MARY CRAIG
	I’m waiting.

		(Pause)

			KIMBROUGH
	Yeah, all right,  okay, I’m sorry.
			
			MARY CRAIG
	Now that wasn’t so very difficult, was it?
		(With affection)
	Oh baby, what can I say? I only ever wanted the best for 
	you. I just haven’t been myself lately, what with all we’ve 
	had to endure. An’ to think I felt sorry for him.
		(Beat)
	Tell me, Hunt… tell the truth. If he’d finished it… if he’d 
	finished the film, d’you think it would’ve been as good as 
	he said?

			KIMBROUGH
	The man was a genius. Whadda you think?

			MARY CRAIG
	I don’t know. Maybe I should've trusted him. Maybe he 
	really could’ve done it.

			KIMBROUGH
	May-be.

			MARY CRAIG
	Then again… maybe not.

			KIMBROUGH
	I guess we’ll never know.

		(MARY CRAIG glances round the 
		room with mild disgust)

			MARY CRAIG
	I don’t like it here. It smells of death.

			KIMBROUGH
	Mildew.

			MARY CRAIG
	Something foreign to my sensibilities.

			KIMBROUGH
	Th’ dampness.

			MARY CRAIG
	Excuse me, Hunter. I believe I best take some air.

			KIMBROUGH
	You go ahead. I’ll be down in a minute.

			MARY CRAIG
	Don’t be too long.

			KIMBROUGH
	No ma’am.

			MARY CRAIG
	Th’ others want to go.

			KIMBROUGH
	I’ll be along directly.

			MARY CRAIG
	All right then… I’ll wait for you downstairs.

		(MARY CRAIG exits)

		(EISENSTEIN peers out from under 
		the blanket)

			KIMBROUGH
	Cat got your tongue?

			EISENSTEIN
	You!

			KIMBROUGH
	Disappointed?

			EISENSTEIN
	One would almost prefer the secret police.

			KIMBROUGH
	Sounds like you got a guilty conscience.

			EISENSTEIN
	Better to have one that is guilty than not to have one 
	at all.

			KIMBROUGH
		(Gazes round)
	Looks like you've done all right for y’self. Very commodious. 
	An’ no mean feat from what I read in th’ papers.

			EISENSTEIN
	I am a man of simple tastes.

			KIMBROUGH
	So I see. A passion for dressin’ gowns.

			EISENSTEIN
	And what about you? Still enjoying the quiet life of 
	uninspired envy?

			KIMBROUGH
	I never envied you.

			EISENSTEIN
	Anything to stop the red-dog from subverting art and 
	democracy, eh?

			KIMBROUGH
	I was doin’ my job.

			EISENSTEIN
	Protecting the American way of life.

			KIMBROUGH
	Fragile creation that it is.

			EISENSTEIN
	So now you come back to haunt me.

			KIMBROUGH
	You make it difficult to stay away.
	
			EISENSTEIN
	I thought you’d already had your pound of flesh.

			KIMBROUGH
	You never did forgive me, did you?
		
			EISENSTEIN
	After what you have done?

			KIMBROUGH
	Mr Sinclair… he was gonna send th’ film, y’know.

			EISENSTEIN
	Before or after you buried me?

			KIMBROUGH
	You would’ve enjoyed it – th’ way he stood up to her. It 
	was a sight to behold. She was gonna make you come all 
	th’ way back to California, jus’ to keep an eye on ya. But 
	good ol’ U.S.- no suh! - he'd made you a promise an’ 
	damned if he wasn’t gonna keep it. My sister was livid, 
	hearin’ him speak to her like that, and stickin’ up for you 
	at th’ same time. Mary’s pride's always suffered more 
	than her pocketbook, an’  Lord knows Mary’s pride 
	knows no bounds. What Mary wants Mary gets. But don’t 
	you think for a moment she didn’t want th’ film to happen. 
	Oh, she wanted it all right. She wanted it so bad she could 
	taste it. You were gonna make her famous. You were 
	gonna help her step outta th’ shadows. You were th’ 
	key to th’ whole damn ball game. Mizz Mary Craig - film 
	producer. That woulda pleased her no end. Course, without 
	you she had absolutely nothin’. 

			EISENSTEIN
	Then why didn't they send the film?

			KIMBROUGH
	Yeah, well, that’s where I come in.

			EISENSTEIN
	Your moment in the spotlight…
	
			KIMBROUGH
	Well… 

			EISENSTEIN
	A role made in heaven.
				
			KIMBROUGH
	Everybody likes to feel important.
		
			EISENSTEIN
	Some of us more than others.
	
			KIMBROUGH
	You think all I'm good for is pushin’ numbers round. Well, I 
	have ideas too. An’ talent. You might've even found out about 
	it if you'd taken th’ time. But oh no. You were it. You were th’ 
	genius. Th’ only one who was allowed to express himself. It 
	didn’t have to turn out this way. I could’ve helped you. We 
	could’ve helped each other.

			EISENSTEIN
	You are a gobbler, Mr Kimbrough.

			KIMBROUGH
	I'll take that as a compliment.
	
			EISENSTEIN
	I know your kind. I grew up with people like you.

			KIMBROUGH
	Musta been a very good neighborhood.

		(Beat)

			EISENSTEIN
	You think you know about suffering because you are 
	educated, because you have an appetite for life. It is not 
	enough. To create you must have the courage to see 
	through the lies men tell to make their lives more bearable. 
	It has nothing to do with position. To create, one must
	be prepared to lose everything.
	
			KIMBROUGH
	Nobody loves a loser, Mr Eisenstein.

			EISENSTEIN
	We have everything, and still it is not enough.

			KIMBROUGH
	Nobody ever took me seriously, ‘specially good ol' U.S. 
	Hell, I knew what he thought, him bein' a socialist an’ all. 
	Th’ only reason I was involved was because Mary felt 
	sorry for me. But I'm better than that. I'm not stupid. An’ 
	Mr Sinclair, well, he wasn't exactly invulnerable.
			
			EISENSTEIN
	Not with you around.

			KIMBROUGH
	Now, now. Let's be fair. Credit where credit's due. I couldn't 
	have done it without you.

			EISENSTEIN
	What are you talking about?

			KIMBROUGH
	Those sketches you used to do, locked away in your room 
	on those rainy afternoons at Tetlapayac. You know th’ ones I’m 
	talkin’ about. Those ones with matadors nailed on crosses, an’ 
	giant bulls with huge, angry cocks lookin' like they was dancin’. 
	Hell, there musta been hunnerds of ‘em. ‘Nough to scare th’ 
	pants off any ordinary man - not that I minded you doin’ ‘em 
	none - but Mr Sinclair… well, he’s not like th’ rest of us, bein’ 
	from Baltimore an’ all. Good Lord! Th’ look on his face! I can 
	still see it. They had to ring him up. Told him to get down to 
	Customs an’ explain why he was smugglin’ Mexican pornography 
	into th’ good ol’ U.S. of A. They thought he was crazy when 
	he told ‘em they'd been drawn by a Russian film director. Th’
	more he tried to explain, th’ more unbelievable it got. Took ‘em 
	nearly five hours to question him. I believe they examined each 
	picture, one-by-one.

			EISENSTEIN
	I don’t remember sending Mr Sinclair any pictures.

			KIMBROUGH
	You didn’t. 
		(Beat)
	I did.

			EISENSTEIN
	What!
		
			KIMBROUGH
	Well, it was more of an afterthought, really. I knew you wouldn’t 
	miss ‘em.

			EISENSTEIN
	You stole my drawings?
	
			KIMBROUGH
	Retrieved ‘em… from th’ wastepaper basket. 

			EISENSTEIN
	Why?

			KIMBROUGH
	Mr Sinclair was your only ally. After everything you put him 
	through. I could see he was gonna make Mary do exactly what 
	you wanted, an’ I couldn’t let that happen.

			EISENSTEIN
	You used my drawings to stop th’ film.
		
			KIMBROUGH
	Only to stop Mr Sinclair from sendin’ it. But I never counted 
	on the Customs people gettin’ involved. Y'see, Mr Sinclair
	fancies himself a muckraker with an iron constitution. But 
	when it comes to sex between men an’ animals, well, you know, 
	he’s pretty much th’ same as th’ rest of us. Giant bulls with 
	unnatural erections are downright un-American.

			MARY CRAIG
		(Off-stage)
	Hunter! Hunter, can you hear me?

			EISENSTEIN
	A man who loves his country.

			KIMBROUGH
	Let’s jus’ say I felt possessed of a petty ruthlessness.

			EISENSTEIN
	Who said fascism went out with the Nazis?

			KIMBROUGH
	I did what I had to do.

			EISENSTEIN
	Such patriotism!

			KIMBROUGH
	Not patriotism. Survival.

			EISENSTEIN
	You must feel proud of yourself.

			KIMBROUGH
	I took th’ opportunity when it came along.

			EISENSTEIN
	You hate me that much? What is it? My face? My fame?

			KIMBROUGH
	You don’t understand. This hasn’t got anything to do with you. 
	You were only a means to an end. Ever since I was a little boy, 
	it was “do this, do that”.
		(Mimicking  his sister)
	“Now Hunter, we expect you to behave yourself!”  My sister 
	has a very fine sense of order. Undyingly calculated. An’ my,
	my, how she has thrived. Such prosperity. Oh, she’d condescend 
	to try an’ help me from time to time, send me down to Mexico, 
	toss th’ dog a bone, that sort o’ thing. But only when advantageous
	to her own plans. She couldn't bring herself to tell me about our 
	mother’s death for fear I might show up at th’ funeral, drunk. 
	Always 	worried I might offend her precious friends. Mary, th’ 
	benevolent. Mary, th’ righteous. I wasn't never good enough for 
	her. Mary Craig’s little brother was a failure from beginnin’ to 
	end. An’ Mary Craig never believed in anything except success. 
	Not until Mexico, that is.

			EISENSTEIN
	You did this to hurt your sister.

			KIMBROUGH
	I gave her a taste of her own medicine, an’ there wasn’t nothin’ 
	she could do about it.
	
			EISENSTEIN
	And for this you ruined my film?

			KIMBROUGH
	Don’t take it personal.  You just wandered into th’ middle 
	of a family argument, that’s all.

			MARY CRAIG
		(Off-stage)
	Hunter Kimbrough, you come along now! Hurry up!

			EISENSTEIN
	You are still a slave to her.

			KIMBROUGH
	We’re all slaves to somethin’.

			EISENSTEIN
	You ruined my life… for spite.

			KIMBROUGH
	You’re th’ one who trusted ‘em.

			EISENSTEIN
	I did nothing wrong.

			KIMBROUGH
	Wrong, right, good, bad. What difference does it make? 
	None of us are gonna get out alive anyway. 

			EISENSTEIN
	Why me?

			KIMBROUGH
	Don’t take it to heart. Hell, you'll prob’ly out-live all of us. 
	Better’n a kick in the head.

		(EISENSTEIN turns away) 
			
		(KIMBROUGH exits)
		
		(EISENSTEIN moves to his bed. HE
		lies down, his back to the door.
		ALEXANDROV, dressed in a dark,
		well-tailored suit - circa 1947 - enters.
		HE carries a folded newspaper. HE
		peers at the quiescent figure, pulls up
		a chair and sits down. HE peruses the
		paper for a moment. EISENSTEIN
		groans and turns over) 

			ALEXANDROV
	Comrade?

			EISENSTEIN
	Have they come?
	
			ALEXANDROV
	Who?

		(EISENSTEIN sits up)

			EISENSTEIN
	Shh! Listen.

		(They listen)

			EISENSTEIN (Continued)
	Who are they, the ones who wait for my death?


			ALEXANDROV
	You are not going to die, Sergei.

			EISENSTEIN
	Stop lying.
		(Beat)
	What are you doing here? I thought you had projects.

			ALEXANDROV
	When I heard you were sick…  I wanted to see you. It has 
	been too long.

			EISENSTEIN
	An interval and the smallest part of an act.

			ALEXANDROV
	How are you feeling?
						
			EISENSTEIN
	Like something dead brought back to life.

			ALEXANDROV
	They say you hardly go out.
	
			EISENSTEIN
	The world comes to me.

			ALEXANDROV
	Eduard tells me you have been writing.

			EISENSTEIN
	Da. The sound of the typewriter reminds my heart to go on 
	beating. I hear you are planning a book.

			ALEXANDROV
	I was hoping you might write the preface.

			EISENSTEIN
	If only I knew then what I know now.

			ALEXANDROV
	You should not worry so much. Comrade Stalin has always 
	liked your work.

			EISENSTEIN
	Especially when he could get his hands on it.

			ALEXANDROV
	One must be open to suggestions. Maybe one day we will not 
	need so much art.

			EISENSTEIN
	And what will we have then?

			ALEXANDROV
	Contentment. Peace. Order.

			EISENSTEIN
	The graveyard. You will come to my funeral, yes?

			ALEXANDROV
	Your funeral is a long way off, my friend.

			EISENSTEIN
	I don't think so.

			ALEXANDROV
	When we were in Mexico you used to say you would not live 
	past fifty.

			EISENSTEIN
	I was fifty two weeks ago. But one must not gloat prematurely. 
	In six months, if I am still kicking, then we will gloat.

		(ALEXANDROV pats EISENSTEIN
		on the knee)

			ALEXANDROV
	I am pleased to see you.

			EISENSTEIN
	You look well.

			ALEXANDROV
	Life is good. Since the medal.

			EISENSTEIN
	You deserved it.

			ALEXANDROV
	We both did. We survive.

			EISENSTEIN
	You mean, we escaped. Temporarily.
		(Pause)
	How did we manage that, Grisha?

			ALEXANDROV
	Escape?
			
			EISENSTEIN
	When one is not busy making propaganda, one has time 
	to think.

			ALEXANDROV
	One can think too much. Ideas are not everything.
	
			EISENSTEIN
	You and me, Grisha, we are very different. And yet… neither 
	one of us was taken. All the others - Nielsen, Meyerhold, 
	Mandelstam, Tretyakov, Pilnyak - gone, all gone. But not you. 
	Not me.
		(Beat)
	Sometimes, just lately, I almost wish the Checka would break 
	down the door.

			ALEXANDROV
	You have nothing to fear, Sergei. You have proven yourself. 
	The State has embraced you.

			EISENSTEIN
	Despite Mexico.

			ALEXANDROV
	Mexico was a long time ago.

			EISENSTEIN
	It changed my life. It changed everything.
		(Beat)
	Why were we spared?

			ALEXANDROV
	There was much to fear in those days. Things are different 
	now.

			EISENSTEIN
	Ya. Now we make musical comedies.

			ALEXANDROV
	Isn’t that what the Revolution was for - to throw out the 
	tyrants, 	to make a better life, to ennoble the struggle?

			EISENSTEIN
	Ah yes! Once, everything was clear. The peasants had 
	their land. The teachers had their schools. The workers, 
	their factories. Men were brothers and everything was 
	possible. Tomorrow the entire world would rally behind 
	us. One could feel it. And then… and then there was 
	Mexico.
		(Beat)
	I stayed away too long, Grisha. Too long. I thought I was 
	coming back to the Revolution… but by the time I got back…
	the Revolution was gone.

			ALEXANDROV
	The Revolution is still here, comrade.

			EISENSTEIN
	No. Before 1930, we had poetry. After 1930, only prose.

			ALEXANDROV
	Maybe you changed.
	
			EISENSTEIN
	You make it sound like a criticism.

			ALEXANDROV
	You were not like the rest of us. You became famous too 
	quickly. You made enemies.

			EISENSTEIN
	Because I was famous?

			ALEXANDROV
	You pushed everyone away. After Mexico, no one could get 
	close to you.

			EISENSTEIN
	I was there when you needed me.

			ALEXANDROV
	You spent more time with your books than you did with your 
	friends.

			EISENSTEIN
	I had work to do.

			ALEXANDROV
	It was not enough, simply to serve the needs of the State?

			EISENSTEIN
	The State has been served. If there has been some lack of 
	service, 	then look to them - the ones who make decisions. 
	They took everything - for eleven years. Eleven years, comrade. 
	They would not let me complete one film.

			ALEXANDROV
	But you came back. They took you back.
		
			EISENSTEIN
	Dragging my pride. Yes. Redemption. Adulation. Stagnation.

			ALEXANDROV
	They forgave you. Now we must go forward. To become 
	stronger…  to progress.

			EISENSTEIN
	My dear, Grisha, there is no such thing as progress. The Russian 
	people are merely passing from one medieval period to another.

		(A loud knock on the door.
		EISENSTEIN stiffens)

			EISENSTEIN (Continued)
	It’s okay. I am ready for them. Perhaps they have come for both 
	of us.

			ALEXANDROV
	Who?

			EISENSTEIN
	One cannot go on forever. Better to die than go on pretending. 

			ALEXANDROV
	What are you talking about?

			EISENSTEIN
	I almost envy Mayakovsky.

			ALEXANDROV
	Mayakovsky is dead.

			EISENSTEIN
	At least he had the courage to be what he was.

			ALEXANDROV
	Before he lost his nerve.

			EISENSTEIN
	Maybe he could see what was coming.
		
			ALEXANDROV
	There is no need to make him into a god. It is better to serve 
	the living than make idols of the dead.

			EISENSTEIN
	I don’t believe in gods.

			ALEXANDROV
	Only mystery.

			EISENSTEIN
	He had principles.

			ALEXANDROV
	Vladamir was no better than you or me. Maybe worse.

			EISENSTEIN
	You don’t know what you're talking about.

			ALEXANDROV
	You are the one who does not know. You with your ideas 
	and books and research. You never needed the world we were 
	making. The world inside your head was more than enough. 
	But knowledge is not everything, comrade. One can burst 
	from too much knowledge.

			EISENSTEIN
	Why do you attack me, Grisha?

			ALEXANDROV
	What do you think? That Mayakovsky was a great poet? A 
	prophet? A visionary? Oh yes, yes my friend, he was all of 
	those and more. But he also knew his duty. And he was only 
	too happy to serve the party, watching, listening, keeping his 
	ears open. When it was names that were needed, Vladimir 
	supplied them, straight to Dzerzhinsky. Who knows how 
	many traitors he committed to the hangman? He did what he 
	had to do. But to say he had courage - I don't think so. A 
	man who has courage and believes in what he is doing would 
	never have killed himself. The day he took his life, he set 
	himself above the party.

			EISENSTEIN
	Is that what they say now? Is that what you believe? An artist 
	does not inform on his compatriots. An artist would never do 
	that.
				
			ALEXANDROV
	An artist is capable of many things.

			EISENSTEIN
	Not that!

			ALEXANDROV
	And if it helps to save them? Do you think Stalin let you come 
	back to Russia and teach because he approved of what you had 
	done in Mexico?

			EISENSTEIN
	I was never disloyal.

			ALEXANDROV
	We were gone for two and a half years!

			EISENSTEIN
	So what!

			ALEXANDROV
	You think you have some special privilege because you can 
	write and talk and create and go to Hollywood? The artist is 
	down with the people, comrade. His 	breath is their breath; 
	his blood, their blood.

			EISENSTEIN
	I know about the blood, Grisha.

			ALEXANDROV
	We have no life apart from the State.

			EISENSTEIN
	And what about the contradictions? To which experts do 
	we apply to understand the contradictions?

			ALEXANDROV
	You ask too many questions.

			EISENSTEIN
	He accused me of being a traitor.

			ALEXANDROV
	Stop exaggerating.

			EISENSTEIN
	Why didn’t Stalin have me shot?

			ALEXANDROV
	You were not like the others.

			EISENSTEIN
	He had people killed for less.

			ALEXANDROV
	Your films were a joy to him.

			EISENSTEIN
	Did he really believe I was going to defect?

			ALEXANDROV
	Of course not.

			EISENSTEIN
	You mean he trusted me.
							
			ALEXANDROV
	Well…

			EISENSTEIN
	Why wasn’t I shot, Grisha?

			ALEXANDROV
	There was no need.

			EISENSTEIN
	Why not?

			ALEXANDROV
	Why should he? He knew what was going on.

			EISENSTEIN
	What? How? How did he know?

			ALEXANDROV
	I told him.
		(Beat)
	I was looking after you. One can serve one's country and still 
	be a friend.

			EISENSTEIN
	You reported on me?

			ALEXANDROV
	I was protecting you.

		(A SIGNIFICANT PAUSE)

			EISENSTEIN
	So… so this is what we have come to.

			ALEXANDROV
	It got you back to Russia.

			EISENSTEIN
	And we thought we were robbing the robbers.
		(Beat)
	You are a coward, Grigori.

			ALEXANDROV
	You should know.

			EISENSTEIN
	I never said anything against you or anyone.

			ALEXANDROV
        You never said anything at all. Where were you during the 
        purges? Towing the line, the same as any one who was smart 
        enough to look after his own skin.

			EISENSTEIN
	I kept my mind free!

			ALEXANDROV
	While you went on following instructions.

			EISENSTEIN
	Where is the glory?

			ALEXANDROV
	You got what you wanted.

			EISENSTEIN
	Betrayal?

			ALEXANDROV
	Security.

			EISENSTEIN
 	As if one could find safety in darkness.

			ALEXANDROV
	The darkness is in your own mind, my friend.

			EISENSTEIN
	You are not my friend, Grigori. Let  us not deceive ourselves.

			ALEXANDROV
	You are the one who hides from the truth.

			EISENSTEIN
	It would have been better if I had died.

			ALEXANDROV
	A dead man is of no use to anyone.

		(The sound of knocking…
		EISENSTEIN takes hold of 
		the skeleton's hand, presses
		his ear to the rib-cage as if
		listening for a heartbeat)

			EISENSTEIN
	Oh yes. A dead man has many uses.

		(ALEXANDROV backs away, 
		consumed by shadows)

		(EISENSTEIN releases the 
		skeleton's hand, and moves 
		to the wastepaper basket. 
		HE rummages through the 
		discarded paper. CHABELA 
		appears in the doorway. 
		SHE watches for a moment)

			CHABELA
	Is there something you have lost, senor?

		(EISENSTEIN looks up)
		
			EISENSTEIN
	Chabela!

			CHABELA
	Sometimes the eyes can play tricks.

			EISENSTEIN
	Yes, the eyes. It must be the eyes.


			CHABELA
	Here, let me help you.
		
			EISENSTEIN
		(Grabbing hold of her wrist)
	No! It is nothing.

		(Sound of knocking)	

			CHABELA
	Is something wrong, senor?

			EISENSTEIN
	Listen. 	Can you hear it?

			CHABELA
	What?

			EISENSTEIN
	Knocking. Someone knocking.

			CHABELA
	Knocking?

		(HE releases her wrist)

			EISENSTEIN
	Maybe it's the pipes. The pipes do not work so well in 
	winter.

			CHABELA
	It is very cold, senor.

			EISENSTEIN
	Hmmm. Too cold. 

			CHABELA
	Are you all right? You look tired.
				
			EISENSTEIN
	Tired?

			CHABELA
	You do not look like you have been sleeping.

			EISENSTEIN
	No. No sleep.

			CHABELA
	If you would like me to leave…

			EISENSTEIN
	No! Please…  stay.  I…  I don't want to be alone.

			CHABELA
	We waited, but you did not come.

			EISENSTEIN
	They lied to me, Chabela. They all lied to me.

			CHABELA
	I know.

			EISENSTEIN
	It was not meant to be like this.

			CHABELA
	What did you expect, senor?

			EISENSTEIN
	Loyalty. Trust.

			CHABELA
	Something to die for.

			EISENSTEIN
	Something to make the dying less painful.

			CHABELA
	We missed you.

			EISENSTEIN
	You are kind, Chabela.

			CHABELA
	You  made many friends in Mexico. There are some who
	look for you. “There, he is coming!” they say, pointing to 
	a gringo in a white shirt. You were not like the others. 

			EISENSTEIN
	Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can see everything as 
	if I were still there - the stones, the sky, the yellow dust that 
	runs into the marketplace before the thunder. The times I 
	dreamed of waking up, finding myself restored, returned. 
	It doesn't seem possible to be so far away. In Mexico, they 
	accepted me… you accepted me. 

			CHABELA
	You accepted yourself, maestro.

			EISENSTEIN
	A bourgeois boy from Riga. A clown. A Jew. How far we 
	come… how little we change.

			CHABELA
	A man is many things, senor. Perhaps you found the part of 
	yourself that is Mexican.

			EISENSTEIN
	I never should have left.

			CHABELA
	You were afraid. The world - it was too much with you. 
	You believed you could change it. As if one can choose.

			EISENSTEIN
	I could have chosen to stay.

			CHABELA
	With more than half the world behind your back? One hardly 
	knows what one chooses.

			EISENSTEIN
	Once we were revolutionaries. Now we are only lazy priests.

			CHABELA
	It is easy to pretend, senor. Sometimes we pretend so hard 
	we forget what we are. And the ones who forget…  they 
	will believe anything. So they struggle to be rich when
	all they really want is not to die; or they kill and torture, 
	believing it is a path to God. We think it is love we give to 
	our children. No, maestro, it is only the fear we are trying 
	to hide.
				
			EISENSTEIN
	A man must have principles.

			CHABELA
	Principles? What do we know of principles? It is only 
	when the principles become confused that we can see what 
	we are.

			EISENSTEIN
	The great confusion.

			CHABELA
	It is the masks that confuse us, senor.

			EISENSTEIN
	Then we must take off our masks.

			CHABELA
	If only it were possible. But no. We live our lives disguised 
	to ourselves, hoping to stop others from seeing what we are, 
	to stop them from laughing at us, or worse - locking us away. 
	We do it to ourselves out of ignorance, out of guilt…  as if 
	it was our duty to live our life the way someone else would 
	have us live it. But to live like this is a lie, the biggest lie. 
	Unless you can find someone who is prepared to die your 
	own death, then it is better to live your own life.

			EISENSTEIN
	It was not I who pretended.

			CHABELA
	Each of us makes his own world. It is not such a bad thing… to 
	see one's own treachery. It is the work of a lifetime.
	
			EISENSTEIN
	The treachery I see is the work of others. Treachery and lies. 
	People I trusted.

			CHABELA
	It is yourself you do not trust.

			EISENSTEIN
	Do I look like a man who has something on his conscience?

			CHABELA
	Sometimes something can be right in front of us, and we do 
	not see it. It is like the bullfight, senor.

			EISENSTEIN
	I have watched many bullfights, Chabela.

			CHABELA
	And what do you see when you watch?

			EISENSTEIN
	Courage. I see courage. And pride. To make a shape in the 
	face of death, to stare without fear into the heart of nothingness. 
	The matador - the way he turns his back, without so much as a 
	sideways glance. If only! Where I come from, to laugh at death… 
	it is the beginning of the end.

			CHABELA
	And the bull? What of the bull? 

			EISENSTEIN
	Yes. The bull. Without the bull, the matador is nothing.

			CHABELA
	We are the bull, senor. Each of us. He does what we do,
	blindly, 	without thinking. So much anger and pain over a 
	piece of cloth. To charge again and again, to go on repeating 
	himself out of fear and revenge. But if he could see… if all 
	at once he understood that by the smallest of turns he could 
	rid himself of his tormentor… Sometimes it can happen. 
	The perfect balance between beast and man. And then the 
	bull is indultado. Spared. It is the cause of much rejoicing – 
	to know that escape is possible. But mostly, the bull, 
	like the man, attacks the shadow. The shadow is what we
	understand.

			EISENSTEIN
	It is always more noble to fight than to surrender.

			CHABELA
	Each man has his devils, senor. We like mystery too much. 
	But I do not think nobility will save us.

			EISENSTEIN
	Do not try to construct a religion for me, Chabela.

			CHABELA
	No. You already have one.

			EISENSTEIN
	At least I do not bow down at the altar of ambition and revenge.

			CHABELA
	It is the idols behind the altars that we worship, senor. The 
	memories. 

			EISENSTEIN
	Life without memory is impossible. Life is memory. Without 
	memory there is nothing.

		(DON VENUS emerges from the 
		shadows. HE carries a small, square
		piece of tin - a retablo - upon which
		is painted a scene depicting a man
		stepping off a cliff)		
	
			DON VENUS
	There are many cures… if one takes time to look. But do not
	deceive yourself hombre… however much you fix up hell it is
	still hell. Better to wash the feet of the dead and drink the 
	water. It will drive out the sadness… for a week.

			EISENSTEIN
	You are alive!

			DON VENUS
	A memory. The source of all our cruelty. There is no rest. 
	And so I bring you a miracle. Here.
		(Holds out the retablo)
	You see the man? He is on…  how do you say?

			EISENSTEIN
	Precipice.

			DON VENUS
	Si, senor.  Press-piss. He is blind.

			EISENSTEIN
	Then he will fall.
	
			DON VENUS
	Not this one. This one… he does not believe in the cliff. He
	steps beyond himself, past even Chichen Itza. You remember 
	Chichen Itza, senor?

			EISENSTEIN
	I remember.

			DON VENUS
	All night you watched the stars. "The city of the sacred well." 
	A place of death. And birth.

			EISENSTEIN
	It was to be the beginning of my movie.

			DON VENUS
	If poetry had been gold, the conquistadors would have come 
	to know the truth of the sacred name. The secret language of 
	the Maya. Not even you knew its true meaning.

			EISENSTEIN
	A man cannot know everything.

			DON VENUS
	One does not have to know. What we are is what we behold; 
	and what we behold, we are.

			EISENSTEIN
	I behold life. Life! And still I die. 
				
			DON VENUS
	Memory is also death, senor. It takes us to where we are 
	not. Like Chichen Itza.
		(Beat)
	Look!  We breathe the same air. We walk the same earth. 
	We argue. We worry. We die. We - the "itza" - Chabela, you, 
	me… all people, senor, they are the "itza":  the Mayan name 
	for people. But "chichen"… there is no one word for "chichen". 
	How to explain?  It is like… if you begin to do something you 
	like doing very much, and if you have to go away and leave it 
	behind… and if you are always trying to come back, always 
	wanting very much to finish what you started… this is 
	"chichen". Chichen Itza: a place of sacrifice.	

			EISENSTEIN
	You paint my own death.

			DON VENUS
	It is not death, senor.

			EISENSTEIN
	Stop tormenting me.

			CHABELA
	It was you who called for us.

			EISENSTEIN
	You can see him?

			DON VENUS
	A miracle.

			EISENSTEIN
	No!  There are no miracles. There is no time for miracles.

			DON VENUS
	Miracles do not happen in time, old man.

			EISENSTEIN
	Without my memories I am nothing! A man who steps off a 
	cliff! I am sure I do not know him. If I die, I die. If I live, I live.
	I cannot forget who I am, or what I have done, or what has 
	been done to me. I know what I know.

			CHABELA
	And what do you know?	

		(Pause)

			DON VENUS
	To look without knowing - this is the miracle.
		
		(EISENSTEIN turns away. CHABELA
		comes closer)

			CHABELA
	We waited. You never came.

			EISENSTEIN
	What?

			CHABELA
	You said you would speak for him…  for Senor Balderas.

		(EISENSTEIN turns to CHABELA)

			CHABELA (Continued)
	You were his witness. The only one they would listen to. We 
	waited. Through spring, through summer. . . even after the ice 
	had cracked the leaves. He said you would come, that you 
	would not forget. He said you were one of us. 

			EISENSTEIN
	My god, Chabela… I had to defend myself. They were saying 
	I was a traitor. They were going to kill me.

			CHABELA
	He was innocent, senor.

			EISENSTEIN
	So was I! What do you think? That I had no reason for what 
	I did? What did you expect?

			CHABELA
	Nothing.

			EISENSTEIN
	A man can be afraid, Chabela. That does not mean he has no 
	heart.

			DON VENUS
	Sometimes it is better to lose everything.

			EISENSTEIN
	The Revolution…  it made an artist out of me. How could 
	I turn my back on that?

			DON VENUS
	Unless you can let it go, senor, it will be of no use to you.

			EISENSTEIN
	I can't let go.

			DON VENUS
	Then you betray yourself.

		(Pause)

			EISENSTEIN
	What became of him? 

			CHABELA
	He was tried.

			EISENSTEIN
	Yes.

			CHABELA
	And then they sent him to prison.
		

			EISENSTEIN
	For how long?

			CHABELA
	What difference does it make?

			EISENSTEIN
	Tell me, Chabela.

			CHABELA
	Four days. He was in prison four days when they found 
	him. He had hung himself. 

		(EISENSTEIN turns to
		CHABELA. SHE looks 
		away. DON VENUS comes 
		forward)

			DON VENUS
	You do not look so good, senor.

			EISENSTEIN
	What have I done?

			DON VENUS
	What did you wish to do?

			EISENSTEIN
	I gave my word.
	
			DON VENUS
	To damn yourself for what might have been - it is vanity,
	senor.
				
			EISENSTEIN
	Nothing went right after the girl died.

			DON VENUS
	And now?

			EISENSTEIN
	Now I shall take death as my friend.

			DON VENUS
	And how will you die, senor?

			EISENSTEIN
	You mean when.

			DON VENUS
	No, senor. Cuando no es muy importante. “When” - it is  
	whatever the gods decree. One talks of birth if one talks of 
	when. But death. . . death is always how. One can die well, 
	or one can die badly.

			EISENSTEIN
	The future haunts me, and the past won't go away.

			DON VENUS
	Each man finds the death he is looking for.

			CHABELA
	Do not be frightened, senor.

			EISENSTEIN
	Sometimes I feel like two different people. Two, completely 
	different people trapped inside one body. The old and the new.
		(Turning to DON VENUS)
	How many heads? How many heads will we have to chop off 
	before we can call ourselves happy?

			DON VENUS
	The world suffers, senor. It is its nature.

		(Pause)

			EISENSTEIN
	When I was eleven, I came home from school… it was late…
	as soon as I stepped inside the house, I knew something was 
	wrong. The place had been stripped bare, as if no one lived 
        there. Mother had waited until I was at school. She took everything...
        except for the piano and two beds. My nurse, 
        Totya, tried to comfort me. Totya.
		(Beat)
	Part of me was glad. At least there would be no more fights. 
	But to end like that… without telling me… I can still hear 
	him - my father - pounding on the piano in the middle of
	the night. I hated her. And then I hated myself. And now… 
	now I find I have done something even worse to my friend.

			DON VENUS
	Who can say?

			EISENSTEIN
	There is no justice.

			DON VENUS
	A peasant is not made for justice, mi amigo.

			EISENSTEIN
	Then I am surely a peasant.

			DON VENUS
	In the face of death, we are all peasants.

			EISENSTEIN
	In the face of death, I want only to live.

			DON VENUS
	It is the wanting that will kill you.

			EISENSTEIN
	And what do you want, old man?

			DON VENUS
	Nothing, senor.

			EISENSTEIN
	But you must believe in something.

		(DON VENUS places his hand 
		under the skeleton's chin)

			DON VENUS
	Believe in this: as we are now, so once was he. And as he is 
	now, so we will be. We are the children of illusion, senor.
				
			EISENSTEIN
	Would that I could take this night from my eyes. How 
	could I have been so wrong?

			CHABELA
	There is no blame, maestro.

			EISENSTEIN
	I am dying.

			DON VENUS
	Si.

		(EISENSTEIN moves to his 
		bed. HE sits motionless, eyes 
		fixed on a point midway between 
		himself and the audience)

			DON VENUS (Continued)	
	Los que sufren tienen la gracia de Dios. Los que desean 
	estan bien deberian ser fortale eidos con los penas y el 
	dolor.  ("Those who suffer have the grace of God. Those 
	who desire to be well, should be strengthened by sorrows 
	and pain.")  I come!
		
		(DON VENUS exits)


		(CHABELA pauses, then quickly 
		exits)

		(EISENSTEIN rises and moves 
		downstage. TISSE enters. HE 
		wears a grey overcoat. A long 
		scarf wrapped round 	his neck)

		TISSE
Comrade… I have been knocking. Are you all right?

		(EISENSTEIN peers at audience)

			EISENSTEIN
	What happened, Eduard? What happened to us? Once, 
	we had belief. We were the creators. We were young…
	foolish…  but the idea, the idea was not altogether wrong – 
	that somehow we could step out of ourselves and make 
	something that had never been made before: a whole 
	society of men and women speaking with one heart. 
	It was not such a bad dream, Eduard.

			TISSE
	It was a good dream, Sergei. But there are many 
	dreams. Why can't you just accept what you are?

			EISENSTEIN
	Because I am lost.

			TISSE
	Then you must find your own path and stay on it.

			EISENSTEIN
	There is no path, my friend. Strange. They kept telling me 
	to finish the film, and now I think, maybe, the film will 
	finish me.
		(Pause)	
	For a moment, I thought I was surrounded by cowards.
		(Beat)
	I am the coward.

			TISSE
	You should not be up like this, Sergei. It is cold. Let 
	me help you into bed.
			
			EISENSTEIN
	We talk of the new man. The pinnacle of the People's 
	Revolution. Here, let me be an example. The tag end of 
	a dead class. The half-new man!
		(Beat)
	We are like the matriushka doll. Each part hiding inside 
	another. Surprising, how many there are, one inside the 
	other. Except with the matriushka, one finally comes to 
	the last doll. I don't think it is like this with the human 
	being, Eduard.
		(EISENSTEIN turns and moves to
		his bed. HE takes SINCLAIR'S letter
		from his pocket, looks at it for the 
		last time, then tears it up, dropping
		the pieces into the waste basket by
		his bed)
	What time is it?

			TISSE
	After eight.

			EISENSTEIN
	Is it snowing?

			TISSE
	Not now.

			EISENSTEIN
	I don't mind the snow.

			TISSE 
	So long as one is warm.
				
			EISENSTEIN
	Once, in Mexico, you told me that what we were doing 
	was dangerous.

			TISSE
	We have said many things to each other, comrade.

			EISENSTEIN
	I asked you why, and you said… because we think the 
	truth is something that can be told. Do you remember?
				
			TISSE
	I remember.

			EISENSTEIN
	Now I understand what you meant. We must wait. Ideas 
	cannot be planted… only feelings… and, for the moment, 
	the feelings are bewildered.
		(EISENSTEIN gets into bed)

		(TISSE pulls up the blankets,
		takes EISENSTEIN's hand)

			TISSE
	How do you feel?

			EISENSTEIN
	Like a dead idol.

			TISSE
	Rest, my friend.

			EISENSTEIN
	Ya. The art of placing the full-stop… this is a very great art. 
	So many contradictions, Eduard… so many contradictions.
		(TISSE brushes the hair from 
		EISENSTEIN's forehead. The 
		head falls to one side. A moment.
		TISSE turns away. HE moves 
		to the door, looks back at his 
		friend, and switches off the light.
		Stage lights out. TISSE exits)

		(Several black'n'white images -
		stills from the unfinished film -
		appear one after the other on the 
		wall over the bed. The final, two 
		shots show, in succession, a skull 
		mask, and then the smiling face 
		of a young Indian boy behind the 
		mask. Image out. BLACKOUT) 


			END ACT 2