The Last Leaf (after O. Henry)
Characters: Narrator Sue - a young artist Johnsy - her friend also an artist A doctor Old Berman - a painter
Scene 1 The chance to want to live.
Танец, прохожие мило болтая прогуливаются под ручку.
(a studio, a bed, a window, the side of the brick house through thе window)
Narrator: Two young artists named Sue and Johnsy shared a studio apartment at the top of a three-story building. Johnsy's real name was Joanna.
(веселые девушки заходят в комнату)
Сью и Джонси в комнате перед мольбертом.
Sue: What a beautiful picture! You are very talented, Johnsy!
Johnsy: My dream is to paint the Bay of Naples in Italy some day. . (music) танцуют. Убегают
Narrator: That was in May.
( Музыка чумного доктора)
In November, a cold, unseen stranger came to visit the city. This disease, pneumonia, killed many people.
(Чумной доктор касается людей и они медленно уходят со сцены)
(Johnsy lay on her bed, hardly moving. She looked through the small window)
Johnsy: I’m very sick, I’m alone, and autumn outside… I can see only a brick wall overgrown with ivy. And with each passing day leaves thin out on it, the gathering gently down ...
It seems to me then I shall die when … when the last leaf will fly ...
(играет скрипка во время сцены с доктором, пока он осматривает больную)
(The doctor examined Johnsy. (Музыка останавливается и затем диалог на переднем плане сцены) Then he spoke with Sue in another room.)
Doctor: She has one chance in – let us say ten. And that chance is for her to want to live. Your friend has made up her mind that she is not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?
Sue: She – she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples in Italy some day.
Doctor: Paint? Bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking twice – man for example?
Sue: A man? Is a man worth – but, no, doctor; there is nothing of the kind.
Doctor: I will do all that science can do. But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages at her funeral, I take away fifty percent from the curative power of medicine. (Сью провожает доктора, вытирает слезы и напевая возвращается в комнату)
Scene 2 Counting the leaves.
(a room, a window, an old ivy vine)
Narrator: Johnsy lay with her face toward the window. Johnsy`s eyes were open wide. She was looking out of the window and counting – counting backward.
Johnsy: Twelve, eleven, ten, eight and seven (almost together).
(Фоном играет музыка) Сью смотрит в окно.
Sue: What was there to count? An old ivy vine, going bad at the roots, climbing half way up the wall. What is it, dear?
Johnsy: Six. They`re falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It made my head hurt to count them. There goes another one. There are only five left now.
Sue: Five what, dear?
Johnsy: Leaves. On the plant. When the last one falls I must go, too. I`ve known that for three days. Didn`t the doctor tell you?
Sue: Oh, I never heard of such thing. Don`t be silly. The doctor told me this morning that your chances were ten to one!
Johnsy: There goes another one. I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. Then I`ll go, too.
(Танец листьев, к концу танца на стене остаётся один лист.)
Scene 3 Floating away like a leaf.
(Разговор на лестнице)
Narrator: Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor of the apartment building. Behrman was a failure in art, but he was a nice man.
Sue: Good morning Mr. Behrman! How are you?
Mr. Behrman: Morning! I am ok! But it worries me that I haven’t seen Johnsy for three weeks. Is she all right?
Sue: Oh! ( вытирает слезу)She has made up her mind that she is not going to get well. She believes that she will die when the last ivy leaf falls.
Old Behrman: Why do you let that silly business come in her brain?
Sue: She is very sick and the disease has left her mind full of strange ideas.
Old Behrman: Some day I will paint a masterpiece, and we shall all go away.
Музыка фоном ( Художник рисует лист, на переднем плане борется добро и зло.)
Scene 4 The ivy vine leaf.
(a room, a window, an ivy vine leaf)
Narrator: The next morning, Sue awoke after an hour`s sleep. Johnsy was staring at the covered window.
(Сью входит в комнату, расчёсывая волосы.)
Sue: Morning! What a wonderful day today!
Johnsy: Pull up the shade.
(Сью открывает штору.)
Johnsy: It is the last one. I thought it would surely fall during the night. I heard the wind. It will fall today and I shall die at the same time.
Sue: Dear, dear! Think of me, if you won`t think of yourself. What would I do?
Johnsy: I`ve been a bad girl. Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how bad I was. It is wrong to want to die.
( Стук в дверь, входит доктор.)
Sue: Good morning, doctor! It seems to me that I feel better today.
Doctor: Glad to hear that (осматривает девушку)
-With good care, you`ll win. You are out of danger now. (девушки радостно обнимаются)
Джонси провожает доктора, он что - то говорит ей в дверях. Она возвращается и садится на край кровати подруги.
Sue: I have something to tell you. Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia today in the hospital. They could not imagine where he had been on such a terrible night. And then they found a lantern, still lighted, a ladder that had been moved from its place and a painting board with green and yellow colors mixed on it. Look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall, it is Behrman`s masterpiece – he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell.
Музыка (вальс дождя), поклон.
The End
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