Father Figures

ACT I

Scene 1

ANT MILES and STEPH COLE are at a door.  ANT rings the doorbell.

steph:

I have to say this is good of you, you know how I rate him, Peter Offenbach, the great novelist of ideas.  I can't believe you've grown up to become one of his friends
ANT:

yes, there are many perks to being a novelist

STEPH:

successful one at that.  Do you think he would care about you if you were a failure?

ANT:

always the contraian, but you better drop that act, as genuine as it is, today.  I don't want anything to spoil my friendship with Peter

STEPH:

I know my place

ANT:

I'm sure you must have read Richard Park's article about the evil of America.  He really has a chip on his shoulder, but he's your friend, your mentor, what do you think?

STEPH:

he's always held a grudge against America ever since his study, 'Eastern Exercise', of the Middle East but, yes, he has outdone himself.  He's always been a complex person, that's why we get on

The door is answered by PETER OFFENBACH with a newspaper in his hand.

peter:

Ant, very nice to see you, I've just put some coffee on, come in, I believe I've not met your friend

ANT:

you would have heard about him, this is Stephen Cole

PETER:

ah, the polemiscist friend from Oxford, yes I have read a few of your articles.  You're making quite an impression

STEPH:

that's nothing to the impression you've made on me

They shake hands.

PETER:

well it seems on both ends it is a pleasure

They go into the living room.  ANT takes a seat like it's his childhood home.  STEPH takes a look at the bookcase.

PETER:

I'll just go and get it

Exit PETER

STEPH:

well, well, here I am, in Peter Offenbach's living room.  And his prize possessions, his books, look he has a copy of everyone of his books.  There's 'Goldsmith, Retired', 'The Luck' and 'Common Ancestary'.  It's amazing

ANT:

yes, one would like to meet any number of writers, Doestoiesky, Dickens, but to meet a living writer...

STEPH:

particularly one so great

ANT:

...particularly, it is an enormous good fortune of being born at the right time

Enter PETER with a tray full of coffee stuff

PETER:

here we are, what time is it?  Just after five, well, I think I'll find a drop of whiskey, would you care?

ANT:

you know what drinking goes on in our Friday lunches

PETER:

what with Hilton, the critic, and Kensington, the poet?

ANT:

and Steph, the polemicist

PETER goes to the sidedraw to get the whiskey and then puts a drop in each of the cups

PETER:

you too?

STEPH:

yes, been having these Friday lunches since our graduate days.  It's a regular fixture

ANT:

well it was until you left for America

STEPH:

yes

PETER:

how do you like it, may I call you Steph?

STEPH:

(touched)  yes, you may.  Washington I like better than London.  I was bored in London

ANT:

so naturally he's bored with life

STEPH:

that may have been true in Samuel Johnson's day but now in the International world there's always something better in someone else's back yard.  The writers are better too.

PETER:

(laughs) of course

ANT:

now come on, we have J.G. Ballad, Harold Pinter...

STEPH:

yes but America has Gore Vidal, Philip Roth, John Cheever

PETER:

let's not start a fight, but then if you are going to than literature is a perfectly good battleground.  I actually prefer Indian writers, Rabinath Tagore is one of my favourite poets, I take a lot of inspiration from him

STEPH:

yes, I've noticed.  In your 'Garden of Two Swords' there is a lyrical robustness that usually springs from hot countries

PETER:

yes poetry that can do battle

STEPH:

but in 'The Crying Stone' you take a different tack, still concerned with ideas but is fluid in execution

PETER:

yes, my Buddist phase

STEPH:

I can see that you are interested in meditation but, tell me, do you practise it yourself?

PETER:

I have tried, but it is usually unsatisfactory as you have to empty your mind, well I don't want my mind emptied, I want it to be filled with interesting thoughts

ANT:

yes, an empty mind for Peter is a tragedy

PETER:

I read 'Mrs Samson's Lot' recently by the way Ant and I liked it very much, it's very much grounded in the here and now

ANT:

thank you, I tried my best.  I might go into a different direction

STEPH:

he wants to be the next Agatha Cristie, except that you're rooting for the criminal to get away with it

PETER:

you do know how to do the perverse with exactitude

ANT:

it is my forte.  And you, you must be ready to publish a new by now

PETER:

yes, I've nearly finished it, I'm rather pleased, would you care to take a glance at it?

ANT:

why certainly

Exit PETER

STEPH:

you get to see the old master's work before it's published?

ANT:

why yes, Steph, yes I do.  We're good friends, Peter and I, he looks after me well

Enter PETER

PETER:

well here it is

Goes to give it to ANT but stops

PETER:

actually, Steph, would you like to have first look?

STEPH:

first look?  Me?

PETER:

yes, go on

PETER gives the manuscript to STEPH

STEPH:

(reading)  'The Wailing Tenament'

PETER:

yes, have you ever thought of writing a novel Steph?

STEPH:

what?  Me?  No, I'm an essayist, I don't have the musical instinct to allow me to write such sentences as these

PETER:

oh Ant, I was meant to show you an article I found most interesting, it's an anti-American piece by Richard Parks

STEP stops and looks up, frozen with horror.  ANT becomes tense.

PETER:

have you read it?  It's completely mad, Richard has gone entirely off his rocker.  It's so one-sided that it's hard to believe its come from what used to be a respected scholar.  What he used to write was excellent, now it's worse than garbage.  Eh?  (laughs)

STEPH:

he's not mad

PETER:

sorry?

STEPH:

he's not off his rocker and he actually makes some rather good points

PETER:

you have to be joking

ANT:

Steph...

STEPH:

he still is a respected scholar, he's seeing a world in trouble and he's doing something about it.  He's making arguments, causing a stir, getting a debate going, because its badly needed

PETER:

how can you defend him?  Do you know him?

STEPH:

that's not important

PETER:

but it has its place

ANT:

please...

STEPH:

I am capable of developing my own independant thought

ANT:

indeed he often spoils a friendship for the sake of argument

PETER:

and you think he 'makes some good points'?  Does he not see that America creates wonderful culture?

STEPH:

it's the foregin policy that gets him, it's the imposing American culture onto other countries

PETER:

isn't that a good thing?  You said yourself that America has the best literature

STEPH:

doesn't give you polictical authority, even the Nazis listened to Mozart

ANT:

oh God...

PETER:

are you comparing Americans to Nazis?  You, sir, have offened me by such a crude comparision.  I think you should leave

ANT:

oh Peter, that's his job, to offend and he likes to bring his work home

PETER opens the door and ANT and STEPH reluctatnly walk out.  The door closes and PETER exits.

ANT:

did you have to do that?  Did you really?  After what I said?  You were always like this, always bitterly defending your position, you couldn't let it drop or slide you always have to attack, attack, attack!  God, you are infurienating.  To pick an argument with Peter Offenbach of all people.  He said I was pervese but you're an equal match

STEPH:

Richard did not deserve those comments, yes he's spikey but its well placed.  It keeps people from going soft.  I had to defend Richard whose 'Eastern Exercise' is still the classic text on the Middle East, he's just become slightly eccentric but he's no less the razor sharp mind that he always was

ANT:

you will always defend Richard no matter how ridculous his proposals.  It's because you've always looked up to him, you always needed him to hold your hand

STEPH:

at least he is politcally active unlike Peter

ANT:

what about Peter?

STEPH:

he's locked away in his fantasy worlds, he doesn't want to engage with the active world

ANT:

what about 'Mammon Created' wasn't that political?  Not all novelists have to be politcally active, some are dedicated to their art

STEPH:

providing dictators something to boast about

ANT:

oh enough, just enough Steph.  You always take it too far.  Learn when to stop, for God's sake.  Are you going to get a cab?

STEPH:

no I'll walk

STEPH exits, leaving ANT frustrated and exasarbated realeasing a small cry expressing this.