The Anarchist (10 page)

CATHY
: Isn't it true?

ANN
: No.
(Pause)
I've moved your cell. And have removed: your book. Your manuscript, and all of your drafts and notes. I want the location of your accomplice. And unless you give it to me, I'm going to burn the lot.

(Pause.)

CATHY
: Do you fear me that much?

ANN
: Yes, I do.

CATHY
: Why?

ANN
: Because you killed.

CATHY
: Your successor will set me free. That's she, isn't it? In the outer office.

ANN
: She will set you free because?

CATHY
: Because she's
young
, because she's new, because she's stupid. And believes in the perfectibility of man. Against all evidence. She will read my book, and be moved by it. As will anyone. Who reads it.

ANN
: Because?

CATHY
: Because it reassures the frightened their passivity will keep them safe.

ANN
: You didn't hear me. I'm going to have it destroyed.

CATHY
: I. Will. Walk. Out of this office. Right now. Into hers. And tell her of your threat. And file a
complaint
, against you. Which must be heard; and the State will be debarred by law, from destruction of my property. In
fact
. They will be forced to review it—which is to say
read
it. And will be “moved” by it. Don't you see. All of your notions. All come down. To the willingness. Or the refusal to use force.

ANN
: In service of “Historical Necessity”?

CATHY
: Marx was a fool. And he was a Jew: No less a parasite than those he indicted, “writing.”

ANN
: Words have no power?

CATHY
: “only to misdirect . . .”

ANN
: As in your book.

CATHY
: “. . . by what universal test do we know power?”

ANN
: It comes from a gun?

CATHY
: How else have you held me here? Through “natural right”? Through “a consensus of the governed”? People with guns were
paid
to keep me here. As someone Feared me.

ANN
: . . . they feared your ideas.

CATHY
: Ideas more vicious and violent than mine are entertained every day, in the minds of the most peaceful people on Earth. Doctrines more seditious are taught in the schools. They feared
me
.

ANN
: As they should.

CATHY
: That's right. And I'll tell you about your Brave Announcement. That you were interested in our sex.

ANN
: Between Althea and you . . .

CATHY
: People are seduced by the forbidden. The Weak? Are not “terrified” by this or that act of transgression—they're
thrilled
by it.

ANN
: . . . thrilled by it? . . .

CATHY
: What else is a newspaper?
(Pause)
People are killed every day . . .

ANN
: And what are The Weak frightened by?

CATHY
: The dissolution of their country.

ANN
: “The country is dying”?

CATHY
: “Dying bankrupt, and the wastrel children squabbling about the will.”

ANN
: He wrote well.

CATHY
: It's nothing to write well.

ANN
: “He fought well”?

CATHY
: He fought, just as
you
fight. With the weapons at hand. With your guns.

ANN
: Our guns are used to enforce . . .

CATHY
: Laws made by whores, thugs and thieves who bribed their way to office. How many times must you see it?

ANN
: What replaces it?

CATHY
: It's long been replaced.
(Pause)
We were looting an empty house.

ANN
: The Officer was there.

CATHY
: Yes, that's too bad.

ANN
: And you shot him.

CATHY
: He was carrying a gun. He would have done better to use it.

(Ann walks to the conference table and presses a switch on the intercom.)

ANN
(Into the intercom)
: Did you hear that? Have it transcribed. I'll come out now to see Mrs. Anderson.

(She hangs up.)

CATHY
: You have just sentenced me to a life in prison.

ANN
: Yes?

CATHY
: For speaking my mind.

ANN
: Is that what I did?

(Pause.)

CATHY
: Do you believe in mercy? What have you done in your long “service” to the State that was a human act.

ANN
: I've done this.
(Pause)
They'll take you back to your cell.

END

DAVID MAMET
's numerous plays include
Oleanna, Glengarry Glen Ross
(winner of the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics' Circle Award),
American Buffalo, Speed-the-Plow, Boston Marriage, November
and
Race
. He wrote the screenplays for such films as
The Verdict, The Untouchables
and
Wag the Dog
, and has twice been nominated for an Academy Award. He has written and directed ten films, including
Homicide, The Spanish Prisoner, State and Main, House of Games, Spartan
and
Redbelt
. In addition, he wrote the novels
The Village, The Old Religion, Wilson
and many books of nonfiction, including
Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose and Practice of the Movie Business; Theatre; Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama
and the
New York Times
best-seller
The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture
. His HBO film
Phil Spector
, starring Al Pacino and Helen Mirren, will air in 2013. He was co-creator and executive producer of the CBS television show
The Unit
and is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company.