The Great Machine

By Roberto A. Martins

Translated by Juliano Siqueira

Third Act: Scene 1

[Come up the BUFFOONS holding banners or posters saying: "Third Act: Chaos, or the destruction of The Great Machine." ASCLEPIO is in scene; lying exactly on the same position from the end of the second act. But when he gets up, everybody will see that now his appearance is of a 20-year-old. Two of the BUFFOONS who are in scene first look at ASCLEPIO. MARTA enters in silence and checks if ASCLEPIO is alive, then leaves.]

[From this act on ASCLEPIO is no longer playing the PROFESSOR, therefore he must be called by his first name instead of the title PROFESSOR.]

BUFFOON#1: Asclepio slept for nine months.

BUFFOON#2: Asclepio woke on the tenth month, stretched and looked around. [ASCLEPIO rises, awaking.]

BUFFOON#1: And he laughed a bitter laugh like a hyena. [ASCLEPIO laughs.]

BUFFOON#1: After he awoke, Asclepio knew that Anita had already gotten married with the Mechanic.

BUFFOON#2: And Asclepio laughed a bitter laugh like a hyena.

BUFFOON#1: Now on Asclepio’s face the caricature of a laugh was engraved.

BUFFOON#1: A picture of the disgust for himself, for everyone, and for the world.
 
 

Third Act: Scene 2.

[Leave the BUFFOONS; enters the MASTER, aged.]

MASTER: Good day, Professor!

ASCLEPIO: Hi, Master. How is everything around here today?

MASTER: Everything is fine. Since now you are recovered, it will be even better when you start again teaching and working in the Great Machine.

ASCLEPIO: I was hoping you would touch this point; for me there is no more Machine.

MASTER: What? My God, what has happened?

ASCLEPIO: Man, no more fooling around. All of that was a big comedy, and it doesn’t interest me anymore.

 MASTER: I think it would be better to talk about it another day, Sir. ASCLEPIO: Why not now? I feel very well, be sure of that. I’ve never been as lucid as now. I used to be mad, like many still are, but now I am awaken.

MASTER: Doesn't the Machine interest you any more? What is your motivation now? What change of values was this?

ASCLEPIO: Values? Nothing, Master. Nothing is worth anything. Nothing motivates me anymore. From now on I will live with a bare face before the madness that makes this world. We create for ourselves Gods, Myths and Ideals. But nothing is valid, nothing has any sense.

MASTER: Mister Asclepio. We heard you several times defending your believes. I could describe them by heart. The ultimate purpose of mankind is happiness; and you want to help our city to reach that goal. Happiness is reached when life doesn’t present any more problems. And to solve the infinite and immutable problems that surround us, it is necessary to use intelligence. The increase of intelligence will bring happiness. Therefore it is valid and important to construct the machine your group has devised... Just between us, I still think that our problems could be solved if we could get in contact with the other world; but I respect and admire your work.

ASCLEPIO: "Increase knowledge, increase pain…" [Eccl. 1:18] Never heard that? Look, Master, happy are the fools, not the intelligent. "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heavens." [Matthew 5:3]

MASTER: The history of mankind is the history of the evolution of thought and intelligence…

ASCLEPIO: And the evolution of wars, of the exploitation of man, the increase of his capacity of evil doing, and of his selfishness.

MASTER: …freeing himself form his instincts, from his animal necessities, leading to a spiritual life.

ASCLEPIO: Freeing himself? Freeing himself from instincts? No, Master. The instincts and necessities are still here, Maybe in disguise, but still here. What moves us, all of us? It certainly is not reason. We spend many days convincing ourselves that something is valid and good, and then we don’t take an action. We do what our appetite tells us to do. Our egotistical and petty interests, which are nothing more than our instincts in disguise. Why was I interested in the Great Machine? Altruism? No. Vanity, and gregarious instinct. I wanted companionship, as animals also search for a play-partner. Only that.

MASTER: I hope, Sir, you'll at least intend to continue teaching.

ASCLEPIO: Of course I will. Do you know why? Because it gives me pleasure to show that I know more than the students do. Because I like to humiliate them and make them suffer, studying and trembling before the exams. Yes, I will continue to be a professor. But now I will teach the history of mankind. The true story of the evolution of the mistakes and absurdity. I’ll make them see what man really is – this absurd, meaningless machine, although endowed with consciousness, its supreme purpose being to find out its own irrationality. I’ll teach them to despise humankind, as much as the doctors hate us; because they know us. And I'll teach them to despise themselves, and myself, and to hate me; because I hate them and I want to destroy their paradise.

Third Act: Scene 3


 [While ASCLEPIO is talking ANITA enters; she listens to the end of his conversation and understands his disposition.] ANITA: You can destroy everything Asclepio. You can prove we're worth nothing, that we are stupid, and that it is impossible to build the machine. But there was a certain beauty in your old goals, and that doesn’t exist anymore. Your dedication, and your enthusiasm were so beautiful. Now, what is left of you? No, you can’t destroy the past and the beauty we saw.

ASCLEPIO: So what? Does beauty make any difference? It is comforting, but it is more important not to lie to ourselves.

 [They quickly stare at each other. ANITA turns to the MASTER.] ANITA: Master, there are people looking for you. A man from the Other World has just arrived.

MASTER: Don’t you say! It’s been a while we haven't received anything from out there!

ANITA: He is a madman.

MASTER: That’s expected. Nobody crosses the great swamp without going mad. What has he brought?

ANITA: Nothing.

MASTER: Nothing? That has never happened. Nobody comes here, unless he is sent. And whoever is sent here brings some message.

ANITA: He brought nothing.

MASTER: Tell them to bring him here please. [ANITA leaves. The MASTER talks to ASCLEPIO.] This is strange, isn’t it?

ASCLEPIO: Somebody's got lost and ended up here.

MASTER: Yes, that could be true. But I don’t like it. It has never happened before.

ASCLEPIO: Now it has. It bothers us to have a break in our habits, doesn’t it? But the world doesn’t care if that bothers us. It is here; it does whatever it wants.

MASTER: Look: he's arrived. Get closer!

Third Act: Scene 4

 [ROMULO enters.] MASTER: Looks like he hasn’t brought anything. Tell me, have you brought anything to us? Any message from the other world?

ROMULO: I brought everything you need.

MASTER: Then, where is it?

ROMULO: Here. [He doesn’t move.]

MASTER: [Approaching and searching ROMULO.] No… nothing here. They must have already searched him. He is an idiot.

ASCLEPIO: You are much more clean than any other who has arrived here. Where did you come from?

ROMULO: From the street.

MASTER: No, you idiot. Before that, where were you?

ROMULO: In another street.

MASTER: It is useless. Let’s put him together with the others.

ASCLEPIO: Is there still room for one more in the asylum?

MASTER: Well… The old asylum collapsed three months ago due to rain. The madmen are temporarily relocated to a room in the museum.

ASCLEPIO: In the museum! Aren’t they going to destroy everything?

MASTER: There is no danger. They are occupying rooms that are almost empty. There, only the old pieces of the Great Machine were left. The pieces were already completely studied and reproduced – they can be destroyed without any serious consequences.

ASCLEPIO: I’d like to look at the machine again.

MASTER: There is not much to see. It’s all rusted and worn out.

ASCLEPIO: Rusted, broken… it doesn’t matter. Isn’t everything else like that too? Under a clean look, everything is rotten. Under a smooth coat, the guts are disarranged. At least I will be able to see something authentic: something really dirty and worn, that nobody tries to occult. Here is beauty: in the courage of exhibiting ugliness. Because we all are ugly, horrible beings. Tell me, Master, have you ever carefully observed a naked man? Is there something uglier than his sexual organs? I doubt there is something more disgusting. But we all have them, right? We’re all the same, here! It would be better to expose this ugliness, then hiding it.

MASTER: Mister Asclepio, I will go away. It would be better for you to take some rest…

ASCLEPIO: Are you shocked? It doesn’t matter. Shall we go to the museum and take this new citizen?

MASTER: Another day. In another day. Now I must go. Take care of yourself Sir…

Third Act: Scene 5

 [The MASTER and ROMULO leave. ASCLEPIO stays alone, turns to the audience and mocks.] ASCLEPIO: I'm too aggressive, ain’t I? I am annoying everyone, so what? They also annoy me. With their mediocrity and hypocrisy. Do you know the story of the wolf who dressed in a lamb skin? That’s it: some have forgotten they were wolves when they looked at their images on the water. And then, after a while, when a new wolf with a lamb skin joined the herd, he found out that the rest of them were just like him. Everyone hides from themselves what they really are. Some of them don’t even know what they are.

You over there, you also annoy me. People from my village! You are a bunch of idiots, that’s what I think. Lucky I am here on the stage, and you in the audience. I can say whatever I think, and you are paying me to insultyou. If we were face to face, on the street, do you think I could say that? Here I can. Idiots! I know none of you will come up on the stage to confront me. Neither are you going to get offended and leave. Because this is just a play, isn't it? Since all I am saying is in the text approved by the censorship, whoever assaults me will be arrested. Therefore I can call you idiots. For you what matters are the papers, the documents form the censors, right? You don’t care if I really intend to offend you. You could explain it very simply: "They offended us but just as a joke." Right, idiots! This is for real!

What are you? You are shells. You are just pretty paper wraps, appearances carefully constructed and maintained. Masks. The clothes to hide the disgusting body. The make up on the face to hide the wrinkles, holes and blemishes. The hair dye. The fake eye lashes. The theatre, to create a cultural shell and to hide the emptiness of the human beings. Why are you sitting there instead of doing something productive? You are passive. What really matters is to sit properly, with an intelligent look, being careful not to yawn, to belch, not even to fart, not letting the air to escape from any extremity, so that nobody will notice that inside yourself are rotting, in fermentation and full of soda.

And what do I think about me? Another piece of crap. I use this actor shell to insult you. I also have my guts full of decomposing food and shit. And urine. And I am sweaty and stinky. Does anybody want to smell me? No? You just want to watch me and to listen to me, from a fair distance, right? It’s a lot more hygienic, more civilized. Who wants to lick me and touch me? Anybody? So, there is nothing better to do except to continue the play. Otherwise it would be improper, right? If I stop acting now and leave, what would you think? Modern? Avant-garde? Foolishness?

Look, I think we already have your money. We could stop now. But then the story will not conclude, right? Is your life concluded? Does your life make more sense then what we have shown you? If it did, you wouldn’t be here, trying to forget about your life for a while. You want the play to make some sense, to have a purpose to fill the nothingness in you, to complete the incomplete story that each of you must live.

All right. I will continue. Because I think you are so despising that you deserve what you wish.

Where did we stop? Oh, I wanted to go to the museum, and the Master didn’t want to take me. I waited for a few days and went by myself. Here I come. [Walks through the stage] I've arrived.

Third Act: Scene 6

[ANA, NELSON, ROMULO and the other Madmen show up.]

ASCLEPIO: Look, there are the madmen.

 [The Madmen are not standing still; they are on continuos action, similar to rituals, which adapt to the following text of ASCLEPIO. However, although ASCLEPIO is describing everything they are doing as negative, there must be something of beautiful and strange about the Madmen. The four boxes of the Great Machine are in scene.] ASCLEPIO: [Continuing.] Do you think there is anything interesting here to see? No, there is nothing. The madmen are boring and charmless people, just like us. They repeat monotonous actions during long periods of time. Like you, when practicing your habit of reading the paper or watching TV. It is monotonous. Always the same emotions. Or when you masturbate; a monotonous action. The rhythmic motions are very common, among them and among us. Music and dance have their origins there, from the same source of the act of suckling.

The madmen also enjoy very much to drool and put things in their mouths. They suck their thumbs or any other round surface. They use anything, and it is disgusting to watch. Not like a cigarette that smokers find so enjoyable. It doesn't even look like a substitute for mummy’s breasts that have stopped feeding you so early.

Sometimes a crazy person does something interesting, different. The children also do. That’s because they haven’t learned to repeat our habits. They are spoiled machines. They make curious things, like those that can happen when you hand a canvas and paint to a chimpanzee; or when they randomly hit the keys of a typewriter. From those faults and irregularities the human evolution is set on pace. Geniality is just this: the emergence of things that do not belong to the natural constant rhythm. We, the well behaved, take madness and systemize it into a new form of monotony. That’s how we evolve. Here you can see it by yourselves. Your shadows, the infantile remains of ourselves, the thing we wish to hide from ourselves. Look: I will take away this thing from the madman. [He takes away an object from NELSON; The Madman has an ambiguous reaction of fear and anger, aggression and escapism.] Saw it? He cries and screams, he tries to attack and yet he is fearful. He is a child. They are you. Don’t you feel angry for what I’ve done? You identify yourselves with the madmen! Or else, with me, which would be even worse. I am a son-of-a-bitch. If you don’t get angry at me for teasing those people, that’s because you are just the same sort of son-of-a-bitch as me.

I prefer the ones who identify themselves with the mentally ill. They have less barriers, less protections, a thinner shell. They are closer to our true nature. Their mind is chaos, but at least is not as monotonous. Look, we all dress the same way, right? If I were mad, I could have a different look, like that one there. I could dress the shirt as it was pants, the pants like a shirt, and put my underwear on the head, like a hat. How about it? Is it ugly? It’s different, right? It’s against the rules. That’s the way it should be. I want to awaken you.

Third Act: Scene 7

 [ANITA enters a few moments before ASCLEPIO’s monologue is done and waits.] ASCLEPIO: [Noticing her presence:] Hi Anita! Come here. Have you been looking for me?

ANITA: No. I came to see them [points.] I took advantage since I heard you were here.

ASCLEPIO: Why? Are you afraid? They are so harmless that they can freely walk around the streets. There is nothing to fear. What we fear is our own shadow, not them.

ANITA: No, I’m not afraid of them. I like the madmen. I like watching them and try to capture the mystery of their actions. I feel so close to them… But my husband doesn’t like me to come here. He gets upset. Therefore, since you were already here, I decided to come today. [ROMULO is blowing soap bubbles.] Look, how pretty that soap bubble is!

ASCLEPIO: Yes, nice. The colors are the result of the light interference on the walls of the transparent membrane

ANITA: It grows, grows, swells... You know, I had a dream, last night.

ASCLEPIO: Really?

ANITA: The bubble made me remember the feeling I had, at a certain time. Do you want to hear my dream?

ASCLEPIO: Go ahead, I will try to analyze it.

ANITA: In that dream…

I was walking on the streets of a city. It could have been this one, or any other. There were a lot of people around, sleepwalking; deaf and blind. Moved by their habits, doing everything mechanically. I am not sure if they are human beings or machines, robots.

I am also walking, but I want to stop. I want to awake, and tell them to wake up and look around, and see the beauty around and that there are people around. I want to show them that it is possible to act awaken. That all action or work can be done with beauty and love, even the most simple ones. I want to stop them, to talk to them, to scream at them. But I am also walking without stopping. I walk all day. I am exhausted. I walk and I can’t get done what needs to be done. My body aches, I am anguished.

The night falls and I am in a suburb of the city. I am sitting on the gutter and I don’t know what to do. I am empty. There is a dirty and beautiful child standing on my left. I caress her head but she jumps, runs around me several times laughing, as if she was mocking me but I don’t get angry. Then she leaves skipping. I get up and follow her.

Now I am outside the city, walking in the woods. I walk blindly; I don’t know where the girl is and I don’t know what to do. I stop in a glade. Everything is dark and frightening. I am alone, surrounded by mute trees, but they creak and mutter. I look above and see the sky. The stars are shining. The stars! My stars! That’s the place I want to reach. But they are far away, blinking, just as lonely as I am…

Suddenly I feel my body swelling. It grows like a soap bubble, my head is rising, it passes over the top of the trees! I am huge and shinning! I stretch out my arms and get on the tip of my toes and my fingers touch one star. There is an explosion of light and colors around me, a dive and a drop, astonishment and fading, or awakening. I see myself fallen, laid down on the ground. It is day, there is a beautiful sun in the sky and in front of me there is a trail that goes trough the woods. I get up gladly and walk through it. I don’t know where it will take me, I don’t care, what matters is to walk through it. It is beautiful. There is no more anguish or tension. I am in peace, and I wake up [pause].

 That was the dream Asclepio. ASCLEPIO: Do you know what the dream means? The interpretation is quite clear.

ANITA: No, I don’t know. I know that everything seems to come from afar, from a place that I don’t even know, from another reality. I know that the dream seemed to be very important, and for that reason I wrote it down.

ASCLEPIO: Yes, it comes from a distant place… from your subconscious. The end of the dream, you know, it’s very simple. You swell, become shinny, your head rises and reaches the stars. And that solves the problem. Do you know what this is? Freud explains. Come on. You know. What does rises and swells, growing in size? There it is, I wouldn’t even have to say. It is the phallus, the penis, the man’s dick. Do you know the origin of the word "phallus"? It means shinny, lightened. The erection makes you reach the stars, and when you touch them, you reach orgasm. After that, you feel light and relax. You don’t think about anything else. Walking without aim, and you don’t have any more problems.

ANITA: Do you think this is all that we have inside? Only sex?

ASCLEPIO: What else? Only the instincts are fundamental. The rest is just a shell, a wrapping.

ANITA: But the dream was so beautiful… it seemed to be so important, I felt so pure…

ASCLEPIO: Behind that purity, there is nature, sex. The instincts!

ANITA: But the attempt to approach the people in the street, and to show them the beauty in themselves, in what they do, in the world… What does this mean? Is there something obscure there too?

ASCLEPIO: It is the infantile discontentment, the desire to return to paradise. Do you remember the girl in the dream? I know what you felt, because I already felt the same too. I will tell you another story, this is mine.

Once upon a time there was a boy. He was like every other child, very clumsy and could not do anything right. The parents and older brothers used to mock him. He realized he couldn’t do anything right. That beauty and perfection were distant from him. He though only the grown ups knew how to do things right, perfectly.

Then he kept growing up. He decided that when he gets big he would be like his parents and brothers. But he still couldn’t do anything that would satisfy himself. When he was fourteen, he started realizing that the elders also didn’t know how to do things right. And he became a criticizer, and his criticism turned now to the outside. And his first victims were those around him; his brothers and sisters and parents. He saw that they were ugly and fake puppets that had tricked him. That they weren’t moved by love and beauty and that they couldn’t produce such things. He tried to forgive them, but he couldn’t. And the hatred exploded against the fakeness he lived in. Then came disillusion and disgust for those who lived with imperfection and ugliness. He left home, and searched for new idols. He met many, but destroyed all of them. He couldn't find anyone whom he could admire. So he turned his back to the human kind and shouted: "You are worthless! You shit heads, you can't love beauty and perfection! You can't do anything right, you are nothing, you mother-fuckers!

He decided to flee from society, but he still believed in himself and believed that it was possible to reach the top of the mountain. The hardest awakening was when he realized that he was just like the others. But he didn't want to pretend anymore. He looked for the pariahs, the social outcasts, the filthiest and the ones that didn't pretend they knew anything; so he joined them.

ANITA: And then?

ASCLEPIO: Then nothing. There is nothing else. He found the truth about mankind, and reached the end of the trail. You haven't got there yet.

ANITA: Maybe I am close to that. Too close Asclepio. But isn't there anything else after that?

ASCLEPIO: Another interpretation? Can you see another interpretation?

ANITA: No. Maybe this is all that there is.

ASCLEPIO: You can't expect anything more beautyful from me. Here there is also no beauty, only hate and low standards. Do you want other interpretation? You should ask somebody else. For instance, that madman [points to ROMULO.] Look at his clothes, how interesting. They say he is an artist, that he makes beautiful things.

ANITA: Don't mock him Asclepio!

ASCLEPIO: I am serious! I'm not mocking! Come here, you! [ROMULO approaches.] What is your name?

ROMULO: I don't want to tell, you wouldn't understand it.

ANITA: I've heard your name before, don't they call you Romulo?

ROMULO: Yes, people call me Romulo.

ASCLEPIO: Listen Romulo: Anita had a dream and she wants to know what it means. I want you to help her to understand what it means. Come on, tell him Anita.

Third Act: Scene 8

 [ANITA is in doubt. ROMULO calls the other madmen to come closer and they surround her. ANITA makes up her mind:] ANITA: The dream was like this: [The recorded voice of ANITA telling the same dream is heard. ROMULO takes her by the hand, and together with her and the other madmen they theatrically portray her dream without using words. At the end Anita and ROMULO hug each other, and slowly leave the stage walking side by side. The madmen applaud, and ASCLEPIO keeps an imbecile's face. The madmen show another banner: "Fourth Act: the building of the Great Machine," and leave the stage.]

           First Act    Second Act  Third Act    Fourth Act