First Scene
Mrs. Givings turns on her electric lamp.
She shows it to her baby.
MRS. GIVINGS
Look baby, it’s light! No candle, no rusty tool to snuff it out, but light, pure light, straight from man’s imagination into our living room. On, off, on, off, on—
She turns it off and on.
Dr. Givings enters the living room.
He walks through the space toward the operating theater without saying hello to his wife.
She watches him. After he exits:
MRS. GIVINGS
Hello.
Dr. Givings reenters the living room from the operating theater.
DR. GIVINGS
Sorry. Hello, darling.
He exits again to his office.
In the operating theater, Annie changes the sheets on the examining table.
MRS. GIVINGS
(To Dr. Givings) Hello!
(To the baby) We’ll find a nice nurse for you, won’t we? A nice wet nurse with lots of healthy milk. Your father put an advertisement in the paper and we’ll get lots of replies today. My milk is not filling you up, is it? Are you less fat today, darling? Are your cheeks less fat?
She is near tears. She recovers.
MRS. GIVINGS
I’ll find you a nurse who hasn’t a child of her own. Not that I hope to find a nurse with a dead baby for that is tragic nothing is more tragic oh it hurts me here to think it—you in your pram not moving—but I suppose if I am to find a childless nurse with milk to spare, her baby must be dead, and recently dead, oh dear. I don’t like to think of that.
Dr. Givings enters again.
DR. GIVINGS
I have a new patient who might ring the doorbell any second. If she arrives, would you please let Annie answer the door.
The doorbell rings.
DR. GIVINGS
Her nerves are terribly raw and it might throw off the entire clinical balance for her to meet you and the baby.
The doorbell rings.
DR. GIVINGS
Please hide.
(Shouting to his midwife)
Annie!
Mrs. Givings hides behind a piano.
Dr. Givings runs out with the pram.
Annie answers the door.
ANNIE
Hello, you must be Mr. and Mrs. Daldry, please come in.
Mr. and Mrs. Daldry enter.
Mrs. Daldry is fragile and ethereal.
Her face is covered by a veil attached to a hat.
She leans heavily on her husband’s arm.
ANNIE
This way, let me show you to the operating theater—
Mrs. Daldry startles.
ANNIE
Well let’s just call it the next room for now, shall we, don’t be nervous, Mrs. Daldry.
Shall I just put your hat here?
Mrs. Daldry shakes her head.
MR. DALDRY
She’s very sensitive to light.
ANNIE
Of course. Right this way.
Dr. Givings enters from the living room and overhears this last remark.
Annie turns off the electric lamp.
She leads them to the office.
DR. GIVINGS
So nice to meet you, Mrs. Daldry, Mr. Daldry. Shall I take your coat?
Mrs. Daldry shakes her head.
MR. DALDRY
She’s very sensitive to cold.
DR. GIVINGS
I see. Well, have a seat. Sensitive to light, sensitive to cold—
A baby’s cry is heard.
MRS. DALDRY
Oh, is there a baby here? I didn’t know there was a new baby.
How wonderful for you.
DR. GIVINGS
Yes. Could you shut the door please Annie?
She does so.
Then Annie sits invisibly in the corner, listening to the conversation.
Dr. Givings sits and takes out his note pad, writing down notes.
Mrs. Givings, meanwhile, in the next room, has heard the baby cry.
She sneaks out and exits to the nursery.
DR. GIVINGS
What other symptoms is your wife suffering from?
MR. DALDRY
I find her weeping at odd moments during the day, muttering about green curtains or some such nonsense.
DR. GIVINGS
Is it nonsense, Mrs. Daldry?
MRS. DALDRY
I suppose it is. The green curtains give me terrible headache. The color. Old ghosts in the dark.
Mr. Daldry gives Dr. Givings a pointed look.
DR. GIVINGS
Tell me more about the curtains, would you?
MRS. DALDRY
The house where I grew up my mother would wash the curtains every week, she beat them with a stick, and there were no ghosts in them. There was a beautiful view of a grape arbor and when the curtains were cleaned you could see right through to the grapes, you could almost watch them growing, they got so plump in the autumn. My mother would make loads of jam—my mother was not a nervous or excitable woman. It was jam, it was laughing, and long walks out of doors. We haven’t a grape arbor here—I am full of digressions these days Dr. Givings—but the point is I haven’t the strength to wash the curtains every week and beat the ghosts out of them. You think I am talking like a madwoman but if you could see the curtains you would see that I really am very logical. They’re horrible.
Mr. Daldry raises his eyebrows at Dr. Givings.
DR. GIVINGS
And you have tried the usual remedies, rest and relaxation?
MRS. DALDRY MR. DALDRY
I do nothing but rest! Yes.
Nothing but rest!
MR. DALDRY
When I met Mrs. Daldry she was seventeen. She was an extraordinary creature. She played the piano. We ate grape jam in the arbor and there I told her I wanted to take care of her and protect her forever, didn’t I.
MRS. DALDRY
Yes.
MR. DALDRY
Now I am afraid there is very little sympathy between us.
MRS. DALDRY
I am breaking his heart—. He likes me to be a certain way. Perhaps if I could play the piano again but my fingers will not work.
MR. DALDRY
No, her fingers do not work. In the living room. Or in any other room, if you take my meaning, Dr. Givings.
MRS. DALDRY
Mr. Daldry please do not embarrass me with such vulgarities. I am shocked and disgusted and I will leave the room now.
She leaves the room.
She stands in the living room, flustered.
She sees the electrical lamp and turns it on and off.
DR. GIVINGS
Mr. Daldry, your wife is suffering from hysteria. It is a very clear case. I recommend theraputic electrical massage—weekly—possibly daily, we shall see—sessions. We need to relieve the pressure of her nerves.
You will soon have your blooming wife back, she will regain her color, light and cold will no longer have the same effect on her. You will soon be eating grape jam and wondering how it is that Mrs. Daldry looks so much like a seventeen year old.
MR. DALDRY
Thank you Dr. Givings. You have no idea what a source of anguish my wife’s illness has been to me. And to her, of course.
DR. GIVINGS
Of course. I will have her back for you in an hour’s time.
MR. DALDRY
Thank you, Doctor.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Givings has reentered the living room with the baby.
MRS. DALDRY
(To Mrs. Givings) This lamp is extraordinary.
It hurts my eyes to watch it go on and off but I enjoy the pain.
It is a kind of religious ecstasy to feel half blind, do you not think?
MRS. GIVINGS
Yes, isn’t it?
I was not suppposed to meet you
but I’m glad I have.
I hope you find my husband to be a comfort,
I know that I do.
MRS. DALDRY
May I hold your baby?
MRS. GIVINGS
Yes, of course.
DR. GIVINGS
I would ask you to leave Mrs. Daldry here while you take a walk around the grounds. Perhaps it’s better if you don’t disturb her now, Mr. Daldry.
MR. DALDRY
Of course. Whatever you think best, Doctor.
MRS. DALDRY
(While holding the baby) What is the baby’s name?
MRS. GIVINGS
Letitia. Lotty for short.
Three syllables seemed like too many for a baby.
MRS. DALDRY
Lotty.
During the preceding,
Dr. Givings shakes Mr. Daldry’s hand.
Mr. Daldry puts his hat on.
Mr. Daldry gives a brief quizzical glance at the vibrator.
And exits.
ANNIE
(In the living room, to Mrs. Daldry) The doctor is ready for you now.
MRS. DALDRY
Oh, no must I go back in there? I would rather hold the baby.
Mr. Daldry enters the living room.
MR. DALDRY
Be a good girl.
Mrs. Daldry hands the baby back to Mrs. Givings.
MRS. DALDRY
Oh, she’s beautiful.
MRS. GIVINGS
Isn’t she? Too skinny though.
Mrs. Daldry hesitates, looking at the baby.
MR. DALDRY
The doctor is waiting, Sabrina.
MRS. GIVINGS
You’ll be just fine. My husband is a good doctor.
Or so I’ve been told.
If you’ll excuse me, it’s time for her nap.
Mrs. Givings exits to the nursery.
Annie leads Mrs. Daldry into the operating theater.
Mr. Daldry surveys the living room and prepares to walk the grounds.
In the operating theater:
DR. GIVINGS
Now then, Mrs. Daldry, I would ask you to remove your clothing but you may keep your underthings on. Please remove your corset, if you would. Annie will place a sheet over your lower regions. We will respect your modesty in every particular.
Mrs. Daldry nods.
DR. GIVINGS
I shall give you privacy.
He turns his back on them, a gentleman,
as Mrs. Daldry undresses with Annie’s help.
Mrs. Givings has reentered the living room without the baby.
She sees Mr. Daldry.
MRS. GIVINGS
Hello again.
MR. DALDRY
Hello. They are trying to get rid of me. I am supposed to walk about the grounds.
MRS. GIVINGS
But is it not raining, Mr—?
MR. DALDRY
Daldry.
I don’t know.
MRS. GIVINGS
Your name?
MR. DALDRY
No. If it is raining.
MRS. GIVINGS
Then you will have to gamble on whether or not to take an umbrella.
MR. DALDRY
Indeed.
Meanwhile, in the operating theater:
Mrs. Daldry disrobes with Annie’s help.
It takes a while to disrobe as she wears a variety of layers.
In the living room, with Mr. Daldry and Mrs. Givings:
MRS. GIVINGS
There are three kinds of people. Those who use umbrellas when it is not raining; those who do not use umbrellas even when it is raining; and those who use umbrellas only and precisely while it rains. Which kind are you, Mr. Daldry?
MR. DALDRY
I use an umbrella while it is raining.
MRS. GIVINGS
That’s too bad. I find people who do not use umbrellas while it is raining horribly romantic. Strolling, no striding, through the rain, with wet hair, looking at a drop of water on a branch.
MR. DALDRY
My wife is one of those.
MRS. GIVINGS
Oh yes! I could see that.
MR. DALDRY
It’s damned annoying. I always worry she’ll catch cold.
MRS. GIVINGS
But horribly romantic. My husband opens his umbrella at the merest hint of rain. And even if it does not rain, he will leave it open, stubborn as an ox, and keep walking. My husband is a scientist.
MR. DALDRY
And what sort of person are you, Mrs. Givings?
MRS. GIVINGS
Why, I don’t know. My husband has always held the umbrella. Isn’t that funny. I don’t know at all what kind of person I am.
In the other room, Mrs. Daldry’s clothes are now off to her underclothes. Annie drapes a sheet over her.
MRS. GIVINGS
I’ll show you the grounds and we can use this very large umbrella and perhaps I will hold it and we shall see what kind of person I am. I only hope you do not get wet.
MR. DALDRY
It sounds like a madcap adventure.
Mrs. Givings and Mr. Daldry exit.
In the operating theater:
DR. GIVINGS
Are you ready for me?
ANNIE
Yes, Dr. Givings.
DR. GIVINGS
Are you warm enough? (Mrs. Daldry nods)
Mrs. Daldry, we are going to produce in you what is called a paroxysm. The congestion in your womb is causing your hysterical symptoms and if we can release some of that congestion and invite the juices downward your health will be restored.
Thanks to the dawn of electricity—yes, thank you Mr. Edison, I always tip my hat to Mr. Edison—a great American—I have a new instrument which I will use. It used to be that it would take me or it would take Annie—oh—hours—to produce a paroxysm in our patients and it demanded quite a lot of skill and patience. It was much like a child’s game—trying to pat the head and rub the stomach at the same time—but thanks to this new electricial instrument we shall be done in a matter of minutes.
MRS. DALDRY
I—I’m afraid I don’t—
DR. GIVINGS
Three minutes, sometimes five at the outer limits. Are you ready Mrs. Daldry?
She nods.
He takes out a huge vibrator.
He plugs it in.
He turns it on.
MRS. DALDRY
I am frightened.
DR. GIVINGS
Don’t be frightened.
MRS. DALDRY
There is no danger of being electrocuted?
DR. GIVINGS
None at all.
He puts his arm under the sheets and holds the vibrator to her private parts.
DR. GIVINGS
I will tell you an amusing story. Dr. Benjamin Franklin once decided to electrocute a bird for his turkey dinner on Christmas Eve. But, by mistake, he held onto the chain, completing the circuit, and couldn’t let go. He described violently convulsing until he was able by sheer force of will to let go of the chain. He was perfectly fine! Do you feel calmer?
MRS. DALDRY
A little.
DR. GIVINGS
This will just take a matter of minutes.
Mrs. Daldry moans quietly.
DR. GIVINGS
It’s all right, Mrs. Daldry. That’s just fine.
Mrs. Daldry moans quietly.
DR. GIVINGS
Annie will hold your hand.
Annie holds her hand.
MRS. DALDRY
Oh, God in His Heaven!
She has a quiet paroxysm.
Now remember that these are the days before digital pornography.
There is no cliché of how women are supposed to orgasm, no idea in their heads of how they are supposed to sound when they climax.
Mrs. Daldry’s first orgasms could be very quiet, organic, awkward, primal. Or very clinical. Or embarrassingly natural.
But whatever it is, it should not be a cliché, a camp version of how we expect all women sound when they orgasm.
It is simply clear that she has had some kind of release.
DR. GIVINGS
That was very good, Mrs. Daldry. Is not this new instrument wonderful? Thank goodness for Benjamin Franklin and his electrical key! (He waves the vibrator heavenward.) Did you know they electrocuted an elephant in Coney Island last week? Marvelous. Annie will help you get dressed and you may meet Mr. Daldry on the grounds.
MRS. DALDRY
All right. And perhaps I may hold your baby again before I leave.
DR. GIVINGS
Ah, I did not realize you had met the baby. I hope that was not distracting in the middle of our session.
MRS. DALDRY
No—I liked holding her. We have not been able—
She weeps.
ANNIE
Oh, there, there.
MRS. DALDRY
—to have children. I do not know what is wrong with me.
DR. GIVINGS
Oh, dear Mrs. Daldry. Take heart. You see, Annie, it is the pent-up emotion inside the womb that causes her hysterical symptoms, you can see it quite clearly. I will administer another round of therapy to the patient. Lie back down, Mrs. Daldry.
He plugs the vibrator in again.
MRS. DALDRY
No, please no, do not touch me there again, it is very painful—no, please no—(He places the vibrator to her private parts) Oh—
DR. GIVINGS
What are you feeling, Mrs. Daldry?
MRS. DALDRY
My feet are very hot—dancing on hot coals—and down—down there—cold and hot to the touch—my heart is racing—
She has a quiet paroxysm.
DR. GIVINGS
That’s all right, Mrs. Daldry, there there. You just lie there and stay quiet for a while. I am going to go wash my hands.
He moves to the wash basin.
She sits up.
MRS. DALDRY
(To Annie) Can you please hand me my hat.
ANNIE
Of course. You don’t need to be ashamed. This instrument has quite the same effect on all of our patients. Sometimes they laugh and weep all at the same time. They often call for God.
Mrs. Daldry stands wearing her hat, with her sheet wrapped around her. Her sheet falls off as she puts on her hat and she is left only wearing her bloomers and her veil.
MRS. DALDRY
Oh dear.
ANNIE
It is quite all right Mrs. Daldry.
Annie puts the sheet back on her.
MRS. DALDRY
I am suddenly drowsy.
ANNIE
Yes, most of our patients become drowsy after the treatment.
MRS. DALDRY
Might I lie down again?
ANNIE
Please do.
MRS. DALDRY
You are a midwife?
ANNIE
Yes.
MRS. DALDRY
And you assist Dr. Givings with births and all manner of things?
ANNIE
Yes.
MRS. DALDRY
How did you come to be a midwife?
ANNIE
I was thirty-three and unmarried, and hadn’t the patience for teaching young children.
MRS. DALDRY
You have assisted women in their confinements?
ANNIE
Yes.
MRS. DALDRY
So you have seen every form of torture.
ANNIE
I have seen women in a great deal of pain, yes.
MRS. DALDRY
Hold my hand and I will fall asleep.
ANNIE
Of course.
Annie holds Mrs. Daldry’s hand and strokes her hair.
Mrs. Daldry falls asleep.
Throughout the next bit, she drowses, and then wakes and gets dressed with the help of Annie.
In the other room,
Mr. Daldry and Mrs. Givings return from their walk on the grounds.
They are laughing and drenched.
Mrs. Givings shakes out her umbrella.
MRS. GIVINGS
I must be a very inconsistent person! I like to be wet and then
I like to be dry and then I like to be wet again!
MR. DALDRY
You are very healthy and robust. I could barely keep up with you.
MRS. GIVINGS
I love to walk—I never had enough exercise as a child so now I walk walk walk no one can keep up with me not even Dr. Givings—that is how he fell in love with me, he said he was determined to keep up with me—he only saw the back of my head before we married because I was always one step ahead. He said he had to marry me to see my face.
Dr. Givings enters.
MRS. GIVINGS
Didn’t you darling?
DR. GIVINGS
What’s that?
MRS. GIVINGS
Have to marry me in order to see my face?
DR. GIVINGS
I see you have met my wife.
MR. DALDRY
Indeed.
DR. GIVINGS
We had a very successful session. You should find Mrs. Daldry much relaxed.
MR. DALDRY
Excellent.
MRS. GIVINGS
I gave Mr. Daldry a tour of the grounds. We got wet.
DR. GIVINGS
I don’t want you catching cold. The baby mustn’t catch cold at this age.
MRS. GIVINGS
You know I’m healthy as an ox. If only more of my milk would come in. Oh, excuse me, Mr. Daldry that is not polite to mention in mixed company.
MR. DALDRY
Are you advertising for a nurse?
MRS. GIVINGS
Indeed we are.
MR. DALDRY
Our housekeeper recently lost her baby and I believe she still has plentiful milk. Perhaps she could help though we don’t want to lose her services, she is very upstanding and all the rest of it, very hard to find, a gem. Self-educated, you see, with the manners of a lady. I don’t know if she’d ever take it into her head to be a wet nurse, you know what they say about wet nurses—nine parts devil, one part cow—but that’s what you want, isn’t it? A nice young woman who never intended to be a wet nurse but who has milk, milk to spare.
MRS. GIVINGS
Oh, she sounds perfect, we desperately want someone very moral whose child is recently dead.
| MRS. GIVINGS | DR. GIVINGS |
| Oh, no—what I meant to say is— | What she means to say is— |
MRS. GIVINGS
It’s only that they say morality goes right through the milk. Mrs. Evans said just the other day, oh I wouldn’t use a darkie, the morality goes right through the milk. But in the South, I don’t know what they do in the South—
MR. DALDRY
Elizabeth our housekeeper is colored but she is very moral, very Christian. She goes to church every week with Mrs. Daldry who is a very devout woman.
MRS. GIVINGS
I see.
DR. GIVINGS
Has she recovered from the death of her child?
MR. DALDRY
As I said, she’s a very religious woman resigned to the will of God. And her milk is still plentiful.
MRS. GIVINGS
Darling, I don’t know about a—
DR. GIVINGS
My father was a well-known abolitionist, Mr. Daldry.
MR. DALDRY
I believe I’ve heard of him. William Givings.
DR. GIVINGS
Yes.
(To Mrs. Givings) You’d rather have a Negro Protestant than an Irish Catholic, wouldn’t you?
Mrs. Givings thinks about that.
DR. GIVINGS
Is she married?
MR. DALDRY
Yes.
MRS. GIVINGS
That’s good.
MR. DALDRY
To be sure—you don’t want an unmarried woman boarding at your house—turn the household upside down—the pretty ones anyway—
He laughs and jostles Dr. Givings.
Mrs. Givings stares.
Dr. Givings clears his throat.
MR. DALDRY
That is to say—she’s married to a fine man with a steady job.
DR. GIVINGS
We would be happy to take on your housekeeper Elizabeth as a wet nurse. And we can pay handsomely but not so handsomely that she leaves your service. We really are in dire straits because my wife’s milk is not adequate, I’m afraid. Bottle-fed babies don’t do well in cholera season, they don’t do well at all. It’s no time to stand on prejudice, Catherine.
MRS. GIVINGS
My husband is a very unconventional man, a scientist. I’ve no idea what the neighbors will say.
DR. GIVINGS
Let them observe that your baby is growing nice and fat.
Mrs. Daldry enters, looking wonderfully well rested.
MRS. GIVINGS
How well rested you look!
MRS. DALDRY
I feel wonderful. Your husband is a good doctor.
MRS. GIVINGS
Yes he is.
MR. DALDRY
There are roses in your cheeks.
DR. GIVINGS
Is the light bothering you, Mrs. Daldry?
MRS. DALDRY
No, I hardly noticed it. I was horrified when the electric lamp was invented. I so prefer candlelight and I thought, from now on people’s faces will look like monsters in the evening, without the help of candlelight. No flicker, no glow. But none of you look like monsters at present, you all look very charming. You are wet, Mr. Daldry.
MR. DALDRY
It is raining, Mrs. Daldry. Shall we?
Mrs. Daldry nods.
MR. DALDRY
Might we borrow an umbrella? I did not anticipate rain.
DR. GIVINGS
To be sure. I always keep an extra umbrella in case of emergencies.
MRS. DALDRY
Thank you, Dr. Givings. I will see you again soon I hope?
DR. GIVINGS
Tomorrow, I believe is best. We will need daily sessions.
MR. DALDRY
Excellent.
(In lowered tones, away from the ladies) Oh—how much do I owe you, Doctor?
DR. GIVINGS
Not to worry. We’ll settle up weekly.
MR. DALDRY
Oh fine, fine.
Then we shall see you tomorrow. And we’ll bring Elizabeth with us!
DR. GIVINGS
(As they exit) Good day!
MR. AND MRS. DALDRY
Good day!
MRS. GIVINGS
Good day!
The door shuts.
MRS. GIVINGS
I’m nervous about bringing a stranger into the house, very nervous indeed.
DR. GIVINGS
Lotty is losing weight, my dear.
MRS. GIVINGS
Yes, of course, it’s all my fault.
DR. GIVINGS
I’m not assigning blame, my darling.
MRS. GIVINGS
Whose fault is it then?
DR. GIVINGS
No one’s. The body is blameless. Milk is without intention.
MRS. GIVINGS
A good mother has a fat child. And everyone knows it.
DR. GIVINGS
Then it will be a relief to find her a good nurse.
MRS. GIVINGS
Indeed. I cannot wait to meet her.
DR. GIVINGS
Cheer up, my darling. We are healthy and happy, are we not?
MRS. GIVINGS
(Automatically) Yes.
(Then, smiling, with sincerity) Yes.
He kisses her on the cheek and exits.
Mrs. Givings, alone.