WOYZECK is shaving the CAPTAIN, who sits in a chair. Head back.
CAPTAIN … careful, Woyzeck. Be careful. One step after the next. (Beat.) You make me nervous. What should I do with the few moments you save rushing this way? What good will they do me?
WOYZECK steadies his shaking hand and forcibly slows down his shaving. Takes a deep breath.
CAPTAIN Think, Woyzeck. Really think about this. You’ve got, what, another thirty years left? Thirty good years. Thirty. (Beat.) You’ve got to space it out, man! (Beat.) What else can you do with such an enormous amount of time?
WOYZECK Yes, sir.
CAPTAIN I worry about the world, Woyzeck, the idea of eternity. What is it? Eternity is eternity is eternity. Anyone can see that. But it’s also not that, not just that. Eternity. It’s just one beat as well … yes … just one single beat. It’s rather horrifying, how life turns about in a day. What a waste! And what does it all mean, anyway? I can’t bear to look at the miller’s wheel any more, when I pass it. I look away. It’s too depressing.
WOYZECK Yes, sir.
The CAPTAIN is frustrated and shrugs off WOYZECK for a moment, studying him. WOYZECK waits at attention.
CAPTAIN You always seem so frightened! Good people don’t look like that, Woyzeck. Not a person with a clean conscience.
WOYZECK nods, then returns to his shaving. The CAPTAIN eyes him suspiciously.
CAPTAIN Say something, Woyzeck! What’s the weather tonight?
WOYZECK Bad, sir. Very bad …
CAPTAIN Yes. It’s an awful wind out there, isn’t it? Gives me a chill. (Slyly.) I’d guess it’s a North-Southerly …
WOYZECK Yes, sir.
CAPTAIN Ha! “North-Southerly!” Ha-ha! Lord but you’re dense, Woyzeck! Awfully dense!!
WOYZECK shudders and turns away. His hands begin to shake as he raises the razor up above his head. He stops as the CAPTAIN puts a hand on his shoulder.
CAPTAIN You’re a good sort, Woyzeck, but you’re thick. And you’ve got no morals. Morals are, well, you know … when one observes morality. That’s how it goes. But you’ve got a child without the blessing of the church. I believe that’s the expression … “without blessing.”
WOYZECK Being poor … the Lord has said to “suffer the little children that they should come unto him.”
CAPTAIN What do you mean, Woyzeck? That’s a strange thing to say … you’re confusing the issue!
WOYZECK Don’t you see, sir? Being poor … it’s money. If you have no money, well … you’re just barely getting along in this world. Barely. But we’re flesh and blood, too … it’s just that we never have any luck, that’s all. Never. Here or in the hereafter. (Beat.) If I get up to Heaven, I expect I’ll be put to work on the thunder … I’m sure I will.
The CAPTAIN stares at WOYZECK —unsure how to deal with all that is spilling out of the man. The CAPTAIN stands up, shaving cream still on his face.
CAPTAIN Woyzeck, you have no virtue. You are not the virtuous kind! “Flesh and blood?!” When I’m lying by the window, in my room, and it’s been raining … if I see a pair of white stockings moving down the street, skipping down the … (Beat.) Well, damnit, Woyzeck, I feel desire, of course I do! I’m a man! But I’m a good man, Woyzeck. A virtuous man. And as they pass by, those stockings, I say to myself, “You’re a good man, a virtuous man. A good, good man.”
The CAPTAIN stares at WOYZECK a moment, then settles back down into the chair. Closing his eyes.
CAPTAIN And like all white stockings on sweet, thin legs … eventually, they move along.
WOYZECK cautiously returns to the chore of shaving the CAPTAIN’s neck.
WOYZECK Yes, sir, I think you’re right, sir. I don’t think virtue is much strong in me. You see, people like me, like us folks, we have little virtue. No use for it, really. We only have what’s natural to us. To desire. Or want. (Beat.) But if I was a gentleman in a hat and coat with a lovely watch and all the proper words … I’d be virtuous, too. I know I would. It must feel wonderful, sir. To be virtuous. Problem is, I’m only a poor man … and no one wants to hear a poor man speak. Even when he has something to say …
CAPTAIN Look, Woyzeck, you seem like a good enough fellow … but you’re always daydreaming. Thinking. (Beat.) You’ll run yourself down, with all those thoughts of yours … you’re wearing yourself out, with your grinding away on thoughts like those. You always seem so wrung out! (Beat.) You haven’t been reading again, have you? …
WOYZECK Oh, no, sir … (Looking around.) Excuse me, sir, but I still have other duties to perform … wood to gather …
CAPTAIN Well, this discussion’s upset me completely. (Beat.) Go along now, we’re through …
WOYZECK salutes, then drops the razor in a bowl. WOYZECK rushes off. Out into the street.
CAPTAIN And no running! Go slowly down the street, Woyzeck. Nice and slowly … like a good fellow. With virtue.
As the CAPTAIN wipes his face off with a towel, a young girl in white stockings crosses in front of the door to the barracks. Bouncing a ball.
The CAPTAIN watches her, then sits back and closes his eyes. Mumbling to himself.
CAPTAIN … you’re a good man. A virtuous man. A good, good man …
Blackout.