TIM: I wasn’t . . .
BARBARA (To Benjamin): Even when Marian auditioned to play the blind person in that mystery? You wouldn’t help her. She telephoned him all the way to London, and do you remember what you said?
BENJAMIN: I don’t remember.
BARBARA: You said, it’s not as much fun as it looks.
(Short pause.)
TIM (To Benjamin): Sir, I saw your reading at the Y a couple of months ago.
BARBARA: You were there?
TIM: I was.
BARBARA (To Jane): Weren’t you still with your husband then?
JANE: Not really . . .
(Off, from the kitchen, the dog begins to whine.)
RICHARD (Standing up): I think the dog needs water . . .
JANE: Maybe he needs to go out.
BENJAMIN: Is that Oliver?
(This stops everyone.)
RICHARD: No, Uncle, that isn’t Oliver.
BENJAMIN: Where’s Oliver? (Smiles) He always eats what I don’t want. He always sits here . . . (Starts to stand)
JANE: Uncle Benjamin . . . That is not Oliver. (She looks to the others)
BENJAMIN: Where’s Oliver?
(Jane looks to Barbara.)
BARBARA: I’ve told him. Ten times.
RICHARD: Oliver is dead, Uncle. You had to put him to sleep. He had cancer. He was in a lot of pain.
BENJAMIN: When?
RICHARD (After a glance at Barbara): Last week. And that’s why I’m here, I’ve brought you a new dog from the city.
JANE (The dog): Toby. A friend of Richard’s—
RICHARD: He’s getting married. She’s allergic. He’s very well trained. You were just petting him. In the kitchen. You seemed to like him. We told you all this.
BENJAMIN: Where’s Oliver??
BARBARA (Then, the frustration comes out): Oliver is dead, Uncle Benjamin!
RICHARD: Barbara, please—
BARBARA: You want to take care of him! Go ahead. If I’m not doing it right.
JANE: He’s sitting right there. (Seeing she is hurt) I’m sorry. You’re a saint. You really are.
BARBARA: I don’t want to be a saint. (To Tim) He keeps forgetting, and so each time—it’s like he learns it again for the first time. Over and over . . .
(Short pause. Benjamin looks down, upset.)
JANE (To Barbara): He had Oliver for—how many years?
BARBARA: Sixteen.
JANE (To Tim): He’d take him to rehearsal. Travel with him.
(Pause) Should I bring in Toby?
RICHARD: No.
(Pause.)
BARBARA (Going to Benjamin): You have his collar next to your bed.
(She rubs his back, kisses the top of his head.)
(Quietly explaining) And Richard came up to bring us a new dog. That’s what today’s all about. And Jane happened to be in the area, so . . .
JANE: And Tim.
BENJAMIN: Who’s Tim?
(Barbara points him out.)
RICHARD: And it worked out to be a good day to—Hardly anyone’s going to be in the office today. I don’t want to be there today.
JANE: His boss is going to win an election today.
RICHARD: So nothing’s going to get done there . . .
(A bark from the kitchen.)
I’ll see what Toby needs. (Stops) He’s never been out of the Upper West Side. So—another New Yorker in Rhinebeck. (Laughs; to Barbara) Just what you need.
(Richard goes off to the kitchen.)
JANE (Quietly to Barbara): Boy, you really have your hands full.
(The lights fade.)
Acting and Forgetting
A short time later. Benjamin, Barbara, Jane and Tim.
Richard has yet to return.
TIM: Mr. Apple . . .? Could I ask you something?
BARBARA: What?
JANE (To Barbara): It’s all right, Barbara.
BARBARA: What’s he going to—?
TIM: About your reading, sir. At the Y. A few months ago? Friends of mine had seen you the night before, and they told me it was a must-see. Especially for actors.
JANE (Answering a much earlier question, to Barbara): I didn’t even know he was there, until after.
TIM: Of course we all knew about your illness. The heart attack. And—the memory. I think that was one of the first things we all said to ourselves, when we heard . . . (He turns to Barbara) He knows he’s had the heart attack?
BENJAMIN: Yes.
TIM: We said . . . what’s an actor—if he can’t remember? (Smiles) But—then to see you at the Y, reading the Oscar Wilde—it was—you were—incredible . . . You weren’t just reading, you were—reading it fresh, for the first time. And so it had the sense that you couldn’t make a mistake—if you made one, it wasn’t really a mistake. If you fumbled . . . That was part of the performance.
(Then:)
I’ve wanted to say that, sir. After all, that’s every actor’s dream, isn’t it?
BENJAMIN: What is?
TIM: I suppose—to forget.
(Benjamin looks at him.)
To forget that you’ve learned lines, forget that you’ve rehearsed, forget that you’re performing a play. My actor friends and I came up with a whole new definition—just from watching you—for what we’ve been attempting to do all of our lives. Do you want to hear it?
(Benjamin nods.)
Great acting—is simply willed amnesia.
BENJAMIN: Mmmmmmm.
(He looks off in thought and smiles. All look at him.)
Yes, I think that’s very important.
(Richard returns.)
RICHARD: I took Toby outside—
JANE: Sh-sh.
RICHARD (To Barbara): Where do you keep little plastic bags?
JANE: Be quiet.
RICHARD: What’s going on?
TIM (To the others, continuing): To forget that you are civilized. Scripted. So something true perhaps, something real is seen.
RICHARD: What?
JANE: I don’t understand.
BENJAMIN: