To Capture a Dream

To Capture a Dream

The characters:

The Lockhart family:

Andrew, businessman

Martha, his wife, physiotherapist

Tom och Peter, twins

Bert, goldsmith

Lizabeth, his wife

The Brandon family :

Anthony, businessman

Alice, artist

Martin

Margaret

Morgan

Magnus

Thomas Hedstrom, Margaret’s fiancé

A saving car driver

A local doctor

A nurse

Doctor Benedict Johanson, "Plastic John"

Hubert Evert

Kerstin Juslin, hostess at the Vessö ceramics hill.

Also quartet singers, patients, 1st of May guests, young participants at Onsala party, artisan disciples, members of an audience, and others.

The action is in Finland (act I), Gothenburg (act II-IV) and Borga in Finland (act V) in Sweden and Finland during the years 1960-1989)

It is all a true story

Copyright © Christian Lanciai 1990

Prologue

In all simplicity, I want to try with this play to say some of all the things that were never said in reality. Most of what is spoken in this play has therefore never been said in real life. Those who were there themselves will no doubt make comments like, "It wasn't like that", "I never said that", "You embellish it all", "You have omitted all the most important things", and so on, but I would still like to say that the story of the play is completely true. The risk of trying to capture the truth is that it will never be completely captured. You can never get all the facts perfectly right, you can never do absolute justice to a once living person, and the closer you get to the truth, the greater the risk of controversy as a result of sensitivity. My only defense against possible attacks must be that I have tried to tell my story about Bert in dramatic form as I experienced it, and I can guarantee that at least that part is true.

between Finland and Sweden, 26 June 1990.

To Capture a Dream

Act I scene 1.

A large beautiful living-room in a great elegant villa.

Martha I can’t understand why Bert hasn’t come home yet. Have you seen Bert, boys?

Tom No.

Peter No

Andrew (reads the paper) He is probably with Maryanne.

Tom Yes, he is always together with Maryanne.

Peter He prefers his cousin to his brothers. (the telephone)

Martha That must be Bert.

Andrew (sits by the telephone) I’ll take it. (answers) Hello? Yes, this is the Lockharts. (rises upset) What! (listens for a long while. The others watch him with expectations.) (the doorbell. Peter goes to open up.)

Thank you so much. (hangs up shocked)

Martha What has happened?

Andrew Bert has had a traffic accident. The man who drove him to the hospital will come here to tell everything. That’s probably the man now.

Stranger (enters) Good day. Is it the Lockhart family?

Martha Yes.

stranger I happened to drive behind your son when the accident occurred. Fortunately I had a small trailer.

Andrew Have a seat, please. We are all on edge to hear what you have to tell us, but should perhaps calm down. Would you care for a drink?

Stranger Thank you, I would love it.

Andrew Whisky? Liquor? Brandy? Sherry? Madeira?

stranger A small whisky, please. Will you keep me company? I think we all need to strengthen ourselves.

Andrew We already know that you bring no good news. We expect nothing less severe than a full account of the full extent of the disaster.

Martha Has Bert made it?

stranger He was lucky, in a way. In front of me was a truck with a trailer. He had quite a high speed. Later, I see two children on the curb. They are approaching a bend, and I think: may the truck driver now take the bend properly so that he does not put the children in danger. The bend comes into view, and on the other side of the bend I see two cars coming in the opposite direction, one of which overtakes the other. The overtaker seems to think that he will get ahead of the truck, and if the truck is to avoid the children, the collision becomes inevitable. Squeezed, I see all this and slow down. The truck driver brakes slightly but does nothing to turn out as far as he needs to to manage the children. Instinctively, I understand that he has chosen

to save himself and his vehicle and is prepared to sacrifice the children. Did he have a choice? How would someone else have done in the same situation? Doesn't everyone think of themselves first?

Martha Well, how did it go?

stranger The boy was run over with his bicycle and everything while the girl watched. The truck driver managed the oncoming cars, and survived with his truck. I took his car number, and here it is. (Tearing a leaf out of a notebook.) I stopped the car myself, and by God's luck I had my little trailer. Carefully, with the girl's help, I managed to get Berndt onto the trailer. He lay down there in a crouched position. He was conscious and said who he was and where he lived. How old is he?

Martha Fourteen years.

stranger Then what he said was true. But he was so badly injured that I thought he should go straight to a professional hospital. There he lies now. The routine methods of the children's hospital were not for him.

Andrew How badly damaged was he?

stranger He came to the hospital alive.

Martha Answer our question!

stranger It was a god’s send that he crouched on the trailer. Or else he would have bled to death of internal bleedings.

Andrew How badly damaged was he?

stranger He got the wheel of the trailer of the truck over his belly.

Martha Which means?

Stranger He was almost cleft in twain.

Martha (has a shock)

Andrew Easy, Martha. He is alive. We’ll go to the hospital at once. stranger I was just going to offer to drive you there.

Andrew We’ll drive ourselves, but you can follow.

stranger Thank you, I would love to.

Andrew And then we shall deal with the butcher of children. (leaves with Martha and the stranger)

Peter We forgot to ask how Maryanne managed.

Tom She made it, didn’t she?

Peter Yes, but she witnessed everything at perhaps too short a distance.

Tom You are right. (They leave after the others)

Scen 2. A sterile waiting-room in a sterile hospital All sit waiting outside the operating room

Martha (after a while of pressing silence) I can't bear it! I can't bear it!

Andrew (laying his arm around her) Take it easy, darling friend of mine. You are a physiotherapist, remember.

Martha But why did it have to happen to my youngest son!

Peter Be glad that it did not happen to anyone of us.

Tom What if it had happened to both of us?

Per What would you have said then?

Martha But here is a fourteen-year-old boy who is just entering puberty and gets driven over so that maybe his entire life is ruined! And the murderer is still at large!

Andrew We will get him. We have his registration number.

Marhta It will be a process dragging on for years while my boy will just be dying!

Peter There, mother, he will probably not die so easily.

Tom He knows he has his entire life ahead of him.

Peter It’s just the first operations that will be difficult. (A doctor comes out. All rise.)

Andrew Well? Did it succeed?

Doctor (resigned) We will try again.

Martha What went wrong?

doctor We must give him a new artificial urethra. Just as the operation seemed to have succeeded, everything broke again But you are lucky It is a miracle that the boy is still alive.

Peter As I said, he will not go down that easily.

Martha How does it look otherwise?

doctor He has prospects of being able to make it, but there will be a long convalescence, and the first operations are decisive. If we only manage to get him a new urethra, we will have made the first vital progress.

Andrew May we see him?

doctor He is now unconscious, but come back tomorrow.

Martha I demand to know everything. How is he really? How big are his chances?

doctor His digestion system works. It’s the kidney system that is badly damaged, but his main prospect depends on something else.

Andrew What?

doctor I think it all depends on if he wants to go on living himself or not. (leaves)

Peter (comforting to the mother) He will probably not break so easily, mother.

Martha (decided) No, you can be damned sure he will not!

Scene 3. Same situation, 1 1/2 years later.

Andrew Here we are again.

Peter It’s getting repetitive.

Martha He must make it this time.

Tom It’s the 38th operation in less than two years.

Andrew There is still hope.

Martha He must make it!

Peter Calm down, mother, I am sure he will.

Andrew If only we could halt his process of losing weight.

Tom What can he do but lose weight having no appetite, when he constantly has to just lie on the operation table while total strangers never tire of digging in his belly with sharp scissors and instruments.

Andrew He is unconscious, Tom.

Tom Of course he is!

Martha Stop it now, boys. Something tells me that this operation is his last hope. Andrew Why?

Martha The operations have reached a number of 38, and his weight is down at 38 kilos. It can non longer get any worse.

Peter What father does is always right, but what mother feels is also always right.

Tom Whoever may believe it.

Andrew Here comes the doctor. (enter same doctor) Well, how did it go?

doctor The operation seems to have been successful. all At last!

Andrew After 37 failures!

doctor It just remains to be seen if the urethra really will hold this time. (A nurse comes out to whisper seriously with the doctor.)

Oh no! (sits down burying his face in his hands in desperation.)

Andrew (mulled) The operation must have failed again.

Tom The same operation has failed again for the 38th time. Can it be true?

Martha Is it true, doctor?

Doctor (removes his hands) I am sorry. The urethra has broken again. (all are benumbed)

Andrew (after a pause) What do you intend to do?

Doctor It’s just to begin all over from the beginning again. It has to succeed some time. (leaves)

Martha This will not do any more. We have to do something.

nurse (who has remained) We have done everything that could be done in any hospital in Finland. But there are other hospitals abroad…

Martha (wakes up at once) Tell us what you know!

Nurse In a hospital in Gothenburg they work successfully with plastic surgery, something that won’t be available here yet for several years…

Martha Tell us more! Tell us more!

Nurse The leading surgeon in plastic surgery there is called Plastic John. Perhaps he could succeed there with an operation that just will not work here.

Martha We thank you a thousand times for your advice. Andrew, as soon as Bert comes out from the operating room I will put him with bed and everything on a flight and go with him to Gothenburg There I will put that Plastic John to operate on him.

Andrew But Martha, is that realistic?

Martha It has to be, for it is probably our only chance!

Scene 4. At Plastic John’s office at the hopsital of Gothenburg.

Plastic John and Martha.

Plastic John No, I refuse.

Martha You can’t refuse!

Plastic John I have to refuse. The case is too complicated.

Martha You must not refuse. Here I come with a complete one man’s hospital by air just to plead with you who is the only one who can save the live of Bert. Then you can’t just say no!

John I am sorry, but I want nothing to do with your son. The case is too difficult, his damages are too extensive, your doctors in Finland with their primitive methods have operated away all possibilities of recovery, and the patient doesn’t even want to eat. How could I save the life of such a hopeless case?

Martha You just have to. (sits down squatting on the floor) I will sit here and refuse to eat. Move me if you can! I am a professional physiotherapist. Whoever wants to move me I will throw to the wall. Nothing could move me from here until you have promised to try to save the life of Bert.

Johan (quiet at first, then rises impressed) You are a brave woman, Mrs Lockhart. You are irresistible. You actually force this patient case on me. I will have to accept him then, but I can’t guarantee any kind of consistently successful operational results Your son’s life could be saved for the moment, but he will remain a patient all his life, and his life could even with the best possible operational results never be very long in a ny case.

Martha If only he may live! If he just could have the taste of life! He is just sixteen years! You can’t refuse a man to live in that age!

John You are right from a human point of view. I will do what I can, but I can’t take responsibility for the consequences.

Martha That will be up to himself and me.

John Be it as you will, brave mother.

Act II scene 1. Two mothers.

Martha I don't know how it will work out. I am now with my son every day and often stay over in the hospital in a bed next to him just to be close to him. There is something strange about him. One day when I was there he suddenly started crying. He was crying uncontrollably, and I got really worried. "What is it?" I asked him, but he replied that he himself did not know why he was crying. He just cried, it was a complete fit, and he couldn't explain himself why. The next day we learned that his cousin Maryanne had passed away at the very moment when he was crying. She was

of the same age as he and as healthy as he was before the accident. She was his favourite cousin.

Alice But why did she die?

Martha As you know, she was the only one who got to see Bert's accident up close. She loved horses and enjoyed riding, but some time after Bert's accident she herself had an accident with a horse, which made her suffer. Her injuries were minor, but it soon became apparent that cancer had taken root in her. Soon she suffered from a galloping and very malignant form of bone cancer, her case thus became a clear parallel to Bert's, but she died while he will now survive.

Alice So he felt it when she died without knowing the reason for his own atrocious grief?

Martha Exactly. I think it would do him very much good if also you, as a mother of four children, would visit him.

Alice I will be glad to do so, even though hospitals are unpleasant to me.

Martha That is human. Every hospital is a gateway to death, and it only gets worse for your trying to evade it at any price.

Alice But what happened to the man who drove him over? Didn’t you catch up with him?

Martha We got him in the end, and we started a lawsuit against him. He was a young man who had only had his truck driver's license for six months. The verdict should have been suspension of his driver's license, but he got away with a small amount of damages. He was pleased with the lenient sentence and afterwards invited my husband and my older sons to coffee. We declined, we found such an invitation quite humiliating, as if the man wanted to smooth over the fact that he had run over Bert, and then we never heard from him again. He could at least have kept himself informed of how his victim was doing.

Alice Had he no remorse for what he had accomplished?

Martha He had no feeling at all for what he had done.

Alice So he is then actually also guilty of the death of the cousin.

Martha Perhaps. Maryanne was closest to Bert of all. But such possible guilt is in that case only moral. Probably such an insensitive person is not even aware of it himself. He might even forget everything - until one day he himself might be run over. It may be unfair, but we can never pin down the culprit for the shock that a little girl experienced when she watched her best cousin get a truck across his stomach right in front of her eyes.

Alice It is quite abominable!

Martha But we are alive, and we intend to go on living, and we must live with it. Therefore we need our friends. What luck that Andrew had an old singing colleague here in Gothenurg with a villa and sauna and everything! And your oldest children are even about the age of Bert.

Alice Yes, Bert is just between my two middle children.

Martha Perhaps they also could be friends of Bert’s in time.

Alice They most certainly could. But I will begin by vising him.

Martha That will make him glad. His case is probably more than one mother could bear, so he might need some more.

Scene 2. At the hospital.

A department for accident victims. One patient is blind and has a completely disfigured face, other patients are completely bedridden, and so is 16-year-old Bert, an emaciated body with sparse red hair and with a dozen devices with tubes around him which all disappear under the sheets in his bed.

Alice Are you Bert?

Bert (with lively eyes) Yes, and you must be Alice. They say you are an artist?

Alice Yes, I worked with clay, plaster and terracotta all my life.

Bert I amuse myself here by trying to make some mobiles. Fortunately I can work with my hands without limitations. (smiles and shows a mobile hanging over the bed.)

Alice It is really beautiful.

Bert Do you think so? Here is another one I am working on now. (pulls up a half finished mobile from the tray in front of him.) Don’t you think it would be nice to hang it from a red lamp?

Alice Yes, but that lamp should then be rather small, so that it would not dominate the mobile.

Bert Exactly my idea. Unfortunately the others in my family don’t have quite the same esthetical mind. But please sit down, by all means! You are here to stay a while with me, aren’t you? I think the two of us will have rather much to talk about.

Alice (sits down by his bed) Yes, so it seems, doesn‘t it? (curtain)

Plastic John (to some doctors and nurses) That boy must not be subjected to any more operations! They almost operated him to death! No surgery will help here anymore. What he needs is zest for life. Let him eat properly and get outside and get fresh air. That's what he needs most of all.

(to Martha) Your whole family used to spend quite a lot of time outdoors, didn't you? Martha We were always very much out in the forest and in the archipelago.

Johan Good. I have an old extra beach villa out on Onsala that no one else needs. It is from the turn of the century and lacks heating, but you are very welcome to rent it in summer. It is located by the water, and there is also a badminton court. Make sure your son eats properly so he can be outside a lot the coming summer. (leaves the stage)

Martha (to Alice who enters) Listen, Bert refuses to eat again. We cannot force him to eat when he doesn't want to. We Lockharts are so stubborn when we once have

Scene 3. A revolving stage scene.

determined something, and I know Bert. Do you think you could visit him again? You have a good influence on him.

Alice I would love to. (Martha disappears. Alice revisits Bert's hospital department and bed.) Listen Bert, do you know what I have brought you today?

Bert I could never guess.

Alice (produces a small terracotta figurine) Do you know what this is?

Bert Is it a small moomin child?

Alice Almost. It is a dragon child.

Bert Of course! Now I see! What else would it be! It has a capital dragon’s tail and everything! May I keep it here for a few days and show it to the others in the department?

Alice Of course. It is yours.

Bert Is it true?

Alice I fashion these in less than an hour. This was actually intended for you

Bert I will give it a position of honour. It will brighten up the entire hospital. I think it already shines as the most living thing in the hospital.

Alice It is made with joy and intended to spread joy.

Bert It already succeeded beyond all expectation, I am sure. When will you come next time?

Alice I thought of coming in the end of this week and also bring a few of my children.

Bert How many do you have?

Alice Four. Two are older than you, and two are younger.

Bert You only need to bring the older ones. The younger ones would only get bored here at the hospital.

Alice We’ll see what they think themsleves. Maybe they will please to come all four.

Bert They are welcome in that case, (indicates the patient with a ruined face) but consider what you expose them to.

Alice I am the most easily shocked in my entire family. What I can bear will probably also my children be able to bear.

Bert I just wanted to make it easier for you.

Alice Thank you, Bert. I wish I could make something easier for you.

Bert You do by just coming here and keeping in touch with me. And I would like to meet your children.

Alice You are so remarkably extrovert as if you had no pains at all.

Bert (smiling) I don’t think of myself.

(the scene vanishes and returns to Plastic John and Martha)

John I am glad to please you, Mrs. Lockhart, that your son has started eating for sure.

Martha Then he might at last be able to leave his bed.

John That will be our next target, and I think we may succeed, if only his new will to live will hold on.

Martha It must.

John We can’t order it to.

Martha It will. I know Bert. His stubborn refusal to eat and wish to thwart our efforts to keep him alive has been replaced by an even more stubborn will to life. Now he will live.

John How did you make it?

Martha I woulnd’t have made it alone, but I had a colleague by my side.

John Another physiotherapist?

Martha No, another mother. (John disappears and Alice returns.) Bert has started to eat. Now he will make it.

Alice That gives me pleasure. Now the thing is to get him out of here. We have a fine garden outside town. Do you think we could get him out to our place with his bed?

Martha Certainly. We brought him here from Finland across the sea.

Alice And my oldest sons make music. Does he like music?

Martha I am sure he does. But do you know what it means that Bert now will manage?

Alice No

Martha Now we can sell our villa and move over here. We can wage everything on that Bert will recover. My husband will come here and help me, that will be the necessary extra moral support that I need, Bert’s convalescence will be long and difficult, but now I am sure we will succeed. Nothing can stop me and him now.

Alice Perhaps you could even come out to us and enjoy our sauna?

Martha A splendid idea. It will be certain to work in time. What luck that you and your family were in town!

Scene 4. The garden outside the summer house in Onsala, summer 1964. A long table is laid outside.

Present: all the Lockhart family and all the Landon family.

Andrew (rises with his glass) Forgive me, but I have to disturb the atmosphere a bit now that we have such wonderful weather and we are all so festively gathered here today, when Berndt turns 18. You have to admit that this extraordinarily pleasant situation requires a speech by the head of the responsible family. (several shouts of applause) Actually, I would just like to welcome you Landons. You have no idea how lucky it was for us that you existed in this wildly foreign city beyond all of Finland's horizons and so far behind Stockholm. We have an abyss of human, mental and economic hardships behind us, an unfate has led us for three years through a merciless valley of the shadow of death that has not only incessantly threatened Bert's life but also the health of both his parents. With the help of new good friends in

Gothenburg, we can today for the first time feel solid ground under our feet and look at the light from a clear blue sky after a four-year horrific merciless stormy night. This summer, Bert is out of bed for the first time since that fatal day four years ago that tore his and all our lives to shreds. He has taken a sauna, he has learned to sail, he has played badminton, and he has made new friends. Faithful friends in Finland have never let him down, but to their company have joined new friends of the most precious kind. Anthony, old brother from our common choir, let me embrace you in a brotherly hug, (Anthony gets up and comes forward,) with the simple words: what would our new home in Gothenburg be without you? We sang together in Finland during the war, you were already dancing with my future wife, and after 20 years, our paths have reunited like our homes. And Alice, you dearest of mothers, on behalf of Martha I dare say to you: thank you for becoming the extra mother to Bert who was just what he needed! Your parents and Martha’s spent time together in our home town already in the 19th century, the circle has now completed one lap and is starting a new one, and perhaps our grandchildren will continue where we once left off. Finally, I would like to address your beautiful daughter. You first came to Bert at the hospital with your mother, but then you began to visit Bert on your own. You have seen the wide open wound that runs across his entire waist, and you have supported him like another mother, though only a year older than Bert himself. You have become what Bert has always missed, a sister. In our family, the children are only men, your family also has three sons, but also a blessed daughter who, let me say so, is the icing on the cake of our life together. Greetings and welcome everyone! (Finally raises his glass.)

Bert Bravo, father!

Tom och Peter Answering speech! Answering speech!

Anthony (who has returned to his seat, rises) I am no speaker, so I had better be brief. Our house was open to you with our sauna and six-headed human content from the moment an old choir brother appeared in the city, and it will always remain open to you all. However, I must be astonished that in response you have opened two houses for us in the same city. You have not only managed to get Gothenburg's most wonderful villa of the small kind, but also a summer house by the water with the entire Onsala archipelago at your doorstep....

Andrew It is not ours.

Anthony No, but you have opened it to us, and that is the point. Unfortunately we may only limit ourselves to one house, which though just the more for certain always will remain open to all of you. (sits down)

Magnus (12 years) Bravo, father!

Alice (rises) Now I also have to have a say in the matter. I know what you have both been through, Martha and Andrew, and I really just want to give you recognition for your incredible bravery and civil courage. Here you have had an absolute top position in Finland with your family business behind you and one of Brando's most famous villas as a home. For your son's sake, you have left everything behind in Finland, sold homes and hearths, left services and started a whole new life in a

completely foreign place with no guarantees whatsoever of success. It is heroic to say the least!

Martha You have supported us.

Alice We have backed you to the extent that we were able to, and we will always continue to do so. We are a family that has always had a good life, while you have had it even better and got a shot below the waterline. It is a joy for us to be able to help you with what little we can. (sits down)

Anthony Next speaker!

Martin (oldest Landon son, 21 years, rises) I just want to say that it is fun to be with you Lockharts. We've had fun together this summer, you twin brothers are a bit older than us and have taught us a lot, and I'm just grateful if it continues. With you my sister can finally dance Cha-cha-cha, with you I have been able to dive in real frog costume from the cliffs of Gottskar, we have partied together, and we are happy about that. I think that's all. (Sits down.)

Bert (rises) May I say something. (All are quiet.) What I want to say is something completely different. I just want people to be happy and joyful around me. Okay, Dad, a long night is over, but let it be over. Forget sorrows and worries. Instead, live and don't take it so damned seriously. We are all just ordinary mortals, and let us be thankful for that, because we have really nothing else to be thankful for. We have got our life, and we will use it, it doesn't really matter how, as long as we have fun. I am grateful to have you as friends, but all people are my friends. The first thing Magnus said to me once when we were sitting at the kitchen table at your house was: "Can you hand me an orange?" Mom got ahead and handed him the orange, but with his simple request he showed that he saw me as nothing more than an ordinary person like everyone else, and I want everyone to do that, because it's the best treatment I can get. All human help is useless to me if I am considered an invalid and not a human being. That was really all I wanted to say. Thank you for coming to my birthday. (raises his glass with juice. Everyone is toasting, and the atmosphere is more cordial than ever.)

Act III scene 1. May 1st 1965 at the Landons.

A nice open living-room. Mead and crullers are offered, quartet songs are being performed: Bellman, Marschner, serenades, Swedish folk songs etc. Margaret is seen with an interesting boy friend. The door bell, and the Lockharts are coming: Andrew, Martha and Bert.

Alice Come in! You are just in time for the quartet singers and for most people being here!

Martha This is just like home in Finland at this time of the year!

Andrew Are there any crullers with mead left?

Alice Of course! There will always be plenty of leftovers. (The singers get cracking at "Away with all worries”.)

Margaret (after the song) Hi, Bert!

Bert It was a long time ago.

Margaret You look better every time!

Bert That’s intentional. My only problem now is with the kidneys.

Margaret What about them?

Bert I only have one that is working, and it works bad, so they might have to give me a new one.

Margaret A kidney transplantation?

Bert It might be unavoidable. But who is your friend?

Margaret Thomas Hedstrom, computer genius at the technical university.

Bert Oh, a technologist. Nice to meet you! (shakes his hand cordially)

Thomas You have a firm handshake.

Bert Yours could be firmer.

Thomas I thought you would be weakened.

Bert Even if everything else is weakened, you can still shake hands firmly making the other one feel that you mean something by your cordial greeting.

Thomas I will consider that.

Margaret Come now, Thomas. Don’t be shy. You must have a taste of our mead. (Walks over to the bottles with Thomas. Bert retires aside. The singers go off with ”The folly of Fridolin”.)

Bert (aside) What am I against a technical engineer from Chalmers? At most, a grey shadow with no future. Everyone loves this vibrant young girl, and everyone wants her, but no one can feel more deeply for her than I do, for I can never have her. Be happy, Margaret, and treat yourself to live the sweet free life that I can only dream of for the time being. Dance cha-cha-cha with my brothers, live with your cavaliers and fiancés, marry and have children, and don't care about me, who just has to demand everything from my fellow human beings without really being able to give them anything. Maybe one day in the future I can become a completely normal person and I too get married and have children, but then it will be too late for Margaret. She cannot wait for me, for she is healthy and alive like no other. I can only love you from afar like a secret admirer without any chances, and that will be my only joy with you, while a thousand torments will gnaw at me for every new fiancé you will find for you without suspecting my feelings.

Margaret (returns) Can you have mead, Bert?

Bert I used to be the best one at drinking mead on first of May. I have almost forgotten how it tasted.

Margaret May I offer you?

Bert If it tastes good there is no harm in it. (drinks) Yes, that’s just how it used to taste when it tasted best. How does Alice brew it?

Margaret One beer, water, some brown sugar, raisins, yeast and honey.

Bert All we need now is some chinouski-cake, and I would have all my childhood returned to me.

Margaret I am sure we could arrange that. But what do you think about my fiancé?

Bert You could hardly have any better one. But where are your brothers Martin and Morgan? I'll never forget when they played for me out in the garden when I was still all packed up.

Margaret (somewhat perturbed) Morgan is unfortunately gradually derailing. He only comes home for the nights and then sleeps until midday. He has become a full time pop musician and is now in Stockholm to try to make himself a star there.

Bert That's great. Is he good?

Margaret "Why Not" is a very good group which doesn't make the success it deserves though. That's why Morgan now is trying to make it on his own.

Bert I hope he will succeed.

Margaret It doesn't seem as if he would. (Thomas returns.) There you are! Let's take a walk now out into the garden! (leaves with Thomas.)

(Bert retires. The singers sing "Warum bist du so ferne".)

Anthony It can't go on like this. I can't tolerate it.

Alice But he is a young man and must be allowed to live as he pleases.

Anthony As long as he hasn't come of age he has no right to live as he pleases. He can't live as he pleases. He is immature. An 18 year young man who sleeps every day until two in the afternoon and spends his evenings and nights playing bad music in weird taverns and caverns associating with self-indulgent partners - I can't have a son like that living in my house at my expense!

Alice But he makes rather good money…

Anthony which he immediately wastes on electric guitars and silk shirts and a life of self-indulgence! Can't you see that his company is bad for him? He only grows more inactive, slothful, impossible and arrogant!

Alice What would you like to do with him then?

Anthony Send him out to work! Let him handle the axe in the wilderness together with real lumberjcks! That would make of him a man again.

Alice I will consider it, but I don't think he would like the idea.

Anthony I can't have my son sleeping at home every day until two o'clock!

Alice I can understand that. Let it be a comfort to you that he is less and less at home. Well, what shall we do about Margaret?

Anthony She must not leave school. She has to suffer it. She only has one more year.

Alice She says she wants to quit school to get married and have children.

Anthony With whom?

Alice She has many suitors.

Anthony I couldn't stand the first one, and I couldn't stand the last one, and there was only between them whom I could tolerate.

Alice I know. Thomas.

Scene 2. Alice and Anthony.

Anthony Yes. He was at least interesting as a man. Do you know why they broke up?

Alice Yes, I know.

Anthony Well?

Alice He broke off his computer studies and derailed. He has since then been experimenting with drugs. That's maybe where Margaret's problems started.

Anthony That is sad to hear. Wasn't he a technological genius?

Alice Yes, he was very promising, but something went wrong.

Anthony Has Morgan also been experimenting with drugs?

Alice I don't know about that.

Anthony He probably has, judging from the vagabonds and parasites with which he is associating.

Alice Don't call his musician friends parasites.

Anthony Don't call them musicians. They are just standing there bellowing, making noise and acting like apes.

Alice Back to Margaret. Her depressions are very severe, and we have to do something about It.

Anthony Some doctor?

Alice Is there any alternative?

Anthony Some psychiatrist?

Alice Nowadays there are medicines against everything…

Anthony Very well. I will get in touch with doctor Ericson at the mental hospital. Come what may, but our daughter must not break off her education.

All these problems with Margaret and Morgan started with his notorious party on that weekend when were away, and his friends plundered our house of valuable records and even entered into her room and found some jewellry which they took. Margaret never got over that violation of her privacy. And that's where Morgan's derailment started. We must put an end to it, and Margaret must take her degree next year.

Scen 3. Martha and Plastic John.

John I am sorry, Mrs. Lockhart, but Bert's one kidney is about to give up. The situation is critical, a kidney transplantation is a difficult operation which must not be performed if it is not sure to succeed, Bert's blood group is rare, and we have no kidney available.

Martha How long can he live?

John Two years more at most, unless he gets a new kidney.

Martha How great are the chances that you could find a right kidney?

John Extremely small.

Martha What do you intend to do? What do you suggest?

John We can only hope and wait and give Bert dialysis treatments, which are extremely straining and could shorten his life even more.

Martha You have no other ideas?

John Not for the moment.

Martha So you have no initiative to present. Then I beg to present a suggestion myself. I have the same blood group as Bert. Take one of my kidneys.

John Your courage never ceases to amaze me, Mrs. Lockhart, but are you aware of what risks you would take?

Martha I am as healthy as a woman of my age could be. My kidneys are only 50 years old. I can work for at least another twenty years. What more damage could it do to me except a higher blood pressure?

John It could shorten your life.

Martha What does that matter if Bert may live?

John (after a pause) Your suggestion is not uninteresting. You are, as I always have said, a very brave woman. If there aren't any other alternatives turning up, it is possible that your suggestion could definitely save Bert's life for a considerable length of time. But the operation is difficult and must not fail. We must carefully consider every possible risk both for you and for Bert…

Martha I gave him his life, and it was my life’s greatest joy. I would gladly sacrifice mine to save his.

John As I said…

Martha Put me on the operating table and cut out a kidney from my body. I am prepared any time.

John We will come back to the issue further on. Perhaps some other solution will turn up…

Martha I know how sensitive kidney transplantations are. And I know for sure that my kidney can save Bert.

John But maybe only for 20 years, as you said yourself…

Martha 20 years is an entire lifetime. Bert has already learned to take care of the fleeting moment of life.

John Very well, Mrs Lockhart We will carefully discuss and consider the matter. You should also discuss it thoroughly with your husband.

Martha Of course.

Scene 4. Margaret’s degree party in May 1967.

Anthony (with a glass of champagne, stands up to give a speech to old and young, not very fashionably but neither badly dressed, happy people, in light summer style outfits.)

"After many ifs and buts along the way, the graduation came to stay,” Bert has written to Margaret in his little book gift to her, and in all its simplicity that verse expresses it all. She has changed schools five times, she fought her way through a lousy elementary school where she was dragged along with that school's

worst teachers, she fought against crumpled and fanatical nuns in the Catholic school, she fought against nervous breakdowns in Burgarden, she fought her way through the entire girls' school, and finally she fought her way through the entire high school in the Latin line against the school's own Eichmann. She has often wanted to quit, interrupt, and do something else, we have put a thousand people to help her settle, including several fiancés, one of whom, the best, is sitting here, (pointing towards Thomas,) she has received medication from psychiatrists, neuroleptics from pharmacists, vertebral treatments from chiropractices, vacations in Spain and tractor assistance, and all to help her reach this day. Finally, we have arrived, after many ifs and buts, but, believe it or not, the graduation was actually finally accomplished. I congratulate you, after having been arguing for so many years for the sake of this cause, and I warmly welcome you on emptying the first glass of champagne of the year. Cheers! (All drink and share the toast, crying Cheers! There is music and entertainment and happy talk among all.)

Bert I can’t see Morgan here. Where is he?

Margaret He is the only one missing. He has gone to England.

Bert To play?

Margaret No, not at all. For something much more interesting. Thomas has just come back from England and can tell you about it.

Thomas Yes, you see, as everyone knows, I've been away the last few years on various trips. For example, along with two others, I was the first to advocate LSD here in the city. Thus my education came to an end. Since then, I have been devoted to drugs. But now I've found something new, and since then I've been completely free from drugs.

Margaret It’s a kind of philosophy with a therapeutic system. Tell me more, Thomas.

Thomas It is a study in the unconscious aiming at eliminating the harmful effects of the subconscious.

Bert Then it is nothing for me but perhaps something for Morgan. Didn’t he turn on drugs as well?

Margaret That’s exactly what he did. Magnus knew at once that this idealistic movement in England would be the salvation of Morgan, he is certain that Morgan will come home free from drugs, and not until now he tells me that Morgan always had a hash pipe standing on their common desk in their common bedroom. Morgan has been at it for years without our parents having had any idea about it.

Bert Did he invite Magnus?

Margaret Not as far as I know. With Magnus Morgan always used to do what is worse. But it is not impossible.

Bert But that is terrible! Then actually anything would be better

Margaret As you can see, Thomas is entirely clean and normal again by his therapy.

Bert What did they do to you?

Thomas A kind of confessional psycho-analysis by a polygraph.

Margaret Now all our friends and colleagues go over to England to apply the same thing.

Bert (cold and critically to Margaret) Do you know any drug addicts?

Margaret In a circle in which I associate it has been much fashionable to resort to such means. I had such an addict for a fiancé once.

Bert (in the same tone) Why?

Margaret Don’t ask me why. How do you get fiancés? You learn about their back sides when it is too late.

Bert And what about yourself?

Margaret Never.

Bert And Martin?

Margaret He did probably try it but never fell for it. Ask him yourself.

Thomas Margaret intends to go over to England all the same. She wants to get rid of her psychic medicines.

Bert I hope you will come back.

Margaret I will for certain.

Thomas With a new fiancé.

Margaret You never know.

Martin (enters) But Margaret, why aren’t you dancing?

Margaret I have to entertain my guests.

Bert Have been using drugs, Martin?

Martin I tried, but it gave me nothing. It was just stupid and meaningless and didn’t even give any satisfaction or enjoyment.

Bert Thanks goodness! And still you will let your sister go off to England, where all pop bands propagate drugs.

Martin I know. I wish she could be as critical as I.

Bert So you don’t believe in Thomas’ therapeutic psycho-analytic system with polygraphs?

Martin You have to be critical. But come on now, Marge. Someone has to start the dancing, so why not we? Allow me to invite you.

(He brings his sister out on the floor. The music goes Spanish, and the dancing transcends into a kind of bullfight, where Martin is the bull. All stand around looking and laughing and cheering.)

Bert You can see they have been to Spain!

Thomas How about your operations, by the way? Are they all finished now?

Bert They will never finish, but I just got a new kidney. Hopefully that will start a more stable improvement.

Thomas Isn’t it difficult to transplant kidneys? You do it extremely seldom since it is such a sensitive organ.

Bert Quite right. You can wait for years for a new kidney since it is so much else than just the blood group that has to be right.

Thomas How did you get yours?

Bert My mother sacrificed one kidney of hers.

Thomas So you have each now just one kidney?

Bert Yes.

Thomas How long do you expect to live then?

Bert My mother perhaps fifteen years, if she doesn’t overstrain herself. For myself I have for the first time in seven years actually reason to look forward to the future with some brightness.

Thomas Do you still love Margaret?

Bert If I do.

Thomas She is yours. You can have her.

Bert But she has so many others coming ahead of me.

Thomas Sooner or later she will probably be yours anyway.

Bert My mother and she agree very well. But I would probably become dependent on her, like I am now dependent on my mother.

Thomas (confidentially) I still think the two of you would go well together

Bert Why?

Thomas You are both so extremely extrovert.

A guest Hallo, Thomas! Tell us more about that salvation movement of yours! (He gets busy with other friends.)

Bert (aside) Is such a happiness possible? No, at least not yet. Let her get over all her games. Let her test that new movement, let her work up a number of suitors and fiancés, and let her mature. She can never be yours until she wants it herself. She has even belonged to your own best friend in Finland. If such a dream of happiness could be captured at all, only time can give it in your hands, and in that case I will have to wait out time. How long? Maybe until I die.

Scene 5. Alice and Martha, in the Landon home, autumn 1967.

Martha Listen Alice, what is really going on in your family? I hear so strange rumours. Where has Margaret gone?

Alice She has come home from England and lives together inside town with a young violinist whom she met with over there.

Martha Will she marry?

Alice I don’t think so. She has turned a gnothologist.

Martha What does that mean?

Alice It’s the new movement that saved Morgan.

Martha That’s exactly what I hear so strange rumours about. Hasn’t it been in the papers as well? Doesn’t it cost a tremendous lot of money?

Alice It has saved two of my children. Comsequently I can’t see anything wrong with it.,

Martha How did it save Margaret? She didn’t have to ne saved from anything, did she?

Alice Her antidepressive medicines were ruining her. After having been rid of them she has recovered her intuition. That’s worth more than gold.

Martha Why did she take medicines at all? Was it because of all her suitors?

Alice It doesn’t matter. She is better now.

Martha Does that mean that you also have become – what was it called?

Alice Gnothologist. Yes, we have all become so, and Anthony will also come over.

Martha Martin as well?

Alice Martin has left his studies and moved over to England where he works for the movement.

Martha And Magnus?

Alice Magnus intends to abandon school and go over to England.

Martha But he just started in high school? Will he blow his studies?

Alice No one forces him. He wants it himself.

Martha And what does Anthony say?

Alice You will have to ask him.

Martha Will you also join the movement?

Alice Martha, you must understand me. I am younger than you but a mother like you. This movement has saved two of my four children from a dangerous downhill course perhaps towards perdition. Isn’t that enough for a mother to be grateful to that movement for the rest of her life and as far as possible do everything for it?

Martha I would answer yes to both queries if this movement didn’t cost so much money. Can’t you see, Alice, the deceit concealed in a salvation movement that costs money? Also psychology and psychiatry are just the worse deceits the more they cost. Of all such therapies there is only the Catholic confession which is sensible enough to be free of charge. How much has your engagement cost your family so far?

Alice Only three round trips to England and a bank loan for Morgan.

Martha Of how much?

Alice Six thousand.

Martha Which Andrew will have to amortize and pay?

Alice He has agreed to it for Morgan’s sake.

Martha This is just the beginning, Alice. If you are serious about it you will ruin yourselves. All your husband’s life’s work and your entire family might get lost.

Alice Do you mean it would have been better to let Morgan remain addicted to drugs and let Margaret become more and more dependent and benumbed by psychic medicines?

Martha Of course not, but you can’t waste your lives on such a racket as this American fake religion consisting of commercialised Buddhism corrupted by science fiction. That American has made a religion out of science fiction to make money on it, but science fiction is unnatural and without life. Science fiction is sterile, while there is life only in the freedom of nature. You can’t find nature anywhere in science

fiction. That road leads only to denaturalization and dehumanization by deceitful dreams of no substance, ending up nowhere except to pockets full of money for those in charge. I understand that American is a multimillionaire already. Don’t they even have an implemented excommunication system which turns a distrusted member into a fair game which any gnothologist may persecute and hound preferably to his destruction to eliminate any danger and criticism of the firm, as these persons are labelled and branded as suppressive persons? Are such autocratical measures to the slightest degree democratic and human?

Alice You don’t know what you are saying.

Martha And you don’t know what you are doing.

Alice I have to think of my children.

Martha Instead of losing two you risk losing all four including yourself. Has no one else dissuaded you from this adventure?

Alice (distressed) All my friends are critical. No one understands me.

Martha I understand you perfectly well. You are all lost and and have no backbone. Therefore you look for it somewhere else. But you only deceive yourselves. Thereby you fall into the larger category of humanity that rather allows themselves to be deceived allowing others to think for you instead of thinking for yourselves.

Alice You are heartless and cynical.

Martha No, casual, realistic and practical, which I think Andrew is also. I am not afraid of death, I know what it is about, that I sacrificed one of my kidneys for Bert is actually a ticket in advance for the last journey, but you know nothing about the seriousness of death and therefore play around with it without having any idea about its scorpion possessing a sharp tine in its tail which will sting and hurt deeply.

Alice We get nowhere like this, Martha. Accept what we are doing and remain our friends, but you must restrict yourselves to an uncritical attitude, or our ways have to part.

Martha I must also hear Anthony's opinion about the matter. He is after all much older than both of us.

Alice I have no right to stop you from that.

Martha I will arrange for him and Andrew to meet one day and discuss it at length.

Scene 6. Andrew and Anthony

Anthony Now the last one has also fallen ill.

Andrew What illness?

Anthony That American business movement in religious disguise which already turned the heads of my three oldest children to make them completely balmy and blue-eyed. Now Magnus has fallen also.

Andrew How is it possible?

Anthony He demands to break off school education without realizing he will destroy his own future. Instead he wants to study rhat Gnothology thing. And he is only sixteen years.

Andrew Can't you force him to carry on like you did with Margaret?

Anthony I have tried everything. His best teacher has worked on him, his headmaster has spoken with him, even his class mates have tried to speak sense with him, but he is determined, and I have four others in my family who support him against me against all common sense.

Andrew Are the other three then completely hopelessly lost?

Anthony Morgan will be a full time professional gnothologist, and in order to finance it he has forced me to new bank loans to pay for such a worthless fake education.

Andrew So this religion is in other words an American business enterprise?

Anthony Precisely, and nothing else! And it lives on exploiting innocent credulous children like mine who are easily fooled and have no sense of the meaning of money!

Andrew And Margaret?

Anthony Margaret has moved in with one of those gnothologists who is her most worthless suitor so far. He is a quiet, untalented and lazy sloth, with whom she lives in sin!

Andrew She seems to be able to take care of forlorn fellows.

Anthony God knows why they always have to be so forlorn.

Andrew Well, and what about Martin and Alice?

Anthony They are also completely lost. Martin is in England now as a slaveworker for the firm, and Alice believes implicitly in the infallibility of the movement. Magnus was my last and only hope. The majority has now carried him along in their senseless self-destructive march to destruction, like the children charmed by the piper of Hamelin and his seductive pipe, and I stand powerless and alone with increased blood pressure. And my business goes to hell.

Andrew Do you risk unemployment?

Anthony So far I keep fighting on.

Andrew I am sorry about the fate of your family. We almost lost Bert's life, but all the members of your family appear to have sold off their souls, which is almost worse. But such a case must reach a bottom to then turn around.

Anthony Do you think so?

Andrew Even Bert's destiny has now turned into a positive direction, which we never thought could be possible before this year. But it took seven years…

Anthony Right now my entire family is hopelessly lost. But I will never fall for the same swindle and hoax. Do you hear? Never!

Andrew (takes his hand) You'll see there will be hope also for the others.

Anthony As a realist I must unfortunately doubt it.

Andrew A hopeless situation is never serious, and a serious situation is never hopeless.

Anthony But it is always one or the other.

Andrew In any case there is some comfort in the one always excluding the other. Anthony I hope you are right, but at the moment I can see no light in the darkness. Andrew It is autumn now. Have patience.

Andrew I never had.

Andrew No wonder your blood pressure runs high. But, my best friend, think about it carefully, it's a completely impossible situation. If it is a fraud, which it must be, then they have to see through it sooner or later. Then they will be disappointed and return to life one experience richer. Hopefully, they don't go on an equally big scam again. They have to see it. None of your children are stupid. They are perhaps somewhat spoiled by your healthy economy and its solid security together with your loving lovely wife, I can think of no more ideal mother in the world except Martha, so of course they are a bit naïve and gullible. It gets better when they wake up from the dream, which they have to do. No dreams are lasting, and especially not economic dreams, like this American scam. Like a tornado, it must dissolve on its own.

Anthony But we are right up in the middle of the storm now and can’t get out of it.

Andrew Then you simply have to concentrate on just surviving. And this American guru, this businessman who invented this science fiction-religious joke, anyone can see from him that he is not a serious person. I have never seen an uglier or less convincing guru. He is perhaps the world's biggest self-deceiver. He is like a parodic sum of all the stereotypes of a mad scientist.

Anthony The risk is that you are right. But why did then my family have to be the ones to happen to get drowned in his artificial dreams of weird science fiction?

Scen 7. May 1st 1969 at Landon’s.

The clientele is different from scene 1. You see youths with long hair, a young lady without a bra with a too small child in her arms and all kinds of doubtful people. Nevertheless there is also quartet singing, mead and crullers.

The doorbell. Enter Bert, Martha and Andrew.

Alice Come in! Come in! You are just in time for the quartet singers to get started and when most people are here!

Andrew Are we welcome in spite of the revolution?

Martha Quiet, Andrew Pretend that everything is as usual.

Bert The main thing is that the quartet singing is the same. (They come in. Alice disappears in the throng.)

Andrew (stops in the parlour) These people seem a bit different to what we are used to.

Martha Try not to bother.

Bert The Landon society has grown younger.

Andrew Yes, the middle age here couldn’t be far above twenty. Is that a boy or a girl?

Bert It doesn’t matter. He or she is a gnothologist.

Andrew That explains it.

Bert Here is one familiar face at least. Where are your brothers and sister this year, Magnus?

Magnus (17 years) Margaret is still in England, like Martin and Morgan.

Andrew And you?

Magnus I stay here.

Andrew Aren’t you also a gnothologist? Haven’t you also been to England?

Magnus Yes, but I came back.

Martha And what do you do now when you are no longer at school?

Magnus Come along, and I will show you. (shows the way down the stairs into the cellar. They disappear.)

Anthony Where did the Lockharts go?

Alice I think they followed Magnus down to his room. I guess he is going to play for them.

Anthony Very well, then they will be back. I hope they will not feel completely neglected by us in this horrible company of all your young gnothology friends. They appear to drive all normal people out of our house.

Alice Don’t say so. The quartet singers are still here.

(The quartet singers sing ”Away with all worries”. Their standard has declined, and the enthusiasm has changed to melancholy. Nevertheless some of the older cusomers applaud.)

Anthony This 1st of May celebration will go down in history as the most horrible one during all our thirteen years. The quartet singers seem to break it up already, and then only loose ends of people will remain.

Alice Here come the Lockharts.

Andrew (completely impressed) That was something!

Alice What did he play for you?

Andrew Chopin’s F minor ballade and completely without mistakes and with a totally enchanting, convincing and correct sentiment. Your young son understands Chopin!

Martha I knew he was skilful, but I never heard him play before.

Bert With that music he could perhaps save the family.

Alice What do you mean, Bert? He is as much a gnothologist as almost everyone else here.

Andrew Didn’t he come disappointed back from England?

Alice You don’t get disappointed in our religion. He came back but only to carry on studying it here.

Andrew He seems to have studied music better, which he probably also could learn more from.

Martha Don’t start again, Andrew. As long as there is music there is hope, and lets content ourselves with that.

Bert How about the violinist with whom Margaret lived?

Magnus They moved together to England, but Peter Gardstom came back again. Since then he has disappeared. His parents called here from Linköping once to ask us where he was, but we didn’t know.

Bert And where is Thomas? Is he also in England?

Magnus No, he also came back soon enough.

Bert Is he still a gnothologist?

Magnus No, he has returned to drugs.

Bert Did he find them a better alternative?

Magnus At least he found that salvation more human.

Bert And you? Are you engaged in the movement?

Magnus I am neutral, neither for nor against.

Bert But you haven’t resumed your studies?

Magnus No

Bert Why not?

Magnus I had to get through with gnothology, music and literature first.

Bert What do you expect to get out of gnothology?

Magnus I don’t know. That’s why I have to do it. But when I am through and have understood the matter, I will gladly come back to you and tell you the result.

Bert You are welcome. (Magnus leaves to mind the mead distribution.) (aside) Your music promises much and perhaps an answer to my question. I think that could save both yourself, your family and crack the gnothology nut, if anything, for classical music is supreme clarity and sharpness of thinking. You if anyone, Magnus, could see through and expose the gnothology illusion. Do it for the sake of your own family! – And for my sake, who might never know Margaret again.

Act IV scene 1.

The Högberg silver forge at Aschebergsgatan in Gothenburg, autumn 1970. Magnus (19 years) enters the shop.

Magnus Could I speak with Bert? expedite Of course. (enters the forge) Bert, a young man is looking for you.

Bert’s voice (in the wings) Who is it? expedite I think it is Magnus.

Bert Good. I’ll come.

(Gradually he becomes visible. He has grown fat by cortesone. On his way out into the shop he unfortunately hits his side in the doorpost, exactly where he has one of his catheters. Without changing his face:) Ouch. (Magnus immediately realizes his outrageous pain.)

Magnus Hello, Bert. I just wanted to return the book we borrowed.

Bert Yes, of course. Was that all you wanted?

Magnus Not really. Do you remember our conversation on the 1st of May one and a half year ago?

Bert Yes.

Magnus I detached myself completely from gnothology exactly one year ago.

Bert That gives me pleasure. What do you do instead?

Magnus That’s what I wanted to talk with you about.

Bert Tell me.

Magnus I write and compose. That is all.

Bert That’s not little.

Magnus Yes, it is little. It is too little.

Bert Have you considered resuming your studies at school?

Magnus No

Bert Why not?

Magnus Because I intend to commit suicide.

Bert (without changing his face) That’s something new. Why?

Magnus Do you remember that I promised to tell you about my results of my examination of gnothology when they were ready?

Bert Yes. What were your conclusions?

Magnus I saw how gnothology saved perhaps the lives of my sister and nearest brother. I saw how happy my eldest brother was to devote himself to it, and I saw how my mother lived up as an artist anew inspired by this philosophy. I really believed in it and its positive possibilities, even if it wasn't just for the sake of it that I interrupted my schooling. My intention was to enjoy all its benefits just like my siblings and my mother.

Bert Well?

Magnus After blindly believing in it for two and a half years and spending a year and a half exploring it, the overall result was a total status quo. The religion as such is as worthless as it is costing a lot of money. It is a complete hoax, an extraordinary self-deception, a cleverly elaborated swindle and a brainwashing business of gigantic proportions kept going by a completely totalitarian and militant organisation.

Bert That’s what we in our family always thought. But why do you say you want to commit suicide?

Magnus I have made the mistake of my life in placing faith in such a firm, I have lost the two most valuable years of my life in it, and I have now spent a whole year of systematic self-deprogramming, consisting of suicidal thoughts, which are actually the only means against religious brainwash, just as the only thing that helps against the loss of a loved one is to cry oneself out properly. Pain is the only medicine for brainwashing, and as such, self-torture can be effective. Suicidal thoughts is questioning one's own existence and pushing self-torment to its extreme. It is very effective. Before gnothology came into our lives, I was an unequivocally positive and innocent innocent dominated by joyful optimism. Now that I have understood what has happened to my family and how my own life has been destroyed, I suddenly feel very old.

Bert You are only nineteen. You have only lost two years. That’s nothing. I can see no reason for any suicide.

Magnus One thing gnothology has convinced me of, and that is transmigration. I consider my current life to be completely wasted. I've missed my chance, and I can never break through as a musician. I'm already too old, and serious music today is completely overrun by the screaming noise of rattling electric guitars and hoarse roars and bellows of pop and rock music. Woodstock has ravished the world with its numbing drugs, and as a musician I am hopelessly excluded from that world.

Bert So that is your problem. Gnothology has made you believe that you are immortal, and therefore you want to commit suicide since you take for granted that will give you the chance of starting again from the beginning. All you need, Magnus, is to learn to live. At least you had a happy childhood, didn’t you?

Magnus The happiest possible.

Bert But you never had any youth, because it was completely overshadowed and darkened by the derailings of your closest siblings. We will have a party at my place on Saturday. Come along!

Magnus May I?

Bert You are heartily welcome. Just tell me one thing: why did you turn to me?

Magnus I think you know.

Bert Say it anyway.

Magnus Of what you have gone through and managed I can only draw the conclusion that there is more divinity in you than in the entire gnothology.

Bert You enthrone me and set me up on a piedestal. Please don’t do that. It could stress me, and I really don’t have much powers to endure such a strain. Do you know what made me manage my life?

Magnus No? What is your secret?

Bert The comfort of the thought that I am just an ordinary mortal.

Magnus You mean your body?

Bert What am I if not my body?

Magnus You are so much more, Bert, than just an ordinary mortal.

Bert Prove it!

Magnus I can’t do it at once, but give me time. At length I will probably be able to do it.

Bert Good. You can start by coming to my party on Saturday. And I must ask you to leave your suicidal thoughts behind. You do have a life. Give it a chance.

Magnus I will think about it. I will come on Saturday.

Bert Good. Now I must go back to work. (returns to his workshop without hurting himself.)

Magnus (aside) Thank you, Bert. You are now my only elder sibling instead of the three I have lost.

Hubert But two years ago you managed to convince me that gnothology worked. Are you now taking it all back?

Magnus I have to do it, Hubert. Experience gives me no choice. I take nothing back of what I said then: They have made some interesting discoveries and invented a therapy that can be of great benefit if used correctly, but the founder's financial success went to his head and tempted him to transform his science into a religion that he controls autocratically through a horror organization that exists only to exploit good people like you and me to death. A good friend of mine traveled down to the flagship of the organization full of enthusiastic idealism to dedicate his life to the movement and was subjected to categorical bullying through brutal violence and brutality. He was put in iron chains in the keel, and he was not alone. There is no love in that religion. Its organization is only created to control and ruthlessly exploit those who allow themselves to be deceived.

Hubert So you dissuade me from going on?

Magnus Definitely. It has only made me unhappy, and it would only make you unhappy as well. You deserve a better fate. All my family has got lost. Don’t let yours get lost as well.

Hubert You face me with an abyss.

Magnus No, I am facing it myself and warn you against getting too close. Don’t look down! Forget it!

Hubert Shall I then forget my idealism to become a crass ordinary citizen like everybody else and restrict myself to a tedious and boring life in the sign of materialism?

Magnus I am sorry, Hubert, but it’s not my fault. We have to beware of idealisms that only are pitfalls. Destiny is still enough without your being tricked into soul traps which then keep you stuck for a long part of your life enough for it to be completely ruined.

Hubert And your family is then completely lost?

Magnus I am afraid so. Only my father is sober and realistic. Hubert And what about you? How could you save them? How could you get out of this alone? You haven’t even got any education.

Magnus Fortunately I have my music. But I have lost all my friends. Besides you I have only two others left.

Hubert You always have me. I am always here, Magnus, even if it would take years between our meetings. We went different ways after the Catholic school, but we always found each other again.

Magnus Yes, that’s how it seems, as one of the few bright moments of life. But you nearby lost me last year.

Hubert How?

Magnus It is over now. Let’s revive old memories and play the pirate game again. Do you remember how we roamed in our wild hide-and-seek-games in the mountains of Utby?

Hubert We could go on for days.

Magnus The whole world was still ours then. How happy we were in those days! Hubert I think, that just because we are familiar with misfortune and its abyss, we could be happier than most by our knowledge.

Magnus You were always wiser than all the others.

Hubert There is no other wisdom than goodness, and it always overcomes everything.

Magnus What about patience then?

Hubert Also patience comes from goodness.

Magnus When do we see each other next time?

Hubert Perhaps never. Perhaps tomorrow. But we always have each other anyway.

Magnus I hope you are right.

Scene 3. Party at Onsala, June 1971. The sun has set. Magnus is entertaining a large happy youthful company with ghost stories. Bert is not seen.

Magnus Well, is it so late already that it's time for ghost stories? Well, in that case, I must tell you a perfectly true experience. It was in the archipelago of my wild homeland Finland, and a good friend had promised to take me to a special place. The trick was that you could only get there by canoe. We paddled all day, eventually getting deeper and deeper into overgrown reed beds. At one place a compact wall of reeds rose from shore to shore across the bay, but still my companion found an entrance in the wall, and we began to travel into an ever narrowing channel. It was pure mangrove swamp, and you could expect to see crocodiles and hippos emerging from the water or monkeys and venomous snakes tumbling from the lianas. But the channel continued to narrow, and suddenly all the reeds disappeared, and we entered a strait surrounded by steep slopes and tall woods of deep verdure. Slowly we slid in to the beach, and there was a small staircase down into the water. "We are there," said my companion, and I had to get out and take the stairs ashore. He anchored the canoe and followed. There was a small sauna at the water's edge, and on the opposite bank rose, embedded in greenery, something resembling a dilapidated mansion. (An owl is hooting outside, all hearken, but Magnus resumes his story.) We followed the shore and crossed a little bridge, a delightful little arched bridge in the Chinese style, crossing the narrowest part of the strait, and so we climbed up to the mansion. (new hoots with the same reactions as before.) The mansion and its garden were completely overgrown with greenery, but you could tell that it had once been a really nice place. The mansion was deeply dilapidated, and in it a

very old lady was found alone holding court over a bygone world of parties and glitters. (The hoot continues very close by.)

Someone How that owl keeps hooting!

A girl But it must be Bert.

Magnus No, it must be a real owl going hystericaL. (enter Bert.)

The girl It was Bert!

Bert Were the background effects appropriate enough?

Magnus You gave my entire story a special point of its own.

Another Let's now hear the rest of the story.

Magnus No, it doesn't matter. It can't get better than this.

Bert Ghost stories should never reach an end.

Magnus No, exactly.

Another But we have nothing to drink!

(all get going with partying again, music is played, and the entire mood for ghost stories is scattered.)

Magnus You did that well.

Bert I used to be good at imitating birds.

Magnus You saved me from giving away a family secret.

Bert Then you can reveal another one instead. Tell me, why did Margaret start to associate with drug addicts?

Magnus It just became like that. She didn't ask for their company. She had a remarkable talent for getting courted mostly by rotten eggs, and she was too good not to care for them. By the way I must at last congratulate you for your master's certificate as a silver smith.

Bert I only worked for it for fun.

Magnus But how did you come to start working with silversmithing?

Bert You know I always enjoyed working with my hands. I met Hogberg at the hospital. He suffered from some kidney disease, and we agreed that I would start as an apprentice at his workshop.

Magnus So now you are a silversmith.

Bert And I must congratulate you for at last having applied to the adult high school.

Magnus I have to become normal again. But it will take all my time. We will not be able to associate as frequently as heretofore in the future.

Bert I am sorry. But I will get pretty busy nyself.

Magnus But let's get back to the party. We must not shirk the company of the others.

Bert It does not matter. They alrready think we are brothers.

Magnus That doesn't surprise me.

Bert Me neither. Come on! (taps his shoulder, and they join the others.)

Scene 4. One and a half year later. Andrew and Martha in bed. (It is dark, they are asleep. Martha wakes up but does not move. She wakes up Andrew.

Andrew What is it?

Martha I am having a cerebral haemorrhage. Call the ambulance at once.

Andrew Are you sure?

Martha (calmly) Of course I am sure. I will be dead within half an hour. (loses consciousness.)

Andrew (rushes up, gets the telephone at once, throws worried glances at Martha.)

Yes, good morning. Could I have an ambulance to Pipblåsaregatan 23. It is urgent. My wife seems to have had a heavy cerebral haemorrhage. The name?

Andrew and Martha Lockhart, damn it! (crushes the telephone. Returns to his wife.)

Martha! How is it? (no reaction. He feels her. Goes dumb and sits down on the bed burying his head in his hands. Remains like that until the ambulance men turn up.)

Here she is! Hurry!

An ambulance man Are you coming with us to the hospital?

Andrew Of course! Hurry on! (follows in his nightgown. The stage goes desert and empty.)

Scene 5. Some year later. The Lockhart home.

Lizabeth Why did you really ask me to come back?

Bert I missed you. I found that I needed you.

Lizabeth But you have dozens of other physiotherapists around you to choose someone more more pretty than me from for a new mother for you.

Bert How they look does not matter to me. The others lack your inner deserts.

Lizabeth And what kind of inner deserts do I have?

Bert You have a heart of gold. You are reliable. You have much human warmth.

Lizabeth Why didn’t you tell me all this when I first was here and managed you for a year?

Bert It was only after you had left when I discovered what you meant to me.

Lizabeth You didn’t care much about me that year. You preferred all the others and thought that among them there were several who had better looks than I.

Bert It doesn’t matter what I thought at the time. What counts is what matters now.

Lizabeth And do you really want me then?

Bert You are probably the only one I can trust.

Lizabeth I will tell you something. I loved you from the start, therefore I stayed with you for a year. But you only frowned at me and preferred others. When I was gone I

had said goodbye for good, and I haven’t missed you at all during all this time. When you asked me to come back when I had got used to my own life I really didn’t want to. I came reluctantly. But now I am here and can no longer turn back. If you want me I will stay, but I am prepared to go back to Denmark any time. You only need to say one word.

Bert We can both go back to Denmark. I can continue my training there to become a goldsmith.

Lizabeth In Denmark I could be more than a new mother to you. There I could focus my life entirely on living for you.

Bert I wouldn’t mind.

Lizabeth So let’s live together then, Bert. Let us take a hold of life now and catch happiness while it is within reach. If you want to live to love, Bert, I will always stand by you. Catch love while it is within reach. You are living now, and I am here.

Bert That’s exactly what I am aware of. (segue ad libitum)

Act V scene 1. Borga, Finland, ten years later. The goldsmith at Mellangatan. (The workshop is dark, and one of the workers is Bert with a deep red fullgrown beard.)

Magnus (32 years, bearded, enters) Is Bert here?

Bert (hearkens, rises) Hello, Magnus! Now it’s summer when Magnus comes cycling here from Gothenburg again! What kind of bicyle do you have this time?

Magnus It’s the same old military bicycle from 1948 without gears. How is business?

Bert It is a bit slow, but it gets along. Have you met Lizabeth before?

Magnus No Is this Lizabeth? (indicates the expedite)

Bert Yes. It is my wife or at least partner in life until further since eleven years.

Magnus Well, at last I may meet her! What a pleasure! (shakes cordially hands with her)

Bert And you are not married yet?

Magnus No, so far I only committed mistakes.

Bert What about your family? Are they still gnothologists?

Magnus Yes, the whole lot, except my father. I am sorry by the way about the death of your father.

Bert Yes, he died suddenly just as he was living up again after having mourned mother for eight years. He always had a weak heart, but we thought he would continue to make it since he had carried on anyway for so long

Magnus So now both Pipblåsaregatan and Onsala are lost forever.

Bert Yes, the villa at Pipblåsaregatan was sold, and the villa at Onsala was taken down to give way to a modern luxury summer villa with a swimming pool… But what do you know about your siblings? How did it go for Margaret?

Magnus She married a Canadian in England, but that marriage was short-lived and childless. She caught her boss there in England embezzling funds of her religion, which is why she was dismissed by him, moved to Stockholm, started a new life there and married a northerner. They both seemed to be completely off from gnothology and lived happily together for seven years and had two children, but then they relapsed and moved to America to completely devote themselves to the religion. There was a divorce, and the Norrlander came back to Sweden refined and disappointed. Both remarried, each in his own way.

Bert So Margaret is now married for the third time?

Magnus And that one doesn’t seem to last either.

Bert And the children?

Magnus She kept them in Florida.

Bert And your brothers?

Magnus Morgan is now married for the third time.

Bert Have they always been gnothology wives?

Magnus Yes. Only Martin is still married for the first time and now lives in Denmark.

Bert And your parents?

Magnus They moved to Stockholm seven years ago, so I am now the last one of us remaining in Gothenburg.

Bert And who comes to Finland in summer.

Magnus Of course. I have my grass roots here.

Bert You should come here to live in Borga for good. We should at least arrange some concert here with you some time.

Magnus That would be lovely.

Bert In other words, you still play as assiduously as ever?

Magnus More assiduously than ever. I am nowadays organist in the synagogue of Gothenburg.

Bert I didn’t know. How is it going?

Magnus It is wonderful music but poorly paid. So I get ulcers, so I must come here to cure me at times.

Bert That suits us fine. You must come home to us and see how we live.

Magnus I would love to. I have time.

Bert And then we must discuss your concert. (they go out together in cordial discussion) (when appropriate: Magnus comes back)

Magnus Sorry now that you have to wait for the concert and other festivities, but Bert has to change into a tailcoat for the next scene. In addition, he is back in Gothenburg to have surgery: he has been attacked by cancer in his eye, a first symptom that his only kidney is about to terminate the contract, and old Plastic John will try to surgically remove the cancer by surgically removing his eye. Let's see how it goes. (Withdraws.)

Scene 2. The party at the old villa Eklöf Sjökulla in June 1986. The scene is the indoor stage of the youth centre. Berndt and Lisbeth appear together, Berndt in a tailcoat and a top hat but without a waistcoat and bow tie and with a black patch over one eye. Lisbeth is dressed in a dark, modest floral dress.

Bert I extend a warm welcome to all of you. As you all probably know, the story of how this party came to be is quite tragicomic. I got cancer two years ago, and it attacked me in the eye. Convinced that I was finally going to die, I decided to organize a proper party for all my friends so that they could all make themselves really happy about me one last time. I had surgery, one of my eyes was removed, and lo and behold! The cancer gave up, and I recovered, albeit chronically one-eyed. But I was able to continue working and living, and out of sheer joy over the unexpected turnaround, we decided to have my funeral party anyway. So welcome everyone, from Denmark, from Skåne, from Gothenburg, from Stockholm, from Helsinki and Pörtö here to Borga and my old childhood summer place, which we have rented from the new owners just for this extraordinary festive occasion.

The roof is leaking, the balcony sags, the wallpaper is peeling and support beams have been erected to hold it all up, but the house is still a paradise house, although too small for our banquet, which is why we have gathered here in Hammar's youth center instead. As you all know, I am an implacable enemy to all forms of solemn speech, but I must now welcome you all, colleagues, friends, fellow wheelchair speed fools, craftsmen, kite flyers, artists, doctors, magicians, environmentalists, adventurers, tramps, relatives, sailors, old, youth, children and normal, and all that you are, whatever language you speak! Except in the Nordic countries, I also have friends in England, Germany, Greece, Israel, the Faroe Islands and Iceland, but unfortunately some had a little too far to go.

I am especially happy that so many of my oldest friends have come, some childhood friends and classmates from before 1960, others whom I got to know during the most difficult years, and finally I ask to confirm the blessed news that my wife is actually expecting a child and twins. Even if they are present, you may not yet see them until perhaps October and perhaps even later if and when they please. Once again, a warm welcome to our grand three-day party on the occasion of my missed funeral and my and Lizabeth's 40th birthday. In addition to food and drink in unlimited quantities, we have a sauna, kite flying, entertainment and dancing on the program with no end on it. I ask that the serving of food to our 200 guests may begin.

(leaves the stage.)

(eventually actors could mingle with the audience and enrich the speech with cheerful comments, admiring expressions, laughter and of course enthusiastic applause afterwards.)

Scene 3. The old goldsmith’s forge completely renovated, restored and refreshed. (It is light and clean and full with active apprentices and workers as Magnus enters.)

Bert Well, Magnus, everything is ready for your concert. You will speak with the local paper tomorrow, and there will also be a radio announcement.

Magnus Good, good. How are the little girls?

Bert The twins are excellent, but they someimes keep me awake at nights.

Magnus That’s how it is to have a family. You actually look rather worn out.

Bert At least I get dialysis treatment now.

Magnus Does that mean your mother’s kidney has stopped functioning?

Bert Completely. I am now on the waiting list for a new kidney, but the health system here in Finland just mess with me. They constantly move me down on the waiting list, and the dialysis treatment is rather irksome.

Magnus I can believe it, if you have to go in to Helsingfors every time. Why don’t you try to get a new kidney in Gothenburg instead? There the health system is better organised.

Bert I will try here now until further. You’ve got to have patience. You can’t imagine how much I am looking forward to your concert on Saturday.

Magnus I must congratulate you to the magnificent completion of the entire Gold corner. So you are now chief and master.

Bert Yes, I finally achieved my life’s work, but I had to fight hard for many years. Those business men were many who wanted to have the oldest goldsmith’s shop in Finland levelled with the ground for their plans of house boxes and sterile business complexes of concrete.

Magnus You saved half the town from the demolition rage.

Bert I regret that you didn’t succeed equallý well in Gothenburg.

Magnus I started too late.

Bert But for the concert. We talked asbout this for five years, and now we are finally there. Have you visited the place?

Magnus Yes, the piano is good enough, and the environment is perfect. Everything is at it should be.

Bert Let’s just hope for some good weather as well.

Magnus Even if we don’t get it, we’ll manage.

Bert I think so too. But come! You must see the latest improvements in our workshop!

Scene 4. The ceramics hill at Bengt Juslin on the Vessö land, 12.8.1989. The sky is dark and boding rain, but some twenty people have gathered anyway.

One of the audience We’ve heard that the pianist has suffered an injury. another Yes, he seems to have been driven over by a car on the way here. A third Did he go by bike?

A fourth Yes. He is now sitting inside discussing with the ceramist and exhibitor.

A fifth So there might be no concert.

A sixth They say he might be able to play anyway.

A seventh Here he is!

(Magnus comes out with his arm in a sling. He is simply dressed in a blue sweater and white shirt collar.)

Magnus (to the audience) You have probably all heard about what has happened. On the way here, I had the misfortune to collide with a careless driver, and you can see the result here. (shows his arm) I've tried to play anyway, but my collarbone seems to be injured somehow, so I have no strength at all in my arm. I am really sorry that the concert has to be cancelled, but if you write down your names with an address, I can send you cassette tapes with my music from Gothenburg afterwards. That is the only way in which I may be able to compensate you to some extent for the missed concert. We hope to be able to organize a new concert next year without traffic accidents. (Bert enters with Lizabeth.)

Bert What has happened?

Magnus I smashed into a car who turned to the right without seeing me. The driver was under the influence of a hangover.

Bert Did you know it was my birthday today?

Magnus (filled with wonder) No, I didn’t know.

Bert So there will be no concert?

Magnus No, unfortunately not this year either.

One of the audience Such a damage must be examined by a hospital. May we drive the pianist to the hospital?

Magnus I thank you for the offer.

(speaks to the audience again) Folks, I have now been offered a car ride to the nearest hospital. I beg to leave for an hour or so. In the meantime, there will be good company, beer and both a picture and ceramics exhibition. Please feel at home! (disappears with the driver.)

Bert Now I’ll never ssee Margaret again.

Lizabeth Who is Margaret?

Bert My first love, Magnus’ elder sister. She visited me at the hopsital in Gothenburg when my condition was most critical, and she gave me much. She has since then been married three times with the wrong people. In Magnus’ music I felt her again, and when at last I am to hear a full concert with him this happens and even on my own birthday. I almost feel guilty. What do you think about it?

Lizabeth I hope it isn’t too serious.

Bert Pianists have as sensitive fingers as goldsmiths. Kerstin Juslin (the hostess, comes out) Magnus just phoned from the hospital. He has broken his collar bone, and the doctors have scolded him for not coming to the hospital at once.

Bert It’s getting worse and worse. Come, let us go, Lizabeth. Why am I so persecuted by misfortune that even others have to be afflicted for my wishing them well?

(Bert leaves with Lizabeth. The others remain discussing under a threatening sky foreboding autumn.)

Scene 5. Restaurant Hanna-Maria on Middle street in Borga.

Magnus is seated eating with a now completely grey lady and two small children, 7 and 12 years old, a girl and a boy, both blonde or reddish blonde.)

Magnus (still with his arm in a sling) Bert said he would come.

Alice Then he will surely come. We just have to show some patience.

Bert (coming up behind them) Hi

Alice (heartily) Well then, hello, Bert!

Bert I couldn’t come at once, because I had many customers. At the moment we have a guest jeweller here visiting us from Denmark.

Alice We had time to wait and could have waited longer.

Bert And is this Margaret’s small cnildren?

Magnus Yes.

Bert Do they resemble her, do you think?

Magnus Perhaps more in their souls than outwardly.

Bert You with your constant view of just the spirit!

Magnus That’s what keeps us alive.

Bert But it didn’t help you nor me under the truck.

Magnus But the spiritual quality heightens us as humans just for being invalids.

Bert How long do you have to carry your arm in a sling?

Magnus A month.

Bert And then?

Magnus Then I can start with medical gymnastics.

Bert Will you be able to play again?

Magnus Yes, but it will take time.

Bert How much?

Magnus I will be completely restored after a year.

Bert Then you have something to look forward to. (to Alice) I am glad that I at last was able to see Margaret’s children. (to Magnus) Do they know anything about me?

Magnus Very little.

Bert Well, I could see them anyway. Unfortunately I have to return to my obligations. But we’ll probably see each other again.

Alice Yes, we often pass Borga.

Bert Then when you are restored, Magnus, you must not forget to pass at Helmi’s and have coffee. There is a piano there.

Magnus We’ll go there directly from here.

Bert You are doing the right thing. Hi.

Magnus Hi.

Alice Hi. (Bert leaves.)

He seems much frailer than last year.

Magnus He gets several dialysis treatments every week.

Alice It must be terribly exhausting.

Magnus You can tell it from the sight of him. He seldom goes anywhere without a crutch for support.

Alice Is it that bad?

Magnus We only see a fragment of the tip of the iceberg.

Epilogue

Magnus (with his arm in a sling) Later in the autumn he was honoured with the distinction of the goldsmith of the year in Finland. In November, his health deteriorated severely, and together with Lizabeth he travelled to Gothenburg in a last attempt to get a new kidney. However, a second kidney transplant on the same patient is usually never successful, and therefore there are no doctors who are willing to undertake such an operation. Bert still managed to obtain a promise of a new kidney in spring, after which he went home too overworked to be able to wait any longer. After Christmas, he suffered a brain haemorrhage and was unconscious for three days before he quietly fell asleep on New Year's Eve. His mother's kidney had then managed to extend his life by 22 years. As he had wished, his body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered over the sea in the archipelago he loved outside Borga. No tombstone bears his name, no place marks his memory, for he only wanted to be remembered as a living man

As he had arranged it in advance, there was a gathering to his memory at restaurant Iris in Borga. All guests were treated with food, drams, coffee and light music of the 60s. About 80 guests were expected, but 200 hundred arrived from Finland, Sweden and Denmark, and the mood was just as good, easy and pleasant as Bert had wished.

FINIS.

Post Script.

This drama can be said to be related to "The Great Family Fight" but be of the opposite character: in "The Family Fight!'" a conflict is the leitmotif, while here two families are brought together for completely different reasons: sympathy, love and suffering. The dream that seems elusive but which the protagonist is constantly haunted by fleeting glimpses of is his unhappy but faithful love for Christian's sister Margherita. Thus, the drama is actually a hidden love story. Unfortunately, it is almost unplayable due to the necessary demands for environmental fidelity, special extras (such as quartet singers) and a rapid aging for the actors, (Christian has time to age from 12 to 37, even Berndt has time to grow a beard and also become fat and then frail again, and a completely black-haired Gun becomes completely gray-haired, etc.) but not illegible. A special charm arises from the fact that the whole story is selfexperienced. A double family chronicle takes place over 30 years (with a prehistory of another 40 years) with intimate and delicate events and constant upheavals, the most interesting ingredient of which is probably the 25-year friendship between Berndt and Christian, which here reveals everything that only these two knew about each other.

J.B.W.

It is interesting to note that the play about “Bert” was written while ”Anthony” was still alive, although he never got to read it. He died at the age of 83 on February 12, 1993. “Bert's” brother “Peter” died of leukaemia a few years after his 50th birthday, while his twin brother “Tom” is still alive and has moved back home to Finland after a long career in the service of UN. “Andrew Lockhart” was an amiable gentleman and charmer, who behaved elegantly and charmingly to the end. He was a sensitive pianist who also composed his own music. Martha was a classic beauty with fiery red hair. Her son “Tom's” daughter is said to be an exact copy of her, although dark instead of redheaded. Tore Hedstrom lived on extensively, even though he did everything to shorten his life, as a legendary original in Majorna, Gothenburg, until he died in his bed, after a wild career of mostly just different kinds of intoxication. After ”Bert's” departure, his wife “Lizabeth” moved back home to Denmark with their twin daughters. “Bert's” entire enormous network of contacts and international circle of friends has completely dissolved after his passing. He was the socially most progressive and successful person I have ever known and as such a constructive and social genius.

Here is a poem I wrote to him in 1983.

The

red beard

What’s behind his fiery fox’s fur of a beard?

The most robust artisan Finland knows, a Nordic Cellini but completely without presumptions, the strongest individualist but with judgement, taste and common sense, a genuinely noble character, but with an abyss of trials and sufferings behind. He is not at home in Borga with his own people, among his own, for he is too strong a personality, too impetuous and forward.

He is not at home with his fiancée in Denmark, on the flat Jutland with a flat coast and no archipelago.

No, he is only at home in his open sailing-boat, out in the bays, alone with the rocks, fighting the salty storms and the collected hardy bitterness of his fate and all the universe.

The loner is strong - and there is no one more strong and lonesome than the man behind the sparkling, blinding red beard

Only at sea among sharp and desert rocks under the bare sky and at work in the dark and damp ancient ancient goldsmith’s forge does he come to his rights as a titan, constantly spiting and struggling against destiny as a man challenging everything.

,

Christian Lanciai

12.2.2003 at the tenth anniversary of Aurelio Lanciai’s departure, translated in October 2024, up to 1.11.

Copyright © Christian Lanciai 1983, 1990, 2003, 2024.