[guide.chat] play anne frank act 2 scene 1 part1
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2012 18:41:38 -0000
The Diary of Anne Frank, Act Two
Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
SCENE 1
In the darkness we hear ANNE?s voice, again reading from the diary.
Anne?s Voice. Saturday, the first of January, nineteen forty-four. Another new
year has begun and we find ourselves still in our hiding place. We have been
here now for one year, five months, and twenty-five days. It seems that our
life is at a standstill.
[The curtain rises on the scene. It is late afternoon. Everyone is bundled up
against the cold. In the main room MRS. FRANK is taking down the laundry, which
is hung across the back. MR. FRANK sits in the chair down left, reading. MARGOT
is lying on the couch with a blanket over her and the many-colored knitted
scarf around her throat. ANNE is seated at the center table, writing in her
diary. PETER, MR. and MRS. VAN DAAN, and DUSSEL are all in their own rooms,
reading or lying down.
As the lights dim on, ANNE?s voice continues, without a break.]
Anne?s Voice. We are all a little thinner. The Van Daans? ?discussions? are as
violent as ever. Mother still does not understand me. But then I don?t
understand her either. There is one great change, however. A change in myself.
I read somewhere that girls of my age don?t feel quite certain of themselves.
That they become quiet within and begin to think of the miracle that is taking
place in their bodies. I think that what is happening to me is so wonderful . .
. not only what can be seen, but what is taking place inside. Each time it has
happened, I have a feeling that I have a sweet secret. (We hear the chimes and
then a hymn being played on the carillon outside.) And in spite of any pain, I
long for the time when I shall feel that secret within me again.
[The buzzer of the door below suddenly sounds. Everyone is startled. MR. FRANK
tiptoes cautiously to the top of the steps and listens. Again the buzzer
sounds, in MIEP?s V-for-victory signal.]
Mr. Frank. It?s Miep!
[He goes quickly down the steps to unbolt the door. MRS. FRANK calls upstairs
to the VAN DAANS and then to PETER.]
Mrs. Frank. Wake up, everyone! Miep is here! (ANNE quickly puts her diary away.
MARGOT sits up, pulling the blanket around her shoulders. DUSSEL sits on the
edge of his bed, listening, disgruntled. MIEP comes up the steps, followed by
MR. KRALER. They bring flowers, books, newspapers, etc. ANNE rushes to MIEP,
throwing her arms affectionately around her.) Miep . . . and Mr. Kraler . . .
What a delightful surprise!
Mr. Kraler. We came to bring you New Year?s greetings.
Mrs. Frank. You shouldn?t . . . you should have at least one day to yourselves.
(She goes quickly to the stove and brings down teacups and tea for all of
them.)
Anne. Don?t say that, it?s so wonderful to see them! (Sniffing at MIEP?s coat)
I can smell the wind and the cold on your clothes.
Miep (giving her the flowers). There you are. (Then, to MARGOT, feeling her
forehead) How are you, Margot? . . . Feeling any better?
Margot. I?m all right.
Anne. We filled her full of every kind of pill so she won?t cough and make a
noise.
[She runs into her room to put the flowers in water. MR. and MRS. VAN DAAN come
from upstairs. Outside there is the sound of a band playing.]
Mrs. Van Daan. Well, hello, Miep. Mr. Kraler.
Mr. Kraler (giving a bouquet of flowers to MRS. VAN DAAN). With my hope for
peace in the New Year.
Peter (anxiously). Miep, have you seen Mouschi? Have you seen him anywhere
around?
Miep. I?m sorry, Peter. I asked everyone in the neighborhood had they seen a
gray cat. But they said no.
[MRS. FRANK gives MIEP a cup of tea. MR. FRANK comes up the steps, carrying a
small cake on a plate.]
Mr. Frank. Look what Miep?s brought for us!
Mrs. Frank (taking it). A cake!
Mr. Van Daan. A cake! (He pinches MIEP?s cheeks gaily and hurries up to the
cupboard.) I?ll get some plates.
[DUSSEL, in his room, hastily puts a coat on and starts out to join the
others.]
Mrs. Frank. Thank you, Miepia. You shouldn?t have done it. You must have used
all of your sugar ration for weeks. (Giving it to MRS. VAN DAAN) It?s
beautiful, isn?t it?
Mrs. Van Daan. It?s been ages since I even saw a cake. Not since you brought us
one last year. (Without looking at the cake, to MIEP) Remember? Don?t you
remember, you gave us one on New Year?s Day? Just this time last year? I?ll
never forget it because you had ?Peace in nineteen forty-three? on it. (She
looks at the cake and reads) ?Peace in nineteen forty-four!?
Miep. Well, it has to come sometime, you know. (As DUSSEL comes from his room)
Hello, Mr. Dussel.
Mr. Kraler. How are you?
Mr. Van Daan (bringing plates and a knife). Here?s the knife, liefje. Now, how
many of us are there?
Miep. None for me, thank you.
Mr. Frank. Oh, please. You must.
Miep. I couldn?t.
Mr. Van Daan. Good! That leaves one . . . two . . . three . . . seven of us.
Dussel. Eight! Eight! It?s the same number as it always is!
Mr. Van Daan. I left Margot out. I take it for granted Margot won?t eat any.
Anne. Why wouldn?t she!
Mrs. Frank. I think it won?t harm her.
Mr. Van Daan. All right! All right! I just didn?t want her to start coughing
again, that?s all.
Dussel. And please, Mrs. Frank should cut the cake.
Mr. Van Daan (speaking at the same time as MRS. VAN DAAN). What?s the
difference?
Mrs. Van Daan. It?s not Mrs. Frank?s cake, is it, Miep? It?s for all of us.
Dussel. Mrs. Frank divides things better.
Mrs. Van Daan (going to DUSSEL and speaking at the same time as MR. VAN
DAAN).What are you trying to say?
Mr. Van Daan. Oh, come on! Stop wasting time!
Mrs. Van Daan (to DUSSEL). Don?t I always give everybody exactly the same?
Don?t I?
Mr. Van Daan. Forget it, Kerli.
Mrs. Van Daan. No. I want an answer! Don?t I?
Dussel. Yes. Yes. Everybody gets exactly the same . . . except Mr. Van Daan
always gets a little bit more.
[MR. VAN DAAN advances on DUSSEL, the knife still in his hand.]
Mr. Van Daan. That?s a lie!
[DUSSEL retreats before the onslaught of the VAN DAANS.]
Mr. Frank. Please, please! (Then, to MIEP) You see what a little sugar cake
does to us? It goes right to our heads!
Mr. Van Daan (handing MRS. FRANK the knife). Here you are, Mrs. Frank.
Mrs. Frank. Thank you. (Then, to MIEP, as she goes to the table to cut the
cake) Are you sure you won?t have some?
Miep (drinking her tea). No, really, I have to go in a minute.
[The sound of the band fades out in the distance.]
Peter (to MIEP). Maybe Mouschi went back to our house . . . they say that cats
. . . Do you ever get over there . . . ? I mean . . . do you suppose you could
. . . ?
Miep. I?ll try, Peter. The first minute I get, I?ll try. But I?m afraid, with
him gone a week . . .
Dussel. Make up your mind, already someone has had a nice big dinner from that
cat!
[PETER is furious, inarticulate. He starts toward DUSSEL as if to hit him. MR.
FRANK stops him. MRS. FRANK speaks quickly to ease the situation.]
Mrs. Frank (to MIEP). This is delicious, Miep!
Mrs. Van Daan (eating hers). Delicious!
Mr. Van Daan (finishing it in one gulp). Dirk?s in luck to get a girl who can
bake like this!
Miep (putting down her empty teacup). I have to run. Dirk?s taking me to a
party tonight.
Anne. How heavenly! Remember now what everyone is wearing and what you have to
eat and everything, so you can tell us tomorrow.
Miep. I?ll give you a full report! Goodbye, everyone!
Mr. Van Daan (to MIEP). Just a minute. There?s something I?d like you to do for
me. (He hurries off up the stairs to his room.)
Mrs. Van Daan (sharply). Putti, where are you going? (She rushes up the stairs
after him, calling hysterically.) What do you want? Putti, what are you going
to do?
Miep (to PETER). What?s wrong?
Peter (his sympathy is with his mother). Father says he?s going to sell her fur
coat. She?s crazy about that old fur coat.
Dussel. Is it possible? Is it possible that anyone is so silly as to worry
about a fur coat in times like this?
Peter. It?s none of your darn business . . . and if you say one more thing . .
. I?ll, I?ll take you and I?ll . . . I mean it . . . I?ll . . .
[There is a piercing scream from MRS. VAN DAAN, above. She grabs at the fur
coat as MR. VAN DAAN is starting downstairs with it.]
Mrs. Van Daan. No! No! No! Don?t you dare take that! You hear? It?s mine!
(Downstairs PETER turns away, embarrassed, miserable.) My father gave me that!
You didn?t give it to me. You have no right. Let go of it . . . you hear?
[MR. VAN DAAN pulls the coat from her hands and hurries downstairs. MRS. VAN
DAAN sinks to the floor, sobbing. As MR. VAN DAAN comes into the main room, the
others look away, embarrassed for him.]
Mr. Van Daan (to MR. KRALER). Just a little?discussion over the advisability of
selling this coat. As I have often reminded Mrs. Van Daan, it?s very selfish of
her to keep it when people outside are in such desperate need of clothing. . .
. (He gives the coat to MIEP.) So if you will please to sell it for us? It
should fetch a good price. And by the way, will you get me cigarettes. I don?t
care what kind they are . . . get all you can.
Miep. It?s terribly difficult to get them, Mr. Van Daan. But I?ll try. Goodbye.
[She goes. MR. FRANK follows her down the steps to bolt the door after her.
MRS. FRANK gives MR. KRALER a cup of tea.]
Mrs. Frank. Are you sure you won?t have some cake, Mr. Kraler?
Mr. Kraler. I?d better not.
Mr. Van Daan. You?re still feeling badly? What does your doctor say?
Mr. Kraler. I haven?t been to him.
Mrs. Frank. Now, Mr. Kraler! . . .
Mr. Kraler (sitting at the table). Oh, I tried. But you can?t get near a doctor
these days . . . they?re so busy. After weeks I finally managed to get one on
the telephone. I told him I?d like an appointment . . . I wasn?t feeling very
well. You know what he answers . . . over the telephone . . . ?Stick out your
tongue!? (They laugh. He turns to MR. FRANK as MR. FRANK comes back.) I have
some contracts here . . . I wonder if you?d look over them with me . . .
Mr. Frank (putting out his hand). Of course.
Mr. Kraler (he rises). If we could go downstairs . . . (MR. FRANK starts ahead;
MR. KRALER speaks to the others.) Will you forgive us? I won?t keep him but a
minute. (He starts to follow MR. FRANK down the steps.)
Margot (with sudden foreboding). What?s happened? Something?s happened! Hasn?t
it, Mr. Kraler?
[MR. KRALER stops and comes back, trying to reassure MARGOT with a pretense of
casualness.]
Mr. Kraler. No, really. I want your father?s advice . . .
Margot. Something?s gone wrong! I know it!
Mr. Frank (coming back, to MR. KRALER). If it?s something that concerns us
here, it?s better that we all hear it.
Mr. Kraler (turning to him, quietly). But . . . the children . . . ?
Mr. Frank. What they?d imagine would be worse than any reality.
[As MR. KRALER speaks, they all listen with intense apprehension. MRS. VAN DAAN
comes down the stairs and sits on the bottom step.]
Mr. Kraler. It?s a man in the storeroom . . . I don?t know whether or not you
remember him . . . Carl, about fifty, heavyset, nearsighted . . . He came with
us just before you left.
Mr. Frank. He was from Utrecht?
Mr. Kraler. That?s the man. A couple of weeks ago, when I was in the storeroom,
he closed the door and asked me . . . ?How?s Mr. Frank? What do you hear from
Mr. Frank?? I told him I only knew there was a rumor that you were in
Switzerland. He said he?d heard that rumor too, but he thought I might know
something more. I didn?t pay any attention to it . . . but then a thing
happened yesterday . . . He?d brought some invoices to the office for me to
sign. As I was going through them, I looked up. He was standing staring at the
bookcase . . . your bookcase. He said he thought he remembered a door there . .
. Wasn?t there a door there that used to go up to the loft? Then he told me he
wanted more money. Twenty guilders more a week.
Mr. Van Daan. Blackmail!
Mr. Frank. Twenty guilders? Very modest blackmail.
Mr. Van Daan. That?s just the beginning.
Dussel (coming to MR. FRANK). You know what I think? He was the thief who was
down there that night. That?s how he knows we?re here.
(Scene 1 page 1)
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