The Books: “The Red Coat” (John Patrick Shanley)

Next in my Daily Book Excerpt:

Next on the script shelf:

More John Patrick Shanley!

The next play is a one-act (literally – the play is 5 pages long.) It’s called The Red Coat. It was first done, along with 6 of his other one-acts, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre (or EST) here in New York. The Red Coat tells the story of an encounter between two teenagers – John and Mary. It’s late – they were both at the same party – they know each other – sort of – and they meet up on the sidewalk later. John basically blurts out that he has been in love with Mary for a long time. They talk. They kiss a bit. And that’s pretty much it. A sweet small play about a sweet small encounter. It’s got what the typical Shanley challenge: – there’s language in here that is really hard to justify, make sound real. Not in a bad way. Shanley, in his way, doesn’t write realistic dialogue – even though he writes about regular everyday New Yorkers. He writes heightened realism, he writes poetically, there’s something theatrical about it – think about the dialogue in Moonstruck – how funny it is, how specific, but then how grandiose at times. And here, in The Red Coat, that kind of language has to be spoken by two sixteen year old kids! This doesn’t mean that Shanley has made a mistake. His language is a conscious choice. It’s up to the actor to make it work.

EXCERPT FROM The Red Coat, by John Patrick Shanley

MARY. I got all dressed … I tasted the wine on your … mouth. You were waiting for me out here? I wasn’t even going to come. I don’t like Susan so much. I was going to stay home and watch a movie. What would you have done?

JOHN. I don’t know.

[He kisses her again. She kisses him back]

MARY. You go to St. Nicholas of Tolentine, don’t you?

JOHN. Yeah.

MARY. I see you on the platform on a hundred and forty-ninth street sometimes.

JOHN. I see you, too! Sometimes I just let the trains go by until the last minute, hoping to see you.

MARY. Really?

JOHN. Yeah.

MARY. I take a look around for you but I always get on my train. What would you have done if I hadn’t come?

JOHN. I don’t know. Walked around. I walk around a lot.

MARY. Walk around where?

JOHN. I walk around your block a lot. Sometimes I run into you.

MARY. YOu mean that was planned? Wow! I always thought you were coming from somewhere.

JOHN. I love you, Mary. I can’t believe I’m saying it … to you … out loud. I love you.

MARY. Kiss me again.

[They kiss]

JOHN. I’ve loved you for a long time.

MARY. How long.

JOHN. Months. Remember that big snowball fight?

MARY. In the park?

JOHN. Yeah. That’s when it was. That’s when I fell in love with you. You were wearing a red coat.

MARY. Oh, that coat! I’ve had that for ages and ages. I’ve had it since the sixth grade.

JOHN. Really?

MARY. I have really special feelings for that coat. I feel like it’s part of me … like it stands for something … my childhood … something like that.

JOHN. You look nice in that coat. I think I sensed something about it … the coat … it’s special to me, too. It’s so good to be able to talk to you like this.

MARY. Yeah, this is nice. That’s funny how you felt that about my coat. The red one. No one knows how I feel about that coat.

JOHN. I think I do, Mary.

MARY. Do you? If you understood about my red coat … that red coat is like all the good things about when I was a kid … it’s like I still have all the good kid things when I’m in that red coat … it’s like being grown up and having your childhood, too. You know what it’s like? It’s like being in one of those movies where you’re safe, even when you’re in an adventure. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes, in a movie the hero’s doin’ all this stuff that’s dangerous, but you know, becausa the kind of movie it is, that he’s not gonna get hurt. Bein’ in that red coat is like that … like bein’ safe in an adventure.

JOHN. And that’s the way you were in that snowball fight! It was like you knew that nothing could go wrong!

MARY. That’s right! That’s right! That’s the way it feels! Oh, you do understand! It seems silly but I’ve always wanted someone to understand some things and that was one of them … the red coat.

JOHN. I do understand! I do!

MARY. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know about tomorrow, but … right this minute I … love you!

JOHN. Oh, Mary!

MARY. Oh, kiss me, John. Please!

JOHN. You’re crying!

MARY. I didn’t know. I didn’t know two people could understand some things … share some things.

[They kiss]

JOHN. It must be terrible not to.

MARY. What?

JOHN. Be able to share things.

MARY. It is! It is! But don’t you remember? Only a few minutes ago we were alone. I feel like I could tell you anything. Isn’t that crazy?

JOHN. Do you want to go for a walk?

MARY. No, no. Let’s stay right here. Between the streetlight and the moon. Under the tree. Tell me that you love me.

JOHN. I love you.

MARY. I love you, too. You’re good-looking, did you know that? Does your mother tell you that?

JOHN. Yeah, she does.

MARY. Your eyes are shining.

JOHN. I know. I can feel them shining.

[The lights go down slowly]