Next in my Daily Book Excerpt:
Next on the script shelf:
I’m done with Pinter, and next playwright on the shelf is John Patrick Shanley – one of my all-time favorites!
First play in this collection is Danny and the Deep Blue Sea: An Apache Dance. It’s a 2 person play beloved by most actors because of the juiciness of the characters. These people are raw. Shanley dedicated this play “to everyone in the Bronx who punched me or kissed me, and to everyone whom I punched or kissed”. The play is full of punches and kisses. Roberta and Danny meet in a bar in the Bronx. Roberta is 31, and is described as “physically depleted, with nervous bright eyes”. Danny (John Turturro originated the part, in 1984) is 29 – and a bomb waiting to go off. He’s full of rage, he doesn’t know his own strength, this guy is a mess. Shanley writes: “About both characters: They are violent and battered, inarticulate and yearning to speak, dangerous and vulnerable.”
Roberta and Danny start to converse. In typical Shanley-esque dialogue: sparking, rich, profane, angry, vulnerable, poetic … These people have their guards up. They are both ready to attack at any moment. Danny is covered in cuts and bruises – he has just come from a fight, and he thinks he killed the other guy. He is tormented by this. Roberta and Danny end up going home together, to Roberta’s ratty room in her mother’s house – and spend the night together. They have sex. But throughout the course of the night – they open up to each other. That sounds so trite. It’s not trite how Shanley writes it. Roberta and Danny have been repeatedly brutalized by everyone in their lives. Love is not something that comes easy, and when love does start to blossom – or tenderness – they are suspicious of it, ready to kill it – because it feels weak.
There are three scenes in the play: 1. Takes place in the bar where they meet. 2. Takes place right after they make love, in Roberta’s room. 3. Takes place the following morning, when they both wake up.
I’ll excerpt a bit of scene 2.
There are a ton of swears, so if that kind of shite offends you, don’t read.
EXCERPT FROM Danny and the Deep Blue Sea: An Apache Dance by John Patrick Shanley
ROBERTA. I’ll light a candle.
DANNY. All right.
ROBERTA. You like my room?
DANNY. Yeah. It’s good.
ROBERTA. It used to be a closet. I painted it myself.
DANNY. Uh-huh.
ROBERTA. I light the candle and I close this door … You see that round light up on that roof?
DANNY. Yeah, I see it.
ROBERTA. The guy who lives over there put that light up because he’s got a pigeon coop, and people were stealin his pigeons. Don’t you think it looks like the moon?
DANNY. No.
ROBERTA. Come on, look at it!
DANNY. All right. Yeah, it does a little.
ROBERTA. Like a full moon every night.
[Danny howls]
ROBERTA. Shut up! What are you doin?
DANNY. Howlin at the moon.
ROBERTA. Oh. Well, you ain’t no wolf out in the woods, so keep it down. My father will hear you.
DANNY. Fuck ’em.
ROBERTA. You got the most beautiful eyes.
DANNY. Shut up.
ROBERTA. I mean it.
DANNY. Shut up.
ROBERTA. Are you blushin?
DANNY. Fuck no. What the fuck you think I am?
ROBERTA. You are!
DANNY. I wanna ask you somethin.
ROBERTA. What?
DANNY. Who … I mean, how old are you?
ROBERTA. I already told ya! And you have a good memory!
DANNY. Right, right! So how old’s your kid?
ROBERTA. You’re just tryin to change the subject.
DANNY. So what if I am? No, really. I wanna know. How old is he?
ROBERTA. He’s gonna be thirteen.
DANNY. Old.
ROBERTA. Yeah. He’s got big hands and feet. He’s gonna be a big guy. Now he’s gonna be in high school …
DANNY. Wow, you’re gonna have a kid in high school.
ROBERTA. Yeah, ain’t that a laugh? I hope he does better than I did. But he won’t.
DANNY. Why not?
ROBERTA. He’s all fucked up.
DANNY. What’s wrong with him?
ROBERTA. He’s a jerk. He’s got me for a mother.
DANNY. It ain’t his fault.
[She slaps him, suddenly furious]
ROBERTA. You’re gonna be a wiseass why don’t you just get the fuck outta here! I don’t need that! I don’t need anything like that!
DANNY. What’s the fuck’s with you?
ROBERTA. Sayin shit about the way I raise my kid!
DANNY. I didn’t say nothin! You said it. And keep your hands to yourself or you could lose ’em.
ROBERTA. That kid was just born crazy, that’s all. My mother don’t understand that. Anyway, if anybody got him nuts it was her. All the time with the eyes. All the time not lookin at anybody …
DANNY. HEY! I never said nothin about your motherhood. You’re probably good.
ROBERTA. No, I’m not.
DANNY. You probably are though.
ROBERTA. You think so?
DANNY. Sure.
ROBERTA. Thanks.
DANNY. You got some smack.
ROBERTA. You all right?
DANNY. Nop big deal. It almost felt … I feel good.
ROBERTA. So do I.
DANNY. It does look like the moon.
ROBERTA. You think so?
DANNY. Yeah. I was out in the country once. At night you never seen so many stars. It gave me a fuckin headache. Really. But then I saw there was this one bunch that looked like a big fish. A tuna or some shit. A big fish jumpin around in the stars. And cause I could see something in there, you know, somethin that added up, the whole thing didn’t gimme a headache no more. That sound stupid?
ROBERTA. You must like the country.
DANNY. I hate the fuckin country.
ROBERTA. Why?
DANNY. All those fuckin trees. They smell bad.
ROBERTA. No!
DANNY. Yeah. They stink up everything out there like aftershave. And bugs all over the place. Mud. Rocks in your shoes. You can keep it.
ROBERTA. You’re funny.
DANNY. Who’s laughin?
ROBERTA. Not me.
DANNY. I had this teacher. He said I was stupid. Right in front of everybody. So I punched him in his fuckin eye. It swelled up real good. So they sent me to this camp in the woods to straighten my young ass out. I don’t know what they was thinkin about. Gettin bit by a buncha bugs and sloppin through the fuckin mud whadn’t about to change my mind about some asshole teacher in James Monroe High School.
ROBERTA. I went to the deli this mornin to get a roll. Chinese guy put it in the bag. I looked at his face. And he was happy, I could tell. Bad things happen, I guess, to him sometimes, but you could see things whadn’t bad for him.
DANNY. Let’s go throw a rock through his window.
ROBERTA. No. I got another idea. Let’s be like him, Danny. For tonight anyway. Let’s be happy.
DANNY. Whaddaya talkin about?
ROBERTA. Let’s be romantic.
DANNY. What?
ROBERTA. Let’s be romantic with each other! Say things to each other!
DANNY. No. Like what?
ROBERTA. I don’t know. Like … If you love me, I’ll love you, too.
DANNY. I can’t say shit like that.
ROBERTA. Sure you can! Oh, I don’t know. Sure I do! Let’s be romantic to each other, Danny! We’ve got a bed and we’ve … done love, and there’s a candle and some kinda moon … What do we got? What do we got? Touch me? Put your hand on me nice and talk to me.
[Danny, with difficulty, touches her]
DANNY. You’re a nut, huh?
ROBERTA. Nice?
DANNY. You’re a … You … You’re … good-lookin.
ROBERTA. No I’m not.
DANNY. Don’t contradict me when I’m tellin you somethin!
ROBERTA. I’m sorry.
DANNY. You’re good-lookin.
ROBERTA. Okay.
DANNY. [Pause. He’s working hard] You got a nice nose.
ROBERTA. A nice nose?
DANNY. Yeah. It’s like … It looks at ya. That’s right! It looks right at ya, your nose, and it says Hello! That’s right! And you got a nice chin, too. When you, when you smile, it goes up. Yeah. Like a balloon. No. Better. Like a bird. Like some kinda bird.
ROBERTA. Thank you.
DANNY. Shut up! I ain’t finished yet!
ROBERTA. You’re not?
DANNY. No. What are you kiddin? I gotta tell you about your mouth. It’s … It’s … beautiful. Like a flower. That’s right! A bird flyin and a flower, right there on your face. And all the time your nose sayin Hello.
ROBERTA. Stop!
DANNY. You know what?
ROBERTA. What?
DANNY. Say your name.
ROBERTA. Why?
DANNY. Just say it!
ROBERTA. Stop. Roberta.
DANNY. Say it again!
ROBERTA. Stop. Why?
DANNY. I wanna watch your mouth say your name. Say it again!
ROBERTA. Roberta.
DANNY. Again.
ROBERTA. Roberta. What are you doin?
DANNY. Watchin your beautiful mouth say your beautiful name.
ROBERTA. That’s nice! You’re bein so nice to me!
DANNY. Roberta.
ROBERTA. Stop!
DANNY. Why?
ROBERTA. It’s like … tickling me.
DANNY. All right.
ROBERTA. Now I’ll be nice to you!
DANNY. Nah!
ROBERTA. Yes, I will.
DANNY. You don’t have to.
ROBERTA. Yes I do too. I’ll save your eyes for last. You did so good, I don’t know what to say.
DANNY. Don’t do nothin.
ROBERTA. Your hair! Your hair is very sexy.
DANNY. Shut up.
ROBERTA. Very sexy. Cause it’s like strong and soft at the same time, and it feels good when you touch it.
DANNY. Comon, comon, let’s talk about somethin else.
ROBERTA. All right. You got friendly ears.
DANNY. I ain’t got friendly anything.
ROBERTA. You got friendly ears. They make me feel friendly. They make me feel l ike, I wanna shake hands.
DANNY. This is so fuckin silly.
ROBERTA. Don’t … curse.
DANNY. Okay.
ROBERTA. I was savin your eyes. Cause your eyes are very dark and beautiful. And I don’t think I know how to say things about ’em. Your heart. I can see your heart.
[She leans forward to kiss him, very slowly. As their lips are about to meet, in a panic, he slaps her]
DANNY. No!
ROBERTA. [Unshaken] Don’t be scared, baby.
[This time she succeeds in kissing him, first on his lips, then on each of his bruises]
DANNY. [weakly] No, no. Don’t touch me. It burns.
ROBERTA. Somebody hurt my baby. Somebody hurt him. Somebody hurt his hands. Somebody hurt his face. I love you, Danny. I love you. I know you hurt. baby. I love you.
DANNY. What are you doin to me?
ROBERTA. [kissing him] I’m lovin you.
DANNY. Stop.
ROBERTA. No.
DANNY. It’s too much.
ROBERTA. Come on.
DANNY. I’m breathin.
ROBERTA. No you’re not.
DANNY. I’m breathin too much.
ROBERTA. Don’t worry about it.
DANNY. I’m gonna die from this.
ROBERTA. It’s just an idea in your mind. Look at me. Look at me.
[He looks at her]
DANNY. I … I … You’re good … to be with.
ROBERTA. Oh, thank you, baby! Thank you!
[He slaps her]
DANNY. No! I can’t …
[She goes right on kissing him]
ROBERTA. You don’t have to be scared. You don’t have to be. I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m never gonna hurt you.
[He chokes back a sob]
DANNY. I’m the Beast!
ROBERTA. No you’re not. No you’re not.
DANNY. Why you doin this for?
ROBERTA. I’m not doin nothin you ain’t doin, too.
DANNY. Yeah?
ROBERTA. That’s right. Do you really think you killed that guy?
DANNY. I don’t know.
ROBERTA. I hope not.
DANNY. He was a real mess.
ROBERTA. But it takes a lot to kill somebody, right? I mean lots of people’ve been hurt worse than you hurt that guy, I bet, and they didn’t die. Sure! That’s right. Babies fall outta windows five stories high and go right on cryin. Old ladies get run over by buses and pop right back up. You hear about it all the time.
DANNY. I don’t know. He wasn’t … He wasn’t dead when I left.
ROBERTA. Then you probably didn’t kill nobody at all.
DANNY. I coulda killed him. Even if I didn’t. Ain’t that the same?
ROBERTA. Between you and me, yeah. It’s the same. One way or the other. [A distant boat horn sounds] Listen! [It sounds again, and then once more] There. You hear it?
DANNY. What is it?
ROBERTA. Big boats.
DANNY. Ain’t no boats around here. There’s no water.
ROBERTA. Yeah, there is. It’s not a block over or like that, but the ocean’s right out there. [The horn sounds again] See? That’s a big boat goin down some like river to the ocean.
DANNY. Whatever you say.
ROBERTA. That’s what it is. There’s boats right up by Westchester Square. What’s that, twenty blocks? Look, sometime, you’ll see ’em. Not the real big ones, but big. Sea boats. I met a sailor in the bar one time. In the outfit, you know? I was all over him. But he turned out to be nothin — a pothead. He giggled a lot. It was too bad because … Well, it was too bad. When we got married, me and Billy, that was my husband, we smoked a ball of opium one night. It really knocked me out. I fell asleep like immediately. And I dreamed about the ocean. It was real blue. And there was the sun, and it was real yellow. And I was out there, right in the middle of the ocean, and I heard this noise. I turned around, and whaddaya think I saw? Just about right next to me. A whale! A whale came shootin straight outta the water! A whale! Yeah! And he opened up his mouth and closed it while he was up there in the air. And people on the boat said, Look! The whales are jumpin! And no shit, these whales start jumpin outta the water all over the place. And I can see them! Through one a those round windows. Or right out in the open. Whales! Gushin outta the water, and the water gushin outta their heads, you know, spoutin! And then, after a while, they all stopped jumpin. It got quiet. Everybody went away. The water smoothed out. But I kept lookin at the ocean. So deep and blue. And different. It was different then. ‘Cause I knew it had all them whales in it.