Monday, October 21, 2013



 ACT II
Scene One
Twelve years later, 1851. Annie’s garden outside the Darwin’s home in Downe.  Charles, 42, stands over some flower pots on a worn work bench, extracting pollen from one flower and inserting it in another. He makes notes in a small notebook. Emma, 43, pregnant, holding a baby, and seated on another garden bench nearby, a sewing bag beside her. A bow with an empty quiver leans against the bench.
ANNIE, 10, dances in holding a bunch of cut flowers, does a pirouette and presents them to Charles.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Daffodils!
                                                ANNIE
                                    “Narcissus.” Aren’t they perfectly
                                     beautiful?
                                                CHARLES
                                    Perfectly. Though now cut, we will
                                    have a shorter time to enjoy them.
                                                ANNIE
                                    No, we will enjoy them longer, because they
                                    will be on your desk where we can see
                                    them more often.
                                                CHARLES
                                                (laughs)
                                    Is that your theory, Annie?
                                                ANNIE
                                    It is my law!
She smiles, Charles hugs her, then returns to his work. She watches.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Are we mixing up the flowers again?
                                                CHARLES
                                    Cross-pollenating.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Cross-pollenating the “Primula polyantha”.
                                                CHARLES
                                                (grins, with a look to Emma)
                                    The primroses, yes.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Do they like it?
                                                CHARLES
                                    Yes, they seem to like it quite a bit.
                                    They produce more seeds and stronger seedlings.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Hmm, interesting.
Charles tires, and sits. Annie attends him.
                                                ANNIE
                                    May I be your assistant
                                    when I grow up?
                                                CHARLES
                                    What? Not Joan of Arc?
                                                ANNIE
                                    Yes, I do want to be her, but I’m
                                    afraid that I shall be burned to meat.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Burned to meat. Well, I suppose it is possible.
                                    Science may be safer.
                                                ANNIE
                                    And then I will be able to take care of you.
Annie presses and straightens Charles’ collar, petting his shoulder gently.
                                                CHARLES
                                    As my eldest daughter, you have no choice.
                                    You are required to comfort me in my old age.
                                                EMMA
                                    And where will I be? Gone to my reward?
                                                CHARLES
                                    Dear Emma! I will positively die before you do.
Something about this “jest” strikes Emma.
                                                EMMA
                                    Annie, go down to the hedge and cut some
                                    lilac for us.
                                                ANNIE
                                    May I hold Frances first?
                                                EMMA
                                    Not at the moment. He’s fussy.
                                                ANNIE
                                    May I hold him later?
                                                EMMA
                                    Yes, you may hold him later.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Was I fussy, Mother?
                                                EMMA
                                    Almost never.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Was baby Mary fussy?
                                                EMMA
                                                (beat)
                                    I don’t recall.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Frances won’t die like baby Mary, will he?
                                                EMMA
                                    No, of course not.
                                                ANNIE
                                    I’m not sad. I’ll get to see baby Mary in Heaven,
                                    just as you’ll get to see Aunt Fanny.
                                                EMMA/CHARLES
                                    Yes, Angel/We certainly shall.
                                                EMMA
                                    Go on, darling.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Father, do you need me to collect bugs for you
                                    while I’m cutting lilac?
                                                CHARLES
                                    By all means, but be careful.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Dear me, I know the stingers and biters
                                    by now.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Then to it!
Annie runs off.
                                                CHARLES
                                    She glows, Emma. Absolutely glows.
                                                (writes in notebook)
                                    “Burned to meat.”
                                                EMMA
                                    Charley... I was reading scripture last night.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Oh, yes? Anything new?
                                                EMMA
                                                (smiles, then)
                                    It made me think of the question.
                                                CHARLES
                                    The question?... Oh.
Charles rubs his forehead.
                                                EMMA
                                    You’re in pain?
                                                CHARLES
                                    Only a headache at the moment.
                                    If I continue to sit still, I should be fine.
                                               
                                                EMMA
                                    Will you do me a favor, Charley? Yes, I’m sure
                                    you will. Would you read our Savior’s
                                    farewell discourse to
                                    his disciples? It begins--
                                                CHARLES
                                    John: Chapter 13.
                                                EMMA
                                    It is so full of love to them and devotion
                                    and every beautiful feeling.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Will it help my headache?
                                                EMMA
                                    Don’t. It is the part of the New Testament
                                    that I love best.
                                                CHARLES
                                    What inspired this?
                                                EMMA
                                    A whim of mine. It would give me great
                                    pleasure though I can hardly tell why.
                                                CHARLES
                                    I know the verses. Jesus assures his disciples that
                                    after his death he will prepare a place in heaven
                                    for them. But doubting Thomas asks the way to the
                                    place being prepared. Jesus replies “I am the way,
                                    the truth and the life.”
                                                EMMA
                                    “I am the vine, ye are the branches...
                                    If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth
                                    as a branch and is withered... and men
                                    gather them, and cast them into the fire, and
                                    they are burned.”
                                                CHARLES
                                    Ah, yes. The burning. Father warned me that
                                    the Wedgewood women keenly feared for their
                                    husband’s eternal destiny.
                                                EMMA
                                    There is nothing funny about this, Charley.
                                    Not to me.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Because you’re pregnant again?
                                                EMMA
                                    You know how difficult every birth
                                    has been. If I die, I must know that
                                    you will be with me in Heaven.
                                                CHARLES
                                    You’re not dying, Emma! No one is dying!
                                               
                                                EMMA
                                                (the baby cries for a moment,
                                                Emma touches his belly)
                                    Shh. Shh, Frances.
                                                CHARLES
                                    I attend church with you as much as I can. Despite
                                    our family embarrassment when you turn away from
                                    altar during the creed.
                                                EMMA
                                    As we have no Unitarian Church in Downe,
                                    what else can I do? I cannot abide all
                                    the Anglican rituals--
                                                CHARLES
                                    If I can, you can.
                                                EMMA
                                    I’m sorry I embarrass you.
                                                CHARLES
                                    You don’t really. I like it actually,
                                    that independent, rebellious side.
                                                EMMA
                                    It is not rebellion! I am trying to
                                    be true to my faith.
                                                CHARLES
                                    This subject is making me feel worse.
                                                EMMA
                                    That list grows longer each day.
                                                CHARLES
                                    What list?
                                                EMMA
                                    Things that make you ill. Traveling to London,
                                    going to meetings, having visitors--
                                                CHARLES
                                    You cannot think I like it! My nights are awful!
                                    My days-- it’s a Godsend if I can manage a full
                                    three hours work on my book.
                                                EMMA
                                    What book?
                                                CHARLES
                                    You know the book.
                                                EMMA
                                    What book?
                                                CHARLES
                                    You know the book!
                                                EMMA
                                    I want--
                                                CHARLES
                                                (holds up notebook)
                                    Barnacles! The same book I have been
                                    working on, the same book I will be
                                    working on--
                                                EMMA
                                    You said barnacles were fascinating!
                                                CHARLES
                                    I am now encrusted in them up to
                                    my nostrils! 900 pages worth!
                                                EMMA
                                    Then what is E?
                                                CHARLES
                                    E? In relation to barnacles? As a
                                    letter in our alphabet?
                                                EMMA
                                    As the letter on the cover of one of your
                                    notebooks!
Emma retrieves a notebook from her sewing bag and displays it to Charles. Charles snatches it from her hand.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Well, if you’ve looked at the cover,
                                    you have likely looked inside and know
                                    what E stands for!
                                                EMMA
                                    Evolution! You are writing a book on
                                    evolution.
                                                CHARLES
                                    It is not a book, it is an essay.
                                                EMMA
                                    It is 189 pages long!
                                                CHARLES
                                    It is an essay!
                                                EMMA
                                    After all these years and everything
                                    that we said.
                                                CHARLES
                                    I never said I would not write about it!
                                    I said I would not talk about it!
                                                EMMA
                                    You said you would not publish--
                                                CHARLES
                                    I am not publishing!
The baby cries.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Now, see what we’ve done!
Emma sets down the note book and moves to Charles’ side. Both she and Charles gently stroke the baby who quickly quiets.
                                                EMMA
                                    Shh.. Shh...
                                                CHARLES
                                    Frances, dear boy.
                                                (to baby)
                                    You didn’t know that Mummy and Father
                                    could yell as they did... Well, we don’t
                                    often... not often.
                                                EMMA
                                    I am sorry I looked at your things.
                                    I was tidying up.
                                                CHARLES
                                    I don’t mind.
                                                (pause)
                                    Emma, if I should die before you...
                                    would you consider publishing the book.
                                                EMMA
                                    The “essay”?
                                                CHARLES
                                    By then it will be a book, many times longer,
                                    God willing.
                                                (a look, he was not being cute)
                                    If I dare publish-- you’re right, Dear--
                                    I should be as certain as humanly possible.
                                    The book will be researched and documented
                                    so meticulously, that the Anglican Tories
                                    shant be able to dismiss it.
                                                EMMA
                                    It will be dismissed anyway, Charley.
                                                CHARLES
                                    If it is accepted by one competent judge,
                                    it will be a considerable step for science.
                                                EMMA
                                    And who would dare edit this book?
                                                CHARLES
                                    Lyell... No, it would compromise his own work--...
                                    Owen!
                                                EMMA
                                    Mm.
                                                CHARLES
                                    I know you don’t--.... But he is a
                                    smart collaborator and a close friend.
                                                EMMA
                                    The closeness of his friendship seems to
                                    have matched the speed of your rise in science.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Hmm. Well,  perhaps the publishing could
                                    wait until after we are both gone.
                                                EMMA
                                                (looks down at the baby)
                                    Leave that legacy to our children?
                                                CHARLES
                                                (pause, he grimaces)
                                    No. You’re right.
                                                (grimaces)
                                    I may require another trip to Malverne. I know
                                    the timing is dreadful, so close to your
                                    confinement.
                                                EMMA
                                    The water cure always seems to
                                    soothe your pain for a while. That makes being
                                    apart bearable.
                                                CHARLES
                                                (rises, clutching his stomach)
                                    Perhaps a bath for now.
                                                EMMA
                                    I’m sorry, Charles.
                                                (he nods)
                                    I still love you, of course.
Charles smiles, hugs her. They embrace and kiss as Owen, 47, appears in a military uniform, holding a rifle and two books. He watches them a moment.
                                                OWEN
                                    Ah, domestic tranquility.
Emma is startled.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Owen!
                                                OWEN
                                    Darwin! It’s no wonder there’s eight
                                    little ones running around.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Seven.
                                                OWEN
                                    Seven. Oh, yes. My apologies, Mrs. Darwin.
                                                EMMA
                                    Mr. Owen. What brings you to Downe?
Holds up books.
                                                OWEN
                                    I am seeking the autograph of a famous
                                    author.
                                                CHARLES
                                    You needn’t have brought the rifle.
                                    I’ll sign cheerfully.
Charles sits on the bench.
                                                EMMA
                                    Yes, Mr. Owen, what are you dressed in?
                                                OWEN
                                    The uniform of the Honorable Artillery Company.
                                                CHARLES
                                    You’ve changed professions?
                                                OWEN
                                    I drill with them as a volunteer,
                                    as every able man should. Not to criticize,
                                    of course.
Owen suddenly launches into a rifle drill, slightly startling the Darwins. Owen ends at attention with the rifle on his shoulder, wearing a “military” face. Then he breaks into a chuckle.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Is it loaded?
                                                OWEN
                                    Good heavens, no!
                                                EMMA
                                    And they issued you a uniform?
                                                OWEN
                                    I purchased it. The communists and the
                                    atheists mean business and so do we.
                                                EMMA
                                    Woe to the communists and atheists with
                                    you defending us, Mr. Owen.
                                   
No one seems certain how to take this remark. Owen hands the first book to Charles to sign.
                                                OWEN
                                    “Yup-ta-tup-Geology of South America”.
                                                CHARLES
                                     It’s out? Emma!
                                                (shows her the cover)
                                                OWEN
                                    ...and then my favorite.
                                                CHARLES
                                    An old chestnut. “Zoology of the Beagle:
                                    Fossil Mammalia.”
                                                OWEN
                                    Written by?
                                                CHARLES
                                    “Written by Richard Owen.”
                                                OWEN
                                    Ah-ha! It’s for a nephew of mine.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Funny, I can never find my name.
                                                OWEN
                                    Is it not enough that it appears readily
                                    throughout the volume? It was MY research
                                    of your fossils, MY writing--
                                                CHARLES
                                    I was joking, Owen.
                                                OWEN
                                                (beat)
                                    As was I, my friend. What will our next
                                    collaboration be, I wonder?
                                                CHARLES
                                    I hadn’t thought about it.
                                                OWEN
                                    Of course, I’m very busy...
                                                (sees bow, picks it up)
                                    You hunt?
                                                CHARLES
                                    It’s for target shooting.
Owen looks offstage, sees something that impresses him.
                                                OWEN
                                    My word, Darwin. Are all those bulls eyes yours?
                                                CHARLES
                                    Emma’s.
                                                OWEN
                                    Mrs. Darwin?
                                                CHARLES
                                    She is a Dragoness in archery.
                                                OWEN
                                                (staring at Emma)
                                    I don’t doubt it for a moment.
                                    She was certainly able to strike your little heart.
                                                (twangs the empty bow at Charles)
                                    Or was it your back?
Owen laughs loudly. The baby cries out softly. Owen sets the bow on the ground.
                                                EMMA
                                    Please excuse me, gentlemen.
Emma picks up her bow and quiver while Owen watches. As she moves past him:
                                                OWEN
                                    Going to suckle the baby?
The question and the uncertainty of the intent makes it an awkward moment.
                                                EMMA
                                    Excuse me.
Charles grimaces, presses on his stomach.
                                                CHARLES
                                    I may not be good company, Owen.
                                                OWEN
                                    Here, try this.
Owen produced a lemon from his pocket.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Do you often carry lemons in your pockets?
                                                OWEN
                                    Only for you, Darwin.
                                                CHARLES
                                    What am I to do with it?
                                                OWEN
                                    Suck on it. They say it helps
                                    with stomach ailments.
Charles cuts the lemon with a pen knife and sucks on it.
                                                OWEN
                                    Well, how are your barnacles?
                                    Other than tedious?
Charles slips the E notebook beneath his other one.
                                                CHARLES
                                    It’s dogged that does it.
Owen laughs. Charles refers to his barnacle notebook.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Something quite fascinating. Barnacles,
                                    you know, are hermaphrodites. However,
                                    I have been dissecting some of Cumming’s
                                    Philippine species, removing what
                                    I thought were tiny parasites only to realize they
                                    are males of the species. The instant they cease
                                    being locomotive larvae, they become parasitic.
                                    Fixed and embedded in the flesh of their wives,
                                    never to move again.
                                                OWEN
                                    They remind me of some of my upward marrying
                                    friends.
                                                (laughs)
                                                CHARLES
                                    You don’t find their design curious?
                                                OWEN
                                    In light of what?
                                                CHARLES
                                    Being created by the same force that designed
                                     “Nature’s Noblest Offspring”.
                                                OWEN
                                    They are without doubt the genesis of the
                                    same organizing energy.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Without doubt? You concurred with my findings
                                    tracing the segments of barnacles to the segments
                                    of more evolved crustaceans.
                                                OWEN
                                    They are all nonetheless archetypes of the
                                    Divine mind. I have demonstrated fossil evidence of
                                    the evolutionary sequence of horses that fully
                                    supports their ordained continuous becoming.
                                                CHARLES
                                    And I highly respect that theory. God may have
                                    created the original archetypes of species.
                                                OWEN
                                    “May have”?
                                                CHARLES
                                    I know as a scientist you must wonder at it.
                                                OWEN
                                                (pause)
                                    You understand my position, Darwin.
                                                CHARLES
                                    You abhor the idea of transmutation.
                                                OWEN
                                    My position as conservator for the College of
                                    Surgeons. The position of the people charting
                                    my course.
                                                (beat)
                                    And, yes, I abhor it. It’s subversive and
                                    Anti-Christian.
                                                CHARLES
                                    I know.
                                                OWEN
                                    Transmutation would destroy man’s responsibility.
                                                CHARLES
                                    That’s rather grand.
                                                OWEN
                                    No judge? No consequences? No Divine plan?
                                    Our moral progress and social order would
                                    disintegrate. Tell the masses that they are
                                    mere animals, and they will behave as such.
                                    In time, the only guiding law would be to
                                    kill or be killed in some form or another.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Has man ever strayed far from that?
                                                OWEN
                                    Yes! God has inspired our highest thoughts
                                    and our greatest deeds.
                                                CHARLES
                                    But your objection is philosophical, Owen,
                                    not religious.
                                                OWEN
                                    It is also practical. Transmutation would destroy
                                    your career, Darwin... You are a highly revered
                                    gentleman with a family and a comfortable living. 
                                    How quickly any one of us could become a traitor.
                                                CHARLES
                                    A traitor to what?
                                                OWEN
                                    Mankind.
                                                (beat)
                                    The rioters and industrialists are spewing forth
                                    the same godless science. And you see how we
                                    are dealing with them.
                       
                                                CHARLES
                                    They are not stopping.
                       
                                                OWEN
                                    Be careful not to share your beliefs with
                                    the wrong man. That’s all I’m suggesting.
                                                CHARLES
                                                (beat)
                                    Thank you.
                                                OWEN
                                    I had hoped to discuss over tea what our next book
                                    might address.
                                                (Charles grimaces)
                                    Clearly, you are insufficiently robust. No matter,
                                    I must report for duty! Will I see you at the
                                    museum for the Geological Society meeting?
                                                CHARLES
                                    If I am well enough. Who’s attending?
                                                OWEN
                                                (laughs)
                                    Well said, sir!
                                                CHARLES
                                                (uncertain of his meaning)
                                    Yes?
                                                OWEN
                                    The British Museum. People you need to see, Darwin.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Ah.  Don’t you want the books I signed?
                                                OWEN
                                    The books? Yes, of course.
                                                (taking books)
                                    They might be worth something some day.
                                                (a friendly laugh)
Annie walks on with lilac cuttings. She has lost the spring in her step.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Syringa, Father. Or lilac, as some might
                                    call them.
                                                OWEN
                                    Which Darwin is this?
                                                ANNIE
                                    Annie Darwin,  sir.
                                                OWEN
                                    Annie! Your father always speaks highly of you.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Thank you, sir.
                                                OWEN
                                                (smiles, to Charles)
                                    She doesn’t remember me.
                                                ANNIE
                                    Yes, Mr. Owen, I do.
                                                OWEN
                                    Ah. Well, Darwin, back to London.
                                    I’ll leave you to your barnacles.
                                                ANNIE
                                    My father is ever so famous. Scientists
                                    send him their barnacle collections from
                                    all over the world.
                                                OWEN
                                    I’m certain they do. You are dear to
                                    defend your father’s reputation.
                                    And I know he will do the same for you.
                                    Ta-ta!
Owen leaves. Charles looks at the E notebook. He grimaces, sucks on a lemon. Annie caresses his arm. Emma re-enters with the baby.
                                                EMMA
                                    Are you all right, Charley?
                                                CHARLES
                                    Yes, dear.
                                                EMMA
                                    I’ll draw your bath.
He puts his notebooks down, touches her hand, then her belly.
                                                CHARLES
                                    No,  I think I’ll just... stay still and enjoy
                                    the quiet.
                                                EMMA
                                    Annie, would you like to hold the baby now?
                                                ANNIE
                                                (smiles, then stops)
                                    I think I oughtn’t.
                                                CHARLES
                                    What of the bugs? They may be getting away.
                                                ANNIE
                                    I’m sorry, Father, I can’t.
                                                CHARLES
                                    Why not?
                                                ANNIE
                                    I’m not feeling well.
                                                CHARLES
                                                (playfully concerned)
                                    You’re not feeling well?


                                                ANNIE

                                                (pause)

                                    No.


Looking at the seriousness of Annie’s face, a pall falls over the faces of Emma and Charles at the same time.  Lights fade as each steps downstage into a spotlight.