R.U.R. Karel Čapek (story read aloud .TXT) 📖

and⁠—do you know, I don’t believe the rascal is a Robot at all any longer. Helena Doctor, has Radius a soul? Dr. Gall Over to couch. He’s got something nasty. Helena If you knew how he hates us. Oh, Doctor, are all your Robots like that? All the new ones that you began to make in a different way? She invites him to sit beside her. He sits. Dr. Gall Well, some are more sensitive than others. They’re all more human beings than Rossum’s Robots were. Helena Perhaps this hatred is more like human beings, too? Dr. Gall That too is progress. Helena What became of the girl you made, the one who was most like us? Dr. Gall Your favorite? I kept her. She’s lovely, but stupid. No good for work. Helena But she’s so beautiful. Dr. Gall I called her “Helena.” I wanted her to resemble you. She is a failure. Helena In what way? Dr. Gall She goes about as if in a dream, remote and listless. She’s without life. I watch and wait for a miracle to happen. Sometimes I think to myself: “If you were to wake up only for a moment you would kill me for having made you.” Helena And yet you go on making Robots! Why are no more children being born? Dr. Gall We don’t know. Helena Oh, but you must. Tell me. Dr. Gall You see, so many Robots are being manufactured that people are becoming superfluous. Man is really a survival, but that he should die out, after a paltry thirty years of competition, that’s the awful part of it. You might almost think that Nature was offended at the manufacture of the Robots, but we still have old Rossum’s manuscript. Helena Yes. In that strong box. Dr. Gall We go on using it and making Robots. All the universities are sending in long petitions to restrict their production. Otherwise, they say, mankind will become extinct through lack of fertility. But the R.U.R. shareholders, of course, won’t hear of it. All the governments, on the other hand, are clamoring for an increase in production, to raise the standards of their armies. And all the manufacturers in the world are ordering Robots like mad. Helena And has no one demanded that the manufacture should cease altogether? Dr. Gall No one has courage. Helena Courage! Dr. Gall People would stone him to death. You see, after all, it’s more convenient to get your work done by the Robots. Helena Oh, Doctor, what’s going to become of people? Dr. Gall God knows. Madame Helena, it looks to us scientists like the end. Helena She looks out front. Rising. Thank you for coming and telling me. Dr. Gall Rises. That means that you’re sending me away. Helena Yes. Exit Dr. Gall L. 2. She crosses to L. C. To door L. 1. With sudden resolution. Nana! Nana! the fire, light it quickly. Helena exits R. Nana Entering L. 1. What, light the fire in the summer? Helena Off R. Yes! Nana She looks for Radius. Has that mad Radius gone?⁠—A fire in summer, what an idea? Nobody would think she’d been married ten years. She’s like a baby, no sense at all. A fire in summer. Like a baby. She lights the fire. Helena Returns from R. with armful of faded papers. Back of couch to fireplace, L. of Nana. Is it burning, Nana? All this has got to be burned. Nana What’s that? Helena Old papers, fearfully old. Nana, shall I burn them? Nana Are they any use? Helena. No. Nana Well, then, burn them. Helena Throwing the first sheet on the fire. What would you say, Nana, if this was money and a lot of money? And if it was an invention, the greatest invention in the world? Nana R. of fireplace. I’d say burn it. All these newfangled things are an offense to the Lord. It’s downright wickedness. Wanting to improve the world after He has made it. Helena Look how they curl up. As if they were alive. Oh, Nana, how horrible! Nana Here, let me burn them. Helena Drawing back. No, no, I must do it myself. Just look at the flames. They are like hands, like tongues, like living shapes. Raking fire with the poker. Lie down, lie down. Nana That’s the end of them. Fireplace slowly out. Helena Nana, Nana! Nana Good gracious, what is it you’ve burned? Almost to herself. Helena Whatever have I done? Nana Well, what is it? Men’s laughter off L. 2. Helena Go quickly. It’s the gentlemen calling. Nana Good gracious, what a place! Exits L. 1. Domin Opens door L. 2. Come along and offer your congratulations. Enter Hallemeier and Dr. Gall. Hallemeier Crosses to R. C. Madame Helena, I congratulate you on this festive day. Helena Thank you. Coming to C. Where are Fabry and Busman? Domin They’ve gone down the harbor. Closes the door and comes to C. Hallemeier Friends, we must drink to this happy occasion. Helena Crosses L. Brandy? With soda water? Exits L. 1. Hallemeier Let’s be temperate. No soda. Domin What’s been burning here? Well, shall I tell her about it? Dr. Gall L. C. Of course. It’s all over now. Hallemeier Crosses to Domin. Embracing Domin. It’s all over now. It’s all over now. They dance around Dr. Gall in a circle. It’s all over now. Domin In unison. It’s all over now. They keep repeating. Keep it after Helena is on. Helena Entering L. 1 with decanter and glasses. What’s all over now? What’s the matter with you all? She puts tray on L. C. table. Dr. Gall helps her to pour the drinks. Hallemeier Crosses to back of table. A piece of good luck. Madame Domin! All ad lib. Just ten years ago today you arrived on this island. Hallemeier crosses to table for drink. Dr. Gall And now, ten years later to the minute⁠—Crosses to L. of Hallemeier. Hallemeier The