Last Words and Mother's Day: Two Plays
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NURSE Are you comfortable, Miss Larson? Do you need anything?
MISS LARSON "Strike the tent!" (Robert E. Lee, Confederate General, d. 1870)
NURSE Now, you know, Miss Larson, you're not outside. You're on the sun-porch. And you're out here for...
MISS LARSON (Staring out at the audience.) "More light. More light." (Goethe, poet/playwright, d. 1832)
NURSE Yes, light. Isn't it nice out here? Better than being stuck in that room of yours all day with a bunch of old records you can't even play.
(Wheels her over to the window.)
MISS LARSON "I must go in, the fog is rising." (Emily Dickinson, poet, d. 1886)
NURSE No, it's sunny, Miss Larson. Look...see...it's going to be a glorious day.
MISS LARSON "Get my swan costume ready." (Anna Pavlova, ballerina, d. 1931)
NURSE Now, don't start that again. We've been through this before. You don't have anything like that.
MISS LARSON "Am I dying or is this my birthday?" (Lady Nancy Astor, British politician, d. 1964)
NURSE No, you're not dying...and no, it isn't your birthday.
MISS LARSON "You're trying to keep me alive as an old curiosity, but I'm done. I'm finished. I'm going to die." (George Bernard Shaw, playwright, d. 1950)
NURSE Now, Miss Larson, it isn't healthy to talk like that.
MISS LARSON "I should never have switched from scotch to martinis." (Humphrey Bogart, actor, d. 1957)
NURSE
Now...now.
(Adjusts her chair.)
MISS LARSON "I'd give all my possessions for a moment of time." (Elizabeth I, Queen of England, d. 1603) "Friends applaud, the comedy is over." (Ludwig van Beethoven, composer, d. 1827) "Good night my darlings, I'll see you tomorrow." (Noel Coward, song writer/playwright, d. 1973)
NURSE You just sit there and rest yourself.
(Starts to leave.)
If you need anything, press the button on the chair. Okay?MISS LARSON "Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!" (Karl Marx, revolutionary, d. 1883)
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About the Book
LAST WORDS This comedy takes place in an exclusive nursing home. Miss Larson, frustrated at being surrounded by people who neither understand nor appreciate her or the things she loves, has taken to speaking in nothing but quotes of the last words of famous people. Although the clear intent of this strategy is to give all who encounter her the impression that she is senile, and thereby afford her some peace and quiet, we understand from the outset that it is a cry for attention – the right attention. A young man, Greg, meets her while waiting for his lover, who is considering the nursing home for his father. He figures out her charade and why she indulges in it. MOTHER’S DAY At the start of the drama, Mother appears to be the recipient of parental abuse, but as the play unfolds, we discover that her middle-aged daughter must deal with a troubling situation – how to care for an elderly parent determined to commit suicide. It’s Mother’s Day, again, and time is running out. Mother wants her daughter Marian to understand and assist her so she can end it all before her son Jimmy comes home to visit. For Marian, every day is Mother’s Day.
About the Author
Paul M. Kelly holds a doctorate in education from Fordham University. An associate member of the Dramatists Guild of America, he has had numerous productions of his plays developed through the Village Playwrights. Dr. Kelly is a registrar and teaches English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York.