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manner.
ARBUTHNOT: Why then did you accept my invitation?
169
170 Newton s Darkness: Two Dramatic Views
CIBBER: It was a summons& an imposition I generally ignore. What
brought me here was sheer curiosity& . You wrote that you wanted to
discuss a play& and that the matter was urgent.
ARBUTHNOT: It is urgent.
CIBBER: You did not mention the play s title.
ARBUTHNOT: And now you know.
CIBBER: So you saw it?
ARBUTHNOT: Last night.
CIBBER: The sixth performance& and still a full house.
ARBUTHNOT: A mob flocking into the theatre sheds little light on a
play s quality& or veracity.
CIBBER: Since when is veracity on stage judged a virtue?
ARBUTHNOT: When it is not used to hide distortion.
CIBBER: Ours was applauded& your Three Hours after Marriage was
hissed. Yours was virtually stillborn in 1717 and did not make it past the
second performance. I know of no revival.
ARBUTHNOT: That is hitting below the belt.
CIBBER: Whose belt? John Gay s, Alexander Pope s, or yours?
(Scornfully) Requiring three cooks for a thin theatrical pudding& meant
to contain wit but in the end not tasting of wit at all. (Short sarcastic
laugh) Asking the actors to do a good job while burdened with a bad
script& meaning they had to be good at being bad!
ARBUTHNOT: Much too clever& and thus not worth recapture.
You re more likely to be remembered for your sharper pen than for your
tongue.
CIBBER: (Prickly) How so?
ARBUTHNOT: You had the audacity& some even called it
impertinence& to adapt Richard III, but you added a line&  Off with
Calculus: Act 2, Scene 10 171
his head& so much for Buckingham & that I wager will be remembered
longer than all the words you ever spoke on stage.
CIBBER: Is this a compliment or an affront?
ARBUTHNOT: The choice is yours! It is Calculus I wish to address& a
true affront. Is a stage the place to wash dirty linen in public?
CIBBER: So we re back at veracity! Where else do such laundry? The
stage is the only place where nothing need be hidden.
ARBUTHNOT: A country requires heroes
CIBBER: (Sarcastic) Pray offer an example.
ARBUTHNOT: Take Marlborough.
CIBBER: A military hero, that I grant you. And awarded Blenheim
Palace by a grateful sovereign and nation. But does that mean that John
Vanbrugh the architect of Blenheim must also build a palace a
dramatic one for Newton?
ARBUTHNOT: We need unsullied heroes& and not just military ones.
What purpose is served by showing that England s greatest natural
philosopher is flawed& like other mortals? Consider the laws of motion
and of gravitation& of light and color& his work on celestial
mechanics. Calculus was not needed for any of them. Even without the
calculus, Newton would be our greatest.
CIBBER: Greatest natural philosopher& or paragon of probity? Why
not take him for what he was: a tainted hero. Inventor of the calculus?
Yes! But also corruptor of a moral calculus. And what about Leibniz&
does he not deserve some defense?
ARBUTHNOT: Let that be the concern of the Germans.
CIBBER: Our Newton rests in Westminster Abbey under a hero s
monument. But whatever their tomb, both continue to rot.
ARBUTHNOT: A medical or another moral judgment?
CIBBER: (Conciliatory) As you are a doctor, let it be medical. We ve
wrangled enough. (Pause) Poor Leibniz. The only person on the
172 Newton s Darkness: Two Dramatic Views
Committee who could have defended him was a Swiss& and from
Geneva at that!
ARBUTHNOT: Bonet. (Reflects) He had the least to lose... and thus lost
the most.
CIBBER: You think Vanbrugh should have dealt with him more kindly?
ARBUTHNOT: Sir John is dead.
CIBBER: Sir John created the setting, he chose the characters, he dug up
the dirt, and he spread it around. I only helped with broom and shovel&
except for the very end. At his deathbed, Sir John asked me to complete
the play& even offering me the epigraph: frango ut patefaciam.
ARBUTHNOT:  I break in order to reveal.
CIBBER: (Nodding) Your Latin is faultless. I acceded& with some
reservation. The play was meant as revenge& though revenge, like love,
is rarely consummated by surrogates. Yet directing retribution at the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]