Chapters (10)
CORAL: Coelacanth. It’s prehistoric. ‘Forever in the darkness of the sea I follow my beloved. How I yearn for the land, the sky, the grass, but to walk causes me terrible pain in my nether regions. So far from home, swimming after my ghostly lover.’
TOM: Whenever they met dockside she tried to walk to him but cried out in great pain.
CORAL: ‘Alas!’
She swoons.
TOM: Finally the god of the sea took pity on them. He gave the sailor one wish. What-ever he wanted he could have. ‘What shall I do? Return to human life again? Or enter heaven and end this endless wandering torture? No. It is my love who must be saved. She must return to dry land. Better I am unhappy for all eternity than she suffer another moment.’ So the sailor wished that his love walk again. The god was totally amazed but granted his wish.
He removes the towel. CORAL contemplates her legs a moment then covers them with her kaftan.
CORAL: ‘Oh, don’t send me back. I want to follow you wherever you go.’
TOM: ‘You don’t belong here. You must return to your own world and your own people. You must no longer dwell with the whales, the stingrays, the giant clams and the slow-moving coelacanth. It’s not good for you. Go back to the land, the grass, the sand.’
CORAL: ‘I cannot walk. I am afraid.’
TOM: ‘I will show you how.’
He lifts her and holds her as she takes a step forward, then another, then another.
CORAL: ‘I’m walking.’
Mendelssohn’s ‘Nocturne’ is heard.
‘I’m walking, I’m walking.’ [In her own voice] I’m walking, I’m walking, I’m walking.
As she disappears offstage she turns and waves to TOM, who waves back. They all watch her go. He picks up the towel, buries his face in it a moment then takes a bow. The applause is led thunderously by GWEN. VIC goes and looks where TOM and CORAL have gone. There is a great red glow offstage.
VIC: They’ve lit a bonfire on the beach. Look! It’s like when the Armada was coming.
They all stand and watch the fire for a moment, then slowly walk off towards it. VIC and HARRY remain and leave the stage in another direction.
END OF ACT FOUR