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2nd Workshop Script for Printing 14/10/18

Mrs einstein

Book and lyrics by Phil WillmottMusic by Phil Willmott & Sonum Batra

CHARACTERS (All characters are in their 20s)

The Young Albert EinsteinMilleva Marić (Albert’s First Wife)Maria Einstein (His sister)Besso (His best friend)Marcel (a fellow Student)Gretchen (Albert’s 1st fiancé)Marie CurieAlbert’s father as a young man (1 scene)Mileva’s father as a young man (1 scene)

Ensemble of male and female students and scientists.

SONGS* = Dance Numbers in the full production. ACT ONE 1. Overture2. We're the Rock Stars Now - Albert, Besso, Marcel and Ensemble3. How Could I sit There? - Milleva4. Scary - Marcel and Besso5. The Shoulders of Giants – Women Physicists and Ensemble Voices6. The Entrance Paper Rap

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7. Nothing in the World - Albert8. They're Coming for You - Albert, Milleva and Ensemble Voices *9. Sons - Milleva's Father & Albert's Father10. On the Down Beat - Albert & Ensemble Voices *11. Papa He Danced with Me - Milleva12. The Boys are Having a Party - Besso, Marcel13. Everybody Knows - Gretchen14. Papa He Lied to Me (Reprise of Papa he Danced) – Milleva15. Dare to Ask the Question – All ACT TWO 1. Here’s to being Alive – Marcel then all.2. Student's and Sex * - All3. Albert, I'm Begging You (Reprise of Papa he Danced… ) _ Milleva4. Maria, I'm Warning You (Another Short reprise of Papa H.D) - Besso5. Downbeat and Blue (Short reprise of On The Down Beat) - Albert6. In a Hotel Alone - Milleva7. Reunited (Reprise of Shoulders Giants) - Albert and Milleva8. An Equation - Besso and Maria9. Seasons Change – Ensemble Voices10. A New City - Albert11. Kindness - All12. A Little Scoop of You - All *13. Here’s to Being Alive - Marcel14. In a Hotel Alone 3 - Albert15. Divorce - Albert, Milleva and Ensemble Voices ACT ONE THE OVERTURE HANGS IN HIATUS FOR A MOMENT. THE LIGHTS COME UP ON MILLEVA, SITTING, A DETERMINED YOUNG WOMAN IN HER EARLY TWENTIES. MILLEVA: Mr Einstein if you are to continue to flirt with me I think it only fair to point out that I have no

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discernible sense of humour, my face does not fall readily into a smile and I have dedicated my life to science. THE OVERTURE CONCLUDES. STUDENTS ARE GATHERED TO CELEBRATE THE START OF THEIR STUDIES. PROMINENT ARE ALBERT, MARCEL AND BESSO. A SLIGHTLY TIPSY ALBERT STANDS UNSTEADILY ON A CHAIR, RAISING A TANKARD. MARCEL: Sit down Albert. ALBERT: No, no, this is important. My new friends, tomorrow our final fellow student arrives, our little band will be complete and our classes begin in earnest. On such an auspicious night it seems appropriate to offer a toast - to us! HE SINGS - We ’re the Rock Stars Now Here’s to all of us never picked at sportThe Introvert, intellectual sortHow the tables turn,Now the world’ll learnWe’re the rock stars now! No one can deny electricityThere are forces and fieldsWhich we cannot seeIt’s the freaks and geeksThat could hold the keyWe’re the rock stars now. ALBERT, BESSO AND MARCEL:Now to master an equationBrings approbation and applauseTomorrow’s world is not for meat heads

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ALBERT: Boys, the march of history is yours. BESSO:So what if the girls never looked at meBuried deep in a book in the library Mathematics is kingWe’re the one’s taking wing THE THREE:We’re the rock stars now. Now at Zurich PolytechnicWe’re science’s creme de la cremeThe athletes are obsolete now The world belongs to clever men. ALBERT: So once again – WOMEN JOIN IN. BESSO IS NERVOUS OF THEM ALL:Here’s to anyone never picked at sportThe Introvert, intellectual sortHow the tables turn,Now the world’ll learn BOYS: We’re the rock stars now! ALL:No one can deny electricityThere are forces and fieldsWhich we cannot seeIt’s the freaks and geeksThat could hold the key BOYS:We’re the rock stars now. GIRLS: They’re the rock,BOYS: We’re the rockGIRLS: They’re the rock –

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MUSIC UNRESOLVED MARCEL. (SPOKEN) You won’t believe what I heard earlier, the final student, the one arriving tomorrow - it’s a girl! BESSO: A girl! Oh no! ALBERT: (INTRIGUED) Interesting SONG RESOLVES ALL BUT BESSO: We’re the rock stars now! THE SCENE DISPERSES TO REVEAL MILLEVA SAT ALONE AS BEFORE. BUT EMPTY CHAIRS AROUND HER, ASSEMBLED FOR A CLASS PHOTO, TO EITHER SIDE. How Could I Sit There? How could I sit there?Mamma told me to be still.How could I sit there?Be demure against my will.How could I sit there with a universe Still unexplained?Intellectually restrained How could I sit there. Sir Isaac Newton Gave us a world of forceThings rose or fellWhich suited men of course, Electro magnetism sets us freeIntriguing new hypotheses Just waiting there for me. It wasn’t easyJust to reach this bottom rungThey’ll let me sit here

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But I have to hold my tongueNot be disruptiveDisruptive, really? Me?But I had to agreeTo merely sit here. When there’s a world of things l’m longing to explore And so I sit hereWhere they’ll photograph our classAbsurdly earlyBut prepared to face a farceOf snotty school boysWho’ll ridicule my right to beFraternity The right to sit here. YOUNG MEN, INCLUDING BESSO & MARCEL, ARRIVE BEFORE TAKING THEIR SEATS FOR THE PHOTOGRAPH. Scary BESSO:Girls are very, very, scaryDon’t correspond to theories that I’ve read.They’re a puzzlement A baffling equation They can trip you up And muddle with your head. I tell you – MARCEL: Don’t let her be pretty’s all I’m asking.I'm easily distracted when they’re sweet.The kind who’ll get you Running rings around herTrying so to sweep her off her feet. BESSO AND MARCEL:Girls are very, very scary BESSO: My sister is a girl, it's not the same.

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She's screechy and berating, This is more intimidating BOTH: She'll draw us in like boffins to a flame. Very, very, veryVery, very, veryVery, very, veryScary! MARCEL AND BESSO TAKE THEIR SEATS EACH SIDE OF MILLEVA BOTH LEAVING ONE EMPTY CHAIR BETWEEN THEM AND HER. VOICE OF PHOTOGRAPHER: Good morning gentleme- students. If you'd like to squeeze in for the class photograph. No gaps please. MARCEL HESITANTLY MOVES ALONG THE ROW TO SIT TO ONE SIDE OF HER. BESSO DOESN’T ALBERT RUSHES IN LATE TO TAKE UP THE SEAT TO THE OTHER SIDE OF HER. HE LOOKS AT HER DELIGHTED, WITH NONE OF THE SHYNESS OF MARCEL AND BESSO. ALBERT: Hello MILLEVA: (ABRUPT) Sshhh! VOICE OF PHOTOGRAPHER: You're late Mr Einstein. Scholarly faces everyone. ALL LOOK SERIOUS EXCEPT FOR ALBERT. LIGHTS FOCUS DOWN ON HIM GRINNING. ROCK STARS MUSICAL RESOLVE WITH FX CAMERA FLASH. LIGHTS RESTORE ON STUDENTS DISPERSING AND EXITING.

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MILLEVA REMAINS SEATED CENTRE STAGE. ALBERT: (CHARMING) Can I offer you some assistance? MILLEVA: (FROSTY) I don't believe so, what do you mean? ALBERT: There's an hour before our first lecture. Would you care to take a walk with me? MILLEVA: I would not. I'm hoping for a moment alone to collect my thoughts. ALBERT: I'm Albert Einstein. MILLEVA: So it would seem. ALBERT: And you are? MILLEVA: Miss Marić. ALBERT: How do you do. That's a Slavic name isn't it? Hence your dark and mysterious aura. MILLEVA: I'm not here for your assessment Mr Einstein. Or for your amusement. I'm sure you have somewhere else to be. Don't let me keep you. ALBERT: Nowhere as engaging. (FASCINATED. NOT SCARED) You’re… a woman. MILLEVA: Very astute. I can tell your analytical skills will be a credit to the University. ALBERT: I just meant... well, I wasn't aware that women were... MILLEVA: I am only the third woman to study at a Swiss university and the second to be admitted by a Physics department. The Shoulders of Giants

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FORMER WOMEN STUDENTS: You stand on the shoulders of giantsYou fall and we’ll always be there.We were the pioneers,We made a path for you to follow.Take up the torchFor women ev’ry where. You’re part of a union of sisters,Take heart there is nothing to fear,It’s your turn nowDo not cower from the battle,Show the men of scienceWe are here. THE WOMEN CHANT – Fight, fight, fight, fight. AS OVER THE TOP MILLEVA SINGS – MILLEVA:I stand on the shoulders of giantsI fall and they’ll always be thereThey were the pioneersThey made a path for me to followTake up the torchFor women ev’ry where. KEY CHANGE. ALL: (MEN AND WOMEN)The future’s now,We are all the solution.Although we’re youngWe are growing up fast.A day will comeWhen we’ll stride out togetherEquality, for one and all, at last.Equality for everyone, at last!

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ALL DISPERSE EXCEPT ALBERT AND MILLEVA. ALBERT: Presumably you didn’t have to take the entrance exam? MILLEVA: Of course I took the entrance exam! I believe I got the highest marks awarded this year. ALBERT: Oh, well, I'm afraid that's not entirely the case The Entrance Exam Rap. You seeI dazzled ev’ry oneObserving emissivity.Thermal RadiationThough it’s infrared.QuantativeEmissivity:The ratio to whichThermal radiation’s lent.An arc of radiationWhen the ratioIs singularGives a surface levelWhich we cannot circumvent.I got ninety five percent! MILLEVA: Ninety Eight. ALBERT: What? MILLEVA: I got 98 percent in the entrance exam. ALBERT: But that’s unheard of. (As was)My discoveryThat there’s a correlationBetween voltages.Photo-electronic

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Variants definingEvery factor within reach.It tells usThe intensity ofSaturation values,Never varyingIn ratioTill frequenciesIncreased.Then, I theorised,ElectronsWe thoughtHither to perfunctoryMay combustIf parameters are breeched. (SPOKEN) Shall I go on? ALBERT: Not unless you’ve considered that a beam of light is not a wave propagating through space, but rather a collection of photons. MILLEVA: Damn. ALBERT: Still, I mean… Wow! May I say I find you fascinating. MILLEVA: Can I suggest you engage your fascination with the constructs of applied Physics. I can assure you I'm of very little interest. I know I'm no beauty. I’ve been told often enough. ALBERT: You have very beautiful eyes. They flash when you're angry. MILLEVA: Mr Einstein, if you are to continue to flirt with me I think it only fair to point out that I have no discernible sense of humour, my face does not fall readily into a smile and I have dedicated my life to science. Furthermore, you should know that I have a congenital hip displacement and walk with a slight but noticeable limp. As you'll see now, when, denied the opportunity of

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making a private exit by your unwanted attention, I must take my leave of you. No, doubt you'll find my disability as amusing as every other little boy I've studied with. ALBERT: People laugh at you? MILLEVA: Only once! SHE STARTS TO GET UP. ALBERT: Wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to drive you away. SHE WALKS AWAY WITH A SLIGHT LIMP. May I carry your - MILLEVA: No, Mr Einstein you may not. SHE EXITS. HE SINGS – Nothing in the World Nothing in the world’sas int’resting as you. Nothing in the worldCould stem this sudden feeling. Everything about youMakes me thirst to know you more.Nothing in the world persuades meThat we couldn't, can't explore -Every thing I sense we have in common. You're beautiful to meCause you’ve a brilliant mind.Nothing in the worldWill shake this certainty I feelthe two of us are two of a kind. What's happened in the world

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To make you feel so angry? What's the matter with a world That will not let you shine? No one in the world can tell meYou deserved this. I'll battle with the world until I've made you mine. Nothing in the worldShould ever come between us. Alone against the worldWe're two of a kind. END OF SCENE. OUTSIDE THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE. MILLEVA: Told to wait outside principal’s office like a child! And all because of you. This is insufferable. ALBERT: It’s extremely cruel. (CHARMING) But I bet you were never sent to the principal’s office as a child. MILLEVA: Neither was I tempted to throw a pencil case until I met you! ALBERT: (CHARMING) Yes, sorry about that but I thought it best you understood your theory was garbage! MILLEVA: Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! (BEAT) And what do we do whilst we wait for some committee to confirm I was provoked? Do we attend the lectures or no? And what about our papers? Will they be marked? ALBERT: Yours perhaps, but not mine. You heard what he said. This is what you get if you admit incendiary elements to the student body. (PROUDLY) That’s me, an incendiary element. MILLEVA: He was referring to me. ALBERT: Uh… I don’t think so. I’m a Jew. MILLEVA: Well, I’m a woman.

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ALBERT: (IRONIC) You’re right, that is horrifying. MILLEVA: (IRONIC) No, no perhaps he did mean you. After all… a Jew. ALBERT: (IRONIC) After all a woman. MILLEVA: (IRONIC) Terrifying They’re Coming for You ALBERT:(OH) Let me tell youBout the sad demiseOf Zurich PolytechnicA gory little storyThat we think you should know. MILLEVA:Was it fire or famine did for them,A flood or Spanish flu? BOTH:No the agents of destructionWere a woman and a Jew. A woman and a JewA woman and a JewBeware! Be scared!Prepare!In case they’re coming for you. ALBERT: (NOW) The Jew was very cunning-MILLEVA: Aren’t they always?ALBERT: Good point over there,Aren’t you that same Jezebel‘seduced a wealthy son and heir.MILLEVA: Aren’t you that sly IsraeliteWho robbed the place at night? FANTASY WOMEN RUN TO ALBERT FOR HIS MONEY.

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FANTASY MEN RUN TO MILLEVA FOR SEX. ALBERT: That’s how I'm a millionaire!MILLEVA: (PRETENDING TO BE SLUTTY)“Hello Boy – queue over there” ENSEMBLE MEN AND WOMEN:A woman and a JewA woman and a JewRaise the drawbridge,Pour the pitchDon’t let the devil through -ALBERT & MILLEVA:A woman and a JewA woman and a JewMILLEVA: Beware!ALBERT: Be scared!MILLEVA: Prepare!In case they’re coming for you. DANCE BREAK IN FULL PRODUCTION. ALL:A woman and a JewA woman and a JewBeware! Be scared!Prepare!In case they’re coming for you. The woman and the Jew! ALL BUT ALBERT AND MILLEVA DISPERSE. MILLEVA: (CHANGING THE SUBJECT. IRRITATED THAT SHE ENJOYED THE SONG SO MUCH) Yes well, if I do get expelled I shall hold you personally responsible. ALBERT: I’d be honoured. MILLEVA: This isn’t a joke. Do you know what my father sacrificed to get me here? I can’t let him down, I can’t and I won’t. A career in physics is all I ever dreamed of.

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ALBERT: What parent wouldn’t want their daughter to hang around with a lot of scruffy students and me, the only potential suitor. MILLEVA: I have no plans to seek romantic entanglements. Matrimonial or otherwise. I want to be – ALBERT: You want to be a man. MILLEVA: (CORRECTING HIM) Physics does not differentiate gender. An equation is not disentangled via testosterone. Or arrogance. ALBERT: You think I’m arrogant? MILLEVA: Don’t you? ALBERT: I’m glad you’re not a man. MILLEVA: I assume you consider that a compliment? My mother would be delighted. ALBERT: But your father is more enlightened? Whatever that means in Zagreb. Has he mastered cutlery? MILLEVA: If you mock him any further I shall knock your head off. ALBERT: Just my sense of humour. Which, believe me, I didn’t inherit from my dear papa. MILLEVA: It’s true, a Slav will always hope for sons. But he has adapted to having a scientist for a daughter. When I was born, it was a more backward time, he was little older than us. ALBERT: Funny to think of your parents at your own age. DOUBLE FLASH BACK - MILLEVA’S FATHER IN A SLAVIC TAVERN. ALBERT’S FATHER IN THE FAMILY HOME.

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BAR KEEPER: A drink, Joseph? It can’t be long now. MILLEVA’S FATHER: 12 hours she’s been in labour. CUT TO ALBERT’S FATHER: Albert! My study at once!

CUT TO SONG CUTTING BETWEEN THE TWO FATHERS. SONS

BEGIN SONG WITH COUNTERPOINT.

MILLEVA’S FATHER.My son, will be a Slavic princeI tell you.My son will lead us into war!A captain of Industry,He’ll stride into a storm.He’ll walk across the waterLike our Lord. ALBERT’S FATHER.This is not howRespectable people behave.Your school reportsEnough, to send me to my grave.Confiscated magic tricks,Staring into space,You’re a delinquent reprobateA walking disgrace. MILLEVA’S FATHER:My son, will be a Slavic princeI tell you.Oh how my heart begins to swell.People will talk of him with reverential tone

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Engaging with his intellectIn ev’ry Slavic home. ALBERT’S FATHER:This is not how respectablePeople behave. (ADDITIONAL LYRICS FOR COUNTERPOINT Life is no rehearsal,It’s a human race,Don’t miss a chanceTo get aheadThere’s no second place) SOMEONE TO MILLEVA’S FATHER: Milos! The baby here. It’s a girl. MILLEVA’S FATHER: A girl? CUT TO ALBERT’S MOTHER’S VOICE. Herman, if you could just give him a few encouraging words. ALBERT’S FATHER:(SPOKEN) Get out! Both of you! I will never tell him I'm proud. MILLEVA’S FATHER: (SPOKEN) A girl? ALBERT’S FATHER:The boy’s too fond ofPleasing the crowd.Life will test him soon,As it should.He’ll excelWhere I never could. MILLEVA’S FATHER:My girl, will live just like a prince,

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I tell you.No door will close until she’s done.People will talk of her with reverential toneYou’ll see, a daughterCan be better than a son. ALBERT’S FATHER: I love him, he’s my son!MILLEVA’S FATHER: Pah! who needs a son! ALBERT’S FATHER:This is not how respectable people behave. MILLEVA’S FATHER:Next time though, a son. BOTH: Sons! MILLEVA’S FATHER:And daughters. MILLEVA: Father’s always encouraged me to follow my passion for physics. If they… if they expel me I don’t know how I’ll face him. Mother will unload me on to anyone prepared to take a crippled wife who answers back. ALBERT: Mothers and their expectations. Mine so wants me to be a doctor or a lawyer or… anyone who’ll bring us respectability. MILLEVA: Your family isn’t respectable? ALBERT: In the first years of their marriage father was an inventor. His field was electricity, in our cellar was a contraption he hoped might power street lighting for the whole city. It never did. Well, I won’t live a bitter and frustrated life. We will exceed our parent’s expectations. Even if it’s not at this dried up place. MILLEVA: Of course, but I have no doubt the faculty will understand my outburst was provoked.

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ALBERT: Surely they’ll understand how provoking you are. MILLEVA: If that’s true, I beg you to ignore me from this moment on. ALBERT: But how can I? When we’re going dancing? MILLEVA: You mock my limp!? Just when my estimation of you couldn’t be any lower. ALBERT: You don’t want to go dancing? MILLEVA: I don’t… can’t dance. ALBERT: Does it hurt your – MILLEVA: My hip? No, but it prohibits any kind of graceful – How dare you! How dare you draw attention to… you have no need to do so, I can assure you I have been made all too aware of my abnormality. Don’t you think the school bullies…? but to find… I had hoped the students here would be above such cruelty. If you were a gentleman – ALBERT: But I am not a gentleman and who says I want “graceful” MILLEVA: Your wants are of no concern to me. ALBERT: I'm not waiting here a moment longer. They can send us a note. Come – HE DRAGS HER AWAY. A DANCE HALL. MILLEVA: I don’t know what you think you’re playing at? ALBERT: I want everyone in this dancehall to be jealous of me and my girl.

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MILLEVA: I am absolutely not your – ALBERT: Come I will show you. All you need to do is go with the down beat. Popular music is characterised by a distinctive – MILLEVA: Thank you, I am aware of the structural composite of dance music. ALBERT: I am a Jew so there’s a chance I’ll be thrown out. You have a different way of moving. There’s a chance you’ll be laughed at. MILLEVA: I have always been an object of ridicule. ALBERT: Come let us be ridiculous and thrown out together – On the Down Beat HERE ALBERT DEMONSTRATES CHOREOGRAPHY THAT MILLEVA COULD DO. HE SINGS. ALBERT:On the down beatKeep it heavy and strong,On the down beatAnd you’ll never go wrong.On the down beatYou are earning the right to glide On the down beat – MILLEVA INTERUPTS. A VAMP OR PULSE CONTINUES. MILLEVA: Just a moment. Can I just be clear, are you actually using cheap music to make light of my disability?! That is the most offensive, repugnant thing I have ever heard.

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ALBERT: Since we sang about women and Jews? MILLEVA: You are infuriating! ALBERT. That’s me. Listen I don’t give a damn about your disability. I want to celebrate us. MILLEVA: For pities sake there is no us! ALBERT: Oh shut up and dance. You’ve always wanted to. MILLEVA: Albert Einstein if you say one more word to me I will scream for a policeman! ALBERT: QUIETLY AND DELICATELY TO BUG HER.On the down beatJust lean into the groove,On the down beatLike you’ve something to prove.(EXPANSIVELY)On the down beatYou’re socking them in the eye!Won’t you give the down beat a try. OTHER COUPLES COPY ALBERT’S CHOREOGRAPHY. MILLEVA CAN’T HELP BUT SWAY, THEN SHE STARTS TO MOVE AS THE OTHERS. On the down beatKeep it heavy and strong,On the down beatAnd you’ll never go wrong.On the down beatYou are earning the right to glide. On the down beat –You lean into the groove,On the down beatLike you’ve something to prove.On the down beatYou’re socking them in the eye.

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Won’t you give the down beat a try. Lead with the hip,Wiggle it so,Cause a sensationGive em’ a show.Everyone’s diff’rent,Show ‘em who’s bossIf people laugh,So what? It’s their loss. ALBERT: (SPOKEN. SINCERELY, CARING) Can I just check your hip? this isn’t painful is it? MILLEVA: Patronise me again and I’ll rip your face off – (STIRRING UP THE MUSIC AGAIN) HIT IT! ALL: On the down beatKeep it heavy and strong,On the down beatAnd you’ll never go wrong.On the down beatYou are earning the right to glide On the down beat –You lean into the grooveOn the down beatLike you’ve something to proveOn the down beatYou’re socking them in the eyeWon’t you give the down beat a try. ALBERT’S MOUSEY BEST FRIEND BESSO ARRIVES WITH ALBERT’S SISTER MARIA. ALBERT: (CLAPPING HIM ON THE BACK) Besso! BESSO: Hello Albert, a letter has arrived at our lodgings. (UNEASY IN THE PRESENCE OF MARIA) As has your sister – ALBERT: Oh no, was that today –

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MARIA: (PLAYFULLY SLAPPING HIM) Fiend! And you hadn’t completely forgotten. You bought some marzipan for me, Mr Besso told me. ALBERT: Busted! Maria, I’d like you to meet the extraordinary Milleva Marić. Milleva, this is my sister, Marie. MARIA: Hello. MILLEVA: How do you do? ALBERT: And everyone knows my best pal Besso! So we’re all set. MARIA: Alby! Father said you’d be indulging in lose living, I’m happy to see you don’t disappoint. A dance hall, how I’ve longed to go to a dance hall BESSO: Albert, the letter. It’s from the university. ALBERT: Ah yes. Maria, gorgeous one, it is so wonderful to see you but you must excuse me for a moment. Miss Marić and I have been waiting for a decision about our future studies. MARIA: Goodness me. Of course. ALBERT AND MILLEVA STEP TO ONE SIDE TO READ THE LETTER. AWKWARDNESS BETWEEN BESSO AND MARIA. MARIA: (TO BESSO) This is fun. BESSO: Yes. PAUSE. MARIA: (OFFERING A BAG OF SWEETS) Marzipan?

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BESSO: Still allergic. MILLEVA AND ALBERT HAVE READ BAD NEWS. MILLEVA: This is a catastrophe! How can I tell father? All our hopes, all our dreams… (TURNING ON ALBERT) and all because of an arrogant, insecure, infuriating braggart. ALBERT: Come now, you do Professor Holst an injustice. MILLEVA: I was referring to you! ALBERT: Yes, about me. Poor Albert, prospects dashed thanks to an ill- tempered, unlady-like, adorable little shrew. MILLEVA: You forgot crippled. ALBERT: You have a problem with that. I don’t. You think just because -–

MILLEVA: Do not presume to tell me what I think. ALBERT: I was merely helping you to see beyond your impenetrable cloud of self-pity and entitlement. MILLEVA: If I wanted lessons in self-reflection the last person I’d turn to is a frivolous – ALBERT: It’s not too late? MILLEVA: What? ALBERT: Well the letter says we may continue to use the laboratories and if we can demonstrate significant analytical prowess before the next enrolment board we may be readmitted. MILLEVA: So you think, keep our heads down, don’t tell the parents –

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ALBERT: And smash it before the review board. Don’t worry, I’ll coach you. MILLEVA: Drop dead! ALBERT: Go to hell! MILLEVA: Make a plan tomorrow? ALBERT: My lodgings. 8pm. BESSO: (REMINDING HIM) Albert. Marcel’s Soire! – He’s invited (SHUDDERS) lady librarians - MILLEVA: Make it 7pm. ALBERT: Must you always have the last word? MILLEVA: Yes. ALBERT: May I call you Dolly? MILLEVA: No. MILLEVA AND ALBERT START TO LEAVE, SEPARATELY. MARIA: (RE-ALERTING HIM TO HER PRESENCE) Albert! ALBERT (AS HE LEAVES. TO MARIA) Besso will walk you back. I need to think. MILLEVA: (LEAVING) Why start now? ALBERT: (TO MILLEVA) Witch! THEY’RE GONE. MARIA: Well! Albert obviously doesn’t like her very much. BESSO: You’re joking. He’s nuts about her!

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MARIA: I don’t think so. I mean how could he be. She’s a nightmare. BESSO: She’s terrifying. MARIA: No, I don’t see there’s any future in it. And father would never allow it. Our Albert can do so much better, he won’t marry beneath him. BESSO: Would you? MARIA: Sorry. BESSO: Oh… I'm… I'm sorry. That sort of slipped out. MARIA: I don’t know who’d want me. Lucky. I believe father keeps my dowry in a vault at the bottom of the sea. BESSO: (ENCOURAGED) Are you interested in marine biology? It’s a sort of side-line of mine. MARIA: Not in the slightest. I have the intellectual curiosity of a frog. BESSO: (LOOKING ADORINGLY AT HER) Frogs are lovely. MARIA: Mr Besso, are you making love to me? BESSO: (COMING TO HIS SENSES) Oh, no, goodness me, no. I would never presume. MARIA: Would you presume to take coffee with me before my train tomorrow. BESSO: I… I… I… MARIA: Good that’s settled then. BESSO: You’d allow me?

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MARIA: I certainly would. I also hope you’ll write to me. If you’d like. BESSO: (SEIZING THIS) Oh god, I would! I'm so much better on paper. MARIA: Come, I want to try Schnapps. I think I shall like alcohol. END OF SCENE. MILLEVA ALONE. Papa I Danced with Him Papa I danced with himWhat’s this all about?I made ev’ry effort toDissuade the awful lout.But Papa he asked me to.And there in his eyes,Was something I have never knownAn int’rest no one’s ever shownOf course it’s all just lies. Momma,You said they’d laugh at me,Wouldn’t give me a glanceBut there he was, a boyWho somehowAsked your girl to dance.Papa he danced with me.No, mamma it’s true.It happened oh so suddenlyAnd somehow it was heavenlyWhat am I going to do? Cause I'm staring at shooting stars.Like a fool in the rain!And I think that if he askedOnce more,If I would dance

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I would say yes, again. THE NEXT NIGHT. THE BOYS’APARTMENT. MARCEL AND BESSO MARCEL: And try not to look like a damp rag all evening, Besso. These girls may be clever but they’ve got plenty of go in them. BESSO: But I think I'm in love with Albert’s sister, really Marcel, am I in love? (INDICATING HIS TUMMY) I’ve got this sort of funny feeling here all the time. MARCEL: Who cares? Forget about her tonight. I’ve invited a bird for me, you, and one for Albert. The Boys are Having a party! MARCEL: The boys are having a party! BESSO: Dear god. MARCEL: Well, in so many words. BESSO: Please no. MARCEL: Shall we call it a soiree? BESSO: Make it stop. MARCEL: And by soiree, I mean partyingWith birds. BESSO: Ornithologically? MARCEL: Though they’re clever conchitasThey’re not scrawny and old. BESSO: Objectification! MARCEL:

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The boys are having a partyBeware, be there, be bold. BESSO:Think I'm having a breakdownOr maybe it’s her.Both the symptoms are chronicThere’s no tonicIt’s a blur. MARCEL:Get some lead in your pencilTime for cocking your gun.What the hell’s keeping Albert? Well, who caresCause that leavesTwo girlsFor one! END OF SCENE. MARCEL’S PARTY. HE’S TRYING TO IMPRESS GIRLS. BESSO LOOKS DEPRESSED. MARCEL: Ladies, as I said to professor Hertz, electromagnetism my arse! Show me a credible equation, girls, and then we can talk of parallel densities in relation to binary momentum. (BEAT) Who’s that skulking outside? I hope it’s the girl from the chop house. (CALLING TO THE GIRL) You can take the plates back now. And send up another bottle of… whatever the hell this is. MILLEVA EMERGES. MILLEVA: I am not a waitress. MARCEL: Oh it’s just Albert’s little gimp.

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MILLEVA: (CORRECTING HIM) I am Einstein’s study companion. As well, you know. We have an appointment for 7pm. MARCEL SNORTS WITH LAUGHTER. BESSO: (UNCOMFORTABLY) Ah. MILLEVA: (TO MARCEL) I see this news causes you some amusement, Marcel. I couldn’t help but overhear your earlier discussion on Heinrich Hertz’s theory of electromagnetic waves. Whilst you are correct in characterising it as a linearly polarised electromagnetic phenomenon, propagating through a vacuum along the positive z-axis. You are in error when you talk in terms of parallels. In fact it consists of transversely oscillating electric and magnetic fields which interact orthogonally. MARCEL: I think I'm in love. BESSO: Er.. I'm afraid Albert isn’t here. MARCEL: Presumably he’s still with his fiancé. MILLEVA: His fiancé? I… BESSO: Perhaps he left a note. Marcel, did Albert leave a note or any message? MARCEL: I don’t believe so. MILLEVA: Ah, of course. I remember it now. He did mention something of – foolish of me. My mistake, if you’ll excuse me. A fiancé? CUT TO – ALBERT AND HIS FIANCÉ GRETCHEN. ALBERT: Perhaps an ice cream, my love?

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GRETCHEN: Albert! I'm watching my figure. The wedding dress. ALBERT: Ah yes.` GRETCHEN: Although, of course, Vanilla isn’t fattening at the weekend. It’s proven. ALBERT: But how can that that be, Gretchen? GRETCHEN: Silly! It must be true. Mother told me. ALBERT: Ah. Ofcourse! How is she?

GRETCHEN: Full of wise words of wisdom. As ever. Mother Says DURING THIS ALBERT TRIES TO HIDE HIS GROWING BOREDOM AND FRUSTRATION. GRETCHEN: Everybody KnowsThat if you whistleIn the sunThe rain comes.

Everybody knowsThat you should neverCut your nails at night

Everybody knowsThat if a kitten gets your woolIt’s muddle

Ev’rybody knowsA bride must always dress in white.

Ev’rybody knowsShe mustn’t see the groom,Before the wedding

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Sitting on the groundMeans she’ll never hear a baby cry,

Sitting at the corner of a tableMeans misfortune.

Never drink a toastUnless you lookThe other person in the eye. ALBERT: Were you always so…? CRETCHEN: What, darling? ALBERT: Certain of these things? I seem to remember your mind was once a little more… enquiring. GRETCHEN: Well, yes of course. Where it matters. Everybody wondersWhy the crumpetHas to fallWith butter downward,Or why a cropYou plant on SaturdayWill fail and never grows.Everybody wondersWhy a spiderOn your shoulderIs so lucky.Pluck a dandelionAnd soon you will bePowdering your nose.Why if you see a magpieYou should hopeThere is a anotherSomewhere.Why you should never passThe pepper clock-wiseIf you’re asked.And yet we all ignoreThis ancient wisdom

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At our peril Hold on to itAnd then the die is cast. Then Good fortuneAnd your marriage will last. ALBERT: I… my love, I'm so sorry. I lost track of the time. I must rush. I had forgotten an important study session. GRETCHEN: Of course. Run along to your little squiggles and squabbles. See you next Sunday. When we really must consider the seating plan for the church. ALBERT: I… Actually..Actually I think not. GRETCHEN: Not? What do you mean? ALBERT: I… I shall write to you my love. GRETCHEN: Silly Albert. BACK TO THE BOYS AND MILLEVA. MARCEL: In a way you could say Albert and his girl are in a transversely oscillating parallel. MILLEVA: Yes, yes you could. SHE RUNS OUT. EVERYONE DISPERSES LEAVING HER ALONE Papa, He Lied to Me (reprise) Papa he lied to me.I’ve been such a fool.Mamma, you're right, I seeYour words were kind but cruel.It hurts to be ridiculedWhy couldn’t I see?

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No boy, I fearWould venture near,A girl this queer,Unless to sneerAt such a freak as me. He has made me a laughing stock,Swept along by a lie,And I can’t face theThe games he’ll play,The things he’ll say,For one more day.Papa! I want to die. MUSIC SWELLS OVER - END OF SCENE. THE STREET OUTSIDE MILLEVA’S LODGINGS. ALBERT CALLING UP TO THE WINDOW. ALBERT: Dolly, Dolly, answer the door, or at least open your window. You have to listen to me. I heard what happened. I meant to tell you I was engaged but… anyway it doesn’t matter anymore. It’s over, I’ve ended it. We can be together. Please, please let me explain. A LODGING HOUSE WOMAN APPEARS. WOMAN: Sir, this is a respectable lodging house for respectable young ladies. Stop making a disturbance down there or I shall call for a policeman. ALBERT: But I have to speak to Miss Marić. WOMAN: Miss Marić moved out this afternoon. ALBERT: Moved out? - Did she say where was going? WOMAN: She didn’t and I didn’t ask or care. Now be off with you!

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END OF SCENE. BESSO, MARCEL AND ALBERT AT THEIR LODGINGS. BESSO: We should just sit down and calmly work it out, you know. MARCEL: (IGNORING BESSO) Any booze left from last night? ALBERT: (IGNORING MARCEL. TO BESSO) Work out what? BESSO: The formula for love. MARCEL: The what? ALBERT: I don’t think love is something you can wrap up in an equation. BESSO: Why not? You believe the rest of the universe can be. I’ve heard you say so. MARCEL: You do say that, Alby. BESSO: (TO ALBERT) It seems to me that we’re both in a pickle. Maria says I have to ask your father’s permission to marry her - ALBERT: He’ll throw you out. BESSO: I know. Let us call that imponderable number 1. Meanwhile the love of your life has disappeared because you’re a self-centred, unfeeling cad. ALBERT: I know. MARCEL: Imponderable number 2! ALBERT: And so? What next? It all feel so - MARCEL: Imponderable?

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ALBERT: Yes? BESSO: Lets ponder. Dare to Ask the Question. (Let’s)Dare to ask the question.Dare to take the leap,Dare to pick a formula to try.Dare to find the square routeDouble it by xThen treble it by twice the power of y For love is the only thing that matters.We’ve never understood it in the past.But now that we truly know its valueCould we trace the compositesFor we have to conquer it.And fast. MARCEL: All right. So let us recap. You’ve found out where Milleva is? ALBERT: She’s transferred to a course in Frankfurt. She must be going out of her mind. They only let women observe. MARCEL: And she knows how you feel about her? And she’s still interested? ALBERT: I’ve written her reams of letters, just got a single note back saying she’ll reply when she’s bored. BESSO: That’s interested. ALBERT: Is it? BESSO: By the standards of my love life that’d be a major triumph. MARCEL: (RAP)

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So woo her with physicsPropose a syndromeFrankfurt is dullYou can tempt her with home,Tell her you're missing her mindThat it's fate.Remind her you're single – BESSO & MARCEL: Collaborate. ALBERT: You may have a point, if I could find an idea that we can develop together, something that, in fact, I can’t solve without her. Something that will get us both back on to the course here. BESSO: I wish the solution to my problem was as clear. Could you help me pick out a neck tie that might persuade your father I should marry Maria? MARCEL: Or you could just wear a sign saying “kick me”. ALBERT: I'm afraid he’s right. It’s pointless, old friend. BESSO: I’d covert to Judaism if it would help. ALBERT: It might. MARCEL: Besso you’re an example to us all! MARCEL & ALBERT (TO BESSO)Dare to ask the question.Dare to take the leap,Dare to put a value on the prize.Dare to find the square routeDouble it by xThen treble it by twice the power of y. ALL THREEFor love is the only thing that mattersWe’ve never understood it in the past.But now that we truly know its valueCould we trace the composites?

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For we have to conquer it.And fast. MILLEVA APPEARS VOICING A LETTER. MILLEVA: (SPOKEN) Dear Albert, I said I’d write if I was bored and lately I’m finding your proposals more interesting than sitting mute at the back of the class. I have studied your evolving theory such as it is. And on the face of it what you propose is illogical. But – There are always answers out thereWhen you don’t know what to do.I have cried so much I'm emptyYet I'm still in love with you.I will search the world of physicsTill I know with certaintyI have come up with the answerThe answer to you and me. (SPOKEN) Meanwhile in answer to the specific hypothesis you outline - RAP It sounds like you're describingClassical enteropathySeeking probabilityAnd equilibrium.But considerPrior dataAs merelyRandom quantitiesThermodynamic elementsDon’t add up to their sum. MARIA AND BESSO MARIA (TO BESSO): Courage my love, Father’s been in a good mood all day and look at you. All grown up and handsome.

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BESSO: It’s now or never. MILLEVA AND ALBERT ALBERT: Thank you for giving this another try. MILLEVA: It’s now or never. MILLEVA AND ALBERT ARE PRESENTING RESEARCH TO A UNIVERSITY PANEL. ALBERT (TO THE CHAIR) And so professor Tomsk - ALBERT AND MILLEVA:(RAP)We outlineother symmetriesOf impact probabilityTo ascertain fluidityOf quantitiesand stats.More muscularAnalysis of probablesV Variants.With these we can establishAll the enteropathic facts. MILLEVA: (TO THE EXAM BOARD) And that concludes our joint thinking on the model before us and we respectfully ask that on the basis of the research we have presented that you readmit us to Zurich University to resume our studies and conclude our investigations. ALBERT: (TO THE EXAM BOARD) May I ask your initial reaction, Professor? CUT TO BESSO (TO FATHER EINSTEIN) And so Sir, I should like to ask your permission to marry your daughter. CUT TO

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MARIA (TO BESSO) What did he say? CUT TO MILLEVA (TO ALBERT) Albert? ALBERT (TO MILLEVAS) Yes? MILLEVA (TO ALBERT) Do you love me? ALL:Dare to ask the question.Dare to take the leap,Dare to put a value on the prize.Dare to find the square routeDouble it by xThen treble it by twice the power of y. Because love is the only thing that matters.We’ve failed to solve its problems in the pastBut now that we truly know its value,Could we trace the composites?For we have to conquer it.And fast. There are always answers out thereTo the questions you’ve perceivedThere’s improbables to swallowFollow them and see.Speculate and formulateAnd prove conclusivelyYou have come up with the answerThe answer to you and me.

END OF ACT ONE.

ACT TWO

Here’s to Being Alive.

MARCEL:

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Here’s to being alive,Here’s to women and wine,Here’s to 1905,Here’s to taking a dive,Here’s to being alive. When we’re husbands and wivesFor the rest of our livesWe will try to reviveThe time when we criedHere’s to being alive! (But)When tomorrow arrivesAnd we’re seventy fiveIf we remember at allWe will barely recallBeing really alive. Here’s to being alive! EVERYONE ELSE ENTERS FOR ACT TWO, HUNG OVER. SLOW IN HUNGOVER HARMONY.Here’s to staying out lateGoing home with a date,Getting to bed in a stateWaking up isn’t great. BACK TO UP-TEMPO FOR BIG FINISH. But we always survive,Here’s to being alive!

ALL DISPERSE EXCEPT BESSO.

BESSO: Albert! Milleva! We’re leaving soon. Please try and catch us up. (ASIDE) And literally or you’ll be expelled again.

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THEY EXIT. MILLEVA AND ALBERT EMERGE. ALBERT: Why Dolly, I hardly recognise you with your clothes on. MILLEVA: The weekend’s over. ALBERT: I can’t bare it, what is the point of imprisoning me in some dusty class room when all I'm going to be thinking of is that little mole in the curve of your back. Let’s bunk off again. I want to go back to bed. MILLEVA: But we missed so many lectures last week. ALBERT: I didn’t miss a thing.

(PULLING HER BACK TO THE BEDROOM) Come on just one more hour.

THEY EXIT TO THE BEDROOM. Students and Sex

THE OTHERS:Students and sexWhat did you expect?Remember in your student daysWhen you met your ex?It’s not as if they’re at itEach and ev’ry night through.Though it’s trueThey’re gettingMore sex than you. MILLEVA:I feel as if I’m caught up in a spellWe should be so ashamed, but what the hell?

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I relish and I cherishE’ry thing that we do,Together the whole night through.I can’t believe this person’s really meSo passionateAnd sensualAnd free.I'm blushing when I thinkOf all the things that he said,So why don’t we reviseIn bed?

THE OTHERS:Students and sexTogether they thriveDid you think things were diff’rentin nineteen O five?Remember when it lastedAll the blasted night through?Yes, it’s trueThey’re betterAt it then you. Students and sex,Students and sex,It feels the rush will never endBut as you’d expect - MUSIC DOESN’T RESOLVE. ALBERT: (SPOKEN. AS IF TO A PROFESSOR) Excuse me, I should like to protest at this grade. How dare you suggest my mind was elsewhere? BIG FINISH. THE OTHERS.Students and sex!

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MILLEVA: Albert, what’s wrong? ALBERT: My father is dying, they need me at home. You look terrible. MILLEVA: I feel a little nauseous, the shock of our terrible exam results, that’s all. ALBERT: Are you well enough to travel? What’s the point of staying around here another minute? If we get the train in an hour – MILLEVA: Wait, where are we going? ALBERT: I'm taking you home, of course. My family will love you I'm sure, in time. And we can continue our research whilst I teach and help to pay father’s medical bills. MILLEVA: I don’t think the world is ready for our theories. ALBERT: We are the only world that matters. MILLEVA: But I need to remain here. I need to retake the exam, I cannot tell my father I squandered another chance. ALBERT: But what about us? What about me? Albert I'm Begging You(Another Reprise of Papa He Danced With Me) Albert I'm begging youDon’t ask me to choose.You know what this means to meHow much I stand to lose.I need you to think aboutThe woman you seeTo walk away would just inferThat women are inferiorYou can’t ask that of me.

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CUT TO Because you will lose my loveWon’t give up the cause.I cannot fail,Don’t dare to say I'm not allowed,And after I’ll be yours.

MILLEVA: Don’t look so sad. ALBERT: We’ll be in different cities, Dolly, miles apart. MILLEVA: It won’t be forever. And your Dolly will be the first woman ever to get a physics degree. You’ll earn some money and we’ll set up back here once more, when you know your father’s on the mend. END OF SCENE. MARIA AND BESSO. MARIA: So why did he want to see you again? He kicked you out when you asked to marry me. BESSO: He’s very sick. Maybe it’s his idea of softening a little. (PRODUCING A RING BOX AND GOING DOWN ON ONE KNEE) Maria Einstein will you do me the honour of being my wife? MARIA: Yes, oh yes! I can’t believe it? He relented? BESSO: In a way. MARIA: Is that great grandmother’s engagement ring? BESSO: He sends it to you, with his blessing MARIA: But this is wonderful… I… but how…?

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BESSO: Maria listen. The man’s still a tyrant. There were… conditions. MARIA: What do you mean? BESSO: What he asks… it may tear your family apart. MARIA: Go on? Maria I'm Warning You(yet another little Reprise of Papa He Danced With Me) BESSO:Maria, I'm warning youToday you must choose.There’s a terrible price to payThat we cannot refuse.It’s awful it’s come to this,His treacherous plan.Your father is too cleverWe will not escape him ever!What a tyrantOf a man. END OF SCENE. THE SOUND OF NOISY CHILDREN. ALBERT ADDRESSING THE CLASS. ALBERT: Alright settle down. Yes, the turnip harvest is soon upon us but that still leaves me two days to try and inspire some kind of spark in you peasant brats. Now shut your little faces. Close your eyes and… Can you feel that? Can you feel the earth turning? No? Well, it is. It never stops spinning. Now our ancestors couldn’t feel it, they though the earth was flat, that if you walked far enough then you’d fall off the edge, imagine that. What we know and what they didn’t is that we’re all, all of us, yes even you Egbert Wormwood, on the most extraordinary journey around the sun. So what else haven’t we figured out yet? For instance you’ve taught

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me that there’s nothing like teaching enquiring minds. Because standing here is absolutely nothing like - On the Downbeat (Reprise) ALBERTOh, this isn’tWhat I wanted for me,Feeling down beatFor a mis’rable fee.Teaching back hereHearing nothing at all from you.I've never felt more downbeatAnd blue. CUT MILLEVA VOICING A LETTER. MILLEVA: My dear Albert, another day and no letter from you. I am desperate to see you. Don’t you care about what’s happened? We have to make a plan. So I am going to beg you once again to meet me at that little hotel where we stayed on our walking holiday. (SAD) As Mr Albert Mouse and Mrs Dolly Mouse. Do you remember that? I shall be there in two Saturdays time and I will wait and hope to see you. Your Dolly. ALBERT, MARCEL AND MARIA IN THE FAMILY HOME. ALBERT: Congratulations. I couldn’t be happier for you both. It’s perfect. My best friend is marrying my favourite sister. MARIA: (CORRECTING HIM) Your only sister. ALBERT: Details. MARCEL: Hey, I thought I was your best friend! BESSO: You got married last Easter. MARCEL: Don’t remind me.

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ALBERT (TO BESSO AND MARIA) At least you two are going to be very happy. MARIA: Thank you Albert, I think we will. MARCEL: Well, I’ll be off. Other people’s happy endings make me gassy. BESSO: I’ll walk you to the station. ALBERT: Thank you both for the visit. BESSO AND MARCEL LEAVE. ALBERT: I don’t suppose there’s been any post for me? MARIA: No, just a few more bills for mother to worry about. ALBERT: Well, at least the funeral is paid for now. I don’t understand why she doesn’t write. BEAT. MARIA: Albert, there’s something I have to tell you. You see Father insisted that… ALBERT: What? MARIA: You know the foul temper he was in at the end. He considered that you’re better off without your Slavic witch. ALBERT: Don’t call her that. MARIA: No, that’s what he called her. And… ALBERT: What? MARIA: He would only consent to Besso marrying me if… Oh Albert, can’t you find a nice neighbourhood Jewish girl.

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ALBERT: If what? MARIA: It was wrong of him, of us, to keep things from you. ALBERT: Wait… what do you mean? MARIA: Oh Albert, you’re going to hate me. ALBERT: Tell me what has happened, right now. MARIA: He said we were to intercept any letters from Milleva to you. Especially after…. there was a telegram. ALBERT: For me? MARIA: Yes. ALBERT: From her? MARIA: Yes. ALBERT: Well, then for god sake… do you know what it said? MARIA: Yes. ALBERT: Well? Tell me! MARIA: Milleva’s pregnant. Trying to trap you, Mother says. END OF SCENE. MILLEVA ALONE IN A HOTEL BEDROOM. In a Hotel Alone MILLEVA:A woman in a hotel alone,The silence as persistent

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As a drum.Ev’ry striking of the hour,Seems to isolate her towerWhat a place of desperationIt’s become. Nothing but the ticking of the clockNothing but the feeling she should run.The sharp humiliation,The cruel realisation,Her loneliness,Has only just begun. How can he treat me like this?Doesn’t he know I’m in pain?I hate him, how I hate him,How I’ll batter and berate himIf I ever get to see him again. A woman in a hotel alone,The silence as persistentAs a drum.Ev’ry striking of the hourSeems to isolate her towerHow pitifully needy,She’s become. BACK TO THE EINSTEIN’S ALBERT: When? When did the telegram arrive? MARIA: I don’t know. ALBERT: Maria! MARIA: I don’t know. A couple of months ago maybe. Maybe more. ALBERT: And have there been letters?

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MARIA: I don’t know, yes, maybe, please ask mother where she’s hidden them - and don’t say I told you. Please. ALBERT: Wait, I always give my letters to you to post. You encouraged me. Did any of them get sent? MILLEVA: Father ordered me to… it was for your own good, he said. ALBERT: How could you do this to me, all of you. Father could be selfish and stubborn… but this! And you? You kept it from me. You and Besso? MILLEVA: Yes, although he hated himself for it. We both did. There was a letter this morning. SHE HANDS IT TO HIM. HE TEARS IT OPEN. (AS HE READ) It’s ruined isn’t it? The wedding. You must really hate us. But, well… in time. You know father may have had a point, maybe if you ever think of becoming a headmaster… or… I mean Milleva’s never been respectable - HAVING READ THE LETTER HE RUSHES OUT. Albert! Albert, come back! Where are you going? ALBERT: Home. END OF SCENE. ALBERT AND MILLEVA RUN INTO EACH OTHER’S ARMS. SHE’S NOT PREGNANT ANYMORE. Reunited (Hotel Alone Reprise) MILLEVA:To feel your heart against mineOnce again.

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ALBERT:To hold you tight and never let you go. MILLEVA:Our baby caught a feverShe died, you should have seen herFighting to survive. ALBERT: I know, I know. MILLEVA: (SPOKEN) I told her – Be Strong (Reprise of Shoulders of Giants) “Be braveBe determined as MammaAs wild as your father can be.I never wanted you,Until the day I met youI love you nowWith every part of me. You must be strong.For you’re only a woman.While men,Sit in judgement above.I need you here,Beside me fighting for tomorrow,But most of allTo wrap you in my love” She lay there soLittle and helpless,I swore I would kill for her sake.But death took a diff’rent direction.Where were you, Albert?Where were you, Albert?Where were you?When she didn’t awake? YOU DON’T GET TO TELL ME THEME -

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ALBERT:If I could turn back timeI swear I would.But wishing things were diff’rentDoes no good.The future is what countsAnd this I vow,No one’s going to part usStarting now.I’ll be your protectionYou will see.Dry your tears,Be brave,And come with me. MILLEVA: Where are we going? ALBERT: To Maria’s wedding. MILLEVA: No, no. Don’t ruin it. What they did was wrong but… let them have their day without that cloud hanging over them. ALBERT: I don’t… I can’t blame them. Father put them in an impossible situation. We’re not going there to ruin things. I want to introduce you to my mother, and tell everyone… tell everyone that you’re… Milleva, will you marry me? THE MUSIC SWELLS AND CONCLUDES AS THEY EMBRACE. MARIA ENTERS. MARIA:My husband is a physicist,My friends and fam’ly too,He’s for ever scrawling formulaeAnd anywhere will do.He writes them on my shopping lists, in bed and on the loo.What do they mean?I haven’t a clue.

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My husband gets excitedBy the silliest of crumbs,Like whats-er-name’sExperiments, thing-a-me-bobsAnd sums.I can’t share his excitementAt some radiation beamI have to leave him to itOr scream. I like music, I like strollingIn the summer in the park.I like puddles, I like muddlesI like cuddles after dark.I love choc’late, I love Sundays,Watching penguins in the zoo.So it’s fortunate I love my husband too. For my husband is a physicistAnd sometimes it’s a chore.I find scientific chatterDoesn’t matter, it’s a bore.You’d think under his influenceI’d learn a thing or twoBut honestlyI haven’t a clue. It’s how I like it. Physics? Nope! I haven’t a clue. PERHAPS IN A FULL PRODUCTION THERE’S A WEDDING TABLEAUX. END OF SCENE. MARIA AND BESSO VISIT ALBERT AND MILLEVA. MARIA: And what does Hans think of his baby brother?

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MILLEVA: He adores him, fortunately. It’s a very small bedroom. MARCEL: And once again, talk returns to babies.

BESSO: Any plans to start a family, Marcel? You’ve been married what? a year now?

MARCEL: And that’s Marcel’s cue to make an exit. But before I go – I have news. Rock Star (Reprise) There’s a place in FranceA laboratory.Advertised for a geekAnd they’ve chosen me,I don’t understand whyI don’t understand how,But I'm a rock star now. ALBERT: Congratulations! BESSO: Well done old boy. MARIA: Congratulations, Marcel. MILLEVA: Just a minute, this laboratory? Not where Pierre and Marie Cure are working? MARCEL: The very same! ALBERT: Wow, that’s quite an honour. MRCEL: I know. BESSO: Typical. Albert and I have to clerk in a patent office whilst you get offered the moon on a stick? Cheer up Besso, maybe someone will recognise your pedestrian talents. Where there’s life there’s hope.

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Here’s to Being Alive (Reprise) Here’s to being aliveHere’s to women and wine,Here’s to 1909If we ever survive.Here’s to raising the barHere’s to taking a dive,Here’s to being alive. Later Animals! HE EXITS. BESSO: (TO MILLEVA AND ALBERT) May I ask how you’re managing? I mean with two children to feed now. MILLEVA: Well, it’s good to have the wage from the patent office. Albert’s very grateful to you for the introduction. Aren’t you dear? ALBERT: Yes indeed, grateful for the gift of stupefying boredom. BESSO: Well perhaps if you did a little more work like the rest of us, instead of staring out of the window, the day would go faster. MILLEVA: You should try that Albert, taking care of the children barely leaves me a minute for boredom. ALBERT: Yet you're exhausted at the end of the day, so time has only felt like it’s gone faster. The strain on your nervous system suggests that in fact you have experienced the same passage of time as I have. MILLEVA: No, the difference is that I am a moving object whilst you are a stationary one. Were you to watch me for the day, mopping up sick, rocking the baby to sleep, cleaning and cooking, trudging around the shops, as an object I'm unchanging. Yet your perception would be of speed.

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ALBERT: No, no, this muddle-headedness. Let us imagine I have taken little Hans to the park. He and I are sitting on a bench maybe feeding the ducks, minding our own business when you suddenly whiz past us wheeling baby Eduard in his perambulator at say - MILLEVA: Well, I'm probably rushing to the butchers so - a hundred miles an hour. MARIA: Isn’t it awful? If you don’t get there before noon, all he ever has left is rabbit. Mind you my mother has a recipe which - ALBERT: (OVERRIDING THEIR CONVERSATION) Indeed, a hundred miles an hour. But your speed is constant. So that although Eduard appears to us to be going very fast his perception, provided you move at a constant speed, is that he is not moving at all. So if his dummy falls from his mouth it will drop downward with the same gravitational trajectory as say, the breadcrumbs stationary Hans may let fall at his feet for the ducks. BESSO: True, on a train falling objects obey the normal rules of gravity and the speed of the train has no influence on the angle of descent. ALBERT: Ah ha! But only if the speed of the train remains constant, if it accelerates suddenly or comes to a halt – BESSO: A cup of coffee might spill towards or away from you but would not fall in a direct vertical. ALBERT: Thank you Besso, invaluable as always. BESSO: Well, I hardly… ALBERT: It is with such thoughts that Milleva and I occupy our time when the children are asleep. We are developing a number of theories. Soon I feel we shall have something to publish that will stand current thinking on its head.

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MARIA: Well, we shall leave you two to it. Come along Besso. BESSO: Of course, Mrs Besso. ‘still get a kick out of saying that. THEY CREEP AWAY UNNOTICED AS MILLEVA AND ALBERT RETURN TO THEIR DISCUSSION. MILLEVA: Just a minute, what does Eduard’s falling dummy tell us about the speed of travel through time? ALBERT: Presumably, somehow, it’s relative. MILLEVA: So does time pass quicker for Eduard in our moving pram or Hans observing whilst feeding the ducks? ALBERT: It can’t. Time is a constant. MILLEVA: Or is it? If I'm pushing the pram at a steady one hundred miles an hour but Hans throws his dummy with a velocity of say ten miles an hour, then Hans will observe it travelling at that speed, however for Eduard, observing, the dummy will be flying through the air at the speed of the pram – 100 miles an hour plus the – ALBERT: - The ten miles an hour with which the dummy is propelled – And so from the duck pond the dummy moves faster than for Hans in the speeding perambulator. MILLEVA: If we extend the idea into the limitless speed and distance of space, it would mean that, for the boy in some intergalactic pram, more time has passed in the instant than for his brother on the moon watching through the telescope – ALBERT: Which means, although Hans was born two years after Eduard it’s technically possible, in an extreme application of this, for Hans to be the elder child.

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MILLEVA: Well, it’s an interesting theory. ALBERT: And quite beautiful. MILLEVA: Can we prove it in an equation?

ALBERT: I don’t know. Could we?

MILEVA: I’m certainly excited about where this could lead us.

ALBERT: On first analysis this would contradict models of space and time that have stood for millennia. MILLEVA: Well, then they can stand for half an hour longer whilst I put the boys to bed.

ALBERT: And I promised them a story.

MILEVA: And then… we’ll see.

MARIA AND BESSO’S APARTMENT.

BESSO: Maria, Maria! Come here, they’ve done it. Milleva and Albert. They’ve worked their latest outlandish theories into a beautiful formula. MARIA: Another one?

BESSO: (IGNORING HER) We already know a tiny amount of matter, if converted completely into energy, has an enormous punch. But, look, now they’ve squared it, it becomes almost inconceivably bigger.MARIA: I love to see you, so happy.

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BESSO: So for instance even a kilogram of mass could convert into approximately 25 billion kilowatt hours of electricity enough to power a whole city. This could change our very perception of the universe.MARIA: You mean that squiggle? BESSO: It’s not a squiggle… it’s brilliant, it’s –

An Equation.

BESSO:It’s an equation, With the beauty of a rose,Absurdly complex, Yet as readable as prose.They will be famous. Setting precedents, informing trendsAnd to think that they’re our friends.

MARIA: (UNIMPRESSED) It’s an equation.

BESSO: (SPOKEN. SHOCKED) Maria!

BESSO: Yes, an equation.But it’s so much more then that.

MARIA: (CORRECTING HIM) Just an equation, Darling don’t forget your hat.You’re late for work dear,We’ve got a dozen bills to pay.

BESSO: But it’s their special day.It’s an occasion.

MARIA: It’s a distractionBESSO: Dear, you should be more impressed.

MARIA: It’s an equation

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BESSO: But it’s diff’rentTo the rest.

MARIA: Still an equation. And it doesn’t mean a thing to me.Don’t be late home for tea,For an equation –

BESSO: You married a physicist, is there nothing about physics that can impress you? Our friends, Maria! Our friends! In the last few years they’ve published work that has settled the debate over the existence of atoms -

MARIA: I don’t believe I’ve ever met an atom.

BESSO: Well, you will, my darling, you will. They’re going to be big news. Then there’s their paper on The Photoelectric Effect, which demonstrated the particle aspects of light. Light! Maria. Something so fundamental. And now this. This overturns a model of space and time that had stood for millennia.

MARIA: Well… certainly that does all sound very – Darling, do you ever wish you’d married a physicist like Milleva rather than a -

BESSO: Look, look I didn’t see the title page, look Maria! MARIA: (SHE READS) “I should like to acknowledge the help of my dear friend Paul Besso whose probing questions have always inspired me to search beyond the mundane and look to the stars” My goodness. Celebrity. BESSO: Or infamy. MARIA: Well, whichever it is don’t forget to pick up the ham on your way home.

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MARIA: Just a minute. Let me see that again. I think there’s been a mistake. CUT TO MILEVA AND ALBERT ALBERT: The wage is beyond our dreams. On a professor’s salary I can send home enough money for you and the boys to be really comfortable, a decent school for them. MILLEVA: Wait. I don’t understand. We’ve been elected to the Prussian Academy of Sciences based on our discoveries. But only you’ve been offered a professorship in Berlin? CUT BACK TO MARIA AND BESSO.

MARIA: Look “A study of Mass-Energy Equivalence by Albert Einstein” Milleva’s name doesn’t appear anywhere.

BESSO: Well, of course not. You can’t put a woman’s name on a scientific paper. Did you say Jam, my dear? MARIA: (CROSS ON MILLEVA’S BEHALF) Ham.

BESSO: Love you.

THEY EXIT. BACK TO ALBERT AND MILLEVA. MILLEVA: Where am I in all this? ALBERT: Dolly, we’ve been through this. A woman with her name on such a publication. No one would have taken it seriously. MILLEVA: But you said in time –

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ALBERT: Yes, in time you can be acknowledged but you must be patient. MILLEVA: Patient here at home, a hausfrau? Whilst you bask in the acclaim? Seasons Change

ENSEMBLE VOICES:Seasons changeAs seasons will,After years of summer There’s a chill.

ALBERT: All our friends understand that we conceived the theory together. But no one knows us in Berlin. It’ll take a little time for them to acclimatize to a woman physicist.

MILLEVA: And meanwhile I stay here, bringing up your children.

ALBERT: The boys need stability. I will miss you all so much but we cannot be selfish about this.

MILLEVA: So now I'm being selfish?

ENSEMBLE VOICES:Did it start with herOr start with himWhy’d the lightBetween them start to dim?

ALBERT: Reproach, blame, resentment it’s always there in the way you look at me.

MILLEVA: Relativity is no more yours then our papers on Brownian Motion. Or The Photoelectric Effect, come to that. As I explain, in response to the piles of letters we now receive.

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ALBERT: You do what?

MILLEVA: Well, someone has to answer them.

ALBERT: And you’ve been claiming… ? How dare you humiliate me?! How dare you! Who are these people you’re corresponding with?! Tell me? Now!

MILLEVA: Oh calm down. I simply acknowledge receipt. But I would be perfectly entitled to point out that -

ALBERT: You are impossible. I cannot bare these continual mind games. The disrespect. (KINDER) My love, what’s happened to us?

MILLEVA: Is this what success feels like?

ALBERT: We need a break from each other, Dolly.

Berlin… it… it will give us some time apart to reflect and there are long holidays. I will be back here regularly and if not there may be lecture tours when you and the boys can –

MILLEVA: Tag along? I wanted more than this Albert and I thought you wanted it for me too.

ENSEMBLE VOICES:When trust is goneThere is a priceLittle looks between youTurn to ice.

ALBERT: I cannot help how the scientific fraternity regards women.

MILLEVA: You could help to change it? For goodness sake Marie Curie has just been awarded the Nobel Prize jointly with her husband.

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ALBERT: (IGNORING THIS) If you had the slightest shred of empathy for my position you’d understand.

ENSEMBLE VOICES:The tone is harshYour tempers fray,The gulf between youWidens ev’ry day.

ALBERT: Why can’t you be happy for me. Us.

MILLEVA: I'm beginning to understand what “us” truly means.

ALBERT: I am going to tell the children of my decision. I will require your support and if it’s not too much to ask, some positivity.

ENSEMBLE VOICES:The love that wasEv’ry thing that mattered.Has shatteredIs it ever going to mend?That person who wasAll you ever wanted,Is barely now your lover,Let alone your friend...

ALBERT ON THE STREETS OF BERLIN. A New City ALBERT:A new city,I can tryTo spread my wingsOpen my mindAnd fly. No restraint on the future,No chains from the past.

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Free to breath andAnd free to dream at last.I meet new kinds of people,New sights everywhere.When I turn to share with herThere’s no one standing there.But with each new encounterI'm beginning to grow.I wonder what the boys are doing…That will pass I know. If my thinking is muddledI’ll get into the swingFor too long it’s been only herControlling everything.She had me suffocatedOh, it’s hard to explain, There’s just more to me then her,Her, it’s always her,Must I cow-tow and defer?Well I will be myselfAgain. THE EINSTEINS’FLAT BACK IN ZURICH. MARCEL AND MILLEVA. MARCEL IS A SHADOW OF HIS FORMER CONFIDENT, HIGH-SPIRITED SELF. MARCEL: Milleva? MILLEVA: Yes? MAECEL: I'm so sorry to call on you unannounced. MILLEVA: Wait… Marcel? MARCEL: Yes. MILLEVA: I'm so sorry, I didn’t recognise you at first. MARCEL: Have I changed so much?

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MILLEVA: Well you know… it’s just you’re not very Marcel-like. MARCEL: Not so full of spunk and swagger these days, it’s true. MILLEVA: What became of you? The last we heard you were a laboratory assistant, with the Curies in France. Terrible what happened. MARCEL: (SHARP. DEFENSIVE) What do you mean? MILLEVA: The accident. A motor car wasn’t it? MARCEL: Oh yes, yes. Awful. I stayed on after the boss died. MILLEVA: And Madame Curie, she is well. MARCEL: You don’t read the papers? MILLEVA: Well, from time to time. I have my hands full. Two boys. MARCEL: Congratulations. MILLEVA: Would you like a glass of water? Or I think we have brandy somewhere. You don’t look well. MARCEL: I don’t want to intrude. MILLEVA: If you’re looking for Albert I'm afraid we haven’t seen him in months. MARCEL: Oh. MILLEVA: Anything I can help you with? MARCEL: It’s just…. I’ve been out of circulation for a while.

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MILLEVA: France.

MARCEL: Well, yes France of course but then there was a spot of bother. A scandal. Madame Curie and I became… too close. I was still married. Marie’s enemies, anti-Semites, they used it to try and destroy her.

MINEVA: (A GENTLE TEASE) Oh Marcel, not entirely without your customary spunk and swagger. MARCEL: It wasn’t like that. This was raw, intense, painful. Listen, I won’t go into it now but I needed to get away for a while. Ended up in Zagreb in fact. Well, just outside, in Ruma. I took a teaching position. MILLEVA: I'm from Ruma! MARCEL: So I discovered when I met your father. Perhaps he wrote of me? MILLEVA: Of course! It was you he meant. He told me he’d met a young man hoping to re-establish himself here in Zurich. MARCEL I have made the leap and acquired a modest apartment here. MILLEVA: Is Zurich much changed? MARCEL: Well.. no but. I find that… The scandal I mentioned. Many doors now seem closed to me. Which is why, well, I thought perhaps if you or Albert could look over some work I’ve been doing lately… and if you found it satisfactory… well, a letter of recommendation could help enormously. MILLEVA: I see, well, as I say Albert isn’t here. I'm surprised you haven’t heard of his many triumphs in Germany.

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MARCEL: We got so little news in Ruma. You’d barely even know Germany’s on the brink of war. MILLEVA: But you get plenty of Pierogi.

MARCEL: Indeed. MILLEVA: My Babushka had the best recipe of course. MARCEL: Everybody’s Babushka always does. MILLEVA: “Pieorgi” just the word in my mouth makes me home sick. MARCEL: That smell when you cut in and the baked apple spills on to the plate. MARCEL: Or your fingers. MILLEVA: Marcel, do join us for dinner tonight. MARCEL: Well it’s not like I'm deluged with invitations. And, if I may – perhaps you might look over a few notes I have made in response to Relativity anyway? Your father is so proud of your academic partnership, you and Albert. MILLEVA: Well, recognition at last. I shall make us Pieorgi. Knedle & Salo too. If I can remember the recipe. MARCEL: I can’t remember the last time I had a home cooked meal. Milleva, you are an angel and as beautiful as ever. Do you know I was always attracted to you? MILLEVA: Marcel, relax. You try too hard. You always have. Now see if you can find some coriander. THEY STARE AT EACH OTHER. MADAME CURIE APPEARS

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SHE SINGS – Kindness. It’s just a simple thing,Yet it can stop you in your tracksKindness.You go for years, you doubt itBut there’s something true about it.Kindness. MARCEL AND MILLEVA IN HARMONY.(OF EACH OTHER)A reassuring glance,A helping hand, a word or twoKindness.The merest indicationSomeone’s looking out for you.Kindness. MADAME CURE:It won’t bring down a tyrantOr topple a regime.But when you feel it touch youThe change can be extreme.You open up a littleBend a little, and you learnPeople can surprise you,And inspire youto return – KindnessA trait you didn’t know you had.Kindness.And suddenly you're blossoming.KindnessUnexpected. UnexplainedSunlight where it’s always rainedKindness,Kindness,Kindness,

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The power of kindness! ALBERT JOINS MADAME CURIE. THEY HAVE BEEN WALKING. MADAME CURIE: And so I'm grateful for your company this afternoon, Albert. Kindness has been in very short supply since Pierre died. ALBERT: Sometimes I despair of the academic community. MADAME CURIE: And the press? ALBERT: The press have indeed been very harsh. MADAME CURIE: And yet you’re still happy to walk openly on my arm through Berlin? ALBERT: No one expects me to be respectable. People would be disappointed if I were. (BEAT) I’ve written to the Nobel Prize committee protesting. They mustn’t withdraw your award. MADAME CURIE: It was awarded jointly of course - ALBERT: Of course. Pierre insisted. MADAME CURIE: - And there are still plenty of people who remember my husband fondly, so out of respect for his memory I think they’ll back down. ALBERT: It’s appalling that you’re treated like this. After all the pioneering work that resulted from your marriage. MADAME CURIE: It means nothing if you’re a Jewish widow who’s stolen another woman’s husband. ALBERT: Ah yes. And how is Marcel?

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MADAME CURIE: Marcel… found the press attention too much. He fled. Quite some while ago in fact. I have got quite used to being alone. But your company has been most diverting. I don’t remember when I last laughed as much.

ALBERT: Me too. I don’t seem to have much fun anymore.

MADAME CURIE: Forgive me. I haven’t asked after your family. ALBERT: I haven’t seen Milleva in months. We’re not together anymore. Gosh, that’s the first time I’ve said it out loud. But let’s not dwell on sad things this afternoon. Ice cream? MADAME CURIE: (FLIRTATIOUSLY) Tempter. ALBERT: (HAPPILY) Go on, It won’t make you fat on a Sunday. It’s scientifically proven. Everybody knows that. MADAME CURIE: Do they?

ALBERT: Well, I believe my first love got the news from her mother and she didn’t know anything. So if word had reached her…

MADAME CURIE: It must be true. ALBERT: Absolutely. MADAME CURIE: Well, why not. For old time’s sake. (SIGHS HAPPILY) Oh, look at the view. SHE STEPS FORWARD TO ADMIRE IT. ALBERT OBSERVES HER AND SINGS - A Little Scoop of You

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ALBERT:I’d like a little scoop of youAnother taste of what I knewA morsel of sweet yesterdayA nibble or two.I want uncomplicated fun,To fall into the web you’ve spun.To smell you, touch you, taste youAnd when we’re done I’d run. Oh temptationIf you only knewThis raw primevalNeed to ravish you. MADAME CURIE (ASIDE. OF ALBERT)A little detour from the path,A little wander in the wood,For really what’s preventing meIf you would, I could.I could forget myself with you,Why don’t I lose and hour or two,Real life will still be thereAnd waiting when we’re through. BOTH: (UNHEARD BY THE OTHER)Oh temptationOh the lure of sinA cure for lonelyIf only I dive in? BACK IN ZURICH MARCEL, OBSERVED BY MILLEVA, IS TEACHING THE EINSTEIN BOYS (BEYOND THE FOUTH WALL) TO FLY A KITE. MARCEL: Now boys, a kite is a delicate thing, especially a splendid specimen like ours. Eduard let your brother take a turn. MILLEVA (OBSERVING MARCEL)

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I’d like a little scoop of youAnother taste of what I knewA morsel of sweet yesterdayA nibble or two.I want uncomplicated fun,To fall into the web you’ve spun.To smell you, touch you taste youAnd when we’re done I’d run. MILLEVA AND MARCEL (TO EACH OTHER)Oh temptationIf you only knewThis raw primevalNeed to ravish you. MILLEVA: A little detour from the pathMARCEL: A little wander in the woodMILLEVA: For really what’s preventing us?MARCEL: If you would, I could.MILLEVA: I could forget myself with you.MARCEL: Why don’t we lose and hour or twoReal life will still be thereAnd waiting when we’re through. IN ZURICH BESSO SURPRISES MARIA WITH AN UNEXPECTED RETURN FROM WORK. MARIA: Darling you’re home early? Is anything wrong. BESSO: Everything at the Patent Office is being requisitioned by the Ministry of war, it’s chaos. And so I thought why not slip away for an afternoon with my beautiful wife. MARIA: But you could lose your job? BESSO: I know. I find it strangely arousing. BESSO AND MARIA:Oh temptationIf you only knewThis raw primeval

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Need to ravish you. ALL:A little detour from the path,A little wander in the wood,For really what’s preventing me?If you would, I could.I could forget myself with youWhy don’t I lose and hour or twoReal life will still be thereAnd waiting when we’re through. THE NEXT DAY. MARCEL AND MILLEVA. MILLEVA: Oh, you’re here, Thank god… I thought you might have… I didn’t want us to end that way. MARCEL: I can’t stop thinking about you. MILLEVA: That kiss, it shouldn’t have happened. I'm sorry. MARCEL: Milleva, if I led you on by anything I did - MILLEVA: No, not at all. It’s me. I couldn’t help myself. MARCEL: I wanted it. MILLEVA : I'm a married woman. MARCEL: I wanted it. MILLEVA : And now I think, perhaps… MARCEL: Please don’t send me away MILLEVA : I'm sorry I, the boys will miss you too, it’s just. I can’t. He's not just my husband, he’s – MARCEL: He’s your soul mate. I know. A great mind, a great man. Who am I?

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MILLEVA : You… you notice me, you’re kind. And at this moment in my marriage that’s everything my heart desires (TOUGHER) but I’m sorry, that’s my heart. In my head – MARCEL: There’s only Albert. I know. Milleva, I'm still a physicist, just about. MILLEVA: Goodbye Marcel. SHE EXITS. MARCEL: (TO HIMSELF AS IF TO MILLEVA ) You needn’t apologisefor choosing a brilliant man over one who’s – HE SINGS Here’s to Being Alive (Reprise) Barely alive,No purpose or pride,Empty insideOne more suicide.Washed awayOn the tide. HE EXITS. END OF SCENE.

ALBERT VISITING MADAME CURIE.

ALBERT: I’m sorry to call on you unanounced. I just wanted to see if you recieved the roses?

MADAME CURIE: Albert, this... what ever this is... our flirtation. It has to stop. ALBERT: But why?

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MADAME CURIE: It’s for your own good. Your attempt to kiss me the other day –

ALBERT: It was crass. I’m so sorry. But we’re both so lonely.

MADAME CURIE: You are lonely Albert, I am alone. That is my choice, it’s entirely different.

ALBERT: Of course. Forgive me.

MADAME CURIE: And I can’t bare that you’re so reckless with your career. You and your wife, I hear you’re contenders for the Nobel Prize, as Pierre and I were. You deserve it. The incredible work you did together…

ALBERT: Why do people think Relativity was a collaboration? I’m sick of it. I’ve told the prize committee.

MADAME CURIE: Oh. It’s just that Marcel said –

ALBERT: Marcel got it wrong, she contributed nothing!

MADAME CURIE: And yet your time together yielded three groundbreaking papers didn’t it? You’ve published very little since you arrived in Berlin… since the miracle year… when you first married.

ALBERT: But I will! I will publish! I just need to get her voice out of my head. To think for myself! You should read the carping, nagging letters she writes. Muddling my head with her stupid theories.

MADAME CURIE: It seems to me the more entrenched one gets in believing something to be true, the harder it is keep perspective.

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ALBERT: You’ve got it all wrong.

MADAME CURIE: You know your own business but read a newspaper now and again. This not a good time for Jews to be drawing attention to themselves. When Marcel and I… the hatred the press stirred up. We were besieged. A mob outside my house, the hateful anti-Semitism daubed on the walls, yelled at me in the street. Newspaper editorials. We tried to escape it all here in Berlin but if anything it was even worse. I am the whole continent’s favourite Jewish ogress. You are tolerated because, although you too are Jewish, you’re a celebrity, and because you’re a man, of course. But you are also still married –

ALBERT: I’m divorcing her.

MADAME CURIE: None the less you are still married and if you’re name is linked to mine they will drag you down as they did me. No door will be open to you and you can forget your position at the University let alone any chance of a Nobel prize.

ALBERT: I read the headlines. Germany’s going to war. Nobody’s going to be bothered by –

MADAME CURIE: Don’t count on it. I would even think twice about a divorce.

ALBERT: But I have to get her out of my head. I cannot think whilst… and this stupid rumour that I’m somehow beholden to her for Relativity. I have made it quite clear to the University authorities that – (SUDENLY NOTICES) You’re packing.

MADAME CURIE: Yes, running away. I too need space to think, this past month I have begun to formulate the most incredible… Berlin on the brink of war. This is not the place for Scientific innovation or for Jewish intellectuals. (BEAT) Is your wife at least aware the

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divorce must be handled sensitively? It looks better if she divorces you. Will she agree? ALBERT: She… she doesn’t know yet. MADAME CURIE: Know what? ALBERT: That I consider our marriage over. MADAME CURIE: (SHOCKED) You haven’t told her? ALBERT: I shall write, today, this evening. I’ll talk to a lawyer in the morning. Arrange to meet her. Somewhere neutral and put an end to it. There’s a hotel we know in the mountains that might be the best… (BEAT) I shall miss you. MADAME CURIE: Oh, I doubt it. Do you really care about anyone but yourself? END OF SCENE.

In a Hotel Alone (REPRISE) ALBERT: A husband in a hotel alone,He ponders on his infidelityEvery striking of the hourDrives his wife toward their tower,What a place of desperationIt will be. Nothing but the ticking of the clockNothing but the nagging in his mindHis wife’s humiliationHer cruel realisationHe dreads the confrontationPresently.

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How can he treat her like this?How can he cause her such pain.He knows within the hourHe’ll confront her in the towerThen she’ll never want to see him again. MILLEVA APPROACHING. MILLEVA: A woman climbs a staircase,With a note,She’s memorisedThe things her husband wrote.And she knows that on the landingHe’ll be standing there demandingThe answers that he’s hopingHe’s provoked.

MILLEVA CONFRONTS ALBERT.

ALBERT: Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for two days.

MILLEVA: There were permits to arrange, check points. You and I are not the only ones at war, these days.

ALBERT: You... you got the letter?

MILLEVA: (REFERRING TO A LETTER) What is this garbage? ALBERT: Milleva let us not indulge in – MILLEVA: No, let’s indulge. Let us remind ourselves of the extraordinary demands you make of me. Of the mother of your children. SHE REFERS TO THE NOTE

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“From the desk of Leon Ehrenfest, lawyer acting on behalf of professor Albert Einstein” ALBERT: Milleva, this is ugly, unnecessary, indulgent. MILLEVA: You said it! (SHE CONTINUES) “The conditions under which Professor Einstein will return to the marital home and spousal cohabitation are as follows - A. Mrs Einstein will ensure - 1. Her husband’s clothes and laundry are kept in good order. 2. That he receives three meals a day, at regular intervals, alone in his room.3. That his desk shall be reserved for his use only, and any paperwork there on will be regarded as “for his eyes only” ALBERT: Milleva! MILLEVA: (CONTINUING TO QUOTE THE NOTE) “ B. Mrs Einstein will release her husband from any obligation to sit with her in the evenings or travel with her. Further she will not demand any conjugal intimacy or reproach him for the withholding of the same. She will immediately cease talking when advised, and leave her husband’s study as soon as requested to do so” Oh, and there’s an amendment, right at the bottom, look. “Mrs Einstein will undertake not to disparage Professor Einstein publicly or in front of their children” ALBERT: The Nobel Prize Committee are paranoid about anything that will bring it into disrepute. It’s since Madame Curie’s fall from grace. I fear it will be a long time before they recognise a woman scientist again. MILLEVA: And you cannot bare that one day my name might appear beside yours on our Theory of Relativity.

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ALBERT: Why should it? For heaven’s sake woman, every theorist or poet or philosopher has a wife, or a mistress or a secretary he may bounce ideas off from time to time, yes, she may say something which may spark some new direction but that does not mean she is the co-author. If you continue to make this claim I shall be forced to.. MILLEVA: Forced to what, dictate another shameful letter to your lawyer? You are a coward. Like all men you simply haven’t the guts to acknowledge – SHE SINGS On the Shoulders of Giants.(Reprise 3) You stand on the shoulders of giantsYour wives, and your mothers as well,Each one a pioneerWe made a path for you to followDon’t we deserveAcknowledgment as well? ALBERT: That’s absurd. MILLEVA: Is it? ALBERT: (TRYING TO MOVE ON) Milleva, listen please. The divorce must be seen to come from you. Which is the only reason why - MILLEVA: (SUDDEN REALISATION) Which is why your letter was so brutal. To provoke me. Well, it won’t work. Why should I protect you from scandal? I will not divorce you. I will be the little Dolly you’ve always wanted. I will fulfil every demand you make of me, without protest, day after day. And your children - remember them, the ones you mention in a footnote to your conditions – and who are not stupid by the way, they will see what a monster you are –

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ALBERT: Milleva, please! How do I get through to you? HE SINGS – I Can Give You I can give you the secretTo the essence of lightGive you answers to mysteriesOf symmetry and flight.But I just cannot love youDon’t ask it of me.My heart feels nothing for youI implore you, set me free. Once you were the world to meNo denial, it’s true.But I’ve come to resent the sight,The sound, the scent of you.I can give you equationsFor the thunder and snowBut I just do not love you.God above, please let me go. Our marriage was a prison to my mindMy thoughts, hypotheses, and dreamsConfined.I grew to fear the guilt you drew from meEach suffocating, waitingResponsibility About Today MILLEVA:What do I tell the boys about today?About the time their daddy walked away.What do I say to comfort them at nightHow do you spin a sin to make it right?How do I stop their demons closing in?Correct them when the blaming games begin?How do I tell the boys their father lied?When he promised

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He would be there at their side. Tell me if you’re so cleverWhat to doWith the wreckage of my marriage to you. (SEGUE INTO REPRISE OF “I CAN GIVE YOU) ALBERT: I’ll be sending you money,Yes that I can do,You will all want for nothing,I’ll provide your whole life through.But I just cannot love youAnd go on as before,I just do not love you,I just do not need you,I just do not want you,Any more. MILLEVA: (SPOKEN) No, no, no You Don’t Get to Tell Me. You don’t get to tell me what to doWhat gives you the right to say we’re through?You don’t get to tell me how to raise our fam’ly.No you don’t get to tell me what to do. ALBERT: (SPOKEN) Milleva! MILLEVA: (SPOKEN) No – SHE SINGS You don’t get to muddle up my mind.To tell me when to leave the past behind.You brush aside abuses with pitiful excuses.Dismissing every tear I’ve ever cried. You’d love a tidy ending, wouldn’t you?Have me exit when you tell me to.The ace manipulator, well, you’re not my creator.

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Dictating what is best for me to do. You don’t get to tell me what to do Except of course,Except of course,Except of course.It’s a man’s world, and you do. ALBERT:I'm your husband I say what will beI dictate my family’s destiny.People try to sway me, take the boys, she’s crazy.Be warned, I’ll do it if you don’t agree. Let’s stay civil for their sake and thenWho knows in timeWe may be friends again - But for now you’ve all you need to know,Have a little dignity and go.

ACTORS APPEAR AND ADDRESS THE AUDIENCE OUT OF CHARACTER.

ACTOR PLAYING MARCEL: Albert Einstein was one of the greatest physicists, philosophers and humanitarians who ever lived. He stood up for the persecuted through two world wars and beyond and left a legacy of scientific innovation that would change the way mankind perceived the universe forever.

ACTOR PLAYING MARIE: He never did acknowledge Milleva as co-author of the General Theory of relativity.

ACTOR PLAYING MADAME CURIE: So, although their letters reveal the so called “miracle year” of their early marriage was as passionate as their tempestuous courtship, perhaps the men who’ve written of his life are right.

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ACTOR PLAYING BESSO: Perhaps he never did consult the brilliant wife with whom he shared everything else.

ACTOR PLAYING MADAME CURIE: Marie Curie returned to France where she made a series of breakthroughs in the development of radium, X ray machines and biological research into the treatment of cancer. A long career of extraordinary achievements that rival Einstein’s for their impact on humanity

ACTOR PLAYING BESSO: The Bessos enjoyed a long and happy marriage. Childless, they were unwavering in their support of Albert, Milleva and their two sons, throughout their lives.

ACTOR PLAYING MARIA: Milleva dedicated her life to caring for her eldest son who was diagnosed with schizophrenia aged twenty. She never published another scientific paper. Alone or in collaboration.

ACTOR PLAYING MARCEL: When Albert finally won his first Nobel prize in 1921 for his General Theory of Relativity he sent the entire prize money to Milleva.

BACK TO THE STORY. ALBERT: Milleva, I'm not the monster you paint me tonight. You’ll see. I’ll make you proud of me again. MILLEVA: I will always be proud of you. But never forget this. I have dignity, I had dignity, I have always had dignity. Because when we met, for a few glorious years –

SHE SINGS. I stood on the shoulders of giantsI failed but this isn’t the end.

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I was a pioneerI forged a path for girls to follow.Who will succeed on that you can depend. THE COMPANY GATHER BEHIND HER. ALL: (MEN AND WOMEN)The future’s soon.We are all the solutionAlthough we’re youngWe are growing up fastA day will comeWhen we’ll stride out togetherLiberty, equalityAt last. MILLEVA AND ALBERT STARE AT EACH OTHER. MILLEVA: (REMEMBERING FONDLY) Papa he danced with me. THE END All Rights reserved © Phil Willmott 15/10/18

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philwillmott.org€¦ · web viewmrs einstein. book and lyrics by phil willmott. music by phil...

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