Shirburnian Catastrophe, The

Act Four

63 Act Four Scene One Sunday morning A palatial lounge QUEEN LILIOSA enters wrapped in a towel, a smaller one covering her hair. She is carrying a tube of lotion and an exquisite bottle of perfume. On an ornamental table is a pile of different newspapers. She sets the perfume and the lotion on a low stool near a sofa, places a foot on the stool and sensually fingers the length of her leg upwards. Then she begins to apply lotion to her leg. QUEEN LILIOSA (Sensually, applying the lotion) Wasted beauty.... Had it not been for the wealth, I wouldn’t have married him. Rarely does he remember that I am his wife. When he does and comes to my quarters, he is too tired. (Straightens and caresses her breasts) O! How I want to be touched… How I want the fire inside me extinguished…Thirteen wives… his hands are full (Looks at her fundament and applies lotion to the other leg) Crème de la crème… A lady of my calibre should not be starved. How I yearn to hold my own child–royal blood. (Finishes applying make-up seated in a sofa, a mirror in her hand and a make-up kit on her lap) Butler! Butler! Mr Ivanov! Enter IVANOV and stands still before her, but respectfully looking away. 64 IVANOV (Bowing) At your service, Your Highness. QUEEN LILIOSA (Making-up, without looking at him) Bring me my favourite burgundy. Exeunt IVANOV. Mr Ivanov! Radimir Ivanov! Re-enter IVANOV again and stands still. IVANOV (Bowing) At your service, Your Highness. QUEEN LILIOSA (Without looking him) Play me my favourite song before you fetch the champagne. The butler crosses to a stereo in a corner of the lounge. He selects a CD and posts it into the stereo. Opera music fills the room. He walks stiffly towards the door. Exeunt IVANOV. Alone, QUEEN LILIOSA rises and begins to waltz in the arms of an imaginary partner. After a while she dances caressing herself. Re-enter IVANOV with a bottle of wine and a glass on a tray, and stands still. She continues to dance in a provocative manner, her eyes closed. IVANOV coughs. She stops and faces him. Wow! Back already? You impress me with the almost military commitment you deliver your duties, Mr Ivanov. O! Caviare to the general! 65 IVANOV (Bows and smiles)You are very generous with compliments, Queen Liliosa. She crosses to him and picks the glass on the tray, turns and goes to the table. QUEEN LILIOSA (Holding out the glass) Come pour me a measure, Ivanov. The queen is instructing you. IVANOV I am sorry, Your Highness. Regulations say I should not stand too close to a queen. QUEEN LILIOSA (With a hint of anger) These regulations say you should disobey me –a queen? (Solicitously) Come pour me a measure of the champagne, Radimir Viktor Ivanov. The queen holds out the glass, the butler in the backdrop and coming to her. He places the tray on the table, uncorks the bottle, stands about two paces from her and tries to fill her glass. She grabs his wrist and pulls him gently. (Seductively) Be a man first, Mr Ivanov, a butler second. Do I scare you? I am a woman first, King Lima’s eleventh wife second. I am like any other woman in Ngoloi. If cut, I bleed. IVANOV Your Highness, I must leave you alone now. 66 QUEEN LILIOSA You only leave when I order you to. (Squeezes his forearm) My husband sent you to the London School of Butlers for a reason. He wanted the most refined butler. (Sets the glass on the table) You are exactly what he wanted –a gentleman exuding finesse in manner and in the delivery of his duties. There is an aristocratic air about you. (Appraises him, fingering his shoulder and triceps, and gently lifting his chin) You are s so-o cultivated. No lady of substance would fail to admire you. (Looks at the glass on the table) Now pour me the champagne, my obedient servant. IVANOV pours a goblet in the glass, but she gulps it immediately and holds out the glass to him. He pours another measure. She gulps it and holds it out to him again. Shocked, he fills the glass to the brim. She sips leisurely. (Erotically) Listen to the music. It reaches for the soul...