Girl in the Ashes, part 1
MOTHER.
Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.
CINDERELLA.
Are, are you, are you going to, to get better?
MOTHER.
You don’t need to cry.
CINDERELLA.
Are, are you still going to take care of me?
MOTHER.
Don’t be sad.
CINDERELLA.
Are, are you and Father going to still love each other?
MOTHER.
Sh, baby, shhh.
CINDERELLA.
I’m scared. I’m so scared.
MOTHER.
Listen to me. Listen: I am very, very sick. And I’m not going to get any better.
CINDERELLA.
No.
MOTHER.
Sh, now listen. The world has just taken too much out of me. I just don’t think I can go on any more. And it isn’t you, and it isn’t your father, and it isn’t any one thing. It’s just time for me to go. I love you, more than you know, more than anything in the world. But I’m too weak to go on.
CINDERELLA.
No! I’m scared.
MOTHER.
Don’t be scared. Everything will be fine, and you have to trust that. Have faith. Listen: when I go, you have to promise to be good. Be good. Do you hear me? And if you are good, every day, as good as you can be, heaven will help you out of trouble, and I will be your guardian angel. Okay?
CINDERELLA.
But –
MOTHER.
No but. Be good. Okay?
CINDERELLA.
Mother –
MOTHER.
Sh. Tell me you’ll be good. Will you be good?
CINDERELLA.
Yes. I’ll, I’ll try.
MOTHER.
That’s all I can ask. Come here baby.
(They embrace. INTERPRETER addresses the audience.)
INTERPRETER.
My mother died of intestinal cancer when I was sixteen years old. Cinderella lost her mother at a similar age.
I can’t remember the first time I was ever told “Cinderella.” It was just always around, with Hey Diddle Diddle and the Cat in the Hat. But I always liked “Cinderella,” and since everybody else liked it too, I never really thought too much about it, just a fairy tale with a happy ending. But it spoke to me in a very specific way which I didn’t understand for years and years. Somewhere back in my early childhood, I found in “Cinderella” nothing less than a blueprint for my life.
(CINDERELLA at her mother’s grave.)
CINDERELLA.
Mother, I’ve tried so hard to be good. I, I really have, but it’s so hard. Father has married again and the woman is so, is so mean to me. I, I know that it’s wrong to judge other people, and I know it’s wrong to think bad thoughts about other people, and she and her daughters are very, very beautiful, but it’s so, so hard to keep loving them and loving life when they are so mean to me. They think they’re so much better than me, and they’re not. And if you’re watching me, then you know they’re not. It, it makes me so, so confused, to be so good and to be treated so bad. If I could just, if I could just, if I could, could just –
(In the kitchen, the STEPMOTHER and STEPSISTERS.)
STEPSISTER 1.
Uh huh, she’s out back talking to the dead mother again.
STEPSISTER 2.
What a drip. She’s disgusting.
STEPSISTER 1.
Mom, do we have to live with this obnoxious little toad?
STEPMOTHER.
Now sweethearts, her father is very wealthy and soon I hope to be his grieving widow. Be patient with her: at least we don’t have to waste money on a maid.
STEPSISTER 2.
Yeah, but she’s so annoying!
STEPSISTER 1.
Yeah, she really makes me sick! Can’t we do anything about her?
STEPSISTER 2.
Yeah mom, please? It’s agony just living in the same room with her.
STEPSISTER 1.
Yeah mom, don’t you love us?
STEPSISTER 2.
Pleeeease?
STEPSISTER 1.
Pleeeeeeeease?
STEPMOTHER.
All right my darlings, all right. I’ll see what I can do.
(CINDERELLA enters.)
CINDERELLA.
Stepmother dear, I’ve finished cleaning out the septic tank.
STEPMOTHER.
That’s nice dear. Now you need to mend my dresses, cut ribbons for your sisters’ hair, feed the animals, milk the cow and I think we’d like dinner at six.
CINDERELLA.
Yes ma’am. Of course ma’am.
STEPSISTER 1. (aside to 2, mimicking)
(Yes, ma’am, of course ma’am.)
STEPSISTER 2.
(What a jerk.)
(They crack up. Father enters.)
FATHER.
Good morning wife, good morning step-daughters, good morning my darling child! I’m off to the fair! Is there anything I can get for you?
STEPSISTERS. (ad lib)
Oh yes! Yes! Oh yes please!
FATHER.
Hold on, kids! One at a time!
STEPSISTER 1.
I want a beautiful dress!
STEPSISTER 2.
I want a string of pearls!
FATHER. (to CINDERELLA)
And you, my sweet one, what would you like?
CINDERELLA.
I –
STEPSISTER 1.
Oh, she’s too shy to ask for anything.
STEPSISTER 2.
She did say earlier that she wanted a, a –
STEPSISTER 1.
A stick.
STEPSISTER 2.
Yes, a stick.
STEPSISTER 1.
A stick.
FATHER.
A stick? You mean, like, from a tree?
STEPSISTER 1.
Yes, just a stick.
STEPSISTER 2.
A plain old stick.
FATHER.
Huh. Okay. So: dress, pearls, stick. Got it. All right, I’m going, be good!
(He exits. STEPSISTERS laugh. CINDERELLA begins to exit.)
STEPMOTHER.
Oh, dear, don’t leave quite yet. There are going to be a few changes in the house you should know about. I’m, mm, getting a new wardrobe tomorrow, and I’m afraid the only place to put it is where your bed is now. And you’re such a good girl, I assume you won’t mind sleeping, mm, somewhere, mm, else.
(STEPSISTERS giggle.)
CINDERELLA.
But, but where?
STEPMOTHER.
Well child, since you’re, since you spend so much time here in the kitchen, perhaps it would be more efficient if you were to sleep down here. And look! You’ll have the whole room to yourself, won’t that be nice?
STEPSISTER 1.
Wow, the whole room to herself.
STEPSISTER 2.
Just like a princess.
CINDERELLA.
Um, um, I’m sorry Stepmother, maybe, um, maybe I’m just, um, stupid or something, but um, there’s, um, there’s no place to, to sleep. In the kitchen. There’s no place to sleep.
STEPMOTHER.
Nonsense. That’s just not true. Why, there’s a bench, and a, there are cupboards –
STEPSISTER 1.
And the fireplace –
STEPMOTHER.
Why yes of course, the fireplace, that’s a wonderful idea! You can sleep in the fireplace, it’s always so nice and warm there.
STEPSISTER 2.
Wow, she gets to sleep in the fireplace.
STEPSISTER 1.
I wish I could sleep in the fireplace.
STEPMOTHER.
Now girls, you know that I will not allow jealousy in my household. Now go and give your step-sister a hug.
STEPSISTER 1.
Yes Mother dear.
STEPSISTER 2.
Of course Mother.
(They run to CINDERELLA.)
STEPSISTER 1.
Oh Step-sister!
STEPSISTER 2.
We love you!
(But instead of hugging her, they shove her into the fireplace and laugh.)
STEPSISTER 1.
Ah hahahahahahahaha! Look at her!
STEPSISTER 2.
She’s all covered with cinders and ashes!
STEPSISTER 1.
We should call her – Cinderella!
(They laugh.)
STEPMOTHER.
Oh my clever children, come let’s go make ourselves beautiful for your step-father’s return.
STEPSISTER 1.
Oh boy!
STEPSISTER 2.
Yipee! I can’t wait!
(They exit.)
INTERPRETER. (to AUDIENCE)
Of course, everyone hates their siblings. It’s only natural. I was the youngest of four children and I always knew there was some diabolical conspiracy against me. My siblings worked tirelessly, night and day, to make me feel worthless and disgusting. In direct contradiction to all the things my mother did to make me feel special and useful. I spent far too much of my childhood feeling untouchable. It was hell. It was hell. I felt like I had been born into a world that had already ended. I was living in ashes.
this moves me in a way the original fairy tale just can’t…
can’t wait to read more
You’re kind of getting me where I live this morning. I like this a lot. Eagerly awaiting part two.
I immediately imagined the Interpreter as male, but then it occurred to me that barring autobiographical intent), the interpreter might more naturally e female to mirror Cinderella’s situation. Particularly since society tends to expect good girls to be more meek and obedient than would be forced on boys.
Did you give any thought or significance to the gender of the Interpreter?
The Interpreter has been cast male in the past, in order to heighten the distinction between Cinderella and himself, that is, so that the audience spends three-quarters the play thinking “Who is this guy and why does he keep interrupting the play?” before finally seeing the significance of the character (which you will learn in part 3). It is more effectively dramatically, therefore, that the part be cast male, but there is no real reason why the part cannot be played by a woman.
Let me hasten to add, however, that the part of the Interpreter should not be played by the same actor playing Cinderella, ie, a man in a dress, as was done, very much against my will, for one production, and which violates a central dramatic construct of the play.
Yeah, a man in a dress playing a little girl would add a whole different dimension to this that I doubt is what you’re going for.
The parallels, and therefore the need to have them be parallel (and not the same), seem obvious from the first lines the Interpreter speaks.
I’m guessing they thought they were being daring and experimental with that casting?
That’s a good guess, but in fact the producer/director/star was simply not content with only playing one lead; he felt he needed to play both leads.
Oh, even worse. Sounds like someone deserves a malkovichmalkovichification.