Emerald City by David Williamson Read Free Book Online

of men saved Australia!
    MALCOLM : Colin, no-one under fifty knows Australia was even threatened, and the rest of the world hardly knows Australia exists. Believe me, after spending half my life boarding and leaving international flights I’ve come to the conclusion that the only thing the nations of the world have in common is a profound indifference to anything that’s ever happened here.
    COLIN : So you’re saying you’ll only underwrite projects that have nothing to do with this country or its history?
    MALCOLM : I’ve got to be absolutely honest. I can’t even think the word ‘ coastwatchers ’ without yawning.
    COLIN : [ angrily, passionately ] This is a real story about real people who risked their necks for years at a time so that you and I could be here in this room today! You can’t dismiss it without reading the script.
    MALCOLM : Look, Colin, it could be the best-written script in the world, but unless it smells exciting it’s no use to us.
    COLIN : Malcolm, all my scripts have made money for you in the past. You owe it to me to read it.
    MALCOLM : Alright, I’ll read it.
    COLIN : Sit down and read it now.
    MALCOLM : Colin, I’ve got appointments all afternoon.
    COLIN : Malcolm, I spent six months of my life writing this. The least you can do is spend two hours reading it!
    MALCOLM : I’ll read it. I’ll read it tonight and phone you in the morning.
    MALCOLM exits.
    MIKE : [ to the audience ] Malcolm was right. The only people who would ever find the concept wildly exciting were the surviving coastwatchers, which gave us a guaranteed audience of three, but we finally got the money. It was the only way Malcolm could get Colin off his back.
    COLIN : [ to the audience ] The production and shoot were hellish. Mike was useless. He talked big but knew nothing . In a single day we lost our director, art director and cinematographer when he insisted that the opening sequence feature a slow-motion close-up of a Caucasian head being severed by a Samurai sword, leaving newly exposed arteries to pump red blood into white titles. We had to get a line producer in to pick up the pieces two days before the cameras rolled. I turned grey, Mike threw up a lot, but finally, miraculously, it was in the can.
    MIKE : [ to the audience ] The shoot went well. Our director walked out on us, but it was just as well. He had no visual flair. Colin panicked every time there was the slightest hiccup but I held things together and we finished right on schedule.
    COLIN : [ to the audience ] We finished the mix and sent out the tapes to the critics.
    MIKE : [ to the audience ] The critics loved it. I knew we had a disaster on our hands. When critics say ‘sensitive’ and ‘lyrical’, the public reads ‘slow’ and ‘arty’. Colin ran around with the crits in his hands beaming at everyone. I nodded politely and waited for the ratings.
    KATE enters and they wait for the ratings at Mike’s place. It’s evening and there’s been some drinking. KATE , in particular, is showing the effects.
    COLIN : [ tensely ] Ring them again.
    MIKE : They said they’d ring as soon as the figures came through.
    KATE : I don’t know what you’re worried about. It was wonderful . Everyone in the country would’ve been watching. I cried.
    COLIN : You always cry.
    KATE : When that young boy—that beautiful young boy— What was his name?
    COLIN : Gary Denton.
    KATE : Gary Denton . Beautiful golden hair. I would like a very deep conversation with that young man.
    COLIN : He can barely talk.
    KATE : When he died, the tears just flowed. [ She looks around .] How long have you had this place, Mike?
    MIKE : Too long.
    KATE : [ condescending ] It’s charming. Little stairways here and little alcoves there. It’s remarkable how little space you really need. When we were in China we saw whole families of peasants living in a place half the size of this,