Henry's Crime Page #3

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- Yeah.

- It's a process.

Looks complicated.

Yeah, it is.

- Madame Julie.

- Coffee, Pierre.

("JE VEUX VIVRE" FROM

GOUNOD'S "ROMEO ET JULIETTE")

You want one?

- Sure.

- Deux.

- Deux cafs.

- Oui.

Thanks.

(SIGHS)

You looked like you were listening.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

Really?

In a way.

Yeah. Yeah, I wasn't.

I wasn't. I was playing it safe.

You know, "The Cherry Orchard"

was Chekhov's last play.

He was dying when he wrote it.

It's kind of perfect.

- Why?

- Because it's my last play, too.

Here in Buffalo.

I'm leaving. Right after this.

So who are you?

You mean my name?

OK.

I'm Henry.

Well, I wanna thank you

for not suing me, Henry.

Au revoir, Madame Julie.

Ciao, ciao.

Mr Saltzman, please tell the Board

why you believe

we should grant you a parole.

Come on, Mr Saltzman.

What have you got for us this time?

Mr Saltzman?

Come on, Max.

(DOOR BUZZER)

See you, George.

- I knew you could do it.

- Yeah.

Um...

...where is your car?

I don't have a car.

You don't have a car?

I sold it.

Well, what is the matter with you?

You come to pick me up

and you don't have a car.

That is not the way

you pick up a person!

Yes, it is. I'm here.

I'm picking you up.

Look, I really don't know about this.

I think I'm making

a pretty big mistake.

Look, Max,

the bus station's just a short walk.

Bus station?

Don't worry, Max.

Carl? Hey, Dave!

Let me in, will you? Open up!

Max, it's gonna be OK.

Are you kidding me?

This is your plan?

An old cartoon in a pissoir?

- It's a start.

- No, this is 80 years ago.

Wait. I tell you what we do.

We do it the old-fashioned way.

- We go in with guns.

- No guns.

- Why?

- Someone could get hurt.

That's very sweet of you, Henry.

Maybe the tunnel's still there, Max.

Yes, I'm sure it is, right (!)

- Maybe it is.

- Maybe it is.

But maybe it's not.

I tell you what we do.

First we go to this bank of yours

and see if that's there.

It is.

I'm sure it is. But maybe it's not.

Now, which kind of account

would you like to open?

Well, which kind have you got?

Er... savings, interest-only,

commercial...

Excuse me for interrupting.

I was just thinking,

it's such a small world.

My uncle... My uncle, he put all his

money in your vault when I was a kid.

I mean, after we came from Europe.

Before the War.

The brownshirts and...

Well, what was my point, anyway?

I... Yes, and I remember him,

my uncle, telling me

that your vault

would probably be here for 300 years.

- Well, we hope he's right.

- The man was never wrong.

Er...

how long has that vault been here?

Er... since 1891.

Wow. And I'm just assuming

it's in the same spot.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Exact same spot.

History, son. It's all about history.

As I was saying,

we have savings, interest-only...

Again, pardon me,

but you'll have to just give us

a little time to decide

which of those we prefer.

But I want to thank you so very much.

- Oh, well, no, thank you.

- No, thank you for being so kind.

OK, we'll get in touch with you.

Have a nice day, gentlemen.

The vault is somewhere in here.

The tunnel runs somewhere under here

and ends up somewhere in there.

It's virtually robbing itself,

isn't it?

Goddamn Chekhov sh*t!

Jesus. Henry?

Hi.

Julie, Max. Max, Julie.

How do you do?

- What are you doing here?

- Er...

I was er... I was just showing Henry

the place where I used to perform.

Oh. What?

- That's lunch, Julie.

- Oh. Thank God.

Yes,

Chekhov can be extremely difficult.

It sometimes takes

a cast-iron stomach.

- Why, you know Chekhov?

- Of course.

Next to Gorbachev,

he's my favourite Russian.

Excuse me, would you mind terribly

if I er... took a look inside?

It's been maybe 30 years

since I've been in there.

- Really?

- Yes.

Well, er... yeah, sure.

Very kind of you.

How are you doing?

Great (!) I'm in hell.

Home again.

- What shows did you do?

- Ma'am?

What productions were you in?

Ah.

Er... some of the greats.

Er... Shakespeare, of course.

Er... Ibsen, er... Yeats, Williams.

Yeats. Yeats?

What play did Yeats write?

No, it was about Yeats,

when he was a young man.

Julie. Excuse me. Julie,

Mary wants to fit your wig at four

and Darek says to stay hungry.

- F*** him.

- Got it.

Um...

can I be a bit of a nuisance, please?

I'd very much appreciate

a small tour around the old place,

if you wouldn't mind.

He used to perform here.

- I suppose it's OK. We're on a break.

- Oh, thank you.

- Henry?

- Sure. Go ahead.

Julie, thanks so much.

Is that your dad?

- No, he's a friend.

- Really? Cos he seems like your dad.

It's peaceful out here.

Ah, the inner sanctum.

Like it was yesterday.

Down here.

People often make the mistake

of going down

but in Chekhov,

you must always, always go up.

- Bring back some memories?

- Oh, indeed.

Let me tell you something.

Did you know that there used to be

a speakeasy here during Prohibition?

And they hid the booze in the bank.

Exactly.

Did you know there was a tunnel?

There was a tunnel.

I know that. I know that.

As a matter of fact, that tunnel...

That tunnel was um...

I know where it is.

- I'll show it to you.

- Really?

- Mm-hm.

- Um...

You did some acting yourself,

didn't you?

I could tell.

"The Cherry Orchard".

So what's it about?

A woman returns to her family estate

in the Russian countryside

and she realises that she has

to sell her beloved cherry orchard,

which is

the magical place of her youth.

It's the only place

she's ever felt safe.

And it's about um...

being forced to let go of the past

and create a new life

in order to survive.

We're going to have to be quick

because Arnold hates

people in his dressing room.

- Arnold?

- Oh, Lopakhin.

Of course.

Hello?

And I think it was right here.

Yeah.

Huh. Amazing.

(TAPS ON HOLLOW WALL)

Oh, boy. Lots of whisky.

Filled with ladies and gentlemen.

The good old days. Can you imagine?

- (TAPS THE WALL)

- I think they sealed it up in 1931

when they built the theatre.

Yeah, times have changed.

Well, all good things

must come to an end, unfortunately.

So what's your story, Henry?

- My story?

- Like, what do you do?

I'm figuring that out.

Does that mean you don't have a job?

I er...

...just got out of prison.

- Prison?

- It sounds worse than it is.

Really? Cos prison sounds bad.

Why were you there?

Are you a murderer or something?

No. Do I look like one?

- No.

- What do I look like?

Oh, this place is

just full of treasures.

Thank you so much.

It was great. Thank you.

- And thank you, Simon.

- My pleasure.

- And I'll see you tomorrow.

- Tomorrow?

Max has offered

to volunteer at the theatre.

Oh.

Work.

Work. It's time to work,

you lazy Americans.

(TAPS ON STAGE)

Even you, Djula. Top of act two.

What are you doing afterwards?

- Why?

- You like Chinese?

- Yeah.

- Jinlan?

- Yeah, it's OK.

- Eight o'clock?

Sure.

- Great.

- Great.

Djula, can we please start?

Stay out of prison.

- Djula, please.

- Yes, yes!

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