Margot Page #2

High places. How many people must there have

been in that nightclub? It was a nightclub!

I go to nightclubs with members of the

company. Tito meets clients in nightclubs.

"Clients".

Is that what you're calling them?

Mummy, we are away from each other such

an awful lot. When things are different...

Telephone, Madam.

If wishes were horse,

then beggars would ride. Hello?

'Here is Nureyev.

I am one hour at airport.'

Oh, I'm so sorry, Madam told us you

wouldn't be arriving till much later.

Stay there, I'll send a car for you.

'I am at airport.'

Yes. Stay.

Attendez.

Car will arrive.

45 minutes.

LINE GOES DEAD:

Here is Nureyev.

Oh! He took a taxi, ma'am.

Well...

Lovely to meet you.

Welcome to England!

What if the KGB sent him?

Madam'd have something

to say about that.

Oh, Mummy. Thank God I stuck

to my guns about the gala.

MUSIC:
"Le Corsaire"

F*** me, darling,

he's better than Nijinsky!

HUGE APPLAUSE:

AND CHEERS:

Oh.

Oh, I forgot to mention -

for the automatic rifles.

They do seem to be awfully expensive.

They are prohibitive, of course,

but they are the latest model.

Our contact in Geneva has turned out

even better than we had hoped.

Better without the

necklace anyway, I think.

Madam thinks I should dance Giselle

with the Russian boy, Nureyev.

Everyone's going crazy about him.

I've never seen anything like it.

But he does seem like

a bit of a loose cannon.

Tito? Hmm? What do you think?

Um, get on the bandwagon

or get out.

You don't want to be a

back number, do you, darling?

In any case, you can't make

a revolution on the cheap.

MUSIC:
"Giselle"

Position is here. No, here.

Is here, no-one see me.

Is here, is better.

But that IS the position. As taught

to me by Karsavina, a Russian.

So change.

Rudolf...can I point out that I have

been dancing Giselle since 1938?

Oh, God! Don't tell me,

you weren't even born then.

No. Just... Is exact year!

Need to take everything

out of boxes,

not so tidy. Or I just there

to stop you falling.

Is no point for me, as Nureyev.

I suppose I am rather set in my ways.

Please, where I to live in London?

In hotel is no soul. Oh, dear.

Well, we have masses

of room at the embassy.

Is better.

We have conversation. Yes.

No more boxes.

Don't worry, darling. They make a lovely couple,

but I can't quite see Erik as Giselle, can you?

LAUGHTER AND CHATTER

It would be hard if the government

condoned those actions.

Correct. Yes, especially if the

conflict hasn't been resolved yet.

I'm afraid I haven't the

slightest idea about Nicaragua.

SHE LAUGHS:

Tito, darling, is it possible to hire

mercenaries from across the border?

You'll have to forgive my wife.

She is a child of the theatre.

Her grasp of politics is

somewhat Ruritanian.

Isn't it, my love?

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Margot. You convince me.

What happened to ribbon?

There was ribbon.

Here, the day I arrived.

Oh.

It was the dry cleaners.

They lost it.

HE EXCLAIMS:

I was thinking,

I might dance Swan Lake again.

Is me. I love you! Rudolf,

I could've been Cathy or anyone.

You must stop ringing.

LAUGHTER:

It's really the reason

I'd given Swan Lake up.

I absolutely dread doing them!

What is mechanic for fouette?

I don't know. I just do them

and hope for the best.

Push shoulder. Push!

So.

You are great ballerina - show me!

I must say, whatever you think

about his retire in pirouette,

he's certainly f***ed

the old girl into shape.

"Last night at Covent Garden,

a miracle took place."

Gosh. "In the familiar guise

of Dame Margot Fonteyn,

"a new dancer was born, and that dancer

is the greatest dancer in the world."

Oh, golly. That was just

one of the reviews.

KNOCK ON DOOR:

Oh, God, not again.

Cathy'll be handing in her notice. I've

had them ringing up, you know. Reporters.

Wanting to know

about the boy living here.

Well, I hope you told them I'm

Rudolf's London Nanny. Oh, Mummy...

All that's for the stage! People

probably think I'm part swan as well.

Maybe they do.

As long as you know what's what.

'It's a wonderful

professional partnership.'

I appreciate people would like it to be a love

story, but I am very much in love with my husband,

and Rudolf, you know,

has his own life as well!

This I cannot talk about.

Erik! I go.

Rudolf, we better to get a move on

or we'll be late for class.

Sh*t! You dance like sh*t! Sh*t!

Well...

then perhaps you could show me a way

to do it that isn't sh*t, Rudolf.

Fred says Erik has taken up an offer

to dance for the Canadians.

Yes.

And now, he is back in Denmark.

Then he goes.

He say there no room

for him in London.

Not as dancer.

Not as lover.

Rudolf, I've been part of

a ballet company since I was 14.

I know how it is.

I don't expect to be the woman...

THEY SPEAK RUSSIAN

SHE LAUGHS:

AND TALKS EXCITEDLY

SHE CONTINUES:

TALKING IN RUSSIAN

Mama?

Who is this, your mother?

Wait.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Nureyev,

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

SHE LAUGHS:

I be proud for you to be my mother.

Oh, thank you so much darling!

It's still not a compliment!

I see you later.

FOOTSTEPS:

WHISPERING:

Morning, mate.

How d'you get out of this place?

Through there.

So there I am between John Wayne and Ari

Onassis, waiting to shake hands, you know?

And President Kennedy looks at us, one, two

three, and says, "Which one is carrying the gun?"

And John and Ari both point, and

at the same time they say, "Tito!"

Everything is OK for you, Rudi?

Chicken lunch, chicken performance.

I don't know if I mentioned darling, Fred is making

a new ballet for Rudolf and I, Marguerite and Armand.

You know Dumas,

Le Dame aux Camelias. Ah, yes.

The romantic prostitute.

Courtesan.

You give the prostitute a

crinoline and she's a courtesan.

I remember the film, with Garbo.

She loves, she coughs

a little, she dies.

It's good, to bring the audiences in, considering

what they think is going on between you two.

Do you know the significance

of the camellias?

No! She wears the white ones always.

But when she bleed, she wears the

red, to tell the men not to f*** her.

I read about.

No, no. More et pul mon.

Melt into him.

Give yourself to him.

Down and lower.

Head on breast.

It's been like pulling

teeth, as per.

For me I mean.

I suppose it'll be all right.

My God, Fred!

What is it they're calling it?

Rudimania?

The two of them could do the

Twist for all this audience cares.

Thank you, Tito.

HYSTERICAL CHEERING

Well. We've never heard

anything quite like it.

Absolute sheer madness.

People who've never seen a ballet in their lives

queuing with their sleeping bags to get tickets.

Mobbing us!

Marguerite and Armand has

been an amazing triumph.

Beyond our wildest dreams, really.

It was so lovely of Tito to fly in

for the first night,

considering the demands on him,

you know, in Panama.

There is really no point

trying to explain again.

Of course I understand you want to stand

for office, but what about the embassy?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes