Margot Page #5

him breakfast, that's what he says.

I hope it might be something different,

because it's so hard to understand him,

but that's what he's saying.

"Let...me...die.

"I want to die."

Then what is point?

What about babies?

SHE LAUGHS:

We could have babies.

Boy like me, girl like you.

Or just boy.

Rudik...

even if that were possible...

You opened all the boxes for me,

but now...

No, we opened together.

Yes.

But now the time has gone.

You look old.

DOORBELL RINGS:

Yes, I don't see why not.

It's some years

since the last procedure.

The nose...

has held up well.

McIndoe, unless I'm mistaken.

That's right.

How much will it cost?

Oh, my secretary will give you

the list of my fees.

Can I say, Dame Margot, I saw you at the Wells

in the '30s, when I was a medical student.

Rio Grande.

Terrific music. Real pep to it.

Dancing that tango... My word! You were

the most ravishing creature I'd ever seen.

Like a ripe peach.

And next you will be dancing Juliet?

I very much hope so.

Kenneth MacMillan is actually making the ballet

on Lynn Seymour but I might get a crack at it.

Juliet is a 14-year-old girl.

SHE LAUGHS:

Of course.

Always the bridesmaid...

Oh! How go the star-crossed lovers?

Oh, getting there.

Let's face it, Fred, at my age I should

really be playing the Nurse, not Juliet.

Or Carabosse.

Oh, God! Margot, you look younger every

year. You must give me the number, darling.

No, I just meant you

as the wicked fairy.

Tito...under your spell.

No more goodbyes, no more

getting left in the lurch.

I know it's taken

an absolute calamity

but you have finally got him

where you want him, haven't you?

I mean, he might even sit

through one of your performances.

How can you think...?!

Do you honestly imagine, Fred,

anyone would have chosen this?

I forget. After me.

Tito's consultant says, with his

paralysis, the only hope is muscle memory.

If you do something enough times,

your muscles just take over.

The body remembers it all.

Of course, heart is a muscle.

Rudolf, Tito has never adored me,

but he's never wanted me to adore him

either. Not the way that I want to.

I just want to give love.

Does that make sense?

And now I have the chance,

this has happened.

OK. Your choice. Hardly.

Yes, always.

It's like

taking Juliet away from Lynn.

That was nothing to do with me, you

know that! That was the board's decision.

So, you don't want to dance -

you don't want to dance Juliet?

You want to give younger girl the

chance to be a star, refuse. Your choice.

It's like you play with Tito -

at revolution in his country.

My country had a revolution.

I can never go back. I go back, they throw me

in prison, make me sh*t in a bucket until I die.

My life is real, always.

It's good, it's real.

It's bad, real.

My choice.

Thank you, Sister.

Hello, my darling. Mr Goodman is

very pleased with you, you know.

He thinks if you continue

with the physical... How long?

Sorry?

How long?

Well...

as long as it takes.

As long as I can put one foot in front of another,

I'll pay for you to have the best care possible.

It's bound to make a difference.

Truly.

One day, the ranch by the sea.

Promise.

BELL RINGS Always a bit

nerve-wracking, a first night.

Do you remember the first time

in New York, Sleeping Beauty?

I thought you were going to be

sick right there on the stage!

And you were the toast of the town.

Whatever they say about tonight...

Well, you just don't know, do you?

It doesn't matter.

Everything you've done, you've made

me the proudest mother in the world.

You really have.

You've been quoted as saying, "One should take

one's art absolutely seriously, but oneself, never."

Yes, I think that's

marvellous advice.

I can't claim it as mine, I'm afraid.

Someone said it to me,

a long, long time ago.

They were right, I think.

So you follow that advice?

You take your art

more seriously than yourself?

I hope so. Some might say that's a recipe for

wonderful art, but a less than wonderful life.

Surely, Dame Margot, one's life is the

thing one should take most seriously of all?

Full house, naturally.

How is foot?

You know, when Fred and Madam decided they

were going to make me dance leading roles...

I was terrified.

Not just that I wouldn't be able to

do the steps, or remember it all...

..but because there

was nothing inside me.

I didn't know a thing.

You were a child. Yes, but

no-one wanted that, did they?

They needed a prima ballerina.

So I thought, "I'll learn,

"I'll just copy.

"I'll do the steps and be Giselle

"and maybe then there'll

be something inside me.

"I'll come out

of the painted cottage...

"into the painted countryside

"and fall in love,

"and go mad,

"and die

"and come back as a spirit,

"and it'll all be real."

It still is.

It's the only thing

in my life that is -

pretending.

Out there...

suffering.

My choice.

SHE SOBS:

Extract by ARS

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