Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: A Love Story by Tony Broadwick - HTML preview

SCENE VI: Time - 1927

MUSIC

(DIEGO enters with a small painting under his arm. FRIDA follows him.)

FRIDA: Diego…. Mr. Rivera!

DIEGO: Yes? Wait, (pretending not to recognize her) I know you from somewhere. Yes, you’re the girl that used to spy on me when I made love with Monique, the model.

FRIDA: You made love with every model.

DIEGO: They were all beautiful.

FRIDA: No not all. Some were real skinny; some were fat.

DIEGO: They were my models. I owed it to them. They expected it.

FRIDA: Expected it? All of them? Why, you conceited little man!

DIEGO: Who are you?

FRIDA: I am Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón.

DIEGO: I'm impressed. Now go away.

FRIDA: You must have been impressed. Or else….

DIEGO: Go away, why are you following me?

FRIDA: I wanted to ask you about that painting. But it doesn’t matter now.

DIEGO: What about it? I bought it.

FRIDA: I know. Why?

DIEGO: What’s it to you?

FRIDA: Just curious.

DIEGO: It’s the most original thing I’ve seen in years.

FRIDA: Yes?

DIEGO: I also know you painted it. (pause) Yes, I am impressed. Happy now?

FRIDA: How impressed? I mean how much impressed?

DIEGO: I paid 100 pesos for it. You’re good. But you should know that paintings on canvas with a frame around are a thing of the past. Art has freed itself from the confines of a frame.

FRIDA: And where is it going?

DIEGO: To ordinary people. (pause) Away from the galleries and museums. On the walls of a train station, the ceilings of the city hall. The outside walls of that tall building in Chicago, Sears tower.

FRIDA: Art on the outside of a building?

DIEGO: Yes. Why not the outside of a train or a bus?

FRIDA: I always suspected it. You’re crazy. Not just sex-crazy, but loco total.

DIEGO: Art has to be freed so that ordinary people can see it, enjoy it. Art isn’t only for the rich pigs.

FRIDA: Also for the poor pigs.

DIEGO: Yes.

FRIDA: You’re a communist.

DIEGO: You make it sound as if it’s a bad thing. (pause) All the important writers are communists; why not the painters?

FRIDA: I could like you, you fat pig.

DIEGO: Don’t worry your little head. You’re too skinny for me.

FRIDA: Even if I were your model?

DIEGO: You want to model for me?

FRIDA: No, I’m all scarred up. You wouldn’t want to see me. A bad accident.

DIEGO: I’d like to see your scars. I’ll show you mine.

FRIDA: You have scars?

DIEGO: Of course. I'm married.

FRIDA: How could she, your wife, stand it? With what you do with all the other women.

DIEGO: She’s still with me … as my best friend, and it's because of what I do for her.

FRIDA: A conceited pig…. What are you going to do with that painting? Where are you going to hang it?

DIEGO: In my bathroom. I will study it every morning. I spend a long time in bathrooms. Nursing my hangovers and throwing up.

FRIDA: I have a remedy for hangovers.

DIEGO: Tell me.

FRIDA: I have to be there to administer it.

DIEGO: Are you proposing to me?

FRIDA: No. I wanted you to tell me what you think of my paintings. You already did.

DIEGO: You're good, but you have a long way to go.

FRIDA: And you're just the man to take me there? Right?

DIEGO: No, I have no time for the novice, the inexperienced.

FRIDA: I see, you only want the novice and the inexperienced as your models, so you can seduce them.

DIEGO: Do I seduce them? Never. They give themselves to me. You've seen that with your own eyes. I know… You want to learn to paint, go to an art school.

FRIDA: I don't have to learn to paint. You've bought my work. I want to show you more.

DIEGO: You've got talent. (pause) Are you inviting me to your house?

FRIDA: To show you my work. As a fellow artist.

DIEGO: OK.

FRIDA: Only as a friend.

DIEGO: Not as a lover?

FRIDA: No. Only as a friend. I'll show you my work. I'll offer you some Tequila and food. I'll listen to your advice. But I will not make love to you.

DIEGO: I'm not interested in making love to you. Because if we did that (pause) you'd probably want me to be true to you. I'm incapable of being faithful.

FRIDA: A convenient handicap. Did your doctor tell you that?

DIEGO: No, I know myself. I know what I like, and I like women.

FRIDA: What about your wife? Your family?

DIEGO: Family is not built around being true or being faithful; it's based on loyalty. I'm loyal to my wife. Always.

FRIDA: Will you be loyal to me?

DIEGO: All my life. I can promise you loyalty.

FRIDA: Good, then it's settled. (pause) You promise?

DIEGO: I promise to look at your work. Share some tequila with you and offer you my … opinion. I will not make love with you. I solemnly swear and promise.

FRIDA: I accept! Good, now, you pick me up, take me to the bedroom, and show me how you’re going to keep that promise.

DIEGO: (picking her up in his arms) It would be a pleasure.

(In his arms, she offers him her lips. They kiss and he carries her off stage.)

Curtain.