Getting Away With Act Two
Well, I hope you enjoyed intermission. Enough snacks? Not too long a
line at the restrooms? All settled in? Good, well here we go.... this
act gets more complicated so here we go...
The curtain raises with Martin seated where he was when he began his
flashback. The other members of the group are slumped dead around him. He
is looking off into the distance as we hear the faint echo of the six
gunshots... the lights change, the others snap up and are still waiting
patiently for Martin to explain his whereabouts... he didn't really kill
them it was just a fantasy... gotcha!
(And no, I'm not making this up... this trick was actually one of SS's
first ideas about the play, he knew how he wanted to end
the first act with this trick of "killing" all the characters.)
Now we spend the rest of the act with various characters beginning to get
suspicious about Martin's story as he covers his tracks. According to the
Dr.'s appt book Martin had been in earlier in the day (but, of course, we
know that was his son, Martin Jr.) and they wonder what he was doing after
his appt, before arriving with Dossie. Eventually Greg (owner of the bldg)
calls down and asks the doorman to bring up the sign in sheet from the
lobby. The doorman Roberto (Al Espinosa) arrives with the sheet. He is a
stoned young man, who refers to Martin as Mr. "Jiss-hole", his
prononciation of Chisholm.
Martin tries to talk around Roberto's story so as not to reveal the truth
about his son. As the group peruses the sheet they notice one thing, that
Dossie's signature is different from when she arrived for her private appt.
and arrived for the group appt. It is revealed that she was having an
affair with the Dr. and was the woman who snuck out the back door when
Martin arrived. Roberto would sign in for her the second time, hence the
different signatures. So she, upon discovering Martin, was trying to cover
as much as he was.
Eventually Roberto is dismissed to go back downstairs, Martin follows him
out into the elevator lobby under some pretense. He grabs the clipboard
and pushes Roberto down the open elevator shaft. He takes the sheet, puts
it in his pocket and drops the clipboard down as well, replacing the yellow
safety tape. He returns to the outer office.
The others decide to look around the Dr.'s papers and such for more clues.
They mostly settle into the inner office, Nam-Jun tackles trying to figure
out his computer password. At some point Pamela, wanting a cigarette and
not having a light, asks Martin if he has a spare and before he notices
grabs his coat to search for one. She has felt the weight and discovered
the hidden murder weapon although she doesn't remove it from his pocket.
She then knowingly asks him if he'd like to join her for a smoke outside in
the lobby.
Out in the lobby she leans dangerously against the doorframe of the open
elevator shaft as she asks him about the possibility of being made the
Cultural Commissioner for New York (ie she's blackmailing him to use his
political connections). She also wonders why the working elevator is still
on their floor if Roberto took it down to the lobby. She thinks he is in
the bathroom and tries to get him out so she can use it. Then we get a
great scene with Martin really wanting to give her a shove and she opening
herself up greatly to the possibility by, at one point, standing directly
in front of the open shaft with her arms outstretched and only her hands
resting on the sides of the doorframe. Martin makes a move for it but
misses and just barely escapes plummeting down the 12 floors himself.
Eventually, however, he gets her and we say goodbye to Pamela down the
chute. Martin again replaces the safety tape.
Upon returning to the office, when the others wonder where Pamela is Martin
says she was sick of the whole business and went home.
Then it becomes Vassili's turn to start figuring things out. With the
others in the inner office he confronts Martin with questions about the
Dr.'s schedule book and the way the names are written in it. He wants
Martin to use his connections with the Met. Museum to by Vassili's large
collection of majolica figures. Martin gets the book and rips out the
incriminating pages. He is then confronted by Vassili in front of the
group.
I believe it is about this time that Nam-Jun cracks the computer and
discovers the Dr.'s secret files. She and the others are outraged that he
was using them as guinea pigs for a book, based on the seven deadly sins.
He gathered together seven people who represented the sins and who each had
been responsible for the death of another person (I don't remember all the
details but I think Nam-Jun had caused a colleague to commit suicide
because of a scathing criticism she wrote, Greg had covered up the death of
workmen at one of his building sites, I don't recall the details of Dossie
and Vassili death related events, others were explained in Act One). But
anyway... they also discover the Dr's dictaphone with his introduction to
the book talking about the seven sins. And also realize that the figurines
around the doctors office are all statues representing the sins, except one
is missing (anger), it being the murder weapon in Martin's pocket. Vassili
seems very interested in the figures (they are silver).
This is where it starts to get more complicated, I hope I get the events in
the right order...
Greg figures out that Pamela didn't really leave since the elevator is
still on their floor and she didn't take her coat. Martin and Greg team up
to trick the others and eventually Martin simply goes into the inner office
and shoots Vassili, Dan, Dossie and Nam-Jun. Greg is surprised by his
drastic measures and then Martin reveals that he also killed Roberto. Greg
is very upset by this
, because...
Greg had planned that the building would be torched that night so he could
avoid having to restore it as a landmark and could build an entirely new
building. The figures spotted on the fire escape by others were his
henchmen placing explosives. The signal for the torching was when Roberto
left the building and the lights went out. He tells Martin they need to
get out fast since he doesn't know if the henchmen have noticed Roberto's
absence.
Around this time Dan revives in the inner office, he was not killed by the
shots since he always wears his bullet-proof vest. He had mentioned that
in act one, (I didn't, so sue me...) He tries to stop Dan and Martin but
is quickly killed by, I think, Greg, who we learn is an expert at karate
(he breaks Dan's neck in one move, kinda like the Spock Vulcan Stun on Star
Trek). Also around this time Martin becomes very interested in the sin
figures since they are pure silver and valuable, he was tipped off by
Vassili's interest. Greg wonders why he is bothering and asks Martin to
help him move Dan. Martin gathers the figures and manages to take Dan's
handcuffs and handcuff Greg to the dead, and hefty sized, Dan. He's going
to leave Greg to explode with the building and all the evidence.
Now, in the version I saw, Martin got into the elevator, went downstairs,
the lights went out and the building began to explode (on stage fireballs!)
with Greg frantically trying to signal his men from the window as the
curtain fell. While this happened we heard Dr. Bering's voice from his
dictaphone talking about the seven deadly sins and the eighth sin he had
discovered... Control. His sin for manipulating the group members, and as
we saw, the sin the others indulged in as they tried to blackmail Martin
and Martin's control over his son, which all ended tragically.
Apparently this was changed right before opening so the Martin was fumbling
with the keys to the elevator and dropped them down the elevator shaft and
he fell in after them. And then the power went out again (as it had at
various times due to the storm) and the building started to explode as the
Dr.'s voice explained, etc., etc.
I must say the combination of the music, taped voice and fairly impressive
explosions made for an exciting ending.
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