Rough for Radio II
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Rough for Radio II is a radio play by Samuel Beckett. It was written in French in 1961 as Pochade radiophonique and published in Minuit 16, November 1975. Beckett translated the work into English shortly before its broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 13 April 1976. Martin Esslin directed Harold Pinter (Animator), Billie Whitelaw (Stenographer) and Patrick Magee (Fox). The English-language version was first published in Ends and Odds (Grove, 1976, Faber, 1977) as Radio II.
Esslin said that Beckett "regard[ed] the work as unfinished, no more than a rough sketch, and felt, having heard the production that it had 'not come off'."[1] Beckett "put the blame on the script but he told Esslin that 'the production which made the Animator and his team start briskly and become more weary and discouraged as time went on should already have started on a high degree of weariness and despair.'"[2]
A man, who we discover has the title “Animator” makes small talk with his young female stenographer: is she ready to get to work, does she have the tools of her trade? The interchange is light and familiar. He then consults a character called Dick;[3] is he on his toes? The man, a mute, doesn’t answer other than to make a swishing noise to which the Animator exclaims, “Wow![4] Let’s hear it land.”[5] Dick strikes the desk with, what the text refers to as, a “bull’s pizzle”,[6] a whip made from a bull's penis. (‘Dick’ is, of course, a euphemism for penis). It is certainly humorous, though hardly revolutionary, to use a character that is unable to speak in a radio play. What is of interest is that it is his job to encourage Fox to speak.
Dick is instructed to remove a hood from a fourth figure, Fox, followed by his gag, blindfold and earplugs. The man is kept bound though. As his eyes adjust to the light he recognises “the same old team” – evidently this is not then the first time he has been interrogated. Unexpectedly he smiles[7] at the woman and this startles her, which prompts a coarse remark from the Animator: “What is it, miss? Vermin in the lingerie?”[5] This is not the first time he has smiled; she checks to see if it should be recorded but is told not to.
The Stenographer proceeds to read her report on the results from day before but the Animator has her skip practically all of it apart from the first three “exhortations”. Item #3 expresses particular concern regarding the condition and use of the Fox's gag. It is imperative he make no utterance that cannot be recorded and scrutinized in case what he says “may be it”.[8] “But no word,[9] says Mauthner, can have such transcendent power; however tortured, words cannot reveal truth.”[10]
She is stopped just after this and goes on to read Fox's closing remarks from the day before which refer to him washing and drying a mole in front of a fire before returning the creature to its “chamber with his weight of grubs.”[11] From the expression, “in that instant his little heart was beating still”[11] it could be construed that the mole was actually dead, perhaps killed by accident when he was a child but more likely frozen to death in the blizzard[12] he has to endure to return it to the ground.
The Animator wants to know if the glare bothers her. The woman says not and adds that heat doesn’t trouble her either but still asks permission to remove her overall. This – predictably – prompts comment from the Auditor: “Staggering! Ah were I but … forty years younger”,[11] another inappropriate remark underlining his lascivious nature. The text does not comment on what she is – or is not – wearing underneath but Billie Whitelaw's observation in a Radio Times interview is revealing: “I felt that the girl I play, the stenographer, starts out in uniform and ends with nothing on.”[13] Her response is to reread the end of Fox's last testimony: “Ah my God my God [Blow with pencil] My God,”[11] words that remind one of someone's cries while in a state of sexual ecstasy but presented in the least erotic of tones.[14] Having worked with him before she is doubtless well aware of the nature of the man she is dealing with – someone who could undress her with his eyes no matter what she was wearing – and his hidden agenda. Her response annoys him. He calls her a “Crabbed youth,”[15] before proceeding.
She recommends “a touch of kindness” be applied to Fox, “perhaps just a hint.”[11] The Animator says he appreciates the sentiment but is obdurate: they stick with his method (despite its obvious lack of results).
After further prompting by Dick, Fox begins his second monologue describing a life underground (perhaps the mole's he spoke of before), “living dead in the stones.”[16] He fades away but, when threatened with the whip again, moves onto his third outpouring, where he mentions a brother – the first family member he has spoken of – his twin, actually inside himself and hungry. Someone named “Maud”[17] – the only person he has ever mentioned by name – has proposed a Caesarean section volunteering to nurse the twin when born. At this point Fox breaks down and starts weeping. The Animator remains undecided as to whether this should be recorded. Up until this point he has been adamant that only Fox's words are relevant.
A final stroke of Dick's pizzle brings only one line. Fox – or more likely the mole/twin – cries out: “Let me out! Peter out in the stones!”[16]
In a change of tactic, the Animator quietly tries to make clear to Fox what he really wants: “More variety! … [A]stonish me.”,[18] He even hints to him that he might try being creative with the truth, the very notion of which shocks the Stenographer. It may seem at first look that the bound protagonist is the captive, but by this stage of the play, the audience is beginning to realise that the Stenographer and Animator are the ones who are truly captive. They hang upon every word Fox emits. The Animator even confesses that he doesn’t know precisely what he is looking for other than he’ll know it when he hears it, unlike Bam in What Where who is after specific details. It is becoming clearer that the Animator is seeking something in Fox that most likely isn’t there.
Since physical violence hasn’t proved successful, nor has gentle persuasion, the Animator modifies his approach once more: “Dick! – no, wait. Kiss him, miss, perhaps that will stir some fibre … on his stinker of a mouth … Till it bleeds! Kiss it white!”[19] Fox howls and faints.
Since nothing more is to be gotten from Fox the two review the evidence, the tear – he had shed a number the previous winter – and Maud's willingness to act as a wet nurse. The Stenographer highlights the point that, for Maud to be able to produce milk pointed to the fact she is likely already pregnant. The Animator drools over the image of a milk-engorged breast: “One can almost see it!”[20]
The woman wonders out loud who might be the father. This finally fires Animator's imagination: “May we have that passage again, miss?” She reads it verbatim but he objects insisting she is omitting the phrase, “between two kisses.”[20] She tries to stand her ground but he gets angry and demands she amend her notes accordingly effectively “insert[ing] the Stenographer (and her kissing of Fox) into Fox’s discourse.”[21] (This is in violation of Item #2 of the “exhortations”). She acquiesces and timidly reads back the text. Finally, something to appeal to his crude tastes.
He is now satisfied and is hopeful that by the next day their work may very well be done. “Don’t cry, miss, dry your pretty eyes and smile at me. Tomorrow, who knows, we may be free.”[20] This reminds us of the ending of Radio I: “Tomorrow … noon.”[22] Everything will be better tomorrow. Beckett brings many of his characters to this brink (e.g. Clov at the end of Endgame) but for these trapped souls the future only turns out to be an endless succession of today's.