Incognito Read online

  NICK PAYNE

  Incognito

  Contents

  Title Page

  Acknowledgements

  Epigraphs

  Characters

  Dedication

  Incognito

  Encoding

  Storing

  Retrieving

  About the Author

  By the Same Author

  Copyright

  First Performance

  Acknowledgements

  Steven Atkinson, Remy Beasley, British Association for Adoption and Fostering, British Neuropsychological Society, Gez Bond, Paul Broks, Lisa Claydon, Paul Hickey, Paul Jellis, Miranda Julia, Professor Narinder Kapur, Amelia Lowdell, Denise McCartan, Joe Murphy, Alison O’Donnell, David Ormerod, Max Roberts, John Rumbold, Karen Shaw and Susan Stoneham of the Queen Square Brain Bank for Neurological Disorders, Professor Barbara Wilson and Sargon Yelda

  Ben Hall and Lily Williams at Curtis Brown, and John Buzzetti at WME

  Minna

  Mum

  Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the following books and their authors: Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein’s Brain by Carolyn Abraham, Into the Silent Land by Paul Broks, Permanent Present Tense by Suzanne Corkin, Incognito by David Eagleman, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer, The Paradoxical Brain edited by Narinder Kapur, The Time Traveller by Ronald L. Mallett, Driving Mr Albert: A Trip Across American with Einstein’s Brain by Michael Paterniti, The Making of Memory: From Molecules to Mind by Steven Rose, Forever Today: A Memoir of Love and Amnesia by Deborah Wearing and Case Studies in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation by Barbara Wilson.

  Despite being based, albeit very loosely, on several true stories, this play is a work of fiction. But then isn’t everything.

  What binds that me to this me, and allows me to maintain the illusion that there is continuity from moment to moment and year to year, is some relatively stable but gradually evolving thing at the nucleus of my being. Call it a soul, or a self, or an emergent by-product of a neural network, but whatever you want to call it, that element of continuity is entirely dependent on memory.

  Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

  (London: Penguin Books, 2011), p. 86

  In order to survive, humans have invented science. Pursued consistently, scientific enquiry acts to undermine myth. But life without myth is impossible, so science has become a channel for myths – chief among them, a myth of salvation through science.

  John Gray, The Silence of Animals

  (London: Allen Lane, 2013), p. 82

  Who tells the story of the self? That’s like asking who thunders the thunder or rains the rain. It is not so much a question of us telling the story as the story telling us.

  Paul Broks, Into the Silent Land

  (London: Atlantic Books, 2004), p. 41

  Characters

  Thomas Stoltz Harvey

  born in Kansas, USA, 1912

  Elouise Harvey

  born in New York, USA, 1912

  Hans Albert Einstein

  born in Bern, Switzerland, 1904

  Lisa-Scott Hannigan

  born in Sydney, Australia, c. 1941

  Freddy Myers

  twenties

  Anna Vann

  thirties

  Michael Wolf

  born in Maine, USA, c. 1965

  Otto Nathan

  born in Bigen, Germany, 1893

  Evelyn Einstein

  born in Chicago, USA, 1941

  Henry Maison

  born in Bath, UK, 1933

  Margaret Thomson

  born in Bath, UK, 1933

  Victor Milner

  born in Hertfordshire, UK, c. 1913

  Jon Williams

  born in Cardiff, UK, forties

  Sharon Shaw

  forties

  Martha Murphy

  born in London, UK, 1971

  Patricia Thorn

  born in London, UK, c. 1978

  ‘Anthony’

  forties

  Richard Walsh

  fifties

  Brenda Walsh

  fifties

  Ben Murphy

  early twenties

  Greg Barraclough

  thirties

  Doubling

  Male, forties: Thomas Harvey, Victor Milner, ‘Anthony’, Richard Walsh, Jon Williams, Otto Nathan

  Female, forties: Martha Murphy, Elouise Harvey, Brenda Walsh, Anna Vann, Evelyn Einstein

  Female, twenties to thirties: Margaret Thomson, Lisa-Scott Hannigan, Patricia Thorn, Sharon Shaw

  Male, twenties to thirties: Henry Maison, Michael Wolf, Hans Albert Einstein, Ben Murphy, Freddy Myers, Greg Barraclough

  For Dad

  INCOGNITO

  Encoding

  Michael Evelyn?

  Evelyn Excuse me?

  Michael Michael.

  Evelyn Well hello there, Michael.

  Michael Oh my God, it is, like, wow, it is like so great to meet you.

  Evelyn Pleasure meeting you too. You picked a busy place?

  Michael I kinda did. Huh. There’s a place right across the street, we could totally –

  Evelyn No.

  Michael It is kinda loud in here, though, huh?

  Evelyn What’s that?

  Michael I was saying it’s kinda loud in here!

  Evelyn (she was joking) I know.

  Michael Got it.

  Evelyn I’m more of an indoor typa person anyhow.

  Michael Oh, okay.

  Evelyn Which is why I asked –

  Michael You asked me to choose a place to meet.

  Evelyn That’s right. I’m normally more of an indoor kinda gal.

  Michael Are we, are we not indoors?

  Evelyn Meaning my apartment.

  Michael Got it.

  Evelyn Agoraphobic.

  Michael Got it.

  Evelyn Maybe, I dunno. Do you know what I mean by that?

  Michael Sure. You kinda, you kinda don’t like goin’ outdoors, right?

  Evelyn Exactly. I don’t particularly like going anywhere, tell you the truth. I kinda like my apartment and my apartment kinda likes me.

  Michael You wanna go there? We can totally do that. My car is right out front.

  Evelyn No, I don’t think so. But thank you.

  Michael Evelyn, we can totally go to your apartment.

  Evelyn Let’s start.

  Michael Yes.

  Evelyn Let’s get this thing started –

  Michael Yes.

  Evelyn And I dunno, if I start to feel –

  Michael You kinda start feeling –

  Evelyn Then maybe we can –

  Michael We can totally –

  Evelyn So as I mentioned to you in my letter –

  Michael Okay.

  Evelyn Two months ago –

  Michael Yes.

  Evelyn Give or take –

  Michael Okay.

  Evelyn I had a telephone call –

  Michael Got it.

  Evelyn I’m sorry, would you … would you mind not interrupting me.

  Michael Oh my God I am sorry.

  Evelyn It’s okay.

  Michael I’m so sorry, it’s like a tic, it’s like some tic. But I’ll totally, I can totally – (Zips his mouth, for instance.)

  Evelyn Two months ago, give or take, I had a telephone call from a gentleman named Brian Schulman.

  Michael The biographer? Dammit, sorry.

  Evelyn It’s okay. The biographer, yes.

  Michael He’s writing about your grandfather?

  Evelyn You know ’bout that?

  Michael I know about that.

  Evelyn Oh really?

&
nbsp; Michael I wanted to write about your grandfather too.

  Evelyn Oh, really.

  Michael Yeah, I had this whole idea for these, like, three separate books, these like three separate anthologies or whatever, each, you know, each kinda focusing on a totally different – Anyway, when I spoke to my publisher about it, they were like, too late; this other guy, this Brian Schulman, he’s already doin’ it. I mean he’s not doing the whole three book thing, but my publisher was like, he’s tryina write the definitive, I mean whatever that is, right?

  Evelyn I didn’t realise your passion ran quite so deep, Michael.

  Michael So, okay, I’m just gonna say it and then we can, like – I am obsessed with your grandfather. I mean literally obsessed. My dad was a science nut and when he died, and I mean I was a mess, he had all these books about your grandfather, and I gotta tell you, I just, I totally just dived right in. And I was like this totally, like, grieving mess and reading about your grandfather was, like, the thing that got me through an otherwise ridiculously awful period in my life. Anyway, God, I interrupted you, I totally interrupted you.

  Evelyn Well. Mr Schulman put it to me that I had not been told the entire truth about my lineage. He put it to me that the man I thought to be my father, Hans Albert, was in fact my brother. According to Mr Schulman, when Albie was sixty-two years of age, he had an affair with a ballet dancer. The New York Ballet. The reason I never knew about it was because Albie’s executor –

  Michael Otto?

  Evelyn Otto Nathan.

  Michael Incredible name. Sorry.

  Evelyn Mr Nathan kept my … kept Albie’s indiscretion a secret.

  Michael But oh my God, when he died – Sorry.

  Evelyn So that’s correct, when Otto died and Mr Schulman decided he wanted to write his book, the first place he went was the estate and, as he put it to me, there were reams and reams of letters and correspondences, and journals, and so on and so forth. But the problem is, the only way, the only way to know for sure –

  Michael Uh-huh.

  Evelyn – would be to do some kinda DNA test.

  Michael DNA test?

  Evelyn So they tell me.

  Michael (sudden realisation) Oh my God: the brain.

  Evelyn You really are obsessed.

  Michael Thomas Harvey, right, he’s the guy, Thomas Harvey, he’s the guy with the brain, right?

  Evelyn Do you know him, Michael?

  Michael Me? No.

  Evelyn Is he still alive do you know?

  Michael He’s gotta be.

  Evelyn Albie died in 1955, Michael, I’m not so sure.

  Michael You’d know if he was dead.

  Evelyn Michael, can I trust you?

  Michael Hundred and ten per cent.

  Evelyn There’s no such thing.

  Michael No, I know, I was … it’s just a thing people say.

  Evelyn Relax, I know.

  Michael You got me; that was a good one.

  Evelyn Do you think you can find him?

  Michael I might have to write about it, but yeah.

  Evelyn Write about it?

  Michael Speak to my editor about it – I mean it might just make it easier to find him if I’m not just doing it on my own, you know?

  Evelyn Understood.

  Michael Hey, I think that couple are about to leave, you wanna take their table, maybe grab a bite to eat?

  Victor Hello Henry.

  Henry Hello.

  Margaret Hello Henry.

  Henry Hello my love, where have you been?

  Margaret Right here. I’ve been right here.

  Henry I thought you’d left?

  Margaret No.

  Henry Where have you been?

  Margaret I’ve been right here.

  Henry Well, it’s good to see you.

  Margaret You too.

  Victor Did you have a good night’s sleep, Henry?

  Henry Tell you the truth, I didn’t stay awake to find out.

  Victor Now, Henry, Margaret tells me you’re quite the piano player? Margaret tells me you’re a bit of a dab hand.

  Henry I don’t know …

  Victor What do you think, Henry; would you like to give it a go?

  Victor gestures to a piano. Henry moves to the piano and takes a seat.

  Henry What do you want me to play?

  Margaret Whatever you want.

  Henry (beat) I’m not sure I know how to?

  Margaret You do. I promise you.

  She takes a seat beside Henry.

  Victor We have to let him –

  Margaret I know. (Beat.) Ready?

  Henry As I’ll ever be.

  Margaret plays a note. Beat, then:

  Henry plays the same note but not quite as well.

  Victor The idea is to let him –

  Margaret I know.

  Victor Margaret, I understand this is difficult for you –

  Margaret Please.

  Beat. Margaret plays a different note. Henry mimics.

  Margaret plays a different note. Henry mimics.

  Margaret plays a very brief, straightforward melody.

  Henry …

  Margaret Henry?

  Henry Hello my love, where have you been?

  Margaret (beat, then) Here. I’ve been right here.

  Victor Perhaps we ought to stop?

  Patricia Martha?

  Martha Yes.

  Patricia Patricia.

  Martha How’s it going?

  Patricia I’m sorry I’m so late.

  Martha You’re not that late.

  Patricia I’m pretty late.

  Martha You are pretty late, but that’s alright.

  Patricia Are you angry?

  Martha No.

  Patricia You sound sort of angry?

  Martha This is how I normally sound.

  Patricia Then we ought to get you a drink, angry lady.

  Martha The bar was pretty busy.

  Patricia They normally come and take your order.

  Martha There weren’t any tables.

  Patricia I’m still getting the angry voice, gotta be honest.

  Martha Sorry – You’re right. I am annoyed. I’m sorry. I got here, on time, about half an hour ago, and the place was rammed, full of fucking hipsters, no seats, and when I tried getting served, tried to actually order a drink, nobody seemed remotely interested, so I stood around for a while, pretending to check my emails, then I went to the loo, then, for no discernible reason whatsoever, I listened to a load of old voicemails, and then I came outside for a cigarette even though I’m trying to quit.

  Patricia And then I arrived – ‘Yay’. I am really fucking sorry. I’m serious.

  Martha It’s okay.

  Patricia It’s not.

  Martha It’s not, but in the grand scheme of things it is.

  Patricia I got made redundant. Like, a week ago. And I went in, today, to see a colleague, and I had like this total fucking meltdown. I got really sad, I went home, I smoked a joint and I may or may not have had a small helping of Bombay Sapphire after which I may or may not have fallen asleep, woken up, looked at my watch and gone – (whispers) ‘Fuuuuck’.

  Martha I’m sorry to hear about your job.

  Patricia Yeah well, you know what? Fuck ’em. But enough about me, let’s talk about me. D’you wanna go somewhere else?

  Martha I really don’t mind either way.

  Patricia Be honest.

  Martha I really am sorry to hear about your job.

  Patricia Thank you.

  Martha But yes, this place is my idea of hell.

  Patricia Then let’s ditch these fucking hipsters and go and eat some burgers.

  Martha I’m vegan.

  Patricia Then let’s ditch these fucking hipsters and go and eat some tofu and mung beans.

  Martha Am I allowed to have one more cigarette?

  Patricia How serious are you about tryina quit?

  Beat.

  I’m s’
posed to be doing this five–two diet?

  Martha How’s that going?

  Patricia On the two days, I literally fucking wanna kill myself, but on the five days, I just eat cake on the hour every hour. In many ways it’s the perfect balance.

  Martha offers Patricia a cigarette.

  No thank you. So how long have you been vegan, Martha?

  Martha Since I was a teenager. My parents, adoptive parents, were vegans.

  Patricia Have you ever cracked?

  Martha I had bacon once.

  Patricia That’s it?

  Martha That’s it.

  Patricia That’s a pretty fucking solid track record.

  Martha I went through a phase of eating fish when I was at university.

  Patricia I knew it.

  Martha Why are you on a diet?

  Patricia Because, well, here’s the thing: I registered with a new GP, I moved flats recently, and when you register you have to do the whole nurse thing where they weigh you, right? And the nurse said I was seven kilograms overweight and I was like: could it be my shoes?

  Martha And she said …

  Patricia ‘Young lady, those shoes are the least of your worries.’ Can I make a confession?

  Martha Okay.

  Patricia Even though I pretended I understood your job, when we were emailing, I actually didn’t. And I googled UCL and everything.

  Martha I’m a clinical neuropsychologist.

  Patricia Brilliant, because, I was just saying to a friend last week, if there is one thing we are short of in this world …

  Martha I run the Neuropsychology Department.

  Patricia Wow, you’re proper.

  Martha I wish.

  Patricia (cigarette) Don’t feel you have to rush that, by the way.

  Martha Okay. (Finishes her cigarette. Beat.) Done.

  Patricia Ready?

  Elouise Where on earth have you been?

  Harvey Elouise –

  Elouise I called the hospital –

  Harvey Honey –