Nourish The Beast

“Nourish The Beast” is probably my favorite play of all time. My mother and I saw it on PBS almost 40 years ago, and we’ve never forgotten it. The slack-jawed delight of it has never faded, and it’s on my bucket list to will a copy of it into existence so we can watch it again.

Here is a link to it on IMDB, for all the good that does me. I’ve Googled until my Googler is sore, but I can’t find a video recording of that performance. ~sigh~

The title comes from the scene in which Goya (the main character) and her current husband, Mario (who came in answer to an ad: “Wanted. A man”, which delighted him because here was finally a position for which he was qualified), discuss the matters that need to be attended to. One is feeding the dog. Mario writes it down as “nourish the beast”; if he should drop dead in the street, he would like anyone who searches his pockets to find such a note.

ZOMG I love this play!!!

Here is a link to the publisher, Samuel French, which is where I bought the copy I gave my mother. And here is a link to a PDF of one of the scenes turned into a monologue. And here is a link to a wonderful actor named Alex Robertson doing a stellar job performing that monologue.

I’m trying to get my meathooks on a video of that PBS performance. In researching this post (Yes, I do research them; I bet you thought I must made them up out of my head), I found that the UCLA Film & TV Archive has preserved it, and I’ve tweeted them on Twitter asking where I can get a copy. They’ll probably make me one for eleventy bazillion bucks. Ah, well, I can but try.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character writes a want ad for an unusual object, or writes an unusual ad for a common object.

MA