Polidori

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

This is why clowns are good.

BILL MOYERS: 

Clowns?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

Clown religions, 

because they show that 

The Image is not a fact, 

but it’s a reflex of some kind.

BILL MOYERS: 

So does this help explain the trickster gods that show up at times?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

They’re very much that, yes. 

[Drawing room]

(Ryan is trying to play Chopsticks, one finger each hand, and making a mess of it.) 

MARY SHELLEY: 

Such a jaunty air. 

Is it popular in the colonies? 

RYAN: 

Er, yeah. 

Me Nan taught me, but 

I always get the keys wrong. 

But she always said, there's 

no reason not to try. 

MARY SHELLEY : 

I should practise more. 

But I confess, I prefer to write. 

RYAN: 

Hmm. 

MARY SHELLEY : 

Even though my efforts are weak. 

I could never hope to match the achievements of My Parents. 

RYAN: 

Me Nan would say stick with it. 

MARY: 

Hmm. 

RYAN: 

What's his problem? 

MARY SHELLEY : 

Oh, pay Doctor Polidori no heed. 

He's bad-tempered 

because he does not sleep. 

He walks at night. 

A terrible affliction. 

Imagine, never being able to Truly Rest.

[Drawing room]

(Polidori wakes and stands.)

GRAHAM: 

You're going nowhere, pal. 

You're staying right there. 

I'm on guard.

(Polidori walks away as if in a trance.)

GRAHAM: 

Oh. Hey. Poli? Poli? 

Hello? Poli? Poli? 

Can you hear me, son? 

Can you hear me?

(Polidori walks through a wall.)

[Byron's chamber]

(The Doctor runs in.)

DOCTOR: 

Argh!

(And out and in.)

CLAIRE: 

The same chamber, over and over. 

How is it possible?

DOCTOR: 

It's not. It's...

BYRON: 

Like a dream.

[Staircase]

MARY: 

Elise? Can you hear me? 

Do you have William?

YASMIN: 

He'll be okay. 

He probably just cried himself out and fell asleep.

GRAHAM [OC]: Doc! Poli! Doc!

[Drawing room]

(Runs out and in again.)

GRAHAM: Doc!

(The woman and girl are there.)

GRAHAM: There's something seriously wrong with this gaff.

[Byron's chamber]

DOCTOR: 

Is anyone else trapped?

GRAHAM [OC]: 

Yeah.

[Drawing room]

GRAHAM: 

And I think I'm seeing 

Dead People.

(The wind blows through, extinguishing fires and candles.) GRAHAM: 

Perfect.

RYAN [OC] 

We're the same!

[Staircase]

RYAN: 

I totally saw a ghost.

YASMIN: 

We're stuck on the stairs.

MARY: 

Please! How do we move upwards? 

I need to check My Son is well.

[Byron's chamber]

DOCTOR: 

Working on it! Head's a bit fuzzy. 

Normal service will resume shortly. 

And ghosts don't exist.

[Drawing room]

GRAHAM: 

Of course not. You two just need 

a spray tan and a kip, eh?

DOCTOR [OC]: 

Graham, what sort of 

Dead People, exactly?

GRAHAM: 

Oh. How can I hear your voice, Doc?

DOCTOR [OC]: I'm using the fireplace chimney.

GRAHAM: Doc?

DOCTOR [OC]: Graham? Graham?

GRAHAM: They've gone now. And... so's Polidori.

[Byron's chamber]

GRAHAM [OC]: I've lost him.

DOCTOR: 

You had one job!

[Drawing room]

GRAHAM: 

Yeah, made more challenging by his ability to walk through walls.

[Byron's chamber]

DOCTOR: 

Through?

GRAHAM [OC]: 

Well, he just turned 

sort of zombie and 

went into one.

BYRON: 

What do you speak of? 

What is a zombie?

CLAIRE: 

Mrs Doctor?

DOCTOR: 

Kind of a Dead Person walking, 

but it won't be that.

CLAIRE: 

Mrs Doctor?

BYRON: 

How do you know?

DOCTOR: 

Because Polidori isn't dead, 

for a kick-off.

(Polidori walks in through the wall.)

CLAIRE: 

Mrs Doctor!

DOCTOR: 

Really, just ‘Doctor’ is fine.

BYRON: 

Polidori!

(Byron hides behind Claire.)

CLAIRE: 

He emerged from the wall 

like a phantom.

BYRON:

Begone, demon!

DOCTOR: 

Pulse? Check. 

Breathing. Check.

BYRON: 

May I just say, you are 

quite lovely in a crisis.

DOCTOR: 

No, you may not. 

The lights are on, 

but he's gone 

on a mini-break.

BYRON: 

Possessed?

CLAIRE: 

Or asleep?

 He walks in his sleep.

BYRON:

One does not sleepwalk 

through walls.

DOCTOR: 

Not just through. Up. 

He was downstairs a second ago. What you said before...

BYRON: 

About being lovely?

DOCTOR: 

Back a bit.

BYRON: 

Er... Demon?

DOCTOR: 

It's like dreaming... 

only we aren't, and he is. 

So he can't see 

The Illusion.

(She puts her hand through the wall.)

DOCTOR: 

But it's more than that. 

We're surrounded. Immersed. 

It's sort of like a... 

A perception filter! 

Close your eyes. Clear your mind. 

We're only experiencing 

what it wants us to.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

This is why clowns are good.

BILL MOYERS: 

Clowns?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

Clown religions, because they show that the image is not a fact, but it’s a reflex of some kind.

BILL MOYERS: 

So does this help explain the trickster gods that show up at times?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

They’re very much that, yes.