Daily Dialogue — March 13, 2018

“This isn’t the Death of Nelson, you know. Where is it? There’s no mention of stage managers either. Come out of here. Are we going to get paid? I mean, is there money in the till after deductions for income tax? We’ve got to be paid for the full week, you know. Just because a man dies on Thursday doesn’t mean to say we get paid pro rata. Come away. Where will I go? Where? I’m nowhere… out of my element. I don’t want to end up running a boarding house in Colwyn Bay. What am I going to do? You can speak well of him. Speak well of THAT old sod? I wouldn’t give him a good character, not in a court of law. The ungrateful bastard. Get out. Get out! I don’t want you in here. Holy, holy, holy, is it? This isn’t a shrine! No pissing on the altar. Stop it. Speak well of him? I know what YOU’D say. I know all about YOU, ducky. I have eyes in my head. We all have our little sorrows. I know what you’d say — stiff upper, faithful, loyal, loving. Well, I have only one thing to say about him and I wouldn’t say it in front of you, or Her Ladyship, or anyone. Lips tight shut. I wouldn’t give you the pleasure. Or him. Especially not him. If I said what I have to say, he’d find a way to take it out on me. No-one will ever know. We all have our little sorrows, ducky… You’re not the only one. The littler you are, the larger your sorrows. You think you loved him? What about me? Oh, this is no place for death. I had a friend…”

— The Dresser (2015), screenplay by Richard Eyre, based on a play by Ronald Harwood

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Eulogy. Today’s suggestion by Lois Bernard.

Trivia: Sir Anthony Hopkins was the principal champion for the project.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Lois: “Scott and all, I just watched both the 1983 and the 2015 tv remake of “The Dresser” and I searched for a clip of this eulogy but only could find clips of Anthony Hopkins (2015 version) and Albert Finney (1983 version) doing their thing in other scenes but here is the end, not really a eulogy, said by Norman, “The Dresser” after the death of “Sir” who has just finished dying onstage as Lear. “Sir” has started his autobiography and in the beginning thanked everyone involved in the production of his plays except “The Dresser”, Norman.

I can’t find the clip, but here is the trailer for the 2015 version of the movie:

And the trailer from the 1983 movie: