Perversion of Science by Liz John

PERVERSION OF SCIENCE Copyright © 2015 Liz John
Contact: [email protected]

CAST
Dr Clara Immerwahr, scientist and housewife, 40s
Dr Fritz Haber, scientist, Clara’s husband, 40s
Maria, 20s, servant to the Haber household.

Late at night, May 1st, 1915. Berlin.

All three wear period clothes but have access to an Allied army helmet at start of
every scene.

Scene 1

Darkness. Gradually a dim, misty yellow-green spotlight highlights the actors,
(perhaps wearing Allied army helmets) in grotesque poses, in agony, suffocating.

Slow fade up on a dining table after a large dinner party – dirty plates, glasses,
crumbs, napkins strewn over a wine-stained tablecloth.

Prominent at the back (if poss) is a beautiful old fireplace. This draws the characters
periodically to warm themselves, and has a soothing, homely effect.

Dressed in smart (though not fine) clothes, Clara sits at the table, wiping at her hands
with a cloth.

Enter the serving girl Maria, heavily pregnant. She has a telegram in her pocket.
She clears up the table in silence, trying not to cry.

Eventually Clara notices her.

CLARA
Thank you, Maria.

MARIA carries on.

Was it very loud?

MARIA
Beg pardon?

CLARA
Could you hear us from the kitchen?

MARIA
Yes.

1

CLARA
But we didn’t wake Hermann?

MARIA
You did, madam. So I sat with him.

CLARA
Thank you.

Silence.

MARIA
Young master Hermann isn’t well, ma’am.

CLARA
Does he need a doctor?

MARIA
No. He needs some peace! Sorry.

CLARA
(beat) You can leave that till the morning.

But Maria carries on. She’s crying.

Leave it. For heaven’s sake, Maria, go to bed. Do you hear me? …
What are you…Has something…

MARIA puts the telegram on the table. CLARA knows immediately what it is.

Oh!
I’m so sorry. Karl…

MARIA
He’s missing.

CLARA
Missing in action? When did you get this?

MARIA
If someone’s missing, you go and find them - but they’ve given up – how can they do
that?! Why aren’t they looking for him?

Fritz storms in.

FRITZ
(to Clara) For god’s sake, Clara – why can’t you hold your tongue? Those were my
colleagues – our friends, for god’s sake – here to congratulate me! You embarrassed
them with your pathetic, misguided opinions.

2

Maria carries on clearing. Clara watches her, ignoring him.
CLARA
Maria
FRITZ
I’m a Captain now – an officer! That was unforgivable, do you hear me?
CLARA
(to Maria) Please, come on, sit down.
FRITZ
Are you deaf? I demand some respect from my wife! Clara!
(beat) What the hell’s going on?
Fritz sees the telegram.
Clara awkwardly hugs Maria who sobs.
Lights down.

3

Scene 2

Darkness. Yellow-green spotlight on three soldiers in grotesque poses, in agony,
suffocating.

Lights up. 30 minutes later.

Fritz sits alone, his head slumped on the table, asleep. There is paperwork spread on
the table.

Enter Clara with three bags which she leaves quietly at the side.

CLARA
Fritz? I’m sorry. Wake up, my love, I need to speak to you.

FRITZ
Where’s Maria? Poor child, is she all right?

CLARA
I don’t know. But it’s late. She can clear this away tomorrow.
(reluctantly) Fritz, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you at dinner.

FRITZ
You did more than that.

CLARA
When Fischer told me you’d used my calculations, I was so shocked… You never /
said…

FRITZ
/ They weren’t yours.

CLARA
He was trying to congratulate / me…me - for…

FRITZ
/ Too much wine. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

CLARA
Thank goodness. If I thought for one minute I was / responsible..

FRITZ
/ Yes, yes, you’d hate yourself. But it’s not true, my dear. So you can hate me instead.

CLARA
(tidying the papers) I’ll file these.

FRITZ
Leave them. I need to look over them. And I need the others from last week.

4

CLARA
I’ve been thinking. Perhaps, you know, if we had more time together…

FRITZ
You’re my wife, we are together.

CLARA
Yes but with your practical skills – well genius, everyone says it - and my
understanding of / molecular theory…

FRITZ
/ We have a son, in case you’ve forgotten. You must be a mother to him.

She fidgets with the bags. He notices them.

CLARA
Of course, and I will. But his chest suffers so in the Berlin air. And what’s happened
to poor Karl, well just look at Maria….

FRITZ
(re bags) What are those?

CLARA
…and I remembered – suddenly, I don’t know why, but suddenly I thought of Niels
Bohr.

FRITZ
Bohr? From Copenhagen? He has visited the Institute. Interesting chap.

CLARA
Yes I know – that’s where I met him. And I thought, Fritz, this could help us both, all
of us…

FRITZ
You’re not making sense.

CLARA
We’ll carry Hermann to Friedrichstrasse. Train to Hamburg and on to Copenhagen.

FRITZ
What?

CLARA
It’s barely 200 miles. We’d be there tomorrow night for sure.

FRITZ
(amused) You want us to go to Denmark? I’m a serving officer. I’d be shot as a
deserter!

5

CLARA
No because you see they wouldn’t find us in time. You must have some leave now
after that….business.
They need physical chemists in Copenhagen, and they’d pay dearly for your expertise.
No-one knows more about nitrogen-fixation – or even your work on hydrocarbons. It
would be our new home but we’d find a cosy house and make it so. You, me and
Hermann. And I’ll work harder to be a better wife, I promise, the wife you deserve.

FRITZ
Stop this nonsense.

CLARA
There are so many possibilities – think, Fritz – perhaps, even…America?
Albert would help us, he has contacts all over. Think what you could achieve in /
America!

FRITZ
/ Stop!

CLARA
He says they have labs the size of our fields.

FRITZ
Have you lost your senses, woman? All my hard work has finally paid off - I’m at the
top. Here. Now. No-one else – no other German scientist - could have achieved this.

CLARA
But Fritz… / Please.

FRITZ
/ They stood in awe, Clara! You should have seen them – the infantry, muddy from
the trenches, the stiff-backed officers, even the oh-so-cynical top brass – every jaw
open, every eye wide.
Three times stood down, till 5 o’clock when at long last, the wind is north-easterly – a
good strong Spring wind. And we give the order.
6000 cylinders to be opened at once, so soldiers are running – the fastest runners –
dashing between them, releasing a white mist in puffs over no-man’s land. The
ground temperature was warm so there’s condensation of course - and it takes a few
minutes before it gains its colour and behold - our magnificent yellow-green cloud
blows relentlessly towards the enemy.

CLARA
No please / don’t…

FRITZ
/ Silent, steady. And they see it, the black French, because they start firing, everything
they have, pummelling the air with bullets and shells as if they can it turn back. Ten
minutes, maybe fifteen before their guns are quiet. And we know it has engulfed
them. What a moment!

6

Clara gags.

FRITZ (cont)
But you want to leave. Oh Einstein would love that. And Willstatter. How they’d
smirk! Because then no-one is showing them up for what they are – pitiful cowards.
Because they haven’t got the guts.
Professional jealousy, that’s what it is. Pure and simple.

CLARA
Oh it’s not jealousy.

FRITZ
Of course it is.

CLARA
You know it is not!

FRITZ
What else? (beat) Come on. What is it? Tell me.

CLARA
It’s…disgust.

FRITZ
(beat) Have you not one ounce of loyalty to me?! Or to your country?

CLARA
Who’s loyal to us? How many promotions have you been refused, how many doors
slammed in your face? Jewish blood denies so much in Germany, as you well know.

FRITZ
General von Falkenhayn applauded me last week! He clapped me on the back!
Thanks to me, our infantry broke the French line at Ypres after months of deadlock, it
was incredible - we moved forward over a mile.

CLARA
A mile?

FRITZ
We walked, no, strolled over no-man’s land – not one bullet, not one shell to oppose
us. And when we got through, the black French were…they were convulsing like mad
dogs, what was left of them.

CLARA
Surely that …was worth more than a mile?

FRITZ
If his commanders had deigned to bring reinforcements, it would have been many
more. Anyway, it proved my proposition.

7

CLARA
Proposition? Don’t pretend this is science!

FRITZ
What is it then? How else can we win this war when both sides are buried in trenches?
Science brings the answer, Clara, science brings us chlorine.

CLARA
No, you brought them chlorine, Fritz.
Have you forgotten poor Sackur? It was me that held him, gasping and writhing and
choking… You couldn’t even look at him. I still wake up in a panic, feeling my throat
closing like his.

FRITZ
We’re stricter with safety in the lab now. I was sorry about Sackur. A tragic accident.

CLARA
But this is no accident. Enemy or not, no man deserves to die like that!

FRITZ
That’s treason, you fool – Erich warned you at dinner. Anyone would think you want
our soldiers to perish!

Silence. Enter Maria. She sees the bags.

MARIA
(surprised) Madam, this is Master Hermann’s case.

CLARA
Go to bed, Maria.

MARIA
And your case, Madam. Are you planning a trip?

Silence.

Sir?

FRITZ
Your wonderful mistress wants me to desert my duty.

CLARA
Fritz!

FRITZ
The war’s too uncivilised for her.

8

MARIA
No! But…but what if my Karl had abandoned his duty? Madam, if all our soldiers
deserted their posts, where would we be? You think those filthy Russians will care
about our civilised ways when they’re hacking us to pieces?

CLARA
That is not what I meant.

FRITZ
Did you pack those cases or not?

CLARA
Yes / but I didn’t…

MARIA
Keep your husband safe while ours perish?

CLARA
It’s not about safety!

MARIA
Of course it is!

CLARA
You don’t understand. He will be damned for this. We all will.

MARIA
If he takes a step out of this house, I’ll run and tell the regiment myself. You try and /
stop me!

FRITZ
(to Maria) / Silence! I will not be told my duty by a servant!

MARIA
Forgive me.

FRITZ
I have no intention of deserting my post, whatever my wife thinks. My work is
paramount.

MARIA
Sorry, sir, I am not myself.

FRITZ
No. No, of course you are not, child.
Do you not see, Clara, Total War means all of us. Giving everything we have, doing
everything we can - to win. Even you.

Lights down.

9

Scene 3

Darkness. A brief spotlight on three soldiers in grotesque poses, in agony,
suffocating.

Lights up. 30 minutes later.

Fritz is looking for his research notes. He brings out various items for the drawer
during his searches, including a military gun.

Maria pours him a drink.

FRITZ
Thank you, child. Where’s your mistress?

MARIA
In the garden.

FRITZ
Still? My wife can sulk longer than a child.
(going towards the door) Clara! Where are the research notes I brought home?
They’re not here. Clara!

Clara enters and walks past.

Where have you put them?

CLARA
I’m going to bed.

He searches

MARIA
Madam, can I have a word?

CLARA
It’s late, you should be sleeping.

MARIA
I tried, but I can’t shut my eyes for worrying what’ll happen to (re baby) this little
one, if my poor Karl….

CLARA
(distracted) Speak to the housekeeper, she deals with those things.

FRITZ
(searching for his notes) For god’s sake!

MARIA
But she hates me, and I don’t think I can… Would you talk to her perhaps? Madam?

10

FRITZ
(to Clara) Stop chattering, woman – and find me the notes.

CLARA
(distracted, to Maria) Get on with your work.

MARIA
But madam/ please…

CLARA
/ Only last year, Fritz, we were…we were the most civilised people in Europe, were
we not?

FRITZ
Better than anyone. We still are.

CLARA
You think so?

FRITZ
Isn’t it obvious? The more civilised you are at home, the more you must defend.

CLARA
We led decent, honourable lives.

FRITZ
We’re at war - ‘decent’ just means ‘dead’.

He checks his watch, then opens his packed case and adds something to it.

CLARA
What are you doing?

FRITZ
Fill a bag with food, Maria – anything we’ve got, everything we’ve got.

He puts spare bread rolls in a napkin

MARIA
What for, Sir?

FRITZ
A car is coming at first light.

A moment – the women are shocked.

MARIA
(beat) But you’ve only just come back!

11

CLARA
You’ve been posted already? You never said a word!

FRITZ
What did you expect? It all worked perfectly at Ypres, I told you.

CLARA
But surely…. I was hoping…

Clara sits down.

FRITZ
We head for Janowienta, then on to the front.

MARIA
The Eastern Front?! Oh sir!

FRITZ
Hush, child. I’ll be at the front line to position the cylinders then I’ll move back.

CLARA
No!

MARIA
Not you too.

FRITZ
Listen to me, your Karl is holed up somewhere, I’m sure. It’s easy to get lost in the
heat of battle – there’s such…confusion. He’ll find his way back.

CLARA
It isn’t finished?

FRITZ
Ten thousand steel cylinders, to be transported and buried and discharged. So no.
Nothing’s finished.

MARIA
But the Eastern Front, sir – Karl calls it hell on earth.

FRITZ
True, the Slavs have neither brain nor conscience.
So why waste German lives fighting savages, when we can win in other ways?
Von Falkenhayn calls them insects. So it’s appropriate, when you think about it.

MARIA
I don’t care how they die, so long as they can’t hurt us anymore.

FRITZ
Well said.

12

MARIA
Germany is lucky to have such a brave Captain.

FRITZ
Thank you, Maria. One person appreciates me.

MARIA
No, sir – many do! Down the market they say you have the best brain in Berlin! The
baker said we’d’ve run out of fertiliser months ago if it wasn’t for you.

FRITZ
I have achieved success in my work. (to Clara) Don’t you agree?

No response.

MARIA
There’d be empty fields, no grain, no bread. We’d have starved already, he says.

FRITZ
We’d have run out of explosive, I know that much.

CLARA
But didn’t you say, Maria – I’m sure you did - that bread was 25 pfennigs yesterday?
Can you believe it? That’s double last year.

MARIA
And more!

CLARA
There is so much to be done right here, Fritz - in food production alone - all the
processes need analysing, reconstructing in the lab, fine-tuning.
If the blockade carries on, we need our very best scientists to help the farmers.

FRITZ
Plenty can do that domestic research.

CLARA
No-one understands it like you do.
And we need you here at home, don’t we, Maria? Little Hermann needs his father. He
so loves seeing you, and it takes his mind off the weakness in his lungs.

FRITZ
Enough of your wheedling. If the boy needs fresh air

CLARA
He does.

FRITZ
I’ll send him to my Aunt in Breslau.

13

CLARA
Send him away?

FRITZ
You think you’re so worldly-wise, but you must know our enemies are doing exactly
the same – the French rained tear-gas on us in August, for god’s sake.
And Hartley in Oxford, he is working on it too. But we got there first. We beat him. I
beat him.

MARIA
Serves them right, the dirty Tommies, for threatening…and tricking us and trying to
‘put us in our place’. Now we’re putting them in their place, aren’t we sir?

FRITZ
Indeed we are. And we’re doing it faster and more efficiently than they ever
imagined. But we need to use artillery to send it over. And if the colour wasn’t so
obvious…

MARIA
They deserve it too, the Russian scum. When you hear what they’ve done to our
lads…

CLARA
Efficient?! When it’s at the random mercy of the wind? The slightest change of
weather could finish thousands of our own. And what about the civilians?

FRITZ
The meteorologists blow the whistle, not me.

CLARA
(beat, deliberately) What about poor Karl? If he is stuck somewhere, waiting for
help…?

FRITZ
He’s miles away from this.

MARIA
Oh sir!

CLARA
We don’t know where he is.

FRITZ
Stop this! You’re upsetting her.

14

CLARA
Your chlorine obliterates wildlife, trees, grass, it will infect the soil for years –
generations! And all that – not from a general or from an emperor – but from a
scientist!
Have you forgotten the principles and the ethics - the ambitions of our work?
Discovering, analysing, perfecting for the benefit of mankind.

FRITZ
For the benefit of Germany.
I am protecting us, our country the best way I can. We have to win and win quickly so
our soldiers can come home safely.

MARIA
Please god!

FRITZ
And they will.

Silence.

CLARA
I expected so much more from you

FRITZ
No you didn’t. Other wives would be proud but each one of my achievements hurts
you more.

MARIA
What if Madam’s right? What if Karl / is somewhere near

FRITZ
/ She is wrong. Again. She may be clever with her theories - but in life she is always
wrong. Dr Clara Immerwahr. The sharpest brain in Breslau. You’d think all the
privileges of a Prussian education and a wealthy home, a doting father, would make
her the perfect wife – like her sisters, loving mothers to their children. But no, the
mind, the fine mind prevents this – always calculating, challenging, complaining.
How can that make her a better wife and mother?

MARIA
Motherhood is about your heart. So my mother said.

FRITZ
Not enough heart. No heart.

MARIA
Is that why Master Hermann is so sickly?

FRITZ
Who knows?

15

MARIA
That’s what they say.

CLARA
Who says such things?

MARIA
People. At the market.

CLARA
(to Maria) How dare you question my love for my son?

FRITZ
And your husband.

CLARA
Out of my sight! I’ll sack you if you talk like that again.

MARIA
But my husband’s lost, and a baby on the way…

FRITZ
/ You see, no heart! Ignore her, Maria. Your position here is safe, so long as I’m in
charge of my own household. Sit down, girl. Rest your feet. That’s it.

Maria sits down.

CLARA
How dare you let her speak like this?

FRITZ
(mimicking) How dare you, how dare you, how dare you?! You sound like the spoilt
little girl you are.

CLARA
How dare…?!

Fritz laughs. Maria smiles.

No, oh no, I see what you’re doing Fritz. My fine brain still works, lucky for me.
Whatever you do to this (indicating her heart), this (indicating her brain) will
continue.

FRITZ
Then use it and bring me the research notes I need. Now!

Clara goes to get the papers.

MARIA
Everyone is grateful for what you’re doing, Sir.

16

FRITZ
Women don’t understand the intricacies of war.

MARIA
But lots are impressed. Only last week, Fraulein Charlotte was asking after you.

FRITZ
Charlotte from my club?

MARIA
Yes sir.

Clara finds the paperwork.

FRITZ
Such a fine woman. (deliberately) I must stop and talk to her next time.

CLARA
You have to listen to me.

FRITZ
I will not.

CLARA
I beg you, step back. (re papers) This – it’s not science. It’s a…a….perversion of
science!
(beat) You must…feel…something.

FRITZ
(beat) Nothing.

CLARA
Then we have lost this war already!
Clara starts to throw Fritz’s papers into the fire.

FRITZ
Clara!

MARIA
Madam! Stop!

Maria grabs them before they burn. And gives them to Fritz

Here, sir.

17

FRITZ
Thank god!

CLARA
I will not be part of this. I cannot!

MARIA
He is saving us, you should be proud!

FRITZ
She only has pride for herself! (to Maria) Fetch me food for the journey, girl. Now,
hurry.

Maria exits.

CLARA
God gave us skills to bring life but all you bring is…this.
I cannot be part of it. Don’t you see, you are shaming our profession, you are
shaming me to my heart.

FRITZ
You shame yourself, woman - you’re unhinged, dangerous. All this emotion for
strangers, for our enemy - yet none at home? I’m sending Herman away from you
for good.

CLARA
No please / listen to me

FRITZ
/ The boy shouldn’t breathe the stench of your failure - wife, mother – you couldn’t
manage either, could you?

CLARA
You can’t take Hermann.

FRITZ
You won’t be part of it, eh? Well too late, Dr Immerwahr – too late for you!

CLARA
What are you / saying?

FRITZ
/ My calculations were wrong – our mathematical model was failing, we couldn’t
predict the speed of diffusion, however hard we tried. Weeks of work. Then you
corrected it. Do you remember? At dinner, you glanced over my formulae and
corrected them – just like that, a stroke of your fountain pen.

CLARA
But…that was months ago.

18

FRITZ
Fischer spoke the truth.
With one stroke of your pen, you send thousands of enemy soldiers rasping and
gagging and choking to their god. You.
CLARA
No.
FRITZ
Our great nation applauds you.
He exits.
CLARA
No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!
Clara takes the pistol from the side, and holds it to her heart.
A huge bang simultaneously with blackout.
Curtains down.

19