Summary Dangerous turn
JB Priestley The
Dangerous Turn
To Robert and Fred Kaplen in Chantbari Kloe came friends and relatives for dinner. Among the invited married couple are Gordon and Betty Whitehouse, an employee of the publishing house Oluen Peel, one of the newly appointed directors of this English publishing house Charles Trevor Stanton, and finally the writer Maud Mokridge. While the men talk after dinner in the dining room, the women, returning to the living room, decide to listen to the radio play, which they started listening to before dinner. During dinner they missed five scenes of this play and now do not quite understand why it is called “Sleeping Dog” and why in the final there is a deadly shot from the pistol. Oluen Peel suggests that the sleeping dog represents the truth that one of the characters in the play wanted to learn. Having woken the dog, he learned the truth, and so abundant in this play lies, and then shot himself. Miss Mokridge, in connection with suicide
The three of them (Maud Mokridge moved earlier), Robert, Freda and Oluen continue to recall all that they saw and experienced. Oluen admits that she went to Martin, because she had to find out the question that tormented her: who still stole a check for five hundred pounds – Martin or Robert. Now, however, everyone says that Martin did this and that, apparently, this act was the main reason for his suicide. But Oluen still continues to suffer doubts, and she directly asks Robert if he took the money. Robert is outraged by such suspicions, especially because they are expressed by a man whom he always considered one of his best friends. Here Fred, unable to stand, declares to Robert that he is blind, if he still does not understand that Oluen loves him, not friendly feelings. Oluen is forced to admit this, and also that she, continuing to love Robert, actually covered him. She had not told anyone that Martin had persuaded her that evening in Robert’s dishonest act and that his confidence was based on Stanton’s testimony. Stunned Robert confesses that to him Stanton pointed to Martin as a thief and said that he did not want to extradite Martin, because they three are connected by mutual responsibility. Freda and Robert conclude that Stanton himself took the money, because only Robert, Martin and Stanton knew about them. Robert calls the Gordons, who still have Stanton, and asks them to come back to find out everything to shed light on all the secrets. Stunned Robert confesses that to him Stanton pointed to Martin as a thief and said that he did not want to extradite Martin, because they three are connected by mutual responsibility. Freda and Robert conclude that Stanton himself took the money, because only Robert, Martin and Stanton knew about them. Robert calls the Gordons, who still have Stanton, and asks them to come back to find out everything to shed light on all the secrets. Stunned Robert confesses that to him Stanton pointed to Martin as a thief and said that he did not want to extradite Martin, because they three are connected by mutual responsibility. Freda and Robert conclude that Stanton himself took the money, because only Robert, Martin and Stanton knew about them. Robert calls the Gordons, who still have Stanton, and asks them to come back to find out everything to shed light on all the secrets.
The men return alone – Betty stayed at home. On Stanton, a flurry of questions is piling up, under the pressure of which he confesses that he really took the money, in dire need of them and hoping to cover a shortage in a few weeks. It was on one of these troubled days that Martin shot himself and everyone thought that he had done it without experiencing the stigma of the theft and being afraid of disclosure. Then Stanton decided to keep quiet and do not admit anything. Freda and Gordon do not hide the joy of learning that Martin kept his honest name, and they attack with accusations on Stanton. Stanton quickly takes himself in hand and recalls that since Martin’s life was far from righteous, the latter should have had some other reason for suicide. Stanton does not care now, and he says everything he knows. And he knows, for example, that Fred was Martin’s mistress. Freda is also determined at this moment to be frank, and she admits she could not break the love affair with Martin by marrying Robert. But since Martin did not really love her, she did not dare to break with Robert.
Gordon, who worshiped Martin, pounces with reproaches on Oluen, who has just confessed that she hated Martin for his treachery and intrigues. Oluen admits that she shot Martin, but not intentionally, but by accident. Oluen tells that she found Martin on that fateful evening alone. He was in a terrible state, drugged with some kind of drug and suspiciously gay. He began to tease Oluen, called her a stiff old maiden who had become prejudiced in prejudice, said that she had never lived a full life, claimed that she was in vain suppressing the desire he felt for him. Martin was excited more and more and offered Oluen to take off the dress. When the indignant girl wanted to leave, Martin blocked the door, and a revolver appeared in his hands. Oluen tried to push him away, but he began to tear off her dress. Defending himself, Oluen grabbed his hand, in which he had a gun, and turned the gun to the barrel. Finger Oluen pulled the trigger, a shot rang out and Martin fell, slain with a bullet.
All present are shocked by what they heard and at the same time they are convinced of the innocence of Oluen. They decide to keep this secret in the future. Stanton alone seems to be not very surprised. He had already guessed this for a long time, as he found a piece of cloth from Oluen’s dress in Martin’s cottage. Stanton always treated Oluen respectfully and was sure of her moral purity. Continuing her confession, Oluen says that when she woke up a little, she wanted to share something with someone and went to Stanton’s cottage. Approaching the house, she saw two of them: Stanton and Betty, and, of course, turned back. These words make a depressing impression on Robert, who directly asks Betty, that all the same then came here, whether she was the lover of Stanton. He receives an affirmative answer and Betty’s confession that her marriage to Gordon was a complete pretense, that nothing but shame and humiliation, this marriage did not give her. She confesses that she did not meet with Stanton for great love, but because Gordon’s behavior drove her crazy, and because Stanton made her expensive gifts. Robert admits for the first time that Betty worshiped, but the young woman tells him that he did not adore her, but only her beautiful image, youth, which is not the same thing. Robert and Gordon, each in their own way, once again direct their anger at Stanton, stating that they no longer want to have anything to do with him: he must leave now and not forget to apply for resignation, and also to return five hundred pounds. Robert leans on the whiskey and admits that everything from now on in his life will be meaningless and empty. After losing Betty, he lost the last illusion, and without illusions he can not live – it was in them that he drew hope and courage. Today, through his fault, his whole familiar world has collapsed, and the future for him no longer exists. In desperation, he leaves. Freda remembers that Robert has a revolver in his bedroom. Oluen tries to stop Robert…
In the gradually approaching darkness a shot is heard, then there is a woman’s cry and sobbing, just like at the beginning of the play. Then gradually the light lights up again, illuminating all four women. They are discussing the play “Sleeping Dog”, broadcast on the radio, and from the dining room the laughter of men is heard. When men join women, a conversation begins between them, like two drops of water, like a conversation at the beginning of a play. They discuss the name of the play, Fred offers cigarettes to the guests from the casket, Gordon seeks dance music on the radio. The motif of the song “Everything could be different” is heard. Oluen and Robert dance the foxtrot to the sound of louder and louder music. Everyone is very cheerful. Slowly the curtain falls.
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