What chance does that baby have without me?
In the dramatic scene from Grand Opera, Olivia tries to explain to her sister why she should no longer live with her son and daughter-in-law.
SANDRA: I’m constantly stopping her from disaster!
OLIVIA: Listen to me; it isn’t a question of you being here, helping out, and overseeing things. It’s not that your son and his wife don’t appreciate it; they do.
It sounds to me that you’re being too overbearing. NOW, NOW—let me finish before you start to rant your grand opera, please. (beat) You have good intentions; we all know this, but they are newlyweds, starting out with their own family…and they’re feeling smothered. Coming here to live with them is putting a strain on their relationship.
SANDRA: So, I’m gonna be the one who gets blamed for their divorce?
OLIVIA: Divorce? No one is talking about a divorce.
SANDRA: I need to be here, Olivia. Don’t you see? You’ve met Suzette enough times to know that she’s…flighty. I’m not calling her a dummy, but she’s not playing with a full deck, and I feel obligated; in fact, it’s my responsibility as a grandmother to protect my bloodline.
What chance does that baby have without me? (beat) Ever since my husband died…it wasn’t until my grandson was born that I knew exactly what I was signed up for. He’s my purpose.
My son is too busy making his way into the world. He’s ambitious, hardworking, and he doesn’t have the time to help Suzette as much as he wishes he could.
That’s why I am here. You see?
Suzette may not admit it, but she’s lost without me. No family of her own, no outside influence. She might as well have been raised by a pack of wolves. What she knows about motherhood is what she learns from books and television. That girl is lost! You tell me…how is my grandson going to grow up? Huh? With me he has a chance; with Nanna!
OLIVIA: I am certain that Suzette has her own instinct about being a mother.
SANDRA: From day one she raised my eyebrow.
OLIVIA: Why?
SANDRA: She went to school.
OLIVIA: Isn’t that a good thing?
SANDRA: School? No—not when it comes to being a mother.
OLIVIA: But, what does that have—
SANDRA: Too intellectual, no feeling. Too many of those books clogging her mind. Everything about that girl is too distant. I see no passion, no sweat in her! Everything she does is easy and simplified.
OLIVIA: Is that what’s bothering you?
SANDRA: And she still goes to work! How can you be a mother raising a baby and going to work? HOW?!
OLIVIA: Perhaps times have changed.
SANDRA: No, no. My son should be the one working.
OLIVIA: Things are different these days.
SANDRA: He makes a good salary! He has a top position!
OLIVIA: She does too!
SANDRA: She’s greedy; she wants it all, a career and children! She’s already talking about the next child, when she can in no way handle the one. A mother needs to be home!
OLIVIA: She’s committed to her career and her son, Sandra. There’s nothing wrong with that.
SANDRA: They convinced you, I see.
OLIVIA: No one convinced me of anything.
SANDRA: You come over here to get me to do what? What did they ask you to do?
OLIVIA: I’m inviting you to live at my house.
SANDRA (shocked): …What?
OLIVIA: It’s too much for them. It will be better if you come and live with me. You can visit them every day if you wish, but they need their space…they deserve to be happy. Distance will be healthy for everyone.
SANDRA: My son told you this?
OLIVIA: …Yes.
SANDRA: He wants to throw his mother out on the street?
OLIVIA: No one is throwing you out on the street.
SANDRA: I am not wanted.
OLIVIA: Sandy, you can’t act like this.
SANDRA: How am I to be? What’s true is true.
- To read the full one-act ePlay, find purchase link below:
In the one-act play Grand Opera, Sandra is visited by her sister, who tells her that Sandra’s son wants her to leave because she’s interfering with him and his wife raising their baby. 2 Women. Drama.
