George and Martha: "The High Board"

George claims he is going to jump from the high board--and everyone will see him--and Martha must withstand this puffed-up windbag moment.

(George is a hippo of many words, and some are foolish. See also: "The Fibber," "The Trip.")

When George loses his courage, Martha rescues him--and George has the audacity to LIE! ("I just didn't feel like jumping today," he says. "Maybe tomorrow." As if his failure to jump were just because of a passing whim--and not deep terror.)

Martha bites her tongue--and silence, once again, says everything. Sometimes, in the presence of nonsense, we must just hold our breath. Marshall liked the gap between speech and thought--there's a world of subtext in a pregnant pause--and, here, he is once again pursuing the "subtext-love" that we have seen elsewhere ("The Clock," "The Box," "The Beach," you name it!) .....

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