Logline: A young Vietnamese adventurer is torn between remaining in the America that inspires his revolutionary fervor, or returning home to fight for the near impossible goal of independence.
Brief synopsis: Saturday Club is a fictional imagining of Ho Chi Minh's time working as a pastry cook in the elegant Parker Hotel in Boston in 1911. The other cooks befriend the young man as he grapples with unfamiliar American ways. Reading voraciously in the public library, he befriends a young woman who teaches him the mysterious workings of democracy. A wise old beggar shows him the pragmatic way to survive. Then Ho meets Teddy Roosevelt and Sarah Bernhardt and his destiny is revealed. The play closes in 1912, foretelling the controversy surrounding his life. The final one minute scene is the older Ho delivering his independence proclamation in 1945, reciting the exact words from the American Declaration of Independence.
The play clearly demonstrates Ho’s admiration for America. Ho admired America’s fight for independence from Britain. Ho wrote to many U.S. presidents seeking support for the Vietnam independence movement. Ho was made an honorary member of the CIA because he saved U.S. pilots downed over Vietnam during WWII. He continued to press for US support for Vietnam’s independence from France. The play does not include anything to do with the ‘American’ War in Vietnam.
Key characters in Saturday Club : Six actors play all the roles
Ho Chi Minh: age 18, Vietnamese, speaks English well with an accent, 4'11" tall.
Beggar: age 40 - 70, Black American. Represents the ‘have nots’ of all times and all places; debates juxtaposing philosophies with Ho.
Rory: age 40 - 60, Irish immigrant works in the hotel, tall and bulky in contrast to the small Ho; the sounding board for Ho's political musings.
Malcolm: age 30, hotel manager. Pretends he is Boston establishment. His love for Suzanna is destined to be unfulfilled.
Suzanna: Black American works in the hotel, age 27, Southern accent. Suzanna left the south to get away from the people that lynched her husband.
Pamela: The librarian at the Boston Public Library, age 25, Boston accent. Helps Ho understand democracy and realise his life’s goal.
Sarah Bernhardt: Famous French actress, age 65. Patronising and dismissive of the Voltaire-loving Ho.
Booker T. Washington: Black American activist, age 60 to 70, has a limp, strong Southern accent. Dispenses an old activist’s wisdom.
Teddy (Theodore Roosevelt): Former US President, age 53. Appears in the comic Saturday Club scene, portrays the hypocrisy of the political world; predicts Ho’s future successes.
Who was the real Ho?
Hi Chi Minh was one of the 20th century's' most influential, controversial and intelligent leaders. He has been described as a Confucian humanist, father of the nation, murderer, hero, courtly, urbane, witty, ruthless pragmatist, courteous, frail as a sparrow, sentimental idealist, brilliant organiser, patient to the point of being stoic, sophisticated with a gentle manner and without personal venom. Graham Greene wrote that "Ho reminded me of Mr. Chips, wise, kind and just". A French socialist in 1922 wrote, "Ho had a Chaplinesque aura about him - simultaneously sad and comic".
scene 17
The parker Room
The Saturday Club
Suzanna and Malcolm are leading BOOKER down a corridor to the Parker Room. Booker is reserved, confident and dignified. He is wearing a suit. Booker and Suzanna shake hands and Booker places his left hand on her shoulder.
Meanwhile, Ba is walking toward the Parker Room from the other side, the lobby side.
Pastries and other foods are on a table in the room. Roosevelt and SARAH Bernhardt are standing together. Sarah is elegantly dressed and has a gracious manner. TEDDY exudes robust masculinity. He is portly and proud of it. Teddy is eating a pastry as he chats to Sarah. There are also many other people somehow indicated in the scene.
Malcolm shows Booker into the room. Malcolm and Suzanna exit. Teddy welcomes Booker with a bear hug.
teddy
Booker, my friend, welcome.
BOOKER
Hello, Teddy.
TEDDY (grandly)
Sarah, this is the famous Booker T. Washington.
BOOKER
Madame Bernhardt. It is a pleasure.
SARAH
Dear Mr Washington. It is an honour to meet you.
booker
Please call me Booker.
sarah
I have a surprise for everyone this afternoon.
TEDDY
I love surprises.
SARAH
I have invited one of the Parker Hotel cooks to the Saturday Club.
TEDDY
Excellent, Sarah. Good to have an ordinary member of the public come to join us.
SARAH
He is from Vietnam.
teddy
Vietnam?
booker
Perhaps you know of it as Indochina.
sarah
It’s one of our many colonies.
teddy (lying)
Oh, well, yes, I have heard of that place.
sarah
He’s a dear little boy and he helped me escape from the rowdy crowd the other night after the performance.
BOOKER
The newspaper said you were swamped by hundreds of your fans.
SARAH
It was right outside the Hotel and as I passed a little lane beside the kitchen, this dear little boy took my hand and guided me to the bakery door, right past the garbage boxes.
BOOKER
So that's how you escaped.
SARAH
Yes. He's a funny little fellow. He works in the bakery, making pastries.
teddy (munching)
And these are the best pastries I’ve ever eaten.
sarah
He saved me and then he wanted to waste my time and talk about the French Enlightenment. Can you believe it? But I felt I had to do something for him. You can’t give these people money. They don’t need much after all. And if they have money, they only waste it on drink or buying gold statues of their gods. I couldn’t think of anything else to do but to invite him to the Saturday Club. He is Van Ba. Cute name, isn’t it? I do hope you’ll be kind to him.
teddy
We must look after your Ba this afternoon. I am curious to see what this young man thinks.
sarah
I doubt he’ll say much. He’ll be too intimidated.
teddy
Then it will be even more fun to push him to talk.
Ba enters, also from the side door. The bruise on his head is very evident. All stare at Ba. Sarah reaches out with her finger as if to touch Ba’s bruise but then withdraws, changing her mind. After a moment he smiles, breaking the silence.
TEDDY
Hello. You must be Van Ba. Welcome.
Ba thrusts out his hand for Teddy to shake. TEDDY bumps his arm up and down while Ba plasters a hard smile on his face.
BA
How do you do, Mr Roosevelt. It is a great pleasure to meet you.
Sarah is impressed that Ba speaks so well.
sarah
Bon jour, Ba. Bienvenue sur le Saturday Club.
ba
Bon après-midi. C'est un plaisir pour moi d'être ici. Je vous remercie de m'avoir invité.
teddy
What did you say? (to BA) What did he say? (to Sarah)
Sarah
Ba is thanking me for inviting him to the soirée.
teddy
Ah, soirée. Our Saturday Club is one of those. Ba, this is the famous Booker T. Washington.
Ba thrusts out his hand again.
BA
How do you do, Mr Washington. It is a great pleasure to meet you again.
They shake. Ba straightens up his suit again.
booker
Now I remember you, Ba. I almost didn’t recognise you in a suit. We met in Harlem. You asked me if I liked to read Voltaire.
Sarah and Teddy laugh at this.
Booker
And I answered that I don’t have much time to read books. I only write them. We don’t stand on formalities at the Saturday Club. Please, call me Booker.
ba
I will try.
booker
I see you had to come in by the servants’ entrance, too, Ba.
teddy
My apologies for having to sneak you into the Hotel the back way, Booker.
SARAH
In France, Negroes come in the front door.
TEDDY
I once welcomed you by the front door of the White House, didn't I Booker?
BOOKER
Indeed you did, Teddy.
TEDDY
Booker came to dine with me at the White House and it nearly caused a riot.
BOOKER
But if you win the next election you must invite me to the White House again and greet me at the front door.
TEDDY
Yes, yes. Of course I will. (lying) You can count on me.
SARAH
I have heard much about your book.
TEDDY
'Up From Slavery'. A great little title, Booker.
BOOKER
Thank you.
sarah
I have a copy and will read it on the boat back to France. You have read it, of course, Teddy. What do you think of it?
teddy
I, too, have no time to read books, only newspapers. You look like you will bring us good humour this afternoon, Ba.
BA
I will try, Mr Roosevelt.
teddy
How long have you been in America?
ba
Over one year.
TEDDY
And what do you think of our country, Ba?
Ba looks from one to the other, but stays silent.
teddy
Come, come, young man. You can say what you like at the Saturday Club. Don’t stay silent. Or perhaps you are still ignorant of our ways in America.
Booker gasps at Teddy’s rude statement. Ba again looks from one to the other then rests his eyes on Sarah who nods, encouraging him to speak.
Sarah
It’s all right, Ba. You may speak.
BA
I admire America's compassion, adventuresomeness, but most of all I admire America’s independence.
SARAH
Well said.
Teddy slaps Ba on the back, thrusting him forward. Ba grins nonetheless.
Booker
Our young friend is a diplomat.
teddy
But it is just common sense to speak nicely about the place you visit.
booker
Sadly, common sense is not so common these days.
teddy
No, Booker. Common sense is in abundance, because every man believes he possesses it.
SARAH
I shall start the discussions by asking the question on everyone's lips. Will there be a war in Europe? Where is the common sense in that prospect?
TEDDY
I fear there will be war. Franz Josef will use any excuse to start one.
They look at Ba to see if he knows who Franz Josef is.
BA
Is he the ruler of the Austrian Hungarian Empire?
Teddy slaps Ba on back again.
teddy
Yes.
Sarah
Will we Europeans ever stop fighting? Why do our empires have to fight to prove who is right?
teddy
It will only prove who is left.
ba
May I ask a question, please?
teddy
Ask, Ba. Ask.
ba
Will France be in this war you talk about?
sarah
I’m afraid it is so.
teddy
If there is a war, America will stay out of it. Whoever is president will declare us absolutely neutral. We don't want to get mixed up in old Europe.
BA
May I ask another question, please?
TEDDY
Ask, Ba. Ask.
BA
If there is another war, after it is over, will France be so tired it would be good time for Vietnam to ask for independence?
SARAH
I fear France would want to cling to its grand and glorious past. We would fight to keep the colonies and even as we struggle to keep the Marxists quiet in France. We don’t want another revolution.
TEDDY
Revolutionaries want to change everything except themselves. Marx had never been inside a factory so how would he know anything about the workers? The workers are being seduced by a man who has never worked a day in his life. And what do you think of this new communism, Ba?
Again, they all surround Ba and stare at him.
BA
I think it is not new. In the village everyone works at what they can. Everyone shares. Everyone owns the ploughs and rice. It is the village tradition.
Teddy
But would your village share the rice and the means of production with the neighbouring village, or with all villages?
Long pause, all stare at Ba while he considers his answer.
ba
It should.
TEDDY
But 'should' is not the same thing as 'would'. Every person who thinks the world should be a certain way, has his own view of what that way should be. Therefore, every should-be person must disagree with every other should-be person. Whereas if you see the world as it is, then there is no need to disagree. One cannot disagree with the way the world is. It is as it is.
sarah
And as it is now, the Marxists are making progress all over Europe.
teddy
May I stress the implausibility of the communist state? Let them try it. Leave the Communist places alone for 50 or 60 years and it will fail all by itself. So why bother to fight Communism? Do you agree, Ba? Come come, young man. We want to hear what you have to say, but perhaps you know nothing of this communism beyond your villagers sharing out the rice. Do you know who Marx is?
Long pause.
BA
Mr Marx only wrote about the workers in the factories. He deeply cared about those peoples. He blamed the owners of those factories for their miseries. But Mr Marx did not mention the peasants. He did not mention even the colonial peoples. Maybe the Marxists only fight for their type of people, the people they can see.
TEDDY
Well said, young man.
ba
I think there has to be a new system that includes independence for colonial peoples. Maybe we need a new way.
teddy
You can’t restart something now until you’ve destroyed the old. Creators are always forced to become destroyers first.
booker
Ba, your people, like my people, are the oppressed. And the oppressed are grasping for communism’s promise of sharing equally.