Manipulation

(Murray's Club, the summer of the following year. The topless dancers has gained a new performer: MANDY RICE-DAVIES, sixteen, a pert, attractive blonde

WARD sits at his usual table for four with a new acquaintance, a stocky Russian in naval uniform, CAPTAIN EUGENE IVANOV, thirty-seven. A nearby table seats three men, RONNIE AND REGGIE KRAY, twins in their late twenties, and LORD "BOB" BOOTHBY. Further away is a chunky forty-year-old with a very young girl: he's PETER RACHMAN.)

[WARD]
This is a world
Where there's all kinds of pressures
Where everybody's anxious
And despеrate for remediеs

I use my hands to alleviate suffering
Slowly but surely, I massage your cares away

Aches and pains and fractures and sprains
Manipulation - that's what I do
Lumps and knots and bruises and clots
Manipulation

[MANDY]
Doesn't sound very nice

[WARD]
It isn't

Take a look
At everyone here
Manipulation
That's what they do

I stretch limbs
And they stretch the truth
Manipulation

(He smiles and lights a cigarette, not offering one to anybody. CHRISTINE sips at her vodka, makes a face.)

[CHRISTINE]
Never fancied Russia much

[IVANOV]
Russia is beautiful, and home of greatest social experiment in history!

[CHRISTINE]
Wouldn't suit me at all

[IVANOV]
So, important to make friends, Russia and West. Otherwise...

(Makes a sound and gesture signifying a massive explosion.)

[MANDY]
(to WARD)
What did you mean about manipulation?

[WARD]
You've heard of the Kray twins?

[MANDY]
Sort of

[WARD]
Well, there they are

Two of the most powerful men in London

[MANDY]
But what do they do?

[WARD]
They're gangsters

They have the police and the politicians in their pocket. Even Harold Macmillan, did he but know it

[MANDY]
Who?

[WARD]
(pause)
Harold Macmillan, dear?

The Prime Minister?

(He draws on his cigarette, as MANDY discreetly stares at the twins.)

[WARD]
There at that table
The Kray twins are plotting
With Ronnie's new boyfriend
Lord Boothby of Aberdeen
Also the lover of Lady Macmillan
Who we must assume
Is close to the Prime Minister

Ron and Reggie want something done
Bob Boothby breathes in Lady M's ear
Lady M sleeps with the PM
Manipulation - it's right here

Every table there's someone at it

(He points at a table in the back.)

That chap in the Savile Row suit
That's Charlie Clore, the entrepreneur
Built the Hilton
Mad about sex

[MANDY]
Didn't they just make him a sir?

[WARD]
Yes, but he was not at all pleased
Lord Clore's more what he had in mind

[MANDY]
Bloody hell, the people you know!
Don't suppose he's the marrying kind?

(WARD points over to RACHMAN's table.)

[WARD]
That fat fellow
Rachman's his name
Owns two-thirds
Of Notting Hill Gate

He's the king
Of bedsitter-land
Manipulation

I only try
To manipulate bodies
I try to put people together and rescue them
I don't approve of exploiting the vulnerable
Lining your pockets from other men's weaknesses

Everywhere, wherever you look
Manipulation rearing its head
London life, there is no escape
Manipulation

[MANDY]
I know what you're talking about
Manipulation, just like you said
I spent every evening with men
Trying to sweet-talk me into bed

[WARD, MANDY AND CHRISTINE]
Everywhere, wherever you look
Manipulation rearing its head
London life, there is no escape
Manipulation

Everywhere, wherever you look
Manipulation rearing its head
London life, there is no escape
Manipulation
Til you're dead