What the Butler Saw

What the Butler Saw Summary | Act 1, Part 1 Summary

The scene is set in the examining room of an insane asylum. There are entrances to the main hall; the dispensary, where the drugs are kept; the wards, where the patients are kept; and the garden, where the plants are kept.

Geraldine Barclay arrives for a job interview with Dr. Prentice. She is carrying a large box. As Dr. Prentice conducts the interview, Geraldine reveals that the box contains pieces of a statue of Winston Churchill that exploded, killing her mother. She explains that she was adopted and she never knew who her real mother and father were. Geraldine says that her mother was sexually assaulted at the Station Hotel and after giving birth gave her up for adoption. Dr. Prentice mentions that he once stayed at the Station Hotel, then continues the interview. He talks Geraldine into removing her clothes, saying that he needs to examine her physically to determine whether she can function mentally. Just as a reluctant Geraldine is handing Dr. Prentice her underwear, Mrs. Prentice arrives. Geraldine hides behind a screen, and Dr. Prentice frantically tries to hide Geraldine's clothes.

The conversation between Dr. and Mrs. Prentice reveals that neither can stand the other and that Mrs. Prentice is highly sexed and frustrated with her marriage and has just spent the night at the Station Hotel. Nick, a porter from the hotel, comes in and asks to be paid for bringing in Mrs. Prentice's luggage. Mrs. Prentice asks Dr. Prentice to make sure that her luggage is all there, saying that the staff at the hotel has already stolen some of her things. While Dr. Prentice is out, the conversation between Nick and Mrs. Prentice reveals that Nick was sexually intimate with Mrs. Prentice and is demanding a job in return for the negatives of pictures he and the hotel manager took at the time. Mrs. Prentice takes a drink from Dr. Prentice's supply of scotch, something she does with increasing frequency as the action progresses.

Dr. Prentice returns, bringing Mrs. Prentice's suitcase. He and Mrs. Prentice bicker about whether they have a good sex life, and then Mrs. Prentice takes her drink and suitcase into another room. Dr. Prentice pays Nick for his services, and Nick leaves. Dr. Prentice tells Geraldine, who is still hidden behind the screen, to get dressed. Before he can hand Geraldine her clothes, however, Mrs. Prentice returns and tries to talk Dr. Prentice into hiring a male secretary. Dr. Prentice isn't interested, and he tosses a note to Geraldine. Meanwhile, Mrs. Prentice takes off her coat and reveals she's wearing nothing but underclothes. As she puts on Geraldine's dress, she explains that after she was sexually assaulted, her dress and wig were stolen. She explains that Nick assaulted and robbed her, and she wants to give him a job because she feels an inexplicable sympathy for him. Mrs. Prentice, who knows that Dr. Prentice was interviewing Geraldine, goes out to tell Geraldine that the job is no longer available. Just as Dr. Prentice is promising to find Geraldine some clothes, Dr. Rance arrives.