A tricky playwright got his actress girlfriend to propose to him during a staged reading of his new material.
The very creative proposal was caught on video, capturing the moment that ‘Cassandra’ — reading lines that ‘Maximilian’ wrote for her — says that she wants him to be her fiancé, not her boyfriend, and to hand over the ring he has in his pocket.
On cue, ‘Maximilian’, who is from the US, takes out a ring and gets down on one knee, ending in a scripted but still very real proposal that leaves ‘Cassandra’ in tears.
So creative! ‘Maximilian’ (left) wrote a script in which he tricked his actress girlfriend, ‘Cassandra’ (right), into proposing
It’s unclear from the video whether Cassandra and Maximilian are the couple’s real names, or if those are the characters they play in the script — but life certainly imitated art as Max’s scripted proposal ended in a genuine acceptance.
As the video beings on a new scene, the actors are sitting in chairs lined up on stage, reading from scripts in their hands.
It’s clear that it’s the first time everyone is reading these through as they perform it.
Max, serving as the narrator, explains that Cassandra is in group therapy in this scene, and the man playing the therapist invites her to speak.
‘Hi everyone, I’m Cassandra,’ she says, speaking to the group as she read from her script.
‘And I’m cursed. I don’t know why, but I’m cursed, and it’s not [unintelligible], it’s knowledge. I know things that I shouldn’t know. I know it’s gonna storm this evening. I know Linus is gonna get scammed out of some money,’ she says.
Wait, this is real? In the script, she talks about their relationship and demands to call him her fiancé
Surprise! hen she has a line about the ring he has in his pocket, Max takes out a real ring and gets down on one knee
‘And you,’ she says, pointing to Max. ‘I see your future too. It’s clear as day. And it’s long, and happy, and that’s because I’m there too.’
Here, her eyes seem to be skipping ahead, seeing the words that are to come. Her voice gets caught in her throat as she seems to realize that the script is more personal than she expected.
‘I’ve known for six years. Six years,’ Maximilian. ‘Six years, four months, and 20 days we’ve been together. And for six years, two months… I’ve known that you’re the person of all the people on earth that I wanna spend my life with.’
Cassandra’s voice slows down, as it starts to hit her that something special is happening. Slowly, she wades through the words and begins to get choked up as she speaks.
‘I’ve been patient, Haven’t I? After I [unintelligible] day after day with my heart pounding high in my chest to the sound of your voice. I’ve swooned and floated down the streets of the city with my hand in your hand and dance ecstatically with the simple joy of being near.’
What a show! The rest of the actors in the workshop appear to have been surprised and cheers and applauded
So romantic! They shared a kiss, and someone off stage tossed rose petals at them
Though she’s getting choked up, here Cassandra really embraces the next line.
‘And I still have to call you my boyfriend?’ she yells, earning a laugh. ‘Like you’re some fly-by-night kind of nothing [unintelligible] space in my soul.
‘Boyfriend? Why wouldn’t I call you my fiancé? And it’s been fine, because we’ve known from the get go that what we have is stone solid.
‘And our relationship has only gotten better with time,’ she says, her voice going up an octave as she holds back tears.
‘And it’s fine because I don’t need titles or paperwork or sandwiches or rings to know what we mean to each other. But I want it. I want to call you my fiancé and my husband if only so that when I talk to other people about you, I know that it’s for real.’
Here, she does seem to be crying, holding one hand on her chest.
‘And I want that ring I know you have in your pocket,’ she reads, pointing at him — and prompting someone off camera to throw the ring to Max.
Clever: Maximilian appears to have staged the whole thing during some sort of writing or acting workshop
All business: Though they stopped for a moment to embrace the excitement, they then returned to the script
The room erupts in laughter, as Cassandra puts a hand on her face in disbelief.
‘So please, my love, can you get it out so I can say my line?’ she reads, looking up at him.
Finally, Max gets down on one knee with the ring, and Cassandra utters her next line: ‘Maximilian, will you marry me?’
Of course, he answers ‘yes’ and gives her the ring, and the two embrace and share a kiss — as another person runs up on stage to throw rose petals over them.
The entire group stands up to cheer, many of them obviously just as surprised by the turn of events.
But, all business, Cassandra then announces that they have to go back and finish the script — which they do over the next two minutes, before the future bride and groom kiss again.