Act 1, Scene 2
Feb. 1st, 2006 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pluralOk, I've finished the second scene
again this is just a rough draft
As my dear![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
foltere pointed out
I need to work on Jack and Daphne's dialogue
but I'm going to wait till I've gotten the entire thing written to do so.
so give me your best shots
cause every criticism means a better finished product.
and
If you havent read Act 1, Scene 1:
Go read it here first
[Lights up on Mick]
Mick: Three years ago, I spent my birthday in Paris. No, no, it wasnt like that. I didnt fly to Paris for my birthday or anything like that. I was on a business trip. I work for a company that manufacturers and sells industrial components. Systems to monitor and manage factory production lines. I was pretty excited about it, there I was at twenty-four the youngest regional sales manager in the company, it seemed so exciting at the time. Living in Paris and flying off to places like London, Rome, Brussels and Madrid.
I was promoted a few weeks before, and was flying out for a meeting with my sales reps. I had a lot on my mind, still a bit unsure of myself, nervous about having so much responsibility, and it seemed I had an unending mountain of things to do. Not just work things either. I had to find an apartment in Paris, buy a new car, maybe a motorcycle, I've heard they are a lot more practical in Europe.
My family was being very supportive, excited even, but I could tell mother was a bit worried. That worried me, mother wasnt really the sort to worry, particularly about me. Perhaps it wasnt worry, maybe she was just going to miss me. In the past year or so, we've been getting along much better, my parents and I. It sounds strange, even to me, but these days having dinner with my folks is something I enjoy. It seems just yesterday that I despised it. Part of growing up I suppose, of course, not having to endure mothers lectures about responsibility or her droning on with advice about my career, sure makes it easier.
[Light fades off Mick and onto Jack and Daphne as they enter the stage, Jack leading, they are holding hands]
Jack: Come love, I have unspeakable things in store for you
Daphne: Thats what you think, tonight is my turn, and you'll just have to suffer
Jack: Oh so thats how it is?
Daphne: Yup, and you are just going to have to like it mister.
[Daphne pokes Jack in the chest playfully]
Jack: Well, if you're going to twist my arm.
[Jack and Daphne exit the stage]
John: You might ask me why? John old boy, Why would you want to take your own life? It isnt depression. I'm not miserable. Well, not in that sense anyway. Not despondant. I'll freely admit I am one of the lucky ones. I've got money, friends, a lover or two to take the chill off the coldest nights. In fact depending on your perspective, I've got nearly the perfect life. I do what I want, when I want, how I want. I suppose, perhaps in a perverse way, I am satisfied. I've travelled to most of the places I would like to, Read most of the books I'd like to, slept with most of the women I'd like to.
Sure I could travel to more places, but even if I had two hundred years of life, I could never spend as much time in every place as I want to. Same thing with books, I love books, but I could never read them all, not even the so called canon of literature. Women, well thats a slightly different answer, but in the same vein. I've slept with fashion models and girls next door, indulged in the shallowness of beauty and the depth of meaning. Sure I could always sleep with more women, but what would it mean, what would it teach me that I havent learned from the ones before?
Therein lies the problem, I'm just not greedy enough to bother with another year of life, let alone another forty. It seems like all I have left is going through the motions, vapid pleasures and trite conquests. Sure I could do more of the things I enjoy, see more plays, travel more, sleep with Angelina Jolie, the options are endless. But it doesnt lead to any greater satisfaction, or any sense of accomplishment. It seems pathetic to me, to march on, doing meaningless things, any meaningless thing, just fighting against the inevitable. I'm treading water, struggling with no hope of rescue, waiting to drown.
[Light fades from John to Jack as Jack enters the stage]
[light on jack should be muted but well lit]
[he sits down and begins to write]
Jack: Damn, I'm hopelessly smitten you know. Of course after sex like that what man wouldnt be. We... well I hardly need to write it down, I'm sure that was one night I'll never forget. Nor will she if you know what I mean, nudge nudge wink wink, just between you and me, my new found friend, she'll be walking a little funny for the next couple of days.
[light dims on jack but doesnt go out]
[Jack continues writing]
[light comes up on Michael]
Michael: I've been dating this woman for some time now. Bright, funny, successful and sweet peice of ass. She has a masters degree and runs an alternative school, no not that kind, not the kind for fuckups. It is a special highschool for kids interested in the arts. Painters, actors, writers that sort of thing. She is a fitness junkie and runs these kids through the ringer. Half the jocks I played sports with in school were not in as good shape as these kids are. She has them doing yoga and tai-chi, lifting weights and running. She really impresses me and the sex is fantastic, but I dont see it going anywhere serious. Not sure why really, maybe I'm just scared. You see, I was hurt once, badly. My heart was crushed, I couldnt breathe for months. You could say I had a bad time of it for a while, managed to move on, but not really. I know, I know, you've heard it all before. That old sad story. ""Mister, I met a man once when I was a kid...".
[light dims almost out on Michael]
[lights up on Jack but not brightly]
Jack: She is asleep now, I was too, but the dreams got me again. I've always had nightmares, even when I was a little kid, back then it was movies, television, a scary book, almost anything would set me off. Now, well, now is different. Sure I'm only nineteen, just a boy really, but I've made my share of mistakes, hung around with the wrong crowds as they say. Not sure if I would change it really, but its left me with some baggage, things to deal with, but why am I whining about it, sure I've always been a fuckup, but somehow I found her, it will all be different now, hell it already is.
Not sure how it happened, a girl like her falling for a schmuck like me, but I'm not complaining. I just hope all those teachers I had were right in those notes they sent home. "Jacks a good kid, just a bit misguided" "He is quite intelligent, he just needs to apply himself more" "I worry about Jack, sometimes he seems out of it, I suspect he may be using drugs" *laugh* May be, thats a good one, that old bat was so blind. Sarah, Dave and I used to snort coke in the back of her class, but she never noticed, too busy droning on and on about history. Dont get me wrong, I like history, find it to be fascinating stuff, I love reading about it, I just hated history class. I've never seen someone so skilled at boring you to tears. She could make anything tedious with that stuffy monotonous voice of hers, accompanied only by the scratching sound of chalk on the chalkboard and punctuated with self important little taps.
I've always hated school and loved learning.My favorite book as a child was called "The way things works", my mom gave it to me when I was ten or so. It was great, a graphic encyclopedia explaining how things work. Full of pictures and diagrams explaining things like pulleys and levers, even showed how the engine in a car worked. I really dont care how obscure the fact, or how irrelevant, I want to know everything. To me school just takes all the fun out of learning.
It isnt the tests, or even the grades, I've always done well on those. Most tests I can ace without even studying, used to piss off all the goody goody two shoes to no end. I can understand it really but it was still funny as hell. They would spend all this time studying and preparing for a big test, and I'd walk in, probably drunk or coked out of my head, and ace it, blowing the curve for everyone. I remember once in my junior year, I went to a new school and they put me in one of the gifted classes. There was this girl there, she had earned straight A's in every class since she started school. You know the type, all wound up, no fun at all, always get the best mark in every class. First test comes back, and for once her name isnt at the top of the list, she sulked for a week.
When midterm grades came out, my curve wrecking resulted in her first ever B, she went nuts, called me an asshole, said I was ruining her life, damn near had a nervous breakdown. It was actually pretty funny, anyway what does she want me to do? Intentionally fail an exam because I learned the material outside of school? Waste my life studying shit I already knew? I think Mark Twain said it best, "I've never let my schooling interfere with my education."
[light dims on Jack but doesnt go out]
[Jack continues writing]
[light comes up on Michael]
Michael: Well, I'd better get moving, I'm supposed to meet my chickie and some friends for a birthday dinner. Drinks, dancing, yummy Indian food, and eventually hot sex till the wee hours of the morning. Sounds pretty good doesnt it, yup I agree. It is a rough life but someone has to live it.
[lights out on Michael]
[light up on Jack, still dim]
Daphne [offstage]: Jack?
[Jack looks over his shoulder and offstage]
Jack: Yeah?
Daphne [offstage]: What are you doing?
Jack: Just writing a bit.
Daphne [offstage]: Come back to bed.
Jack: As you wish.
[Jack turns back to the audience.]
Jack: Well, I'd better get back to bed. Once she wakes up, she wont fall back to sleep till I'm there. She always says that I reassure her, not a co-dependant thing mind you, just a feeling of peace and comfort. While I find it strange, that a fuckup like me could have that effect on anyone, let alone her, I have to admit she makes me feel the same way.
[As Jack starts his last line music fades into the background]
[Song: "Tears for Fears - Mad World" -- I've included the full lyrics below]
[Jack walks offstage and the lights fade]
[the song reaches normal volume as he leaves the stage]
[and continues to play through and the house light rise for intermission]
All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races, going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses, no expression, no expression
Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you 'cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad world, mad world, mad world, mad world
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
To feel the way that every child should, sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher, tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you 'cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad world, mad world, mad world, mad world
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you 'cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad world, mad world, enlarging your world, mad world
again this is just a rough draft
As my dear
foltere pointed outI need to work on Jack and Daphne's dialogue
but I'm going to wait till I've gotten the entire thing written to do so.
so give me your best shots
cause every criticism means a better finished product.
and
If you havent read Act 1, Scene 1:
Go read it here first
[Lights up on Mick]
Mick: Three years ago, I spent my birthday in Paris. No, no, it wasnt like that. I didnt fly to Paris for my birthday or anything like that. I was on a business trip. I work for a company that manufacturers and sells industrial components. Systems to monitor and manage factory production lines. I was pretty excited about it, there I was at twenty-four the youngest regional sales manager in the company, it seemed so exciting at the time. Living in Paris and flying off to places like London, Rome, Brussels and Madrid.
I was promoted a few weeks before, and was flying out for a meeting with my sales reps. I had a lot on my mind, still a bit unsure of myself, nervous about having so much responsibility, and it seemed I had an unending mountain of things to do. Not just work things either. I had to find an apartment in Paris, buy a new car, maybe a motorcycle, I've heard they are a lot more practical in Europe.
My family was being very supportive, excited even, but I could tell mother was a bit worried. That worried me, mother wasnt really the sort to worry, particularly about me. Perhaps it wasnt worry, maybe she was just going to miss me. In the past year or so, we've been getting along much better, my parents and I. It sounds strange, even to me, but these days having dinner with my folks is something I enjoy. It seems just yesterday that I despised it. Part of growing up I suppose, of course, not having to endure mothers lectures about responsibility or her droning on with advice about my career, sure makes it easier.
[Light fades off Mick and onto Jack and Daphne as they enter the stage, Jack leading, they are holding hands]
Jack: Come love, I have unspeakable things in store for you
Daphne: Thats what you think, tonight is my turn, and you'll just have to suffer
Jack: Oh so thats how it is?
Daphne: Yup, and you are just going to have to like it mister.
[Daphne pokes Jack in the chest playfully]
Jack: Well, if you're going to twist my arm.
[Jack and Daphne exit the stage]
John: You might ask me why? John old boy, Why would you want to take your own life? It isnt depression. I'm not miserable. Well, not in that sense anyway. Not despondant. I'll freely admit I am one of the lucky ones. I've got money, friends, a lover or two to take the chill off the coldest nights. In fact depending on your perspective, I've got nearly the perfect life. I do what I want, when I want, how I want. I suppose, perhaps in a perverse way, I am satisfied. I've travelled to most of the places I would like to, Read most of the books I'd like to, slept with most of the women I'd like to.
Sure I could travel to more places, but even if I had two hundred years of life, I could never spend as much time in every place as I want to. Same thing with books, I love books, but I could never read them all, not even the so called canon of literature. Women, well thats a slightly different answer, but in the same vein. I've slept with fashion models and girls next door, indulged in the shallowness of beauty and the depth of meaning. Sure I could always sleep with more women, but what would it mean, what would it teach me that I havent learned from the ones before?
Therein lies the problem, I'm just not greedy enough to bother with another year of life, let alone another forty. It seems like all I have left is going through the motions, vapid pleasures and trite conquests. Sure I could do more of the things I enjoy, see more plays, travel more, sleep with Angelina Jolie, the options are endless. But it doesnt lead to any greater satisfaction, or any sense of accomplishment. It seems pathetic to me, to march on, doing meaningless things, any meaningless thing, just fighting against the inevitable. I'm treading water, struggling with no hope of rescue, waiting to drown.
[Light fades from John to Jack as Jack enters the stage]
[light on jack should be muted but well lit]
[he sits down and begins to write]
Jack: Damn, I'm hopelessly smitten you know. Of course after sex like that what man wouldnt be. We... well I hardly need to write it down, I'm sure that was one night I'll never forget. Nor will she if you know what I mean, nudge nudge wink wink, just between you and me, my new found friend, she'll be walking a little funny for the next couple of days.
[light dims on jack but doesnt go out]
[Jack continues writing]
[light comes up on Michael]
Michael: I've been dating this woman for some time now. Bright, funny, successful and sweet peice of ass. She has a masters degree and runs an alternative school, no not that kind, not the kind for fuckups. It is a special highschool for kids interested in the arts. Painters, actors, writers that sort of thing. She is a fitness junkie and runs these kids through the ringer. Half the jocks I played sports with in school were not in as good shape as these kids are. She has them doing yoga and tai-chi, lifting weights and running. She really impresses me and the sex is fantastic, but I dont see it going anywhere serious. Not sure why really, maybe I'm just scared. You see, I was hurt once, badly. My heart was crushed, I couldnt breathe for months. You could say I had a bad time of it for a while, managed to move on, but not really. I know, I know, you've heard it all before. That old sad story. ""Mister, I met a man once when I was a kid...".
[light dims almost out on Michael]
[lights up on Jack but not brightly]
Jack: She is asleep now, I was too, but the dreams got me again. I've always had nightmares, even when I was a little kid, back then it was movies, television, a scary book, almost anything would set me off. Now, well, now is different. Sure I'm only nineteen, just a boy really, but I've made my share of mistakes, hung around with the wrong crowds as they say. Not sure if I would change it really, but its left me with some baggage, things to deal with, but why am I whining about it, sure I've always been a fuckup, but somehow I found her, it will all be different now, hell it already is.
Not sure how it happened, a girl like her falling for a schmuck like me, but I'm not complaining. I just hope all those teachers I had were right in those notes they sent home. "Jacks a good kid, just a bit misguided" "He is quite intelligent, he just needs to apply himself more" "I worry about Jack, sometimes he seems out of it, I suspect he may be using drugs" *laugh* May be, thats a good one, that old bat was so blind. Sarah, Dave and I used to snort coke in the back of her class, but she never noticed, too busy droning on and on about history. Dont get me wrong, I like history, find it to be fascinating stuff, I love reading about it, I just hated history class. I've never seen someone so skilled at boring you to tears. She could make anything tedious with that stuffy monotonous voice of hers, accompanied only by the scratching sound of chalk on the chalkboard and punctuated with self important little taps.
I've always hated school and loved learning.My favorite book as a child was called "The way things works", my mom gave it to me when I was ten or so. It was great, a graphic encyclopedia explaining how things work. Full of pictures and diagrams explaining things like pulleys and levers, even showed how the engine in a car worked. I really dont care how obscure the fact, or how irrelevant, I want to know everything. To me school just takes all the fun out of learning.
It isnt the tests, or even the grades, I've always done well on those. Most tests I can ace without even studying, used to piss off all the goody goody two shoes to no end. I can understand it really but it was still funny as hell. They would spend all this time studying and preparing for a big test, and I'd walk in, probably drunk or coked out of my head, and ace it, blowing the curve for everyone. I remember once in my junior year, I went to a new school and they put me in one of the gifted classes. There was this girl there, she had earned straight A's in every class since she started school. You know the type, all wound up, no fun at all, always get the best mark in every class. First test comes back, and for once her name isnt at the top of the list, she sulked for a week.
When midterm grades came out, my curve wrecking resulted in her first ever B, she went nuts, called me an asshole, said I was ruining her life, damn near had a nervous breakdown. It was actually pretty funny, anyway what does she want me to do? Intentionally fail an exam because I learned the material outside of school? Waste my life studying shit I already knew? I think Mark Twain said it best, "I've never let my schooling interfere with my education."
[light dims on Jack but doesnt go out]
[Jack continues writing]
[light comes up on Michael]
Michael: Well, I'd better get moving, I'm supposed to meet my chickie and some friends for a birthday dinner. Drinks, dancing, yummy Indian food, and eventually hot sex till the wee hours of the morning. Sounds pretty good doesnt it, yup I agree. It is a rough life but someone has to live it.
[lights out on Michael]
[light up on Jack, still dim]
Daphne [offstage]: Jack?
[Jack looks over his shoulder and offstage]
Jack: Yeah?
Daphne [offstage]: What are you doing?
Jack: Just writing a bit.
Daphne [offstage]: Come back to bed.
Jack: As you wish.
[Jack turns back to the audience.]
Jack: Well, I'd better get back to bed. Once she wakes up, she wont fall back to sleep till I'm there. She always says that I reassure her, not a co-dependant thing mind you, just a feeling of peace and comfort. While I find it strange, that a fuckup like me could have that effect on anyone, let alone her, I have to admit she makes me feel the same way.
[As Jack starts his last line music fades into the background]
[Song: "Tears for Fears - Mad World" -- I've included the full lyrics below]
[Jack walks offstage and the lights fade]
[the song reaches normal volume as he leaves the stage]
[and continues to play through and the house light rise for intermission]
All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races, going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses, no expression, no expression
Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you 'cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad world, mad world, mad world, mad world
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
To feel the way that every child should, sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher, tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you 'cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad world, mad world, mad world, mad world
And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you 'cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad world, mad world, enlarging your world, mad world
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-02-01 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-01 04:37 pm (UTC)You know I only ever drop the soap for you.