B-Sides: Track OneA Stage Play by Kevin Scene One of Eleven. "A twenty-seven year old despondent writer and a sixteen year old musician form a profound attachment to each other through their love of David Bowie."
B-SIDES: AN
EXCEPTIONALLY LOOSE THEATRICAL ADAPTATION OF DAVID BOWIE’S ALBUM “THE RISE AND
FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS” by KEVIN
DANIELS CAST
OF CHARACTERS CLIVE 27;
a writer MAYYA 16;
a musician JOSH 26;
Clive’s friend SARAH 26;
Clive’s girlfriend JAMES 27; Clive’s
friend from college OLGA Mayya’s mother EMCEE; MAN
IN STREET; MAN IN BAR Played by the
same actor SETTING SAN
FRANCISCO; SPRING; 2012 SIDE ONE TRACK ONE [David Bowie's Five Years plays.] [Lights up on stage left.
Clive, 27, sits on a chair downstage staring sullenly off into the distance. He
looks old for his age but his face still holds on to some of the features of
his youth. He is very skinny, clean shaven, and his hair is long with gray
streaks contrasting against the jet black. He wears an old and worn black
leather jacket over a Bowie t-shirt and tight blue jeans. Around him are old
books thrown about the floor.] [Lights up on stage right.
Mayya, 16, sits on a single chair upstage and stares off into the distance. She
looks young for her age. She has long dirty blonde hair and wears torn jeans
and a baggy blouse with floral patterns on it. She wears an old and battered
army green jacket that looks like it belonged to someone else a long time ago.
Around her are portfolios of her artwork and her guitar leaning against the
wall.] [Clive looks anxiously at
the stage left door. He gets up and locks it. Mayya looks anxiously at the
stage right door. She gets up and locks it. They both sit down. Mayya pulls out
a small medicine bottle full of weed and some rolling papers and starts to
slowly roll a joint. Clive produces a handgun out of his jacket pocket. He
slowly takes bullets out of his pocket and fills the chamber. Mayya finishes
rolling her joint. Clive finishes loading the gun. He looks down the barrel.
Mayya puts the joint in her mouth. They both close their eyes and take a deep
breath. Mayya takes a lighter and reaches up to light the joint at the same
time Clive puts the gun in his mouth] [A loud knock is heard at
both doors. Clive quickly hides his gun; Mayya quickly hides her drugs. They
both go up to the doors to see who is knocking. The knocking on Mayya’s side is
much more intense and it frightens her. She puts her
back to the door and closes her eyes, trying to shut the knocking out. Clive
carefully composes himself and slowly opens the door. Sarah, 26, is on the
other side. She is very beautiful, with a kind face and dark red hair and well
dressed.] SARAH Why was the door locked? CLIVE How was work? SARAH (Walking in suspiciously.) You never lock the door. (Clive begins to pick up the
books around the area.) CLIVE I do, sometimes, just never when you’re here.
I like the feeling of having my own space, so I lock the door. It is my room. SARAH Our room- CLIVE Our room, exactly. SARAH What were you doing? CLIVE I was reading, trying to get some inspiration.
I don’t like to be disturbed when I’m in the middle of a really compelling
book. I like to be in the zone, you know? Just me…and the book. SARAH What were you reading? CLIVE Uh…Tropic of Cancer. Miller. [He hands her a copy off the
floor. She studies the cover. The banging on the door is heard on Mayya’s side.
Mayya puts her head in her hands and sits in front of the door.] SARAH There’s a naked woman on the cover. CLIVE Well, it’s very provocative. All about
uninhibited sexuality…and such. SARAH Is it good? CLIVE It’s amazing. Miller is one of the greatest
writers, I think, of the twentieth century. His work is incredible. Perhaps my
favorite novel…after The Hitchhiker’s Guide of course. SARAH What’s it about? CLIVE It’s about Henry Miller, you know? And uh…he
moves to Paris…and writes…about Paris. And women…that he has sex with. And
there’s lice…and he shaves this guy Boris. (He stops.) I actually haven’t gotten past the first ten
pages. I keep wanting to finish it but then I get distracted. But I love the
idea of it. Stream of consciousness and all that. Very revolutionary. I don’t
even need to read all of it to know that it’s one of my favorites. [Pause] SARAH Were you masturbating? CLIVE What? Was I…? No, I was just rea- SARAH Because it’s okay if you were. I understand;
I do it too sometimes, but when I do it I leave the door unlocked so you can
walk in on me and we can have this, like, “sexy encounter”. But it’s different
with guys, guys just look so angry when their doing it and I don’t think I’d
wanna walk in on that. CLIVE (Finishing
cleaning. He sighs and hugs Sarah.) You’re adorable. [The scene shifts to Mayya’s
side. The banging continues.] OLGA Mayya! Open the door! [Back to Clive and Sarah.] SARAH So about the movie tonight? CLIVE S**t, I think I’ve got to pass. SARAH Why? CLIVE Josh needs me to hang out with him tonight.
He’s not doing too well. SARAH What’s the matter? CLIVE It’s that girl he met from France. The one he
likes. SARAH What about her? CLIVE He finally got around to looking her up on
FaceBook and saw that she has a boyfriend in France. SARAH And now feels inadequate next to Jean-Claude?
CLIVE Pierre, actually. But yeah. [Switch to Mayya] OLGA Open this door right now. [Back to Sarah and Clive] SARAH Babe, if you’re just blowing me off tonight- CLIVE Nobody’s blowing anybody off. You know how
Josh is; when he gets like this he needs somebody to talk to. I’m his friend, I
have to do this. We can watch your movie another night. SARAH Is it because I didn’t wanna watch Pulp
Fiction again? CLIVE Not at all. SARAH Because I wanted to watch something thought
provoking with you for once and not just another violent movie. CLIVE It’s not really that violent, but okay. SARAH Next week? CLIVE Next week. SARAH Promise? CLIVE Promise.
[They kiss] I’ll see you when I get back then. I love
you. [Clive exits the stage.
Sarah continues standing there.] [The knocking continues on Mayya’s side.] OLGA Open the f*****g door! [There is one final loud
push on the door. Then silence. Mayya waits a moment. She slowly gets up, opens
the door and checks the hallway to see if her mother is still there. After a
beat, she comes back in and grabs her guitar and artwork and rushes out the
door, slamming it behind her. Sarah remains standing alone on the other side.] [Lights fade.] © 2013 KevinAuthor's Note
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Added on April 19, 2013 Last Updated on April 19, 2013 Tags: Play, Theatre, Drama, David Bowie, Music Author
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