Ode to Night

Its an absurdist peice somewhere between Rozencrantz and Godot. Inspired by Ode to a Nightengale by Keats. More of a scene than a play...

 

 

ODE TO NIGHT

 

Boy – A young man of about twenty.

Girl – A young woman of the same age.

• Note – Characters have very similar postures and speech patterns: lanky, meditative, constantly recycling a small lexicon throughout dialogue.
• Beats are to be measured in cigarettes, with each cigarette lasting aprox. 7-9 minutes.
• The citronella candle will serve as an ashtray.
• Cigarettes may need to be cut 2/3 of the way down to allow the full number called for in the script.

 

Open on an empty stage with a single dim spotlight DOWN-CENTER. An unlit citronella candle is in the center of this dim spot. Entering quietly from UPSTAGE, BOY and GIRL walk DOWN-CENTER, staying clear of the spot. With a lighter, GIRL will light the citronella candle. The spotlight SLOWLY brightens. Taking the lighter BOY reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes. He lights a cigarette. GIRL takes one from the pack and lights hers, also. THEY sit down next to each other behind the candle. THEY smoke their cigarettes in silence for several moments.

 

BOY:   I see the moon. (Gestures) Over your right shoulder.

GIRL:   What about the stars?

BOY:   Oh, they’re up there.           

            Don’t you see them?

GIRL:   I don’t know. I see something.

            Sort of like sparkles. Maybe they’re lightening bugs.

BOY:   I don’t know, maybe.

(GIRL leans her head on BOY’s shoulder.)

BOY:   No. I just saw a real lightening bug – the stars are totally different.

GIRL:   But what about the sparkles?

BOY:   I don’t know, maybe those are the starry Fay.

GIRL:   Yeah.

(Pause)

            I’m glad you’re here.

BOY:   Yeah?

GIRL:   Yeah.

It’s like you’re here most of the time, though. Something’ll happen and I’ll be like, yeah, and I’m like, It’s you!

BOY:            Awesome.

(BOY lights another cigarette.)

GIRL:   And then I’m like – awesome.

BOY:   Wow. It is me.

(BOY wraps the arm not holding the cigarette around GIRL.)

GIRL:   I feel like you’re my brother.

BOY:   I am your brother.

GIRL:   We’d need to be in Greece.

BOY:   That would make sense. Perhaps we’re on an island.

GIRL:   Yeah. I keep feeling the perilous sea twirling around us. I thought I saw the opening foam earlier, when you lit that cigarette. And that would explain the scent.

BOY:            Awesome. Well, at least now we know something.

(Pause.)

GIRL:   Do you know any constellations?

BOY:   I don’t know. Maybe.

GIRL:   The stars seem to be drawing lines in the sky, but no pictures.

BOY:   I see them. (Points off in distance) Those leave straight trails. (Looks up) Wow.

GIRL:   These are leaving swirls.

(BOY and GIRL continue to lean into each other.)

GIRL:   I think I’ve decided what to write about.

BOY:   Is it gonna be about sex?

            Everything you write is about sex.

GIRL:            Everything everyone does is about sex.

(GIRL lights another cigarette, using her old butt.)

To some degree.

BOY:   Is this?

GIRL:   I don’t know. I guess.

BOY:   Well, what’s it about?

GIRL:   You and me.

BOY:   Yeah? That’s pretty cool.

GIRL:   Yeah?

BOY:   If its about you and me its cool.

GIRL:   Yeah.

(Pause.)

I’ve been feeling like Keats. You know? Like, maybe he’s here, too.

BOY:   I don’t know. I don’t think you understand Keats –

GIRL:   Oh, I understand.

BOY: I don’t think so.

GIRL: I do.

BOY: He’s got that one –

GIRL:   “Ode to a Nightingale”

BOY:   Yeah. And its all about –

GIRL:   Ruth. In the alien corn.

BOY: Yeah. The alien corn.

(Pause.)

BOY:   Now its over your left shoulder.

GIRL:   What?

BOY:   Queen-moon, on the throne of your clavicle.

GIRL:   I thought you said it was on my right.

BOY: It was.

(BOY lights another cigarette.)

            The stars must be moving with us.

GIRL:   That would make sense.

BOY:   Yeah, it would explain the swirls, and the trails.

GIRL:   Do you think the island is spinning?

BOY:   I don’t know. Maybe it’s the waters around us that move…

(GIRL lights another cigarette, also with the butt of the smoldering stub.)

GIRL:   Or perhaps the waters rush about in some sort of whirlpool and our island is caught in the center.

BOY:   That makes sense. I’m quite sure that’s the answer.

(They smoke quietly for a moment. By this time BOY and GIRL are fairly well wound together, with GIRL nearly in BOY’s lap.)

BOY:   Here. (Hands cigarette to Girl) Hold this.

(BOY proceeds to move GIRL squarely into his lap, with his arms around her waist and their legs tangled together. GIRL laughs and returns his cigarette when he is done.)

BOY:   Sorry.

GIRL:   I don’t mind.

BOY:   That’s better, though, isn’t it?

GIRL:   Yeah.

BOY: Awesome.

            (Pause.)

I just kinda do what I want when I’m with you.

GIRL:   That’s the idea.

BOY:   Yeah?

GIRL:   Yeah.

            I’m glad you get it.

BOY:   I don’t know. You’re just kinda dreamy – it rubs off on me, or, whoever.

            That disreality, you know?

GIRL:   Do I wake or sleep?

I’m not sure the world is out there under the best of circumstances.

BOY:   Yeah. Me, too.

            Hey, what is that? (Points to the horizon) Is that a boat?

GIRL:   I don’t know.

(BOY lights another cigarette.)

            Maybe it’s a fallen star.

BOY:   Yeah. Or another island.

(Girl appears troubled by this thought.)

GIRL:   Like ours?

(Girl lights another cigarette.)

BOY:   Maybe.

            Maybe there are thousands of islands just like this one whirling around the ocean, full of people reveling in moon-burnt mirth – just like us.

GIRL:   I don’t know. I see other people, houses, and I can’t help but think…

BOY:   What?

GIRL:   I don’t know. We’ve got worlds swimming above our heads - this island. Surly no one else sees these things – feels these things.

            Most people – they would never believe such melodious plots.

BOY:   What do you mean?

GIRL:   They’re not real. Like me. Do you ever think that?

BOY:   I don’t know.

GIRL:   You’re real.

BOY:   How do you know?

GIRL:   You’re here, with stars swirling above you.

            (Pause.)

            Even if that other island is real, they don’t have you.

BOY:   You mean you.

GIRL:   Maybe. Is there a difference?

BOY:   I don’t know.

I’m glad you like me so much.

GIRL:   I’m glad you came.

 

BOY and GIRL sit in silence smoking and looking at the sky as the lights slowly fall. When the spot is nearly dimmed, BOY and GIRL will both extinguish their cigarettes in the candle (if they have not gone out already) and GIRL will blow out the candle directly following BLACKOUT.

 

 

Reviews

[S.E. Conway]

i really really like this....