COLLAGE PLAY TWO

The second of my collage plays aiming to break up the normal flow and surface connections in a narrative, aiming go deeper in the connections than the naturalistic.  To disrupt expectation.



(Woman sits stage right with a blank mask on.)

(Narrator enters and stops centre stage)

NARRATOR— This play is about nothing.  (Re woman.) I have no idea who she is.

 (Two other women enter and start to draw a face on the woman`s mask. They draw a sombre expression. They speak as if speaking to themselves as they work.)

WOMAN ONE— When an object travels at the speed of light, its mass becomes infinite. The universe puts on the brakes and the object cannot go any faster than light. A subject that has been given much thought in the world of physics and beyond.  How do you travel what seems infinite distances? 

WOMAN TWO—Albert Einstein developed the theory of special relativity in 1905.  He spent many years wondering about the effect of adding acceleration to the theory.  

WOMAN ONE—In 1915 this wondering became the basis of his general theory of relativity.

WOMAN TWO—But that’s a story for another day.

(They stand back and admire their work. They seem satisfied. They go to exit but stop when the masked woman mumbles and indicates for them to come back, which they do.)

(They hold up a speech bubble above the masked woman.)

(It reads.  E equals MC squared equals the Atomic Bomb.)

NARRATOR-- (Plays the violin, no music is heard.) Einstein is quoted as saying. `The music of Mozart is of such purity and beauty that one feels he merely found it-that it has always existed as part of the inner beauty of the universe waiting to be revealed. `

(During the playing the masked woman acts distraught.  The two women draw a huge exaggerated smile on the mask and she is released to dance with joy to the unheard music.)

NARRATOR-- (Still playing.) He also said. `It is impossible for me to say whether Bach or Mozart means more to me. In music, I do not look for logic. I am quite intuitive on the whole and know no theories. I never like a work if I cannot intuitively grasp its inner unity. `

(The Narrator stops playing.  The woman stops dancing.  Two women draw a sad look on her mask, and they hold a speech bubble above her head.)

(It reads:  I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.)

NARRATOR—Einstein again.

(The Narrator plays again, mournful music, the masked woman dances mournfully.)

(During the below the Narrator plays more frantically, the masked woman dances more frantically. The two women clap along with the dance and music.)

WOMAN ONE-- The speed of light in a vacuum is 186,282 miles per second.  Miles per hour, that is, near enough to, 670,616,629 mph. You could whiz round the world seven and a half times in one second, traveling at the speed of light.

WOMAN TWO—Thanks to Einstein and others, light speed limit is believed now to be theoretical. A constant called "c"

WOMAN ONE—This science is no barrier to speculation about different theories.

WOMAN TWO—The wish, the need to travel beyond our limits persists. This has become known as  the general  theory of science fiction.

(The Narrator freezes as does the masked woman.)

 (The masked woman sits down and the two women wipe the face of the mask, it is now blank again.)

(The Narrator puts down the violin.)

NARRATOR—This play about nothing I have titled.  ‘We can but dream.`