ANGELSTATE (extract) by Nina Rapi

CHARACTERS:

THE PRIEST: Male. Forties. Intense presence, yet also serene.
THE DOMINATRIX: Forties. Tall, thin and elegant in an exaggerated way. Heavily made up. A madam, owner of a brothel, specializing in sado-masochism.
THE MERCENARY: Male. Forties. Powerful looking - has the nervous tics of a heavy smoker, gnaws his nails and shifts about when he talks.
THE ANOREXIC: Female. Twenties; a strange mix of the saintly and the demonic.
THE BODYBUILDER: Female. Thirties. Incongruously feminine.
THE BODYGUARD: Female. Twenties. Very confident & attractive butch.
THE GUARD: doubling as ARIS: An archetypal figure of youthful beauty.

Offstage Voices of V/O DIRECTOR & V/O TECHNICIAN

TIME: the present
BEAT: indicates a brief pause and/or change of tone or mood / indicates interruption

SETTING: A non-naturalistic research centre - alludes to a mindscape.

This play was awarded an Arts Council Theatre Writing Bursary

SCENE ONE

Snapshots of each character except for the GUARD, front and profiles are projected on to a screen at the back of the stage, in rapid succession.

The MERCENARY is violently thrown onto the stage by the GUARD. He tries to maintain his macho posture. He regains his composure and looks around to establish where he is. He decides to sit and wait and looks as if he is sitting on hot bricks.

The DOMINATRIX enters next, slipping through the GUARD's grip. She paces up and down establishing control of the situation, setting her clothes and hair in order, regaining her confident poise. Looks around, notices the Mercenary. They recognize each other and nod coldly. She sits as far away from him as possible. Waits, cool as a spider.

The PRIEST enters next, as if there by his own reluctant accord. The PRIEST looks around apprehensively. Sees the Dominatrix, recognizes her and looks disturbed. She gives a Mona Lisa smile. He does not reciprocate. Instead, he coolly but politely greets both, then sits very much apart and waits, lost in painful thoughts.

The BODYBUILDER enters next, dressed in exaggerated feminine clothes, looking almost like a drag-queen. Her body language is very appeasing as she is getting her bearings. She is a little too cheerful as she greets the audience, clearly trying to hide extreme nervousness. She then parades front stage, poses and waits, looking the personification of a paradox - all muscles, yet little-girl mannerisms.

The BODYGUARD enters next acting as if here for a formal enquiry of not much consequence to her but she can't quite conceal an inner terror. She checks things out. She recognizes the Bodybuilder, smiles at her but the BODYBUILDER ignores her. The BODYGUARD shrugs and strikes an arrogant pose, waiting.

The ANOREXIC enters last, all edgy and paranoid. She scans everybody, recognizes and nods to the BODYGUARD who nods back. The ANOREXIC scrutinizes the Bodybuilder and the Priest with curiosity, then wraps herself up in a foetus position.

Silence

Beautiful blue light. Enter GUARD playing the flute, circling the characters and exiting. As GUARD is exiting, V/Os are heard:

V/O TECHNICIAN: Electro-magnetic fields imperceptibly invading/

V/O DIRECTOR: / brain cells, nerve centers, communication channels, go on…

V/O TECHNICIAN: …steadily breaking down/

V/O DIRECTOR: /breaking down defence mechanisms and what else, damn it!

V/O TECHNICIAN: That's all, sir.

A blast of futuristic rhythmic sounds, then abrupt stop.

V/O DIRECTOR: (apparently addressing the characters)

Let me tell you that without you, we are nothing. But let us not forget that you are nothing without us.

Silence.

MERCENARY: They're fucking with our heads, they are.

ANOREXIC: Who is they?

BODYGUARD(simultaneously): Clever boy.

MERCENARY: I beg your pardon?

BODYGUARD: Fast thinking.

MERCENARY: Listen you.

BODYGUARD: (Shakes her ear up as a gesture of contempt)

MERCENARY: Don't push it, right?

BODYGUARD: You're scaring me.

MERCENARY: Fucking dyke.

BODYGUARD: Ouch. (Beat.) Fucking psycho.

The MERCENARY makes to go for her. The BODYGUARD gets ready, she loves a fight. The PRIEST stands between them.

PRIEST: There's no need for this.

The MERCENARY retreats angrily. The BODYGUARD grins triumphantly.

DOMINATRIX: (Sucks her teeth)

Silence.

MERCENARY: What the fuck do we do now?

PRIEST: Wait.

MERCENARY: Fuck me triple. How do you do that, father?

PRIEST: Watch me. ('Waits')

MERCENARY: 'Watches' for a few seconds. Shakes his head, moves about.

BODYBUILDER: I'm only here by mistake anyway.

BODYGUARD: Yeah, and my name is Brad Pit.

BODYBUILDER stares at her. BODYGUARD is pleased with the reaction and stares back.BODYBUILDER looks away. BODYGUARD puffs up.

Bars descent in front of each character, trapping them in inter-connected cells. BODYBUILDER looks terrified.
The ANOREXIC, unperturbed, keeps glancing at the Bodybuilder with fascination.

MERCENARY: What the fuck is this!

BODYGUARD: Jesus fucking Christ.

PRIEST: This is unnecessary.

DOMINATRIX: So unsophisticated. Really. (Sucks her teeth)

The ANOREXIC's and the PRIEST's cells are next to each other. They look at each other. They form a silent bond. The PRIEST stretches his hand out and holds hers, reassuring her. She accepts this gratefully.

Extreme changes of light and temperature take place very rapidly. The characters are freezing one second, sweating the next; in total darkness one second, blinded by brilliant white light the next - all accompanied by a cacophony of sounds. By the end, they look disorientated, disturbed.

Enter GUARD, playing the flute, circling the characters. He stops, addresses the audience.

GUARD: Mercy, they cried all night, mercy. Let them have it! (He laughs)

Beautiful melodies and a soft blue light suffuse the stage. GUARD injects each character lightly, then releases them from their cells with mock kindness. He exits.

The characters are gradually regaining some sort of composure. What follows is in effect an echo of the beginning of the resolution. These are the voices within the characters' heads that have propelled them to this state. It's as if the truth is dying to get out of them through a repetition of these words. The characters are however only aware of their voices as external voices, not belonging to them, at this point. While the characters are speaking their lines, the external voices should be pre-recorded and heard as coming from a number of directions and on rising and falling volume levels. Parts of them could be repeated or echoed.

ANOREXIC: It's not guilt. I learnt guilt before I even learned to speak. Guilt is part of what I'm made of, something I can handle. So. It's not guilt. It's not fear either. I learned fear the moment I learned to speak. Fear feels like home. So. It's not fear either. (Pause) It's doubt. That's what's killing me.

BODYGUARD: She wanted to break that ice, she said, the ice that kept me trapped, the ice that kept me from feeling all the love she could give me, all the. Fuck. I can't deal with this shit.

BODYBUILDER: I didn't punish him though, not the way he used to punish me. That would be taking advantage of a sick, old man. I couldn't do that.

PRIEST: ARIS is calmly waiting for me to stop breathing…. It's like fighting a useless battle, a lost battle. Yet something inside you, survival instinct I suppose, urges you on. Urges you on to fight. And you fight. And I fight. I fight to start breathing again, to come back to this reality, to life. And I did…Without him…

DOMINATRIX: His games became more and more dangerous. He pushed things, he pushed me to the edge. That's where he felt most alive. 'This is real', he'd tell me, 'everything else is a delusion'.

MERCENARY: I've been in some deep shit in my life, but I've never felt scared. Not until then. (Pause) There was something about that boy's eyes that really spooked me. I've got to finish this job, I told myself, I've got to finish it!

Light change.

END OF EXTRACT

PARTING A short play by © NINA RAPI

Two women, lovers, are embracing tightly. There is a suitcase on either side of them. They are gradually loosening their embrace with movements that show that this separation feels like a painful, near impossible tearing apart. Suddenly they jump decisively apart and make to pick their suitcases but stop half way. They look at each other, make to move back into an embrace but hold back. They pick their suitcases simultaneously.

A: Well, this is it!

B: Time to go our separate ways.

A: Goodbye my love. I'll never forget you.

B: Let's not say good-bye. Let's just say au-revoir.

A: Au-revoir then. See you later.

B: Later?!

A: In a manner of speaking. Cheerio then.

B waves goodbye but neither moves.

B: It just had to happen.

A: Well, this is the end.

B: It's only the end of what it was but the beginning of what it could never have been.

Here the actresses should somehow show that the following argument serves as a means of postponing the separation. A & B put their suitcases down, drop the goodbye postures and mood and adopt a quarellous, familiar/we- are-here-for-ever stance.

A: (suspiciously) What do you mean?

B: Just that. I, we are now free to do as we please.

A: Are you blaming me?

B: Where on earth did you get that idea?

A: (acting very paranoid) You've been going on to me about freedom for three years now. Why bring it up again now and spoil everything. Remember: it's what you want, not me.

B: It's what we both need.

A: Let me decide what my needs are.

B: Oh yeah? And what are they?

A: (self-righteously) To be close, to trust and depend on each other.

B: (angrily/defensively) You mean to cling to, control and suffocate each other.

A: You are doing it again.

B: What?

A: (calmly but obviously resentful and ready to burst) Picking holes in me. Making me feel clinging, controlling, suffocating.

B: No, I'm not! I'm just stating a fact. And it's a fact that you're an obsessive, possessive, addictive personality.

A screams and looks as if she is about to hit B. who does not however get out of the way. A. then changes route, scratches her own face, tears her clothes, collapses on the floor and cries like a child. B. goes near her, embraces her tenderly and kisses her. A. pulls away stubbornly at first but then surrenders herself into the embrace. A moment of beauty between them.

A: We want such different things. We must learn.

B: We must separate.

A: Oh, you are impossible!

B: We have agreed…

A: Where is my suitcase then?

B: Over there.

A: Right.

They both get up, smile, look happy with the decision. They pick up their suitcases, look at each other, greet with grimaces and nods, turn their backs to each other and decisively walk away in opposite directions. Halfway, they both stop and turn towards the audience.

A: She'll get so depressed and lonely without me. She might even do herself in.

B: She'll stop eating altogether without me. Take drugs, drink herself to death.

A: I must protect her from herself. Freedom, ha! What's life worth without love? She needs love more than freedom and she doesn't even know it. That's why she is perpetually dissatisfied. Running, always running after what she hasn't got. But love? Ah, love is knowing where you are, where you're going and how to get there. I must show her how. I'm the only one who can do it. I can't let her go until she learns this and makes my life worthwhile.

B: I must teach her to grow up. Love, ha! What's life worth without freedom? She needs freedom more than she needs love. She just can't see it. What's love anyway? Love is a given. It's either there or it's not. You can't fight for love, you can't aim for love. But freedom? Ah! Freedom is something worth struggling for, something to aim for, to hope for. I must persuade her of that. She must learn to want it as much as me, otherwise I can't let her go.

They turn towards each other simultaneously

A: Maybe it's madness to separate really.

B: Maybe we're not ready yet. (Aside) Maybe we will be soon.

A: No, not ready yet. (Aside) Maybe we'll never be.

Pause

A: Shall we give it another go?

B: Shall we?

They both run towards each other full of optimism and embrace. They then sit down on their suitcases looking towards the audience totally bewildered.

Slow fade, last light focusing on their bewildered faces.

The End

Parting is play 3 of the Critical Moments Trilogy, first produced at Soho Poly Theatre, 1990