Wednesday, June 20, 2007

 

No One Here Except Us Monsters

a selection from
STOLEN SCREAM
a supernatural noir

CHARACTERS IN SELECTION
NERÓN, male 30s, Colombian, efficient and devoted.
EDVARD, male 40s (played by a woman), old-fashioned in manners, a slight Swedish accent
TIEF, male 20s-30s, a contraband dealer

An empty, abandoned hangar.
Wind howls perpetually outside.
Pool of light, center. An easel, with a canvas, covered by a sheet. A chair.
[NERÓN has been instructed by his employer to receive a painting from a shady dealer, TIEF, who seems insane. NERÓN has also been told not to look at the painting.]

NERÓN (on cell phone:)
Yes ma'am I think it’s here, but you shouldn't come until I
Yes ma'am.

Hangs up.

NERÓN (cont’d, to TIEF:)
I’m taking possession of the painting.

EDVARD enters, wearing a hat, behind NERÓN.

NERÓN (cont'd, still to TIEF:)
If it is not the painting my employer requested, I will

TIEF (singing, taunting:)
You don't know what it is, you don't know what it is, you don't know what it is

EDVARD
Ignore him. He is not well.

NERÓN
Who are you?

EDVARD
Harmless, I assure you sir. I merely accompany the painting.

NERÓN (to TIEF:)
Who is this?

TIEF looks around.

TIEF
Gone, gone, Thank God, gone

NERÓN
Fool, who is this man?

TIEF walks away.

NERÓN
Where are you going?

TIEF
Little walk.

NERÓN
Fool, you haven't got your payment yet.

TIEF
Just stretching my legs a little bit, a little solitude, thank God, I can be all alone in a room as big as this.

TIEF is gone.

EDVARD
Let him take his walk. He is harmless I assure you. I give you my word, as a gentleman. You’re the new owner?

NERÓN
I’m keeping it for her.

EDVARD
I don’t understand, you must be the new owner.

NERÓN
The fool gave it to me, so yes, for now, it’s in my hands.

EDVARD
Ah yes of course.

NERÓN
Answer me now: Who are you?

EDVARD
A good question. I can tell you that this is my painting.

NERÓN
The painting belongs to my employer now.

EDVARD
By which I mean, I painted this painting.

NERÓN
You're the artist?

EDVARD
Essentially, yes. What sort of woman is she, your employer and her husband?

NERÓN
Her husband is dead.

EDVARD
Oh, my sincere condolences. But I would like to know the widow's character, if I may. Perhaps she is a woman that is content. Perhaps she is happy and has always been happy.

NERÓN
She’ll keep your masterpiece safe. Go away now.

EDVARD
Please, reassure me sir, tell me that she has no regrets.

NERÓN
I wouldn’t know.

EDVARD
She does. She has regrets. I can see it in your eyes.
No, no she will not do

NERÓN
The painting is not yours anymore.

EDVARD
You don't understand, I cannot go through this yet again

NERÓN
Let me explain to you: I learned secret torture methods from the police in Colombia. I was taught how a man may lose most of his body without losing consciousness. I can do this unaided by the tools of men.

EDVARD
I have no doubt that you are capable of extraordinary violence, sir, and I am suitably impressed.

NERÓN
I'm only extraordinary when harm is meant to her.

EDVARD
Ah I see. You are a knight, lost in the modern world. There are few left like you. You have regrets but, also great will. I might be most fortunate in making your acquaintance first.
Certainly I may sit until she comes? Certainly there is no harm in that? I am no threat to a man of your physique. As a fellow foreigner to these United States, I ask you, allow me to wait. If your employer can dismiss me, then I shall go, gladly.

NERÓN
This is why I don't like art, the artists.

EDVARD
Sir. May I ask a favor of you? I would greatly appreciate it, if you were to look at my painting.

NERÓN
I was instructed not to.

EDVARD
By her? Yes of course. Though, wouldn't you agree, this presents a sizable risk on her part? For these sorts of transactions, you ought to be fully informed.

NERÓN
Why don't you go off somewhere and paint?

EDVARD
All of that is past now.

NERÓN
So you follow this one around?

EDVARD
I am forever with this one.

NERÓN
You're a weird man.

EDVARD
My whole life has been spent walking by the side of a bottomless chasm.

A cry from the darkness.
Silence. NERÓN tries to see out there.

NERÓN
Who's there?! You, fool, is that you?

Silence.
NERÓN exits.
NERÓN returns.

NERÓN (cont’d)
That fool is dead.

EDVARD
That is unfortunately not surprising.

NERÓN
How?

EDVARD
Very likely a heart attack. He was not a well man.

NERÓN
What's going on?

EDVARD
I would like to tell you. Sir, I would like to.

Beat.
NERÓN removes the sheet, looks at the painting. Yes, he knows it.

EDVARD
People always ask the artist, "Where do you get your ideas?" Very often there is no answer. But in this case. I was walking along the road with two friends. Below me was the fjord. The sun set. I felt a tinge of melancholy. Suddenly, the sky became a bloody red. I stopped, leaned against the railing. And I looked at the flaming clouds that hung like blood and a sword over the blue-black fjord and city. My friends walked on. I stood there, trembling with fright. And I felt a loud, unending scream piercing nature. That is what I painted, you can see, the clouds like real blood. The colors, themselves, scream.

NERÓN
I've seen this.

EDVARD
My name is Edvard Munch. This is my painting, "The Scream."

end selection

Labels: dialogue, theatre

posted by Dan 5:38 PM
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