Today, a new expository device: the embarrassingly talkative comedy character.
Act I
Scene 3
Lights up, Andrew's room. Andrew, Sarah, the Master. The Master is about 10 years older than Andrew. White hair. Distinguished. Softly commanding.
THE MASTER: So how are the young men?
SARAH: Fine, I think. Hard to tell with teenagers. Saul's growing up very nicely, I think…. Jacob's fifteen.
ANDREW: He's very into biology.
THE MASTER: We all were at that age!
ANDREW: He takes after his father.
Old friends, bad jokes.
MASTER: I recall. Of them both: You met on campus, didn't you?
ANDREW: We were friends.
MASTER: You and … er … Sean. My little eagles! Sarah is not a little eagle. And you've done well. How's the lab? Grant-getting hell? I'm out of that now. I just make occasional speeches. The higher up you get, the stupider they think you must be. I saw you got the European framework money. We tried for that, but.... We should have you here!
SARAH: It would be wonderful.
MASTER: And the – you do English. The English department is very strong.
SARAH: Well, that's why Saul applied. I think he's going to –
MASTER: And you can't beat the research atmosphere – Saul. Where is he?
ANDREW: I think he's changing.
MASTER: There's someone out there. Is that – oh no, he's having a cigarette.
Sarah rushes to the window. Not Andrew.
SARAH: It's Jacob.
ANDREW: Jacob? He rushes to the window.
SARAH: What, Saul does? Andrew shrugs. You have to tell me –
MASTER: Skulking in the bushes. Machiavellian intelligence. But he hasn't realised that smoke goes upward. Oh, he's been joined by someone. Does your boy have an older male friend?
All stare out of window. Should the window be facing the audience so they can face it as they look out? Seems weird though.
SARAH: That's Sean.
MASTER: You think? What a coincidence.
ANDREW: It can't be.
SARAH: It's him. They stop looking out of the window and look at each other.
MASTER oblivious: It can't be. He's in a monastery. They seem to have a lot to say to each other. Well, two biologists. You were all friends together, weren't you? Who knew each other first? Shall I call them up? No. They'd be embarrassed. Oh, they're coming up.
Different kinds of preparation.
Sean and Jacob enter.
Beat.
Who will introduce who?
JACOB: You must be the Master. I'm Jacob. This is Sean.
MASTER: I'm delighted to meet a fellow biologist. Call me John. Later when you're here you can call me the Master. If you get in. Sean. Handshake.
JACOB: Dad, Mum, I think you know Sean.
ANDREW: I can't believe it. They embrace. That really is a tonsure.
SEAN: It's growing out.
Sean and Sarah shake hands. Jacob watches.
5 comments:
At first I thought the cast involved "Sarah, The Master", as in a really butch kind of Mistress.
Impressive. The window could be a mimed focus point in the audience so that their gaze is downstage directed (ie not away from audience).
The tonsure is great.
Your note about the window has me wondering how much you think about or visualize staging while you're writing. I noticed while I was writing my play I saw it being performed, then wrote it down; at the same time, though, I felt like I was working out the staging, not just watching it.
Heh, I think the answer is "not at all" but occasionally I'm forced to. I just think about dialogue! But this is probably not the right way to do it.
I shoulda asked -- what was your play? How long did it take you to write? This is my first shot (since I was a teenager). I suspect there's a lot of talented competition who've been doing this forever....
My play is as of yet unfinished. I have trouble with plot-- be it short stories, novels, or plays. I have the beginning, I have the end, I just don't know how to get from beginning to end. One day I'll get back to it.
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