">THE ABYSS
2008-01-18 @ 17:44:11
‘The abyss’ is a play, absurd drama and it flouts all the standards by which drama has been judged for many years. The purpose of this piece is to entertain and it is a provocation as well because the play contains hardly any recognizable characters as Rohypnol, Voice or Euthanasia and presents completely unmotivated actions. The audience of this drama should be adult because I did not intend to tell a story, I did not want the audience to be satisfied that they know the solution to the problem posed in the play. I have tried to force the audience to find out what it was that I did intend.
The dialogue in this piece is minimized, the drama starts at an arbitrary point and seems to end just as arbitrarily. However the play is tied by a clamp, it begins and ends with a similar action - the girl who sits on a chair seems to write or read a letter to her mother. The girl is using pronouns: ‘I miss you…’, ‘I know…’, ‘ I don’t cry anymore.’ So the lexis of her statements seems to be very simple. There are some difficult words in this drama as ‘insomnia’ or ‘incapacitate’ some of them are written in Latin: ‘cannabis sativa.L’ and there is an acronym THC. That is why the audience should be adult and educated. Grammatically the play has got simple structure, major sentences and repetitions are giving impression of mumbling trance, hypnosis. That requires concentration and increases curiosity. I used two superlative forms: ‘My pigeon is feeling better now but it’s wings are still broken’, the higher degree in this case is neutralized by conjunction ‘but’ and the second part of the multiple sentence. The sentence ’ The flowering tops are prized because of their higher THC content’ contains the other superlative form which describes THC, so both of the superlative forms seem to demote the meanings of describing objects. There is quite a lot o transitive verbs in sentences : ‘I can’t fly’, ‘I’m not afraid of pain’. So even if the drama’s dialogue is minimized and the action might seems slowly transitive verbs are giving an impression of action.
Some of the characters are unusual and unrecognizable, the Voice can be either God or Devil. So the meaning of the play depends on the choice made by the audience. I did not named the Voice properly because even when I wanted to express my own personal vision of the world I left a bit of laxity a bit of freedom for audience. That will let them think that they participate in that play. However the audience can find some clues in the text which show how to read the drama. Narrative or discursive thought leads to a final message and moves along a definite line of development. Poetry is above all concerned to convey its central idea and atmosphere, it is essentially static. There is lots of silences and repetitions in this text. That is characteristic for Beckett’s plays which I used as my style model.
The text in brackets is advising how to act that play and sometimes is showing the non-verbal features as giggle or sob. There is no rules in writing absurd plays, so I have let myself use the word ‘childslaughter’ which I think is appearing as a neologism in this drama. The Voice’s words are written using capitals letters what means that even when he is saying something gently (that is what instruction in brackets says) it’s still important, because the Voice is a valid character. Even when someone else is talking about the Voice is using capital letters: ‘This is not our fault how YOU are using us!!!’ There are some exclamations marks which occur at the end of a sentence called out with a strong feeling of some kind: ‘Your mother…yes…I know her!’
‘The abyss’ express loss of any clear and defined systems of beliefs. All assurances of hope, all explanations of final meaning have suddenly been unmasked as nonsensical illusions. With the loss of the means of communication, the audience should be compelled to view that world with the eyes of total outsiders, lost between bad and good. There is a vision of aimless world where god and bad means exactly the same and where good is just good for nothing.
The abyss
[There is a chair in the middle,
a black curtain behind the chair and another one in front of the chair]
[Enter teenage girl left].
[She wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt].
[She sits on a chair.]
Girl:
[She whispers]
Dear Mummy,
I miss you so much but I know you’re there… waiting for me.
I don’t cry anymore.
[She sobs]
He said that it is my fault that you’re there.
I’m sorry. I will be a good girl now.
[Exit girl right]
[Silence]
[Enter girl left]
Girl:
Dear Mummy,
My new friend, Mike, said that you’re all right,
that you’re dancing and drinking ambrosia every day.
I don’t know what is it but it sounds nice.
I want to believe that you are happy there.
[Silence]
I want you to believe that I am happy here…
[Exit girl right]
[Silence]
[Enter girl left]
Girl:
[whispers]
Dear Mummy,
He hit me again so I found a new home.
My bench is quite comfortable…
That pigeon which is here with me all the time is trying to sing for me. He’s bleeding as well.
He can’t fly… I can’t fly…
[Silence]
I will be a good girl.
[Exit girl right]
[Silence]
[Enter girl left]
[She wears a white, too short dress]
Girl:
Dear Mummy,
Mike said that he will help me!
He said that I will see you dancing soon. And we will be together forever!
I’m not afraid of pain. I can do this.
I’ve got my first communion’s dress.
My pigeon is feeling better now but it’s wings are still broken.
Last night it was even singing for me.
I always thought that pigeons can’t sing…
[She whispers]
I can’t wait to see u Mummy…
[Exit girl right]
[Silence]
[The chair goes up]
[Silence]
[The curtain goes up]
[Silence]
[They all will stand next to each other, front to the audience.
There is a wall behind them.]
[Enter two men]
Voice:
[Severely]
WHO ARE YOU?
Rohypnol:
[He wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt]
I’m a potent depressant marketed in some countries for the treatment of insomnia and as a presurgical relaxant.
Marijuana:
[He wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt]
I’m the most widely used and readily available [ He giggles].
I’m made from the Cannabis sativa L. plant [He giggles], whose flowering tops and leaves are collected, trimmed, dried and then smoked in a pipe or as a cigarette. [He giggles] The flowering tops are prized because of their higher THC content. THC is the plant’s principal psychoactive chemical. [He giggles]
Rohypnol:
My nickname is “Date Rape Drug”,
I’m used to incapacitate women in order to commit a rape.
Marijuana & Rohypnol:
[They shout]
That is not our fault how YOU are using us!!!
[Marijuana giggles]
Voice:
[Severely]
NEXT!
[Enter another two men]
Euthanasia:
[He wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt]
In the light of law I’m privileged assassination of terminally ill people under the pressure of mercy.
Abortion:
[She wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt]
I’m manslaughter,
I’m childslaughter .
Well, I think you know what I mean by that…
Euthanasia :
I like your attitude.
What are you doing this evening, girl?
Abortion & Euthanasia:
[They shout]
That is not our fault how YOU are using us!!!
[They all look right, then look at each other]
Voice:
[Gently]
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
[Silence]
[Enter girl]
[She is still wearing a white, too short dress]
Girl:
I’m looking for my Mummy.
She is dancing and drinking ambrosia somewhere here.
Euthanasia :
Your mother… yes…I know her!
She is a nurse, right?
Rohypnol:
Your mother… yes…I know her!
She is helping doctors with the operations, right?
Abortion:
Your mother… yes…I know her!
She is not just a nurse, she was a patient as well.
Marijuana:
Your mother [He giggles]… yes…I know her!
She is a very amusement nurse, right?
[He giggles]
Girl:
I’m looking for my Mummy…
She is dancing and drinking ambrosia somewhere here.
Voice:
[gently]
SHE IS NOT HERE!
NOT YET!
[someone shoots, a girl falls on the floor]
[Silence]
[The curtain goes down]
[Silence]
[The chair goes down]
[Silence]
[Enter girl left]
[She wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt]
Girl:
Dear Mummy,
I can’t fly…
I am not an angel…
I am not real.
I am not alive.
I will wait for you.
Now I know you will come here as well.
The dialogue in this piece is minimized, the drama starts at an arbitrary point and seems to end just as arbitrarily. However the play is tied by a clamp, it begins and ends with a similar action - the girl who sits on a chair seems to write or read a letter to her mother. The girl is using pronouns: ‘I miss you…’, ‘I know…’, ‘ I don’t cry anymore.’ So the lexis of her statements seems to be very simple. There are some difficult words in this drama as ‘insomnia’ or ‘incapacitate’ some of them are written in Latin: ‘cannabis sativa.L’ and there is an acronym THC. That is why the audience should be adult and educated. Grammatically the play has got simple structure, major sentences and repetitions are giving impression of mumbling trance, hypnosis. That requires concentration and increases curiosity. I used two superlative forms: ‘My pigeon is feeling better now but it’s wings are still broken’, the higher degree in this case is neutralized by conjunction ‘but’ and the second part of the multiple sentence. The sentence ’ The flowering tops are prized because of their higher THC content’ contains the other superlative form which describes THC, so both of the superlative forms seem to demote the meanings of describing objects. There is quite a lot o transitive verbs in sentences : ‘I can’t fly’, ‘I’m not afraid of pain’. So even if the drama’s dialogue is minimized and the action might seems slowly transitive verbs are giving an impression of action.
Some of the characters are unusual and unrecognizable, the Voice can be either God or Devil. So the meaning of the play depends on the choice made by the audience. I did not named the Voice properly because even when I wanted to express my own personal vision of the world I left a bit of laxity a bit of freedom for audience. That will let them think that they participate in that play. However the audience can find some clues in the text which show how to read the drama. Narrative or discursive thought leads to a final message and moves along a definite line of development. Poetry is above all concerned to convey its central idea and atmosphere, it is essentially static. There is lots of silences and repetitions in this text. That is characteristic for Beckett’s plays which I used as my style model.
The text in brackets is advising how to act that play and sometimes is showing the non-verbal features as giggle or sob. There is no rules in writing absurd plays, so I have let myself use the word ‘childslaughter’ which I think is appearing as a neologism in this drama. The Voice’s words are written using capitals letters what means that even when he is saying something gently (that is what instruction in brackets says) it’s still important, because the Voice is a valid character. Even when someone else is talking about the Voice is using capital letters: ‘This is not our fault how YOU are using us!!!’ There are some exclamations marks which occur at the end of a sentence called out with a strong feeling of some kind: ‘Your mother…yes…I know her!’
‘The abyss’ express loss of any clear and defined systems of beliefs. All assurances of hope, all explanations of final meaning have suddenly been unmasked as nonsensical illusions. With the loss of the means of communication, the audience should be compelled to view that world with the eyes of total outsiders, lost between bad and good. There is a vision of aimless world where god and bad means exactly the same and where good is just good for nothing.
The abyss
[There is a chair in the middle,
a black curtain behind the chair and another one in front of the chair]
[Enter teenage girl left].
[She wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt].
[She sits on a chair.]
Girl:
[She whispers]
Dear Mummy,
I miss you so much but I know you’re there… waiting for me.
I don’t cry anymore.
[She sobs]
He said that it is my fault that you’re there.
I’m sorry. I will be a good girl now.
[Exit girl right]
[Silence]
[Enter girl left]
Girl:
Dear Mummy,
My new friend, Mike, said that you’re all right,
that you’re dancing and drinking ambrosia every day.
I don’t know what is it but it sounds nice.
I want to believe that you are happy there.
[Silence]
I want you to believe that I am happy here…
[Exit girl right]
[Silence]
[Enter girl left]
Girl:
[whispers]
Dear Mummy,
He hit me again so I found a new home.
My bench is quite comfortable…
That pigeon which is here with me all the time is trying to sing for me. He’s bleeding as well.
He can’t fly… I can’t fly…
[Silence]
I will be a good girl.
[Exit girl right]
[Silence]
[Enter girl left]
[She wears a white, too short dress]
Girl:
Dear Mummy,
Mike said that he will help me!
He said that I will see you dancing soon. And we will be together forever!
I’m not afraid of pain. I can do this.
I’ve got my first communion’s dress.
My pigeon is feeling better now but it’s wings are still broken.
Last night it was even singing for me.
I always thought that pigeons can’t sing…
[She whispers]
I can’t wait to see u Mummy…
[Exit girl right]
[Silence]
[The chair goes up]
[Silence]
[The curtain goes up]
[Silence]
[They all will stand next to each other, front to the audience.
There is a wall behind them.]
[Enter two men]
Voice:
[Severely]
WHO ARE YOU?
Rohypnol:
[He wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt]
I’m a potent depressant marketed in some countries for the treatment of insomnia and as a presurgical relaxant.
Marijuana:
[He wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt]
I’m the most widely used and readily available [ He giggles].
I’m made from the Cannabis sativa L. plant [He giggles], whose flowering tops and leaves are collected, trimmed, dried and then smoked in a pipe or as a cigarette. [He giggles] The flowering tops are prized because of their higher THC content. THC is the plant’s principal psychoactive chemical. [He giggles]
Rohypnol:
My nickname is “Date Rape Drug”,
I’m used to incapacitate women in order to commit a rape.
Marijuana & Rohypnol:
[They shout]
That is not our fault how YOU are using us!!!
[Marijuana giggles]
Voice:
[Severely]
NEXT!
[Enter another two men]
Euthanasia:
[He wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt]
In the light of law I’m privileged assassination of terminally ill people under the pressure of mercy.
Abortion:
[She wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt]
I’m manslaughter,
I’m childslaughter .
Well, I think you know what I mean by that…
Euthanasia :
I like your attitude.
What are you doing this evening, girl?
Abortion & Euthanasia:
[They shout]
That is not our fault how YOU are using us!!!
[They all look right, then look at each other]
Voice:
[Gently]
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
[Silence]
[Enter girl]
[She is still wearing a white, too short dress]
Girl:
I’m looking for my Mummy.
She is dancing and drinking ambrosia somewhere here.
Euthanasia :
Your mother… yes…I know her!
She is a nurse, right?
Rohypnol:
Your mother… yes…I know her!
She is helping doctors with the operations, right?
Abortion:
Your mother… yes…I know her!
She is not just a nurse, she was a patient as well.
Marijuana:
Your mother [He giggles]… yes…I know her!
She is a very amusement nurse, right?
[He giggles]
Girl:
I’m looking for my Mummy…
She is dancing and drinking ambrosia somewhere here.
Voice:
[gently]
SHE IS NOT HERE!
NOT YET!
[someone shoots, a girl falls on the floor]
[Silence]
[The curtain goes down]
[Silence]
[The chair goes down]
[Silence]
[Enter girl left]
[She wears a black trousers and a black t-shirt]
Girl:
Dear Mummy,
I can’t fly…
I am not an angel…
I am not real.
I am not alive.
I will wait for you.
Now I know you will come here as well.