3 Characters
2 Men. 1 Woman
Simple Set
11 pages
Produced 2014 – Malaysia University.
A study in loneliness and the slow deterioration of one’s passion. In the middle of a dark night, an old man confronts the ghosts of his dead wife and son, his sins against them, his own guilt, his fear of death, and his passion that is dying. We learn that the 2 characters involved in the play are really both dead, and are the ghosts that torment him on the last days of his life.
The language in this play is both stark and poetic, as the old man confronts his inner fears, demons, and aloneness . A projection of a white stallion, representing his life and passion, slowly galloping under the ocean waves, and disappearing, represents the dying of passion, and the ending of a life.
To read Excerpts from the play, click Read More below.
Note that formatting in the excerpts are not centered, and instead, left justified.
The PDF of the the play is in correct format.
Read More
AT RISE:
The image of a white horse running on a beach against the sunrise fills the screen. The mane thrashing in the wind as the animal’s gorgeous body gallops towards us, the sun rising behind, the large waves crashing on the beach. A pool of light fades in on an older woman in a blue, translucent nightgown, holding a small gold candle holder with a yellow candle burning in it down stage center. She looks out into the vastness as the horse above her gallops at us, nostrils flaring.
MARY
And the sun rose up. That’s what I remember. It rising above the endless sea stretching out forever. And this white horse, coming at me. Moving like the muscles of a train, galloping, charging, but never touching me. That’s what it was like. I remember it so vividly.
JOE
(offstage)
What the hell are you doin’, Mary? Can’t you come to bed? Mary? It’s three O’clock in the morning. Can’t this stop? Is this going to be like it was before? Are we gonna fight about it in the morning? Can’t do anything nice for you. I gave you the magnesia, didn’t I, or did I forget? I gave you the glycerin. I gave you the digitalis. I gave you the Valium. I hope I didn’t forget the Metamucil so you can shit in the morning. Get cleaned out. Makes everything seem different. I offered you Nyquil I remember that. I bought you candles? Why can’t a family be like a family? Like it used to be? There was a sort of sacrifice in it? You remember the sacrifice? The compromise? Givin’ somethin’ up? There was somethin’ to that? The good ol’ days? Pride in loss. Remember that? I do. I lived like that. I lived like that for forty years. I was a good Catholic. Before I converted to Judaism. Before I took up Buddhism. That’s you’re problem, Mary. You like comfort. You love flowers. You want your thoughts to be flowers. You don’t want to come down to earth so you can come to bed like everyone else. You sit there regretting your past. I know what you’re up to. I saw it in your eyes over dinner. I saw you goin’ off like that. To that place somewhere deep in your head no one else can see. I had dreams too you know. I had dreams just like you. I was young. I lived in a young body with young hormones, searching. Searching hormones on a beach. I rode a horse. I rode a white stallion. Had my black stallion bleached. He Didn’t like it though. Didn’t like gettin’ bleached. Fact is, downright pissed him off. Nothin’ worse then a bleached, pissed off twelve hundred pound stallion. I remember him. Ran away. He was tied and he busted that rail and pulled out his bridle, kicked off his saddle, shook his white head and threw off his blinders an’ ran like the wind. And I chased him. I was just a boy. I chased him to the beach. I watched from the high dunes, wind washin’ over my long silken hair. There in the light of the sun I saw him run. My God could that horse run. And he did. He ran into the water toward the horizon – the sun comin’ up. I watched each gallop, memorized it. I saw the last hair in his mane, disappear under the waves. I heard him screaming, as the sun went down, and the black night came on us. I stood there. On that dune. As the light turned black. Stood there all night, the wind growing colder and colder, flowing through my hair and my young face. And when the morning came, I was old. I couldn’t even remember my youth anymore. It was like it never actually happened. Like it was just a movie I’d gone to see. on a bad date. That’s what it was like. A movie without popcorn. A shitty movie. Without popcorn and a bitchy date. A date full of quick expectations that didn’t know how to lend a helpin’ hand. And I looked up into the sun, risin’ over the water and the horse was gone. The beach was barren. The waves were calmed. But the sun… the sun kept doin’ what it always did. Rose over the ocean and warmed everything. You could smell its heat. You could hear it’s love. I remember that. Mary, are you gonna come to bed, or not? Blow out that candle and come lay beside me. I need you. I need you Mary. It’s night. And I’m an old man.
Mary blows out the candle, and the horse stops running, the screen goes black, and the pool of light on her dies out as she weeps.
