A Stranger In The House : the website of Alan Hubbard : A University Education
The Real Foot & Mouth Crisis
FOOT & MOUTH
An Examination Of Where We Are
Blackened stage. Light rises to a bare minimum. ONE and TWO enter in silence and shadow. They move slowly and wear clothing that is suggestive of anonymity. They reach centre stage and face each other. They are not symbolic characters as such and they should be played by discovering what emotion and personality may lie beneath their words. They should be played naturalistically as far as the text allows. They are real in their environment, emotional and alive.
ONE (passing on what he perceives as his wisdom): Houses are pictures of histories unknown.....
TWO (sadly and softly) : There is no word for love anymore.
ONE: .....Pictures of history are barren but still sewn.....
TWO (Slightly stronger and more forceful) : There is no word for love anymore.
ONE: ....Houses are pictures of our history that exists no more.
Slight Pause.
ONE: What did you say?
TWO: It doesn’t matter.
PAUSE
ONE: Where was I....yes....Set your eyes on the sun and they will surely burn....
TWO looks sadly and forlornly at the sky and then looks down at her feet.
ONE:.....Bind to yourself a love and you blindfold your breath.....
TWO sighs
ONE:....Seeing only learning, then what can you learn?
What seed can grow, when all that’s seen is sunlight? Half sustenance means death.
Pause.
ONE: Are you listening to me?
TWO: No.
Pause.
TWO: Did you know that there’s no word for love anymore.
ONE: Love is the word for love.
TWO: No.
ONE: Explain?
TWO: There’s no word for love anymore,
Love means not what it did before
What used to exist, exists no more.
ONE: Love is a word. Words mean something.
TWO: Love means saccharine TV smiles, adverts and hype.
Love means only actors smiles, and always casts to type.
ONE: Go on.
TWO: Love means cliche, love means expectation,
Love means appearance, mass assimilation.
ONE: So there’s no word for love anymore?
TWO: Not like love that went before,
No word for love exists anymore.
ONE: Are you sure?
TWO: Love is said to quiet complaints,
Love is used to explain faults,
Love is passive, safe and warm
Love is watered sugar not brittle salts,
Love is calm without a storm.
ONE (realisation) : So there is no word for love anymore.
TWO: So you concur?
ONE: I see it now like never before,
There no word for love anymore,
Love means not love, not anymore.
TWO: There is no word for love anymore.
Pause.
TWO: You see, a word that cuts deep enough cannot be found.
TWO begins to circle ONE like a tiger stalking prey. It is an interrogation of sorts.
ONE: But there is no one searching on the ground.
TWO: Love the word falls empty sound.
ONE: But a new one must be found.
TWO: None can be found.
ONE: But no one is looking.
TWO: No. THERE IS NO WORD FOR LOVE ANYMORE.
ONE: But....
TWO: NO. THERE IS NO WORD.
ONE: We might....
TWO: NO. THERE. IS. NO. WORD.
ONE: Please.......
TWO: NO WORD FOR LOVE.
Blackout on the last line.
Spotlight comes up on TWO.
TWO: What led me to this place? Where I have finally found that all are condemned? There was a moment when it all fell into place. I saw it all for what it was. I walked through the streets, grey and brown, and saw the faces of all the races and they all were bleak and false. I stood and watched them and felt the tears of blood well inside my gut. I can see it even now:
Walking,
Footsteps fall unheard by those that pass by,
Look up to catch an eye,
Smile expecting a response,
Eyes cold and blank stare back
Lips immovable and dead.
They roll their eyes and turn their head.
Crossfade to ONE.
ONE: There is hope. There is hope. We can be more. More than now. More than what has gone before. We can be more.....I know it. I know we can be more. We can do something, be something, fulfil something. Beauty is alive. Beauty is in each face, each body, each embrace, each independent thought. We may be caught in traps of our making but I know that we can break them and be more. More than now. More than before.
Slight Pause.
I sometimes doubt but when I see hope first hand, in those around who matter, who are beautiful, then I know that......that.....that there is something.....something more that we can be. Some other way. We do not need to end. We can mend what we have broken and rise again.
He stares into his thoughts wondering over his words and their validity.
At least I hope we can. I think we can.....I try to hope we can....it is hard but I think we can....I....I know that we have the potential....some potential....there is something within.....somewhere.
Slight Pause.
I think there is......is there?......Isn’t there? I hope there is something there.......please let something be there. Let us find ourselves and live..........
Pause.
I used to ask questions from those who stood about,
I now have too many questions, I have to shout.
No one ever stood within, deep inside the trap,
I now try to force frozen water, from. the hot. tap.
BLACKOUT.
***********
Lights go up. ONE and TWO enter. Stage and lights as previous interlude. ONE is pulling a judge’s booth on wheels. On it is a judge’s hammer and wig. He puts it centre stage. He climbs up into the booth and puts the wig on. TWO stands to one side as if she were a prosecution lawyer.
ONE: Could I please hear the case for the prosecution?
TWO: Objection.
ONE: Overruled. (he hits the hammer against the desk) Now to continue. The case for the prosecution.
TWO: Objection.ONE: Overruled. (the hammer falls)
TWO: Objection.
ONE: What is the objection to.
TWO: Why to the case, M’lud.
ONE: Present your case young lady. I will do any objecting.
TWO: Very well M’Lud. But on your head be it.
ONE: I am sure it will be. Let us now hear the case for the prosecution. (the hammer falls)
TWO turns to a blank space to the right of the booth. She acts as though the witness is sat there.
TWO: My Lord I would like you to take into account that this witness has been severely traumatised by living in a world occupied by humans. She has had to suffer much prejudice and perjury and sits here only under duress.
ONE: Let the record show this.
He nods to where a scribe might sit.
ONE: Continue please. (the hammer falls)
TWO: Right, now please Miss. Think very carefully. What were you doing on October the 6th at ten o’clock.
TWO has walked to in front of the imaginary witness stand. She now jumps into the place of the witness facing outwards When speaking as the witness she is very timid and disturbed.
TWO (defensive) : I....I....look what relevance has this got. I...he....look it was rape. It was rape. He held me down, he, he forced me to. I had no choice. He was bigger and stronger......I know that I dress tarty, I know I was drunk, I know I danced with him....maybe I even flirted, maybe I’m a flirt. Maybe I even led him on consciously. But no means no and I said no.
TWO jumps back to her position as a prosecutor.
TWO: Now madam, this is not a rape trial.
ONE: It’s not?
TWO: No M’lud. This is the trial of humanity.
ONE: But I’m not equipped to judge.....
TWO: I objected to the trial.
ONE: Then let it end. (the hammer falls attempting finality)
TWO: We have started so I’ll finish.
Turning back to the “witness”.
TWO: On that day did you see anything that made you want to scream, and cast yourself upwards from this unhealthy planet? It’s alright dear, take your time.
She jumps back into the witness position.
TWO: No
Pause.
ONE: I must insist you tell the truth. Or I will disbar you for falsification and lechery. (He punctuates the sentence with blows of the hammer)
TWO: I.....I cannot speak of it. It was too horrible.
ONE (suddenly sympathetic) : Take your time dear. We’re on your side.
TWO: Well......well....please don’t make me do this. Please.
ONE: I really must insist.
TWO: I was...I was....I...was sitting down for breakfast. And...and....well I was having poached eggs, plenty of pepper, y’know, yolks nice and runny....like my old dad used to make....
ONE: Go on.
TWO: Well anyway. I was eating my food, and I picked up....picked up the paper..picked it up and....and there it was on the front page. I....I threw it down in horror...I ran into the bathroom....I spewed my....my guts into the toilet bowl....it smelled of bleach and disinfectant. There was mildew on the flush handle. The tiles were pearly white. I smelled what Jesus must have smelt upon his cross as he looked down and saw the evil he was dying for....
ONE: Now madam, I think that you have lost the plot a little, or maybe I have...we have court appointed smelling salts if you have need. Now I will ask you for, what I hope is the last time. The very last time. What did you see?
TWO: It was horrendous. It was the sickest sight I have ever witnessed. I once saw my fathers gangrenous leg but this was nothing compared to that front page. It was a good newspaper as well. None of the riff raft, tabloid rubbish. I spent a good 45p on that newspaper, 70 on Saturdays I know but it was worth the extra.
ONE: WHAT DID YOU SEE.
TWO: These......these.....these two children, babies, in babygrows with teddybears and bottles. They were there. So young, so innocent....
ONE (shocked) : Murdered babies.
TWO: No it was worse than that. Murdered babies had been on the front page of the previous edition. This was far worse. They....they were sitting there in their pushchairs, quite contented, enjoying there baby world. Beautiful and untouched they were. But behind them, attached to their pushchairs were....were signs....were the devil’s signs...the devil’s eyes....rough and brittle, wood hammered together into the shape of a for sale sign. Attached to the babies’ chairs....the wood had words written on them.
ONE: What were these awful words?
TWO: “Kill Paedophiles” was written on one. “Death sentence for child bandits” was on the other. (She breaks down) Children....words in their mouths...before they can speak.....death....parents teaching their children how to kill....they want to...to burn us all. Children used to....to win support. Child abuse to stamp out child abuse. WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN? WHAT ABOUT THE VICTIMS? WHAT ABOUT REALITY?
Pause
TWO jumps back to stand as prosecutor.BR>
TWO: There your honour. I rest my case.
Pause, they look at each other. TWO walks towards the judges seat.
TWO: Now the defence must speak.
She takes ONE’s wig and places it on her head. ONE moves down to where TWO stood at the start of the scene. He looks at the floor in despairing thought. TWO mounts the platform.
TWO (now the judge) : What says the defence? Please state your case.
Pause. ONE gets a grip on himself.
ONE: I will begin with cross examination, because M’lud I am afraid I must cross you. Humanity cannot be held accountable for its actions. We plead insanity.
TWO: Overruled. (the hammer falls sharply)
ONE: I mean....I mean we plead self-defence.
TWO: Overruled. (the hammer falls)
ONE: We plead...we plead....diminished responsibility.
TWO: Anymore of this pantomime, counsel and I will find you in contempt of court.
ONE: Not-guilty.
TWO: Why not let the witness speak for himself? Are you coaching him? Is this conspiracy to perjury? Is this conspiracy to purgatory? Let the man speak.
ONE: What do you have to say on this matter?
He has been pacing up and down. He now looks towards where the “witness box“ previously existed. On his question he walks to where the witness stands and turns to face the audience.
ONE (now the witness) : There is nothing to say. It’s all so confusing and breathtaking. It twists and twines my mind and I scream at night, at dawn when I feel the breath of the thousands of stinking fiends that wake up and move. I wish it could all be true and that black and white existed and co-existed and I could tell the wheat from the chaff. But I can’t.....I used....I used to be....be a confident man...be confident and strong in what I believed in. And what I believed in was the light....the light of God existing within the heart....the heart of each man and woman...woman and man....could be sacred. But.....Then I was debarred and defrocked because no one.....no one believed. They stared at the sideshow. “You believe, you believe? How can you believe in us?” I would hear them talking. Feel my heart breaking as I realised there was nothing left. So I made the choice and stopped trying, stopped waiting, stopped fighting. Forced my head into the ground.
He becomes more and more self involved. He takes a few steps forward and seems to totter over a precipice.
ONE: Trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
Shovelling with all the might you can muster
Summoning all the strength your stomach can stomach.
Sun getting brighter
Head getting lighter
Sweat getting into your eyes.
You brush it away covering your brow with soil,
Shovelling, sweating through the toil,
Struggling to fill a lamp with oil.
Setting the flame to the foil.
Hands covered in tar and blood
Thoughts flowing in a flood,
Drowning and re-drowning
Heart pounding and re-pounding.
He is crying by now.
ONE: Standing in the hole by the mountain,
You can see its peak but can’t get out.
Your cries for help don’t reach any ears.
Yet all you can do is shout.
(Shouting at the sky) CAN’T GET OUT.
CAN’T GET OUT.
Sun’s light is blocked out by self made walls.
That keep in your thoughts and your calls.
Pause.
TWO: Any objections?
ONE steps out of the witness to become the defence.
ONE: I object. The witness is under duress. I request the permission to treat the witness as a hostile one.
TWO: You are the witness.
ONE: OBJECTION.
TWO: Overruled. (The hammer falls.)
ONE: I want to appeal.
TWO: Too late. Guilty. (Hammer blow.) As.(Hammer blow.) CHARGED. (FINAL hammer blow.)
ONE: NO. NOT GUILTY. NOT GUILTY.
TWO: The court has spoken.
ONE: No. There is some hope. There is justice. There is peace.
TWO: The court has spoken and you are the judge, jury. You are the victim and perpetrator. You are the scribe.....
ONE: NO. I renounce the court. I have nothing to do with the court....
TWO:....the audience, the prosecution, the defence, the God on the high foot of heaven......
ONE:.....I am separate. I am an individual. I believe in the individual. In possibility. In hope. I believe. I believe in hope.
TWO:.....You are the court and the court’s word and voice and sweat and grunt is final.
Pause, they stare at each other.
ONE: I cannot believe this. We are not guilty. Some are guilty, some are innocent, that is the way it always has been.
TWO: Review the case against us.
ONE: I cannot bear it.
TWO: You must. These are the charges:
Mass hysteria....ONE: That is no great crime....
TWO:....The holocaust. Female castration....
ONE:....the...the....it’s the evil.....
TWO: .....Heroin. Child pornography. Anal Rape.....
ONE: ....few....the evil few.....
TWO: ......Religious fanaticism....
ONE:....WE MUST BELIEVE IN SOMETHING.....
TWO: .....Ghengis Khan. Kamikaze Pilots. The Atomic Bomb....
ONE:....We...we...that...was a necessary evil. We had to win the war....
TWO(briefly stops intoning crimes) : ....No one wins in war. (Then) : Starvation.....
ONE: .....What about the good things?.....
TWO: ....Lynch Mobs. Anorexia. Bullimia. Naming names.....
ONE:....What about tenderness......Saving someone's life.....WHAT ABOUT LOVE?....
TWO(Stopping again) : ....There is no word for love anymore.(then) : Burning at the stake. The guillotine. Germ warfare.....
ONE: ....It’s....it’s not our fault.....it can’t.....it can’t be.....
TWO: ....Staining the air. Cannibalism. Brother killing brother. Mother killing mother. Lover killing lover.....
ONE: .....STOP (he grabs the hammer from the dock) .....STOP.....WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE....STOP.......
TWO:.....Slavery. Blood sacrifice. Abandoning children.......
ONE:....I. WON’T. LISTEN.....(with each word he hits his head with the hammer)....I. WON’T. LISTEN.......
TWO:.....Apartheid. Atilla The Hun. The Emperor Nero. Obesity and bed sores. Black smog....
ONE:....WHY. WON’T. YOU. STOP........
TWO:...Hitler.Alexander The Great. Genocide. Lies.....
ONE (he is screaming and crying.) : STOP.....please stop....PLEASE.....PLEASE STOP......
TWO(She speaks louder. Almost like a preacher) :......SPITE. BLIGHT. BLACK VERSUS WHITE. LOSS OF SIGHT. KNEEL AND BITE. BELIEVING IN RIGHT. MIGHT. BLOOD. FIGHT.
ONE:.....THERE IS HOPE. THERE IS HOPE. THERE IS FUCKING HOPE.
He hits her with the hammer she falls from her pedestal to the floor. He falls on her hitting her with his weapon.
ONE: YOU FUCKING BITCH. THERE IS HOPE. WHY WON’T YOU FUCKING LISTEN......WHY WON’T......WHY WON’T.....
His frenzy slows to a halt. He looks down at her lifeless body. He stands. Tears are in his eyes.
ONE: What have I done.
BLACKOUT.
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