“Oh to follow the road that leads away from everything, / without anguish, death, winter waiting along it / with their eyes open through the dew.”
- Pablo Neruda
The Chair of Forgetfulness. The Guy is here. And Pirithous. Theseus, at a distance.
Pirithous looks at The Guy.
PIRITHOUS
Who are you?
THE GUY
No one.
PIRITHOUS
Well, you must be someone. You’re here. If you were no one, you’d be… well, you wouldn’t be. You’d be nothing, and I’d be alone.
THE GUY
I’m… a friend.
PRITHOUS
Oh. A friend. I know I’ve heard that name for a thing before, but I just can’t place it. Do we know each other?
THE GUY
No.
PIRITHOUS
I’m not surprised. I don’t seem to know anyone here. There’s a man here often. He seems to know me, swears we know each other, but I can’t really place his face at all.
THE GUY
That must be hard.
PRITHOUS
Actually…
It isn’t. At all.
I think there was a time when I knew things.
But I don’t remember it very clearly.
In fact, I don’t remember it at all.
I only have this vague shadow of the thing
floating around inside my head.
I find these days that I only seem to not know.
So I guess it’s only hard for the things you forget.
Because you can’t be sad over something or someone
you don’t even recognize.
THE GUY
That’s true.
PIRITHOUS
Would you like to sit?
THE GUY
No, thanks.
PIRITHOUS
There is one thing I do remember.
Would you mind if I shared it?
THE GUY
Please do.
PIRITHOUS
I remember what it felt like when I sat down in this chair.
I think I’d come down here for something.
Something I wanted, but wasn’t mine.
And the journey was long. It was treacherous.
And I was tired when I got here.
Very tired.
And I saw this chair.
And something told me,
a voice in my head told me,
“You sit in that chair,
and everything you carry with you will vanish.”
At the time,
I thought the voice meant the backpack
and the maps
and the trail mix
and the sleeping bag
and the lantern I carried
But instead…
Pirithous trails off. A silence.
THE GUY
Instead what?
PIRITHOUS
Who are you?
THE GUY
Huh?
PIRITHOUS
Who are you?
A silence.
THE GUY
No one.
PIRITHOUS
Well, you must be someone. You’re here. If you were no one, you’d be… well, you wouldn’t be. You’d be nothing, and I’d be alone.
THE GUY
I’m… a friend.
The scene continues, in circles, always on the verge of remembering.
THESEUS
Remember… please remember… please… remember…
But he doesn’t. We never will know the one thing he remembers. We are always on the cusp of it.
The lights go down.
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2 comments:
Forgetting things is one of my biggest fears. For example, I just saw Wonderful Town, and looking at the program, I don't remember how a few of the songs went. It's like Swiss cheese.
Another thing. I've been trying to piece together your method for developing each of these plays, and I'm guessing that you're reading a Greek mythology book right now, or perhaps you're just a myth buff, but it made me think of something interesting. I've never talked to characters in a book or a play. I quietly view their story from a window, I guess, never getting involved in what was happening, until this, until yesterday, I guess...
you keep de-throning my new favorites with more new favorites.
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