Violine
by Joe Woodward
directed by Herman Pretorius
designed by Kaoru Alfonso
Sample Text
Act 1
We hear the sound of lapping waves on a beach.
Then a movie pastiche of landing barges, beach landings and soldiers on a beach.
A Violinist is silhouetted against the sea and playing.
LIGHTS UP
on CYRIL, dressed in a dapper suit and sitting on a CHAIR (Down Stage Left) in HIS ROOM next to THE LOUNGE. He is prepared to speak in his Objective Voice: that of the story teller; the lecturer; the voice that lets him, and us, into an inner world made possible only through the artificial construct of the stage. TERRI is seated at a piano.
CYRIL: There you are. Still playing. Playing after all these years.? Hey Cyril? The music!Violine!'
No reaction.
CYRIL: I can talk to you can't I! Even though my brain only functions for about half a second and most people view me as a walking vegetable. But I can talk to you. You!
He chuckles ironically. TERRI warms up her fingers on the piano in the lounge: a small distance from Cyril's room.
CYRIL: One doctor actually suggested to my wife, Terri, that I should be locked up in an institution to let me die. "He's already 'brain dead'," the doctor said ... and he said it in my presence too. It seems they can plot these little dark lines on the surface of my brain from a scan that proves my thoughts, my memory, especially my short term memory, are all shot. You know what I'm talking about? Don't you! I've been prone since birth to Dr. Alzheimer's confusions &ldots;.
He picks up violin and plucks the strings. He begins tuning it.
CYRIL: You know what I'm saying? Which is funny really, because no one else does? They merely hear my pitiable dementia as it clutches at disjointed fragments of a stranger's life flowing in a torrent of unbearable emotion and struggling to recognize itself. Isn't that right Cyril! Cyril? Cyril &ldots;
He goes still. Reconciled! Somewhere out behind the audiencescene, a lone violinist is silhouetted against a bright light. Cyril recognizes this shape and smiles.
He tries to place the violin to his chin. But he pulls back and examines his violin.
CYRIL: I was very fortunate as a child to have good Sister Mary Ecclesiastes tapping my wrist with a ruler in order to make a violinist out of me. (He chuckles) Now, how could I have known that Sister Mary Ecclesiastes &ldots; Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee &ldots;Blessed art thou amongst women &ldots; Blessed Sister Mary Ecclesiastes &ldots; By-pass the dark areas in my brain. Tap my wrist with a ruler. Make a violinist out of me.
For a moment, Cyril is lost in his childhood.
A Nun APPEARS. It is Sister Mary Ecclesiastes.
SISTER MARY ECCLESIASTES: Keep your wrist up Cyril. Cyril! Do it right now and you will do it right for the rest of your life.
CYRIL: For the rest of your life!
SISTER MARY ECCLESIASTES: Do you want to be ordinary Cyril? Why throw your life away? You have talent. God gave you talent. Use it Cyril. Don't waste it. Use it. The world is full of people who waste God's gifts. Don't be one them. Keep your wrist up.
Sister Mary Ecclesiastes disappears.
CYRIL: I sat with about ten others and she would bellow at me to keep my wrist up. Well "thank you Sister Mary Ecclesiastes". I was very fortunate as a child to have good Sister Mary Ecclesiastes teaching me the violin. (He chuckles) would one say allow me to by-pass the dark areas turning me into an idiot simpleton in my final years on the earth? She was such a dragon. But Cyril, we still keep our wrists up as we were taught! Right?
He picks up the violin and holds it correctly as he was taught.
CYRIL: I sat with about ten others and she would bellow at me to keep my wrist up. Well "thank you Sister Mary Ecclesiastics". I don't have much else. But I still have the music.
Terri plays from Faure's Andante in the Sonate pour violoncelle et piano in Dminor (d-moll. op109). The Violinist accompanies her. Cyril is struck by her beautiful playing.
CYRIL: Ah Ah ... You realize, of course, that the person at the piano is my wife, Terri.! And although I mostly stay in my room, as a way of avoiding embarrassment, the piano is located in the nearby lounge and we can accompany each other.Look at her. She knows I can see her from my door way. Sometimes I see her looking at me and smiling smiling sadly k to placate any lingering desires I might harbour. But she knowings she might just as well have smiled at a photograph. And perhaps she did: : that one ... of the two young lovers on the dance floor. The Terri and Cyril: those two young people our children could never meet.
Cyril picks up the cello line from the Andante to chime in with Terri. But he stops. The silhouetted Violinist continues.
CYRIL: Faure &ldots; Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven ... Brahms! We play them all.
Terri plays a few more notes from the Andante and stops.
CYRIL: Come on ... Terri, for god's sake, play. You must play today. She must. She speaks about how amazing it is I can still play while unable to string more than a few words together. PLAY.
Terri is silent.
CYRIL: (To the Silhouetted Violinist) If only she could see you. If only she knew you were here, she would play her best and insist I was properly attired for the occasion.
He listens to her playing.
CYRIL: See ... She plays. Thank Christ for that. Hear how well she plays.
There is a knock at the door. Terri stops and leaves to answer the knock. Cyril is slightly disoriented.
EXIT Silhouetted Violinist.
CYRIL: Who the hell is this?
CARL ENTERS.
CARL: Sorry Mrs. Farmer. Traffic was terrible and &ldots;
TERRI: That's all right. Come in Mr. Orter.
CARL: Carl! I have all the papers. How are you?
TERRI: Not the best. And Cyril is going down hill very quickly.
Carl and Terri move to the piano area.
CARL: It must be very hard for you.
TERRI: There is still something there. He plays so well on the violin. And everyday he takes out his old diary and the photos from Austria.
CARL: He was a prisoner of war.
CYRIL: (Listening) Yeah. Of course I was. But what's your business? I don't know you.
TERRI: Four years. He was captured in Greece.
Sudden hint of sounds from an old battle. Men's distant screaming. Flashes from a past fill the stage.
CYRIL: Kalimata Bay, April 29th. 1941.
TERRI: You can see these photographs (pointing to the wall). Martrei, Karnten, Leinz, Klagenfurt. He was in a POW camp in Austria.
CARL: (Incredulous) My family was from Karnten. Not far from the British POW camp, too. What a coincidence! My uncles were with the army on the French and Russian fronts.
CYRIL: Hmm ... He's Austrian.
TERRI: Look Mr. Orter, he's not going to want to go.
CYRIL: Go?
CARL: This isn't like a hospital. I know he had a bad experience recently.
TERRI: He went down hill so much last time. I'd hate to see him like that again. He was like a little rabbit that had been let out of a cage. He was terrified. When he came back, he ran out on to the back lawn in his bare feet and literally crawled on the grass like an animal.
CYRIL: (Agitated) How could you do it to me? How could you do it to me? How could you?
TERRI: (Over Cyril's voice) He kept screaming at me: "How could you do it to me? You put me there. You put me there". He didn't understand I was in hospital too and ill. He won't understand now either.
CARL: They will look after him. There'll be others he can talk to. He'll be able to play his violin. It's a very good dementia unit.
Cyril positions himself to play the violin and plays vigorously before cutting himself off sharply between sections: interjecting with dialogue.
CYRIL: They're sending me back. They're sending back &ldots;
He vigorously plays again. FX: hints of battle sounds mixed with the violin.
CARL: Does he always play like that?
TERRI: You never know what is going through his mind in that room. He rarely comes out now.
The WORDS from the diary appear on the screen and over the stage as he speaks.
CYRIL (VO): "Sunday: No ships."
Aggressively strikes the violin.
CYRIL (VO): Monday: 28th. April. Kalamata. Fighting in town and on the beach. Who made the joke about the "cactoblastis"? Sergeant Major Dolan did. Are you there?
TERRI: It's all right Cyril. Cyril.
Sound of a very distant violin.
The Silhouetted Violinist appears before Cyril again.
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