Something Out of Nothing
Something Out of Nothing
Created by Echo Cain (2019)
Space. Chaos.
We sit before the beginning.
The universe is birthed.
A light beams down onto an amorphous blob as the two actors that will be seen throughout the play step onto stage.
They look longingly at the strange blob and turn towards the audience.
They speak directly towards them.
Woman
We’ve been here awhile.
Man
You longer than me.
Woman
Sure, but the suffering is unbearable…
IT doesn’t care.
Man
You’d think after seeing eternity laid out before IT, IT would get invested, interested in the little things: us, anything really.
Woman
IT just sits there…
Pretty boring actually.
But, we can’t blame IT, forming everything from nothing as IT did.
IT doesn’t have morality.
IT just is.
Man
I could do without IT honestly.
Woman
IT feels nothing for us, so I’ll feel nothing for it…
Hey, is that the next life calling?
Man
Listening in an offstage direction to something.
I think it is.
*Sigh*, are you ready for the next lesson?
Woman
Not really.
I think we’re close to something.
Maybe the...end?
Man
I don’t think it exists.
I think it just keeps going.
Woman
It may be uncaring, yet it is not cruel.
It simply put the rules in place.
Man
There’s no end to the lessons; I hope we’re not in the edifices again.
Woman
No progression means we don’t always get placed in the places we want to be placed when our placement doesn’t really matter.
Man
You’re exhausting. Why I are we stuck together again?
Woman
Tsk, you’re gonna start this again?! Damn you, you stupid wilk--
Man
Unfazed.
Hmmmm… I think it’s here.
Woman
No. No, why do you insult me before the forgetting?
It may not be cruel, but you certainly are.
The blob fades from existence and the stage goes black.
A soundscape not dissimilar to that of a portal is played throughout the theatre.
--------------------------------------------------------------
______________________________________________________________
--------------------------/ | \---------------------------
LIFE 3.01XXXX MILLION
A man sits in an office, pure and stainless.
He is talking on a communicative device to another businessman.
We do not hear this other individual.
They discuss the building of a new edifice.
Henry
Staggardly.
The number is in?
10!
Happy. Yeah.
Build over Barastanurg?...
Fools…
Yes, all.
Edifice will be placed there. Good. Good. Of course.
Will do.
For purity!
Turning off the communicative device, Henry takes a seat behind a desk and pulls out a flask, tobacco pipe, and slippers.
Using each, he pounds a button on the desk that makes a loud buzzing sound.
Roxanne
From offstage.
You rang, sir?
The usual?
Henry
Mmmmhm.
Make it quick.
Roxanne
...Ummmm. Sorry, someone just--
Muffled conversation and arguing is heard offstage.
She-- It’s a woman named Charon?
Should I let her--
Henry
Oooh yes, I forgot I had my…
Henry struggles to find the words.
...appointment today.
Roxanne
Alright, she’s not in the registry, but...
I’ll do what you say, sir.
MORRIGAN enters under the cover of being Charon.
She pulls off a wig and reveals herself.
Morrigan
You really are a lout.
Henry
Damn it, how did you?--Get her out of my--
Morrigan
Closing and locking the door.
No security. Not this time.
I cut the wire in the electrical room.
Henry
Childish.
FINE. Talk.
I don’t care.
Henry moves his hand slowly toward the desk buzzer button.
Morrigan
Rushing to HENRY and snatching his hand.
You know I know how to snap this with one motion.
We used to get into a lot of fights, didn’t we Henry?
Henry
Yeah… So?
I was younger.
Morrigan
You fought for me.
You promised to care, for me, for my world, my position; you filthy, filthy man. You left me to fight my own battles.
That’s not the issue though--
Henry
Damn you!
You don’t get to--I’ll throw you out--I’ll--I’ll--
Morrigan
You upper echelon assholes, always pretending as though you know nothing, trying not to see the turnover.
I’m ready for it when it comes.
It's all so useless, so I’m just gonna make the most out of it.
Henry
It won’t come for me. Won’t let it.
Why do you care about me then? Why give a shit?
Why come here and ruin my day?
Morrigan
Isn’t it obvious?
Oh right, you’re an idiot who thinks that your words and previous actions can just be scrubbed from my mind’s record?
I stand before you wailing my soul out, and do I fall down dead? No!
I stand up and punish the evildoer, as that must be what this old world has in store for me!
You left me on the Fourth Floor for the harlot on the Fifth!
The same story from Fifth to Sixth, all the way to the big ol’ 20th!
You’ve enjoyed each of us as playthings and you thought you’d just leave us behind as some disgusting trail of breadcrumbs?
You underestimate the woman’s power.
You’re shortsightedness will be your downfall and you’ll--
Henry
Shut up!!! I’ve had it with your rhetoric!
Henry tosses her off his arm.
Did I fight? Yes!
Did I enjoy each woman as I climbed? Yes!
But, why not?
I didn’t know that I’d reach the top having left a trail of girls in my wake.
I was thinking in the moment!
I pretend now, I cover that which was so forward in my heart before!
YES!
It is all a drop in the bucket, but I was happy on each floor.
It’s all useless anyway---
Henry collapses to the floor dead.
Morrigan
...
Ah, silence.
There’s too many of these bastards in this world…
But, I can’t do it all.
I can’t destroy all these fools, kidding themselves into believing that their individual lives matter.
I...I can make no real change or legacy, only stop these--
Morrigan collapses to the floor, also dead.
The lights onstage dim to a blackout, when they come back on, the MAN and WOMAN are back in the space with the blob.
Man
Well, that was a waste.
Woman
Only because you made such a show of annoying me before that life.
Negative energies in our spirits translate to decidedly negative lives.
Man
Sucks that we can’t remember our spirit-thoughts in our physical lives.
I definitely would have left the building much earlier.
Woman
...That’s kind of the point.
We’re supposed to strive and learn and hope in every life, not just realize what system we are a part of immediately.
Man
Can’t help but feel that it would be over quicker.
Silence.
Is that? Is that another?
Woman
So quick?
They’ve never--
Man
Is it coming?
All
THE END?
THE SPACE BEYOND?
THE KNOWLEDGE OF IT ALL?
Woman
Here we go again.
--------------------------------------------------------------
______________________________________________________________
--------------------------/ | \---------------------------
LIFE 3.011XXX Million
A human sits in a pile of trash, waste, and rotting food.
This individual can be played by either the woman or man.
A sign above them reads Floor ZERO: WASTE DEPARTMENT.
The human is slowly, deliberately eating pieces of rotting food.
The food may be as fantastical or as realistic as you would like.
A loudspeaker is playing a tinny recording.
MESSAGE
FLOOR ZERO: ANNOUNCEMENT…
ATTENTION!
Eat the mess, and you will rise!
RISE! RISE! RISE ABOVE THIS FORSAKEN LEVEL AND REACH THE NEXT ONE!
The detritus is what will save you, filth!
If you fill your body 19,183 times with the mess, you will be permitted to rise.
Do not let a drop of the dead’s energy go to waste!
There is purity above your heads.
We. The UNDECAYING.
We are not affected by the disgusting detritus that surrounds you.
We sit high and mighty above with pure intention and dominance over this land.
You may eventually enjoy such benefits if you can climb the ranks,
from ZERO to TWENTY.
We at the top were once where you sit, it is doable, though difficult.
Only the strongest and most confident will make it.
This challenge is set before all those in the Ulliraphga edifice.
Good luck.
The Message repeats multiple times throughout the scene as the human continues to eat the trash and detritus.
This scene should play as a piece of performance art.
The actor should feel comfortable eating the rotting food (the impact of this will be felt more with actually rotting food, but it can be faked effectively as well). The desperation of the residents of FLOOR ZERO should be felt viscerally throughout this scene.
This can be conveyed in anyway that the director and actor decides.
In fact, it would be a disservice to fully block this scene as it should be improvised to a certain extent every time it is performed.
However, one thing does not change between performances.
The actor must always die without a word, appearing deep in thought.
Blackout.
They are in space with the blob again.
Man
Coughing.
Ugh, I hate it when we meld.
It’s weird to be in the same brain.
Woman
That’s weird that that… I don’t…
Why did we?
Man
Don’t even want to think about…
Woman
Isn’t it exhilarating a little?
To be caught as flies in the same space, able to experience the same perceptions. To be both male and female, to be in the space between?
Man
I’d rather just be me.
Be the person I’m meant to be.
Woman
You’re short-sighted.
Man
Maybe. But at least I have compassion for others.
You just--
Woman
I have empathy, compassion, the entirety of it!
I care, I show love!
Man
Yeah? Then why the ranting?
Why the constant cutting me off?
Where’s the love here when--
It’s coming again?!
NOW!?
Woman
Oh my, is it going to happen?
Man
You don’t seriously think that...the birds?
Woman
After this unending suffering, I wouldn’t rule it out.
You know it’s coming at the end.
When someone actually gets there.
Man
Well I don’t really--
--------------------------------------------------------------
______________________________________________________________
--------------------------/ | \---------------------------
Life 3.0112XX Million
A man and woman sit in a small hut.
The woman is cooking some soup on a small charcoal fire.
The man is whittling a spear from a stick.
They are both lost in their tasks.
The man looks up briefly, staring longingly at the woman.
It is apparent from their ease with each other that they are pair-bonded.
They are mates.
Yet, there is something in the eye and the body posture of the man that suggests that he yearns for something more.
Ben
So…
You mentioned the festivities tonight?
Isa
You didn’t know?
There’s a travelling merchant, a man from the edifice, some performing muddy men, and even the Mushroom Sisters are performing!
Ben
Huh. That’s a lot for one night…
Isa
I know! Isn’t it fun!
Ben doesn’t reply.
Well, I’m sure you’ll have fun once we get out there.
Silence resumes as the two keep at their tasks, meditative almost.
Ben
Have you--have you ever thought that maybe we should just stay in one of these nights?
Isa
Confused.
I thought you loved the muddy men!
You used to go out with me every night!
You used to drink the juice of the Earth and scream with me!
Where has my Ben gone to?
Ben
He’s still here Isa, just different.
Have you ever thought that maybe I want to be with you?--
Isa
YOU ARE WITH ME!
Day in and day out!
We do everything together!
Ben
Then why do I feel as though you are compassionless, uncaring towards my presence? You put such emphasis on the night’s happenings that you lack the perspective to see me, your mate!
Isa
Scoffing.
Yes Ben, you are my mate.
We enjoy our solitary time within the depths of the night’s enshroudment.
What more would you have me do?
Ben
I’m not--talking--about that.
Not about physicality, everyone is so focused on the biological function, the thing that keeps ourselves going on.
But what is a bond beyond that?
Being present next to each other?
I want you to--
Isa
Yes, Ben.
That is all that this is, we are a function of the world around us, of this society.
Of this world.
We must fit into its structure.
Ben
But don’t you think that we should strive for--we have no word for it--?
I want to be able to whisper in your ear what I feel, not what we need to do to keep the human lives ongoing.
Isa
But, Ben. You could die in the next minute.
It happens so often, I’m always surprised when I wake up that I haven’t died the day before.
We all stand before a precipice that is plagued by eternal earthquakes; we all plummet effortlessly back into the chaos with the shaking.
Ben
Why not live for now, Isa? I
have put all my soul into making you happy, into making you joyful, yet you spurn me at this time!
You rant and rave about the physical world and the soon-ness of the end, yet you do not fully accept it.
REJOICE IN THE NOW!
The present is before us, and yes, I might die in the next minute, but until then shouldn’t we live for the now?!
Isa
I understand what you say Ben.
Your words are filled with vehemence from the long time you have spent watching and hoping for me to recognize this, and...and, I don’t have a response.
I can’t...it is true that the past and the future are only shadows, there is only the present…
Maybe, maybe, maybe there is a way, a way that we can just enjoy the simple things right now.
Enjoy each other wholeheartedly and with great feeling!
I think I do want...more.
Isa moves closer to Ben, but dies at the end of her motion with the last word etched upon her lips.
Ben is distraught, crying. The lights dim as Man and Woman are back in space.
Man
I didn’t realize that you…
Woman
I didn’t, wow.
Do you really feel like--
Man
Yes!
How could I not?
We have been at this game for millions of rounds!
Woman
I know that proximity brings love eventually, but...you’ve always been so rude, so uncaring--
Man
Because I was afraid that you didn’t care at all either!
You too acted with an amoral attitude, lacking true compassion for my person!
Woman
This may be true but--is that?
Man
DAMN THE CREATOR!
It’s happening again?!
Do you not let me even a moment of peace to collect my thoughts and talk about what you have shown us from that now past life?
You are cruel, too cruel, completely amoral!
You should go and--
--------------------------------------------------------------
______________________________________________________________
--------------------------/ | \---------------------------
Life 3.01123X Million
A human is lying in a cave.
There’s fungus all around that glows slightly.
The human is naked, staring at nothing in particular.
They get up slowly.
The human looks around, bewildered at their surroundings, then comforted.
They move downstage towards a bowl containing edible mushrooms.
They ravenously devour the mushrooms and sit back, content.
This scene should feel orgasmic.
The human should begin to dance, paint, yelp, squeal, sing, dance again, smear mud upon their face, paint upon the cave walls in the old ways of humans.
All these things should be done with both a reverence and a voraciousness.
See the work of Olivier de Sagazan for reference, especially Office Man.
The scene should end with the human coating their face in mud/clay and then gnawing on a bone.
There is a hope within their movements, an innate, instinctual wisdom that exudes from this Diogenic (Definition: Of or relating to Diogenes) display.
At the end of this dance, this eternal/never-ending performance, the human falls dead to the ground, left to rot in the cave.
Space again.
Woman
Again? Again? Again? Again? Again?!
Together we danced in unison, unhindered…
Beautiful.
Beyond that which had come before.
Man
Exquisite.
Destructive.
Meandering.
Tearless and tearful at the same time.
Woman
Harbinger of ends.
Of no ends in sight.
Of the last place we’ve ever wanted to be.
Man
Of cruelty, of psychopathy, of madness, of hope.
All
Of pain, of suffering, of turning the wheels, of changing the world, of understanding, of love, of knowledge, of wisdom, of it ALL, of the one, of the plurality, of THE PAIN, of crying, of torment, of knowing it never ends.
Of feeling close and far.
Of destruction, of creation, of the beginning, of the beginning, of the beginning, of the--
--------------------------------------------------------------
______________________________________________________________
--------------------------/ | \---------------------------
Life 3.011235 Million
A woman has hiked up to the top of a mountain.
She stares at the world around her.
She wears robes of the penitent, of the aware.
She carries upon her back a sack with a string of mushrooms coming from it.
Nameless One
Breathing heavily.
I see it all.
All of it…
The entire world is beneath my feet, yet I feel...the same.
Immersed in this human life, unending in its suffering of cyclical nature.
I have learned from the wisest men and women and those in between.
I have learned from each life I have once lived.
Each time being another of the many.
Some more enlightened than others.
To be gifted with the many lives of this world is a boon.
Mistakes can be learned from, repeated, learned from again, fixed, righted, sealed shut in the box of the cycle.
There is no box.
At least, I don’t want to be in one.
The Undecaying of the edifices have a point, in that they wish for progression. I too yearn for such a thing, yet it is the striving, the yearning which is at the heart of it all.
We must simply exist, live within this world.
To wish for a singular, a goal is shortsighted, lacks reason.
I search eternally, yet I know not what I search for.
It is a feeling and understanding.
A...a, body knowing.
Not the mind itself conceptualizing the conditions of this world, but a feeling flowing through from the middle to the extremities, to the purveyor of knowledge, to the seller of hopes, to the knower of dreams.
WE exist.
WE are here.
WE shall end it.
WE are one finally.
Conceptualized within it all.
There was never any journey.
It was always next to us.
WE simply had to turn from the path and look at the world around US.
Community embodied within.
Love embodied within for it all.
I look upon this world.
There never was suffering.
There never was a striving.
The breath was within US this entire time.
Time itself has ceased with feelings of true joy and grief.
These two sides are equivalent.
The sick are just as good as the healthy.
The world is just as beautiful as it is grotesque.
It is all in the middle.
There never was a way down or up.
We have always been on the never-ending line.
Shadows lived around us with the light, dappled, spraying from above and below.
SCREAM! YELL! SHOUT!
IT IS THE END!
IT IS THE FINAL TURNING!
THE LAST GROANING OF THIS HORRIFIC, BEAUTIFUL WHEEL!
YIELD! HARK!
WE HAVE FOUND IT, UNBEKNOWNST TO THE WORLD!
GET READY!
PREPARE!
THERE NEVER WAS A REALITY!
WE HAVE NEVER EVER EVER EXISTED!
IT HAS ALL BEEN SHADOWS LEFT IN THE PAST AND FUTURE!
WE ARE AT THE PRESENT MOMENT!
WE STAND AT A PRECIPICE!
READY TO JUMP INTO THE SEA OF CHAOTIC NOTHINGNESS!
THE UNKNOWING WILL TAKE US WITH FEELING WITH POWER WITH PAIN WITH HOPE WITH HUMILITY WITH AMORALITY!
WITH THE CRUELTY OF IT!
WITH THE COMPASSION OF IT!
WEEP!
LAUGH!
IT IS EQUAL!
The wind whips forcefully through the world.
The birds are the first to end.
Feathers fall from the sky as birds begin to drop in syncopated “plops” that hearken back to rain.
The Nameless One kneels in pain and happiness.
They begin to walk, seeing no one.
They walk, they age, they die.
Space finally.
There is nothing here.
There never was anything here.
Music is playing, improvised on an acoustic guitar.
Nobody plays this music of the universe.
--------------------------------------------------------------
______________________________________________________________
--------------------------/ | \---------------------------
