4 thoughts on “Death To The Green Man. (A modern mystery play.)”
DEATH TO THE GREEN MAN
(Enter Green Man in chains and Grog with stage axe}
NOEL
I am the tree who has no voice
Hark ye me and make your choice
This green bard is my agent he speaks for me
I have no tongue I am a tree
The clown Sel it’s told has sold off the Knowle
The toads
And I am being taken to the scaffold
Sil’s statutes permit I may speak my last words in this play
My last words are all I am allowed to say
See now this Green Man in chains
And hooded Grog the executioner
Not him truly to blame
For next to him stands sly Sel the clown
~ he thinks clown means crown
Who of me has washed his hands
And I am being led
Down to the execution ground
Please I bid
Stop not your children’s ears for fears
This same story is disguised each night
As nursery rhyme
Such crimes! Forsooth
Ask Jack and Jill
They know the truth
SEL
(consulting book of statutes}
Sorry about him, he’s likely to go on
There is no clause in here that says that it’s wrong
GREEN MAN
Remember me the tree
We declined with your industry
Were cindered for your machines
Chopped down for your warships
ulped for your propaganda
Uprooted for yor roads
Torn and traded from the Tropics for toilet paper
And in my case, sold off to the Developers
Long back my memory goes
Through many ages of man
And long before you began
Oh how unscrupulous you can be
Compared to the high boughed tree
Who do we harm
What do we malign
Hurting each other is not
How we spend our time
We are gentle and strong
And live for quite long
~ Not as long as the stone
They have more knowing
Being an older thing
But we bring you breath
For in green we get dressed
It’s called photosynthesis
The tree is your friend
Without us you end
For us it is so weird
That this usually falls on deaf ears
You have gotten used to the convenience
And forgotten about trees
Like me
By the way, my name is Noel
And the way things are going
Looks like I’m going to loose my head
This clown Sel has really gotten it in for me
And he has charged me with ‘Obstructing the path of progress’
There is not much a mute rooted tree can do
Up against the Clown Court
I’m caught
However by fair chance I met this wandering poet
Who chose to plead my case
And mighty fine he looks
In green tunic with leaves all a curling
From his face
Curious how my voice emerges from him
He took the time to let me in
It seems that as a tree~man
I present a legal stumbling block for Sel
As some stipulation of law requires
A public enquiry
Hear my truth and plea for freedom
So though in chains I have the chance
With my testimony in defiant stance
To tell of my life that you might know
The mind of a tree named Noel
Something sparkling in your mind’s eye
Defined before you also die
No air will carry humanity’s last cry
I guess it would be quite sad
But no one would be here to have such feelings
Yet the mystery of life might still provide a surprise
And I would suggest it wise
To be attentive to this tale
Cncerning me
And this sale of land
By the clown Sel
Land he says he owns
By laws he decreed
Requiring prompt removal
Of Noel said tree
For the development company
Unfortunatly for Sel
I won’t budge for authorities
Especially those paid to kill trees
So here standing in chains
I presently remain
Until this play ends
And we’ve said what we’re saying
GROG
My name is Grog
And a gardener once I was
~ all a long time ago now
Long long ago
But not as long as stone or tree
Noel was old when I was young and free
Mine are the tears that now fall
Sel has trapped me in his paper walls
The illusions of an official charlaton
But what is a clown that thinks he’s a king
A clown
But I have got caught in a fix by his tricks
He is not what he seems you know
Long ago, yes long ago
That was when he first appeared
And put a grey to old Grog’s beard
It was in the darkening time
I signed my name on the line
To work for him what a fool!
I became his evil tool
The contract I had not full read
Later I was to learn such dread
I was bound hard and in thick
Oh why did I ever sign it
I was to chop down that garden fast
And to take up the axe for another task
My master had risen in fame
Sel the clown a well known name
He ordered through new laws
That I had never heard before
A regime that on nature wars
Fool that he is he has fooled you all
Now my job is to execute
Those that Sel prosecutes
For living in a way
That does not suit his aims
For blatantly he dupes on a daily basis
Wearing a variety of faces
Oh how we are taken in
Each day the evil clown wins
Here he comes now
I’d better get to work
He goes berserk when I shirk
SEL
Ah, at last, it’s my turn
I knew you couldn’t wait
I am the King and you have learned
To obey my whim without debate
Each and every day I con you straight
And you endorse my image false
By paying taxes for my dodgy wars
As I outlaw all protests
And lamentations at my percieved faults
It is a clever law I use you see
That comprise my magic
(And if you believe this magic
Then you are a fool as well}
The letters are beguiling
Their binding supreme
There are landmines in this language
Hiding there unseen
Booby traps in every clause
Cluster bombs of callous laws
Barbs embedded in words you thought you knew
That hook you in and drag little you down
It’s all legal, or so you think
One small slip you’re in the clink
Grog there! ass me my crown
And place it on my Kingly head
(Grog produces a crown~like jester’s hat
and places it ceremoniously on Sel’s head}
I feel officialdom coming on strong
For true my bile is rising at the sight
That here is presented my eyes to blight
The full force of the law must fall
On this miscreant so green and tall
You! Tree! On your knees
(Green man does not comply}
Oh make him do it Grog
(Under these orders, Grog pushes Green Man to his knees}
I never did see
Such an unseemly tree as thee
You know your charge green scurge
How insolent is he
Crawl like a little worm
(Argh he won’t do it for me}
(Sel gestures to Grog who pushes Green Man
further onto his chest to lie on the ground. Sel comes over
and places one foot on Green Man’}
Come insolent tree
Come fortuneless tree
Come tell me you are sorry
Who must understand me
^ ronounce in truth you are a tree
That stubbornly stood in front of me
The path of progress will not wait
Heed to the law, bow to your fate
GREEN MAN
I do not squirm at your command
I see through your deceptions charm
I can never understand you
i am the underlying truth
(Sel looks around nervously and removes his foot
from Green Man’s chest}
My case is none you will recognise
I merely stood
Lawless save to Heaven’s eyes
You have consulted my case in your statute books
And may call to these people ‘The Traitor! Look!’
Yet I will walk to your chopping block
My greater life is beyond harm
And yours the stifled yet greater pain
I comprehend such words you speak
Though surely their correctness leaks
My case is one that you will never overlook
It is that my body was pulped for your lawbooks
You stood on me with your foot it’s true
Yet my stature does never stand under you
Or ‘under stand’ as you would have me say
In your secret language which is your way
Of spell binding deception that could even seem kind
I shall never bow to your mind
As I am tree and man so you are ass and fool
Such is the law taught in your school
I have heard much of this legalese
That it isn’t legal really
SEL
I think we’ve heard quite enough
(This tree is calling my bluff}
You are putting on a show
(How much more does he know}
It is understood that the accused
Never did make a bow
When apprehended by officers
Of the Clown
OBJECTOR
Objection!
The Noel Tree has made plenty of boughs
As is evidenced by those spreading
Upwards from his body
SEL
That this accursed tree never bowed
But remained and held his head proud
When asked to remove his person forthwith
From his locale in the woods where he was hiding out
With others of his kind. Also
That the tree took to this human agent
For to provide a voice
And present the people of this here town
With a choice
Such audacity is beyond what is permitted
For a mere product of nature
Over which Man has been granted dominion
He must be cut down because he is my minion to command
And there is no arguement to counter
Except this mock trial so deserving
The full penalty of execution
All upon the condition, naturally
That people must vote favorably
To complete my plan
To cut off the head of this maverick Green Man
Ladies and Gentlemen you are the common jury
^lease now lay your vote
On the issue of death and removal
Of this lowly tree
This anachronistic misery
From a world where there are no healthy machines
He won’t understand
He must move on
You can clearly see he has no case coherant of his own
So to the chopper he must be going
(The voting hat is taken round by Grog}
The votes have been taken
We’re giving them a good shakin’
But as it’s all rigged anyway
It doesn’t matter what you people vote
‘Cos I’ll just set Grog on your throat
The tree’s said his complaint
Now shut up unless you want the same
Ok get on with it Grog
(Grog leads Green Man to the block and beheads him
Green blood sprays out
Grog holds Green Man’s dismembered head aloft}
SEL
Ha ha, see he’s not one of us anyway
Look at the horrid colour of his blood
(Green Man gets and puts his head back on}
GREEN MAN
Ha ha! For though I die I rise
So what to your clown enterprise
Death to the Green Man is naught but a short sleep
Till up again his spring duties he has to keep
Have you not heard of Sir Gawain the Green Knight
When he beheaded the Green Man, what a fright!
Green Man took his head and stood up again
Demanding the head of Sir Gawain
Ha! Ha! I’m coming to get you
THE SCENE IS SET, SOUNDS OF BULLROARERS
THE PLAYERS STROLL ON AND SING:
GO
This is the start of our show
You picked a good place to go tonight
Because everyone knows
The stars still shine when it’s wet and rainy
and don’t you know
Forces are waiting, anticipating
For us to just, let it all go
Radiate all the love you can
Be you a cat, dog, woman,
Or even a Man
Wherever you go let that music flow
and the ways and the means are within this show,
So come on
This is the late show
Get together, don’t you know,
We got to go go go
Put your stick into the fire
and raise it higher
Look out now
Look out now
We’d better look out now,
See what’s coming in
See what’s coming in.
THE MUSICIANS RECEED, PLAY DIFFERENT, MYSTIC SOUNDS
ENTER ALICE
———————————————————————————————————————————————————
ALICE
You should understand that I am not of Earth.
I come from the planet you call Mars and have chosen to call myself
“Alice” for your convenience.
Allied intelligences of the multiverse sent those like myself to sow seed
in your minds.
We wish you no ill. I have come to open doorways of growth and communication for us all.
The time is right.
Do not be fearful when I say you are pressed up to your own destruction
like a face against glass, a rock about to topple, a storm to blow.
Be not fearful, be strong. Turn around.
Listen now.
It is time you all became aware of the damage you have done to your
planet, your living environment.
You have so defiled the entirety of your globe, that even out on Mars we
can feel it.
Among other things, we have to clear up your space waste;
Rockets that have out burnt their use, your petty probings and shuttlings
that leave such debris behind.
You don’t need a tin can to go to stars.
Your mode of existence creates too much of this stuff “pollution.”
You have heard it said;
these “factories” desecrate the rivers and poison the air.
Your “industry” creates wealth, but destroys life…
In this tale, we shall explore arts of living on planet as part of a
universe of souls.
It is you’re Selves in question.
Your society threatens Earth’s life
Awake now and heal your world.
So do I challenge you.
(pause)
Look, who are these 3 figures come to this place?
ALICE RECEEDS. 3 GOAT SPIRITS APPEAR
Announce yourselves. Speak. What is your purpose?
SPIRIT
We are spirits that give commentary.
We tell the day it’s news.
ALICE
There is work to be done.
SPIRIT
And we know it, we heard your talk.
SPIRIT
We are aware of Earth’s need and seek those that will help.
ALICE
It is good then.
I cannot stay long in this atmosphere,
but shall return as and when nessicery.
(EXIT ALICE)
SPIRIT
She speaks of the humans lot
SPIRIT
How the life of their planet is ailing.
SPIRIT
Her travels have taught her many things.
ALL
Earth could listen to this calling
SPIRIT
Who will hear
SPIRIT
Who will feel
SPIRIT
Who will act
SPIRIT
There is some hope that Earth will survive it’s present situation
SPIRIT
If it is not, then the life of Earth,
will die.
(pause)
SPIRIT
Who then dares to stand for Mother Earth?
(pause)
SPIRIT
Fom all life must it come.
(pause)
SPIRIT
And where does all life originate?
SPIRIT
Sun Moon and Stars
Guardians throughout time
who draw up life from the soil
they choose to illuminate.
Such is the calibre of aid we seek.
ALL
Spirits all amass
Open eyes
Realize
SPIRIT
Look at the Earth
ENTER EARTH
SPIRIT
See, the human has built a great drill on her surface
SPIRIT
The machines are positioned, now they shiver into action.
Deeply plunge the metallic penetrators
ALL
So She screams
THE EARTH SCREAMS
See how the pearl planet is hurting
Let us do what we can
THEY NOD IN AGREEANCE, SOME SIMPLE PACT IS MADE
SPIRITS
We summon the Sun
We summon the Sun
To court we say to court
To join our gaze in mighty glare
And see what is to see
To see
And see what is to see
We summon the Moon
Summon the Moon
To court we say to court
Come she who pulls the tides of Man
And bring all love to bear
To bear
And bring all love to bear
What is to be done?
To be done
What is to do?
Be done
Build a structure bright and fair from ruins of the old
SPIRIT
We must go away to let the Sun and Moon get about their business.
SPIRITS EXIT SHAKING GOURDS AND RINGING BELLS. ENTER CHILD WHO STANDS
WITH BAND. BAND PLAYS “SUN AND MOON”
SUN AND MOON
Sun and Moon
Day and Night
Come heal our bodies
Bathe us in your light
We are standing in a dark place
Cannot see for fear
We must use our inner strength
With light we can see clear
BAND KEEP PLAYING; CHILD SPEAKS
The Sun and Moon rise and fall each day
The Sun brings life and the Moon excites me when it is big
Stars are the universe which we are a part of
I pray that we on Earth respect these heavenly bodies and our own lives
as well.
EXIT CHILD. MUSIC CHANGES TO INTRODUCE SUN AND MOON, a courteous couple.
EXIT BAND.
SUN
Good day
MOON
Good evening
THEY EXCHANGE GLANCES, LOOK AT WATCHES
SUN
As you on Earth revolve about me, the Sun,
MOON
So I the Moon circle you on Earth.
SUN
All is resplendant in my glory
My rays illuminate all and give life to everything
MOON
Though without Sun’s rays I cannot be seen,
I, the Moon
Move your emotions
I steer the sea
Wax and Wane
and cause the psychic tides
Many strange events do take place beneath my unshadowed prescence.
SUN
LOOKS AT MOON, IMPRESSED
Sky sister, you , of all spheres, are a wyrd one.
LOOKS AT AUDIENCE, CLEARS BREATH
Hear now
The three spirits have called us to court,
for the Earth has problems
A steward force must meet to work for Earths needs.
THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER
MOON
Then court must be held,
But who will gather the forum
It cannot be us
We have our duties to perform.
SUN
Who will call the court.
It cannot be the spirits
For as yet man does not see them.
MOON
There must be a medium – one
who can travel between our world and the world of man.
THEY PONDER, PERHAPS ASK AUDIENCE. ENTER SPIRIT
MOON
I remember one!
I know one.
SUN
Who?
MOON
His name is Vortex Joe.
SUN
Of course, Vortex Joe
traveler of all planes.
MOON
Shaman to his kind, the Mali people.
SUN
He who weilds the Rod of the universe.
MOON
Who changes colour; becomes
a bird, a fish a lizard!
SPIRIT
Yet pardon me great orb, this …
Creature is imprisoned.
Men have sealed him inside the
Great mountain.
EXIT SPIRIT
SUN
What spirit
Entombed in rock?
That makes me angry.
I will not be vexed.
He shall be free.
By flame and fire
He shall be free.
Great mountain!? Ha!!
SUN AND MOON CHANT
Break the Rock
Break the Lock
Break the Rock
Break the Lock
That holds the hero of the Earth.
Who breathes and feels and knows his worth
All space and time are his.
With one foot on the Land
And one foot in the Sky
He stands astride all of the Realms
And weilds the Rod that
Brings together Casts apart
And changes all the world.
Sun: Where is the Manchild, send him rays
To fire his spirit and free him from this prison.
MOUNTAIN FALL ASUNDER!
FX: MOUNTAIN EXPLODING
CUE MELLOW SONG
Rushing down through Time
With Rod of Karma in his hand
Imprisoned for so long
At last he is free
To free you and me.
Vortex Joe, wake once more
Wake up and see the world.
When we imprisoned Joe
We put us in a cage
‘Cos the Vortex is our own true Nature
Sent by Sun and Moon.
He’ll play the cosmic loon
And we are all part of his lunacy.
Vortex Joe, raise your eyes
From their sleep, you gotta go.
You gotta go, you gotta go,
You gotta go.
It’s time to wake up
Time to wake up
Time to awaken.
VORTEX JOE HAS BEES LYING BENEATH POLSTYRENE BLOCKS. HE GETS UP SLOWLY AND POWERFULLY. HE LOOKS AT THE ROD IN HIS HAND – REMEMBERS, THEN GLEEFULLY WIELDS IT
WITH CONFIDENCE.
Vortex Joe: Ho ho – my stick,
Still with me!
Ho ho! Vortex Joe!
Free at last, free from the rock!
I can feel great energies. Wind and
Rain. STAMPS Earth beneath my feet.
And what’s this!? Suns Rays!
CALLS Sun I am bidden from slumber
What a fool!
I simply make good theatrical sense.
USING ROD TO STIR MYSTIC STUFF HE SEMI CHANTS
Ha ha!
People and events do mix
Nicely does it, bring it together.
Situations come about and
who comes round the corner . . .
Look at that, what did I say.
ENTER JACOB, WHO DOES NOT SEE JOE. HE LOOKS
CONFUSED.
Jacob: What am I? Who am I going?
Where is… Why am… I
When will…
What kind of life am I living in this day and age? I’m trapped.
No way out
Who can you trust
Where can you go
Too much constraint; No freedom.
Development all around
Land barons who greed for power
Polluting industries
Cities of suffocating concrete and tarmac.
ENTER SPIRITS WHO ACKNOWLEDGE VORTEX JOE
Factories belching smoke
A world hung on a nuclear nerve-game.
Father works in this corporation “Hi-rise”
What good does that do?
He has a high status position, and plots out what new areas of
land are to be developed.
This is the way to destroy our livelihood
the delicate balance of energies in the Earth.
Nurturing, healing natural forces
I dream of ancient dragons
You never know what’s going to happen next, do you!
I stumbled on this stash of my father’s:
Four kilograms of white, white cocaine, all done up in a
suitcase.
Who am I to turn away providence
And I’m off to Meaness City,
head clear in the clouds, wondering what the fuck’s this snow
doing here.
Vortex Joe: Which is where Jacobs father
Not too pleased at the loss of both car
And coke
Sends a couple of henchmen to – return his goods.
Poor Jacob.
Jacob : Who’s this in my wing mirror – dark night; empty freeway
And I’m forced over to the gravel and given a thorough
beating
And left by the road
I could have died!
MUSIC OR SONG, WHERE ALICE MAY DO DREAM
DANCE…
EVENTUALLY, DRUMS OF MALI COMMENCE,
AND THEY APPEAR IN PAINT AND BEADS.
JACOB GETS UP AND HITCH-HIKES OFF OF
PERFORMANCE AREA
Mali: TO AUDIENCE
So you’re on your way to the city,
Where the creatures dwell.
Where all lie
Smothered in oil from the Mothers belly.
This is a dying culture.
You cannot survive.
You have no songs.
Who can sing the song of this age?
Enliven the Dragon lines that write
Your spine in the sky
Chanting words that bring the world
Into existence.
See, Machine Man.
It is a contemptuous lizard
Breeds bad eggs in sacred land.
What kind of a song?
SONG
I see your footprints Chameleon
Tell me, is it part of your plan
Please elucidate, if it is too late
When you’ve fed all you can
Is it as grim as it seems
I can tell by your coat
And your gloat
That you’re not my friend
But only dying
Stepsister Union, melting, excluding
And it’s running down to the sea
Your mind it’s unkind to fallow and blind
And it’s oozing out into me
The dog days are here,
Said the man with the sneer
As he choked
Still something’s dying
Mmmm dying. SONG FINISH
These earth-heating ways
Will die off and leave us once
More to our own
But how long will it take
Will there be anything left?
Our people have suffered the
Imposition of Machine Man for too long.
ENTER MORE MALI
We are the Mali People and can
Ride on the wind, we sing among
The stars our songs of life and death.
Now our hearts are imprisoned
Inside the Great Mountain and we
Can fly no more
Only remember.
We called him Vortex Joe, He is in
All of us, but shall never walk again. Oh no.
ENTER VORTEX JOE
Vortex Joe: Ha ha ha!
Not so, good Mali
I am Vortex Joe.
THE MALI ARE ASTONISHED
Set free by Sun and Moon
Raise your heads, do not be
So gloomy
It is not the end
My staff has choosen one
Name of Jacob
To go into the world
He will not find it easy
But give him time
The agents of peace are on the move.
EXIT VORTEX JOE
MALI WITH CURIOUS EXPRESSIONS
There are those walking, swimming
And flying about the Earth who do love it
There is hope still!
EXEUNT WITH “YIPS” AND A FEW “VORTEX JOE”
ENTER JACOB AND SPIRITS
Jacob: Eventually, in Meaness City, I sought employment.
Anything, I said to myself. – I’m a motorcycle courier.
Spirits: So round the city he goes
CHANT Taking peoples stuff about,
He lives in the down town area
Meets people who do him no good.
Gets involved with an underground scene.
Meets the “Burning Crew”
These people near burn him out
Sell him drugs and everything
Now there’s this lizard called Smug
Head of the underworld you could say
Deals between the Law and Rout
His watchful eyes are always out.
THE CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN APPEARING. SMUG SINGS
AS PART OF MEANESS CITY THEME. A DEAL IS DONE
BETWEEN JACOB AND SMUG
Smug: My name is Smug and I live here
At the heart of Meaness City
You’d be surprised at the many lives
I do my business with.
All: Meaness City, aint gonna take it
Meaness City,
Meaness City ain’t gonna take it
Meaness City
Ain’t gonna take it, ain’t gonna take it
Aint gonna take it
NOW
Spirit: It is a twilight existence
That Jacob begins to live
Spirit: A far cry from what Joe or we are looking for
Spirit: let us nag him till he gets it right.
THE SPIRITS GOAD AND MAKE JACOB DANCE
Jacob: Skyscraper terror; no life in there;
City of eyes; city of lies;
Fever hot on my brow;
I’m poisoned to the core.
JACOB COLLAPSES; SOOTHING MUSIC…
ENTER ALICE… SHE TENDS TO JACOB…
Jacob: What’s that?
Alice: Healing waters from the hills of Mars. Are you comfortable?
Jacob: Who are you?
Alice: My name is Alice?
JACOB MOVES AWAY WITH SUSPICIAN. ALICE
REGARDS JACOB WITH COMPASSION
IN MOVING, JACOB CRUMBLES TO FLOOR. ALICE
CRADLES HIM AND JACOB COMES ROUND AGAIN.
Jacob: Who are you, where am I
Who . . . you . . .
Alice: Do not worry, Relax.
Jacob: Get off me.
Alice: You’re in a bad way
Need healing.
Jacob: Healing?
What do you mean?
HIS VOICE IS SOFT AND DREAMY
Alice: TO THE AUDIENCE.
The boy must travel to the place
I call the spaces
He must go very soon because his
Life is in danger
There he will find the mystic
Waters of Myo
Which will heal his dis-ease.
TO JACOB
Hallo Jacob, are you allright
. . . . can you see the spaces.
ENTER SPIRITS
Jacob: IN A TRANCE
I am floating high above
There is a city below me
Glistening
It must be dawn
And if I pout my lips to become a
Beak – yes yes so
Streamlining my body in the
Magnificent passage of air
Feathers grow and help me
Direct my flight
Every muscle bracing against
The wind
Plunge
Deep into the currents
And
Change
Further
Wow
She is leading me through darkness
Where strange forms play in
Natures electricity
Alice: Along the way and through the door.
JACOB IS LEAD THROUGH A DOOR
Here is the forest Jacob
Tall trees and fresh air
You are free to fly
JACOBS BIRD LANDS
Rejoice at the morning
The sun is bright
Through the leaves
Come with me now
Spirit: Alice leads him to a strange sort of fountain.
Spirit: The waters of Myo!
Jacob: SLOW MOTION RUNNING
I am seeking, my heart knows
the way
Take me deeper guide
Open the way.
Alice: Search deeper still.
Jacob: I pass through the undergrowth
Feel the fronds and ferns licking my body.
I am sleek death and my eyes are red.
Spirits: Rushing, rushing through the leaves
What has Jacob now become?
A lion or tiger, bear or beast
There is none he cannot be
Now he flies and now he swims
Buzzing wings and flapping fins
Ever ever changing form
The spirit runs him through and through
Spirit: To the Source.
Spirit: To the Centre.
Spirit: The Myo – water is life to all things.
JACOB HAS BEEN DOING ACTIONS SEES FOUNTAIN IN MIME
Jacob: What a sight:
Water is issuing from the brow of the earth!
See how it sparkles!
HE DRINKS; WASHES HIMSELF TOTALLY
I feel so alive!
How can this be?
Spirit: Jacob has found himself.
Spirit: He is bathed in his own being.
Spirit: Feel the power of the
Waters of Myo.
Alice: Wait now, but soon we must
Travel to our council at the court of
The Sun and the Moon.
CYMBOLS, ENTER VORTEX JOE WHO HAS ADDED
FEATHER EPELETTES TO HIS SUIT
Vortex Joe: Good friends! It’s me!
Vortex Joe.
I summon you all to the council
With the Sun and the Moon.
They wish to speak their plans.
Come all in joy, you are bidden.
Spirits
And Alice: The time is now
So, we come to court.
THEY ALL CARRY JACOB OUT. EXEUNT.
ENTER SUN AND MOON WHO STAND REGAL
ENTER ALICE, SPIRITS AND JACOB. SPIRITS COME TO FORE
Spirit: See this great hall full of people
Spirit: Every nation is represented.
Spirit: Joe has been working hard!
THEY MOVE BACK
Sun: Are we all here?
Vortex Joe: All save the one called Smug,
He slipped away
Would not come.
Moon: That we expected but do not
Worry, enough are here.
VORTEX BOWS
Sun: Be seated.
ALL SIT SAVE THE SUN AND THE MOON
Moon: A loving guard that protects its environment.
Sun: Are we of one accord.
The Host: Aye!
Sun: Thank you all for coming
Our plan is quite simple
There is an energy binding
The universe
We shall energise the earth with energy.
Moon: In the correct time of season
You will celebrate at the
Energy centres
Stone circles
Sacred groves
Earth temples
And holy wells
Sun: As you rejoice your work on Earth,
Moon: So open you to healing.
Sun and Moon: And we will pour down our rays.
Moon: The spirits will guard the gates to
the plant kingdoms, where these
rays will enter the soil
and so nourish the ecosystems
THEY BOW
Sun: RAPS THE FLOOR
The energising will start at
Great stone rocks
In three days time.
Call your musicians, dancers, poets
and firework makers, your stiltwalkers,
skinbeaters and singers.
Cluster about stone rocks
Sing the song of the Age
Activate your Earth with music and dance
Vortex Joe: Ya hey!
Let’s celebrate and get friendly
Then pool our skills and do our work!
Sun and Moon: Go now, tread the
Rainbow Stair to Earth Circus
and call your people to dance and rejoice
for the Earth is reborn.
ALL CHEER
Sun: Is the host prepared?
Host: Yes lifegiver.
To Earth we go to revel and dance
To pour all our power over all
And work the heart of joy on Earth
That all hearts beat fresh and strong
That love may peel out loud and long
Farewell Sun!
Farewell Moon!
EXIT SUN AND MOON. THE HOST TRAVELS THE RAINBOW
STAIR AND THE GROOVE OUT, PERHAPS HOLD HANDS.
Vortex Joe: Here we are on Earth
Great Stone Rock
What a reception!
THE MALI PEOPLE HAVE PREPARED MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT FOR ALL. THEY ARE ECSTATIC WELCOMERS.
THE MUSIC CONTINUES QUIETER
Alice: So the people celebrated .
And true to their agreement
The Sun and the Moon poured light
Into the Great Stone Rocks
Everyone was open to it
Happily beating drums
Intoning and playing bizarre instruments
The sky entered the ground
The ground rose to the sky
And there was a delicious drinking.
They poured down their light.
Spirits all: And the Earth drank.
Alice: They poured down more.
Spirits: The Earth drank still.
Alice: And the Earth gave it’s
Healing back to the sky
That both could feed on the star stuff.
Men and Women, recognising their
Part in the cycle, create new
Technologies to conduct it’s flow.
Above is another play I wrote. This was the first one, a summation of my feelings in the 1980’s and written late 1989 to 1990 whilst at the Hub performance arts college for 2 years in Cornwall.
In 1994, after a few years spent in a box in a friend’s house in Liskeard, it resurfaced and I edited it to about of a third of the length. It was performed by the Spacegoats and friends in a few locations, first at Leightonstone No-M11 where activists made a stage out of tyres that doubled as a baracade. After the show, everyone joined hands in a massive circle. The full circle lasted for for a few seconds only, as one or two of the younger locals broke off, probably having never done anything remotely like that before, especially with such a crew.
DEATH TO THE GREEN MAN
(Enter Green Man in chains and Grog with stage axe}
NOEL
I am the tree who has no voice
Hark ye me and make your choice
This green bard is my agent he speaks for me
I have no tongue I am a tree
The clown Sel it’s told has sold off the Knowle
The toads
And I am being taken to the scaffold
Sil’s statutes permit I may speak my last words in this play
My last words are all I am allowed to say
See now this Green Man in chains
And hooded Grog the executioner
Not him truly to blame
For next to him stands sly Sel the clown
~ he thinks clown means crown
Who of me has washed his hands
And I am being led
Down to the execution ground
Please I bid
Stop not your children’s ears for fears
This same story is disguised each night
As nursery rhyme
Such crimes! Forsooth
Ask Jack and Jill
They know the truth
SEL
(consulting book of statutes}
Sorry about him, he’s likely to go on
There is no clause in here that says that it’s wrong
GREEN MAN
Remember me the tree
We declined with your industry
Were cindered for your machines
Chopped down for your warships
ulped for your propaganda
Uprooted for yor roads
Torn and traded from the Tropics for toilet paper
And in my case, sold off to the Developers
Long back my memory goes
Through many ages of man
And long before you began
Oh how unscrupulous you can be
Compared to the high boughed tree
Who do we harm
What do we malign
Hurting each other is not
How we spend our time
We are gentle and strong
And live for quite long
~ Not as long as the stone
They have more knowing
Being an older thing
But we bring you breath
For in green we get dressed
It’s called photosynthesis
The tree is your friend
Without us you end
For us it is so weird
That this usually falls on deaf ears
You have gotten used to the convenience
And forgotten about trees
Like me
By the way, my name is Noel
And the way things are going
Looks like I’m going to loose my head
This clown Sel has really gotten it in for me
And he has charged me with ‘Obstructing the path of progress’
There is not much a mute rooted tree can do
Up against the Clown Court
I’m caught
However by fair chance I met this wandering poet
Who chose to plead my case
And mighty fine he looks
In green tunic with leaves all a curling
From his face
Curious how my voice emerges from him
He took the time to let me in
It seems that as a tree~man
I present a legal stumbling block for Sel
As some stipulation of law requires
A public enquiry
Hear my truth and plea for freedom
So though in chains I have the chance
With my testimony in defiant stance
To tell of my life that you might know
The mind of a tree named Noel
Something sparkling in your mind’s eye
Defined before you also die
No air will carry humanity’s last cry
I guess it would be quite sad
But no one would be here to have such feelings
Yet the mystery of life might still provide a surprise
And I would suggest it wise
To be attentive to this tale
Cncerning me
And this sale of land
By the clown Sel
Land he says he owns
By laws he decreed
Requiring prompt removal
Of Noel said tree
For the development company
Unfortunatly for Sel
I won’t budge for authorities
Especially those paid to kill trees
So here standing in chains
I presently remain
Until this play ends
And we’ve said what we’re saying
GROG
My name is Grog
And a gardener once I was
~ all a long time ago now
Long long ago
But not as long as stone or tree
Noel was old when I was young and free
Mine are the tears that now fall
Sel has trapped me in his paper walls
The illusions of an official charlaton
But what is a clown that thinks he’s a king
A clown
But I have got caught in a fix by his tricks
He is not what he seems you know
Long ago, yes long ago
That was when he first appeared
And put a grey to old Grog’s beard
It was in the darkening time
I signed my name on the line
To work for him what a fool!
I became his evil tool
The contract I had not full read
Later I was to learn such dread
I was bound hard and in thick
Oh why did I ever sign it
I was to chop down that garden fast
And to take up the axe for another task
My master had risen in fame
Sel the clown a well known name
He ordered through new laws
That I had never heard before
A regime that on nature wars
Fool that he is he has fooled you all
Now my job is to execute
Those that Sel prosecutes
For living in a way
That does not suit his aims
For blatantly he dupes on a daily basis
Wearing a variety of faces
Oh how we are taken in
Each day the evil clown wins
Here he comes now
I’d better get to work
He goes berserk when I shirk
SEL
Ah, at last, it’s my turn
I knew you couldn’t wait
I am the King and you have learned
To obey my whim without debate
Each and every day I con you straight
And you endorse my image false
By paying taxes for my dodgy wars
As I outlaw all protests
And lamentations at my percieved faults
It is a clever law I use you see
That comprise my magic
(And if you believe this magic
Then you are a fool as well}
The letters are beguiling
Their binding supreme
There are landmines in this language
Hiding there unseen
Booby traps in every clause
Cluster bombs of callous laws
Barbs embedded in words you thought you knew
That hook you in and drag little you down
It’s all legal, or so you think
One small slip you’re in the clink
Grog there! ass me my crown
And place it on my Kingly head
(Grog produces a crown~like jester’s hat
and places it ceremoniously on Sel’s head}
I feel officialdom coming on strong
For true my bile is rising at the sight
That here is presented my eyes to blight
The full force of the law must fall
On this miscreant so green and tall
You! Tree! On your knees
(Green man does not comply}
Oh make him do it Grog
(Under these orders, Grog pushes Green Man to his knees}
I never did see
Such an unseemly tree as thee
You know your charge green scurge
How insolent is he
Crawl like a little worm
(Argh he won’t do it for me}
(Sel gestures to Grog who pushes Green Man
further onto his chest to lie on the ground. Sel comes over
and places one foot on Green Man’}
Come insolent tree
Come fortuneless tree
Come tell me you are sorry
Who must understand me
^ ronounce in truth you are a tree
That stubbornly stood in front of me
The path of progress will not wait
Heed to the law, bow to your fate
GREEN MAN
I do not squirm at your command
I see through your deceptions charm
I can never understand you
i am the underlying truth
(Sel looks around nervously and removes his foot
from Green Man’s chest}
My case is none you will recognise
I merely stood
Lawless save to Heaven’s eyes
You have consulted my case in your statute books
And may call to these people ‘The Traitor! Look!’
Yet I will walk to your chopping block
My greater life is beyond harm
And yours the stifled yet greater pain
I comprehend such words you speak
Though surely their correctness leaks
My case is one that you will never overlook
It is that my body was pulped for your lawbooks
You stood on me with your foot it’s true
Yet my stature does never stand under you
Or ‘under stand’ as you would have me say
In your secret language which is your way
Of spell binding deception that could even seem kind
I shall never bow to your mind
As I am tree and man so you are ass and fool
Such is the law taught in your school
I have heard much of this legalese
That it isn’t legal really
SEL
I think we’ve heard quite enough
(This tree is calling my bluff}
You are putting on a show
(How much more does he know}
It is understood that the accused
Never did make a bow
When apprehended by officers
Of the Clown
OBJECTOR
Objection!
The Noel Tree has made plenty of boughs
As is evidenced by those spreading
Upwards from his body
SEL
That this accursed tree never bowed
But remained and held his head proud
When asked to remove his person forthwith
From his locale in the woods where he was hiding out
With others of his kind. Also
That the tree took to this human agent
For to provide a voice
And present the people of this here town
With a choice
Such audacity is beyond what is permitted
For a mere product of nature
Over which Man has been granted dominion
He must be cut down because he is my minion to command
And there is no arguement to counter
Except this mock trial so deserving
The full penalty of execution
All upon the condition, naturally
That people must vote favorably
To complete my plan
To cut off the head of this maverick Green Man
Ladies and Gentlemen you are the common jury
^lease now lay your vote
On the issue of death and removal
Of this lowly tree
This anachronistic misery
From a world where there are no healthy machines
He won’t understand
He must move on
You can clearly see he has no case coherant of his own
So to the chopper he must be going
(The voting hat is taken round by Grog}
The votes have been taken
We’re giving them a good shakin’
But as it’s all rigged anyway
It doesn’t matter what you people vote
‘Cos I’ll just set Grog on your throat
The tree’s said his complaint
Now shut up unless you want the same
Ok get on with it Grog
(Grog leads Green Man to the block and beheads him
Green blood sprays out
Grog holds Green Man’s dismembered head aloft}
SEL
Ha ha, see he’s not one of us anyway
Look at the horrid colour of his blood
(Green Man gets and puts his head back on}
GREEN MAN
Ha ha! For though I die I rise
So what to your clown enterprise
Death to the Green Man is naught but a short sleep
Till up again his spring duties he has to keep
Have you not heard of Sir Gawain the Green Knight
When he beheaded the Green Man, what a fright!
Green Man took his head and stood up again
Demanding the head of Sir Gawain
Ha! Ha! I’m coming to get you
Green Man chases Sel, Grog joins the chase
THE END
Chameleon
THE SCENE IS SET, SOUNDS OF BULLROARERS
THE PLAYERS STROLL ON AND SING:
GO
This is the start of our show
You picked a good place to go tonight
Because everyone knows
The stars still shine when it’s wet and rainy
and don’t you know
Forces are waiting, anticipating
For us to just, let it all go
Radiate all the love you can
Be you a cat, dog, woman,
Or even a Man
Wherever you go let that music flow
and the ways and the means are within this show,
So come on
This is the late show
Get together, don’t you know,
We got to go go go
Put your stick into the fire
and raise it higher
Look out now
Look out now
We’d better look out now,
See what’s coming in
See what’s coming in.
THE MUSICIANS RECEED, PLAY DIFFERENT, MYSTIC SOUNDS
ENTER ALICE
———————————————————————————————————————————————————
ALICE
You should understand that I am not of Earth.
I come from the planet you call Mars and have chosen to call myself
“Alice” for your convenience.
Allied intelligences of the multiverse sent those like myself to sow seed
in your minds.
We wish you no ill. I have come to open doorways of growth and communication for us all.
The time is right.
Do not be fearful when I say you are pressed up to your own destruction
like a face against glass, a rock about to topple, a storm to blow.
Be not fearful, be strong. Turn around.
Listen now.
It is time you all became aware of the damage you have done to your
planet, your living environment.
You have so defiled the entirety of your globe, that even out on Mars we
can feel it.
Among other things, we have to clear up your space waste;
Rockets that have out burnt their use, your petty probings and shuttlings
that leave such debris behind.
You don’t need a tin can to go to stars.
Your mode of existence creates too much of this stuff “pollution.”
You have heard it said;
these “factories” desecrate the rivers and poison the air.
Your “industry” creates wealth, but destroys life…
In this tale, we shall explore arts of living on planet as part of a
universe of souls.
It is you’re Selves in question.
Your society threatens Earth’s life
Awake now and heal your world.
So do I challenge you.
(pause)
Look, who are these 3 figures come to this place?
ALICE RECEEDS. 3 GOAT SPIRITS APPEAR
Announce yourselves. Speak. What is your purpose?
SPIRIT
We are spirits that give commentary.
We tell the day it’s news.
ALICE
There is work to be done.
SPIRIT
And we know it, we heard your talk.
SPIRIT
We are aware of Earth’s need and seek those that will help.
ALICE
It is good then.
I cannot stay long in this atmosphere,
but shall return as and when nessicery.
(EXIT ALICE)
SPIRIT
She speaks of the humans lot
SPIRIT
How the life of their planet is ailing.
SPIRIT
Her travels have taught her many things.
ALL
Earth could listen to this calling
SPIRIT
Who will hear
SPIRIT
Who will feel
SPIRIT
Who will act
SPIRIT
There is some hope that Earth will survive it’s present situation
SPIRIT
If it is not, then the life of Earth,
will die.
(pause)
SPIRIT
Who then dares to stand for Mother Earth?
(pause)
SPIRIT
Fom all life must it come.
(pause)
SPIRIT
And where does all life originate?
SPIRIT
Sun Moon and Stars
Guardians throughout time
who draw up life from the soil
they choose to illuminate.
Such is the calibre of aid we seek.
ALL
Spirits all amass
Open eyes
Realize
SPIRIT
Look at the Earth
ENTER EARTH
SPIRIT
See, the human has built a great drill on her surface
SPIRIT
The machines are positioned, now they shiver into action.
Deeply plunge the metallic penetrators
ALL
So She screams
THE EARTH SCREAMS
See how the pearl planet is hurting
Let us do what we can
THEY NOD IN AGREEANCE, SOME SIMPLE PACT IS MADE
SPIRITS
We summon the Sun
We summon the Sun
To court we say to court
To join our gaze in mighty glare
And see what is to see
To see
And see what is to see
We summon the Moon
Summon the Moon
To court we say to court
Come she who pulls the tides of Man
And bring all love to bear
To bear
And bring all love to bear
What is to be done?
To be done
What is to do?
Be done
Build a structure bright and fair from ruins of the old
SPIRIT
We must go away to let the Sun and Moon get about their business.
SPIRITS EXIT SHAKING GOURDS AND RINGING BELLS. ENTER CHILD WHO STANDS
WITH BAND. BAND PLAYS “SUN AND MOON”
SUN AND MOON
Sun and Moon
Day and Night
Come heal our bodies
Bathe us in your light
We are standing in a dark place
Cannot see for fear
We must use our inner strength
With light we can see clear
BAND KEEP PLAYING; CHILD SPEAKS
The Sun and Moon rise and fall each day
The Sun brings life and the Moon excites me when it is big
Stars are the universe which we are a part of
I pray that we on Earth respect these heavenly bodies and our own lives
as well.
EXIT CHILD. MUSIC CHANGES TO INTRODUCE SUN AND MOON, a courteous couple.
EXIT BAND.
SUN
Good day
MOON
Good evening
THEY EXCHANGE GLANCES, LOOK AT WATCHES
SUN
As you on Earth revolve about me, the Sun,
MOON
So I the Moon circle you on Earth.
SUN
All is resplendant in my glory
My rays illuminate all and give life to everything
MOON
Though without Sun’s rays I cannot be seen,
I, the Moon
Move your emotions
I steer the sea
Wax and Wane
and cause the psychic tides
Many strange events do take place beneath my unshadowed prescence.
SUN
LOOKS AT MOON, IMPRESSED
Sky sister, you , of all spheres, are a wyrd one.
LOOKS AT AUDIENCE, CLEARS BREATH
Hear now
The three spirits have called us to court,
for the Earth has problems
A steward force must meet to work for Earths needs.
THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER
MOON
Then court must be held,
But who will gather the forum
It cannot be us
We have our duties to perform.
SUN
Who will call the court.
It cannot be the spirits
For as yet man does not see them.
MOON
There must be a medium – one
who can travel between our world and the world of man.
THEY PONDER, PERHAPS ASK AUDIENCE. ENTER SPIRIT
MOON
I remember one!
I know one.
SUN
Who?
MOON
His name is Vortex Joe.
SUN
Of course, Vortex Joe
traveler of all planes.
MOON
Shaman to his kind, the Mali people.
SUN
He who weilds the Rod of the universe.
MOON
Who changes colour; becomes
a bird, a fish a lizard!
SPIRIT
Yet pardon me great orb, this …
Creature is imprisoned.
Men have sealed him inside the
Great mountain.
EXIT SPIRIT
SUN
What spirit
Entombed in rock?
That makes me angry.
I will not be vexed.
He shall be free.
By flame and fire
He shall be free.
Great mountain!? Ha!!
SUN AND MOON CHANT
Break the Rock
Break the Lock
Break the Rock
Break the Lock
That holds the hero of the Earth.
Who breathes and feels and knows his worth
All space and time are his.
With one foot on the Land
And one foot in the Sky
He stands astride all of the Realms
And weilds the Rod that
Brings together Casts apart
And changes all the world.
Sun: Where is the Manchild, send him rays
To fire his spirit and free him from this prison.
MOUNTAIN FALL ASUNDER!
FX: MOUNTAIN EXPLODING
CUE MELLOW SONG
Rushing down through Time
With Rod of Karma in his hand
Imprisoned for so long
At last he is free
To free you and me.
Vortex Joe, wake once more
Wake up and see the world.
When we imprisoned Joe
We put us in a cage
‘Cos the Vortex is our own true Nature
Sent by Sun and Moon.
He’ll play the cosmic loon
And we are all part of his lunacy.
Vortex Joe, raise your eyes
From their sleep, you gotta go.
You gotta go, you gotta go,
You gotta go.
It’s time to wake up
Time to wake up
Time to awaken.
VORTEX JOE HAS BEES LYING BENEATH POLSTYRENE BLOCKS. HE GETS UP SLOWLY AND POWERFULLY. HE LOOKS AT THE ROD IN HIS HAND – REMEMBERS, THEN GLEEFULLY WIELDS IT
WITH CONFIDENCE.
Vortex Joe: Ho ho – my stick,
Still with me!
Ho ho! Vortex Joe!
Free at last, free from the rock!
I can feel great energies. Wind and
Rain. STAMPS Earth beneath my feet.
And what’s this!? Suns Rays!
CALLS Sun I am bidden from slumber
What a fool!
I simply make good theatrical sense.
USING ROD TO STIR MYSTIC STUFF HE SEMI CHANTS
Ha ha!
People and events do mix
Nicely does it, bring it together.
Situations come about and
who comes round the corner . . .
Look at that, what did I say.
ENTER JACOB, WHO DOES NOT SEE JOE. HE LOOKS
CONFUSED.
Jacob: What am I? Who am I going?
Where is… Why am… I
When will…
What kind of life am I living in this day and age? I’m trapped.
No way out
Who can you trust
Where can you go
Too much constraint; No freedom.
Development all around
Land barons who greed for power
Polluting industries
Cities of suffocating concrete and tarmac.
ENTER SPIRITS WHO ACKNOWLEDGE VORTEX JOE
Factories belching smoke
A world hung on a nuclear nerve-game.
Father works in this corporation “Hi-rise”
What good does that do?
He has a high status position, and plots out what new areas of
land are to be developed.
This is the way to destroy our livelihood
the delicate balance of energies in the Earth.
Nurturing, healing natural forces
I dream of ancient dragons
You never know what’s going to happen next, do you!
I stumbled on this stash of my father’s:
Four kilograms of white, white cocaine, all done up in a
suitcase.
Who am I to turn away providence
And I’m off to Meaness City,
head clear in the clouds, wondering what the fuck’s this snow
doing here.
Vortex Joe: Which is where Jacobs father
Not too pleased at the loss of both car
And coke
Sends a couple of henchmen to – return his goods.
Poor Jacob.
Jacob : Who’s this in my wing mirror – dark night; empty freeway
And I’m forced over to the gravel and given a thorough
beating
And left by the road
I could have died!
MUSIC OR SONG, WHERE ALICE MAY DO DREAM
DANCE…
EVENTUALLY, DRUMS OF MALI COMMENCE,
AND THEY APPEAR IN PAINT AND BEADS.
JACOB GETS UP AND HITCH-HIKES OFF OF
PERFORMANCE AREA
Mali: TO AUDIENCE
So you’re on your way to the city,
Where the creatures dwell.
Where all lie
Smothered in oil from the Mothers belly.
This is a dying culture.
You cannot survive.
You have no songs.
Who can sing the song of this age?
Enliven the Dragon lines that write
Your spine in the sky
Chanting words that bring the world
Into existence.
See, Machine Man.
It is a contemptuous lizard
Breeds bad eggs in sacred land.
What kind of a song?
SONG
I see your footprints Chameleon
Tell me, is it part of your plan
Please elucidate, if it is too late
When you’ve fed all you can
Is it as grim as it seems
I can tell by your coat
And your gloat
That you’re not my friend
But only dying
Stepsister Union, melting, excluding
And it’s running down to the sea
Your mind it’s unkind to fallow and blind
And it’s oozing out into me
The dog days are here,
Said the man with the sneer
As he choked
Still something’s dying
Mmmm dying. SONG FINISH
These earth-heating ways
Will die off and leave us once
More to our own
But how long will it take
Will there be anything left?
Our people have suffered the
Imposition of Machine Man for too long.
ENTER MORE MALI
We are the Mali People and can
Ride on the wind, we sing among
The stars our songs of life and death.
Now our hearts are imprisoned
Inside the Great Mountain and we
Can fly no more
Only remember.
We called him Vortex Joe, He is in
All of us, but shall never walk again. Oh no.
ENTER VORTEX JOE
Vortex Joe: Ha ha ha!
Not so, good Mali
I am Vortex Joe.
THE MALI ARE ASTONISHED
Set free by Sun and Moon
Raise your heads, do not be
So gloomy
It is not the end
My staff has choosen one
Name of Jacob
To go into the world
He will not find it easy
But give him time
The agents of peace are on the move.
EXIT VORTEX JOE
MALI WITH CURIOUS EXPRESSIONS
There are those walking, swimming
And flying about the Earth who do love it
There is hope still!
EXEUNT WITH “YIPS” AND A FEW “VORTEX JOE”
ENTER JACOB AND SPIRITS
Jacob: Eventually, in Meaness City, I sought employment.
Anything, I said to myself. – I’m a motorcycle courier.
Spirits: So round the city he goes
CHANT Taking peoples stuff about,
He lives in the down town area
Meets people who do him no good.
Gets involved with an underground scene.
Meets the “Burning Crew”
These people near burn him out
Sell him drugs and everything
Now there’s this lizard called Smug
Head of the underworld you could say
Deals between the Law and Rout
His watchful eyes are always out.
THE CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN APPEARING. SMUG SINGS
AS PART OF MEANESS CITY THEME. A DEAL IS DONE
BETWEEN JACOB AND SMUG
Smug: My name is Smug and I live here
At the heart of Meaness City
You’d be surprised at the many lives
I do my business with.
All: Meaness City, aint gonna take it
Meaness City,
Meaness City ain’t gonna take it
Meaness City
Ain’t gonna take it, ain’t gonna take it
Aint gonna take it
NOW
Spirit: It is a twilight existence
That Jacob begins to live
Spirit: A far cry from what Joe or we are looking for
Spirit: let us nag him till he gets it right.
THE SPIRITS GOAD AND MAKE JACOB DANCE
Jacob: Skyscraper terror; no life in there;
City of eyes; city of lies;
Fever hot on my brow;
I’m poisoned to the core.
JACOB COLLAPSES; SOOTHING MUSIC…
ENTER ALICE… SHE TENDS TO JACOB…
Jacob: What’s that?
Alice: Healing waters from the hills of Mars. Are you comfortable?
Jacob: Who are you?
Alice: My name is Alice?
JACOB MOVES AWAY WITH SUSPICIAN. ALICE
REGARDS JACOB WITH COMPASSION
IN MOVING, JACOB CRUMBLES TO FLOOR. ALICE
CRADLES HIM AND JACOB COMES ROUND AGAIN.
Jacob: Who are you, where am I
Who . . . you . . .
Alice: Do not worry, Relax.
Jacob: Get off me.
Alice: You’re in a bad way
Need healing.
Jacob: Healing?
What do you mean?
HIS VOICE IS SOFT AND DREAMY
Alice: TO THE AUDIENCE.
The boy must travel to the place
I call the spaces
He must go very soon because his
Life is in danger
There he will find the mystic
Waters of Myo
Which will heal his dis-ease.
TO JACOB
Hallo Jacob, are you allright
. . . . can you see the spaces.
ENTER SPIRITS
Jacob: IN A TRANCE
I am floating high above
There is a city below me
Glistening
It must be dawn
And if I pout my lips to become a
Beak – yes yes so
Streamlining my body in the
Magnificent passage of air
Feathers grow and help me
Direct my flight
Every muscle bracing against
The wind
Plunge
Deep into the currents
And
Change
Further
Wow
She is leading me through darkness
Where strange forms play in
Natures electricity
Alice: Along the way and through the door.
JACOB IS LEAD THROUGH A DOOR
Here is the forest Jacob
Tall trees and fresh air
You are free to fly
JACOBS BIRD LANDS
Rejoice at the morning
The sun is bright
Through the leaves
Come with me now
Spirit: Alice leads him to a strange sort of fountain.
Spirit: The waters of Myo!
Jacob: SLOW MOTION RUNNING
I am seeking, my heart knows
the way
Take me deeper guide
Open the way.
Alice: Search deeper still.
Jacob: I pass through the undergrowth
Feel the fronds and ferns licking my body.
I am sleek death and my eyes are red.
Spirits: Rushing, rushing through the leaves
What has Jacob now become?
A lion or tiger, bear or beast
There is none he cannot be
Now he flies and now he swims
Buzzing wings and flapping fins
Ever ever changing form
The spirit runs him through and through
Spirit: To the Source.
Spirit: To the Centre.
Spirit: The Myo – water is life to all things.
JACOB HAS BEEN DOING ACTIONS SEES FOUNTAIN IN MIME
Jacob: What a sight:
Water is issuing from the brow of the earth!
See how it sparkles!
HE DRINKS; WASHES HIMSELF TOTALLY
I feel so alive!
How can this be?
Spirit: Jacob has found himself.
Spirit: He is bathed in his own being.
Spirit: Feel the power of the
Waters of Myo.
Alice: Wait now, but soon we must
Travel to our council at the court of
The Sun and the Moon.
CYMBOLS, ENTER VORTEX JOE WHO HAS ADDED
FEATHER EPELETTES TO HIS SUIT
Vortex Joe: Good friends! It’s me!
Vortex Joe.
I summon you all to the council
With the Sun and the Moon.
They wish to speak their plans.
Come all in joy, you are bidden.
Spirits
And Alice: The time is now
So, we come to court.
THEY ALL CARRY JACOB OUT. EXEUNT.
ENTER SUN AND MOON WHO STAND REGAL
ENTER ALICE, SPIRITS AND JACOB. SPIRITS COME TO FORE
Spirit: See this great hall full of people
Spirit: Every nation is represented.
Spirit: Joe has been working hard!
THEY MOVE BACK
Sun: Are we all here?
Vortex Joe: All save the one called Smug,
He slipped away
Would not come.
Moon: That we expected but do not
Worry, enough are here.
VORTEX BOWS
Sun: Be seated.
ALL SIT SAVE THE SUN AND THE MOON
Moon: A loving guard that protects its environment.
Sun: Are we of one accord.
The Host: Aye!
Sun: Thank you all for coming
Our plan is quite simple
There is an energy binding
The universe
We shall energise the earth with energy.
Moon: In the correct time of season
You will celebrate at the
Energy centres
Stone circles
Sacred groves
Earth temples
And holy wells
Sun: As you rejoice your work on Earth,
Moon: So open you to healing.
Sun and Moon: And we will pour down our rays.
Moon: The spirits will guard the gates to
the plant kingdoms, where these
rays will enter the soil
and so nourish the ecosystems
THEY BOW
Sun: RAPS THE FLOOR
The energising will start at
Great stone rocks
In three days time.
Call your musicians, dancers, poets
and firework makers, your stiltwalkers,
skinbeaters and singers.
Cluster about stone rocks
Sing the song of the Age
Activate your Earth with music and dance
Vortex Joe: Ya hey!
Let’s celebrate and get friendly
Then pool our skills and do our work!
Sun and Moon: Go now, tread the
Rainbow Stair to Earth Circus
and call your people to dance and rejoice
for the Earth is reborn.
ALL CHEER
Sun: Is the host prepared?
Host: Yes lifegiver.
To Earth we go to revel and dance
To pour all our power over all
And work the heart of joy on Earth
That all hearts beat fresh and strong
That love may peel out loud and long
Farewell Sun!
Farewell Moon!
EXIT SUN AND MOON. THE HOST TRAVELS THE RAINBOW
STAIR AND THE GROOVE OUT, PERHAPS HOLD HANDS.
Vortex Joe: Here we are on Earth
Great Stone Rock
What a reception!
THE MALI PEOPLE HAVE PREPARED MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT FOR ALL. THEY ARE ECSTATIC WELCOMERS.
THE MUSIC CONTINUES QUIETER
Alice: So the people celebrated .
And true to their agreement
The Sun and the Moon poured light
Into the Great Stone Rocks
Everyone was open to it
Happily beating drums
Intoning and playing bizarre instruments
The sky entered the ground
The ground rose to the sky
And there was a delicious drinking.
They poured down their light.
Spirits all: And the Earth drank.
Alice: They poured down more.
Spirits: The Earth drank still.
Alice: And the Earth gave it’s
Healing back to the sky
That both could feed on the star stuff.
Men and Women, recognising their
Part in the cycle, create new
Technologies to conduct it’s flow.
The circle is complete.
Above is another play I wrote. This was the first one, a summation of my feelings in the 1980’s and written late 1989 to 1990 whilst at the Hub performance arts college for 2 years in Cornwall.
In 1994, after a few years spent in a box in a friend’s house in Liskeard, it resurfaced and I edited it to about of a third of the length. It was performed by the Spacegoats and friends in a few locations, first at Leightonstone No-M11 where activists made a stage out of tyres that doubled as a baracade. After the show, everyone joined hands in a massive circle. The full circle lasted for for a few seconds only, as one or two of the younger locals broke off, probably having never done anything remotely like that before, especially with such a crew.
A couple of videos exist or existed of Chameleon. I would dearly love them to resurface.