Looks through camcorder.
Doesn’t look through camcorder.
Here. Here. I have a supply.
He brings out a stash of different pills.
Here, you see. This is what we do. We go through this.
You wanna go through the Nature thing?
Alain Yes.
Pete You wanna go through the Nature thing and you wanna go through the Sex thing?
Alain Yes. Both.
Pete Okay.
So now we are going to have an experience. Which is fine.
But just by themselves, on their own, okay, experiences don’t have a shape.
They don’t have a shape and they don’t have a rhythm.
And without shape, without rhythm, the experience can be too much. It can be too painful.
So we shape the experience.
Like this.
Pete arranges the pills in a circle around them.
Alain We don’t have to decide the shape. We don’t have to know in advance: this one will take me up, this one will take me down, this one will be spacey, this one will bring it all into focus.
Let’s not do that.
We’ll just do them at random and allow the shape to emerge.
You understand?
He closes his eyes, spins around, chooses a pill and takes it.
And now you.
They repeat the same process and Pete takes a pill.
Do you know what you want?
Pete No.
Alain But you want to find out?
Pete Yeah. I wanna find out.
Alain I don’t want any limits, you understand?
Pete I understand.
Alain And how does this make you feel?
Pete I don’t know.
Alain Scared?
Pete Yes, scared. And, and . . .
Alain Excited?
Pete Excited also. Yes.
They kiss.
Alain Man is dead, you know.
And Progress. Progress also. Progress is dead.
And Humanity. Yes. Humanity is dead.
Pete So we’re free, right?
Alain I’m going to fuck you.
Pete I know.
You feel anything yet?
Alain Yes. I think it’s starting.
Alain fucks Pete.
Eleven
Motel chalet. Alain sits watching TV.
Pete I asked the guy.
I asked the guy and he said that he had plenty of other chalets.
Alain Is that so?
Pete Yeah. They have plenty of chalets.
You see that.
It’s quiet around here, you know?
Alain Better than the desert.
Pete Better than the desert for that whole no people thing.
So if you wanted another chalet . . .
Alain You think I should have another chalet?
Pete Yeah. That’s what I’m saying. If you wanted maybe like your own chalet.
Alain I don’t want my own chalet.
I’m fine. This is fine.
Pete Yeah, but I think . . .
I think you should have your own chalet.
Alain You do?
Pete Wouldn’t you like that?
Alain No. I wouldn’t like that.
Pete You wouldn’t like your own chalet?
It’s what I’d like. I’d like for you to have your own chalet.
Alain No.
Pete Because . . . ?
Alain Because I want to be with you.
Pete Because you want to be with me?
Fine, okay, but I don’t want to be with you.
You see? You understand?
Okay, we had an experience. Fine. That’s cool. Thank you. There, see. I’m grateful. We shared an experience. I did a lot of new stuff. I was scared but we got through it . . . when we were there . . . great.
But that’s over . . . I’m bored.
Alain Oh yes. Of course.
Pete We’ve done it now, haven’t we?
Alain Then we’ll find new things, new experiences.
Pete I don’t want that. There’s no danger.
Alain There’s plenty of dangers.
Pete I don’t want you in the bed.
You’re creepy.
Alain Fine.
I’ll sleep on the floor.
Pete Is that what you want to do?
Alain That’s what I’m going to do.
Pete I’m gonna sleep with this [the disc] from now on. This is the only thing that is precious to me.
Alain I understand.
Twelve
The next morning.
Pete I know you. I know who you are.
Alain Of course. Yes. You know everything.
Pete Last night. I was cruel. I’m sorry. But I didn’t know who you were. This place sucks, you know? Sucks so bad they don’t invest in the proper channels. But what they do have is the kind of channels that show reruns of reruns.
Like . . . reruns of old chat shows, okay?
Pete plays a vidoetape.
David Letterman So . . you’re here, you’re in America. And you’ve written a book. And you’ve called it The Death of Man . . .
Alain Yes. That is correct. Yes.
David Letterman Neat title. What exactly does it mean?
Alain Well, it’s a complex thing to explain in a few minutes.
David Letterman Because I have to tell you right now I feel pretty much alive.
Laughter.
Pete puts the video on hold.
Pete See. You see?
That’s the way I know.
You gonna go back to the university? Now you lived a little.
Alain No.
Pete Because . . .
Alain Because I . . . have . . . burnt my bridges.
Pete You’re so metaphorical.
What does that mean? On the TV show.
What does that mean – the End of History?
Please. I want to learn.
I want to be with you and I want you to teach me.
Alain That means . . .
Pete goes to fetch his camcorder.
Alain Without the video.
Pete puts down his camcorder.
Alain I call this moment the End of History because what we understood as history, this movement forward, has ended.
And the words which have for so been our guides . . .
Progress, for example. This now means nothing.
We know this in our hearts. Every man, every woman, they know it, they feel, but they don’t say it.
So we have to ask ourselves this question:
When will we embrace . . . (this is a word for you also, embrace?)
Pete Uh huh. Embrace. Yeah.
Alain . . . chaos. When will we live the End of History?
When will we live in our time?
And how will we live in this new age of chaos?
Not as we lived in the old age. Not with the old language.
Not by being more kind, more . . . enlightened.
We must be cruel, we must follow our desires and be cruel to others, yes, but also we must be cruel to ourselves.
We must embrace suffering, we must embrace cruelty.
Pete There’s a lot to learn.
Thirteen
Chorus See the minister of our church, he calls all the moms together one day and he says:
‘Ladies, we have to raise some money. We have to raise a lot of money. Because I want the young people of this church to be part of the future. I want them to be online. We’re going to have a terminal and a modem right here for all our young people so they can spread the word way into the future.’
And my mom and all the other moms worked real hard. But when the terminal and the modem arrived they felt so bad. Because their kids spent twenty-four-seven on the Net. And one day they wake up and realise they are living in like Valley of the Geeks and they never see their kids any more. And they go see the minister. And there is wailing and like the total
gnashing of teeth. But he is just: ‘Ladies, this is part of the Lord’s mystery. It may seem like he has taken your children away, but he is working for you in a mysterious way so let’s get out there and raise those funds for more terminals and pray for a brighter world.’
Fourteen
Pete is on the Net, tapping at the keys.
Enter Alain, carrying brown paper bag.
Pete Where you been?
Alain Walking.
Pete You careful?
Alain Oh yes. Very careful.
Pete I don’t like you to go out, but you go out, you be careful. They’re out there.
You remember: this one is for Bill.
Alain Of course I remember.
You wanna eat?
Pete You shopped at a store?
Alain Yes. A brown bag, like in the movies.
Pete There is no need to shop at the store.
The store is a risk you don’t have to take when we have a phone, we have a channel for groceries, a channel for meals . . .
Alain I wanted to go to the store.
Pete You go in a store, they have cameras watching you.
Alain You gonna eat anything?
Pete I’m not hungry right now.
Alain What do you do on this?
Pete I communicate.
Alain Who do you communicate with?
Pete Guys, mostly.
This way you get to know people, get to know people like really, really well but they don’t know who you are.
Alain Show me.
Pete This is my space.
Alain But I want you to show me.
Pete Okay. For a while.
It’s like . . . my own home page.
He taps on to a keyboard.
Set it up just a few days ago and now there’s like hundreds of subscribers. See . . . Coming up now . . .
An image of a teenage boy, Donny, on a computer screen.
Donny Hi, my name’s Donny. How ya doing?
I’ve been really working on this. I want you to know that I really used to hate my body. I used to feel so uncomfortable, so ugly. But now I’m real happy with what I achieved. I’ve been working. And I tell you: you take the pain, you get the gain.
Donny starts to remove his shirt.
Pete This guy’s new.
Donny reveals a torso that has been carefully scarred with a blade.
Donny Yeah. Look at these beauties. Look at that. Did it all myself. So come on, guys, you got anything better to show? I love these beauties, love these little babies and I’m feeling so good. Feeling so good / about myself.
Alain This is beautiful.
Pete You reckon?
Alain This is very interesting.
Pete I guess.
Alain He makes these marks upon himself?
Pete Yeah. A blade, a bottle. Whatever.
Alain He scars himself. He submits to a moment of intense . . . to a tribal agony. He creates his art. A testament of suffering upon the body.
Pete He slices himself. Yeah.
Alain A moment of power, of control over the self as he draws the blade through the body.
Pete Either that or he’s a loser who cuts himself.
Alain An initiation rite for the end of the twentieth century.
Pete Or he hurts real bad inside and he wants the outside to kinda match.
Alain I want to speak to him.
Pete It’s not possible.
Alain Oh yes. Communicate.
Pete I don’t think so.
Alain You said . . . you communicate.
Pete You don’t wanna talk with Donny.
Alain I do.
Pete Donny is a dufus.
Alain studies the keyboard.
Alain Please. How do I . . . ?
Pete You want Donny for your collection, right? The Japanese cannibal? The woman who cut out her eyes? The dufus with the perforated pecs?
Huh?
Alain There must be a way.
Alain pushes a few keys.
Pete And what about the kid on X who fucked in the desert? Was he worth collecting or was that turning a trick?
Alain Hello, Donny. Donny – you there?
Pete Hey, listen. Listen, Donny is a fake.
Alain I don’t think so.
Pete No. I don’t . . . I don’t believe this.
Look at this guy. It’s not for real.
Alain He seems real.
Pete No, no, no. Look, look, look. See? See?
Fucking . . . ketchup . . . fucking . . . stagy fucking. Just some fucking actress, Donny, huh? Just some fucking fake. Fuck you. I hate that. That really gets to me.
I have to tell him. I’m gonna tell him.
Pete types and Donny types his responses.
Pete
Donny
Pete
Donny
Pete
Donny
Pete
Pete Just because it’s virtual, doesn’t mean you can lie, you know? Just because no one can reach out and touch it, doesn’t mean you can fake it.
Alain How did you do that?
Pete This is supposed to be real.
Alain I want to speak to him . . .
Donny
Alain Well, how about that?
Wants to meet.
Pete You don’t wanna meet Donny. You don’t need Donny. Donny is nothing. I’m everything.
He removes his shirt. His chest is covered in cuts.
Everything’s a fucking lie, you know? The food, the TV, the music . . . it’s all pretend. And this is the one thing that’s for real. I feel it, it means something. Like suffering, like cruelty. I did it like you said. I did it for you. You don’t need Donny.
Alain We’re going to meet him.
Pete No way.
Alain Way. Guy.
Fifteen
Alain and Pete are waiting.
Pete This is dumb. This is unnecessary.
This is dumb and unnecessary and this is dangerous.
We shouldn’t be giving out details of where we are.
Alain We can trust Donny.
Pete You reckon?
Alain I trust Donny.
Pete Dufus hickety-hick sticksville retard.
Alain picks up the camcorder.
Alain Please. How do I . . . ?
Pete What are you doing with that?
Alain I make a record.
Pete Of Donny?
Alain Of you. Of Donny. The cutting. ‘Got it all on tape. Guys cutting guys.’
Pete He’s not gonna show most probably, you know?
Alain I’ve got it.
Alain has now worked the camcorder out and is pointing it at Pete.
Pete Hey, it’s not like the guy is gonna show.
Alain Smile. You’re on TV.
A knock at the door. Alain points camcorder at door and indicates that Pete should answer it.
Alain Please . . .
Pete Could be anyone. Could be my dad.
Alain Please . . .
Pete Could be my dad’s guys.
Alain exits to answer door. Pete collects handgun from bag and waits. Enter Alain and Donny. Pete lowers gun.
Donny Hey. How you doing?
Pete Oh, I’m . . . yeah . . . happy, happy, happy.
Pete puts the gun away.
Donny Okay. You filming me?
Alain That’s right.
Donny Is that for the network or a local thing?
Pete It’s nothing, Donny.
Donny Oh.
Pete It’s for personal use.
Donny Okay.
I’ve never been on TV.
Pete You gotta h
ave the face.
Donny I got the face.
You don’t like my face?
Pete You’ve got a pretty face, Donny.
Donny I knew we were gonna get along. I tried to picture what you’d be like, the both of you. Like a picture in my head. I couldn’t get it so clear but all I could see was that you had kind smiles and kind eyes and we were getting on real well.
Pete That’s nice. Isn’t that nice what Donny is saying?
Alain If you keep him in the light.
Donny Is this right? Do I look good here?
Alain That’s beautiful.
Donny I knew I’d feel at home and I do. This feels like home already. Like you’re Mom and Dad and brothers and sisters and all, just rolled into one.
Pete Well, how about that?
Alain Tell us about yourself, Donny.
Donny There’s not much to say.
Pete You’re doing fine so far.
Alain Tell us about yourself.
Donny You want me sitting down?
Alain Whatever you want.
Pete That’s a detail. It’s not relevant.
Alain Take your shirt off.
Donny Okay.
Pete Here.
Pete removes Donny’s shirt.
Donny You ready now?
Alain Oh yes.
Donny My name is Donny and I cut myself.
I had a big smile when I was a kid and my tongue was always red and my lips were always red and my teeth were always red. That was on account of my mom.
See, she worked nights in the store and so I’d go there after school, hang out with my mom ’til like six in the morning and every hour or so she’d say:
‘Donny, you want something?’
‘Yes, Mom. I’m thirsty.’
‘What you want, Donny?’
‘Want a slushie, Mommy.’
‘Well, you help yourself, Donny, you go right ahead and you take whatever you want.’
And I’d go right up to the slushie machine, press that cardboard cup in the hole . . . and I always had cherry.
Never even gave anything else a try, because it was always cherry I wanted. Wasn’t so much as curious about the other choices.
So, six, seven, eight cherry slushies every night your teeth and you tongue and your mouth get pretty red.
Got so some guys called me Red Mouth Donny and some guys who didn’t know me so well just called me Red. Which I liked.
Then one day, the slushie machine was taken away. Some guy from the company just took it away. I think maybe the owner of the store hadn’t kept up the payments, but he wasn’t letting on.
Ravenhill Plays: 1: Shopping and F***ing; Faust is Dead; Handbag; Some Explicit Polaroids (Contemporary Dramatists) Page 10
