4 thoughts on “Death To The Green Man. (A modern mystery play.)”

  1. 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

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

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