The Iron Rainbow : Part 2

JASON : You have been staring at that newsprint all night. It’s no wonder you can’t see.
MOLE : Just because you do a bit of reading doesn’t mean that you lose your eyesight. It’s ideas like yours which stop people doing anything. You don’t realise you con yourself as well as get conned by others. It’s made you anti-social.
JASON : They made me a victim so I’m not bothered about other people.
MOLE : Yes, but you encourage people to do nothing in life. You are bothered enough to do that. It’s one of the things that makes you a deviant.
JASON : The fact that there has already been a fight here today doesn’t rule out another one, only it would be more of an attack. Although from what has been said I think that was just an attack. I can’t imagine any of them standing up to Marti. Compared to him all they could fight off would be a cold, and then the odds would be stacked against them.
MOLE : If they are getting violent here in an obvious and physical way I would say that I was in danger, if only because I am an older man. I suppose the sadist in all of you enjoys that idea, that you can terrorise a defenceless, old man. I’m against violence regardless of what you might think of me, and yes, so far all of you have been wrong. Muttering about murder and molestation when speculating on my predicament is so ridiculous. You’re always going on about being cheated yourselves and never even consider the possibility that I could be someone cheated. I do realise though that being here hasn’t done any of you any good. To my mind if you don’t start off as ‘sheep-shaggers’, to use one of your expressions, you end up as one.
JASON : You aren’t starting to see things our way are you, Grandad?
MOLE : It seems a good idea if you’re starting on the physical violence bit, because let’s face it, my pooch is pure chihuahua.
JASON : Kenneth had a chihuahua about the same time that he wanted to be a train driver. I got that out of him when a few of us were talking about pet history. Jonathan had a pedigree Dulux dog and Marti had a well-trained Alsation.
MOLE : Animal Farm eat your heart out. Where I live very few people have pets. There’s a few persian pussies knockin’ about but they are the sort that never change out of towelling robes and mules. And I always think that claw of pussy, tooth of dog, like eye of newt and fang of bat are things already in the neighbourhood cauldron. You don’t need pets. If you don’t like it – tough. There’s nothing else to eat.
JASON : Are you trying to confuse me? I don’t know what the hell you are talking about. I was tallking pets and you end up rabbiting on about witches and no choice of menu.
MOLE : Well, I started of about aggression and stuck to it. Some would call it natural vigour, and why not, when the sap rises there’s bound to be some flux. But all in all I believe in giving you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to giving my opinion on your ability to remain amicable. You seem okay to me.
JASON : That’s because we are.
MOLE : Exactly.
JASON : Remember that.
(Jason exit. Enter Len)
LEN : No one in here, George?
MOLE : No, they are confining themselves to their rooms as if they were bloody hotel guests.
LEN : I don’t see them like that. I think the majority prefer to be in here, mucking in together. It will just be a temporary lull in the raging storm.
MOLE : Apparently the raging bull has shown what he’s made of. Jason has filled me in on the ‘macho man’ versus ‘friends’ contest. Quite honestly I can’t stand either of them, but I say nothing, certainly not to their face. I hope I can trust you, Len, and rely on you to keep them in place. Do you know I’m beginning to think that they could get to me for a bashing?
LEN : I doubt it, George. We aren’t talking gratuitous violence. What happened today had been building up for some time between the two characters concerned so I for one was not surprised to see them come to blows. I only hope the ‘friends’ side has got the message.
(Enter Marti)
LEN : (Aside to Mole in a lowered voice) Ah, the first side in is the ‘macho man’. (Addressing Marti in a normal voice) Have you cooled down and got this hormonal hang up out of your system?
MARTI : If you’re talking about what happened at lunch-time it’s his hormones that are scrambled, my only hang up is that I’m here while he is.
LEN : Yes, I know he’s the one who has the problem, Marti, but I think he will realise now that there’s no point in bothering you. All I ask, Marti, is that you tolerate him, because let’s face it, there is something positive there. It is just being expressed in the wrong way.
MARTI : Yes, some would be flattered, I appreciate that, but to me they would be creeps. If he keeps away from me in that respect and just knows that I’m different I’d be a lot more prepared to tolerate him. It’s the fact that he thinks people can swing both ways, as if it’s normal, that Idon’t like.
LEN : Yes, that’s true but I think that coming up against you he is going to be a lot more circumspect in the end. He hasn’t worn shorts again.
MOLE : Or buckled his breeches above the knee.
LEN : That’s the same thing. Look, you know what I’m getting at. It is not a sod’s brothel and that’s how it stays. Inside here you show restraint. There have been lads in here as young as fourteen dying from AIDS, and showing no interest in either sex. I don’t think I need say anymore, do you?
(Lee appears at the door and remains standing there, unseen by the others)
MARTI : I don’t feel sorry for him. He should have known someone like me is rigid about who I go to bed with and it is implying that it is frigid is soddin’ pansy. That is what makes me angry. Being here is difficult enough without being bothered by his kind. He’s in a different situation to me. I face serious charges; he’s just involved in a scuffle with rent boys, though he makes out he’s tripped up an old man. I’m not pansying around anybody, certainly not him.
(Len goes over to Marti and pats him on the shoulder)
LEN : Fair enough.
(Exit Len and Mole)
(Enter Lee)
LEE : It was my fault I admit it. I’ve been unhappy in my life but not in the way you are now. As you say I’m not facing serious charges. I haven’t killed anybody, and as far as I know, the old man who got knocked over was only bruised, and that is the truth. I’m not here because of rent boys, although maybe that has something to do with it in an oblique kind of way. You’ve suggested people don’t like me and that is why I’m in trouble. It’s possible I suppose but I’m not perfect. I know I have a big mouth and I have been taking the mickey out of this place since I arrived, but it’s more like a holiday camp to me than punishment. I have been punished on the streets for three years and coming to live here was a relief. A reprieve if you like from all that is sordid. I would like to think that although I’m not very intelligent I am clever enough to know the nature of the world by now. But being street-wise can sometimes blind you from seeing the thing which possesses most beauty.
MARTI : I was never really against you. I only became prejudiced when you didn’t see me as I am. You were being vain and cynical and completely unaware of the effect it has on people. To spell it out, sweety, you didn’t believe in me being straight and I knew it.
LEE : Yes, I can see that now. Different people take me in different ways. Some think I’m funny and that’s okay but I suppose it’s always a mistake to meddle with a man that doesn’t swing a medallion.
MARTI : Yeh, that’s more or less it, but I don’t think you could be serious to save your life and that always irritates people, no matter what they make out. I think you’ll fit in better now that we both know.
LEE : I thought I knew more about people; I was wrong.
MARTI : Yes, Blue Moon, I think you do have a song in your heart and you may even have a love of your own. As long as you keep it to yourself we’ll all be happy. I don’t want to sound like Len because he can be boring, but I think you should know that the idea of the hostel running down to a sod’s brothel is a horror story to all of us.
(Slight pause)
You and me will get on better, that’s all. See you.
(Exit Marti)
(Lee sits down and lights a cigarette)
(Enter Kenneth and Susan)
(Kenneth takes a seat, Susan remains standing)
SUSAN : The weather is very bad out there.
KENNETH : It doesn’t affect us.
SUSAN : No, it doesn’t, Kenneth. It’s like Tenerife in here.
LEE : You don’t try to give people the wrong impression deliberately do you? It’s starting to dawn on me that wherever I live next won’t be half as comfortable as this.
SUSAN : Don’t be neurotic. If you feel at home here it’s because this is a modern building with good facilities. The only psychology we use is to improve character and help you develop along the right lines.
LEE : Yeh (in a resigned, unconvinced manner).
KENNETH : I thought I was already developed along the right lines.
SUSAN : Something must have gone wrong.
KENNETH : Mmm... this so-called offence. I just lost my temper when I was under stress. You know I mentioned before our school never got on with the secondary modern. He was from there. I’d more or less forgotten the enmity from the Henry Morgan lot until this incident. When I look back that childish rivalry was really the beginnings of anti-catholic feeling. The fact that most of them at school were faithless or have ended up that way is irrelevant. We had a different religion and it’s obvious that that was enough to cause disagreement and eventually a well-established resentment.
SUSAN : You don’t feel any hostility here though, do you?
KENNETH : No.
SUSAN : I won’t say that I think you’ve imagined something like victimization on account of religion but it can never be actually proved, so I’d drop it, in everybody’s best interests.
KENNETH : You can never talk about feelings like that anyway. They would say you were mentally ill.
SUSAN : Yes, they are negative feelings apart from anything else. My only advice to you is to show people on the other side of the fence that you are just like them. Doing what others do is always the best policy. You’ve seen what it’s like in here and if you have faced up to the reality of it you have a chance of fitting in when it is all over. Think it over Kenneth............I’ll be back in a few minutes.
(Exit Susan)
LEE : Marti doesn’t puke when he sees me now. Knowing that should give anyone hope that feels at odds with the world.
KENNETH : Mmm... at odds with the serpent, that’s me. Seeing it writhe increases your experience but it is a knowledge I could have done without.
LEE : That’s a coward’s attitude. Sometimes when it writhes you do have to become masochistic to withstand it.... I know you are not that one.... but knowing that we’re all aware of it together must help, doesn’t it?
KENNETH : I suppose so, but some would say that we are just getting the same gas.
LEE : No, we’re the ‘snake aware gang’. It’s something else.
KENNETH : Do you think there’s glamour in evil?
LEE : There’s glamour in everything if you show it in a ceratin light, but the end result, that’s another matter.
KENNETH : That sounds like an answer influenced by a belief in good.
LEE : No, just common sense, and knowing that the law says that they are good.
KENNETH : Yes, but none of us are Charles Manson or Ian Brady, are we?
LEE : No, but nobody’s a saint either.
KENNETH : Yeh, everybody thinks that I’m innocent and out of touch with a world that’s rotten and bent. That’s not the case. I’m innocent maybe but I’m a lot less naive than I used to be. This place would open anybody’s eyes to society’s lack of interest in what used to be called love.
LEE : I agree with you but society won’t go away. (Slight pause) I’m going out for a while......... See you later.
(Exit Lee)

Break 3




(Enter Susan and Jonathan)
SUSAN : Still here, Kenneth, and all on your own.
KENNETH : Yes, I’m still here.
JONATHAN : I wish none of us were. They will be reaching a decision on my case soon. I feel like a pregnant husband.
SUSAN : I can understand your anxiety but try not to worry.
JONATHAN : The more that I think about it the more I think that I need a miracle.
SUSAN : Not necessarily.
JONATHAN : I’m sure that it’s going to be bad news soon.............You don’t have to wait long for the outcome of your case, do you, Kenneth?
KENNETH : No, but I feel less depressed now, not more.
JONATHAN : That’s probably because you realize you are not the only one that has come unstuck. All the inmates have attitudes that are in conflict with other people’s. You know that now. People think I am a snob but I know that it’s the working class lads that are the worst ones. Yeh, none of us are perfect but I didn’t make anything of the fact that our family was better off until they did. They just didn’t like me; they didn’t like my choice of clothes, but they turned up wearing the coat they had nicked from me at the first available opportunity. I knew it was mine by the blue biro mark on the left cuff. I wished that I’d covered it in ink then because I never got it back. How they wriggled out of that is another story, so I won’t bore you with it. But anyway, what I dislike is the type of criminality. I can understand the crime that arises out of necessity. If you have nothing to wear you take something but you don’t have to hate the person who’s worn it before you just to stick the boot in. Having said that I would like to feel I can still tolerate people, and see them as either victims of the society we live in or just people who possess a human weakness. For harmony to come back to society and for people to enjoy themselves in the way that they want to they are going to have to use their intelligence.
KENNETH : You’re getting very intelligent yourself, aren’t you, working all that out?
JONATHAN : It must be having a GCSE in sociology.
KENNETH : You are not an education snob as well, surely?
JONATHAN : No, I left school at sixteen, and I was being sarcastic anyway.
SUSAN : If you had valued your education, Jonathan, I don’t think that you would have ended up in here. You will say that you are unlucky.............. I think you have made the wrong choices, and as a result, you have got into the wrong social set. Half of your friends like to make fun of those with a bit of education. There is nothing wrong with having something upstairs.
JONATHAN : No, as long as it’s a bit of skirt.
SUSAN : You know what I mean. Not to have a clutch of GCSEs these days really limits your choices or chances. If peer pessure means you end up on the scrap heap straightaway there is something seriously wrong with the company you keep.
KENNETH : I’ve got five GCSEs but then I didn’t have to sit in class with lads from Henry Morgan.
JONATHAN : And you called me a snob.
KENNETH : Okay, there is snobbery in everybody. It’s just a case of whether it’s straight....... or inverted.
SUSAN : That’s very true, Kenneth. I admit to being a snob to fit in but I’m not that much of a snob that I have to go one better and say that I’m not a snob at all.
KENNETH : Yes, that really is a snob.
SUSAN : Yes, but just an ordinary inverted snob.
KENNETH : I suppose.
SUSAN : Some would say Norman is snobbish about the meals he presents. And in a way it’s probably true. It doesn’t do you any harm though, does it? (Enter Mole) Tonight’s menu is creme de concombre soup, saumon fumee witha tarragon and mint sauce, and then to finish off, a passion fruit compote with fresh cream.
MOLE : Mmm, that sounds delicious. You can’t beat his passion fruit compote. Let’s hope he does a repeat of his kiwi coulis too.
SUSAN : Yes, George. It’s different to the meals we used to get at school....... an improvement possibly.
MOLE : It’s the egalitarianism and fairness of British justice, Susan. The fact that the meal sounds french is irrelevant.
SUSAN : I am sure you will all get your just desserts.
JONATHAN : Passion fruit sounds to me like a bad omen.
MOLE : Why? Has somebody committed a crime of passion? We don’t have that sort of verdict in England because basically I don’t think that we have any romantics, let alone passionate lovers that would kill because of jealousy.
JONATHAN : Why don’t you shut up? Your idiotic rambling is getting on my nerves. I’m starting to feel depressed.
SUSAN : We all sag in the middle at some point in our lives, Jonathan, but with any luck we go on to better things eventually, perhaps even fall in love.............. Don’t give up.
(Exit Susan)
MOLE : Well, I think we are all stuck in here and it can only get worse. All she is pushing is false hope. The only thing I’ve got to look forward to now is another breakdown. I can feel it coming on.
JONATHAN : Go and lie down then. It’s what Annie Walker used to do.
KENNETH : Wasn’t that for ‘one of her heads’?
JONATHAN : Do you have to be so precise? He’s just an hysterical pansy. You miss the point of everything.
MOLE : I’m going, there is not one of you turned out decent.
(Exit Mole)
(PAUSE)
(Enter Lizard, Lee)
LIZARD : You look very cosy in here.
LEE : You make it sound as if they are tucked up in bed together, Lizard.
LIZARD : I didn’t mean to................. if I’m saying the wrong thing it’s because I can’t relax.
LEE : No, I don’t think that you will ever really feel at ease. You are considered criminal and that is enough to break anybody down. People are self-righteous, yes, but wouldn’t it be expecting too much not to get an attitude from them in any event?
LIZARD : I suppose so. To be realistic you have to give in. I have been trying to beat the system and that is always a big mistake. I will just have to accept my fate.
LEE : I think so. We are all depressed and we are all a bit anxious sometimes but we have accepted the fact that we are in trouble and we are in it together. As my aunt used to say: Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night. Truth is I think that most of us get a bit of both. It’s when we lose sight of that the despair sets in.
JONATHAN : All these f***** pep talks. I’m beginning to wonder what lies ahead. They haven’t brought back the death penalty, have they?
LEE : No, of course not. You twist everything. Life isn’t to be lived as if we are in a sarcophagus, that’s all.
JONATHAN : Sarco what?
LEE : It’s an unusual name for a coffin. Dwelling on the morbid is bad for you. The fact that Ken has a look of Bela Lugosi is beside the point. It’s not to be encouraged.
JONATHAN : Yeh, I can see what you mean. Robot, dummy, walking dead – they all sound about right.
(Enter Jason and Marti)
JONATHAN : Ah, here is more of them. We’ll soon have the full cast of ‘Revenge of the Gravediggers’.
JASON : I’m more alive than most people.
JONATHAN : Yes, but depressed more often than not. In fact I think you have been more fed up and unhappy than the rest of us put together.
JASON : When I first arrived here I saw society as evil and getting away with all sorts of crime. Well – maybe that is the case, but I know now that if you are convinced other people are involved in crime you become seduced into delinquent activities yourself that much easier, when half the time they simply are not involved in the way that you think.
LIZARD : It shows the truth of the royal motto. I don’t remember the French but it’s something like ‘evil be to him that thinks evil’.
(Enter Norman. He is carrying a vase of red tulips and places them in the window)
NORMAN : Honi soit qui mal y pense. (said affirmatively) Very apt and to the point. If you thought better of me you would have today’s button sprouts from the allotment not the week-end’s.
(Enter Len. He stays in the doorway and doesn’t come forward)
LEN : Don’t be flippant about it Norman. If that gem of wisdom would sink into today’s imagination there would be a lot less crime.
NORMAN : Maybe there would be, but as the ‘flowerman of Bellsington’ I admit to being cynical occasionally.
LEN : Is that what they call you?
(Exit Len)
NORMAN : Yes, and before anybody says anything else I have nothing to say in defence of tulips.
LIZARD : You don’t have to justify what you do here.
JASON : No, you and Mole can tiptoe through the tulips whenever you like.
JONATHAN : Take no notice of them, Norman, they don’t appreciate the diversity of the natural world, that’s all.
(Exit Norman)
(Norman leaves shaking his head in despair)
JASON : Don’t turn pansy on us please: we know you are a snob but we didn’t expect you to fly the flag for gardening.
JONATHAN : I’m not bothered about f***** gardening or anything else for that matter. I just don’t think it’s necessary to insult Norman. You don’t knock his food.
JASON : No, I suppose not. As for insulting people, well, it’s like a nervous reaction.
JONATHAN : Yes, you are worried, aren’t you?
JASON : Mmm, I’m worried. You said that I seem more depressed than anybody else; other people think I’m just mean, they don’t seem to see the relationship between that and depression, or bother sorting out the difference.
JONATHAN : No, a bad experience always gets you down. I don’t feel the same since the trouble with the police but I haven’t lost sight of the fact that we can help ourselves. Last time we had our amateur psychotherapy session you weren’t interested, were you? Why not take part in one now. We can lower the lights, put on a tape, and tap into those areas of the mind that can relieve us of all our anxieties.
JASON : Okay........... as long as it doesn’t take too long.
JONATHAN : The last psycho-visual was created by me, Kenneth and Lee. This time you give your thoughts, while you work your way into a situation that is relaxing and in which you feel comfortable and at ease. Before we start you need a partner. Will you cooperate, Marti, or you, Lizard?
LIZARD, MARTI : No.
JONATHAN : It won’t knock your masculinity to believe in psychotherapy.
MARTI : We are not mental cripples.
JONATHAN : No, but you are under stress – we all are. It helps relieve tension, and when you indulge your imagination you increase your self-confidence and benefit from the liberating effect of temporary escape. Just do it. It’s a good laugh.
MARTI : Urrr (Very reluctantly, then resigned).............. okay.
Break 4


JONATHAN : Good. (addressing Lizard) Can you find the music, Lizard? The tape is called ‘Greek Love Story’. Before it starts to play turn the lights off.
(Lizard selects the tape from the collection and puts it on the cassette player)
JONATHAN : When the music starts imagine you are on the shore of a beautiful, sunny Greek island. Then let your mind create the experience. The mind is like a labyrinth; with psychotherapy you can unlock all kinds of doors and passageways, and yes, eventually find what you are looking for.
(The lights are dimmed. The music starts. Images are projected onto the window to accompany the dialogue)
JASON : I think it’s a dick-head that only imagines a holiday.
JONATHAN : I thought you agreed to try it. If you believe in the relaxing powers of the technique there is a chance that you will feel some benefit.
JASON : Okay.
JONATHAN : Good. Focus your mind; as we said before the music started it’s you and Marti relaxing on a sunny shore in the Greek islands.
(Pause)
JASON : It’s embarrassing.
JONATHAN : Fry your willie on the beach.
JASON : Okay, I’m frying my willie naked on the beach.
MARTI : Don’t forget I’m there.
JASON : It makes no difference, does it? Unless you are taking us all in and have an interest.
MARTI : Funny. (Sarcastic tone)
JASON : Don’t worry, nobody will think badly of us.
MARTI : Nobody will think badly of us (exasperated). You’re writhing naked on the beach right next to me. Also when I’m on holiday I always get a surge of adrenalin on the beach.
JASON : You’re not relaxing.
MARTI : No, I can feel your body press against mine, that probably has something to do with it. You would think there was no room.
JASON : I’m drunk, that’s why. I have just had five cans of lager and I am feeling the pleasure of take-off. The warm sea is brushing our brown feet in a regular rhythm as it comes and goes with the waves.
MARTI : So, we are both sun-kissed and petted by the sea.
JASON : That’s more or less the picture.
MARTI : Mmm........... luxury.
JASON : I suppose it is................... millionaire pleasures doing sod all.
MARTI : Yeh, easing away the dull pain of too much reality.
(Greek music ends)
(Chesney Hawkes ‘Friends and Lovers’ music begins)
JASON : I can see two girls coming over here. They must be interested.
MARTI : Good, your imagination is improving.
(Pause)
JASON : Yeh, they are good looking, aren’t they?
MARTI : You are telling me they are. They’re great.
JASON : Do you think they are from England? If they aren’t we won’t be able to speak to them.
MARTI : I don’t think it matters, do you? You are getting carried away.
JASON : No, they are gorgeous that’s all.
MARTI : Is your body aching for them?
JASON : B***** off.
MARTI : I wouldn’t.
JASON : What can I say as an opener?
MARTI : Oh, I want you now.
JASON : Yes, their naked bodies are heaven.
MARTI : They are friends and lovers, that’s why.
JASON : Close your eyes.
(Pause)
JASON : Now, if they come here regularly we would be okay.
MARTI : Unfortunately I don’t think they will step out of the illusion.
JASON : No, it’s just wishful thinking.
MARTI : Yes, they are the fantasy dream girls.
JASON : That is fantasy island to me. It has got nothing to do with Ricardo Montalban and a squeaky-voiced dwarf.
MARTI : Mmm........... I felt that wave brush the shore.
JASON : It’s a pity they have to go.
MARTI : Goodbye girls, see you again.
(Music ends)
(Greek music of type played at start of visuals starts)
JASON : The beach is almost deserted, but I can see four figures walking this way.
MARTI : It’s you know who.
JASON : Oh yeh, Lee, Ken, Jon and Lizard have turned up.
MARTI : The fun’s over lads; you will have to make do with enjoying the climate.
JASON : (aside to Marti) Luckily they haven’t seen those girls. I can tell because they aren’t jealous of us.
MARTI : Yes, we are still all good friends.
JASON : I will remember this, like a one night stand during the day.
MARTI : Mmm... the dream girls and the fantasy island.
(Pause)
JASON : Our mates here maybe have their own memories of that day.
MARTI : Yes, we don’t know what the four of them did.
JASON : At the end of the day we are back together on the shore and feel the first wave that covers our bodies completely. We have all been kissed by a dark-scented sea.
(Music ends – Lights come on again)
JONATHAN : I don’t expect you to tell me that you feel better but I know it’s done all of us good to give our minds that sort of fantasy break. I think our sensual imagination is achieving results.
LEE : Yes, although I was just sat here and did not say anything this time, I feel this kind of psychic astro-travelling has a value.
MARTI : It’s not astro-travelling. Fantasy girls have a value, yes, but nobody can be really content with something that does not exist. Are you suggesting we make do with these psychic travels?
JONATHAN : No, not if we could actually go somewhere exotic. But really you are missing the point. It’s an exercise in itself, to establish some sort of feeling between us.
LEE : Yes, I know now that feeling is what is beyond good and evil. Some people might even say that love is beyond good and evil. But in the end it is the serpent’s tooth which is the nexus of our Iron Rainbow.
MARTI : I will go along with that.
KENNETH : What about Julian’s ARC idea? Do you still think that is true and that it exists as a sort of eternal bridge?
LEE : Let’s put it this way. I now feel it’s a lot more complicated. I think we are all aware of our situation: we have Accepted it, we are Resigned to it and, like most people who want to get by without making too many waves, particularly when we have been sea-sprayed already, we are all Complicit.
KENNETH : At least you are straight-talking.
LEE : Yes, the world is hard, and there is only one reality. You don’t have the choice of an enhancement. But you do have the chance to show devotion.
KENNETH : I feel I know a lot more about how people tick since I came here. It’s been like a sort of university of life: the two pairs of feet strategically placed on a T shirt idea taken to new levels of meaning.
(Enter Susan – She appears at the door downcast and serious. It becomes very quiet and attention is focussed on her. She is obviously about to break bad news)
SUSAN : (Looking sadly at Ken) I’m afraid the person involved in your case has just died, Kenneth. The police will want to interview you again. Don’t take it too badly but it does change the nature of your problem completely.
KENNETH : (Shattered and shocked by the news, he speaks almost inaudibly) Do you want me to come now?
SUSAN : No, it will be an hour or two yet. Why don’t you spend some time working out what you are going to say to them.
KENNETH : Yeh (Pusillanimously)
(Kenneth moves to exit)
SUSAN : I’ll come and see you later.
(Kenneth exit)
LEE : Poor sod, he’ll be in for it.
JONATHAN : Mmm........ he never did have any luck. He has been pushed in the holly bush one last time. Do you remember he told us that he was the most popular candidate for getting shoved into it?
JASON : Yes, I remember that. Things haven’t changed for him.
JONATHAN : No, things are now as bad for him as they are for me.
LIZARD : Yes, he was just beginning to sort his life out too. You all took the piss out of him but I think it did him good really. It brought him out of his dream world, as you put it, Jason.
JASON : Leave me out of it. I think he is just a loser and now it’s obvious he’s a serious one.
LIZARD : We are all getting as depressed as he must be. Nothing has even been decided and we are presuming the worst.
SUSAN : Yes, there is always the possibility of justice, even mercy, so don’t give up, lads.
LIZARD : Please Susan, no more psycho-pep.
JONATHAN : Psycho-pep, psychotherapy, it does you about as much good as listening to my shitty poetry in the end. I only........................
(A scream of terror from backstage.......... It is Kenneth)
...............believe in disillusionment. (Barely voiced)
JASON : Oh no.
(Susan runs off set, to ascertain what is happening. Lizard, Jason follow)
JONATHAN : It sounds like it’s more than a cry for attention. I didn’t think he was that one. I hope he’s not dead.
LEE : Finding out that fella died has pushed him over the edge. Why didn’t somebody talk to him. He will have felt like a murderer.
JONATHAN : No, I think he just could not face a possible jail sentence for manslaughter.
LEE : There’s no prizes for putting the boot in now.
JONATHAN : Sorry, I didn’t mean to be insensitive. I just feel he’s given up. I’m facing a possible manslaughter charge and have put up with it. I would have talked to him about the issues, in fact I still will, if he’s okay.
LEE : It sounded bad to me. Does he have a knife?
JONATHAN : Not that I know of. I can’t imagine him stabbing himself.
LEE : Well, he’s done something serious.
MARTI : You two sound like two old women. You make me sick.
LEE : There isn’t anything we can do for him.
MARTI : No, there isn’t. All I know is that you are not very bothered or you would not say anything. If he is dead there will be a bitter feeling here for a long time. That will shut you up.
LEE : Nobody wanted this to happen, and yes, we’ll feel the effects of this for a long time to come.
(Noises offstage – People moving around)
What’s Jason doing........ He must realise we want to know how Kenneth is.
JONATHAN : This is him now.
(Enter Jason stony faced, taciturn and unresponsive he stands at the door devastated)
JASON : He’s killed himself.
(Silence – Pause)
JONATHAN : How did he do it?
JASON : He linked up the lamp flex to the wash basin and switched on.
JONATHAN : So, he is burnt.
JASON : Yes.
(Enter Lizard)
LIZARD : It’s a terrible sight back there, a real mess.
LEE : He must have had a brainstorm. Even if it proved to be a manslaughter verdict and he was given a sentence for it he wasn’t really guilty; they would have taken that into account. A person dying after an incident doesn’t necessarily mean it is manslaughter anyway. He didn’t give himself a chance.
JASON : He wasn’t selfish enough, that’s why. You know he never put any of our principles into practise. That’s why he’s dead.
LIZARD : Don’t be so f***** cynical. He’s dead because we live in a bastard society and he was unlucky.
JASON : Okay I’m sorry. None of us are afraid of death, are we? (Mocking, disbelieving tone)
LIZARD : No, none of us. I don’t think he was a coward but I didn’t think he would give up that easily. He used to say he never knew what he was getting when he got drugs here. The wrong sort of medication can unbalance the mind just as much as stabilize it.
JONATHAN : I didn’t know he was taking anything.
LIZARD : Yes, he was on tranquilizers. He was unstable. They obviously weren’t enough.
JONATHAN : He doesn’t need tranquilizers now (Slight pause) If there is anything other than this world he will know now.
LIZARD : You get all the hell you need on earth. I can’t believe there’s anything better or anything worse either.
JONATHAN : No, I can’t. What you see is all there is. I wish he was still here. Why don’t you two sit down? I think I want tranquilizers.
MARTI : (In a sarcastic tone) Why not go into a psychotherapy session?
JONATHAN : Somebody has died.
MARTI : Cracking up won’t bring him back. There is nothing anybody can do now, but the way society is run today he is probably better off.
LEE : Yes, at least it’s all over for him now. He was never happy. He once asked me if Julian’s ARC was like a rainbow and all I did was give him a load of rubbish about the serpent entwining itself around the ARC no matter what you called it. I should have tried to bring out the colours in that rainbow, because the ARC can be seen in that way and then maybe this would never have happened. Now I am left wondering if the dome of life’s temple has been shattered or its clear glass merely stained vermilion with blood. And as for the ARC paradigm, what did we really see here, an understanfing of its pattern in each of our lives, or only a reflection of it in the mirror of the world?
(As the final musical item is played a flashback sequence of scenes from the drama can be projected onto the window at the back of the set.)
(Before the flashbacks - Lights dim – music starts. Mole and Norman appear in one doorway, Susan and Len appear in another. Then the flashbacks start)
(The snake which is painted on the back of the set becomes luminescent with rainbow hues, so a large rainbow arches through it at the end of the sequence)
(The rest of the cast members who are grouped together show some physical conjunction)
(End the Music)
CURTAIN