two dead boys

7/31/2019 Two Dead Boys

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Two Dead Boys

_____________

By

Tyler Mills

Copyright 2012

Tyler Mills Minneapolis, MN

612 234 5225 [email protected]


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Character List

CHADRICH

GILGAMESH

MOPSUS


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(A bare stage. Two dead boys lay there.

Dead. Several moments pass. Then, as one,

the breathe of life is stuffed back into

them. There is a brief moment of uncertainty

as they wake in a strange place. Then theyrecognize one another. There is an immediate

change. They are filled with rage. And they

attack one another. It is a vicious and

dirty combat. They are equally matched.

They gouge at each others eyes and tear at

each others throats. Finally the younger of

the two gets a slight advantage. He gets the

older one down and pushes his face into the

ground. He stands on his neck and snaps it.

There is a brief moment of victory and then

the younger boy falls to the ground like asack of bricks. They wake again and again

they fight. And again the younger gets the

advantage. This time the younger one holds

the older boys nose and mouth shut until he

dies. Again a brief moment of victory.

Again they are both reset. This continues

for several more minutes until they are both

exhausted. The physical and mental toll of

both killing and dying is apparent. They are

tired.)

CHADRICH

Well.

GILGAMESH

Brother.

CHADRICH

Or so you call me. Although I see the rage in your eyes.

Burning.

GILGAMESHI do call you as I see you.

CHADRICH

You see. Do you see? Our fathers crest here on my breast.

GILGAMESH

Father? Did you ever call him so? And did he call you son?

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CHADRICH

I was his oldest son. Was his only son. For a time.

GILGAMESH

All those years in the wastes. Did he call you son then?

When you took that whore into your bed.

CHADRICH

My wife.

GILGAMESH

Studied those murky arts. Built that tower of animal flesh.

CHADRICH

I think of you when first I saw you. Screaming with bits of

shit running down your stunted legs. Your eyes looking up.

As they do even now. Filling with tears. I knew then youwere no brother of mine. Did I know even then that I would

stop your beating heart? I may have.

GILGAMESH

You were weak. I remember. I must have been five. Or

whenever I can remember.

CHADRICH

That I should have killed you then.

(5 Seconds.)

GILGAMESH

Would that you were dead.

(5 Seconds.)

(GILGAMESH takes and snaps his brothers

neck. It is a lazy motion. CHADRICH is too

weak to resist. CHADRICH dies. Then

GILGAMESH falls. They both wake.)

CHADRICH

What world is this?

GILGAMESH

A cruel one.

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CHADRICH

Walls. And a darkness that spreads out before us.

GILGAMESH

A cave perhaps. And this before us a precipice stretched

out across a bottomless canyon.

CHADRICH

What do you remember last?

GILGAMESH

Remember?

CHADRICH

Before this room.

GILGAMESHI wont say.

CHADRICH

We havent always been here.

GILGAMESH

No.

(3 Seconds.)

GILGAMESHThe ocean. And you in it and my army at my back. You in

your ship and surrounded by your fleet. Sailing to burn the

great city to the ground.

CHADRICH

And but did I?

GILGAMESH

You must have.

CHADRICHAnd are they all dead?

GILGAMESH

Who? The people?

CHADRICH

The people. Yes.

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GILGAMESH

Its dust outside of these walls.

CHADRICH

I dont believe you.

GILGAMESH

This is it.

CHADRICH

And what of the sunlight I see. Leaking through that.

GILGAMESH

Which?

CHADRICH

There. Do you not see it?

(GILGAMESH turns and CHADRICH makes a break

for a chair that is sitting upstage, hidden

in a corner. GILGAMESH sees what he is after

and catches his foot. CHADRICH falls and his

head hits the floor. GILGAMESH runs for the

chair but falls before he can get there.

They both wake. They are up on their feet

immediately. They circle, each trying to get

an angle on the chair.)

CHADRICH

The throne. And if that then there is a kingdom still.

GILGAMESH

Perhaps.

CHADRICH

And I will yet rule it. And you.

GILGAMESH

If you gain it. Perhaps.

CHADRICH

When I do.

GILGAMESH

When I.

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CHADRICH

I will banish your children out into the.

GILGAMESH

I will find your wife and pull her limbs like I would pull

the wings from a fly.

CHADRICH

So that it is known you will have no heirs.

GILGAMESH

And I will let you watch as she squirms and flops. Trying

to find some muddy puddle she might drink from.

(3 Seconds.)

CHADRICHThis is getting us nowhere.

GILGAMESH

Were a match I agree.

CHADRICH

Then what do you suggest?

GILGAMESH

A competition.

CHADRICH

A?

GILGAMESH

That the winner then would sit on it. Would gain the

throne.

CHADRICH

I dont trust you. Whats to say you would yield.

GILGAMESHI might not.

CHADRICH

Ah.

(2 Seconds.)

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CHADRICH

When we were boys.

GILGAMESH

No.

CHADRICH

When we were boys. What did we play?

GILGAMESH

We would kick a small ball around or.

CHADRICH

Or buckets with frogs.

GILGAMESH

Or sometimes would stack rocks and hide behind them. Andthrow other rocks.

CHADRICH

Hawk and dove.

GILGAMESH

Hawk and dove! Do you remember!

CHADRICH

But what was the goal of these games?

GILGAMESH

The goal. Ah.

CHADRICH

To get at the other and beat him down. To coat him. To

trammel his spirit in a dark place and in doing so then to

make him cry.

GILGAMESH

A game of salt then. That I resolve to wet your eyes and

make you low before me. And in doing so to win the throneand all that follows after it.

CHADRICH

And that I resolve this again and for myself.

GILGAMESH

Very well.

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CHADRICH

Then begin.

(GILGAMESH collects himself and then turns as

if he is drawing down on CHADRICH.)

GILGAMESH

Your pants. Are a womans pants.

CHADRICH

Your head is larger than it should be.

GILGAMESH

Your heart is small.

CHADRICH

Your children are ugly.

GILGAMESH

Knees that creak and groan as they.

CHADRICH

On your knees which as you well know is your most natural.

GILGAMESH

Folded like the dry creases of your grandmothers.

CHADRICHThat tastes like dust and weed.

GILGAMESH

Even when provoked you stare blankly out.

CHADRICH

On your wedding bed would not spread her.

GILGAMESH

Strung up. Dangling. Poking you with a stick.

CHADRICH

Festering. That would leak out around your toes.

GILGAMESH

Unsexed. Flaccid. Not becoming of.

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CHADRICH

Festooned with all that death.

GILGAMESH

Shattered.

CHADRICH

Exumed.

GILGAMESH

And your balls stacked would not.

CHADRICH

Required of you. You cunt.

(During this CHADRICH and GILGAMESH have

moved in close. They each stare at theothers eyes, searching for the slightest

sign of tears. Their faces become only

inches apart. And they begin to pinch each

other. The pinches are probing at first and

then become nastier. Eventually GILGAMESH

takes his finger and gouges at CHADRICHs

eye.)

CHADRICH

ABJBGJHFHFHFH!

GILGAMESH

Ah! There!

CHADRICH

Thats nothing.

GILGAMESH

A tear!

CHADRICH

Thats something from your own hand. Youve put it in myeye.

GILGAMESH

A tear! A throne! Oh what a day!

CHADRICH

Ill not yield for that.

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GILGAMESH

Youve cried.

CHADRICH

Taste this. Theres no salt in it.

(CHADRICH takes his finger and scoops the

moisture from his eye. Then forces GILGAMESH

to taste it.)

GILGAMESH

Hmmm.

CHADRICH

Do you see?

GILGAMESHIts pus.

CHADRICH

But not a tear.

GILGAMESH

Then. A story then.

CHADRICH

Ive not cried from a story since I was a small child.

Wrapped in my mothers clothes.

GILGAMESH

Ah but this. This story will. Ill tell a story.

CHADRICH

All right.

GILGAMESH

There was a little boy. With little eyes and little toes.

Little teeth and. He would wake crying every morning and

cry until he slept at night. His mother carried and gavehim suck. His father taught him to shoot a bow and to speak

fire into existence. Little puffs of it. And showed his

hand the beginnings of the runes that had given his father

the power to be king. That blood magic. And still he

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GILGAMESH (Cont.)

cried. When he was ten his mother died. And the boy ran

away from home. And joined a traveling band. There was a

monkey and he walked on stilts. And met the most beautiful

people. But still the boy cried and there was something

dark and weighted in him. You could see it in the color ofhis eyes and teeth. He felt a dark presence with him. A

dark man. That had followed him into the wastes. He could

not escape it. And so. He would walk out into the wet

nights. The other members of the band never sure he would

return. But he did. Each night. Casked in hollow skin.

Unmade. They began to find little dead things in the woods

when they ventured out to collect the tinder for that

nights fire. Always without any eyes and with all the

limbs pulled off. They were frightened. But people flocked

to the boy. They had never had such crowds and their

pockets grew fat with coin. And so he stayed on. But stillhe felt the dark man there with him. The boy met a girl

with three fingers and kept her for a while. The boy made

great fires that could be seen for miles. He learned the

steps. He collected bones. Then the boy was a man and

traveled to his home to kill his father. A destiny he had

found when at the age of ten he came upon his mother. Naked

on a white bed. The morning fog settling on her pale skin.

He had felt a warmth in his belly and a thousand bugs

crawling beneath his skin. And knew then that he must end

his fathers life. Who had caged such beauty. Such light.

But when he returned home. It was his brother that met himat the gates, flying the flags of war behind him.

(GILGAMESH examines CHADRICHs eyes. As he

speaks. They are dry. But CHADRICH is moved

by this story and he may be on the verge of

tears.)

CHADRICH

Thats enough.

GILGAMESHI havent finished.

CHADRICH

You have. Listen.

GILGAMESH

And he.

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CHADRICH

There was a young man.

(Throughout the following CHADRICH stares

deeply into GILGAMESHs eyes. He seems to

charm him.)

CHADRICH

Or was there was a young man. Who are. Castor casted you

boy you. You boy. Who in his mother. Or. His woman with

the long back and. Colored there and stopped. You boy.

Jarl you and. Blister. Sift you acid claps you Auberon you

boy you. Find her there her long back her hair all itching

down. You. Do you see her she is. Her skin is. Pieces of

it in your mouth. Ashes. You eat of her and her taste is

ashy in your mouth. Slowly you come to know what it is you

are eating. What it means. And you want more. Till thesand is coming out of her. Till all she is is ash and sand.

Wasting through your fingers you boy. Your daughter and her

mother.

(CHADRICH has put a spell on GILGAMESH. He

falls to his knees and he cries. After a

moment the spell passes. GILGAMESH puts his

hands to his face and tastes his tears.

During the casting of the spell MOPSUS has

appeared upstage. As if summoned.)

GILGAMESH

You.

(CHADRICH walks calmly to the throne and sits

in it. Nothing happens. He basks in it.

Nothing happens.)

MOPSUS

MMMMMM.

CHADRICH?

MOPSUS

My chair.

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(MOPSUS begins to beat CHADRICH with his

staff. CHADRICH is caught off guard by this.

He falls from the throne.)

CHADRICH

Hey! The!

MOPSUS.

MMMMMMMMMM.

GILGAMESH

Hes blind.

MOPSUS

Ehhhh. Ehhhhhhh.

(MOPSUS ignores them both and sinks slowlyinto the throne.)

(5 Seconds.)

(MOPSUS makes a farting sound with his hand.)

MOPSUS

Ohhhhhhhh.

CHADRICH

Old man. Youve taken my throne.

MOPSUS

One bright. ACAH!

CHADRICH

Ive won it fairly so.

MOPSUS

ACHA! Day in the middle of the night. Two ACAH!

GILGAMESHHe has something to say.

(3 Seconds.)

MOPSUS

ACAH!

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(2 Seconds.)

(MOPSUS makes a farting noise with his hand.)

CHADRICH

I think hes mad.

GILGAMESH

Hes.

MOPSUS

ACHA! Dead boys got up to fight.

The first had a heart that shone with darkness.

The second was a danger by being harmless.

They circled round the arena square.

Two brothers whose ancestry neither one shared.

They slapped each other with balled up fists.And each blow that landed was one that had missed. ACHA!

GILGAMESH

He mutters some spell.

CHADRICH

Quiet. Let him finish.

MOPSUS

ACHA! Fully dressed with everything bared.

They bravely said how they were scared.They drew their swords and thumbed the safeties.

Taking careful aim, their movements hasty.

The blasts rang out in utter silence.

Their empty eyes full to brimming with violence

The tallest one looking up at the other.

Took his last breath then took another.

(2 Seconds.)

MOPSUS

ACAH!

GILGAMESH

Well.

CHADRICH

I dont understand.

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GILGAMESH

What riddles are these old man?

CHADRICH

We should do away with him. He is in the way.

GILGAMESH

No.

CHADRICH

He is irrelevant. We are.

GILGAMESH

He may know why it is that we are.

MOPSUS

ACHA!

CHADRICH

That. You think knows where he is?

GILGAMESH

Work with me brother. On this one thing. If only to leave

this place.

CHADRICH

This once.

GILGAMESH

Thank you. And who knows. Perhaps if we may help one

another in this.

(MOPSUS lumbers up and hobbles offstage.)

GILGAMESH

No!

CHADRICH

Hes gone.

GILGAMESH

Come back!

(GILGAMESH runs offstage. We hear him

running for a moment and suddenly he is

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running back on but from the opposite side of

the stage.)

GILGAMESH

Piss!

CHADRICH

Well then.

(CHADRICH sits back down on the throne.)

CHADRICH

As my first order and proclamation.

(MOPSUS enters again this time from the

opposite side of the stage that he exited

from. He is dragging two swords with him.He deposits them in the center of the stage.

There is a moment as both GILGAMESH and

CHADRICH assess the new situation. Then they

both dash for the swords. GILGAMESH reaches

the swords first but trips in his haste and

only ends up with one of them. CHADRICH has

the other.)

GILGAMESH

And to this then.

CHADRICH

At last.

(They duel. Again they are evenly matched.

GILGAMESH is the aggressor but CHADRICH is

the more competent defender. Finally

CHADRICH tries again to glamor GILGAMESH.

But this time GILGAMESH sees through it. He

brushes it aside and runs CHADRICH through.

He lets out a scream of triumph. Then falls

as he did before. They wake. GILGAMESH runsCHADRICH through again in disbelief. And

again they fall and wake. GILGAMESH throws

his sword in disgust and begins to weep.

CHADRICH moves to comfort him. And for a

moment they are brothers.)

CHADRICH

Youre drooling.

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GILGAMESH

This is not what I was meant to do.

CHADRICH

Youre best at this.

(6 Seconds.)

GILGAMESH

Our mother.

CHADRICH

She will always be our mother.

GILGAMESH

I wonder. What she would say.

CHADRICH

Of us? That you need to tuck in your hem.

GILGAMESH

Do you think she would smile?

CHADRICH

At us? She might.

GILGAMESHI wonder what that would look like.

(3 Seconds.)

CHADRICH

She might.

(2 Seconds.)

(MOPSUS makes a noise. Perhaps to break them

out of this revery. To prevent any bond fromforming.)

MOPSUS

Hhhhrrrrrgggg.

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(This startles the brothers out of their

revery. CHADRICH remembers that he has won

the throne.)

CHADRICH

You.

MOPSUS

How?

CHADRICH

Youve taken my throne. Again.

MOPSUS

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

CHADRICHIt is mine. I bested my brother. And in doing gained the

throne.

MOPSUS

My chair.

CHADRICH

Give it up!

(CHADRICH tries to force MOPSUS from the

throne. He will not give it up and begins toslap at CHADRICH. Eventually CHADRICH gets

him out of the seat but it has humiliated

both of them. He tries to regain his

composure. He wants to enjoy this moment.

He sits in the throne again. Again nothing

happens.)

CHADRICH

I am king!

MOPSUSACHA!

(GILGAMESH tries to run for it. Again he

leaves one side of the stage and comes back

on the other.)

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CHADRICH

Where are you going brother?

GILGAMESH

I am afraid.

CHADRICH

Afraid?

GILGAMESH

I fear what you will do to me.

CHADRICH

You need not fear. Without you I would not be here. I will

always remember those little people that helped me to get to

these great heights.

GILGAMESH

Thank you. I am sorry I.

CHADRICH

I have a special place for you brother. You who have been

so helpful to me. Old man. Is there a dungeon in this

place? Or cage or some metal box? If so take him there.

GILGAMESH

But.

MOPSUS

I will not. Only a king may imprison he who has a kings

blood running through his veins.

CHADRICH

I sit on the throne! Am I not king?

MOPSUS

A throne is just a chair. To sit on it does not make you

king.

GILGAMESH

Aha!

CHADRICH

But.

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GILGAMESH

You would send your brother to a dungeon.

CHADRICH

You would have done the same.

GILGAMESH

We will never know.

CHADRICH

You would have shared the ruling of this? Place.

GILGAMESH

I would have given you a seat in my court.

CHADRICH

Court? Do you see a court here? Brother. This is akingdom of exactly three. You would not have trusted me so.

GILGAMESH

Not now no. We will never know what could have been. Now.

If I were to become king I would have your head taken off.

CHADRICH

And who would execute that order? You? We have seen how

that goes. Or perhaps you thought to use this old rag of a

man. Who can barely raise himself from the chair.

GILGAMESH

I will see you dead. My blood burns for it.

CHADRICH

Dead? Youve broken my neck. Run me through. Stopped my

breath. Theres no death in this place.

GILGAMESH

Perhaps I have not done it right.

CHADRICHOnly one way to.

(GILGAMESH uses CHADRICHs own sword to stab

CHADRICH. This time he does it slowly.

CHADRICH grabs the sword and pulls it into

himself. CHADRICH dies and GILGAMESH drops

unconscious. They wake. CHADRICH continues

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as if nothing has happened. During the

following he pulls the sword out of himself.)

CHADRICH

No. I begin to think that freedom is the only prize to be

had here. Or rather that one of us should see the otherimprisoned further.

GILGAMESH

We will not know until one of us is king.

CHADRICH

And when will that be? We have tried to play for it. We do

not know the rules of the game.

GILGAMESH

Perhaps the old man knows.

MOPSUS

Hmmmmmmmm.

CHADRICH

He is a fool. He can barely speak.

GILGAMESH

But ask yourself.

CHADRICHThere is something crusted on him. A small child would be

of more.

GILGAMESH

He must be here for.

MOPSUS

ACHA!

CHADRICH

You see! His brain is seizing up.

GILGAMESH

And still.

CHADRICH

Old fart.

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(MOPSUS makes a farting sound with his

hands.)

(1 Second.)

GILGAMESH

Ancient. Sir. How can I become king?

MOPSUS

You must bury the king.

GILGAMESH

Then. How may I find him?

MOPSUS

He will find you.

GILGAMESH

When he finds me. How am I to kill him?

MOPSUS

Kill him? He lives in the both of you.

CHADRICH

Bury him though. You said.

MOPSUSYou must bury the king.

CHADRICH

Weve circled around. How long have we been here?

MOPSUS

Since you were young and I was old.

GILGAMESH

And how old are you?

MOPSUS

Older than my teeth.

GILGAMESH

He doesnt know.

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CHADRICH

Who will be king?

MOPSUS

Your brother and his brother.

CHADRICH

And these swords. From where did you retrieve them?

MOPSUS

From a room outside of this room.

CHADRICH

Useless.

GILGAMESH

There must be some.

CHADRICH

What? To scrub the floor?

GILGAMESH

Perhaps he can go for help.

CHADRICH

Old man. Leave here and find us help.

MOPSUSThere are only walls outside of these walls.

CHADRICH

Enough. I fear this darkness. But even an endless falling

would be preferable to this.

(CHADRICH moves out into the audience.

Carefully at first and then with abandon.

After he has cleared the stage. He sees that

there are people. Figures in the darkness.)

GILGAMESH

Are you?

CHADRICH

I am still here.

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GILGAMESH

What is it? What is it like?

CHADRICH

I hear a breathing. There living bodies in this place. But

they sit in silence.

MOPSUS

Bodies?

CHADRICH

People. In the dark.

MOPSUS

They may be demons or lost souls.

CHADRICHI do not think so. They seem benign.

MOPSUS

Come away from there.

CHADRICH

Who are you to command me old man. Why do I concern you

now?

(CHADRICH steps back on stage.)

GILGAMESH

Are you our subjects?

(2 Seconds.)

CHADRICH

Do you sit in judgement of us?

(2 Seconds.)

CHADRICH

All that we have done we have done for you.

(2 Seconds.)

CHADRICH

No. But we have tried.

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(1 Second.)

GILGAMESH

Would you speak to us?

(1 Second.)

GILGAMESH

Why do they not speak?

CHADRICH

Perhaps they wait for something.

GILGMAESH

What more can we do?

CHADRICHThere is nothing else.

GILGAMESH

One thing.

CHADRICH

Yes?

GILGAMESH

I read in a book once. A vote.

CHADRICH

A vote?

GILGAMESH

That each soul has one vote to cast. One song.

CHADRICH

Song. Why do you say song?

GILGAMESH

In the story the people. They sang to the ruler they foundmost deserving.

(This has stirred something in CHADRICH. He

seems on the verge of something.)

CHADRICH

Yes. Our mother. It was.

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MOPSUS

HGBFNNNRRGEREER.

(The moment is broken.)

MOPSUSA vote. Ahhhh. Before a vote they first must know what is

in your hearts.

CHADRICH

Our hearts?

MOPSUS

What it is that drives you.

GILGAMESH

We. Each of us. Want this kingdom.

MOPSUS

Ahhh. Ahhhhhhhh. This is what illuminates your hearts.

But what darkens them? What sits in your hearts and grows

mold? What weighs them down?

CHADRICH

Our.

GILGAMESH

We are not weighed down.

CHADRICH

Our hatred. For one another.

MOPSUS

Mmmmmm. And from where does this hatred come?

CHADRICH

From our shared desire to.

MOPSUSNo.

GILGAMESH

He burned the great.

MOPSUS

No.

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CHADRICH

What then?

MOPSUS

Gilgamesh.

(1 Second.)

GILGAMESH

Who are you?

MOPSUS

Do you know me boy?

CHADRICH

Old man. You were.

GILGAMESH

I do not.

CHADRICH

A servant or.

MOPSUS

Gilgamesh. When did you first desire your brother dead?

GILGAMESH

I do not know.

MOPSUS

You do.

GILGAMESH

I can not remember a time when.

MOPSUS

Think back. Think deeply.

CHADRICHFrom birth each of us has been ever at the others throat.

MOPSUS

Not from birth no. There was a story told. About a little

boy. Who ran away from home.

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CHADRICH

Who.

MOPSUS

From where did this story come? Who passed it down?

GILGAMESH

I was a boy when.

CHADRICH

Enough. This is foolish.

MOPSUS

And why did you repeat it now?

GILGAMESH

My brother. Told me that story.

MOPSUS

Ahhhhh.

CHADRICH

It is a bed time story. Told to a small child that he would

have trouble sleeping.

MOPSUS

No! Who was the boy?

GILGAMESH

I do not know. I.

MOPSUS

And was it a story?

(4 Seconds.)

GILGAMESH

Chadrich?

CHADRICH

Gil.

GILGAMESH

Why did you?

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CHADRICH

Gil. Listen to me.

GILGAMESH

Did you? Why did you go out into the waste?

CHADRICH

I wanted to make my own way. Our father.

GILGAMESH

But why did you run? What did you?

CHADRICH

I left because I could not stand to look at him. His little

eyes. His.

GILGAMESHAnd our mother?

(1 Second.)

CHADRICH

I.

GILGAMESH

There were rumors. But I.

CHADRICHYou dont really believe.

GILGAMESH

Why did you tell me that story? Was it a.

CHADRICH

I have nothing to hide.

GILGAMESH

Those bones.

CHADRICH

He is distracting you. Let us ask these people what they

think. A vote.

GILGAMESH

A. Were you that boy Chad? Were you that?

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CHADRICH

No. Do you think me mad?

GILGAMESH

You were away they said. But the way that they said

it.

CHADRICH

Our father was a barbarous, vengeful, petty twat. Was why I

left.

MOPSUS

Your father.

CHADRICH

I had no choice.

MOPSUS

Think what it is hes saying boy.

(1 Second.)

GILGAMESH

Say her name.

CHADRICH

Whose?

GILGAMESH

Our mothers. If you are true then say her name.

(1 Second.)

(CHADRICH suddenly takes MOPSUS by the neck

and pulls him away from GILGAMESH. MOPSUS

does not react. He is pulled limply along.)

CHADRICH

Play a game with me Gil.

GILGAMESH

What are you?

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CHADRICH

Do you remember when we would play hawk and dove. Do you

remember what it was like out in the fields. Just the two

of us.

GILGAMESHLet him.

CHADRICH

Because I do. The best days of my life I think. Sometimes

I think my only days of life.

(2 Seconds.)

CHADRICH

I do not want to kill him.

GILGAMESH

Then let him go.

CHADRICH

Play a game with me. One last game.

GILGAMESH

What game?

CHADRICH

What game? What was our game?

GILGAMESH

Hawk and dove.

CHADRICH

Then play it. Play it with me. And if you win I will tell

you a story.

GILGAMESH

Let him go.

(2 Seconds.)

GILGAMESH

Let him go. I will play.

(CHADRICH lets go of MOPSUS.)

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CHADRICH

You will hold nothing back?

GILGAMESH

Nothing.

CHADRICH

For this is our game and we must play it to the hilt.

GILGAMESH

Do you think we can be killed?

CHADRICH

Do you?

(And suddenly they begin. They are like

dancers. They have each played the game athousand times and each knows his part to the

very core. But there is a constant thread of

danger. And it is real danger. They feel it

even now. They play it to the hilt. But

GILGAMESH is a bit quicker. A bit more

clever. And he prevails in the end.

CHADRICH dies. And for a longer moment than

we expect he stays dead.)

(4 Seconds.)

(GILGAMESH is blown across the room. He

falls unconscious.)

(4 Seconds.)

(CHADRICH rises. But he is different

somehow. He seems colder. More powerful.

When he speaks it is a kind of laughter.

MOPSUS cowers at this. CHADRICH stands over

his brother and begins to tell a story.)

CHADRICH

This is not a story I would like to say for a start. This

is not an apology. When you were a boy and I was a boy. I

had a dream that I told to you. As a story. It was a dream

that had the ring of truth to it. Or is to say I was afraid

of this dream because it was true. I knew even then.

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(GILGAMESH tries to rise. CHADRICH steps on

him and keeps him down.)

CHADRICH

Do you know that you were born under a full moon? In the

rainy days of spring amidst a great storm. And that ourmother was alone when she had you. Had run off away from

our father. She wanted to have you in the way of her

people. Who our father killed did you know? That our

mother was a spoil. And you were to be her piece of

revenge. She had seen that our father was. She was not

permitted to read to me. Or to sing me her songs. They say

that when your crown broke into this world the clouds

parted. She was alone with you for many weeks. She blessed

and dipped you in the river. She painted your skin. Fed

you marrow. And spoke to you the holy words of her people.

Their songs. You were given protection they said. That ourfather could not touch you. But our father found you both

and brought you back. And so we were brothers for a time.

GILGAMESH

Who are you?

CHADRICH

Your brother.

GILGAMESH

You are something else.

CHADRICH

Yes.

(1 second.)

CHADRICH

Yes. When I had grown old enough to understand such things.

I began to hear the whispers about you. That there was

something inside of you. You were the last of our mothers

people they said. The last with. The dust magic. The claymagic. That you would rise up and dethrone our father and

in doing so would restore her people. At first I feared for

you. As anyone would fear for a boy as

small and as pink as you were. But as time wore on I felt a

great cave of jealousy begin to grow inside of me. I became

despondent. I was beside myself. It was all that I thought

of from when I rose in the morning until I lay my head to

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CHADRIC (Cont.)

sleep. They did not know what was wrong. I began to read

the old books in our fathers study. Searching for a way to

take what lived in you for myself. I came upon one that

spoke of the mothers blood.

MOPSUS

He killed your mother boy. Do you see?

CHADRICH

Silence!

(CHADRICH deals MOPSUS a wicked blow to the

temple. MOPSUS falls unconscious.)

CHADRICHDo you believe him?

(2 Seconds.)

CHADRICH

I went to her one day. She was asleep. Still in the

morning light. Alone in bed our father off somewhere. And

I could have done it then. I felt the weight of the book

against my side and felt it growing warm.

GILGAMESHYou were possessed.

CHADRICH

No.

GILGAMESH

You did not know what. It had taken hold of you.

CHADRICH

My mind was clear.

GILGAMESH

Brother.

CHADRICH

Even then.

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(1 Second.)

CHADRICH

And I saw that she had cut herself. Some little thing from

the preparation of food or. This image. And I took and

eased a drop of blood from her finger to mine. Her eye didopen then and. Terrible eye. It took me in and. I drew

back at that. Stricken with what I had been. And my finger

did brush against the book.

GILGAMESH

What book was this?

CHADRICH

Our fathers book. I knew that I could not put it down. It

was.

GILGAMESH

You repulse me. But when I look to you I see.

CHADRICH

Yourself or.

GILGAMESH

Her.

CHADRICH

She.

(1 Second.)

CHADRICH

I was in my bed. Covered in. Sticking to the sheets. He

found her. And after. He lifted me. I thought to kill me.

But he was laughing. I couldnt. So I ran away.

(This is enough for GILGAMESH. In his mind

this is his mothers killer. He charges

CHADRICH but CHADRICH easily brushes himaside.)

CHADRICH

I kept the blood. A small bit. That I carry with me. And

do you know I can hear her or one that sounds like her. And

could from that day. And see her. Sometimes.

(1 Second.)

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CHADRICH

Youll not beat me now. After all this time. I cannot say

this is how I pictured it. I do not know where we are. Why

we are here. But the spell called that I die. Once for

each of the gods. That it be my blood and the mothers

blood that kills me.

GILGAMESH

I wont.

CHADRICH

You have. Already.

(CHADRICH begins to pace. He starts to

mutter. He commences to cast a spell.)

CHADRICHBoy. Astral. Pestled. Team you out into the many. Whose

backs. And hers. Whose long backs are titled in you.

Auberon you. You boy you. Rooted to a spot. Fatted and

leery. Blooded then. Blooded. That you are no more. That

you see no more nor are no more.

(GILGAMESH is in a trance. CHADRICH takes a

vial out from underneath his shirt and

carefully spills the contents into his hand.

He spits in his hand. Through the following

he carefully mixes his spit and the powderinto a paste.)

CHADRICH

Hers. You boy. Her juice. Her fiber. Nub. Quintessence.

That you will drink no more. Or more. Do you know. Or

more. And you boy. It will take you will not take you long

to see her. Now. To recede. Fall down you boy. And go to

meet your mother on her blood. With her blood that takes

you. Across the river.

(CHADRICH takes the mixture and spreads it onGILGAMESHs forehead. There is a powerful

reaction. GILGAMESH begins to cry. He seems

to fold into himself. And he falls

unconscious. During this MOPSUS has gotten

up. He watches as CHADRICH is overcome by

what he has done. Then he moves and puts his

hands around CHADRICHs head. MOPSUS lifts

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CHADRICH up. MOPSUS no longer needs a staff

to walk.)

MOPSUS

Do you know me boy?

CHADRICH

Know you?

(MOPSUS pulls back his hood. There is a

crown on his head.)

MOPSUS

Who am I boy?

CHADRICH

Father.

MOPSUS

Yes.

CHADRICH

You. This was your.

MOPSUS

Yes. I brought us here.

CHADRICHI cast this.

MOPSUS

You did nothing I did not want you to do.

CHADRICH

That.

MOPSUS

You were my weapon do you see?

CHADRICH

Ive wanted you dead for so long.

MOPSUS

Your mother.

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CHADRICH

She.

MOPSUS

She never suspected you. She was crafty. Her people

sacrificed themselves. All in a large circle. To protecther. Singing as we cut them down. You can not fathom the

rage I felt. I screamed. I killed. Well. You can imagine

I killed most everyone but she was beyond my reach. It took

me ages. But I found a way. Her blood. Her children.

They had not thought of that. So I lay with her. And

though I revolted her. You. The both of you she loved.

CHADRICH

Stop.

MOPSUSYou came. And from the first you were my son. My first

born. And I taught you my ways. My magic. Kept you apart

from her. You would be the sword that I would drive into

her heart. But your brother. I did not foresee. Of course

she would try to pass on. So I set to turning you against

them both. It was easy. Simple to plant the seed of

jealousy in your heart. I could not. I could not keep from

laughing when I found you there. Standing over her. Her

last breaths spilling out through your fingers.

(CHADRICH takes the blood mixture from hishands and smears it on MOPSUSs face. MOPSUS

begins to laugh. CHADRICH puts his hands

around MOPSUSs neck but MOPSUS easily shakes

him off.)

MOPSUS

Thats my magic boy. You think to use it against me?

CHADRICH

I wanted. I was.

MOPSUS

I thought when you ran. I worried I had lost my chance.

But you were my son. And you could not escape what it was

that lived inside of you. You were horrified. Your own

mother. But your brother still lived. Was to be king. And

so you could not resist returning.

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CHADRICH

I came back to kill you.

MOPSUS

Yes. Tell yourself that. And him? There. Was that to

kill me?

CHADRICH

I was always. I felt he had some thing inside of him that I

needed for myself.

MOPSUS

And now youve taken it from him. I want to congratulate

you.

CHADRICH

If I have then whats to stop me from using it against you?

MOPSUS

Look at your hands boy. You forfeited your right to that

power. No it will be trapped in you until the day that you

die.

CHADRICH

So this is it then.

MOPSUS

And now Ill finish what you started.

(MOPSUS moves to stand over GILGAMESH. He

moves his hands over GILGAMESHs mouth and

begins to suffocate him. GILGAMESH wakes and

begins to struggle but MOPSUS is too powerful

for him. During this CHADRICH has retrieved

one of the swords.)

CHADRICH

Father!

(MOPSUS is momentarily distracted by this.

He turns and his hands slip just enough to

give GILGAMESH a breath of air.)

CHADRICH

You say until I die?

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(CHADRICH plunges the sword into himself.)

MOPSUS

No!

CHADRICHGil.

GILGAMESH

My brother.

CHADRICH

I give this to you.

(CHADRICH pulls some blood from his wound and

with the bloody hand clasps GILGAMESHs arm

to his and pulls him into a close embrace.CHADRICH dies. GILGAMESH lowers him tenderly

to the ground. He spends a moment grieving

for his brother. Then he turns to MOPSUS.)

GILGAMESH

Father.

MOPSUS

Stay where you are.

GILGAMESHFather I see you now. And I know who I am.

MOPSUS

Stay back from me.

GILGAMESH

Come with me father. Let us meet these people.

MOPSUS

No! I wont face them.

GILGAMESH

Why do you fear them father?

MOPSUS

They are ghosts and devils.

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GILGAMESH

No. They are my mothers people.

(GILGAMESH takes MOPSUS out into the audience

and slowly the house lights come up and the

stage lights go dark.)

GILGAMESH

Come and meet them.

(GILGAMESH takes MOPSUS into the audience.)

GILGAMESH

My friends. Help me to show my father the error of his

ways.

(GILGAMESH moves through the audience,leading MOPSUS)

GILGAMESH

Take and place your hands on him. Share with him our magic.

Put your hands on his hands.

(GILGAMESH encourages the audience to place

their hands on MOPSUS who recoils from this.)

GILGAMESH

And now. I ask that you sing. That you share your song.Sing this with me.

(GILGAMESH begins to hum a note. The

audience joins in.)

GILGAMESH

Thank you. Now do not stop. Help me to keep this old man.

To hold him to this place. That he created. Your song will

bind him here if it is loud and it is true.

(GILGAMESH leads MOPSUS back to the stage.)

GILGAMESH

Im leaving now father. And you will stay here.

MOPSUS

Please. Dont leave me in the dark.

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GILGAMESH

Goodbye father.

(GILGAMESH leaves the stage. MOPSUS

continues to beg for forgiveness as the house

lights go dark.)

(END OF PLAY)

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two dead boys

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