New Play (Play Number 2) Unlimited Rule

Welcome everyone to my second play. If you havent read With Six Legs please check it out. I hope you like this. It is a tad bit like With Six Legs on the basic principles. Free your minds people. Enjoy


Unlimited Rule







A Play in an One Act























Lights up

Living room scene. One couch and two opposite faced chairs on each side. Two women, Julia and Catherine. Julia is sitting on the couch while Catherine is sitting on stage right chair, looking blankly at Julia. Catherine blinks slowly.

Julia: Oh yes, he IS a very smart boy... a 4.0 average down to the dot. He loves playing soccer too and he just made the district soccer team. You know what that means? (Very slight pause) Oh of course you don’t. It means he is seen daily by professionals that want to take him to the Olympics. The Olympics Think about that My son on the Olympic soccer team. Oh I know he would do just great. Did I tell you about my daughter? (Doesn’t wait for a response) Of course I didn’t. She is on the honor roll (Peter walks in and takes jacket off and crosses to the couch) and sits down on the empty chair opposite Catherine. Catherine doesn’t notice her, but Julia does. It doesn’t seem to effect her the least.) Now she is the highest in her class and she got voted as class president for the last two years and-

Peter: How old is your daughter?

Julia: (looks back to Peter) ...Excuse me?

Peter: I asked.. How old is your daughter?

Julia: If you must know, she is eight.

Peter: Class president at age eight. That is very impressive-

Julia: (Cuts him off) Oh yes, I know (Turns back to Catherine) She is always the best conversationalist. She likes to write and read-

Peter: (Breaking her off again) Top of class eight year old...

Julia: Yes, she is very brilliant. Now as I was saying-

Peter: I feel sick (sighs)

Julia: (interested now) Oh really, me too I have been coming down with something recently. It seems as if I may have the flu-

Black out

Lights up. Julia and Peter have switched positions

Peter: As I was saying, I feel like I am having a very bad and a very good day at the same time and it feels like....(Julia opens her mouth) ... go ahead (she quickly closes it)...anyways, other then feeling sick, my son got into a -
Black out

Lights up on original position

Julia: Ivy League college. Isn’t that grand? Think of it Ivy League. It isn’t going to cost us a penny either, because my husband owns his own business and he is going to-

Peter: Pay for it?

Julia: He earns three hundred thousand a year My son the Ivy Leaguer Think of-

Peter: Me.

Black Out

Lights up (switched position again)

Peter: He got into a car accident. Broke his legs. Won’t be able to walk again for years. I feel like I have lost everything I need in life to be and I wish someone would just see-

Black out

Lights up on original seating arrangement

Julia: -my husband play poker We went to Las Vegas and he won three tournaments in a row Now of course, we are going back to the hotel this summer. You should have seen the hotel My, oh my was it grand We were given the biggest room in the hotel because my husband is so-

Peter: Artificial.

Julia: Of course, we also got first-class airline tickets. You should have seen the seats Personal televisions and all The whole works, added just for us Isn’t that just-

Peter: Cynical?

Julia: -Perfect (smiles) We all have the best of lives. My son the star, my daughter the queen of her class and my husband provides us with all of our needs and wants. (Sighs) But do you know what the best part of being-

Black out

Lights up. Opposite position

Peter: Me. I wish people could see me. Everyday I see these people., and they are so..different. So unreal to what really happens. Like they blank out all the horrible things that they do and say and cover it up with false promises and false lies. Do you understand? (Pauses and looks at Julia) Yeah, I know you understand. You always have. You’re the best of friends. Not like other people only talking about me, me-

Black out

Lights up. Switched positions.

Julia: Me, is that I have all these things at my disposal and I never even have to use them. Ah, yes, life is certainly a marvelous thing, especially when you have such good friends to deal with all of the harsh problems of life with. Like you, my dear. Don’t we share the greatest of times? You tell me everything (Catherine opens her mouth to talk but gets cut off quickly) and I tell you everything about my life. But, I have been through some very rough spots. Remember when my husband lost his keys that-

Black out

Lights up on switched position

Peter: night my brother died. It was...terrible. Died of cancer. Everyone was there at his funeral, except you (Julia opens her mouth in protest) Oh don’t worry, I know you had important business that you had to clear up. You have been there for me during everything. My brothers death. My sons car crash. My mothers leukemia. You were there for it all. Weren’t you?

Black out

Lights up (original position)

Julia: night was a total mess My oh my, what a day If only you had such things to worry about and deal with. You wouldn’t know how to deal with all of it. I swear you seem always so happy. Its like nothing ever-

Peter: Bothers me (smiles at Catherine).

Julia: Gets to you. You must have a great life and all to be as skinny as you are and how pale too My dear you must get into the sun more often and enjoy the beautiful weather. You act as if the world is

Peter: Fake (smiles again at Catherine)

Julia: not even there

Black out

Lights up. Catherine is in the main seat staring at Julia close.

Catherine: Hello there my dear sweet friend. Would you like my own little autobiography? I grew up in the country. At age seven I got raped by my father. At age nine I started getting beaten every day by my two brothers. By twelve I was taking care of my cancer infected mother and my youngest brother by myself. A year later my father became a drunk and decided that he had to purpose here. By sixteen I had dropped out of highschool and was working at the nearby fast food restaurant. At nineteen years of age, I was a single pregnant, drunk pothead that had attempted suicide three times. But that isn’t the best of it. I have tried to reach out to these people around me. To tell them anything in my life that may make a difference. (Pause) I am twenty six years old. My daughter was taken from me by her father. I bet you didn’t know all that did you? Of course you didn’t and you never will. Its just things that don’t matter. I’m not looking for a sympathetic sorry or a tearful crying session with someone who doesn’t want to be there for me other then to make themselves feel better. This is my last visit to you. Little do you know that in three hours, Catherine Amy Brick will no longer be. (Smiles at Peter who has been watching happily from the couch) I want my funeral to be really big. Full of people who are acting sad just for me. This is my life. I never got the chance to really tell you, so I hope you treasure this one, last moment. (Breathes out. Pause) I want you to play a really happy song at my funeral, so you know what kind of a great life I had and what kind of a great person you were missing out in knowing.

Black out. (Catherine and Julia may be crying. Peter smiles)

Lights up on original position

Julia: (laughs) and then, my husband said, where’s the fence? (Laughs) My dear, that was a funny day to be well remembered. See We are both in tears How amusing

Catherine stands up

Catherine: (Hesitates) I..must go now. An important business meeting I’m afraid. I’m..dying to see who they promote this year. Wish me the best of luck.

Julia: Yes, yes of course but you will be missing the best part of my story. But if you must go right ahead.

Catherine leaves. Peter gets his things back on

Julia: (after seeing Catherine leave) What a queer young girl And to think, a carefree life like that to lead How I would love to be her sometimes. (Sighs. Peter smiles one last time towards her and leaves) Guess we can’t all be so lucky.
(Black out)

Sorry to say it, but your play was very confusing. The lights up and down and the constant seat change made the story hard to follow. You might want to calm down on the lights and motion.
Other than that, I thought that it was a good story and hope you continue with it. O:)

Unfortunatly, this play is kind of one of those ones that is meant for stage. A serious workshop theater piece, Unlimited Rule can only be understood if followed closely and pictured as if it were actually on stage being performed.

I am glad you read it and the next play that I post will be a very UN-confusing play. very simple and sweet.

No aburdity.

Neost

Hi, Neost.

This is really great. I like it better than With Six Legs. A lot less confusing, a lot more striking. Thumbs-up on this one. Absolutely brilliant. Loved it. _/)

:thumb:

You are quite right. This was definitely made for the stage. And fortunately for me, I can somewhat picture it in my mind!

First of all, I will say this: I think the dialogue can be developed more. Why? Because it's awesome. You have this chatty woman who never knows when to stop, and her character is extremely convincing. I've known some women like that... they're no fun at all to be around. Of course, if I were Catherine, I wouldn't put up with that kind of nonsense, but considering her bio, it makes sense.

So, especially when you're doing the short little black out scenes (unless you're doing a movie) you probably want to expand that just a tiny bit more. Right now, on the stage I would imagine it to be a little bit more fragmented than it probably should be. Maybe it's just the theather that I'm used to, but there's usually a bunch of noise when people move positions, so in order to get your dialogue noticed more than the moving noise, you might want to draw it out.

All in all, pretty good!

I happen to be an actor myself. I have also seen many plays. But more importantly, I know what it is like, as an actor, to get a script and to interpret it. The actor becomes the vehicle for the playwright's thought. A play is a reenacted concept. When the actor gets the script, not only is he allowed to interpret it, he is supposed to. The playwright will not be there to tell the actor what he means. Nor will he usually be able to tell the director. And often, directors won't give a s***. If I got this script as an actor and had to perform it, I would have to say I would not be thrilled. There is not enough substance for my own interpretation. It is pure concept. I am no longer a vehicle for the concept, but merely someone obliged to carry it onto the stage.

I found this play to be better than With Six Legs. Once again, the black outs do the play a disservice. Imagining on a stage makes it all the more obvious that the black outs would be incredibly frustrating and disruptive. Audiences do not care to stare at nothing. Like Snoink said, ythe black outs would be more effective if you used them more sparingly, or even better if you fleshed out your dialogue/action more. The purpose of the balck outs was obvious. The changing positions was kitsch and almost corny. By trying to elevate your pieces into an intellectual realm, you do a disservice to yourself and your writing. You are a good writer and you have an obvious talent for writing scripts. The haughtiness of your scripts though, and some of your replies shows that you are trying too hard to accomplish sopmething. You think that you have accomplished that and that everyone else simply doesn't get it. This attitude does not fly with audiences. Nor does it fly with critics. When someone tells you a piece is confusing, replying that it is "a serious workshop theater piece" and that it "can only be understood if followed closely and pictured as if it were actually on stage being performed" is insulting. The piece IS confusing. That is not a fault of the reader. I ask that you take the reader into better consideration and help yourself by helping us. Thank you.

Hmm...

First, I noticed a few grammatical errors, mis-capitalizations, full-stops and commas missing. It disrupted the flow quite a bit, and in some places made the script very chunky.

I dabble in acting as well and could see the stage in my mind which helped. I agree with Snoink, dialogue needs to be developed more. Some of the switches between Julia and Peter seems ackward, and in some places Peter seems almost superfluous. Tim talks about the problem with the black outs, perhaps that could be changed to a freeze in full lighting, or a musical chairs thing. I would, but this is a personal thing, add music into the piece, at least at the end. I feel that because there is so much block dialogue with Julia and at the end with Catherine that there should be more movement in it.

But other than that I really liked it. Would love to see how you polish it next.

Ciao, CL.