Assuming the stage is with curtains, play out the voiceover (written below) while what is visible to the audience should be a silhouette of a man and a woman standing at the altar. There can also be a
priest if need be. If the stage doesn’t have an option for curtain then the play simply starts with the view of a set and the voice over in the background.
Audio Play-out/ Voice over
Rachel: "I, Rachel Harrison.”
Ronnie: “I Ronnie Mascarenes”
Rachel: “Take thee, Ronnie”
Ronnie: “Take thee Rachel”
Rachel & Ronnie: “To be my wedded”
Rachel: “Husband”
Ronnie: “Wife”
Rachel & Ronnie: “To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for
poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my faith [or] pledge myself to you."
Curtain opens / the narrator speaks:
Narrator: “15 years later.” [This can be the psychiatrist who will come into the play a while later]
General Set:
1. A dining table with 4 chairs. The table should have the usual on it, maybe a ketchup bottle, jam
bottle, fork and spoon sets, some bowls, plates etc. This should be placed towards the back of stage.
Not too behind and towards a side of the stage. [This will be more or less where the first story
unfolds]
2. A bedroom door should also be visible.
3. Towards the other end a coffee table with 2 chairs and preferably a sofa or something that gives you a setting of a living room in a house. This is typically where the 2nd story unfolds.
House #01
Stage opens to Ronnie at the breakfast table with his 14 years old son – Sheldon. They have a maid, Mary serving them.
Ronnie: “Thank you Mary. Where’s Rachel?”
Mary: “Madam is going little late so still dressing up.”
Ronnie: “Okay. Sheldon, listen buddy.”
Sheldon: “Don’t disturb dad am almost winning this round.” (Playing on his phone)
Ronnie: “Ya but listen for a minute. I am flying to Singapore tonight and was planning to get you the latest iPhone on my way back.”
Sheldon: (drops his phone in joy) “Wooh dad! You’re the best dad ever.”
Rachel: (dressed up to get to work walks out overhears this and says) “O ya. And what about me?”
Sheldon: “Depends on what you’re planning to give me!”
Ronnie, gets ready to leave without saying a word to Rachel (giving a sense of cold war between the two, wave’s bye to Sheldon and leaves.
Rachel: (rolls her eyes on Ronnie, then takes out cash from her purse) ... “How about 3000 in cash just for this weekend?”
Sheldon: “Oh wow!!! Forget dad, now you are the best!”
Rachel: “Aren’t I always?” (Smiles, kisses him on his forehead and leaves for work)
Sheldon calls someone from his phone. Audience hears some muffled conversation. A person wearing a hoodie appears at the door in some time and gives him something in return of all that cash.
Sheldon, moves to his room leaving the door a bit ajar. The audience can see him injecting himself
with something and it all goes wrong and he overdoses and becomes unconscious.
Mary walks in, shrieks and calls Rachel.
[Pick an appropriate background music when the scenes have no dialogues]
House #02 [this happens near the sofa and the coffee table area]
Shirley & John and their 14-year-old daughter, Amy. Seated around the coffee table are all three. John is skimming through the newspaper whilst both Amy and Shirley are having an argument.
Amy: “Oh Common mom, (raising her voice) you’re doing it again this year. All I wanted to do was to throw a party at the Westin Hotel for my birthday. And you again want me to be with you’ll. Do you even know where all my friends have taken me? I am the only one who looks like a pauper in front of them by keeping it and being at home every single time.”
Shirley: “Amy, (calmly) please try to understand, we can’t afford it right now. We’ve just got you
your laptop this month and tuition fees are also due.”
Amy: (Angrily) “There you go again! Why did you even give birth to me if you weren’t ready with
finances? Just because you can’t do better in life, I have to make all the sacrifices in mine.”
John: (Angrily) “Amy how dare you speak to your mother like that? [Looks at Shirley] I told you not
to pamper her so much. She’s absolutely a spoilt brat.”
Amy: “Pamper, my foot! You both don’t love me (breaking into tears) I am sick of looking like an idiot in front of my friends. I hate you both. I don’t want to live like this anymore.”
Amy runs into her room and shuts the door. Scared, Shirley and John chase her and shout and bang on the door.
Shirley: “Amy please open the door.”
John: “Baby, please don’t do anything stupid.” We’re sorry. You can do whatever you want.”
Set change
A Psychiatry ward Office:
5 chairs. 4 for guests and 1 for the doctor. A working desk and some regular items on the desk like calendar, bottle of water, glass etc. Place the set in a diagonal angle so that all are visible to the audience.
A Waiting area:
Long benches and some standees which has some advert on mental health.
Waiting Area: All of them are waiting. Sheldon, looking all lost and Amy with bandage around her
wrists. And parents who look all worried and teary eyed.
Psychiatrist Dr. Mable walks in.
Dr. Mable: “Mr. & Mrs. Miranda please come in”
They get up to leave but are scared to leave Sheldon behind by himself.
Mable: “Don’t worry Sheldon will be fine. Infact, Amy will keep Sheldon company. Won’t you Amy?”
(Looks at Shirley & John) Why don’t you both also join us Mr. & Mrs. Matthew?”
They are seated on 4 chairs in front of a work desk of Dr Mable.
Dr. Mable: “I normally never do this. I never club my patients but here I believe it will help if I talk to you’ll together.” (Looks at Shirley & John) “Shirley & John, your problem is that you think you didn’t
manage to give enough and hence Amy took such a drastic step.”
(Looks at Rachel & Ronnie) “And Rachel & Ronnie, you think Sheldon took a step like that because you gave him a little too much.”
(They continue to have a conversation which becomes inaudible to the audience and the focus moves to Sheldon and Amy in the waiting area)
Sheldon: (to Amy) “Hi. What happened to you?”
Amy: “Nothing. I was just being stupid. I wanted to celebrate my birthday at an expensive hotel and my parents like always wanted me to celebrate with them at home. So I got angry.”
Sheldon: “You are so lucky. My parents don’t even remember my birthday as they are engrossed in work or travel. I have all the money I want but not them which got me into bad habits and wrong friends.
(While they are still shown having a conversation which becomes inaudible to the audience, the
conversation between the doctor and parents become audible to the audience.)
[RR- Rachel & Ronnie; SJ – Shirley & John]
Dr. Mable: (to RR) “Parenting is not to be treated as a competition. Don’t compete for Sheldon’s
attention with the amount of money you spend on him infact spend quality time with him -
together. If you distance yourself from each other, then under one roof instead of a family there will be just 3 individuals. In your case the problem lies between you both. If you both would have fixed the issues between the two of you, then Sheldon wouldn’t have used you’ll as a bank. You both simply loaded Sheldon with material gifts to get back at each other which in turn didn’t help either of you or him."
(To SJ) “It is important to draw a line with your children sometimes. Don’t hide the hardships you go through to make a living or how you’ve lived. Share your troubles so that they do not make
unreasonable demands and take some drastic steps like Amy did. Amy clearly has never been told about the limitations you have hence she looks forward to live without limits”
Dr. Mable calls both the kids inside now. She tells all of them together.
Dr. Mable: (Looks at everyone) “There is not a single family without problems of their own. In this
new age there are more broken homes than before even under the same roof. Sometimes its ego
clashes between the parents and sometimes children become the cause for it too. One can no longer blame only Parents to be responsible for broken homes anymore.”
(Looks at Amy) “Sometimes kids contribute to the rifts between their parents. Times now demand a lot out of them. Both have to work to keep up with the rising inflation. The cost of living is touching the roofs and then baseless demands by children make them constantly feeling incompetent and they look at each other to blame for the same.”
(Looks at Sheldon) “If you value gadgets even when your parents try to spend time with you, then they will think you value materials gifts than their presence. Besides, if you can sense a rift between your parents then be the one to try and mediate for a fix. If parents can do it to fix your relationships with friends why do you turn a blind eye on them?”
(To all, including the audience) “Having a family means you are part of something BEAUTIFUL! It
means you have someone to love and be loved; for the rest of your life – that too unconditionally!
But the only way that can be made possible.... (all walk up in front and spread out in a line looking at the audience, one by one interlocking their palms-holding hands as the Doctor continues to speak – looking at the audience) is if you take out some time off your busy schedule on a daily basis and spend time talking to each other instead of texting.
(Targeting parents) Parents; remember the vows you took. Your children are the gift of the love you had for each other. Find that love once again, so that you can continue to appreciate yourselves and your children.
(Targeting children) Children; your parents are the 2 pillars you can lean on forever-no matter what.
I believe (looks again to both the families standing with her) you are one of those few lucky families.
You, as a family are not yet broken but have only had a fall. Hold on to each other before you do,
(Looks at audience) and that goes out to all of you too”.
THE END
-SuVi
16/12/2019
Comments