The Other Shore (7 page)

Everyone of you can pick up a rope and play different kinds of games, the possibilities are endless. Playing with ropes is such a game, that it can be a manifestation of all kinds of interpersonal relationships.

(
The actors each choose a partner to play the game, using a piece of rope. They can switch partners or briefly make contact with other pairs of players, but the contacts are soon broken. The game becomes increasingly lively, tense, and exciting, accompanied by all kinds of salutations and screams.
)

Actor playing with ropes:

Okay everybody, let’s knock it off for a moment. Let’s make this game bigger and more complex. Now I want all of you to hold on to one end of your rope and give me the other end. This way you’ll be able to establish all kinds of relationships with me, some tense, some lax, some distant, and some close, and soon your individual attitudes will have a strong impact on me. Society is complex and ever-changing, we’re constantly pulling and being pulled. (
Pauses
.) Just like a fly that’s fallen into a spider’s web. (
Pauses
.) Or just like a spider. (
Pauses
.)

The rope is like our hands. (
He lets go one rope and his partner also lets go. The rope falls on the ground
.) Or like an extended antenna. (
He lets go another and his partner follows
.) Or like the language we use, for instance when we say “Good Morning” or “How are you!” (
Another rope falls to the ground
.) Or perhaps it’s like looking at each other, (Replaces another rope.) or like the thoughts in our minds. (
His back is against his current partner, but the two sides are still communicating
.) Either you’re thinking of her, or she’s thinking of someone else. (
He brushes past her shoulders. She and someone else are gazing into each other’s eyes
.) In this way the rope is pulling all of us, binding us together.

We look—

(
The actors are communicating with one another through pieces of imaginary ropes
.)

We observe—

We stare—

Then there’s temptation and attraction—

Orders and obedience—

(
In the following, the performance is accompanied by all kinds of sighs and screams but without resorting to the use of language
.)

Conflicts—

Intimacy—

Exclusion—

Entanglement—

Abandonment—

Emulation—

Evasion—

Repulsion—

Pursuit—

Encirclement—

Congregation—

Fragmentation—

Dismiss!

At ease!

Now there is a river in front of us, not a piece of rope.

Let’s cross the river and try to reach the other shore.

Actors:

(
One after another.
) Yes, to the other shore! To the other shore!

The other shore! To the other shore! To the other shore! The other shore!

Oh—Oh—Oh

The water in the river is so clear!

So cool!

Watch out, the stones are killing my feet!

How nice!

(
Gradually there comes the sound of running water.
)

My skirt’s soaking wet!

Is the river deep?

Let’s swim across to the other shore!

Don’t go by yourself!

Look at the water spray, how it sparkles in the sunshine!

What fun, just like a waterfall.

A dam, a river flowing gently down the dam.

Form a line in the middle of the river.

Further down the water’s dark blue, it’s got to be really deep there.

I’ve got some fish wriggling between my legs…

So exciting!

I’m going to fall.

Don’t worry, hold on to me.

There’s an eddy over there—

Look after one another, hold hands.

To the rapid waters.

To the other shore!

No one can see the other shore.

Cut the poetry crap! I’m falling.

Hold tight, one after another now.

Over there the water is deep blue…

Aahh! The water’s over my waist all of a sudden!

I’m getting dizzy.

Close your eyes for a while.

Look in front of you, look ahead, keep your eyes open!

All looking at the other shore.

How come I can’t see it?

We’ll drown, all of us.

We’ll all be fish food.

If we’re going to die, let’s die together.

Girls, stop blabbing, try to concentrate.

The current is very strong, tread in the shallows, try going up stream!

I can’t make it across, I’m sure I can’t make it.

Where’s the other shore?

Sometimes it’s dark, sometimes it’s bright.

Are there lights on the other shore?

There are flowers, lots of flowers on the other shore, it’s a world of flowers.

I’m afraid I can’t make it, please don’t leave me behind. (
Sobs
.)

Can you feel it? We’re drifting in the river.

Like corks on a string.

And like water weed.

Why are we going to the other shore? I really don’t understand.

Right, why do we want to go to the other shore?

The other shore is the other shore, you’ll never reach it.

But you still want to go, to see what it’s like over there.

I can’t see anything.

No oasis, and no light.

In total darkness.

It’s like this…

No, I can’t make it.

We haven’t been there before.We must get there. But why?

To make a long-time wish come true, the other shore, the other shore.

No, I can’t make it, I want to go home!

None of us can.

Can’t go back at all.

O—!

Who is it?

Don’t know.

(
Silence, only the sound of water gurgling
.)

Was somebody screaming? Did you hear it?

You must have heard it, but nobody answered.

(
Silence. Sound of sobbing
.)

This is a ditch of dead water.

There’s only oblivion.

(
Bewildered, the Crowd slowly walk out of the dead water. Music is faintly heard. The Crowd gradually reach the shore and lie down totally exhausted on the ground. Woman appears in darkness. Like a strand of light mist, she walks around to inspect the people who have lost their memories. She drifts among them, touching and waking them up one by one. They lazily open their eyes and look up, turning their bodies and staring at her. They try to speak but in vain
.)

Woman:

(
Raises her hand.
) Look here, this is a hand.

(
The Crowd utter muddled sounds from their throat
.)

Woman:

This is a hand.

Crowd:

(
Still mumbling
.) Th…The…This…ee…ha…han…hand.

Woman:

Hand—

Crowd:

Hand—band—sand—hand—

Woman:

This is a foot.

Crowd:

Th…Th…This…ee…fo…foo…foot.

Woman:

(
Pointing to her eye
.) Eye.

Crowd:

Ee…ee…eye…eye…

Woman:

(
Gesturing
.) Your eyes are looking at your foot!

Crowd:

(
Totally confused.
) Eyes…cook…cook your…own…coot…

(
Woman laughs, and the Crowd join in the laughter with her, giggling.
)

Woman:

(
Stops laughing, somewhat sad.
) This is a hand—

Crowd:

This is a hand, this is a band, this is a sand, this is a hand…

Woman:

This is a foot—

Crowd:

This is a boot, this is a hoot, this is a root, this is a foot…

Woman:

This is a body—your body—

Crowd:

This is a body, this is a body, this is a body your body, this is your body is a body is a body is your body your…

Woman:

(
Shakes her head, gesturing more slowly and still being patient
.) My hand—my body—my foot—this is me.

Crowd:

My band, my hand, my body, my coot, my hand’s body’s foot’s my coot’s hand’s foot’s body this is my hand’s foot’s body is meat!

Woman:

Say, me—

Crowd:

Say me say me say me say me say me!

Woman:

(
Shakes her head and points to herself, from her eyes to her mouth, and from her body to her feet.
) Me.

Woman:

(
Together at last.
) Me.

Woman:

Good!

Crowd:

Food! Hood! Good! Wood!

Woman:

(
At once she waves her hand in disagreement. After thinking for a moment, she points at one person among the crowd.
) You.

Crowd:

(
All pointing at the person.
) You!

The person:

(
He looks around him and then points at himself.
) You!

Woman:

(
Shakes her head and helps him to point his finger at someone else.
) You.

Crowd:

You.

Woman:

(
Gesturing.
) Me and you.

Crowd:

Me and you.

Woman:

(
Laughs
.) Good!

Crowd:

(
Also laugh
.) Good!

(
Music. Gradually the tempo of the music becomes faster
.)

Woman:

Me and him!

Crowd:

Me and him!

Woman:

Them and me.

Crowd:

Them and me.

Woman:

Me and you.

Crowd:

Me and you.

Woman:

You and us.

Crowd:

You and us.

Woman:

Now follow me when you’re seeing with your eyes—

Crowd:

See—

Woman:

Tell me, who do you see?

Crowd:

(
One after another
.) See him, see you, see me, see them, they see you, you see us, we see them…

Woman:

Now say touch, give, like, and love, and you won’t feel lonely any more.

Crowd:

(
Becoming active
.) I touch you, you give me, I like him, he loves you, you touch me, I give him, he likes you, you love me…

(
Man comes out from among the Crowd
.)

Man:

Who are you?

Woman:

I’m one of you.

Man:

Where are we now?

Woman:

The other shore, which we wanted to reach but couldn’t.

Man:

Are you the same person who drowned while we were crossing the river? (
Woman shakes her head.
) Are you her soul? (
Woman still shakes her head.
) Have you been hiding in our thoughts, do you appear only when we think of you? Or are you something like a kind of consciousness? Did you guide us to the other shore so that we wouldn’t get lost?

Crowd:

(
At the same time.
) I detest you.

I’ll beat you up!

You hate me?

I’ll torture her.

He cheats on me.

You’re swearing at him!

I’ll tell on you.

You punish him!

He plots against me!

I hate you!

You curse him!

I’ll kill you…

Man:

(
To Woman
.) You’re so kind.

Crowd:

(
Turn to face Woman one after another, playing with words.
)

You’re so generous.

You’re so lovely.

You’re so despicable.

He’s a bastard.

You don’t say what you mean, you’re a crook.

You’re a double-dealing no-good tramp!

She butters you up, but she’s actually jealous of you.

You’re snaky, you teach us words so that you can talk to our men and seduce them!

You may look so kind and gentle, but who knows if you’re a whore or not?

She’s trying to seduce our husbands!

Stirring up trouble among our brothers.

A buttered bun, look, just look at her—

Keep the girls away from her, she’ll turn them into whores.

She may look prim and proper, but she’s really more corrupt than a common whore.

She’s the one, she makes people panic, there’ll be no more peace in this world.

(
Woman draws back as the Crowd surrounds her from all sides. They are excited by their own increasingly venomous language. She cannot escape from the stares of the Crowd, so she turns to Man for help and hangs on to him
.)

Crowd:

(
Getting more angry.
)

Whore!

Venomous snake!

Witch!

Shameless slut!

(
Woman holds on to Man and pleads for his protection. The Crowd go wild.
)

Crowd:

Look, go and take a look!

Pooh!

Dump her!

Drag her away!

Get a hold of her!

Strip her!

Wring her neck! The shameless whore!

(
The Crowd drag her away from Man and jump on her. In the confusion they strangle her to death. When Man pushes his way into the Crowd and shakes her body, there is no response
.)