The Unplayable Play by William Wren extract: Opening Scene

opening scene

a boy of about 18 sat on a bench in a park, the sun is on and the grass is ready, trees are doing what trees do best and all noise is silent except for that which remains noise. The boy who may very well be a man or a child, the answer to which nobody knows as the question had never been asked before, and is irrelevant to the story, whilst sat on the bench which may very well be a log, rock, sofa or mound of earth, the answer to which nobody knows as the question had never been asked before, and is irrelevant to the story, reaches into his pocket and pulls out a mobile phone, that is unless it is the time before mobile phones, in which case he pulls out a pocket watch, unless it is the time before pocket watches, in which case he pulled out a stone, unless it was the time before stones in which case he pulls out a handful of air, but the time before stones was the time before boys so he could not hold a handful of air as he was not there to do so, the answer to which nobody knows as the question had never been asked before, and is irrelevant to the story. A dog walks past from left to right or maybe from right to left, either way is irrelevant for the time being, the appearance of the dog being also irrelevant for the time being.

boy: what time is it

watch: what time is what

boy: what time is it now

watch: what time is it now where

boy: what time is it now here

watch: where are we

boy: I dont know

watch: then how could I possibly tell you

boy: could you guess

watch: I was not made to guess

boy: then what were you made to do

watch: tell you what time it is

boy: then tell me what time is it

watch: tell you what time is what

boy: thats right, it was stupid of me to assume

watch: assume what

boy: that you know the time

watch: I do know the time

boy: then tell me

watch: no

boy : then what is the point in owning you

watch: why do you not think that it is me who owns you, does a master own the slave or the slave own the master, the factory the workers or workers the factory, for what is a master without a slave or a factory without workers

boy: I dont know

watch: then what is the point in owning you

( watch is phone, phone is stone stone is air; boy is man , man is child, child is nothing; bench is log, log is rock, rock is mound of earth; park is garden, garden is street, street is bedroom; dog is pigeon or magpie, pigeon and magpie are squirrel and squirrel are people; depending on how you would like to read it ) The boy was alone always except when with people and sometimes even then, he had an obsession, he specialised in production of his obsession, an obsession to discover what this obsession might be, he was angry at the truth, hated the fact that people lie and obsessed by the fact, when he slept he dreamt of being awake, when awake he dreamt of being asleep dreaming of being awake, so far these qualities had not exposed themselves of any particular use to either himself or others but he would detest the thought of becoming useful as he would therefore be relayed upon and therefore capable of failure, failure was unacceptable he had once decided but ever since doubted that he had made the correct decision

He suddenly wondered if he should make a decision about something but quickly remembered that he had not yet come to a conclusion as to what it is that this something should be, he often wondered this and always came to the same conclusion thustly decided never to wonder it again, maybe this was the something that he wondered about making a decision about, but since he was no longer to wonder about such things, never reached a reasonable conclusion. this angered him. The dog now becoming relevant never wondered such things, or maybe it did, but nobody knows this other than the dog itself, so the statement is irrelevant, which calls into question whether the dog is in fact relevant at this point in time, whatever the time may be, which is also irrelevant. the sun being the sun did not care, the grass being the grass was not interested and the trees being the trees would not let on whether they cared or were interested or not, as for everybody else including the dog , they did not even know that such events were taking place. or so they made out.

watch: why did you ask me for the time

boy: because you are a watch

watch: and what if I told you

boy: then I would know

watch: why do you want to know

boy: I dont know

watch: then what is the point in owning you

Whether relevant or not the dog passes from left to right or maybe from right to left or maybe not at all, but does so indeed. the boy having noticed the dog, and for reasons unknown to himself, the dog, the sun, the grass or the trees, decides to confide in it.

boy: if I had somewhere to go, would I really want to go there and for what reason

the dog looks at him with enthusiasm but has no answer

boy: and where would this place be and how would I know it was somewhere that I was to go

the dog became bored of questions and left, to either the left or to the right or not at all but did so indeed. the boy was left with himself and his watch and his questions, until he threw his watch to the floor and was left with himself and his questions until he threw his questions to the floor and was left with himself until he threw himself to the floor and was left. this angered him. Time decided not to pass for very long until the boy stood up, why he stood up nobody knows, he looked from left to right or right to left, either way round is irrelevant, but his eyes did see the results of millions of years of evolution, his eyes did see the remains of hundreds of centuries of war, his eyes did see the consequence of microscopic chemical combinations and neutrons and electrons, his eyes did see all this and was bored, he did not think to understand how his eyes did see or how his brain did compute, or how his heart worked his brain or how his lungs worked his heart or how the trees worked the lungs or how the sun worked the trees, but he did feel hungry. and what is food, something that was alive before, passing on its life to the eater, the eater one day becoming food, for something that will be eaten by something that will become food, maybe I wont eat, thought the boy, become food quicker, miss out all the in-between part, then what would I have achieved, why achieve anything, those that contributed the most to mankind, those that we read the words of, those that defeated an army, lay in the stomach of an ant or a fly or in the trunk of a tree, buzzing round me, watching me, without being there, or the ability to care.