Any Man’s Death (excerpt)

Synopsis:

Inspired by John Donne’s poem, ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’, ‘Any Man’s Death’ examines the degree to which we are responsible for the well-being of strangers.

Arlo, a young man who has just taken a lethal overdose and is cruising the streets in his car, calls Logan, a radio talk-back host, hoping to be able to talk to someone until he loses consciousness and subsequently dies.  Logan spends the next hour trying to convince him to live.

Listening to this broadcast in two separate realities, present simultaneously onstage, are Quentin – an elderly man with terminal cancer – and his wife Justine, and Flynn – a young drug-dealer and his heavily pregnant girlfriend Kamryn.

All three narratives are played out simultaneously, ultimately intertwining in a shattering climax.

Character Breakdown:

Author’s Note:

The text of the play is divided into three layers which, though appearing sequentially in this text, are played out simultaneously.

Layer 1:

A talk-back radio broadcast lasting an hour.

This broadcast is continuous throughout the play, its volume being manipulated in order to allow the dialogue in Layers 2 & 3 to be heard over it at times.

This layer is pre-recorded and is heard via radios/transistors (speakers) onstage.

Layers 2 & 3:

This takes in two co-existent realities.

In other words, we are listening to the broadcast in Layer 1 from two homes which, though discrete in ‘reality’, occupy the same space/time onstage.

This means that one set of characters does not disappear when another set is interacting but, rather, continues to occupy the same space or cut across it or move in and out of it.

Whilst each of Layers 2 & 3 should correspond to Layer 1 more or less page for page – though this will be altered by the musical excerpts played on the radio – references may be made in Layers 2 & 3 to certain passages of dialogue in Layer 1 (or, at times, a passage of dialogue from Layer 1 will reappear in Layer 2 or 3, with characters listening to it rather than speaking over it).

Layer 2:  JUSTINE & QUENTIN

Layer 3:  KAMRYN & FLYNN

The play is a six-hander (onstage):  3 + 3 with an additional 5 pre-recorded voices (2 female, 3 male).

Layer 1 (pre-recorded voices):

LOGAN BRANDT – 50s Talk-back host

ARLO – 30  Caller

KAMRYN – 20s Caller

TRINITY – 30  ARLO’S girlfriend

MALE PARAMEDIC

FEMALE PARAMEDIC

Layer 2:

JUSTINE  – 65

QUENTIN – 70  JUSTINE’S husband

Layer 3:

KAMRYN – 20s

FLYNN – 20s  KAMRYN’S boyfriend

Running-time: 65 minutes.

Production History: Not yet produced.

Excerpt available for download for free. NOTE:  This excerpt includes just one of the three layers that are being played out simultaneously onstage.