Ravenhill Plays: 1: Shopping and F***ing; Faust is Dead; Handbag; Some Explicit Polaroids (Contemporary Dramatists) (16 page)

Pete
     Yeah, but I think . . .

I think you should have your own chalet.

Alain
     You do?

Pete
     Wouldn’t you like that?

Alain
     No. I wouldn’t like that.

Pete
     You wouldn’t like your own chalet?

It’s what I’d like. I’d like for you to have your own chalet.

Alain
     No.

Pete
     Because . . . ?

Alain
     Because I want to be with you.

Pete
     Because you want to be with me?

Fine, okay, but I don’t want to be with you.

You see? You understand?

Okay, we had an experience. Fine. That’s cool. Thank you. There, see. I’m grateful. We shared an experience. I did a lot of new stuff. I was scared but we got through it . . . when we were there . . . great.

But that’s over . . . I’m bored.

Alain
     Oh yes. Of course.

Pete
     We’ve done it now, haven’t we?

Alain
     Then we’ll find new things, new experiences.

Pete
     I don’t want that. There’s no danger.

Alain
     There’s plenty of dangers.

Pete
     I don’t want you in the bed.

You’re creepy.

Alain
     Fine.

I’ll sleep on the floor.

Pete
     Is that what you want to do?

Alain
     That’s what I’m going to do.

Pete
     I’m gonna sleep with this [
the disc
] from now on. This is the only thing that is precious to me.

Alain
     I understand.

The next morning
.

Pete
     I know you. I know who you are.

Alain
     Of course. Yes. You know everything.

Pete
     Last night. I was cruel. I’m sorry. But I didn’t know who you were. This place sucks, you know? Sucks so bad they don’t invest in the proper channels. But what they do have is the kind of channels that show reruns of reruns.

Like . . . reruns of old chat shows, okay?

Pete
plays a vidoetape
.

Pete
puts the video on hold
.

Pete
     See. You see?

That’s the way I know.

You gonna go back to the university? Now you lived a little.

Alain
     No.

Pete
     Because . . .

Alain
     Because I . . . have . . . burnt my bridges.

Pete
     You’re so metaphorical.

What does that mean? On the TV show.

What does that mean – the End of History?

Please. I want to learn.

I want to be with you and I want you to teach me.

Alain
     That means . . .

Pete
goes to fetch his camcorder
.

Alain
     Without the video.

Pete
puts down his camcorder
.

Alain
     I call this moment the End of History because what we understood as history, this movement forward, has ended.

And the words which have for so been our guides . . .

Progress, for example. This now means nothing.

We know this in our hearts. Every man, every woman, they know it, they feel, but they don’t say it.

So we have to ask ourselves this question:

When will we embrace . . . (this is a word for you also, embrace?)

Pete
     Uh huh. Embrace. Yeah.

Alain
     . . . chaos. When will we live the End of History?

When will we live in our time?

And how will we live in this new age of chaos?

Not as we lived in the old age. Not with the old language.

Not by being more kind, more . . . enlightened.

We must be cruel, we must follow our desires and be cruel to others, yes, but also we must be cruel to ourselves.

We must embrace suffering, we must embrace cruelty.

Pete
     There’s a lot to learn.

Chorus
     See the minister of our church, he calls all the moms together one day and he says:

‘Ladies, we have to raise some money. We have to raise a lot of money. Because I want the young people of this church to be part of the future. I want them to be online. We’re going to have a terminal and a modem right here for all our young people so they can spread the word way into the future.’

And my mom and all the other moms worked real hard. But when the terminal and the modem arrived they felt so bad. Because their kids spent twenty-four-seven on the Net. And one day they wake up and realise they are living in like Valley of the Geeks and they never see their kids any more. And they go see the minister. And there is wailing and like the total gnashing of teeth. But he is just: ‘Ladies, this is part of the Lord’s mystery. It may seem like he has taken your children away, but he is working for you in a mysterious way so let’s get out there and raise those funds for more terminals and pray for a brighter world.’

Pete
is on the Net, tapping at the keys
.

Enter
Alain
, carrying brown paper bag
.

Pete
     Where you been?

Alain
     Walking.

Pete
     You careful?

Alain
     Oh yes. Very careful.

Pete
     I don’t like you to go out, but you go out, you be careful. They’re out there.

You remember: this one is for Bill.

Alain
     Of course I remember.

You wanna eat?

Pete
     You shopped at a store?

Alain
     Yes. A brown bag, like in the movies.

Pete
     There is no need to shop at the store.

The store is a risk you don’t have to take when we have a phone, we have a channel for groceries, a channel for meals . . .

Alain
     I wanted to go to the store.

Pete
     You go in a store, they have cameras watching you.

Alain
     You gonna eat anything?

Pete
     I’m not hungry right now.

Alain
     What do you do on this?

Pete
     I communicate.

Alain
     Who do you communicate with?

Pete
     Guys, mostly.

This way you get to know people, get to know people like really, really well but they don’t know who you are.

Alain
     Show me.

Pete
     This is my space.

Alain
     But I want you to show me.

Pete
     Okay. For a while.

It’s like . . . my own home page.

He taps on to a keyboard
.

Set it up just a few days ago and now there’s like hundreds of subscribers. See . . . Coming up now . . .

An image of a teenage boy,
Donny
, on a computer screen
.

Donny
     Hi, my name’s Donny. How ya doing?

I’ve been really working on this. I want you to know that I really used to hate my body. I used to feel so uncomfortable, so ugly. But now I’m real happy with what I achieved. I’ve been working. And I tell you: you take the pain, you get the gain.

Donny
starts to remove his shirt
.

Pete
     This guy’s new.

Donny
reveals a torso that has been carefully scarred with a blade
.

Donny
     Yeah. Look at these beauties. Look at that. Did it all myself. So come on, guys, you got anything better to show? I love these beauties, love these little babies and I’m feeling so good. Feeling so good / about myself.

Alain
     This is beautiful.

Pete
     You reckon?

Alain
     This is very interesting.

Pete
     I guess.

Alain
     He makes these marks upon himself?

Pete
     Yeah. A blade, a bottle. Whatever.

Alain
     He scars himself. He submits to a moment of intense . . . to a tribal agony. He creates his art. A testament of suffering upon the body.

Pete
     He slices himself. Yeah.

Alain
     A moment of power, of control over the self as he draws the blade through the body.

Pete
     Either that or he’s a loser who cuts himself.

Alain
     An initiation rite for the end of the twentieth century.

Pete
     Or he hurts real bad inside and he wants the outside to kinda match.

Alain
     I want to speak to him.

Pete
     It’s not possible.

Alain
     Oh yes. Communicate.

Pete
     I don’t think so.

Alain
     You said . . . you communicate.

Pete
     You don’t wanna talk with Donny.

Alain
     I do.

Pete
     Donny is a dufus.

Alain
studies the keyboard
.

Alain
     Please. How do I . . . ?

Pete
     You want Donny for your collection, right? The Japanese cannibal? The woman who cut out her eyes? The dufus with the perforated pecs?

Huh?

Alain
     There must be a way.

Alain
pushes a few keys
.

Pete
     And what about the kid on X who fucked in the desert? Was he worth collecting or was that turning a trick?

Alain
     Hello, Donny. Donny – you there?

Pete
     Hey, listen. Listen, Donny is a fake.

Alain
     I don’t think so.

Pete
     No. I don’t . . . I don’t believe this.

Look at this guy. It’s not for real.

Alain
     He seems real.

Pete
     No, no, no. Look, look, look. See? See?

Fucking . . . ketchup . . . fucking . . . stagy fucking. Just some fucking actress, Donny, huh? Just some fucking fake. Fuck you. I hate that. That really gets to me.

I have to tell him. I’m gonna tell him.

Pete
types and
Donny
types his responses
.

Pete
     

Donny
     

Pete
     

Donny
     

Pete
     

Donny
     

Pete
     

Pete
     Just because it’s virtual, doesn’t mean you can lie, you know? Just because no one can reach out and touch it, doesn’t mean you can fake it.

Alain
     How did you do that?

Pete
     This is supposed to be real.

Alain
     I want to speak to him . . .

Donny
     

Alain
     Well, how about that?

Wants to meet.

Pete
     You don’t wanna meet Donny. You don’t need Donny. Donny is nothing. I’m everything.

He removes his shirt. His chest is covered in cuts
.

Everything’s a fucking lie, you know? The food, the TV, the music . . . it’s all pretend. And this is the one thing that’s for real. I feel it, it means something. Like suffering, like cruelty. I did it like you said. I did it for you. You don’t need Donny.

Alain
     We’re going to meet him.

Pete
     No way.

Alain
     Way. Guy.

Alain
and
Pete
are waiting
.

Pete
     This is dumb. This is unnecessary.

This is dumb and unnecessary and this is dangerous.

We shouldn’t be giving out details of where we are.

Alain
     We can trust Donny.