Today’s prompt:
Write a play where each character says no more than three words at a time.
Yesterday I was reading ‘Sweet Phoebe’, which is basically about a couple desperately searching for a lost dog. But the way that it’s written – frantic monologues and half-spoken thoughts – is made even more chaotic and mysterious by the fact that the writer, Michael Gow, chose to remove all punctuation and almost all stage directions. So, with that script still fresh in my mind, I decided to take the prompt a step further. No more than three words and no punctuation. Yes, it makes it slightly harder to read, but I’d assume that in a rehearsal space it would give more freedom of experimentation to the actors (or at least that’s what Michael Gow claims).
Here it is. An odd little conversation between 2 characters. With no real ending (!)
A: is it rude
B: is what
A: blowing your nose
B: what
A: in the shower
B: blowing it
A: yeah
B: but in the
A: yeah
B: I don’t understand
A: what’s to understand
B: why it’s rude
A: others might hear
B: if you’re loud
A: have to be
B: no you don’t
A: yeah you do
B: just be subtle
A: that’s the point
B: what is
A: in the shower
B: but is it
A: better to blow
B: but why
A: get everything out
B: disgusting
A: blow out hard
B: revolting
A: gotta be loud
B: honestly
A: or why bother
B: well
A: just use tissue
B: this is disgusting
A: so it’s rude
B: I suppose so
A: if you heard
B: heard someone
A: yeah doing it
B: in the shower
A: yeah
B: I’d ignore it
A: so you’ve never
B: never listened
A: no, never blown
B: I didn’t mean
A: so you have
B: I don’t remember
A: but it’s rude
B: like I said
A: what
B: if it’s loud
A: but it’s satisfying
B: good for you
A: what about if
B: no
A: but what if
B: no
A: what
B: no
A: ok
B: when’s it coming
A: what
B: dinner
A: I didn’t
B: you get thai
A: no
B: then what
A: I didn’t order
B: why not
A: its your turn
B: no its not
A: it’s Friday
B: that doesn’t matter
A: Friday’s your turn
B: wasn’t last week
A: you were broke
B: no that wasn’t
A: don’t start making
B: I’m not
A: you’re making it
B: I’m not
A: always do it
B: so not true
A: constantly rewriting history
B: I do not
A: I paid because
B: because you ordered
A: no because
B: was your turn
A: so I’m paying
B: well it is
A: it’s not but
B: I wash dishes
A: whatever
B: the schedule says
A: yeah
B: this week
A: I cleaned
B: barely
A: dishes vaccuumed bins
B: dishes once
A: no every day
B: it’s only fair
Samantha Hill 