In Cage
David Brendan Hopes
In Cage
These four brief movements address the question, “What if John Cage
wrote for the theater?” They can be performed by two actors. Their
structural principle is revealed in section III, “Rubric.”
I. SILENCE
Two actors appear on stage. One speaks.
SILENCE
I think you should reconsider
I think you should reconsider
SILENCE
Solitude isn’t what you think it is.
Solitude isn’t what you hope it is.
I have been waiting so long for you; I can wait longer.
A SOUND MADE WITH THE BODY
The moon rises, flat on one side.
The moon rises late, flat, and yellow.
SILENCE
I know the moon looks like she is alone,
but she dances. She dances with a lordly partner
and we are the clothes of him, of the lordly partner. We are his
dancing shirt.
SILENCE
With all this talk of dancing and partners,you must think something
is on my mind.
You would be right to think that dancing and partners are on my
mind by moonlight.
SILENCE
Look at me. You were all the measures of my dance, and I cannot
watch you turn away.
You were the timbres of my music, and silence comes behind you.
Silence is not what you think.
This hour when the moon rises with her lover in her arms should tell
what you need to know of my heart on this blue night, of my
longing before the white morning.
(Whispered) I think you should reconsider.
SILENCE
Don’t think of me, if you don’t want to. Think of the moon if earth
should suddenly turn away.
Think of you at the dance. The invitations stop. The fiddler puts
away his bow.
SILENCE
(Whispered) Moonlight.
II. Yes. No.
Two actors appear on stage. They alternate speaking.
SILENCE
No. No. No. No. No.
No. Yes. No. No. No.
SILENCE
No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
No. No. No. No. No. No. Yes.
N- N- N- N- No No! No!! No!!! Noo!!!! Noooooo. No. NSOUND
MADE WITH THE BODY
No. N-. N-. Yes. OK. Yes. All right.
All- No. No. No. No. All- No
SILENCE
7 hard exhalations . NO! 1 hard exhalation.
No. Yes. No. Yes. Y- Y- No. Finally. No.
15 hard exhalations. Yes
MECHNICAL SOUND
SILENCE
15 hard exhalations. Yes
1 hard exhalation. No. No. Yes. Yes. Yes. YES. YES! YES!!! 2 hard
exhalations. (whispered) No. No. No. No. No.
SILENCE
Actor slaps left shoulder 8 times. Yes. Yes. Actor slaps right shoulder 8
times.
Actor slaps left shoulder 7 times. Yes. No. Yes. Yes. Actor slaps right
shoulder 7 times.
Two actors speak simultaneously, each until he has spoken 34 words.
Actor 1: Never. Never. Never.
Actor 2: Yes. Yes. I told him, yes. I will. Yes.
(whispered) Yes. Yes. Yes, I will.
SILENCE
Two actors speak simultaneously, each until he has spoken 34 words.
Actor 1: Thou shalt not. . . thou shalt not. . .thou shalt not . . . .
Actor 2: Of course. Naturally. Certainly. Did you ever doubt it?
SILENCE
(whispered) Yes.
III. Rubric
One actor appears on stage and speaks.
Silence. Five. Five. Silence. Seven. Seven. Twelve. (Makes a sound with
his body) Seven. Seven. Silence. Nine. Nine. Sixteen. Silence. Sixteen.
Sixteen. Silence. Eighteen. Eighteen. Thirty-six. (Whispering) Five.
(Normal speech) Eighteen. Eighteen. Silence. (Whispering) One.
IV Remember
Two actors enter and speak alternately.
Silence
Remember how we used to
Laugh at old people when
Silence
Laugh at old people when we were
At old people when we were younger?
(Together) Remember how we laughed at old people when we were
younger?
A sound made by their two bodies.
I wonder what was so damn funny
(Completely different emphasis) I wonder what was so damn funny.
Silence
I don’t think that it was, necessarily, the incontinence.
I don’t think it was their marked, ruined faces.
(Together) I don’t think it was because they took so damn long getting
started at the stoplight.
Silence
It is become like a grove of gray trees in autumn. There is a piercing rain.
It is become a gray stone laid against a gray stone, and that is your bed.
Silence
(one) Life stops being experience and becomes a hand of metaphors,
played out like cards on a gaming table.
(the other) Good hand. Bad hand.
(the other) It scarcely matters.
(the other) Seeing you after all these years is like–
(the other) Trump. Trump. Joker.
(the other) When the moon was rising, I thought of you.
(the other) The earth was a blanket of cyclamen. One walked so carefully.
(the other) Remember how it used to be?
(the other) If you love me, don’t remember any more.
(whispered) Do not remember any more.