Get lost, darlin'!

Thursday, 31^st March 2011

GET LOST, DARLIN' ! - level 4

CHARACTERS:

• Wife (Mary)
• Husband (Peter)
• A married couple (John and Pilar) with 2 children (Nora and Laia)
• An old woman (Susan) and her dog (Troy)
• Two Squatters (Beavis and Butthead)
• Three students (Sally, Logan and Keith)
• A clairvoyant (Florence)
• A dancer (Paul)

SYNOPSIS:

The original idea has been taken from a song by the group Ella Baila Sola and their song “Mujer Florero”. It's an acid critic of gender violence. You can watch the video on you tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbEoKCnfrdU&feature=related

Mary is a mistreated woman who still hasn't been hit by her husband but suffers all his commands, bad words and hard gestures in silence. Her husband wants everything tidy and clean at home and when he see a sort of mess around, he ignores her for days. On the contrary, when she has done it all properly, he gives her the “weekly kiss”.

One day she decides she can't bear the situation any longer and starts thinking the best way to get rid of him forever. As he boasts about his intelligence and never care about his neighbours' feelings, she convinces them to help her turn him crazy. With a little help of the Councillor at the Town Council, she manages to change the name of their street for about 15 days, and she also rents their own flat to a couple of squatters. Her neighbours will exchange their flats among them. He will end up by living with his parents again.

CHARACTER OBJECTIVES: What does each character want?

• Wife (Mary): She is fed up with her life and wishes to make her husband vanish forever.
• Husband (Peter): He only wants to relax at home, lying on the sofa and drinking beer while he watches the football league.

• A married couple (John and Pilar) with 2 children (Nora and Laia): They only want to be able to put their children to sleep without noises (Peter always yells when a footballer misses a goal)
• An old woman (Susan) and her dog (Troy): She cries whenever Peter steps on her dog's tail and calls him “dirty dog”.
• Two Squatters (Beavis and Butthead): They will only do Mary the favour to settle in her house with many more squatters and help breaking all his personal belongings.
• Three students (Sally, Logan and Keith): These three students would like to study in order to pass their exams in June but Peter's yells impede that.
• A clairvoyant (Florence):She tries to ruin Mary by making her false hands readings to guess her future and asking for 100 euros for each reading.
• A dancer (Paul): He plays music and dances around his living room but Peter often knocks at his door brutally telling him to turn down the volume and calling him “gay”.
• The police.

CLASS ORGANISATION:

Since I have already assigned 15 roles, the rest of the students in the class may perform as squatters the day that Beavis and Butthead are having a party at Mary and Peter's house, and then Peter becomes confused when he knocks at his door and sees that nothing is now the same inside there.

The central picture is that of Mary nearly always in the kitchen,or sweeping or tidying up the house and Peter in the living room.

I would divide the rest of characters (neighbours) in groups apart from the main scene, that would suggest the real division of different flats.

They will remain there, paying attention to the scene and will enter the play whenever Mary contacts each of them, one by one, asking for help.

SCENE BREAKDOWN: Where, When, What happens?

Scene 1: at Mary and Peter's house

Mary has lunch ready. She has been the whole morning preparing some delicious lentils for Peter, as she knows this is his favourite dish. However, the lentils are cold and a bit burnt. His mood changes immediately and shouts swearwords at her also hitting the table. He says this is too much for him and leaves the house saying he will have lunch at the bar opposite their house.

Mary starts crying and when she feels a bit better goes up to visit Florence to ask her about her future, will it change a little?, will she be happy anytime?. She has been bearing that situation for more than 4 years now.

Scene 2: at Florence's

Florence welcomes Mary and, after making themselves comfortable, reads her left hand and tells her all she really wants to hear: “everything will be solved real soon”. Florence gets her first 100 euros.

Mary smiles and wipes her tears away.Today she has promised to walk Susan's dog, Troy, as the old woman is feeling unwell.

Mary goes out to the streets with Troy happy at her side.

Scene 3: The football league

Tonight is the first match of the league and Peter is certain that his team, The Real Madrid, is going to win. His pizzas are ready but....isn't there any beer in the fridge?. His face changes immediately as he gets extremely mad at Mary. She doesn't know what to do, there is no place where she can hide from that terrible look of her husband. Peter insults her and orders her to get him a couple of beers from the bar right now. She obeys without a murmur.

Later, during the match, Peter makes noises and yells each time he sees a miss or a goal, he also jumps on the sofa.

The doorbell rings and it is one of the students asking for a little silence, since they are having an important exam next morning and their plan is to stay late for the whole night. Mary is trembling and sobbing and can't utter a single word.

Peter is furious and shouts at the young guy that there is no way he is going to be silent and that is his house and he has the right to do whatever he wants. He slams the door in his face.

20 minutes later, John also rings at their door begging for silence since tomorrow the children have class again (it is Friday next day) and they all need some rest. Peter catches him by his shirt and threatens him if he doesn't go away from his house quickly.

Scene 4: Convincing the Town Councillor and her neighbours

Peter leaves the house that night after his team has won and, in his way to take the lift, he knocks at Paul's door, who is dancing at the rhythm of the music. Peter tells him to turn down the volume and calls him “gay”. Mary knows Peter is going to celebrate the success with his friends at their house in the countryside. He will spend the weekend there.

She thinks it is now or never to get rid of him, so she starts moving as fast as she can. She's got a great idea and thinks it may work.

She visits the town council and asks the Councillor for a plaque with a different name to place it at their street. It will only be there for a fortnight.

When she has obtained that favour from the Councillor, she calls her neighbours for a meeting and asks them to exchange their flats for those days.

The last thing she has to do is finding a pair of squatters to get installed themselves in their house and make all Peter's belongings disappear. 

 

Scene 5: Peter's return

Peter comes back and notices the plaque in his street has a different name but he thinks he may probably be too tired and hasn't paid enough attention. When he tries to come into his house, he discovers the key doesn't open the lock. Then he rings at the doorbell and Beavis shows his head asking how he can help that man. Peter says that is his house and asks where is the furniture and where are his things and....does his wife know about this?.By the way...where is his wife?.

Beavis lets him go inside and walk around the place but he doesn't recognise a single item of his past life there. He is confused and decides to go upstairs to ask Florence about it, but on flat 5^th there is no Florence. Paul, the neighbour who lived in the same corridor as Peter and Mary (on the 3^rd flat), lives there now. He blames on him and tries to find his wife in Paul's house; Peter is sure that must have been planned from long ago by them and the rest of neighbours.

They are trying to drive him mad!!. Peter spends a whole week around the block, knocking at their neighbours' doors and asking for help to find his wife. However, there is no sign of Mary.

Desperate because he cannot even convince the police, he decides to go and live with his parents again.

Mary is in London for two weeks and from there she receives the good news (Susan makes her a phone call). She will come back to live in their house when her holidays are over, but now she can smile and say: “Get lost, darlin' “.

I hope my outline is clear and easy to follow by my teacher colleagues but That must be my tutor's last word.