A play in five parts. A de/re-construction of the mass. An undermining from within. A collaboration. First compiled and performed by vicious trap in March 2010. Some things were borrowed from: 9/11 Commission Report, Battlestar Galactica, The Bhagavad Gita, Sir Thomas Browne, Lenny Bruce, fjords.com, The Frames, Adolf Hitler, isoglossia.com, Dr. Theodore John Kaczynski, Groucho Marx, Meat Beat Manifesto, John Milton, Modest Mouse, George Orwell, Papa M, Vanessa Place, Pythagoras, The Staple Singers, The Temptations and William Butler Yeats. Other words were written by Dan Eisenstat, Aaron Liechty, Eric Meyer, Julie Rada and Nadia Waggener.
01 OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY
a pristine set
everything in white
a sterile science lab
a bathtub
a repeating tone
throughout,
the words are spoken
by actors
in the ‘choir’
lit with scripts and lecterns
as the action plays out in front
black
silence
a hum grows
feedback
the tone returns
repeating
there is a voice:
and then we separated the inside of our houses
from the outside of our houses
we all know the dust cannot be swept from the dirt floor
we all know the bacteria cannot be scrubbed from our bodies
from our skin
from our selves
and wash it down the drain
down the hole
down the mighty mississipp
the muddy
the ganges
down the san andreas
to the center of the earth
the universe
the veins
in my eye
wrong
this ain’t grace
this all fucked
this old thing
wrong
wash me down
wash me down
wash me down
a harsh light
a silhouette
blood on a lab coat
washing hands
and from within him stir
the hell within him
for within him hell
a pause
please continue
the washing continues
it becomes jagged and stylized
a repetition of itself
the hum is feedback
there is a scream from all directions
the washing stops
so do the screams
and all sounds
the silence is deafening
I can kill you but instead I hold you tight
the silhouette becomes limp
the trash requires that you continue
the trash requires trash
continue
washing / sporadic
screams when the hands are in water
stops
has the water become blood?
it is absolutely essential that you continue
it is absolutely essential
continue
the washing is frantic
the screams are frantic
full body
it is only a job
the job requires it
the job
there is a speck
cut
dissect
a speck of dust
cut
on your father
cut
in your shadows and up your ass the contamination
the cut
cut out
you have no choice
dissect contamination
it is only right
it is just
you have no other choice
you must go on
soaked
the body collapses
as do the screams
and the feedback
I’ve never dripped in punishment
quite
like
this