ABSTRACT
Half masks are used in this first part. Their designs should be based upon the masks of the Yoruba of Nigeria, and should reflect the influence of the Masquerade.
A twenty foot square acting area covered with unbleached calico, one corner running downstage into the audience. Upstage of the square, attached to the floor by one of its corners, is a similar square looking a bit like a huge dustsheet draped over three separate though closely related shapes-HIM, and UNBORN seemingly stuck to HER in the same shape, sitting. They are not readily distinguishable as human forms though we suspect they are. Between these two upper corners a two-body-width corridor of light runs from left to right and is the only route on and off the square. Upstage of the cloths sit the musicians. Their music is used throughout to complement the action and in some instances provides motifs of identification to signal the entrance of a character. The SHEPHERD enters slowly, carrying a thumbstick which she uses as she speaks to point her rhetoric. Her movements are rarely extravagant but always beautifully precise. She stops and looks at the audience carefully before speaking. SHEPHERD: Here, in this space, anything, anything you like. There has
to be a place like this for us to play, where anything can happen, (Chuckles) take place. Because if there isn’t then we’re finished, forget it! (Quieter) But we’re not-yet. There is an option. The snake can open its jaws and release its tail for a moment, and through the breach let out what is within (Smiles) or let in what is without. Like
these. (Indicates the three covered figures) Been like this for over seventy years, thereabouts. Him, a soldier, captain. Her, his wife, like him, dead; unlike Him heavily pregnant. She, their unborn securely and resolutely attatched to her, goes with Her everywhere. No choice. Why are they here? Well now… They are here because they are my guests, my ghosts. I have brought them back for you in my imagination so that we can (Chuckles) experie nce them, in this space. My choice not theirs. They have no choice. So…let’s begin.
