Awhereness

Let the story tell itself J

At a clearing in a forest, there are two hammocks hanging between the tall palm trees, and a bucket full of sand placed on the ground between them. There is also a large bonfire a little way off from the hammocks. One of the hammocks is occupied by a man, shabbily dressed in clothes which are far too large for him. He is dark, but it is indiscernible whether this is soot and dirt or not.

He wears no shoes, and his feet are covered in layers of mud. His beard is unkempt, and growing wildly. It has plaits towards the ends, which run down all the way to his sternum. He also has on a colourful beanie, which has a browning white ball of fluff at its tip.

He is rocking to and fro on his hammock, and whistling a tune. Still whistling, he slows the rocking to a gradual standstill and sits up to face the small crowd shuffling towards him. Whistling still, he takes wrapping leafs and a small bag with plants out from under his beanie and proceeds to rolling a beedi. He takes his time rolling, heaving in deeply in between to glance up and acknowledge all the faces that now sit in a semi-circle around him on the floor between the trees.

The crowd falls silent. All that can be heard is the sound of rustling leaves as the man continues wrapping more rolled beedis. At long last, he sealed the last of the beedis with a quick lick. He puts one end in his mouth and lights the other. He takes in a deep drag, and holds … then breathes out, breaking into a fit of coughs as he does so. He passes the beedi to the person closest to his hammock. He speaks in English.

Man:   Be gem and pass along, mate.

The audience member closest, a young male with a clean shave wearing a formal suit, accepts this. He, too, pulls from the beedi and passes it along. The man in the hammock lights another and another and passes those along too. Soon, the surrounding area is filled with smoke. The man climbs off from his hammock and sits next to the first audience member who he had passed his beedi off to. He whispers.

Man:   What are you all doing here?

Aud1: I beg your pardon?

Man:   I asked you what you are all doing here.

One of two things occurs at this point. There is either continued awkward silence, or there is an outburst of chatter among the other audience members. The first audience member (who is the second actor) pulls out a theatre ticket from his pocket and hands it to the dirty man, who reads it and laughs.

Man:   So you have come to witness a play?

Aud1: Yes.

Man:   How old are you?

Aud1: I’m twenty two.

Man:   Then you understand the concept of having been duped, yes?

Aud1: Have I been duped?

At this point one of two things is happening. People are either interjecting out of anger, or they are too calmed by the  Psycho-Active stimulants floating about and are simply stunned into silence. Both actors on set are trained in improvisation and are tasked with veering the discourse back to the original script when the dust settles in between interjections. (All subsequent interjections in this text are hypothetically placed.)

Man:   No. You have come to see a play.

Aud1: Yes, but it seems to have all been some big hoax.

Man:   What if I told you that there was some or other metaphysical reason why you are here at this present moment? What if I told you that you are exactly where you were meant to be at this here point in time?

Aud1: Then I would know that you are probably either a deprived sexual deviant who lures people into the forest and does all sorts of unbecoming acts to them. (He looks the man up and down). Or, that you’re simply crazy and I’m on the wrong end of a practical joke. Either way I’ll leave, won’t I?

Man:   And yet you’re still here.

[Interjection: At this point, it would be wise to assume that some people have already.]

Aud1: I am merely trying to get to the bottom of all this shenanigans.

The actor posing as an audience member draws in more audience members at random. The pair will at this point engage with the audience at random, prompting them into engaging in discourse on several contextual social, political and spiritual matters. The core of this will be to convey a generation-specific message. For this present day generation, the discourse (still contextual) will touch on topics ranging from Religion and Spirituality in a Post-Modern, Post-Colonialism, Capitalist setting; to Existential issues and the exploration of conscious atonement and Enlightenment.