The Look of Love PLAY # 6

A short play on the theme: "Ancient Wisdom"

by K. Brian Neel & Paul Shipp 14/48 — January 4, 2008

© 2008, all rights reserved

CHARACTERS:

Gidget

Lorre

Bec

Lights up on a sparse room. Bec sits in a chair, center, tired but resolved. Gidget and Lorre have been going at her for hours and have reached a point where nothing has worked. Gidget paces and tries unsuccessfully to light a cigarette. She has an idea, throws the cigarette away, pounces upon Bec, and recites:

GIDGET: I believe in you
You know the door to my very soul
Youπre the light in my deepest darkest hour
Youπre my savior when I fall
And you may not think
I care for you
When you know down inside
That I really do
And itπs me you need to show

How deep is your love

LORRE: (singing) How deep is your love

LORRE & GIDGET: (singing) How deep is your love
I really need to learnä

BEC: I hate that song.

GIDGET: Forty million people love that song.

LORRE: Listen to the words: ≥The door to my very soul.≤ The soul is the heart. Thatπs what this is about.

BEC: Iπve done nothing wrong.

GIDGET: Have you done good?

LORRE: Have you spread sunshine? Put on a happy face?

GIDGET: Quiet! (back to Beck) There is eros: physical love, passion. There is Philia: family love, friendship. There is Agape: love of a higher being.

BEC: This is a theological debate?

GIDGET: Itπs your life and the lives of every person you interact with.

LORRE: No person is an island.

BEC: Forcing ideals on others is dangerous.

GIDGET: Love is dangerous. ≥älight of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soulä the tip of my tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to the tap, at three, on the teethä≤

Beck stands to leave.

LORRE: Weπre not finished. Are we finished?

GIDGET: No.

BEC: I am. Please unlock the door.

LORRE: Hey, pleaseä sit.

Beck reluctantly sits back down. Lorre takes a chair and sits next to her.

LORRE: I was like you. Isolated. Sealed in my own world. I thought I was safe, content. I didnπt know what I was missing. She intervened, like this, and you have no idea how happy it all is now.

BEC: Iπm happy the way I am.

GIDGET: No youπre not. Youπre alone. Youπve never opened up to anything.

BEC: Yes I have.

GIDGET: How?

BEC: I was married for two years, but was cheated on and had my heart broken.

GIDGET: What was the name?

BEC: Ah, Sam.

GIDGET: Sam what?

BEC: Itπs none of your business.

GIDGET: You have never been married. You have no parents. No friends. Youπre an atheist. You have succeeded in creating an empty space for yourself. Congratulations.

BEC: Thatπs my prerogative.

GIDGET: You are a blight without love. Love is the ultimate good, without it a person is not.

LORRE: When I felt the emanation of love in me, it flowed in my blood. If everyone shared these feelingsä

BEC: The world would be a better placeä

GIDGET: No, a better person. Love is shit. Love is hell. Love is beauty. Everyone should have all of this.

BEC: Youπre anarchists.

LORRE: Well, usually people are pretty open to us and accept our gift. Why wonπt you?

BEC: Why are you forcing it on me?

LORRE: Itπs good for you.

BEC: Thatπs up to me to decide.

LORRE: Weπre here to help.

BEC: By locking me in this room?

GIDGET: If thatπs the way to achieve love in your life. We will force you to love if thatπs what it takes.

LORRE: (Singing) One way or another
Iπm gonna find ya.
Iπm gonna get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya.

GIDGET: Wrong song.

LORRE: (Singing) Lä is for the way you look at me
Oä

BEC: Do you take requests?

Pause.

GIDGET: What the life of a person is, no one knows unless he knows it is love.

BEC: Shut the fuck up.

Beck stands and goes for the door. Gidget blocks her. Beck goes to move around. Gidget grabs her by the arm. They struggle. Gidget overpowers her, forces her onto the chair.

GIDGET: (to Lorre) Tie her hands.

Lorre is still taken aback by the struggle.

GIDGET: Do it!

She helps tie Beck to the chair.

BEC: So, this is love?

GIDGET: Yes.

LORRE: Should we just let her go?

GIDGET: Shut up.

Long pause as Gidget goes for another smoke. Canπt light it. Throws it away.

BEC: (singing to Lorre) Now if you feel that you canπt go on
Til all your hope is gone
And your life is filled with much confusion LORRE: Much confusion
Until happiness is just an illusion Happiness is just an illusion
And your world round is crumblinπ down
Darlinπ Reach out
Come on girl,
Reach out for me Reach out
Reach out for me

BEC & LORRE: Iπll be there
With the love that will shelter you
Iπll be there
With the love that will see you through

GIDGET: Stop.

BEC: Iπm feeling the love.

Sheπs clearly not.

GIDGET: Gag her.

LORRE: No.

Gidget gets in close to Bec.

gidget: You saw me in the hallway. The hallway between administration and accounting. You walked passed and your eyes cried out to me. You want to love me. But you donπt know how.

BEC: Iπve seen you in the halls. But thatπs it.

LORRE: ≥And what love can do, that dares love attempt≤

BEC: Just because you use poems, songs, and force, doesnπt mean you have a depth, a real knowledge—itπs just words.

GIDGET: What the life of a person is, no one knows unless he knows it is love.

BEC: Iπm not going to love you.

Lorre unties Bec and hands her a key. Bec stands, looks at Gidget, leaves. Gidget sits in the chair. Lorre sings:

LORRE: The look of love
Is in your eyes
The look your smile canπt disguise.
The look of love
Is saying so much more
Than just words can ever say
And what my heart has heard
Well it takes my breath away

Fade to black as band continues songä

Band: I can hardly wait to hold you
Feel my arms around you
How long I have waited
Waited just to love you
Now that I have found you

Youπve got the look of love
Itπs on your face
A look that time canπt erase
Be mine tonight
Let this be just the start
Of so many nights like this
Letπs take a lovers vow
And then seal it with a kiss