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Science Scripts (Mostly complete) Presentation Mar 2, 2009 |
How to get into Second Life without really trying |
| "God of science." Idea by Storm Nordwind for a short play in Second Life Incomplete draft 2009-03-02 This script is not yet complete. It sets out the framework. It still needs the monologues of the four scientists writing for it. I'm allowing perhaps 4x2=8 minutes for that. (These are highlighted wih "TODO" markers.) The rest is about 8 minutes long. Thus the whole thing is likely to be around 16 minutes long - a nice binary number! So let's say target running time is 15-20 minutes. Scene: Open air. Gloomy sky. One character looking down from a parapet or perhaps from a mountain top. He appears to be set apart from the normal world. Clouds billow beneath him and beneath those is a rocky road. There is the sound of wind blowing. Cast: Two 'permanent' characters. Both are male. Both are flame-haired. One appears strong, muscular and bearded and carries a large hammer, slightly shorter in the haft than would be expected for the head. The other appears intelligent, suave and urbane with fluent speech and a twinkle in his eye. Both are dressed in costume from the Early Middle Ages. Both are gods. Their names are Thor and Loki respectively. They talk only to themselves and the audience listens in. Four 'temporary' characters. Each appears at one end of the road, becomes conscious of the audience and speaks a brief monologue to them, and then exits at the other end of the road. Each of these temporary characters is introduced by Loki though each is oblivious of him. Each is a famous scientist. We start with Galileo and finish with Darwin. The two middle scientists are yet to be decided. See pronunciation guide in the Appendix. GOD OF SCIENCE ========== (Loki stands alone on the parapet looking over the world. A small fire burns in front of him. The sound of the wind is heard. Loki wears a cloak but his head is bare and he holds a half-full drinking horn.) (There is a clanking of metal, like the ringing of chain mail, and the sound of heavy boots on a rocky path. Thor enters, stage right, helmeted and lightly armoured, and carrying his hammer.) THOR: Hail Loki! LOKI: Thor, dear friend. Welcome! Long time no see. THOR: Yes, far too long. So long since we travelled together… How many hundreds of winters has it been? Ah but it is good to see you again. LOKI: Come warm yourself with this ale. Freshly brewed in Aegir’s cauldron. It’s been waiting for you! THOR: You saw me coming? LOKI: (chuckles) Who could fail to hear a thunder god coming? THOR: (laughs and then in mock astonishment) But the horn is half-empty! You started without me! LOKI: Ah – your legs are not what they used to be old friend. I’ve been waiting here for ages while you slogged up that mountain path… and it’s thirsty work! THOR: Ha! I know. Even gods grow old. These bones ache sometimes. (They drink, passing the horn between them - a neat trick if you can do it in Second Life!) LOKI: So what tales do you have from your travels dear friend? THOR: Me? Hmm. More of the usual. What would you expect? Protecting Asgard. Dispatching a few enemies. And protecting that lot down there, though I get precious little thanks for that nowadays… LOKI: (interrupting with enthusiasm) Oh I’M grateful. THOR: You are? Why what have you been up to? I know you get a good view of Midgard and humankind from up here. Have you been watching me? Or have you been venturing over the rainbow bridge again? LOKI: (chuckles again) Venturing? Ha ha! Oh yes, I’ve been venturing all right. Whenever old Heimdall has his back turned! THOR: (surprised) Oh? LOKI: Sure. He may be able to hear the grass growing and the wool growing on the backs of sheep. And he may be able to see a hundred leagues by day or night. And yes his job may be to guard the bridge. But he has to be looking in the right direction! (chuckles) And he has to want to be looking. (more soberly) And, of course, he – like you, like me – is also getting old. THOR: Ah yes. So the wily Loki has been travelling again. Let me drink your ale and you can tell me of your adventures! LOKI: (considering) Hmm… maybe… though I must have your word that you will tell no one else. THOR: (almost formally) But of course! It will go no further. Thor never breaks his word. LOKI: (lightly) Then drink your ale, and warm yourself by the fire, and I will tell you my tale. (pause) Yes I have been visiting humankind, seeking out men and women of intellect… THOR: (interrupting) Seeking wisdom? Or seeking wisdom seekers? LOKI: Good point. I’ve been seeking out people, humans, who want to acquire knowledge… rather like your father, Ol’ One Eye, (slight pause, and almost as an aside) except in his case I think he just wants the knowledge for himself. (continuing) These people, on the other hand, they seem to want to share their knowledge. Oh sure - some of them like the fame and fortune it sometimes brings, but they often work together. THOR: They do? Who are these people? What do they call them? Did you find any? LOKI: (laughs) Ha ha! So many questions… Yes I found them. They’ve been scattered around throughout the past centuries since we last met. Rather more of them recently. But it’s only in the last… oh… hundred years or so that they’ve come to be known by the word “scientist”. THOR: Scientist? LOKI: Yes. Men and women of science. Driven by a curiosity to understand why their world is as it is. THOR: I see. And what did the already worldly-wise and clever Loki learn from them? LOKI: Ah… dear old Thor… that’s what I told old Heimdall, the one time he did stop me on the bridge… that I wanted to learn from them. But that’s not what I was doing – not what I travelled there for. Oh no! (smiles and chuckles) THOR: (a little garrulously) No? Now I’m intrigued. Or is it this fine ale of Aegir’s – he’s not lost his touch it seems. Go on – I’ll try and be quiet – tell me more. Why did you travel there? LOKI: Simple. I’ve been giving THEM knowledge. Or at least pointing the way for them. Inspiring them. Gently. Subtly. Making sure that they believe that they’ve thought of things themselves, that they’re the authors of their own discoveries. (self deprecating) Oh… they don’t often realise my influence. And they never let on to others if they do – who would believe them after all? (pause, then with more enthusiasm) Sometimes I have to disguise myself and prod them in person for years before they take a hint. Other times a single dream is all they need… and they’ve grasped it. (loftily) It’s slow and patient work, Thor, but now at long last it’s beginning to take root and bear fruit. THOR: (intrigued and puzzled) One step at a time my friend! I’m finding it hard to picture such people. LOKI: Then let me help you. (There is a sound like rock door being opened, a small explosion of light at one end of the road below them. Mist seems to pour onto the road. A figure appears there, indistinct.) THOR: (alarmed and readying himself as if to fight danger) You are opening the graves?! LOKI: (lyrically) No. Relax old friend. I am playing the strands of the Web of Wyrd as though they were the strings of a lyre. All that has happened is recorded there. You see what once was, not what is. THOR: (relaxes) But how… ? LOKI: (laughing, a little grimly) I have not been idle since we last met. I have visited many wells of wisdom. I have paid many prices. But enough of that… watch! (The figure emerges and sees the audience but not the gods.) GALILEO: (TODO Speaks to the audience for about two minutes as he slowly walks the road. He describes his contribution to science, how it has changed the world, and how people reacted.) (The figure exits at the other end of the road beneath the gods. There is a brief burst of light where the figure disappeared and the mist on the road fades.) THOR: (wondering) I can see he advanced the sum of human knowledge. And you guided him to that? LOKI: (simply) Yes. THOR: And he is the only one? LOKI: No. There are many more. THOR: I noticed the followers of Mister Y were quite upset. I expect he was himself. LOKI: Oh he was. And he still is. He’s never forgiven me. (shrugs) But that’s his own fault for setting himself apart. (getting animated with a trace of vehemence) I’ve no sympathy for Mister Y. He’s just like one of us but he likes others to think he’s special, (emphasizing with a trace of sarcasm) the big “I AM”. Well… (taking a deep breath and calming down) despite that I’m not trying to torment him. (pause) You want to see more, or what? THOR: Yes I do. I’m interested now. My old hard head is beginning to understand. LOKI: Then watch again! (Once more there is a sound like rock door being opened, a small explosion of light at one end of the road below them. Mist seems to pour onto the road. A figure appears there and once again and sees the audience but not the gods.) SCIENTIST 2: (TODO Speaks to the audience for about two minutes as he slowly walks the road. He describes his contribution to science, how it has changed the world, and how people reacted.) (The figure exits at the other end of the road beneath the gods. There is a brief burst of light where the figure disappeared and the mist on the road fades.) THOR: Hmmm… I have the ghost of an idea what you are doing. But I do not believe it. LOKI: (smiling gently) Perhaps you do not want to believe it, old friend. You want to see more, or what? (Thor grunts) (For a third time there is a sound like rock door being opened, a small explosion of light at one end of the road below them. Mist seems to pour onto the road. A figure appears there and once again and sees the audience but not the gods.) SCIENTIST 3: (TODO Speaks to the audience for about two minutes as they slowly walk the road. They describe their contribution to science, how it has changed the world, and how people reacted.) (The figure exits at the other end of the road beneath the gods. There is a brief burst of light where the figure disappeared and the mist on the road fades.) THOR: (solemnly) Loki, I know what you are doing. This is revenge for how you have been treated isn’t it? LOKI: What do you mean, Thor? THOR: (steadily) I know your grievance with my father Odin. I know how you saw his children privileged and acclaimed whereas your own children were bound, or cast into the sea, or sent to rule over dead men. I know men call you “trickster” – (as a friendly aside) although I look at you I see a friend and a god of rich imagination and intellectual power. (steadily again) I know how Odin constantly seeks knowledge for himself, and now you are going to lead humans to knowledge greater than even his because you know how that would upset him. Am I right? (pause) LOKI: It must look like that, yes. But that is not why I’m doing this. (pause) And that was not your “ghost of an idea” was it? THOR: No… no, you’re right there. But surely… surely not… ? LOKI: You want to see more… (now with determination) or what? (Thor is silent. For the fourth and last time there is a sound like rock door being opened, a small explosion of light at one end of the road below them. Mist seems to pour onto the road. A figure appears there and once again and sees the audience but not the gods.) DARWIN: (TODO Speaks to the audience for about two minutes as he slowly walks the road. He describes his contribution to science, how it has changed the world, and how people reacted then and now, noting the polarisation in some circles.) (The figure exits at the other end of the road beneath the gods. There is a brief burst of light where the figure disappeared and the mist on the road fades.) LOKI: Well? THOR: (in grim realization) I understand now. I see what you’re doing. Bit by bit humans are learning to do without us, any of us. Soon they won’t be dependent on us any more. Our priests will have no say. They’ll have no ownership of secret knowledge. Men and women will have their own knowledge, knowledge they’ve won themselves. (incredulous) This is going to be our doom, isn’t it? We’re old, but this will be the nail in our coffins. (louder) We – the gods and the goddesses – will wither away. Die! All of us! … LOKI: Yes… yes you have guessed it dear friend. THOR: (incredulous) But why? This affects you too. You’ll be committing suicide! And… and you’re going to take us all with you. And that’s me too, not just my father and not just Mister Y! LOKI: (calmly) We are old, Thor – you said it yourself. All gods die one day, so I’m just preparing for it. (candidly) I hope to be reborn as a human – yes a simple short-lived human – but I’m preparing what is going to be my new home. (with a touch of earnestness) And because of my influence, science is transforming that home… society… the whole world. It’s becoming a place where Enlightenment is possible, and I want to be born into that possibility. (pause) Come my friend. Let’s take a walk over the bridge together. Let’s take a look at the world science is creating. Let’s see if it could be your home one day too. (They exit stage right.) END APPENDIX Pronunciation guide to Old Norse. All names have the accent on the first syllable: Loki = “LOW Key”. Thor rhymes with “score”. Aegir rhymes with “SAY beer”. Heimdall = “HIME-dahl”; Heim rhymes with “dime”. Dall rhymes with “Transvaal”. Odin = Oðin = like “loathing” but without the first and last letters! |
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| Action Items
for next meeting Prospero will write speech for Galileo Stormwill write speech for Darwin |
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The Thinkerer
03/02/2009 Copyright (c) D. F. Dansereau & S. H. Evans |
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| Famous fables | |||