The Other Side by David Hawley

This Play is the copyright of the Author and must NOT be Performed without the Author's PRIOR consent

Act 1

Scene 1

The curtain rises to reveal a room almost in darkness. STAN is sitting
at a table with his arms straight up in the air. There is a light
illuminating his face from below. KEVIN: is standing in the background
looking passive. He is dressed in an exotic silk jacket and wearing a
fez. Incense sticks burn here and there. MRS. MORPETH is in a chair
facing STAN looking apprehensive. She wrings her hands from time to
time. STAN moves his arms down to the horizontal position, at the same
time giving out a low groaning noise.

This goes on for some time

STAN:: Aaahhhh…. (Louder) Aaaahhhh…

(He holds his hands out and eventually gives a little wave to prompt KEVIN:)

KEVIN:(Stage whisper) Hold your hands out, please, Mrs Morpeth.

(She sticks her arms right out)

KEVIN: No – just so the tips of your fingers touch his.

Do not disturb the ether by violent movements.

(She places her hands as instructed. STAN: gives several low moans
again, ending in a strange gurgle.)

STAN: Aaaah…aaaahhhh…ggg.

MRS. MORPETH: What’s happening?

KEVIN: He’s making contact with the spirit guide on the other side.
Critical moment. Wait until he speaks.

(After a few seconds KEVIN, unseen by MRS. MORPETH, reaches aside and
pulls a cord which causes the curtains to move several things in the
room to jump and rattle.)

KEVIN: The spirit approaches!

STAN:(Speaking in a distinct Indian accent, with his hands still
straight out and eyes closed)

Ah, Mrs. Jenny, I see that you have suffered a great loss, which
weighs on your heart most heavily. You come here in sadness; it is
clear.

MRS. MORPETH: Yes!

STAN:(Indian accent)
There is a distinguished gentleman nearby. I can sense him very close
by, and I perceive, most intensely, that he has a connection with you.
I cannot see him but I can hear him. His voice is…

MRS. MORPETH: Quiet?

STAN:(Indian accent) His voice is quiet but authoritative. I sense that he was once a
military gentleman.

MRS. MORPETH: Yes he was!

STAN: (Indian accent)
I sense a gentleman of gravity, used to the solemn and sober
obligations that are commensurate with one who must bear the
responsibilities of command.

MRS. MORPETH: That’s right! He used to be a corporal.

(KEVIN: gives a “stop that” gesture to STAN: behind MRS.
MORPETH:’S back)

MRS. MORPETH: Lenny! Are you there?

KEVIN: Take care, do not disturb the ether! The connection is tenuous.

MRS. MORPETH: (More quietly) Lenny, is that you?

STAN: (Indian accent)
The gentleman says that he is unable to rest. There is some task that
remains to be completed, perhaps. I do not understand what it is.

MRS. MORPETH: What is it, Lenny?

(Beat)

STAN: (Indian accent)
I am unable to ascertain....
He has left some business that is unfinished. Some significant and
important… thing.

(MRS. MORPETH becomes slightly agitated in her chair. KEVIN: gives a
thumbs up signal to STAN:)

It is difficult for him to rest with this matter incomplete.

MRS. MORPETH: Oh, what is it, Lenny? What did you leave behind on earth?
(Pause)
I took your library books back.

STAN: He says that the uncompleted affair disturbs him, otherwise he
is happy. He says that his sweet one is not to worry.

MRS. MORPETH: Oh, I’m so glad, Lenny!

STAN: He is happy…he is happy. He draws away into the shadows. He fades…

MRS. MORPETH: Don’t go, Lenny! What is it you need me to do Lenny?

STAN: He is happy…he is happy.

MRS. MORPETH: (Quietly) Lenny...

(STAN gives a shudder and a gurgle)

STAN: (English accent) Oh hello. Who are you?

KEVIN:(Intervening) He’s always a bit like this when the spirit has
taken possession of his mind and only just left him. He’ll be back
to normal presently. Don’t worry.

STAN: Oh… sorry… Kevin… Mrs.…?

KEVIN:(As if speaking to a very old person) Morpeth. You remember.

STAN: Ah yes. I’m sorry, Mrs. Morpeth. This business does fatigue me
a little, and a few minutes’ recovery is required. Did any contact
occur?

MRS. MORPETH: But you just spoke! You told me--

KEVIN: --That was Chandra speaking. He merely uses the conduit of Mr.
Ramsaboto. He has no idea what his unconscious body just said.

MRS MORPETH Really?

STAN: I’m afraid it’s true, Mrs. Morpeth I am simply the channel
for speaking to the other side. The telephone, as it were, though not
that invented by Mr. Bell. I am dimly aware of having made contact
with Chandra, but that is all. Details are unknown to me; I exist in a
haze of mist. When a sprit guide is with me, my whereabouts are not
within the normal realm of experience of the five senses.
(He stands and gestures impressively)
I am aware of my own existence, I think, therefore I am, as Descartes
would have it, and know that I was once in possession of myself, but
where in time and space is unknown to me. Location is vague, I am
somewhere, I am “some-when”, but the spirit has stolen me away for
his own purpose. I will be found some time, it may be soon, it may be
later, only the spirits know my exact location and it is beyond the
humble comprehension of human beings to predict when reappearance in
the land of living beings may occur.
(Beat)
Do you follow me?

MRS. MORPETH: Oh yes. Lenny was just like that with his front door
key.

KEVIN: Well, the spirit has well and truly passed, Mrs. Morpeth, and I
think it is time for Mr. Ramsaboto to rest now.

MRS. MORPETH: Oh, are we finished? What about Lenny’s unfinished
business?

KEVIN: I’m afraid we will have to leave that until next time. Once
the spirit leaves, he doesn’t return for a while, but we can
certainly arrange for another session in a few days; say Thursday
evening?

MRS. MORPETH: Oh, will the spirit be back then?

KEVIN: I feel a high degree of confidence in our chances of success.

MRS. MORPETH: Oh, well then, yes, Thursday evening, good.

KEVIN: It was five dollars, I believe.

MRS. MORPETH: Oh yes, of course.

(She goes into her bag and produces a pocketbook from which she
extracts a bill, which she hands to Kevin.)

KEVIN: Much obliged, I’m sure. Until Thursday then.

MRS. MORPETH: Goodbye. Goodbye, Mr. Ramsaboto.

KEVIN: (Seeing her out the door)Goodbye.

(She exits)

KEVIN: There you are, Stan, my boy. Half an hour, and another five
dollars to the good. This is just too easy.

STAN: That’s what worries me, Kev. It is, as you say, just too
easy.

KEVIN: Stand Stan, Stan you’re such a worrier; you need to have more
confidence in yourself! Look at you! All the way from the cheap end of
Liverpool and doing so well! The material for the thesis is coming in
every day, and it’s all financing itself.

Ah, it’s a great thing, this psychological research. Well done
Doctor Freud!

STAN: This not psychological research, Kevin. It’s chicanery.

KEVIN: Ah, but what are a couple of impecunious graduates to do, Stan?
We want those doctorates, but rent has to be paid, and we’ll be
wanting food of course. You use the skills that the good Lord gave
you and the impressive words that you learned at your mammy’s knee.
We’ve all got to live.

STAN: My mother was an actress, as you well know, Kevin, and my father
is a respectable dental surgeon, at the very nice end of Liverpool I
might add. It cost him quite a lot to send me to Oxford and even more
to come over here to do research.

The name of Dr. Ramsbottom is well respected over there. I don’t
want to let him down. It’s your family that were traveling showmen
or shysters or something.

KEVIN:(Slightly amused) Shysters is it now? If you weren’t such a
good friend of mine, I’d be inclined to take it amiss. My father was
a professional too.

STAN:A professional what?

KEVIN: Magician. Mostly the old three-cups-and-the-pea trick, but he
was a professional.

STAN: He made enough at that old chestnut to keep a family?

KEVIN: Well, my mother did a bit of the old fortune telling too. Every
little helps, you know.

STAN: Humph. Your family may be used to making a living fleecing the
terminally gullible, Kevin, but I’m not.

KEVIN: You’re looking at it the wrong way Stan, we’re after
providing a service to the public here.

STAN: You what?

KEVIN: Look Stan, people are happy to come here. They listen to you
speak to their dearly departed on the other side, and they’re happy.
They go away with smiles or a maybe few happy tears, looking forward
to their next visit. How many of your dad’s clients can say that?

STAN: He doesn’t have clients; he has patients.

KEVIN: Anyway, it was your idea. It’s your mother that’s into the
Spiritualism thing.

STAN: My idea was research into belief; the whole psychological theory
of a need to believe. I didn’t mean to start a business. This is
supposed to be serious study.

Why do I have to be the medium, anyway? You’re much more used to
this sort of thing.

KEVIN: Because you’re so good at it! That Indian voice is great. I
don’t know how you do it.

STAN: I was born in India. My Dad’s regiment was in Calcutta.

KEVIN: Well, when you come on with that voice, it seems like I’m in
Calcutta myself.

(Beat)

KEVIN: You know, maybe we could set you up as a guru, or a Mahatma or
somethin’.

STAN: You don’t think the public would be a little suspicious of an
Indian mystic called Mahatma Ramsbottom?

KEVIN: We could change the name again-

STAN: -No! Stanislaus Ramsaboto is as exotic as I’m prepared to be.

(Pause)

STAN: Do you really think I’m good at it?

KEVIN: The bee’s knees! You can do that great voice, and people
trust you, Stan. You’re so… posh!

STAN: What?

KEVIN: You are; you’re high-class, Stan.

STAN: I’d have taken that as a compliment, Kevin, if you hadn’t
previously told me that you thought it was posh to get out of the bath
to have a piss.

KEVIN: And you remember things, it’s like –-

STAN:--Oh please, Kevin:, spare me any more of your hyperbolae…
(There is a knock at the door)

KEVIN: What do you know! Sure as it looks like our fame is spreading.

(STAN: quickly takes his place at the table; KEVIN: straightens his
fez and goes to open the door. MARINELLO enters)

MARINELLO: A young lady to see you gentlemen, (aside) but I need to
tell you…

(He bends down to whisper something to KEVIN: but stops as BENEDETTA
BALDASSARE enters. She is dressed all in black. KEVIN: takes a look at
the very attractive young woman and quickly ushers MARINELLO out of
the room)

MARINELLO: (As the door shuts on him) But…

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: This is the premises of Mr. Stanislaus
Ramsaboto, the spiritualist medium?

KEVIN: It is. What may I do for you miss…?

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: You are Mr. Ramsaboto?

KEVIN: I’m his assistant. At present he is meditating. May I help?

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: I was told by someone I trust, that Mr.
Ramsaboto can communicate with the spirit world. You helped my friend,
she told me. She said that you provided much comfort for her. You
spoke to her husband.

KEVIN: I’m very glad. We do try… to comfort, Miss…?

(STAN: gives a loud moan as before)

STAN: Aahhh…

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: What is this?

STAN: I sense that we have a young lady here, a young lady who has
suffered a great loss.

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: (Hurrying across to him) Mr. Ramsaboto, so it is
true! You do have the gift of the second sight.

STAN: I sense a deep sadness, an overwhelming grief, the grief of a
family, a large family, but you, my dear, are the most affected.

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: You can tell that already?

KEVIN: Mr. Ramsaboto has a strong sensitivity to the vibrations in the
ether. That is how he made contact with his sprit guide.

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: And what is that?

KEVIN: It’s a soul from the other side, of one who has departed, who
has the ability to commune with those that have passed (dramatically)
beyond the veil.

(Beat)

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: What?

KEVIN: They died.
The spirit guide can speak through Mr. Ramsaboto, and with the spirits
on the other side, too. Thus, we communicate.

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: It seems it must wear his voice out very much.

KEVIN: Why do you say that?

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: He has to employ you to talk for him.
(Beat)

KEVIN: You know, I like you.

(She stares at him proudly and implacably)

STAN: Hush! I perceive another presence… I hear… I hear weeping…
I sense… sadness, but also anger. I… I… (he gurgles)

KEVIN: The spirit is taking him over! Sit down, please, miss.
(He guides her into the chair opposite STAN. STAN stares straight
ahead and holds his arms out, as before.

KEVIN: Please extend your hands towards him, but do not touch.

(She does so)

STAN:(Indian accent) It is I, Chandra.

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: Who?

KEVIN: Chandra, the spirit guide. When he was alive, he was in India,
which is why he speaks like that.

(KEVIN: positions himself behind her)

STAN: (Indian accent) I sense a presence alongside me. A sadness in
leaving daughters behind, what is that, that he is trying to tell
me…? How many daughters? One, two, three, four, five…
(BENEDETTA BALDASSARE gives a small movement on the word “five”.

KEVIN holds up five fingers behind her)

STAN: (Indian accent) Five daughters… and sons…

(BENEDETTA BALDASSARE looks up at him suddenly. KEVIN: holds up one
finger)

STAN: (Indian accent) And a single son! Five daughters and a son. He
misses his family most dearly, but wants them to know that he is happy
where he is, though he arrived there too soon.

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: (Urgently) Ask him to speak to my father, ask
him where he is now.

STAN:(Indian accent) He is in the land of the spirits.

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: No, I mean--

STAN: (Indian accent) --he is looking down at you now with love… But
he is not quiet… There is some unfinished business that needs to be done.
BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: Si! Get the bastard that killed him!

(STAN: and KEVIN: take a quick look at each other)

KEVIN: Er… try not to raise your voice. It causes a disturbance in
the ether. Only certain gifted individuals can communicate across the
boundary and the connection’s… subtle and fragile. Loud noises and
movements can break it.
Quiet and concentration are what we need.

BENEDETTA BALDASSARE: (She produces a handkerchief and dabs her eye)
Can the guide speak to Papa?

KEVIN: Maybe. We can try it. Sometimes it’s not possible
immediately; the spirit of the deceased needs to establish trust with
the spirit guide. Things aren’t as they are in this world. Although
we can’t see the other side, it’s clear that it’s not the same
as the world of the living. Some of the sprits have spoken of mists,
that are… not of this earth. Senses are more subtle and tenuous.
Mists in the world of the living can be seen, but those of the far
side are perceived in some other way, through the senses of the
spirit, not the living…

(STAN: gives another loud moan)
STAN: Aaahhh…

KEVIN: Wait, something’s happening!

(STAN: makes a low-pitched wailing noise that gradually builds to a
higher pitch, not growing louder, though he occasionally has to stop
to take breath, which spoils the effect of a sprit wailing somewhat.

KEVIN: reaches out and pulls the cord that causes the ornaments etc.
to shake and the curtains to move.)

[End of Extract]