The Lash
A Play in One Act
By Mary Alice Mark
copyright Mary Alice Mark
All Rights Reserved
Cast Of Characters:
ACTOR: Mid-twenties, talented, well build and articulate. HE wears a Centurion costume.
OWNER: Any age, male, seated in the audience area.
ADMINISTRATOR: Any age female, seated in the audience area, though not with THE
OWNER. She encourages the audience to react in appreciation of THE ACTOR's costume.
SETTING: The lights are bright, the stage is small and bare. No indication of what THE OWNER owns, what THE ADMINISTRATOR administers, or what the tryout is for.
AT RISE: THE ACTOR enters trying to peer around despite the intense lights. Finally he moves down stage center and tries to examine the audience.
ACTOR
. . . I'm here for a job interview . . ?
OWNER
Look at it as- -an audition.
ACTOR
For what play? There is no script . . ?
OWNER
He wants a script.
ADMINISTRATOR
A script . . . well, if you look off right, there=s a script on one of the tables back there.
OWNER
He wants a script.
ADMINISTRATOR
He handles the costume very well.
ACTOR
This is a book of poems.
OWNER
Yes, I=m thinking about a poem by Yeats, you know the one.
ACTOR
William Butler Yeats, yes.
ADMINISTRATOR
He likes the one about revolution.
OWNER
You, know, about AThe Lash.@
ADMINISTRATOR
Where is the lash?
ACTOR
What play are we doing?
OWNER
Look off stage left, part of your costume is on the stool.
ACTOR
(Returning with whip.)
What play did you say this is?
OWNER
You know, the guy on the horse lashes the other guy.
ADMINISTRATOR
You=re a centurion, show us how it works.
ACTOR
Yeats didn’t write about centurions.
ADMINISTRATOR
He wrote about the revolution.
OWNER
He wrote about the lash.
ACTOR
If I=m the beggar on the horse, where=s the one walking?
ADMINISTRATOR
Well, there=s a saw horse you can use.
OWNER
It right behind you.
ADMINISTRATOR
It=s also off stage.
ACTOR
A saw horse. . ? Oh all right, I=ll get it.
ADMINISTRATOR
He handles the costume well.
OWNER
Yes, he has good height, good girth.
ACTOR
(As HE reenters.)
Help me figure this out, am I the one on horseback, lashing . . . him? Or are you out there on horseback, lashing me?
OWNER
That may be a very astute question.
ADMINISTRATOR
You handle the costume very well.
OWNER
Work with the lash!
ACTOR
William Butler Yeats, The Great Day, The beggars change places but the lash- . . .
(ACTOR, nonverbally, refuses to continue.)
ADMINISTRATOR
. . . The lash . . ?
OWNER
. . . The lash . . .?
(ACTOR bows his head.)
ADMINISTRATOR
Go on. . . .
OWNER
A. . . goes on!@
ADMINISTRATOR
Next.. .
THE END
