February 9 Play: REMOTE, OR: AFTER IBSEN

40: REMOTE, OR: AFTER IBSEN - by Ed Valentine
© February 9, 2010 * ed@edvalentine.com

LIGHTS UP: a tiny square of an apartment. A MAN flipping channels. The room is mostly lit by the glow of the TV. He’s gotten enormous, and it’s as if he’s become part of the couch. As if couch and man are melding together. Meanwhile, SHE is picking up the mess all around the room, putting the garbage and dirty laundry into a laundry basket. Sound from TV. Lights from TV. She finally pauses.

SHE: Something has to be done.
Did you hear me?
I said, something has to be done.

HE: Then do something.

SHE: Yes?

HE: Then do something.

(SHE thinks, perplexed. Then the light dawns. With great relief:)

SHE: Yes. I will.

(She dumps out the box on the floor. Leaves the house through the front door.
Slam.
He sits for a while. Then stops flipping channels.
To the remote:)

HE: It’s better this way.

(Goes back to flipping channels. Lights fade.)

END OF PLAY.