20; Two plays and a monologue

By Francis Bass

Two full length plays and one monologue set in speculative worlds. “Suggest the Empire,” a history play about an invented history, explores the theatrical nature of nationalism and empire, while “Tallahassee Ca. 2045” unfolds in a possible future, following a group of politically conscious high school students as they launch a protest for youth rights, and then watch the protest grow out of control following a global catastrophe. And the short play “Chimaera Cries ON STREAM!!!!!” takes place is a slightly altered present, with a speedrunner livestreaming during a terrorist attack. Each piece is followed by a brief afterword by the author, explaining how the plays came to be.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Francis Bass
• Release date: Nov 14, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463987476

Francis Bass

Francis Bass is a writer of science fiction and fantasy. His work has appeared in RECKONING, ELECTRIC LITERATURE, and others. He lives in Philadelphia.

Book preview

20;

Two plays and a monologue

Copyright © 2018 by Francis Bass

All rights reserved.

Suggest the Empire is copyright protected. All rights, including rights to performance of any kind, are strictly reserved, unless written permission is granted by the author. For inquiries concerning performance rights, contact Francis Bass at [e-mail].

Chimaera Cries ON STREAM!!!!! and Tallahassee Ca. 2045 are both public domain.

Cover font Lusitana by Ana Paula Megda.

Distributed by Smashwords.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Suggest the Empire

Chimaera Cries ON STREAM!!!!!

Tallahassee Ca. 2045

Foreword

In the forewords to 19; A collection of plays and 19; A collection of short stories I stated that I wanted these books to be a kind of Complete Works of Francis Bass series, compiled contemporaneously. I also stated that they would be annual.

I don’t want either of those things now.

Recently, I’ve begun to think a lot about the pressures I put on myself to constantly produce or keep up with certain things—writing blog posts, reading Asimov’s Science Fiction, and, in a way, producing these anthologies. It just so happens that, normally, within a year, I write enough plays and short stories to be able to put together these small collections—but what if I don’t want to? What if I want to spend a year writing only plays? What if a novel-length projects takes up the majority of the year (as happened once before I started self-publishing anything)? So removing these pressures, which seem so fundamental and colossal as to be irremovable, has been on my mind a lot. I’ve decided that I’m going to let my subscription to Asimov’s lapse after this year. I’m considering how to transition my blog from weekly updates to totally sporadic updates. And then this series. Fortunately, I can catch the problem right now, right at the start, not after years of inertia have built up. So I’ll declare right now: this series will not be annual. Some volumes may be titled 22-26 or 29 pt. 1 or something. Each collection will deform and shape itself as necessary. If I don’t publish or write any plays in a year, fine, no plays from that year.

Now, as far as the series being a complete works series, I’m going to renege on that too. The idea of completion is probably a chimera (not as in Chimaera Cries ON STREAM!!!!! [which I suppose is also not a literal mythical chimaera, but you get the idea], but as in an unachievable dream) anyway—would a complete works collection contain unpublished stories? If I adapted a short story into a play, would it contain both the story and the play, or just one? The reason this is an issue is that, while it’s perfectly easy to publish all the works I’ve self-pubbed in the past year, if I sell a story to be published by another entity, it could be a year or more before rights revert back to me. A similar but even thornier thing could happen with plays. This series will be as complete as reasonably possible, but nothing is ever truly complete.

So if it’s not annual because I don’t want that stress, and it’s not complete because honestly I thwarted that goal straight away by not including The Trial of Adbot 579 in 19; A collection of plays, then what is it, and what is my goal with it?

Basically, I just want a nice, affordable way for people to buy my stuff. Honestly, if I weren’t Francis Bass, and I were a fan of Francis Bass, I’d only buy these (and even then I’d wait for a sale.) I get that. So, here’s everything together for cheap.

This time around, it’s really two big plays with a monologue in the middle, like a monologue sandwich—that is, if you were to cut a loaf of bread in half, stick a leaf of lettuce in the middle, and call that a sandwich. In this case, the top, eh, slice, is Suggest the Empire, a history play about an invented history, exploring the theatrical nature of nationalism and empire. That description is ripped right from the copy for Suggest the Empire, because there really is no better way to summarize this four-act monster of a play than that. Next up, the lettuce of this bready sandwich is Chimaera Cries ON STREAM!!!!!, a short play about a speedrunner livestreaming during a terrorist attack, which I released to the public domain for Public Domain Day 2018—now, for the first time ever, with an afterword. The bottom chunk of bread is a full-length play, Tallahassee Ca. 2045, which follows a group of politically conscious high school students as they launch a protest for youth rights, and then watch the protest grow out of control following a global catastrophe.

Tallahassee Ca. 2045 and Suggest the Empire of course are also paired with the afterwords originally published with them.

So loosen up your jaw, because you’re gonna need to open wide to take a bite of this theatrical sandwich. (Or you could just eat each part by itself. That’s probably the smarter way to do it.)

Francis Bass

November 2018

Suggest the Empire

Characters

ROYAL FAMILY

EMPEROR ALITA TOLKASH

Emperor of Olisa. 47.

EMPRESS ALITA IOZA TSHO

Second wife of Tolkash. Bshi princess. 18.

PRINCE ALITA OHT

Son of Tolkash and (by law but not blood) Tsho. Prince of Olisa. 21.

CLERIC ALITA TRAKASH

Son of Tolkash and (by law but not blood) Tsho. Younger brother to Oht. 19. Cleric in the Olisanok Temple of Mosato.

GOVERNOR ALITA KONASH

Brother to Tolkash. Imperial governor of the Olipacano district. 45.

DAME GLADUS ALITA TUS

Daughter of Konash. Wife of (now deceased) Prince Dosia of Ramia. 18.

ARMY

MARSHAL TENO GRESHANO

General of the militia of the Olisa district. Field marshal in the war to retake Ubnost. 50.

VALSHTAV

Senior Guardian of the bannerguard of Prince Oht. 40.

SOLA

Captain of same bannerguard. 21.

CAPTAINS

Late 20s to early 30s.

GUARDS

MESSENGER

UBNOST

MOTHER DOCANO OF UBNOST

Mother of the city of Ubnost. 55.

BUBAS

POLAS

RASHI

RUM

LOCAL

OTHER LOCAL

BUILDER

OLISANOK

REPRESENTATIVE OROSOXIK

Representative of Breanteno in the Assembly of Gods. 52.

KROSAS

GULA

MUOKZ

SOLPAR

CRIER

WARRIORS OF MOSATO

OLISA DISTRICT

ALITATAKA GULOA LOSAM

General of the Sons of Alitataka. 34.

BLOPUNK

GENERAL DEEPON

INTERPRETER

BLOPUNK ENVOY

BLOPUNK SOLDIER

Setting

A secondary world. The Olisan Empire, a large medieval empire comparable in size to the late Roman Republic, technologically equivalent to 13th century Europe. The climate is temperate.

Playwright’s Notes

SET AND COSTUMES. Any stage directions regarding costuming and set are suggestions. There are many different ways to handle this, and the only wrong way is to have all of the sets be realistic and all of the costumes be lavish.

GENDER. Although the gender of all named characters is inflexible, casting does not have to adhere to this at all, and probably shouldn’t. So, the actor playing KONASH can be female, but when OHT says, This is Alita Konash, brother to the emperor, the line should be left as is (not changed to sister to the emperor.)

AGE. The same goes for age.

RACE. And the same goes for race. Although every character has a fixed race, this need not play a factor in casting. For casting that adheres to the race of the characters, ALITATAKA LOSAM, HOST, and TENO GRESHANO would have the lightest skin; the ROYAL FAMILY (except EMPRESS TSHO), SOLA and VALSHTAV, all the OLISANOK characters and all the UBNOST characters would have darker skin; and the BLOPUNK characters and EMPRESS TSHO would have the darkest skin of the cast. There are lots of interesting things you can do with race, but the only thing you can’t do is whitewash the entire cast.

DOUBLING. For doubling of parts, any characters can be doubled (or tripled or npled in the case of unnamed characters.) The following are suggested pairings—if you are going to double cast a character that is in one of these pairs, the second character should be the one indicated, barring special circumstances:

BUBAS / MUOKZ

POLAS / GULA

RASHI / KROSAS

RUM / SOLPAR

INTERPRETER / BLOPUNK ENVOY

LANGUAGE. Throughout the play the characters speak Pratan, Olisan, Punkish, and Mubbish—although, except for Punkish, and Olisan in a few instances, this is all performed in English. Characters who are not native speakers of the language they are speaking in (i.e. EMPRESS TSHO speaking Olisan, RASHI speaking Pratan) should have some accent. In addition, actors may use accents when speaking Olisan or Mubbish, though this is not a necessity. If they do, the accent for all of the characters who speak Olisan should be the same, except for GULOA LOSAM’s accent. The accents of POLAS and BUBAS needn’t be the same, and any passage of untranslated language should not be accented. These accents can be real world accents, or they can be invented, or they can be something as simple as a lisp.

When bracketed speech appears under a line of untranslated language, the bracketed speech is not spoken. It is the translation of the character’s line, meant to give the actors direction.

PRONUNCIATION. Proper nouns can be pronounced in any way, though pronunciation should be consistent across the cast (with the exception of characters who have unique accents, as indicated above.)

… But pardon, gentles all,

The flat unraised spirits that have dared

On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth

So great an object: can this cockpit hold

The vasty fields of France? or may we cram

Within this wooden O the very casques

That did affright the air at Agincourt?

O, pardon! since a crooked figure may

Attest in little place a million;

And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,

On your imaginary forces work.

Suppose within the girdle of these walls

Are now confined two mighty monarchies,

Whose high-upreared and abutting fronts

The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:

Piece-out our imperfections with your thoughts;

Into a thousand parts divide one man,

And make imaginary puissance;

Think when we talk of horses, that you see them

Printing their proud hoofs i’ th’ receiving earth;—

For ’tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings …

William Shakespeare, Henry V I.Prologue.8-28

ACT ONE

SCENE ONE

A hall in Ubnost Castle. A table sits at center, and a green flag is at far upstage center.

VALSHTAV

Entering stage left, singing softly.

Rosa, rosa, march march march march!

SOLA enters after him. SOLA bears the Olisan flag, a white field with a diagonal arrow pointing up across it. They both wear blue shirts and black pants.

Rosa, rosa, lance lance lance lance!

He kicks the green flag pole, and it comes crashing down.

Rosa, rosa, on on on on!

PRINCE ALITA OHT enters as SOLA and VALSHTAV begin to put up the Olisan flag in place of the old one. OHT wears dark slacks, a blue button down, and a beret. VALSHTAV falls silent, and salutes OHT with a fist pressed to his forehead. They all speak Pratan (see note on LANGUAGE.)

OHT

At ease Valshtav. What do you make of this place?

He wanders about the room, examining it.

VALSHTAV

The Blopunk make the ugliest castles I’ve ever seen.

OHT

It’s not supposed to be pretty. It’s a statement.

VALSHTAV

What does it state?

OHT

We are the new rulers. We are so powerful we can construct big ugly things like this to watch over you.

VALSHTAV

It states …

He blows a raspberry.

… in my book.

OHT

Well get used to it. It’s where you and all the rest will be garrisoned.

VALSHTAV

They didn’t take very good care of it either. Everything’s covered in muck.

OHT

And would you like to volunteer to clean it?

VALSHTAV

Well someone ought to.

OHT

Get to your post, Valshtav.

VALSHTAV

Aye!

He takes a position beside SOLA, who stands close by the flag. OHT continues to look around for a moment, then faces the audience. Whenever he does so throughout the play, he is speaking Pratan.

OHT

It is no mirror turned to heaven, for that would be to capture the empire of the gods, an impossible task. Rather, this grand sprawl of peoples, this glorious army of the righteous and good, this divine country under one skyward-reaching flag, it is like a pool of water. In times of peace, the water is near motionless, and the empire of heaven is rendered perfectly on Teno. In times of war, the surface is choppy, and stirred with silt and mud, but yet glimpses of its inspiration are reflected still.

Beat.

I stole that. But I’m worthless with beginnings, so I need all the help I can get—and isn’t it pretty? It’s utter horseshit, but pretty. Unlike this, our scene. Ubnost castle. Named for Ubnost, the city which the Olisan imperial army has just taken from the Blopunk Empire. It wasn’t much of a taking, they had no forces stationed here. The only resistance we’ve met in this campaign was a small militia which we bumped into by accident, and crushed.

A trumpet sounds.

Fanfare. Fanfare tells you that the person who is about to enter is important, and if you recognize the tune, it tells you who they are. This is Alita Konash, brother to the emperor, and a general brute. His daughter—

ALITA KONASH enters. He is dressed similarly to OHT. He and OHT speak in Olisan.

KONASH

Ah, my prince, you have arrived speedily.

OHT

My horsemen travel quickly.

KONASH

As do mine, though they tread a touch slower of late, after the Battle of Koka. Surely some of your own were injured in the same battle—tell me, how is it that your cavalry may still progress so swiftly being injured as they are?

OHT

I did not take part in that battle.

KONASH

Absurd! And why ever not? You are the heir to the emperor, you must see battle some day, what wait you for?

OHT

It was my father’s will that I not take part.

KONASH

Ah, I suppose that is so. I suppose it was a very different scene in which I grew up—Tolkash and I had no father to protect us. We defeated the Great Rebellion by ourselves, when we were not much older than are you today. I suppose we were a different breed of royalty then, eh?

OHT stares at him.

Yes, gone are those days. Gone are the true battles, which we fought to gain the peace you have today. You are living in the age of revival, yet you were born too late to engage in that struggle. Well, if it were not for the better tomorrows of our children, for whom did we fight that bloody war?

OHT

And how is Dame Tus?

KONASH shuts down.

How tragic, that fine husband of hers died before she could even bear him children, grandchildren would they have been to you, and she has now been in mourning for almost a year. Has she any plans of remarrying?

Beat.

I would think not. She was so singularly devoted to Prince Dosia, was she not? It was a marriage of true love, was it not? So was I told, many times over, by your attendants. I suppose it is no surprise that she would not wish to remarry and bear you grandchildren by another husband, were she in love. I suppose that when one walks the northbound road, one should not startle at the sight of snow. Unless the marriage really was political, but after hearing from so many, including now Dame Tus, that this was a matter of divine love, well—to believe otherwise would be unthinkable, would it not governor?

KONASH

My prince, take care with your words. You are far too young to speculate about matters of love and politics.

OHT

You speak wisely, my uncle. Marriage is a strange business not suited to the pondering of young minds.

Flourish.

KONASH

Indeed.

OHT

Unless that mind belongs to the body of a young girl, in which case the veil and bracelets cannot arrive soon enough, indeed?

KONASH

Jokes of that nature are not suiting royalty, and I would advise you to—

ALITA TOLKASH enters, with the same garb as the others. His hat has a flower pinned to it.

TOLKASH

Greetings, Kona! Are you troubling our Prince?

KONASH

Tolkash, greetings my emperor!

TOLKASH

There is no need for that title, my brother.

He and KONASH hug.

My Prince, how faired you on your way here? Are your men well?

OHT

Yes.

KONASH

Well and unbloodied.

TOLKASH

Yes, as I ordered.

KONASH

Well, of course—quite right, and a most circumspect order it was. I only wonder—it does make me reflect, on our youth, when we were as old as our Prince is now, what trials we did pass through.

TOLKASH

I hope such trials are ended for good now. The empire is reunited, holding its ordained place in the world.

KONASH

But we will march on, will we not?

TOLKASH

No.

OHT goes to the edge of the stage and sits down, legs dangling over it.

KONASH

What? We stand at the border of the Blopunk Empire unopposed—we stand before a chance at glory—

TOLKASH

Unopposed we are not. A Blopunk army of two hundred thousand men marches toward us. They are far away now, and will not arrive here for at least a moon, but I do not wish to fight that force in foreign land. My goal was to regain the lost territory, as far as this settlement. That is as far as I will get, but I am satisfied with that. The empire is satisfied with that.

KONASH

Then the Blopunk will besiege this town. Their hordes of infantry are not good for much, but they could lay siege to this village for a lifetime.

TOLKASH

Do not be absurd.

KONASH

We should meet them in the field. The men are in high spirits. We have strength to match theirs. We will be able to use our cavalry to full advantage.

TOLKASH

Twenty thousand cavalry have you. Ten thousand cavalry has Prince Oht. Thirty thousand cavalry, twenty thousand light infantry, thirty thousand heavy infantry, and ten thousand archers have I. So, our army is half ground soldiers, and half cavalry.

OHT

To the audience.

The arithmetic is correct, though those numbers are all inflated. In estimations of military size, servants are counted as well. So an army of a hundred twenty thousand really contains a hundred and ten thousand soldiers. And the numbers are always rounded off to a nice, even number. I’m guessing we have about a hundred thousand men—though I’m guessing that the Blopunk army has been exaggerated too.

TOLKASH

I tell you, you cannot think of us as an army of horsemen. I have drawn levies from all across the empire for this, because this war belongs not to the Alita family, it belongs to the empire.

KONASH

Then my forces will only be taking up space. The horses will be wasting food.

TOLKASH

Yes. I am considering sending your forces home, as well as Prince Oht’s.

KONASH

What? Please, that is not what I meant, my lord. I meant that you should put us to use!

TOLKASH

Do you suggest that you and Prince Oht should fight the army of Blopunk?

KONASH

Perhaps we may ambush them during the siege. We may wait for them to launch an assault, then ride out and flank them. I—we could end this war before it has really started.

TOLKASH

What if they do not attack us? What if they simply sit and wait, blocking all routes in and out of Ubnost?

KONASH

All the better. Our forces can run raids on them—we will sound a horn of fear throughout the Blopunk military, we will train them as sheep fear the bark of dogs, to fear the pounding of hooves. We will—

MARHSAL TENO GRESHANO enters left. He is dressed similarly to SOLA and VALSHTAV, though he wears a beret, and he carries a box.

GRESHANO

Saluting them with a fist to his forehead. He speaks Pratan, as do TOLKASH and KONASH when speaking to him.

Hail, sons of Alitataka!

OHT

To the audience.

Oh thank the mother.

TOLKASH

Greetings Marshal!

GRESHANO approaches the table, and sets the box down on it.

These are the woodens?

GRESHANO

Aye sir. There’s no map of this settlement to go with them, but there’s parchment in the box, and a pencil, so you may draw your own if you wish.

TOLKASH

Could you fetch the village father and summon him here?

GRESHANO

Aye sir.

TOLKASH

Many thanks, Marshal Greshano.

GRESHANO

Exiting.

Health!

OHT

Calling after GRESHANO, though no one reacts to this as he is only doing it for the audience’s benefit.

No no no no—

Once GRESHANO has left.

Aw,