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by William Houston The set contains an Oak Tree, an elevated dressing table, a sail and video screens. The tree could be an abstraction or blown out with branches reaching up to the Cosmos (or both, the blown out element being a projection). The sail could be made of light paper so that if chorus blows in it it looks like wind. Either the sail is a light construction which is always onstage, or it can be unfurled from the ceiling with a rope, and then retied at the end with the same rope if it is made of canvas. If it is canvas, chorus could push it out with their hands to imply wind. Time periods are implied by the dress of particular characters, and minimal set decor. The Voyeur will be videotaping throughout, sometimes the visuals appearing on-screen as they happen, sometimes delayed. Taped music from the performance may mimic the voyeur tapings.
"While being a male always retain in you the female element"- Lao Tse
"sp"= spoken text
(A Voyeur - always present - with a video camera is taping audience as they
take their seats. They will later appear on video screens)
Voyeur: (sp)
Sex makes the world go round
Time is sex
Opposites attract
Gravity is sex
Opposites duplicate
Time is repetition
Opposites repel
Leaving takes time
(Orlando naked under an Oak Tree)
Orlando:
The oak tree remains
rooted, sure of its place
completeness relying on no other
Attentive only to my own comings and goings
I gaze across centuries
Awaiting the other's arrival
then shall I arrive
The oak tree remains
Rooted, sure of its place
Orlando remains
Fluid changing her face
The oak tree desires
Never, keeping its time
Orlando desires
Ever, her clinging vine
Completeness relying on another.
(dreamily)
I take thee to be me
if thou takes me to be thee
as we take it shall we be
(snaps out of it)
I take it I am she
though he I just as well might be
(Ambiguity- wearing a question mark - enters)
Ambiguity:
You are he as you are she as we are he and she and he together
How do you know?
How does your mind go
from this to that?
from now to then?
What do you know
if society doesn't tell you so?
gossip and here-say
habit and wordplay
How do you know what you are?
How do you know what you're told?
What makes you think what you think?
What makes you buy what you're sold?
Today's truth is tomorrows lie
Society's fool is Certainty's "I"
(Society - wearing dollar sign- enters)
Society:
You are as you're defined, molded, categorized. It's what we call civilization
(Certainty- wearing exclamation point- enters)
Certainty:
You can be sure there's a place and a plan for you in the cosmos; a soul-mate
just for you
Orlando/Male O (singing together each in their own "space"):
There's more to me than meets the eye
other fruit bearing branches
in the corner of my eye another me
other choices other chances
Ambiguity:
I've climbed the other branches of your tree
and reposed in the strange shades of you
Orlando/Male O:
Why do I hear this urgent calling
that makes me loathe to spend the night at home
so through the alleys I go caterwauling
to find a pretty pronoun for my poem
Ambiguity:
Somewhere, not here, where you are, but not you
I know you, both sides of you
searching, needy, unaware
an opened mind and you could
blow your selves a kiss
Instead of always seeking something missing
seeking something missing
pining for someone other somewhere
Orlando:
Too hard for she too soft for he
exclusive love inclusive me
the in and out the round about
returning to my changing tree
I'll take the time to change to be
whatever change will make of me
around again with yang and yin
I ride the world on shifting sea
as dubious Time calls at the ports of me
the here and there the now and never
the yes and no
If I could find elusive you
Then I'll define conclusive who
that makes me that I'm bound to be
a him or her a she or he
So on I go round and around
Always away, never in town
My standards fly
Raising the question
Who will answer?
My coat of arms
Leaves me to ponder
Who is Orlando?
Must I sail the seas of time to find a gender truly mine?
Must I chase the feral goose to find the cab for my caboose?
Blow me a lusty kiss
to flush my slackened sail
and send me off among the years
to a time where I am stiff to the wind
Chorus (pantomiming wind in sail or actually blowing "kisses" into sail):
Snap to the gale that blows you
to find the one you don't yet know who knows you
Orlando: Sail erect, I breach the brine and pass the time
toward the other I set my sail
and to a day as yet undawned
I set my mind
Chorus: Oh rash, ridiculous man always sailing so uselessly
round Cape Horn in the teeth of a gale! (Woolf)
(Orlando puts on war-like attire and enters 1600's)
Certainty: (sp) You are he as surely he as he will ever be
Society: (sp) A sturdy oak of a boy built to kill not stand still
Ambiguity: (in a cage) (sp) Inclined toward the pen thinks me
Society: (sp) Why you I oughtta...
(Orlando draws sword and mimics swordplay)
(Center-stage, possibly elevated Male Orlando putting on women's make- up
etc.)
Male O:
I like to back-door Father Time
jump on and off the merry go round when I want
I can pee standing up or sitting down
but can find no companion to fill the void in myself
The revolution went astray
ended up the raygun way
But in these years of which we speak
androgyny is o so chic
The revelation of the time:
our destiny's to blur the line
The line of time the line of sex
it's all confused the train is wrecked
The once avant is now the rear
the once assured is now the queer
The ship of state is a ship of fools
constructed with rube goldburg rules
I am legion I am one
the many me's conceal the sun
And when we all come out to play
we disco dance the time away
The Buddha knew the cosmos game
the many masks yet all the same
The hours we keep the nuts we store
the D J's on the disco floor
We've counted now two thousand years
and in the counting count our fears
Our punishment for all this sin
we have to start all over again
( a neon garish red flashing "2000AD" sign turns to wax and melts (Quick Time movie)
(Male O exits and reappears on film in a 70's disco)
(back to 1600)
(a Castrato is heard)
Orlando:
Hark: a lark
otherworldly timeless
sweet yet muscular
sweeping me away
Castrato: (possibly on film)
Society set me aside
Relieved me of my manly pride
Never bridegroom never bride
A place on earth so ill defined
Sounds of universal mind
This the music of my kind
To satisfy its need for me
Society raped Certainty
and slept with Ambiguity
Society: (sp)
This is of no concern to you
some things we don't discuss in polite company
Ambiguity: (sp)
Society hides the truth in cupboards and dollops out propriety with a shovel
Certainty: (sp)
These mysterious scars and bruises concealed with the cream of dogma
Society: (sp)
Ambiguity schemes to rattle our dreams
with lies of the kind that muddle the mind
Pay no heed
Orlando:
But so beautiful, I'm lost in bliss
The Voyeur: (sp)
If sex is the violent reunion of opposites in rhythm and time
then rhythm and time are the universe copulating
(Orlando flashes ankle at a Sailor who nearly falls out of a "Crows nest".
Orlando goes back under tree)
Orlando:
Too soon
Or too late
Such bad timing
Every entrance a faux pas
Each exit a fly in the soup
Yet I can walk between the cracks
And lose myself in a sea of me's
(Orlando re-dresses and enters 17th Century court dance, encountering
Casanova)
(Chorus members are dancing a sort of Baroque acid trip i.e. formalistic
Baroque movement with a lot of kinks)
Casanova (very dandy):
I am the prince of love
The greatest of all time
Renowned through the ages
The ladies swoon when I flick my wrist
Casanova they cry
by Casanova I am kissed
My sweet perfumes my ruffled shirt
My roguish air my practiced flirt
Be careful lest you faint my dear
You meet the prince of lovers here
Orlando: (sp)
This is a man?
Certainty: (sp)
I can't help you on this one
Society: (sp)
Ah yes, such perfection, such consummate grace
Ambiguity: (sp)
He da man!
(Male O re-enters real time- dressing table)
Male O:
The other half
The fullness of time
Where the ends meet
The meat ends
When I snag
My cosmic snatch
My time will come
My space will bend
(Male O exits and reappears on film at a 90's "Rave")
Voyeur: (sp)
If real time is now when did now start? (Images of audience taped earlier)
(Orlando back under tree)
Orlando:
Do I play the game too well or not well enough?
Is my role-playing too transparent or too opaque?
I see too soon what's behind the curtain
I know the shortcuts to eternity
My blind must have slipped during some mysterious transit
So that the illusions of society
The delusions of certainty
The confusions of ambiguity
BORE ME
Chorus: While the jury is out
With Orlando in doubt
We may ponder awhile
On the wisdom of guile
(Orlando, dressed as a man enters a 19th Century salon and meets George Sand)
(George Sand reciting, Chopin- chorus member- laboring at piano)
George Sand with whip:
More notes Fred
George Sand:
Call me a whore
but don't call me Aurore
never a bore
not anymore
George to the core, not Aurore
George Sand:
Chopin must I make you feel it? (Chopin coughs)
Orlando:
I sink into your eyes with rocks in my pockets
Crossing taboos to reach wholeness
George Sand:
And do you find your own soul there?
"My window is open my room full of flowers"
Orlando:
Not my opposite but myself
George Sand:
No negotiation no burning ancient abrasions
No reconciliation no awkward occasions
Orlando and George:
Just recognition
Let the fabled "Other" fly with the wild geese
as for us we will trust in our redundancy
No development only repetition
repetition repetition repetition repetition
We shall write our epic with pen and with life
both shall be husband, both shall be wife
(Orlando back under tree)
Orlando:
Time out of mind
I've spent some time out of my mind
Into my minds
Minds out of time
Seeking signs to let me know
what is the time?
where's that other half of mine?
who am I this time?
I'm of a mind to be anything anyone anytime
Sweet as sugar or nasty as grime
Fat with frilly dresses or spiked in body armour
Rogue cop on a Hog or stripper in a gay bar
Prissy poet on a picnic or swooning hostess at a dinner party
(Visuals could include stills of Orlando dressed in different roles)
(Canon- all participate)
Society may whip me Certainty equip me Ambiguity strip me
Society steer me Certainty clear me Ambiguity queer me
(Male Orlando back in real time at dressing table)
Male O:
Jack or Jill
Why is it always Jack or Jill, kiss or kill
I will exist between the notes
Above the divisions abstractions categorizations
Timekeepers make no time with me
(Male O exits and reappears on film at a 60's "Happening"
(Orlando and George get married in the 19th Century. The wind is blowing,
doors and shutters rattling. Ambiguity is dancing, Society ranting and
cursing, and Certainty whimpering in a corner. A Master of Ceremonies
performs the service)
(Quick Time Movies of doors slamming open and shut, shudders, wind and rain, etc.)
Master of Ceremonies:
Who will penetrate?
Who capitulate?
Who will seduce?
Who reproduce?
Orlando and George Sand:
Both of us shall
equally well
Chorus: Both of them shall
Equally well
None of us think
They will go to hell
Orlando and George Sand:
I take thee to be me
if thou takes me to be thee
as we take it shall we be (they kiss)
Chorus:
When the bent strings of your heart are bowed
Follow the bend in the gender road
Voyeur (taping): (sp)
O this is hot
Society: (sp)
This is intolerable it will not be tolerated liberated x- rated confiscated
castigated infiltrated penetrated humiliated imitated conjugated or
masturbated. I'll call out the hounds of hell (music emulating "hounds"
-Woolves-demonic dog visuals)
(Certainty lights candles)
(Ambiguity laughs mockingly)
(Sand and Orlando go under tree, exchange clothes and enter 20th Century
together)
(Male Orlando back in real time)
Male O:
Now you can clone me
it makes me feel so marketable
Some bureaucrat could stamp out copies of me
making me quite indestructible
I'm ready for commodity trading Mr. DeMille! (sp)
I used to put my ass on the xerox machine
Now my ass can be anywhere, crash any scene
Call me indestructible
Call me o so marketable
Call me so ubiquitous too
Clone me Mr. Scientist
make like you're Andy Warhol
Clone me Ms. Biologist
show the world my asshole
Now you can clone me
Clone me, clone me
Chorus: Duplicate me
Make me many
So I'll be there
If you want any.
(Warhol/xerox-like visuals of duplicated faces dominate screens)
(exits) Chorus members exchange clothes. Orlando flashes breasts to Sailor, who
yawns)
Orlando comes into present with Ambiguity (Society and Certainty don't make
it)
Ambiguity: Here in century 21
I am having so much fun
Each conceit must bow to me
they fawn on Ambiguity
Especially when it comes to sex
I've got the culture by the peck
It started back in '68
when Myron 86'd his poke
Vidal gave birth to Myra
and so the wolves provoked
The howling critics long since gone
but Breckenridge lives on
and so may I introduce to you your worthy lineage:
the famous Myra Breckenridge
Male O as Myra: (showing slides of MB movie)
When I was Orlando
I knew there was another inside
When I was Myra
the inner loved the outer lied
when at last a surgeon might
set the birthday faux pas right
my father Gore brought this to bear
and bared the girl in the boy in black in white
the internal out, the facade out of sight
and so again yang and yin in one danced side by side
(MO and O dance)
Chorus: Vidal Vidal we call on you
to help us through these confusing times
You pioneer, you brilliant queer
be a dear and meet us here
in the middle of our identity crisis
For you are the American Other
who holds the vanity mirror
into which we fear to gaze
O: At last a writer after my own heart
at last I find my other part
And so I pledge my troth not to Aurore, but to Gore
Orlando/MaleO duet (still co-existing for a moment in the present)
MO lifting weights, O combing hair
MO:
All jerk and squat
O:
All work and thought
MO:
All fit to fight
O:
Alone tonight
Miles apart
no bond in the middle
too far to bridge
Herstory, History
Did you call?
(Indicating herself) So Hopeful (Pointing at MO) So Small
Hair down, let it fall
MO:
Wanking the Monkey Bone
Mano a Mano
shooting my rockets
Let's go to war
or start a revolution
All together, "see you at the game"
It's about testosterone
O:
Hair down, let it fall
no answers at all
miles apart
One day is forever
one night any night
That's right
alone tonight
Both:
Inside every Thing there is a Before One or the Other Thing
One and The Other Together before
Specific Naming reduces us
and Categories harness us
Except for Some,
the Non-Specifics in Between
As we rehearse the roles we play
Out There the world as ever,
is Everything,
We dance for our Opposites,
then always I and the Other,
not The Thing
Chorus:
As we rehearse the roles we play
While we unscroll the tomes we say
When we discard the masks we wear
Our world dissolves into thin air.
Trio:
Ambiguity
There is no
you nor I
No past
nor future
So what
are we left with?
Only experience
and your imagination
Only now
and the world you make
You're limited only
by your own dreams
Nothing is everything
not what it seems
Chaos reminds us
that nothing is certain
So be like Dorothy;
peek 'round the curtain
Society
Don't mess with
my illusions
My slight
of hand
My stage
and show
All the truth
you need to know
The play
makes the machinery go
It's for the best
for the good of all
To make the world
so very small
I'll clean the clutter
from your little lives
Predictability
is what you like
Certainty
"The less we see
the more we believe"
We have the ground
beneath our feet
The sky and stars
above to see
The rest is what
we see inside
Our love of place,
of home, of pride
The gifts we're given
from the crib:
Sex was made
from Adam's rib
To doubt gives birth
to war and strife
Believing is
the breath of life
Chorus (Visuals include rotating planets, objects moving at different speeds,
clocks etc) Chorus members could possibly set metronomes at different tempos
while singing):
Your time flies
my time drags
my clock ticks
your clock sags (Dali visuals)
running from death
falling asleep
hours to kill
deadlines to keep
the cosmos accommodates
the rabbit and slug
you live forever
I pull the plug (Quick Time Movie of bathtub plug being pulled, water draining/ morphing
into black hole)
(Canon- all participate. Visuals involve images taped from the performance,
sped up and slowed down including a fast collage- created during
intermission):
Wholeness is all
time is a blind
only connect
into the Mind
(Sail is tied or taken off stage. Orlando alone under tree)
Orlando:
No wind to tack my sail I bind
and find that I forget the time
I'm back to where I was before
I set sail for that other shore
Attentive only to my own comings and goings
I gaze across centuries
Awaiting the other's arrival
then shall I arrive
(addressing audience)
I take thee to be me
if thou takes me to be thee
as we take it shall we be
Voyeur: (sp)
Wow, that was somethin', huh? (turns off camera, video screens go blank)
The nakedness, the cross-dressing
I'm gonna go lose myself in a sea of me's
(looks at audience)
What're you lookin' at?
(exit)
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