Revelations
Darren Donohue
Genre: One Act, Absurd
Cast size: 3
Duration: 60 mins approx
Darren Donohue | Absurd | One Act | 3m
Short synopsis
- Synopsis
- Characters
A world in ashes. A hide-out in the deserted tenements. An old man commits an atrocity. A young man discovers it. Age and treachery are pitted against youth and skill.
‘Revelations’ opens with Man 1, a chair-bound old man reminiscing about his youth. He carefully refines the words he uses to describe his memories, as though striving to recapture the essence of past experience. These recollections include his first memory, his first love, and a moment of mutual compassion/connection with a stranger. However, he struggles to keep darker memories that haunt him at bay. The pain in his knee grows worse, he rings a bell, and Man 2 enters. Man 2 appears to care for Man 1, stretching out his knee and checking he is comfortable. However, Man 1 refuses to speak to Man 2, and there is an uneasy (often comic) tension between them. It appears Man 2 is also documenting his memories/fantasies, writing them down in a book, and these he reads to Man 1, much to Man 1’s annoyance. Man 2 eventually exits, and Man 1 eagerly returns to his recollections. Unfortunately, darker experiences from Man 1’s past return to torment him.
In scene 2, we discover that something terrifying is happening in the outside world. And, the men live in constant danger of being discovered. We also learn how Man 1 and Man 2 met and begin to understand the complex relationship that exists between them.
In scene 3, the world they managed to shut out breaks in on them in the form of Man 3. Secrets from the past are uncovered and the true terror that awaits them is revealed. Fatal choices are made, and a treacherous plot is hatched, as they come to terms with their predicament and desperately cling to survival.
With wit and lyricism, ‘Revelations’ explores the treads that keep us tethered to hope and salvation when everything else is stripped away.
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