Moormaid

Marion Bott

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781786825056
• eBook ISBN: 9781786824981
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

"To choose is to commit, and to commit is to be free." Berlin. Eleven past eleven. Art teacher Melissa is about to do something drastic. Seeking a place to hide, her ex-pupil Mehdi interrupts her momentum. Both embark on a turbulent journey, painting and battling their way through the past. This explosive new play about self-destruction and rebirth attempts to understand the fear currently gripping the European psyche, and the threats that may be posed by our own alienated youth.

SCENE FIVE // THE ANDROGYNOUS

MELISSA comes home and finds MEHDI washing himself in the living room with ritualized precision. She walks towards him and puts her hand on his shoulder.

MELISSA: Mehdi? Mehdi you’re still here. I’m stating the obvious, right. You are here indeed. How are you?

MEHDI: Nobody ever asks that.

MELISSA: Well, I ask you now.

MEHDI: I mean really asking.

MELISSA: How are you Mehdi?

MEHDI: My heart longs for you miss Dawud.

Pause.

And what about you?

MELISSA: I thought of you sometimes, trying to bury your deep eyes behind mundane excuses, unable to paint a single line since we last saw each other.

MEHDI: And your husband?

MELISSA: He loves me unconditionally. He loves me more than I’ve ever dared to love myself. It’s almost unbearable.

MEHDI holds onto MELISSA’s lap and buries his face in her clothing.

MEHDI: I was scared of not being the strong man a woman like you needs on her side.

MELISSA: What does it mean for you to be a strong man, Mehdi?

MEHDI: To be able to provide everything you need from me.

MELISSA: That’s the illusion that builds the cage we lock ourselves into. We kill our truth to provide what’s expected. (Pause.) All day long, I hoped you would still be here.

MEHDI: That’s why I stayed.

MEHDI takes MELISSA’s shoes off, and starts washing her feet.

You’re so beautiful.

MELISSA: You don’t have to say that to make me feel better.

MEHDI: I say it because you’re beautiful.

MELISSA: Why do I feel so old then Mehdi?

MEHDI: Things we do without purpose make us feel old.

Long pause. Tension. Desire fills the space.

MELISSA: You know, I really think you can make your way up as an artist. This is completely absurd Mehdi! Do you see that? Walk back for a second, and look at the crocodile. It’s four-armed, and four-legged, and two-headed just like the Androgynous. I have no words, this is the genius that visited you last night. (Pause.) Well, the path is clear, isnt’t it? You made the right choices Mehdi.

MEHDI: I don’t know…

MELISSA: I’ll give you all the lessons you need, and as soon as you are ready to fly, I’ll let you fly.

MEHDI: I want to fly with you.

MELISSA: My path is to help people fly.

MEHDI stands up and takes off MELISSA’s shirt.

I’m married Mehdi.

MEHDI: I don’t care. Let’s fly.

MELISSA: What now?

MEHDI: Yes now. (Pause.) Blindfold me, miss Dawud.

MELISSA: How?

MEHDI: With your jumper.

MELISSA: And then?

MEHDI: Hide for me.

MELISSA: Where should I hide?

MEHDI: Where I can still smell you.

MELISSA: And then?

MEHDI: Then I’ll seek your body to get some inspiration.

The love dance begins. MELISSA starts walking in front of MEHDI. They sensually seek each other. The room is filled with sexual desire. Their bodies finally meet to make love. Deep breaths. Deep sighs. Deep connection.

Talk to me, miss Dawud. Tell me all about the Androgynous.

MELISSA: The Androgynous… That’s us.

MEHDI: Tell me the real story. Show me if you’ve learned your lesson professor. As I promise to love you deeper.

MELISSA: (Whispers loudly.) A long time ago a very peculiar species overruled humankind… Men were born from the sun, and women were born from the moon.

MEHDI: That’s right.

MELISSA: The Androgynous came straight from deep down the earth…

MEHDI: How deep did it come from?

MELISSA: Born round, four-armed, four-legged, two-headed and single-hearted, it was strong, bold and belligerent because fed by the blithesome ball of fire.

MEHDI: Say that again.

MELISSA: Fed by the blithesome ball of fire.

MEHDI: I can feel it, that fire.

MELISSA: The Androgynous challenged the Gods. Zeus, as the God of the Gods felt deeply threatened by this fortitude. Scared to be stultified, he forgot to take a deep breath, and unleashed his anger like a shot.

The love making becomes even more passionate.

MEHDI: Tell me all about it miss Dawud. Don’t stop. Go on with it.

MELISSA: Zeus takes a deep breath, and a fierce but wise decision. ‘Androgynous, you proud child of godmother earth, listen and smile. Indeed, I’ll split you into two, two hungry children instead of one, and you will learn to be humble by missing what once was part of you.’

MEHDI: I’ve missed you so much miss Dawud. Can you feel how much I’ve missed you.

MELISSA: And as Zeus spoke, a light-stroke chopped the Androgynous into two equal parts. Blinded by the blood of their wounds, and weakened by the loss of their half, the two turn towards each other, stretch their arms out, and hold their other half tight, to the point of self-forgetfulness, forever hopeful to grow back into entity.

MEHDI: That’s what we’ve become now. An entity. Miss Dawud, we’re one.

MELISSA: This is crazy Mehdi.

MEHDI: What happens then?

MELISSA: I don’t know.

MEHDI: Try to remember Melissa. What happens with the lovers?

MELISSA: Zeus feels guilty for leaving them so hungry.

MEHDI: And what does he do to feel better?

MELISSA: He gives them what he calls a ‘carnal comfort’. But to keep the game alive Zeus scatters all the halfs all over the world and suddenly they all have the task of finding their missing part by seeking it.

MEHDI: I found my missing part. I found you. I found you, Melissa.

MELISSA: What is it that you want, human beings, to get for yourselves from one another? It is this that you desire, to be with one another in the very same place, as much as possible, and not to leave one another night and day? And when you died you would be dead together as one instead of two. For I promise you, all thunderous pain will bring great truth, seek your own lost half within your void, and not the others, so that in time you will be called to love yourself unconditionally, beyond war, beyond peace, just in time and space of timeless void.

MEHDI: I’m cumming miss Dawud.

MELISSA: Cum for me Mehdi. Komm für mich Mehdi, komm tief für mich Mehdi.

The orgasmic sounds fill the whole flat .

KHAN enters. He takes MEHDI’s phone and plays a Jihad propaganda video. MELISSA stares at the video, eyes wide open, in shock. MEHDI slowly stands up and looks out for KHAN. KHAN disappears again. MELISSA, paralyzed, tries to internally make sense of the situation.

VIDEO: Sunset in the desert, wind is blowing sand in all d...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Characters
• Scene One // Mundane Winter Suicide
• Scene Two // Nightmares
• Scene Three // The Painting Lesson
• Scene Four // The In-Between
• Scene Five // The Androgynous
• Scene Six // Heaven