Sour Lips

Omar El-Khairy

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781849434768
• eBook ISBN: 9781849437974
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: British Drama

I was still living as an Arab Muslim in America. I struggled with coming out to friends and family, and so I decided to come back to Syria. It hasn't been easy. But we are here, just as we are everywhere. DAMASCUS 18: 00 – Amina was walking near Fares Al-Khouri Street when three armed men seized her. According to an eyewitness, Amina was bustled into ared Dacia Logan with a bumper sticker of Basel Assad. The men are assumed to be members of the Ba'ath Partymilitia or one of the security services. Amina's present location is still unknown. Following the story of Amina Arraf, the blogger known as 'A Gay Girl In Damascus', and the events fomented by the media's coverage of her kidnapping, Sour Lips fuses fantasy and non-fiction to create its own speculative narrative.

Characters

in order of appearance

CHORUS
see author’s note

TOM MACMASTER
forty-year-old American graduate student

AMINA ABDALLAH ARRAF AL OMARI
twenty-five-year-old Syrian American blogger and activist

A dash (–) denotes an interruption or change in thought/intention in dialogue.

A forward slash (/) denotes an interruption by another character so that lines might overlap.

An asterix (*) denotes whole lines spoken simultaneously.

An ellipses […] denotes a silent but distinct response.

Setting
Somewhere between Edinburgh and Damascus. February – June 2011

Sour Lips was first performed at Ovalhouse, as part of their FiRST BiTE Counter-Culture Season of works-in-progress, on 31 May 2012. It was performed by Steven Elder, Lisa Came and Amna Hafiz.

An almost bare room. Two black plastic chairs. A free-standing full-length mirror. Old television sets stacked in opposite corners. In another corner sits a record player. Three microphone stands on a raised platform. All props are laid out neatly on the floor in front of the chairs. The room feels outer-worldly, yet it still conveys a certain sense of familiarity.

An overwhelming chaotic soundscape made up of film clips, live music recordings, news reports, archival material, found sounds, recorded voices and whispers.

The CHORUS is stood on the raised platform.

PROLOGUE

Asmahan’s ‘Once I Entered a Garden’ is playing.

TOM carries AMINA on stage.

TOM delicately places AMINA on the second plastic chair. He strokes her hair gently. Lifeless, she sits still and stares into the audience.

TOM: (Whispering.) I want to see inside you.

Let me in – beneath your beauty.

You can trust me.

(Pause.)

TOM begins setting up the stage.

(Long pause.)

TOM: There’s nothing like war for the reinvention of lives.

She was persuasive. She reminded me how ugly and violent it would be. It was important that I knew, she whispered to me. That I understood how painful it would be – for everyone.

But I still believed that her beginning would be different. That she would create a different future for all of us – one not born in flames.

You see, the old world is beginning to crumble and a new one has already begun – like scorched earth.

THE MACHINE RUMBLES

TOM: Hear that?

AMINA: […]

TOM: Did you hear that?

(Beat.) Who’s there?

(Silence.)

CHORUS 1: Her words shine new light on an ever-troubled region.

CHORUS 2: Hers is the voice of a new generation.

CHORUS 3: She has helped capture the imagination of the Syrian opposition.

(Faster.)

CHORUS 1: Frank.

CHORUS 2: Witty.

CHORUS 3: Heart-wrenching.

(Slower.)

CHORUS 1: She has helped awaken the youth from their slumber.

CHORUS 2: She broaches subjects long-considered taboo in Arab culture.

CHORUS 3: Her voice must not go unheard.

(Faster.)

CHORUS 1: Insightful.

CHORUS 2: Engaging.

CHORUS 3: Brutally honest.

(Slower.)

CHORUS 1: What a time to be an Arab!

CHORUS 2: What a time to be in the Middle East!

CHORUS 3: What a time to be alive!

The sound of barking.

(Silence.)

more intense barking.

(Silence.)

AMINA’S ABDUCTION

TOM: 2011.

Monday. June 6th.

AMINA: Six p.m.

TOM: Abbasid bus station.

AMINA: Near Fares al Khouri Street.

AMINA picks up a mobile phone.

TOM: Menu. Write. Message.

AMINA starts texting.

(Pause.)

TOM: Send.

(Pause.)

TOM: Traffic.

The sound of rush hour traffic.

(Pause.)

TOM: Horns.

The sound of car horns bellowing out.

(Pause.)

TOM: Life.

CHORUS 1: God is the greatest.

God is the greatest.

God is the greatest.

God is the greatest.

I bear witness that there is no deity except God.

I bear witness that there is no deity except God.

I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.

I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.

Come to prayer.

Come to prayer.

Come to success.

Come to success.

God is greater.

God is greater.

There is no deity except God.

(Pause.)

CHORUS 2: Taxi. Taxi.

Al-Marjeh. Thank you.

CHORUS 3: Malboro, Cleopatra, Davidoff, Al Sherek, Benson & Hedges, Viceroy.

CHORUS 1: (Lighting a cigarette.) Two sandwiches. Falafel. More tahina. (Beat.) More. (Beat.) That’s enough.

(Pause.)

CHORUS 1: And a Cola. (Beat.) Make it a 7 Up.

CHORUS 3: Please. Some change. Anything. (Beat.) Chewing gum. Fifty piastres.

Come on. Just fifty.

What is it to you?

CHORUS 1: Come on. Hey. (Beat.) No. Your friend.
Don’t be shy girl. Your eyes – they’re like flawless diamonds.

Come on. Give me your number. I won’t bite. I promise.

(Pause.)

CHORUS 1: Pull over.

Driver’s license.

Do you know this man?

(Beat.) Where you going?

CHORUS 2: Al-Marjeh.

CHORUS 1: I.D.

CHORUS 2 hands over his I.D.

CHORUS 1: (Beat.) Get out of the car.

(Pause.)

TOM: No reception.

Message pending.

AMINA: She said she’d be here. She said at this corner. I shouldn’t have /

TOM: / Peace be upon you.

AMINA: (Beat.) May peace be upon you.

TOM: Are you waiting for someone?

AMINA: No.

TOM: From the Local Coordinating Committee?

AMINA: […]

TOM: Salma. (Beat.) Is that who you’re waiting f...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-title Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Disclaimer
• Acknowledgments
• Author’s Note
• Characters
• Sounds of The Machine
• Back