Life Without Me

Daniel Keene

• Publisher: Currency Press
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781760620721
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

If you don't know who you are and you don't know where you're headed, you might find yourself spiralling in ever-tightening circles until you come to rest in a nondescript part of town in a crummy two-star hotel, where the service is churlish, the lift doesn't work, the toast is burnt and the pot plants set off your allergies. But keep your expectations low, really low, and, who knows-you might be pleasantly surprised by how everything works out.A hotel with reservations. Award-winning playwright Daniel Keene's play is an eccentric fable about taking up residence and trying to move on.

SCENE ONE

Evening.

Darkness.

The sound of thunder, howling wind and rain, the crackle of lightning.

Lights rise to reveal NIGEL standing by the fish tank, gazing into the empty water. After a few moments he moves slowly to the revolving door and looks out briefly. He turns away and moves to behind the desk. He takes the register from under the desk and opens it. He slowly runs his finger down the page, reading. He closes the register and puts it back under the desk. He moves from behind the desk and approaches the elevator. He is about to press the button when a light bulb above the desk expires with a soft ‘pop’. NIGEL moves back to the desk and looks up at the bulb. He turns and goes into the office. He returns with a fresh bulb. He climbs up onto the desk to remove the expired bulb. He isn’t quite tall enough to reach the light fitting; he stands on his toes, teetering on the brink of falling.

An enormous crash of thunder rattles the building. NIGEL falls, landing behind the desk with a sickening thud; at the same time, the revolving door spins open in a blast of wind. Refuse and dead leaves blow wildly across the lobby, followed by JOHN, who is literally blown through the door, his overcoat soaking wet, his umbrella turned inside out. He carries a small suitcase.

The revolving door stops spinning. JOHN stands dripping, breathless. He lowers his umbrella and tries to close it, as NIGEL slowly emerges from behind the desk, looking dazed, a trickle of blood running from the bridge of his nose. He sees JOHN.

The storm outside gradually begins to ease and die away throughout the following.

NIGEL: That’s very bad luck.

JOHN looks up, startled.

An open umbrella indoors is bad luck.

JOHN: [still struggling with the umbrella] I know.

NIGEL: Then could you please close it?

JOHN: You’re bleeding.

NIGEL: I fell.

JOHN: Are you alright?

NIGEL: I don’t know.

JOHN finally manages to close his umbrella.

Can I help you with something?

JOHN: Do you have a room?

NIGEL: We have a lot of rooms.

JOHN approaches the desk.

JOHN: Do you have a vacant room?

NIGEL: Quite a number.

JOHN: Could I have one?

NIGEL: Just for tonight?

JOHN: I’m not sure yet.

NIGEL reaches under the desk and fetches a large tissue; he dabs at the blood on his nose.

NIGEL: Do you have a reservation?

JOHN: No.

NIGEL: You thought you’d just turn up …

JOHN: Is that a problem?

NIGEL: Not for me. But most people make arrangements. They reserve a room.

JOHN: I haven’t, so can I—?

NIGEL: How do you manage?

JOHN: Pardon?

NIGEL: Just drifting from place to place …

JOHN: Excuse me?

NIGEL: … hoping you’ll be able to fin...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Playwright’s Biography
• Dedication
• First Production
• Characters and Setting
• Life Without Me by Daniel Keene
• Copyright Details