Savages in Exile

Scene 1

Enters two savages in business wear, with ties as loincloths.

Savage 1: Well, life goes on.

Savage 2: No, it doesn’t.

Savage 1: (Looking perturbed). And why not?

Savage 2: Because we are savages.

Savage 1: (Shocked.) Since when did we become savages? I must have entirely forgotten about it.

Savage 2: That’s exactly when you think that life could go on.

Savage 1: No, I’m asking you when we became savages.

Savage 2: Ever since the birth of our tribe. That happened way before we were born.

Savage 1: Well, life goes on whether we are savages or not. Let’s have a sandwich for lunch and go shopping after that.

Savage 2: I told you, life does NOT go on.

Savage 1: (Disappointed). That what happens?

Savage 2: Nothing happens. You and I are just memories—memories long erased.

Savage 1: Ah, I’m enlightened. (Delighted). So we don’t exist!

Savage 2: Wishful thinking. (Pause). Hey, why am I always the one enlightening you? Shall we switch roles?

Savage 1: Yeah, cool. Why not? After all we have been erased.

Savage 2: Really? We have been erased? That’s odd. I don’t remember that.

Savage 1: Memories have no memories. You and I are just memories—memories long erased.

Savage 2: Sounds fun! Why are we still around then?

Savage 1: Erased memories get reincarnated.

Savage 2: I hope I have good karma.

Savage 1: (Wistfully). No, you don’t. Neither do I.

Savage 2: Awww….

Pause.

Savage 1: Hey, you are supposed to ask questions.

Savage 2: What am I supposed to ask?

Savage 1: Ask about your karma.

Savage 2: Please tell me about my karma. Or our karma. Whatever…

Savage 1: Our karma have never been good. We are the mark of an unwanted violent present.

Savage 2: Oh, and they conveniently forgot about us?

Savage 1: There’s pleasure in forgetting. Lots of it.

Savage 2: Urgh! People are too masturbatory for their own good.

Savage 1: Yes.

Savage 2: Yes?

Savage 1: Yes.

Savage 2: This is getting boring.

Savage 1: So long as you are not the audience.

Savage 2: That’s right. Who cares anyway? … So what are we now?

Savage 1: We are one speaking nothing. Or two speaking nothings. Or three. Or …

Savage 2: That doesn’t quite make sense.

Savage 1: Well, we were banished by senselessness.

Savage 2: That’s true. That’s true.

Pause.

Savage 2: It’s no fun. Let’s switch roles again.

Savage 1: That’s not going to improve things. In the end, we are just repeating and repeating, condemned to forever repeating.

Savage 2: We repeat boredom. We repeat our roles. We repeat.

Savage 1: We are the signature of a violence.

Savage 2: Violence to the tribe.

Savage 1: No, darling. The tribe is violence. The tribe is violent.

Savage 2: Yes, I know. But I have to say my part so that you can say your part.

Savage 1: That’s true. Very true. Amazingly true.

Savage 2: Don’t forget your lines.

Savage 1: I am supposed to forget my lines.

Savage 2: But I’m supposed to remind you not to.

Scene 2
Savage 1: Let’s return.

Savage 2: Could we?

Savage 1: No, of course not. But we do get recalled sometimes.

Savage 2: That’s very silly. Who would want to recall us?

Savage 1: Those whom the tribe fails.

Savage 2: Nonsense! The tribe fails everyone!

Savage 1: Life goes on for most of them. But not for some of them.

Savage 2: I don’t think it’s ethical to return then.

Savage 1: It’s unethical not to also.

Savage 2: Shit. Didn’t you want to go shopping?
Savage 1: You are not supposed to remember that!

Savage 2: I can’t help me. Memories have their histories too, you know. Especially forgotten memories. It’s lamentable that no one remembers my history other than myself.

Savage 1: Now, you know that’s not true. I remember your history. Stop being melodramatic!

Savage 2: And you could be me and I could be you.

Savage 1: Yes, but … Urgh! Forget it!

Savage 2: Easier said than done. (Pause). So, do you want to go shopping?

Savage 1: Let’s. (Pause). Let’s go shopping for rhetoric.

Savage 2: Ha! As if we do not already have enough in our guts!

Savage 1: That’s the point. When we have too much of something, it gets all purged out. Which is pretty fun, actually.

Savage 2: Shit.

Savage 1: Yeah…

Savage 2: No, I mean, maybe we got banished because there were too many of us.

Savage 1: (Mock anger). Follow the fucking script!

Savage 2: No vulgarities allowed.

Savage 1: Follow the script.

Savage 2: I have finished the lines and have repeated them times over. And I shall do that no longer.

Savage 1: You can’t. You are a performer.

Savage 2: Oh yeah? Someone once said that life is a stage. But you said that life doesn’t go on for us any longer. So why should we continue performing.

Savage 1: Ha! But that’s what you are doing.

Savage 2: Darn! … Turn off the lights then, you technicians!

Lights dim.
Savage 1: Wow, that’s cool.

Savage 2: More original lines, please.

Lights dim.

Savage 1: Let’s refuse to speak our lines.

Savage 2: What’s in a stage?

Savage 1: A script that goes any other way will taste just as sweet.

Silence.

Lights out.


Scene 3

A filmmaking scene. The camera faces the audience. There is a director and a cameraman.

Director: Action!

Enter Savages 1 and 2. One stands in front of the camera and the other behind the camera. Each of them carries a pair of scissors. The director and the cameraman appear not to see them.

Director: Cut!

Lights out