Dennis Hollingsworth

Mutiny in Heaven

This reminds me of the time when Monkey jumped into heaven and raided the trees bearing fruit that had the power to endow one with immortality. After gorging on the sacred fruit, Lao Tzu was dispatched to apprehend the heavenly miscreant whereupon the sage trapped Monkey in an incense pot where Monkey's eyes turned red from the smoke (that's why representations of Monkey have him with blazing red bloodshot eyes) and from there the story trailed off to another stream in the rambling style of ancient literature.

I'm planning to attend Kevin O'Sullivan's Pharmakos pocket plays at the Mountain tonight.

Here are the first two minutes of "Calzada de los Muertos", written and directed by Kevin O'Sullivan featuring Eugene Butler and Lara Phillips.

Update: Kevin sent me the script...

CALZADA DE LOS MUERTOS
(Hotel room, outskirts of Mexico City, near the ruins
of Teotihuacan.)
MARA What then?
SIMMONS Now?
MARA What then?
SIMMONS I don?t know. I?m tired.
MARA You didn?t sleep well.
SIMMONS I?m so very tired.
MARA You were up all night.
SIMMONS My prostate.
MARA You should see Doctor Chen when we get back.
SIMMONS Can?t piss.
MARA You worry me.
SIMMONS Nothing to worry about.
MARA I do.
SIMMONS It?s a bitch when you gotta go, and you can?t
piss.
MARA You could take an nap if you?d like. A siesta.
SIMMONS Siesta.
MARA I could do some shopping.
SIMMONS Take a little siesta.
MARA It?s not something you enjoy, anyhow ?shopping.
SIMMONS I don?t know what I enjoy anymore.
MARA You should try to relax, That?s what we came for.
SIMMONS You know what? ?I?ve come to this realization.
MARA What?
SIMMONS It doesn?t matter.
MARA Of course you can come if you wish, shopping.
SIMMONS I?m getting old. That?s what I realized.
MARA You?re not old.
SIMMONS I?m old enough to be your father.
MARA I?m not that young.
SIMMONS Young enough.
MARA For what?
SIMMONS For me. But I?m just too goddamned old.
MARA I wish you?d stop saying that.
SIMMONS I don?t understand it.
MARA What?
SIMMONS Any of it?
MARA What don?t you understand.
SIMMONS Mara-
(beat)
Why the fuck do you stay with me?
MARA Do I have to say it?
(Simmons responds with vehemence)
SIMMONS No! Don?t say it. Don?t say anything. I don?t
want to hear any of it!
MARA You can say it to me.
SIMMONS what?
MARA But you won?t.
SIMMONS you want me to say it?
MARA I know you won?t.
SIMMONS Jesus Christ, you?re turning my head all
round.
(beat)
How did we end up in this shit hole?
MARA I think this room is nice.
SIMMONS I mean here, in Mexico.
MARA You wanted to see the pyramids.
SIMMONS Yeah, I wanted that. I always wanted to see
the pyramids.
MARA You made it almost half-way.
SIMMONS Half the way up. Jesus. Pathetic.
MARA Maybe it was a bad idea, in your condition.
SIMMONS All the way down here to see the fucking
pyramids. Climb to the fucking top. Survey the land. A
year ago, no problem. It creeps up on you like that,
then wham!
MARA You?ve been sick.
SIMMONS But I got better. Fuckin? doctors.
MARA It takes time to recover.
SIMMONS You know what happens, I?ve seen it, this is
how it happens
MARA Don?t get yourself all worked up.
SIMMONS Listen, I?m fuckin? telling you. I?ve seen it.
Up close. First it?s one little thing, then another.
MARA It?s one little thing and soon you?ll be all
better.
SIMMONS (cruelly) You sound like a nurse.
MARA I don?t mean to.
SIMMONS A nursery school teacher. Just ?cause I?ve got
these problems doesn?t mean you can talk to me like
I?m a little kid!
MARA Why do you say that?
SIMMONS I don?t know. Jesus.
MARA You?re stressed.
(Simmons sits down in a chair)
SIMMONS I don?t feel right. I thought I?d be alright
for this trip. I thought it?d invigorate me. Last
night I couldn?t stop shitting, now I can?t even piss.
MARA just a mild case of turista.
SIMMONS (gently) Yes, nurse.
MARA That?s why you don?t have all your energy.
SIMMONS I?m just a broken down old car. Maybe they can
break me down for spare parts?
MARA You just need a little attention. Here.
(Mara massages Simmon?s neck and shoulders)
SIMMONS Ohh.
MARA okay?
SIMMONS Yeah.
MARA Better?
SIMMONS Much better. This is not what I planned you
know, how I saw it going. It was going to be? I
thought it?d be nice getting away. You always liked to
travel.
MARA I still do.
(Simmons gets up, walks downstage)
SIMMONS I don?t travel much anymore. Not like I used
to. I used to travel quite a bit. I?ve been to
Bogota. That was a weird place. I should have been
scared, I guess. With the cartels and guerrillas. I
knew a guy who?d been kidnapped. He was trying to buy
gems. They just picked him up, these guys, with guns.
He was with them for three days, in the jungle.
Sleeping on the bare ground. I guess they were
guerrillas. I don?t know what kind. Places like that
you can?t always tell. They could have been drug
dealers. They just let him go, walked out of the
jungle then walked back in. I heard other stories like
that.
I?ve been to Venezuela.
I?ve been in jungles so big you don?t know the end of
it. It has a smell. The jungle smell. Like something
damp. Like something rotting.
I?ve been to lot of places in South America. Peru. I
didn?t go to Peru. I could have seen the ruins. You
have to walk up a mountain to get to these ruins. I
could have done that then.
I couldn?t now.
I can?t even make it halfway up the Pyramid of the
fucking Sun.
MARA the Moon.
SIMMONS What?
MARA We hiked up the Pyramid of the Moon.
SIMMONS Which one is larger?
MARA I don?t know. Aren?t they the same?
SIMMONS One is larger than the other. I know that. I
read up on this thing.
MARA You read up on a lot of things.
SIMMONS My stomach feels a little funky.
(Simmons slumps into chair.)
MARA That seems normal.
SIMMONS I?m hungry. Starving. But I don?t know what
will happen. I don?t want a re-run of last night.
MARA Try just a nibble first.
SIMMONS God that was shameful, something you don?t
want anybody to see. It?s like your naked.
MARA I?ve seen you naked before.
SIMMONS I mean exposed. You can?t keep what?s inside
you in. You have no control of your body. No woman
should see a man like this. No one should be that
exposed.
MARA I?ve seen you exposed.
SIMMONS And it doesn?t disgust you? Doesn?t make you
squirm.
MARA I?m not like that.
SIMMONS I haven?t always been like this. Remember
that. Remember me how I was. I was tough as they get.
MARA I remember.
SIMMONS Yeah. You do?
MARA I remember how tough you were.
SIMMONS I don?t. I don?t remember anymore.
MARA You could be a real asshole.
SIMMONS Yeah? An asshole? You liked me that way.
MARA Yeah. I did.
SIMMONS An asshole. But tough.
MARA Tough as they get.
(Simmons stands.)
SIMMONS You know I was always the last one to get
sick. On trips. I?d drink water out of the tap. No
problem. I had a strong constitution. I could drink
guys under the table and not get sick. These guys were
crying. People were afraid of me cause they thought I
didn?t feel pain. I could be real intimidating. I was
scared of nothing.
(beat)
Now I?m scared of everything?
MARA You don?t have to be scared. The doctor gave you
a clean bill of health.
SIMMONS I?m weak.
MARA You?ll get your strength back.
SIMMONS I?ve seen what it?s like you know, when it
starts to get bad.
MARA Stop thinking about it.
SIMMONS It changed me. My perception. I have a
different perspective, see things from a different
angle.
MARA why don?t you come with me shopping?
SIMMONS I saw how it?s going to end.
MARA Christ already!
SIMMONS For me.
MARA You?re not dying, Simmons!
SIMMONS We all are.
MARA Not anytime soon.
SIMMONS I wanted this to be good. For us. I wanted to
show you the pyramids.
MARA That was great. Really great.
SIMMONS I wanted to walk with you down the calzada de
los muertos.
MARA The what?
SIMMONS We were on it. I meant to buy a card in the
gift shop.
MARA It was closed.
SIMMONS That?s Mexico for you.
MARA I like the pyramids. It doesn?t matter to me that
we didn?t make it to the top.
SIMMONS I wanted you to see the view.
MARA I saw enough.
SIMMONS You stuck with me.
MARA I always have.
SIMMONS I don?t know why.
MARA I don?t know either.
SIMMONS I?m too old.
MARA I know.
SIMMONS I?m weak.
MARA Yes.
SIMMONS I used to be strong.
MARA I heard.
SIMMONS You know that. It won?t come to a good end.
MARA No.
SIMMONS It never does.
MARA It doesn?t matter.
SIMMONS Not now.
MARA No.
SIMMONS You walked with me.
MARA Yes.
SIMMONS Down that avenue.
MARA Yes.
SIMMONS The Avenue of the Dead.
MARA For years now.
SIMMONS Will you keep walking?
MARA I don?t know.
(beat)
Should I?
SIMMONS I don?t know.
MARA Yes.
(pause, then quietly:)
Next year we?ll climb the Pyramid of the Sun.