STORYTIME TAPESTRY

Deepak Morris??™s Weekly Column

East Meets West

June 16, 2005

To continue with my vision of a world tapestry of love and understanding of cultural values throughout the world, every Thursday we will be graced by the artistic vision of Mr. Deepak Morris, a wonderful playwright and friend from Prune, India.

His plays have been preformed in front of audiences in Toronto, Canada

Jail

By Deepak Morris

Copyright ?© Deepak Morris, 2004

(Lights fade up. Daytime. A small, shabby ???office??? on a railway station in India. The Ticket Collector (TC) is sitting at a ramshackle desk, C. He is writing something. On a bench L, sits Eric. He has obviously been sitting there for a while. He whistles a tune. The TC looks up at him. Eric freezes, mouths ???sorry??? and looks down. The TC goes back to writing. Eric looks around. After a while, he stands. The TC senses movement and looks up)

TC Sit down

ERIC Look, I??™ve been sitting here for the past half-hour. You??™ve got to do something

TC You were travelling in a First Class Compartment with a Second Class ticket. That??™s against the law

ERIC Fine, so it??™s against the law. Now what?

TC (sighs, puts down his papers, stands up, stretches) I??™ll have to arrest you

ERIC I??™m an American citizen

TC You broke an Indian law in India. I have to arrest you

ERIC Fine. So arrest me

TC (pauses, looks at ERIC for a while) Okay, you??™re arrested

ERIC Just like that? (TC nods) I mean, don??™t you have to read me my rights or something?

TC No

ERIC No?

TC No

ERIC Okay, what next?

TC I have to put you in jail

ERIC Okay, where??™s this jail?

TC This is it

ERIC This is the jail? (as TC nods, ERIC looks around contemptuously) You expect to hold me here?

TC Only till you agree to pay the fine

ERIC Oh, I get it. The ???fine???. How much is it?

TC Well, it??™s like this. If you pay the official fine, it??™s two thousand rupees. And then there??™s all the paperwork. You??™ll have to report to the police station every day till your case comes up in court

ERIC Oh, I get my day in court, do I? When is my case likely to come up?

TC (shrugs) A year, maybe two

ERIC You expect me to stick around here for a year?

TC Maybe two

ERIC Look, there has to be a way around this

TC You can always pay the unofficial fine. No court case

ERIC Unofficial fine? What??™s that?

TC No receipt

ERIC Oh, I get it. How much is the ???unofficial fine????

TC Two hundred

ERIC I don??™t have that much

TC How much do you have?

ERIC Ten

TC Ok, hundred

ERIC I don??™t have a hundred, I tell you. I can give you twenty

TC (looks at his watch) I have to go on my rounds. Tell you what. Make it fifty

ERIC Oh ok. (Takes out his wallet and looks in it. Makes a face) I don??™t have change

TC What do you have?

ERIC (Blurting it out) A Five Hundred Rupee note (stops short when he realises what he??™s done)

TC (Beat) That??™s ok. I??™ve got change (reaches into his pocket)

BLACKOUT

Deepak Morris

rhapword@yahoo.com

* * *

Founder of Rhapsody Theatre, author, playwright,
actor and director Deepak Morris has been
associated with Theatre and Communication all
his life. A Master of Commerce from Pune
University, Master's Diploma holder in
Management from The Institute of Management
Development and Research (IMDR), Pune, and
Diploma holder in Computer Studies from the
National Computing Centre, UK, Deepak
combines a passion for theatre with professional management techniques
to deliver consistently well staged theatrical
performances. An accomplished actor himself,
Deepak has won numerous awards for acting and
debating, including the "Best Actor" award at
the International Year of the Youth Drama
Festival in Pune and the "Best Male Newcomer
Award" in 1997 in Dubai, U.A.E. Having acted
in numerous productions in India and Dubai,
Deepak began writing and directing his own
plays on a regular basis in March 2001. To
date, he has written several one-act plays
and skits and his group, Rhapsody Theatre,
has staged no less than 13 plays in three
years, a record of sorts.

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