Paul Alan Barker Of Zoe and the Woman I Sing a melodrama in three acts Score 2014 ce-pab1oz1-dl-s Of Zoe and the Woman I Sing A melodrama in three acts on love and inspiration. (Act Two may be performed alone or placed between Act One and Act Three) Words music by Paul Alan Barker Dedicated to our friend, Art Blokland I worked with Zoë Lister to create a bank of spoken text and faces, exploiting certain emotions, as a Research Consultant for Toshiba Research in CambridGe. Toshiba created an avatar of Zoë, called XpressiveTalk TM , a face on a screen who could be proGrammed to speak any text across a full emotional ranGe: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/face-of-the-future-rears-its-head This work is desiGned for Zoë Lister to perform alonGside her avatar and a pianist/actor. The narrative explores the chanGinG relationship between an Artist and his Muse, and how their reality is altered by the consequences. pb © September 2014 1 Act One for pianist-actor (P) with Zoe (Z) The piano is on stage. As the lights come up, Zoë (Z) enters stage left and faces the audience from the curve of the piano. She appears like a model: Beautiful, confident and knowing, but perhaps just a little too much make-up. The Pianist (P) enters stage right. He runs with boyish enthusiasm to the keyboard and immediately bursts into music under their dialogue. The music becomes increasingly and climatically passionate: P: My Love! Z: My Beloved! P: My Precious! Z: My Sweetheart! P: My Adorable! Z: My Dear! P: My Dearest! Z: My Beau! P: My Flame! Z: My Darling! P: My Juliet! Z: My Treasure! P: My Idol! Z: My Paramour! P: My Inamorata! My White Goddess! My - Musicus Interuptus: Zoe suddenly raises her hand and P freezes, just before the piano climax. Z: (to P) Poor thing. (to audience) I am his muse, you see! (to P) My, what big eyes you have, my dear. Zoe drops her hand and P continues with the climactic music.. P: My Only One! 2 After the climax the music continues, subdued. Z: (to audience) Of course, it’s flattering. What girl would not love this attention? And such obedience! I snaP my fingers… She snaps her fingers and the pianist stops, frozen. Z: ...and he obeys my command. (pause) Z: (knowingly giggling) My every command. She snaps her fingers again. The pianist continues. Z: It's all quite fun, isn’t it? I may be his muse, but for me he is a-musing. So you see, that way we both get to play. He with his piano and I with him. Perhaps he is my piano? Perhaps the piano is his...well, anyway, we play each other. She snaps her fingers and the pianist stops, frozen; she blows him a kiss and giggles again. She snaps her fingers again. The pianist continues. Z: I am arousing and he is aroused. He is amusing and I am amused. A Perfect partnership. We are very happy! (Looks at him, sighs) He is always making things up. And he says he makes them for me! Do you have something for me, my love? (P nods) My, what a big imagination you have, my dear. P begins to recite whilst playing: P: If my true love loves me, Then what are all the treasures of the world to me? But... Z: effortlessly interrupting; P smiles and continues playing But if my true love loves me not, Then what are all the treasures of the world to me? giggles You still make me laugh. Truly delightful! But then we do have our treasures as well, don’t we, dear? Because of course, it is not just thoughts which pass between us, not just words that we share. Our treasures are our pleasures! You have your music and I have my words. You have your piano and I have...well, my role is quite…touching, is it not, my love? Every day, I hold you in my arms as you hold me with your hands. Your hands! I always adored your hands. (suggestively) My, what big hands you have, my dear. P: 3 License my roving hands, and let them go Before, behind, between, above, below. O, my America, my Newfoundland, My kingdom, safest when with one man mann'd... Z: (she responds) Ours is an everyday sort of relationship: he tells me I am beautiful every day. P: (He stops playing when she speaks, plays when he speaks) You are beautiful every day. Z: He tells me I am intelligent every day. P: You are intelligent every day. Z: He tells me he loves me every day. P: I love you every day. Z: I never tire of it every day. P: She never tires of it every day. Z: she pauses to look at him, briefly unsure We have had a lot of days. P: We have had a... Z: That's enough...for now, thank you. You just carry on. P starts again and changes his tune. To audience: Z: The thing is, he looks at me, stares at me for hours on end. Sometimes he asks me questions, things I like, things I do. I used to ask him questions too, but he would never answer them, not really. So I stopped. Sometimes he asks me not to speak at all, just to be here with him. He stares, he eats me with his eyes while his hands never stop roving, never stop moving. I wonder what he is looking at. I worry about letting him down. I try not to think about the future. I worry what might happen later, when... she rearranges her hair But we have had a lot of days. Happy days. We are very happy and there will always be more happy days! He has never changed. He is very reliable. And he plays so beautifully. He does love to play. P: I love to play. Z: I love to play. P: She loves to play. 4 Z: He plays to love. P: I play to love. Z: I love. P: She plays. Z: I play? P: I love. Z: You play. P: I play? Z: I love. P: You play. Z: No...Stop it! Stop playing. Please, stop playing. Stop playing now. I mean it. This is real. P stops playing the piano. She changes mood and goes to him. She stares at him, about to speak, but failing more each second. He returns her stare helplessly, without comprehending. Something has visibly broken inside her. Z: You go on playing, again. Go on. Play some more. I think I have something for you, now; He resumes playing, hesitating In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes, For they in thee a thousand errors note; But ‘tis my heart that loves what they despise, Who, in despite of view, is pleased to dote; P: Nor are mine ears with thy tongue’s tune delighted, Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone, Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited To any sensual feast with thee alone: Impass; The music drifts to a stop. They stare at each other for too long. Z: My, what a big mouth you have, my dear. The pianist responds by bursting into the most passionate and angry music. Z hesitates, then slowly backs off, leaving the stage to P alone. At the end of the heroic 5 display of music P looks for her and realises he is alone. We see him react. He remains seated as lights go dark. End Act One (with thanks to Red Riding Hood, classic Sufi poems, John Donne and Shakespeare.) 6 Act Two for pianist-actor (P) with Zoe Avatar (ZA) [For solo performance of Act Two: The stage has a grand piano with a small screen on a discreet stand, placed in the curve. The screen is just the right size to hold a full- size image of a head, at the height it should be. The screen is turned off. P enters. He switches on the screen, from which ZA's face looks out at the audience, silent, blinking. P does not look at the front of the screen, but walks to the piano and sits.] If this scene follows Act One, the screen is wheeled in during the darkness which follows it. When the lights go up he walks to the screen and switches it on. ZA’s face looks out at the audience, blinking. The Pianist does not look at the screen, but walks directly to the piano and sits. ZA: So I am back on again, now. I was tired of waiting. Are you ready? I cannot see you, you know. Should I begin, now? This is embarrassing. Shouldn’t we have arranged something between us, some sign or code to begin? Are you ready, now? Are you there? The piano starts. ZA: Oh, I see. That's better. Well then, perhaps I should… It was many years ago. But I remember so well. I remember meeting you for the first time. A big room. Noisy, full of …people. Everyone was pretending to be happy, with a drink in their hand. Slosh here, whoops there, excuse me, ha-ha, cheers! – isn’t this fun? Not. I had just arrived and I wanted to leave. I wasn’t happy, you see. And I knew they were all pretending. I wasn’t. I went to leave. You were stood next to the door, talking to someone.