The stage is draped in darkness, all but for a barred square of light reflected on the floor a window. A door is heard to open and a woman is thrust onto the stage, falling to the floor. The door shuts with an ominous thud. The woman slowly pulls herself up. With great pomp and ceremony, and full of self-importance, she speaks.

Rose:               Consign’d to a damp vault’s dayless gloom… I’ve suffered chains and courted death. Surely it must –

Lights up as she is interrupted by a man singing. He is chained to a pillar stage right with a sack cloth over his head. There are two more ruined stumps of former pillars in the centre and stage left.

Jasper:            By a bank as I lay, myself alone did muse, hey ho! A bird’s sweet voice-

The woman runs to the other side of the cell.

Rose:               What are you?!

There is an awkward silence. Despite the sack cloth, the man attempts to ‘look the other way’. The woman gingerly comes forward.

Rose:               Forgive me. I didn’t – you frightened me. I didn’t know anyone else was here.

The sack nods.

Rose:               I’m sorry. What I said must have sounded –

Jasper:            It was very pretty.

Rose:               I’m not sure that it was meant to be “pretty”.

Jasper:            Oh. Well. It made a nice change.

Rose:               A change?

Jasper:            For me.

Rose:               For you.

Jasper:            This place isn’t large enough for an echo.

Rose:               Is there somewhere I can sit?

Jasper:            We did have a stool but they said it got me overexcited.

She goes to sit on the far pillar stump.

Jasper:            Please don’t sit there.

Resigned, she attempts a dignified repose on the floor.

Rose:               What did you mean by “we”? (quickly stands) Is there someone else here? There! In the shadows! Come out, I can see you.

Pause

Jasper:            Who are you talking to?

Rose:               There’s someone there… isn’t there? In the shadows?

Jasper:            If there is you can tell them I’m not sharing the bucket.

She sits again, embarrassed and vexed.

Rose:               I assume you have a name.

Jasper:            Jasper. And you – ?

Rose:               Etherington.

Jasper:            That’s a funny Christian name.

Rose:               It’s my surname. We’ve only just met.

Jasper:            Yes of course. Forgive me. I’m pleased to meet you.

His hands are bound. He sticks out his leg. Embarrassed she quickly gets up again and shakes him by the leg.

Jasper:            Hello.

Rose:               They’ve tied you up.

Jasper:            They have.

Rose:               They didn’t tie me up.

Jasper:            Speaking of, I don’t suppose you could –

Rose:               Oh. Er, yes.

She tries to untie him, but cannot.

Rose:               (whilst trying) I’m sorry; the lock is fixed and I can’t loosen the chains.

Jasper:            No, I didn’t think they would.

She goes to touch the bag over his head, but withdraws.

Rose:               The cell is three feet thick. Why would they tie you up?

Jasper:            Got to restrain me somehow; the beast that I am!

He roars

Jasper:            Are you still there?

Rose:              Yes.

Jasper:            That was levity.

Rose:               Yes… As a woman, I suppose I’m not considered dangerous. No need of chains.

Jasper:            You sound disappointed Miss – ?

Rose:               Etherington, I already told you.

Jasper:            Sorry, my short term memory isn’t quite what it – I’m much better with first names, are you sure you can’t share it?

Rose:               That’s hardly proper.

Jasper:            No. And we’ve a strict etiquette here.

Rose:               Are you mocking me?

Jasper:            Forgive me. My manners are very rusty.

An awkward silence.

Jasper:            I’ve got an itch again.

Rose:               Why did they put a bag over you?

Jasper:            If you don’t mind – I know the chain won’t, but could you try?

She tentatively goes over to him and tries to remove the sack.

Rose:               It seems to be wedged under.

Jasper:            Of course it is.

He hangs his head.

Rose:               (Softening) Maybe I can –

She searches around her. She picks up a white stone from the floor. She tests it on the ground.

Rose:               Yes, here.

She goes up to him and starts to draw on the bag.

Jasper:            (flinching) What are you doing?

Rose:               I thought this might help. Sorry, its chalk stone. I can –

Jasper:            Oh yes – yes, do.

She continues.

Jasper:            Make it a nice face.

Having chalked two blobs for eyes, she draws a broad grin underneath.

Rose:               There. All done.

Jasper:            How do I look?

Rose:               …Why did they do this?

Jasper:            It was for your sake.

Rose:               What?

Jasper:            You wouldn’t have been able to control yourself, especially with me bound as I am.

Rose:               Pardon?

Jasper:            Like a wild animal – insatiable you would have been.

Pause

Jasper:            Another attempt at le-

Rose:               – Levity, yes. I assumed.

Jasper:            It was just a small punishment for some minor insubordination.

She looks down at the stone.  

Rose:               Wait.

She takes off her shoe and hammers it on the chalk stone, breaking it in two. She picks up one half and manages to tear the sack cloth open with the newly formed sharp edge. She is now able to draw down the bag either side of his head. The face revealed is very pale, unshaven, tired and sickly-looking. After a moment, Rose realises that she has been staring at him in horror and quickly collects herself, turning away and discarding the bag.

Jasper:            See?… insatiable.

She smiles at him apologetically. He smiles back.

Rose:               My name is Rose.

Jasper:            Jasper.

Rose:               You said.

Jasper:            Oh yes.

Rose:               What was your insubor –

Jasper:            – Oh, nothing really. We’ll call it a tactical error. I credited our captors with more of a sense of humour than was strictly due. It transpires there’s a national drought.

Rose:               Myself included.

Jasper:            (mortified) Oh I didn’t mean –

Rose:               How long have you been here Jasper?

Jasper:            I, er, I don’t know.

Rose:               You don’t know?

Jasper:            It was Peter who was keeping count.

Rose:               Peter?

Jasper:            He’s gone now.

Rose:               Oh.

Jasper:            Lucious insisted right from the start that someone keep time.

Rose:               Lucious?

Jasper:            Gone now.

She looks at the pillar stumps.

Jasper:            Once when Peter lost track, Lucious went mad. The only time I ever saw him angry. He said –

A blue beam of light pointing upwards appears from behind the stump centre stage, forming the rest of the ghostly pillar. A man stands in front of it, his arms either side as if bound.

Lucious:          (to front) But time is all we have! How could you lose it?

Jasper:            (to Rose) I wondered why it mattered anymore, in this place.

Lucious:         (front) Of course it matters! We must keep at least some sense of order. If we lose track of this, we risk losing everything, ourselves included.

Jasper:            (to front) They do it to us.

Lucious:         They only built four walls, we did the rest.

The Light fades on Lucious’ pillar and the man disappears into the darkness once more.

Jasper:            I lost count after four months. But I suppose six, maybe seven months.

Rose:               Seven months? That’s… awful.

The pillar appears again suddenly.

Lucious:         (to Rose, who is oblivious) I know. If the best he can give is only an estimate, he really needn’t bother.

The pillar cuts out again.

Rose:               What about food?

Jasper:            We usual–  I usually get fed about midday, when they remember.

Rose:               How often do they forget?

Jasper:            Ha! – ‘forget’.

Noting how worried she looks:

Jasper:            No – I don’t mean to – we will get fed, don’t fret.

Rose:               I’m not “fretting”.

She goes to sit on the stump once more then sighs and sits on the floor.

Jasper:            Thank you.

Rose:               For what?

Jasper:            For lots of things. For not sitting there when I asked you to. For being captured. For still speaking to me although I displease you.

Rose:               You don’t displease me.

Jasper:            Thank you for that too.

She picks up the piece of chalk again, stands up and marks a line on the wall.

Rose:               There. Now you can keep track once more.

He attempts a smile but the line seems to unnerve him. Turning away:

Jasper:            I’m sorry if I seem out of practice. Of speaking I mean. A hornet, I think it was, came through a crack in the wall five days ago.

Rose:               Yes.

Jasper:            But he wasn’t very communicative.

Rose:              No. (with pride) I dare say it was quite a shock to you to find a woman out in these parts.

Jasper:            As soon as I heard the door, I knew it was a woman.

Rose:               How?

Jasper:            Your heartbeat. It’s different to a man’s.

Rose:               You can’t hear a heartbeat from there.

Jasper:            I couldn’t seven months ago, but I can now.

Rose:               You mean you think you can.

Jasper:            It was beating fast, but still soft sounding. A mixture of excitement and panic. But amidst all that cacophony there was a strange sort of lament. Crying out from the whole body.

Rose:               All that in the few seconds I was thrust to the ground?

Jasper:            It was so desperate to be heard. I think it’s still struggling to have its say.

She eyes him with suspicion.

Jasper:            Come closer and I’ll let you hear mine.

Ignoring him, she resumes her seat.

Rose:               So where did they take Lucious and Peter?

Jasper looks down.

Rose:               It’s lighter in here than I would have thought.

Jasper:            A sunbeam must have lost its way.

Pause

Rose:               I’m sorry. They didn’t take them, did they?

Jasper:            Only after.

Rose:               I know this is difficult, but I have to ask. I would know as much of my fate as possible. So much of it has been hidden from me before now. How did… The guards, did they do something to them?

Jasper:            In a way. But they weren’t the only ones to blame… There were three of us. But we were each of us alone.

The blue light pillar appears slowly once more and a second light on the other stump. Lucious and Peter stand tied to their pillars in ghostly remembrance.

Jasper:            Bound as we were, we couldn’t move. Not even when they fell. I couldn’t go to them, touch them, help them…

The two ghostly pillars fade away.

Jasper:            We could talk of course and tried to cheer and comfort one another. We told stories, sang songs. But after a while, we’d heard them all and there was nothing new to say. Our greatest pleasure became to sink into our own worlds. If we dared disturb each other’s reverie, we were met with sharp retort. It reached the point where each man’s voice became almost painful to the other. A grating sound, shredding the soul. It might be fancy to me, but they never sounded like our own. I was eldest.

Rose:               You were brothers?

Jasper:            Lucious was the youngest and father’s favourite.

Blue light up with Lucious once more.

Jasper:            He had most our mother’s likeness. Same eyes, same fair skin. Too good a soul for this place, only ever cried for others’ woes. Peter was a different sort.

Blue light up for Peter.

Jasper:            Built for battle and a mind-set the same. He could never be idle. The frustration of it. I think it was the chains alone that killed him.

The brothers fade away once more.

Jasper:            The lake just beyond these walls, some say it’s a thousand feet deep. Makes this place a double-dungeon, wall and wave. The three of us heard it ripple day and night, like a living grave.

Rose looks up at the window.

Jasper:            The days began so meekly. In the first month we mostly slept. There was little else to do. But we soon became ravenous for any kind of stimulus. A storm came two months in. We feared a flood. So we doubled our efforts that day to keep our spirits higher than the waves.