The CITY Tragedy

A Stage Play by Marlowe147

The start of a play I'll eventually finish about a New York City detective.

The

CITY

Tragedy

ACT I

Scene I

Enter Detective Frank Marlowe, emerging from the darkness, the lighting of his cigarette a quick flash of his face and that is all.

MARLOWE (Aside) Politics make me sick. They are the reason that I keep a shaker of pills and a bottle of gin in my middle desk drawer. The department’s all politics. I don’t care much for them. It tore away the last shreds of humanity this city had. No more decency. Nothing like blue skies at the edge of storm clouds. Nothing like…

She was bleeding, still, though two hours had passed since she was shot down. A pretty face, but not that pretty. Not before, and definitely not now. So young. And pale and lifeless.

Lights and the scene is revealed. Caution tape, yellow and rippling with wind. Police Officers stand in still positions. The red and blue lights silently revolve.

MARLOWE (Aside) I whisper to her, “Little Sheep,” and there is no response. The pool was now collected deep in the apartments black carpet.

The officer on the scene was saying something, but it was all muffled and underwater. It wasn’t her.

Lights are up again. The girl moves slightly, cocking her head to stare directly into Marlowe’s dark eyes.

GIRL Hello.

MARLOWE …

GIRL Where did you go? Why weren’t you here?

MARLOWE I, I didn’t know. I couldn’t-

The girl was again motionless, head on the ground, her eyes toward the ceiling

OFFICER TIPPIT Frank. I didn’t know you were on the case.

MARLOWE Neither did I an hour ago. And yet here we are.

Tippit loses interest in the conversation and walks out of the room..

GIRL You’ll always fail me.

MARLOWE …

The lights fade, submerging Marlowe and the Girl in darkness; the attention is shifted back to the Police Officers gathered at the buildings entrance

.

OFFICER TIPPIT This is fucked up, Sarge. She’s just a kid.

SARGE We’re chasing a monster.

Fade to black

MARLOWE (Monologue) I can’t sleep most nights. The flies crowding the door keep me awake with their incessant buzzing. Sirens. Sirens keep me awake. Sirens are like flies, always, always… Everything is that girl. My little sheep.

Sometimes I dream of her. I dream and she tells me to love and then she says to forget. Then she goes to sleep. That’s when I wake up, shaking and feeling like parasites are eating away stomach lining, head pounding radioactively. My guts churn empty, hollowed out like the stump of a tree. Decayed by the grim air. I hang my sick head in my sick toilet and clutch, with each heave, the base of it. I claw the floor with bloodied hands. The bloods on the mirror’s glass on the floor next to me. I see a piece of my reflection in a shard and rush my head back into the bowl.

Three pestering knocks came at the door

MARLOWE (Monologue) If I can get to sleep I try not to dream. Some of my darkest moments hide in them. But they always find me. After that I can't help but keep awake, pacing my one room overlooking the filth-streets.

Every morning at 5:00am the same damn thing happens: there are terrible scre-

Again a knock at the door. Frustrated.

LUSK Marlowe! Get up, Marlowe! Your late with your rent!

MARLOWE Shut the f**k up! I have to put some clothes on.

Shuffling to the door, Marlowe unlocks the bottom lock, leaving the chain fastened and opens

What?!

LUSK You think you’re king s**t or something? F****n’ talkin’ to me that way, who the f**k are you?

MARLOWE Me? I’m your personal f*****g Mother Teresa. Are you so brain-dead, stupid, that you already forgot that I’m the only tenant that does pay?

LUSK I ought to throw you to the wolves

MARLOWE Yeah, and I ought to get laid, but neither is gonna happen.

LUSK Ah, go to hell, Marlowe.

MARLOWE Already there.

Lusk Exits

MARLOWE Lusk, you dumb sonuvabitch...you're my only friend.

It gets real lonely in dumps like this. The rain dripping outside is good company. I ought to get up. After all, the rent's due and the wolves are howling.

This city is dirt and nobody wants to admit it. The rancid s**t smell at every corner. Sewers that are overflowing, packed to the brim with waste. The drug fiends are in the same damn alleys they were born to. But they're no different from the Prozac-dazed that lace the malls. The ones that carry out sacks from their plunder and pillage.

I pass all of this in thick traffic. A fat f**k in a wheelchair crawls past in his electric rolling. So this is envy?

MARLOWE ‘And this also has been one of the dark places of the earth.’ I read that in some book a long time ago. I find it fit’s the occasion quite well.

© 2010 Marlowe147

Author's Note

Unfinished. Would like some feedback. Reviews appreciated.

My Review

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Reviews

Sabbath_Nikole

This written so well! I love how dark it is, but there should definatly be more for the audience to have more to work with. From what I've got here I don't really get the big picture just yet, but I seriously looooove how this is written. the language is fantastic.

Posted 12 Years Ago

The Perfectionist

I don't know much about stage plays, but the review from Drock sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

As far as I go, I think there could be real potential here, but you definitely need to tell us a lot more about what's going on. A play needs a lot more setting and description than a story does, since people have to adapt it to reality, and you don't want them asking you every two lines for more detail.

Also, maybe it's just my not being used to scripts, but your transitions feel weird, and I'm never really sure whom Marlowe is speaking to or if he's speaking at all.

The plot is solid, so far, now build up a stronger base around it.

Posted 13 Years Ago

R.S. Wilder

Uh - hello? When are you gonna write more of this?? It's not nice to keep people in suspense.

Posted 13 Years Ago

Ice QueenJen

I think this is a good start of an interesting cop show, let me know when you have written more. I am writing a couple of stories on killers, and you have peaked my curiosity about who killed this young girl.

Posted 13 Years Ago

Doreen

This brings the question of what is to come? It's a nice start.

When writing a stage play, you want to describe the setting. I'm not sure what Marlowe (aside) means. When writing the descriptions, you want to include if it's happening inside (INT) or outside (EXT), is it daytime, nighttime, is there something happening in the background? These all need to be included. I'll give you an example:

INT BATHROOM - NIGHT

The room is clean and brightly lit, a mirror has been broken on the floor.

MARLOWE is hovered over the toilet, arms wrapped around its base.

MARLOWE
(Monologue)

I can’t sleep most nights. The flies crowding the door keep me awake with their incessant buzzing. Sirens. Sirens keep me awake. Sirens are like flies, always, always… Everything is that girl. My little sheep. Sometimes I dream of her. I dream and she tells me to love and then she says to forget. Then she goes to sleep. That’s when I wake up, shaking and feeling like parasites are eating away stomach lining, head pounding radioactively.

MARLOWE looks over to the broken mirror on the floor. He grimaces, then continues to vomit into the toilet.
...................................................
When referring to a character in the script, CAPITALIZE the name.

When there is dialogue, First center the character's name, in parentheses under the name, put in any stage direction such as (sarcastically, remorsefully, screaming, etc.)

Write this as though you are the stage director - or think like a sports narrator. You want to give the details of what's happening in a to-the-point way.

This is an interesting idea. I like the New York City detective story - the mystery, the action and intrigue. It will be interesting to see where you take this.