Hands

Hands

A Stage Play by Siobhan
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A dramatic monologue/ scene.

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Scene 1                                 

                    Spot light illuminates an adolescent male sitting      
                    in a chair downstage center. The boy, MATT, sits       
                    with his legs apart while he looks down and wrings     
                    his hands. Neither his appearance nor his clothes      
                    are particularly notable. In fact, if he weren’t       
                    under a spotlight, he would be easily overlooked.      

                    There is plenty of space behind him. All the           
                    actions that occur behind MATT throughout the          
                    scene represent images in his head (memories or        
                    ideas). As he speaks, the actions correspond and       
                    illustrate what he is saying, but MATT doesn’t         
                    address or interact with the characters behind him     
                    until the end.                                         

                    Although MATT does seem slightly nervous or            
                    uncomfortable, after he looks at his hands for a       
                    while it becomes clear that wringing his hands is      
                    more than a nervous tick. He obsessively flexes        
                    and examines them. He brings them closer and           
                    farther away from his face. He focuses on one          
                    nail, stares at it, then pulls a nailclipper from      
                    his back pocket. He tries to snip at it, but it is     
                    already cut short, as are all his other nails. He      
                    puts the nailclippers back in his pocket and           
                    speaks without taking his eyes from his hands.         

          MATT                                                             
               My father and I have the same hands.                        

                    Lights up on the space behind MATT. A man stands       
                    stage right who appears to be older than thirty,       
                    although it is not clear how much older he may be.     
                    He is stage right now, but as MATT continues to        
                    speak throughout the scene, the characters slowly      
                    move to the left, so the final pose is struck          
                    stage left. The man currently standing is MATT’S       
                    FATHER. He wears a uniform from a blue-collar job      
                    with the sleeves rolled up. He has broad shoulders     
                    and a wide head. He has a seemingly-perpetually        
                    grumpy face and in many ways bears the likeness of     
                    a pitbull. His hands are dirty, and he stands          
                    proud, yet with a slight slouch.                       

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               Thick fingers. Broad palms. Hard knuckles. Masculine.       
               Strong.                                                     

                    MATT’S FATHER pulls a rag from his pocket and          
                    wipes off his hands.
                                                                           
          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               My mom used to call him "pickle fingers."                   

                    Enter MATT’S MOTHER, feminine and small. She goes      
                    to MATT’S FATHER, takes his hands, and plays with      
                    his fingers.                                           

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               She’d joke that at their wedding they had to use grease     
               to get his ring on. When I was little I remember them       
               holding hands constantly. His hands were big, but they      
               were like a cradle to her little, soft fingers. And, of     
               course, my little paws used to fit in his, too.             

                    Enter YOUNG MATT, five or six years old. MATT’S        
                    FATHER bends down on one knee and picks him up.        
                    Then all three look out to the audience and seem       
                    to make a perfect family portrait.                     

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               As I got older, my little paws became identical to his      
               big ones. I got the same gorilla-like fists as him. I       
               was proud of them. They made me feel like a man.            

                    MATT’S MOTHER and YOUNG MATT exit. Then MATT’s         
                    expression goes from fond and sentimental to           
                    disturbed and troubled.                                

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               The only...real difference between my father’s hands        
               and my own, was that he always had these long               
               fingernails. I don’t think I ever saw him cut his           
               nails. They were these jagged and broken surfaces on        
               every one of his fingers. He used to come home from         
               work with dirt and grease under them. Once he told me       
               that if he tried to cut them, he’d break the nail           
               clippers.                                                   

                    MATT pauses and collects his thoughts.                 

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               Really, I think the reason he kept the long nails was       
               because they came in handy...                               

                    MATT’S FATHER pulls out a bottle of booze and          
                    begins to swallow. His steps gain more and more of     
                    a stagger. He hunches over and messes his hair.        

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               ...when it was late. And he’d had too much to drink.        

                    Enter MATT’S MOTHER. She looks weary. The parents      
                    begin to argue.
                                                                           
          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               And he got mad.                                             

          MATT’S FATHER                                                    
               SHUT UP.                                                    

                    MATT’S FATHER swings his hand at MATT’S MOTHER.        
                    She gasps and holds her face.                          

          MATT                                                             
               I noticed the scratches on my mom’s face. She didn’t        
               talk about it much though. Never to me.                     

                    MATT’S MOTHER exits.                                   

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               My dad never swiped at me. But it would hurt when he        
               held my arm...and he’d let his nails sink in.               

                    MATT holds his arm and grimaces. MATT’S FATHER         
                    continues to drink.                                    

          MATT (CON’T) (progressively more paranoid and crazy)             
               For years, I’ve had to cut my nails...every day. Long       
               nails on anyone scare me. I used to shy away from the       
               manicured nails of my teachers at school. Girls with        
               their french tips would horrify me. A friend of mine        
               got lazy with clipping his nails one time and I-I           
               remember it, so. Clearly. I couldn’t be in the room         
               with him. I c-couldn’t see his nails. I couldn’t do it.     
               I had to shove him away and run home. I got in a lot of     
               trouble at school because I would leave class too much.     
               But it was just because I didn’t want every one to see      
               me freak out. I would just go to the bathroom and           
               breathe for a while. I’d try to think about other stuff     
               like cars and machines and how stuff worked and it          
               would get my mind off everything. But by the time I         
               collected myself, class would be almost over. I would       
               come back in and get all sorts of weird looks. I hated      
               it. After a while I just stopped going to class. My mom     
               started getting calls around the same time that she         
               started to notice how often I was cutting my nails. I       
               guess she just realized how disturbed I was and it          
               scared her.                                                 

                    MATT’S MOTHER enters and approaches MATT’S FATHER.     

          MATT’S MOTHER (To MATT’S FATHER, strong and unafraid)            
               We’re leaving. Matt’s in the car. Everything is packed.     
               We can only put up with so much.
                                                                           
          MATT’S FATHER                                                    
               Helen. Helen, you can’t do this to me.                      

                    MATT’S MOTHER leaves quickly.                          

          MATT’S FATHER (CON’T)                                            
               YOU CAN’T DO THIS, HELEN. YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO MATT.        
               YOU SELFISH B***H! YOU’RE A SELFISH B***H!                  

          MATT                                                             
               We left about five years ago. I didn’t talk to my dad       
               much while we were gone. There were some nights when I      
               would think too much...wish he was there. But I just        
               had to remind myself that my mom made the right             
               decision. She used to remind me that being family is a      
               privelege, not a right. My dad lost this privelege. He      
               ran out of chances.                                         

                    Behind MATT, his father has knelt down on his          
                    haunches and covered his face, clearly troubled.       

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               My grandma told me that when we left, my dad started to     
               really understand how serious the situation was. He         
               started to try to get help. He went beyond just AA          
               meetings. He actually stayed at a live-in rehab             
               facility.                                                   

                    MATT’S FATHER drops a bottle on the ground.            

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               He was never a bad guy. He was just plagued by this         
               disease; once he started drinking he couldn’t stop. The     
               stuff he did drunk, hurting my mom, he would have never     
               even dreamed of doing that sober! It’s not who he was.      
               But the booze that-that poison. It messed him up.           

                    MATT’S FATHER stands and looks down at the bottle      
                    disdainfully.                                          

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               After not talking to him for years, I had to know if it     
               was true that he was changing. I knew that if he could      
               just stop drinking, he’d be okay. He’d be my dad again.     
               I so desperately wanted to believe he was better. I         
               told my mom and learned that she wanted to see him too.     
               Five years apart is a long time. It’s a long time to        
               not see or talk to your dad. Any time not talking to        
               your father is too long.
                    MATT’S MOTHER enters and walk slowly toward MATT’S     
                    FATHER with her head down. She looks old and           
                    tired. MATT’S FATHER stares at her as she comes        
                    toward him. When she reaches him he lifts his hand     
                    to caress her face. She backs away and he looks        
                    hurt.                                                  

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               When we went to see my dad, he looked different. He was     
               older in both appearance and demeanor. He moved more        
               slowly and spoke more quietly. He just looked...sad.        
               His hands shook a little when he was standing still.        

          MATT’S MOTHER                                                    
               If I said that I forgive you, I’d be lying.                 

                    MATT’S FATHER begins to cry.                           

          MATT                                                             
               My mom was stern with him. But you could tell she was       
               melting more and more the longer she looked at him.         
               She’s always stronger than me. I melted the second we       
               walked in.                                                  

                    MATT’S MOTHER takes MATT’S FATHER’s hands.             

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               I guess it doesn’t matter how long we were away from        
               him. I can stay away as long as I want, but he’ll           
               always be my dad.                                           

                    MATT takes the nailclippers from his back pocket       
                    as he stands. He looks at them, savors their size      
                    and weight, then drops them on the chair.              

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               I can cut my nails as much as I want.                       

                    MATT takes his father’s hand out of his mother’s       
                    and holds on to it tightly with both hands.            

          MATT (CON’T)                                                     
               But I’ll always have his hands.                             

                    MATT, his father, and his mother are all now           
                    standing stage left. They strike the pose similar      
                    to the one they struck in the beginning with the       
                    three of them forming a perfect family portrait        
                    and look out to the audience.                          

                    Black out.

© 2015 Siobhan


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Added on July 26, 2015
Last Updated on July 26, 2015
Tags: drama, play, monologue, stage

Author

Siobhan
Siobhan

State College, PA



About
American student currently living in Seville, Spain. 20 years old. Studying English and Playwriting. Lover of all things related to imagination and adventure. Hoping to complete first novel by January.. more..

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