Thomas Leverett - plays and writing
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Good Tidings of Yule
GOOD TIDINGS OF YULE - a one-act play
CHARACTERS:
DEB:
ALISON:
REBECCA:
CRYSTAL:
LILA:
FRANK:
MUIR
OLONGO:
(DEB enters).
DEB: I was on a plane coming from Johannesburg one year, four days before Christmas, when the plane crashed in the jungle. About half of us survived, but the pilot didn't. We didn't know where we were, but it was the middle of the jungle. What a way to spend the holidays!
(small group sits in a circle with blankets over their heads, etc. REBECCA, CRYSTAL, and DEB are sitting and talking; ALISON is lying down but beginning to wake up. Finally she sits and starts talking)..
ALISON: (waking up) Where are we?
REBECCA: The plane crashed. The pilot and many others are dead. We are in the Republic of Congo somewhere. We don't know where.
CRYSTAL: We've made a shelter out of parts of the plane and we put you here until you woke up. We would go for help but we don't know which way to go. That's what we were talking about when you woke up.
DEB: What are the choices?
REBECCA: Into the jungle, into the jungle, and into the jungle.
ALISON: The plane crashed? I'll miss Christmas! My family was all getting together, at my mom's house! I won't make it! I have to call them! Where's a phone?
CRYSTAL: Lila has a cell, but we're in the middle of the jungle.
ALISON: Oh, no! The tree, the decorations, the stockings, the candy, the presents! Missing that will be terrible!
CRYSTAL: Listen, honey, we've all lost a lot. Half the people on the plane are dead. Rebecca here was going home for Hannukah. It's the holiday season in a lot of places.
ALISON: Yeah, but this is Christmas!
CRYSTAL: At my house it's Yule - we burn a big log and light candles. It is, after all the solstice, the shortest day of the year!
LILA: But we're on the equator! What difference does it make?
REBECCA: Ouch! Something is hurting me!
ALISON: Are you pregnant?
REBECCA: Yes, seven months. They told me that flying would be ok. But they didn't tell me we'd be crashing in the middle of the jungle! I think I might be having this baby early!
DEB: We'd better lie you down and get you some water!
(DEB leaves, others follow. FRANK and MUIR enter, put map on floor, and begin to look at it).
FRANK: By my figuring this plane must have crashed around here. (pointing to map)
MUIR: Near Mabendjaba, Egbunda, around there?
FRANK: Had to be. Not much there but jungle and little villages- Magba, Lingondo, Yule (yoo-lay)- but that's where their radio messages put them.
MUIR: But the radio's dead now?
FRANK: Haven't had any messages in over an hour. But I know somebody in the town of Baliakondo- that's over here- and he has a jeep. Maybe he can take us out into the bush.
MUIR: Call him- we have to find them!
(They fold up map and leave. ALISON, CRYSTAL, DEB, and REBECCA enter. REBECCA lies in a kind of makeshift bed, blanket over her, looking like she's in labor; DEB is tending to her.)
(ALISON comes forward)
ALISON: Right about now, my mother is making Christmas cookies and decorating the tree! It's probably snowing in my hometown (she sobs)
CRYSTAL: Oh you poor thing!
DEB: Now now, you know, someone encountered a local guy - a tribesman. He didn't speak English, but they're pretty sure he went for help.
ALISON: Yeah but there's no way I'll be home in time! I'll miss the presents! The stockings! The…
CRYSTAL: Shut up, will you?
REBECCA: Ouch! I'm in labor!
ALISON: Oh my God! We're in the middle of the jungle!
CRYSTAL: Well duh!
DEB: (tending to Rebecca): Listen Crystal! This is not a time to lose it! We have to work together to get out of this alive! Will someone bring me a washcloth?
CRYSTAL: It's just that she goes on and on about this Christmas stuff, and, you know, it's a tough subject for me.
DEB: So you said you celebrated Yule?
CRYSTAL: Yes, my mom would make a big point out of it. She said that the original holiday was actually more Pagan than Christian- that the Christians didn't really take over the date and the holiday until later. Yule logs, mistletoe, they were all part of the Yule holiday- celebration of the winter solstice, shortest day of the year.
ALISON: So you celebrated Yule, and not Christmas?
CRYSTAL: That's right, and whenever I heard my friends talking about that Christmas stuff, I kind of felt left out.
REBECCA: I know the feeling!
LILA: I'm from Iceland, and in Iceland we have the Yuletide lads- Door Slammer, Bowl Licker, Sausage Snatcher, Candle Beggar- they're little imps, playful fellows from the mountains. The children place their shoes on the windowsill and the little guys put presents in them- or, a potato, if the children have been bad!
ALISON: You celebrate Yule instead of Christmas too?
LILA: Well, really, in Iceland, we celebrate them together. After all, they are at the same time of year.
REBECCA: Owww! It's coming!
DEB: Keep breathing! Breathe deeply!
(Rebecca breathes hard- like she's having a baby)
LILA: Baby's coming! Get ready!
FRANK: So you talked to a local guy?
MUIR: Yeah, what did he say?
OLONGO: He says the crash was about 9 kilometers up the road…you come to a road that goes off to a mountainside. He gave me directions. He said the survivors are together in a homemade shelter and they are ok- the locals have given them some food and provisions. But we should hurry up- they say one of the women is having a baby. He said we'll know because we'll see the light of their fire reflect against the ruins of the plane.
FRANK: Did he say anything else?
OLONGO: Yeah- he said kutandika kua Yesu kuibuwa!
MUIR: What does that mean?
OLONGO: It's something like: Happy Holidays.
(they leave. DEB enters)
DEB: (carrying bundle, to audience): I knew a little about having babies, so I began to take care of Rebecca. She never once mentioned the father, and I never asked. The locals seemed to know what was happening, and sent us some things that we needed- they could also see that we had shelter, so they didn't try to move us. But every day food, washcloths, and fresh water arrived. The baby was born healthy and without incident.
(ALISON enters)
ALISON: Oh, what a precious baby!
DEB: Yes, mother and son are doing well, happy, healthy, in spite of everything.
(FRANK, MUIR, OLONGO arrive from right)
FRANK: We found you! Just as the local guy told us! Are you ok?
DEB: We're ok. Mom over here just had a baby! (Rebecca shows them)
You missed it, of course!
FRANK: What a beautiful baby! You'll have a story to tell, when you get home, wherever that is!
ALISON: Oh, you're not kidding!
DEB: We've had a rough time. But we're ok. People helped us with the supplies that we needed, and we survived. The villagers have been very good to us; they've brought us lots of things. And we have this little baby to show for it! How did you find us?
FRANK: We asked the locals- they knew you were here and that you were ok. They told us to look for the reflection of the fire against the steel of the plane- and we did! We followed that light the last part of the way. We brought gifts, too, that people gave us, to help you with the baby. (gives some packages, not wrapped). Before we take you back with us, that is.
CRYSTAL: I guess you can enjoy the pleasures of the season, even miles from nowhere!
OLONGO: Ma'am, you are not nowhere. You are nine kilometers from Yule, Republic of Congo.
LILA: Where?
OLONGO: Yule. Y-U-L-E.
LILA: That's what I thought you said.
OLONGO: Yes, and I've brought one more thing from the villagers: a greeting. They said: kutandika kua Yesu kuibuwa- a rough translation would be: Happy Holidays!
(CURTAIN CALL)
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