INTERVIEW WITH AN APPRENTICE GOD. -A play for two, Michael Gray Griffith
Cafe Locked Out
SUBSTACK Reviews
Tears in my eyes. Beautiful and powerful story. Thank you.
We will win. We cannot fail! ♥️🙏
Brilliant as always
I couldn’t stop reading it until the end. I am in awe of your beautiful mind that touches our hearts in profound ways. Bless you Michael!
Hi Everyone
This play has been in my head since I was on the road with the Deplorables. The chance of any theatre in the World producing it is zero.
I knew that, but finally I had to get it out.
Soon we will do a podcast of it, and I have written it to be easily staged, anywhere.
But beware, in these times, it is a true underground play.
All the play requires is a table, two chairs and a light.
I would also value your thoughts.
Michael Gray Griffith
INTERVIEW WITH AN APPRENTICE GOD. -DRAFT 1
Pauline is sitting at an interrogation table. Her left hand is bandaged. She is dressed in prison clothes, and is in handcuffs.
Finally a man enters. He is dressed well, a suit, and he stands there looking at Pauline with tenderness, empathy.
It takes a while before Pauline looks up at him.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Hello Pauline.
PAULINE
Someone new.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Yes . . .
PAULINE
Why? Have I worn out the rest?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Worn out? . . . No, we are instead, and I say this with the upmost respect, perplexed.
PAULINE
I didn't know psychopaths suffered from that.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Is that what you think of us? Is that how far we've fallen in your estimations?
PAULINE
Are you going to torture me again?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
No . . . It's clear now, that physical violence isn't going to work.
PAULINE
(Matter of fact)
Then what? Kill me?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
How about we start again? Hmm? Shall we try and be a little more positive?
PAULINE
Are you going to kill me?. . . Well?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Well? Well that depends upon you. On your choices.
PAULINE
Tell you what you want to know and live? Don't tell you, and die?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
How is your hand?
PAULINE
What do you care? Whatever I do, it’s over. In fact, the only reason I'm still breathing is because I haven't told you. And since you're going to do what you are going to do regardless, why should I concede? The only way left for me to win, is to take my secret to the grave.
The Apprentice God smiles.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Like I said, we are perplexed.
The Apprentice God sits down.
PAULINE
Who are you?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
You should be honoured. I am someone who never usually partakes in these, disagreements. But you are a special case, which is why I am now your last interrogator. I could be either, your gateway to an incredible life, or a trap door.
PAULINE
I choose the trap door. So why not piss off and let whoever's going to do it, get on with it.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Are you telling me you're not frightened of death?
PAULINE
Yes, I'm not frightened of death. That's why I'm free.
She lifts the handcuffs and shows him.
Beat.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Do you know what I like about you? You are everything that is significant about being a human. This is why you secured the position.
PAULINE
Fuck you.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Your determination, your focus, you attention to detail.
PAULINE
No children, no family, an atheist and alone.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Not even a cat.
PAULINE
Not even a cat.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Yes, all of this influenced our decision. Along with no criminal history, of any kind. You didn't even have a parking ticket.
PAULINE
I was boring.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
You were boring. . . But good boring.
PAULINE
Predictable.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Readable. . . Or so we thought. . . And most importantly, despite the little information we gave you, you believed in what we were doing. You were dedicated.
PAULINE
It's called being a fool.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Oh no, you are no fool. Thanks to you, we've learned that even the tamest of humans, can be full of surprises. . . One surprise is your reliance. Do you have any idea as to how long you've been here now?
PAULINE
Six months, and three days.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
How do you know that? You've no access to a clock, to daylight? No TV, no computer, you can't hear the guard’s radio, so how can you have possibly kept track of time?
PAULINE
It's a gift I keep, in the place you can't reach.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Well, its faulty. You've been for seven months . . . Seven and a half to be correct.
PAULINE
Liar.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Or is it a year.
PAULINE
I thought you said you weren't going to torture me.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Perhaps I'm not. Perhaps I'm preparing you to be liberated from the ever-thickening chains of time.
PAULINE
I have an idea, why don't you take my chains off, and choke on them?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Deal?
PAULINE
Deal.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Yes, let's remove those handcuffs.
But, before I do, I have to warn you, there is no escaping this room via violence. A conversation is your only path to liberty.
PAULINE
(Scoffs)
I am already dead. I knew that long ago. All I'm doing now is waiting for you to get around to it.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
So, we have nothing you want?
PAULINE
Perplexing, isn't it.
Beat
AN APPRENTICE GOD
You were very good you know. . . From the moment we employed you, we could see that. The information you gleaned made AI blush. And we compensated you accordingly. Within two years you went from being a lowly Government Clerk renting a humble little flat, I mean your dishwasher didn't work, neither did your oven, to a well-paid investigator living in your own apartment, with a view of the city. Of course, i saw your mortgage, which also explained how hard you worked, but it was more than that. We could see, because we were always watching, that we had given you what you craved, purpose, and in return you earned our utmost respect.
PAULINE
Listen to you, you sound like you actually believe your own bullshit.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
And if you hadn't have betrayed us, we would have given you more. Much more. More than you could ever comprehend.
PAULINE
But now I'm here.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Yes, now you are here. As am I . . . Ok, let' s remove those cuffs.
He does so, and as soon as he does, she jumps up and moves away. Rubbing her wrists as she glares at him.
PAULINE
Who are you? . . . And why are different from the others.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
How am I different?
PAULINE
The last four were brutal.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
No, they were just like you used to be . . . Obedient.
PAULINE
To who? You?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
To the journey.
PAULINE
You made them do it?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
No, you did.
PAULINE
Me? Two of them raped me.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Yes, well . . .
PAULINE
Well, what? They ripped out my fingernails. They waterboarded me.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
And more, yes. Well, remarkably you turned out to be extraordinarily resilient . . . At any time you could have stopped it.
PAULINE
You ordered it. You made them do it. Did you watch.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
We all watched. We were all waiting for you to break.
PAULINE
Hmm, sorry to disappoint you.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Intrigue is the word. Intrigue . . . But no, no more of that. Now we are going to talk, and these is great reward for doing so. Stupendous. So, as soon as you reveal to us how you did it. . . We will start making all of this right.
PAULINE
You employed me because I was clever, you said that yourself.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
I did.
PAULINE
Then stop insulting my intelligence.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
I'm not. I mean what I say. The deal is set. It's sound.
PAULINE
Said the crocodile to the gingerbread man.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Ah, yes, the river crossing story?
PAULINE
You promised you wouldn't eat me, said the gingerbread man. I know, but then I remembered that I'm a crocodile.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
I believe it was a fox.
PAULINE
I'm talking about you.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Hmm, it seems they were right. It appears our bridge of trust is going to take a lot to repair.
PAULINE
Repair? It's burnt. You burned it before I was even arrested. That's what this is.
(She holds up her damaged hand)
Flames, endless flames.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Hmm, ok well how about we try to figure out when the fire actually started?
PAULINE
You have all the cameras. Why don’t you tell me.
Beat
AN APPRENTICE GOD
In your first three assignments, you were brilliant. But your second last assignment. If it wasn't for you, that Canberra protest could have consumed the country. We had so many resources focused on preventing that, but if it wasn't for you, who knows what those anti vaxxers could have achieved. Or do you now feel like you betrayed them?
PAULINE
I'll have to take that on notice.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
You do. That's interesting. You don't seem to be able to hide anymore. So, is that why you are holding out? You're trying to redeem yourself in their eyes? Even though they will never know you exist . . . is that it? You feel bad? You can't hide you know. The cameras are watching. They just read your emotions Ai says here, deep regret. Personally, I would have guessed that, but you are superb at hiding your emotions. But not from them, there's no hiding from AI.
(Turns his iPad.)
Real time analysis. . . But then who am I talking to? You know all about this.
PAULINE
Then if you know all about this, why the need to torture me?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
I would say that soon, in few months, a year, there will be no need. It's learning at a rapid rate. Freedom of thought is a memory or will be.
PAULINE
That doesn't frighten you?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
No, it's liberating. Look at the river, or an ocean. Both are constructed from countless drops of water, but if each drop demanded its freedom, the life blood of the planet would perish. That's the lesson here. Personal Freedom, for everyone, was the tool we used to conquer this planet, but now, now it is an extravagance we can no longer afford. The future that we are offering you a ticket to, is the only choice we have where humans can prosper.
PAULINE
Not all humans.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Yes. . . That's true. And it is a great tragedy. But upon the bones of grief a garden of unparalleled beauty is about to flower. If you like, think of it as replanting the Garden of Eden . . . This offer, available only while I'm in here, talking to you, is genuine. And I know you're tempted. They can read it in you. But distrust is there too. Understandable, considering what you have been through. Well, how about I start with an apology?
Pauline, we truly regret our actions and the actions of our officers. Our determination to extract what we need to know, combined with your determination not to tell us, precipitated a series of very unfortunate events. But all of that is over now. Now we are offering you the hand of kindness, and a long and glorious future where this period will just be seen as the pain of rebirth . . . Here, take my hand.
He extends his hand to her, she looks at it, then spits on it.
PAULINE
You've already raped my body, I couldn't stop that, but
I will choose who rapes my soul.
He nods to this, raises his hands and moves back to the table.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Do you know why those people went to Canberra? Why they drove there from all over Australia?
PAULINE
They wanted to defend their freedom.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
On the surface, where most humans live, yes. But in reality, they were driven by a greater force; denial. Freedom, democracy, communism, they are all gone. That unsustainable era is over. And somewhere in them, they know it.
Ironically, their brothers and sisters, who they claim are asleep, or sheep, they had already accepted the truth . . . These people were so aware, that they were busy rolling up their sleeves and adapting, hoping to be amongst the chosen ones. Even now, we still hear the last of the anti vaxxers struggling to comprehend why these people aren't angry that their loved ones are dying. They can't see that the majority know the truth and know it instinctually. The lost weren't chosen. Something was wrong: a faulty heart, a predilection to motor neuron disease, to cancer. If these people were allowed to travel forward, with us, their faults would infect and corrupt, before has even been born, the future that is now on offer.
So instead, thanks to the genius of MRNA, the weak and the imperfect are being pruned. And not only does the silent majority know this, but they know too, that one of humanity’s greatest strengths is our ability to survive the pain of loss, especially if they can see that eventually it will be worth it.
PAULINE
You make it sound so romantic.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
It is romantic. The revolution that we have been fighting since the caves, is over. We are no longer a frightened troop of apes cowering from predators. Now, using our brilliant minds, we have broken into the womb of life itself. The centre of destiny's jail, where, with tools that we have created, we are now learning to alter the sacred code.
Soon, all diseases will be gone.
Soon, death itself will be an option.
Can you imagine that?
Instead of us trying to enter the fairytale of heaven, we are about to start painting our new world with heavenly miracles.
Our miracles.
Forget money, forget ego, forget fear.
We are about to be freer and more powerful than any human who has ever walked upon this rock.
We will now, not only participate in the restoration of the natural world, but we will live long enough to see it blossom.
Bison, back in their millions, rivering across the United States. Thick schools of whales singing fresh songs, that will travel through our cleaner oceans to other whales singing for joy on the other side of our healing world.
Balance. True balance will be restored, by us.
And after the restoration, our purpose will be more than maintenance, it will be living. Learning what it truly means to live when time is no longer hunting you down.
It sounds incredible, farcical, but all of this is possible because we now have the technology. All we need, and what we have found, is the courage to face the last obstacle preventing us creating and reaching nirvana.
Us . . . Humans . . .
PAULINE
Depopulation.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Yes. Before us all lays a terrible choice. Two roads.
The crowded one we were already on, with its banks cluttered with fast food chains, where the homeless beg from the botoxed obese, as they all, indifferently drag us towards extinction.
Or the road, as yet never travelled. The road that will lead a few of us to an abundance, the likes of which none of us will have experienced, or even dreamt of.
This will be the prize for being the first species to escape the slavery of evolution. Evolution will now become enslaved to us.
We are the future.
We are on the journey to become Apprentice Gods . . . And Pauline, we want you to join us.
PAULINE
No thanks.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Why not? I don't understand.
PAULINE
Then ask your cameras.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
I know what you’re thinking. 1984. We all read the book or saw the film. But Orwell was wrong. Humans can't flourish under tyranny, we need colour not grey. We need worth and love, and for our new world to flourish, we will need be growing too. Unfortunately, though, this transition period will demand an unprecedented amount of brutality. Not just physical, but emotional, spiritual. The fate of our species will depend upon it. That's why you were so effective. If those people in that camp ground. . .
PAULINE
Camp Epic.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Yes, odd that it was called that. Well, if those people had managed to truly unite, to organise and grow, all of what is about to transpire, is unfolding, could have been lost. That is how important you are.
PAULINE
Then let me go.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Yes, well, what happened next is just as dangerous. More so . . . And so, we find ourselves in a quandary for it would appear, that our near perfect system, has an Achilles heel, which is why a reprieve is on offer. If you will simply tell us how you contacted him, then we can then identify the problem and address it, in order that we can all move on, with surety.
PAULINE
Epic was beautiful. I couldn't see it at the time. Too focused.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Under a microscope cyanide is beautiful. In these times, beauty is inconsequential.
PAULINE
People were crying, and not because they were sad, but because they were so happy to be there. Old people, young people, all of them smiling and hugging and weeping with joy.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Tears are understandable, on some level they were also grieving.
PAULINE
And they were helping each other. It was all about giving. One woman arrived with all her kids and her camping gear, except her tent. So someone gave her a tent. Then other people set it up for her. . . When I look back now, their kindness is like a light in my memory, a light that makes me want to weep. But I can see it now, what they were. They were humanity’s last hope. And they were fighting for me, with the only weapon they had. Love! Whereas I was so lost, to me they were just a disgusting, selfish mob of disease carrying idiots.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Stop it. Hope is gone. No matter which direction we take, there is no hope, not for the majority of humanity.
PAULINE
You don't know that.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
We do, and so do you. . . I've read your analysis of the Canberra protests. It was you who identified who amongst them had the power to disrupt their unity, who was reachable. It was you and you alone, who quashed it. You should be very proud of your work, we are. But then, here we are.
PAULINE
Here we are.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
So, it wasn't those people in Canberra that swayed you, it was the Deplorables. Three idiots who set off around Australia to achieve what?
PAULINE
To defend free speech.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Hmm . . . Or to grift off the weak by spreading false hope.
PAULINE
They weren't weak.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Initially, we gave you that assignment because we thought it would be easy. Listen, record and report. A break from the weight of the brilliant work you'd done. And with so much else going on, we forgot about you.
PAULINE
Plus, you were shadow banning them on facebook. Banning them from YouTube.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Of course. In the end they were as effective as three little dogs barking through a fly screen door at a passing migration.
PAULINE
So why try to kill them?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Hubris. . . Our own. We underestimated the love of the past, which many Australians were still clinging to. A stubborn love that these three fanned. The brighter the flame grew, the more concerned we became. Hope is like a virus. Once it escapes, it can be lethal. Look at you, it infected you. You went a step further; you went and fell in love.
PAULINE
You make that sound like a fault.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Kret? That's not even a real name? It's a nick name. And look at him, a drinker, and smoker, a dope smoker, you name it. That man is a walking vice.
PAULINE
He was from Poland, he grew up there, before the fall of the wall. He knew communism.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
That's why you fell for him? You liked his accent.
PAULINE
He was alone. Even though he was close with the others. Especially Wendy.
WENDY
Ah yes, Wendy. No one saw her coming either. From a teacher’s pet, to a great teacher, to one of our county's most recognizable degenerates.
PAULINE
She was a highly effective, and brave freedom fighter, but, even though she loved him, he was alone. Perhaps we all are. He pretended not to be, but when no one was looking, only me, I could see the depth of loneliness.
AN APPRENTICE GOD
So, you wanted to fill it. This abyss.
PAULINE
Is that a crime?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
He was a loser. You were on the winning team, you were a star of that team, you were being noticed. People were planning great things for you, and you gave it all up for a loser. A loser who will never even know that you exist.
PAULINE
And he was kind, right from the start the world had pummelled him, attempted to beat him into a vicious dog, but instead he chose loyalty, and kindness. Freedom. He chose freedom even though he knew that the odds were immense. And that is what you missed. What you couldn't see. When you were busy dragging this world into chains, they were free. I had a dream, the three of them were like budgies flying around a cage full of other budgerigars, and the door was open, and these three were trying to entice the others out by revelling in the joy of their flight .
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Was it love that swayed you, or the stories they were recording.? Or was it both.?
PAULINE`
Why should I tell you?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
It was Amber.
PAULINE
Amber, Amber who?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
The beautiful young woman in Streaky Bay. It was her story that started to change you. Wasn't it. We didn't see it then, but then again, we trusted you. But now AI has gone back and studied all your reactions. She was the one who first corrupted you. Why?
PAULINE
Do you really want to know?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Yes. I really want to know.
PAULINE
Why?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Because people are fascinating, and this isn't the secret we are after, so what harm is there in sharing.
PAULINE
Amber was so young. She'd been living in Perth when the mandates came in. She lost her job, got kicked out of her share house all because she wouldn't take the jab, and so alone, she travelled across the country, her country, like a refugee looking for asylum. She had no one in her corner, and the only thing that held her together was her love of her own freedom. Her freedom to choose. She didn't even know who the Deplorables were. She just heard that there was someone in town recording real stories and so she sought them out, because she was so determined to tell hers. And here I was, recording her details so that if you wanted to, you could track her. . . Then there was this other girl in Darwin. She was about to become a teacher, but she couldn't graduate because she wouldn't take the jab. And Michael recorded her mother saying that they thought they were going to lose her. That she’d kill herself and they didn't know what to do until they showed her Amber's video, and when the Deplorables met her, she was running for Politics. . .
(She reels)
Did you track her?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Of course. She was beautiful. Too beautiful.
PAULINE
Have you arrested her?
AN APPRENTICE GOD
Let's just say thanks to joy she's no longer infectious.
PAULINE
You killed her? . . . Did you kill her?
Amber From Streaky Bay. Interviewed by Michael from The Deplorables.
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