Good evening.
We are here tonight to talk about violence.
Or maybe human nature.
We are here to talk about human nature.
Wait.
A quote.
A great philosopher once wrote:
"In times of peace, the warlike man attacks himself."
This is the root of all our problems.
And by this...
...I mean we.
We are the root of all our problems.
Our confusion, our anger...
...our fear of things we don't understand.
Violence, in other words, is ignorance.
Figure your shit out.
That's my....
What I'd say.
There are two kinds of stories we tell our children.
The first kind:
Once upon a time there was a fuzzy little rabbit...
...named Frizzy-top...
...who went on a quantum-fun adventure...
...only to face a big setback...
...which he overcame through perseverance and by being adorable.
This kind of story teaches empathy.
Put yourself in Frizzy-top's shoes, in other words.
The other kind:
Oliver Anthony Bird...
...if you get too close to that ocean you'll be sucked into the sea and drowned.
This kind of story teaches them fear.
And for the rest of their lives these two stories compete.
Empathy and fear.
And so I bring you tonight's play.
A work in five acts about a fuzzy little bunny...
...who got too close to the ocean...
...and what happened next.
Let us begin.
SYD: We went looking for truth...
...but found only lies.
The doctor had disappeared.
The old girlfriend hid behind a smile.
What was real?
That was the mission.
We had seen things.
Heard things.
But could we believe our eyes?
Could David?
WOMAN: David?
MAN: What do the stars say?
WOMAN: My boy.
[CHILD LAUGHING]
My beautiful boy.
SYD: David?
Wake up.
Odd.
Extremely.
He's gonna wake up, right?
There is no medical reason David's unconscious.
If that's what he is.
DAVID: Andromeda.
Cassiopeia.
SYD: I'm getting out tomorrow.
Kissinger says I'm clean...
...so I get to go home.
- No! SYD: David, wake up.
CARY: I could try a shot of adrenaline. MELANIE: No.
- Too risky. - Agreed.
SYD: David?
David, where are you?
You've gotta get better.
So you can come home too.
David?
Wake up.
[SYD GASPS]
PTONOMY: He's not inside his memories.
His subconscious. I looked.
Wherever his mind is, I can't find it.
- But he's not-- CARY: He's not brain-dead, no.
His mind is active. What's it doing, though?
PTONOMY: We know he can create a kind of mental projection space.
Something between reality and dream.
An astral plane.
MELANIE: We've been inside David's memories three times.
[GASPS]
Three times we saw glitches, omissions.
It's as if we've activated some kind of guardian.
There's something in David's memory he does not want us to see.
- Kerry. KERRY: Yes.
MELANIE: I have a mission for you. Three of you. I'm sending you out.
We need to find out what happened to David before he went to Clockworks.
SYD: What about Division Three? MELANIE: It's just a risk we'll have to take.
He's too important.
Is he, though? Because I'm thinking "dangerous" is a better word.
KERRY: I think he's annoying, but if I get to kick a few people, I'm in.
MELANIE: You're all going.
SYD: What was real?
That was the mission.
Keep an eye out. We can't stay long.
Just a guess, but I'd say Dr. Poole hasn't been here in a few years.
It's weird.
SYD: Seeing it after visiting David's memory.
The curtains are completely different.
Most people's memories are unreliable.
The things we see, that people say.
And they change over time too.
Your past is an illusion.
SYD: There was a tear right there.
The wall opened up.
That red light came out.
And the boy ran into the closet...
...and I followed.
SYD: Wait!
PTONOMY: Into the astral plane.
The invented space.
I looked for you. You weren't in any memories of David I could find.
Are you saying David created that space?
It's part of his ability, psychic projection.
To create a simulated reality.
Okay, let's see what she has to say.
- Who? - The room.
There you are.
Objects have memory too.
Is there any way...? Could we still be in David's mind?
The simulation?
No. This is real.
SYD: How do you know? - Because I know.
I mean, I'm pretty sure.
- How do you--? - Put your hand here.
Watch it.
I won't touch you. It's not my first day. Just....
Close your eyes.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER ON RECORDING]
MAN [ON RECORDING]: Cassiopeia.
Boötes.
Canis Major.
Lupus.
Telescopia.
Tell me, David.
What did the stars say?
[GASPS]
Did he...?
Looks like the doctor came back while David was robbing the place.
That doesn't sound like David.
I know you like him, but he's not stable. Trust me.
You try hearing voices for 10, 15 years...
...self-medicate with hard drugs, and then get dumped in a loony bin.
I was in a loony bin.
Yeah, but you're--
I mean, no offense, but compared to him, his power...
...you're a card trick.
I read the report.
He broke the doctor's skull.
They had to put the guy in a coma to get the swelling down.
And that was with his fists.
Imagine if he used his power.
He's a bomb.
What did the stars say?
- What? - Dr. Poole asked David:
"What did the stars say?"
And I saw him.
When we were in his mind.
Just before the monster came, I saw him.
Like a flash. He had--
He was stuffing tape into his mouth, audio tape, and his hands were--
- You're saying-- - Glitches.
Omissions.
You've seen his memories. There are rips in them. Gaps.
- What if--? - I've seen implanted memories before.
You can always tell.
Implanted from the outside. I'm talking about....
He's so powerful. David.
Maybe he's hidden his real memories behind fake ones.
- Why? - I don't know.
A lot of effort just to convince yourself your boyfriend's a nice guy.
Conversations on tape. "What did the stars say?"
We know he's hiding things.
LENNY: One last job and we're out.
What if he didn't come in here to steal a radio or some coins?
What if he came here to get rid of evidence?
A conversation. The one time he said too much.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO]
SYD: How do you find the facts when memory becomes a dream?
David.
Alice went down the rabbit hole.
Dorothy landed in Oz.
Or did she?
I was looking for the man I loved.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
Or did I just love the idea of him?
The face he showed me.
All I could do was follow the lines...
...pull the string.
The things he'd done.
The things he'd said.
Who are we if not the stories we tell ourselves?
[BELL RINGING]
[MOANING]
[SCREAMS]
[GASPING]
Hello?
Who's that?
MAN: I'm here.
I exist!
I'm in a cell!
We should speak quietly.
They might be listening.
Who?
Tell me your name.
Amy.
Haller.
My God.
The sister.
Who are you?
My name is Kissinger.
- I was-- - David's doctor.
I went to the hospital to look for you. They said you didn't exist.
I do.
I used to.
Have they...?
Did you tell them where he is?
No.
I don't know.
I haven't seen him since....
- Did you? - No.
After he left the hospital he stayed with us for a few nights.
[DOOR SLAMS]
[DOOR CLOSES]
Did you know...
...he wasn't sick?
That he had powers?
KISSINGER: He spoke of voices, visions.
[PEOPLE SCREAMING]
Did you?
I think so.
I should have.
AMY: For years.
Doctors, hospitals.
God. He was so sweet.
But he--
He moved.
From room to room, sometimes further. You'd hear his voice and you'd follow it.
AMY: He wouldn't be there.
And he knew things.
Conversations he couldn't have heard.
More than conversations.
Thoughts.
AMY: I'd catch him talking to people who weren't there.
Who are you talking to?
- And he would say, "King." - The dog.
KISSINGER: Your dog.
- David spoke of him often. AMY: Doctor...
...we didn't have a dog.
DAVID: If you come with me, you are gonna see things.
You will not feel the same about me.
[WOMAN MOANING]
Cary called, he found an address for Philly.
Hey, Syd.
Syd.
Cary called, he found an address for the girlfriend.
Ex-girlfriend.
Mm-hm.
So you live inside his body?
We share.
Is that weird?
I'll tell you a story.
Ray and Irma Whitecloud.
They're having their first kid. And it's a girl. A native girl.
They decide to name her Kerry.
KERRY & CARY [IN UNISON]: Nine months later...
CARY: ...a skinny white boy comes out.
KERRY: Ray decides Irma had an affair.
He leaves her. So now Irma's a single mother...
...raising this bastard runt.
CARY: Then, eight years later, little boy Cary wakes up in his room....
KERRY: And there is an 8-year-old native girl playing with his train set.
So for the next year he thinks maybe he made her up.
Like his imaginary friend who comes and goes.
CARY & KERRY [IN UNISON]: But then he figures out that...
CARY: ...she lives inside of him.
KERRY & CARY [IN UNISON]: That they're two people in one body.
SYD: That's his side. What about you?
What do you mean?
You're a person too.
With feelings.
I'm asking what it's like for you.
He does the boring stuff, okay?
Eating, sleeping.
Whatever it is you guys do in the bathroom, and I get all the action.
He makes me laugh, and I keep him safe.
If that's weird...
...I'm okay with it.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Electrical malfunction.
MELANIE: Are you sure you're up for this?
SYD: Don't worry, we'll get the facts.
MELANIE: It's just a risk we'll have to take.
A diving suit. You're sure?
It's not just coincidence.
With David gone.
Maybe he's waking up.
Maybe, but don't get your hopes up.
We've been wrong before.
Do you miss her?
Kerry?
Is that dumb?
No.
MELANIE: It's sweet.
It so amazes me how she only ages when she's outside your body.
CARY: I know, and here I am getting old.
What happens to her when I die, I wonder?
Is he--?
He's still here.
His body.
CARY: Ah-ah-ah.
Oliver.
It's me.
[ALARM WAILING]
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Unannounced visitor.
Unannounced--
- What was it? - Nothing.
I told you we need to replace this operating system.
MELANIE: No.
He's trying to reach us.
We could hear you, my love.
Come back to us.
[INDISTINCT WHISPERING]
[ALL YELLING]
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Unannounced visitor.
Unannounced--
Wait.
Drink?
Uh....
Sure.
What's real in this space is whatever you want it to be.
So my feeling is why not wait in style?
Wait for what?
Where are we?
OLIVER: Sorry about the cold.
It's the only thing I can't seem to fix in here.
Oh. Would you like to listen to something?
[MODERN JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]
It's, um--
Hey, dig that groove.
Ah, it's genius.
Can you--?
Could you turn it off?
[MUSIC STOPS]
Sorry.
I forgot about your, um....
I had a similar proclivity.
Malady.
I forget the word. What's the word?
I've been here a long time and things tend to, uh...
...drift.
Right.
And here is...?
See, I was-- They gave me a shot.
A sedative. For the memory work, and when I woke up, I was--
Unless I'm not really awake.
Maybe this is the drug.
Tell me something, do they still, uh...?
Is free love still a thing?
Girls in summer dresses with no bra?
Not really. It's definitely....
Bras are back.
Too bad.
So....
Oh. Yes, right.
Well....
There's good news and there's bad news.
The bad news is it's not the drug.
You're here.
In the astral plane.
You went too far into the make-believe and got lost.
Your mind. Consciousness.
And now you're trapped in this no place...
...where every day is the same...
...where you can imaginify yourself a kingdom...
...but nothing is ever real.
And what's the good news?
I'm not alone anymore. How do you feel about beat poetry?
I went to the neon fruit supermarket Dreaming of your enumerations
What peaches and what penumbras
Whole families shopping at night
Aisles full of husbands Wives and the avocados
Babies and the tomatoes--
Uh, sir.
Oliver. Please.
Don't worry.
He can't get you in here.
- He? - Your monster.
Ah.
He makes you forget. Clever.
- What are you--? - You have an unquiet mind...
...and so you war with yourself, like a dog trying to chew off its own tail.
- Like I said, I've seen it before. - I'm-- I was schizophrenic, I thought.
But Melanie said it was because of my powers.
Melanie.
I knew a Melanie once.
You know what? I gotta get out of here. Back to the-- They need me.
Amy needs me.
Amy, your girlfriend.
No, your sister.
- How do you--? - I wouldn't go out there.
It's waiting.
The monster.
You brought it in here, and now it's hunting you.
There is no monster. It's just me. I know that.
It's just me. It's my psychology.
Mm.... Monster as metaphor. I like it.
But wrong.
It's part of you, that's true, but not like a symptom.
More like a...
...parasite.
- Are you saying I'm haunted? - No. That's superstition. I'm a scientist.
I'm saying maybe it's good you're here.
Figure some things out.
Defeat the dragon.
Unless, you know, the dragon wins.
Listen, I can't just-- People need me. Syd and Amy.
So I am gonna get out of this place.
- I am not waiting. - How?
I don't know. But apparently I'm this super-powerful mutant...
...so I'm guessing I'll figure something out.
Pity.
Two more and we could have had a barbershop quartet.
Right.
I'll watch for you as best I can...
...but things get muddy out there in the vast subconscious.
Remember, it's not real unless you make it real.
Come back any time.
Wednesday is karaoke night.
SYD: We moved through a city of normals.
Soldiers in a secret war.
We were the ghosts in a haunted house, the golem of myth.
To the normal, we were just superstition, make-believe.
Sometimes it felt like that to us too.
To me...
...I was a woman who couldn't be touched.
In love with a man who wasn't there.
What was real?
The old girlfriend, that was the mission.
PTONOMY: I need you to take the lead, so I can scan her.
Scan her?
I'll look through her memories while you keep her busy. I need 30 to 40 minutes.
How am I supposed to keep her busy for 30 to 40 minutes?
Buy a house.
If you see anything, just whistle.
There's gonna be some fighting soon, right?
To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence.
Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance...
...without fighting.
- Whatever. - Oh....
And I'm blind.
And are we looking for a one-bedroom or a two-bedroom?
Kids.
We're hoping to have kids.
Oh, wow. Congratulations.
SYD: No, no, no.
No, we're not, um...
...having kids.
It's just, uh....
We're talking.
[BOTH CHUCKLE]
Oh, well, you don't get them just by talking. Ha, ha, ha!
So I know it's a stretch of our price range...
...but we were thinking about something on the west side.
Great. You wanna take a look at some places....
More coffee?
Oh, no. I've got a hard enough time sleeping as it is.
PHILLY: David has the same problem.
He's always tossing and turning.
And sometimes he talks in his sleep.
We don't have to-- It's not a session.
He's right. But I'd like to hear more about this dog you're thinking of getting.
His name is Archie. David had a beagle when he was a kid.
King. His name was King, he went with me, like, everywhere.
PHILLY: He sounds like just the cutest thing. I keep asking for pictures, but--
Amy must have some. I don't keep a lot of stuff.
A lot?
We're talking nothing. No pictures, no favorite teddy bear.
No evidence he was ever....
You know, heh, heh, had a past.
...evidence, he was ever....
You know, heh, had a past.
PHILLY: So, uh, you wanna take a tour?
No, thanks. I think we found what we were looking for.
I'm sorry. You look so familiar.
- Did you date someone named David? - Syd.
Are you friends of his?
Do you know where he is?
No. We....
We're looking for him actually.
But I just wanted you to know he said such nice things about you.
Did he--?
Did things end badly with you guys?
It's--
I thought I could fix him.
He was so troubled, you know.
He was always nice to me.
But then he went off his medication.
He had this friend. Benny.
SYD: You mean Lenny. PHILLY: No. Benny.
He was a....
Pusher, I guess.
David's friend, the one he did drugs with--
Unhand the reptile, space captain.
Hey, now, don't fight.
--was a man.
Yeah. A big guy.
He smiled a lot, but not with his eyes.
If I see him, is there anything that you wanna say? A message?
Tell him...
[WHISPERS] ...they're watching.
SYD: Are we gonna talk about Benny?
PTONOMY: You saw the memories.
Everywhere we went it was David and Lenny...
...his old female friend from the hospital.
Who I buried in a wall. How'd she end up stitched in David's memory?
This would be an awesome place to have a fight.
I don't know. But whoever altered David's memory...
...replaced the real dude with Lenny.
Helicopters coming in, gunships. Ninjas on fast ropes.
- Heck, yeah. - Why?
I don't know.
Let's ask the doctor.
SYD: Lenny, Benny, which one was real?
Or were they one and the same?
A man who became a woman.
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
Or maybe it was just an illusion.
SYD: Dr. Poole.
We're here about David Haller.
- I don't talk about my patients. SYD: Please.
He's in trouble.
You told us that he broke into your office to steal things so that he could buy drugs.
We think there's another story.
SYD: Doctor, five minutes...
...and you'll never see us again.
I swept upstairs. Nothing.
Same drill.
You talk, I'll search his memories.
No. It's--
We're not spies.
If he's willing to talk, let's let him talk.
- Thank you. - Of course.
SYD: So you're a lighthouse keeper now?
I like to think I was always a lighthouse keeper.
How long did you treat David?
POOLE: On and off for three years.
Why off?
POOLE: People with schizophrenia are subject to delusional thinking.
When David was on his medication, he was open...
...almost desperate to work.
- But when he went off it.... - What about drugs or booze?
He had conflicting impulses, good and bad.
There was a friend.
A man or woman?
A man.
Benny.
He had, I'd say, a negative effect on David's treatment.
Was he different at all, David, before the break-in?
Days or weeks?
He doubled his sessions.
It was clear that there were things he wanted to say, but couldn't.
Until his last appointment.
SYD: Dr. Poole...
...what did the stars say?
You're in love with him.
Yes.
I'd very much like to see David again.
Could you take me to him?
- Why? - Because I have the same question you do.
I had a wife, kids.
Now I can't see out of one eye.
I can't concentrate.
He ruined my life.
I just want to ask him why.
So he's in charge?
Nobody's in charge.
We're here together.
And Melanie Bird?
Is she not the leader of your little band?
What did you just say?
It's a trap.
- Shit. - Upstairs.
All day it was talk, talk, talk--
My turn.
[FEIST'S "THE UNDISCOVERED FIRST" PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]
I had what I thought were clear Open eyes, bright blue
Vision of a lake
Carryin' pictures to lay on you
Close the blinds, let 'em in
Don't mind openin' It's the edge of love
You can't un-think a thought
Either it's there or not
Shadows of the mountain
Don't tell them what's under
The breadth and the height
Of an undiscovered first
Shadows of the mountain
Don't tell them what's in store
The height and the breadth
Is it wrong to want more?
[INAUDIBLE]
THE EYE: We've been looking for you.
That was a mistake.
Is this the right mountain
For us to climb?
Is this the way to live
For you to be mine?
Is this the way to live
For me to be yours?
Is this the way to live
Is it wrong to want more?
Is this the way to live for me to be yours?
Is this the way to live? Is it wrong to want more?
MAN: Sir. - Targets acquired.
- The other? - Secured but feisty.
It's a trick. He's not-- Unh!
THE EYE: Throw them in the vehicle.
I'll take them back myself.
LENNY: All good in the head now?
You think you're safe here?
With these clowns?
Dreaming you're a mountain climber?
Look, it's your little room.
I am not in the mood.
[LENNY WHISTLES]
Whoopsie. I guess we gotta talk.
Kid.
Hey, kid.
Are you my friend?
- Because I could really use-- - Yes, of course I'm your friend. Come on.
It's just-- I'm Betsy Tough Love, your mean friend.
But don't worry, I love you.
- Blow me. - Don't swing that way, bro.
But I could be talked into a circle jerk.
That is if you can get it up in this place.
I've been walking around, looking for an exit like an idiot.
All those years of practice and now, poof, mission complete.
I lost my mind.
Yeah, well, you screwed up, kid. I told you not to trust them.
I mean, what kind of a name is Summerland?
You know, you let your guard down, man. They gave you a shot and now we're here.
No. He said it wasn't the drugs.
Who? Captain Nemo, in his giant ice cube?
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Unannounced visitors.
They doped you up and kicked you out of your own body...
...to do who knows what.
Uncle Fiddly with the glasses and the angry girl inside him...
- ...they could be fingering you right now. - Who are you? Really.
I'm you.
I'm me.
I'm everything you wanna be.
Please.
The truth.
Here's the truth, pal...
...we gotta get out of here. Okay?
You and me.
Because wherever you go, there I am.
I can't hang out in this shit-stain no-place much longer. I got things to do.
- What does that mean? - So I was thinking if you just concentrate...
...or if together maybe we--
Hey.
Or maybe you need a little more motivation.
Wait, is that--?
That's right. In the real world, that guy's about to shank your girlfriend.
- Or worse. - Ugh.
- Get mad. - No.
Oh, no.
[GRUNTING]
LENNY: Come on. Let it come.
[SCREAMING]
Come on. Come on.
Syd!
Syd.
It's okay. I'm here.
It's okay.
We were looking for you.
I know. I got lost.
Here, hold this. I'll check on the others.
Ah! Oh....
Run. I'll protect you. Go.
Grab her!
No.
[GRUNTING]
David.
- Run! - No. It's me.
[IN SYD'S VOICE] David.
[KERRY GROANING]