DESCRIPTION
Set in the present time in a courtroom. A small-cast, one short-act requiring about 16 minutes to perform. A judge is perplexed as he attempts to seek the identity of a man who appears to be a vagrant. The vagrant's use of a Shakespearan-eque language, coarse and insolent, and his claims to be a king from another place and time, is convincing enough under the circumstance to give one pause. [478 words]
Court
A Small-Cast Play
in One Short-Act
By: Bryce Martin
JUDGE
Do you have any friends, Mr. -ah, King is it?
VAGRANT
My search for Diana and all that is chaste is friends enough. Prithee, do not court my humble title in rated matter.
JUDGE
Mr. King, are you saying that this Diana jilted you and you're seeking someone to replace her? That's understandable.
VAGRANT
Incarc'erated by a rouge's hands, pli'ed of my hearldy, forced to wear buckram with strangers in a gloomy cast. Woe is the plight of one more worthy.
JUDGE
Mr. King, you haven't been in jail. You've been in a holding facility awaiting this hearing to see if you need to be charged with being a public nuisance. Do you understand that?
VAGRANT
Methinks you have wronged me gravely with your misdeeds. Were it not for my humble rank, scepter-bound in the great link, a thrice-maddened fang wodst squander your cozened halter ornaments. Pheeze to the peacemakers. Unjust is unjust. Rhyme without reason. Strike the infidels! Darken the pits for their treason!
JUDGE
Mr. King, are you directing your remarks to me, the court, or am I missing something here?
VAGRANT
Thou marketh me by my gaudy remnants. Hah! Tis a milliner's excess that gathers my gaze, and a darkened sheath in antic's gear to witness my front. Ye may yet not see the wrath of such indulgences for I am a king, honour bound. In this strange country I know not; I seek your leave in my noble name, for the only justice is out-bondage for a prove'd redheart, alien to your trust, prudent in thy mercy. I beseech your fair honour to look lightly upon my sentence for I am in the drakest of rooms as to the weight of my treason.
JUDGE
I said nothing about your appearance, Mr. King. How do you address this court on the matter stipulated?
VAGRANT
Ha! You raise your brow in servitude then bestow me unkindly. In what manner am I to adress thee? Sir or sirrah?
JUDGE
Address me as Judge if you desire and enter your plea.
VAGRANT
Mark this then: Your wit is forlorn, your spice untasty, your manner kith and kin to a mongrel. Let your salty, gaping pig's head writhe in the cauldron of your foolish heart. He that speaketh in neat's-tongue is fool rendered
JUDGE
Mr. King, you are in contempth...contempt, I mean, of court. For the final time, how do you plead?
VAGRANT
If I were to jostle with a kinsman I could find hip, a sheath for my sword, an ale in victory. Here I am kindered to dust. Prithee my word and I will tarry no more. Justice is improv'd by your mercy. See me; believe me; within thine eyes disavow me. Only in the minds of men are all things true.
JUDGE
You're not going to jail, Mr. King.
VAGRANT
Indeed, m'lord. You are a gracious host.
JUDGE
Bailiff...ah, you know the procedure.
END
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READER'S REVIEWS (2) DISCLAIMER: STORYMANIA DOES NOT PROVIDE AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWS. ALL REVIEWS ARE PROVIDED BY NON-ASSOCIATED VISITORS, REGARDLESS OF THE WAY THEY CALL THEMSELVES.
"I'm not sure I quite understand this play. Is it meant to be a comedy based on anachronism? Some of the judge's responses to the vagrant seem to suggest he is just misunderstanding the vagrant's language and interpreting it more as contemporary speech and then in the next response he isn't. It's a well-written piece and the language is very good but I think you need to make more clear what your message is. Or maybe I just missed the point. Keep writing anyway, this definitely has a lot of potential" -- S J Fletcher.
"Where dose this court take place. What is crime is vagrant suppose to charge with. keep writting." -- Jeanette H.
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