The Challenge (Inglés) | Obra de teatro

 The Challenge

Rolek Drakentar

A tragedy in two acts for ten players

Based on the play by Rogelio Acosta

SYNOPSIS: A group of students decide to spend a night in their school. When one of them dies, they descend into a maelstrom of fear, madness and treachery. 

DRAMATIS PERSONAE: 

MAURICIO, the imbecile student

MAYRA, the innocent maiden student

CAROLINA, the imbecile’s mortal enemy and student

ROGELIO, the religious sect leader and student

ROBERTO, the Snorlax student

THE GHOST, a specter that makes itself visible at will

FOUR SHADOWS, the ghost’s dark servants

FOREWORD 

This play was written, in the first place, to have some fun. I was afraid to undertake bigger projects such as the novel about which i’ve told all of you, and this seemed like a fun exercise. Also, I had wanted to use the bard’s lingo for quite some time, and there was no better place than a play to do so.
I’m never gonna finish the novel, am I, hehe.
In second place, it was made as an homage. An homage to the times of middle school which my memory has probably honeyed and soured at the same time. But those times (And in fact, all times) are something to value. Overflow they with love and joy, or with sadness and anger, it is our past which makes us who we are today. As long as we are different, the past has been worth it. Because for those who don’t know, this play is based on the one we did for the 2nd year of middle school, the original “The Challenge”. I didn’t quite like the play, but I have to acknowledge that my Macbeth adaptation was way worse for what we were supposed to do. I threw quite a tantrum for it, being honest, but now i see that old play with nostalgic eyes. So… Kudos, Rogi. 

If you wonder if this goes beyond a cheesy and clichéd horror play… Well, it barely does. It has a theme sprinkled over here and there, but it was added to make it not totally empty rather than as the core of the work. However, I hope I can at least entertain you with this little tale told by an idiot. 

THE TRAGEDY OF THE CHALLENGE

ACT I

SCENE I

Morning. A school hallway. Enter Mayra and Rogelio. 

MAYRA: Make haste, Rogelio, for we are late to school! 

ROGELIO: Yes, yes, I hath already heard you.
MAYRA: It seems not so!
ROGELIO: We have many a minute to arrive there!
MAYRA: Something may happen so that we are late. 

ROGELIO: Not a thing shall. Thou maketh worry out of nowhere. See? We are finally here. 

MAYRA: ‘Tis fortunate that we made it on time. 

Enter Mauricio, Roberto and Carolina

MAURICIO: Thou hath arrived! Mayra, Rogelio!
CARO: Mayra!

MAYRA: Caro! 

Mayra and Caro hug. 

MAYRA: I missed thee, cousin.
CARO: And so did i. 

ROGELIO: But thou saw each other yesterday!

CARO and MAYRA: It felt like a century and no less!
MAURICIO: I am merry for our last day of school! Be it finished, we are free! 

ROBERTO: And so am i. But we better enter the classroom.

They exit.

SCENE II

A Classroom. MAYRA, MAURICIO, ROBERTO, ROGELIO, CARO.

CARO (To MAURICIO): Thine madness is the worst it’s ever been, thou wanton. 

MAURICIO: My friends, it shall be fun! We will not always have a chance like this! Or what, will thou come ghost-hunting once we’re all in college?
ROGELIO: While i can’t deny that like fun it sounds, danger lies ahead shall we follow thy invitation.
ROBERTO: Breaking into the school at night and staying there in the shadows until the break of dawn is a challenge I will fain take part in. Specially if that ghost thou mentioneth is a truth. 

MAURICIO: That’s the spirit, cousin! Mayra, my dearest friend, what doth thou think?

MAYRA: Umm, ‘tis fine i guess.
MAURICIO: Raise thy spirits! One night and no more will it be. One to remember, no less. 

CARO: Unwilling, I shall take part in this madness, lest Mayra be hurt.
ROGELIO: Same for my own self. For thine own good, Mauricio, i hope this has no ill end for us.
MAURICIO: I can assure you this will end merely in an evening full of fun.
MAYRA: And when shall we meet again?

MAURICIO: I think the better hour is at ten.
ROBERTO: So we all shall be here by then.
They exit. 

SCENE III

The school wall seen from inside. MAYRA, MAURICIO, ROBERTO, ROGELIO, CARO. ROGELIO jumps from the top of the wall to the interior of the school.

ROGELIO: Blast! That fall did hurt. 

ROBERTO: But we are inside now. Time for the fun to start, cousin.
MAURICIO: Well said.
CARO: Thou art but a pack of idiots. 

MAYRA: What shall we do now?
MAURICIO: Explore the place! What should we do first?

They discuss with indistinguishable ramblings

ROBERTO (Apart): I will make of them fools with a wonderful prank. I shall haunt them as if I were a specter of the plane beyond our mortal realm!
Roberto exits. 

ROGELIO: No, for the last time! We shall not desecrate the apostolic youth group’s chapel!

MAURICIO: Thou, Rogi, are as boring as a mass itself. 

ROGELIO: Shut thy own beak, thou repulsive container of air-inflated brains!
MAURICIO: Be them air-inflated, brains I still have, unlike thee. 

CARO: Govern thy tongues before I pull them from your dung-filled mouths! Where’s Roberto?

MAYRA: He was here not a second ago. Why would he leave us so suddenly? 

MAURICIO: Only one way to find out. Let us separate and search for him.
Mauricio and Rogelio exit by one side. Mayra and Caro exit by the other.

GHOST appears

These mortals know me not, but they have entered my realm. Now I shall punish them for their trespassing until all of them have succumbed to my voice from beyond. 

GHOST disappears 

SCENE IV
A School hallway. ROBERTO is standing on the roof leaning onto a railing.

ROBERTO: By the looking of my eyes, someone foolish this way comes. As soon as they pass beneath me, I shall scream from the bottom of my lungs and make their faces pale as milk! 

(Brief silence.)
They come closer, and closer! But… Something is strange… The railing… The railing!

The railing bends and Roberto falls to his death. Enter Mayra and Caro with a flashlight. 

CARO: Roberto! How art thou!
MAYRA: By thanatos, seems he too quiet.
CARO (kneeling next to the corpse): He… Is dead.
MAYRA: Dead? Thou art lying to me, cousin. Apart!
(She kneels next to the corpse) 

Alas he is dead. Dead. How could such a thing happen? My tears burn my eyes and drown my heart with grief that contained cannot be.
CARO: Forsooth a gruesome death this is. ¿What shall we do? We cannot stay in this gods-forsaken place, or else we will be put against the law. 

Enter Mauricio and Rogelio with flashlights.

ROGELIO: What has happened?
CARO: See for thyself.
MAURICIO: Sweet gods. How?

Ghost appears

GHOST: Seen and heard i can only be by those my undead will chooses. My words will be so subtle that they will think they’re but their own thoughts. 

(To MAURICIO)
Thinks thou not, that they might be involved in this death? That this is something one of them had in mind from before?

MAURICIO: Thou knoweth something about this
CARO: Of course I don't! Thou are the one who brought us here, to this place of death!
MAURICIO: My mind did not even utter the thought that this could happen. As soon as we arrived, you were standing next to the dead man! Thou art the most suspicious here!

CARO: I didn't even want to commit myself to this wicked challenge. 

ROGELIO: Hath thee not considered the possibility of this being but an accident?

GHOST: Listen not to him! He might as well be the one to hold responsible for this murder. 

MAURICIO: We must find our way out of here.
ROGELIO: Did thou even think of how we’re getting out?
MAURICIO: No… We need the keys to the school gate.
CARO: We are not getting them along with thou. Both are murderers, i’m sure. You won’t touch one of our hairs. Mayra, we part. 

MAYRA: But I… I...

Caro takes Mayra from her wrist and they exit. 

MAURICIO: Gods be damned! Where could we look for the keys?
ROGELIO: At the principal’s office, maybe. 

MAURICIO: Onwards, them. 

Mauricio and Rogelio exit.

GHOST: The more dispersed they art, the easiest for me to make my plots grow as roots full of thorns. And with said roots I shall strangle them until their necks weep their own blood. 

THE TRAGEDY OF THE CHALLENGE

ACT II

SCENE I

Mayra and Caro in the school cafeteria kitchen

CARO: Listen thee well, cousin, for I know the cook keeps a pair of keys near. Once he opened the main gate for me when I stayed late for theater class. 

MAYRA: So here the keys shall we find?

CARO: Methinks. I shall grab this knife for mine and thine defense. 

A great clatter of breaking glass is heard. CARO and MAYRA both scream. Enter Ghost

GHOST: Listen. They are coming for thee. If thou doest nothing, they will wear thy flesh as capes. 

CARO: Mayra, they art coming for us. Thou must stay here and find the key. I will make sure they threaten us not.
MAYRA: Methinks i should-

CARO: Hush! Thou will stay.

CARO takes a knife from the kitchen

CARO: I shall come back anon. 

She and GHOST exit

SCENE II

MAURICIO and ROGELIO outside of the principal’s window. ROGELIO holds a metal bar. 

MAURICIO: Thou hast the bar, don’t you. 

ROGELIO: The one they use to block the windows from opening, aye. 

MAURICIO: Give. I must do this myself. 

He gives him the bar

MAURICIO: Very well. Three. 

ROGELIO: Two.
MAURICIO: One!

Mauricio shatters the window and gives the bar back to Rogelio

MAURICIO: I’ll return here with the main gate key. 

ROGELIO: That openeth the exit here?

MAURICIO: Forsooth. As I told our old friends before them both went blind. Now to end our incursion, the key i must find. Or our lives, as was his, will soon be done. 

ROGELIO: Then make haste, Mauricio, so we can move on. 

MAURICIO: On my way. Make watch. 

Jumps into the principal’s office. 

MAURICIO: Heaven and earth be cursed! I cut myself with the shattered glass!
ROGELIO: Canst thou carry on?

MAURICIO: Ah… Methinks. Yes, yes. But i’ll be slow not to step on anything else. This place is dark as the eyes of a fiend. 

He exits.

CARO enters

CARO: What art thou impish knaves doing?

ROGELIO: We search for the key. 

Enters GHOST

GHOST (To CARO): Hast thou noticed what he carries within?

CARO: What is.. What is that bar thou brandish?

GHOST: He is most surely planning to murder thee with it!

CARO (Pointing at him with the knife): Answer me, thou varlet! 

ROGELIO: Take a hold of thyself! (He steps back and points the bar at her) T’was for breaking the window only!

GHOST: But look at how he points at you. He’ll kill you as soon as you turn your back on him! Attack! Attack! 

CARO: Thy mouth is nothing but a rotten sack of lies! Have at thee!

They fight. CARO slashes ROGELIO and he dies. MAURICIO enters, bloodied because of his own wounds. 

MAURICIO: Rogelio, the key’s mine… Oh… Gods be damned… Thou… Thou demon! He lies dead and his blood is in your hands! 

CARO: I… 

GHOST: Look at him. He 's bloodied. He must have gone for Mayra. 

CARO: Thou art too a vicious murderer! Thee will die! 

MAURICIO: Only murderer is you! (he takes the metal bar). But with these wounds I cannot fight properly… My feet, fly!

MAURICIO exits, chased after by CARO

SCENE III

Mayra in the kitchen

MAYRA: At long last, the key! I have the key! But… Caro has not come back yet.
 

Enters Ghost

GHOST: Might she have died?

MAYRA: What are you talking about?

GHOST: Think about it. It would make sense. She’s dead, bleeding on the floor. That’s why she has not come back. And it’s your fault too, for you didn’t go with her. 

MAYRA: No… Please… Silence thyself.

GHOST: Fact is, thou hath done not a single thing to prevent their deaths. They’re all your own fault. 

MAYRA: Please… Stop…

GHOST: Remember always that you have blood on your hands. 

MAYRA: What have i done… What have i done… I am a murderer… I am cruel and egotistical, proud and treacherous… 

GHOST: And if thou dost not act quickly enough, even more lives will perish. 

MAYRA: What must i do? Where should i go?

GHOST: Art thou so useless thou knoweth not even that? I will not tell you. 

Ghost vanishes. 

MAYRA: I must… I must go, and press my heart against my chest lest it bursts. 

She exits. 

SCENE IV

Flight of stairs. Enters MAURICIO being pursued by CARO. 

MAURICIO: Stop, I beseech you! 

CARO: No! Thou art but a murderer. 

MAURICIO: Fine. If you won’t spare my life, then I will not do so with yours! Have at you! 

They fight, going up the flight of stairs until they reach the top. 

CARO: It seems thy life endeth here. How pathetic. I have won even though my reach with a knife was much shorter. 

MAURICIO: Forsooth, as short as your life! 

He stabs her and her corpse falls down the flight of stairs. He takes her knife. Enters GHOST

GHOST: What hast thou done? You’ll never be free from thine actions! You’re a murderer now! 

MAURICIO: I am. I have brought them all to their gruesome deaths while this was supposed to end in laughter. My tears are bloody. I do not deserve nor desire to live a second anymore. 

GHOST: So be it not. 

MAURICIO: I shall put an end to my own villainous self. 

He exits. 

SCENE V 

A school hallway. The flight of stairs with CARO’s corpse to the utmost left, MAURICIO’s corpse to the utmost right with a trail of blood leading up to it. MAYRA stands in the middle. 

MAYRA: I shall flee… I must survive… I must go… But… Blood? Blood?
She walks and finds Mauricio’s corpse, and screams. The first SHADOW emerges from the corpse. 

SHADOW I: Murderer. Murderer. Murderer. (Keeps on repeating it)

MAYRA: No, no, no. Please no. No.

She runs to the right. A flash of lightning illuminates Caro’s corpse. MAYRA screams again and another shadow descends from the flight of stairs. 

SHADOW I and SHADOW II: Murderer. Murderer. Murderer. (Keeps on repeating it)

 

Mayra runs to the center and two other shadows emerge, also repeating “Murderer”. GHOST appears from behind her, and she finds herself surrounded.

MAYRA: No. Please no. Please leave me. I beg you, I beseech you. 

GHOST and SHADOWS: Murderer. Murderer. Murderer. 

GHOST: You cannot run. You cannot get away. You will die. 

MAYRA: I cannot run. I cannot get away. I will die. 

SHADOWS: You cannot run. You cannot get away. You will die. 

MAYRA: I cannot run away. I cannot run away. I cannot run away.

Shadows approach her 

MAYRA: I cannot run away. I cannot run away. I cannot run away. I cannot run away. I cannot run away. I cannot run away. 

GHOST AND SHADOWS: You will die! 

Mayra screams and the lights go out. 

THE END