Berlin Orpheus: A Story from the Underground

For A, M and Transit Lounge

Exterior. Night. Very dark. Deep throbbing minimal techno from above. Two people, speaking in hushed tones. A little scared, equally excited

A: Do you hear them?

B: Looks blank and confused

“?”

A: The voices…

B: I can’t hear anything over that beat

A: Listen

B: ….They must be coming from a radio, there’s a car nearby.

A: No, they’re from somewhere else.

sudden rush of enthusiasm

I think it’s her.
There must be a way in, further down.

B: Half-joking, a little anxious

Whatever you do, don’t look back.

A: Here’s a path.

A fragment of broken mirror glints on the dusty ground, reflecting a shaft of light from the full moon, that has somehow found a way down through an overhead vent.

B: Are you sure?

A: You know I can never be sure of anything.
Do you even exist?
Maybe I’m dreaming you now.
Maybe you’re one of the voices…

B: Oh enough.
Don’t go getting existential on me now.
Let’s just try it, there’s no other way out.

A: There’s always a means of escape if you look hard enough.

B: For you, maybe.
Some of us aren’t always keeping an eye on the nearest exit; looking for the easiest way out in case everything turns to dust.

A: I didn’t say it would be easy. I said there was a means.
Sometimes it’s quite difficult to get out. It can be easier to give in.
One you get involved, the threads that bind you just keep getting stronger…

B: and tighter

A: They might start out invisible, soft, and gentle; but you sure as hell feel them twisting around you soon enough.

B: Yeah, but.. if you always keep yourself free of entanglements, then you’re eternally floating, unanchored.
Can you really live like that?

A: It’s worked for me so far.

B: Nothing to hold you in place? Anywhere you go could be the same as everywhere else you’ve been. Don’t you get tired?

A: A touch of world-weariness creeping into the light banter

I know.
Why do you think I’m trying to find her again now?

B: A little snarky

She was hot?

A: Laughs
Well, there’s that. But no, it was something more.

Hesitant, uncertain

I felt a connection.
There was a moment.

B: Gently mocking tone

A moment?

A: It felt like we could really see each other

Hesitant, not quite sure anymore

beyond the social facade...

B: Past the smoke and mirrors

A: Colour and movement

B: Resigned to the situation now, and supportive in a quiet way

Well, I guess we’d better find her then, or you’ll never rest.

A: I'll be lost in limbo

B: Haunting every ghetto dub and minimal techno night in town

A: Doomed to wander the underworld in search of her

B: FOREVER!

A: Calling out into the darkness

EURYDICE!