Blue Crystal : A Short Play

 

Setting : The drama takes place in one of the rooms of a large house offering Bed and Breakfast accommodation. The two residents, Liam and Steve, who partake in the drama, have recently met whilst living in the house. They have separate accommodation, but Liam is often in Steve's room. Steve's room, where the drama is set, has an en-suite bathroom and is centrally heated. The room is simply but adequately furnished. It has a single bed, a wardrobe, an easy chair and a small table. On the table are four cans of lager and some cigarettes

 

Time : It is approximately 8 o' clock in the evening, one night in the month of March. To begin with Steve is alone in his room. There is then a knock at the door.

BLUE CRYSTAL

(Steve is lying on the bed. There is a knock on the door.)

 

Steve : Who is it?

Liam : Liam.

Steve: Go away.

Liam : Let me in. Come on, open up.

Steve : What do you mean 'open up'? You are making it sound like a raid.

Liam : Ah well, it could be if we are not careful. Just let me in.

(Steve walks over to the door and opens it.)

Liam : Hi, I've got something.

Steve : Another disease?

Liam : No, something to take. We'll get high tonight.

Steve : I thought that you had no money.

Liam : I sold something.

Steve : Another of your Christmas presents? I'm surprised anybody buys you anything. They must know by now that you don't keep them.

Liam: It was an aftershave that didn't suit my personality.

Steve : It must have been classy was it?

Liam : I didn't think so, but the important thing is that I've got some stuff for tonight. We can have a good time. (Looking over to the table with the cans of lager on it and the two cigarette packets.) And I see that you can contribute. Half of what I've got for all that you've got. Okay, for half of what you've got. I'm nothing if not fair.

Steve : Share and share alike, that's your motto, isn't it? We both go downhill together.

Liam : Don't be so pessimistic. You know that you enjoy it just as much as I do. You just haven't done as much.

Steve : You mean I'm not hooked.

Liam : I'm not hooked.

Steve : No ( said disbelievingly).  Nobody gets hooked, do they?

Liam : You know you liked it last time. It gets better. It's only speed anyway, it's not as if we're injecting heroin. 

Steve : Yeah, anything for a good time.

Liam : Exactly. (Looking at the whizz) This looks like good stuff. (Proceeds to prepare it for taking) It's been cut ace.

Steve : Has it?

Liam : Yes.

Steve : Good. I wouldn't like to think that we were taking rubbish.

Liam : I don't know why you are complaining all of a sudden. I think that you are trying to make out that you are above all of this.

Steve : It's just I'm not one, Liam, and I don't see myself becoming one.

Liam : One what?

Steve : A drug addict of course.

Liam : I'm not one. It's just a bit of recreation.

Steve : It's that alright, but it's the sort of recreation that doesn't come to an end.

Liam : Don't be such a killjoy. You know you enjoy it once it starts to work on the system. In fact I think it is the only thing that will shut you up now. (Handing Steve a bit of the drug on paper). Try that.

Steve : I must admit that I need to relax. (Handing over a can of lager to Liam) Have a drink.

Liam : Thanks. Our mates here will give us a good time tonight. (Looking at the cans of lager, the drugs, the cigarettes).

Steve : Yeh. They are the only mates we've got. The ones that lived and breathed now need bank loans.

PAUSE

(Both characters take speed)

Liam : Shona's gone you know.

Steve : I knew she wouldn't stick around.

Liam : She was a real mate while it lasted.

Steve : Maybe, but nobody wants the sort of problems that you bring with you, Liam

Liam : No.  I suppose they don't. You are all heart, aren't you? To put up with me.

Steve : I am not a woman.

Liam : No, I worked that out for myself. That is probably why you don't feel any pressure to marry me. Shona did, didn't she?

Steve : Yes, she was a straightforward girl. She wanted to marry someone who could give her a normal life. You were only an obstacle in her way.

Liam : Thanks a lot. You really know how to stick the boot in. She liked my body, no matter what you say.

Steve : All girls like our bodies if they are normal.

Liam : Who said anything about you? Shona never said she liked your body.

Steve : Well she wouldn't, would she? She was your girlfriend.

Liam : Mmm, I suppose.

PAUSE 

Steve : I can feel the drugs working.

Liam : Yes, guaranteed happiness. That's why I believe in them.

Steve : But it's guaranteed withdrawal when you come off them.

Liam : If you are against them it's no good. Take some more of what I've given you.

(Steve takes some more whizz)

Steve : Do you think that we are good friends then?

Liam : No.

Steve : I'm taking this stuff with you.

Liam : Yes, but you complain.

Steve : So did Shona.

Liam : Yeh, she did a bit.

Steve : You haven't got any friends.

Liam : You are one.

Steve : But we aren't good friends.

Liam : No, you don't like me enough.

Steve : Probably not.

Liam : Yes, men don't ever really like each other unless they are gay.

Steve : No.

Liam : Exactly. We'll just stay bad friends.

Steve :  Fair enough.

Liam : As bad friends can I smoke some of your cigarettes?

Steve : I suppose so. You can buy the next packet.

Liam : I will. I get paid soon.

Steve : At least we get paid for doing nothing. This country hasn't completely gone to the dogs.

Liam : Things have changed though now. They do expect something, look at all the sanctions people get. This used to be the land of the free, where there was plenty of opportunity to do nothing for people like us. I couldn't get the sort of job I wanted when I left school so I gave up.

Steve : It takes a strategy to get what you want. What did you want to do?

Liam : I wanted to travel the world, be a director of an international fashion empire, make plenty of money and sleep with the firm's best models.

Steve : Fair enough, but in a town like this you would probably have to start behind the counter of somewhere like Pottersby's taking inside leg measurements.

Liam : There was nothing that suited me, so I let all my ambition slide away. Even Pottersby's didn't get to know what an asset I would have been. I feel happy now.......... that's all that matters. You live for the present, not the future, and certainly not the past. Start talking about the past with any sort of regularity and you might as well be an old man.

Steve : Yes, there is no advantage in living off your memories, unless you have got nothing else.

Liam : There's no harm in remembering a good trip though. It never hurts to look back on a good experience with speed. It keeps me happy. Look into the deep waters of blue crystal and know you will always swim, always swim like a water-baby.

Steve : Always swim like a water-baby. More like drown with the liner going down.

Liam : I don't know why you are so negative. I don't think the speed works on you.

Steve : Maybe not. I feel a sense of confidence and that's it. All I can say is I don't need it. I am confident anyway.

Liam : It's because you are better class. All better class guys feel confident anyway.

Steve : Better class? I don't have a class. I'm on benefits............my class is undecided.

Liam : Yeh so is mine. I don't know if my trip is top class or only mediocre. With you here I can hardly get off the ground anyway.

Steve : Look into the deep waters of blue crystal.

Liam : In the deep waters of blue crystal I see the beginnings of a new creation. The silver pools of light and the foam-crested waves will take us away to a land of dreaming castles.

Steve : The fairy tale castles I can do without. I like to think of soft pillowy nights with beautiful girls.

Liam : Shona isn't coming back.

Steve : An extract from a travel commercial won't help.

Liam : Well it would if you weren't here. I could think about all that is far away from reality. I want to swim in blue crystal seas like a water-baby.

Steve : You must have read Charles Kingsley when you were young. It's coming out now.

Liam : What?

Steve : Your literary background.

Liam : I didn't know that I had one.

Steve : Everybody has one, even if it is only reading 'Bleak House' for GCSE.

Liam : I didn't take English at GCSE.

Steve : No, you have missed out, but it isn't too late to give up the drugs. If you kicked them you could fit in somewhere. Why not become a scientist? The way you explained the big bang theory to me the other day was really mind-blowing...... get it? (short laugh). You have an interest in it, that's why you are good at explaining it.

Liam : Knowing about the big bang theory will not get me anywhere.

Steve : Well, the girls like it.

Liam : I thought you were being serious.

Steve : Sorry, you know we are bad friends. We do not get on. What can you expect from me?

Liam : I don't expect anything from you. You are just a pain.

(Steve breaks into song)

(The lyrics for Slip slidin away cannot be given due to copyright restrictions)

Liam : You can't sing.

Steve : Can you?

Liam : Yeh.

(Liam breaks into song with the same song)

Steve : You should have been singing 'Still crazy after all these years'.

Liam : I'm not crazy It's society that doesn't like me.

Steve : Well that's a bit of a cop out, but I know what you mean. They don't like me much either. I don't know where we get a bad name from but it certainly seems to stick.

Liam : Yes........ people always want to make judgements on others. By condemning the likes of you and me they look better.

Steve : Exactly, they are really rotten.

Liam : Good. You are talking sense now. You have obviously had enough whizz.

Steve : Probably. I feel okay. It's getting warm isn't it?

(Steve takes off his shirt so is then only wearing denim jeans)

I don't need this shirt on.

Liam : This room is warmer than mine. You probably have hot water too. Can I have a bath here?

Steve : If you like. There's plenty of hot water.

Liam : Thanks.

( Liam goes into the bathroom and turns on the bath taps. He then takes off his clothes.)

I want to swim like a water-baby.

Steve : Well there won't be much opportunity for that. It's an ordinary bath.

Liam : The trip will supply a wider dimension. Don't the drugs do anything for you?

Steve : Not really. I want to go to sleep.

Liam : It's too soon to sleep them off. You can scrub my back in the bath.

Steve : I'll ring up Shona.

PAUSE

(Liam finishes taking off his clothes and then climbs into the bath. There is a splashing of water. He then starts to sing.)

(He sings Twas a sunny day by Paul Simon)

Steve : Are you sure that you've got everything you need?

Liam : Yes, I can see where you keep your shampoo and soap.

Steve : Good. I wouldn't like to think that you had to do without anything.

Liam : I need someone to scrub my back, like I said before.

Steve : It sounds fruity to me.

Liam : No, a clean back is a physical impossibility without a loofah and there is no loofah.

(Steve gets off the bed, where he's been relaxing, and goes into the bathroom.)

Steve : If the neighbours talk it's not my fault.

(Liam starts to sing again)

(As Steve approaches the bath Liam reveals an expanse of back.)

Steve : What do I do?

Liam : Soap it up.

Steve : Soap it up?

Liam : Yeh, here's the soap. (Handing Steve the soap.)

(Rather gingerly at first Steve rubs the soap on Liam's back. After a short while he gets more confident.)

Keep hands that do dishes as soft as your face with mild green fairy liquid. (This phrase is sung)

Steve : It was your idea.

Liam : Yes. You are doing well really. You can rinse now.

Steve : Oh I can, can I?

Liam : I'm no common anybody you know. Royalty would have their toilet assisted.

Steve : Look it's the last time you have a bath here.

Liam : You are right. It's giving me airs and graces.

Steve : What? .................the luxury of hot water?

Liam : No, imitation of having my own valet.

Steve : Your skin is that smooth you could pass as a water-baby.

Liam : I won't pull the plug when I get out. You might as well have a bath. The water is not that dirty.

Steve : No thanks. I'll wait until the water gets hot again.

Liam : It won't be tonight though, will it?

Steve : No, it doesn't matter.

Liam : You better go back into the bedroom so I can get out of the bath.

Steve : Why? Are you shy all of a sudden?

(Steve walks out of the bathroom and goes back into the bedroom to lie on the bed)

I would have thought that after an episode of bath bonding you wouldn't care.

(Whoosh and splashing of water as Liam emerges from the bath)

That whizz has made me sleepy It's like a knockout drug for a horse.

(Steve is now lying on his bed)

(Liam appears naked at the bathroom door)

Liam : I haven't got a towel.

Steve : You should have brought your own.

Liam : I forgot.

Steve : Urr (exasperated). Take that one on the radiator. But I want it back washed.

Liam : You will get it back washed.

(Liam takes the towel and wraps it around his waist)

Continued in Blue Crystal : Part Two