Note: This piece is a five-act play based loosely on a week I spent in Oxford in 2018. Unlike my previous narrative essays on the same material, (here, here, and here), this is written as a staged work, with dialogue, silence, and structure doing the heavy lifting. At its core, the play explores the tension between experience and narration—what happens when a person tries to turn a living moment into a story too quickly, and what is gained (and lost) in that process. While grounded in real events, it is not strictly autobiographical; it is a shaped and curated version of those experiences. As with all my work, the hope is that it resonates beyond its immediate context. Thank you for reading.
A Five-Act Play
EPIGRAPH
I can’t believe all the good things that you do for me
Sat back in a chair
Like a princess from a faraway place
Nobody’s nice
When you’re older your heart turns to ice
Mark Kozelek — Have You Forgotten
ACT I — THE WAYFARER
Scene 1 — Registration Desk (Threshold)
Lights: institutional white. Gradual warm shift beneath it, as if memory is already leaking into the space.
Sound: distant conference murmur. A faint, unresolved piano note.
A desk. A GATEKEEPER. A lanyard laid out like an object of passage.
MATT enters. Slightly lost. He has clearly been walking longer than intended.
GATEKEEPER
Name?
MATT hesitates. Reaches for something that is not yet ready.
MATT
Here. I think.
He presents credentials.
Stamp sound. Too loud for the space.
The badge is handed back.
CHORUS (from off, soft, not fully placed in space)
Arrival.
Conference.
Inn.
Story begins again.
NARRATOR-MATT (aside, not heard by others)
I thought I came to learn.
The badge feels heavier than it should.
Lights soften.
Scene 2 — Inn Common Room
Warm, slightly unreal hospitality lighting.
Tables. Cups. A space that feels both public and private but refuses to decide which.
ELODIE is present as if she has always been there.
MATT notices her immediately.
NARRATOR-MATT
Voltage.
ELODIE
Tea?
MATT
Yes. Thank you.
Beat. Nothing rushed.
CHORUS (slightly brighter, almost encouraging)
House lady.
Innkeeper.
Muse—
(a correction, quieter)
No. Person.
ELODIE does not acknowledge the Chorus.
Scene 3 — “Sing for Your Supper”
Sound: faint guitar motif. The room subtly shifts into performance space without fully becoming one.
CHORUS subtly rearranges space like memory editing.
MATT sings quietly:
MATT (singing fragment — The Clientele, “The Violet Hour”)
so that summer came and went
and I became cold
yeah I became cold
ELODIE listens. No visible transformation.
NARRATOR-MATT
Hospitality is not destiny.
The room remains unchanged.
Blackout.
ACT II — THE HOT ZONE
Scene 1 — The Casino
Green felt lighting. Rotating overhead spot.
CROUPIER replaces Gatekeeper.
CROUPIER
Place your bet.
MATT
Meaning.
CHORUS
Luck.
Chance.
Myth begins when odds are misread.
MATT places chip.
Sound: chip hits felt—final, sharp.
Scene 2 — Triptych (Three Trips)
Lighting pulses three times. Distinct beats.
MATT (low, repeating)
Three trips.
No more trips.
CHORUS fractures into three figures: GENIE / GHOST / MESSENGER.
NARRATOR-MATT
Inspiration gone.
GENIE (brief, playful)
First.
GHOST (slow, distant)
Memory.
MESSENGER (clear, neutral)
Transmission.
All fade.
Scene 3 — Jungle Confrontation
Green light. Reduced set. No realism.
MATT
Her.
Leave everything.
Frontman.
Practice.
ELODIE
No.
MATT
What is this?
ELODIE
Not your exorcism.
CHORUS
Brink.
Blackout.
ACT III — NAMING THE PATTERN
Scene 1 — Needy Boys
Two chairs. Neutral white light.
ELODIE
Don’t narrate me.
MATT pauses. This lands fully.
NARRATOR-MATT
I was writing her.
Silence.
Scene 2 — Chapel
Stillness. Breath-level sound only.
CHORUS (barely present)
Meaning.
Destiny.
Story.
NARRATOR-MATT
Room, not revelation.
Silence holds.
Scene 3 — Pattern Recognition
Lighting: subtle timeline shifts—memory flickers, not time travel.
NARRATOR-MATT
Senior year.
Again.
ELODIE
Your pattern is yours.
MATT
I see it.
CHORUS
First choice.
Blackout.
ACT IV — RELEASE
Scene 1 — The Offer
Dusk light.
MATT
Part-time.
Scout.
Not jungle.
ELODIE
Boundaries are kindness.
Scene 2 — The Pivot
Warm domestic light replaces earlier symbolic tones.
MATT
Family.
Music.
Life.
CHORUS
Myth.
Escape.
Hero.
MATT
No.
Silence holds. No response from Chorus.
Scene 3 — Chorus Dissolves
Lighting: references dim one by one.
CHORUS removes masks.
NARRATOR-MATT
The story stayed.
The spell lifted.
Blackout.
ACT V — OXFORD CODE
Scene 1 — Gesture
Morning Oxford grey. Minimal space.
ELODIE
Take care.
MATT
You too.
Beat.
No escalation. No closure ritual.
Scene 2 — Benediction (Chapel Revisited)
Same chapel. Quieter now.
Sound: Arvo Pärt piano. Sparse. Non-declarative.
NARRATOR-MATT
Gratitude.
Silence. Breath.
MATT listens without narrating.
Scene 3 — Train
Sound: distant platform announcement. Train readiness.
Gatekeeper becomes CONDUCTOR.
CONDUCTOR
All aboard.
CHORUS
Run back.
Declare.
Confess.
MATT
No.
MATT boards train.
NARRATOR-MATT
The jungle is real.
The girl is real.
The story remains.
Beat.
NARRATOR-MATT (softer)
You think you’ve finished it. Then it comes back different.
NARRATOR-MATT (aside)
She knew more than I could say.
Train departs.
Lights fade with motion, not blackout.
The Kyoto Kibbitzer 