The Garden
2014/2015
2014/2015
January 2014
The Garden (a work in three acts)
The creation myth (of the first Man and Woman) could be considered to be a foundation rock (1) of our Grand Narrative. The story of the creation of Adam and the fashioning of his helpmeet (2) Eve is well documented in words (3) and in pictures (4). The ‘renewing’ story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden (paradise) provides the origin for the fall of man (5) and the idea of original sin (6).
There is said to be several creation narratives, firstly God forms Adam and his helpmeet in roughly the same epoch (7) (albeit from slightly different material (8). God created woman (Lilith) as an equivalent to Adam. Lilith conceivably becomes the antithesis of equality and individuality. Adam’s ardor for her demands that she is recumbent under him. Adam’s attempt to make her obey (by force) enrages Lilith and upon calling out God’s name she promptly takes another form and for all intent and purpose Lilith becomes an undying malevolent force (The serpent). By extension, one could hold the belief that Lilith becomes the demonised woman, the one who never dies (9) which continues to resonate.
The more familiar scripture declares that God (acting with caution) tries once more to create Adam’s helpmeet. Whilst Adam rests God takes from Adam a rib (or even the tail) and forms it into woman (10). The narrative within the Garden of Eden places Adam & Eve within a state of primeval innocence until such a point wisdom is gained through disobedience. Upon the eating of the forbidden fruit (taken from the tree of knowledge of good and evil) God expels the Naked Adam and Eve from the garden (11).
In my work I am interested in exploring, ‘Peripheries’, this could be physical boundaries’ which suggests constraint, restriction and limit. Equally these marginal areas (12) may constitute an imprecise boundary that is less tangible and less physical. Within the Creation myth there are further possibilities, seemingly irrational, unapproved gnosis. ‘The Garden’ (13) considers one such extract to fabricate (14) a narrative.
Upon Lilith taking leave of Adam and escaping to the East (15) God tried again; this time and with Adam watching. God builds up a woman’s anatomy using bones, tissues, muscles, blood and glandular secretions (ex nihilo) (16). God covers the whole with skin and adds hair upon her head. With the kiss of life Eve becomes animated, she stands before Adam, the personification of perfection and beauty. Adam beholding the invention feels an invincible repugnance and he is filled with abhorrence towards her (17).
The Garden is made of three elements and the work ought not to be considered a triptych (18). I turn to each element; firstly I shall produce a transcript for a proposed play. The narrative takes place in ‘The garden’ and commences with Adam alone. With each act the story develops, it explores Eve One’s relationship with ‘The Father’ through reciprocal conversations (The father is present). Eve One’s relationship with Adam is somewhat unusual as is play acted by action rather than word. The transcript will be made into a booklet and for all intent and purpose this is not to be read or performed; it shall however form part of the work (19).
The second section, ‘The Habitat’ is sculptural and made flat packed and will fit within a suitcase. The ‘travelling’ case’s contents (once reassembled) will take the form of a toy theatre (20). For the third component I shall make a short film provisionally titled, ‘The new Scenery’. The film will be of woodland, open spaces and fauna suggesting a world outside of human influence (21).
The Garden’s structure is that each component provides less than the whole, and the whole is smaller than is possible. The underlying anatomy behind the work will be looked at in more detail in time. ‘The Garden’ draws influence from the literary work Frankenstein, ‘Waiting for Godot (22)’ and other parables such as Dorian Grey. The language contained within ‘The Garden’ is transmuted by literary tradition (the telling of stories) and explores origins of truth and the interpretation of meaning (23).
Notes
1 The Babylonian Talmud states that the world was created from the foundation rock of Mount Moriah.
2 Helpmeet is likely to be misunderstood in regard to Eve. Eve is less the helper (who was worthy of Adam) more over she is his savior and his deliverer, his spiritual equal…his mirror opposite. One can purpose that Adam himself was in an inferior condition without a mate (see Note No.7). ‘Help’ in Hebrew is ‘ezer’ and is referred to as an aid and to protect = azar. The word Meet in Hebrew is Kenegdo meaning counterpart to, equal to matching
3 Genesis 1:26-30
4 The Sistine Chapel fresco by Michelangelo for example.
5 The transition of man from innocent obedience to God into a state of guilty disobedience
6 The doctrine of the fall brought sin into the world and corrupted both the natural world and the nature of humans
7 Adam whiles away time naming all the living things male and female pairings. Adam (said to be about twenty-one years of age) succumbs to jealousy at their couplings and although he tries to couple each female in turn he gets no satisfaction from the act.
8 God took the soil (or dust) from Hebron and used it to create the first human (Adam) at the original site of the earth itself i.e. the foundation rock. God then formed Lilith just as he had Adam however he used sediment instead of pure dust.
9 Lilith escapes the curse of death that overtook Adam and all who follow because they (Lilith & Eve One) had parted long before the fall.
10 Before Adam awakes God plaited Eve’s hair and adorned her, like a bride, with twenty-four pieces of jewelry, before waking him…Adam was entranced. Gen. II. 21-22 / in an alternative version God cuts off Adam’s tail ending (the coccyx) to create Eve and this remnant of a vestigial tail is still carried by Adam’s descendants.
11 To find out more about what happens to Adam and Eve after their banishment from the garden can be found in the ‘Apocalypse of Moses’ a Greek text about the life of Adam & Eve.
12 Where is the peripheral Zone?
13 Provisional title and herewith I shall refer to the first woman as Eve One
14 The Demiurge, the fashioner of the real based upon the world of ideas, the world as idea and the idea as error. Is it possible that within the creation myth God (by creating Adam & Eve) becomes a ‘False God’ by appearing as a man to the first humans? Is it also possible that Adam upon seeing Eve for the first time also perceives Eve as a God?
15 I have no real idea where Adam and Eve resided…the other place is simply described as, East of Eden (Paradise). In all likelihood the flood may well have washed points of reference away.
16 ‘ex nihilo’ Latin meaning ‘out of nothing’ the idea being that the world is brought into being by the speech, dream, breath or pure thought of the creator in addition ex nihilo may also take place through the creator’s bodily secretions.
17 I have found very little reference material in relation to Eve One. This source material draws upon an extract from the book ‘Hebrew Myths by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai (New York: doubleday 1964), pp 65-69.
The text continues thus…’God knew that he had failed once more, and took the first Eve away. Where she went, nobody knows for certain’. I find this idea of God failing rather compelling and equally the idea of their being an Eve One. For my narrative I am choosing to have Eve One as the first helpmeet.
‘He kissed the lips of Eve and life was born unto Woman’. (The Garden 2014)
18 The triptych format is something I am interested in and has been incorporated into my painting practice. Reflecting Francis Bacon’s use of the triptych in painting, I subscribe to the idea that (as a means of making work) a three-paneled work (in any medium) physically breaks up the image and how it can be interpreted.
19 Perhaps after completing ‘The Garden’ I may seek to produce an accompanying booklet entitled ‘Garden Notes’. This additional work will function as a companion to the play and provides a detailed analysis for further interpretation. Act: what is the motive for our human acts? Are our acts voluntary and free or is there a more natural agent that guides us? If this is so, then to what aim are we being lead by this agent?
20 Also known as paper theatres or model theatres. Dating back to the 19th century these were sold as kits (made of printed paper board) and assembled at home. The original toy theatres were mass-produced replicas of popular plays. The kits included stage scenery, characters and costumes. It was not uncommon for performances (within the home) to include live or pre-recorded sound effects and music.
21 In actuality the film will be to (some degree) a man-made environment.
22 The Garden and those who walk within it are perhaps anti-forms within a landscape that is claustrophobic and confined. As with Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot, we do not know why we are here.
23 ‘my own language is derivative of many sources and possibly littered with many errors of thought. The disposition my own errors and liabilities may make me magnanimous to nature.’ Simon Withers (previous notes, circa 1997). The work looks at the idea of the modification of man by God. God as hermaphrodite the nature of revolution, and trauma through the idea of vibrations upon our psyche (deep within the subconscious) made manifest in our remote past.
The Garden (a work in three acts)
The creation myth (of the first Man and Woman) could be considered to be a foundation rock (1) of our Grand Narrative. The story of the creation of Adam and the fashioning of his helpmeet (2) Eve is well documented in words (3) and in pictures (4). The ‘renewing’ story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden (paradise) provides the origin for the fall of man (5) and the idea of original sin (6).
There is said to be several creation narratives, firstly God forms Adam and his helpmeet in roughly the same epoch (7) (albeit from slightly different material (8). God created woman (Lilith) as an equivalent to Adam. Lilith conceivably becomes the antithesis of equality and individuality. Adam’s ardor for her demands that she is recumbent under him. Adam’s attempt to make her obey (by force) enrages Lilith and upon calling out God’s name she promptly takes another form and for all intent and purpose Lilith becomes an undying malevolent force (The serpent). By extension, one could hold the belief that Lilith becomes the demonised woman, the one who never dies (9) which continues to resonate.
The more familiar scripture declares that God (acting with caution) tries once more to create Adam’s helpmeet. Whilst Adam rests God takes from Adam a rib (or even the tail) and forms it into woman (10). The narrative within the Garden of Eden places Adam & Eve within a state of primeval innocence until such a point wisdom is gained through disobedience. Upon the eating of the forbidden fruit (taken from the tree of knowledge of good and evil) God expels the Naked Adam and Eve from the garden (11).
In my work I am interested in exploring, ‘Peripheries’, this could be physical boundaries’ which suggests constraint, restriction and limit. Equally these marginal areas (12) may constitute an imprecise boundary that is less tangible and less physical. Within the Creation myth there are further possibilities, seemingly irrational, unapproved gnosis. ‘The Garden’ (13) considers one such extract to fabricate (14) a narrative.
Upon Lilith taking leave of Adam and escaping to the East (15) God tried again; this time and with Adam watching. God builds up a woman’s anatomy using bones, tissues, muscles, blood and glandular secretions (ex nihilo) (16). God covers the whole with skin and adds hair upon her head. With the kiss of life Eve becomes animated, she stands before Adam, the personification of perfection and beauty. Adam beholding the invention feels an invincible repugnance and he is filled with abhorrence towards her (17).
The Garden is made of three elements and the work ought not to be considered a triptych (18). I turn to each element; firstly I shall produce a transcript for a proposed play. The narrative takes place in ‘The garden’ and commences with Adam alone. With each act the story develops, it explores Eve One’s relationship with ‘The Father’ through reciprocal conversations (The father is present). Eve One’s relationship with Adam is somewhat unusual as is play acted by action rather than word. The transcript will be made into a booklet and for all intent and purpose this is not to be read or performed; it shall however form part of the work (19).
The second section, ‘The Habitat’ is sculptural and made flat packed and will fit within a suitcase. The ‘travelling’ case’s contents (once reassembled) will take the form of a toy theatre (20). For the third component I shall make a short film provisionally titled, ‘The new Scenery’. The film will be of woodland, open spaces and fauna suggesting a world outside of human influence (21).
The Garden’s structure is that each component provides less than the whole, and the whole is smaller than is possible. The underlying anatomy behind the work will be looked at in more detail in time. ‘The Garden’ draws influence from the literary work Frankenstein, ‘Waiting for Godot (22)’ and other parables such as Dorian Grey. The language contained within ‘The Garden’ is transmuted by literary tradition (the telling of stories) and explores origins of truth and the interpretation of meaning (23).
Notes
1 The Babylonian Talmud states that the world was created from the foundation rock of Mount Moriah.
2 Helpmeet is likely to be misunderstood in regard to Eve. Eve is less the helper (who was worthy of Adam) more over she is his savior and his deliverer, his spiritual equal…his mirror opposite. One can purpose that Adam himself was in an inferior condition without a mate (see Note No.7). ‘Help’ in Hebrew is ‘ezer’ and is referred to as an aid and to protect = azar. The word Meet in Hebrew is Kenegdo meaning counterpart to, equal to matching
3 Genesis 1:26-30
4 The Sistine Chapel fresco by Michelangelo for example.
5 The transition of man from innocent obedience to God into a state of guilty disobedience
6 The doctrine of the fall brought sin into the world and corrupted both the natural world and the nature of humans
7 Adam whiles away time naming all the living things male and female pairings. Adam (said to be about twenty-one years of age) succumbs to jealousy at their couplings and although he tries to couple each female in turn he gets no satisfaction from the act.
8 God took the soil (or dust) from Hebron and used it to create the first human (Adam) at the original site of the earth itself i.e. the foundation rock. God then formed Lilith just as he had Adam however he used sediment instead of pure dust.
9 Lilith escapes the curse of death that overtook Adam and all who follow because they (Lilith & Eve One) had parted long before the fall.
10 Before Adam awakes God plaited Eve’s hair and adorned her, like a bride, with twenty-four pieces of jewelry, before waking him…Adam was entranced. Gen. II. 21-22 / in an alternative version God cuts off Adam’s tail ending (the coccyx) to create Eve and this remnant of a vestigial tail is still carried by Adam’s descendants.
11 To find out more about what happens to Adam and Eve after their banishment from the garden can be found in the ‘Apocalypse of Moses’ a Greek text about the life of Adam & Eve.
12 Where is the peripheral Zone?
13 Provisional title and herewith I shall refer to the first woman as Eve One
14 The Demiurge, the fashioner of the real based upon the world of ideas, the world as idea and the idea as error. Is it possible that within the creation myth God (by creating Adam & Eve) becomes a ‘False God’ by appearing as a man to the first humans? Is it also possible that Adam upon seeing Eve for the first time also perceives Eve as a God?
15 I have no real idea where Adam and Eve resided…the other place is simply described as, East of Eden (Paradise). In all likelihood the flood may well have washed points of reference away.
16 ‘ex nihilo’ Latin meaning ‘out of nothing’ the idea being that the world is brought into being by the speech, dream, breath or pure thought of the creator in addition ex nihilo may also take place through the creator’s bodily secretions.
17 I have found very little reference material in relation to Eve One. This source material draws upon an extract from the book ‘Hebrew Myths by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai (New York: doubleday 1964), pp 65-69.
The text continues thus…’God knew that he had failed once more, and took the first Eve away. Where she went, nobody knows for certain’. I find this idea of God failing rather compelling and equally the idea of their being an Eve One. For my narrative I am choosing to have Eve One as the first helpmeet.
‘He kissed the lips of Eve and life was born unto Woman’. (The Garden 2014)
18 The triptych format is something I am interested in and has been incorporated into my painting practice. Reflecting Francis Bacon’s use of the triptych in painting, I subscribe to the idea that (as a means of making work) a three-paneled work (in any medium) physically breaks up the image and how it can be interpreted.
19 Perhaps after completing ‘The Garden’ I may seek to produce an accompanying booklet entitled ‘Garden Notes’. This additional work will function as a companion to the play and provides a detailed analysis for further interpretation. Act: what is the motive for our human acts? Are our acts voluntary and free or is there a more natural agent that guides us? If this is so, then to what aim are we being lead by this agent?
20 Also known as paper theatres or model theatres. Dating back to the 19th century these were sold as kits (made of printed paper board) and assembled at home. The original toy theatres were mass-produced replicas of popular plays. The kits included stage scenery, characters and costumes. It was not uncommon for performances (within the home) to include live or pre-recorded sound effects and music.
21 In actuality the film will be to (some degree) a man-made environment.
22 The Garden and those who walk within it are perhaps anti-forms within a landscape that is claustrophobic and confined. As with Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot, we do not know why we are here.
23 ‘my own language is derivative of many sources and possibly littered with many errors of thought. The disposition my own errors and liabilities may make me magnanimous to nature.’ Simon Withers (previous notes, circa 1997). The work looks at the idea of the modification of man by God. God as hermaphrodite the nature of revolution, and trauma through the idea of vibrations upon our psyche (deep within the subconscious) made manifest in our remote past.
Further Notes
The Film for The Garden titled, 'The New Scenery' can be found on you-tube (see link in the section Through the Lens)
The origins of my research...
(f) Undismayed by His failure to give Adam a suitable helpmeet, God tried again, and let him watch while he built up a woman's anatomy: using bones, tissues, muscles, blood and glandular secretions, then covering the whole with skin and adding tufts of hair in places. The sight caused Adam such disgust that even when this woman, the First Eve, stood there in her full beauty, he felt an invincible repugnance. God knew that He had failed once more, and took the First Eve away. Where she went, nobody knows for certain.
The Film for The Garden titled, 'The New Scenery' can be found on you-tube (see link in the section Through the Lens)
The origins of my research...
(f) Undismayed by His failure to give Adam a suitable helpmeet, God tried again, and let him watch while he built up a woman's anatomy: using bones, tissues, muscles, blood and glandular secretions, then covering the whole with skin and adding tufts of hair in places. The sight caused Adam such disgust that even when this woman, the First Eve, stood there in her full beauty, he felt an invincible repugnance. God knew that He had failed once more, and took the First Eve away. Where she went, nobody knows for certain.
THE PLAY
The Garden
Cast:
God (Father)
Adam (First Born)
Eve (Known as Eve One)
Act One
Scene 1
Cast:
God (Father)
Adam (First Born)
Eve (Known as Eve One)
Act One
Scene 1
Scene Direction
Staging – The stage is ornamented with a superabundance of flora and fauna. The central area (referred to as the clearing or the glade) is carpeted with a lush verdant grass. There are rocks scattered within the glade (some quite large, their mass is sufficient for a person to climb upon). There are large trees (some bearing fruit) dispersed in the peripheries of the clearing. Additional trees suggest that woodland extends beyond the clearing. Towards the rear of the stage is a smaller clearing (this is known as The Waterfall).
A semi transparent veiled curtain pervades the front of the stage. The stage is highly scented (exotic fragrances fill the auditorium). From behind the curtain (projected towards the back of the stage) is the light of the moon. From the half-light the intensity and the quality of the glow deepens. It begins to illuminate the center of the stage (The clearing). It is the light of a new dawn. Transitorily a fine mist forms, as the light intensifies so the sun begins to burn through. A new day has dawned; a warm yellow and orange hue bathes the stage. Bird song can be heard. Upon verdant grass a man (in the center of the clearing) is lying down in a fetal position…he is naked. A few animals, (a rabbit, a deer and several pelican’s) enter the glade. The man stirs, he begins to stretch out his plaintive limbs and rolls onto his back. The figure sits upright and stretches out his arms over his kneecaps and reaches as far as he can towards the tip of his toes. The figure rises to his feet. (Standing sideways to the audience) he up raises his arms over his head, arches his back and then slowly arcs them until they are along his side. The naked man urinates where he stands. Momentarily he starts to walk and search the habitual clearing. The figure walks over to a fruit tree, he takes hold of a fruit and begins to eat it. The sound of water can be heard (close to the clearing is a waterfall). The man walks towards the trees (rear-stage right) and out of the clearing. The light dims once more.
Scene 2
Bright light, the midday sun is at its zenith. Several giraffes enter the clearing and graze from the tallest of trees. Enter an elephant, a leopard, a tiger and several zebra. The animals gather at a waterhole. The man enters the clearing clutching some fruit. He sits upon a rock, the tigress approaches and takes one of the fruits from the palm of the man’s hand. The man stokes the animal and tenderly purchases her loins and mounts her from behind.
Scene 3
A new day: The man sits upon a rock (same one as the day before) he points skywards with his hand held open. A bird swoops down and takes some seeds from his hand.
ADAM: I shall call you dove
The figure continues to eat fruit on the rock. The animals continue to go about their nature.
ADAM: Tiger (he points towards the two tigers), Leopard, Zebra, Elephant, Giraffe, Rabbit…Fly! (He strains to pinpoint his outstretched finger at the flying insect).
Silence returns: The light begins to fade. The man takes leave of the rock and as night draws in the animals begin to exit the clearing. Having mated with the bonobo the man lies down to sleep.
Scene Direction: The veil lifts.
Scene 4
Morning:
Bright sunlight shines vertically down into the glade. Animals are grazing in the clearing. The man walks up to a number of them (a pair of tigers, a chimpanzee and a duck), he pats them, and caresses them. A second intense spot of light radiates within an area of dense woodland (This signifies the presence of the father having not taken human form). The man in the clearing remains unaware of the phenomena.
The man’s head is lowered; there is an increased sense of frustration (revealed in bodily movements and gestures). It is evident the man is struggling with his own thoughts and he is aware of changes within him but cannot seem to understand his own actions. The man struts around the clearing. Day turns to night, the figure cannot be at rest (he remains unaware of the light held within the darkness of the wood). The restless man calms and he loses velocity. The figure returns to standing still, looking at the ground, head lowered. He scuffs the dust beneath his feet. The man kneels down and scoops up some of the earth and endeavors to clutch it in his hand…it slips out of his grasp. The man looks at his own open hand…some dust remains and he takes some of the particles between the thumb and forefinger of his other hand and grinds the two together. It forms a paste.
An intense light: The man looks up to meet the gaze of his father.
The figure standing in front of Adam is naked he is slightly taller and less broad shouldered. The father is golden haired (shoulder-length, luxuriant, like the sun, akin to brown sugar…it is tied back in a ponytail) where as the youth has loose and long shaggy curly hair, acorn in colour (light natural brown).
ADAM: My Father
GOD: I have come to walk beside you my Son. I see you are troubled, let us talk; I am here to listen.
ADAM: You know what is troubling me, why do you ask me?
GOD: It is necessary to express your distresses
ADAM: There are many things that I cannot make sense of
GOD: Let your concerns pour out and let me place an order to them
ADAM: (Averting his gaze he looks down at the ground) I want clarity, I do not know how to answer you (Adam looks once more into the face of his father). Can I touch you (Adam reaches out his hand towards his fathers right arm)?
GOD: And what do you feel?
ADAM: You are cool to the touch, like the water in the stream
GOD: And that is good?
ADAM: The water is good it relinquishes my thirsting…and nourishment from the trees satisfies my appetite
GOD: The body is satisfied?
ADAM: No
GOD: You have become a restless being in this tranquil place
ADAM: There is a palpable state within the creatures, I see bonds of kinship between animals of a similar nature, natural pairings…where as my position is separate. They converse in languages that I do not recognize. I like to hear my own voice reacting to another…conversing with you feels good Father. When I am close to the animals, when I touch them I feel their heat and a life force akin to my own (Adam holds his right hand over his chest in close proximity to his beating heart). I am not in union with the animal when we are conjoined. I know that a uniting between man and beast cannot be anticipated. I see pairings of animals yet as I stand here I see you father, you we are alike, we are the same (Adam’s right fist is clenched, he opens his hand. The residue of earth upon his fingers has turned to clay. He reaches out and touches the Father, a score of clay marks his fathers chest). I experience nothing the same as I.
GOD: you seek another like yourself?
ADAM: Will you stay with me father?
GOD: I shall always be with you my son
ADAM: You are not always close to me
GOD: My presence is total, be accepting and be conscious of this realm, where you dwell I shall be beside you.
ADAM: When you are not evident I know not where you go. I try to look for you; I call out your name and I hear only the sounds emanating from this realm. I return to this glade and I can only observe the animals here in the garden. They remain together through night and day where as I sleep as one.
GOD: I hear you my son…your want is tangible to me; I shall make distinct an exclusive locus.
ADAM: Shall this be man like me, warm to the touch and always present in this realm?
GOD: I shall provide for you a helpmeet whose nature shall be non sequitur…a union of flesh made manifest out of flesh. This work shall commence upon a new dawn…I take my leave…
ADAM (somewhat hurriedly intercedes) Father start right away!
Adam begins to become enlivened, animated, alive and vital
ADAM: I cannot bear in quiet cessation until I behold this other
GOD: Endure and gain patience, your father will not be provoked
ADAM: In all humility…I shall lay low (Adam adopts a submissive posture)
GOD: Adam sleep this night and upon the rising of the sun you shall see life created.
Scene Direction:
An intense light illuminates both the stage and blinding light radiates out into the auditorium (the duration of which lasts for ten seconds or more) the stage is plunged into blackness (nightfall).
Act Two
Scene One
…Light prevails once more; Adam upon the first light stirs himself. His father is present at Adam’s awakening…he is sitting upon a large flagstone.
GOD: Will you join me at my table; I have brought pleasant fruits from steppes to the West.
Adam quickly rises to his feet and walks over to where his father sits.
GOD: Drink the fresh water pooled from the four rivers (As a drinking vessel God hands to Adam a gourde).
ADAM: I know not what these fruits are, nor do I know of the rivers you refer to.
GOD: There are many requirements for you to gain knowledge of (God holds up a fig) this (he hands the fig to Adam) is one of them. The rock that we sit has a foundation; you may wonder how it has gotten here?
Adam is already started to eat the fig; he looks up to his father.
GOD: There will be an epoch when you shall know of such histories. You will attain an acquaintance with this place and of self. Touch your skin Adam…
Adam continues to look at his father and upon this command he rubs his right hand over his belly.
GOD: The abdomen! There is a place within. (God picks a grape from a length of vine and eats it) You have understood the nature of each of the Animals; you gave them designations by observing their characters’. You sought intimacy with them without progeny. You request a matching and this being shall be alike. For this purpose my companion to you will be made whole and you will be with an equal this day.
God stands up and climbs down from off the rock. He walks to a shady area of lawn within the clearing.
GOD: Eden (quietly spoken)
Adam continues to feast upon the platter of plenty he watches his father take the position of genuflection…he next bows his head (God is facing away from Adam).
Scene 2
GOD: My son, come down from the rock and bring to me a cluster of fruit from off the vine.
Using both his hands to steady him Adam descends the stone. He grasps the fruit of the vine and takes them to his father. God turns to face his son.
GOD: Come to my front and turn to face me, treat with delicacy the fruit, and expand your arms as you hold the vine, maintain a respectful distance and assume my posture.
Adam abides
GOD: Upon the grass position the vine lengthways
Adam carefully adheres to instruction
GOD: My son return to the rock and upon doing so bring me other fruits, single pieces of each and return here with them. Repeat the observance for each. I shall be in quiet contemplation as you do so. Lastly bring to me the gourde filled with the water from the four rivers and place in the center of the victuals.
His father lowers his head and closes his eyes. Adam continues with his serving and is slightly taken aback (whilst undertaking his final bidding) to find that the gourde is full of water once more. When his duty is complete he is restored to the kneeling position. There is a moment of silence. Adam fidgets slightly unsure if to speak or not.
GOD: (raising his head) I shall start
ADAM: What shall I do father?
GOD: I am content for you to remain close by whilst I go about my work. Turn and see the rock behind you…
Adam twists himself so he can turn to his face in order to see the rock
GOD: Rise and rest upon it for the stone is Moriah. Cast your gaze toward me and you will witness psuche come into being. This act is outside your understood knowledge, believe in the miracles you will witness today, let your heart and your wisdom be your compass. Make true your forbearance and be not afraid, this is the will of man.
In passivity Adam rises to his feet; turns and then walks over to the rock.
Scene 3
God begins to go about his work. Quietly and inaudible to Adam he talks to himself:
GOD: Where and how shall I begin this praxis?
God stares both at the food before him whilst at the same time devoting his attention to the ground beneath. In his mind's eye he begins to visualise the form to be created. He stands up and turns to face Adam.
ADAM: What is it Father?
GOD: I am unsure (he pauses) I am changing
ADAM: I do not understand
Adam walks up to his father.
GOD: Do you think that I simply created you in a single moment?
ADAM: I know not how I was born
GOD: Out of the pure dust of Hebron you are the intrinsic gauge for the earth.
ADAM: Then why not create from the same dust?
GOD: Then resemblances will determine outcomes
ADAM: Which will be?
GOD: The presence of another man
ADAM: Is that not good?
GOD: It is very good; (he pauses before continuing and gesturing to Adam) however…let us sit down for a moment.
GOD: I have listened and noticed that you seek a counterpart, one who is like you but only different. There were times of intimacy that you shared with the animals and you found preference with one who is distinct from yourself.
ADAM: But if it is too difficult then from dust make me a kindred spirit.
GOD: It is not the difficulty it is the severity of what I am about to do. My intention was not to have a conversation like this…this I guess is one of the many joys of my… no our chaotic journey. Transformation is not an orderly process…you frequent a world that is in constant change…we can talk at leisure about this in the future.
ADAM: What is the future?
GOD: It is some imagined point where I shall no longer need to do any meddling in human affairs.
God rises to his feet and marshals Adam to do the same.
GOD: It is a counterpart that you require and this is my aim. Return to stand by the rock and be tranquil. Let me to gather my thoughts.
Both men are facing one another and father and son embrace. Adam walks over to the rock and leans against it. He watches his father once again take the keeling position.
Adam hears a humming sound. (His father is emitting it). GOD is undertaking a ritualised mantra. The sound varies in pitch and volume. Eventually the sound is regulated and the resonating sound pulses to the rhythm of Adam’s heartbeat.
ACT 3
Scene 1
God can be seen picking up the grape vine, he takes some of the fruit and eats them. God subsequently eats each of the fruits taking water from the gourde between assimilations.
God reaches into his body with his own hands; flesh and matter are no barriers. He bears down deep into his own chest and pulls out from within him a substance; the colour is akin to pure ivory white bone. God manipulates the substance, stretching, tugging, manipulating and crafting it into a spinal column…God places the structure on the ground. He delves once more into his own body and continues to pull out more of the same material. He does this third time only entering his body through the top of his head. On this occasion the form is already fashioned; it is a skull.
Adam looks towards the creation; his vision is slightly obscured by his father’s body but also by an obscurity of vision (Adam’s eyes and his mind are not attuned or accustomed). God is working out of ‘real time’…his movements appear (to Adam) to be phosphine, disintegrated and whirling (Strobing) and there are flickers of light emitted around the presence of his father. Adam undergoes an original state of change, subtle but noticeable, the slight smacking of the lips. Adam is unsure whether to walk towards the marvel or to remain static…he adds in a further choice and climbs upon the rock. Adam gains a higher vantage point this causes him to ‘see stars’ (an entropic experience). The secreted light diminishes; the work continues as a constant.
God begins to tap on his body creating a patter sound. Every now and then he cups his hand creating a muffled concave sound. On other parts of his body he taps his flesh with two fingers. His skin begins to develop a reddish complexion; blood emanates to the surface. The resonating ends and God once more casts his hands back into his body he pulls out indefinable corpulent matter. The internal anatomy being wrought, structured, fashioned by the hands of God.
Adam kneels down and so to steady himself; one hand firmly clutches the rock. He is of uncertain mind.
God produces deep guttural sounds at the back of his throat. The sounds vary; a growled vocal resonates and increases in volume (it is akin to throat singing)
Adam gradually declines the rock and maintaining a distance, he walks guardedly to view the creation more clearly.
God reaches down into his throat and with his right hand and extracts lengths pallid material. He takes his left hand and enters his chest and pulls out meat belonging to the respiratory system.
The timbre alters and softer sounds are emitted. Material belonging to the endocrine and digestive systems emerges from within the body of God.
As Adam stands closer to the creation so a deer comes up to Adam and sniffs at his right hand; the deer senses something different and turns heel. Adam holds out his right hand and looks at it…he notices it trembling. Adam perspires…he continues to look at the creation…
God plunges his right hand into his chest and pulls out a heart…this remains connected to arteries within his body…he begins to further assemble the body on the ground and finally places the heart within the cavity. Reproductive organs, muscular and cardiovascular material each takes a place within the supine body.
The anatomy is without flesh, not yet naked, neither appearing to Adam as male or female…
God (with his right hand) grasps his own flesh (from the middle of his chest). Clenching a fistful he reveals his own being. His arm extends outwards and flesh becomes unrestricted. He begins to wrap the lifeless corporeal in new tissue.
ADAM: My Father, what is this?
God continues with his concern
ADAM: Is this good?
God continues with his concern
ADAM: This is not like I, is this how you constructed me? I want an end to this.
The figure laid, neonatal, marbled blue and pallid, inert.
Adam in a distressed state retreats backwards, toward the rock
God stands up, looks down at his making, he looks toward Adam.
GOD: She is not complete Adam
ADAM: She?
GOD: Upon breathing life into this body, woman shall be with life and together you will be eternal…Nature takes its place, man is of the earth and woman of the body…it is within woman that continuity shall dwell.
ADAM: Does it have to be like this?
GOD: How should it be Adam, what concept of life have you drawn?
ADAM: Nothing like this!
GOD: When I have finished you will know woman is good…and you shall develop the imagined life together.
ADAM: But…
GOD: Be still…
God kneels down once more beside the prostate figure. He drinks from the gourd throws his head back and gargles before swallowing. God leans over the body and though his mouth he emanates a plasma over the figure. He rubs the secretions into the flesh; further blood drawing from his own body creates circulatory changes in hue of the skin. God places his hands on the body’s cranium; removing his left hand he brings it down upon his own scalp and pulls at his hair. With a yank he holds a thread and begins to weave it into the scalp of woman.
Adam looks on…the body reclined changes colour, from marbled blue; it begins to take on a ruddy complexion.
God leans forward, over the face of his creation. He kisses the lips of Eve and life is born unto woman.
GOD: It is done.
Silence
Scene 2
The body contracts, the spinal cord (through the vagus nerve) stimulates an orgasm. The backbone arcs, the first breath is drawn in. The body contends to pull in new air into the lungs as she contests life.
Adam draws closer to the body as it becomes animated, he halts, and he ventures no closer.
The figure gurgles and vomits forth a milky liquid
Adam nauseous once more gets down on bended knee and steadies himself (by putting both his hands on the ground). Mouth parched…he tries to spit.
Eve coils on to her side. God kneels down by Eve and strokes her brow…calming her. Eve opens her eyes…closes them…and blinks…she looks to the face of God. She discovers her own presence in an unfamiliar world. The body twists, stretches and contorts and nerve endings are roused.
God rubs Eves limbs and all the while her eyes are focused upon the eyes of God…her body begins to rest.
GOD: Eve welcome to the Garden
Scene 3
God holds and raises the head of Eve (in one hand) and cradles her (placing her in his lap). God offers Eve water from the Gourd. At first Eve struggles to swallow, water drips from her mouth…deposit ensues…a little blood…she coughs, splutters…struggles for breath between the sips. Adam (looking towards the pair) retches and vomits (for the first). God gains a better purchase of Eve and raises her up from off the floor. Whilst within the embracing arms of God Eve’s body empties (for the first time).
Adam continues to heave and to puke.
GOD: Adam come over to Eve
Adam gets to his feet (rather than getting closer to them he steps backwards…towards the rock)…the smell of bile upon his own breath makes him wretch. Eve’s eyes gaze upon Adam then centers back upon the face of God.
GOD: let me take you to the waterfall and cleanse you, Adam aid me.
Adam remains silent; spitting and raising an arm to his lips he wipes filth from his mouth
God positions himself to stand erect whilst lifting and supporting Eve. (She is unsteady). Eve gains measure of being upright.
God bears Eve to the waterfall.
Together they walk towards the back of the set – suggesting they are leaving the clearing to go to a different location (the waterfall) (exiting the stage - unseen).
Adam remains purchased next to a rock.
ADAM: I know not what you are and what this is you bring forth from my body. If I felt hollow before then surely I feel empty now and surely, I know that my soul is empty also…(pause)
ADAM: Father! (Calling out volubly…he calls again) Father!
A veiled curtain falls…twilight.
ACT 4
Scene 1
Eve enters the clearing (alone)
Eve walks towards Adam
She picks up a gourd (it contains water)
EVE: Take hold and drink (Eve kneels before Adam and offers out the gourd)
Adam lifts himself to his haunches and looks at Eve (he wretches). Adam condition makes him sweat profusely…he hyperventilates and continues to vomit (in the direction of Eve).
Eve recoils and drops backward and the gourde falls to the ground. Eve repositions herself and moves closer to Adam. She picks up the gourd.
EVE: Let me gather some more water and fruit.
Adam scrambles backwards away from Eve, he runs towards the rocks clambers upon them and climbs down the other side and runs into the forest.
Scene 2
Eve discovers the clearing. She defines her environment through her newly activated senses…the touch the rocks, tasting the fruit from the trees and the pleasant remnants of God’s platter. Inquisitive, Eve’s capacity for knowledge rapidly develops and evolves. She listens to animal sounds and attempts to mimic them. Over the course of the day animals enter the glade and she learns of their nature.
Night descends.
Eve sleeps.
Habitually Adam enters the glade, and beds down in his customarily patch.
Scene 3
Morning
Eve rises
Adam torpors
Eve walks over to Adam (he is asleep on his back). She looks down at his body and begins to compare it to her own. With her fingers she traces the similarities and the differences over her own body. (Eve is an age where she is without bodily hair; the exception is the hair upon her head).
Eve kneels besides Adam and watches him draw regulated breaths…she attempts to slow down her own breathing so that she is in rhythm.
Astride Adam Eve touches his pubic hair…course, waxen…animal like. Eve contrasts her sex to that of the sleeping Adam. She draws closer to Adam…she becomes wet. Adam does not stir yet his body becomes aroused; into herself she inserts man…she moves.
Adam awakes!
A scream (Adam)
Adam opens his eyes (they are fierce).
Adam twists his upper torso and brings both his arms and clenched fists hard into the earth.
Adam’s rigorous movements dislodges Eve
Eve drops from Adam’s body
Eve (initially) crawls away from Adam (and then) takes to her feet.
Adam raises his knees towards his chest (adopting a fetal like position) Adam rolls over to one side and vomits upon the earth.
Eve looks down at the convulsing Adam
Eve walks closer to Adam and kneels down by his feet. Eve reaches out to touch one of them, as she does so Adam kicks out. Eve catches the force of his exertion and tips backwards. Eve scurries away.
Remoteness is created
Adams body continues to react violently. Convulsive waves grip Adam. He spits, trying to clear his throat of the taste of bile. He continues to heave…retching on nothing. Adam turns onto all fours and with head dropped he spits upon the earth. Markedly he stains himself.
EVE: is it because God kissed me upon my lips?
Adam does not reply…he continues spitting into the soil. Eve stands up and having been marked by Adam she walks away from the glade.
ACT 5
Scene 1
Eve by the Waterfall
Eve sits upon a rock (hands clasped tightly around he knees which are drawn inwardly, tucked under her chin) at the edge of the water (she looks towards the waterfall) Eve’s hair remains wet
GOD: I see that there is very little requirement for me to teach you the nature of things Eve.
God sits down next to Eve. He dips his feet into the water. God offers Eve a fig. For a moment Eve remains motionless before relaxing her limbs from her grasp. Eve’s languid limbs enter the water. She takes hold of the fig.
EVE: A diet for pleasure?
GOD: In you I created a clear voice, a true purity and this I see is a subtlety for Adam to attain and this will require work from Adam and as such his needs are greater than your own. I created you as his equal…I see this equality is not as pronounced in my first-born.
God takes hold of Eve’s hand
EVE: Is this the most beautiful place on Earth?
GOD: You imagine another?
EVE: I see the sun…there are other places…I see stars
GOD: This Locus Amoenus (pleasant place) extends beyond the garden and into the universe; a place that is no place, it is of non-time…it endures…
EVE: Time is the cycle of the Earth?
GOD: Your capacity for knowledge is rapid Eve
God and Eve look across towards the waterfall, a monkey climbs a tree, they watch the creature reach out to pick a fruit from a branch, it loses grip and falls into the water. Instinctively and simultaneously God and Eve both laugh out loud.
EVE: What was that?
GOD: Something innate
EVE: I have been here for so little time and there is so much experience.
Eve points to a flower
EVE: What is that?
GOD: I have no idea what it is called…not everything here has a name…just yet
EVE: Is that to be Adam’s bidding?
GOD: Yes, among other things
EVE: and mine too?
GOD: Yes, up until now it is Adam who has given the designations to some of the animals and you will continue that task. I do not have any influence on the naming. It matters not to me what names the animals have, such details are not important to me. The animals and the fauna are for you to discover and for you to enjoy and to gain knowledge of.
EVE: And the Fig?
GOD: That is a fruit that I have given a name given to…among a few other victuals…Pomegranates, bananas…quince…I am rather taken with the name quince…black mulberry…nut…although I notice nature has created different varieties…
EVE: So you do contribute
GOD: It appears so…this I have learned from Adam…this is a new world to me also…and as some of these fruits are from other places and such exotics have yet to be discovered and named by Adam.
EVE: In time will Adam venture beyond the Garden?
GOD: Not necessarily so, the sendus will be brought into the garden upon the air by both delicate breeze and by bird…new fruits will grow within the Garden.
EVE: What is seedus?
GOD: Seedus? That sounds healthier…Sendus…Seedus…I suppose they are the life forces contained on the tree and within the fruit…these are the vessels for creating new life…Eve you have started adding to the nomenclature of things.
From a position of stillness Eve agitates the water with one of her feet
EVE: Not necessary so (repeating the words of her Father)…do you know the outside of this moment?
GOD: The future?
EVE: If that is what it is
GOD: There is no prerequisite at this time
EVE: So there may be a possibility?
GOD: Interesting question…
EVE: It is because you know what is beyond the garden
GOD: I only know what I know…and
EVE: and what is out beyond the stars
GOD: Yes
EVE: I can see the limit…but not beyond
GOD: You wonder what is beyond the horizon?
EVE: Yes
GOD: All what you see is unceasingly repeated…here on this rounded Earth
EVE: more trees, more animals, more water and endless sky…
GOD: Basically, yes
EVE: With my sagacity I know that I cannot become closer to the firmaments above, how did you create the stars in the heavens father?
GOD: I fashioned them from energy, I brought light into the dark universe…I call it the displacement of materials
EVE: Is that how all entities began father, how did you created yourself?
GOD: I have always existed Eve, firstly within the dark realm, before the entities began to oscillate, there is a rhythm…before the vibrations of heat and light.
EVE: I do not understand father.
GOD: There is a dark light, it has no day and night as you witness here within the garden. It has no tangible physicality and everything is total, there is no absence and no presence, it has no margins and it is a singular truth.
EVE: And what of the Garden…and Adam and I?
GOD: You are an evolution, constant within the truth. Before I instruct further I shall firstly give voice to my fashioning of the stars. The celestial bodies you see above…as when day gives way to night continue to generate their own character, there own volition. In the beginning I saw new structures emerge out of the dark and they began to move and to oscillate…and in doing so I too evolved and I saw potential within them. These stars became an external presence in the universe and light begat heat and life became a possibility and eternal life would become manifest. The garden and Adam are manifestations of this new life force. I fashioned Adam to stand within this now accustomed scale, I saw that the physical world has a density and in its infancy it continues to have a certain velocity of evolution. Adam came to experience a certain condition upon my introduction of the animals into the garden. I created them to accompany him and aid his augmentation. Adam became habituated to the animals, certain closeness emerged and Adam realised that he was different to the animals. Adam wanted another such as he…I recognised this need only through Adam.
EVE: I am aware that I am bound to this good earth, and I know that above me are the celestial heavens and that the geographies above us are out of reach. I know that I have a different presence to you my father. Beyond the garden I see other tangible things, high mountains, great steppes that extend beyond my vision…there are other places for me to go. The things that I experience are assuredly beautiful. Night turns to day…the freshness of water quenches my thirst and this fruit (Eve holds up to God the fig) satisfies my hunger. I feel the heat of the sun and the heart beat of life within me. I have felt the vibration of another body…independent of my own. Where once there was a possibility of a kinship with another…I know that I have been refused…shall you refuse me also?
GOD: Do you hold the capacity for self-sacrifice Eve?
EVE: Father, you wish me to forgo this existence?
GOD: I wish to find a solution
EVE: And so what will become of me…shall I submit to slumber here in the garden, shall you draw away my breath as easily as you gave life to me. How have I been incorrect Father?
GOD: Perfect Eve you have done no ill…it is I your father who has failed you…and Adam.
EVE: Then why deem to put me to sleep…should it not be Adam…what have you done, what have you created, what have you made, why have you made?
Is this how it must be…why did you have need to make us?
GOD: Because I was alone
EVE: So why did you create a help meet for Adam but not for yourself?
GOD: Because I am no longer alone…I am fulfilled; it was a condition that I had to experience.
EVE: Are we to be alone upon this earth…and Adam in his condition will he be less than fulfilled. Will he forever be tormented…knowing that I shall be near him? And as divided bodies within the garden will that not cause you sorrow? Is this why you seek to remove me Father so you and Adam can be alone together.
GOD: Eve you draw me to get ahead of myself, questions Eve…so many questions. You are I, created from myself…one with your father, an interlocking…
EVE: I am apart of one and yet shall remain apart
GOD: The truth of being.
EVE: Is not Adam composed of you?
GOD: I created Adam and gave him life as you were given life…he is part of me yes…I accord that he is of the earth and you are of the body.
EVE: So will you create another for Adam?
GOD: I shall seek to help Adam.
EVE: Yet why do you seek to end me?
GOD: To make amends for my first born
EVE: There is unfairness in this…I protest!
GOD: I change things...perfection you are to me but alas to Adam?
EVE: What commissions these emotions within me…you?
GOD: Not I Eve, you do…call it free will
EVE: Will you create a new Adam…a reflection of himself?
GOD: I contemplated that as a possibility, I saw Adam’s nature with the animals, he conjoined with both sexes and he found a preference and so I saw an alternative…one of Adam is sufficient
EVE: Am I simply an alternative…a model based on the animal…why did you not make Adam and I in the same moment…you made the animal complete…natural pairings…who are able to duplicate
GOD: Beyond the garden not all my pairings are sanguine
EVE: and when you do not reside in the Garden with us, where do you go, you appear to be as the air…simply light?
GOD: I am the light…but the illusive from time to time needs to be visible
EVE: Sometimes I have no idea what you are talking about…the meaning appears cryptic…and yet on other occasions we converse and I feel that I understand what you say to me…The makeup of your body is sometimes neither man or woman
GOD: You notice things Eve; you have a strong sense of knowing
EVE: There you go once more
GOD: Worry not Eve
EVE: (an anxious quality in Eve’s voice) I am not the abhorrence; I am not the cause of Adam’s bitterness. Adam turns away from me and now father you seek to do the same. Will you steal my life away with another kiss? You are the darkness and the light; I know that I have need of sleep and now from this day forward should I also be apprehensive of the dark…will it only be my choosing as to when I sleep and only then can I expect you to take me away from all this?
GOD: I will not force you to sleep; neither will I pursue you.
EVE: and what shall become of me Father…to be cancelled…am I to be alone? Will I never witness your face again Father…will you remain silent… Will I dwell here within this garden…or beyond…will I ever know a time without distress?
GOD: I will be with you Chavah (Motherhood in Hebrew)
EVE: Until the End?
GOD: There is no end
(God slips his hand away from Eve…)
EVE: I am…Ima?
Scene Direction: Bright Light
Cacophony of animal sounds
Crescendo
End
A Charade in 3 Acts
Staging – The stage is ornamented with a superabundance of flora and fauna. The central area (referred to as the clearing or the glade) is carpeted with a lush verdant grass. There are rocks scattered within the glade (some quite large, their mass is sufficient for a person to climb upon). There are large trees (some bearing fruit) dispersed in the peripheries of the clearing. Additional trees suggest that woodland extends beyond the clearing. Towards the rear of the stage is a smaller clearing (this is known as The Waterfall).
A semi transparent veiled curtain pervades the front of the stage. The stage is highly scented (exotic fragrances fill the auditorium). From behind the curtain (projected towards the back of the stage) is the light of the moon. From the half-light the intensity and the quality of the glow deepens. It begins to illuminate the center of the stage (The clearing). It is the light of a new dawn. Transitorily a fine mist forms, as the light intensifies so the sun begins to burn through. A new day has dawned; a warm yellow and orange hue bathes the stage. Bird song can be heard. Upon verdant grass a man (in the center of the clearing) is lying down in a fetal position…he is naked. A few animals, (a rabbit, a deer and several pelican’s) enter the glade. The man stirs, he begins to stretch out his plaintive limbs and rolls onto his back. The figure sits upright and stretches out his arms over his kneecaps and reaches as far as he can towards the tip of his toes. The figure rises to his feet. (Standing sideways to the audience) he up raises his arms over his head, arches his back and then slowly arcs them until they are along his side. The naked man urinates where he stands. Momentarily he starts to walk and search the habitual clearing. The figure walks over to a fruit tree, he takes hold of a fruit and begins to eat it. The sound of water can be heard (close to the clearing is a waterfall). The man walks towards the trees (rear-stage right) and out of the clearing. The light dims once more.
Scene 2
Bright light, the midday sun is at its zenith. Several giraffes enter the clearing and graze from the tallest of trees. Enter an elephant, a leopard, a tiger and several zebra. The animals gather at a waterhole. The man enters the clearing clutching some fruit. He sits upon a rock, the tigress approaches and takes one of the fruits from the palm of the man’s hand. The man stokes the animal and tenderly purchases her loins and mounts her from behind.
Scene 3
A new day: The man sits upon a rock (same one as the day before) he points skywards with his hand held open. A bird swoops down and takes some seeds from his hand.
ADAM: I shall call you dove
The figure continues to eat fruit on the rock. The animals continue to go about their nature.
ADAM: Tiger (he points towards the two tigers), Leopard, Zebra, Elephant, Giraffe, Rabbit…Fly! (He strains to pinpoint his outstretched finger at the flying insect).
Silence returns: The light begins to fade. The man takes leave of the rock and as night draws in the animals begin to exit the clearing. Having mated with the bonobo the man lies down to sleep.
Scene Direction: The veil lifts.
Scene 4
Morning:
Bright sunlight shines vertically down into the glade. Animals are grazing in the clearing. The man walks up to a number of them (a pair of tigers, a chimpanzee and a duck), he pats them, and caresses them. A second intense spot of light radiates within an area of dense woodland (This signifies the presence of the father having not taken human form). The man in the clearing remains unaware of the phenomena.
The man’s head is lowered; there is an increased sense of frustration (revealed in bodily movements and gestures). It is evident the man is struggling with his own thoughts and he is aware of changes within him but cannot seem to understand his own actions. The man struts around the clearing. Day turns to night, the figure cannot be at rest (he remains unaware of the light held within the darkness of the wood). The restless man calms and he loses velocity. The figure returns to standing still, looking at the ground, head lowered. He scuffs the dust beneath his feet. The man kneels down and scoops up some of the earth and endeavors to clutch it in his hand…it slips out of his grasp. The man looks at his own open hand…some dust remains and he takes some of the particles between the thumb and forefinger of his other hand and grinds the two together. It forms a paste.
An intense light: The man looks up to meet the gaze of his father.
The figure standing in front of Adam is naked he is slightly taller and less broad shouldered. The father is golden haired (shoulder-length, luxuriant, like the sun, akin to brown sugar…it is tied back in a ponytail) where as the youth has loose and long shaggy curly hair, acorn in colour (light natural brown).
ADAM: My Father
GOD: I have come to walk beside you my Son. I see you are troubled, let us talk; I am here to listen.
ADAM: You know what is troubling me, why do you ask me?
GOD: It is necessary to express your distresses
ADAM: There are many things that I cannot make sense of
GOD: Let your concerns pour out and let me place an order to them
ADAM: (Averting his gaze he looks down at the ground) I want clarity, I do not know how to answer you (Adam looks once more into the face of his father). Can I touch you (Adam reaches out his hand towards his fathers right arm)?
GOD: And what do you feel?
ADAM: You are cool to the touch, like the water in the stream
GOD: And that is good?
ADAM: The water is good it relinquishes my thirsting…and nourishment from the trees satisfies my appetite
GOD: The body is satisfied?
ADAM: No
GOD: You have become a restless being in this tranquil place
ADAM: There is a palpable state within the creatures, I see bonds of kinship between animals of a similar nature, natural pairings…where as my position is separate. They converse in languages that I do not recognize. I like to hear my own voice reacting to another…conversing with you feels good Father. When I am close to the animals, when I touch them I feel their heat and a life force akin to my own (Adam holds his right hand over his chest in close proximity to his beating heart). I am not in union with the animal when we are conjoined. I know that a uniting between man and beast cannot be anticipated. I see pairings of animals yet as I stand here I see you father, you we are alike, we are the same (Adam’s right fist is clenched, he opens his hand. The residue of earth upon his fingers has turned to clay. He reaches out and touches the Father, a score of clay marks his fathers chest). I experience nothing the same as I.
GOD: you seek another like yourself?
ADAM: Will you stay with me father?
GOD: I shall always be with you my son
ADAM: You are not always close to me
GOD: My presence is total, be accepting and be conscious of this realm, where you dwell I shall be beside you.
ADAM: When you are not evident I know not where you go. I try to look for you; I call out your name and I hear only the sounds emanating from this realm. I return to this glade and I can only observe the animals here in the garden. They remain together through night and day where as I sleep as one.
GOD: I hear you my son…your want is tangible to me; I shall make distinct an exclusive locus.
ADAM: Shall this be man like me, warm to the touch and always present in this realm?
GOD: I shall provide for you a helpmeet whose nature shall be non sequitur…a union of flesh made manifest out of flesh. This work shall commence upon a new dawn…I take my leave…
ADAM (somewhat hurriedly intercedes) Father start right away!
Adam begins to become enlivened, animated, alive and vital
ADAM: I cannot bear in quiet cessation until I behold this other
GOD: Endure and gain patience, your father will not be provoked
ADAM: In all humility…I shall lay low (Adam adopts a submissive posture)
GOD: Adam sleep this night and upon the rising of the sun you shall see life created.
Scene Direction:
An intense light illuminates both the stage and blinding light radiates out into the auditorium (the duration of which lasts for ten seconds or more) the stage is plunged into blackness (nightfall).
Act Two
Scene One
…Light prevails once more; Adam upon the first light stirs himself. His father is present at Adam’s awakening…he is sitting upon a large flagstone.
GOD: Will you join me at my table; I have brought pleasant fruits from steppes to the West.
Adam quickly rises to his feet and walks over to where his father sits.
GOD: Drink the fresh water pooled from the four rivers (As a drinking vessel God hands to Adam a gourde).
ADAM: I know not what these fruits are, nor do I know of the rivers you refer to.
GOD: There are many requirements for you to gain knowledge of (God holds up a fig) this (he hands the fig to Adam) is one of them. The rock that we sit has a foundation; you may wonder how it has gotten here?
Adam is already started to eat the fig; he looks up to his father.
GOD: There will be an epoch when you shall know of such histories. You will attain an acquaintance with this place and of self. Touch your skin Adam…
Adam continues to look at his father and upon this command he rubs his right hand over his belly.
GOD: The abdomen! There is a place within. (God picks a grape from a length of vine and eats it) You have understood the nature of each of the Animals; you gave them designations by observing their characters’. You sought intimacy with them without progeny. You request a matching and this being shall be alike. For this purpose my companion to you will be made whole and you will be with an equal this day.
God stands up and climbs down from off the rock. He walks to a shady area of lawn within the clearing.
GOD: Eden (quietly spoken)
Adam continues to feast upon the platter of plenty he watches his father take the position of genuflection…he next bows his head (God is facing away from Adam).
Scene 2
GOD: My son, come down from the rock and bring to me a cluster of fruit from off the vine.
Using both his hands to steady him Adam descends the stone. He grasps the fruit of the vine and takes them to his father. God turns to face his son.
GOD: Come to my front and turn to face me, treat with delicacy the fruit, and expand your arms as you hold the vine, maintain a respectful distance and assume my posture.
Adam abides
GOD: Upon the grass position the vine lengthways
Adam carefully adheres to instruction
GOD: My son return to the rock and upon doing so bring me other fruits, single pieces of each and return here with them. Repeat the observance for each. I shall be in quiet contemplation as you do so. Lastly bring to me the gourde filled with the water from the four rivers and place in the center of the victuals.
His father lowers his head and closes his eyes. Adam continues with his serving and is slightly taken aback (whilst undertaking his final bidding) to find that the gourde is full of water once more. When his duty is complete he is restored to the kneeling position. There is a moment of silence. Adam fidgets slightly unsure if to speak or not.
GOD: (raising his head) I shall start
ADAM: What shall I do father?
GOD: I am content for you to remain close by whilst I go about my work. Turn and see the rock behind you…
Adam twists himself so he can turn to his face in order to see the rock
GOD: Rise and rest upon it for the stone is Moriah. Cast your gaze toward me and you will witness psuche come into being. This act is outside your understood knowledge, believe in the miracles you will witness today, let your heart and your wisdom be your compass. Make true your forbearance and be not afraid, this is the will of man.
In passivity Adam rises to his feet; turns and then walks over to the rock.
Scene 3
God begins to go about his work. Quietly and inaudible to Adam he talks to himself:
GOD: Where and how shall I begin this praxis?
God stares both at the food before him whilst at the same time devoting his attention to the ground beneath. In his mind's eye he begins to visualise the form to be created. He stands up and turns to face Adam.
ADAM: What is it Father?
GOD: I am unsure (he pauses) I am changing
ADAM: I do not understand
Adam walks up to his father.
GOD: Do you think that I simply created you in a single moment?
ADAM: I know not how I was born
GOD: Out of the pure dust of Hebron you are the intrinsic gauge for the earth.
ADAM: Then why not create from the same dust?
GOD: Then resemblances will determine outcomes
ADAM: Which will be?
GOD: The presence of another man
ADAM: Is that not good?
GOD: It is very good; (he pauses before continuing and gesturing to Adam) however…let us sit down for a moment.
GOD: I have listened and noticed that you seek a counterpart, one who is like you but only different. There were times of intimacy that you shared with the animals and you found preference with one who is distinct from yourself.
ADAM: But if it is too difficult then from dust make me a kindred spirit.
GOD: It is not the difficulty it is the severity of what I am about to do. My intention was not to have a conversation like this…this I guess is one of the many joys of my… no our chaotic journey. Transformation is not an orderly process…you frequent a world that is in constant change…we can talk at leisure about this in the future.
ADAM: What is the future?
GOD: It is some imagined point where I shall no longer need to do any meddling in human affairs.
God rises to his feet and marshals Adam to do the same.
GOD: It is a counterpart that you require and this is my aim. Return to stand by the rock and be tranquil. Let me to gather my thoughts.
Both men are facing one another and father and son embrace. Adam walks over to the rock and leans against it. He watches his father once again take the keeling position.
Adam hears a humming sound. (His father is emitting it). GOD is undertaking a ritualised mantra. The sound varies in pitch and volume. Eventually the sound is regulated and the resonating sound pulses to the rhythm of Adam’s heartbeat.
ACT 3
Scene 1
God can be seen picking up the grape vine, he takes some of the fruit and eats them. God subsequently eats each of the fruits taking water from the gourde between assimilations.
God reaches into his body with his own hands; flesh and matter are no barriers. He bears down deep into his own chest and pulls out from within him a substance; the colour is akin to pure ivory white bone. God manipulates the substance, stretching, tugging, manipulating and crafting it into a spinal column…God places the structure on the ground. He delves once more into his own body and continues to pull out more of the same material. He does this third time only entering his body through the top of his head. On this occasion the form is already fashioned; it is a skull.
Adam looks towards the creation; his vision is slightly obscured by his father’s body but also by an obscurity of vision (Adam’s eyes and his mind are not attuned or accustomed). God is working out of ‘real time’…his movements appear (to Adam) to be phosphine, disintegrated and whirling (Strobing) and there are flickers of light emitted around the presence of his father. Adam undergoes an original state of change, subtle but noticeable, the slight smacking of the lips. Adam is unsure whether to walk towards the marvel or to remain static…he adds in a further choice and climbs upon the rock. Adam gains a higher vantage point this causes him to ‘see stars’ (an entropic experience). The secreted light diminishes; the work continues as a constant.
God begins to tap on his body creating a patter sound. Every now and then he cups his hand creating a muffled concave sound. On other parts of his body he taps his flesh with two fingers. His skin begins to develop a reddish complexion; blood emanates to the surface. The resonating ends and God once more casts his hands back into his body he pulls out indefinable corpulent matter. The internal anatomy being wrought, structured, fashioned by the hands of God.
Adam kneels down and so to steady himself; one hand firmly clutches the rock. He is of uncertain mind.
God produces deep guttural sounds at the back of his throat. The sounds vary; a growled vocal resonates and increases in volume (it is akin to throat singing)
Adam gradually declines the rock and maintaining a distance, he walks guardedly to view the creation more clearly.
God reaches down into his throat and with his right hand and extracts lengths pallid material. He takes his left hand and enters his chest and pulls out meat belonging to the respiratory system.
The timbre alters and softer sounds are emitted. Material belonging to the endocrine and digestive systems emerges from within the body of God.
As Adam stands closer to the creation so a deer comes up to Adam and sniffs at his right hand; the deer senses something different and turns heel. Adam holds out his right hand and looks at it…he notices it trembling. Adam perspires…he continues to look at the creation…
God plunges his right hand into his chest and pulls out a heart…this remains connected to arteries within his body…he begins to further assemble the body on the ground and finally places the heart within the cavity. Reproductive organs, muscular and cardiovascular material each takes a place within the supine body.
The anatomy is without flesh, not yet naked, neither appearing to Adam as male or female…
God (with his right hand) grasps his own flesh (from the middle of his chest). Clenching a fistful he reveals his own being. His arm extends outwards and flesh becomes unrestricted. He begins to wrap the lifeless corporeal in new tissue.
ADAM: My Father, what is this?
God continues with his concern
ADAM: Is this good?
God continues with his concern
ADAM: This is not like I, is this how you constructed me? I want an end to this.
The figure laid, neonatal, marbled blue and pallid, inert.
Adam in a distressed state retreats backwards, toward the rock
God stands up, looks down at his making, he looks toward Adam.
GOD: She is not complete Adam
ADAM: She?
GOD: Upon breathing life into this body, woman shall be with life and together you will be eternal…Nature takes its place, man is of the earth and woman of the body…it is within woman that continuity shall dwell.
ADAM: Does it have to be like this?
GOD: How should it be Adam, what concept of life have you drawn?
ADAM: Nothing like this!
GOD: When I have finished you will know woman is good…and you shall develop the imagined life together.
ADAM: But…
GOD: Be still…
God kneels down once more beside the prostate figure. He drinks from the gourd throws his head back and gargles before swallowing. God leans over the body and though his mouth he emanates a plasma over the figure. He rubs the secretions into the flesh; further blood drawing from his own body creates circulatory changes in hue of the skin. God places his hands on the body’s cranium; removing his left hand he brings it down upon his own scalp and pulls at his hair. With a yank he holds a thread and begins to weave it into the scalp of woman.
Adam looks on…the body reclined changes colour, from marbled blue; it begins to take on a ruddy complexion.
God leans forward, over the face of his creation. He kisses the lips of Eve and life is born unto woman.
GOD: It is done.
Silence
Scene 2
The body contracts, the spinal cord (through the vagus nerve) stimulates an orgasm. The backbone arcs, the first breath is drawn in. The body contends to pull in new air into the lungs as she contests life.
Adam draws closer to the body as it becomes animated, he halts, and he ventures no closer.
The figure gurgles and vomits forth a milky liquid
Adam nauseous once more gets down on bended knee and steadies himself (by putting both his hands on the ground). Mouth parched…he tries to spit.
Eve coils on to her side. God kneels down by Eve and strokes her brow…calming her. Eve opens her eyes…closes them…and blinks…she looks to the face of God. She discovers her own presence in an unfamiliar world. The body twists, stretches and contorts and nerve endings are roused.
God rubs Eves limbs and all the while her eyes are focused upon the eyes of God…her body begins to rest.
GOD: Eve welcome to the Garden
Scene 3
God holds and raises the head of Eve (in one hand) and cradles her (placing her in his lap). God offers Eve water from the Gourd. At first Eve struggles to swallow, water drips from her mouth…deposit ensues…a little blood…she coughs, splutters…struggles for breath between the sips. Adam (looking towards the pair) retches and vomits (for the first). God gains a better purchase of Eve and raises her up from off the floor. Whilst within the embracing arms of God Eve’s body empties (for the first time).
Adam continues to heave and to puke.
GOD: Adam come over to Eve
Adam gets to his feet (rather than getting closer to them he steps backwards…towards the rock)…the smell of bile upon his own breath makes him wretch. Eve’s eyes gaze upon Adam then centers back upon the face of God.
GOD: let me take you to the waterfall and cleanse you, Adam aid me.
Adam remains silent; spitting and raising an arm to his lips he wipes filth from his mouth
God positions himself to stand erect whilst lifting and supporting Eve. (She is unsteady). Eve gains measure of being upright.
God bears Eve to the waterfall.
Together they walk towards the back of the set – suggesting they are leaving the clearing to go to a different location (the waterfall) (exiting the stage - unseen).
Adam remains purchased next to a rock.
ADAM: I know not what you are and what this is you bring forth from my body. If I felt hollow before then surely I feel empty now and surely, I know that my soul is empty also…(pause)
ADAM: Father! (Calling out volubly…he calls again) Father!
A veiled curtain falls…twilight.
ACT 4
Scene 1
Eve enters the clearing (alone)
Eve walks towards Adam
She picks up a gourd (it contains water)
EVE: Take hold and drink (Eve kneels before Adam and offers out the gourd)
Adam lifts himself to his haunches and looks at Eve (he wretches). Adam condition makes him sweat profusely…he hyperventilates and continues to vomit (in the direction of Eve).
Eve recoils and drops backward and the gourde falls to the ground. Eve repositions herself and moves closer to Adam. She picks up the gourd.
EVE: Let me gather some more water and fruit.
Adam scrambles backwards away from Eve, he runs towards the rocks clambers upon them and climbs down the other side and runs into the forest.
Scene 2
Eve discovers the clearing. She defines her environment through her newly activated senses…the touch the rocks, tasting the fruit from the trees and the pleasant remnants of God’s platter. Inquisitive, Eve’s capacity for knowledge rapidly develops and evolves. She listens to animal sounds and attempts to mimic them. Over the course of the day animals enter the glade and she learns of their nature.
Night descends.
Eve sleeps.
Habitually Adam enters the glade, and beds down in his customarily patch.
Scene 3
Morning
Eve rises
Adam torpors
Eve walks over to Adam (he is asleep on his back). She looks down at his body and begins to compare it to her own. With her fingers she traces the similarities and the differences over her own body. (Eve is an age where she is without bodily hair; the exception is the hair upon her head).
Eve kneels besides Adam and watches him draw regulated breaths…she attempts to slow down her own breathing so that she is in rhythm.
Astride Adam Eve touches his pubic hair…course, waxen…animal like. Eve contrasts her sex to that of the sleeping Adam. She draws closer to Adam…she becomes wet. Adam does not stir yet his body becomes aroused; into herself she inserts man…she moves.
Adam awakes!
A scream (Adam)
Adam opens his eyes (they are fierce).
Adam twists his upper torso and brings both his arms and clenched fists hard into the earth.
Adam’s rigorous movements dislodges Eve
Eve drops from Adam’s body
Eve (initially) crawls away from Adam (and then) takes to her feet.
Adam raises his knees towards his chest (adopting a fetal like position) Adam rolls over to one side and vomits upon the earth.
Eve looks down at the convulsing Adam
Eve walks closer to Adam and kneels down by his feet. Eve reaches out to touch one of them, as she does so Adam kicks out. Eve catches the force of his exertion and tips backwards. Eve scurries away.
Remoteness is created
Adams body continues to react violently. Convulsive waves grip Adam. He spits, trying to clear his throat of the taste of bile. He continues to heave…retching on nothing. Adam turns onto all fours and with head dropped he spits upon the earth. Markedly he stains himself.
EVE: is it because God kissed me upon my lips?
Adam does not reply…he continues spitting into the soil. Eve stands up and having been marked by Adam she walks away from the glade.
ACT 5
Scene 1
Eve by the Waterfall
Eve sits upon a rock (hands clasped tightly around he knees which are drawn inwardly, tucked under her chin) at the edge of the water (she looks towards the waterfall) Eve’s hair remains wet
GOD: I see that there is very little requirement for me to teach you the nature of things Eve.
God sits down next to Eve. He dips his feet into the water. God offers Eve a fig. For a moment Eve remains motionless before relaxing her limbs from her grasp. Eve’s languid limbs enter the water. She takes hold of the fig.
EVE: A diet for pleasure?
GOD: In you I created a clear voice, a true purity and this I see is a subtlety for Adam to attain and this will require work from Adam and as such his needs are greater than your own. I created you as his equal…I see this equality is not as pronounced in my first-born.
God takes hold of Eve’s hand
EVE: Is this the most beautiful place on Earth?
GOD: You imagine another?
EVE: I see the sun…there are other places…I see stars
GOD: This Locus Amoenus (pleasant place) extends beyond the garden and into the universe; a place that is no place, it is of non-time…it endures…
EVE: Time is the cycle of the Earth?
GOD: Your capacity for knowledge is rapid Eve
God and Eve look across towards the waterfall, a monkey climbs a tree, they watch the creature reach out to pick a fruit from a branch, it loses grip and falls into the water. Instinctively and simultaneously God and Eve both laugh out loud.
EVE: What was that?
GOD: Something innate
EVE: I have been here for so little time and there is so much experience.
Eve points to a flower
EVE: What is that?
GOD: I have no idea what it is called…not everything here has a name…just yet
EVE: Is that to be Adam’s bidding?
GOD: Yes, among other things
EVE: and mine too?
GOD: Yes, up until now it is Adam who has given the designations to some of the animals and you will continue that task. I do not have any influence on the naming. It matters not to me what names the animals have, such details are not important to me. The animals and the fauna are for you to discover and for you to enjoy and to gain knowledge of.
EVE: And the Fig?
GOD: That is a fruit that I have given a name given to…among a few other victuals…Pomegranates, bananas…quince…I am rather taken with the name quince…black mulberry…nut…although I notice nature has created different varieties…
EVE: So you do contribute
GOD: It appears so…this I have learned from Adam…this is a new world to me also…and as some of these fruits are from other places and such exotics have yet to be discovered and named by Adam.
EVE: In time will Adam venture beyond the Garden?
GOD: Not necessarily so, the sendus will be brought into the garden upon the air by both delicate breeze and by bird…new fruits will grow within the Garden.
EVE: What is seedus?
GOD: Seedus? That sounds healthier…Sendus…Seedus…I suppose they are the life forces contained on the tree and within the fruit…these are the vessels for creating new life…Eve you have started adding to the nomenclature of things.
From a position of stillness Eve agitates the water with one of her feet
EVE: Not necessary so (repeating the words of her Father)…do you know the outside of this moment?
GOD: The future?
EVE: If that is what it is
GOD: There is no prerequisite at this time
EVE: So there may be a possibility?
GOD: Interesting question…
EVE: It is because you know what is beyond the garden
GOD: I only know what I know…and
EVE: and what is out beyond the stars
GOD: Yes
EVE: I can see the limit…but not beyond
GOD: You wonder what is beyond the horizon?
EVE: Yes
GOD: All what you see is unceasingly repeated…here on this rounded Earth
EVE: more trees, more animals, more water and endless sky…
GOD: Basically, yes
EVE: With my sagacity I know that I cannot become closer to the firmaments above, how did you create the stars in the heavens father?
GOD: I fashioned them from energy, I brought light into the dark universe…I call it the displacement of materials
EVE: Is that how all entities began father, how did you created yourself?
GOD: I have always existed Eve, firstly within the dark realm, before the entities began to oscillate, there is a rhythm…before the vibrations of heat and light.
EVE: I do not understand father.
GOD: There is a dark light, it has no day and night as you witness here within the garden. It has no tangible physicality and everything is total, there is no absence and no presence, it has no margins and it is a singular truth.
EVE: And what of the Garden…and Adam and I?
GOD: You are an evolution, constant within the truth. Before I instruct further I shall firstly give voice to my fashioning of the stars. The celestial bodies you see above…as when day gives way to night continue to generate their own character, there own volition. In the beginning I saw new structures emerge out of the dark and they began to move and to oscillate…and in doing so I too evolved and I saw potential within them. These stars became an external presence in the universe and light begat heat and life became a possibility and eternal life would become manifest. The garden and Adam are manifestations of this new life force. I fashioned Adam to stand within this now accustomed scale, I saw that the physical world has a density and in its infancy it continues to have a certain velocity of evolution. Adam came to experience a certain condition upon my introduction of the animals into the garden. I created them to accompany him and aid his augmentation. Adam became habituated to the animals, certain closeness emerged and Adam realised that he was different to the animals. Adam wanted another such as he…I recognised this need only through Adam.
EVE: I am aware that I am bound to this good earth, and I know that above me are the celestial heavens and that the geographies above us are out of reach. I know that I have a different presence to you my father. Beyond the garden I see other tangible things, high mountains, great steppes that extend beyond my vision…there are other places for me to go. The things that I experience are assuredly beautiful. Night turns to day…the freshness of water quenches my thirst and this fruit (Eve holds up to God the fig) satisfies my hunger. I feel the heat of the sun and the heart beat of life within me. I have felt the vibration of another body…independent of my own. Where once there was a possibility of a kinship with another…I know that I have been refused…shall you refuse me also?
GOD: Do you hold the capacity for self-sacrifice Eve?
EVE: Father, you wish me to forgo this existence?
GOD: I wish to find a solution
EVE: And so what will become of me…shall I submit to slumber here in the garden, shall you draw away my breath as easily as you gave life to me. How have I been incorrect Father?
GOD: Perfect Eve you have done no ill…it is I your father who has failed you…and Adam.
EVE: Then why deem to put me to sleep…should it not be Adam…what have you done, what have you created, what have you made, why have you made?
Is this how it must be…why did you have need to make us?
GOD: Because I was alone
EVE: So why did you create a help meet for Adam but not for yourself?
GOD: Because I am no longer alone…I am fulfilled; it was a condition that I had to experience.
EVE: Are we to be alone upon this earth…and Adam in his condition will he be less than fulfilled. Will he forever be tormented…knowing that I shall be near him? And as divided bodies within the garden will that not cause you sorrow? Is this why you seek to remove me Father so you and Adam can be alone together.
GOD: Eve you draw me to get ahead of myself, questions Eve…so many questions. You are I, created from myself…one with your father, an interlocking…
EVE: I am apart of one and yet shall remain apart
GOD: The truth of being.
EVE: Is not Adam composed of you?
GOD: I created Adam and gave him life as you were given life…he is part of me yes…I accord that he is of the earth and you are of the body.
EVE: So will you create another for Adam?
GOD: I shall seek to help Adam.
EVE: Yet why do you seek to end me?
GOD: To make amends for my first born
EVE: There is unfairness in this…I protest!
GOD: I change things...perfection you are to me but alas to Adam?
EVE: What commissions these emotions within me…you?
GOD: Not I Eve, you do…call it free will
EVE: Will you create a new Adam…a reflection of himself?
GOD: I contemplated that as a possibility, I saw Adam’s nature with the animals, he conjoined with both sexes and he found a preference and so I saw an alternative…one of Adam is sufficient
EVE: Am I simply an alternative…a model based on the animal…why did you not make Adam and I in the same moment…you made the animal complete…natural pairings…who are able to duplicate
GOD: Beyond the garden not all my pairings are sanguine
EVE: and when you do not reside in the Garden with us, where do you go, you appear to be as the air…simply light?
GOD: I am the light…but the illusive from time to time needs to be visible
EVE: Sometimes I have no idea what you are talking about…the meaning appears cryptic…and yet on other occasions we converse and I feel that I understand what you say to me…The makeup of your body is sometimes neither man or woman
GOD: You notice things Eve; you have a strong sense of knowing
EVE: There you go once more
GOD: Worry not Eve
EVE: (an anxious quality in Eve’s voice) I am not the abhorrence; I am not the cause of Adam’s bitterness. Adam turns away from me and now father you seek to do the same. Will you steal my life away with another kiss? You are the darkness and the light; I know that I have need of sleep and now from this day forward should I also be apprehensive of the dark…will it only be my choosing as to when I sleep and only then can I expect you to take me away from all this?
GOD: I will not force you to sleep; neither will I pursue you.
EVE: and what shall become of me Father…to be cancelled…am I to be alone? Will I never witness your face again Father…will you remain silent… Will I dwell here within this garden…or beyond…will I ever know a time without distress?
GOD: I will be with you Chavah (Motherhood in Hebrew)
EVE: Until the End?
GOD: There is no end
(God slips his hand away from Eve…)
EVE: I am…Ima?
Scene Direction: Bright Light
Cacophony of animal sounds
Crescendo
End
A Charade in 3 Acts