CHARACTERS

ICARUS, naive, curious

RHEA, gentle

DAEDALUS, the father of Icarus, an omnipresent voice

only physically appears in the Prologue

SETTING

Any time, Any Place, Any Sound

NOTES

Unless stated otherwise, DAEDALUS speaks in unison with the character who has the matching line.

It is also up to the Director whether or not Icarus is accompanied in the Epilogue by Rhea and Daedalus, however the final moment must leave him alone on stage.

PROLOGUE

[Scene: Lights up on a small home. There is a small bed with a window next to it, a dim light shining through its curtains. On the other side of the apartment, there is a small kitchen table and an array of candles. There are candles strewn across the whole room.

From offstage, a noise is heard. A beat and then another noise.

RHEA enters the room closing a door behind her. She grabs a pack of matches and lights the candles on the table.

A boy stirs in his bed, and she goes to him.]

FLEDGLING 

[Scene: The interior of RHEA’s home. She sits in a chair next to ICARUS lying in bed, facing away from her.]

RHEA

Once I was able to bring him

Safely into the bed,

He slept for three days.

I couldn’t bring myself to wake

Him from his slumber.

He was at peace. Who was I

To take that from him?

The only time his brows furrowed

Was at night.

Right before I blew out the candles,

A whimper escaped his lips.

Sweat was beading on his forehead.

I was not capable of leaving him, my

Body cried against it.

So at night, I would sit with him.

Often I would pray.

“I see this gift you have given me,

Oh gracious gods,

And I will do you right.”

Often, they never answered.

Swept away in the wind

Were wishes.

His fingers would twitch, and I

Would hold his hands.

Just in my lap.

His skin was hot to the touch.

At first, I figured him ill, and

That it would soon pass.

Then I noticed it only happened

When the sun set.

It was as though his body

 had absorbed that light.

As if it were his duty

 to keep watch of it

while the moon grew higher

Into the night sky.

These dreams he had were

So vivid,

 yet he never woke.

On the fourth night, he began

To speak.

The whimpers became words

 I couldn't quite understand.

He seemed to be crying out for help,

Crying out for someone,

For something,

Anything,

And I could do nothing but squeeze

His hand and dab a cold towel

Across his forehead.

[She stands and moves to the table, grabs a cold rag from a bowl, and returns to her chair. ICARUS stirs in bed when she presses the rag to his head.]

RHEA

Shh, don’t move too

Quickly.

[ICARUS is awake now, the first time in days.]

Your head must hurt,

Does it not?

ICARUS

your face.

RHEA

My face?

Is there something on it?

ICARUS

no…

RHEA

Do I appear monstrous to you?

ICARUS

no, i didn’t mean-

RHEA

[smiling] I know.

ICARUS

i don’t recognize you.

RHEA

Nor do I.

[ICARUS gives her a puzzled look. She smiles. There is something familiar in his confusion.]

Do you have any memory

Of your time before my

Home?

[He shakes his head no, then stops himself.]

Are you certain?

[His mouth opens as if to speak, then closes.]

ICARUS

this voice.

RHEA

What voice?

ICARUS

there is a voice.

i have been hearing

something

or

someone.

i can’t seem to place it.

but i know.

i know.

i

               know.

[He is frustrated with himself.]

RHEA

It is alright not to know.

[She smiles]

RHEA

[In unison with DAEDALUS] It will come to you

DAEDALUS

It will come to you.

RHEA

Your name, boy,

Can you tell me that much?

ICARUS

my name?

RHEA

Yes, your name.

ICARUS

[searching] i dont have one.

RHEA

Don’t be foolish,

Everyone has a name.

ICARUS

then something is wrong.

with me,

something is wrong.

if i have a name it is

not mine,

i cannot hear it

in my head

i cannot-

[Once more, he is frustrated.]

RHEA

Hush.

It is alright.

[she nods]

It will come to you.

ICARUS

and if it doesn’t?

RHEA

[In unison with DAEDALUS] It will come to you.

DAEDALUS

It will come to you.

[Beat.]

RHEA

You must get more rest now, son.

No matter how long

You’ve slept these past days,

You are weary.

Your face hangs low with

Want for a warm blanket.

ICARUS

you needn’t worry

about me much longer.

tomorrow, i will be better.

i will be gone, and out

of your way.

you have my word.

RHEA

Nonsense, you will stay until you are well.

[ICARUS smiles, then rolls over in the bed. RHEA sighs gently, and goes to blow out the candles on the kitchen table.]

GLIDING

[The room is dark aside from a glow cast on ICARUS through the window. This is the only light in the room. From the darkness on the other side of the room, something stirs. He had never settled enough to fully fall back asleep.]

[He rises from the bed, taking with him a torn, thin blanket. Slowly he moves towards the source of the noise, but before he can get too close a low ringing starts. A slow melody begins to play shortly after the ringing, building simultaneously. He winces as the sound grows louder. Another small crash happens in the same area. And then again, but this time from the opposite side of the house. A sharp sound rings through the room, two spotlights rising on two figures on opposite ends of the stage, and ICARUS falls to his knees, wincing in pain.

The sound continues to grow as the figures approach ICARUS. Each figure grabs him by the shoulder. The figures walk back to where they first appeared taking with them, stretching and growing, a massive pair of wings, made from the blanket he wears. These wings are tattered, and torn bits of string and rope hang from them. They have endured a fall.  There is a wail of pain from the boy in the center of it all as the wings are stretched the expanse of the stage. The spotlights on the figures have gone out, the wings should appear as if they are being held up on their own.

The sounds crescendo as ICACRUS screams, the last of what is left in him. It begins to decrescendo when he does.

His wings drop. A  glimmer of what was once moonlight through a window, something closer to the coming of dawn.

The only sound is the breathing of a boy who has met his fate.]

FALLING

[ICARUS is slumped over center stage, the remainder of wings left on the floor next to him. RHEA enters.]

ICARUS

[void, without looking up] i must leave

RHEA

So suddenly?

I said you could stay-

ICARUS

until i am well,

but that will never be.

RHEA

My boy, what is wrong?

ICARUS

i am not.

RHEA

Not what?

ICARUS

i am not your boy.

RHEA

You must know, I didn’t mean it in

Such a way-

ICARUS

something is wrong

RHEA

What?

ICARUS

something is wrong

with me

something is not right

RHEA

You aren’t making

Any sense-

ICARUS

because i am wrong,

can you not see it?

it was so clear

to him.

that is why i am here.

i am not right

i am not meant to be

in this place.

RHEA

Now-

ICARUS

[In unison with DAEDALUS] you are being selfish

DAEDALUS

You are being selfish.

RHEA

It is for your own good.

ICARUS

for mine or for his?

[RHEA has not a thing to say.]

what was once hidden, has now

been made very clear to me.

you asked my name, but

you already knew?

am i right?

[In unison, all.]

ICARUS

icarus.

DAEDALUS

Icarus…

RHEA

Icarus…

I made a promise,

I could not break it.

ICARUS

[In unison with DAEDALUS] no.

DAEDALUS

No.

RHEA

I never had

Ill intent.

You must know.

ICARUS

in your own ways,

you have  been very kind to me,

and for that, i am eternally grateful.

but i am afraid that if i do not leave

this place, i will be trapped.

my body will wander this home,

but my soul will long for places

beyond this.

tell me it’s foolish, i can take it.

tell me i’m being childish, so be it,

i don’t know what else you want from me.

RHEA

He ran from me.

Before I could tell him no, before I could

Bid him stay, he ran out my door.

DAEDALUS

Then you did not try hard enough.

RHEA

Have you such little faith in me?

ICARUS

and suddenly, i can hear him clear as day.

RHEA

You must let him go.

DAEDALUS

I will try again,

You must help me.

ICARUS

i stop in my tracks, and i try

please, you must know how

i tried.

DAEDALUS

You do not understand.

RHEA

It is you

Who do not understand.

How can you not see

My heart aches the same?

Daedalus, you mustn’t interfere with

Fate any further.

DAEDALUS

[In unison with RHEA] You must try harder.

RHEA

You must try harder.

ICARUS

i am tethered and bound,

kept in place by my father’s guilt,

and molded by this woman’s heart.

i am not you, i cry

and i am not him, i plead

and i am frightened, so frightened

for

i am not me.

i have been sculpted at the hands

of those who wish to love me.

those who wish to save me,

treasure me.

women who keep me high atop

the tallest shelf, dusted and pristine.

men who are too fearful of seeing

a kindred spirit in the actions of his son.

artists who wish to decide what will

become of my tapestry, hung and

gawked at.

vocalists who will accompany my

body, laid to rest in soil

i have never touched.

you must

let

               me

                                 go.

[There is nothing but the sound of breathing as ICARUS begins to weep.]

You cannot keep me

Hidden forever.

The clouds must part,

you must

let me fly.

DAEDALUS

Let him soar.

RHEA

Let him fall.

[The lights dim on everything except for ICARUS. The light holds, weakly, then dims to a small shaft that emits from the window.]

EPILOGUE

[On the stage by himself, is a boy; his body torn in pieces and strewn about, laid next to him.]

ICARUS

later i would realize she was right.

i was nothing but a foolish child.

harboring a certain stubbornness that

no labyrinth would be large enough

to contain.

how horribly i wish i listened to her pleas.

how desperately i wish i could grab my

ankles and keep myself tethered to

solid earth.

how thoughtless was i not to

recognize a father’s cries

echoing through my skull like

birds flying from

branch

to

branch.

jumping but not quite

                                                   falling.

too soon, i can hear him say.

but not soon enough,

i would respond.

i could scream, i could barter,

i could plead, but

something was taken from me.

he took it all from me, whatever

was mine was never and i

have been robbed of life, oh gods

how cruel must you be.

no.

how selfish of me to imagine.

too ambitious was i to think

any of my dreams would be a reality.

too eager.

one step,

               too close.

and i mourn for it all.

nobody tells you that when you learn to fly

you must also learn to fall.

wings have sprung from my back,

and they are tearing me apart

and i can’t get them off of my body,

and my skin won’t let me free.

and there is wax seeping into the muscles

of my back and i’m melting,

my skin is on fire,

or perhaps it is the warmth of her embrace,

but it is not true

and i am the sun

               but i am falling and something is wrong.

the sun does not fall.

i rise while the moon sets, and sleep

when the moon shines.

               but something is wrong.

and i wish i was a boy again.

that i was free to roam and

free to soar, but i’m falling

and these wings are too much,

too large, and i’m falling

and my father is calling my name

and i’m falling

and something vast waits for me

and i’m falling

and i am certain this time, it is him

and i am falling

and a woman is screaming, and something is wrong.

and i’m falling

               and i’m falling

                                 and i’m falling,

and then suddenly,

 i am not.

[Slow dim on ICARUS center stage, the melody from before returns, but softer this time.

In darkness, he disappears, leaving a soft glow of candles in the now empty room.

A beat.

The door slowly cracks open. From outside the door, there is murmuring, not discernible, but loud enough to be heard. A moment passes before the door swings open, fully. RHEA is crouched on the landing, cradled in her arms an incapacitated ICARUS.

Blackout.

End of Play.]