The Green Capsules

The Green Capsules-Synopsis. 

The Green Capsules is an intense three-character psychological drama set entirely in a psychiatrist’s office, where love, delusion, and ambition collide.

JOHN, a brilliant man living with schizophrenia, arrives with his wife LINA for yet another fragile session. John believes that “aliens” once took his twin sister and plan to strike again during their upcoming family trip to Menidi — a place tied to childhood trauma. He never takes the Doctor’s experimental green capsules, seeing himself instead as a government agent whose mission is to protect Lina and the children. Lina, fully aware of his delusion, enters it consciously, role-playing mother, sister, anchor — whatever he needs to stay connected to reality.

Meanwhile, the DOCTOR, convinced that his new drug will make him famous, slowly reveals an unsettling ambition that borders on mania. His hunger for recognition blinds him to John’s humanity — until Lina exposes his unethical behavior and the experiment he has been forcing upon them. Cornered, the Doctor unravels and attempts to harm himself.

In a heartbreaking reversal, John — the “unstable” one — becomes the only person capable of saving him, grounding the Doctor in the very empathy he lacked.

What unfolds is a taut, emotional battle where each character faces the limits of control, the weight of love, and the thin line separating madness from meaning. The Green Capsules is a chamber piece about trauma, devotion, and the stories we build to survive our own minds.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN — The Green Capsules

JOHN

Age: 30–50
The center of the storm.
Brilliant, sensitive, unpredictable — a man living with schizophrenia who constructs a vast internal world where “aliens,” encoded messages, and a secret mission explain the trauma of his past. He is terrified of losing Lina and the children and sees himself as their sole protector. His delusions are complex, poetic, and deeply emotional rather than violent.
Despite his instability, John possesses a profound tenderness. In moments of clarity, he is capable of astonishing empathy — ultimately becoming the one who saves the Doctor. A role requiring range, vulnerability, sudden tonal shifts, and deep emotional intelligence.

LINA

Age: 30–50
The emotional foundation of the play.
John’s wife and the only stable force in his collapsing universe. Lina has learned not just to cope with John’s delusions but to strategically enter them, role-playing (with full consciousness) mother, sister, lover, caretaker — whatever keeps him anchored.
She is exhausted, loyal beyond reason, courageous, and constantly torn between compassion and survival.
Lina also becomes the moral compass of the story: she exposes the Doctor’s unethical ambition and forces him to confront himself. Her presence carries warmth, intelligence, and quiet heroism.

THE DOCTOR

Age: Any, Gender: Any
A man/woman  of science teetering on the edge of his own madness.
At first calm, authoritative, and charismatic, the Doctor is a psychiatrist with an “experimental” treatment involving mysterious green capsules. Beneath his professionalism lies a grand, almost delusional ambition: to become famous — a Nobel Prize visionary who will “change humanity.”
As the play progresses, his need for recognition corrodes his ethics. He manipulates, dismisses boundaries, and treats John as the means to his legacy. When Lina exposes him, his composure cracks and we discover a desperate, frightened man capable of self-harm.
In an ironic twist, he is saved by the very patient he tried to exploit.