Friday, October 05, 2007

The Party to end all Parties

We had a large whole church bash last weekend in Sheffield. A kind of all-singing, all-dancing, lights, camera, action kind of affair. (The Jesus Army's good at making enthusiatic noise.)

One of the items we mounted in the evening was a kind of poetic drama I wrote "for four voices" called The Party to end all Parties.

It went down fairly well, so I thought I'd post it here and you can tell me what you think.

The party to end all parties (a drama for four voices)

Dear Sir,
At the end of time,
in the garden of delights,
in the city of peace,
in the newly-made earth,
God
is throwing the party to end all parties.
You are invited.
RSVP.

Voice 2:
Dear God,
I haven’t the time
for your garden of delights, no offence.
I have a field of my own to attend to,
I’m leading the way in my field.
Making it big, as it goes, very busy,
fielding all opposition.
My apologies, hope it goes well.

Voice 3:
Dear God,
Just the wrong time for me,
your city of peace, worse luck.
I’m sure you’ve heard of my breakthrough in business,
Oxen Inc. is on the brink of cornering the market.
So, sorry, pass on my regards,
to the angels.

Voice 4:
Dear God,
Such unfortunate timing
for your fantastic newly-made earth!
See, I’m rather attached to the old one!
After quite a chase, I finally caught her
in matrimonial embrace.
(We’ll be honeymooning in Nice.)
Much regret, but I’ll bet
you’ll have a great time without us.

Voice 1:
Dear sixteen year-old homeless girl,
You’ve continued with prostitution
and you’re trapped in it.
Selling your body in order to survive,
life allowed you no other option.
You are invited
at the end of time,
in the garden of delights,
in the city of peace,
in the newly-made earth,
to the party to end all parties.

Voice 2:
Dear Rwandan asylum seeker,
You suffered from bowel cancer
and had a colostomy bag
and were refused treatment by
Great Britain’s NHS
because you could not register with a doctor.
You are invited
at the end of time,
in the garden of delights,
in the city of peace,
in the newly-made earth,
to the party to end all parties.

Voice 3:
Dear 9,853 ASBOs in England and Wales,
You’re widely regarded as scum,
hopeless and dangerous delinquents,
you’re bored and convinced life is worthless.
You are invited
at the end of time,
in the garden of delights,
in the city of peace,
in the newly-made earth,
to the party to end all parties.

Voice 4:
Dear gay teenager,
You’re terrified that they might find out
and bully you like that queer in your maths class.
They put pictures of him on the internet
and trashed his young life.
You have wet dreams about lads
and wake up feeling desperate.
You are invited
at the end of time,
in the garden of delights,
in the city of peace,
in the newly-made earth,
to the party to end all parties.

Voice 1:
Dear Goth
Voice 2:
dear tramp
Voice 3:
dear autistic kid
Voice 4:
dear crack addict
Voice 1:
dear porn actor
Voice 2:
dear street sweeper
Voice 3:
dear single dad
Voice 4:
dear blind woman
Voice 1:
dear broke father
Voice 2:
dear depressed man
Voice 3:
dear self-harming girl
Voice 4:
dear punk
Voice 1:
dear busker
Voice 2:
dear pensioner
Voice 3:
dear person who isn’t too busy
Voice 4:
dear you.

All voices:
You are invited
at the end of time,
in the garden of delights,
in the city of peace,
in the newly-made earth,
to the party to end all parties.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Voice 3:
dear single dad"

single dads count but not single mums...???

n0rma1 said...

No - in the same way that it is 'dear blind woman' and not 'dear blind man'. Of course, 'dear person who isn't too busy' casts the net fairly broadly...

Just teejay said...

Ok, this is a 'nag' when are you going to write about fathers and daughters as you've said you would at some point?????

; ) The TJ