Shadows

Shadows 

(Inspired By the Movie Split) 

Narain CM 

naraincm4@gmail.com 

7760405959 

Age:20

Characters: 

Girl:Feminist,strong,independent 

Musician:stressed,worried, 

Athlete:confident,sure about himself,does not show much emotions,does not like change,sticks to a routine. 

Doctor:concerned,helpful 

Kid:a childlike bliss,innocent 

Patient:Naveen,suffering from paranoia,PTSD 

Scene set-up: The patient and the doctor are sitting across each other. All the characters are standing behind them in a semi circle manner. 

Lights on: 

Dissolve To: 

Doctor: So Mr Naveen regarding our last session I remember asking you to complete a task regarding some people who inspired you in your life in creating your different characters. 

Have you completed it ? 

Girl: Yes doctor ,some people in this group actually have dreams and want to do something with our lives.Like maya angelou ,I’m a feminist.I want to pursue my dreams of being a famous author and write books on how women are being oppressed today in all sectors of society.A real platform to express my own views would be to write books and express my own opinions without anyone holding be back. 

Like Enid Blyton,Louisa may Alcott,through my writing I want to inpire generations of women and all women

who struggle to overcome prejudice 

prejudice,discrimination and abuse. 

Athlete: Who says you’re the only person who has dreams, I too have dreams. I want to be the fastest man on the track. That pulsating feeling of being better than everyone else ,that adrenaline rush ,that euphoria (exclaims) I can’t get enough of that .The harder the battle the sweeter the victory. 

Guys like Jesse Owens and Usain Bolt who used to kill the haters with success and bury them with just a smile .They treat each second like a lifetime and just like them I want to be fearless in my training and routine just to be among the best . 

Musician :I want to be one of the best singers in the world and to do that I have to treat my voice like a temple.I don’t like to strain my voice needlessly. 

My speech doctor has told me to sing with the correct technique , talking less and not try to stress too much . 

Stress ,how can I not stress? Do you know how hard it is to get into AR Rahman’s school of music? 

Even after taking a year off and working only on my music it's still impossible to get in .I've started taking silent language so that I can talk less. 

People like Beyonce and Frank Ocean who see music in everyday life to inspire their writing. That's who I want to be like .I try and go to remote locations to help me think. I even watch movies with the sound off 

for inspiration. 

Kid :I hate school ,why do we even need to go to school.I have to get up so early and polish my black shoes everyday before getting to school. I have to carry so many books where we don’t even use half of

them . In Hogwarts they teach magic and spells and here we have a blackboard and a chalk piece. 

I'd rather do anything than go to school.id be watching TV all day. I’d watch batman and superman fight crimes and put bad people to jail and have Sachin tell me that boost is the secret of my energy than sit in school. They are my real heroes . 

Doctor : Okay its been a while since we had our last session can you tell what have you been up to and how are you feeling on most days? 

Girl: I've been reading this book The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath which is a coming of age story for young feminists, which describes how women should behave according to society. 

Fear of being a woman and all the insecurities of having to be a woman, which I find so apt in today’s world where living in a country like India you have to live with so many restrictions and rules which “according to society” is the right appropriate way to behave as a woman. 

I just want to be young and free and live life on my own terms without having to ever think what ”society” thinks of me. I don’t want to be considered like a reproductive vessel. I too have dreams and aspirations and like so many before me I too want to try and change the current stereotypes that modern society has on women. 

Athlete: Well unlike her I’ve just been sticking to my normal routine .Training for 8 hours a day really takes a toll on your body .I try not to change too much because the coach says it will affect my performance. 

Although I don’t enjoy it, the coach says to keep my emotions bottled up cause according to him real men

don’t cry they fight through the pain .I asked him whether I could buy these new running shoes and he said shoes don’t matter how you train. Coach is pretty strict but I’ve known him my whole life and he’s the only coach I got . 

And just like her I too have been reading on today’s performance enhancing drugs(pause) 

It’s a cruel world out there, nothings fair. The only way you can make strides in modern athletics is based on how many drugs you can stuff down your throat .i heard about this one coach who teaches you how to lie with a complete poker face if anyone asks you whether you take drugs . 

I think taking drugs should now be in an athlete’s routine now. 

Musician: I've been drinking only hot water with turmeric ,my doctor tells me it’s good for my throat .It's fine but I’ve now completely forgotten what water tastes like and all taste in general. 

It’s definitely hard but my doctor says he knows what’s best for me .I too have been practising constantly without any breaks .I’ve completely stopped talking to people because my doctor suggested to not waste my time with needless things and even if I do talk my doctor suggested to speak in only sign language . 

I don’t know why but I feel I’ve started to put my doctors needs in front of my own but then again doc knows better ,doc wants only the best for me . 

Kid: I just want to stop going to school .It feels like a prison all day sitting behind a desk .The teachers are mean to me .I sit there in class hoping that some bad guy would come and I would save the day and save all my classmates. Probably then my classmates would speak to me and be my friends (sigh)

All I want to do is go play with my tazos when I go back home . All my friends took away my marbles when I played with them although I won them fair and square .Now that I think about it I think even my friends near my house are mean to me . 

But you know who aren't, my cartoon friends Tom ,Jerry and Superman wouldn't be mean to me and they would never let me down . 

Doctor: Naveen I’ve been meeting with you for quite some time now and I've come to figure out that you never mention any of your family and friends in your life. You never talk about them. 

We’ve been through this Naveen I've told you before unless you talk about your parents and how they have affected your life and put so much pressure on you, you will never improve your condition. 

You even mention them in your stories: the athlete personality talks about a coach figure and the musician personality talks about a doctor . These are the only authoritative figures in your life . 

I know them to be your parents because they somehow always slip through your stories, so I know you want to talk about them. 

Athlete: (angrily)I told you coach doesn’t want me to talk about emotion, crying is for losers and who made you the king of my life ,who are you talk about what’s best for me ,you don’t know me 

I've been working so hard to be the best. Do you know how much training I have gone through? 

Doctor: Naveen do you want to be the best or does your coach want you to be the best? 

Athlete : stop this ,stop asking me such questions , I shouldn’t be expressing myself, the coach will be mad .

Musician : (speaks in sign language with angry actions) 

Kid :(loudly with a lot of emotion ) stop this ,stop fighting I don’t like fighting let’s try and come to an agreement 

Girl:You know that he doesn't like 

confrontation,(talking about the athlete) talk to me I can explain it best to him. He can’t express himself with words, you of all people know this . 

Doctor: Naveen I've seen your annual physical. Your not eating well your not drinking enough water 

I can see scars on your wrists and on your arm from the last time we met . 

This is not good for you Naveen.your hurting yourself, you shouldn’t hurt yourself for something that is not your fault. 

This will not end well for you Naveen .You need to change 

(offers him a glass of water)Here have this. 

(Naveen gets the glass close to his mouth and then throws it at the doctor and all the characters burst out laughing) 

Doctor: (wipes the water off and really angrily) Enough. 

Naveen Bhansal, I need to speak with you now (bangs desk) 

(Naveen the patient gives her his full attention and all the characters now fall down behind the stage) 

Doctor: Naveen it's high time you bring about a change, you need to show your personality, who’s really running the show here .

The first step in solving a problem is recognising that there is one. You need to gain more control of the light here. 

You know when you first came to me my first job was to recognise why these personalities were formed and I did with your stories. 

Your father who was abusive to you , put you under so much pressure to become an athlete and never really asked you what you wanted to do. He forced his dreams onto you which wasn’t good for you and you did anything to please him and you did it so that he would be proud of you. 

Your mother, a singer herself, got you into singing and once she knew that you liked to sing she did the same thing ,she knew that if she couldn’t be a singer she’d make her son one .She treated you like a patient and was always worried that you would waste your time by not practising on your singing. 

Your kid personality was based on the trauma of how you were bullied as a child and never really had any friends .Your happiest childhood memory is of you watching cartoons. Which is why you are so anti-social and don’t like talking to strangers and meeting new people because you feared they’d laugh at you and be mean to you. 

Your woman personality was formed because growing up you’d prefer to be woman, because you identify yourself better with that gender.You used to read feminist books and woman studies because they inspired you and when you wore women clothes in your childhood your parents were so shocked to see this that they beat you up in fear of what “society” would think of you . 

Naveen :(stands up faces the doctor)You are right doctor, you're absolutely right.

I am what I am because of my parents .I have this condition because of my past. 

But it doesn't define me. 

I need to first accept to myself that I have this condition and only then can I try and improve myself. 

If I don’t love myself who else will. This condition might never leave me but I will be much stronger as a person if I can only try and better myself. I shouldn’t fear what society thinks of me .What has society even done for me.What does society even know of what I've been through 

No one can understand my condition better than me.It's only a disorder if I think of it as one.Growing up I had no one to talk to, now I know none of my friends(personalities) will ever leave me and I will no longer fight this battle alone. 

I will, I will try and better myself 

(Naveen sits back down , all the characters stand back up ) 

(the doctor finishes taking down his notes) 

Lights off 

The real doctor walks up to the stage and the fake doctor joins the remaining characters and stands alongside them. 

Lights On 

Real doctor: How are you today Naveen ? 

All characters in unison including Naveen : I’m fine doctor. 

Lights off 

(END)