MIND THE GLITTER Myth Script
Written by Rute Ellis
Sinopse
Rute convinces the fearsome creature Medusa to join her crafting a plan to save the world, promising her that people will stop seeing her as a monster. While Rute explains her messy plan, she updates Medusa of how is life in 2018 and her doubts become her empowerment throw performance and dance.
Scene 1 - Why do we feel shame? (all of the scene transitions are heard in voice off with delay and distortion like echoes from the mind)
Lights out
Music: Eleanor Rigby by Beatles covered by London Orchestra
White lights form a line in the middle of the stage like a catwalk.
Rute appears on the middle of the stage and starts doing the catwalk almost in slow motion, voguing, doing sexy dance moves speeding up the tempo and losing the serious posture and looking ridiculous and frenetic. In a monologue, Rute plays both roles and we can just tell the difference in her behaviour. Medusa is glamorous and feminine, while Rute is more gender neutral and clumsy. She is wearing pants, all painted in silver, covered in multicolour glitter and wearing a curly blue wig.
Medusa - (She interrupts the movement like she was possessed) Really? Is that it, Rute? Your biiiig finale?
Rute - Ah… Yeah… Dance as you want, like there’s no one watching… And… You know… Deconstruction of the sexualized bodies, feminism, freedom and shit!
Medusa - But isn’t it a bit too much asking them to do those moves and showing off their bodies like that?
Rute - We are covered in paint and glitter! Isn’t that enough? I can’t believe I’m hearing this from Medusa! You’re way more conservative than I thought…
Medusa - No, not at all! I don’t have any problem with naked bodies, but you know, maybe not everyone in the party is as confident as you might expect, maybe we should have a plan B outfit…
Rute - (grumpy) But then it will make no sense calling it the ‘Glitter Party’!
Medusa - Well… You can cover their suits with glitter instead.
Rute - But then it will make no sense… Look, I thought you already understood the whole point of this, we need to make something viral! To make them want to post, share and watch a million times! Or it makes no sense…
Medusa - (Indifferent) Yeah, yeah. (Inpatient) If you don’t want my help… (Pause) Why do you need me then!? I never covered my body and look what happened! Poseidon raped me and then Athena turned me into a monster!
Rute - When that happened you were voiceless! You are fucking famous now! Everyone will want to take a selfie with you! I need you because nobody would listen to me! I’m a nobody! I’m just a woman!
Nobody wants to hear me talk about the fashion industry slavery and the reason why I won’t buy anything for this campaign… (Thoughtful) Anything but glitter! (Pause) Now, you!?
Do you have any idea how famous you are? They will make lines to hear from you!
Scene 2 - Why are we voiceless?
Rute - The only day I had the chance to be heard I remained speechless. If I talked every one of my family would think I was a monster. I was the monster who put her own father in prison. I remember like it was today, the judge already asking twice:
Medusa - ‘‘Miss Rute, is there anything you would like to add to your deployment?’’
Rute - I looked back (look behind to left) to my mother covered in tears, looked back (look behind to right) to my father covered in fake tears, and said:
‘‘No’’
I just had promised I would tell nothing but the truth. The thing I wanted to say more was ’’yes’’. For a long time was the only regret in my life, just that single word. ‘NO’. Now I know that I’ve saved him. And after that day we never saw him again. He never called again. But the nightmare was over. Just like I saved my mother from his hands. I saved him. Even after all the violence, he made us come through. I saved him. Even if he didn’t care about us all my life. I saved him. Even after that day I never heard from him again. I saved him. He taught me I couldn’t trust anyone. Not even my own father.
Medusa - I know exactly how you feel! Athena didn’t even let me blink after Poseidon had raped me. Athena was right there… I saw her when he was on top of me, but I was afraid of what he could do to her too, so I kept silence.
Scene 3 - Why do they say I’m too loud?
Voice off (this time the voice has a tender nostalgic feeling, and the lines appear on screen like they were typed on a chat with a ‘new message’ sound, while the actress is staring at the screen and slowly starts walking backwards, drawing a circle, getting faster, running as fast as she can):
You would never shut up
You were very active, you would never stop...
since a baby, you liked to paint and to make drawings (and scratches on any wall) you were not afraid of anyone and you would go to everybody’s lap. You started to talk and to have very serious conversations even before going to kindergarten. you went only one year to the kindergarten, you were 5 years old and knew already all letters and numbers and do addition .. you started to read by yourself, and made me questions all the time and made me write you math exercises for you to solve in your notebook. you were always with one.
So the first year of school was really boring for you. You did theatre and choir in your extracurricular activities.
You were always the lead actress.
You always had the best grades.
You were never quiet or still and the teacher of the last years wanted to punish you at Carnival. she didn’t want you to go to the parade but I didn’t let her because it was your favourite event. you always loved the masks.
In the highschool, you were always in the frame of honour and merit and continued doing theatre and choir at school
You choose to study Spanish with 13 years old because you wanted to go to university in Barcelona to study fashion
So much daughter
You called the dolls ''bebé''
You were six months old and you said ''olá'' and ''bebé''
You would never stop
At seven months you would stand up alone in bed
By nine months you've already left the bed alone
You would never shut up
Rute - (After the run makes her fall on the floor exhausted, she sits and leans forward with her elbows on her knees, like bored child, and starts doing a rhythm with her fingers on the floor) I remember being at school alone in a dark room in silence, (Pause) while everybody else was playing outside. (Pause) I was too loud to deserve freedom. They hated that I never took punishment very serious. I’ve always found a way to entertain myself, my childhood, my girlhood, my womanhood, my label.
Scene 4 - Why do we need labels?
All our labels.
Minorities include everyone who is not a straight white rich guy.
Why is it so much easier for them?
They’re the majority and everyone else the minority.
Labels are easy,
Labels are fun,
Labels are power,
Labels are money.
The use of hashtags.
Connection disguised in control.
Control disguised in connection.
Explain the Glitter Metaphor: all shapes all colour all shine all spread as fuck is everywhere impossible to clean or hide.
SCENE 5 - Why caring about meaningless things?
Everyone cares.
Everyone is investing.
Investing in their future.
Future investments.
Future entrepreneurs.
Someone who sees nothing but growth.
Tell us what to think, what to eat, what to watch, what to breath, what to fuck, what to buy.
Growing unlimited.
Unlimited of growth because there’s no end, right?
Infinite possibilities of business.
Infinite opportunities to grow.
Limitless business thoughts generating more future wellbeing.
Because you have to be well, eat well, speak well, sleep well and behave in order to perpetuate the growth of the business.
That’s how we live: we can eat if we have money, we can sleep if we have money, we can behave if we have money and our business is doing well.
Wellbeing is the new success.
We only can relate with whom is in the same state of growth, the same picture, the same mentality, the same figures, the same outfit, the same infinite business opportunities.
Busy less, business…
Sometimes the same is different but mostly is the same.
Entrepreneurs, successful people, people in a good state of mind, people of growth, business people, people with money.
You can’t relate with a meaningless.
You can’t relate with non-entrepreneur people if you want to grow! If you can’t breathe it is better to have a doctor around, right?
You can’t breathe money, but that’s ok because we’ve already bought our tickets to Mars! Fuck the Earth!
Medusa - You’re not rich…
Rute - I know but guess who!? They are! (Pointing to the audience)
Medusa - Don’t be rude!
Rute - They just paid tickets to watch this show!
Medusa - Don’t point like that! You better don’t be rude or they may leave, and besides, there are a lot more ways of being rich. Like having a family or friends they love or doing the job they love. (Desperately positive) Who is a rich person here? Raise your hands!
Scene 6 - Why do we ignore the past?
Reading real books, old buildings beauty, handcrafts. Humanity, emotions, connections, authenticity, respect.
What is art today? Comparisons to the past that give us patterns of behaviour making us perpetuate the same mistakes over and over again.
Positive things we learn from history, negative things, even those we can learn something. We never come out of these bad things completely empty.
Scene 7 - Why do we should behave?
If you don’t behave you’re rejected. Lonely. Alone.
I like to be alone.
Loneliness is being aware of what is inside.
If you were left behind.
VOICE OFF - Breathe.
Rute - Alone means that no other person is with you.
VOICE OFF - Breathe.
Medusa - Lonely means that no other person is with you and that you are sad and unhappy as a result. We may choose to be alone but generally, we do not choose to be lonely.
VOICE OFF - Breathe. Breathe and learn. Take your time. No rush…
Scene 8 - Why do you protect everyone but yourself?
Medusa means guardian and her image has been used as a protection against evil even since before the myth has been created.
About individualism and being selfish.
About social media and consumerism brainwashing.
About saving the planet.
You can be rich without money; (not in a good way this time):
(trap beat)
We always have the feeling of capitalism, consumerism and social media controlling our state of mind:
WORK, EAT, BUY, DIE… (GLITTER!)
(the first line is said by the actress and (GLITTER!) and the following are in the backing track while she vogues)
WORK, EAT, BUY, DIE… (GLITTER!)
WORK, EAT, BUY, DIE… (GLITTER!)
WORK, EAT, BUY, DIE… (GLITTER!)
It is an amazing glamorous cheap thing for you to buy, but it’s killing even way worse than our consumerism already did!
We can’t avoid it! We can’t control because we can’t afford gold or diamonds so we cover and fill ourselves with glitter!
Fake happiness in our fake world.
Just one more.
Just one more time.
What difference it will make.
You are only one more.
But there’s a way.
There’s always a way.
Of being in a chance of winning.
You just need to add content to your stories.
And keep your location signal on.
Keep online.
Keep connected.
Keep listening.
Keep updated.
Keep buying.
Rute - (Sounding Like a 50’s Commercial) Eat glitter for breakfast and shine all day! Think for me. Chose for me. Live for me. So we have so much more free time, that we can become lazy to do nothing. I’ll do anything to do nothing, and shine.
(Sparkling sound effect)
Medusa - Eat glitter for breakfast and shine all day!
Rute - Medusa… You were supposed to tell them about the plant-based ecological glitter now! Or they will think they’re the bad guys of this story.
Medusa - The best lesson my past taught me: Don’t trust anyone. Don’t trust Gods. Don’t trust monsters. Don’t trust humans. Don’t trust anything in general. Don’t trust your mind. Question everything.
FINAL Scene - Why can’t we unite?
(With a shameless feeling of hope and joy, make the audience learn the lyrics and singing along):
(I’m not Jesus) I’ll help you the best I can
(I’m not Jesus) I’m not a man or a woman
(I’m not Jesus) I’m just a human
With fears, regrets, passion and revenge.
You know you’re not alone in this world.