The Shadow of the Dead Man

A silent play

By: Sabah Alanbari

Dedicated to the poet Zuhair Burda

) The theater is in complete darkness. A single ground light focuses on a man turning away from the audience and walking toward the distant horizon. The light casts a long shadow of the man. He is walking nonstop).

Silent scene one

The man walks to the wide horizon, following his long shadow… The light fades on and off gradually while the man keeps walking preceded by his long shadow. After a while the light fades off and is gradually replaced by another ground light lighting the man from the left. He is still walking toward the horizon but his long shadow is now to his right. After a while, the left light is gradually replaced by a light on the right whilst the man keeps walking with his long shadow now to his left. He stops waking and looks at the horizon.

(Quiet music. The colour of cyclorama changes to red. The music interrupts the sound of a huge explosion which shakes the place violently. Another explosion happens and we see a man projected in the air and then falling to the ground in a pool blood). On one side of the stage, the shape of the man appears, dimly light, while he observes the remains of his body or rather its extended shadow on the ground. He moves slowly towards the shadow… He stands at the feet of the shadow, and appears reunited with it. his feet. He bends toward his shadow with dignity. He extends his hand to it to raise it from its lying down. The shadow rises. It stands in front of the man and they both begin to walk, seemingly as if they had joined each other. They continue to walk toward the distant horizon until they disappear in the distance.

Two men looking very much like the man appear caring a coffin. They come from where the man and his shadow disappeared; they approach his dead body, put it on the coffin and walk back toward the horizon. They meet with the man midway and look at him with surprise while he looks at his dead body coldly. They lower the coffin on the ground and open its cover. The man approaches the dead body which is covered with a white cloth, peels it off, and appears surprised by the great resemblance between himself and his dead body. He looks at two men. They order him to lay beside the dead body; he is surprised by their order and moves cautiously away from them in fear. They smile, lift the coffin and continue to walk to the distant horizon until they disappear. He follows them with fixed eyes, then without paying further attention, turns back and walks in the opposite direction. He keeps walking impassively till the high secretary surprises him coming from the right side. He stands petrified. Silence prevails and nothing remains in the place at this moment except the man and his shadow. He bends to reach the hand of the shadow but the shadow pulls itself back and goes alone toward the same side from which came the scream. He hears the sound of an invisible procession of women in mourning coming from the same side. They slap their cheeks, beat their chests and let out loud crying. The sound funeral cortège moves around him. He follows the sound, turning his head and his body. The cortège completes a turn and leaves from the opposite side. He follows with his gaze until the sound of the crying voices gradually disappears. He remains standing still silently. Then he bursts out laughing loudly.          

     (The sound of successive explosions interrupts his laughter. A column of smoke rises. The sound of bullet is heard whizzing around the place).        The man is running with his automatic rifle towards the red horizon. Sometimes the blast of an explosion makes him stumble and fall. He fires his rifle towards the horizon as if shooting at a real enemy. Shrapnel and bullets pass over his head and he drops on the ground. He rolls on the ground quickly and with agility as if he was a professional fighter. The humming of bullets stops, the explosions stop, the place becomes very quiet like the calm before the storm. The man moves towards a battle trench. He sees a number of military boots piled on top of each other. On the cyclorama appears a blurry image, maybe that of Huluko or some other blood thirsty tyrant like him. The man picks up a boot, carefully carries it, like a bunch of red roses. He moves reverently toward the image and puts the boot at the front of the image. He leaves the image and gets back to the pile of boots. The picture changes to a photograph of Hitler or any other dictator like him. The man turns back to the picture as if walking in a funeral procession. He puts one of the red military boots on front of it. The picture changes to a photograph Franco or another despot like him.

He puts a red boot underneath it before the photo disappears and turns instead into a picture of a very big red boot. The man gets hold of more black boots and waves them in front of the red shoes while the sound of the military marche rises. All the army boots remain in front of the horizon with the giant shoe until the lights gradually disappear and the darkness darkens. Shrapnel and bullet pass over his head and he back his body on the ground. He rolling on the ground quickly and lightly as if he is fighter professional. The humming of bullets stops, the explosions stop, the place become very quiet like a quiet before a storm. The man moves towards a battle trench. He sees a number of fighter Shoe (military boots) cumulated one on one else. The cyclorama appears a blurry image that may be for Hulagu or any others one like him. Choose an individual from a military shoe. Carefully carry it, like the red roses. He moves formally toward the image. he put the military shoe under the image directly. He Leaves the image and go back to the military shoe group. The picture changes to someone like Hitler or anyone else like him. The man moves to the picture as if walks in a funeral procession. He puts one of the red military boots under it. The picture changes to someone like Franco or anyone else like him.

He puts a red military shoe underneath it before disappears and appears instead of it a picture of a very big red military shoe. The man gets more black military boots and place them in front of the red boots while the sound of the military Marche rises. All the army boots remain in place in front of the giant red shoe until the lights disappear and the darkness prevails.

Silent scene two

(On the same path, a woman with a shopping basket shopping walks toward the horizon, her long shadow precedes her)

She stops midway and stares at the horizon. We can see on the background (cyclorama) photos of different food items. She resumes walking at a heavy pace. She stops in front of a first picture, opens her basket, and stretches her hand to pick up some fruit but the picture disappears. She approaches the second picture to grab some vegetable but the second picture also disappears. She moves to the third and fourth pictures but all of them disappears.

A man dressed in army fatigues and carrying a rifle crosses the stage rapidly, ignoring the woman. Another soldier coming from the other side rapidly also walks by the women without paying attention to her. Dozens of them pass by, not noticing her. She looks at them from behind until they all disappear on the distant horizon. The last man passes near her cautiously and quietly to avoid her seeing him. When she turns to continue her way, she is surprised by his presence. They watch each other as they circle each other. The man takes a bundle of banknotes and puts it in front of her eyes; she her face away. The man moves to other side and presents the money again, but she turns off her face again. He throws the money on the ground disdainfully. He pursues her insistently as they moves quickly towards the horizon. They disappear at the farthest point on the horizon and then her shadow seems to escape from the grasp of his shadow. The man’s shadow keeps chasing hers insistently, catches it and hugs her tightly. She frees herself but he catches her again.  He throws her to the ground and throws himself over her. The are wrestling. He tries to rip off her clothes violently. She pushes him, but he regains control of her, resolute on taking her. She opposes strong resistance and he punches her violently. She loses consciousness. His shadow throws itself over her shadow till it has its way with her. The shadow of the first man approaches them, pointing his gun at the shadow of the rapist. He shoots the shadow’s head making it disappear. The woman keeps crying bitterly. Her sad shadow separates from her and moves quickly aside, then it falls motionless while the woman’s crying and whining continue, mixed with the cries of children coming from afar. The cries and whine continue until the end of the scene.

Silent scene three

The man appears in the middle of the place with only one leg, he walks with the help of an old crutch towards the horizon.  He stumbles on a discarded shoe along his way, picks it up, fits his lacerated foot in it and moves on. He ponders, decides to move forward and walks on the embers. The single shoe starts to burn slightly midway through the crossing. He completes the distance, but falls unconscious after finishing crossing the embers. His shadow rises heavily while his body remains stretched out on the ground. It turns right and left then run away towards the horizon until it disappears. The man stays lying on the ground. A blind  man enters with his white cane, scanning the place by ear. He moves to the man lying on the ground. He checks his breath, gets closer and closer until he hears the sound of the man breathing and turns away from him quietly. He feels his way with his cane and finding his way is free of obstacle or pedestrians he walks ahead toward the horizon. He reaches a place under the sunset, turns right and left, making sure the place is completely empty. He raises his hand toward the sun, grabs it, pulls it and hides it under his clothes as darkness falls. Fast as the wind, he runs towards the horizon and hides at the end of the stage. The lying man regains consciousness. Moving slowly, he looks at where of the stolen sun used to be and is surprised because the sun is not there anymore. He rises. He moves a little cautiously and fearfully about everything around him. Some fireflies gather around him. They swarm around him so he tries to move away from them and then they fly away from him out of the stage. He holds his head tightly. He tries to refocus on things that have become invisible because of the darkness. He walks continuously into a semi-dark alley, remembers that he has a flashlight, takes it out, directs it toward the walls and reads what he had written about forgotten memories and phrases, sometimes stopping on some and contemplating some, such as:

A man comes alone

Out of the gap in the A of “WAR”

Alive, burdened with the heat of war

His shadow reappears on its own and starts erasing the writing on the walls. Then the shadow vanishes as well in the alley. The theatre is now in complete darkness.

Silent scene 4

Many loud explosions from various distant resound. On the cyclorama the sound of the explosion mingles with fireworks like the sound of wailing coming from a distant place mixes with the sound of laughter. The ululating of the women mixing up with loud screams of pain. The man heads towards the horizon with difficulty. He falls down on the ground and then gather himself up. He gets shot at a few times and collapses on the ground. He stands again, looks at the horizon with unfailing determination. He collapses again after taking a few steps but manages to get up and keeps walking towards the horizon persistently. He reaches the horizon and almost collapses again.

He disappears behind the horizon then he returns holding the stolen sun. He tries to lift it up but he cannot handle it because it is too heavy. Both fall down on the ground.

He wraps himself around the sun, tries to stand up again at the place where the sun rises. He lifts it up

With great tentatively. He finally Fails after several attempts. He pants out from fatigue and is weakened by continuous bleeding.

He gives up trying to heal some of his wounds. He tries to stand up again while bullets start buzzing around him. He lifts the sun with extreme difficulty and with ultimate determination brings it closer to its position, when suddenly a hail of bullets assails him from all directions.

He falls down covered in blood, attempts to rise a second time but finally collapses and as he draws his last breath, the sun recovers its brightness accompanied by the sound of music while the sound of bullets fades away and sunlight fills all the stage.

The end