By Julius Galacki
Excerpt
"The Master and the Magician" Julius Galacki
p.12
(Merchand freezes Kavernia.)
MERCHAND
I must prepare the space quickly.
(Merchand points or stamps her staff toward the ground. Downstage, light spreads out, like a puff of breath, revealing a blanket and upon it, a banquet of sweet fruits and rich foods. Unseen to Merchand, Glimm, a very changeable fairy spirit, enters stealthily.)
MERCHAND (cont’d)
Now is the time to wind the clock, Set it in motion ─
(Glimm bursts forth. Merchand quickly returns the watch to its safe place - by her heart.)
GLIMM
No!
Now is the time to wind the cock, Thrust it in motion,
Because a vessel Needs to be broken.
(Merchand quickly puts a blanket of darkness over the Lovers and Kavernia.)
MERCHAND
Ah, my fairy fiend. Bored again?
GLIMM
Your pompous ass blew wind and summoned me hither. You’ve crossed every “ex” and arranged all the why’s, but I crave to dither and damnify.
MERCHAND
Can’t you allow me this concluding illusion, unimpeded?
GLIMM
Maybe if you weren’t so late for yesterday’s Game. I won that one by forfeit! Very, VERY bor-ing.
"The Master and the Magician" Julius Galacki
p.13
MERCHAND
But this day and night are different. You know that best of all. At dawn with the chanticleer’s last crow –
GLIMM
(Sarcastically) Oh, that’s right! I forgot. You are mortal. Has it ever been so that fate scraps and bows?
MERCHAND
(A beat.) No.
GLIMM
Then don’t try to husband me, magician. I am your Master. (With grand theatrical dignity.) What stones are in your gall...What! What...! (All of a sudden.) Ah! Ya’ know I'll really miss you.
(Glimm makes a friendly gesture of solidarity – perhaps slapping Merchand on the back or even nuzzling.)
MERCHAND
Seriously, my little daemon, what will you do when I’m gone?
GLIMM
(A beat – Glimm doesn’t like this question.) Only a human would ask such an inane question.
MERCHAND
Ah! So fate doesn’t know its own fate!
GLIMM
(Dismissing her.) Pfaw! Enough! Now that the preliminary insults are done - shall we play one, final game?
MERCHAND
We can… but as you know, the condemned are due a last request.
GLIMM
That’s so passé. I prefer always having it my way!
MERCHAND
Then, I don’t really need to play.
"The Master and the Magician" Julius Galacki
p.14
GLIMM
Extortionist!
MERCHAND
I’ve never known you to compliment me so!
GLIMM
(Not pleased.) Fine!
MERCHAND
(Merchand smiles, pleased.) Good. First of all, we can use these lovers as pawns...but not pell mell…. We may break hearts, but not minds.
(Glimm is not pleased.)
GLIMM
Oh come now! What is love without a little madness?
MERCHAND
AND, we shall have order: one spell at a time, first me, then you, back and forth, through this day and night till that cursed cock crows. Now swear.
(Glimm bleats twice in protest.)
MERCHAND
Swear!!
GLIMM
Dull!
MERCHAND
And no transformations into donkeys, birds or bees.
GLIMM
Oh, come now!
MERCHAND
No.
GLIMM
Arrrggh! (Glimm unenthusiastically holds up her right hand.) I swear.
"The Master and the Magician" Julius Galacki
p.15
MERCHAND
Love will triumph.
GLIMM
Ha, human beings are too shallow for such deep roots to take hold.
MERCHAND
And Spirits such as you?
GLIMM
My roots are in the air. I grow up, not down. Love is far beneath me.
MERCHAND
Yet, you’ve settled by my side, little bee.
GLIMM
An illusion of the Familiar. Sadly, your flower has no pistil, which is like a stigma with no style! 3
MERCHAND
Oh, you’ll see how fecund I can be. But be off, I need priv-a-cy 4 to prep the court for the first volley.
GLIMM
Then let the surface be hard with lots of bounce. I predict a score of Love, Zero. (Glimm exits laughing.)
MERCHAND
I know my magic exists because you exist my capricious Familiar. But you will not win as completely as you think. (Going towards the frozen characters on the stage.) Since I have no natural child, my greatest fear has been to pass on without passing on my gifts.
Between these two pairs of lovers, I suspect this maligned serving one has even greater talents even than I. So, I will distract Glimm by waving the red cloak of love. That puckish sprite will charge by, giving me the moment to transmit what matters most to she who needs
it most.
(Gently touching Precia...perhaps Daufon and the others) I know it may seem cruel to use these young lovers so, but I have faith, that in this turmoil they will discover secret
³ If Merchand is cast as male, then replace this botany joke (“Sadly, your flower…”) with this one:
“I don’t pine for your kind of wood.”
⁴ Pronounce “privacy” pronounced in the English way, not the American way.
"The Master and the Magician" Julius Galacki
p.16
MERCHAND (cont’d)
strengths within.
(Merchand uses her/his staff and brings back light to Prince Daufon, Lady Dalmandia and her servant, Kavernia, so revealing them. And
then s/he continues to observe unseen from the back of the stage.)
The Leap
Word by word, penned to refract
One meaning into another,
Accurately
Anthropologically,
I claim a clam acclaimed -
My addiction to spurts!
That, I can get behind
The willow draping green,
Growth so creative and
Procreative music
To the savage beasts
Buzzing and bearing flight,
From lust to life to love,
A jump only the blind can see.
The Importance of Arts, Culture & The Creative Process
I'm not literally religious or even believe in a deity, but my initial religious upbringing has instilled in me both a moral spine and a desire to address injustice. I've lived my life, certainly since I was a teenager, where the arts and humanities are the means of expression that is akin to what religious expression is to many. The theatre was my church. Most of my plays (and screenplays) don't address creativity directly as I don't write from theme but character. The characters determine the story. But with "The Master and the Magician", two real people - both creatives - were the impetus and thus the story had to be about creativity. Briefly, the play is a metaphor for the artmaking process. The magician is the artist. The artist works with fate and experience, re-orders the chaos into something with meaning. The individual artist may be finite but the art making is infinite... or at least as long as humanity and the planet exists.
What was the inspiration for your creative work?
The original impetus was the knowledge of a brilliant, artistic friend of mine who was HIV positive whose prognosis at that time was dire (fortunately a different treatment changed that). That feeling of concern / desire to honor an individual morphed and evolved into the greater theme explicated in the previous question / answer. (The short sample I've attached is the set up for the plot of the play.)
Tell us something about the natural world that you love and don’t wish to lose. What are your thoughts on the kind of world we are leaving for the next generation?
I'm afraid we're not leaving anything for future generations - that short sighted greed and blind ideology will combine to destroy the planet. It's difficult to narrow down the beauty of the world but I'll simply say that early in the morning when I can smell the salt air of the ocean (even from a couple miles away) instantly fills me with joy.
