Stage Play / Lilia's Dream (Analysis)
PLAY 1 – A Salvation Army Story.
This is the first Salvation Army story –
Lilia’s Dream.
Lilia is 14. She is a homeless teenager on the streets of Sydney.
She waits on a doorstep in a dark and dreary alleyway late at night, smoking. A young man approaches her.
Man: I got enough for you this time.
Lilia: Did anyone see you?
Man: Just a pro.*
Lilia: (grinned) They won’t say anything.
Man: I know. How much have you got?
Lilia: 100.
Man: That’ll be enough metal to get you some smack. I have another lead who has a small measure of the higher stuff, but he’s not parting with it.
Lilia: Creep!
Man: He’s willing to give us an ounce if we agree to doing a job for him.
Lilia: Sure.
Man: I’ll be back soon.
The man left, leaving Lilia to work on her next fix of drugs in the dark alleyway. She puts the needle into her arm, and sighs with relief before a stray kitten wanders up to her, searching for something to eat. Lilia turns to look at it. “You should try this stuff. You’ll love it… It’ll do wonders for your sanity. Just imagine being in heaven. That’s what it feels like…if there is a heaven.
Do you believe in God? I don’t. That’s why my folks kicked me out. God doesn’t care. My oldies prove that.
I wasn’t good enough for ‘em. Who’d be good enough for God in this crap of a world? No one would even get to first base.”
A Salvation Army mobile soup van approaches near her alleyway and stops to feed the homeless, drunks and others nearby. She hides behind the bin to avoid being seen.
One of the Salvo workers hears the kitten meowing and crying, as he was serving the soup to some of the homeless men waiting to be served. He approaches the kitten. He picks it up. “Who do you belong to? We’ll have to find you a home, won’t we?”
The man turned to notice Lilia.
Jim: Hello. I’m Jim. What’s your name?
Lilia: (defensively) None of your business.
Jim; Is this your kitten?
Lilia: Nah. He just turned up here, didn’t he?
Jim: Would you like some soup?
Lilia thought for a moment, suspiciously looking towards him while smoking on her cigarette.
Jim: It’s free. It’s vegetable soup and there is some bread and you also can have some biscuits that have special nutrients in it if you prefer that.
Lilia: (cynically) What’s for dessert?
Jim: What would you like?
Lilia: Got any smack?
Jim: What’s your second choice?
Lilia: Have you got a hair brush?
Jim: Sure. I can get you a brush.
Lilia: Not for me. For the kitten.
Jim: (grinned) Oh, yes. The kitten.
Lilia: You mean, you have been standing there with the little critter in your arms and you aren’t searching for a home for it. Why hang around here if you have better things to do.
Jim: Sure, I’ll be taking it to the right people for care.
Lilia: There are no right people.
Jim: What about the RSPCA?
Lilia: If you like. I don’t care what you do with it. It’s just a stray anyway. It’s not mine.
Jim: I’ll take it there soon, after I’ve chatted with you first.
Lilia: I don’t want you to chat with me. I’m okay. No one cares about me, so why should you?
Jim: Come and have some soup first and we’ll have a chat. No interogation, I promise. I am just interested in you as a person.
Lilia: Sure you are.
Jim leaves her to pour her a cup of soup and offers her some bread.
Lilia: Thanks. Where’s the kitten?
Jim sits down next to her.
Jim: In the van for the moment. Someone is attending to it. Don’t worry.
Lilia: I’m not worried.
Jim: I’m glad.
As Lilia began to eat her soup, Jim looked about him. “Are you enjoying your meal?
Lilia: It’s all right. Not what my grandmother made, but it’ll do. Who cooks this anyway?
Jim: Our soup kitchen. We have a large hall and dining area where we feed people…families mainly.
Lilia: Not just silly old men in big coats carrying a bottle, eh?
Jim: We feed them too, when and where we find them. They are always looking to have a yarn with us. Some of them chat about the war years, some of them chat about their parents and children. They love their children. They always brag about them.
Lilia: Lucky children.
Jim: Where are your parents?
Lilia: They told me to go out and get a job, so I am. I’ve got a job.
Jim: Where?
Lilia: Call it a ‘supermarket’.
Jim: You’re a bit young.
Lilia: It’s a job. Pays well.
Jim: You know that kitten will be looking for a home. We can take it to the RSPCA vet and have it checked over, but after that, it’s going to need a home.
Lilia: What have I got to offer it. I don’t have a home to give it.
Jim: We don’t just have soup kitchens, you know. We also have places you can go, with a proper bed and a pillow and warm blankets.
Lilia: I’m not going to a refuge. Tried it. I didn’t like it, so I left.
Jim: Why did you leave?
Lilia: My best friend died there.
Jim: Overdose?
Lilia: She was pregnant, and OD’d on french kisses.
Jim: French kisses?
Lilia: You know, Care Bears, E.
Jim: (nodded) Ecstasy.
Lilia: That’s what I said.
Jim: Do you miss her?
Lilia: (sadly) Yes.
There was silence between them for a moment.
Lilia: Can I have a bit more soup?
Jim: Sure.
Jim goes to get another mug of soup and hands it to her, then sits down next to her again.
Lilia turns to him. “Haven’t you got others to feed?”
Jim: Sure, but we have a few soup vans out and about tonight. They’ll be okay, but I’m very interested in you at the moment.
Lilia: Why? Checking up on me?
Jim: No, I’m just interested. How old are you?
Lilia; 14.
Jim: Whats your name?
Lilia: Lilia. Short for Olivia.
Jim: That’s a nice name.
Lilia: Yeah, I’m named after a rat.
Jim: Is that what you think?
Lilia: It’s what I know.
Jim: Do you know what your name means?
Lilia: No.
Jim: It means ‘peace’. I reacon God named you that for that particular purpose.
Lilia: What? Peace? You gotta be kidding. Peace is dead, or haven’t you heard?
Jim: Peace is what your dream wants to become.
I know, because I was in your position when I was around your age. On drugs, homeless and uncertain of my future. But I was searching for something. I just couldn’t find it.
Lilia: Yeah! What was your fix?
Jim: Crack, Cocaine. I worshipped it. Even tried the fake stuff, Gaffel, when I’d run out of loot. Every moment was spent working on my next fix. It was hard, the withdrawls, the need for more coke, then more withdraws. I have been through the blades a hundred times over until someone stopped and showed they cared about me as a human being. I just needed to let them in. So, I know what you are angry about.
Lilia: I don’t need a brain shrink.
Jim. I am certainly not that. Didn’t even get past sixth grade before I went dining on street cans.
Lilia: What am I angry about, then?
Jim: You’re needing someone to listen. To stop and care about your welfare, your health and your full potential..
Lilia: How did end up wearing this fancy gear then, if you know what I’m angry about?
Jim: This is the uniform of a listener. It tells people like you that I am approachable, that we are from an organisation who cares for people…”
Lilia: Not just kittens.
Jim: Not just animals. I needed to stop for that stray kitten because it’s against the law to abandon a life, even an animal’s life. But it can wait. You are more important right now and so are many of these folks here who rely on our soup van and our company for human understanding.
Lilia: Understanding!
Jim: There is a special kind of Hope in that understanding that not many of us know exists. I never knew He existed.
Lilia: He? You mean God. Don’t tell me about God. He doesn’t care.
Jim: How do you know He doesn’t care for you, Lilia?
Lilia: I just know. My parents didn’t care, so why should He?
Jim: God is not like our human parents. God is very different.
Lilia: How?
Jim: I cannot say He is like a human father. We can only say that about loving fathers who love their children unconditionally. But when you don’t have loving parents, the only way you can come to know God’s love for you is by loving yourself first.
Lilia: What?
Jim: By looking at how valuable and special you are yourself, is how you can come to know God’s love for you as Lilia. That’s why I’m here. I’ve felt where your feet have been. But until I came to realise that there were people out there who wanted to care for me, and wanted to help me reach my full potential, then God opened his arms and His love out to me..and said. “Jim, Welcome home. I need you tell Lilia the same.”
Lilia lowered her head and started to cry.
Jim: God wants to say to you. “Welcome Home, Lilia. God says. “There is a home for Lilia with Him. There is a peace in Lilia’s name that bears My Son’s name. Jesus is His name and He is the Peace you need.”
Written by Roo Palmer
*Pro- Prostitute.
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This 109 word review has not been unlocked.
I think this is really good, it’s got a lot of potential. A few issues I have with it:
“I am certainly not that. “
Many of Jim’s lines are stilted and preachy. He alternates between lots of slang and really elevate language.
You need much more stage direction. Also, stage direction always goes in parenthesis. Right now it’s two people saying lines a void. Describe the setting more, the costumes, their actions, inflections.
I’d recommend not calling it a ‘pro’, the audience won’t understand, becuase they can’t see the footnote. I would be confused.
I think livia goes from tough street kid to crying born-again too quickly. I don’t think it would happen so quickly, it looses credibility and makes it seem cheesy and forced.
Please,don’t be discouraged by this, I think you have a lot of potential, don’t give up and keep writing!
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