Turn Around the Receiver [CANCELLED]

TURN AROUND THE RECEIVER 

by a. afshani

based on the music of Bijan Moosavi

FOR MUSICAL REFERENCES SEE BIJAN MOOSAVI’s “TURN AROUND THE RECIEVER”

PROLOGUE

SCENE I

INT a field outside an ornate house. There are three children in the yard. A little blonde boy- LUDWIG (6)- a scruffy boy- LOVINO (8)- and his sister, ARIA (4). The atmosphere is vibrant, too vibrant, as if we are watching while having taken a hallucinogen. In the background, GILBERT BEILSCHMIT watches in a German enlisted WWI dress uniform, at parade rest, no emotion. There is an incredibly ominous feel around the scene.

ACT I

SCENE I

INTthe ornate house outside Vienna, Austria, September 1939. It is huge, and obviously owned by someone quite wealthy. The style is Victorian, and it is artistic. The halls are lined by portraits of men, one of which being a very delicate man- a younger RODERICH EDELSTEIN (39), the owner of the house.

INTA bedroom, also very ornate, not very personal or anything like a home. The sole exception is a small bouquet of slightly wilted flowers and a couple paintings leaning against the wall, of landscapes. In the middle of the room, a girl sits, humming indistinctly, braiding a lock of hair. She has an air of repressed excitement.

This girl is in a simple dress, with a Roman face. She is very beautiful, with long, curly brown hair. This is ARIA ALESSANDRA VARGAS (16).

From downstairs sounds a voice. This is ELIZABETTA EDELSTEIN-HLAVATY (38).

ELIZABETTA

(In accented Austrian German; she’s Hungarian) Aria! Come downstairs.  

ARIA

(Looking up from her braid, startled) Coming! (She has an Italian accent to her German)

She runs from her room down a flight of stairs, undoing her braid as she runs.

INTThe hallway before Elizabetta’s room. On the wall hang three photos in black and white: Elizabetta and Roderich, dressed in their wedding clothes, stoic. Another is Roderich in evening dress with a shorter man, blonde, whose face can only be described as RBF. This is VASH ZWINGLI(28). The final photo shows Elizabetta and Roderich, poised in the same stoic way as their wedding photo, flanked by a younger Aria and a boy, who looks enough like Aria it is obvious they’re related; however, he appears to be somewhat Middle Eastern. This is LOVINO ROMANO VARGAS (20).

We do not focus on the photos; instead, the whole scene displays neutrally. All the photos are to our left of the door, while Aria waits to the right of it. The door rests in the third gridline. Aria rocks on her heels, impatient, hands clasped in front of her.

ELIZABETTA

(from inside) Enter.

Aria enters. She looks nervously, submissively, at the inside. Elizabetta is poised on a chair, with Roderich standing behind her. They are stony. The atmosphere is obviously tense.

ELIZABETTA

(after several moments) Roderich’s cousins are coming to visit.

Aria looks at Roderich, but he doesn’t acknowledge anything.

You remember the Beilschmidts?

ARIA

Um… I remember Uncle Gil, ja. And… isn’t there a younger brother? Ludwig.

RODERICH

(quickly) He isn’t your uncle.

ARIA

(after a moment, giving him an odd look) I know that. (She shifts with repressed energy)

beat

ELIZABETTA

Well, they’re coming to visit.

beat

Do you like Gilbert? (the question is odd, out of place)

ARIA

(directed towards Roderich) I guess. He visited last when I was ten. And I don’t think I’ve seen his brother since I was very little.

ELIZABETTA

Yes. Well. That is all.

Awkward silence for a few moments. Aria stares at Roderich until he looks away.

ARIA

Nothing from… from Lovino then.

(more awkwardness)

ELIZABETTA
No, dear.

(Aria begins backing away. Roderich still won’t look at her.)

ARIA

Well. Okay.

She flees the room, running back up the stairs.

INT The upstairs hallway. Aria stops running in it, opting to walk down the hall, brushing the extravagance with her fingertips. She is trying not to cry. She passes her room, pausing briefly before continuing into the next.

INT Lovino’s bedroom. It is very different from the rest of the house. It is furnished with the same items as Aria’s. The walls are covered in Persian tapestries, and there’s a large Persian rug on the floor. An empty hookah lays on the dresser. There’s a stack of empty cigarette cases. The bed is unkempt. Several glass tomatoes decorate the desk, and a pornographic magazine is strewn with several pages of sheet music (guitar) across the desk. There’s an Italian flag hung above the bedalong with a couple of intricate icons.

There’s also photos on the desk- of Lovinowith Aria, and one of Lovino pressed in a very sensual way against a larger man with curly hair. It is ANTONIO FERNANDEZ-CARRIEDO (26), a Spaniard.

Aria picks up a photo of her with her brother- her laughing, him glaring at the camera- and sits on the bed, staring at it, crying a little. She looks up before we cut away.

BLACK. The word “TURN AROUND THE RECEIVER”, in English with the German underneath, fades in and out of existence, as if passed over by a red light from our left to right.