(Lights come up on a stage that is very bare. To the left is a lavish throne. The KING sits in it authoritatively wearing a black and blue uniform while he smokes a cigar, which he ashes in a tall gold ashtray downstage of the chair. To the right is the PLAYER wearing the same black and blue uniform standing by a stool as though she has just abruptly stood up from it.)

King:
Therefore and thus, as I am king and you are not, I have henceforth sentenced you to an everlasting death to which there is no defense.

Player:
Might I not save myself?

King:
To which there is no defense.

Player:
Surely I might save myself.

King:
To which there is no defense.

Player:
I will save myself.

King:
Ah, she speaks, I thought you were mute. What did you say?

Player:
Perhaps I shall save myself?

King:
What?

Player:
Let me play you a tune.

King:
A tune? Shall you play me a tune?

Player:
Do you want me to play you a tune?

King:
If you play me the tune I wish to hear.

Player:
What tune is it you wish to hear?

King:
The tune I wish to hear.

Player:
Shall I play your tune?

King:
Do you play?

Player:
Naturally I do not, I have no instrument.

King:
Then you shall play a tune. Bring on the instrument! (A SERVENT wearing the same uniform carries a double bass onto the stage from stage right and throws it to the PLAYER without ever stopping. SERVENT exits stage left.)

Player:
Might I have a bow?

King:
Why a bow?

Player:
So I may play for you.

King:
Do you not have a bow?

Player:
I do but I do not wish to use it.

King:
Is your bow not worthy?

Player:
Naturally it is worthy but I do not wish to use it.

King:
Then you will pluck.

Player:
Then let me use my bow.

King:
Then you will play. 

Player:
The stool, the stool.

King:
The what?

Player:
Might I not sit on that stool?

King:
Of course you may not sit on that stool.

Player:
Surely I can sit on that stool.

King:
Of course you may not sit on that stool.

Player:
I will sit on that stool.

King:
Of course you will sit on that stool. (She sits on the stool holding the bass.)

Player:
What shall I do with this instrument?

King:
Were you not going to therefore and thus put it away?

Player:
Perhaps I shall, shall I burn it? 

King:
Of course not, burning would mean fire and I don’t like fire.

Player:
Fire keeps me warm.

King:
I do not like fire. Play me a tune instead.

Player:
What tune shall you hear?

King:
The tune you will play.

Player:
What tune do you wish to hear?

King:
The tune I wish to hear. Therefore and thus you have your information and you will play.

Player:
I shall, I shall play a round.  

King:
How will you play a round when you are the only one playing?

Player:
Does the silence in the room have no voice?

King:
How can one have a voice when no one can hear him?

Player:
We hear only sound and sound is only vibrations one interprets. Can you not interpret silence?

King:
I can not interpret something I can not hear.

Player:
But you have interpreted silence as something you can not hear did you not?

King:
Did I?

Player:
Silence is something you can not hear, that is what you said. But you have interpreted silence as something you can not hear. Hearing is interpreting. You can hear silence.

King:
I can’t hear silence when you are talking.

Player:
Then hear it when I pause for breath.

King:
You do not pause for breath.

Player:
I do not? Then how am I alive?

King:
You do not need breath for life, you were told that when you were a child and you believe it, therefore and thus you have breathed all your life.

Player:
Who told you such a thing?

King:
My father. (Places cigar in ashtray) Will you play me a tune?

Player:
What tune shall you hear?

King:
The tune you will play.

Player:
What tune do you wish to hear?

King:
The tune I wish to hear. Therefore and thus you have your information and you will play. (She plays) I have heard this one already, play another tune. (She plays another tune) You have messed up already, play it again. (She plays another tune) You are not playing the same tune as before.

Player:
Oh but I am.

King:
It does not sound the same as before.

Player:
Oh but it did.

King:
Truly? And how may you prove this?

Player:
How may I not prove this? It is the tune I played before. You say it must not be because you remember wrong.

King:
I never remember wrong, therefore and thus I am king.

Player:
You have no means of proof. There are no servants, there is no recorder, there is no camera, only you and me. I say you remember wrong because I am saying the truth and you have nothing to argue against it except yourself. Can you trust yourself? (PLAYER sets down double bass and SERVENT collects it.)

King:
Can I trust you?

Player:
You can.

King:
Therefore and thus I shall not trust myself for I always fool myself into false dispositions. Eating habits and law making decisions and religions and what to wear are all just things I trick myself into believing. Therefore and thus I trust that you are telling me the truth.

Player:
You have believed me as blind as you believe yourself.

King:
What was that?

Player:
I come in a criminal, a savage, sentenced to death while you sit atop a throne. I wish to play an instrument I have never played and you provide me such a thing. I have followed your instructions on which tune is to reach your ears and you enjoy every moment of it, though you really should not.

King:
I suppose not, I suppose one must never enjoy being made a fool of as you seem to make me one quite well. Everyone who comes here for an argument likes me to feel as though I were inferior so that I may eventually pardon them in some stupor. You have started to do so, but you have done something else, you are trying to bribe me by pleasing me. You act as though I should simply let you go because you feel in some way you are smarter than the average criminal, but you are not. As I said before you began to play games with my mind, there is no defense against this. You were born into this world knowing of this war between the races and classes. You know you must choose a side and fight with all your might. You know you must conform to a social group and learn who are your allies and enemies. You must know who you are if you want to survive. You may think you’re too young, but there are younger people than you fighting this war. You did not choose a side and therefore and thus, you are sentenced to death just as the law states. However, I am curious to know why you haven’t chosen a side, why you feel you are so above this war.

Player:
Ever since I was born I have seen nothing but rampage and refuse. I have seen the cows leaving patties for the mothers to slip on, the chickens dropping eggs on the scientists until they passed out, the garbage men polluting the water so the fish would die, the lamps shocking the kangaroos. All of them fighting each other and all of them beckoning me to join their side. I could not choose. I could not say I was a woman and fight with the women because am I not also a girl? But I could not join the girls because I am also American, should I have fought with the Americans? But am I also not a player? I could not join the women because I am a girl, nor the girls because I am American, nor the Americans because I am a player, but I could no sooner join the players because I was once a student. Should I have joined the students? I’ve been living in a world where I could never belong. But those out there, they know what they are and what they are able to do. They know where they stand and who are their allies and their enemies. They fight and fight blindly until the day they die. I, on the other hand, do not wish to die fighting an endless battle for a class’s survival, rather I want to live out my days calmly fighting for my survival. Is it too much to ask to be left alone? Is it too much to ask not to choose? Is it too much for one person to be different? I suppose it must be so for you have sentenced me to death because of the law which someone else wrote. I have not chosen a path and so I shall die. What is ironic about my situation is that you also have not chosen your path.

King:
Am I not a king?

Player:
Are you a king?

King:
I hope I am a king. I am sitting in his chair.

Player:
You are sitting in a king’s chair but it is a chair that does not belong to you.

King:
Which chair belongs to me?

Player:
That is a question I can not answer.

King:
I want to know the truth. I want my question answered.

Player:
The truth is there is no answer. I can not tell you who you are except that you are a king.

King:
Then I am a king?

Player:
You are a king because you sit in a king’s chair.

King:
Were I in a stool would I be a player?

Player:
Perhaps.

King:
Then shall I sit on the stool?

Player:
Perhaps.

King:
Surely I can sit on a stool.

Player:
Perhaps.

King:
I will sit on the stool.

Player:
And so you shall just as I will sit in the king’s chair.

King:
And so you may. (They switch seats. PLAYER takes KING’s cigar and smokes it, lighting it if necessary.) I feel as though I am a player, but was I not a king a moment ago?

Player:
No, you were never a king. You have no proof except for your memory which is false, which has fooled you. You are no more a king than I am a player. I am a king. Now which side of this war shall you fight?

King:
(Stands quickly) How can I make that decision so quickly?

Player:
It must be done but the opportunity has passed. Therefore and thus, as I am king and you are not, I have henceforth sentenced you to an everlasting death to which there is no defense.

King:
Might I not save myself?

Player:
To which there is no defense.

King:
But surely I might save myself.

Player:
To which there is no defense.

(They continue to do the play over again switching parts.)