GAME SET MATCH
Sample
08.01.03

WOMAN: I just ran away

VOICE: No. Not just. What got you started? What time was it?

WOMAN: Early. Still dark. I thought I heard a strange sound ....

VOICE: What was it?

WOMAN: I don't know.
VOICE: What was it?
[no reply]

VOICE: What was it?

WOMAN: I don't know. I went to look......

VOICE: What did you do?

WOMAN: Got dressed without turning on the light. I went downstairs .... outside ..

VOICE: Where were you going?

WOMAN: I just ran .... I was so scared ......

VOICE: How did you feel when you first saw him?

WOMAN: Scared, at first. then - exhilarated

VOICE: Ahhh .... why?

WOMAN: Because he ..........because I ..... it's just ..... he didn't seem to be wasting my time.

VOICE: No, not just. Do you have something you use when you need to get up your courage? Memories, tableaux .... scenes from your early life?

WOMAN: No. I don't think so..... I don't know. Next time I'll have to check.
The woman seems confused, thrown off balance. She starts to reconstruct the shots she has played - but fluidly, dreamlike. As she performs this dance, we hear the following dialogue over the PA system:

VOICE: Remember this: a tennis court is always the same size, with the net the same height and in the same relation to you at all times, so there is no need to look at it every moment or so to see if it has moved. Only an earthquake can change its position. As to your opponent, it makes little difference about his position, because it is determined by the shot you are striving to return. His whereabouts are known without looking at him. You are not trying to hit him. You strive to miss him. Therefore, since you must watch what you strive to hit and not follow what you only wish to miss, keep your eye on the ball, and let your opponent take care of himself.
[pause]

VOICE 1: What’s wrong with her?

VOICE 2: Her mind’s dying, but her body won’t quit. It's the question that drives us mad. It's the question that brought her here.

Telephone rings (modern tone/polyphonic – Eminem, Slim Shady)
The woman breaks out of her ambient state and aggressively practices her serve. She hits the ball as she says the underlined words below. The effort of hitting the ball accentuates her deliverance of the underlined words. It is as if she is phoning the man. The man answers her from his chair at the side of the court.

WOMAN: Hallo, it's me.

MAN: Hallo

WOMAN: You're not at work.

MAN: Did you want something? I've just left you a voice mail.

WOMAN: Just? I just want to know the truth. Will you be around next week?

MAN: I've already told you.

VOICE: Tell her again...

MAN: Put it this way. I may be more away than around. My days seem to change ..... my plans seem to change daily.

BLACK OUT


TRANSITION
Answering machine
<<Hi ... this is me. I'm not here right now, so leave me a message after the beep.>>
Message

VOICE << We've found the body, so get sexed up. We are so confident you will show results within the first 45 minutes that we are giving you a NO QUESTIONS ASKED Guarantee>>


SCENE 2
The lights fade up to reveal the two players in the middle of a doubles match against the ball machine. [Omitted from the text below are point/fault calls from the court officials that temporarily interrupt the dialogue.]

RECORDED VOICE: KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL! The eye is a small camera. All of us enjoy dabbling in amateur photography, and every amateur must take "action" pictures with his first camera. It is a natural desire to attain to the hardest before understanding how to reach it. The result is one of two things: either a blurred moving object and a clear background, or a clear moving object and a blurred background. Both suggest speed, but only one is a good picture of the object one attempted to photograph. In the first case the camera eye was focused on the background and not on the object, while in the second which produced the result desired, the camera eye was firmly focused on the moving object itself. Just so with the human eye. It will give both effects, but never a clear background and moving object at the same time, once that object reaches a point 10 feet from the eye. The perspective is wrong, and the eye cannot adjust itself to the distance range speedily enough. Now the tennis ball is your moving object while the court, gallery, net, and your opponent constitute your background. You desire to hit the ball cleanly, therefore do not look at the other factors concerned, but concentrate solely on focusing the eye firmly on the ball, and watching it until the moment of impact.
[On the word “Impact” time seems to stand still and the players freeze.]

VOICE: << the next five words have been physically removed from the tape assumed due to rubbing as the tape has been constantly rewound.>>
[At the same time we hear the sound of a corrupted tape being wound back and forth. The child’s poem “tinker, tailor, soldier, spy, rich man, poor man, beggar-man, thief” are barely discernable.
The players pick up the game where they left off before the “freeze”. The players seem to be conversing like colleagues taking a beer after work, but the effort of playing tennis and the instructions, point calls and comments from the court officials break in to their conversation. Additionally, a voice intervenes in their conversation. Only the woman hears/responds to the voice, but the man seems to be able to read her mind.]

MAN: That's quite a bold headline.

WOMAN Yes, I didn't write that headline, though.

MAN: Did you know it was going to be used?

WOMAN: No, you're not consulted over headlines.

VOICE: And if you were not consulted neither was he, is that fair?

WOMAN: No, that is right.

VOICE: Did you have any contact after your broadcast with him before you wrote this article?

WOMAN: No, I did not. I tried to speak to him but had not been able to get through, although not specifically to talk about this but just to see how the thing had gone down, the broadcast.

MAN: You say you couldn't get through. Did you try my home number?

WOMAN: Yes.

MAN: And what, there was no reply?

WOMAN: There was just your answer machine.

MAN: Just? Did you try my mobile too?

WOMAN: I can't remember if I did or not, I am afraid. I may have done.

MAN: When did you do this?

WOMAN: I'm not precisely sure when, but not very long after the broadcast.

MAN: Did you leave me a message?

WOMAN: No.

MAN: Why not?

WOMAN: No. I mean, I just … you know, I wanted to speak to you myself, and ... I mean ... [irritated] sometimes I don't leave messages on answer-phones.

VOICE: Just? Were you the person who first used the word "sexier"?

WOMAN: Yes. And then he adopted it.

VOICE: Did you fancy him? Did you want to screw him?

[ We hear the sound of a mobile phone ringing and the lights on stage flicker momentarily. From this point onward the players lose concentration and their game starts to deteriorate.]

MAN: [Angry] God, do you really have to answer that?
[The telephone stops ringing. The woman stops playing the game, leaving the man to play for the two of them, and glares at him.]

WOMAM: If you must know, I’m a virgin.

VOICE 1: Did you make any other attempt to contact him before his death?

WOMAN: No. I mean, in the later stages I very badly wanted to speak to him; but I knew -- you see, after the furore blew up I knew that the risk might be that I would compromise him by trying to phone him. I was concerned, and this might be paranoid but it might be sensible, that either my calls or his were being monitored and any attempt by me to call his number might have led people to him. In fact, I did try to phone him once from a phone box and again I just got the answer-phone so I didn’t leave a message again.

MAN: What the hell are you doing?

WOMAN: Showing you.

MAN: Jesus Christ. Showing me what? You fucking nearly gave me a heart attack.

WOMAN: I just wanted you to know how much faith I have in you.

MAN: You just bloody did, did you? And this requires acts of insanity? You'd better fix this!
[The woman joins her partner in the game once again]

WOMAN: I'll speak to someone.

MAN: You'd better speak to someone ... or find yourself another partner.

WOMAN: This smells like a set-up to me.

MAN: This is a catastrophe... they told me they might insist on a girl.

WOMAN: What? Why didn't you tell me?

MAN: You set me up.

WOMAN: What did you just say?
[Something seems to have happened to the man. He seems paralyzed. It’s as if he isn’t in the same space any more. He watches a ball fly over the net, without attempting to hit it. A second ball flies over the net. This time he physically stops the woman attempting to hit it, and in doing so, they lose balance and fall to the floor.]

WOMAN: What the hell are you doing?

MAN: Showing you.

WOMAN: [She pushes him off her, and gets up] Jesus Christ. Showing me what? You fucking nearly gave me a heart attack.

MAN: I just had a little deja vu.

WOMAN: What did you see? What happened?

MAN: Something went past us, and then another that looked just like it.

WOMAN: How much like it, was it the same?

MAN: Might have been, I'm not sure.

WOMAN: What is it?

MAN: Deja vu is usually a glitch. It happens when they change something.

BLACKOUT



VOICE: KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL! Just a few statistics to show you how vital it is that the eye must be kept on the ball UNTIL THE MOMENT OF STRIKING IT. About 85 per cent of the points in tennis are errors, and the remainder earned points. As the standard of play rises the percentage of errors drops until, in the average high-class tournament match, 55 per cent are errors and 45 per cent aces. Any average superior to this is super-tennis. Thus the importance of getting the ball in play cannot be too greatly emphasized. Every time you put the ball back to your opponent you give him another chance to miss.

MAN: I have experimented with new ideas and techniques
I have been confident of succeeding and proving my doubters wrong
I have seen things before they happened
I have failed to prioritize my goals
I have believed in myself
I have told myself that I was a loser
I have treated other people better than they have treated me
I have felt that I was accomplishing little
I have felt uncomfortable about people watching me
I have been prepared to do anything to succeed
I have failed to control my emotions
I have failed to perform in the zone

VOICE 1: What’s wrong with him?

MAN: I have trained hard
I have performed skills in my mind before executing them
I have calmed myself before performing by imagining myself playing well
I have had dreams about winning
I have worked my butt off
I have been unaware of how my emotions were affecting me
I have been slow to learn the lessons of the past
I have prepared thoroughly
I have taken risks in order to succeed
I have felt my heart racing
I have failed to perform in the zone

VOICE 2: His mind’s dying, but his body won’t quit.

MAN: I have bounced back quickly from setbacks
I have let my deep-down inner feelings guide me
I have done what I said I would do
I have set myself unrealistic goals
I have found it difficult to engage others in conversation
I have talked myself into giving up
I have failed to deliver the performance I rehearsed
I have felt like leaving my job
I have found that relaxation techniques have had little effect
I have believed the ends justified the means
I have failed to perform in the zone

VOICE 2: It's the questions that drive us mad. It's the questions that brought him here.