RANDALL MEETS SHAKESPEARE
THE LIGHTKEEPER: A TRAGIC-COMIC HISTORIE IN THREE ACTS Drawn from the Archive of Randall, Rendered in the Manner of Master William Shakespeare
Actus Primus – "Blind Justice" Theme: Truth and Law in Mortal Combat Anno Domini 1975 to 1976. Set in the chambers and cloisters of the capital: apartments of Georgetown, halls of judgment, and the offices of alchemists and scribes.
Prologue (Spotlight) Enter ROBERT, blind yet seeing, unto the audience:
ROBERT: Friends, Romans, kindred souls, Know ye me as the first in this new land To puff the holy herb by royal leave, Yet had to gamble sight for such a boon.
Scenes Thereafter:
The Blinding: ROBERT beset by cruel humours, physicians ply him with tinctures that shake the heart and muddle the soul.
Alice Appeareth: skeptical first, but soon bound by love and boldness.
The Growing: ROBERT tendeth the sacred plant in domestic plot.
The Raid: Agents of State descend — houseplants seized, liberty questioned.
The Court: A judge named WASHINGTON, bid ROBERT prove his cause.
Act Endeth:
JUDGE WASHINGTON: Let Law yield to Mercy, and Reason reign o'er Rule.
BLACKOUT.
Actus Secundus – "The People’s Plant" Theme: Compassion doth battle Bureaucracy Anno Domini 1976 to 1978. Set in the lairs of scribes (FDA, HEW), the corridors of Congress, and among the people.
Key Entrances and Happenings:
ALICE, fierce and undaunted, taketh arms against red-taped dragons.
FOIA scrolls fly like arrows; phones ring as war-horns.
SCRIBE: We schedule, nay, approve not this green devil's leaf!
DARAC Hearings: Wise men speak in tongues of science. Enter CLOWN (CARLIN MODE), jests pierce pomp.
The Paraquat Proclamation: Enter FOOLS (EEYORE and BUGS) to lament the poisoned weed.
The IND Birth: RANDALL is named "Patient of the Realm," gifted a silver vessel of state-grown joints.
Act Endeth: Letters rain upon the stage — from warriors and widows, their pleas echo like psalms. A tide is turning.
Actus Tertius – "The Lightkeeper’s Legacy" Theme: Memory ‘gainst the Flood of Forgetting Anno Domini 1978 to 2025. A time of ghosts, reckonings, and final truths.
Notable Visions and Visitations:
ALICE, alone among boxes, doth commune with ghosts of parchment.
ALICE: They will erase him, if I let them. Nay, I shall not.
The Veterans Speak: Chorus of LETTERS, POEMS, and TESTIMONIES — modern-day bards.
Contradictions Arise: Enter SCIENTISTS and SNAKES in suits. Comedy and Cacophony.
Final Tribunal: Enter RANDALL, specter of the state, not to beg, but bear witness.
The Chorus Refrain:
We are the patients. We are the proof. We are the lightkeepers now.
BLACKOUT.
A Note on Mirth and Music: This historied play, though tragic in nature, is salted well with jests, ballads, and riddling tongues. Among the players and their humours:
BLUES-MAN (BB KING MODE): croons of pressure and mercy in twain.
JESTER CHARLES (RAY MODE): sings letters to the Council of Drugs.
PHILOSOPHER (EPICTETUS MODE): doth frame the moral order.
TRICKSTER (BUGS MODE): tears parchment to mock law's absurdities.
ADVERSARIES (COHN & MURROW MODES): argue like devils and angels in court.
Epilogue:
CHORUS: In every age where pain finds tongue, And law forgets its humble birth, Let Randall's light be kept among The seeds we plant in freedom's earth.
Exeunt Omnes.
