WORKING TITLE

A Play in One Act

Jonathan Durden
 Characters

Benny
He is a 20 year old college student
struggling to make ends meet. He has good
intentions, but his desire to pay tuition has
led him to pursue criminal activities.
Robert
He is a 30 year old man with a shady past,
the sort of guy who wears a black leather
jacket in the summer. He has a vague air of
posh British upraising that may have shone
through in a different life. In this one he is
little more than a hardened criminal. (He
should be read with a light, posh British
accent.)

Place
A large, fictional city on the east coast.
Time
Mid-December, 2010.

2
 SCENE 1
SETTING: The dining room
of a nice condo. There is a
glass table top and wall to
wall windows.
AT RISE: There is a knock at
the door. ROBERT rises and
walks over to answer it.
BENNY walks in, distressed.
Both walk over to the table
and sit down.
BENNY
(quietly)
I need to talk to you.

(Robert doesn’t look up from his soup. He stirs the

broth thoughtfully.)

BENNY
Look, this is important. I haven’t been feeling well lately and I really think we should have a
talk.

(Robert takes a sip of soup and continues staring

into the bowl.)

BENNY
Ever since… the incident, I’ve been having these nightmares.

(Robert stands and carries his soup over to the sink.

He then pulls out a kettle and begins heating water
over the stove.

BENNY
(angrily)

This isn’t easy for me you know! I don’t WANT to come to you with this shit but partners have
to stick together right? You can’t just turn your back from this and pretend it didn’t happen!

(Benny stands up from the table, walks over to the

cabinet and pulls out a flask of what looks like
whiskey and takes a swallow.)

3
 BENNY
(sarcastically)
Hope you don’t mind.

(The kettle begins to whistle, so Robert takes out a

mug and sets a tea bag in it. He carefully lifts the
kettle and pours the boiling water into the mug.)

BENNY
I can’t get the memory of that night outa my head.. I swear to God I just can’t do it. Every time I
close my eyes I can just see that… face.

(Robert walks over to the table with the mug of tea

and motions for Benny to join him.)

BENNY
It just isn’t right ok? It’s not right and we shouldn’t have done it. What will her family think
huh? Can you imagine not having a body to bury? Not knowing?

(Robert leans across the table and puts a hand on

Benny’s shoulder.)

ROBERT
(calmly)
Benny, look at me. Calm the fuck down.

(beat)

No one saw what happened, we did a perfect job cleaning everything up, so just calm the fuck
down before I blow your fuckin’ head off

(Benny just stares at Robert, watching him drink his

tea.)

BENNY
You are one cold son-of-a-bitch, ya know that? You really just don’t care do you? How can you
just sit there, and drink tea after what happened?

ROBERT
Why can’t I enjoy a delicious cup of Earl Grey? Is there any sort of rule stating that sinners may
not drink tea? You really are overreacting about all this you know. There was a chance that
someone might die when we pulled the operation and you knew it. But you came along anyway
and when it came down to it, you did a good job. And a damn good job at that.

4
 (Benny suddenly stands and begins pacing around
the room furiously, shaking his hands at some
imaginary opponent.)

BENNY
That’s just it! Yeah, I was there, I know it happened but I didn’t want it to happen ok?! It was
just a gut reaction! An accident! Jesus-fucking-Christ I can’t believe I did it! I just can’t believe I
did it.

(Benny stops for a moment and fixates on Robert.)

BENNY(cont)
I’m not you ok! I’m not like you; I’m a good person dammit! I’m a good person, I’m not a
sinner, I would never hurt anyone, and I would never do what I did! It’s not me ok?? I can’t
believe it. I refuse to believe it.

ROBERT
(slowly)
What? What can you not believe, exactly? Tell me Benny; tell me exactly what was going
through your mind that night. It will make you feel better I’m sure.

(Becoming progressively angrier, Benny grabs

Robert’s teacup and throws it across the room.)

BENNY
YOU want to know what went through MY mind that night? For fuck’s sake man, I don’t even
know what I was thinking! It just happened ok? It was dark and I was scared and hell I didn’t
know what was going on I just wanted to get outa there without getting caught! Why the fuck
was she still there huh? Why the fuck did she get in the way I STILL DON’T KNOW! And here
you are sitting around calm as fuck acting all high and mighty like it doesn’t matter at all when it
does damn it! It does matter! To someone out there it matters! To me it matters! I just don’t get
how you can sit there and fuckin’ psychoanalyze me like you’re just outside of the whole fuckin’
situation like it doesn’t apply to you at all! Because it does!

(Robert looks angry for a brief moment, and then it

passes. He stands and walks over to the cabinet
where he pulls out a broom and dustpan. He then
walks over to Benny and offers them to him. Benny
looks incredulous.)

ROBERT
(impassively)
Would you mind cleaning up the mess you made? This is my home after all, you don’t have the
right to come in and throw teacups about willy-nilly, no matter how bad your day has been.

5
 (Benny turns red in the face and looks like he is
about to hyperventilate. Slowly, he takes the broom
and begins sweeping with a rough, staccato
motion.)

ROBERT
After all, it’s just part of the trade. If you want to make it big sometimes you have to break a few
necks along the way. I really don’t know what you are so upset about. It was just a girl. She was
in your way so you took care of her. Big deal.

(Benny continues to sweep. The look on his face is

unreadable. Robert stands and walks to the cabinet,
pulls out another teacup and begins to prepare more
tea.)

ROBERT
How do you think I managed to get where I am today? Money doesn’t grow on trees. It grows
out of bloodstained ground fertilized with corpses of those who stop you from getting what you
want. It takes a little time to get used to that reality but after you do—

BENNY
That is your reality. Not mine. God damn man you are a fuckin’ creep you know that? This shit
is eating me up inside! I can’t sleep! She was so fucking innocent dude and I just took her down!
A split second, that’s all it took! A split second and a tiny chunk of lead moving really fuckin’
fast. I really don’t see how you can handle it. I really can’t fucking see how you can just take it
in stride.

(Benny is no longer sweeping. He stares at Robert,

who just sips his tea and stares back.)

BENNY
I gotta get outa this house. I gotta get outa this fuckin’ house. I’m leaving!

(Benny throws down the broom and stomps through

the door. Robert calmly sets down his tea, walks
over to the discarded broom and finishes the job.)

ROBERT
(quietly)
He’ll be back.

LIGHTS OUT

6
 SCENE 2

SETTING: Two days before

SCENE 1. The location is a
closed, upper class jewelry
store on the nice side of
town. On stage, there is a
mock side wall, and towards
the back of the stage, there is
a large, surreal safe. It’s not
meant to appear realistic.
Across from the safe is an
office with light shining
underneath the door.)

AT RISE: Sitting inside the

office is a GIRL reading a
book. She is inside what is
meant to be the employee
office of the jewelry store. In
front of the store, BENNY
and ROBERT are crouched
down by the side door.
ROBERT is fiddling with the
lock mechanism.

BENNY
(half-joking)
Can’t get the damned thing open huh?

(Robert continues fiddling the lock, then pulls out a

round, silver device and attaches it to the door.)

ROBERT
Quiet you. This isn’t a simple matter of breaking and entering. This place is completely wired. If
I don’t disable the system the cops will show up as soon as I disable the lock.

BENNY
Yeah, yeah. What’s up with that car in the parking lot? You don’t think someone is still in here
do ya?

ROBERT
Doubt it. All the lights are off. Place is closed up tight. No real reason for someone to just hang
around. I bet the car belongs to some deadbeat looking for free parking.

7
 (He opens up the silver mechanism stuck to the
door and begins keying in some complex code. A
digital beeping noise can be heard.)

BENNY
Got it yet? It’s cold as balls out here. And I’m startin’ to feel like those security cameras are
recording something.

(Robert shakes his head and chuckles.)

ROBERT
Don’t worry about it. The cameras were the first thing I took care of. Just trust me, we won’t be
showing up on film any time soon.

BENNY
I’ll take your word for it. What sort of payout are we expecting from this gig any way?

ROBERT
Let’s just say you shouldn’t have to worry about paying your tuition anymore. This is the most
expensive jewelry store in town. All the pretentious pricks go here to buy wedding rings that cost
more than your average middle class twit will see in a lifetime.

BENNY
Thank fucking God. I’m glad you’re helping me out here Uncle Rob, by letting me tag along on
this gig. But I gotta be honest with ya, this stealing business isn’t for me. As soon as I pay off my
debts I’m gonna go straight. I want to be a CPA.

(Robert pulled off the silver device and cursed. A

red light went on inside.)

BENNY
Shit! What’s that mean?

(Robert frantically reattached the device and rapidly

keyed in more code.)

ROBERT
Just shut up for a second! You’re distracting me.

(Benny frowns and continues crouching by the

door. Robert keys in a few more digits and the red
light goes off. Smiling, he stands and opens the
door.)

ROBERT
Voila! After you, my kind sir.

8
 (Both step into the building and shut the door
behind them. Rows and rows of display cases stand
empty.)

BENNY
Where the hell do they keep the jewels at night?

ROBERT
(annoyed)
The safe of course. Where else?

BENNY
Right. I knew that.

(Both men walk towards the safe.)

TO BE CONTINUED…