The Old Man

1
You were born. You grew up. You got an education as a teacher. You got a good job. You got married. You had children. You
liked your work. You loved being a husband and a father. The children grew up. They moved away from home. They had their
own families and the time between their calls grew longer. Your daughter moved abroad, and a fight with your son led to him no
longer speaking to you. But your wife told you how he was doing. She was everything to you.

You grew old together, and that was fine, because you had each other. She got sick. You took care of her until she died.

And then you were suddenly alone.

You were put in a home. An old man among other old people. The people working at the home were polite, but because you were
still in pretty good health, they seldom had the time to pay attention to you or get to know you.

You soon gave up on getting to know the other old people. Most of them were too senile or too ill and weak to be good company.
And the thought that the rest of the world saw you as one of them scared you.

You are just an old man.

The Old Man with no friends. The Old Man with no identity.

You have found little routines that help you get through the days and give them a kind of meaning. You are The Old Man who
walks in the park each day. The Old Man who feeds the ducks and each day buys two beers (one for lunch and one for before you
go to bed) at the local shop, where you sometimes talk to the shopkeeper’s sweet daughter. She wears a scarf and has a different
cultural background, but she is sweet and easy to talk to. You have often considered giving her a box of chocolate or something, to
show her that you appreciate that she is actually listening. You often consider calling your son and your daughter. You sit with the
phone in your hand, but then you can’t find the strength.

You have always dreamed about performing and after you retired you have practiced little magic tricks, but you have no one to
show them to. And you seldom find the strength to practice anymore.

There is so much you want to do, but spend your days yearning for what you once had. There is still time. All you have is time.
The days are dragging on and the few years you have spent alone in this empty house feel like a lifetime. Deep down you are
surprised you have not yet given up. Maybe you are waiting for better times that may never come. You feel trapped by your age
and the burden of your memories and you can’t find the strength to break free.

The central themes:

To find a new identity that is more than just being old.

Themes for all characters:

Loneliness
Moving from one phase in life to the next

2
Act 1: The last day home

Form:
Each player takes turns describing their character’s last day at home.

Duration:
From when the main characters awake until they meet at the abandoned train station.

The characters’ goals:

To say goodbye to all that they have known and to prepare themselves for the changes to come.

The Blue Room:

A place where the main characters can meet and where they can talk freely about everything.

Focus:
The main characters’ thoughts and feelings, the players getting to know their characters.

Mood:
Silence, melancholy, fear and acceptance.

3
Act 2: The journey

Form:
A sequence of predetermined scenes.

Duration:
From when the main characters board the train until they reach The Mountain.

Characters’ goal:
To make the characters find themselves again by giving themselves new names.

The Blue Room:

A place where the main characters can talk about all the things they can’t talk about in their real
world.

Focus:
The main characters’ actions and growth, the world that is disappearing.

Mood:
Dreamlike, curiosity, acceptance and change.

4
Act 3: The end of the world

Form:
The players touching simulates the closeness between the main characters, drifting in and out of
The Blue Room while the world is slowly vanishing.

Duration:
From when they sit on The Mountain to when the world has disappeared.

Characters’ goals:
Think about the lives they have lived and maybe find peace.

The Blue Room:

Melting together with reality. All you have to do to go there is to close your eyes.

Focus:
Thoughts, feelings and memories. Trying to find peace.

Mood:
The border between life and death, imagination and reality. Half asleep (dying), closeness, safety,
fear of the world ending.

5
The world and The Blue Room:

The world of the game:

It resembles our own world, but is not the same one.
There are no proper nouns (such as Copenhagen, Elm Street, Sam), things are named after
what they are (The Town, The Big Street, The Man).
It is a slightly absurd world in that no one questions that the world will end or that the main
characters must take the journey to The Mountain At The End Of The World together.

The Blue Room:

A place for the main characters’ thoughts, dreams, and observations.
It is not a part of the game’s reality, but experiences within the Blue Room can still influence
the real world.
Players signal that they want to go there by raising their hand.
Players can decide which of the main characters are present.
The player who takes the initiative to go to The Blue Room describes how it looks this time
and which of the main characters are present.