Radio Revelry: The Hidden Malice

Content warning: Murder, implications of suicide

As a special Halloween treat we are delighted to bring you a terrifying play by Ellis Jamieson. In beautiful Elizabethan style dialogue we weave a tale of jealousy, entitlement and tragedy. 

SANTANO was played my MJ Burns 
DONATO by Catriona Scott 
Doctor REVELO by Rosie Beech 
Cara by Arianna Ellis 
And BOX by Ellis Jaimieson

Transcript

When seasons turn

And pumpkins burn

Enter Jester skeletons that dance

Goblins that Read Gothic Romance

On a stage Were wolves Maraud 

As an audience of vampires applaud 

Such spooky sights to be seen

Welcome to Halloween! 

Hello and welcome to Yorick Radio’s Macabre Month of Halloween! We are excited to take you on a tour of the most spine chilling artistic locations. The truly brave, or foolish, will take their seats in the Monstrous theatre to witness our skeleton thespians perform a nightmarish play. 

The Hidden Malice by Ellis Jamieson

ACT ONE

Scene One

(A hum, somewhere between a cello and white noise, low and long, growing louder and lingering under the words of BOX.)

BOX

I see you there… hiding in the dark… 

I see your hundred eyes just watching me…

That slender space between your lips agape

From shallow breaths that slip into the air…

I see those breaths form clouds of ghostly white

And drift towards me, bated by your thirst 

For me, and mine for you, for I admit

That in the space where curiosity 

Resides is more than the simplicity 

Of naked, honest, hardened human truth… 

I see you there… with minds and souls aligned 

And hunting for the predator you sense,

That base and feral instinct might defeat

The sharpened claws of what resides within… 

For what am I? … For what am I to you?

A plain and simple trinket box 

Is all that sits upon this barren stage. 

No ornamental carvings do I have, 

Nor any jewels befitting of your kings. 

No inlayed gold or ivory to find

And latch of only brass to bind me shut

And keep within whatever 

For something – oh yes – something lurks inside

And scratches at this sapless timber hide,

Biding time until its time has come

That all your worldly good may be undone. 

And you, my sweet and staring honest things, 

With terror on your lips may call me Malum. 

(The sounds of scrabbling and shouting can be heard, followed by a door slamming shut. As DONATO speaks the SOLDIERS pound on the door, trying to break in.)

DONATO

It’s not my fault, I tell you! Not my fault! 

That hidden serpent lurking in my brain 

With poison fangs hath putrefied my mind

And planted in my soul what was not there –  

No, never there before! Such evil hate,

And raw contempt and vicious thoughts inside

A lack of mercy for the human race

That only gods before hath felt such rage

And in their heightened state desired not

Survival of their poor, abandoned flock,

But only truly sought out their demise! 

Oh, woe is me! For I am not to blame! 

Hear my words! I beg thee, hear my words! 

This blood, which weeping thickly from my palms,

Hath scored untimely guilt across my soul

Before the judge’s verdict be ordained! 

It was not me! I swear to God it was

Not me, nor any part of what remains

Inside this husk and hide of skin I wear! 

For truly now, a human I am not, 

That love that was so pure is cut from me

By reddened hands that others call mine own,

And from the neck of my beloved wife 

Hath pulled and torn away her simple soul! 

Oh, Cara! Cara, please! It was not me!

… 

The box… The box is what’s to blame for this! 

That simple little trinket box which hides 

Within its darkened frame a curse on us

That twisted all our goodness into hate! 

All the love that ever was between 

A rightful husband and his lawful wife,

Decomposed and perished in the pit

Of mutilated trust and broken vows

Where in my troubled state of mind you did

Not care for me the way a partner should. 

And in my fragile, cursed state, I know 

Your eyes did wander far away from me

And onto him instead that covet thee!

Oh, Cara! It was you forsaking me! 

But not, I know, through any fault of yours, 

For also you this trinket box defiled

Casting all your Godly thoughts away 

And bending purity to blackened lust 

Where nothing there had been before but good!

The box, I say! It was this little box! 

For know not I from whence this evil came, 

And thus, can only be assumed from hell!

Cast out by demons seeking souls to bring 

And bind to all eternity inside 

The hollow confines of this darkened wood

Which now, I fear, our souls it does possess! 

Oh, Cara… Does this box contain our souls

And all the good of which we once were made?

…

Destroy the box… I must destroy the box. 

I must destroy the box where evil hides

And send the fragments, burning, back to hell! 

(DONATO throws BOX and box screams. The hum grows louder. A smashing sound signals the arrival of the SOLDIERS. They charge in and grab DONATO.) 

DONATO

The box! The box! I must destroy the box! 

It’s not my fault, I tell you! Not my fault!

I must destroy this cursed, evil box

Or else my soul be trapped in hell fore’er! 

It was the box, I swear, that killed my wife!

It’s not my fault! It was not me! The box! 

(SOLDIERS remove DONATO to the sound of retreating footsteps. The hum grows. BOX whispers. The words are indistinguishable, like listening to a hushed conversation through a closed door. It’s unclear if the whispers are one voice or many talking over and over and over each other. SANTANO bends down and picks it up. He gasps as a splinter pierces his finger.) 

SANTANO

A splinter… stuck below my finger’s skin… 

(He gasps again when it won’t come out.)

Such a plain and simple box this be,

I know that nothing evil lurks inside. 

…

The box… The box! He swears it was the box! 

No doubt with sharpened mind like hunting fox

To slip below our Lady Justice’ bounds 

And dodges bullets like the fox does hounds.

But I, in Justice’ name, shall never yield

Nor fall against his obvious deceit. 

And though, alas, too late to save his wife, 

Let Justice’ scales be balanced with his life. 

(The humming remains.) 

Scene Two

(The humming continues from the previous scene. From BOX, the sound of faint whispers emanates. They could almost be the wind. The footsteps of Doctor REVELO can be heard as he enters. BOX falls silent.)

REVELO

A sad and sorry state for any youth

To lay upon my doctor’s slab, so still,

So cold, with hardened skin and vacant eyes

Where only colour left in them is grey,

And all that life inside is putrefied

And turned to ashy memories of her past.

(SANTANO enters, his boots loud and echoing on the stone floor of the morgue.)

REVELO

Good, Santano! Here you are at last.

A heartless day I think we must have reached

That such a maiden fair is brought to us

For these old hands to heal what cannot heal 

With stitches raw and bare and unbecoming 

To such a sweet and graceful neck as this. 

SANTANO

This woman... Cara... I remember her…

With hair and glowing cheeks of rosewood red…

She sang with songbird’s voice from dawn ‘til dusk

That all the flowers of her garden bloomed

And only knew the beauty of the world… 

Every morning I did pass this maid,

And every morn was greeted with a smile

So fair and fresh it put her rose to shame

But with such purity of heart that she

Displayed no hint of any vanity.

Each day her flower she’d present to me

That I would take and hold before my lips

And in that early morning breath would dream

That I was king, and Cara was my queen... 

Alas... Alas, it was not meant to be, 

And her attentions snared and kept by him; 

That foul, evil cursed beast that dares

With his deceitful lies to send her back 

And unto me where futile tears and cries 

Be not enough to warm what death now claimed

And leave me nought but frozen, hard remains!

And so, where once the scent of roses hung

Now I seek the scent of justice done!

REVELO

A true and noble man I know thou art,

But dearest friend… the truth, it must be known:

So fractured was her husband’s state of mind

That since his voice be heard by righteous judge,

Though guilty verdict passed, he was sent home… 

SANTANO

No! It cannot be! I pray to God – 

(He gasps.)

REVELO

Good sir, are you alright? Your hand, it/ looks – 

SANTANO

Never mind my hand – It matters not. 

A simple splinter gifted by that box

That lies with her upon the table there. 

What mean you the scoundrel got away? 

Surely any judge with sanity 

Be wise enough to see that he is false

And all that falls out of his mouth be lies? 

Surely any human eyes can see 

No demon lurks within that tiny box and

Allegations set by him thereof

Only darkened fairy tales may be! 

Only evil falsehoods! … Evil falsehoods!  

REVELO

I argue not with you, good sir, Santano. 

The evidence presented by her neck

Is clear. Her skin be pierced by metal blade 

And not, as villain claims, by demon’s claw. 

I understand and would not argue thus 

That such a man as he deserving less than 

Death for what he’s done to this fair maid. 

But sir, I fear our arguments’ in vain. 

It matters not of our opposed opinions 

To those belonging to the righteous judge

For ours are not the minds that make the law 

And thus, our only place is to obey. 

SANTANO

Obey! Obey! How might I obey

Where now I sense no law at all to rule 

O’er heads and hands of educated men?

For what the point and purpose of the law 

If even simple maid it doth neglect?

REVELO

But, Santano… He is truly / mad – 

SANTANO

I / am mad! Me! I am enraged

That such a poor excuse as voices heard

Be seen as quite enough excuse to save 

Such foul creature from the noose! 

For surely matters not if voices be 

The conjurations of the gods or demons, 

Or from the mouths of foul peers on earth

For tis not the source that makes deeds good;

And such instructions as obtained from me

Or you good doctor, mine, to kill this maid 

Be just as wrong and bring the guilt upon

None other than those bloody hands of his 

That did commit this heinous, monstrous crime!

REVELO 

I’d argue, sir, the voices bear some guilt – 

SANTANO

Not, good sir, if they do not exist!

This cannot be… I swear, this will not stand! 

REVELO

Santano… There’s nothing to be done… 

SANTANO

(Quick footsteps as he approaches Cara. His voice is a whisper as he speaks to her, as though the audience is living in her ear.)

Cara… Though gone, I beg thee hear my words;

I swear to thee, upon my righteous soul

Be soon avenged, to you who wrought this pain; 

Thy death, I swear to thee, be not in vein. 

(He kisses her gently. Then louder)

And you her cursed trinket box, be gone!

In spite of you I will see justice done! 

(SANTANO throws the box from the table. Footsteps are heard as he exits. There is silence. No humming. It feels like the moment is holding it’s breath.)

REVELO 

(He picks up BOX and examines it.)

A plain and simple trinket box, I think…

(He sets the box down and sighs.)

Be thee evil if thou blamed for it? 

If by perception some part thou hath played? 

Does evil truly lurk behind this lock? 

Or is there nought but empty space inside? 

(He sets the box back on the table with exaggerated care. BOX whispers. Silence.) 

Scene Three

(The sounds of a busy town with people going about their work and play.)

SANTANO

Here… and now by summer’s yellow light,

I feel the loss of Cara evermore.

That aching, hollow space which she hath left

Inside, now ice, deprived so of her smiles:

No longer they exist to warm my heart

Or the grave it once used to reside.

Oh what to do! Oh, what’s a man to do?

With broken heart, so deadened by her loss

That I would give my blood to her instead

And by my life return her back to me!

Yet then, as with before, we’d be apart, 

And once again by death so cold and cruel

Our poor and honest tragic love be crushed. 

So then if life for life the Gods demand

I beg they take her husband’s bloody hand!

(The hum begins, inaudible to start but increasing until it is just noticeable in the background as the next line is spoken.)

Or any hand! That I may have her back

And hold her tightly to my breast at last,

For though the justice I seek done today 

Be bound unto her killer’s wretched soul, 

No price would I be too afraid to pay

Be it the blood of any honest man 

Or any other wife that they my have 

Or even of their children here at play! 

For now… for now by her too soon demise

As sorrowed ghost I am removed from them… 

Apart… above… and separated from 

As with an audience aware of lies

That actors set before them on a stage:

Puppets playing at their purity

That I with eyes now clear weep bloodied rage!

I see them there, their minds and souls aligned 

Like roses dancing to the breathing wind

Of naked, honest, rotten human truth

And our corruption bare to all the world.

That now by Cara’s death only evil 

Here resides and goodness gone to ash.

And by my luck there goes a creature now.

A plain and simple soldier do I see,

So like I by the uniform he wears.

Upon his head the duty of his work:

Honour, glory, freedom are his lies

For in his shadowed hand the weight of gold

He hides the stolen wealth of peers 

Alighted by a child’s nimble hand

So wrongfully employed for greed and gain 

That even infant’s pure and gentle soul

Corrupted be to devils’ evil ways!

And thus these snakes in soldiers’ garb do stand 

Protecting thieves instead of our fair land!

And low, I see the slinking of a judge, 

Shrunken by the weight of justice past

And robes of murder black that he might fly

To heaven on the wings of country served

And meet the highest judge that he let men

Escape! And thus his pockets sagged with gold

That now within his mortal life he spends

By entering the over perfumed door

Of painted women of the night. 

I see it now… I swear I see it now. 

The love that Cara did provide to me, 

Tinted all the world in rose and hid

The truth of this corruption that I see, 

For in her no corruption ever was 

Her virgin soul ne’er struck by sin

Until with knife he drew it from her skin! 

And yet by maddened wittering he did 

An act of purest evil so commit 

Whereby he twisted law to suit his will

And now has power to do others ill!

How might I obey such laws as these 

Where now I see these educated men

Abandon all that’s good within the world 

For nought excepting that of worldly gain! 

What, I cry, the purpose of the law 

If those meant to uphold it let it die! 

It will not stand! I will not let it stand!

(SANTANO exits.)

Scene Four

(The sound of gentle wind and distant birdsong.)

DONATO

(He sits, weeping softly.)

The box… The box… I must destroy the box… 

It’s not my fault, I tell you; not my fault… 

Cara… Cara… The box; it killed my Cara… 

It was the box, I swear, that killed my wife… 

(BOX’s whispers wisp like wind around the stage.)

DONATO

No! I will not let you in my head

To pour your rotten fictions in my ear

And twist the laws of God inside my mind

That up is down and down is up and I 

Am neither, both, and all that’s good gone by!

Leave me be, I beg you, leave me be

To wallow deep in all my misery… 

It’s not my fault, I tell you; not my fault… 

It was the box, I swear, that killed my wife… 

The box… The box… I must destroy the box… 

Cara… Cara… The box; it killed my Cara… 

ANGEL

Donato, sweet and loving husband, mine,

Dry your eyes and do not weep for me.

I lie asleep beneath the roses here,

That when bloomed, I know you’ll think of me.

DONATO

Cara! It was not me! I swear it / was – 

ANGEL

My / darling, no, I know it was not you.

No guilt I’m here to place before your door 

For though my eyes may once have been deceived, 

Through heaven’s glow, I see the truth in thee. 

My darling husband, true these words you say,

And God above, He knows you’re not to blame. 

(DONATO weeps.)

(At first, when DEMON and SANTANO speak, SANTANO is louder and DEMON barely audible. As the scene goes on, DEMON grows louder and harder to ignore. ANGEL weeps softly as DONATO speaks.)

SANTANO / DEMON

Donato! There you lurk, you villain, scoundrel,

Evil foe of justice good and true! 

And here I be, Justice’ faithful sword, 

To balance out her bloodied scales with worthy

Gash across your undeserved neck

That when the Gods look down upon this earth

Though the beauty of her light be gone 

So too the rotten, putrid dark of yours!  

DONATO

You!

What villainy I see before me now! 

By demon’s power, evil have I done, 

But not by half the evil of your hands! 

For in your hands, the power of free will 

And by your wicked soul’s desire, my heart 

For as long as it may care to beat

Forevermore, it shall be torn apart.  

SANTANO / DEMON

False! These wicked slanders coming forth 

From mouth infected by its own admission 

And stuck within the realms of the/insane!

DONATO

Better in the realm of the insane, 

Than born into the madness of a monster! 

For was by you my Cara’s life was lost! 

SANTANO / DEMON

Lies! What / lies – !

DONATO 

Truth! / And do not dare deny it now! 

That blood of hers they found upon my hands;

It is your soul that it hath stained so red! 

SANTANO / DEMON 

I loved her! She may not be my/ wife – 

DONATO 

But / as a wife decided so to take!

And use her as your own for pleasure’s sake! 

SANTANO / DEMON

… You knew? She told you of our love?/ Cara – 

DONATO 

My wife! She confessed it all to me!

Through her reddened, swollen, weeping eyes 

That by her loyalty to servicemen

And country both that she presented unto 

Each and every soldier that she saw 

The pink and grateful beauty of a rose. 

But one man took those petals pink for red, 

And forced my wife / into her flowered bed!

SANTANO / DEMON

Lies! Lies and slander dost thou speak! 

There was no force involved / for it was love – 

DONATO

Where upon my wife, she was defiled!

And though this secret she had thought to keep

The devil did not think to stop his lust 

And daily presents gifted unto her

To keep inside her wooden trinket box! 

SANTANO / DEMON

We were in love! It was not as you say! 

Our love as pure as all those roses / white! 

DONATO 

And therefore, lacking any passion red, 

At least upon my darling Cara’s part! 

And woe is me, for I did play my part

And when in bravery, confessed to me

I chose by broken heart to throw her out! 

SANTANO / DEMON

You villain false! You chose to take her / life! 

DONATO 

No, I did not! The hand that held the knife

It was not mine but Cara’s hand instead! 

SANTANO / DEMON

No… No! These heinous lies you speak! 

DONATO 

For all the agony and shame you brought

My Cara, in her sorrow, took her life!

I held her in mine arms amidst her blood

And pressed upon her throat to stem the flow 

But by your devil’s work, my love was dead

And all our story’s guilt be on your head! 

SANTANO / DEMON

I thought a simple trinket box you saw 

Beside the bloodied body of your wife?

(Laugh)

Then no box did rob her of her life!

Nor me. Nor are my soul or hands to blame

For Cara’s love for me was true and pure

And by the memory of her sweetest smile

Of that, I’m sure; she felt the same. 

She wanted me and I am not to blame!

But… if true and by your callous words 

 My / Cara’s – 

DONATO

My / Cara!

SANTANO / DEMON 

My Cara’s life was short and cruelly cut, 

If true it was her hands that held the knife

Why withhold this knowledge from the judge?

DONATO

To save her soul, I took the blame on me. 

To safe my life, I pled insanity.

SANTANO / DEMON

And now I know your soul, it perjured be…

And damned… But to save mine from hangman’s noose 

And keep your heart from seeking blood from me

As justice sword… I will dispose of thee! 

Scene Five

(The hum grows, lingering under the words of SANTANO. BOX whispers behind his words, sometimes aligning with them. Through the scene, DONATO’s breathing changes. It begins fast and panicked. As he moans in pain. Then it becomes slower and more ragged. It should end just a second before the last line of the scene. )

SANTANO

I see you there… hiding in the dark… 

I see your hardened eyes just watching me,

That slender space between your lips agape

From shallow breaths that slip into the air…

Those ragged breaths form clouds of ghostly white

And drift towards me, bated by your thirst 

For blood, and mine for yours, for I admit

That in the space where vile hatred now  

Resides is more than the simplicity 

Of all that rotten, putrid human truth… 

… I see you there… with mind and soul aligned 

And hiding from the predator you sense,

That base and feral instinct can’t defeat

The sharpened claws of what now hunts you down… 

For what am I? … For what am I to you?

A plain and simple rival once I think

Is all that stands before you in the end.

No corruption more than yours have / I – 

DONATO

(Choking)

It’s not / my fault, I tell you… Not my fault…  

SANTANO

(Louder to be heard over DONATO)

But all the evil in the world of men  

That by the right of Gods their women find

And thus my Cara’s love did bind me shut

And keep within whatever lurks inside.

For something – oh yes – something lurks inside

And scratches at this rotten human hide,

Biding time until its time has come

That balance from her good hath been undone. 

And you… the perfect mirror of all things

With terror on your lips may call us Malum.

Scene Six

(From BOX comes the faint whispers. REVELO enters. BOX falls silent.)

REVELO

A sad and sorry state for any youth

To lay upon my doctor’s slab, so still,

So cold, with hardened skin and vacant eyes

Where only colour left in them is grey,

And all that life inside is putrefied

And turned to ashy memories of his past.

(He sighs.)

The box, the box… he swears it was the box

That caused his wrath so vicious to unfold

And rain in hardened blows upon his head 

And leave his victim in the roses, dead… 

The box… Yet another man does blame the box;

And even though as doctor I am bound 

By simple fact and by the evidence, 

I cannot help but sense that presence now 

That so inanimately lurks beyond, 

Watching me with staring, hundred eyes

And hollow blackened space between their lips 

And shining teeth by shadows out of sight

And clouds of ghostly breath that smell of death

That vanish as like souls into the night

…

But our good Santano, at least he’s been 

Spared by righteous judge who sees the truth

Beyond the haze of such a sorrowed tale. 

And by the grace of God, he’s been set free

And does remain in post as Justice’ Sword

Fighting all the malice in the world.

SANTANO was played my MJ Burns 

DONATO by Catriona Scott

Doctor REVELO by Rosie Beech 

Cara by Arianna Ellis

And BOX by Ellis Jamieson 

This has been a Yorick Radio Production