The Reverent Marigold


Wrack and the Evening

Introduction

 
Wrack: a wreck, to feel pain all over ones body, destruction, wrack and ruin.
Wrack: the line of driftwood, rotting kelp, and other detritus that lies on or near every beach. Border between land and sea.
Wrack: the Welsh word for Witch
.
Evening: the twilight, time between full day and night, the border.
Evening: the act of making things level, evening out
Evening: the act of adding too many “even so's” into a story, prolonging it unnecessarily.

Characters: 1-2 actors NARRATOR/WRACK are one character, SAILOR may be another.

NARRATOR: 3rd person, sometimes becomes Wrack, unclear how real they are. Used to describe Wrack's actions, never speaks for them. Perhaps a part of her, perhaps not.

WRACK: both the entirety of the seashore, and a woman wandering about during twilight hours on every beach around the world. Somewhere between a god and a force of nature. She is born and dies in the time it takes between the sun touching the horizon and the third evening star appearing. Honors the dead who arrive on her and loves the creatures who live upon her. Has a loose sense of self, refers to herself with “we/us” - only rarely speaks. It is in her nature to have all things come back to her and become part of her.

THE SAILOR: a human, gravely wounded, spit up from the sea or having suffered a terrible fate at the hands of their companions. Lies dying on the beach, and is saved for a moment by Wrack, and spends three days resolutely remaining alive. Has three conversations with Wrack, who they can see as they appear. “Three visitations”. Lovely singing voice. At the moment of death, gives their body gladly over to Wrack, but seeks to preserve some self by scrawling a poem in the sand. Wrack remains.

OVERALL PLOT AND SET DRESSING/CONCEPT:
Big wild visual language set against a muted background. Maximalist poetic language, seeking more a surrealist saturated vibe than precise narrative coherence. Eventually to become a small handbound book that I am going to leave places to be found. Novella length maybe?

Set dressing: a big pile of sand and kelp (or just like, general refuse in a sea theme). Make a potent, but pleasant smell. Rose petals?

Overall plot is: dying sailor speaks with the embodiment of rot, trying to bring change to a being whose main feature is sameness and inevitability. Wrack seeks to save the sailor because it is her nature to be kind, and because she likes the song the sailor sings. It is unclear whether or not change happens.

Written to explore: death, passing, the joy of living in consciousness of the end. The nature of rot and rebirth, how one can save oneself from consumption by becoming hideous. How all our works are built on the shore (lime and sand in concrete, cartilage in our bodies) – what happens when these building blocks are reclaimed by the sea?