I WANT TO GET INTO YOU
PLAYS by KEITH JOHNSTONE
“Many people find my adult plays disturbing but isn’t the whole universe disturbing? Anyway, be warned. And I apologise for not being about to write more comfortable plays. Here are extracts from a few of the ones I like.”
~ Keith Johnstone
CHILDREN’S PLAYS
FULL-LENGTH PLAYS
Moby Dick
SHORT (TILT) PLAYS
Geronimo
I Want to Get Into You
Marg
Additional plays and other writings are available through Keith Johnstone Workshops Inc. and/or in the Keith Johnstone Papers at Stanford University Archives. If you are interested in acquiring and/or producing a Keith Johnstone play or publishing literary content (including artwork) created by Keith, please contact Keith's literary executor.
An excerpt from the play by Keith Johnstone.
(A stranger invades Casey's Apartment.)
Casey ......Where's your ID.
Soul I don't have any ID.
Casey Well that's incriminating. What's your name?
Soul They don't give us names.
Casey I'm letting the police handle this.
Soul I can explain....
CASEY GOES TO PHONE
Casey Better make it quick.
Soul I was hoping to introduce the topic more gradually.
Casey 'Too late for that!'
Soul I wouldn't want you to reject the idea out of hand.
Casey Try me.
Soul I'm your soul!
Casey My what?
Soul Your soul!
Casey Are you on drugs?
Soul You were still-born, so I gave you up, but then you were revived,
and they wouldn't let me try another baby: they said it had to be you!
Casey You're mad!
Soul Haven't you always felt that life was cold, and bleak, and
miserable? You said yourself there hasn't been one moment when being
smashed on the head with an iron bar wouldn't have been doing you a
service! Aren¹t you saving up your pills in the Bathroom so you can
commit suicide?
Casey (SHOCKED) Who told you that?
Soul Planning to kill yourself - that always brings people to their
attention.
Casey Whose?
Soul The beings in the other world. 'Look!' they said: 'There it is!
There's your body, and it's thinking of ending it all. Get up there
and take possession'.
Casey Up?
Soul Figure of speech. Souls leap into babies when they're born.
Casey Oh come on!
Soul I'll show you!
SOUL TRIES TO LEAP INTO CASEY. BOTH CRASH TO THE FLOOR.
Casey What are you doing?
SOUL IS ON TOP OF CASEY
Soul I've got to get into you!
Casey Get off!
THEY SEPARATE
Soul (MOVES AWAY - GIVING UP) I can't do it! I can't merge! It must be
because you're an adult.
Casey I don't know what your game is, Mister, but....
THEY STAND CONFRONTING EACH OTHER, SOME WAY APART
Soul Perhaps it would help if we had sex!
Casey Oh no! No way! Move away from that phone.
GOES FOR THE PHONE AGAIN. SOUL WRESTLES HIM
Soul I'm not giving you up after all these years!
Casey Let me go!
Soul You need me. You'll be re-born. I'll have....Augh!....
your...Oof!....Unending gratitude...
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