|
PREVIOUSLY: We meet Beth, who seems to be having a conversation with her therapist, and tries to get under his skin with sexual language and teasing. As scene 1 ends, we discover she is in fact being held captive. In scene 2, Beth tries a more dangerous, insulting approach, and succeeds in getting a rise out of her captor, discovering there may be other victims.
-----
INT. Small study room. Although it's the same room, Beth is now sitting in the large chair, and Dennis is reclined on the chaise lounge. Unlike previous scenes, Beth is wearing glasses, and her hair is tied back neatly. She’s holding a pencil and notepad. Despite their position switch, Beth is still manacled by one ankle, chained to a floor loop next to the chair.
BETH
So what's the purpose of imprisonment, do you think, in this sense?
DENNIS
Societally, imprisonment is to protect the general populace from those detained. It is also to remove from said detainees the freedom of movement generally afforded, so they can understand that freedom comes with the responsibility to act within a framework of rules.
BETH
(Tips her head forward to look at him over her glasses)
But here, now, with me. That's the imprisonment I'm referring to. Hence my 'in this sense' comment.
DENNIS
Imprisonment's imprisonment - I don't seek to redefine it.
BETH
Oh, come on! I'm not a threat to society. You've got me here for a male power game of some kind.
DENNIS
If that is what you believe, then who am I to disavow you of it? We live in an age where the right of differing opinion is held higher than the requirement of truth or evidence.
BETH
But if our opinions are opposites, how can they both be equally valid?
DENNIS
Indeed.
BETH
(smacks her pencil down on her pad)
Stop trying to draw me into inane conversation. You know what I want to know. Look inside yourself. Understand your motivations. Why did you bring me here?
DENNIS
(clears his throat)
There’s no answer to satisfy the angst you feel. Without power, without control, you cannot dictate the conversation. Ultimately, you can give yourself the pencil and the comfy seat, but you cannot make yourself free.
BETH
I know what you’re trying to do. You want to turn the tables, pretend that you have the power.
DENNIS
On the contrary, that’s what you’re doing. Look inside yourself. Peel away the calloused layers of scorn and sarcastic defences. Think about the child who giggled at random things and took people at face value. Find the little you who wants to believe, and isn’t afraid of being vulnerable. Seek her out, and embrace her. That is where you need to be.
They match stares for a while, and both look deeply troubled. DENNIS looks away first.
BETH
I think you’re a good man, a quiet man with strong feelings and a powerful sense of justice. I think that core is clashing with your actions and causing you pain - pain that makes you lash out. In seeking to quell your own inner demons, you find a way to control me as a proxy for yourself.
BETH takes a visible deep breath and waits for DENNIS to look at her again.
BETH
Shake off the big, empowered man for a moment. What’s your own inner child telling you? Is he reminding you that some toys have a soul, that sometimes wanting something doesn’t make it yours? Is he telling you Daddy just has a funny way of showing his love, but that only makes it more special? Or did Mummy curse God for ruining her figure and use you as an ashtray?
DENNIS sucks in a breath and pinches the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.
DENNIS
(whispering)
Give me strength, that I might find the way to calm. Give me peace, that I might do what I must.
BETH
(Kindly)
Grow up, little boy. Look for peace in your own actions.
DENNIS
Perhaps I’ve indulged you too much. In seeking the core of you, I’ve found something contrary and controlling. (His lips twist in distaste.) It seems you may not be what I was looking for, after all.
BETH
I can only be me, telling you what you need to do. (she gestures around the room). There are so many books here - so much knowledge that could help you. From this office, you could find a true understanding.
DENNIS’s eyes widen as if in realisation and he laughs loudly.
DENNIS
Oh, my dear … Where do you think you are?
The office fades away, desaturating into a room with no windows, lit dimly by a single, flickering fluorescent strip light. BETH is seated on a stained concrete floor, propped against a breezeblock wall, next to a bucket. The manacle and chain remain the same, the anchor between circumstances.
DENNIS is a silhouette in the open doorway.
DENNIS
Fool.
He closes the door and we’re left in the dark to the sound of sobbing.
| 
