The Gentle and the Cruel

The scenes and props are to be deliberate, and very basic. The acting is to be done in the tradition of Tamil films, but with lines slowly spoken, and very clear and loud, with lots of hand waving and exaggerated nonverbal queues to keep people tuned in on the action. Stage is set with a CERT oven on left facing right side of audience, and one on right, facing left side of audience. They dub as other things in other scenes.

Actors:

Siti -- Loud, rough, careless mother.

Grandpa -- Careless Father of Siti.

Uncle -- Careless Uncle.

Grand ma -- Careless Mom of Siti.

Fish Sales Man -- Old guy with a bicycle and basket who sells fish.

Raju -- Good son.

Krishnan -- Stupid son.

Roshida -- Careful mom.

Shida's dad -- Slow man with a big knife.

Manirajah -- Supervisor

Engineer -- Engineer

Doctor -- Doctor of FA, crazy old German.

Act I The separation

Seen: A Kampung setting (Sign on Tree {covered up CERT Oven} reads "Selamat Detang ke Tasik Gelugor"). The other Tree (CERT ovan#2) has a sign "Petronas 5km". Family is riding in a car (cart pulled by off stage ropes). There is some old news paper on the ground.

Pregnant (careless) woman, Siti, and family (also careless) on way to hospital. Car runs out of gas. Woman gives birth by side of road. Has Twins. There is only 1 blanket so they lay the baby #2 down in news paper.

Someone off stage is making motor noises.

Siti is in the back with Uncle. She is obviously pregnant, and about to give birth. Uncle is eating chips.

Siti "Cepat sikit, saya akan bersalin sekarang!"

Grandma "Laju 'bang, tunggu 'pa?"

Grandpa "Tak boleh."

Siti "Cepat!"

Grandma "Macamana tak boleh? Kamu sudah terlupa pandu, 'bang?"

Grandpa "Bukan pandu, mak, 'bang terlupa nak isi minyak."

Motor noises stop.

Uncle "Habis dah?"

Grandpa "Habis."

Siti "Semulaaaa!"

Everyone Jumps out of the car, except Siti. They run around, "Alamak nak buat macamana ni "... As car starts to roll off to the side, with Siti.

Grandpa "Woh!" He runs and stops car.

Grand ma and Uncle help Siti give birth in back of car, (facing away from audience).

Grandma "Tolak! Tolak! Sini datang! Tolak!"

Uncle is behind grandma, pushing her, till she nearly falls over.

Grandma (to uncle) "Dia yang tolak, bukan awak!"

Uncle "oh..."

Siti "Aaaahhhh!" (pop, out comes baby #1)

Grandma grabs it "Aw, bagus, sini ada. Hai baby!" and she walks off carrying baby wrapped in blanket.

Siti "oof, tak boleh naik." She tries to get up, but just lies back down.

Uncle "Mak...", still looking at Siti.

Grandam "Bebi, bebi, koocikoo..."

Siti "Aaaahhhhh!"

Uncle "Uh, Mak..."

Grandpa comes over to Uncle. Also looks at Siti, and has a concerned look on his face.

Uncle "Mak..."

Grand pa "Mak..."

Siti (screams) "MAK!"

Grandma (tossing the baby in surprise) "Apa ini?"

Siti "Datang..."

Uncle "Satu..."

Grandpa "Lagi..."

Grandma (pop) "Bebi!" Baby #2 pop's out.

Siti "Oof!" She sits up, and holds the baby #2. "Mak, mana tilam untuk bebi?"

Grandma "Cuma ada satu..." looking over at baby on the ground "oops!" picks up babi#1.

Grandpa (seeing newspaper) "Sini ada, surat khabar, boleh mengunakan"

Uncle "Mana boleh mengunakan surat khabar dengan bebi baru?"

Grandpa "Kami mengunakan surat khabar dengan awak bila lahir!"

Uncle "Oleh itu belakang saya ada tulis 'Berita Hariini'?"

All rise and sit beside car, under 1st tree, and look at the babies. Uncle continues eating the chips (he never really stopped), and soon Siti wants some too.

Siti "Abang, tunggu sekejap." asking for the chips.

She sets baby#2 beside her (still in newspaper), and eats away... They all make small talk.

Fish salesman comes in slowly on bike with wrapped fish (in newspaper) in the basket on the back. He has a low brim hat, and does not see the car, and crashed with it, spilling bike et. all over towards the 2dn tree.

Fishman "Oof!" Looks up to see everyone. "Hello."

All "Hello!"

He gets his bike up, and puts all the fish back into the basket, accidentally putting in the baby#2. He gets back on, and rides off.

The chips are out, and Siti is still hungry.

Siti "Abang, nak makan."

Uncle "Dah habis."

Grandpa "Minyak habis, makanan habis..."

Grandma "Tetapi kita masih ada bebi-bebi!" Holding up Baby #1.

Siti "Bebi..." Looking around for Bebi#2 "Bebi? Mak, mana babi?"

Grandma "Perempuan gila, inia apa, kayu?" showing baby#1 to her.

Siti "Bukan, dulu ada dua, betul?"

Grandpa "Betul."

Uncle "Dua."

Grandma "Mana bebi itu?"

Siti "Tak Tahu..." They all start looking.

Siti (looking in tree) "Bebi!"

Grand ma (looking around other tree) "Bebi!"

Grandpa "Bebi!" looking in car.

Uncle "Bebi!" looking under car.

All "Bebi! Bebi!"

Sits "Kalau dia cuma ada nama, kita boleh pangil dia dengan namanya."

All "Ya, ya."

Grandpa "Sini tak ada. Munkin nanti jumpa. Jom."

All "Jom."

Everyone gets in the car, except Siti, who pushes the car down the hill.

Seen fades out...

Act II The lost son

Seen is Roshida's house. Sign saya "Rumah Roshida" CERT ovens are now windows, with curtains.

Fishman (off stage) "Ikan segar. Ikan! Ikan segar."

Roshida (who is doing ironing of her Seagate uniform) "Pak, mahu ikan ka?"

Shida's dad "Mahu juga, anda boleh goreng?"

Roshida "Boleh juga. Saya pi cari."

Shida's dad "Amboy! Kita makan sedap malam ini! Nah." giving her some money.

Fishman (off stage) "Ikan! Ikan segar. Ikan!"

She exits. Dad gets up and begins sharpening a huge knife. She returns a few minutes later with a three fish wrapped in news paper.

Dad "Bagi saya mencuci ikan."

He takes the first bundle (we can't see if it is a fish or a baby), slowly pulls the knife up in the air... and... Swings down with a mighty blow, cutting off... a fish head. They are passed aside, and he takes the second fish, and the knife comes up.... and... DOWN! boom! Another Fish head. Finally he takes the last bundle (still in the newspaper) the knife slowly raises, shining light in the eyes of the audience... He holds it and, just as he swings it down (he is queued by the baby scream sound) we hear the baby cry, and Roshida (who has been standing at his side) pulls the baby away, just as the knife misses the babies head. (Note: don't use a real knife, and practice the seen a lot to make sure that no one gets their fingers mashed.)

Baby#2 "Waaa!"

Dad "Ayo yo yo! Ayo yo yo!"

Roshida "Pak! Ini bebi!"

Dad (checking it out) "Betul! Nasib baik..."

Baby#2 "Waaaa!"

Roshida "Oh, bebi! Bebi!" she cradle's it very carefully.

Dad "Awak selalu mahu satu bebi, sekarang ada."

Roshida "Shh, shh, bebi ku, semua akan baik dengan kita! Kita boleh gembira bersama!"

Baby#2 "Uh-aha." (happy baby noise

Dad "Macamana kamu mahu pangil bebi baru?"

Roshida "Hmm, Raju. Raju Laju dari pisau."

Dad "Raju, laju, cucuku..."

They embrace.

Seen fades out...

Act III In the Factory

Seen: Production floors. Left is L2W3, and right is L6W2. CERT ovens are labeled Belize 5 and Maui 7.

Siti works in L2W3, and is always slapping drives. Sean of her talking with friends, banging drives around, dropping them, being really bad. L2W3 has a low yield as shown in BIG Yield Chart on back wall.

Roshida works in L6W2, and is very careful, treating the drives like babies, and the wing has good yield, Big Chart shows yield near 100%.

Siti is working on the left side, Roshida on the right. Manirajah enters from the left studying some papers on his clipboard carefully

Manirajah "Woh! Yield wing ini sangat rendah. Saya tak faham, wing ini ada product sama macam wing-wing line, tapi yield wing ini selalu teruk!?!"

Engineer (looking over his shoulder at papers) "Sini ada banyak error kod dari handling damage"

Siti, overhearing, looks over "Handling damage, itu apa?" as she drops a drive on the floor and proceeds to stuff it into the CERT oven.

Manirajah "Handling Damage bagi drive head slap.

Siti "Head slap, itu apa?" as she bangs drives against each other as she absent mindedly stuffs the CERT oven.

Engineer "Bila seorang kasar dengan drive, kalau apa-apa belangar drive, head pukul disk kuat, dan buat kemek di atas disk."

Manirajah "Drive dengan head slap hampir selalu fail CERT. Dan wing ini ada yield teruk sebab banyak head slap."

Manirajah puts the next yield point on the chart in the background, showing yield dropping even further.

Engineer and Manirajah shake heads and walk off to Roshida's wing. They never really noticed Siti's rough handling of the drives, and are still confused about the low yield.

As Roshida's wing, she is carefully loading the drives in the CERT oven.

Manirajah "See! I told you! Tengok sini, wing ini ada product sama macam wing tadi, tapi yield sini selalu tinggi."

Engineer "Betul, sini tak ada error kod banyak dari handling damage."

Manirajah "Apa perbezaan di antara wing ini dan wing tadi?"

Engineer "Semua equipment sama, product sama, hmmmm, tak tahu. Kita boleh tengok Auto line, dan Conveyer, dan adjust."

Manirajah "Ya, please, yield rendah macam itu buang duit profit sharing!"

Engineer "Betul!"

They walk off.

Seen fades out...

Act IV Back at Home

Seen: Right half of stage is Roshida's house, left is Siti's. Roshida and her dad and the baby are all home. At Siti's there is Siti, the baby and some of the family.

Roshida "Babi, babi! Siapa sayang kamu? Siapa? Tak dengar? Ah-a, betul, Ibu sayang babi ku!" She gently cradle's it and dances around doing twirls (slowly).

Dad "Hey, Shida mahu bapak masak malam ini?"

Roshida "Tak payah, bapa, Saya boleh. Saya perlu awak jaga babi."

Dad "Boleh! Bagi saya... Cucu! Cucuku! Mai!"

Roshida "Macamana kalau saya masak rendang ayam?" Smiling because she knows it is his favorite.

Day "Woh! Itu kegemeran saya!"

Roshida "Sudah tahu bapa..."

Roshida very carefully gives the baby to her dad, and goes off to cook.

In the next house...

Siti "Babi, babi!..." she pauses and looks at him, holding him up. "BABI! BABI!" she yells, shaking it violently.

Babi "Waaaaaaa.."

Siti "Bagus, saya fikir babi tidor."

Grandma, to grandpa "'Bang dah lapar ke?"

Grandpa "Lapar juga. Mak nak masak ke?"

Grandma "Bukan, Siti! Siti!"

Siti "Mak?" coming into the room, banging the baby's head against the cabinet (CERT oven in disguise)

Baby "Waaaaaaaa..."

Grandma "Masak!"

Siti "Nak Magi mee lagi?"

Grandpa "Saya nak makan sedap, bukan magi mee, hari-hari makan magi mee!"

Uncle "Saya suka magi mee.."

Grandma "Masak lah cepat 'Abang lapar dah!"

Siti, to baby "Makan magi mee sekali lagiiiiii!"

She sets him on the table where she is going to cook. He promptly falls off, onto his head, and again, cries.

Baby "Waaaaa."

Siti "Magi, magi , magi, magi" looking for the packets of Magi Mee, as she absentmindedly picks the baby up by one arm and dumps him again on the table top with a 'bang' and a "Mee! Sini ada."

She sees the packets of magi, and a frying pan that she picks up.

Baby "Waaaaaaa." since it got slammed onto the counter.

Siti "Duduk diam!" smacks baby on head with frying pan.

Baby "Waaaaa--------." stops crying when it receives the blow from the pan.

Siti "Ah, sekarang, macamana masak Magi mee, Hmmmm..."

Seen fades as she tries to remember how to cook the same thing she has every single day, dumping everything in the pan at once...

Act V Tearful Reunion

Seen: Canteen on left 1/2 of stage, Doctor's on right 1/2. CERT Ovens now say "Jaga Kabersihan" and "Ubat".

Roshida and Siti are seated at opposite sides of a lunch table, Raju and Krishnan enter separately.

Roshida is sitting at the table waiting. Siti is eating. Krishnan sits down beside her.

Krishnan "Mak, nak makan." his head is sort of bowed, and he speaks slowly.

Siti "Beli sedikit makanan dan makan."

Krishnan "Tak boleh."

Siti "Macamana tak boleh?"

Krishnan "Tak ada duit."

Siti "Tapi pagi ini saya bagi awak 10 RM, betul?"

Krishnan "Betul."

Siti "So.. Apa jadi?"

Krishnan "Tak Tahu. Duit hilang."

Siti "Bodoh! Awak selalu hilang barang!"

Krishnan "Saya tahu."

Siti "Mingu lepas awak hilang kunci rumah tiga kali..."

Krishnan "Betul"

Siti "Setiap bulan mesti cari IC baru..."

Krishnan "Tetapi..."

Siti "Awak sesatkandiri di pasar mini semalam..."

Krishnan "Tapi..."

Siti "Lima kali awak sudah silap naik bas kilang dan pergi Sony..."

Krishnan "tap..."

Siti "Berapa kali awak tersilap bas balik dan turun di Taiping?..."

Krishnan "Mak!"

Siti "Apa?!"

Krishnan "Saya lapar..."

Siti "Ohh, sini, nah." giving him her lunch.

Krishnan, taking the lunch and starting to eat, "Mak!"

Siti "Apa sekarang?"

Krishnan "Dahaga..."

Siti "Nasib baik awak kerja bersama ibu..."

Raju enters from off stage, and seeing Roshida calls.

Raju "Mak!" Both Roshida and Siti, turn and look.

Roshida, to Raju "Anakku! Apa khabar kerja hari ini?"

Raju "Baik! Kami sibuk nak set up autoline baru, check semua packwriter, dan pindah semua CERT oven baru, hari ini."

Roshida "Kamu raijin!"

Raju "Mesti kalau saya hendak pergi university tahun depan."

Roshida "Betul. Duduk, saya ada sedikit nasi lemak untuk kamu."

Raju "Sedap! Best depat kerja di kilang bersama ibu! Saya cari minuman dulu, tunggu sekejap."

Raju gets up to go get some drinks, as e walks by Krishnan, he too stands, running into Raju, and Krishnan drops his money (coins) all over.

Krishnan "Hei!"

Raju "Oops."

Raju stoops to help Krishnan pick up his coins, because Krishnan is kind of slow.

Krishnan "Pencuri! Pencuri!"

Raju "Maaf? Saya mahu menolong awak."

Krishnan "Saya tak perlu tolong!" acting tough.

Raju "OK, syay tak mahu cari masaalah dengan awak."

Krishnan, pushing Raju "You cakap I ada masaalah?"

Raju "Bukan, tapi saya fikir awak nanti akan dapat satu."

Krishnan "Dapat ini!" Krishnan winds up to throw a punch at Raju, who, bows backwards, allowing him to miss, then comes in following the motion of the swing behind Krishnan's back, knocking him with a push onto the table, and floor, where he stays like he owns it.

Raju "Ayo-yo-yo!"

Roshida and Siti run over.

Siti kicks Krishnan "Bangun! Bangun!"

Roshida kneels at his side and checks him carefully.

Raju "Oops, saya rasa kita akan perlu satu doktor..."

They grab him, and head off to the doctors office (next door).

All enter doctors office, carrying an obviously deceased Krishnan.

Doktor "Vat kan I do you for?"

Siti "Silakan doktor, menolong anak saya!" she says, as she completely drops him on the floor (sort of behind some equipment).

Doktor "Vat?"

Siti "Help!"

Doktor "Vell, vat seems to be ze problem?" as he examines Siti with a stethoscope, "You zeem to fit enoov."

Raju "No. doctor, it's Krishnan, over" turning to where he was, all look around for him... "over..."

Doctor "Over heer?" he says as he drags him up on the table (over head behind Krishnan's head) and performs some examination, smacking him, lifting his arms, and letting them drop... Finally he ON&apoa;s the xray machine (overhead).

Doctor (in HEAVY German Accent): "Ach, zo, vat vee haf er ist ein early maternal keranial kunkushoon" he says viewing head slaps on the over head projector.

All Looking at each other trying to understand, "Vat?"

Doctor "Lelaki ini mati sebab ada head slap masa dia muda." Tragic music, and Siti cries.

Doktor "Munkin sebab itu dia sangat bodoh..."

Siti "Ayo yo yo! Ayo yo yo! Dulu twin dia hilang, dan sekarang dia mati muda sebab head slap! Waaa, waaa..."

Doktor "Ja, enuf already. Ver vas die admission form?"

Raju, having filled it out, hands it to the doktor.

Doktor (reading from a clip board) "Und Zo, humur 20?"

Siti and Raju "Ya."

Doktor "Tarikh lahir 15-8-97?"

Siti and Raju "Ya."

Doktor looks at both of them.

Doktor "Lahir dekat Tasik Gelugor, Kedah?"

Siti and Raju "Ya."

Doktor looks at them both again, cause they keep answering together, "Jenis darah A-"

Siti and Raju "Ya."

Doktor "Informasi ini dari pada Dia (Krishnan) atau dia (Raju)?"

Raju "Saya."

Siti "Dia." (indicating Krishnan).

Siti "Bukan! Ini semua informasi untuk Krishnan."

Raju "Tidak, saya yang isikan form, itu informasi saya punya."

Doktor looks at both of them, so does Siti and Roshida, first Raju, then Krishnan, then Raju.

Doktor "Tarikh lahir sama, tempat sama, genis darah sama, hmm kebetulan menarik."

Roshida "Saya fikir itu tarikh lahir awak Raju..."

Raju "Macamana mak tak tahu tarikh lahir anaknya?"

Roshida "Sebab saya beli awak dari lelaki yang jualkan ikan. Hari itu dia datang dengan satu babi, awak."

Siti "Hari itu saya hilangkan anak ku, twin Krishnan dekat jalan..."

Raju "Hilangkan? Dia mati?"

Siti "Bukan mati, dia lari, ada satu lelaki tua dengan bisikal..."

Roshida "Dia yang jualkan ikan!"

Siti "Anak ku!"

Raju "Mak?"

They embrace, Siti trashing poor Raju around.

Doktor takes thumb print from both boys, displays on overhead, "Ya, adik beradik."

Raju, Siti and Roshida all embrace

Doktor also embraces them "Ach, deese vamily reunions mek me zo heppy. Siti, mesti lagi berhati-hati dengan ini..."

Seen fades.

Act VI Later in Life

Seen is the production floors again. CERT ovens now read Belize 25, Maui 37.

The son eventually visits both women, and finds that Siti is very rough. He tells her, as the doctor did, she must be more gentle. Eventually she learns to be more gentle.

Raju is a technician fixing the CERT ovens, and chatting with the moms. Roshida is still very careful, Siti Still a little sloppy. He works only briefly on Roshida&apoa;s CERT oven.

Raju "Dah habis. Boleh mengunakan."

Roshida "Terima kasih anakku." She says and gently holds his hand.

Raju "No problem." and he exits to Siti&apoa;s wing.

Roshida continues to stuff drives in the oven carefully.

As Raju arrives at Siti's wing

Siti "Anak ku!" exuberantly banging drives and CERT oven.

Raju "Mak." (with descending voice, as he disappointedly sees her mashing drives about).

Raju starts to fix the oven, pulling out broken stuff from the oven, eventually pulling out a bag.

Raju looks at it, and at Siti "Mak, ini apa?" he says with an emploring tone.

Siti "Oh, itu sedikit roti canai, saya simpan untuk awak, sayang."

Raju "Terima kasih. Tapi, mak, awak tahu, mesti lagi berhati-hati, ingat apa yang doktor cakap?"

Siti (slowing down) "Ya, ya, betul, ok sayang, saya lagi berhati-hati."

Raju "Terima Kasih, mak." He finishes up, and leaves.

Both women stuff drives carefully. Manirajah and Engineer come on seen, looking at papers, and comment to them selves that the yield on Siti's wing has started to rise. They increment poster.

Seen fades...

Lights rise as all members are present in single line facing audience.

All together "Kalau anda kasar dengan drive-drive, mana boleh berhati-hati dengan anak kamu?...

Berhati-hati dengan drives sebagimana anda berhati-hati dengan anak anda,

dan kita boleh elakkan head slap!"