Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Based on
"On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April
Morning"
by
Haruki Murakami
The set is a subway train.
Pre-show: The musicians and actors, apart from
Man, get on and sit down amongst some of (or all)
the audience members
MAN
On a narrow side street in Tokyos fashionable Harujuku
neighbourhood..
BOY
on the corner of a street in Lyon, France...
BOY
I was eighteen and she, sixteen
MAN
we are 50 yards apart
BOY
I was not particularly handsome
He pulls Girl out of the audience on the train
GIRL
and she not particularly beautiful
MAN
Her clothes are nothing special. The back of her hair
is still bent out of shape from sleep
BOY
We were just an ordinary lonely boy
2.
MAN
She isnt young, either must be near thirty, not even
close to a "girl," properly speaking
GIRL
and an ordinary lonely girl
BOY & GIRL
like all the others
MAN
but the moment I see her, theres a rumbling in my
chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert
GIRL
But we believed with our whole hearts that somewhere in
the world there lived the 100% perfect boy for her
MAN
I know from fifty yards away./Shes
BOY
and
BOY
One day the two of us came upon each other
GIRL
on the corner of a street
BOY
This is amazing, Ive been looking for you all my life.
You may not believe this, but youre the 100% perfect
girl for me
GIRL
And you are the 100% perfect boy for me, exactly as
Id pictured you in every detail. Its like a dream
The dance ends. They sit together holding hands
GIRL
We had found and been found by their 100% perfect other
BOY
What a wonderful thing it is to find and be found by
your 100% perfect other. Its a miracle. A cosmic
miracle
The Man speaks. Even though he speaks normally he
is still in this slow motion. He is speaking his
thoughts whilst time has slowed
MAN
Wish I could talk to her. Half an hour
would be plenty: just ask her about herself, tell
her about myself, and what Id really like to do,
explain to her the complexities of fate that
have led to our passing each other on a side street in
Harajuku on a beautiful April morning in 1981. This
was something sure to be crammed full of warm secrets,
like an antique clock build when peace filled the world
(MORE)
4.
MAN (contd)
"Pardon me, but would you happen to know if there is an
allnight cleaners in the neighbourhood?"
No, this is just as ridiculous. Im not carrying any
laundry, for one thing. Whos going to buy
a line like that?
BOY
As we sat and talked, however, a tiny, tiny sliver of
doubt took root in our hearts
GIRL
Was it really all right for ones dreams to
come true so easily?
BOY
Lets test ourselves, just once. If we really are each
others 100% perfect lovers, then sometime,
somewhere, we will meet again without fail. And when
that happens, and we know that we are the 100%
perfect ones, well marry then and there. What
do you think?
GIRL
Yes, that is exactly what we should do
BOY & GIRL
and so they parted
GIRL
she to the east
BOY
and I to the west
MAN
We pass in front of a flower shop. A small, warm air
mass touches my skin. The asphalt is damp, and I catch
the scent of roses. 5 yards away. I cant bring myself
to speak to her. She wears a white sweater,
and in her right hand she holds
(MORE)
5.
MAN (contd)
a crisp white envelope lacking only a stamp. So: Shes
written somebody a letter, maybe spent the whole night
writing, to judge from the sleepy look in her eyes.
The envelope could contain every secret shes ever had
BOY
The test we had agreed upon, however, was utterly
unnecessary. We should never have undertaken it,
because we really and truly were each others 100%
perfect lovers, and it was a miracle that we
had ever met.
Or a song which sums up the above paragraph and also links
the man and the boy
But it was impossible for them to know this, young as
we were. The cold, indifferent waves of
fate proceeded to toss us unmercifully
GIRL
One winter, both me and the girl came down with
the seasons terrible influenza, and after drifting for
weeks between life and death they lost all memory of
our earlier years. When we awoke, our heads were as
empty as the young D. H. Lawrences piggy bank
MAN
I take a few more strides and turn: Shes lost in
the crowd.
Now, of course, I know exactly what I should have
said to her. It would have been a long speech, though,
far too long for me to have delivered it properly.
The ideas I come up with are never very practical
GIRL
We were two bright, determined young people, however,
and through our unremitting efforts we
were able to acquire once again
the knowledge and feeling that qualified us to return
as full fledged members of society
BOY
Heaven be praised, we became truly upstanding citizens
who knew how to transfer from one subway line to
another
GIRL
who were fully capable of sending a special delivery
letter at the post office
6.
BOY
We even experienced love again, sometimes as much
as 75 or even 85%
MAN
Oh, well. It would have started "One beautiful April
morning" and ended "A sad story, dont you think?"
One beautiful April morning, on a street corner in
lyon, france, a girl and a boy met
BOY
Time passed with shocking swiftness, and soon I was
thirty two, the girl thirty. One beautiful April
morning, in search of a cup of coffee to start the day,
I was walking from west to east
GIRL
while she, intending to send a special delivery letter,
was walking from east to west,
but along the same narrow street in the Harajuku
neighbourhood of Tokyo
7.
BOY
We passed each other in the very centre of the street.
The faintest gleam of our lost memories glimmered for
the briefest moment in our hearts
GIRL
Each felt a rumbling in our chest. And we knew:
MAN & BOY
She is the 100% perfect girl for me
Lights down