Name: Libertas Aeternum
Title: A Day in the Roman Court
Material Requirements:
- 1 bottle of chloroform
- Judges' Bench, jury Seats, podium, and various other courtroom furniture features
- Enhanced Neural Resonance Apparatus (ENRA)
- Pistol with ammunition
- Rope
- Set of Rappeling Hooks
- Large One-Way Mirror
- 20-30 Actors
Abstract: A Day in the Roman Court is a play focused on the consequences of the fabricated life of an attendee of the exhibition.
An attendee of the exhibition is to be chosen randomly and once selected, will be drugged and taken to a private room backstage involuntary, then placed into a state of unconsciousness. Employing the use of an ENRA, their memories will be analyzed in a time frame of 5 to 9 hours. The goal of the analysis is to ascertain the fears and personal disgusts that the individual holds in order to investigate in which area the individual is most emotionally unstable. If it is found that the selected individual has had a criminal past, then they are to be let go.
After the analysis is concluded, the ENRA will construct several fake memories within the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe. The desired result would be that the subject has full faith in the veracity of the memories and to ensure that there is no doubt in the subject's recollection. The memories introduced into the subject will be events and incidents wherein the subject commits actions that are excessively incongruous with the beliefs and ideologies of the individual and that break with the established law of society ie. murder, arson, robbery etc.
When the scheduled performance is about to begin, the subject will be taken to the courtroom that has been specially set up with one side of the room disguised with one-sided glass. The audience of the exhibition will be watching the ordeal in a live setting on the other side of the glass and will be unaware of the innocence of the individual. In front of the individual will be a gun, which the subject will can interact with, if desired, at the end of the performance.
The individual's legs will be tied and attached to rappeling hooks near the bottom of the seat; previous, personal attempts have shown that people try to “escape.” The individual is likely to ask questions regarding their surroundings and situation, however, all actors will be instructed to ignore whatever is said.
When the performance begins, the prosecutor will list out and, in detail, explain the crimes and actions that were, supposedly, committed by the attendee. The prosecutor will exaggerate certain aspects in order to elicit more of a rousing reaction for the jury. The actions that the prosecutor describes will somewhat align with what was implanted in the individual's memory, albeit deliberated in a more dramatic fashion.
The defense will attempt to support or justify the actions of the attendees, however, they will purposefully act incompetent and depict the individual in an even more dreadful view. The jury will act very sensitive to the actions described and will vocally agree with the prosecutor.
At the end of the trial, the subject will be given a choice of either freedom or a life sentence. There will also be a gun next to the subject because past plays have shown it to be a sort of a "wild card" with interesting outcomes when the subject has access to it.
In reality, the attendee’s choice of freedom will not make a difference in the outcome, for it is the audience that chooses if the attendee will be free or not. In lieu of actual imprisonment, the subject will be terminated according to the wishes of the audience. At the end of the entire play, it will be revealed to the audience that the subject was innocent.
Intent:
I created this play after I was charged for murder by the state of Georgia. The truth of the matter is I did commit murder, but this fact in and of itself is not important because of how the judicial system treats the accused. I sat in on the trial at awe at the perversion of my personal liberty and the self-aggrandizement that was rife in the courtroom.
The basis of nearly 90% of world governments is individual sovereignty, however, my own legitimized choice is null in all these governments. The democratic ideals of exclusive freedom and autonomy are cast aside by the contradictory sense of judgment that the courts of the modern day uphold and is why I wanted to create a mixture of the past with the present. An allusion with hints of Roman gladiatorial battles and the dramatics of the court.
In this play, I attempt to parody the hypocrisy of law itself and how it seems to feed on entertainment and to elaborate on the irony of choices that we all possess. The Simpson case ended recently and was there any outcry at the rapid doggery that took hold of the media?
This is not just a lesson for the victim, but for the audience themselves. They both will learn the duplicity that is inherent to this system. The choice of freedom for the main participant is meaningless, it is not us who decides our own fate; it is the will of others, the masses, the juries of the court. Control of the jury by the prosecutors pathos-filled rhetoric, control of the fate of the victim by the audience, control of the victim’s actions on the audience’s minds, my control of the entire process. I wish to exaggerate these effects and increase the audience’s feeble understanding of substantial, real law.
I tested this idea out a few times. At first, I tried using actual criminals with real memories of crimes, however, the results were never interesting. They knew of their crimes and already had the mindset to even be able to enact them in the first place. By using innocent people who would have never committed heinous crimes, the realization has a more impactful feel for both them and the audience when they realize the truth of the matter at the end.
Instead of looking at someone who you could never be, you acknowledge that it is you are up in the judge's seat. It might seem illogical, but implanting memories is a critical step to the entire process. If the victim actually remembers the actions he has taken then the emotion gained from the play will be even more powerful. Deconstructing our humanity will let us see the truth in the world.
