Scenes 9&10, The Moor and Free at Last

CUT TO:

INT. YEAR 11 CLASSROOM – DAY

Hana is sitting on her desk as the kids in her class come up to congratulate her on her performance. MATT, the class clown, grins at her, DAISY, seventeen, hugs her.

                        DAISY

              Han-NA your voice is so nice! You were

              incredible.

                        HANA

              Thanks Daisy.

                        CLEO

                   (Proudly)

              Yeah, my mum said you were fantastic.

                        MATT

                   (Teasing)

              What, you didn’t go, Clo?

                        CLEO

                   (Defensively)

              I was studying. Anyways I’m not the only one

              who didn’t go.

                        MATT

                   (Shoots a glance at Will)

              Will doesn’t count, he never goes to church.

Hana, touching her necklace, looks at Will, who is leaning back nonchalantly on his chair.

                        WILL

              So? It’s called freedom of belief, and I

              choose not to believe.

                        MATT

              Don’t care what you believe in Will. All I’m

              saying is, atheists don’t count.

                        CLEO

                   (Reproachfully)

              Don’t call him an atheist, Matt!

                        WILL

              I am an atheist.

                        CLEO

              Yeah, but …

                        MATT

              He is an atheist, Clee.

                        CLEO

              Fine, it’s just not … polite.

                        WILL

              It’s not rude, either.

                        CLEO

                   (Feeling victimised)

              Okay, fine, I’m always wrong.

                        HANA

              Come on Cleo. Boys are just mean.

                        MATT

              Oi!

                        WILL

                   (Laughs)

              Fair enough.

Emma enters the classroom and everyone grudgingly moves back to their own seats. They begin to take out their books.

                        EMMA

              Uh – wait a second please. You won’t need

              your books for a bit. Here – take a slip of

              paper.

Emma walks around the room and hands out thin slips of paper to each student. They look at their pieces of paper and then at one another with confusion. Emma retakes her place at the front of the class.

                        EMMA

                   (Cont’d)

              I have a challenge for you all.

The class groans.

                  

                        MATT

              Aw, Miss, your challenges suck.

                        EMMA

              Ouch.

                        MATT

              Sorry, it’s true.

                        EMMA

              Well, Matt, this one isn’t. Basically, I

              want you all to try and make a one-sided

              shape with this slip of paper. You have five

              minutes.

Hana wrinkles her nose and stares at the piece of paper. She tries to crumple it up into a ball but the ball has about a thousand sides. She flattens it out again and smoothes it with her hands, trying to look like she knows what she’s doing. She peaks over at Will next to her.

                        WILL

              Hey, no cheating.

                        HANA

                   (Defensively)

              I wasn’t!

Will raises his eyebrows at her.

                        HANA

                   (Cont’d)

              Okay fine, I was. I have no idea what to do,

              that’s all.

                        WILL

              Ah, so now the atheist has all the answers?

                        HANA

              That’s not fair, I don’t care that you

              aren’t religious.

                        EMMA

              Quiet, please, Hana.

                        WILL

                   (Whispers)

              I know you don’t.

                        HANA

                   (Whispers)

              Do you care that I’m Christian?

                        WILL

                   (Whispers)

              It’s not my place to care.

                        HANA

                   (Whispers)

              Okay then, will you help me?

                        WILL

                   (Grins)

              Here.

Will loops the piece of paper around her wrist and puts a single twist in it. He sticks the two ends together with tape. Hana looks down at where Will’s hand lingers on her wrist, before he pulls away.

                        WILL

                   (Cont’d)

              There.

                        HANA

              Are you sure?

             

                        WILL

              One side. Count it.

Will puts a permanent marker dot on one side of the paper. Hana puts her finger on the dot and traces along the outside of the bracelet. Will looks in her eyes as she does it, and when her finger reaches back to the dot, she looks up in surprise and he looks quickly away.

                        HANA

                   (Surprised)

              It works!

                        WILL

              Of course it does.

                        EMMA

              You two are finished, then, I take it?

                        HANA

              Yep.

                        EMMA

              Alright, everyone stop.

As the class frustratedly put down their attempts at a one-sided object, Emma walks up to Hana and takes a look at the bracelet around her wrist.

                        EMMA

                   (Cont’d)

              Very good. Okay, everyone see how Hana has

              twisted the paper? It looks like a two-sided

              object but is, indeed, one. The art of

              deception; things are not what they seem.

              And with that in mind, let’s start our unit

              on Othello.

The class looks cheated and begin to grumble and complain.

                        MATT

              What a waste of time! What has paper got to

              do with bloody Shakespeare?

                        WILL

              He wrote on it, for one.

                        MATT

                   (Sarcastically)

              Oh, nice one William.

                        EMMA

              Okay, okay! Please come up and get your

              books. 

The class move to collect their copies of Othello but Hana pauses to touch the paper bracelet around her wrist. She smiles softly and gets up. With the books they sit back down and begin to read. Will reads the part of Iago.

                       

                        EMMA

              Open to Act 1, Scene 3, Line 381. Will, can

              you read, please?

                        WILL

                   (Grudgingly)

              Fine.

                        EMMA

              Now, remember that Othello is an

              Aristotelian tragedy – the protagonist has a

              fatal flaw. In Iago’s first soliloquy, he

              points out what we might suggest is

              Othello’s fatal flaw. Will?

                        WILL

                   (Reading)

              The Moor is of a free and open nature,

              That thinks men honest that but seem to be

              so,

              And will as tenderly be led by the nose

              As asses are.

              I have’t. It is engendered. Hell and night

              Must bring this monstrous birth to the

              world’s light.

    

The bell rings. Hana and Will stand up and walk out of the classroom together.

                        EMMA

                   (Shouting as the class leave)

              Bring your text tomorrow; we’ll read from

              the very beginning. No homework this

              afternoon!

                        HANA

              You were a pretty good Iago, Will. Not

              nearly evil enough though.

                        WILL

              I’ll take that as a compliment.

                                                CUT TO:

EXT. AMERY HIGH SCHOOL – DAY

It is mid-afternoon and the sun is low but warm. Hana and Will leave through the front gate together.

                        HANA

              Free at last!

                        WILL

              Thank God.

They laugh and walk off together. Cleo walks out of the gate after them, trying to catch up. She sees Will catch Hana’s hand in his and then stops. A year twelve student crashes into her back and spills coffee on her.

                        STUDENT

              Hey, watch it!

                        CLEO

              Sorry! S-sorry.

Cleo turns the other way and walks down the street in the opposite direction, doing nothing to prevent the lukewarm coffee soaking into her top.

                                           FADE TO BLACK