Blurb (Act I) PARSONS: I'm beginning to feel what his friends must have gone through when they were really seeing him off. The longer they wait, the more improbably it is that the bloody plane will ever leave. They mouth platitudes to each other about every man having the unimpeachable right to die at home. They don't look into each other's eyes knowing that not one of them has even bothered to tell the old boy about pipe dreams, tobacco smoke delusions. What they mean, really, is that they can't wait any longer to get him off their hands. Blurb (Act 2) SURROUND MONOLOGUE: I didn't care. I had my ticket in my hand in the plane. I would have had my ticket in my hand if they hadn't taken it off me before I got on. That's not the point. It's as good as having your ticket in your hand when you're sitting in the plane and they haven't turfed you off because if they haven't turfed you off then that means you must have had a ticket in your hand to be able to be there on the plane. And what I've got a right to expect is a bit of help from someone coming up and saying Siggie. Someone to come up and say my name. It's a tremendous bit of help when someone remembers your name when they come up and say, Siggie. It's terrible when someone comes up and opens his mouth to speak but says nothing. Blurb (Act 3) As a director, I was immediately impressed by the inherent theatricality of the play... of what constitutes a theatrical event. In this work that gives us not just a play but an experience of the struggle for creation. (Peter Batey, Artistic Director, SATC) --------------- Bill Reed is an Australian playwright, novelist and short-story writer.