In your benevolence, hear the Lover's plea to understand Porphyra.
Starring Harry Myers as Tullup, the Lover (he/him)
With additional voices from the season 1 cast
To understand Porphyra
I Need A Miracle, season 1, episode 2 of 12
Written and created by Matt Boothman
Directed by Robert Valentine
Music by Katharine Seaton
Sound design by Sarah Buchynski
Casting by Fiona Thraille
Recorded at Jukebox Studios
Broadcast assistance from Teresa Milewski
Cover art by Dionysis Livanis
Produced by Sarah Golding of Wireless Theatre for Foggy Outline
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Transcript
Delicate synth and violin music plays; mysterious, calm but slightly haunting.
ANNOUNCER 1:
Foggy Outline presents: I Need A Miracle. Produced by Wireless Theatre.
To understand Porphyra. Written by Matt Boothman. Performed by Harry Myers.
The music ends.
A murmur of many pleading voices, overlapping indistinguishably.
Out of the murmur, a single voice breaks through.
THE LOVER:
…if you’re not too busy, in your benevolence. I think I need a little miracle. I implore you – as long as it’s not too inconvenient – hear my plea and intervene.
The murmurs die away.
THE LOVER is in a cosy living room near to a crackling fireplace.
THE LOVER:
You…! I wasn’t sure if you’d be … but–
Well … what it is, you see, is I’m just a little bit worried that…
Something makes a breathy, high-pitched animal sound, part way between a mew and a hiss.
THE LOVER:
Well, no. It’s more … it’s more that I think Porphyra here is trying to tell me something.
PORPHYRA squeals.
THE LOVER:
Or actually I don’t just think it, I’m sure of it.
(to PORPHYRA) Sshh, it’s all right. It’ll be all right in a minute.
THE LOVER shifts in his seat.
THE LOVER:
Er … as long as it wouldn’t cause a problem or anything – I’d feel a lot better if I knew what was on her little mind. I think it might be important. She’s being very insistent.
PORPHYRA hisses.
THE LOVER:
(to PORPHYRA) Aren’t you? You are. I know. I know.
You see, it’s just … the last time she got like this, all fidgety, twizzling up and down my arm like she doesn’t know where to be, well … I wondered what could be wrong with her. Usually she’s my calm centre. She’s been with me through the last three or four Upheavals and even those weren’t enough to get her in a twist, so it did rather worry me, wondering … what could possibly be bothering her now? If she’s not bothered by the whole world turning upside down?
And it occurred to me then, to do this very thing I’m doing now. To send up a plea to you, in your benevolence.
I thought, “I could ask for a miracle. I could find out exactly what’s the matter”. But then I told myself not to be so silly. There was probably just a new smell, I thought. Something in the atmosphere making her agitated, nothing to worry about. Not worth a whole miracle just to set my mind at ease.
(with a rueful chuckle) It wasn’t ‘til later that I realised that…
It was too late by then, but … afterwards, looking back, I realised she first started doing it when that boy started dropping by.
(to PORPHYRA) Somehow you knew, didn’t you, little one…
He told everyone, the boy; he told us all he’d just found his first calling. He wanted to create homes for people, he said. Homes that were comfortable to live in and beautiful to be in. He said he needed to see as many different homes as he could. As many different ways to live as possible. He needed to see what people love about their homes, he said, as well as what frustrates them.
The boy seemed … very genuine to me, when he spoke. I thought I detected the feeling I recall feeling, whenever I found a calling I just couldn’t resist. Filled up with bubbles, he seemed when he spoke about homes and what they mean. Propelled, by something, he seemed. I suppose, perhaps it was genuine. But of course it wasn’t the truth. Not the whole of it.
The boy wanted a look at our homes, all right. A good look at all our entrances and exits, is what he wanted more than anything else, it turned out.
A good look at where we all keep our … keepsakes.
(with a rueful chuckle) If I’d realised sooner what it meant … why little Porphyra was acting strangely all of a sudden … then perhaps I could have done something. And perhaps Mx Dendarran across the terrace wouldn’t have lost all their lovely instruments to that boy and his gang of thieves.
So … actually, in fact, looking back at it now … it wouldn’t have been such a silly thing to ask you after all.
It could have saved Mx Dendarran and the rest of the community a lot of sorrow.
I could have, I mean.
So I decided then, that if sweet Porphyra here started acting oddly again, I wouldn’t make the same excuses a second time.
So! Here I am beseeching you. It would only be a little miracle. Could you just … tell me what it is? What she’s trying to say to me this time?
Oh! Or, I’m sorry, I hope it’s all right to wobble like this, could you perhaps make it so I understand her all the time, if that’s not too much? It might mean I don’t have to bother you like this again. I never do like to impose.
PORPHYRA fidgets and hisses.
THE LOVER:
(to PORPHYRA) Sshh, sshh. I know, my lovely, I know.
She’s been like this since yestereve, poor thing. Full of fizz and agitation. Can’t settle anywhere. Can’t get comfortable. Skin to skin or over my sleeve, wound tight around my elbow or draped around my neck, or … I even lost her for a few moments between the cushions. She burrowed right in there. Even re-mottled herself to blend in.
PORPHYRA hisses expansively.
THE LOVER:
(to PORPHYRA) You had me scared half to death.
PORPHYRA snorts.
THE LOVER:
And…
(with a rueful chuckle) And.
I don’t want to think it, really.
Only … yestereve was when I brought Brinni here. To our home. The first time he’s shared the air with Porphyra.
Brinni seems…
He seems so…
But I’d made up my mind that if this happened again, I’d do my best to make sure. I don’t want to let something happen again, something like with the boy, if it doesn’t have to happen.
PORPHYRA snarls.
THE LOVER:
I really, really hope that isn’t what this is.
I really hope it is just a new smell this time, that she’s getting all wound up over.
I really thought … I mean I was hoping … with Brinni…
But if something like that is happening again, I need to know. I need to know if I’m setting myself up for…
To know if it’s a warning. If she’s … warning me of something.
I did try to ask around before resorting to this. Without making it sound like he’d done anything, because he hasn’t, not as far as I know. I wouldn’t want to raise anyone’s suspicions if there’s really nothing to worry over. That wouldn’t be fair, not to someone like…
THE LOVER fidgets.
PORPHYRA hisses.
THE LOVER:
He’s just so…
PORPHYRA chatters.
THE LOVER:
At least … at least I think he is. But nobody could tell me anything. Only sweet little Porphyra.
There’s something she desperately wants me to know, but … even after so long, after I raised her from an egg, I don’t understand.
Or … I suppose I think I do. But I need to know.
Before I do anything about it, I need to be sure.
PORPHYRA chatters and squeals.
THE LOVER:
That’s it. That is my plea.
A murmur of indistinguishable voices begins to swell up over THE LOVER’s voice.
THE LOVER:
In your benevolence, I beseech you, having heard, to please intervene. We just need a little miracle. Please grant it to us.
All the voices fade away.
ANNOUNCER 2:
I Need A Miracle is a Foggy Outline podcast produced by Wireless Theatre. Directed by Robert Valentine. Produced by Sarah Golding. Casting by Fiona Thraille. Broadcast assistance by Teresa Milewski. Music by Katharine Seaton. Sound design by Sarah Buchynski. Recorded by Stephen H. at Jukebox Studios. Find more audio gold at wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk and foggyoutline.com.
Thank you for listening.