In your benevolence, hear the Trophy's plea for disappointment at the Aleph Kish dig site.
Starring Saffron Coomber as Orsa, the Trophy (she/her)
With additional voices from the season 1 cast
Disappointment at the dig
I Need A Miracle, season 1, episode 6 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.
Disappointment at the dig. Written by Matt Boothman. Performed by Saffron Coomber.
The music ends.
A murmur of many pleading voices, overlapping indistinguishably.
Out of the murmur, a single voice breaks through.
THE TROPHY:
In your benevolence, please, I need a miracle. And I know, okay, it’s kind of an awful thing to ask…
The murmurs die away. THE TROPHY is in a quiet private place.
THE TROPHY:
…but I’m imploring you: hear me out and intervene. I mean I just know this is gonna sound … but I can’t stand it. I honestly can’t, I don’t know what else to do.
THE TROPHY sighs.
THE TROPHY:
Basically … you know the things they’re digging for at Aleph Kish, right now? The relics or, you know. Could they like … could they just not find them there? That wouldn’t be all that bad, would it? If they just – didn’t find anything? Because see, I’m not saying I want the things they’re looking for to like, not exist at all, could – just, could they not be there at Aleph Kish, where they’re digging right now? Could they turn out to be somewhere else like in the next valley over or something? Because it’d probably be really bad if they didn’t exist at all, right? Like it’d mean Dad was totally wrong about everything, and I think … it’d be better if he was right…
THE TROPHY huffs out a frustrated breath.
THE TROPHY:
I don’t want to actually mess up what they’re trying to do out there, I – I feel like knowing more is probably a good thing. It does get hard, knowing what to do when the world just—
THE TROPHY snaps her fingers.
THE TROPHY:
—changes like that overnight, and things don’t work the same. All the stuff Dad says about stepping back, “the long view”, finding out what people have tried before, I do get it, it does make sense. I wouldn’t want to like … totally set that back…?
It’s just…
(resigned) It’s just that if they do find something … he’s going to want to show me.
If he finds something, then he’ll send for me, and I’ll get shipped all the way out to Kish, and I just can’t stand another visit like that.
Okay?
There it is.
And I know, okay, it’s awful – I’m awful – but you like – you get it, right? I mean I know you get it, but I, I hope you like, understand.
It’s just … like I said, it’s hard enough working out what to do and sticking to it. I haven’t been through that many Upheavals yet, you know? Everyone talks about coping strategies. I haven’t found mine yet! I’m trying to put my life together and I don’t even know what I want it to look like yet when I’m finished. And I’m like: adding pieces and seeing what sticks, and then suddenly all the birds in the park are like, talking to me, and the pieces I’d managed to get in place don’t fit the same any more.
And yes, I know understanding the animals is a great gift granted by you in your benevolence – it was just a shock, okay? Who could have seen that coming? Even the people who are always like “must be about time for the next big Upheaval” can never tell you what it might end up being. The older they get, the more they just shrug at you like: “whatever it is, we won’t be ready for it, why waste your breath guessing”. And then on top of that: I could get the call at any second saying “forget whatever you’re doing and come join your Dad in an icy wasteland”.
I honestly think I could take it if it was more of a surprise. Know what I mean? But the last … six or seven expeditions, I feel like every single dig, they find exactly what they were hoping they were gonna find. So now when he heads out, I’m not like, “maybe it’ll be a success, and he’ll invite me out and I’ll get to help him celebrate”. I’m like, “off he goes, just a matter of time before he says the word and it’s off to whatever icy hole in the ground”.
(subdued) Obviously it’s great that they’re getting such a great hit rate and everything. It’s great that they’re not wasting their time out there. But I don’t want to do it this time. I don’t want to spend a week sleeping in a tent, or in a cave like last time. I don’t want to follow him around all day while he shows me things and explains them to me, I … I just need to sit this one out.
THE TROPHY scoffs at herself.
THE TROPHY:
I hate this. All this sounded so much less whiny in my head. I wish I could … I mean the thing about it is, like, it probably sounds like I just don’t wanna be bored and cold and uncomfortable, right? Poor spoiled little thing doesn’t want to be torn away from her nice warm bed.
But it’s more than that. It’s like…
It’s like I disappear out there.
It’s like I’m just this empty thing for him to fill up with his finds and his, and his rightness, and his happiness, and his words, words, words. Here I’m a person. There I’m just his audience.
I’m not me.
THE TROPHY heaves a sigh.
THE TROPHY:
I can cope with it. I can! If you don’t think it’s…
I mean, I’ve always survived it before, just … right now? It’s been too many in a row. If I have to go out there and disappear again I think I might not reappear. I need a break, I need time to fill back in again.
A murmur of indistinguishable voices begins to swell up over THE TROPHY’s voice.
(tentatively) So I hope…
(more resolved) I implore you, in your benevolence. It doesn’t have to be like, a total wash, it doesn’t have to be nothing out there, just like, not what he wants to find. Just a setback, that’s all. Just ‘til next time. That’s my plea. In your benevolence, having heard, please intervene. Just this time. I need a miracle.
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.