ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS

$5.40 – $15.00

Pat and Ronnie work the lighthouse at Muckle Flugga—neighbour to 46,000 gannets, 200,000 puffins and endless stacks of rocks. Gale-force winds fuel waves that lash the lighthouse twenty-one hours a day, a lighthouse that sits on a rock 70 metres above the deep North Sea. Vegetarian ex-student Dougie lands, the newest keeper of the light. But Dougie didn’t do lighthouse lore at uni. So maybe his eyes will get pecked out by a bonxie, he might get attacked by a basking shark, Davy Jones may call him at night—chances are, though, that he’s going to stand up to Ronnie’s malevolence and Pat’s creepy homeliness. At least he’ll give it a crack. Each week they play Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine who will rule the lighthouse for the day, but Dougie keeps losing. This is Pinter, Beckett and Monty Python in a very tall barrel.

One of eight plays selected for the 2008 Playwriting Australia Festival.

APT