Implied Consent: Act III, Scene V

A Play on the Sanctity of Human Life, in Four Acts

This is a part of Mr. Stolyarov's play, Implied Consent. To navigate through the various parts of the play, go here.

(This scene takes place later in the evening, after the first day of the trial; MARK and NEVILLE are in the conference room of the Estate of Grummond, engaged in conversation. On another part of the stage, we see ROBERTS sitting in his office, with his suitcase open, and a monitor deployed, on which he is able to track MARK's and NEVILLE's words and surroundings by means of the device he had earlier implanted into MARK. He focuses on them intently.)

MARK: You know, Mr. Neville, any reasonable spectator observing what happened at the trial today would tell you that you far outperformed Roberts. The reason why he continued to object so extensively was to provide a cover, a flimsy cover at best, for Oswald's inability to answer your well-targeted inquiries. Yet the questions that Oswald cannot answer, I can. A while ago, at a reception in the Grummond Mansion, I managed to catch a moment of conversation with the man, who, in a drunken stupor, revealed to me the extent of his depravity.

NEVILLE: Indeed? And this concerns his motives for filing this suit?

MARK: Absolutely, it does. He has essentially filed it to have a fortune to throw around and stage "the biggest demolition derby in the history of the world," in his own words.

NEVILLE: Amazing! So he would kill his own father, invent a host of intricate justifications as to why he is not really killing his own father in the act of killing him, all for this hedonistic indulgence?

MARK: I can recall the conversation with great lucidity; you need just ask me for it in court. That is, you should summon me as a witness for the defense.

NEVILLE: One further question on this issue, Mr. Mark. Did Oswald explicitly suggest the intellectual justification for his plan? Did he provide any moral principles to validate his purpose?

MARK: Yes; he expounded quite a bit on the futility of life and why we should waste it all, and then added that he has the right to spend his money in any way he pleases.