Slit Ring
Siyu Lei
→BFA PT & SC 2025
Slit Ring is a play inspired by death and reincarnation in video games like The House in Fata Morgana and by tragic operas like Rainer Maria Rilke’s The Sonnets to Orpheus: XIX, Hermann Hesse’s Demian, and Kong Shangren’s The Peach Blossom Fan. The story takes place in a dynasty on the verge of collapse. As the narrative unfolds in a series of endless loops, Slit Ring’s characters are reincarnated again and again as they try to escape their tragic fates imposed by the script. This excerpt features Monk, who in an earlier incarnation was the crown prince, and Kun Opera Dan, who was Princess Giselle, the prince’s betrothed from a foreign nation. Slit Ring is a work in progress and can be read in its various stages at leisiyu.org. The play contains themes of violence and graphic imagery in a fictional context. Please read at your own discretion.
SCENE SEVEN
MONK
There was the sound of blades far away
There is the sound of blades again
Creatures with bodies buried deep inside
Out of nowhere
Grow a thousand hands like ribbons
Tying the most innocent two
Hatred and blood
Flowing
Like tears flowing silently
MONK
There was the sound of blades far away
There is the sound of blades again
Creatures with bodies buried deep inside
Out of nowhere
Grow a thousand hands like ribbons
Tying the most innocent two
Hatred and blood
Flowing
Like tears flowing silently
(Exits MONK)
(Enters the MUTE)
(The MUTE went for a walk in the garden of the West Palace. As she walks past a field of hemlocks, she hears someone singing,)
GISELLE
Though the world keeps changing its form
as fast as a cloud, still
what is accomplished falls home
to the primeval
Nothing and nobody ever mattered
the fate of this world is settled
and what removes us from death
is not revealed
Only us through the field
hallows and heals
Though the world keeps changing its form
as fast as a cloud, still
what is accomplished falls home
to the primeval
Nothing and nobody ever mattered
the fate of this world is settled
and what removes us from death
is not revealed
Only us through the field
hallows and heals
(GISELLE is wearing a veil on her face. The MUTE walks towards her from behind.)
CHORUS
Their love is an eternal song
Others are as light as cloud
Because they are distinguished
They could be excused from death
And for the rest of us
Fate settles us in this living hell
What’s in your pocket?
Their love is an eternal song
Others are as light as cloud
Because they are distinguished
They could be excused from death
And for the rest of us
Fate settles us in this living hell
What’s in your pocket?
(The MUTE puts her hand in her pocket, and grabs the object in her hand.)
It’s smooth and flat
It is your keepsake
If you show it to her
She will know who you are
It is your keepsake
If you show it to her
She will know who you are
(The MUTE reaches the object closer and closer to GISELLE.)
The shine of it is so bright,
Exceeds all the jewels,
Knife!
It’s your knife!
The knife you once shaved apple peels with
Exceeds all the jewels,
Knife!
It’s your knife!
The knife you once shaved apple peels with
(The object reached the back of GISELLE’s neck. GISELLE turns her head and a knife slits the side of GISELLE’s neck.)
CHORUS
HAHA!
She deserved it
She caused your pathetic fate
She can’t escape.
None of us can escape.
HAHA!
She deserved it
She caused your pathetic fate
She can’t escape.
None of us can escape.
(The MUTE shakes her head and sees someone’s shadow, the knife drops to the floor. GISELLE collapses on the ground, losing consciousness.)
CHORUS
No one has seen her face before
What if you take her veil
And put it on your face?
No one has seen her face before
What if you take her veil
And put it on your face?
(The MUTE puts on GISELLE’s veil. The MUTE cries as the shadow comes closer and closer. The MUTE runs towards the bedroom of GISELLE. As she runs, she turns her head to see who is the shadow ...)
SCENE EIGHT
MONK
Sing the song
Until you cough blood
Only the moon understands
Appearing red readily above
In the room
Sparking through the night
Illuminating evidence of committed crimes
Indefensible ones
Hung on the hemlock they once stepped on
[…]
KUN OPERA DAN
一刀断曲血玉碎
几点桃花乱染砌
怎想风吹杂草惊
狸猫择路慌逃去1
后花园巷草青青
刀弩声高众乐停2
两身一魂自不续
望肠寸断万事宁3
千愁万恨过花时
人去人来酒一卮4
唱尽曲词无人识
静待僧鸟离枯枝5
MONK
Sing the song
Until you cough blood
Only the moon understands
Appearing red readily above
In the room
Sparking through the night
Illuminating evidence of committed crimes
Indefensible ones
Hung on the hemlock they once stepped on
[…]
KUN OPERA DAN
一刀断曲血玉碎
几点桃花乱染砌
怎想风吹杂草惊
狸猫择路慌逃去1
后花园巷草青青
刀弩声高众乐停2
两身一魂自不续
望肠寸断万事宁3
千愁万恨过花时
人去人来酒一卮4
唱尽曲词无人识
静待僧鸟离枯枝5
SCENE FIFTEEN
MONK
People go around and come around, death is the opening. Characters loop forever, look to where words end.MONK
MONK
You have completed a world
A script that grows in silence
Most profound your heart
Grasping its meaning
Most gentle your eyes
Letting it go...
I think she is
done with these
Broken poems
At the slit
We are blowing away
To the boundless end
We're leaving
The bird flies to God
God's name is…
Ever goodbye
You have completed a world
A script that grows in silence
Most profound your heart
Grasping its meaning
Most gentle your eyes
Letting it go...
I think she is
done with these
Broken poems
At the slit
We are blowing away
To the boundless end
We're leaving
The bird flies to God
God's name is…
Ever goodbye
KUN OPERA DAN
你完成了一个世界
一个在寂静中渐熟的剧本
然而当你的深心
掌握它的意义
你双眼轻柔地
将其释去…
我想她
已讲完这
破碎的诗篇
在这断裂处
我们被吹起
飘向无垠的尽头
我们要离开了
鸟飞向神
神的名字叫…
就此永别
你完成了一个世界
一个在寂静中渐熟的剧本
然而当你的深心
掌握它的意义
你双眼轻柔地
将其释去…
我想她
已讲完这
破碎的诗篇
在这断裂处
我们被吹起
飘向无垠的尽头
我们要离开了
鸟飞向神
神的名字叫…
就此永别
Siyu Lei wants to see paper blown away.
NOTES
- Sever the tune and blood jade shatter
Dye the stone with peach blossom scatter
Who knows the wind startled the weed
Run down that road disguised cat seek
-
In the garden weed grows green
Sound of bow made music dim - Two of one soul calling end
Wishing all could have a rest - Thousand sorrow pass their bloom
Cup of wine, cheered by whom - Finished my words that can’t reach
Until monk bird leave dry branch