Jake – White man, 29, an ex–dog walker with too much gel in his hair and not enough experience. Nervous. Just trying to do his job.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSB9XJvKNYL
Bangwa Queen – Sacred. Watchful. Royal statue spirit from Cameroon.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRVSJe0rmi
Amanirenas – Kandake of Kush. Unbowed. Regal fury.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSbCB60Rxo
Tabot – A sacred relic from Ethiopia. Glows faintly. Voice of divinity.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlxhQIHgZHy
Pokomo Drum – Rhythmic, echoing voice. Once ceremonial. Now forgotten.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEe8xPtUApL
Child Spirit – Gentle voice of future generations.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7qP9uLcXJ
Statue – Deep voice. Represents the forgotten makers.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZK2etXDyg
Imhotep – Spirit of ancient knowledge. Stern, poetic.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkN0MJ5ee8d
Nyasha – A weaver spirit, bearer of memory and folklore. (A public address announcement echoes through the gallery. Dim lighting. Security doors click shut in the distance. Enter JAKE, holding an energy drink, checking his phone. He walks slowly, reading the plaques on display.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgcyTY6LYXr
PA SYSTEM (O.S.)Ladies and gentlemen, the Museum will be closing in 30 minutes. Please begin to make your way to the nearest exit. We hope you have enjoyed your visit today at the British Museum.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKjiFIFfqD
JAKE Alright, first night. Don’t touch anything. Don’t break anything. Easy enough.(He reads plaques out loud as he walks.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiek5vbSwnx
JAKE (cont’d)“Sainsbury African Galleries”… dope… “Sacred Tabot of Axum”—sounds intense… “Pokomo drum, origin unknown”… “Royal crown, possibly decorative”… ohhh—Sculpture of—
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6jhV8Umngd
(The lights flicker. A faint tremble in the floor.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJtulMANqr
BANGWA QUEEN (O.S.)Didn’t your mother teach you not to touch the sacred?
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQc0YAxT8P
JAKE (stumbling back) Okay! Okayyyyy I didn’t realize it was interactive!
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEALHBihog
STATUE (O.S.) I did not agree to be encased in dust and glass for two hundred years.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZsYzrhbsP4
JAKE Nope. Nope. What in Margaret Thatcher’s ghost is going on—
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Em21XMnpN
STATUE Your ancestors plundered kingdoms. And you fear statues?
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ394IByXE57
(A figure begins to take form—AMANIRENAS, regal and silent, emerges from shadow.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5SeY8NPv3
AMANIRENAS They called me Kandake.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCbhWu453J
JAKE (backing up)Listen, Your Majesty or—I’m just here to—
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAP7T5d2mzP
AMANIRENAS They called me Kandake. I buried kings. I defied Rome. And now I gather dust beside my children’s stolen bones.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaO6bZXQYB
JAKE (reading label nervously)Well… technically it says “acquired” on your label.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2Roxi7bL8
AMANIRENAS (stepping closer)I was acquired by…gunpowder and gospel. By treaties signed in blood. I was taken in 1736 — hacked from my resting place while my people fled flame.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2i0ALgwI1P
(A soft rhythm begins to build.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLaDVIB0Ti
POKOMO DRUM (O.S.)I sang weddings into being. I summoned rain. Now I sit behind glass while my land forgets my voice.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTaebDWt2e
JAKEOkay, that’s a drum. That is a talking drum.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSFqM5Thav
TABOT (O.S.)No eyes but the priest’s should behold me. And yet here I am. Spectacle. Souvenir.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1NLqaNnA8
STATUEEvery label reads “origin unknown.” But we remember.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblblQKXXYg
AMANIRENASWe remember.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNLCRKKyxy
BANGWA QUEENWe remember the flames. The chains. The quiet prayers under stolen stars.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR4RnNLTIgC
CHILD SPIRIT (O.S.)They took my mother’s beads. Now children search for themselves in foreign tongues.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzivucAVwKT
JAKE (gripping walkie-talkie)Central, uh, we got a… we got a spiritual breach in the African Galleries—
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsgRuF7QCm
STATUE You wear the keycard. You hold the codes. But you don’t hold the story.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUhff1dc7h
POKOMO DRUM We have waited in silence. But silence is not our name.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe4pKldInWc
TABOT Return is not a favor. It is justice.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbmQRHZdcd
AMANIRENAS And if the living do not return us, the dead will.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTmCEdHBpT
(The room begins to shift. The glass displays fade. Warm light spills in. Trees. Drums. Laughter.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjRzM1GWxi
BANGWA QUEEN You think us relics. But we are prophecy. The earth still sings us. The sky still waits.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6sdQdUyOt
JAKE (softly)What do you want from me?
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrk1nfByJXw
CHILD SPIRIT To listen.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGzAda4BWS
STATUE To remember. To return what was never yours.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLfOV3WinqQ
AMANIRENAS I would like a refund.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWulQ5sSMC
(Enter IMHOTEP, ancient and slow.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8h9cpARtj2
IMHOTEP We built pyramids not just from stone, but from memory. And you built walls to forget. You say 'civilization' like we were not the blueprint.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaPYr1Wnnu
NYASHA (O.S.)I was a weaver. My fingers spun stories into cloth. Where is that cloth now? Framed behind glass. Labeled anonymous.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxB2cspXUi
JAKE (to himself) This isn't happening…
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eNYtd5oUy
IMHOTEP It is always happening. You just stopped noticing. You stopped listening.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaoXaSnh6P
NYASHA The loom still turns. The spirits still hum. Even in silence, we create.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZbPnlrypD
TABOT Behold us not as prisoners. We are archives. We are breath.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dNybPQBsE
JAKE Okay… okay. I hear you. What can I do?
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6bwi00qkM
BANGWA QUEEN Do not write us off in plaques. Write us back into your memory.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2xVd5vZQP
CHILD SPIRIT Tell our stories to your children. Let them learn the truth not from exhibits, but from ancestors.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1zrcOvWaH
JAKE (steps toward Tabot)What happens if I… release you?
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2Cx6gXAvJ
TABOT (glowing faintly)Then the covenant is restored. Not with kings, but with the people.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMyFycIKqb
AMANIRENAS Return begins with a single step.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQqojxv8Xw
JAKE But I’m just a night guard.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHtS2XUrhh
STATUE You are a door. Be a door that opens.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvnHtLuMEd
(The gallery walls shimmer again. The relics seem to breathe.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89nl7p4lFJ
NYASHA The looms spin again. The songs rise.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡClv4q37Aql
POKOMO DRUM The beat remembers. The beat forgives.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5Q4StrhvB
(A long silence. Jake looks around. He kneels.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwT05HMKIeN
JAKE Then I return what I can. Beginning with truth.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZ3Q2bHFzk
(He picks up the plaque: “Unknown Artisan.” He places it on the floor.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegUjhDEEuZ
JAKE (reading aloud) Unknown no more. Known. Remembered.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPd8fEknahV
ALL (O.S., in harmony)We remember.
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7znyqqoU92
(Lights dim. The gallery stills.)
39Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11obu2cBdt
BLACKOUT.
ns216.73.216.154da2
