Elaborations on Matthew's complicated emotions and the Stage Direction for him.

Stage directions (Scene Two)

Scene two begins with Matthew, standing towards the left of the display (instead of the right) due to some lighting angle problem in the blackbox. He shivers as he tries to catch his breath. He refers to his cue cards and started reading off it, "The Past".

In fear, he crosses to the right of his display board. There, he gains confidence in speech as he begins on "The Present". He gains speed as he recite his points. He will move further right, pointing at the different degrees of mutated plants that was behind him.

He started gaining confidence and allowing his passion to out rule his emotional ability as he enters a dreamy state of mind. With lots of inspiration and confidence, he exclaimed that he believes in a day when mankind will thank God for the strange and beautiful energy of the atom. The outburst of energy engulfed the whole of him.

As the distant applause is heard, he was stunned by the presentation that he gave. Holding back his ego, he takes deep breaths and tries to calm himself down. A smile can be seen on his face as a symbol of success. This didn't last long. He was forced into the realization that he's father wasn't there for him. Everyone (audience) supported and acknowledged his success, he thought. Till he remembered about his father and established the link between the effect of gamma rays on marigolds and his family. He've lost his sense of success at this point of time after being drawn back to reality by the electronic sounds; becoming very helpless.



Stage Directions (Scene Three part: A)

Still overwhelmed by his ego, he smiles at his victory as his sister, Ruth, attempts to report it to Benjamin, their father. With the sense of satisfaction starting to fade, the scene turns into a quarrel between Benjamin and Ruth. Matthew stood in the middle, as if he's a mediator; helpless. He knows not what to do to calm down and tries to say something but was interrupted everytime the other two shouted at each other. He finally got a chance to ask about the situation and raised a question "you didn't kill it, did you?" (line 253). But Matthew question was ignored when Ben insisted that, "Nanny goes tomorrow". Being in a state of fear, he knows not what to do for he don't want to go against his father. He took a few wary steps back.

The tension was disrupted by the moaning of Ruth over the dead rabbit. Not knowing what happened, Matthew ran over to bottom of the stairs to check out on Ruth, asking if she's alright. Concern and confusion creeps in as he checks on Ruth, but Matthew still shows bravado as he doesn't want his family to be affected by him.

"Shall I call the doctor?" (Line 270)
Matthew as lost all of his enthusiasm for his success in his science presentation but was irritated by the scene created at home. He rushes to call the doctor but was stopped by his father (line 273). Frightened and upset, he suggested on burying the rabbit. Being stuck in a mental hodgepodge, he then changed his mind to bury the rabbit in the morning. He then moved over to Ruth and comforts her...


Stage Directions (Scene Three part: B)

Approximately 5 - 8 seconds will be set aside in silence as the theme music fades in slowly. Tension on stage will slowly build up during that period of time in preparation for "The Conclusion". The conversation between Benjamin and Matthew from line 281 - 285 will be filled with pauses as if they're both in a lost for words due to depression and upset over the World (family matters) they live in. The entrance of the vocal part serves as a cue for Matthew to start his monologue. Initially, it'll be rather monotonous from line 287 to 292. Then Matthew will slowly start to indulge in his own emotional World of fantasy where there's hope in ever thing from line 293, where his passion engulf him. All these passion will then fade away as he returns back to reality. He looks at his hand, and placed them on his heart as he says, "The atoms of our hands, the atoms of our hearts..." It symbolizes whatever he do to help change Benny, may affect him. And that whatever that made up his own hand, his own body, is actually the exact same atoms that made up Benny and everything else in the Universe.

Line 305, "atom, atom, ..."
Matthew remains depress as he look down and chant the first word of atom to himself... He then look up, helpless, as he re-emphasizes the word atom. "What a beautiful word" literally translate to the his realization of the truth, the truth about the atom being so small yet significant in the World that we live in. It not only affect his Father, Benjamin and causes him to create so much damage to the family, but also himself for he knows that he is also a victim of this infectious "radiation" reality.

Cheers,
Chenxing.