Blockwart
Blockwart is an audio play tracing one year in the life of BOULD, a young acting student whose reality begins to blur with the mythic play he’s rehearsing. Set in a fictional Berlin where the seasons carry their own distinct mood, month by month the enigmatic house caretaker BLOCKWART guides the listeners through the unsettling landscape of 2026.
Script, voices, artwork:
Øyvind Renberg
Sound design, mix, music:
Louis McGuire
WEBSITE
https://oyvindrenberg.com
Blockwart
4: APRIL
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this special triple episode, Blockwart installs the building with phone lines. Then an Easter phone call knocks Bould off course. Unsettled and soon potentially bruised, he finds that being «on the receiving end» may save him.
Characters, in order of appearance:
BLOCKWART, house caretakerBOULD, acting student, apartment block tenant
BERTHA, acting student
M.C. LUDVIG, antique furniture shop owner
FADER CORNELIUS, apartment block tenant
SAILOR 1, harbor cafe dweller
DROOPY, apartment block tenant
Featuring single «Buffer Fly» by Fortune Cookie (Boram Hong & Heejong Yoo).
April. I was hooking us up, splicing us onto pathways of communication, putting in the telephone. Mine was the first building on the block. Not a minute too soon. I'd volunteered for the job. Oh, no problem. This is what a man is made for. Climbing a pole in blind man boots and ropes at dawn. The telephone pole. That's the tree's job. Home of the termite. Isn't that right, drumming bird? Anybody home? I would take my coffee up there, swinging gently in the breeze. It felt somehow appropriate looking down from a converted tree at a time like this, feeling all and nothing. Hello, Mr Rat. Who is this? You are on my receiving end. Ah Gustav. I installed a switchboard against Gustav, the old missile entrenched in the basement floor. From there I ran the right line to the right apartment. The building consisted of a front house, plus two side wings and a garden house enclosing the backyard. The apartments were occupied by small families, professionals, couples, workers, and what I would call loners. Bald and droopy, for instance, lived in opposite side wings on the fourth floor. I ran the wires up along chimneys that went through the kitchens, along with telex and television cables that were already there. The things people would stuff up their chimneys. I had to circumvent dead rats, dead cats, compromised fruits and veg contraband weapons last wills. Hello. My name is Mrs Skeletal Mice. I'd like to place a call. May I speak to Mr Mummy Fight Cat? Who is this? Mrs. Hidden Knife? What? Am I on your receiving end? Happy Easter You have to have some fun on the job. I funneled the wires through bricks and lead plumbing, ceramic pipes, crumbling rubber and electrics. Along the gas pipes through yellow insulating new sprint. I would take breaks and read Hindenburg sports chaps and carstart reaches new height. Schleicher steps up to the plate. Beans half price and then through the radioactive panels and electric wallpapers that were coming back then. I finally reached the tenants. I would like to place a call. Her name is Bertha. As in Vig Vig Bertha. You won't be listening, will you? We don't do that. On his new telephone, ear to receiver, mouth to transmitter, Bold was placing a call. Putting you through to Bertha, sir. Thank you. He was standing by his mirror, courtesy of mid-century little kid. It's more of a mirrored mantle, a card for a Stockholm residence, perhaps. It's my Swedish brothel mirror. Before pinning it up by the letter boxes, he hoped Bertha could help him with the finishing touches so as to strike the right balance of a formal yet cordial wording. Bertha, hi. So this is what I've written. He was reading from a carefully scribbled pad. Dear neighbors, I'm planning a housewarming party. I hope it's okay with little noise, but don't hesitate to knock if it gets too loud. Or drop by for a glass. Perhaps we'll make friends. Smiley face. Bold on the fourth floor. Side wing backyard. How's that, Bertha? But Bertha and MC Ludwig were already well underway with their own private get-together.
SPEAKER_01Bold will it be simple? Your body balanced. Will it be cool to the touch? MC.
unknownBold your body will be simple.
SPEAKER_01That's what matters. Balanced, cool to the touch. Eight minus eight. You know what I mean? Also, my mirror. You can do it. Press lemon in the bowl place next to it. It's my mirror. I paid for it. I give you birth now.
unknownBertha. Happy Easter, baby.
SPEAKER_01We were just talking about you. It's the simple bold. We are just talking around Bertha. Over me a champagne. See you in class, bold Easter.
SPEAKER_02Now back to playing with real men.
unknownOysters Butler.
SPEAKER_02Bold got out. On the landing sat Father Cornelius on top of an old ship's sea chest. Bold frowned. What are you looking at? Young stare at it. You come rocked in the mid-sune fell. Jag still attend. Du kommer rakt in i mitt sen fält. Så jag gillade telefon. Telefon på Tishop du högs och skickas nedstören messagskarrivet. Axen send downstream och not skog so what does it mean father? Random What does it mean? The axe not the logger what does that even mean, father? The tree not the otter. A stuffed otter. The otter not the stuffer? What does that mean, father? The shot not the shooter. The knife, not the hand. Praise the Lord, I was knocked over the head down an alleyway. Praise the Lord, I was hit by a bus. Broke, wrong, lost, zero. What took on the eye? How is that a happy Easter? Father, what does it mean? Telephone lines. Are you the caller or the receiver? Then imagine being the guy no one talks about. That's paradise. The void not the bottom dog screen's up does that even mean father? I just popped back up from the basement when I saw the last of Bald's jacket disappear down the street. The air had got saltier. Bald had drifted. He found himself down by the harbour. Still mulling Father Cornelius' words when he happened upon a cafe. A shack half full with punters. Sailors, blonde, bronzed, and blue eyed, sporting snuff boxes laced with glass and speed. Bald was looking for a table when you the Greek are you the Are you the Greek street?
SPEAKER_00Greek sweet? Are you the Greek sweet?
SPEAKER_02How does he know about the Greek sweet? I guess word is getting out.
SPEAKER_00Are you the Greek sweet? Are you the Greek street?
SPEAKER_02I guess I am.
SPEAKER_00Are you the Greek street? How do you know about the Greek Swede? Are you the sweet? Are you the freak sweet? Are you the freak sweet?
SPEAKER_02Down at the young pheasant. At the playhouse. Who wouldn't talk? No.
unknownYou're hard.
SPEAKER_02No, you know I'm Hey. I wanna smear your makeup. Okay. Oh, I wanna dance. Okay, let's dance. Okay. Okay. Man next to my room.
SPEAKER_00Or a circle. Me and the sweet are gonna dance.
SPEAKER_02Leave him alone. Or else? Or else I'll rip you apart. You'll be dreaming of sobbing as sandbags at the Battle of Verdun. Now back to school. Toss off up your father's generationally doomed asses, pissy boys. Boys, men. Let's go.
SPEAKER_00Who are you?
SPEAKER_02Marbles.
SPEAKER_00Who are you?
SPEAKER_02Let's go watch the cherry blossoms.