Possible Worlds (play) - Plot Synopsis

Plot Synopsis

Possible Worlds starts out with Berkley and Williams, both detectives, at a crime scene where a man, identified as George Barber, has been murdered and the top of his head cut off and his brain stolen.

George, a stock broker, is pursuing Joyce, a scientist. From here on out we follow George through his various with Joyce but all in other “possible worlds”.

George is being interviewed for a job as a broker and we are shown his exceptional, unreal math skills.

George is in the same world as scene 3 but is at a bar. In this scene Joyce, the stockbroker, is pursuing George. This is where we are initially introduces to the concept of “possible worlds” as George tells Joyce about his ability to travel between alternate dimensions.

Scene 5 goes back to Berkely. He is interviewing a scientist, who we learn at the end of the play is named Pensfield. Pensfield is a neuroscientist, and specializes on research of the nervous system. He has many brains in jars hooked up to life support and lights in his lab. In this scene Pensfield has a short speech that is a main focal point of the play, “The question is why do we have imaginations? A rat can only imagine so much. It is limited by the structure of its brain. Creatures like us that can anticipate possible futures and make contingency plans have an evolutionary advantage. We’d be foolish not to use our imaginations, not to investigate every possible fact.” After that Berkely confiscates the rat brain, which is named Louise.

In scene 6 the same setting and actions happen as in scene 2. George meets Joyce, the scientist, only this time he is luckier because I this world Joyce does not flat out reject his advances rather invited George to call her. In this scene we find out that Joyce the scientist is doing research on how to improve intelligence and her specialization is in rat cortexes.

In scene 7 Williams and Berkely are in their office with the rat brain. Williams tell Berkely about a course his wife want him to take to increase intelligence and imagination.

In scene 8 we meet Jocelyn, the teacher of the class designed to increase intelligence and imagination. Jocelyn is played by Joyce. This is one of Joyce’s alternate realities.

In scene 9 George is back with Joyce, the stockbroker. This is the first scene that George starts to audibly confuse his surroundings. He confuses Joyce the stockbroker with Joyce the scientist in where they were born. George also tells Joyce about his dream with the slab and block men. The scene moves into his dream and we meet the Guide who is played by Pensfield. The Guide tells George that the men’s brains were probably tampered with and then tells him, “I will kill you in every world.” The scene then goes back to George and Joyce only this time Joyce is the scientist, and her apartment is filled with stones, the same kind of stones that were in Georges dream. George then convinces the workaholic scientist Joyce to take off from work and go to the beach with him.

Scene 10 opens with Williams listening to Jocelyn on tape and is then interrupted by Berkely. They are then visited by the Caretaker of George’s Building. The caretaker tells the detectives about seeing a UFO the night that George died, and tells them that “they” will kill him too.

In scene 11 Joyce is looking at a picture of the beach while telling George about a demonstration that was being held outside her lab in response to one of colleague’s work. Her college is keeping an ape’s brain alive. This is where the alternate worlds start colliding. Scientist Joyce says, “I wasn’t cut out to be a stock broker.” George, confused replies, “What did you say?” In which Joyce says, “I wasn’t cut out to be a scientist”.

Scene 12 Berkely and Williams are at another murder crime scene and the detectives are feeling powerless.

In scene 13 George is back with stockbroker Joyce. In this scene Joyce breaks up with George because she has been seeing someone else. George responds with, “You were the only one… in every world”.

Scene 14 opens with Williams and Berkely again and the topic is Louise, the rat brain. William feels bad for Louise and decides to take the brain back to the scientist because he is the only one who can “help” her.

In Scene 15 George meets with Joyce on a beach. This Joyce is a scientist, but she does not know George, and she has a boyfriend. George tries to tell her that they were once married and lived together and it freaks her out. Joyce insists that he has her mixed up with someone else and tries to run from George. George then attacks Joyce; she bites him and runs off.

Scene 16 is between George and a Doctor, played by Pensfield. In this scene George says when he’s dreaming he sometimes thinks he is falling asleep. This is the part where we, the viewer, finally have the chance to realize that these are not events leading up to George’s death but all of the scenes before excluding the one’s with the detectives, are all constructs of his mind. This is the quote that tells us this; “Above me the sky is full of clouds but they’re hard-edged like glass. The whole sky glitters like glass. I close my eyes and hear voices, and when I open them again I’m surrounded by a net of branches that grow right out of my skin.” At the end of the scene George says, “I know where I am now. There’s only one world. I’ve been dreaming. I’m in a case.”

In scene 17 Williams comes into the office and tells Berkely he’s found the missing brains and the scientist, Pensfield had them all along. We then meet Joyce Barber, George’s real life wife. Joyce is told that her husbands brain is alive and producing rudimentary consciousness that is a very discontinuous “fluctuating dream state”. (

Scene 18 is the last scene of the play. George is with Joyce on the beach. They see a blinking light in the ocean that goes out shortly afterwards before they can figure out what it was. The light is reminiscent of the light that came on with brain activity. The play ends with George and Joyce together on the beach and planning their future about visiting everywhere.