Abigail E-Book

Fiona Doyle

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

A man in his forties and a woman in her twenties meet on a trip to Berlin. Across a fractured timeline where past and present collide, the story of their relationship, their love and their struggle unravels. Fiona Doyle's play Abigail premiered at The Bunker, London, in 2017. The play was shortlisted for the Eamon Keane Full-Length Play Award.

Leseprobe

Fiona Doyle

ABIGAIL

NICK HERN BOOKSLondonwww.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Original Production

Acknowledgements

Epigraph

Characters

Abigail

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Abigail was first performed at The Bunker, London, on 10 January 2017. The cast was as follows:

WOMAN

Tia Bannon

MAN

Mark Rose

Director

Joshua McTaggart

Designer

Max Dorey

Lighting Designer

Christopher Nairne

Sound Designer

Andy Josephs

Co-Producers

Zoë Robinson

Joel Fisher

Production Manager

James Anderton

Photography

Jasper Soloff

Acknowledgements

Abigailwas one of the first plays I wrote so the response it drew at the time was very encouraging from an emerging-writer point of view. With that in mind, thank you to the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, the Eamon Keane Full-length Play Award, Theatre503, Diyan Zora, Thomas Conway, and Will Mortimer. Thank you also to the actors Charlie De Bromhead and Kathryn O’Reilly for taking part in a read-through of an earlier draft. And thanks in particular to Joshua McTaggart, Sarah Joyce and all at The Bunker who took the ‘nearly there’ play and made it happen.

F.D.

‘Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past.’

‘Burnt Norton’,Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot

Characters

MAN, mid-fortiesWOMAN, mid-twenties

Note on Text

A forward slash (/)indicatesthe point where the immediately following dialogue, or action, interrupts.

A dash (–)indicatesthe point where a line of dialogue is abruptly cut off by the speaker themselves or by something/ someone else.

An ellipsis (…) indicates a hesitation, a thought changing track, being lost for words.

The absence of a punctuation mark at the end of a line interrupted by a forward slash(/)indicates that the line of dialogue would have continued if there had been no interruption.

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

Darkness.

A piercing sound.

It increases in volume, getting louder and louder until…

1. Kitchen

MANis sitting at table. He is unshaven, barefoot and dressed casually. There’s a half-empty beer bottle in front of him.WOMANis wearing a smart black dress and she is looking at him.

Silence.

WOMAN. Why aren’t you dressed?

MAN. There was snow when we landed.

Beat.

You had snow in your hair. Walking to the terminal. / There was snow.

WOMAN. Put some socks on.

MAN. Unseasonal weather patterns. (Smiles.) D’you remember? There was something strange going on alright.

Beat.

You let that taxi go and I knew then. When you let / that taxi go.

WOMAN. They won’t hold the table.

MAN. Berlin still reminds me of you. With snow in your hair.

Beat.

So we got the next one together. You were looking out the window at the snow. And you joked about the plane coming down. Remember? You joked about it. Weren’t we lucky the plane hadn’t crashed. Weren’t we lucky we hadn’t crashed in a snowstorm. And you looked at me and smiled. You’d a beautiful smile. I knew I’d spend a long time with you then. I knew we’d go past that. Through it. Out the other side into a life together, y’know?

Pause.

WOMAN. Don’t.

MAN. You’ve a beautiful smile.

WOMAN. You can’t.

MAN. I’m sorry I couldn’t make you smile more.

WOMAN. …

MAN. Things start. Then they end –

WOMAN. Try again –

MAN. I tried. I did.

WOMAN. / Try again.

MAN. But I can’t undo it. I can’t undo what we’ve done, what we’ve –

WOMAN. We?

Silence.

MAN. It all passes. This has passed.

They look at each other.WOMANsuddenly breaks a plate. He stares at the pieces for a moment, then exits. She stands there frozen to the spot.

2. Airport, Berlin

WOMANis standing in the snow waiting for a taxi.MANenters and stands beside her.

MAN. Might be a while. Before another one comes.

WOMAN. What? I…

Pause.

MAN. What’s your name again?

WOMAN. I remember yours.

Beat.

MAN. You look like a Kate. You a Kate?

WOMANshakes her head.

Not a Kate. Alice? Not Kate, not Alice. Grace?

She shakes her head.

Helen?

Same.

Joanna? Martina? Tracey?

WOMAN. Tracey?

Beat.

No.

MAN. Tell me.

WOMAN. Again.

MAN. Tell me again.

WOMAN. I’ll think about it.

They wait.

MAN. I’m just here for work. Not on my list of places to see before I die, y’know?

WOMAN. You have a list?

MAN. I have a list. It’s a long list. Great Wall of China for starters. Then Chichén Itzá, / then

WOMAN. Where?

MAN. Ancient Mayan city. Mexico. There’s this temple right, and if you get there at the right time of year, when the sun and the earth are –

WOMAN. Equinox?

MAN. That’s the one. So if you’re there for an equinox this shadow appears. This long dark shadow and it attaches itself to a serpent’s head sitting at the base of the pyramid. This… serpent’s head made of stone. Perfectly aligned. Same time every year for thousands of years. Incredible. So that’s definitely on the list. Great Wall of China, Chichén Itzá, Petra, Ayers Rock –

WOMAN. Where’s Petra?

MAN. Jordan. Huge palaces carved into the mountainside. It’s a long list.

They wait.

Hands not cold?

WOMAN. A bit.

MAN (removing his gloves and offering them to her).Here.

WOMAN. Won’t yours be now?

MAN. I’ll live.

She puts them on.

Too early for snow. Unseasonal weather patterns is what they’re saying. Very strange.(Starts humming quietly.)Been stuck in my head all day long.

They look at each other. He leans in. She laughs.

…