Black Hills E-Book

Emma Zadow

• Herausgeber: Renard Press
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 61

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Set between the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1973 and East Coast suburbia in 1968, Black Hills picks out a stark portrait of intricate familial relationships, and how dark events in the past must be addressed before they take root. Toying with heavy themes, and engaging with the notions of American identity and domestic violence, Black Hills is a thought-provoking tour of one family's past that leaves a lasting impression.

Leseprobe

BLACK HILLS: Original reading at Pleasance Theatre in 2019, directed by Tess Agus, Movement Direction by Sean Croft, Produced by Mark Lindow. Scott played by Christopher Hunter, Joanie played by Madeleine Daly, Carrie played by Mel Woodbridge and Darryl played by Mark Grindrod.

Special thanks to Anthony Lau and Jules Haworth at the Soho Theatre Writers Lab.

by the same author:

fridge

playscript I

9781913724238

IN THE MOSS

playscript II

9781913724559

BLACK HILLS

EMMA ZADOW

renard press

Renard Press Ltd

124 City Road

London EC1V 2NX

United Kingdom

[email protected]

020 8050 2928

www.renardpress.com

Black Hills first published by Renard Press Ltd in 2022

Text © Emma Zadow, 2022Cover design by Will Dady

Renard Press is proud to be a climate positive publisher, removing more carbon from the air than we emit and planting a small forest. For more information see renardpress.com/eco.

Emma Zadow asserts her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, used to train artificial intelligence systems or models, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior permission of the publisher.

EU Authorised Representative: Easy Access System Europe – Mustamäe tee 50, 10621 Tallinn, Estonia, [email protected].

Permission for producing this play may be applied for via the publisher, using the contact details above, or by emailing [email protected].

Contents

Black Hills

Characters

Scene One

Scene Two

Scene Three

Scene Four

Scene Five

Scene Six

Scene Seven

Scene Eight

Scene Nine

Acknowledgements

About the Author

black hills

characters

carrie

Late forties, 1968.

scott

Mid twenties, 1968 and 1973.

joanie

Early twenties, 1973.

darryl

Late forties, 1973.

The action takes place in the same space – a kitchen and diner. All actors remain on stage, unless specified, moving in and out of focus between 1968 and 1973. There is a small bar counter stage left, and a table and four chairs stage right. A door upstage centre serves both 1968 and 1973. There is a second entrance downstage left. The kitchen and diner are not two separate places, but rather exist together, overlapping with each other on stage. A collage.

notes

A colour indicates a shift in light and character.

Scene one

A kitchen on the east coast of America, 1968. There are clothes, make-up, a few books and bottles strewn across the floor. The remnants of a party. Radio tuning sound hisses. ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’ by Middle of the Road echoes.Blue light floods the space. carrie nurses a martini, and is collapsed on the floor, cross-legged. She wears a peignoir gown and dress set in a faded peach or coral pastel colour. She lights a cigarette. Inhales. Exhales with relief. She crawls with her cigarette to a cereal box on the floor. She looks inside. She pours the cereal into her hand and eats a few bits dry. Unsatisfied, she reaches for the nearest bottle. It is only a third full. She uncaps it. She pours it into the cereal box. She watches the last drips fall from the bottle into the box. The cereal crackles and pops. Silence. She looks around for a spoon. Silence.)

scott (offstage): Mom?!

(White. carriepanics. She stubs out her cigarette. In the gloom, she puts on a pair of sunglasses.)

I’m not staying long, but I gotta pick up my bike…

(scottenters. He is smartly dressed. Clean. He looks around at the space.)

Mom—

carrie: Oh, um, yes, I suppose. It is a little… isn’t it?

scott: You’re lucky Joanie’s at softball practice.

carrie: Softball practice. (She giggles.) I forget what sports they come up with these days.

(Pause.)

scott: What’s that noise?

carrie: I don’t hear anything.

scott: That… that popping.

carrie: Crackle. It’s a crackle. Not a pop.

scott: What’s that crackle, then?

carrie: Breakfast.

scott: It’s four. (Pause.) In the afternoon.

(carrie puts her hand in the cereal box and eats the wet cereal loudly.)

scott: Those are Joanie’s.

carrie: I paid for them!

scott: Dad paid for them.

carrie: I bought them!

scott: Why do you do this?

carrie: There wasn’t any milk.

(Pause. scott inspects the room.)

scott: We’ll have to clean all this up.

carrie (cradling her glass): Oh come on, a clean house can only mean one thing.

scott (imitating her): A happy Scott?

carrie: Boring people. Only boring people have clean homes.

(Pause.)

scott: You know what Dad’s like when he knows they’ve been here. And I don’t want that, and you don’t want that, and we don’t want Joanie to know anything about it.

carrie: I like having friends around, and they are very interestingpeople, with ideas you’d like, I think. Very cultured. We just like talking and drinking together… like a book club. A book club with personalities.

scott: I believed that at first, when it was a book club, but now… It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s only… they don’t really belong here, do they? I mean, they’re from the… the Village – they just… well… you know.

carrie: They’re what, from big bad New York City?

scott: You know.

carrie: I know a lot about a lot. But please remind me. I’m curious.

(Pause.)

Oh, do spit it out!

scott: They… they don’t mix with green grass and cinnamon toasts, all right?

carrie: Do you have a problem with creative people, Scott?

scott: No, I don’t. They’re… wonderful people, they are. But they don’t belong here.

carrie: Why not?

scott: They’re happy.

carrie: But we’re happy, aren’t we?

(Pause. scottbegins to fold the clothes up into a neat pile upstage.)

Oh, aren’t we superb liars?! I always thought you should have trodden the boards. I could always call my old agent and pull a few strings. So easily done these days!

scott: I don’t think so.

carrie: It would be such a shame to put that talent to waste.

scott: I have other talents.

carrie: You’re… patient.

scott: Patience isn’t a talent. I do have other virtues.

carrie: But none as fun as lying to people who love you. Who love you because of it, and who come back to see the same show again and again. There’s no greater thrill than telling a lie and getting away with it.

scott: Oh, I think…

(He stops himself. He notices a stain in the middle of the space. He starts to scrub the floor with a cloth from his pocket.)

carrie: Go on. You were about to—

scott: It really doesn’t matter.

carrie: Come on.

scott: I said it doesn’t matter. Just an idea.

carrie: Try explaining that one to your father.

(scottrolls up his sleeves and continues to scrub. He wipes his forehead. carrie studies him from the side.)

You know, you’ve got the perfect profile for Arthur Miller. All that frowning. And strong knees, too. His men always end up on their knees. If you’re on your knees in a Miller, you know you’re going to get the best lines.

(She inspects him from the other side, like a racehorse.)

Perfect.

scott: I hate the theatre. It’s just a bunch of people saying