Blister E-Book

Laura Lomas

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

Seitenzahl: 76

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

A tense relationship drama which examines how the effects of one moment can ripple through a galaxy of lives. An ordinary summer's day. Liam is about to make a decision he will spend a lifetime regretting. One day. One mistake. Seven futures sent spiralling. From service stations to sea fronts, Blister explores the limits of forgiveness and the tragic permanence of trauma. Laura Lomas's play Blister was first performed at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, in collaboration with Paines Plough, before performances at the Gate Theatre, London. The Nick Hern Books Multiplay Drama series features large-cast plays specifically written to be performed by and appeal to young people.

Leseprobe

Laura Lomas

BLISTER

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Introducing Multiplay Drama

Original Production

Characters

Blister

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Introducing Multiplay Drama

John O’Donovan

Every year, a great number of original plays are commissioned and performed by drama schools, educational institutions, and youth, student and amateur-theatre companies. Reading them, talking to their writers, seeing them in production, we are always struck by the complexity of their themes, the invention of their storytelling and the calibre of their playwrights.

Some of these plays are revived in professional productions – for instance, Growth by Luke Norris was first seen at the Royal Welsh College before being revised and produced on tour by Paines Plough in their pop-up theatre, Roundabout, and winning a Fringe First Award in Edinburgh – but most haven’t yet had a further life. It seems like the very raison d’être of many of these plays – the creation of large-scale complex pieces for young, large casts – has meant theatre companies, hamstrung by ever-shrinking budgets, haven’t been able to find a way to give the plays the continuing existence that they deserve.

That’s why Nick Hern Books has created Multiplay Drama – a new series aiming to bring back to the fore some of the best plays for large casts we’ve read. Offering ten high-quality plays that originated with various drama schools and youth-theatre companies, it provides a selection of ambitious, complex, dramatic and theatrical plays with one common factor: large casts of rich, exciting characters for teenagers and young adults to perform.

No one-person shows. No knotty two-handers. No triptychs. These are plays with big ideas and need big companies to put them across. From the relatively modest seven-hander Blue to the 75+ speaking characters in katzenmusik, these plays offer multiple perspectives and clamorous takes on some of the most important issues of today.

In making these plays available to read and perform, we’re hoping to see a legion of other drama schools, youth theatres, student-drama societies, sixth-form colleges and amateur-theatre companies gaining ready access to the kinds of plays that interrogate both theatrical storytelling form as vigorously as they question the world we live in today. In every play in this first ‘season’ of the initiative, actors will find roles that are fleshed out and demand self-reflection, that justify their time on the stage and find their place within a larger set of characters.

If your performance group is looking for a play that builds a post-apocalyptic world and focuses on a large group of identifiable characters navigating through a dystopian vision of Britain – we have the play for you; if you prefer a play where a Chorus comes and narrates across time zones and locations, splitting up voices to tell a fragmented story – we have the play for you; if you want to wonder what it’s like to spend every day in a psychiatric unit; or in mourning for a loved one; or even what it’s like to metamorphose into an animal – we have the plays for you…

Multiplay Drama is a great way for plays with large casts to find even larger audiences. Commissioned by some of the most illustrious educational and youth groups in the country, and featuring playwrights whose work has been seen on the most celebrated of stages, these ten plays offer rigorous storytelling, unflinching explorations of contemporary issues, and a willingness to experiment with theatrical form and invest even the smallest of roles with significance and dignity. They are ideal for companies with a lot of performers looking for fresh, modern and dramatic stances on the world we live in today.

John O’Donovan is Consultant Editor at Nick Hern Books.

An exciting new series of large-cast plays, specifically written to be performed by and appeal to older teenagers and young adults.

Blister

The Red Helicopter

Laura Lomas

Robin French

Blue

Skunk

Joe Ward Munrow

Zawe Ashton

katzenmusik

Spooky Action at a Distance

Tom Fowler

Eve Leigh

Landmines

THREE

Phil Davies

Sophie Ellerby

The Real Estate

VS09

Freddie Machin

Hayley Squires

‘Some of the freshest and most relevant theatre being made today is when dynamic next-generation playwrights collaborate with young companies and drama schools. Making these plays available will continue to bring them to life in new and exciting ways. A brilliant initiative.’ Sarah Frankcom, Artistic Director of Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, and Director Designate of LAMDA

www.multiplaydrama.co.uk

Blister was commissioned and first performed by Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, in collaboration with Paines Plough, at the Bute Theatre, Cardiff, on 1 April 2014. The cast was as follows:

CHARLIE

Rebecca Durbin

BECKY

Mari Izzard

LIAM

Danny Mellor

JAMIE

Mark Newsome

LISA

Tessie Orange-Turner

DAVEY

Robin Willingham

ASHLEY

Jay Worley

Director

Stef O’Driscoll

Set & Costume Designer

Isa Shaw-Abulafia

Assistant Costume Designer

Helen Rodgers

Lighting Designer

Sam Griesser

Sound Designer

Neil Campbell

Assistant Production Manager

Cam Balfour

Stage Manager

Hannah Royall

Deputy Stage Manager

Alyson Sundal

Assistant Stage Manager

Kate Louisa Ashford

The production was subsequently performed at the Gate Theatre, London.

Characters

LISA

LIAM

BECKY

JAMIE

CHARLIE

DAVEY

ASHLEY

Scene 1

A bench at the top of Rykneld Park. Late evening. LIAM is sitting alone, drinking a can. LISA arrives behind him. She watches him a moment, he turns and sees her, and looks back again across the city line.

She hesitates before moving a bit closer to him.

LISA. Alright if I sit down?

He nods, she does so.

He drinks from his can.

Been looking for you.

Went all over Sev’s. All round the park.

LIAM drinks from his can.

I’m sorry I missed your calls. My phone was on silent.

I tried calling you back. Few times actually, sent you a few messages.

You get them, Liam?

Liam /

LIAM. Left my phone at home.

LISA nods.

LISA. Went home, thought you’d be there at first.

Mum said she didn’t know where you’d gone.

LIAM shifts awkwardly.

Been walking round for ages before I thought of checking up here.

She half-smiles.

What you drinking?

He shows her the can.

From the shop?

LIAM doesn’t answer.

Got a message, from Davey Sutton. He was down at the shops, said you’d gone down there. Said you were looking for me.

LIAM shifts awkwardly.

You alright, Liam?

LIAM. Course I’m alright /

LISA. It’s just, this message it said, it said that maybe you wasn’t /

LIAM. Well, I am /

LISA. I know but /

LIAM. I just said I was alright. You asked me and I said it, don’t have to keep asking me.

Beat.

LISA. Yeah. Yeah.

A short silence.

I like it up here.

S’nice. Can see all the lights from the city.

I never think to come up here on my own, I don’t know why.

Liam /

LIAM. Where you been?

Pause.

Tried to call you.

LISA. I know, my phone was on silent, I just said /

LIAM. Loads of times, loads and loads of times, Lisa /

LISA. I know /

LIAM. Left you messages, I left you six messages.

LISA. I know /

LIAM. Six, Lisa.

LISA. Liam.

LIAM takes a swig from his drink.

LIAM. Guess you heard what happened, at school /

LISA. I heard a bit.

LIAM. What did you hear?

LISA. You and Adam had a fight.

LIAM. Wasn’t a fight.

LISA. You threatened him.

LIAM. He laughed at me /

LISA. He wouldn’t’ve been laughing at you /

LIAM. I saw him, he was laughing at me /

LISA. You’re overthinking it /

LIAM. Making out like I’m thick, like I’m fucking…

LISA. Why would he be laughing at you, Liam, seriously? You’re being paranoid.

LIAM takes out a piece of paper from his jacket. He hands it to LISA. She reads it, he drinks.

You get this back today?

LIAM doesn’t say anything.

I don’t know why you’re stressing, it’s only one module, don’t matter if you pass or not, you can retake it, can’t / you

LIAM. It’s engineering.

LISA. I know.

LIAM. My BTEC, Lisa, I fucked it /

LISA. You were just having a bad day /

LIAM. You know how hard I tried on that, Lisa, I swear I give it everything /

LISA. Liam…

LIAM. A fucking ‘U’.

LISA. It was just a practice paper, it’s what it’s for /

LIAM. How am I gonna get an apprenticeship when I can’t even pass an exam.

LISA. You’ll pass it /

LIAM. Then Adam, laughing at me /

LISA. He probably wasn’t laughing at you, you probably just caught him at a bad moment.

LIAM. What was he doing then?

LISA. I don’t know, smiling.

LIAM looks away.

You should’ve just ignored him.

Did you hear me?

LIAM chews his lip.

Liam /

LIAM. Where was you? After school. I waited for you, outside the gates.

LISA. I don’t know, I /

LIAM. Text you. Sent you a text message, told you I’d wait for you.

LISA. I never looked at my phone, I /

LIAM. Waited for forty-five minutes, should have just text me back, everyone had gone.

Beat.

LISA. I’m sorry.

LIAM drinks from his can.

I didn’t know you’d be waiting, Liam. I’m sorry.

LIAM. Yeah, well…

He drinks from his can.

LISA. How long you been up here?

LIAM. A bit.

LISA. How long’s a bit?

LIAM. An hour.

He drinks from his can.