Chaos E-Book

Laura Lomas

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Serie: NHB Modern Plays
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 49

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

A girl is locked in a room. A boy brings another boy flowers. A girl has tied herself to a railing. A boy doesn't know who he is. A girl worries about impending catastrophe. A woman jumps in front of a train. A boy's heart falls out his chest. A butterfly has a broken wing. Laura Lomas's play Chaos is a symphony of dislocated and interconnected scenes. A series of characters search for meaning in a complicated and unstable world. Bouncing through physics, the cosmos, love and violence, they find order in the disorder of each other. Written specifically for young people, the play formed part of the 2019 National Theatre Connections Festival and was premiered by youth theatres across the UK. It offers opportunities for a large, flexible cast of any size or mix of genders, and can incorporate chorus work, movement and music.

Leseprobe

Laura Lomas

CHAOS

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Dedication

Thanks

Chaos

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Chaos was commissioned as part of the 2019 National Theatre Connections Festival and premiered by youth theatres across the UK, including a performance at the National Theatre in June 2019.

Each year the National Theatre asks ten writers to create new plays to be performed by young theatre companies all over the country. From Scotland to Cornwall and Northern Ireland to Norfolk, Connections celebrates great new writing for the stage – and the energy, commitment and talent of young theatremakers.

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/connections

For Tom Wells, with love and thanks

Thanks

I would like to thank Ros Terry, Tom Lyons, Jane Fallowfield, Lucy Morrison, Rachel Taylor, Helena Clark, Debbie Hannan, Lisa Spirling, the cast of the National Youth Theatre who workshopped the play, and everyone who makes National Theatre Connections possible. Special thanks to all the young people who performed it. This play was written for you, and belongs to you.

I would also like to thank my friends and teachers from the youth theatres I attended when I was younger – especially Vicky Harrison, Rebecca Kelly, Laura Moore, James Burke, Rachel Beddow and Lauren Calladine, whose support and friendship have meant the world.

L.L.

Note on the Text

The play was written for a flexible cast size.

All characters are suggestions – names, genders and pronouns can be changed if necessary, and parts distributed to suit the needs of the company.

Where character names are given it is for ease of reading, and to encourage continuity between scenes – the same actor should play the same part. This should be adhered to if possible.

Where characters are numbered they need not be played by the same actor each time.

The scenes should be symphonic, acting like a piece of music, that grows and evolves over the course of the play.

Companies are encouraged to find the connections. It’s nice if stories emerge, it’s okay if they don’t. Not everything needs to make sense.

Objects can vary – different-sized balls, flowers different colours, etc.

Punctuation is used to indicate rhythm and emphasis. Where there is a notable lack of commas, for example, then it might indicate the speed and urgency with which the line should be delivered.

On here, the differences in font size and format is used to indicate speed and emphasis. Companies should feel free to interpret this in any way that feels appropriate to their production, bearing in mind that this section should embody a sense of chaos.

Stage directions can be spoken.

/ marks a point of interruption.

[ ] is to give clarity of intention but where words should not be spoken.

Maybe all the cast are on stage throughout.

Maybe there’s music.

Maybe there’s movement.

Maybe it’s chaotic.

Lights up.

A boy is bouncing a ball.

He catches it.

Looks at it.

Lights out.

Lights up.

A girl is stood with a bunch of flowers.

She looks at them.

Lights out.

Lights up.

A butterfly. With a broken wing.

It flickers on the ground. Electric.

Lights out.

PART ONE

Train

–

So it’s Saturday and I’m stood on this train platform and it’s busy, everyone is like packed, like jammed in, you know an it’s early, like twenty to nine or something, and I’m on my way to work. The air feels still, almost wet somehow and I wouldn’t normally even be on this platform, cus normally, my mum, she gives me a lift but since, she and my dad, since they like… split, I’ve been getting the train when I stay at my dad’s and so I’m standing there on this platform, and I can feel all these bodies…

All these bodies, and it’s like they’re too close, somehow, too much, cus I can feel them, it’s like we’re one organism, one thing, moving, breathing, we’re that tight and I look to my left, and out the corner of my eye, I can see this

boy

my age, maybe, or maybe younger, and he’s bouncing this ball

this small, like tiny ball, he’s stood at the back of the platform, listening to music on his headphones, not really concentrating, and I look at the clock and it says 8.42, and I know that the train is coming, cus although I can’t see it, I get that feeling in my legs like vibrating, and the air is changing, on the platform, it’s sort of sucking us, and I look to my right and there’s this woman next to me

she’s holding these flowers, yellow, and she’s moving, like sort of pushing her way, just a little bit, and I don’t think anything, and this boy at the back is still bouncing this ball, bouncing and catching, bouncing and catching, and I look at the clock and it’s 8.43 and the train is coming, cus I can see the lights now it’s sort of pulling, and the feeling in my legs is now in my stomach and the platform is getting ready, we’re like, getting ready to like fight cus we’re not all getting on, and the boy bounces this ball, and there’s suddenly this moment, this feeling where I know, where I know exactly what’s going to… but it’s too late, cus the ball is already… and the train is already… and I feel the ball hit me and it’s like there’s a rip, like a tear in the universe, cus this isn’t, none of this is supposed to… I look up and see this

butterfly

this tiny

fragile

thing

sort of hovering, suspended somehow for a moment, and then I feel it… the force, and I’m falling, sort of

spinning