Growth E-Book

Luke Norris

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

Seitenzahl: 68

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

A painful comedy about growing up and manning up. Tobes is young, free and having a ball. Off. He's successfully ignored his lump for two years but it's starting to get in the way – cramping his style and, worse, affecting his sex life. So now there are pants to be dropped, and decisions to be made... it's a real ball ache. Luke Norris's play Growth was first produced by Paines Plough in their pop-up theatre, Roundabout, at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a Fringe First Award. It subsequently toured the UK. An earlier version of the play was seen at the Gate Theatre, London.

Leseprobe

Luke Norris

GROWTH

NICK HERN BOOKSLondonwww.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Original Production

Epigraph

Acknowledgements

A Note on the Punctuation

Characters

Growth

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Growth was first commissioned and performed by the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in collaboration with Paines Plough. The play opened in Paines Plough’s Roundabout @ Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on 6 August 2016, in a new production by Paines Plough. The cast was as follows:

REMY BEASLEY

RICHARD CORGAN

ANDY RUSH

Director

George Perrin

Lighting Designer

Prema Mehta

Sound Design/ Composition

Dominic Kennedy

Assistant Director

Anna Himali Howard

Senior Producer

Hanna Streeter

Producer

Francesca Moody

Assistant Producer

Sofia Stephanou

Company Stage Manager

Caitlin O’Reilly

Technical Stage Managers

Callum Thomson

Hamish Ellis

‘Growth is the only evidence of life’ John Henry Newman

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all at Paines Plough and RWCMD for giving me the opportunity to write a new play in the first place, and to the original RWCMD cast–Ellie Heydon, Jonny Holden, Oliver Morgan-Thomas, Nina Shenkman, Melanie Stevens and Sam Ward – for the commitment and skill brought to bear on the play’s first incarnation.

Special thanks go to Sean Linnen for directing that version with such sensitivity and conviction.Iowe you one.

Thanks to Andy, Remy and Richard, George, Anna, and Caitlin for the relentless energy and goodwill showered on this version, and for putting up with the endless script changes.

A particularly huge thank-you to Simon Bubb for the unwavering generosity and frankness in helping me research the play.

And finally, as ever, thanks to Jo, for all the hours of enforced dramaturgy…

I promise I’ll split the money this time.

L.N.

Characters

TOBESBETHJAREDELLIEJOFFLILYJULIANLISEJUSTINBESSJACKBILLIEJERMAINELIZAJAMIEIZZYJOEL

A Note on the Punctuation

Generally speaking, speeches should come quickly one after the next.To indicate and encourage this, many lines are written without a full stop at the end

Full stops, meanwhile, don’t necessarily mean the end of a thought.Sometimes they do.But.Sometimes they just indicate a hiatus.

Forward slashes (/) within speeches indicate the point at which the next character starts speaking.

An ellipsis (… ) in place of a speech indicates a pressure or an attempt to speak.

Beats are of varying length, relative to the pace of the scene.Long beats are longer.Obviously.

A question without a question mark indicates a flatness of tone.

I think that’s it.

It’s probably not.

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

One

BETH’s flat.

TOBESandBETH.

TOBES. What?

BETH. I don’t

TOBES. …

BETH. Don’t make me say it again

TOBES. No, do. Do say it again. So I know you mean it

BETH. I don’t, Tobes

TOBES. Why?

BETH. …

TOBES. Why not?

BETH. I just. I’m sorry, I don’t. Not like I should

TOBES. But why?

BETH. There’s notonereason

TOBES. Then give me a few. Give me ten. Or twenty. Give me something, Beth

BETH. It’s not about you, Tobes

TOBES. No?

BETH. No, not really, / no

TOBES. Because it feels like it might be

BETH. It’s not

TOBES. Who’s it about then?

BETH. Me. I suppose

TOBES. You suppose?

BETH. Yeah, mainly

TOBES. What does that mean?

BETH. …

TOBES. I mean there’s no one else is there?

BETH. No

TOBES. Like. That, from your gym, / that

BETH. No! No

TOBES. You’d tell me?

BETH. Yes

TOBES. You would tell me?

BETH. I am telling you

TOBES. It’s not him, then? That meat-head?

BETH. Who?

TOBES. ‘Jermaine’, that meat-head from / your gym

BETH. Don’t call him that

TOBES. Why not?

BETH. He’s a friend

TOBES. He’s a meat-head

BETH. He’s not a meat-head

TOBES. He does star-jumps for a living

BETH. And you sell pot plants. So

TOBES. So what?

BETH. So nothing

TOBES. I like my job

BETH. No you don’t

TOBES. I do

BETH. You said yourself: it’s a dead-end job with dead-end people, you said

TOBES. Is that why you’re leaving me?

BETH. What? No

TOBES. You don’t like my job?

BETH. You don’t like your job! And it’s nothing to do with that anyway

TOBES. What then?

BETH. It doesn’t matter, Tobes

TOBES. Of course it does

BETH. I just. I don’t

TOBES. But why?

BETH. Will you stop asking me that?

TOBES. You haven’t given me an answer!

BETH. I have!

TOBES. But why?

BETH. It’s not my job to fix you, Tobes

TOBES. To fix me?

BETH. To sort this out

TOBES. I didn’t know I was broken

BETH. You’re not

TOBES. Then what’s. What’s changed? I mean what’s changed, / Beth?

BETH. Nothing! Nothing’s changed, that’s the problem, Tobes. Nothing has changed, at all, has it, since we got together. Really. Look at us and look at everyone else. We should’ve been somewhere by now, Tobes, moving forward. Movinginat least, we don’t even live together

TOBES. Well if you want me to move in / I’ll

BETH. I don’t want you to move in

TOBES. Make up your mind!

BETH. I have. That’s it. I’m sorry. I just. I want to get on with it now. My life. Change gear. Do things. Feel things. Do something spontaneous once in a while, instead of only ever going to the pub to watch the football

TOBES. We don’t only ever go to the pub to watch / the

BETH. We did it yesterday

TOBES. It was the derby!

BETH. So?

TOBES. So it’s important!

BETH. It’s not important! Nothing about it is important

TOBES. We’ve just booked a holiday

BETH. I know

TOBES. For next month!

BETH. You can change the name on the / ticket

TOBES. Why did you let us book it?

BETH. I’ll give you the money

TOBES. I don’t want the money

BETH. I wasn’t sure then, Tobes

TOBES. But now you are?

BETH. …

TOBES. Well good for you

BETH. Don’t hate me, Tobes

TOBES. I don’t

BETH. Please don’t

TOBES. I definitely don’t hate you

BETH. This is hard for me too, Tobes, I’m not. I don’t want to be the one who’s hurting you

TOBES. Then don’t. Don’t do it, Beth

BETH. Tobes

TOBES. Please

BETH. It’s done. Now please. For me, just. Man up a bit.

TOBES. …

BETH. Sorry

TOBES. Man up a bit?

BETH. Ignore me, forget I said / that

TOBES. Man up?

BETH. No do what you want, it’s your life.

TOBESlaughs/smiles.

What

TOBES. No, just. My life.

BETH. …

TOBES. Because a minute ago it was ours

BETH. I’m sorry, Tobes. I really am. I just. I don’t

TOBES. Yeah I’ve got it now. Thanks

BETH. I’ll miss you too. I will. I promise

TOBES. Is that my cue, then?

BETH. …

TOBES. Alright. That’s me. The end

BETH. The end

TOBES. Bye, Beth

BETH. Bye, Tobes

TOBES. Bye, Beth. Do you wanna get married?

BETH. …

TOBES. Will you marry me, / Beth?

BETH. Tobes

TOBES. I’m only joking. I’ll see you. Or not. Either way. That’s me. Getting on with it.

Two

A staffroom.

TOBESandJARED, his manager.

JARED. You’re late

TOBES. Sorry

JARED. What are you playing / at?

TOBES. Sorry

JARED. Sorry doesn’t help me, does it? I’ve told you before. Sorry doesn’t sell hedging. Or herbaceous perennials. Or Wimborne Bistro Sets

TOBES. I’m sorry, I just didn’t really sleep and

JARED. Are you drunk?

TOBES. No

JARED. Have you been drinking?

TOBES. Yeah, a bit, yeah

JARED. It’s half-ten in the morning

TOBES. I’ve only had a couple

JARED. You can’t be drunk in here

TOBES. I’m not drunk

JARED. This is a place of business, you plank

TOBES. I just need to be busy, my, my, my, Beth, my

JARED. Beth?

TOBES. Yeah

JARED. Beth

TOBES. My. Yeah. We we sort of, we, / we

JARED. She’s dumped you?

TOBES. No

JARED. She’s binned you

TOBES. No, she

JARED. No?

TOBES. No it was a mutual thing

JARED. Is she shagging someone else?

TOBES. What? No!

JARED. Are you sure? Cos you were punching well above, there

TOBES. What?

JARED. You were. I’m not having a go. It’s a compliment ennit?

TOBES. How is it?

JARED. You did well. You were together, what, six months?

TOBES. Two years

JARED. You didn’t even live together