Peak Stuff E-Book

Billie Collins

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

Seitenzahl: 52

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

'I like having things. I like having lots of things. It reminds me that I'm... Y'know? A person.' Alice is done with fast fashion. Ben can't stop buying trainers. And Charlie just wants to sell out… one organ at a time. Billie Collins's play Peak Stuff is a fast-paced, funny, fearless deep-dive into consumer culture. In an age of retail therapy, climate crisis and click and collect - how does our 'stuff' define us? And have we reached peak stuff? The play was commissioned by ThickSkin and Lawrence Batley Theatre, was a winner of the New Play Commission Scheme, and was first presented on tour of the UK in 2024.

Leseprobe

Billie Collins

PEAK STUFF

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Writer’s Note

Terms and Conditions

Additional User Guidance

Small Print

Peak Stuff

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Peak Stuff was first comissioned by ThickSkin and Lawrence Batley Theatre, produced by ThickSkin and performed at Chichester Festival Theatre on 15 February 2024, before a tour of the UK. The cast was as follows:

ALICE, BEN and CHARLIE

Meg Lewis

MUSICIAN

Matthew Churcher

Featuring voiceovers by Ajjaz Awad-Ibrahim, Esme Bayley, Matthew Churcher, Hetty Hodgson, Joe Layton, Vicki Manderson, James Westphal.

Director

Neil Bettles

Composers

Neil Bettles and Matthew Churcher

Video Design

Jim Dawson and Izzy Pye for TripleDotMakers

Lighting Design

Charly Dunford

Design

Neil Bettles

Associate Director

Hetty Hodgson

Sound Associate

Hannah Bracegirdle

PRODUCTION TEAM

Production Manager

Tom Robbins

Touring Production Manager

Helen Morris

Lighting and Video Engineer

Sam Marshall

Scenic Construction

RT Scenic

FOR THICKSKIN

Executive Producer

Laura Mallows

General Manager

George Soave

Production Administrator

Abi Beaven

Marketing

Make A Noise

Press

SM Publicity

Photography

Writer’s Note

‘I’d like to have a revolution. But everybody’s too busy shopping.’

Benjamin Zephaniah

In Spring 2022, Neil and Laura asked me to write a play. ‘Write us a play,’ they said. ‘Make it about consumerism.’ (I’m paraphrasing.) But Neil and Laura – I thought – surely the sorts of people who write ‘plays about consumerism’ are the sorts of people who know things about the economy and can do mental maths? That’s not me! I write plays about teenage crushes and how much I like trees! I mean… Consumerism? That is a BIG! VAGUE! CONCEPT! No way, dude. ‘Consumerism’ is too Big and Vague and Conceptual a thing for me to write a play about.

So, I decided to write about ‘stuff’ instead. I started by making lists of stuff I remember buying. Stuff I bought because I thought it said something about me. Stuff I bought because I was having a bad day. Stuff I regret buying. Stuff I totally don’t regret buying. Stuff I was worried about. Stuff I was angry about. The need for more stuff, new stuff, better stuff. The first pair of Dr. Martens. The last pack of chewing gum. The euphoria and waste and comfort of it all.

I took all this stuff – all these lists and ideas and feelings – into a workshop with Neil, some brilliant actors and a drumkit. It was a big old experiment. But out of it, three voices started to emerge. And out of that, over the course of a year and half, with much trial and error (and lots of support from Neil and Laura)… I wrote a play about consumerism.

Sort of.

B.C.

Terms and Conditions

Peak Stuff is designed to be performed by one ACTOR.

The ACTOR agrees to:

•   Perform, to the best of their ability, dialogue ascribed to:

ALICE, fifteen, school pupil

CHARLIE, twenty-five, unemployed

BEN, thirty-five, marketing associate

•   Keep up the pace.

•   Not be boring.*

Additional User Guidance

•   Dialogue in bold is not in the voice of ALICE, BEN or CHARLIE.

•   Dialogue in italics is in real time, in the voice of ALICE, BEN or CHARLIE.

•   Text in italics and within brackets are stage directions.

•   ‘Glitches’ are disruptions to the flow. They may be images, sounds or movement. They might force leaps in time, place or perspective. They might be a sign of mounting system pressure. The key is not to drop the ball. Think about channel hopping. Think about switching tabs. Think: did I leave the oven on?

Small Print

*   ‘Not being boring’ is the responsibility of the whole team (writer included).

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

(The audience enters. They take their seats. They’ll probably faffaround a bit.

Have they stopped? Good. Then let’s begin.

The ACTOR enters. It’s time to choose your fighter! We cyclethrough three profiles…

BEN

Thirty-five, marketing associateBen is six foot – not that it matters – and athleticHe needs glasses but refuses to wear themAnd his interests include fitness, restaurants, vintage andmojitos.

Nope.

CHARLIE

Twenty-five, unemployed psychology graduateTheir Myers–Briggs personality type is INTP.That is: Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking and Prospecting.Charlie likes animated film and seventies discoShares a house with four strangersAnd holds a five-hundred-day Wordle streak.

No thanks.

ALICE

Fifteen, secondary school studentAlice is in top set for maths, English and historyAnd is taking her French GCSE a year early.She is a Pisces, never forgets to recycle, and can be found onSnapchat, BeReal, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and –

Bingo! Here we go!)

ALICE. I’m stood outside OOZIE.

The branch of OOZIE that sits on the first floor

Of the Manchester Arndale centre

Next to Swarovski and opposite Levi’s.

If you don’t know OOZIE, think Claire’s Accessories

But like… More.

It’s Friday afternoon, like two o’clock,

And I’m about to do something terrible.

I should be in school.

I should be in double economics

Drawing production possibility diagrams,

But this… This is important.

I go in, and inside smells like

Cheap plastic and bubblegum.

They’ve got strip lights and tinny speakers

Playing Katy Perry on loop

(ALICE sings the first three lines of the chorus of KatyPerry’s ‘Roar’. She interrupts herself:)

Till on my right

Piercing chair on my left

And up ahead

Just rows and rows and rows and rows

Of earrings and rucksacks and nail stickers

And fidget spinners and phone charms and popsockets

And scrunchies and tiaras

And all this stuff.

And it’s all sort of… Cheap.

All sort of – y’know, tacky?

And clean and disposable and neon

And looking at it I start to feel a bit…

The lights swim and my head aches

Back sweating against my rucksack

And I think I might…

Stay focused.

I used to love OOZIE.

When I was twelve, my auntie gave me a tenner for Christmas

I came straight to this shop

And bought a holographic pencil case.

Sounds silly, but it was perfect.

Like, it was like me as a pencil case.