Red Pitch (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Tyrell Williams

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 68

Beschreibung

Red Pitch. South London. Three lifelong friends Omz, Bilal and Joey are playing football. Like they always have. Living out dreams of football stardom. Beyond their football pitch, local shops are closing, old flats are being demolished as new flats shoot up, some residents struggle to stay while others rush to leave. A coming-of-age story about what it means to belong somewhere, Tyrell Williams' fast-paced and sharp-edged play tells a powerful story about gentrification, regeneration and the impact of this relentless change on London's communities. Red Pitch received an ecstatic critical and audience response when it was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in February 2022, directed by Associate Artistic Director Daniel Bailey. The production was revived at the Bush in September 2023, with this definitive version of the text. For Red Pitch?, Tyrell Williams won the Evening Standard Theatre Award and the Critics' Circle Theatre Award both for Most Promising Playwright, The Stage Debut Award for Best Writer, the George Devine Award, as well as the Off West End Award for Best New Play. An earlier version of the play was presented in June 2019, as part of the Untold Season at Ovalhouse, London. 'Fierce, affectionate and effortlessly funny' - Guardian '90 minutes of end-to-end stuff… the plot is pacy and exciting. The language is rich and vivid. It's also very funny… It's still rare to see a play about young, black, working-class youths on our stages: rarer still to see one in which they are celebrated like this' - Evening Standard 'Intelligent, nuanced – an unbelievable debut… phenomenal… true mastery of craft. It's a next-level coming-of-age story' - The Stage

Leseprobe

Tyrell Williams

RED PITCH

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production

Acknowledgements

Epigraph

Characters

Red Pitch

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Red Pitch was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, on 16 February 2022, and revived on 7 September 2023. The cast was as follows:

BILAL

Kedar Williams-Stirling

JOEY

Emeka Sesay

OMZ

Francis Lovehall

Director

Daniel Bailey

Set & Costume Designer

Amelia Jane Hankin

Lighting Designer

Ali Hunter

Sound Designer

Khalil Madovi

Movement Director

Dickson Mbi

Associate Designer

Georgia Wilmot

Associate Movement Director

Ricardo Da Silva

Dramaturg

Deirdre O’Halloran

Casting Director

Heather Basten CDG

Vocal Coach

Gurkiran Kaur

Football Consultant

Aaron Samuel

Production Manager

Tabitha Piggott

Company Stage Manager

Kala Simpson

Assistant Stage Manager

Emily Mei-Ling Pearce

Supported by Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a donor advised fund at the London Community Foundation, and the Backstage Trust.

Thank you to Wabriya King and Monaé Robinson for their contributions to the original production.

Special thanks to:

Daniel L Bailey

Ann Akin

Ovalhouse Theatre

Titilola Dawudu

Toby Clarke

Michael Ajao

Ayomide Adegun

Ikky Elyaz

Montel Douglas

Malcolm Atobrah

Abdul Abdalla

Gamba Cole

Ivan Oyik

Imogen Sarre

Kirsten Foster

Joe Pierson

T.W.

‘How they talking on what’s threatening the economy? Knocking down communities to re-up on properties’

Little Simz, ‘Introvert’

Characters

BILAL AMARAL, sixteen, male, Black

OMZ (OMAR) RICHARDS, sixteen, male, Black

JOEY (JOSEPH) SESAY, sixteen, male, Black

Notes

The play is set in present-day ‘urban’ South London.

This story is taking place inside of a football pitch – ‘Red Pitch’ – in summer.

There are scaffoldings around the football pitch.

A constant soundscape of construction underneath the piece throughout its entirety is important to the telling of this story and should be considered seriously in each production. The soundscape of construction should at times feel literal, and at other times abstract, representing the state of the friendship between Bilal, Joey and Omz. It should be interspersed with a protest pertaining to the survival of Esme’s dry cleaner’s that begins innocuous, then grows in its potency but ultimately is silenced. The specific sounds and journeys of the sounds are decisions to be made at the director’s discretion.

A dash (–) is used to indicate an interruption and a slash (/) denotes an overlapping in dialogue.

Pauses and silences are important but are not fixed. Each pause and silence should be considered in that moment. However, more often than not, a silence should be longer than a pause.

Scene One

It’s the summer holidays and there are two young friends, BILAL and OMZ, playing football inside of a football pitch whilst the third friend, JOEY, is attentively watching the game whilst in goal. The game is FA.

BILAL and OMZ are really going for it. There is grabbing, hard tackles flying in and sweat pouring from their faces. Eventually, BILAL does his classic ‘drop, drop’ shoulder move (a move in which he shifts his body weight to his right then to his left then back to his right whilst tapping the ball in that direction) taking him around OMZ. BILAL shoots and scores a goal past JOEY, effectively ending the game.

BILAL remains humble in victory. OMZ is disappointed.

JOEY. Good shot bro.

BILAL. Light work.

JOEY. Mbappe yeah? Make sure you do that at the trials.

BILAL. Obviously. ‘Drop, drop’ shoulder – easy.

BILAL does the ‘drop, drop’ shoulder move again without the ball.

Omz, I want a tropical juice yeah.

OMZ pauses for a second, taken aback. He looks around as though BILAL could never be talking to him.

OMZ. What?

BILAL. Tropical juice. It’s a blue carton – says ‘Sun Pride’ on it.

OMZ. Why’s that my problem?

JOEY. Here we go…

BILAL. Red Pitch rules: Loser of FA goes shop for the winner. You lost. I won so pick me up a tropical juice… and a Twix.

JOEY. Let’s just play FIFA you man.

OMZ stands still staring at BILAL.

BILAL. Bro, this isn’t shop, this is Red Pitch.

OMZ. You cheated. You didn’t / ask me if I was ready.

BILAL. / ask me if I was ready.

Pause.

OMZ. Wanna play best two / out of three?

BILAL. That was best two out of three.

OMZ. Joey / let it in.

JOEY. Nooo, I never.

OMZ. I’m not going nowhere. Where’s Femi? We’re supposed to be playing two-on-two anyway.

JOEY. Femi said he’d be down in twenty minutes when I knocked for him… (Checking his phone.) one hour and fifty-seven minutes ago.

OMZ. I bet you Femi’s looking for that purple shirt. He loves wearing that purple shirt.

JOEY. Why does he wear it? Honestly, does he think it’s cool?

BILAL. That shirt makes no sense. I can’t lie.

OMZ. I think his brother got it for him.

BILAL. His brother set him up ’cause his brother’s drip is on point, always.

JOEY. That’s ’cause his brother is making big money. I think he does law – that’s gonna be me soon, looking fly. (Beat.) It was sick when Femi’s brother used to come Red Pitch.

BILAL. That was time ago.

OMZ. None of the olders come any more. (Beat.) You sure Femi’s coming Joey?

JOEY. He said he was.

BILAL. You lot know that Femz is a liar. I remember knocking for this guy once, he said that he weren’t allowed out, I said cool, okay, fair enough. It was winter them times and it was getting dark early or maybe he had a family commitment – whatever. I came Red Pitch now, worked on a few tekkers – can you believe next minute, I see him chilling in the park with his girl on the swings?

They all laugh.

OMZ. This guy.

BILAL. Swinging back and forth like this is a romcom!

OMZ. You should’ve went up to him.

BILAL. I did. He said that he couldn’t play football ’cause he injured his leg when he was at work. He works in an office bro. Did he injure it making coffee?

They all laugh.

JOEY. Femi is setting pace though. He has a job, has a girlfriend at sixteen years old! They go on dates and everything.

BILAL. Psssh, sixteen is young man. We have time.

JOEY. So you man don’t want a girl?! Someone you can take care of, someone to take care of you? You guys can be chilling, watching movies all cuddled up in bed on a cold day like today – eating popcorn in the warmth watching Save the Last Dance.

JOEY imagines the scenario.

‘Hey, hey, hey, you have the last popcorn’, ‘No, you have it’, ‘Okay, we’ll share it then.’ You man saying you don’t want that?!

BILAL. ‘Save the Last’ what?

JOEY. ‘Dance’ – it’s some ooolllddd-school dance film. Litty though.

OMZ. Joseph, it’s me: Omz. Do you know with whom that you speak with? I’ve had girls for days.

BILAL. Swear? What’s their names?

OMZ. You lot don’t know them.

JOEY. Try us.

OMZ gets the ball and then starts bouncing it. BILAL and JOEY wait.

OMZ. Huh? Oh, you man still want names?

JOEY. You know we want names.

OMZ. Classified – that’s their names.

BILAL and JOEY shake their heads.

JOEY. Let’s just play FIFA you man.

OMZ. We wait for Femz. We’re meant to be playing two-on-two.

JOEY. It’s like you love him.

OMZ. Dead! It’ll be better practice for football trials.

BILAL. Ayyy! That’s gonna be nuts! Professional football trials you know – I’m gonna be ‘drop, drop’ shouldering all over like…

BILAL demonstrates the ‘drop, drop’ shoulder move again.

OMZ. Yeah, exactly but we need to practise, that’s why Femz needs to be here. Can’t be a professional footballer without putting in the work.

Silence.

JOEY. It’s cutting out ’ere man… Supposed to be summer you know? Climate change is real.

OMZ. Shake my head. You believe everything you hear on TikTok. Some any conspiracy theorist.

JOEY. I’m not you, you know.

OMZ. Bilz, ain’t –

BILAL. Not involved bro. What’s the point in saying we play and you’re not even gonna follow through?

OMZ. What you talkin’ ’bout?

BILAL. Shop – You’re the one that said ‘FA Red Pitch rules.’

JOEY. It’s true though.