Run Sister Run E-Book

Chloë Moss

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

Seitenzahl: 76

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

'You can't pick your family but if you could I'd still pick you.' Sisters Connie and Ursula were once everything to each other. Years on, they're almost strangers. When a family bombshell is dropped, Connie is forced to retrace forty years of sisterhood and confront a web of secrets and conflicting loyalties. Spanning four decades, Chloë Moss's play Run Sister Run is a witty and heartfelt story of family, class and dependence. It was first produced in 2020 by Paines Plough, Sheffield Theatres and Soho Theatre, directed by Charlotte Bennett, Joint Artistic Director of Paines Plough. The play received its London premiere at the Arcola Theatre in 2025, in a production by Double Telling, directed by Marlie Haco.

Leseprobe

Chloë Moss

RUN SISTER RUN

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Characters

Run Sister Run

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Run Sister Run was produced by Paines Plough, Sheffield Theatres and Soho Theatre and first performed on 27 February 2020 at Sheffield Theatre, Sheffield. The cast was as follows:

CONNIE

Lucy Ellinson

URSULA

Helena Lymbery

ADRIAN

Silas Carson

JACK

Lucas Button

Director

Charlotte Bennett

Designer

Rosie Elnile

Lighting Designer

Zoe Spurr

Composor & Sound Designer

Arun Ghosh

Movement Director

Laura Cubitt

Fight Director

Alison De Burgh

Casting Director

Nadine Rennie CDG

Accent Coach

Elspeth Morrison

Dramaturg

Sarah Dickenson

Assistant Director

Matilda Ibini

Lucy Grace McCann

Production Manager

Stephanie Balmforth

Stage Manager

Rachael Head

Deputy Stage Manager

Robyn Clogg

Assistant Stage Manager

Robert Perkins

Costume Supervisor

Jackie Orton

Acknowledgements

Special thanks and love to: Mel Kenyon, Charlotte Bennett, Katie Posner and all at Paines Plough, Sarah Dickenson, Ken Moss, Patricia Moss, Nick Moss, Tim Price, Franklin Moss Price, Martha Moss Price, Colette Kane, Phoebe-Chi Kane-Moss, Oliver Kane-Rice, Joshua Kane-Rice. Many thanks also to Sarah Frankcom, Suzanne Bell, Pam James, all at Soho Theatre and Sheffield Crucible.

C.M.

For you, Dad.

I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you…

Characters

CONNIE, various ages

URSULA, various ages

ADRIAN, various ages

JACK, various ages

Note on the Text

A forward slash in the text ( / ) indicates a character changing tack.

A dash in the text ( – ) indicates another character interrupting, or overlapping speech.

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

ONE

2020. The park. A sunny afternoon. CONNIE (early fifties) sits on a park bench holding an ice cream in each hand.

She waits.

TWO

2019. A large living room. Vases of flowers dotted around. CONNIE enters. She is loaded down with more bunches of flowers. She kneels down and starts to arrange the new flowers into the vases, searching for space between stems and cramming them in.

The noise of the front door opening and slamming shut.

CONNIE. Jack?

Silence.

Jack?

JACK (nineteen) appears.

JACK. Yeah?

CONNIE. What are you doing here?

JACK. I live here.

CONNIE. I thought you were out tonight.

JACK. Well, I’m back. Is that okay?

CONNIE. Of course. (Beat.) Come into the room. I’m not radioactive.

JACK huffs and steps forward.

Have you been crying?

JACK. No I haven’t been crying.

CONNIE. Your eyes look red.

JACK (about the flowers). Fucking hay fever probably. What happened to the old people’s home?

CONNIE. They won’t accept them any more. Health and safety. One of the residents smashed a vase against the wall. (Beat.) Can’t let them go to waste.

JACK. Why don’t you just give them to people in the street?

CONNIE. Claudia wouldn’t be very happy, would she? Old people’s home’s different. Community thing. Who’d bother coming into the shop if they knew come half-five I’d start handing out free bunches of flowers. Put her out of business.

JACK sits.

JACK (beat. Off CONNIE). What?

CONNIE. Sure you’re okay?

JACK. Give it a rest, Mum.

CONNIE. Why aren’t you staying out?

JACK. Talk about making someone feel fucking unwelcome in their own home.

CONNIE. That’s a ridiculous thing to say. You told me you were staying at Kate’s and now you’re not. How can you inflate that to me wishing you didn’t live here any more? It’s very dramatic.

ADRIAN (late fifties) enters.

ADRIAN. I wish you didn’t live here any more.

JACK. Trust me. I don’t want to live here. I’m trying. Got a job, haven’t I?

ADRIAN. Work experience.

JACK. An internship. Do you know how many people applied for it?

CONNIE. And we’re really proud of you.

ADRIAN. You didn’t apply. I arranged it for you.

JACK. And I’m fucking doing it. What d’you want… blood? (Beat.) It’s demoralising. Being trapped here.

CONNIE. Nobody’s trapping you, love.

ADRIAN. Door’s right behind you.

CONNIE. Adrian –

JACK. D’you want me to get on my hands and knees and bow down in gratitude to you both?

CONNIE. Oh come on –

ADRIAN. Thought we were shot of you tonight anyway –

CONNIE. Adrian –

JACK. It’s over. She dumped me.

ADRIAN. Kate?

JACK. Yes. Kate. My girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend.

CONNIE. Oh love, I’m sorry.

JACK. Don’t be, she’s a fucking bitch.

ADRIAN. I didn’t have the best feeling about her, I’ve got to say.

CONNIE. I thought she seemed great.

ADRIAN. I think I’m better at reading people the older I get.

CONNIE. You only met her once.

ADRIAN. Exactly. (Beat.) Another boy is it?

JACK. No.

ADRIAN. What then?

Beat.

JACK. She doesn’t think we’re ‘right’ together.

ADRIAN. Fuck’s sake.

JACK. I know.

Beat.

CONNIE. Maybe, you weren’t… ‘right’ together.

ADRIAN. Connie, don’t go getting involved for Christ’s sake.

CONNIE. I’m not getting involved, I’m just pointing out –

JACK. Yeah well, no offence, Mum, but you’ve only met her like twice –

CONNIE. Four times.

JACK. Okay four fucking times. But you don’t know anything about it. About us.

CONNIE. I know that… as a rule, if somebody ends a relationship with someone because they don’t think they’re ‘right’ together then it’s a fairly safe bet they’re not ‘right’ together.

Silence. JACK stands, furious. He punches the wall.

ADRIAN. Well done, Connie.

JACK. I need to get out.

ADRIAN. Why don’t you then? Go and see your friends. Drown your sorrows.

CONNIE. Adrian –

ADRIAN. What?

JACK. I haven’t got any money.

ADRIAN. You only had your allowance four days ago.

JACK. It was a statement of fact. I’m not asking for anything.

Beat. ADRIAN pulls a wallet from his pocket and counts out a couple of notes. He hands them to JACK who looks down at them. Beat. ADRIAN takes another note out and hands that over.

ADRIAN. That’s your lot.

JACK tucks the notes into his pocket.

CONNIE. Be careful. (Beat.) You know what I mean.

JACK smirks.

It’s not funny, Jack. I’m not stupid, I know what goes on.

JACK. What goes on then?

CONNIE. Cocaine, Ecstasy…

JACK. Blast and Ket for me actually.

ADRIAN. Don’t rise to it, Connie.

CONNIE. Jack, I know you must be –

JACK. Oh, don’t do the ‘I know you’re in pain’ speech. Please. Makes me wanna vomit. (Beat.) I’m not in pain.

CONNIE. I know you liked her. There’s nothing wrong with feeling up–

JACK. She’s pregnant.

Beat.

ADRIAN. Oh fucking hell. Here we go.

CONNIE. Are you sure?

JACK. She did a test. I saw it. Two lines.

Beat.

ADRIAN. Is it yours?

JACK. Yes.

ADRIAN. How d’you know?

JACK. Because she’s not like that.

CONNIE. Like what?

ADRIAN. Jesus fucking wept.

Silence. JACK slumps down into an armchair.

CONNIE. Do her parents know?

JACK. No.

ADRIAN. Is she going private? I’ll pay for it. Tell her I’ll pay.

JACK. She won’t go private.

ADRIAN. No of course she won’t. Bloody… capitalist hippies. Four-by-four in the drive and a Filipino living in the cellar but don’t take any pressure off the NHS for God’s sake. Show you’re a man of the people. (Beat.) Music, isn’t it?

CONNIE. What are you talking about, Adrian?

ADRIAN. Her father. Something to do with music.

CONNIE. What’s her father got to do with it?

ADRIAN. Marches to save the planet then jets off to LA. Drinks fucking kombucha.

JACK. She doesn’t want to go private.

ADRIAN. Fantastic principles. Drag it out for as long as possible. All the while there’s a baby developing –

CONNIE. It’s not a baby.

ADRIAN. What the fuck is it then?

CONNIE. A fetus. (Beat.) It’s her decision whether to go privately or not. It’s nothing to do with us –

ADRIAN. We’re the gran–

CONNIE. We’re not grandparents. Stay out of it. It’s her body –

JACK. She wants to keep it.

CONNIE. What?

JACK. She’s keeping it.

Silence.

D’you really think I’d have told you if she was having an abortion? (Pause.) She said she’ll do it on her own if I don’t want to be involved.

Beat.

CONNIE. And do you?

JACK. Do I what?

CONNIE. Want to be involved.

ADRIAN. He’s nineteen for Christ’s sake.

CONNIE. Jack?

JACK. No. I do not want to be a fucking father.

Silence.

CONNIE. Adrian?

ADRIAN raises his hands and walks out of the room. CONNIE and JACK sit in silence.

Is she religious?

JACK scoffs.

JACK. No. She was going to get an abortion but then she saw this account on Instagram where the mother and baby wear exactly the same thing all the time, it’s called ‘twinning’ apparently and she changed her mind. Basically she wants a fucking doll.

Beat.

CONNIE. She’s very young. She needs support.

JACK. Why should I support someone who’s just dumped me?

CONNIE. She needs you to be –

JACK. She doesn’t need me to be anything, that’s the whole point… she just fucking finished with me. When’s that gonna land?

CONNIE. She’s frightened.

JACK. What about me?

CONNIE. The world doesn’t revolve around you, Jack. That might come as a shock –

JACK. Oh fuck off.

CONNIE