Testmatch (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Kate Attwell

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

Seitenzahl: 87

Beschreibung

Present day, it's the Women's Cricket World Cup: England vs India. There's a rain delay. Tensions mount, ambitions are laid bare and a whole new tactical game begins. Calcutta, in the eighteenth century. Two British colonial administrators encounter challenges on the field of play that threaten the entire regime. In this game of integrity and power, past and present collide… Kate Attwell's funny, provocative play explores and explodes the mythology of fair play. First performed in 2019 at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, it received its British premiere in 2024, produced by the Orange Tree Theatre, ETT and Octagon Theatre, Bolton, and directed by Diane Page. 'Genuinely funny, refreshingly unusual, accomplished… Split into two acts, wildly contrasted on the surface but each informing the other to sometimes surprising effect, Testmatch often recalls Caryl Churchill at her most absurd and mould-breaking… tremendously entertaining' - WhatsOnStage 'A play that bristles with ideas' - The Stage 'Kate Attwell's journey through cricket wittily interrogates wilful ignorance in the face of corruption and brutality… her taut writing coils [her characters'] emotions tightly, pinpointing their urgent, full-bodied need to win… a smart, messy, angry reckoning with history and the idea of good sportsmanship' - Guardian 'Lively and energetic' - Reviews Hub 'Enjoyable… a satire on colonialism that starts off light and builds to something rather more bleak and damning… Attwelll's text is witty and impressive' - Time Out

Leseprobe

Kate Attwell

TESTMATCH

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Author’s Note

Acknowledgements

Characters

Notes on Text

Testmatch

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Testmatch was workshopped at JAW: A Playwrights Festival produced by Portland Center Stage and originally produced by American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco, 24 October 2019. The UK premiere was first performed on 20 April 2024 at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond. The cast was as follows:

INDIA 2/DAANYA

Aiyana Bartlett

INDIA 1/MESSENGER

Aarushi Riya Ganju

ENGLAND 3/TWO

Haylie Jones

INDIA 3/ABHI

Tanya Katyal

ENGLAND 1/ONE

Bea Svistunenko

ENGLAND 2/MEMSAHIB

Mia Turner

Director

Diane Page

Designer

Cat Fuller

Lighting Designer

Rajiv Pattani

Composer & Sound Designer

Simon Slater

Casting Director

Matilda James CDG

Costume Supervisor

Agata Odolczyk

Fight & Intimacy Director

Ruth Cooper-Brown for RC Annie

Production LX

Matt Carnazza

Assistant Director

Anna Sharp

Wigs provided by

Chris Smyth

Production Manager

Lisa Hood

Company Stage Manager

Jenny Skivens

Deputy Stage Manager

Judith Volk

Assistant Stage Manager

Charlotte Smith-Barker

Production & Rehearsal Photography

Helen Murray

Author’s Note

I often begin a play from a visual impulse. For Testmatch, I found myself – up late at night while jetlagged – watching a replay women’s T20 match and was struck by how brilliantly fierce and powerful women in cricket kit look. It was not a sport I had thought about for a long time; it was something I played briefly in primary school before being promptly ushered into ‘girls’ sports. And yet now, here were these incredible athletes playing a blindingly fast version of the game, dressed like they were going to battle.

I wrote Testmatch while living in New York, and in many ways it is a response to (then) recent events – the murder of Trayvon Martin and the growth of the BLM movement. I was surprised – naively? – at much of white America’s inability to reckon with the fact that their past, their history, was not accounted for and might still have an acute impact in the world today. I grew up in South Africa during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (a restorative justice process in the 1990s following the end of Apartheid). We can (and should) debate the merits and failings of the TRC – but what struck me as a child, as the hearings were broadcast live on a daily basis — was a sense that neutrality and avoidance were not an acceptable status quo. Each day one could witness the most excruciating scenes of pain, of confrontation, and somehow, sometimes, of forgiveness: scenes of people reckoning with the darkest parts of themselves, scenes of people reopening the saddest wounds. It was brutal, and yet it was also a time of immense hope, of seeing a whole country try to stretch itself, empathetically, further than you’d imagine possible. That kind of emotional expansiveness has deeply impacted me; it taught me that feelings can be political, too. Here in England, I believe we still have work to do on that front: acknowledging the realities of our history.

With cricket, I found an opportunity to use the sport as a kind-of mirror for thinking about things that are systemic and structural, looking through the sport to the connection between various kinds of desires to own and exploit both land and feminine bodies.

It has also always felt natural to discuss cricket in the context of theatre, both sport and theatre are – for me – constructs – and when theatre is overtly theatrical, when it acknowledges its own ‘constructedness’ that is when it allows us to perhaps make visible the constructs that hold power over our world – gender, race, capitalism, language, to name a handful. The rules. Who is playing by the rules, and who isn’t? Who is told they have to play by the rules, and who is told that the rules don’t even apply to them? And, more importantly, what rules do we need to dismantle? And how quickly can we do it?

Kate Attwell, April 2024

Acknowledgements

There are so many folks I must thank for their contributions to the life of this play: Diane and the team here in London. Pam, Andy and Joy at A.C.T. in San Francisco who gave me an artistic home and took a leap in believing in me, and also believing that their American audiences would come to a play ostensibly about cricket. And to every actor who has helped develop it through multiple workshops and readings in various cities – I am so grateful for your artistry and time.

Characters

INDIA 1

INDIA 2

INDIA 3

ENGLAND 1

ENGLAND 2

ENGLAND 3

ONE, male member of the EIC Cricket Club in India

TWO, male member of the EIC Cricket Club in India

DAANYA, a villager

MESSENGER, a messenger

ABHI, One’s housekeeper

MEMSAHIB, the memsahib, wife of One

Notes on Text

Generally, lines should run at speed.

A ( — ) is a thought unfinished by the speaker.

Line breaks are intentional.

A line that ends without punctuation should be followed swiftly by the next, almost – thought not actually – cut off. Words in [brackets] may or may not be spoken by the actor, your choice. Unorthodox capitalisations deliver emphasis, or noteworthiness, as do underlines.

The text is punctuated to the musicality of the dialogue, not grammatical correctness.

Please make every effort to produce this play sustainably.

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

PART ONE

A players’ lounge, a tea room, or a viewing area on the side of the field.

LOUD music.

Women’s World Cup, England vs. India.

The present.

ENG 1, 2, 3.

INDIA 1, 2, 3.

All wear their One Day kit.

Some of the players’ bags or belongings may be dotted about.

When players are not directly involved in dialogue, they should return to warm-up activities, make more tea, assess the rain, etc.

The door to the room bursts open and the players burst in, dripping wet and mad:

INDIA 1. This bloody country!

INDIA 2. And its bloody rain!

ENG 1. What the hell was that!

ENG 2. Couldn’t see a shitting thing could I

ENG 1. That’s not an excuse you play till the last ball, You don’t give them a chance Not a bloody chance, we own them, we stay on it! You think you’re getting paid to drop a catch?

ENG 2. Oh stop it

INDIA 2. Knew this would happen

ENG 1. What the hell

ENG 2. Bloody tits and wank is what

ENG 3 entering —

INDIA 1. Well what’d he say?

ENG 3. Told me it was likely off – done and dusted

INDIA 1. What?!

ENG 3. Yeah

INDIA 1. Seriously?

ENG 3. That’s what he’s saying

INDIA 1. But they haven’t officially called it?

ENG 3. Not yet But they don’t think it’s going to stop raining all day

INDIA 2. Who said?

ENG 3. Our coach

INDIA 1. He’s not the weather man

ENG 3. Well he’s checked the weather

INDIA 1. Still. It’s not his call

INDIA 2. I think it’s off

INDIA 3. Don’t jinx it

INDIA 2. Like I can influence this terrible weather? Rain rain rain — No way we’re going to go out there again. There’s no way!

INDIA 1. Hey, stay positive – we’re doing so well out there! She just scored sixteen off the last over!

INDIA 3. I know! That was brilliant! And that last one way into the stands —

INDIA 2. I’m only trying to be ready for the possibility that we won’t finish this match —

INDIA 1. You always do this

INDIA 2. Do what? What do I do?

INDIA 1. Moody moody pessimism

ENG 3. She’s probably right

INDIA 1. Come on, you just don’t want us to keep playing because we’re doing so well —

ENG 3. No, it’s not that —

INDIA 1. Are you sure?

INDIA 3. Look there’s nothing anyone can do We’ll know soon enough

INDIA 2. Remember when we played here last May?

INDIA 3. The test?

INDIA 2. Pouring rain

INDIA 3. Yes – okay, day one, it rains for a few hours, Then the sun came out like nothing happened.

INDIA 1. You see, hey, it could be fine!

INDIA 3. Stayed sunny the next three days too

INDIA 1. Exactly. Good. Good point.

ENG 3. Anyway, no use guessing. It’ll only drive you crazy, drives me crazy. Cup of tea?

INDIA 1. Yes. Thanks.

ENG 3. Milk?

INDIA 1. Yes.

ENG 3. Cup of tea?

INDIA 3. Thank you.

ENG 3. Cup of tea?

INDIA 2. No thanks.

ENG 3. There you go.

INDIA 1. Thanks.

ENG 3. Cup of tea?

ENG 1. No thanks.

ENG 3. What’re you doing?

ENG 1. Just looking at it.

They watch the rain.

ENG 3. Bollocks

INDIA 1. Shit.

She watches the rain.

Shit shit shit.

ENG 1. Yeah.

INDIA 3. It’s not that bad, we could play

ENG 1. I agree

INDIA 2. You guys it’s pouring!

ENG 2. Nah, it’s just

INDIA 3. It always comes and goes

ENG 2. Exactly Comes and goes

INDIA 2. No it’s here to stay, moved in, taken over, wet wet wet

INDIA 1. We get through the entire tournament, For weeks, no rain at all — And the highlight of our season — Our biggest match and we’re out there doing bloody brilliantly It rains out!

ENG 2. What do you mean?

INDIA 1. What?

ENG 2. Highlight, what do you mean?

INDIA 1. Hey? Are you joking?

ENG 2. No

INDIA 1. We’re playing against England, in England. And we want to win this year for sure —

INDIA 3. It’s a massive match

ENG 2. Yeah but — You’re saying highlight, isn’t that a bit premature?

ENG 1. Yeah you’re not tapped to win

INDIA 1. Uh, Yes we are And we will.

ENG 3. To be fair —

ENG 1. You barely qualified

ENG 2. Exacto! You’re not even ranked that high!

INDIA 3. What? That’s not true! Anyway, you qualified automatically as hosts so don’t even —

INDIA 1. The only reason we came in with less points Is because we had to abandon that one match against Pakistan