The Cord (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Bijan Sheibani

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

Seitenzahl: 66

Beschreibung

Ash and Anya were happy, just the two of them. Then the baby came. Ash has spent the first two weeks of his son's life trying to work out where he fits. He watches his mother holding her grandchild for the first time, mesmerised by the mystery and delight of a new life. After she leaves, Ash watches Anya feeding their son – so close, almost intertwined. As sleepless nights, relentless crying and hushed arguments take their toll, a storm starts to grow as a chasm widens between Ash and his son, his wife and even his own mother. Lifting the roof off one family's home, The Cord is a brutally honest and moving insight into the challenging truths of family dynamics. It premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2024, written and directed by Bijan Sheibani. 'Daringly original… has the tinge of lived experience… excellent on the fractious micro-aggressions that can abruptly blossom into furious rows between a couple juggling what is simultaneously the wondrous, commonplace and often brain-destroying reality of new parenthood… feels instantly recognisable and true' - Telegraph 'Acutely observed and often searingly familiar… a valuable piece not just for any new parent or grandparent, but for anyone navigating current relationships through the ghosts of past ones… feels both universal and deeply personal, highlighting a rarely-spoken truth of parenting: children have a way of finding us out' - WhatsOnStage 'Powerfully intimate and highly relatable… very well-observed: it feels like a fly-on-the-wall documentary of the blurry first few months of being a parent. It nails the exhaustion, the rows, the anxiety, the joy – and the slow tectonic realisation that the parent you will be is not necessarily the one you want to be, and is coloured, shadowed, by the baby you were… sensitive and intelligent' - Time Out 'Tackles the under-explored topic of male post-partum depression with bravery and nuance' - The Stage

Leseprobe

Bijan Sheibani

THE CORD

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Acknowledgements

Characters

The Cord

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

The Cord was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, on 12 April 2024, with the following cast:

JANE

Lucy Black

ANYA

Eileen O’Higgins

ASH

Irfan Shamji

CELLIST

Colin Alexander

Director

Bijan Sheibani

Movement Director

Aline David

Set & Costume Designer

Samal Blak

Lighting Designer

Oliver Fenwick

Sound Designer

Gareth Fry

Composer

Colin Alexander

Costume Supervisor

Bryony Fayers

Casting Director

Amy Ball CDG

Voice Coach

Gurkiran Kaur

Production Manager

Patrícia Gilvaia

Company Stage Manager

Chloe Wilson

Assistant Stage Manager

Stella Wang

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the creative team and cast.

Thank you to Lynette Linton and everyone at the Bush Theatre.

Thank you to Meriel Sheibani-Clare, Jion Sheibani, and Nina Steiger, for guiding me through the drafts.

And a special thank you to Francesca Raphael Lincoln for all that you’ve given me.

B.S.

Characters

ASH, thirty-ish

JANE, late forties/fifties

ANYA, thirty-ish

The baby should be imagined, visually and sonically.

All objects are also to be imagined.

A forward slash (/) indicates an interruption.

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

Prologue

ASH enters. With his arms he begins to create the shape of a newborn baby.

Music.

ASH feels the weight of the baby in his arms, the wondrousness of it.

JANE enters. The baby melts away for a moment.

ASH helps JANE to sit down.

ASH reforms the baby and gives it to her. She takes the baby and looks at it with wonder and joy. ASH looks at her looking at the baby.

Music ends.

1.

ASH and JANE talk in hushed tones, as if in a hallowed space.

JANE. He’s got your mouth.

ASH. Hmm?

JANE. Cupid’s mouth.

ASH. Mm.

JANE. You know like a cupid’s arrow?

ASH. Oh yeah.

Pause. They smile at the baby.

You mean bow?

JANE. What did I say?

ASH. Arrow.

JANE. Tut. God my mind sometimes obviously bow. Going loop-the-loop!

Pause. She looks back at the baby. Sacred. Miraculous.

Look at his little nails ahhhh.

ASH. Look his thumbs do what yours and mine do. They can bend right back see?

JANE. Careful!

Pause. They look at the baby.

JANE feels his feet. She makes an ‘mmm’ sound. We don’t hear it, but the baby makes a cute coo sound.

Ah, d’you hear that? First sounds.

ASH. He’s smiling.

JANE. Aah! You smiling at your daddy? You smiling at your daddy?

ASH. He’s smiling at you.

Pause.

JANE. God it only just fits him this doesn’t it? I thought I’d given him a bit of room to grow! He’s big like you were.

ASH. It fits him. It’s a good fit.

JANE. When I say big I don’t mean fat I mean he’s a good size. Robust. Healthy-looking isn’t he.

ASH. Yeah.

JANE. I can make him another one. A bigger one. There’s more things in that bag but –

ASH. Really?

JANE. You don’t have to get them out now wait for Anya to come back down.

He watches his mum with the baby for a while.

Then he takes some photos of them together.

ASH. Mum?

JANE. Yeah?

She looks up and smiles for the photograph.

ASH. Look.

He shows her the photo on his phone. She looks at the photo.

JANE. Ah, will you send that to me?

ASH. Yeah. Course.

Pause.

JANE. Aah. Look at him looking. You can tell how clever he is already. Taking it all in. Yes! Yes! You are beautiful! Look at those eyes. Bright blue aren’t they?

ASH. Mm.

Pause. They both look at the baby together.

They can change apparently.

JANE. Hm?

ASH. They can start blue and then change.

JANE. Really?

ASH. Yeah. Anya’s are green, so…

JANE. Green?! Are they?!

ASH. Yeah.

JANE. I thought they were blue.

ASH. They’re a kind of greeny-blue… I guess…

JANE. Can’t believe I haven’t noticed that! So are her mum’s eyes green?

ASH. Yeah.

JANE. Mmm.

Pause.

ASH. Did mine start blue?

JANE. I don’t think so. I can’t remember now. I’ll have to ask your dad.

Pause.

JANE stands up with the baby and walks a bit.

Been good to have Anya’s mum and dad around hey?

ASH. Yeah.

JANE. Helping out. Good that they’ve been able to do that.

ASH. Yeah.

JANE. Helen been doing a lot of the cooking?

ASH. Yeah. And lots of shopping and… yeah.

JANE. They back in Wiltshire now?

ASH. David is but Helen’s staying on.

JANE. Oh right. But she’s not staying here…

ASH. No, they’re renting a flat.

JANE. Oh right. Handy. So she’s in London now then?

ASH. Yeah. Think she might pop by in a bit, say hi…

JANE. Right.

ASH. Which will be nice.

Pause.

JANE. She enjoying it then, she must be.

ASH. Helen?

JANE. How could she not? Little grandson. Little angel isn’t he? Little angel aren’t you!

Pause.

Anya seems well. She doing okay?

ASH. Yeah she’s just tryna get a bit of sleep while she can.

JANE. That’s good.

ASH. Yeah. It was just on the ward all the noise and lights coming on in the middle of the night. And the feeding wasn’t going so well, so she wasn’t sleeping. She didn’t sleep.

JANE. Well that’s normal isn’t it till you get them home hey?

ASH. Her stitches where she tore are still really hurting her. And her sleep’s still really interrupted and stuff…

JANE. How much is she getting?

ASH. Four, five hours.

JANE. Not bad…

ASH. She was a bit ill earlier in the week… with erm… Jesus, my memory… erm… when you can’t express… when the milk can’t be expressed…

JANE. Mastitis.

ASH. Yeah… mastitis, exactly… All the ducts were blocked. It was very painful. But she’s better now.

JANE. Great.

Beat.

ASH. And he had a tongue-tie?

JANE. A what?

ASH. The tongue was like stuck somehow. It affects feeding.

JANE. Right…

ASH. So he wasn’t feeding properly. Anyway they just cut it a bit.

JANE. Cut the tongue? Who did?

ASH. No, not exactly just this bit under the tongue. A nurse.

JANE. Oh right? What at the hospital?

ASH. Yeah. No. At her house.

JANE. At her house?

ASH. Yeah. Anyway it helped. Freed it a bit or something… means he can latch on.

JANE. Well he certainly doesn’t look like he’s short of milk does he. (To the baby.) Do you? Hey? You look like you’ve been feeding very well!

Pause. ASH watches her watching the baby.

ASH. I’m glad you and Dad could come today.

JANE. Us too!

ASH. I know that you wanted to come up earlier / but –

JANE. You’ve already gone over all that, don’t go over all that again now.

ASH. It was just crazy at the hospital I just wanted to get them both home.

JANE. Well you have now so…

She smiles. She coos at the baby. Has a bit of an interaction…

And then:

Next generation isn’t he. A whole new world.

ASH. He’s my heir.

JANE. Hard to imagine that he was just inside another body. The way he’s curled up now, you can almost see the way he was.

The baby dissolves and ASH and JANE hug tightly.

ASH watches his mother leave.

2.

ANYA is seated. She is starting to feed Louis.

ANYA. Ow.

ASH. What?

ANYA. It’s fine it’s just when he first latches on.

ANYA tries to adjust Louis’s position.

I’m trying to remember what the breastfeeding woman showed me… I’ve gotta try and position him like this and then…

ASH. Didn’t she say you have to kind of turn him?

ANYA ignores him and Louis latches on properly now. ANYA expresses great relief at the correct latch and enters a kind of blissful state…