The Unreturning E-Book

Anna Jordan

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

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

'I want to return to my home.' A Northern British coastal town. Three young men are coming home from war. Their stories, set at different times over a hundred years, are beautifully interwoven in Anna Jordan's The Unreturning, a play that explores the profound effect that war has on young people's lives, and asks – what does coming home really mean? What is home? And when experience has shattered you into a million pieces, will home help to put you together again, or treat you as an ugly truth it does not want to confront? The Unreturning was premiered at Theatre Royal Plymouth in September 2018, in a co-production between Frantic Assembly and Theatre Royal Plymouth, before touring the UK.

Leseprobe

Anna Jordan

THEUNRETURNING

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production

Director’s Note

Thanks

Dedication

Characters

The Unreturning

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

The Unreturning was produced by Frantic Assembly and Theatre Royal Plymouth and first performed on 20 September 2018 at Theatre Royal Plymouth, before touring the UK. The cast was as follows:

FRANKIE

Jared Garfield

GEORGE

Joe Layton

NAT

Jonnie Riordan

FINN

Kieton Saunders-Browne

Director

Neil Bettles

Set and Video Designer

Andrzej Goulding

Lighting Designer

Zoe Spurr

Sound Designer

Pete Malkin

Costume Designer

Lily Arnold

Associate Director

Jessica Williams

Director’s Note

Back in 2008 when we first launched Ignition, the ambition was to develop young male performers who would potentially be Frantic performers of the future. Ten years on and with over 140 graduates of the project, we get to put our money where our mouth is. A full-scale touring show that has been developed with Ignition graduates and finally cast from the same pool.

Through Ignition we travel the country finding young men who we hope will benefit from our way of making theatre. Young men who may not have found themselves in a theatre before, let alone on stage performing. Having directed all twelve Ignition performances it has been incredible to develop this play with Anna Jordan and various teams of Ignition graduates. We told stories, worked physically, made scenes and eventually landed on a simple idea. What does it mean to return to your home after a life-changing experience? To return home and for your world to feel a little different. Maybe you have changed, or maybe the place you are returning to no longer recognises you.

War was something we talked about a lot, and with the centenary of World War One very present in our thoughts we started to develop stories about how that experience can have a profound effect on the people involved. That is how we find ourselves where we are now. Three young men returning to their hometown of Scarborough in different periods in time: 1918, 2013 and 2026. Anna Jordan has built a complex and poetic play with interwoven stories that imagines three very different reasons to return home. All driven by conflict.

The exciting task has been to find a way for all three stories to exist at the same time in the same space. To be together but worlds apart.

Neil Bettles

Thanks

Thomas Scurr

Ben Newton

Tim Briggs

Karan Gill

Sam Newton

Gareth Morgan

James Tobin

Gary Duncan

Dan Parr

Ryan Hutton

Victor Oshin

David Hemsted

Chris Urch

Camilla Young

Scott Chaloff

Phone Credit for Refugees Charity

A.J.

For Chris Urchwhose support never endsand whose personality never fizzles

Characters

NAT

FRANKIE

GEORGE

OFFICER

ARMY BUDDY ONE

ARMY BUDDY TWO

ARMY BUDDY THREE

ELIAS

TRAFFICKER

KIM

ALDO

ROSE

REBEL

MUM (FRANKIE’S)

DOCTOR

MOTHER (GEORGE’S)

FATHER (GEORGE’S)

TONY

RYAN

LUKE

KET

FINN

DR COHEN

TIBBS

CHORUS (PLURAL)

Note on Play

Chorus should be played by various members of the company. We should slip seamlessly between scenes with pace.

/ indicates an overlap.

… indicates a trailing-off or a searching for words, but rarely a slowing down.

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