Too Much World at Once E-Book

Billie Collins

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

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

'We should've seen this coming. We did. We did see this coming. The world will not be kind to us because we haven't given it a reason to be.' On his fifteenth birthday, Noble transforms into a bird. Thousands of miles away, his sister Cleo is stationed on a remote island with the British Antarctic Survey. But the birds have disappeared and Noble needs to reach her. Lying low until it's safe to take flight, he finds solace in misfit Ellis, while his mum desperately tries to stop their home from falling apart. The world turns. Dark clouds gather. Chaos is on the horizon... Billie Collins's play Too Much World at Once is an urgent coming-of-age story for our times – and a lyrical, theatrical journey that spans continents and lives. It was premiered at HOME, Manchester, in March 2023 by Box of Tricks Theatre before a UK tour.

Leseprobe

Billie Collins

TOO MUCHWORLD AT ONCE

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

‘I love this world, even in its hard places.

A bird too must love this world, even in its hard places.

So even if the effort may come to nothing,

You have to do something.’

Mary Oliver, ‘For Example’  

Contents

Original Production Details

Characters

Note on the Text

Note on the Dialogue

Too Much World at Once

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Too Much World at Once was first performed at HOME, Manchester, on 3 March 2023. The cast was as follows:

NOBLE

Paddy Stafford

ELLIS

Ewan Grant

FIONA

Alexandra Mathie

CLEO

Evie Hargreaves

Writer

Billie Collins

Director

Adam Quayle

Designer

Katie Scott

Lighting Designer

Richard Owen

Sound Designer and Composer

Lee Affen

Movement Director

Aiden Crawford

Production Manager

Jack Opie

Production Manager (Touring)

Rob Athorn

Company Stage Manager

Phoebe Delafaye

Associate Producer

Justina Aina

Marketing Associate

Marcella Rick

Design Associate

Lucy Sneddon

Assistant Producer

Arisha Marsh

Press and PR

Flavia Fraser-Cannon at Mobius Industries

Audio Description

Hear The Picture

Characters

NOBLE, male, fifteen, can turn into a bird

ELLIS, male, fourteen, plays fast and loose with the uniform code

CLEO, female, twenty-three, a zoological field assistant for the British Antarctic Survey

FIONA, female, fifty-four, teaches biology in a secondary school

Note on the Text

The play is set in July. It takes place in a rural town in the UK (where it is summer), and Bird Island in the South Atlantic Ocean (where it is winter). The island can only be reached by ship, has little protection from Antarctic storms, and in winter the temperature hovers at around 0ºC.

The scenes bleed into each other – we never settle, never one thing nor the other.

This is a creaturely play. Everything is real.

Note on the Dialogue

A dash ( – ) at the end of a line indicates an interruption from the next speaker.

A forward slash ( / ) indicates overlapping dialogue.

Lines in bold and unattributed to characters should be the responsibility of the whole cast. These moments should move at quite a pace and have the charge, rhythm, and fervour of a flock of birds.

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

PART ONE: CLOUDS GATHER

Silence and darkness. Then, slowly, the sound of birdsong. Individual voices at first: a lone blackbird, a jackdaw… Gradually more join – chattering, chirruping, and cheeping. A chorus forming. Sudden light. This is the spell that conjures the play…

He woke up – He woke up – He woke up on his fifteenth birthday And the world was not as he had left it Going to bed the night before. He knew – He knew – He knew this without knowing it – A flickering, fledgling sense of a shift A singing simmering shiver, a song Something Somewhere Sometimes The biggest things happen In the quietest of ways And we don’t even notice Don’t even see it Don’t make a fuss Or a song Or a dance Until…

The birdsong gets louder, louder, LOUDEST! Falls silent. We are left with FIONA, teaching a biology lesson. The kids are rowdy.

FIONA. Okay! Bell’s gone and that means we’re listening. Eyes on me, please. Four, three, two…

We’re picking up from Friday with evolution and adaptation. Adaptation is…? When organisms evolve through natural selection to fit their environment.

Now, we’re looking at a kind of adaptation which isn’t strictly on the syllabus, but – all together now – what senior management don’t know, won’t hurt them. So. Migration.

Suddenly, somewhere else, ELLIS is running. His nose is bloody. He trips to the ground, watches a fight occurring offstage.

ELLIS. Hey! It’s fine, it’s – hey!

Thump. A dead bird lands before him.

FIONA. Migration is a form of adaptation. For example, birds need food and nesting sites, but these change with the weather, so they go where they face the best chance of survival. Though in recent years a lot of migration has been disrupted, just like my lesson – Ryan. Talking. Thank you.

NOBLE comes after ELLIS, breathless, a cut on his forehead.

ELLIS. Shit, you’re bleeding.

NOBLE heads straight for the bird. He scoops it up.

Don’t pick it up, it’s dead, the wings are broke – hey, wait for me.

NOBLE starts walking, cradling the bird to his chest. ELLIS scrambles to his feet.

FIONA. Does anyone know what triggers bird migration?

ELLIS. That was brilliant. D’you do karate? I did karate for a bit. Nearly did my green belt but I got appendicitis. I’m Ellis.

FIONA. Hormones. When the environment changes, when things get unfriendly, the birds release hormones. And these hormones make them restless, they gather into flocks, they get hungry and very sexually excited… Yes, okay, hilarious.

ELLIS. It’s Noble, right?

FIONA. Quiet, now, please – I said – thank you. They don’t know what’s causing it, but their hormones are telling them to move. They just need the weather to give them the cue.

ELLIS. Good name. S’true that Miss Harris is your mum?

NOBLE. No.

ELLIS. Yeah, but she is though. She’s cool.

NOBLE. She’s not / cool.

ELLIS. That’s why people don’t take the piss out of you. If your mum was a teacher and a bitch, people would take the piss.

FIONA. Ryan. Still talking.

ELLIS. There was a boy at my old school – Paul Gallagher – had to leave cos his mum taught RE and she thought the earth was flat. He got so bullied. Absolutely terrored. Pushed him over the edge. (Beat.) That was a flat-earth joke.

FIONA. If they leave at the wrong moment, it could be disastrous. The weather needs to be perfect: clear skies and calm winds.

ELLIS. Who even throws a bird?

NOBLE. Your fault.

ELLIS. They chased me.

FIONA. Oi. You. Final warning. Now, when the conditions are right, they just up and go.

ELLIS. Where are you going?

FIONA. And when the seasons change, they come back. So let’s have a look at –

ELLIS. Will you just stop for –

FIONA. Okay. That’s it. Get out. Out. Put that down and leave my classroom. Now.

FIONA disappears and we are outside – a track nearby some woodland. NOBLE stops abruptly.

NOBLE. Did anyone see?

ELLIS. See what?

NOBLE. The – what happened.

ELLIS. Dunno. Wish I’d filmed it. Sight of Will Swain in a headlock.

NOBLE (slower). Did anyone see?

ELLIS. Does it matter?

Suddenly, NOBLE approaches him with the bird.

What you doing? Fuck off. Hey – don’t.

NOBLE. Did they?

ELLIS. Fuck off.

NOBLE. Tell me.

ELLIS. No. I don’t – nobody saw.

NOBLE. I wasn’t involved.

ELLIS. You were a bit.