Two Billion Beats E-Book

Sonali Bhattacharyya

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

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

'The smaller you are, the quicker your heart beats. But it doesn't matter what size your heart is, we all only get an average of about two billion beats over our lifetime. It's just a pump at the end of the day, right?' Seventeen-year-old Asha is a rebel, inspired by historical revolutionaries and unafraid of pointing out the hypocrisy around her – but less sure how to actually dismantle it. Her younger sister, Bettina, wide-eyed and naive, is just trying to get through the school day without having her pocket money nicked. With essays to write, homework to do, and bus journeys home, the two sisters meet every afternoon, outside the school gates, to tackle the injustice of the world. Sonali Bhattacharyya's play Two Billion Beats is an insightful, heartfelt coming-of-age story and a blazing account of inner-city, British-Asian teenage life. It was originally presented in the Inside/Outside season, livestreamed from the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, before receiving a production there in this full-length version in 2022, directed by Nimmo Ismail.

Leseprobe

Sonali Bhattacharyya

TWO BILLION BEATS

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Acknowledgements

Characters

Two Billion Beats

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Two Billion Beats was first performed at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, on 5 February 2022, with the following cast:

BETTINA

Anoushka Chadha

ASHA

Safiyya Ingar

Director

Nimmo Ismail

Designer

Debbie Duru

Lighting Designer

Alex Fernandes

Sound Designer

Tingying Dong

Movement Director

Chi-San Howard

Associate Movement Director

Tian Brown-Sampson

Voice Coach

Emma Woodvine

Casting Director

Christopher Worrall

Company Stage Manager

Jenny Skivens

Deputy Stage Manager

Lara Mattison

Assistant Stage Manager

Nicole Scott

Production Manager

Stuart Burgess

Technical Manager

Lisa Hood

An earlier version of the play was first livestreamed in the Orange Tree Theatre’s Inside/Outside season on 15 April 2021, directed by Georgia Green.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to: Paul Miller and Guy Jones for all their support, Louisa Neuberger and Rachel Holmes for their help and insights, Manju and Dilip for their encouragement and belief, and Paul, Leela and Akash for being the best of the best of the besties.

S.B.

‘I thought it was only fools who were afraid of words.’

B. R. Ambedkar

Characters

ASHA, seventeen

BETTINA, fifteen

Scene One

ASHA, seventeen, British Asian, empathetic rebel, reads a book in the corridor outside the sixth-form common room at her school, headphones in. The sound of an after-school club in the hall nearby can be heard faintly (basketball or something similar). ASHA’s sister, BETTINA, fifteen, a quiet daydreamer prone to flights of fancy, also in school uniform, enters.

BETTINA. You waiting for someone?

ASHA. What?

BETTINA. You waiting for someone?

ASHA turns down the volume on her phone with exaggerated annoyance.

ASHA. No.

BETTINA. What you doing, then?

ASHA (of her book). What’s it look like?

BETTINA. You can read at home.

ASHA. You can be an annoying little shit at home.

BETTINA. If we go now we can get the bus together.

ASHA. I’m alright, thanks.

BETTINA slings down her bag and gets comfortable.

What’re you doing?

BETTINA. I’ll wait ’til you’re done.

ASHA. Why?