Unknown Rivers E-Book

Chinonyerem Odimba

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

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

'I have to draw a new map. I have to be seen. For her. For all of us!' Since her ordeal five years ago, nineteen-year-old Nene rarely leaves home. Secure within her mum's embrace, Nene now keeps the outside world securely on the other side of her bedroom window. But weekly visits from her best friend start to fill the void and on one unexpected day, when Nene is finally beyond the walls of her sanctuary, a long-forgotten spark is powerfully reignited in her, one which will change her direction forever… A poignant and life-affirming play, Chinonyerem Odimba's Unknown Rivers is a testament to the extraordinary powers of female friendship – where there's turmoil, trauma and hardship, there's also love, bravery and hope, making it possible to go with the flow… and live. Unknown Rivers premiered at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, London, in October 2019.

Leseprobe

Chinonyerem Odimba

UNKNOWN

RIVERS

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production

Dedication

Characters

Spaces

Unknown Rivers

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Unknown Rivers was first performed at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, London, on 31 October 2019. The cast was as follows:

LEA

Renee Bailey

DEE

Doreene Blackstock

NENE

Nneka Okoye

LUNE

Aasiya Shah

Director

Daniel Bailey

Designer

Amelia Jane Hankin

Lighting

Martha Godfrey

Sound

Duramaney Kamara

To all the Black and Brown girls and women

whose softness is their strength.

Characters

NENE,eighteen years old. Black British girl. Lives in a council flat with her mother Dee.

DEE,forty-five years old. Black British working-class woman. Moved to the UK at the age of seven from Nigeria.

LEA,nineteen years old. Black British woman. Works in an office job.

LUNE,nineteen years. Asian British woman. Works in the same office as Lea.

Spaces

Dee’s house is a small narrow house. Split into two floors, the first floor is made up of a hallway and front room as well as a kitchen – all the rooms have all the signs of excessive hoarding. The kitchen is to the left, and a front room to the right. The front room has two faux-leather sofas, which we can barely make out, as well as framed pictures of Nene in school uniform that balance on top of piles of magazines, portraits of a child, and a painted portrait of Dee that peeks out from behind one of the sofas. On one side of the room is an almost panoramic view of the skyline from a window that runs from one edge of wall to another. The windowsill is filled with an array of ceramic and glass ornaments, piles of National Geographic magazines, and other odd bits. On a small coffee table by the side of one of the sofas is a phone.

There is a smaller room at the back of the house – a playroom of sorts filled with shelving – full of toys – as well as remnants of sewing paraphernalia, a clothes dummy, reams/tubes of African material.

Down the hallway is a wallpaper of various maps. Maps of different parts of the local area, different parts of the local town, and maps of unknown rivers. Some maps are larger than others. At the end of the hallway is one large framed photograph of Dee and Nene – sixteen years before the moment we meet them.

Upstairs, there is a bathroom and two bedrooms. One is Dee’s – a plainly decorated room bursting to full with broken bits of furniture and a rickety wardrobe in one corner.

The other bedroom is Nene’s bedroom – small, girly, neat.

The World Outside.

Notes

An ellipsis (…) indicates a trailing-off or pause at the end of dialogue.

A forward slash (/) indicates an overlap in speech or a self-interruption – one thought interrupted by another.

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

ACT ONE