New Theatre Plays

Participating Theatres

www.platform11plus.eu

Divadlo Alfa Pilzeň, Czech Republic VAT Teater Tallinn, Estonia tjg. Theater Junge Generation Dresden, Germany Kolibri Gyermek – És Ifjúsági Színház Budapest, Hungary Elsinor Teatro Stabile d’Innovazione Milan, Florence, Forlí, Italy Theater De Citadel Groningen, The Netherlands Brageteatret Drammen, Norway Teatro O Bando Palmela, Portugal Theatre Institute Bratislava, Slovakia Junges Schauspielhaus Zurich, Switzerland Emergency Exit Arts London, United Kingdom Pilot Theatre Company York, United Kingdom

Associated Partners

With the support of the CULTURE Programme 2007-2013 of the European Union

Upebe Buenos Aires, Argentina University of Agder Kristiansand, Norway Europa Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

ISBN 978-3-00-034352-0

NEW THEATRE PLAYS FROM EUROPE AND SOUTH AMERICA

Oulun Kaupungin Teatteri Oulu, Finland

NEW

Theatre Plays FROM EUROPE & SOUTH AMERICA for young people aged 11–15

NEW

Theatre Plays FROM EUROPE & SOUTH AMERICA for young people aged 11–15

Platform 11 +

Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards A collaboration of European theatre companies funded by the European Union under ‘CULTURE 2007–!2013’.

PLATFORM 11+ – Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards is an artistic network in which 13 theatres from 12 European countries have joined together to collectively create new work for young people aged between 11 and 15 in both the Performing and Visual Arts. As the professional artists go about their work, the young people will be encouraged to express themselves artistically too.

At the end of the four year project, PLATFORM 11+ wants to present a multi-layered portrait of a young European generation, whose presence at the beginning of the 21st century will be reflected in numerous works of art.

Partner theatres

Represented in the Advisory Board by

Associated partners

Brageteatret (leading org.) Norway | Drammen

Terje Hartviksen

ATINA Argentina | Buenos Aires

Divadlo Alfa Czech Rep | Pilsen

Tomáš Froyda

University of Agder Norway | Kristansand

Oulun Kaupungin Teatteri Finland | Oulu

Athi Ahonen

European Universtity Viadrina

VAT Teater Estonia | Tallinn

Tiina Rebane

Theater Junge Generation Germany | Dresden

Felicitas Loewe

Elsinor Teatro Stabile d’Innovazione Italy | Milan

Stefano Braschi

Kolibri Gyermek – És Iljúsági Színház

János Novák

Hungary | Budapest Theater de Citadel The Netherlands | Groningen

Rob Bakker

Teatro O Bando Portugal | Palmela

Raul Atalaia

Theatre Institute Bratislava Slovakia | Bratislava

Vladislava Fekete

Pilot Theatre United Kingdom | York

Marcus Romer

Emergency Exit Arts United Kingdom | London

Deb Mullins

Junges Schauspielhaus Zurich

Petra Fischer

Switzerland | Zurich

Germany | Frankfurt (Oder) Theaterstückverlag Germany | Munich

Contents

Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 9 Now 55 31 13 Me, Bara Gregorowna / Petra Tejnerowa / Blanka Lunakowa (Theatre Alfa, Pilsen, CZ) .......... 21 Paperclip Belt, Marion Jõepera (VAT Theater Tallinn,EE) ............................................................................................... 31 Schoolyard Stories, Jukka Heinänen (Oulu City Theatre, Oulu, FI) ............................................................................. 39 Sorry Dad, but I have to, Laura Naumann (theater junge generation, Dresden, DE) ................................................ 45 Emil and the Detectives, Péter Horváth (Kolibri Theatre, Budapest, HU) ................................................................... 55 The Web Emporium, Ákos Németh (Kolibri Theatre, Budapest, HU) ............................................................................ 65 Cyber Cyrano, István Tasnádi (Kolibri Theatre, Budapest, HU) ....................................................................................... 73 The Man on the Horse, Giuditta Mingucci (Elsinor Teatro Stabile d’ Innovazione, Milan, Florence, Forli, IT) ........ 81 Frost Damage, Bouke Oldenhof (Theater De Citadel, Groningen, NL) .......................................................................... 89 Somebody’s Move, Nobody’s Move, Simon van der Geest (Theater De Citadel, Groningen, NL) ...................... 99 Before the Bell, Liv Heløe (Brageteatret, Drammen, NO) ................................................................................................ 109 The Old Sedentary and the Young Adventurer, Rui Pina Coelho (Teatro O Bando, Palmela, PT) ................ 121 Jump out of Skin, Zuzana Ferenczka (Theatre Institute, Bratislava, SK) .................................................................... 129 Once it hit me, Michaela Zakuťanská (Theatre Institute, Bratislava, SK) ..................................................................... 137 School Ties, Arjinun Manuelpillai (Emergency Exit Arts, London, UK) ....................................................................... 143 The Mystery of Jack & The Clones of Chaos, Richard Hurford (Pilot Theatre, York, UK) ................................ 151 Bluer than usual, Eva Rottmann (Junges Schauspielhaus Zurich, CH) ...................................................................... 159

HELP!, Péter Horváth / Aare Toikka (Kolibri Theatre Budapest, HU / VAT Theater, Tallinn, EE) ................................ 169 The Last First Week, Anna Pabst / Lorenz Langenegger / Ákos Németh (Junges Schauspielhaus, Zurich, CH / Kolibri Theatre, Budapest, HU) .............................................................................. 183 Beginning, Jukka Heinänen / Arjunan Manuelpillai / Rui Pina Coelho (Emergency Exit Arts, London, UK / Teatro OBando, Palmela, PT / Oulu City Theatre, Oulu, FI) ................................... 199

Thinking Time, Liv Heløe (Brageteatret, Drammen, NO / theater junge generation, Dresden, DE) ........................... 211 Salto Mortale (Kombat), Kristiina Jalasto / Michaela Zakuťanská (VAT Theater, Tallinn, EE / Theatre Institute, Bratislava, SK) ................................................................................................ 219 Babel, Bouke Oldenhof (Theater De Citadel, Groningen, NL / Elsinor Teatro Stabile d’ Innovazione, Milan, Florence, Forli, IT) ......................... 235

What Light, Richard Hurford / Giuditta Mingucci (Pilot Theatre, York, UK / Elsinor Teatro Stabile d’ Innovazione, Milan, Florence, Forli, IT) .............................................. 243

pirat07&QueenOfLove, Petr Vodička (Alfa Theatre, Pilsen, CZ / Teatro O Bando, Palmela, PT) .............................. 253 Schoolyard Stories from Ibero America New Business Transactions, Carlos de Urquiza ...................................................................................................... 263 Eva, the mother who enrolled you, Irma Borges / Óscar Escribano ................................................................ 270 I don’t want to be Che Guevara, Gabriel Fernández Chapo ................................................................................ 276 Stay Here – or Lucas and Camila’s Story, Luz Urquiza ......................................................................................... 281 Mr. Splut, Martha Márquez ............................................................................................................................................... 286

Preface PLATFORM 11+ Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards 30 New Plays for 11–15 year olds 1.

For them, the world of childhood fantasy has become foreign and the diverse problems of the adult world are as yet unknown: adolescents aged between 11 and 15 years of age are whirling through a phase of life that is defined by an arduous and demanding search for their own identity. The majority of adults are puzzled by the irritating behaviour of adolescents and there are only a few artists who have both the interest and the ability to capture the special flair of this age group in an artistically sophisticated way. It is however, exactly in this particular complicated stage of life, that the confrontation with dedicated art can make a lasting mark on personality development. Throughout Europe it is agreed that there is a gap in the range of cultural products for the 11–15 year old age group. Regardless of cultural tradition, the standard of civilisation or the artistic spirit of the time, young adults in this age group are rarely portrayed or directly addressed.

13 theatres from 12 European countries have joined together for the EU subsidized project PLATFORM 11+ Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards, united by their special focus on this young audience. All of these theatres have been working at a high professional standard for many years, both for and with young people. With PLATFORM 11+ a European cultural offensive has been brought to life. The goal of this offensive is to permanently fill the gap in the range of cultural products for this special age group, particularly in the area of the Performing Arts and to spread the idea outside of Europe.

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Preface 2.

PLATFORM 11+ started the initial 4-year project in May 2009: Authors in 12 countries were commissioned by their respective partner theatres to dedicate themselves to the very specific themes of 11-15 year olds. The large group consisted of a variety of different authors with different backgrounds: alongside theatre-makers with years of experience behind them in the area of children’s and youth theatre, were authors who wrote for young audiences for the first time. Also in the group were young people at the beginning of their careers, young adults who could remember the conflicts of this stage of their lives very clearly.

The shared starting point for all of them was active research amongst the target group. An integral part of the writing process in every case was the contact with adolescents particularly in their schoolyards, this being their central area of life, an identity-defining area during these years. For a number of the authors this was a natural way of going about the work, some, on the other hand were not used to this way of working and consequently, it wasn’t always an easy process for them. There was, however, a shared curiosity about this contact with young people. Just how receptive the authors were for the ‘testimonies’ of their protagonists is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the experience of these meetings flows into the dramatic starting points of the plays or into the dialogues or is used to add general authentic colour to the atmosphere of the scripts.

All of these plays have already been performed in lengthy seasons. The performances have often been done in conjunction with theatre educators who conduct discussions or workshops after the plays. The theatres are unanimous that the young audiences fully and heartily enjoyed the plays.

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Preface 3.

At the beginning of the project, the so-called ‘National Phase’, the 13 PLATFORM 11+ partners commissioned their respective authors to write a play, which would be then performed in their own theatres. The theatre scripts that were born out of this were a result of the individual impulses of each author. Each of the processes that led to the birth of the 30 plays printed in this book was different and thus all the resulting scripts are different. All of the research-based scripts, however, are authentic and contemporary. The authors contacted the young adults at their own level; they absorbed the young people’s attitude to life and converted their impressions in very different ways both in content and in their aesthetic.

The one-sided narrowness of so called ‘thematic plays’ that serve the political catch phrases of the day, such as bulimia, sexual abuse or racism, should be avoided on the basis of the findings from the direct exchange of ideas with the young people. A number of authors found out that the young people themselves rejected this sort of thematic simplification. The plays shouldn’t only get to grips with the problems of specific (e.g. violence orientated) minorities but also reflect the many facetted realities of everyday life. The thematic and aesthetic variety of the plays presented here emphasizes just how deeply the authors managed to delve into the somewhat inaccessible world of the adolescents and how inspired they have been in the artistic expression of their discoveries.

Many of the scripts use the statements of the young people as concrete material for the content and the language; the scripts that have been developed in this way give a broad-ranging view of puberty as being one of the most complicated phases of human life.

10

Preface

Good examples of this are Schoolyard Stories from Jukka Heinanen (FI) and School Ties from Arjunan Manuelpillai (UK). Both plays are a collection of serious and entertaining scenes about the daily joys and concerns of young people in their school and home environments. The material that the authors compiled for their plays was a direct result of their research.

The text for NOW 553113 me, which defines itself as a mixture of documentary and fiction, was fed by the extensive comments of the students who were interviewed as a basis for the rehearsal process under the leadership of Petra Tejnerowá (CZ) Michaela Zakuťanskás’s (SK) Once it hit me is also based on her own journal and research – the author emphatically recommends that the play be performed in schools and thereby underlines her intention that the target group is in close proximity during the performance.

Frost Damage, written by Bouke Oldenhof (NL), was performed as a classroom play in the narrative theatre tradition of the Dutch youth theatre: The series of scenes about a complicated mother-son relationship explores, in a powerful way, the everyday psychological violence that parents exercise on their children.

Rui Pina Coelho’s (PT) final version of The Old Sedentary and the Young Adventurer was also the result of months of research conducted by the author with students as well as with the other artists who were involved in the production. The diversity of the material is reflected in the form of the play: two contrasting characters, a young student and an aging professor tell all sorts of stories, totally different and always full of surprises.

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Preface In their plays The Man on the Horse and Somebody’s Move, Nobody’s Move, Giuditta Mingucci (IT) and Simon van der Geest (NL) describe the schoolyard as a historical place and as a unique space in which to experience life in general. Despite external changes, the basic conflicts have remained the same for many generations.

Of course plays with more or less classical dramaturgical plots have also been developed.

From an adult viewpoint, Liv Heløe (NO) portrays in Before the Bell the less spectacular problems of a 12 year old boy involved in a contest to win the favour of a young girl, neatly packed into a touching mother-son relationship. Just how relevant and important these questions are for the young audiences has been clearly demonstrated by over 100 performances, as well as the fact that play was awarded the most prestigious Norwegian Theatre award, the Hedda Prize, in the category Children’s and Youth Theatre in 2010.

Finn and Jule, the main characters in Eva Rottman’s play, Bluer than usual, are somewhat older, and they like each other. And it’s exactly this that makes it so complicated, because now a lot of things happen for the first time, and their new experiences with aspirations, fears and expectations are extremely irritating and confusing for them and for those people close to them as well.

The Mystery of Jack and The Clones of Chaos is written for two actors, but the main one brightens up the plot by performing a total of 10 characters: by personifying Jack’s inner voice Richard Hurford (UK) has come up with a wonderfully comic way of demonstrating the emotional turmoils of a 13 year old.

12

Preface In Sorry Dad but I have to, written by the young author Laura Naumann, everything is different for Ludwig once school ends: he disappoints his father with his plan to become a musician, a young girl expects odd things from him, and a headstrong old woman confronts him with irritating questions.

Three experienced authors have worked for Hungary. István Tasnádi, famous in Hungary and beyond for his work with the Krétakör Theater wrote for a young audience for the first time. Cyber Cyrano, based on a young girl’s true story, takes the opportunity to talk about the dangers for young people who seek refuge in the virtual world.

The Internet also plays a central role in The Web Emporium, written by Ákos Németh: with the basic idea for the play already in his head, the author met with high school students with whom he further developed the ideas for the play about two business-minded girls.

The direct, but for him unusual, contact with the target group led Péter Horváth, an author with a wealth of experience in theatre for young people, to a far reaching decision: because of the vehement objection of the young people with whom he was in contact, he stopped his developmental work on a play about the treatment of the Hungarian Romanian minority and instead wrote a contemporary version of the Erich Kaestner classic Emil and the Detectives. Horváth’s Reflections on the writing process provide very clear information about the process.

Stories with dramatic and intense conflicts and existentially extreme situations in the lives of young people can be found in 2 plays: Paperclip Belt

by Marion Jõepera (EE) based on elements of the autobiography of a 15 year old, is a complex play about the desperation and death wishes of young people in a seemingly hopeless situation.

13

Preface Zuza Ferenczovás (SK) play Jump out of Skin, deals in an enthralling way with explosive themes for young people, a story about first sexual experiences and abortion.

4.

The phase of PLATFORM 11+ co-productions followed the national phase, for which a minimum of two partners came together. The joint productions of the theatres were nearly always preceded by a co-writing process, involving two or three authors. Hardly any of these participating authors had any experience of working together like this. Nevertheless, for some of the authors this seemed to be an obvious way of working, for others it was a long process to embark on such a project with an unknown partner in a foreign language.

In Reflections on the (co-)writing process the authors described their experiences in this multiple unfamiliar area: dealing with research and cowriting, as well as the difficult decisions concerning themes, choice of language and the structure of the plays and about the partly Babylonian way of communicating with one another.

These – to some extent multi-lingual – plays, which resulted from this process are presented in the second chapter in an English translation. It is indicated in these texts where and how the languages have been used. In this way, the transfer to another language is easily comprehensible.

The sheer variety of these plays makes impressively clear the different ways in which one can reach the goal of co-written plays and how rich a text, born out of such an unusual partnership, can become.

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Preface Jukka Heinanen (FI), Rui Pina Coelho (PT) and Arjunan Manuelpillai (UK), despite their differing concepts of theatre, achieved their ambitious plan to develop a play as a trio, in a complicated work process, thanks to an admirable level of support from the highly dedicated production team. Their personal contributions are evident in Beginning and increase the appeal of the richly varied series of scenes.

The young authors Kristiina Jalasto (EE) and Michaela Zakuťanská (SK) reached an agreement on the plot and the characters for Salto Mortale, but then each of them wrote their own version of the play concerning the new form of European circus life: about three teenagers who are on tour in Europe with their parents’ fun fair and about the numerous problems with which they are confronted.

Anna Pabst and Lorenz Langenegger (CH) found in Ákos Németh (HU) a foreign colleague whose command of German was good enough for him to be able to write in that language. After having collectively developed the basic plot about an old derelict school and the characters who inhabited it, and after many workshops with young Swiss people, the authors each wrote their own scenes but got back together to collectively weave the material into the play which they named The Last First Week.

Aare Toikka (EE) and Péter Horváth (HU) used their own ‘underdeveloped’ skills with foreign languages as a springboard for a highly dramatic but very lively story about a 12 year old girl and a 15 year old boy who get into a life threatening situation. In this situation they are forced to communicate with each other in ‘broken”’ English - for both of them English is a second language.

When the rehearsals began for pirate07&QueenOfLove (CZ, PT) there was merely an idea for a play about virtual love on the Internet. The bi-national composition of the team absorbed this content and the authors oriented themselves aesthetically on a favourite comic strip amongst the young

15

Preface people. The rehearsal process included an improvisation period lasting several weeks. In this time the actors and director Petr Vodička (CZ) developed a striking play based on material which came up in the improvisations.

Giuditta Mingucci (IT) and Richard Hurford (UK) portrayed in What Light a vision of the future, fifty years from now, in which adolescents from 2011 have become old people struggling to bring up their grandchildren in the fractured society they have created in the wake of the global economic crisis. An original nightmare vision inspired by themes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and countless references to the here and now.

Bouke Oldenhof (NL) Babel (The Book of Errors 1–5) and Liv Heløe (NO) Thinking Time wrote their plays without a co-author. The partnership of each of their theatres however was crucial for the theme, the plot and the characters: in Babel, Bouke Oldenhof looked for archaic, ancient myths, which had relevance to today. Liv Heløe took the theme of stigmatization in societies, which makes a prejudice-free interaction very difficult. The tentative attempt of a young girl and a Romanian boy to form a relationship is mirrored in the love between a young Norwegian girl and a German soldier more than sixty years ago.

5.

The authors now enter the last phase, for the time being, of the project with the experience of the co-writing and co-productions behind them: up until Autumn 2011, they will all write short scenes/mini dramas for a material pool on themes which are relevant to the target group. Directors and artists of all of the theatres will develop a common Final P11+ Site Specific Production based on this material, which will then tour through all of the countries involved.

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Preface 6.

Schoolyard Stories as the basis for PLATFORM 11+, is a creative catalyst which began in Europe over ten years ago: the project was first developed in the mid 1990’s at carrousel Theater on the Parkaue in Berlin, Germany, as the regional event Schulhofgeschichten. The first EU project under the title European Schoolyard Stories was subsidized in 2000/2001. Even back then, new plays for young people came into existence which went on to be produced in the 7 European Theatres which worked together on the project.

Marcelo Diaz, at that time director of the Theatre on the Sihl/Zurich (CH), brought the idea of the Schoolyard Stories to his native land, Argentina.

Maria-Inés Falconi, Secretary of the ASSITEJ Argentina (ATINA), developed, in association with Dirk Neldner, Artistic Director of PLATFORM 11+, the concept for the Project Schoolyard Stories in Ibero America. She succeeded in conducting this project in co-operation with ATINA, the National Centre of ASSITEJ International in Argentina with the participation of the IBERO AMERICAN ASSITEJ CENTRES and independent American Artists and in cooperation with PLATFORM 11+ at an almost identical time as the European project.

7.

The 5 Ibero-American short plays presented here are also based on intense research and are in both form and choice of themes quite close to the European plays. Nevertheless it is still rewarding to examine the texts for continent-specific idiosyncrasies.

The five texts contained in the book differ strongly from one another in both content and aesthetic and clearly reflect the different personalities of their creators: in the case of the very young author Luz Rodríguez Urquiza (AR), in Stay here – or Lucas and Camila’s Story, the schoolyard becomes a place of refuge after a dramatic family conflict. For this play she drew on both her own experience and the stimuli given to her by other young

17

Preface people. With I don’t want to be Che Guevara, Gabriel Fernández Chapo (AR) presents the monologue of a teenager whose unsuccessful striving for attention discharges itself in violence against others weaker than himself.

In their texts Mr. Splut and Eve, the mother who enrolled you, Martha Márquez (CO) and Irma Borges/Óscar Escribano search for answers to the questions Who am I? and What am I good for? and Where do we come from? Thus, they incorporate themes that are relevant for young people of this age.

Carlos de Urquiza (AR), a very experienced theatre author, wrote about the theme of the selling of young girls and in the play New Business Transactions, has presented a dialogue without covering up sordid details.

For School WC, a co-production between Pilot Theatre (UK) and ATINA, (Premiere 3/2010 Buenos Aires), New Business Transactions, Stay Here and I don’t want to be Che Guevara were performed together as one theatre event. This goes to show that this sort of combination is not only practical from a theatrical standpoint but also provides a suitable presentation form for the short plays linked by their content.

8.

With this book, PLATFORM 11+ has taken a big step forward in its aim to effectively combat the dearth in the range of theatre products for young people in the 11–15 year old age group. These new plays from Europe and South America are convincing thanks to their high professional standard and the wealth of their content and aesthetics.

The persuasive authenticity of the texts makes it again very clear that intensive research in the immediate environment of adolescents is an ideal way for authors to start off their writing process.

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Preface PLATFORM 11+ will encourage authors in the years to come to write for the special 11-15 year old age bracket, on the basis of schoolyard research: announcements for further play competitions have already been initiated in all of the countries involved.

Thus a process has been set in motion, as a consequence of which a young generation of Europeans will be portrayed, complete with their vision, hopes, fears and real experiences. For this generation of young Europeans a continent without borders is, for the first time, a matter of course and an everyday reality.

It is hoped that the plays coming out of the project will be discovered outside national and continental borders and that they will enjoy a string of performances throughout the world.

Special thanks are extended to all the European and South American authors who have contributed to the making of this book, especially in regard to the efforts they have made to clearly illustrate their individual writing processes to the interested reader.

Thanks to the partner theatres of PLATFORM 11+ and ATINA who have already presented the new plays on stage and thus proved their effectiveness.

Odette Bereska Editor & Dramaturg PLATFORM 11+ (April 2011)

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All of the plays presented in the book are on the accompanying CD. (The printing layout is A4).

Details about copyright are to be found with each play.

For all further information (e.g. other translations, other plays from the authors) visit the official PLATFORM 11+ website:

www.platform11plus.eu

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TEĎ 55 31 13 já

55 31 13 me NOW

THE BOUNDARY PATH OF REALITIES. ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF ADOLESCENTS

By Petra Tejnorová, Blanka Josephová-Lunáková and Bára Gregorová

Commissioned & first performed by Theatre Alfa, Pilsen, Czech Republic (June 11, 2010)

Summary NOW 55 31 13 me The boundary path of realities. One day in the life of adolescents Script for an auteur-style production by director Petra Tejnorová. Authors : Blanka Josephová-Luňáková, Bára Gregorová, second-year students at the František Křižík Grammar School in Pilsen/Czech Republic and actors of the performance NOW 55 31 13 me is not a theatre play in the true sense of the word, but is literally a theatre script. This is because it was created during the rehearsal process and is based on the testimonies of particular people. It is composed of both fictitious and documentary parts. The authors of the texts used in the script are writers Bára Gregorová and Blanka Josephová-Luňáková, with use also being made of conversations and discussions between the actors in the production. Last but not least, it is important to mention that the play draws on the contributions of teenagers studying at a Pilsen grammar school.

The fictitious part of NOW 55 31 13 me takes place over the course of a single day. The students get up in the morning and drag themselves into the classroom, going on to spend the afternoon on the internet. Their day is composed of images of mundanity and stereotypes, but one thing about it is out of the ordinary. One of their fellow students has committed suicide by jumping off a roof. What form and likeness is taken by this magical NOW, in which children become adults?

Most of Petra Tejnorová’s auteur-style productions are created with no text to begin with, by means of improvisation, and it is thus relatively difficult to provide precise information ‘about the author’. The script contains the entire text of the production. The actors for the most part play themselves, sometimes becoming fictitious characters. This script is fulfilled only on stage, when acted in front of an audience, since it is closely interconnected with the action on stage. © Theatre Alfa, http://www.divadloalfa.cz/kontakt.php

23

Text extract 24. Quiet time

Games games games games wait where

he’s leaving in a minute

are they Shit not that one Shit not that one

Wait Azor wait Whoops I’m somewhere

Blanka Click click click click

either

else again Jesus he’s sent enough of them

Tonda Let’s see give it here How does it

So who’s the moron

Give it here

work Right You have to press this one up

Mine has a toggle so first I have to get used

Wait

here Click and then down there on the star

to it don’t I Fuck these touch pads are mad

What

Click Beep There you go Wait don’t grab it

I just touch it and it jumps around

Look

Give it to me I had it first

You fuckwit

What

Chill

Shut it. Cool It’s got a mega photo memory

Read that

It’s gone again Click Star and then what

Nice one

Thanks darling it was great what was

First up there and then the star

Give it here

What do you mean what He didn’t write

Star up there There isn’t one

Chill just people you don’t know from work

that by mistake

Moron

probably

Who to

Just tell me I’ll do it myself

She’s minging

How should I know

Stop whinging If you’re useless you can’t

Isn’t she

Her with the tits maybe

do it yourself Click click Beep There you go

Nice rack though

Could be why would he have so many

Now what do you want to do with it

Idiot

photos of them

Games

Find those games then before Dad takes it

What are we going to do Let’s tell Mum

24

NOW 55 31 13 ME Are you mad She can’t find out it’d be

They’d get divorced

you leave me here

the end

People do

We’ll go away together then

Let’s delete them then and the photos

Jesus you mean you wouldn’t mind if they

You’re not thinking about Mum are you It’d

What does that change They’ll still carry on

split us up one with Mum and one with

be another blow for her Stop carrying on

texting

Dad

Maybe nothing even happened

At least Dad’ll know we know about it

They don’t usually do that

What do you mean

What good does that do

Or they won’t ask us and they’ll give us

Well He could have been thanking

We can use it when we need something

both to Dad

someone I don’t know the cook in the

Blackmail eh You’re evil Maybe Mum ought

No they’d give us to Mum

canteen for making a nice dinner or some

to know though

What if they didn’t What if Mum broke

fat old secretary for arranging something

You just said she shouldn’t and now she

down what then

and making phone calls to get him out of

should

Don’t yell Stop screaming like a little boy

trouble or I don’t know

So she’s not being taken for a ride and can

I don’t want to live with Dad I’d rather run

You’re mental

defend herself how bad is that fussing over

away Doing that to Mum I won’t forgive

Stop crying If we don’t tell Mum then what

him and attending to his every need and all

him I won’t live with him never ever I’ll go

do we do

the time he’s cheating on her

somewhere they can’t find me I’ll go this

We’ll have to take revenge on Dad

No Let’s not tell her

evening and I’m never coming back

ourselves

Why not

Stop it you lunatic what about me Would

How are we going to do that 25

Text extract We’ll play tricks on him

in the afternoon. My friends who were

I kept getting the feeling that my thoughts

You’re a total fuckwit

born on this estate do various things. The

were running away somewhere I couldn’t

Or we’ll write to that one with the tits that

ones who want to show off in front of girls

get to them. That they were breaking up

he doesn’t love her any more

get out a disgusting mangy carpet they

and running away, like when you have a

Milan Jesus you’re not that mad Give it

found by the dustbins, spread it out on the

shot and you had other shit in you

here

concrete and try to break dance. The ones

beforehand. I didn’t understand myself, I

Petr Gentlemen, the phone!!

that don’t shit themselves with fear and

couldn’t understand what was going on.

have some money buy spray cans and

I’ve got a friend. It might seem strange, but

(Petr takes the phones; Petr, Milan and

draw some nice graffiti on this grey

the person who stood by me all that time,

Tonda remain: SLAPjump, Blanka-dance)

concrete wall. Then there are lots who just

through good times and bad, was my

hang about doing sod all, drinking,

mother. Not that she held a protective wing

smoking fags or joints, sit around and talk

over me, definitely not, but whenever

about nothing.

something happened she sent me to my

25. Luckyboy 2 Petr, Tonda, Milan I’m a foreigner here,

Hi I’m good, what about you?

room to think about it. I tried to, but before,

although I was born here. Here, in this

See this huge scar on my forehead and

it still never quite worked. The accident

building, in this street, down which I walk

chin? That’s one of the numerous

unlocked a different way of seeing things,

several times a day, there and back. To

souvenirs of my accident which totally

maybe a way of being above the things that

school in the morning, back from school

changed me.

were around me… I realised it wasn’t

26

NOW 55 31 13 ME important what people around me thought

The doctors said I was a miracle child, that

about me, but what I thought about myself.

I’d been born again, that if my body hadn’t

What convictions I have inside myself. I

been so young and unscathed, I might not

found I could influence and control my

have survived. And it was a good thing I’d

thoughts, and as a result my actions.

had a helmet on that day (I don’t know why

My eyes only opened once I’d been in

it occurred to me, I never rode with a

hospital for two months. I couldn’t read

helmet on, but that day I said I’d try it with

after a while, I couldn’t sleep at night either,

one on, see how it felt, although I looked

and so all I could do was to lie looking at

like a twit in it). As you can see, I still limp a

the ceiling like an idiot. It was then that I

little, but I’ve got young bones, and

understood I had to rely on myself above

apparently it’ll heal before I get married.

all. My friends from the street, who I thought were real friends, carried on coming to see me for about a week maybe.

Cast Milan Hajn, Petr Vančura, Milena Jelínková, Blanka Josephová-Luňáková, Antonín Procházka Director Petra Tejnorová / Set Antonín Šilar /

Then they completely forgot about me.

Costumes Máša Černíková / Music Jan Burian ml.

I don’t want to be the same as anyone else.

Literary cooperation Blanka Josephová-

Maybe that’s why I feel so foreign here,

Luňáková, Bára Gregorová / Video Jaroslav

disinherited…

Hrdlička / Choreography Lucia Kašiarová / Dramaturgy Matěj Samec

27

Reflections on the writing process Blanka Josephová- Luňáková, actor, author Writing a script as a personal testimony – for a production which is built on that authenticity – requires a considerable amount of courage, especially if the author is also one of the actors.

What does it involve?

Laying oneself bare. And if the author-actor is able to re-experience certain situations from the past – with a certain degree of distance – he or she runs the risk that friends and relatives who come to see the production will not be able to maintain the same distance, and will ask what the point of it all is. Why put such intimate affairs in front of the public?

If the author-actor cannot answer this question in advance, he or she should never embark on such a project.

What I want to say is: Dragging skeletons out of the cupboard in front of the public is only worthwhile if it is not an end in itself – if it is more than a random attempt to draw on the author’s life, as one of several memories, merely because it is in keeping with the given theme. If the author’s aim is not precisely targeted, and has no deeper justification, then the result may be little more than sadomasochistic exhibitionism.

28

Blanka Josephová-Lunáková, Petra Tejnorová Blanka Josephová-Luňáková was born in Prague in 1955. She is a graduate of the DAMU Prague, Faculty of Alternative and Puppet Theatre. She started working at the Alfa Theatre in 1978. She was on maternity leave from 1989–2004. During that time she worked freelance as a journalist and as a teacher at the School of Performance Art in Pilsen. She also wrote plays and lyrics for performances and acted and directed in chamber performances. She resumed her work at the Alfa Theatre in 2004.

All in all, she has written more than twenty scripts for theatre, radio, and television and lyrics for many performances. Some of the scripts won awards at theatre festivals or in competitions. (Awards for lyrics of the Three Musketeers, for being the author of two plays ‘Booted Dog’ and ‘Lord of Creations’. She was nominated for the prestigious Czech Prize of Alfred Radok for her play ‘Birds Dream’. She also gained several awards for dramatic achievements for example at the Festivals Skupova Plzen and Mateřinka.)

At present Blanka works as an actress and writer at the Alfa Theatre. She also works as a theatre pedagogue in an acting school which she founded, and as a drama therapist with mentally handicapped adults. She is involved in international projects and organizes theatre workshops in the Czech Republic.

Petra Tejnorová, born 1984 (Tábore), started studying directing at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre, Prague Academy of Performing Arts, in 2004. Since her project work for her exams, she has always presented herself in an uncompromising theatrical style, working with maximum stylization and expressive detail; the main theme of her productions is the physical battle between men and women. As a director, her maxims are provocation, the postmodern, and physical theatre. For the purposes of her exam project work she studied Ladislav Klíma’s novel ‘The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch’ (Utrpení knížete Sternenhocha), and for her graduation work she opted for an adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s darkest plays, ‘Titus Andronicus’.

29

Bára Gregorová Petra Tejnorová’s productions are mainly dark, gloomy and depressing. She paints a world of tense pathological relations. In her work, she places an emphasis on the actor’s body and theatrical symbols; music occupies an important place in her work. Tejnorová knows how to create a magical atmosphere on the stage; she provokes the audience with earthy animality and precisely stylized movement.

Bára Gregorová is a Czech translator, writer, journalist, guide, climber and teacher of Russian and Czech languages, born in 1980 in Turnov (Czech Republic). She studied in the Pedagogical Faculty at the Charles University (PedF UK) in Prague (Czech language – Civics (1998–2000), and also in the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts at the Charles University (Polish and Russian Philology (2000–2007). Now she is a graduate at the Institute of Ethnology (2008–).

She worked as a teacher (conducted a seminar about culture in the Middle Europe) at the BGU University in Bishkek during a study and work scholarship in Kyrgyzstan (2005–2007). She started her blog www.komsomol.bloguje.cz there and wrote her prose debut called ‘kámen – hora – papír’ (The Stone– The Mountain – The Paper, published in Labyrint in 2008), as well.

She is the main translator of the famous Polish contemporary writer Dorota Masłowska and other Polish and Russian writers (Wojciech Kuczok, Mirek Nahacz, Mikołaj Łoziński, Jerzy Pilch, Irina Dieniezhkina, Vladimir Sorokin). She is the editor of the Polish section on the website www.iliteratura.cz, publishing essays or translations in Czech and Polish journals and newspapers (Labyrint Revue, A2, Babylon, Plav, Salon, Lampa, Ha!art, Listy…), cooperating with Czech Broadcast or Polish institute in Prague. She cooperated with the young Czech director Petra Tejnorová, on a theatre project called Cirkus Totality (DAMU, director: Petra Tejnorová, Premiere in Roxy NoD., 23. 4. 2009)

She is a member of a jazz-rock group Jenisej (vocals, lyrics, saxophone) and ČHS (the Czech Climbing Association), as well.

30

Kirjaklambritest vöö

Paperclip Belt

By Marion Jõepera

Adapted from the novel ‘Paperclip Belt’ by Mare Sabolotny

Commissioned & first performed by VAT TEATER Tallinn, Estonia 1st Opening Noorteteater (Youth Theatre) ”O” - Karksi Valla Kultuurikeskus Karksi (County Culture Centre), Tallinn (EE), March 31, 2010

Summary Paperclip Belt A 16-year-old girl Kati is dead but her spirit is now reminiscing about the times preceding her death. She used to wake up every morning loathing her alarm clock and going to school where she was not the most popular girl in class. Kati smoked and drank alcohol quite often.

She had a couple of best friends. She found one boy, Juhan, strangely attractive. All that Kati had wanted was to be attractive and different.

She had never dreamed of fitting into the normal everyday world.

Kati’s younger sister is having a birthday party, Kati invites Juhan to her place to help her keep an eye on the youngsters, not wanting to do this on her own. That night Kati and Juhan make love for the first time.

Soon summer begins. Kati and Juhan have a huge fight and do not speak to each other for a month. Kati decides to go to a party in another city. She eats a strange pill given to her by a boy she does not really know. A little while later, Kati gets raped by the same boy. She stumbles out of the house in total confusion only to see Juhan together with another girl. She runs into the nearby forest and tries to slash her wrists.

Juhan arrives in time to save Kati and drives with her to his summer holiday house. They have a long talk and suddenly find themself enjoying some of the nicest days of the summer.

As autumn approaches, Kati and Juhan start getting ready for school. Markus, the boy who raped Kati, contacts her out of the blue. He announces that he’s HIV positive and suggests that Kati should get tested. A while later, Kati receives the horrible news as well.

Kati starts to push Juhan away, since she is too afraid to talk about her condition. On a rainy autumn day, Kati finally confesses.

A while later, she climbs to the top of a tall parking house, thinking about her bygone freedom. She slips and not having enough strength to hang on to the railing, falls down.

Her sister is standing right there and sees Kati’s body smashing onto the cold ground. © Eesti Teatri Agentuur in Estonian (Estonian Theatre Agency), www.teater.ee

32

PAPERCLIP BELT 36. Height

future be brighter? I doubt it. Everyone

ardly… And if nothing would really work

makes mistakes. The creator as well. Some

out and things would turn out for the worst

Roof of a parking house. It’s raining cats

people are meant to fall apart.

I could always put an end to my troubles. It would be stupid not to try.

and dogs.

Friends, family and Juhan. Kersti will grow Kati To be free, finally, to fly like a bird,

up and knows not to repeat my mistakes.

What do I want? Do I doubt because I do

without any concerns – freedom. Finally

My friends will become closer to each

not want it or do I doubt because I’m afraid

everything has fallen into place. And what

other. Juhan will fall in love again. We were

of failing with the first attempt and never

is right, what is wrong – is there a differ-

two absolutely different people. The oppo-

getting a second one?

ence? Who would want to live forever,

sites attract? Maybe, but the opposites

anyway?

won’t stay together.

It’s strange how everything has turned out.

Kati looks down over the edge.

Sometimes it feels like the world is only governed by patterns. Maybe by an intri-

I never became the best one in anything.

cate and a big one, maybe by many tinier ones – this I have yet to figure out.

Never won a thing.

I do not exist. I am not here to care. Maybe

Put a pattern does exist. And not only in

it’s true that I could live a complete life?

the things which always appear in a spe-

Juhan. A beautiful name. A beautiful, beau-

Dad wouldn’t hate me forever. Maybe I

cific order like page numbers in the books,

tiful name. I didn’t know how to. Would the

should try? Running away would be cow-

but in things that should be totally free of 33

Text extract patterns – like walking in about the city

This is probably the cause of this feeling of

All these patterns make my head spin. They

and getting drenched in rain.

endless vagabonding. Every day I feel as if I

help me to pretend that I’m always going

And I keep and I keep repeating the word –

don’t know. As if I don’t know which direc-

somewhere, moving on, finding some-

‘PATTERN’ and I’m stuck with it. Stuck in it.

tion to choose in the evening, although I

thing new. But if I could see all those pat-

Pattern. Pat-tern.

do have a… a home. As if I don’t know with

terns from above, I would immediately

Sometimes it seems as if all the real things

whom to talk, although my cell-phone

notice that it’s just a game I play, at its best.

begin with that same letter – ‘t’: time, talk-

contact list has plenty of names.

The worst discovery would be to realize

ing, toughness, toleration, trifles, thunderstorms, tobacco, textbooks, teachers, teenagers, teasing, tears, tension, thresholds, tiredness.

that I have already stopped existing. A long What is the meaning of this? This should be this… this… poetical and beautiful state of: “I’m forever on the road”, “It’s all about the

time ago. As if the…

How many deaths have I survived already?

And yet again I stand in the middle of this

And… trails, trains, tracks, towns, traveling,

flow”, “Journey is more important than the

street and wash myself clean in front of the

thirst, theatre, television, text messages,

destination”, “Home is where the heart is”.

entire universe. It’s funny that I’m not

topics, theories, tidbits, thoughts and tranquility.

laughing.

I wish breathing itself would be enough. I

Everything has been embroidered into the

wish it could be like it used to, although I

It’s funny, because this is again just a pat-

pattern. Friends, random people. They

do not remember anymore. I think. I think

tern. If I would hop into a caffe tomorrow, I

always follow the same familiar lines.

I do not remember.

still wouldn’t choose a table in the middle

34

PAPERCLIP BELT of the room. Maybe the one closest to the

grab the edge of the roof with a one hand.

window. But the corner would remain the

She starts crying. The hand shaking with

priority. The window is just a bonus.

pain doesn’t have the strength to hold her

It doesn’t matter how clean I could wash

any longer. The hand slips off. Kati in her

myself, I still couldn’t go and sit down in

lime green jacket falls down into the asphalt

the centre of the room. This storyline is not

in front of the shopping centre.

part of my pattern. It just isn’t. It’s like this

More and more people are running to the

with a safe way home as well. It always

bloody and crushed body of Kati. Then the

appears from somewhere – a new side

police arrive and the ambulance. Then Kati’s

street or a cul de sac. Or a new answer.

shaken parents. Away from the entire crowd

It’s funny that I’m not laughing.

stands Kersti. She stands there without

So funny.

moving, without crying.

Kati is laughing. Laughing hysterically. She steps on the first step of the metal fence to climb up really carefully. When lifting her

Cast Kaisa Vallas, Martin Sarv, Kristi Kangur, Katri Mets, Valdur Kangur, Rimo Soots, Reelika Maiste, Terttu Tammaru, Henry Purtsak, Liis Grünbaum, Piia Bergštein, Valdur Kangur, Siret Sarv

second foot she gets tangled into her

Director Silvia Soro / Music Aadu Kunimägi

sneaker laces and slips. Kati manages to

Set group work

35

Reflections on the writing process Marion Jõepera My experience and participation in the project comprised of several independent, yet intertwined stages.

The first stage – working on the novel adaptation – was more or less purely textual. Since the author of ‘Paperclip Belt’ was 15 years old when writing her novel, one my main goals lay in retaining the tempo and thought patterns (especially the languge) of the original story.

The second stage involved getting aquainted with other writers and thus, getting new and fresh insights through their contemplations.

It was of great help to have a material at hand to rely on. On one hand, getting an authentic insight into the life and thoughts of a 15 year old is a difficult process and yet on the other hand, it’s more than simple. I put great value on visiting different schools where power games were going on in the schoolyards and this took me on a powerful trip down memory lane on the subject of the school environment in general.

It gives one a specific insight to see once again who are the ones playing middlefield and who are the ones sitting on the bench. Or behind the fence. And not only in High School.

The third stage ended with completing the first draft, complemented with new scenes which had emerged from different school encounters.

This stage was actually the beginning of the real work, putting flesh on the bare bones stage and was the most inspiring, interesting and detailed part of the work process.

As I see it, the role of the writer is solitary. You can collect a lot of material but the time will eventually come when you have to sit down by yourself and filter everything you’ve seen and experienced. For the filtering process to work, though, I believe that observing (on its own) 36

PAPERCLIP BELT didn’t quite work on the scale I had perceived at first. A direct encounter with youngsters at a painting workshop and seeing how, and on what, they concentrated in their specific art project made me notice certain themes which had been present in the story so far, but had gained undeservingly too little attention. Sometimes, I accompanied the youngsters on their bus rides home from school and listened to their stories about their various relationships and life in general. The longer the bus route, the better the stories (a general rule I noticed).

Co-operation between different parties played the most important role in the project. The educator was of the utmost value, since she was also the one being responsible for the youngsters getting a real experience and a vision of how their input becomes part of the project as a whole. The entire project had a duality and reciprocality in its essence – the artists needed inspiration and authentic material to base their work on. The youngsters needed inspiration and a closer look at how a co-created process works. Working with youngsters assured me that certain processes despite age and target groups, are expandable into the lives of grown-ups as well as into the age 11+.

Since text and story creation widely rely on imagination and visual story telling, the painting workshop with the youngsters was of great assistance in specifying certain stress-points in the story. Colours and patterns speak in an honest and open language, hence creating an atmosphere where it’s (seemingly) effortless to build a story.

The play was finished in early Summer 2010. For me, despite the original text on which the story was based, it was noticing the themes important to youngsters which really got the story going. To understand which vibe flows through their minds. Which elements float in the atmosphere they’re living in. This is similar to a weekly weather forecast - although, not only covering the wind speed and rainfall percentage, but the entire contents of the atmosphere.

37

Marion Jõepera Marion Jõepera is a playwright from Tallinn, Estonia. After majoring in English and Spanish language and literature, she studied dramaturgy in the Drama School of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. At present, she is writing her MA thesis on narratology design, focusing on the visual dramaturgy and its contact points to the theatre and elements from drama writing.

Most of the past 10 years were spent writing, reading, translating or wandering in nature, in bogs or near the seaside. Her freelancer portfolio mostly consists of various magazines, newspaper, script and play translations, a few original plays and some very special theatre projects. She also managed to work as a movie critic and a freelance copywriter for a while.

Currently, she works as a junior creative director in Velvet (an award winning design agency in Tallinn, centered on the wide field of visual communication).

Her past years have become filled with coming up with new forms for stories, some of them visual and some others closely text-based. Because, how else should one call it – from interior graphics to boardgames and actual adventure games in real life – in the beginning, there’s always a story. It’s the form which varies.

It’s the variation which makes it worthwhile. Which keeps the words and visuals intertwined.

If it wasn’t for that she’d be surfing all year round.

38

Stories Schoolyard

Koulupihan tarinoita

by Jukka Heinanen

Commissioned & first performed by Oulu City Theatre, Oulu, Finland (April 22, 2010)

Summary Schoolyard Stories ‘Schoolyard Stories’ takes place in a classroom. Four students, around 13–16 years old, are working on a task left for them by the teacher, who, for various reasons, is absent. Their task is to write about their own everyday life. For some, it is easy, for some hard. Through this simple situation, the play goes into their stories, their thoughts and feelings about life at school and home: taking care of little sisters, enjoying candy, going to school, coming home from school, playing computer games, listening to mother’s sermons. Dreams, everyday frustrations and boredom, perfect moments and not-so-perfect moments fill the stage as the youngsters try to find their stories and put them on paper.

The final story is about the end of the spring term at school, coming of summer and most importantly, about finding peace and harmony.

‘Schoolyard Stories’ is not a play centred on a problem or problems. Its main goal has been to give the young audiences a possibility to recognise themselves on stage. If the play has a point other than this, it could be that the lives of today’s youngsters are full of things to do and to think about – maybe a little too full. The play ends with the school bell.

© Jukka Heinanen, jukka.heinanen@metropolia.fi

Cast Oiva Nuojua, Sini-Maria Tomperi, Jenni Siuruainen, Raoul Mahnjeh / Aukusti Kiuru; Director Heta Haanperä; Set Maija Tuorila

41

Text extract From Scene 7: Family Images

Dad The paper…

Sister And Mum says in a chirpy, over the

Mum Everything’s whatever these days!

Boy2 Mornings are just the best. A perfect

top way:

You are not the only person in this

morning. I go into the kitchen and I’m

Mum (Girl1) Good morning!

household!

welcomed by a wafting smell of freshly

Girl2 And no one’s making coffee.

Sister Unfortunately not.

Sister Whatever

brewed coffee. Dark roast. Dad’s reading

Mum Why hasn’t anyone made the coffee?

Dad Gonna go to work now…

the paper. Mum’s wearing an apron. Frying

Girl2 But I’m beginning to boil over.

(tries to creep off)

eggs and humming.

Mum What’s this then? Why didn’t you say

Mum Right.

Girl2 It doesn’t really work like that.

good morning to me? There’s no need for

Girl1 While Mum’s moaning at Dad ’cos

Girl1 No.

such bad temper always.

he’s got holes in his undies and other such

Girl2 I go to the kitchen. Dad’s sitting there

Sister Well morning

deep and meaningful stuff, my lovely Big

in his underpants.

Mum Right.

brother totters into the kitchen.

Dad (Boy1) Go and get the paper for Daddy.

Sister WELL GOOD MORNING!

Big brother (Boy1) Tadaa! Well where’s

Sister (Girl2) (To a small boy.)

Mum Always so angry these days. You don’t

the brew?

What are you doing?

respect me at all! No need to always be so

Sister Think about it.

Little brother (Boy2) Wait. I need these. It’s

snappy.

Big brother The coffee’s out.

got Mum’s feet. She always keeps them

Sister Well I can’t help being pissed off.

Sister Sherlock.

there. Now you can’t sit there.

Mum NO NEED TO TAKE IT OUT ON ME!

Big brother You are.

42

SCHOOLYARD STORIES Little brother (Boy2) Can’t you get it from

Dad Try to…

the shop?

Girl2 Why do you never say anything

Big brother Go and get it then.

to him?

Little brother You go. I don’t even drink it.

Girl1 ’Cos he’s a man ape and doesn’t

Big brother You did yesterday.

understand speech.

Little brother That was coke.

Boy ’Cos he’s reached puberty and all of his

Big brother You are coke.

energy and thoughts are going into

Sister Let’s just be without then.

growing hair.

Big brother Whatever.

Girl2 Why doesn’t anyone notice he’s

Sister You’re clearing the table then.

growing in the wrong direction?

Big brother Can’t be bothered.

Girl1 He’s becoming a monkey!

Sister No really I’m in a rush to.school. And you don’t actually do anything around here anyway.

(Big brother farts) Sister For fuck sake!

Dad Kathy hey Sister Hey hey 43

Reflections on the writing process Jukka Heinänen Writing in Platform11+ has offered at least two unique opportunities for a writer: working with children and international co-writing. Both call for crossing certain boundaries usually linked with writing.

Children Working with children, we started by ‘clearing the table’. We didn’t want to go to schools to find supporting evidence for our own views. We went into the schools because we wanted to find out what the children were thinking, what their point of view was. The whole process was about getting to know each other: listening, writing, drawing. We decided not to impose any specific themes or motives, but let the material speak for itself. This was, I think, the only way to get in touch with the life of today’s young people and to prevent myself from imposing my own frustrations and my age-blurred image of what it is to be young. The enthusiastic response from young audiences was a great gift and a sign that trying to listen and learn was worthwhile.

Jukka Heinänen (1974) has been working as a dramaturge at the Oulu City Theatre since 2006. Here he has written plays and theatre adaptations and helped to develop the theatre’s repertoire. Before moving to Oulu with his director partner Heta Haanperä, Heinänen graduated from The Theatre Academy, worked as a freelance writer, dramaturge and director in various professional and amateur productions and festivals, both for adults and children. Currently Heinänen works as a lecturer of Dramatic Arts at the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.

44

Tut mir ja leid, Vati, aber ich muss

Sorry Dad but I have to

By Laura Naumann

Commissioned & first performed by theater junge generation, Dresden, Germany (December 12, 2009)

Summary Sorry Dad but I have to Everything about Ludwig is alright. He doesn’t use drugs, he gets good grades, and he gets on well with his father – until Ludwig tells him, that after graduating from high school, instead of studying “something with a future and money”, he intends to go on tour with his band.

From then on, the Celine Dion songs, which Ludwig’s father loves so much, are frequently drowned out by fighting and screaming; “and then I slam the door I’m pretty good at that and I run away I’m even better at that.”

What to do when you have to disappoint the ones you love? When the one person who should know you best, understands you the least?

When you feel like having killed someone, and at the same time feel incomprehensibly angry? And when suddenly some girl stands outside the band rehearsal space and wants to have a relationship with you or simply “fuck now and then… the main thing is just having something with you.” Ludwig keeps on running away from the town. He smashes a window pane, and that’s a lucky break for him, because through this, he meets Mrs. Rose. Mrs. Rose came of age in the 1968 movement, and has seen a few things that she does not like to talk about; so she is not going to be rattled by a confused young man in her front yard, either. But Ludwig, repairing the window and weeding her garden, is something that she really did not expect; least of all, that she might take a liking to him. Slowly, with Ludwig telling his story, and Mrs. Rose asking precise questions and giving occasional answers, a friendship builds that will alter the outlook of both of them – until Ludwig nearly loses sight of his real plan.

© Laura Naumann 2009; © in the English translation by Chloë Schwank and performing rights: Rowohlt Theater Verlag theater@rowohlt.de

47

Text extract Scene 4

Ms Rose storms out of her hut in disarray

Ms Rose and so you come out here in the

she is probably dressed in her colourful

middle of the night

Ludwig tonight it’s bad it’s bad really bad

dressing gown again. She is armed

Ludwig didn’t know where to go

I’m such a wimp for not being able to stand

Ludwig I’m sorry this time it was

I thought

worse than you can image

the people I know are not much help

it this bit of dad at home these few lectures

intentional

Ms Rose I was never much

and remonstrations and suggestions

Ms Rose in the middle of the night

help

stupid suggestions of all the better things I

what

but

could do than what I plan

intentional

can’t just send you home

I try really hard I try to breathe calmly but I

what do you want

come in then

can’t stand it and I have to get out

Ludwig to talk

come on

out out out

Ms Rose to talk

Ludwig can we sit outside

I slam the door

to me

Ms Rose yes

take the path to Ms Rose’s house

Ludwig yes

I don’t mind sure

and throw pebbles at the window

Ms Rose what the hell

wait a moment I’ll get a jacket

Ms Rose eeeeeeeeeh should I shoot you

Ludwig I couldn’t stay at home

Ludwig and then she comes back with

Ludwig no it’s only me

I thought I’d suffocate and burst and

blankets and tea and we

whatever

set up camp wordlessly

48

SORRY DAD BUT I HAVE TO we sit with the stars above us and I tell her

said that I have one but I don’t remember

Ludwig won’t shift from his position in the

the whole story

her because she left us when I wasn’t even

slightest

of my plan with my music

two years old

Dad it’s a waste no I’m saying no I won’t let

and my father’s first reaction

Dad we have to be very strong now Ludwig

you do this

Dad you guys can’t be serious

but that’s not a problem for us is it

Ludwig and never turns his music off

Ludwig and the terrible girls

we two we’ll be able to cope

Céline when you want it the most there’s

Girl wanna fuck

modern fathers and sons modern father

no easy way out

Ludwig and my father’s second reaction

and son

when you’re ready to go and your heart’s

Dad I won’t give you my permission

it can be very beautiful

left in doubt

well I won’t support this

Ludwig that he doesn’t want me to do what

Ludwig and when he can’t think of

do whatever you want but don’t think that

I like and how he drives me crazy because

anything else to say he comes up with

I’ll pick you up when you’re stuck

he’s just shit at arguing

these stupid theories

somewhere out there with no money

Dad that that’s not a job

Dad why do you want to do this

Ludwig of my father in general

musician what kind of job is that meant

did I not give you enough attention when

Céline when you want it the most there’s

to be

you were young is that the reason

no easy way out

anyway there’s enough of them already

do you want to prove something to me

Ludwig and taking the opportunity I also

I don’t want my son to be unemployed

you don’t have to

tell her that I don’t have a mother better

I just want you to stay here in safety 49

Text extract Ludwig or even worse blames my mother

Ludwig and that he can’t call what he does

Ludwig I will

Dad I always feared that that thing with

a life doing the same boring work every

Dad I won’t do anything more for you

your mother wouldn’t pass you by without

day then coming home and watching

Ludwig I don’t need you

leaving a mark

videos on youtube and making his own

no one needs you

and I also told her this but she didn’t want

and uploading them

Dad now you’re going too far

to listen just up and left

Dad that’s none of your business

go to your room right now

Ludwig and then I become angry terribly

Ludwig it’s totally my business

Ludwig piss off

angry and say things I later regret

we’re related to each other

Céline and that’s the way it ihiiiis

that it’s not my fault mum ran away that I

if what I do is your business then what you

Ludwig and then I slam the door I’m pretty

can even understand why

do is just as much my business

good at that and I run away I’m even better

that he’s a boring square

or let’s just stop this

at that

that his music makes me puke

that would be really great

Ms Rose well done

Céline when you want it the most there’s

if we had nothing more to do with each

Ludwig Ms Rose I feel as if I’ve killed

no easy way out

other

someone

when you’re ready to go and your heart’s

Dad oh yeah

Ms Rose maybe you have a little

left in doubt

Ludwig yeah

but he’ll get over it

don’t give up on your faith

Dad then see how you’re able to get on by

Ludwig and me

love comes to those who believe it

yourself

50

SORRY DAD BUT I HAVE TO Ms Rose you too you have to

Ms Rose I have pen pals

you still have things to do

something similar

Ludwig you like what we’re planning to do

Ludwig more imaginary

Ms Rose I think it can never be wrong to

he loves this singer Céline Dion

have a plan

he doesn’t know her of course

Ludwig my dad’s an idiot why is he

so it’s a very one-sided friendship

such an

Ms Rose I understand

Ms Rose it’s not easy when you have to

Ludwig I like it here with you

let go Ludwig I’m not planning suicide I’ll come back I Ms Rose is he completely alone when you’re gone Ludwig he has Céline Ms Rose his girlfriend

Cast Franziska Herrmann, Marja Hofmann, Manuel Krstanovic, Babette Kuschel, Benjamin Mathis, Florian Rast, Ulrich Wenzke Director Ania Michaelis

Ludwig kind of

Stage & Costumes Grit Dora von Zeschau

internet

Music Bernd Sikora Musicians Jan Barthold, Bernd Sikora

51

Reflections on the writing process Laura Naumann When I wrote ‘Sorry Dad but I have to’, Youtube was way more frank. Sony, UMG, and whatever else there is didn’t yet have to safeguard their ‘content’. You could easily just watch it all: original video clips from all decades, bonus tracks including self-made videos, live gigs, etc. One simple click on the sidebar, hopping from one video to the next. Everything from Celine Dion. That’s what my nights were like. Celine Dion in the 80s. Celine Dion in the 90s. Celine Dion in Las Vegas. Celine as a guest in several series.

The program ‘Platform 11+’ mostly envisions research on European Schoolyards. Since I had just been out of school for a year, I could still picture all those topics and phrases quite vividly – or at least I thought so. Moreover, I was certainly cooler avoiding school grounds for the time being, therefore my research concentrates mainly on Celine Dion and that path leads directly to Youtube.

I wanted the role of Ludwig’s father to be one of these hardcore-fanatic rooters. Fandom itself is actually considered to be associated with youngsters; unless it’s about sports. Yet we know them: parents and their secret Barbara Streisand obsession or their double-pack of Rosenstolz t-shirts hidden in the cupboard. Only seldom is this admitted, as parents are viewed as adult enough to invest their enthusiasm and passion in more serious matters.

Dressed in their favourite squad colours you’ll find them in football stadiums, at sport clubs, at the Renaissance fair or alternatively right in the middle of a Napoleon war re-enactment in authentic costumes at original locations. So why not present this at home, say, in front of Youtube, where your daredevil can be released and you can show your lyrical and enthusiastic side without embarrassing consequences.

52

SORRY DAD BUT I HAVE TO Most of you all reveal these demons to yourself. For me, Celine Dion became kind of a gateway to Ludwig’s father’s teenage heart. Although being a respectable grown-up, why should fathers not be boys somewhere deep inside?

I’ve zeroed in on her while rummaging in music videos of friends parents favour. Indeed Barbara Streisand was one of them. I hit on a duet called ‘Tell him’, which Streisand and Dion sang together in 1997. A highly lofty and pathetic song about a woman (Celine) deeply in love with her husband but worried that he might not love her back any more and that he is maybe even cheating on her. The other woman (Barbara), much wiser and more experienced, shares her knowledge and gives advice on how to handle this situation: “Tell him that the sun and the moon rise in his eyes”. Meanwhile, both hold big earphones in their hands, standing around a piano in the recording studio ready to pretend they were singing. Saucer-eyed, they lean back acting all emotional. And Celine Dion’s facial expression is mind-blowing! She can do everything with her face. I have to admit, I had to laugh but at the same time I was deeply thrilled.

Hence I’ve watched all of her music videos and haven’t kicked that habit since. I don’t want to talk about quality but consider her songs as ‘pure true emotion-pop’. Her choreographies are freaky and watching her interviews only approves the conclusion that this woman must be nuts. And yet it’s totally clear that it’s definitely worth being her fan. Sometimes I was ashamed. Sometimes I sang along. Those weeks and months of writing were perfect. At this time I was working at TJG as an assistant director; it couldn’t have been better. Spending every day in the theatre. Rehearsals in the mornings, and in the evenings I was always in front of Youtube with Celine and my fingertips on the keyboard. I got into this certain kind of groove that carried me through April, May, June and that never came back to be ever since then.

53

Laura Naumann Laura Naumann was born in Leipzig in 1989, and grew up near Chemnitz. She worked as a volunteer for one year at the Theater Junge Generation Dresden.

She has been studying creative writing and cultural journalism at the University Hildesheim since 2008.

In 2006 and 2008, she won awards at the ‘Treffen Junger Autoren’ (Young Writer’s Meeting) at the Berliner Festspiele. In 2008, she was awarded a scholarship by ‘Interplay Europe e.V.’, an organization which promotes young writers. She participated in 2009 in the young dramatists’ festival ‘World Interplay’ in Australia. Laura was invited in 2008 to attend the dramatists’ workshop at the ‘Stückemarkt’ (‘Plays Marketplace’ of the Berliner Theatertreffen with her play ‘meeresrauschenhören’ (Hearing the Sound of Waves). Her play ‘süßer vogel undsoweiter’ (Sweet Bird and So On) received the Munich Förderpreis (sponsorship award) for new German-language drama, and was presented in a workshop production at the Autorentage at Deutsches Theater Berlin. During the 2009/2010 season, Laura Nauman was a fellow at the Autorenlabor (writers’ lab) at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus.

54

Emil és a detektívek

Emil Detectives AND THE

By Erich Kaestner

Dramatized by Péter Horváth

Commissioned & first performed by Kolibri Theatre, Budapest, Hungary (March 13, 2010)

Summary Emil and the Detectives is a famous classical novel by the German writer Erich Kästner. It’s about the adventures of a young boy who lives in the countryside. He goes on a journey to Berlin. He has never been there before. He falls asleep on the train and his money disappears from his pocket. He thinks that one of his fellow passengers was the thief – an adult. Looking trough the train window he glimpses the suspected thief, and gets off the train to follow him. He doesn’t know where he is and he doesn’t know how to catch the thief in the capital city which he doesn’t know at all. Some street-children help him to find out where the suspect is and finally, to catch him.

The story in the original novel takes place in Germany in the first part of the last century – a little bit far away from the present-day teenagers, who, unfortunately, don’t read too much. But the story about the solitude of children and about the unknown frightening adult-world must be interesting and exciting for them.

Adapting the story to contemporary Hungary, Péter Horváth changes the names of some of the minor characters and creates a new image for them, so that they can be easily identified with by today’s young audiences. Two young street musicians, one delivery boy, one computer nerd, two twin girls and one boy who is always using his video camera, help Emil to fight against the adult-world and the thief as well. They catch him (a real gangster) in a theatre, in which every character (and audience member) takes part in a strange, live-TV-show.

Whilst sticking to the main events of the original story, Péter Horváth adds some new aspects to it using the language of the children of today. © Péter Horváth, h-p@t-online.hu

Cast Tamás Mészáros, Melinda Megyes, Szabolcs Ruszina, Gábor Krausz, Attila Pomlényi, Kriszta Rácz, Kármen Rácz, Gergő Bárdi, József Tóth, Dávid Szanitter, Bea Tisza, Zoltán Bodnár, László Gazdag, Éva Farkas / Musicians Balázs Bágyi, Tamás Tóth / Director, Music János Novák / Set, Costumes Klaudia Orosz Video Lőrinc Boros / Choreography Urban Dance School

57

Text extract 2. Street Music Scene

If you idle away each day,

Understand, no matter how,

The good in life a dream will stay.

That life’s expecting you right now.

Clyde It’ll be great, you’ll see… look, there’s

Understand, no matter how,

a playground, a theatre, and a hotel… A café

Whatever the worth of this or that,

on the corner… It’s a busy place. We’ll soon

The world’s not based on tit-for-tat.

That life’s expecting you right now.

have another thousand, enough to get us

Whatever the worth of this or that,

From where do you come, and where will

out to the island.

The world’s not based on tit-for-tat.

you go?

Bonnie Okay. Let’s start, then.

For what are you waiting? We’d like to

Both From where do you come, and where

Grundeis Practice, practice, practice! Keep

will you go?

on singing out of tune, little gangsters…

For what are you waiting? We’d like to

Bonnie Creep!

Emil (running in at breakneck speed from

know.

Clyde Hey, don’t knock your audience.

where Grundeis came earlier)

The stars above entice,

Let’s pick up where we left off…

Excuse me… have you seen a guy just now

Like angels made of ice.

who looked a bit… you know?

The wind is tossing you around.

Half the world is on your back,

What will you do when it dies down?

Bonnie A bit what?

Emil As if he were, you know, but he’s not!

Clyde Listen, buddy, we’re the celebrities

In a star-bespangled pack.

(The twins, J, and Little Net dance across.)

58

know.

round here…

EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES Emil Blast.

Bonnie Leave him alone, can’t you see he’s

Bonnie Was he wearing red shoes with

Clyde Don’t be whining around here,

a country kid?

those pointy toes?

buster, it’s bad for business. Toss us some

Emil Right, I’m not from the capital. I’ve

Emil Right, and a black leather jacket.

change instead.

never set foot here before. My father lives

Clyde Skinny trousers, a pointy

Emil I haven’t got any money! I’ve been

here, he’s been living here since he left us.

moustache…

robbed!

The money was for him, a loan from my

Emil You saw him?!

Clyde That’s what happens when you don’t

mother. But the thief stole it while I was

Clyde No. We don’t waste time looking

keep an eye on your stuff, pal.

asleep. He got off. The train was already

around, mate, we’re buskers.

Emil I did! I had two hundred and sixty

pulling out when I realized what was going

thousand forints in an envelope, pinned

on. I spotted him, jumped off, and ran after

inside my pocket!

him… after the thief…I don’t know where…

(They start singing, then stop.)

Clyde Why were you walking around with

I followed him onto a tram…I didn’t have

Emil That’s it, it’s all over, I’m going to live

so much money?

a ticket…the thief got off, I did too… Then

under the bridge... together with my father,

Emil

he turned a corner around here and disap-

because I can’t ever go back home… It’s all

I wasn’t walking around, I was on the train

peared. (He pulls himself together.)

my fault!

from Newtown this morning…

You must have seen him!

Clyde Bonnie, we have other things to do.

Clyde Then go on back the way you came.

Clyde We haven’t seen anybody.

59

Text extract Bonnie (to Emil) All right, quit blubbering.

Clyde Cut it out, Judy! That’s why we made

Bonnie (hands her cell phone to Clyde)

The man you’re looking for is in that café,

Bonnie and Clyde our stage-names! The

Here. The battery’s running low though.

so just call Scotland Yard.

whole neighborhood knows us by those

Clyde I’ll text, that uses up less.

Emil Call what?

names, and soon the whole world will!

Emil I don’t understand…who is he texting?

Clyde The cops, pal. The police!

Bonnie All right, Emil.

Bonnie VJ. (Pronounced VeeJay).

Emil No! Not the police! They might be

Clyde We’ll help you.

Emil VJ. Who’s he?

looking for me!

Emil How?

Bonnie One of our buddies. He’s got his

Clyde All right, pipsqueak, get lost. You

Clyde Give me your cell phone.

own camera. A rich kid, but he’s all right.

never saw us.

Emil I haven’t got one.

Clyde His real name is Eugene. That’s a

(To Bonnie) I almost fell for his sob-story…

Clyde How can you exist without a cell

stupid name too, isn’t it?

Emil I’m not lying! Yesterday, we sprayed

phone?

Emil My father’s Eugene too….

graffiti all over the school fence. We signed

Emil Dad lives in Budapest, but he’s down

Clyde See what I mean?

our names and everything. And no one in

on his luck, my mother’s is a hairdresser in

Bonnie He did this video clip of us, at

Newtown has a name as stupid as mine…

Newtown…

school.

Bonnie Why, what’s your name?

Clyde She gets tips, doesn’t she?

Clyde I’m a vampire in it, white face, black

Emil Emil.

Emil Not in Newtown. People don’t have

cloak, and teeth like this.

Clyde Well, that is a downer, Emil.

much money there, most of them cut their

Bonnie And one of our other buddies

Bonnie Why, is Joey any better?

own hair, and even dye it at home.

uploaded it on Youtube.

60

EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES Clyde Yeah, Little Net…!

Clyde Tell us the beginning of the story. So

Emil But what do you want me to do?

we’ll be in the know by the time the others

Bonnie VJ’ll bring the camera, and we’ll

get here.

make a film of us catching the thief.

Bonnie Newtown to the Western Terminal!

Emil I see!... No, I don’t…

Emil And what if that scoundrel gets away

Clyde There. He’s already texted back. He’ll

meanwhile?

be here in ten minutes. He’s bringing the

Clyde Chill, he won’t. That’s where he went

crew.

in, that’s where he’s got to come out. New-

Emil What?

town to the Western Terminal!

Bonnie A couple of others are coming.

Bonnie Go on, tell us! How did your ‘great

They’ll be in the film too.

adventure’ begin, Emil?

Emil But this isn’t a film! It’s my tragic life!

Emil (inner voice) Now what do I do? These

Bonnie All right, just stop moaning. You’re

two are crazy. But no one else will help.

always moaning!

(“Live.”) My mother put me on the noon

Clyde It’ll be a brilliant little film, Emil. An

train from Newtown…

experimental thriller, with a happy end.

Clyde Bonnie, title song!

Emil What do we do in the meantime?

61

Reflections on the writing process Some words about my failure – Péter Horváth Whilst working with the children at school I began to realize that my planned story about the racism among the pupils would not be as successful as I had hoped. I was surprised indeed, but I had to accept the children’s opinion. The audience cannot be changed. They enjoyed working together with me, they loved giving me advice about how my story should go, they played out some scenes, changing the roles, they told me that they had some better words than the ones I had chosen, etc., but at the end of working together, when I asked them to answer some of my questions about the planned play in writing, they only gave the planned play three or four points as an index of how much they liked it…– the maximum number of points was five. This showed me that my planned play wasn’t as good as I thought, and that pupils were not particularly interested in it.

Around this time I was asked by my director János Novák, head of the Kolibri Theatre, to create a new play-version of Emil and the Detectives, one of the most famous novel for children written by Erich Kästner. I pointed out to him that there were already a number of play versions of the book, the great original writer had even created one himself. My director replied that he knew these versions well, and that was exactly why he wanted to get an absolutely new version which could bring the story close to children of today. Emil’s story should happen in the here and now, in Hungary, he said, and suggested that it might even be an interactive show where the young audience could help the hero to catch the thief, and that it would be also good, if Mr. Kästner could somehow appear in the play.

It is a strange request, isn’t it? But I like these silly kinds of demands. So I took on the job and wrote the play.

Of course I stick to the main character (Emil) and the main points of the story – a naïve, helpless little country boy alone in the unknown capital city – but I have changed everything else, especially the group that helps Emil. The group-members are really street-Arabs: kids living on the street, their house keys are hanging around their necks… They are aged between eleven and fifteen. Two of them (Bonnie and 62

EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES Clyde) are orphans, singing and dancing on the streets to get their pocket money, one of the others is a bicycle delivery-boy, a ‘pizza-runner’.

I borrowed another character from Richard Hurford – he’s called V.J. (Video Jack), a boy who always shoots films with his old video camcorder. He has a shadow, a clumsy assistant, who wants to help him with shooting but can’t. ‘Little Tuesday’ became ‘Little Net’, a boy who is always logging into the Web using his pocket net-book, and there are the twins girls Eva and Maria Lottie who are involved in an endless quarrel… And of course Mr. Kästner also steps onto the stage, he cannot decide what to write: a fancy fiction about the Pacific Ocean which he has never seen, or a real story about the streets upon which he walks every day, the streets he knows extremely well…

The school pupils with whom I worked didn’t want to imagine themselves to be an unloved gypsy boy. There were three gypsy girls in the class I worked with, but they didn’t want to admit it – the shame was too much for them. I think all pupils prefer to imagine themselves as an ordinary boy, whose money has been stolen by an evil stranger, an adult.

This presents a very interesting problem – what kind of character can be a hero nowadays? Some years ago I directed a previously very successful Hungarian musical about a poor young locksmith who pretended to be a rich diplomat in order to pick up women more easily… to have a chance to meet a real love… The original novel was very successful in the sixties, a TV-series was made based on it as well, everybody loved the poor young locksmith and wanted him to find his true love … At the time when I directed the musical (ten years after the social-system had been changed) the performance failed; nobody came to watch the story about a poor locksmith who killed his found lover, a girl who wanted to denounce him when she realized that he wasn’t as rich as she thought he was.

Nobody wants to be a gypsy… but everybody would be an innocent boy…

There is another aspect to my decision about the play writing project. Last year Kolibri Theatre presented a play which I had translated. This year my version of Emil is going on the stage. I’m pretty sure that there is little chance that a new play of mine will be presented in the near 63

Péter Horváth future. I don’t think that I’ll give my original planned work up for ever, but at the moment I haven’t got the heart to continue this play. To be honest I was hoping for a little bit more help from my new colleagues in this project (I mean the writer-brothers and sisters) when I showed the first try out scenes of my play in Budapest… I didn’t know their opinions, only my friendly boss (János Novák) told me that nobody liked it. That’s it. I have to accept that nobody wanted to co-write with me, perhaps because of these try out scenes. I don’t know how to go ahead.

I believe in God and keeping the powder dry…

So I think that the Emil’s story gave me a chance to talk about the daily problems of children who are growing up alone on the street today, I hope they can find feelings in themselves which help them to be better than us, the adults… That is why I think that this kind of EMIL should belong to the P11+ project.

Born 1951 in Budapest. His parents worked in theatre, so he grew up in several towns depending on his parents’ actual workplace. This constant moving around made him an aloof and timid toddler. Because of his interest in the arts he qualified as a printer and, in 1969, he was admitted to the University of Theatre, Film and Television from which he graduated as an actor. After the publication of his first book, he started to work as a freelance writer, but often did directing jobs as well. He was the artistic director of Vörösmarty Theatre in Székesfehérvár for two years, in that time he also directed movies. Eleven books were published as well as short stories and novels. His writings are regularly published in literary journals and periodicals; he has written dramas, scripts, audio-dramas and also plays for children.

Some of his plays are in the repertoire of Hungarian theatres. Most of the writings are about loneliness in the family and the joys of work and love. In 1991 Peter won the award in the Morishige Festival (Tokyo) for the best script and received summa cum laude master-degree as a Doctor of Liberal Arts in 2004. He lives in Szeged and teaches creative and script writing at the University of Szeged. He has four children.

64

The

A webáruház

Web Emporium By Ákos Németh

Commissioned & first performed by Kolibri Theatre, Budapest, Hungary (April 29, 2011)

Cast Eszter Földes, Mária Kőszegi, Gergő Bárdi, Lea Simon, Márton Kosznovszky Director Balázs Perényi Costumes Gabriella André Master of Ceremony Tamás Somogyi

Summary The Web Emporium Two 14 year old girls Martina and Mercella meet by chance in an empty playground at night. It becomes clear from their discussion that both are lonely, their schoolmates don’t accept them, moreover they are excluded from the company of the schoolmates.

Marcella is a very smart girl, perhaps this could be the problem with her. She competes in school competitions and she wins. She wants to be a mathematician, a space researcher, an astronomer, a brain surgeon etc., this changes every week, however she is talented indeed. Adults are fascinated because of her knowledge and maturity and it seems every way and possibility is open to her.

Her classmates look at her suspiciously, she looks down on them and thinks they are stupid. She communicates only with adults and thinks of herself as an adult in every respect.

She doesn’t have siblings, her mother, a family doctor secretary, has no partner.

Martina is different. She is inhibited though she would be naturally pretty but she tries to deface herself in every possible way, she often changes styles – dark, emo, gothic – in her clothing and attitude.

She is the middle child from three siblings, her parents are workers, common people with little money and even less free time. Her sister has been very sick for years and her parents had to concentrate their energies on this. She hangs out a lot with different people here and there.

Marcella and Martina are very different but they do have one thing in common: boys are not interested in them. Martina is overtly unworried by this. Marcella is secretly very annoyed about this. Both of them regard school as an unnecessary shit.

They discover soon how they can attract attention and win the recognition of their mates: by starting business with medicine, at first with trendy prescribed slimming drugs then with sedatives, stimulants, antidepressants, hallucinogenics.

At first they get the prescriptions easily with the help of stolen prescription pads. They have no idea of the trouble they are getting 67

Summary themselves into. The girls become very popular amongst their mates and they are considered very cool. Their behaviour has changed, they are becoming confident. Marcella discovers the financial part of the business too. She starts to enjoy money and, by using forged signatures, she makes investments.

Their activity attracts the attention of the drug dealers of the neighbourhood and the police as well but for the present non of them can find the girls.

Their business booms so much so that the girls decide to establish a webshop in order to circulate the goods. Dorina, Martina’s sick sister who is disabled and lives her life in front of the computer is involved in the informatics part of the development.

Among their costumers are strangers and adults as well. The clientele starts to become more and more bizarre in the ballet school (Martina takes ballet lessons), in the schoolyard, in the playground.

The two girls are already business-women who realise that they are addicted to their own goods financially but not just financially. For instance Martina makes much more money than her father who is a bus driver.

In the meantime they have problems with purchasing drugs, because the pharmacists have become suspicious. The prescriptions are obtained in a very refined way: they appear in emergency medical centres just before closing time if possible, between two crying infants.

They never go to the same doctor, they lose their prescriptions, steal health insurance cards, make business with the prescriptions of their family members and eventually start forging.

Martina doesn’t lie to herself that she hasn’t become addicted to her own drugs, but the smart Martina is the emperor of life until the first sickness which forces to her to end up in hospital… © Ákos Németh, nemeth1807@freemail.hu

68

THE WEB EMPORIUM 6.

Martina You don’t even know him.

Marcella I know men. All they like about

ing and everything the way we discussed,

MARTINA, MARCELLA (14 years old girls) –

kids is making them. After that they skip

and if you call while I’m in there, I’ve got to

scene takes place in the present, in Budapest

out, as soon as they can. If a kid comes

know what you’re saying.

Marcella At the doctor’s, I’ll distract her.

toward them, they get the creeps thinking

Marcella What do I know what I’ll be say-

Martina How do you know she’s a woman?

about the consequences.

ing? I’ll come up with something.

Marcella Pediatricians are always women.

Martina And how are you going to dis-

Martina I can’t cough while you’re on the

Men can’t stand kids, they get the willies if

tract her?

phone.

there’s a kid around.

Marcella I’ll phone her from the waiting

Marcella While I’m on the phone, you don’t

to say. I’m the one being examined, cough-

Martina I don’t know about that. My old

room while you’re in with her.

have to cough. You have to cough only

pediatrician was a man.

Martina It’d be better if you came in

when she’s paying attention to you.

Marcella Well, he must’ve been pretty mis-

with me.

Martina That’s good. Because I really can’t

erable. And an alcoholic for sure, that’s for

Marcella You’ve got to do that yourself. I’m

cough that much. Especially if there’s

sure. He hated kids secretly.

only going as far as the waiting room

nothing wrong with me.

Martina He liked me.

with you.

Marcella You just go ahead and cough. And

Marcella You only thought he did. He

Martina And what’ll you say to her on

don’t give me any excuses, cough normally.

detested you, believe me, detested you.

the phone?

Cough like this. (She coughs.)

From the bottom of his heart. All he had to

Marcella Let that be my problem.

Martina I can’t do it like that.

do was look at you, and he hated you.

Martina I’ve got to know what you’re going

Marcella How then?

69

Text extract Martina Like this. (She coughs.)

because you’re going to be stealing the

meanwhile I call her, I say something, and

Marcella No good. That’s a big zero. She’ll

prescription pad. So don’t go making

you pocket the prescription pad and high-

catch on.

excuses, just cough normally. If your

tail it out of there. That’s it.

Martina I don’t care if she catches on. Why

coughing isn’t convincing, you’ll be suspi-

Martina That’s it?

is it a problem if she catches on? Who cares?

cious right off the bat.

Marcella That’s it.

Marcella Because then what she’s catching

Martina I’m really not in the mood for this

Martina You promise nothing bad’ll come

on to is that you’re trying to get out of

whole thing.

of it?

going to school, and she’ll call the police.

Marcella I’m only trying to help you.

Marcella Yes, you idiot, I do. Nothing bad’ll

Martina What are you talking about?

Martina Help me?

come of it. Will you do this much for me?

Marcella Believe me, she’ll call the cops.

Marcella I’m helping you so you don’t have

Martina When you come right down to it,

Martina The cops are busy chasing bank

to stay the way you are. Not the way you

you’re my best friend.

robbers. They don’t have time for teeny-

are, but different.

Marcella When you come right down to it,

boppers like us.

Martina I don’t care about that.

I’m your best friend.

Marcella Not those cops, the truant officers.

Marcella How come? Do you want to be

Martina Well, okay, when you come right

Martina You’re a total idiot. Everybody’s

the way you are? Do you? See what I mean?

down to it, you’re my only friend.

always cutting school and nobody ever

And anyway, this is no big deal. You go in,

Marcella Okay, so are we okay?

calls anybody.

your lungs hurt, like this, you cough, like

Martina Well, but still… what’re you going

Marcella But now you’re committing medi

this, you stick out your tongue, like this,

to say to her over the phone? When you

cal fraud, that’s what they call it. Especially

you growl a little, like this, don’t overdo it,

call her – what?

70

English translation by Eugene Brogyányi

THE WEB EMPORIUM Ákos Németh Along with my partner, theatre educator-director Balázs Perényi, we started to work in the town Fót, in Nov 2009, with a group of young adults in an amateur theatre group. Fót is a small town 20 kilometres from Budapest, with a population of 20,000. The local school provides workspace and opportunity for its former pupils to run theatre pedagogical workshops. The school itself, situated on the periphery of the small town, has a long-standing history of teaching arts. Its pupils mainly come from a working class background. The group that we visited included eighteen-year-old men and women, all of whom had much experience with theatre pedagogy, both as a group and as individuals.

At the time of our visit, they were rehearsing in preparation for a performance. Balázs and I started work with them following their rehearsal.

At the start, Balázs introduced them to a series of warm-up games, then we began discussions on topics that had been chosen together with the group. These topics were based on incidents they had recently experienced while at school, such as teenage friendship, hierarchy within groups, traumas they had been through etc. We worked on these topics using drama exercises and improvisations.

Work started promisingly, however, after the workshop we realised that it would be more useful to work with a group that was more similar in age to our target audience. Thus, our choice fell on a group at the Vörösmarty Gimnázium, a High School in which Balázs works as an educator. Here, we started to work with a group of 35 pupils, all aged fifteen. The youngsters, probably due to their similarly long experience with theatre pedagogy, were extremely quick in picking up exercises; moreover, some of them demonstrated a lot of talent for theatre while playing the improv-based games. All of them were extremely active and took part in the workshop with great interest.

71

Reflections on the writing process After a short period of working together, at the time of our third visit, we adjusted our method of work. This time, we introduced the synopsis of ‘The Web Emporium’, an idea for a play that I had, and asked the youngsters to improvise some of its scenes, filling them with experiences of their own and using their own dialogue. They worked on the play with high intensity and much interest, and still do today. The scenes they performed were often based on experiences of their own. I find their understanding of dramatic situations excellent.

The work continues to this day. The play that is being written involves some of their ideas and even some of the language and dialogue that they used.

Some of the youngsters are currently producing a short video based on the story of the play, performing and directing it themselves. Ákos Németh (*1964, Székesfehérvár) Playwright and freelancer, he has been the Hungarian curator of ‘Bonner New Plays from Europe Festival’ since 2002 (he has been calling himself a Wiesbadener since 2004). He has written nine plays, some of which have been published in German, Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovakian and in English. His plays were put on stage in many Hungarian theatres and Universities where Drama is taught. Some of his plays were adapted for audio-drama or tv-films. The play ‘Müller’s Dancers’ was his first professional success, staged by Katona József Theater, Budapest in 1992. The performance was presented in the festival of European Theater Union. His works were also performed in German, French, Croatian and English theaters. The Deutschland Radio in Berlin, the Bulgarian and Croatian National Radios broadcasted his audio-dramas. The performances were invited to several festivals e.g.

Convention Théatrale Européenne (Luxembourg), International Young Playrwights’ Festival, (Birmingham) etc. His comedy ‘Car Thiefs’ was presented in the National Theater in London in the scope of a rehearsed reading and The Rep Theater in Birmingham also presented it. Some of his plays have been produced in Germany for instance a one-act play in Schaubühne Berlin. His texts have been honoured with numerous awards.

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Cyrano CYBER

By Istvรกn Tasnรกdi

Commissioned & first performed by Kolibri Theatre, Budapest, Hungary (November 2, 2010)

Summary Cyber Cyrano Based on a true story, with devastating consequences. An isolated schoolgirl (Zsuzsi) is secretly in love with one of her classmates (Máté), who treats her quite badly. When a new girl (Heni) joins the class, Máté soon falls for her, making Zsuzsi’s case even more hopeless. In response, Zsuzsi creates some characters on a social networking site, which her classmates believe to be real. First she creates a boy, ‘Viktor’, the son of a diplomat, who lives abroad, spending his time sailing and horse-riding. She introduces Heni to Viktor (virtually, of course) and Heni falls in love with this glamorous boy who always tells Heni what Heni wants to hear.

Instead of Máté losing interest in Heni (as Zsuzsi had intended), he becomes very jealous of Viktor. So Zsuzsi creates another character, this time an exotic girl – Viktor’s ‘sister’, Moira. Máté immediately shifts his attentions to Moira. From that moment on, Zsuzsi is in control of both Máté and Heni’s love relationships, a puppeteer pulling the strings, influencing their feelings.

Months pass, and it is no longer possible to avoid a real meeting between the lovers. Operating behind her two characters, Zsuzsi creates the illusion of a grand ball – Viktor’s 18th birthday party – for which Heni and Máté will have to learn to waltz and wear fine clothes. The evening of the party finally arrives. The three – Zsuzsi, Heni and Máté – wait outside for the limousine which will take them to the castle. Of course, the limousine never comes.

Trapped now in a fiction of her own creation, Zsuzsi tries to finish it by ‘killing off’ Viktor in a tragic horse-riding accident. Máté begins to suspect something, and confronts Zsuzsi. The realization that it was Zsuzsi all along devastates Heni, who cannot come to terms with the fact that the boy she was so in love with never existed. She has a nervous breakdown and tries to commit suicide. Zsuzsi is expelled and starts in a new school where she observes her new classmates. The play finishes with Zsuzsi thinking about which new characters she might now create… © István Tasnádi, tasnadi.istvan@t-online.hu

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Text extract Scene 5 – Entropy

explanation, even though she’s the one

I’d already gotten used to it. Now I missed

who signed me up for remedial classes

all that.

Zsuzsi remains alone.

when I was flunking physics.

Zsuzsi Mother comes into my room every

The music of ‘Somethin’ Stupid’ is heard.

dance.

mess. So I remind her of the second law of

Zsuzsi The process of entropy usually

Scene 6 – Viktor

Máté and Heni return, singing a duet. They night and bawls me out because of the thermodynamics, according to which, in

speeds up when a foreign element enters

a closed system, everything tends toward

the system. Heni rearranged the closed

Heni and Máté are still dancing. Zsuzsi

the state of maximum disorder. Since

system of the class. New attractions and

speaks from the sidelines. Heni responds

my room is generally a closed system,

repulsions came into being, a new kind of

while dancing, just as if she were chatting

it’s not my intervention that determines

electricity, which rewired everything. For

online.

the conditions she observes there at the

example, Máté was thrust far away from

end of the day. Too bad neither I nor my

me. We were now revolving in different

Zsuzsi Did you check out the link I sent?

room are exempt from the universal laws

orbits; we no longer collided. Until then,

Heni The one with the dog?

of nature. I’m not the one who created

at least he tormented me, which was a

Zsuzsi Uh-huh.

the mess she sees in my room, it’s simply

kind of interaction, a kind of caring, in a

Heni It was so sweet! Where’d you find it?

entropy. Mom’s none too pleased with my

way. A pretty one-sided kind for sure, but

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CYBER CYRANO Zsuzsi My pal Viktor sent it to me. There’s

Viktor Well, how’d you like it?

Zsuzsi Viktor loves birds. He’s got a bunch

this site that’s full of cute animal videos. I

Zsuzsi Yeah, it’s a riot. By the way, Viktor

of pictures on his page. I think he’s really

can send you more. You know the one with

saw you on my friend list, and he wants to

got the knack.

the singing cats?

know if it’s okay if he friends you.

Heni How old is he?

Heni No. (She suddenly stops dancing, very

Heni Who’s Viktor?

Zsuzsi Seventeen. He wants to be a

interested.) Is it animated?

Zsuzsi My buddy. The one who sent

diplomat like his father. He speaks French

Zsuzsi Hell no! Real cats meowing and

the link.

real well, English too.

meowing, with subtitles. Like they’re

Heni I don’t even know him.

Heni A diplomat?

singing real lyrics.

Zsuzsi He’s a real good guy. I met him

Zsuzsi He looked at your pictures and he’s

Heni (enthusiastically) Must be really funny.

in Scotland two summers ago. I was at

really into you. He read the comments about

language camp and he was there bird

you too. He said you have a lot in common.

Máté keeps moving for a while, then walks

watching with his parents.

Heni Well, whatever it is, it’s not the Gellért

off with seeming contempt for these inter-

Heni He was doing what?

Hill Wicca Meeting Group.

net-cat goings-on. Zsuzsi and Heni watch

Zsuzsi Taking pictures of birds. The

Zsuzsi Sailing, for example.

the cats.

bustards were mating or something.

Heni He sails?

Heni Sounds exciting. (She bursts out

Zsuzsi They’ve got a sailboat on the

The cat video comes to an end. This com-

laughing)

Adriatic.

ment appears under the picture:

Heni No way! That’s awesome!

77

Text extract Zsuzsi He even invited me last year, but

Zsuzsi This Viktor, by the way, is pretty

Mom wouldn’t let me go. Will you accept

much of a boor. We corresponded for a

his friend request?

long time after Scotland, I sent him my

Heni No, I don’t think so. I usually don’t

short stories, and he sent me his photos.

confirm strangers… I don’t even know what

After six months I sent him a photo – of

he wants from me.

myself. Because he asked me to. No

Zsuzsi Don’t go getting all paranoid, he just

response for a long time.

wants to chat with somebody in Hungarian

With changes in the images, we find our-

while they’re out in Switzerland.

selves at the pool party. Heni clicks the

Heni He’s in Switzerland?

Zsuzsi Uh-huh. He’s going to school in

‘Confirm’ icon. The picture becomes static, the sound stops.

Geneva.

Heni Holy shit!

English translation by Eugene Brogyányi

The space around Viktor’s face comes into view. He’s standing on a sailboat at the shore.

Cast Anna Nemes, Zsolt Dér, Lili Varga

The water is moving or casting reflections

Director György Vidovszky

on the walls, waves are heard, but the rest of

Scenography Anita Sárosi, Viktor Vicsek

the image is motionless.

Music András Monori

78

Reflections on the writing process István Tasnádi During the six months of preparatory work I had a lot of contradictory experiences. The play is about something that two students did: one of the students took me into his confidence and told me what motivated him, while the other one refused to talk to me. The same two kinds of attitudes are characteristic of the ’victims’ of the incident as well. But those who are willing to talk about the subject do so in a seemingly easy-going way, with irony and laughter. After a while this seemingly easy-going attitude of course turned out to be a cover up for hurt.

What really shocked me was to see how easily manipulated these young people are. On the one hand they are unbelievably mature, in certain fields they have a broad ranging knowledge, they are open to the world, they speak more than one language; on the other hand they walk into the traps set up by the adult world with unbelievable naiveté. They try to conform to the trends dictated by commercials, films, television channels: clothes matter a great deal, just as financial background and social connections. According to their own statements, the decision as to whether someone is ‘cool’ or a ‘looser’, has nothing to do with how talented someone is in Arts or how good their academically.

Because they want to live up to cliché standards, they are extremely prone to be cheated by clichés. The cheap glitter of talent shows, a good car or clothes. The play is about this defencelessness.

What was reassuring however, was that during the elaboration of the case, they did not stop themselves from realizing this, even acknowledging their own faults, giving a considerably accurate analysis of it. Of course the theatre pedagogues involved in the project also helped them in this. To me the work of theatre pedagogues was also a great experience: that kind of purposeful, open communication that doesn’t play ‘friends’ but because of its frankness still evokes trust in young people.

79

István Tasnádi Born in 1970, István started as a poet in 1992, his first published work was a book of poems. He doesn’t write poems anymore, but his plays are mostly are written in verse. Over the last 15 years he has written approximately 25-30 plays, adaptations and several film scripts.

He was a founding member of the Arc Theatre in 1996, and worked there for 5 years as a dramaturg. Then he joined Krétakör (Chalkcircle) Theatre. The theatre created a lot of performances with the method of work-in-progress, which means he used actors’ improvisations when writing the text. With these performances the theatre toured all over Europe.

Over the last few years he won some literary awards in Hungary, twice the Critics Award for the best new Hungarian play. Three of his plays (Public Enemy; Phaidra fitness; Finito) were translated into English, German, Italian and France.

His first volume of poems was published in 1993 (Walter Egon farewell letters, Orpheus Publisher), his first volume of plays was published in 2000 (Cocain courier, Osiris Publisher) and the Taigetos nursery (Jelenkor Publisher) came out in 2004, it’s contains different drama scripts written in co-operation with Árpád Schilling, who is the director at the Krétakör Theatre.

80

L’uomo a cavallo

TheonMan the Horse

By Giuditta Mingucci

Commissioned & first performed by Elsinor Teatro Stabile d’Innovazione, Milan/Florence/Forlì, Italy (October 14, 2010)

Summary The Man on the Horse In the yard of a secondary school there is a statue: a man on a horse. A king, maybe, or more probably a general… who knows? The plaque with information about the statue is illegible – it says – “and he doesn’t remember anymore who he represents.” Trying to discover it is his favourite occupation, when the lively routine of the institute gives him the time to do it.

But he remembers a lot of other things, and he is surely able to introduce us to the life of that school, of which he has been an attentive and passionate witness since some decades. Everybody loves him and his horse, and someone even opens his heart to the statue: for instance, a teacher, who comes in and tells him there is something strange going on in IIIA. Unusual behaviour, whispered sentences among the kids… what can be behind this? The lone hero is ready to help discovering it.

The story comes from a real fact happened in a school in Milan, where some kids created a role game, a sort of Monopoly based on the image of feudalism and fiefs, but a teacher forced them to stop with it. The play speaks about the creativity of young people, the need we all have to create, and about the difficulties that sometimes occur in the relationship between kids and teachers. But it’s also provides the opportunity to think about the experience of going to school, which in a way is different for each generation, but in another way is always the same. © Giuditta Mingucci (SIAE), giuditta.mingucci@libero.it

Cast Stefano Braschi, Andrea Soffiantini & Barbara Bonetto + students of Scuola Media Mandelli di Milano / Director Giuditta Mingucci Set & Costumes Ilaria Ariemme

83

Text extract Scene 2

Professor Not that well at all, dear Giuseppe.

Statue Don’t believe him! He has no idea

university – here he was known for

A professor enters.

who I am. He just has a guess, and takes

anything but school merits.

studying… maybe he studied afterwards, at

the easiest: Garibaldi.

Professor What fine days I spent here. It

Professor Good morning. If that’s what it is.

Professor (sighing, putting his specs)

seems like ages ago, but it’s also so as if it

Statue Now, this happens more often than

And if the day starts out like this...

were just yesterday; in a way, I feel like I’m

you might think! Here I may seem useless,

Statue I wonder if he notices the gum on

exactly the same.

Silver’s buttock… perhaps he shall remove

Statue Who ever would have guessed that

them. I wouldn’t mind a bit.

he would become a professor? When he

With a somewhat distressed air, the professor

Professor I hope you don’t mind if I stay

was a pupil, what a disaster!

sits down left in the proscenium.

here for a while to correct the schoolwork;

Professor Oh, of course back then, I acted

but I keep the secrets of many people!

it’s a pleasure to stay in the schoolyard, on

like this was the last place I wanted to be!

Professor Frankly, it didn’t start off that well.

this fine day. Like when I was a boy – do

Going to school is not a bed of roses after

Statue I am as the barman for the

you remember?

all – quite the opposite! But at the end of

drunkards at the bar…

Statue Do I remember? I have an excellent

the day, it was actually a pleasure.

memory! Of course I remember when you

Statue The poor girl sitting in front of him!

The professor takes some papers out of his

were studying in this school. (to the

He tied her plaits to the back of the chair,

bag: schoolwork to be corrected.

audience) He was studying! Let’s call it

84

THE MAN ON THE HORSE so when she stood up the chair was

Professor Oh, listen here: according to… (he

Statue Tough penitentiary!

hanging on her neck …

turns over the schoolwork and reads the

Professor Gaeta! Not bad! (he opens another

Professor When we are children that’s what

name of the student) Trani Mirco, III A, no

schoolwork) Yes, perhaps I had as well

we have to do; school is life, it’s the world.

less, the most important monument in

some inglorious moments.

Even if one knows that it’s but a piece

London is the Tour Eiffel!! Was I such a

Statue You are strange indeed, you human

of world.

jackass too, when I was a kid? (he marks

beings… telling your secrets to a statue!

Statue And the fellow sitting beside him in

several lines on the schoolwork) Surely not a

Professor (gets crossed while reading) Yes,

the third grade? Oh…

swot, but I hope I never was so ignoramus!

but I never wrote nor thought that America

Professor

Statue Let’s say, all’s well that ends well –

was discovered in 1700! He is off his head!

But we have to start from somewhere... to

nobody is born an expert…

How is it possible?!? (he rages on the

discover the real world. And school is a

Professor I remember that one of my

schoolwork that he is reading)

good point to start from. But perhaps I am

teachers, when we handed in awful

boring you. And I have a heap of stuff to

schoolwork, instead of giving bad marks

correct.

wrote the name of a prison – to say…

passing through, but he sees the professor

Statue Professor Genovesi.

and greets him.

A boy is going along at the rear; he is just

The professor starts working again, while the

Professor His name was Genovesi.

statue takes up with its affairs. Suddenly:

Statue And so I said!

Boy ‘morning, sir.

Professor One day I got a ‘Gaeta’.

Professor (inattentive and in a foul mood) 85

Text extract ‘morning. (then he realizes) Oh, it is you.

Professor There is something going on in

Professor I had to punish them, but still I

Come here a moment. (the boy hesitates…

that class, that I don’t understand. From

left with a feeling of something playing in

he has a bad feeling)

one day to the other it’s like they were

the air…

Boy But I have to go back to the classroom…

changed all of them, but I don’t know what

Professor You’ll go back later, first tell me

happened.

The bell rings

what this mess is (he shows him the

Statue Ah! Still, I didn’t notice anything

schoolwork).

unusual in the talks during the break …

It’s already time. (he walks out, through the

Boy It’s my schoolwork.

Professor Yesterday morning, while I

opposite side as the boy)

Professor And so far am I as well. (the

examined two of them, the rest of the class

Goodbye.

professor has a severe look, the poor fellow

was suspiciously silent. Then I noticed

Statue (looking at him walking out)

casts down his eyes. After a pause) So?

faces looking round almost rhythmically,

Did you hear, Silver? There is surely

Nothing else to say?

and a very slight buzz, and finally I got it!

something fishy!

Boy (he keeps silent, looking at the tip of his

They were playing ‘the hen in the hencoop

shoes then he looks at the teacher)

lays the egg’.

Professor Go back into classroom. (the child

Statue “What?”

jumps away; the professor and the statue

Professor The egg ! While I was examining!

look at him going away)

Statue I hope you stepped in with an iron fist…

86

soon…

Reflections on the writing process Giuditta Mingucci To begin, an ordinary Friday, enclosed in a room with the ten of the most reckless students of the school.

“I hadn’t done anything, but the teacher scolded me!”

Hm, if I listen to them, these kids sail in a sea of injustices…

“Yes, ok, it was also me; but my schoolmate was the one who started it!”

“Maybe they’re not real injustices, but if they’re felt this way, they hurt anyway”, a teacher will note later.

A teacher or an adult is present in every account that the pupils wrote.

They criticize them a lot, but they really look at them. As in a necessary comparison?

“Some teachers are a little strange…”

(At the mention of the word ‘roguery’, emergency teachers are always quoted a lot.)

“Not all, but some of them think that in life there is only school.”

It’s a little like fishing in my memory, like a journey back in time to my school experience. Another generation, a lot of differences; but some dynamics are very similar.

“If I were the teacher, I would try to empathize with the pupils. Well, if someone never does their homework…”

An old friend comes to mind: A.A., making a teacher cry by pretending to be having a mystical crisis in which he says he can see I don’t remember which saint, or the guy that drives another teacher crazy by jumping out of the window to get back the pencil case of a girl (pencil case which he threw out of that window himself the minute before).

“I wouldn’t let them fool me!”

87

Reflections on the writing process Or the class that invented the nervous tics – one for each student – to be activated at any sci-

Giuditta Mingucci

ence lesson, in honour of their favourite teacher; and the pendulum oscillating in the above side, or the earth’s globe divided into squares…

“Each teacher thinks that his subject is the only one that exists!”

A music teacher, on a train: “They are so needy… Compared to the way we were, they despise more the adults.”

“Compared to the past, school’s changed, many methods are different; but the professors

Born in Rimini, she graduated with honours in Classical Literature at the University of Bologna. She has worked professionally as

that teach to us, they think it’s still like in their time’s school!”

an actress since 1997 and in 2000 she joined Elsi-

Males against females… nice problem!

nor Teatro Stabile di Innovazione. Her playwriting

“One teacher says one thing, another one says the opposite, and we can’t do anything, and in the end they both get upset.”

Another teacher: “The temptation, as teachers, is to dominate the pupils: by force, authoritarianism, but also with a charm – it’s also a mistake, it’s just another form of domination.”

What impresses me, looking at the kids working, is how much they are able to give. In theatre, in writing. Well, what they do in practice is much more than what they say, what they know, what they are aware of.

Desire. Still in a pure state, unable to control, often unaware.

Shy, also – but not less strong for this.

88

activity began on the stage, as part of her work of actress and theatre pedagogue.

De moeder, de vader en de rest

Frost Damage

By Bouke Oldenhof

Commissioned & first performed by Theater De Citadel Groningen, The Netherlands (February 19, 2010)

Summary Frost Damage ‘Mother and I’ (working title) is a play for children of about 12 years old, to be played by two actors in classrooms. It is based on biographical data of the youth of a man who is now about 60-years old, living in the north of The Netherlands.

The play is situated around an old-fashioned coalfired stove, in the back of the classroom somewhere up North in the 60’s. Associations of warmth, a family life, possibilities of warmth people can give to each other. Some scenes are located in the classroom, other scenes in a cowhouse, a factory and so on.

‘Mother and I’ is a story of not being wanted and of neglect.

Eric is born to a mother who didn’t tell anybody that she was pregnant. The boy is born in a cowhouse. When the farmer finds his housekeeper he doesn’t know whether the bucket with water she took with her, was meant to wash or to drown the baby.

The mother is sent to town. Her hobby is acting. She always takes Eric to rehearsals. When he is 7 years old, he plays Hansel in the Christmas pantomime Hansel and Gretel. His mothers corrects him if he calls him mother, because she is playing the witch: I’m a stranger to you.

Cast Lies van de Weil, Erik Koningsberger / Director Rob Bakker / Costumes Freja Roelofs

91

Summary Eric tries to win the attention and love of a female teacher by buying her flowers, but she doesn’t see the signs of a neglected boy. Eric is becoming a nasty pupil, often punished.

Eric is very often alone at home. He makes up stories being a popular train driver who is bringing everybody home safely. He imagines being a hero: a knight, or a detective, or a rich boy giving presents to everybody. Eric finds the key of the blanket factory in which his mother has started to work, and finds the wage money of several people.

His mother is suspected, being one of three persons having a key for the factory. She denies it of course. Although there is no evidence, she punishes Eric when the police is gone, locking him up in a coal bunker, and beating him. She doesn’t notice that the boy wants her attention.

An actor and a actress are acting scenes from this life. Not a funny story, not a nice life. They discuss the possibilities of solving the problem of the boy. Is there no end to children being unhappy?

Š Theater De Citadel, info@citadeltheater.nl

92

FROST DAMAGE Hansel And The Witch

see the cakes and the sweets on the walls?

Eric Eric’s mother went to town, and

(Eric starts crying.)

Lies Did you see the cakes and the sweets on the wall?

looked after him. But she wanted to live

Eric Mum. Mum, I have to go to the loo.

herself as well and she loved theatre. That’s

Lies I’m sorry. Eric is hungry. I’m back in

Lies Hi Hansel and Gretel, if you have to go

not coincidance. Because we’re actors, a lot

ten minutes.

to the toilet, please go to the toilet.

of the people we know are working in the

Eric When Eric was a couple of years older,

Eric I have to pee.

theatre. Such as Eric.

he had to sit and be quiet, in the backrows

Lies Go to the toilet, and come back when

Lies He got it from his mother.

of the theater, a big red chair and lots of big

you’re finished. [Laughing witch-like]

Eric Eric was only a couple of months old

red chairs in front of him, and lots of big

Eric I really have to piss.

when his mother started acting. Just as she

children sitting everywhere, so high en

Lies How can I act this way. Is there

used to do in the village in the girl’s club.

hudge Eric couldn’t see anything. Just hear.

nobody to bring the boy to the toilet?

Lies Eric was lying in a cradle in the back of

Lies Hi Hansel. Hi Gretel. Nice of you to

Eric I only want you to bring me to the

the theatre. His mother was rehearsing a

visit me. Do you like my little house? Did

toilet, Mummy.

fairytale, a Christmas pantomime. Let’s say

you see the cakes and the sweets on

Lies How old are you?

the witch of Hansel en Gretel.

the walls?

Eric Four, Mummy.

Hi Hansel. Hi Gretel. Nice of you to visit

Eric Mum.

Lies Hansel and Gretel, take a look at my

me. Do you like my little house? Did you

house. I have to go, I’ll be back in a minute.

93

Text extract There are sitting of hundreds of children

Lies I’m not your mother anymore. I’m the

and adults watching the play. I do not want

witch. You don’t know me. I’ll lock you in.

to disappoint the audience. I’ll show you

I’ll feed you, to eat you. Don’t forget, I don’t

once where the toilet is, and please go

know you, I’m the witch. I’m a stranger

there alone the next time.

to you.

Ericb Yes Mum.

Eric Yes Mummy.

And when he was older, he was acting

Lies Hi Hansel. Hi Gretel. Nice of you to

himself. Everybody had rehearsels, and

visit me. Do you like my little house? Did

Eric joined in.

you see the cakes and the sweets on the

Lies Hi Hansel. Hi Gretel. Nice of you to

walls?

visit me. Do you like my little house? Did

Eric Yes, my lady.

you see the cakes and the sweets on

Lies (puts up her thumb to approve)

the walls?

When you’re that old, you can’t say what

Eric Yes Mummy!

makes you happy. But it sure made him

Lies Stupid boy, you can’t say that in the

happy, this, Eric, then.

performance. Yes Mummy! That’s is not

Eric He never forgot.

your text.

Eric Yes Mummy.

94

FROST DAMAGE Bouke Oldenhof If there is something that is always the same in my way of writing a play, it is that is always different from the way I worked on the play before.

It is the easiest way to keep your head fresh.

Director Rob Bakker asked me to think about a piece concerning violence against children, or neglect of children. We had long talks about the theme. My first idea was a piece on divorce, because a girl in my family was suffering from headaches ever since her parents divorced.

Rob did not want such a play. Talking about the plans, I asked Rob why he wanted to make a play about physical abuse of children. He told me about his own youth. It was at this moment I decided I wanted to make a play about a youth like his.

I had three reasons for it. As all writers will say, reality offers you details you could never think of. But even more important is my belief that every audience feels the difference between a story that has been made up, and a story that has really happened. And as, in my perception, children of about twelve years old are interested in reality, far more that in art; a real story would interest them more than some adult fantasy.

[In fact, it did.]

Rob and I decided I would make enough material, so that Rob could choose what he wanted. Rob and I had an interview of only one and a half hours. It gave me more than enough material. So I worked out some ten episodes of what Rob told me, changing details of course. I wrote a narrative introduction, added repeating elements to give the play a unity, added details from my own youth, and chose a theatrical and poetical form.

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Reflections on the writing process In Holland it is quite normal in youth theatre, especially when you’re playing next to the children, to not deny the fact that theatre is about actors telling a story. It makes it more relaxed for the actors to play, they can make more contact with the audience. This way of telling indicates the scenes are theatre in a Brechtian way, and in this special case it gave me the opportunity to tell a story which was based on reality. Working this out, I decided that we should suggest the story was the real story of the male actor, although it didn’t need to be convincing. The only reason for this, was that doing so, we could make it clear that a bad youth has a big influence on the personality of a grown-up.

The big difference between reality and art is, that suffering in reality occurs in a chaotic way. It upsets people, and they don’t have the time or rest to digest it and cope with it. Art structurizes suffering, in a way the audience gets a clear image of reality and can have a catharsis as Aristotle wants it to be had. Repetition of elements is an easy and effective way to give a structure to a story, and to emphasize what interests you most. In Frost damage I made use of warmth and stoves in different scenes, and on different levels. Ibsen would have loved it. Eric suffers from not receiving warmth, and he can’t give warmth when he is a grown-up.

When you use real stories for plays, which I actually quite often do, you have to change facts and add details from other lives to protect in a way the privacy of your spokesman. I added details out of my own live, which became quite important in the play. I remember very well that I saw an ill bird that was chased by a cat. It made a great impression on me then, and I felt very alone in my sadness. Rob had a story of a bird as well. The set-designer showed a bird, a kind of raven the name of which sounds like ‘chill’ in Dutch. A boy in my youth onto whom I projected some details of the different stories, had a family-name Vorst (meaning King and Frost). Thus repetition of motives, adding details from my own youth and research came together.

96

FROST DAMAGE Playing in a classroom has a big danger: you don’t get the theatrical concentration and imagination because of the mess. You can’t build a theatre in a classroom. For me it was very important to have a strong suggestion of an imaginative place and time, so I wanted to use the classroom and change it into a location for our play: some forty years ago in the old classroom of my protagonist. In my youth the coal stoves were very big. I thought that a stove could be a strong sign of another time and an imaginative place. I needed the idea before I could write. Ironically, there was no stove at all in the performance.

Although language [for me] should have the impression of realism in a play, I think a slight stylization is important as well. You can do it by repeating words, by using the same kind of metaphors, by shortening speech. For Frost damage I was very happy with what I called litanies.

Series of sentences with the same structure, such as used monastic prayers. They gave me the opportunity to formulate Eric’s denial of his feeling of loneliness and suffering, and to give an artistic dimension to a realistic story.

I finished my play, and decided to write the next play completely differently: an historic drama about a famous historic Dutch Count, following the structure of Shakespeare’s Richard III, written in variations of pentameters, and played by actors on horses. Then an epic text on a historic athlete, accused of being a man and being forced out of competition just before becoming an Olympic champion. A base for a piece of minimal music for brass band, with the use of ears and silence as metaphors for the longing of a girl living in the country to join the big world. A lot of repetition and variations in the text. I name these other pieces for grown-ups, because I live in the countryside and I compare writing to the way farmers grow their crops. One year they plant wheat, the next year potatoes, and the year after corn. Change improves fertility.

97

Bouke Oldenhof Born in 1957, he wrote his first play in 1991, Rolbrug, about two people in his neighbourhood who after 30 years of attraction and refusal, accepted their fate and started a relationship. The production was nominated for the Proscenium play. A couple of chamber plays followed, e.g. Kooibos (1997), Hanebuurt (1997), Lette Ropping (2005). The main characters of Oldenhof’s plays are unimportant people striving to make something more of their life.

In 1995 the play about the famous Dutch football player Abe Lenstra in the football stadium of Heerenveen attracted attention from Germany to New York. More than 500 actors, football players, musicians, singers and dancers played for an audience up to 10.000 people in the stadium. Thanks to the success of this play Bouke Oldenhof was often asked for texts for big scale productions, such as De engel en de duizend doden (1997), De Heeren van het Veen (2006) and Kinderzegen (2009).

Oldenhof wrote some 15 plays for children and young people, played by groups as De Citadel, Laagland and the theater in Frisian language Tryater. In ‘Niemand spaart mensen’ (1994) a boy analyzing machinery and a girl laying (beschwören) objects from nature astonish each other and finally change roles. It is an example of amazement, which is the base of his plays for young children, A good example of Oldenhof’s plays for teenagers is Medusa (1999). Medusa is the mythical character with the ugly face, who kills everybody she looks at. When she falls in love with Perseus she asks him to kill her, because they’re happy about being in love, but they know the love won’t last when they can’t see each other. The play was awarded the Hans Snoekprijs 2000. Recently Oldenhof adapted Antigone (2008) and Czechovs Seagull (2009) for the Theatre De Citadel.

After a career teaching and developing curricula mother tongue and dramaturgy, Oldenhof has been a full-time playwright since 1999. He is the father of three daughters, and lives in an old farmhouse and pub in the Frisian country side.

98

Iemand issum, Niemand issum

Somebody’s Move Nobody’s Move

By Simon van der Geest

Commissioned & first performed by Theater De Citadel Groningen, The Netherlands (November 6, 2010)

Cast Bram Kwekkeboom, Lotte Lohrengel, Lies van de Wiel, Sjoerd Meijer / Musicians Robert van der Tol, Tiedo Groeneveld, Don Hofstee / Director Rob Bakker / Music Robert van der Tol / Costumes Jorine van Beek

Summary Somebody’s Move, Nobody’s Move Ray is coming back to school. The teacher said so.

Four children in the schoolyard – Willy, Menk, Iris and Hanna – are awaiting his arrival, nervous and worked up. He’ll be in a wheelchair.

Who is to blame?

In a reconstruction the four children go back in time. They take turns playing the absent Ray. Ray is stubborn, he looks for caterpillars in the bushes, stands up for fall guys and dares to oppose Menk (the king of the schoolyard). Even though he doesn’t belong to any group, everybody respects him. Iris is Menk’s right hand, she is stirring up trouble and waiting for something sensational to happen. Her friend Hanna doesn’t respond to Willy’s clumsy overtures, she is more occupied with the ever elusive Ray. In a series of short scenes with dialogues, stories, songs and seemingly innocent schoolyard games like skipping and ‘Ferryman, can you take us across?’, the relationships slowly become clear, who stands up for others, who bullies, who has butterflies in their stomachs and who is a bystander?

The boys fight for their rank in the hierarchy, they score points off each other or look for protection. The girls join in with the boys, giggling and whispering. They are sly and eventually come up with the most dangerous plans. The children’s social backgrounds also play a role. The father of one of them is a doctor, another child has an alcoholic mother and one has a father at sea.

Meanwhile some events from post war history make an appearance. Willy’s uncle betrayed Jews during the war and is despised by the villagers. The dikes in Zeeland burst and everybody has to hand in toys for the victims. The sixties present themselves with their music and the ‘American kiss’. Jet planes fly across the schoolyard to end the Moluccan train hijack. Against the background of these events, tension

101

Summary rises among the children in the schoolyard. Betrayal between friends, the struggle for power, badgering, being ignored, unrequited love and pent up frustrations finally have a fatal outcome.

On Ray’s initiative the children plaster the van that belongs to Willy’s collaborator uncle. Consequently the teacher puts pressure on the class by cancelling the school trip as long as the perpetrators refuse to give themselves up. Ray confesses and betrays his fellow perpetrators. They are furious and come up with a punishment: Ray must climb the roof along the rain pipe. When that turns out a little too easy, somebody suggests a more severe punishment: he must jump across the gap between the two school buildings. “Across the gap” the children chant, “Ray must pay”. Little can go wrong, as Willy is supposed to hold the rope that secures Ray. And Willy is Ray’s friend. But Willy is also in love…

In the heat of the game, during the compelling developments in the schoolyard hours fly. Or maybe years. And sometimes time seems to stand still.

In this schoolyard there is no time In this schoolyard there is all the time in the world Outside the gate the time moves forward, tick-tock Hour after hour Day after day Month after month But here Time plays with us © Theater De Citadel, info@citadeltheater.nl

102

SOMEBODY’S MOVE, NOBODY’S MOVE The punishment

again

Ray had to climb the roof, why not another

and a bite still bigger

punishment

Iris Everybody says all sorts of things

and a bite still stronger

Ray had to climb the roof

One says this, and the other that

still fatter

Menk Stand here

A story is like a fish

still

Here

It shoots from the one to the other and

Rope round his chest

the next

I can tell where it began

Rope

And if there is some one with a better story

The first fish

Willy, you hold the rope

Stronger

I should know, I was very close

Willy Why me

With wide jaws

All Ray must climb the roof

Willy So?

The first fish is swallowed just like that

Ray must climb the roof

Hanna It is a punishment

The new story, the bigger, fatter story

Ray must climb the roof

Shouldn’t he climb without a rope

goes on

Ray must climb the roof

Just bare hands.

Swims from ear to ear

Iris Angry, that’s we all were

Menk Eh?

till, bite, bite

with other, with the teacher, with the world

Willy Hanna?

another stronger story

and especially with Ray.

Iris Can’t be done. That last part, that ridge,

Menk He is your friend

With sharper teeth

and then bite, bite

you have to turn up side down. Without a 103

Text extract rope it can’t be done. Nobody can do that.

throws into the air. Menk can do it. Menk is

Or you’d have to be able to fly.

a cowboy. The branch glides down.

Menk Hanna isn’t talking nonsense

Without saying anything Willy picks up the

It should be a punishment

branch. Walks backwards so the rope is

Willy Give me that rope. I’ll hold the rope

tight. He pulls a little. Ray’s arms tremble,

Menk Oh, really?

like a puppet.

Willy You dare, you dare and I…..

Menk What are you waiting for?

Menk You what?

Up

Iris Look, a falcon

Iris Up

Willy I am the rope man

Willy What are you looking at? Climb!

Iris Willy ties the rope round Ray’s chest

Hanna Go

and below his arms.

He doesn’t say anything Knot. Tight. A bit too tight The other end we tie round a heavy branch.

We throw it round the railing, above the edge of the roof. That’s hard. We take turns.

I don’t throw high enough. Hanna only 104

Reflections on the writing process Simon van der Geest Rob Bakker, the director, asked me to write a play about the schoolyard and the passing of time. A play for everybody who had ever played in the schoolyard. He walked around and emphasized with big gestures that it had to be ‘living’ and ‘raw’ and ‘spectacular’, but more in a religious way. He explained his vision about the schoolyard; it was an altar as well as a confessional chair, it was heaven and hell; everything came together there. He told me about his love for Italian plays and films, about his connection to music theatre, and about his passion for people on stage just telling a story, I made my notes, raised my eyebrows and went home. Over the next few months I tried digesting this…

I started writing scenes, poems, songs, monologues which I associated with the schoolyard, but without a plot. To collect more material I interviewed people of different ages. From 10 year olds to my 90 year old grandmother. What do you remember about your schoolyard time?

Which things had an impact on you? And: what do you recall from that time about the world outside the schoolyard, the history, the politics?

I found out that to most people there had been very many impressions, sometimes very precise, sometimes quite emotional. And that it was a world so strong in itself, that the outer world had almost no influence on life in the schoolyard.

But I was curious about this. I didn’t give up, I kept searching for those few moments where history broke through these fences around the schoolyard. I discovered stories about collecting toys for the victims of the flood in Zeeland, in 1953. Stories about the hijacking of the trains and the Primary School in Drenthe, in 1977.

106

SOMEBODY’S MOVE, NOBODY’S MOVE I decided to let these historical moments form the background storyline. The relationships between the children themselves had to become the leading story. I constructed a main storyline in which I used love, friendship, guilt, power, treason, kissing, bullying…: all those elements which I had heard stories about, and of course which I remembered from my own schooldays. Our dramaturg, Pieter Vrijman, was a great help in constructing this. The idea of using Ray’s big ‘accident’ in the schoolyard came up. Every character had to be involved in this. The play could have the structure of a reconstruction. I thought it would be a nice challenge to write a play centering around one person who wouldn’t appear on stage.

The characters had to be four children. I wanted a play without grown-ups, to create a world in which children made the drama. Rob had cast two older and two younger actors. The fact that they would be playing children of about the same age would create a sense of timelessness.

Time became an important theme in this play. In this plan, the years from the 50’s till now passed in one hour, but on the other hand time stood still; the characters didn’t get any older. At first I thought this would be a problem; it would be confusing. But the more I worked it out, the less it became an issue. I wrote some songs which were about this timelessness. The schoolyard presented itself as a place where time could be irrelevant. A place where the power of playing and fighting prooved itself stronger than time.

After some months I presented a first version of the script to the director. He was enthusiastic. We spoke about the script and I adjusted some things and wrote an extra song on his request.

107

Simon van der Geest While rehearsing, it became clear that the play would last over one and a half hours, which was too long. Together with the dramaturg and his assistant I shortened the play. A scene about the war in Afghanistan, for example, was deleted.

When the play was performed, I was very pleased to see that the children in the audience were fascinated. Although the play can seem quite complex, most children understood what it was about very well. Sometimes even better than the adults…

Simon van der Geest (1978) studied drama teaching and theatre writing at university. Today he writes plays, stories and poetry, preferably for children. He wrote the play ‘Iemand issum, Niemand issum’ for Theater de Citadel. Besides this he also writes plays for het Onafhankelijk Toneel, Kwatta, Holland Opera Xpress and Oerol. His play ‘Spinder’, about a boy with an insect-laboratory in his cellar, was invited to the international Youth Theater Festival in Stuttgart.

His first children’s book ‘Geel Gras’ was published by Querido and was nominated for an Gouden Uil. The book was translated into German and Italian, and was adapted for a film.

In 2010 he released his youth poetry book ‘Dissus’, inspired by Homer’s ‘Odyssey’, about ten boys who get terribly lost in the endless countryside. This book received outstanding reviews. Besides writing, Simon directs youth theatre plays and conducts writing workshops.

108

Før det ringer

Before

the Bell

By Liv Heløe

Commissioned & first performed by Brageteatret, Drammen, Norway (January 22, 2010)

Summary Before The Bell The action takes place one morning in Janus’ life.

1. Prologue: What Janus dreams at night: A lion has escaped from a circus. Janus stands frozen with fear; thinks: This is the end. But the lion runs past. He thinks: It thought I was a tree.

2. Kitchen: Janus goes through his plan for the day: to give a birthday present to Dina, who he is in love with. While eating his breakfast, he looks through the window, sees Dina visiting his arch enemy, Leo, in the neighbouring block. They kiss. Janus’ mother, Wenche, comes in.

She suffers from low self-esteem and has decided not to attend a planned job interview. Janus is very put out and leaves – without his lunch-pack.

3. Shopping centre: Janus enters the ’world of shopping’ in an attempt to fill his head with anything other than his miserable life. Is thrown out by a security guard.

4. On the road: Janus meets Dina and feels new hope: maybe it wasn’t her he saw in Leo’s window?

5. Leo’s room: Dina was at Leo’s in the morning – to get help with her French homework. But no homework was actually done. Leo is also in love with Dina and, in the heat of the moment, makes advances which are far too quick. Shocked, Dina leaves Leo. She forgets her belt.

6. Schoolyard: Rejected, Leo entertains fellow students with his version of Dina’ visit – how earlier that day, he had been sought out by a sexually insatiable Dina. The belt is brought forward as evidence.

7. Girls’ toilets: Janus picks up the belt and takes it into the girls’ toilets where Dina has sought refuge. But what do you say in such a situation?

111

Summary 8. The window: Janus is on his way to class but changes his mind.

Goes over to the window in the corridor. Looks down into the schoolyard. Leo comes up behind him from the classroom. Janus says: I think you’re a real shit, Leo. Taken by surprise, Leo is unable to come up with an answer.

Dina comes out of the girl’s toilets; meets Wenche who has dared to come out into the world – with Janus’ lunch-pack. When Wenche has gone and as Dina is on her way out of the schoolyard, Janus suddenly realises that this is his only chance. He calls to Dina, runs down the stairs – and gives her the present: Happy Birthday.

9. Epilogue: Janus sums it up: I am not standing still. I am not a tree.

I am Janus.

© Liv Heløe, l.heloe@online.no

Cast Kim Falck-Jørgensen, Sulekha Ali Omar, Lasse Valdal, Line Heie Hallem, Oddrun Valestrand / Director Cecilie Mosli / Set design Yngvar Julin

112

BEFORE THE BELL 5. Leo’s Room

Leo Just a minute!

Leo Would you like something to drink?

Dina What’s he doing?

Dina No thanks.

Dina I’m supposed to come up after half

Tidying up or what he doesn’t have to tidy

Leo Coke – Juice?

past eight cos then his parent have left

up for me

Dina No thanks.

Should I have put on something else

(Short pause)

should I ?

Nice flat –

How should I stand when he opens the

Leo ’s just the hall –

I’m fed up with my French teacher

door ?

Dina Yeah –

shouting

Here

Leo Lounge and kitchen – My parents’

I’m fed up with bad grades

or here

room, my brother’s room, bathroom –

I want better grades

or perhaps

Dina ’s like where I used to live –

(Dina rings the bell)

to write everything right

Leo (opens the door)

Leo Oh –

get everything right

Hi –

Dina But my room was – in your parents’

On my birthday I want

Dina Hi –

room and mum’s was – where you’ve got

everything right

Leo Come in –

your bathroom?

Has he gone or

Dina Thanks –

Leo I see –

He said half eight it’s

Leo Don’t need to take your shoes off –

(Short pause)

half eight now

Dina Ok – 113

Text extract Dina Shall we look at the French home-

(Short pause)

Dina Rock?

work then?

Dina I don’t know many – haven’t got to

Leo Yeah –? I think you think quite a bit

Leo Yeah – I saw you dancing at the club.

know so many – Yet.

about rock – ’s how you look?

Dina Oh ?

Leo You’ll get to know me. Now.

Dina That I think about rock?

Leo Last weekend –

Dina Yeah –

Leo Yeah –?

Dina So –?

(Short pause)

Dina – What do you think about?

Leo Very nice.

Shall we look at the French?

Leo I think about – You –

Dina Thanks –?

Leo You’re not like other girls.

(Pause)

Leo Very nice.

Dina – Is that good?

Dina Shall we look at the French?

Dina I didn’t know you were there.

Leo Yeah, that’s good –

Leo Yeah – Come on –

Leo I was though.

Dina How come?

(Goes towards his room)

Dina I was on my own.

Leo So many of them just think about –

My room –

Leo I noticed. I don’t know any other girls

what they look like – TV series and –

Dina Nice –

who’d have gone to the club on their own –

horses – I’m fed up with it.

Leo CDs – player – games – Come –

Dina No?

Dina Horses -?

(He reaches out a hand. Short pause)

Leo No.

Leo Make-up, TV, horses – It’s like just –

I like you –

Dina Were you there on your own?

Dina What do you think I think about?

Dina Because you think I don’t think about

Leo Yeah.

Leo – Rock –

TV series – and what I look like?

114

BEFORE THE BELL Leo Yeah –?

Dina What’s the time ?

Dina Yes.

Dina Don’t you think about what you

Leo I don’t know – Feel here, feel, touch

Leo Can’t you ?

look like?

here – yeah –

Dina I’ve got some French homework, I

Leo It happens – Come here, then – You’re

Dina Like this -?

told you – I – have – some – French

beautiful –

Leo Yeah – I like you very much –

homework!

Dina Am I ?

You’ve got’s very difficult, is this a belt, can

Leo If you’re so into French ho –

Leo Whether you think about it or not –

you – Yes – Ooh, yes – you are – Can you

Dina No!

You’re – I like you – a lot –

– Dina, you – can you – that’s it, yes – yes,

Leo Are you?

that’s it, yes – yes – yes –

Dina I! Am! Quite! Sure! That I don’t want to

Dina Shall we look at that French

(Leo comes. Pause. Dina gets up, gets

see your French homework!

homework?

dressed.)

Leo Ok! Ok!

I like you a lot –

Leo This is the French homework – I like

Leo D’you want some coke or – juice or –

Dina No! It’s not Ok!

French a lot –

(Pause)

Leo What’s the matter with you? Huh?

Dina Someone’s watching us – It feels like

Dina -?

someone’s watching us –

Dina Yes –

(Dina leaves.)

Leo What a bunch of pervs – watching

Leo D’you want some coke ?

us – What a bunch of pervs –

Dina No –

Shit, fuck

Come here – Dina – come here –

Leo Ok – You going?

and bollocks 115

Text extract Well, I won’t open the window and call

There’s Janus’ mum

got food

after her

So fed up with that view looking into Janus’

at school

I won’t

kitchen

I can’t do anything

I won’t run after her

seeing that sad block

Leo She snivelling or what?

I won’t ask why she ran off

Janus’ sad mother and Janus having

Christ

and I won’t say sorry

breakfast and Janus having dinner

Standing snivelling in the window

I won’t

day after day

where people can see her

What’d she come here for?

Why isn’t she at work?

Glad she’s not my mum

To do her French yeah right ha ha

Never see her anywhere else ’cept in that

If she was my mum I’d have

Girls are never

window

Wenche Janus!

damned straight

What’s she standing there for?

Leo (opens the window)

Wenche Janus!

Pull yourself together!

And I bought coke and everything

Should’ve seen it as soon

Wenche What?

We could’ve sat here

as he left

Leo He ain’t there! You can see that,

had a coke

then I could’ve run after him but now

can’t you!

talked about

he’s gone

Wenche Is he talking to me

music

Without his lunch

Leo See anyone? I can’t, just tarmac!

Why aren’t we?

I can’t even make sure that my son’s

Wenche Who’s he?

116

BEFORE THE BELL Could it be him that goes?

French maths Norwegian gym

If she’s nice

Leo Tarmac! Close your window and keep

Gym gear gym gear

she can have it

your snivelling to yourself!

And this

I’ve got it in my pocket

(Closes his window)

What’s this? It’s

She can have it if she asks

Wenche In Janus’ class

Dina’s

If she’s nice

Was he talking to me?

Belt

She can have it

What did he want?

Aha so she

Leo (opening the window again)

forgot it

Didn’t you hear what i said? Do I have to

If mum or dad were to find that

use a megaphone?!

(Closes the window)

Translation: Neil Horward

”Whose is this” like Not to mention my brother But I ain’t gonna give it to her either

Jee-sus

she ain’t gonna just

standing snivelling like that

get it

making other people’s lives a misery

She’ll have to ask for it

shouldn’t be allowed

’n if she asks for it I’ll say

Ok!

Yeah I’ve got it

Thursday

And she can have it 117

Reflections on the writing process Liv Heløe When I was asked to write a play for Brageteatret autumn 2008, I (happily) said YES – under the condition that a director could be chosen who could follow the process from start – and take part in the research.

We started our work with a two days visit to Galterud Ungdomsskole (age 12–16) in Drammen. The school has between 60–70% foreignlanguage pupils and is considered to be a school with big challenges. We decided to stay with the pupils, not the teachers, through the school day (we even did a maths test) – and hung around with the pupils during the breaks.

When we first went to the school, we didn’t know exactly what we were looking for – we wanted to: 1: get to know the age-group 2: understand the situation: to go to school, get to know both the written and the unwritten rules and the terms under which the pupils live 3: we had a vague idea that the performance could possibly be interactive – and we wanted to test some simple ideas After two days at the school we had learned that: 1: going to secondary school is tough; the pupils are, to a very small extent, allowed to choose for themselves; they are left to live with their classmates, the working time, the subjects. These conditions are unique for schoolchildren.

2: it is not easy to make 30 youngsters do what you want them to; we put the interactive part of the performance on ice.

118

BEFORE THE BELL 3: I asked the pupils to write down three things: 1. a secret; 2. something they do, that they are too old to do; 3. something they do, that they are too young to do.

Their notes were delivered to me anonymously and I promised that I would be the only reader. The notes became good source of inspiration.

4: The director invented the word Group animal – as a term for the pupils as group.

We decided that this was to be our theme; to be an individual in the Group animal – how to keep both respect AND self respect – as member of the animal. (This defined how the text in the end was written; both with inner monologues – and dialogues between the characters.)

Next step: bringing the set designer into the process; presenting our thoughts and ideas. After short time he proposed an idea for a set; a big white revolving cube in a white room.

Then we had audition and found the actors – a young energetic ensemble.

THEN I wrote the play – after having both the set and the actors.

After I had written a fairly advanced 1st. draft, we had a reading/workshop. The final draft was written after this.

Twice during the rehearsals we invited our reference group from Galterud. They gave us valuable feedback and corrections. This gave both them and us the feeling that they were fellow owners of the production.

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Liv Heløe Liv Heløe (*1963) is a Norwegian playwright. She worked as an actress for 15 years in theatre, film and television. She wrote her first play in 1992 and her second play two years later – both were staged at a festival for new plays in Oslo. In 2003 she completed ‘Pilotprosjekt for Dramatikere’, a two year course for playwrights. She has been writing for theatre and radio theatre on a full time basis since 2003.

She has written two plays for young people – one of them for DUS (the Norwegian parallel to ‘Connections’ in the UK).

Her work also includes three full-night plays for adults and two for children, four plays for radio and several monologues, one-act and short plays.

In 2006 she received the national Ibsen Award, Special Commendation for ‘Lise L.’, Prix Europa 2009 and the Hedda-Price (Heddaprisen) for ‘Before the Bell’ (‘Før det Ringer’ at Brageteatret) as the best production for children and young people in the season 2009/10.

Board member of Writers’ Guild of Norway (Norske Dramatikeres Forbund): www.dramatiker.no

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O Velho Sedentรกrio e o Jovem Aventureiro

The Old Sedentary

and the Young Adventurer

By Rui Pina Coelho

Commissioned & first performed by Teatro O Bando, Palmela, Portugal (March 20, 2010)

The Old Sendentary and the Young Adventurer (Original title in Portuguese: O Velho Sedentário e o Jovem Aventureiro: O velho professor é uma espécie de agricultor sedentário & O jovem aluno é uma espécie de aventureiro dos mares) The old sedentary and the young adventurer: The old teacher is a sort of sedentary farmer and & young schoolboy is a sort of sea adventurer.

The schoolyards, that we used to know, no longer exist. Everything has changed. The buildings have changed. The teachers have changed. The schoolchildren have changed. Everything has changed. What stories are we supposed to tell? Which stories can we tell? Here today, we have two storytellers: one is an old professor, a sort of a sedentary farmer; the other is a young schoolboy, a sort of a sea adventurer. One loves lists. The other can’t live without his maps. Both tell school stories. All sorts of stories. The Old Sedentary,

Summary

who has never left his hometown and is half buried in his own schoolyard, will describe and list the changes that time has imposed on the world and on himself. The Young Adventurer will describe and tell everything about the various schoolyards that he has visited during the years and about his own changes. What can we tell but stories?

Š Ru Pina Coelho, ruipinacoelho@gmail.com

Cast Nicolas Brites, Raul Atalaia Co-creation (incl. direction) Nicolas Brites, Raul Atalaia, Rui Pina Coelho Field Research Lia Nogueira Set Design Research Nuno Melo

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Text extract SCENE

watching and hearing the world

I tell and teach ancient stories, of many

go forward, like maps.

cities, many countries, to the ones that want to hear me. Can I make a map with

(From ‘The young schoolboy is a sort of sea adventurer’)

We the ones who drink from the

my stories.

experience that goes from mouth to I like maps.

mouth, we, the ones who are a kind of sea

I’ll tell a story as if I was traveling through a

I like maps because I do not want to get lost.

adventurers, the young students,

road. My road.

We, the young, we, the children, we, the students,

We like maps –

A story.

we make up Maps because we

I have a map with many stories,

It starts like this:

do not want to get lost.

that I have learned while I was working

Two steps to the right,

I like maps because life is

around the world, learning and knowing

Three steps to the left

traveling. Life is: travel.

many stories and traditions.

Jump back and brings:

Mapping and tracing.

I like maps because I do not want to get lost.

Are you flying …

My story has my marks engraved in it, like

Hoist the sail,

well, we, the ones who are always

the sail of a ship bears the marks of the

Loose moorings

from on one side to another,

different winds that have pushed it.

And you are flying …

The ‘x’ indicates the place.

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THE OLD SENDENTARY AND THE YOUNG ADVENTURER If there is a map: there is a treasure.

what had happened when I was tapped

beautiful, African with hair – she could

And if there’s a treasure, it’s me who is

on the shoulder and another punch in

never forget her, she was beautiful. She

going to find it.

my stomach, even cried, but I got an idea

looked at me very reproachfully, I turned

A story. Another story. Long long time ago.

A story with an accident on the playground.

of he was. This was repeated throughout

back and went away without running, but

the year, whenever I had forgotten it I was

hurrying, I even glanced back to see my

punched again. I Just thought on the last

rival holding his belly. But I was revolted

day of school you’ll see.

because the girl was consoling him

It was my last day of classes before

It was the last day and my mom got me

summer vacation. And this story began

from school by the hand, and I kept

Could not continue there. I had to change

when one day a boy from school, come to

thinking about the punches on my belly,

school. Set sail and left.

me from behind, tapped on my shoulder

I turned to my mother and told her I had

Towards another school search of treasure

and punched me in the belly without

to return to the playground because I

that is hidden

explanation, i could not even see his

had forgotten something. By far saw the

for sure the playground of a school – I just

face, I stood there grabbing my belly

rogue and nervously approached him

do not know which … shush …

without being able to breathe, I thought

from behind, he was talking to someone, I

I was going to die. For the entire week

tapped his shoulder, he turned around and

I was always looking over my shoulder.

I punched him in the stomach … he was

Several weeks later since I had forgotten

in shock. The girl who was with him was 125

Reflections on the writing process Rui Pina Coelho The old sedentary and the young adventurer was written by me, Rui Pina Coelho. This is only half true. Actually, it was created by many storytellers. It was based on the accounts given by the actors Raul Atalaia and Nicolas Brites, and the schoolchildren from the Basic School 2/3 of Poceir達o and the Hermenegildo Capelo School of Palmela.

Our original idea was to collect as many real stories as possible and then to work on them. These stories should take place in a schoolyard environment. We were interested to see how things have been changed in schoolyards throughout time. Is it possible to perceive a history of a country through the stories and the changes that took place in schoolyards? The schoolyards that we used to know, no longer exist.

Everything has changed. What we are told today, in a schoolyard, is a fiction. So, which stories can we tell? Are we telling a true story?

Those were the initial questions that motivated our work. I would work as a dramaturge (in the German sense of the term) or as a dramatic adviser. Our aim was also to question how narration and storytelling can combine, mix and alter the dramatic structure of a theatre play.

Therefore, during the process we often discussed the uniqueness of a theatre play in relation to an oral story. How has drama, since the beginning of the twentieth century, approached non dramatic formulas? This has a long history in theatre and we also wanted to get involved with this migration from drama.

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THE OLD SENDENTARY AND THE YOUNG ADVENTURER

In Portugal, Teatro O Bando has a rich and long history of working with non-dramatic texts: short-stories, oral tradition, novels, poems, collage, and so on. Our idea wasn’t particularly new. But what drove us was the wish to get involved with the stories that the children told us and to created a superlative world based on that: to grow from these day-to-day plots and ordinary situations into a bigger picture.

I asked them things such as: give me a list of nicknames used in your school; what can you smell or see in the schoolyard?; how do you get you school – describe your way home?; describe what you eat at school; define your behaviour in school and in the schoolyard in six sentences; tell us a story that happened on your way home; tell us a story that happened on your first day at school; tell us a story that everybody knows – a story that happens at school, but during the week-end; and so on.

I asked the actors questions too: how was your first day at school? What was your favourite object at school? As a grown up, have you ever returned to school? If so, how? How did you cross the schoolyard in your days?

We ended up with a great pile of random stories – but what they all had in common was that they all were about school experiences. At this point Walter Benjamin rescued us. When we started to discuss our project, we all read Benjamin’s essay ‘The Storyteller’, where lamenting the loss of oral traditions in mechanized societies, he evokes the figure of the storyteller. He argues that there are two kinds of storytellers: the sedentary farmer and the nomad merchant. One kind knows all the stories of a single community and has the responsibility to pass the stories on; the other collects many different stories from all over the world and brings them to his own community, thus influencing its own development. Both are vital to the community’s survival.

127

Rui Pina Coelho With regards to schools, it became pretty obvious to us that the sedentary farmers were the teachers – they have all started as students and they have never left school; and the nomad merchants were the young students – always bringing new energies and stories into school.

That is how we ended up with The old sedentary and the young adventurer, a play written by me, with my own poetry and language, a play written for two storytellers subtitled The old professor is a sort of sedentary farmer & The young schoolboy is a sort of sea adventurer.

Rui Pina Coelho (1975) is Master in Theatre Studies (Lisbon University), lectures at the Higher Institute of Theatre and Cinema (Amadora. He is also a Researcher at the Centre for Theatre Studies in the Faculty of Letters (Lisbon University) where he collaborates in the project CET base. He has published Casa da Comédia (1946–1975): Um palco para uma ideia de teatro (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, 2009, 325 pp.) and Inesgotável Koltès (ESTC/Teatro dos Aloés, 2009, 48 pp.). He is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Sinais de cena (Lisbon, Portugal) and a member of the Consulting Board of the online journal opercevejonline (http://seer.unirio. br/index.php/opercevejoonline, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil). He is a member of the Direction of the Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics and a theatre critic in the national Portuguese daily newspaper Público (since 2006). He is also a founding member of the group Trimagisto – Cooperativa de Experimentação Teatral (Évora, Portugal). As a playwright and dramaturgist, he has collaborated with Teatro o Bando (Palmela), TEUC (Coimbra), Trimagisto (Évora) and Teatro Experimental do Porto (Vila Nova de Gaia). He is currently working on his PhD thesis on Artistic Studies at the Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University.

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Jump

Vyskočiť z kože out of skin

By Zuza Ferenczová

Commissioned by Theatre Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia

Summary Jump out of skin Making decisions is always hard, even if you feel so sorrowful that you can’t tell your best friends. In the case of Kika and Ika, the main girl’s question is: How come some problems get sorted out on their own and the others don’t get sorted neither by 84 kilos of WAITANDSEE, nor

by TIMEHEALSEVERYTHING or EVERYTHINGWILLBETHEWAYITSHOULDBE? The girl is ALMOSTFOURTEEN, pregnant and she doesn’t know, what to do. She can’t have a baby but she also can’t make a decision to terminate her pregnancy. Because she doesn’t want to kill her foetus without knowing what WILLBEAFTER. Even if she is pretending to do a survey, no one can answer her question. So she takes the courage to feel the touch of death on her own skin and find out, what kind of life is THERE. In the world of ALMOSTFOURTEENS you don’t ask the adults, you try to solve everything on your own. While hanging out of school the girl meets a boy, who is alive only because his mum ran away from the abortion table in her POLKADOTPAJAMAS. The girl doesn’t have a mother and even though the boy has one, he hates her. As he says: Mother is like a tattoo you’re stuck with till the end of your life, that’s hard core. The boy agrees to help the girl to die just a little bit. The practical boy’s question is – how to do it? Finally they find a way, but it is really hard to try to kill your friend. Even harder if you’ve just fallen in love with her. The time is rushing - the girl had just 84DAYS to decide and now it’s the last one. In the same time Kika and Ika solve the equally important question – what to wear if you know you are going to the other world?

And one more thing: If you HAVEAPROBLEM, you shouldn’t give the PROBLEM a name. LEM-PROB. Is that a name?

© Zuzana Ferenczová, zuzaferenczka@gmail.com

130

JUMP OUT OF SKIN 1. A Problem

3. Dust on the shoes

high up

in the dust

Girl I’ve got a problem. God, I’ve got a big

get to see it for the first time through the

Girl Who will tell me what to do, who will

problem. Lem-prob, lem-prob, lem-prob,

window of a stinking old coach. It’s as big

tell me what’s better? Who will tell me

lem-prob, lem-prob, lem-prob, lem-prob,

as the biggest something that you can

what’s right? What’s more right? What’s

lem-prob, lem-prob, blem-pro, blem-pro,

imagine. It’s as big as the BIGGEST SHIT.

blem-pro, blem-pro, blem-pro, blem-pro, blem-pro, blem-pro, blem-pro, blem-pro.

better or more right or the best or the most right or better than best or the most

Really, it’s not bigger than a bruise on your

right? If it’s a circle from good to bad then

wrist after someone has held you too long

doesn’t the good follow straight on from

It’s as big as the highest highrise in the

and too hard. Maybe it’s not even as big as

the bad? What’s the best thing for one

middle of the biggest housing estate in

a dog bite. Maybe it’s even smaller than a

person is the worst thing for another. Who

the world. No. It’s as big as the biggest slap

punched-out tooth. Maybe it’s smaller than

can tell me? I’d like to be a pebble so that

in the face you’ve ever received. It’s as a

a stupid piece of snot. I don’t know how

someone could kick me in one direction

big as the night, when your fear won’t let

big it is right now. I can’t even imagine

or another. But I am not a pebble. Who

you sleep and the wretched night won’t

it. I don’t even want to. I just know it is.

am I to ask what to do? Who can say

end. It’s as big as the ocean, when you

what to do when it really MATTERS? 131

Text extract 4. Hot Chocolate

many brain cells do you think he has left after 20 years of daily training?

fucked up life, saggy boobs and all that.

I mean, not if I knocked up some thirty year old, she’d be happy as Larry.

by the wall The wall Boy Why are you looking at the wall?

Girl But what if she was ONLY FOURTEEN? Boy Still.

Girl It calms me down.

Boy I mean it …

Girl How come?

Boy What lesson are you bunking off?

Girl You’re nuts. I’m doing a survey.

Boy I’m only here because my mum

Girl I am not bunking off, they sent me to

Boy About what?

changed her mind about an abortion

fetch the map of the Habsburg Empire.

Girl What would you do if you

at the last minute. The appointment

Boy I’m bunking off PE, the teacher

knocked someone up?

had all been arranged. She was lying

forces us to score headers and I’m sure

Boy Have you been knocked up?

there on the doctor’s table, in her

that’s the reason the football players are

Girl It’s just a survey, for the

polka dot pajamas, and then she just

so dumb. Because their brain cells are

school magazine.

ran away. She left the hospital.

dying off, thousands of them every time

Boy I see.

Girl And she told you just like that?

they score a header. And the teacher

Girl What would you tell her?

Boy She’s told me she regretted not

is nuts about football. If he could, he’d

Boy I’d try to convince her to keep

doing it. Around hundred times.

be scoring headers all day long. How

it. Though, I guess, it’d be quite tough,

Girl Oh. And she escaped in her PAJAMAS?

her folks, social services, the school, 132

JUMP OUT OF SKIN Boy My mother running away from

Boy I call her MOTHER. When I was

Girl I’m seeing someone. At the moment.

the abortion table, cooool.

little and loved her, I called her Momo.

But MAYBEI’MNOTSURE, not for too long.

Girl And you remember that. As a foetus?

Momo, like in that old movie.

I’ll give it one more week at the most.

Boy Sometimes it feels like I do, you know.

Girl When I was little, she was Mommie.

Boy I see.

Even if she hates me, I am glad she didn’t

I can hardly believe it. Mommie?!

Girl Do you know what happens after

do it. I’ve survived my own trauma, you see.

Boy I’m a bitch, I’m a lover, I’m a child, I’m

death? Did you feel it then?

Right at the beginning. While I was still an

a mother, I’m a sinner, I’m a saint, I do not

Boy DEATH?

embryo. Been there, done that. I know what

feel ashamed…. Wow, come to think of it,

Girl Whatever would follow, whatever

life is about. I’ve been there, on the edge

everyone HASAMOTHER. That’s hard core.

would have happened to you after …

of losing it. And, in a way, I am gratfeul

Girl It is.

to my mother, cause it’s toughened me.

Boy It felt like the skin on hot chocolate, enveloped my tiny

Girl Mo-ther.

Girl Are you going out with

legs and was pulling me out …

Boy What a word, eh? Mother is like a tatoo

some thirty year old?

Girl You didn’t have legs yet?

you’re stuck with till the end of your life.

Boy No, not really.

Boy I think I did. If I didn’t,

Girl As if it was written with

Girl So with somebody else then?

how could I feel it?

a permanent marker.

Boy Not now. And you?

Girl Hot chocolate. Tiny legs. Mother.

Girl Me neither. But I … I am …

I’d like to have this wall in front for

Boy What?

me for ever. It calms me down.

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Text extract 21. A dolphin is never on its own

Girl You fool. You make me laugh.

Boy If I hold your head under water,

Boy Me fool.

as you start suffocating and you’d

by the wall

Girl And if I die by any chance? You’ll

like to come up, I won’t let you but

be the first on to see me dead. Have

all that time I could see you.

Boy The only thing I see as do-able

you seen a dead corpse live?

Girl You could put goggles and

is suffocating, nothing else can

Boy Grandma. When her coffin was on

be underwater with me.

be sensitively measured.

display. Even now I have horrid nightmares.

Boy And where shall we do it?

Girl I was thinking the same. I

Girl Yuck.

Girl In a bath tub?

should manage it on my own, it’s

Boy But you won’t be dead for 4 days and

Boy It would have to be a huge

not fair to get you involved.

you won’t be frozen either. A frozen corpse

bath. What’s yours like?

Boy But why are doing it?

looks so different from a normal dead body.

Girl Just a normal one, like everybody else’s.

What’s wrong with you?

Girl And how would you want to

Boy The best would be a swimming

Girl Nothing.

smother me? With a cushion?

pool, but there we can’t be on our own.

Boy And what kind of nothing? A polka

Boy I was more thinking that I would

Girl And the lifeguard would

dot one or a stripy one or a fluffy one?

keep your head under water. If you had

surely want to save me first.

your head under the pillow I wouldn’t

Girl Kika, they have a bathtub like a pool.

see your face, just your flailing arms.

Boy Your eyes are like lakes.

smile

Girl Good idea.

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JUMP OUT OF SKIN Girl Sometimes I imagine I have a dog that

Zuza Ferenczová

loves me more than anyone else. I’d never be alone with him, he’d always save me

Born 1977 in Slovakia. Freelance dramaturge and playwright. Co-operated with

and nothing would ever happen to me.

many amateur and professional theatres in Slovakia, the longest association was

Boy And what’s the name of your dog?

with Theatre from the Passage (professional theatre with mentally disabled actors).

Girl My dog is called Nero. He’s like a

Worked with Slovak Radio and as project manager with publishing house LCA in

dolphin, just not slippery. He’s fluffy and

Bratislava. At the moment she works as a scriptwriter for one of the Slovak com-

sooooooooo warm and furry. And he’s

mercial TV stations. Her last theatre plays (both co-written with Anton Medowits): Rečičky (Idle Talks),

always smiling, the same as dolphins. Did

published by Theater der Zeit (Leeres Geschwätz) and in Portuguese by Artistas Unidos and in Slovakia

you know that dolphins whistle all the

by the modern art magazine Vlna (The Wave) – Solitaire.sk, was published in English by Kod Theatre

time. Each dolphin whistles in a different

Magazine and in Slovakia by the Theatre Institute in the Year book of Drama Competition winners. The

way. The whistle of a dolphin is like their

play has been staged in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany. It has been awarded the best Slova-

finger print. The only difference between

kian play prize in the Drama Competition of the Theatre Institute in 2008.

dogs and dolphins is that dolphins always help each other. The dolphin is never on its own. Humans are alone, even if they live together, but the dolphin is never alone, even when it’s on its own.

135

Reflections on the writing process Zuzana Ferenczowá How I jumped out of my skin The process of writing the play was quite difficult. I had just come home from the hospital with my new born son and I started writing about the theme of abortion. I had chosen the theme before, but I wasn’t able to start on it until I had the healthy baby at home. I wrote it in a permanent paradox then, it was quite dramatic for me. According to statistics, abortion is quite an issue in our so called Catholic country.

Last year we tried to legalize a law that girls under 16 can have an abortion without they parents consent. Maybe this was the impulse that prompted me to start to think about the topic. I am sure nobody asked the young girls, what they thought about this law. On the other hand, I know that if you go to a doctor for an abortion, the doctors don’t even try to talk with you; they just write you a prescription and tell you where to go. There is a huge, tragic loneliness in it. I don’t want to stir things up, but there is a bit of a moral in the play. I wanted to write about something which is going on here and now and to write honestly, without bull shit. I gave the play to a group of young people in a drama workshop who were aged between 11 and 15. It was well received by girls and boys alike, they said that for them to see such a play in a theatre would be like going to see a good film. What nicer thing could they say about the play? Of course, I’m sure that nobody will stage it, because this kind of play is not normally staged in Slovakia, but I’m glad that I could write it anyway. Thanks.

136

Mňa kedy’s

Once it

By Michaela Zakuťanská

hit me

Commissioned & first performed by Theatre Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia (June 1, 2010)

Cast Peter Brajerčík, Adam Hrapko, Marta Maťová, Judit Bardos Director Júlia Rázusová / Visual Artist Zuzana Hudeková

Summary Once it hit me The play takes place amongst the fourteen year old classmates in year 9, at a secondary school. The characters meet up at school, after school on the estate, or at home. The play opens with a scene of a school poetry recital, a long standing tradition at Slovakian schools.

Students recite their texts, and their individual attitudes expose the nature of the characters, who try to survive puberty. Hippie environmentalist Sasha, who wants to rescue the world, is in love with Eman, a hip-hop clown. Dirt acts as though he’s a sexually experienced adult, he is in love with Sasha. The gloomy poet Eman loves Bela. Bela, a model, loves herself. All of these characters are talking about their everyday life, problems with love, parents and growing up. On Emans 15th birthday they are all planning to explore the adult world- the pub world. When they are kicked out of a bar because they are not yet 18, they decide to go to the pub at the train station. There, they make a video which shows how drunk they are and then run away without paying. The girls split up from the guys and stay the night at a disco, where older guys are buying them drinks. Sasha hates the attention they pay to Bela and runs away leaving Bela alone. The school teacher discovers the video from the previous night on youtube and that Sasha and Dirt are not at school. They are hanging out at Dirt’s apartment.

The friendships between guys are marked by jealousy, love and lies.

‘The word has tempted me’ was first staged as a site-specific production in a regular secondary school classroom. The audience, pupils, get involved in the story by literally following the actors around the school, stopping at different places according to the plot (classroom, cloakroom, hallway). They have a unique chance to peek into spaces they would normally not be allowed (e.g.: boiler room, the toilets belonging to the opposite sex…) but above all, they get to see how their daily school environment can change into a theatre site and how the space opens up to new meanings.

Actors do not have any specific props and have to prepare different stage design made specifically for each school. © Michaela Zakuťanská, m.zakutanska@gmail.com

139

Text extract 2.

Hip Hop is calling me, Hip Hop makes me

Dirt Mum … I’ve got visitors. Don’t call me …

chill, Hip Hop makes me thrilled.

or I‘ll put you in old people’s home!

Dirt and Saša, in Dirt’s room. The CD player

And you?

is blaring the song whose lyrics Dirt recited

Saša Drop it, OK? Write this down, I need to

at the school recital. Saša is filming him.

tell you what the homework is.

Passes the phone to Saša.

Dirt Homework?

Saša Hello. (Doesn’t know what to say)

Saša For God’s sake, what is this? I can’t

Saša Christ, yes, homework. Miss sent me,

Sure. We’ll have the pancakes. Great.

stand it, it’s giving me a headache.

so that you don’t fall behind.

Thanks, Bye. (She hangs up)

Dirt You know fuckall about music. It’s Alfa

Dirt Fuck school. School’s no good for

Ah! Your mum is lovely, Ivan.

Omega. Why? What do you listen to?

underdogs.

Dirt She’s a slut. She ain‘t even clocked that

Saša EMO stuff, you know, and Radiohead.

Saša At least pretend you’re writing it down,

I’ve changed my name. Ivan is no more. I

Please turn it off, it’s depressing.

OK? I’ll tell you what it was.

guess I am gonna move out and record my

Dirt You don’t know what’s good.

Hip Hop is the Truth, Hip Hop’s from

debut hip hop album. I am a sad sad bard, Dirt’s mobile rings.

the Hood, My heart beats for Hip Hop, my blood runs

She ain’t ever been a mother to me, just a Dirt Shit! It’s my mum.

to the rhythm of hip hop.

stupid old bitch who’s brought divorce to my family.

Picks up.

140

my mum is slut, going out with a retard.

Saša Are your folks getting divorced?

ONCE IT HIT ME Dirt Saša, do you wanna play spin

Dirt Slow down, lady, don’t go so fast

Dirt Now we’re talking.

the bottle?

I don’t care about History, I don’t care

Your pussy likes the rhythm of hip hop

Saša But it’s just the two of us?!

about the past

All the ladies like that. They don’t want it

Dirt Well, we might as well skip the game

the present is us, so give me some rap,

to stop

and get on with snogging straight away.

when rhymes fail us, it’s just ruins left

in a car, or in a queue for the cake shop

Saša I am not snogging you. I‘m not into

for scrap.

Better think twice before you fob me off,

hip-hop rappers.

Saša Biology. Page 40 to 56. Male and

instead of bread, I’ll give you a sweet

Dirt So what are you here for?

female reproductory organs. There’s gonna

lollipop.

Saša To give you the homework.

be a test on this too.

Saša The thing is, Dirt, I … I like

Dirt Go on … give us a kiss!

Dirt How about a bit of practice? I’ll show

somebody else.

Saša No, I won’t.

you mine and you show me yours?

Dirt I am not talking about love, or

Dirt You owe me, you schoolgirl swinger.

Saša Well, if you wanna have a girlfriend,

going out.

I could have ten girls like you … one for

you’ve gotta cut this crap.

None of that friendship and kissing. I don’t

each finger.

Dirt A girlfriend? Who mentioned anything

like you either, no worries.

Dirt Ho! Hey, here I am. So, are you playing

about a girlfriend?

Take it easy girl, you know, ovulation calls

or not?

Saša Ivan.

for procreation.

Saša History, page 23 to 30. The Second

Dirt Dirt.

And with Eman, you can walk hand in

World War. There’s gonna be a test.

Saša Dirt.

hand and talk ecology.

141

Reflections on the writing process Michaela Zakuťanská I created the basic material for my play from my own memories, diaries and from the research I did with teenagers. The research was useful, because I learned when and how todays’ kids deal with ‘the teenage stuff’. I made up questionnaire asking about the things I wanted to know. From my meeting with teenagers I had a feeling that love and the urge to know themselves are the only topics they are interested in.

That’s why the first love, the first attempts to be adult, and friendship became the main themes of my play. J. Razusova’s site specific directing style keeps the characters very much alive. I could observe a very engaged audience during the performance. Thanks to the research period and the performances I was able to get into contact with teenagers and had a chance to observe their behaviour. All of this increased my sensitivity to their needs and feelings and therefore was a great help to my writing for this specific age group.

Michaela Zakuťanská Born in 1987, Michaela is studying dramaturgy at The Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.

Her debut play ‘Havaj’, a tragicomedy, won second place in the DRAMA 2007 competition. She wrote two short comedies, that have been produced: ‘Toiletlogues, Supergiros’ (Theatre LAB, Bratislava 2010), ‘Once it hit me’ (Mňa kedys’, Studio 12, Bratislava 2010) and a dramatisation of Dostojevskij’s IDIOT (City Theatre, Zilina 2011).

She also wrote the play ‘Janosik’ (OO7) and a film script ‘Havaj mene bejbe’ (2009).

142

School Ties

By Arjunan Manuelpillai with support of the cast

Commissioned & first performed by Emergency Exit Arts, London, United Kingdom 1st Production February 2010 by Emergency Exit Arts (EEA) in collaboration with Lewisham Youth Theatre (LYT).

Cast (Feb 2010) Lewisham Youth Theatre’s ‘Interact’ 1 & 2: 34 students, 11–17 years old Directors Gail Babb & Chloe Osborne, Franko Figueiredo & Sheryl Malcolm Design Patrick Bullock & cast Production Andrew Siddall

Summary School Ties Come with us on a journey into the deep, dark, dusty corridors of your memory. Inhale the stale stench of floor polish, click open your Barbie lunchbox, tuck in that shirt and straighten your tie! You’re back at School.

School Ties begins with the first day back after the holidays: it is a site-specific work designed to be performed in a school, from the playground and hall, to classrooms and dusty storerooms. The audience gathers in the playground amidst the pupils, joining with their games, their arguments and their celebrations. We hear the bell calling us to Assembly where we wait nervously to meet the three-headed Headmaster.

After the usual preaching, beseeching and admonishments from this giant of a man we are sent on our way to explore the school grounds and the characters which inhabit them. In class–sized tour groups we meet the teachers: the deaf and drunken Mr Humpledink, who fails to contain us with the classics of English literature; the delightfully dippy Miss Hunniford who barely bothers to attend; and the passionate Mrs Harris whose teaching enthrals and inspires.

In the classrooms, corridors and storerooms we find the students: from Geeks and Barbie dolls to Rude Boys and Gossips, you’ll meet them all and perhaps recognize something of yourself. They let us in to the real life of the school and remind us just who really is in charge. Have you done your homework? Did you bring your lunch money? Whose side are you on? And just how cool are you?

In every school there are students entrusted with higher responsibility; the Prefects. They guide, educate, inspire confidence and occasionally mislead us. As the tour comes to an end they bring us together to witness the bizarre life of the playground: a place where pack mentality rules and strength, scent and allegiance are king.

145

Summary The school year has been squeezed into a single day. There is a hint of celebration in the air, a whiff of freedom heightened by expectation and tempered by memory. The laughter, the tears, the lessons learnt and the experiences shared. The bell rings.

First performed in the classrooms and corridors of a disused school in south east London: the audience were treated as though they were new students on their first day of school. The audience was divided into three ‘class’ groups and led around the building by young actors playing ‘Prefects’. There is great scope for improvisation and interaction with the audience both from the Prefects and the Students.

The three sections of the tour were performed simultaneously and repeated three times before bringing everyone back together for the finale.

Each Section team took over an area of the school and worked as an independent performance team.

A permanent soundtrack of ‘school’ was played throughout the corridors.

Cast notes: A group of 30-40 actors is required, divided into three teams. Each team takes a Section and plays all roles within it, coming together for the Assembly and Finale.

Students are numbered for each scene and roles may be divided between available actors.

Teachers may be performed by puppeteers with ‘teacher’ puppets.

Male/female student parts are largely interchangeable unless named.

Six ‘Prefects’ work in pairs, travelling with the Audience for the entire journey around the school. Spoken lines are listed as Prefect 1 or 2 but may be improvised with the Audience. © Emergency Exit Arts acts as agent for ‘School Ties’ and for Arji Manuelpillai in relation to Platform 11+ Publications and subsequent performances. Contact Andrew.Siddall@eea.org.uk

146

SCHOOL TIES Understanding a Rude Boy

Rude Boy 1 How do we know who is a Rude Boy I hear you ask.

[Does a ‘good’ swagger]

Cast: Prefects 1-2; Rude Boys 1-5.

Let me break it down for you.

Watch the floating arm, the slid-

[Hip-hop tune plays (loud)]

ing toe and of course the trousers.

[The audience is gathered out-

When you see a Rude Boy one of the

Rude Boy 2 The trousers are a trade-

side in a graffiti covered corner]

first things you’ll notice is the walk.

mark of da Rude Boy. They gotta

[All Rude Boys do their walk]

be low, like lower than low.

But this is just right.

Prefect 1 So here we are outside the chill-

Some call it the bop, others the swagger.

[All Rude Boys pull trousers down]

out room, staring over a slightly worrying

It’s all important to find that personal walk.

But again, don’t over do it.

group. Look at the body language, the facial

[All Rude Boys stop and do ‘cool’ pose]

[Some pull their trousers up a bit]

expressions, the hoods and the one glove.

If you try too hard to be cool you’ll soon

The best Rude Boy’s trousers hangs on

Prefect 2 This group of strange looking

be un-cool, and if you ain’t trying to be

da thigh bone. Now, the adults tell us all

creatures are called the Rude Boys. They

cool sometimes that can be proper cool

how it originates in the prisons blah, blah,

are found in the nooks and crannies of

and sometimes you can be dressed hot

blah, but let’s set the record straight -

every school, often in a cloud of ciga-

in order to be cool, but then you could

All

rette smoke behind the bike shed, often

be cold but still maintain your coolness.

We don’t care!

testing the authorities and pushing the

This is trying too hard….

Rude Boy 1 Now, notice the hands.

boundaries of what is and isn’t allowed.

[Does a crazy over dramatised walk] 147

Text extract Rude Boy 4 Which translated would

[All Rude Boys put their hands

Known to many as the screw face, it

down their trousers]

wards off enemies and stumps those

mean: ‘Excuse me my friend, would

Either it’s about hiding a ferret under

thinking they may be up for a chat.

you mind lending me 1 pound please.’

your boxer shorts or your hands con-

Look at it closely.

If talking of their language they may say:

stantly need warming. All Rude Boys

[Some Rude Boys push the face too

Rude Boy 5 Trust me blood, nuff man

have a need to hide their hands under-

hard and end up looking constipated]

dem don’t understand how manz chat, get

neath a part of clothing. For some it’s

Again don’t push it too far or you

me… they chat bare rubbish bout how they

the jacket, for others the trousers.

will end up looking like Quasimodo

wanna be down with the yout dem, how

[Some move their hands up under their

munching a fizzy cola bottle. It has to

they understand. But they don’t know jack.

jacket/tops]

be subtle, defined and worked on.

Rude Boy 2 Believe me. A lot of folks

They want to keep an element of mys-

Rude Boy 4 Finally, now that the Rude

don’t understand our language. They

tery…what is behind that jacket and

Boy is close enough to speak...

talk about how they can relate to us

that trouser, what lies in that tiny bag

[All Rude Boys take a step forward]

but they don’t. They don’t know any-

propped like a monkey on their backs.

…he may begin to communicate. The lan-

Rude Boy 3 Only when the Rude Boy is

guage of the Rude Boy is his finest tool,

thing. Now get out of here.

Rude Boy 5 Yeah! You’s makin’ me all

really close you will notice the face.

his code language only understood by da

twitchy an’ that- we needs our space yeah.

[All Rude Boys lean head forward

youth, for example the Rude Boy may say:

G’wan, get goin’ yeah…

and do a ‘screw face’]

Rude Boy 5 Yes blud, borrow me a pound.

148

Reflections on the writing process Arjunan Manuelpillai The production of School Ties was one of the most interesting processes I have ever been a part of. Two groups between 11 and 16 were brought together each week to help devise and create a new production. Our tutors, from Lewisham youth theatre and EEAl all had there seperate role in creating this piece. They put together innovative, exciting workshops that considered the relationships and struggles that happen within the school playground and in the school itself. I was called in to observe the process taking notes from the young people.

Each week I would photograph and record the process and the work created. I’d use a dictaphone and digital camera to capture the footage and then review and type up the information in the days that would follow. We also put up a large piece of paper which invited the young people to put up what they liked each week. After three months I began correlating the information. For me, as a writer, it is very important for me to wholly use the words of the young people. This is exactly what I did and although some parts were better than others, the script went back to the young people and was greatfully received. They started to really understand the process of writing, they began questioning their own script, then changing it and perfecting it and all decisions were made as a group. This brought up conversations about what would really happen at school and it was a reflective and self-realising conversation which continued up to the performance.

The performance occured in an aboandoned school in Greenwich and this allowed the young people to find and control a space within the school. The script was fitting to their age group and now it was up to EEA to make it come alive.

149

Arjunan Manuelpillai The show was an amazing success, I saw our actors and the audience really thrive off the spontaneous energies of the young people, I noticed the young people were empowered by their devised piece, they felt an ownership and a passion for it and I only wish the run could have been longer.

Overall, the experience was one I will always remember. It reminded me of the power of devised theatre. It also illustrated how young people and writers can work collaborately in the process of script writing. If we as writers want to write for 11–16 year olds we must talk to them, we must include them in the research and development and we have to understand that only they hold the key. It is a lesson learnt that I will take through to all my writing in the future.

Arjunan Manuelpillai To his friends he is Arji, but to many in the music industry he is The Leano; a performance poet, rapper and writer who has created a wide variety of work in his 28 years. He learnt his trade at the University of Hull, leaving with a degree in English and Drama and a collection of short plays. Whilst there, he cultivated an overwhelming love for the stage, performing both theatre and music.

While performing in schools Arjunan realised his love for teaching, facilitating and creating children’s theatre. His rap and poetry workshops have reached some of the most deprived communities in the UK and have encouraged young people to express themselves through lyrics and rhythm. He has worked and performed in prisons, detention centres and schools across the world. His ability to devise and create with young people has made him an integral part of the EEA team creating outdoor performance that have toured internationally.

150

The Mystery of

Jack Clones of Chaos and The

By Richard Hurford

Commissioned & first performed by Pilot Theatre, York, United Kingdom (May 10, 2010)

Summary The Mystery of Jack and The Clones of Chaos A time-traveller from the future journeys back to 2010 to investigate the strange case of Jack, a thirteen year old boy who believes his life is being taken over by alien clones of himself. The clones look and sound just like him, but behave in ways he never would. They are messy, dirty, rude, destructive, obsessed with girls, clothes and music, sometimes childish, sometimes violent and frightening and get him into all sorts of trouble with his mother, his friends and teachers. When they invade his bedroom, Jack teams up with a famous female pop singer in a final battle to regain control of his life. The time-traveller is revealed as Jack, now grown up, revisiting his own adolescence and coming face-to-face with his younger self. A comedy-drama play about the confusions and battles of growing up, it runs for 45 minutes and is performed by one adult male actor and one teenage male actor with multi-role playing.

The Mystery of Jack and The Clones of Chaos is currently available in English and a German translation.

Š English Version: Richard Hurford, richardhurford@blueyonder.co.uk Š German Version: www.theaterstueckverlag.de

Cast Bryn Holding, Mark Smith / Director Katie Posner / Design Lydia Denno / Projection Jam Jar Collective

153

Text extract Jack’s bedroom – a 13 year old boy’s room

sigh and God, no, I think she’s going to cry.

with bed, desk, chair, books, video games, a

“I really don’t know you anymore, Jack,” she

Cool Jack Cool Jack to Command Base.

Subject has vacated the zone. I’m inside

cuddly monkey toy, clothes on the floor etc.

says. And then I understand what’s been

the room. Repeat, I am inside.

Jack is sitting on his bed in his school

going on. It wasn’t me who yelled at her

He looks in horror at his school uniform,

uniform.

this morning and told her I hated her and

pulls off the jumper and tie.

slammed the door in her face. It was them.

What in the name of Cool is this? What

Jack So today I get home from school

It was the Clones of Chaos.

a dork.

about four like always and I’m thinking

The lights in the room flicker.

He picks up a handful of clothes.

what I really want is some crisps. But then I

Every time I go out, they come in and mess

Look at all this total crap. This is what you

see Mum and I just want to be somewhere

things up. They visit sites on my laptop,

get when you let your Mum buy your

else. “Oh, it’s you” she says. Like who else is

mess with my Facebook and download

clothes for you. I mean you’ve got to take

it going to be with my face, wearing my

tracks on my iPod. They’re everywhere. All

some pride in the way you dress and it’s

clothes? But I don’t say anything because

with my face and my voice, but they’re not

got to be by the right people. Diesel,

she’s using THAT voice. “I hope you’re in a

me. THIS IS NOT ME!

better mood,” she says, “I don’t want

The lights flicker several times, go out, then

another row like this morning.” I don’t

on again. He transforms into Cool Jack. He

know what she’s talking about, but she’s

is speaking into a mobile phone.

really angry, and then she does this little 154

Henley’s, Soul Cal, G-Star, people like that – not Tesco’s ‘cos your hopeless Mum saw it on offer when she was doing the shop.

“Buy One Get Ugly Free.” He’s got to get

THE MYSTERY OF JACK AND THE CLONES OF CHAOS himself sorted or no one will ever take us

Ah, that’s more like it. This is my room,

Happens to me all the time. Like right now,

seriously.

right, so I have to feel comfortable. Like I

there’s this song going round and round

The phone bleeps. He grabs it.

belong here.

and I just need to share it with you. It’s

Cool Jack to Command Base. Ok, ok. Allow

He grabs a hamper of dirty laundry and

about now. It’s about us. This is it. This is

access to iJack. I read you. Clone personal-

empties that too, showering the room with

really it. This is total iJack. I love you!

ity transfer in 3...2...1...

dirty socks and pants. He picks up a sock

The thumping club beat suddenly trans-

Phone bleeps. Cool transforms transforms

and sniffs contentedly.

forms into The Mickey Mouse Club Song.

into Dirty Jack – dirty, smelly, his clothes

Ah, home, sweet, home.

and hair a total mess.

The phone bleeps and Dirty Jack transforms into iJack – a club DJ. The room becomes a

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E”

Dirty Jack Oh, no way! Not again. What

club venue with swirling projections and

The track is cut off and iJack sings alone

does it say on the door? “Keep out!” so why

thumping music.

with childish enthusiasm.

doesn’t she? Look at this place. It’s terrible. I

“Who’s the leader of the club That’s made for you and me

Mickey Mouse! Mickey...

can’t find anything when she’s been in

iJack Alright, people! This is it. This is iJack,

He suddenly realises what he is singing and

here “cleaning”.

right here, right now with the R&B-hip

is horribly embarrassed.

He grabs a wastepaper bin and tosses the

hop-dance-rap-alternative-Monkeys-

Sorry.

contents over the room.

Chiefs-mash up. You know when you hear a song and it just gets inside your skull?

155

Text extract Phone bleeps and he transforms into Ugly

Ugly Jack transforms into Angry Jack who

No. I don’t care if he’s coming back. You

Jack, wrapping the duvet round his head so

bursts out of the duvet.

can’t tell me what to do. He’s a wimp. He’s a loser. I am calm!

only his face is visible.

Angry Jack What are you looking at? Don’t

He throws the phone on to the bed.

Ugly Jack I like it in here. It’s safe. This way

look at me like that. Don’t look at me at all,

I’ll be back!

nobody has to see me and that means

ok? Or I’lI do something. Why is everyone

He transforms back into Real Jack, very

nobody will be sick. I know what they’re

on my back? I hate them. Really hate them.

shaken. He looks at the trashed room

thinking. Who let the chimp out of the

It’s always Jack do this and Jack do that

in horror.

cage? Big nose, froggy eyes, Dumbo ears,

and Jack you mustn’t and Jack you can’t

bad hair, bad breath, skinny, fatty, smelly,

and Jack is sick of it. Sick of it.

Jack It wasn’t me, Mum!

shorty, lanky, beaky, dirty, geeky, ugly. No, I

He sees the toy monkey on the bed and

He begins to clean up the room.

don’t want to talk about it. No, I’m not

grabs it.

being silly. It doesn’t count when your

Stupid ears. Stupid eyes. Stupid fur. Stupid

Mum says you’re beautiful.

little Mummy’s baby boy can’t go to sleep

He sits impassively for a moment, then

on his own. He needs to grow up!

whispers into the phone.

The phone beeps. He yells into it.

Everybody’s looking at me. I want to go now.

156

Reflections on the writing process Richard Hurford The Mystery of Jack & The Clones of Chaos is a play about the transition between the simplistic certainties of childhood and a more complex adult life just appearing on the horizon. Who am I? Who do people think I am? Who do I want to be? Who do other people want me to be? The play deals with the challenges of managing conflicting aspects of a developing personality together with all the new influences, possibilities and responsibilities that come with growing up. In each of us there are many different characters – how do you work out which one is really you?

While writing the play I spent time interviewing a group of boys from 11–14 years old about various aspects of their lives now, how they see the world they live in, their experience of moving from childhood into young adulthood and their thoughts and aspirations for their futures.

These themes were then explored in collaboration with mixed sex groups from two secondary schools chosen by Pilot Theatre Company to work on the Platform 11+ project for its four years duration. Together with Pilot directors Katie Posner and Amanda J Smith and the visual artists attached to the project – The JamJar Collective, specialists in digital and video installations – I ran a series of practical workshops over a three month period, aimed at gathering material for the play, developing content, structure and style and stimulating and supporting the school groups to produce their own pieces of theatre inspired by the ideas contained within Jack. The young writers and performers were supported by teacher-directors and two new pieces of theatre were created, performed alongside the Pilot production of Jack in a festival of new work in May 2010.

The content and themes of The Mystery of Jack & The Clones of Chaos was informed to a great extent by the discussions and development work with the various groups of young people. Though the script was ultimately my work, the voices within it were often those of the young 157

Richard Hurford people I met and worked with, together with that of my own thirteen year old self who they helped me to remember and bring back to life. Without them it may have been a memory play; with them it became a play with contemporary energy and relevance.

Richard Hurford is a British theatre and radio playwright, Associate Writer with Pilot Theatre, York and has written for many companies throughout the UK including York Theatre Royal, Sheffield Theatres and the BBC and creative collaborations with theatre partners across Europe. His many plays for children and young people include dramas, comedies, fantasy, classic stage adaptations and plays with music. He has worked extensively as a dramaturge and mentor on theatre, radio and online writing projects for young people, developing new scripts and writers and also created many large-scale, site-specific youth theatre productions performed in a range of public spaces.

158

Bluer

Blauer als sonst than usual

By Eva Rottmann

Commissioned & first performed by Junges Schauspielhaus Zurich, Switzerland (May 11, 2011)

Summary Bluer than usual Finn likes Jules and Jules likes Finn. And life becomes complicated. Expectations, desires and anxieties get all mixed up – for the very first time, and turn their worlds upside down. Together they are searching for an island where their love can grow, but hostilities, envy and the inquisitiveness of others, get in their way. Finn relys on betrayal to save the relationship from sinking. His father risks a new start in life and is somewhat surprised to accidentally meet his early love. The kiosk owner packs up her life in endless, strange stories and has to face the fact, that certain feelings never die, no matter how old one is.

A play about the quest to find one’s own pace as a young human being in the storm of outside influences, about sex, love and the questions that one doesn’t dare to ask.

© Eva Rottmann by Felix Bloch Erben GmbH & Co.KG, Berlin. Verlag Felix-Bloch-Erben, info@felix-bloch-erben.de

160

BLUER THAN USUAL 1

Finn Yes.

8

Father Threw everything under the bed.

Finn Today she watched us at prac-

Finn Where else.

Mrs Seidel When he enters the room she

tice. Adrian says cause she fancies him.

Father Are you going to football.

turns scarlet. She thinks everybody can see

He slapped me on the shoulder and says

Finn I’m meeting a friend.

it in her face. She draws hearts in her exer-

DON’T TAKE IT SO HARD. I say I’M NOT.

Father Meeting a friend.

cise books and writes I LOVE HIM FOR-

He’s standing next to me in the showers.

Finn Yeah. Meeting a friend.

EVER in her diary. Once they’re both on the

He’s already got chest hair and a six-pack.

Father A girl.

same class trip. At night he and his friends

Somebody told me he already did it with

Finn None of your business.

sneak into her room. He’s there for the

one of girls in the lower sixth. But I don’t

Father Finn.

other girls but it’s still nice that he’s there.

think that’s true. On the way out I see him

Finn What.

They sit on the floor and play Spin the Bot-

hanging around her and chatting her up.

Father Have fun.

tle. She hopes the bottle will point at her

[…]

Gives him some money.

when he’s spinning it. But she only gets

7 Finn Can I go now Father Did you clean up your room.

Finn Thanks.

to kiss once, and it’s Constantine Muller,

Father Mmwah.

who’s even fatter than she is. The other

Finn Gerroff Dad.

kids laugh and say THE PERFECT COUPLE.

Father See you later.

He laughs too and she bites Constantine Muller’s tongue.

161

Text extract 9

Jules My parents said if I don’t pass then I

Finn I though you fancied Adrian.

won’t be able to go back to school after

Jules Adrian.

Finn Bad luck.

GCSEs.

Finn Your ice cream’s melting.

Jules La mala suerte.

Finn Harsh.

Jules I don’t really want any ice cream.

Finn Difference.

Jules Propuesta. Ice cream.

Finn Adrian thinks you fancy him.

Jules La diferencia.

Finn Ofrecimiento. I’ll pay.

Jules But I don’t fancy Adrian.

Finn Action.

Jules You don’t have to.

Finn –

Jules I don’t have anything for that.

Finn But I will.

Jules I fancy you.

Finn La acción.

Mrs Seidel Six fifty.

Finn –

Jules La acción. Of course. And proposal.

Jules Do you think it’s funny.

Jules Say something.

Finn La propuesta la oferta el ofrecimiento.

Finn What.

Finn Me too.

Depending.

Jules Us. Here.

Jules You fancy you.

Jules I blew the test.

Finn No.

Finn Shit.

Finn Me too.

Jules Me neither.

Jules I got it.

Jules Ha ha.

Finn I was going to ask you soon anyway.

Finn Yeah.

Finn –

Jules –

Jules –

Finn I just didn’t know how.

Finn You want to kiss?

Jules Right.

Jules We could.

162

BLUER THAN USUAL 10

Finn Let’s.

Finn WHY NOT sounds more like I CAN’T

Jules Why not.

THINK OF ANYTHING BETTER TO DO

Finn OK.

than YES DEFINITELY PLEASE KISS ME.

Finn During practice Adrian plays for the

Jules Well.

Jules Oh.

other team. We humiliated them. Five to

Finn What.

Finn Right.

nil. At one point it was me and Adrian head

Jules Why didn’t you kiss me.

Jules It just came out like that.

to head. He in front ball at the left feints to

Finn I thought you’d start.

Finn Well.

right I shadow him he sets up a nutmeg me

Jules Why me.

Jules It’s what I meant.

I get the ball with the right around his heel

Finn I asked.

Finn Howm I supposed to know.

and I’m gone. No mercy. I tell him about

Jules And I said YES.

Jules Now you know.

it in the shower. He says YOU IN LOVE

Finn Not exactly.

Finn Right.

WITH HER OR WHAT. I say NAA JUST LIKE

Jules

Jules So.

THINK SHE’S HOT. He takes my shampoo

Yes I did.

Finn So what.

lathers up his hair and says RIGHT JUST

Finn You said WHY NOT. That doesn’t

Jules We kissing or what.

MIND SHE DOESN’T MAKE YOU LOOK A

automatically mean YES.

Finn Ok.

RIGHT BERK. I say PFFFT. But I don’t dare

Jules What does it mean then.

Jules & Finn –

tell him I want my shampoo back and I

Jules Again.

don’t think about why he said that.

Jules & Finn –

[…]

163

Text extract 14

Finn –

15

Father Finn.

it easier for both of us.

Finn What now.

Finn No.

her courage and writes him a letter. She

Father What’re you doing.

Father No what.

writes I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU YOU’RE

Finn I’m going to my room.

Finn We’ve only been together for 3 weeks.

NOT IN LOVE WITH ME I KNOW THAT

Father Come over here.

Father But you think about it.

BUT I STILL HAVE TO TELL YOU OTHER-

Finn Why.

Finn Sometimes.

WISE I’LL GO MAD. The next day every-

Father I want to talk to you.

Father And do you have any questions at

body knows. She locks herself in the loo

Finn What about.

all. For me.

and sobs. On the wall there’s something

Father Well. About. You know.

Finn What kind of questions.

somebody wrote with a thick black marker

Finn –

Father Any at all.

LOVE IS A NAME SEX IS A GAME FORGET

Father Don’t run away now.

Finn We’ve done all that at school.

THE NAME AND PLAY THE GAME.

Finn I already know.

Father Oh right.

Father I know. Just with Jules. Your first

Finn Can I go now.

girlfriend. Do you talk about it.

Father If you’ve got any questions.

Finn Dad.

Finn Yeah yeah.

Jules Everybody always says ON THE

Father Or isn’t that part of the picture yet.

Father I’m here. Yeah.

BEACH. When the waves crash against the

Father Just answer my question. It’d make

164

Mrs Seidel At one point she gathers up all

16

BLUER THAN USUAL shore the moon shines the sand the wind.

21

Finn – Jules –

YMCA playing down at the resort. Christina Stallkamp says the best thing about

Finn Like to see me naked?

Finn So. Did you like it?

it is that it’s over with. I don’t care where.

Jules No.

Jules Dunno.

Maybe in the forest. Or way up on the top

Finn Thanks.

Finn You want to touch it?

of the Ferris wheel. Or in a sudden shower

Jules I didn’t mean it like that.

Jules No.

and you were walking or cycling around or

Finn I think you’d look beautiful naked.

Finn You sure.

whatever and then you take cover in a barn

Jules Stop it.

Jules Put your clothes back on. What if

and then it’s like you weren’t even plan-

Finn Aren’t you interested at all.

somebody sees.

ning it. Or just the usual. But definitely not

Jules I am. I don’t know.

Finn Was it bad.

with somebody like Adrian. Sometimes at

Finn Shall I show it to you.

Jules No.

school I spend the whole class staring at

Jules It.

Finn I’d like to see you too sometime.

the back of Finn’s head. Maybe I just want

Finn It.

Jules But not here.

everything to stay the way it is.

Jules Oh right.

Finn Then come to mine today.

[…]

Finn Real quick.

Jules There. I knew it.

Jules I don’t know.

Finn Come on. I’m a man.

Finn You can look away if you don’t like it.

Jules No you’re not.

Jules Ok. Quick.

Finn – 165

Text extract Jules Not that way. You’re different.

Eva Rottmann

Finn How would you know.

Jules Don’t listen to Adrian.

Born 1983 in Würzburg (Germany). After finishing school, Eva worked for one year

Finn Adrian’s got nothing to do with it.

at ‚Junges Theater Bonn’ and then decided to become a theatre educator/drama

Jules Right.

teacher. From 2004 till 2008, she studied at the acting school in Zurich (Zürcher

22

(children, teenager, adults, seniors). During her time as a student she also partici-

Hochschule der Künste) and worked on many projects mainly with amateur actors

pated in the European theatre project ‘Magic Net’. Eva also took part in ‚Schreib für die Bühne’ (‘Write for the

Mrs Seidel And then one day he apologises

Stage’), a workshop for young authors, and wrote ‚Eidechsen und Salamander’. This play won two awards

for having shown her letter around. He asks

and had its first performance in June 09 in Dinslaken (Germany). From Oct. 08 till June 09, she participated

if she’d like to go get an ice cream with him.

in a programme for young drama at Theatre Basel (‚Stücklabor’) and wrote the play ‘Skills’, a play about

She doesn’t believe him. But he means it.

young skateboarders, which won the Audience Award. From Sept. 08 till June 09, after finishing acting

They sit facing each other in a corner of the

school, she also worked as a freelance drama teacher and director, and did some of her own performances

café and once as if by mistake he places his

as an actor. From 2009–2010, she worked as a drama teacher at ‚Junges Schauspielhaus Zurich’. Since

hand on hers. When she goes home that

summer 2010, she has been working as a freelance writer for different theatres and for radio. Her third play

day it’s like the sky is bluer than usual. She

‚Unter jedem Dach’ also won some awards (Stückemarkt Heidelberg & Schweizerische Autorengesellschaft).

writes in her diary MY LIFE MIGHT ACTU-

In May 2011 she will have two debut performances with her new plays: ‚Die mich jagen’ at Theater Baden-

ALLY REALLY BE PRETTY GOOD.

Baden and ‚Blauer als sonst’ at Junges Schauspielhaus Zurich. Eva Rottmann lives in Zurich.

166

Reflections on the writing process Eva Rottmann Last year a special condom was put onto the market. It is smaller than standard and therefore fits juveniles. Giving it the name ‘Kid’s Condom’, the tabloid press revived the public discussion about juvenile sexuality. This was the trigger to start working on the play ,Blauer als sonst’.

Whilst interviewing juveniles aged from 13 to 15, I realised there was an astonishing lack of knowledge in sexual matters amongst these young people. The assumption that the internet makes them experts in sex is wrong. Neither can I verify the theory that this new ‘porno generation’ has faster, harder sex at a much younger age. The average age for the first sexual encounter still lies between 16 and 17. The questions young people have concerning their own sexuality are still as big as they used to be, and the useful answers not easy to obtain, especially in the abundance of information in the internet.

This makes it even more important that grownups don’t hesitate to speak about sexuality with the younger generation in an open minded way.

Over 50 percent of Swiss pupils consider the expertise of their teachers regarding sex education as insufficient. This should give us a pause for thought. Sex education should be more than explaining how a baby is made. Searching for one’s own sexuality goes beyond these scientific facts and often leads to the exploration of online portals such as ‘You porn’. Declaring this fact as a taboo means leaving juveniles

167

Reflections on the writing process alone with this unsettling part of their reality. Be it in school, or on a theatre stage, it is important to create an atmosphere in which questions are welcomed.

These thoughts were my constant companions whilst writing ,Blauer als sonst’. I never wanted to write an educational drama. Instead I am telling the story of a love between two youngsters which faces the stress test of teenage hormones and the social pressure concerning sexuality when there is no one to talk to. Furthermore I introduce the character of a father who reacts in an uneasy way to the spring awakening of his child, and the frustration, when the opinion of others dictate one’s actions and decisions. ‘The others’, expectations of one’s social environment and the search of one’s own position make up a main theme of the play.

Concerning the language of the play, I have decided against a ‘youth slang’, and it’s sexualised terms. This results from an overdose of internet porn and ‘porn-rap’, and its style of language, whilst doing research for the play. I wanted to create a style of language which goes behind this facade and which allows the focus to be placed on the nature of sexuality, which, at its heart, is often uncertain and tender.

I am curious to know whether or not the young spectators are interested in my story and the style of speech and I’m looking forward to the staging and especially the conversations with the audience after the shows.

168

HELP!

By PĂŠter HorvĂĄth & Aare Toikka

Commissioned by Kolibri Theatre, Budapest, Hungary and VAT Theatre Tallinn, Estonia 1st Opening Kolibri Theatre, Budapest, April 25, 2011 / VAT Theatre Tallinn, May 9, 2011

VAT Cast Marilyn, Meelis P천dersoo Directors Aare Toikka, Margo Teder Designer Inga Vares Music Janos Novak

Summary HELP! A fourteen year old (Estonian) Boy and a twelve year old (Hungarian) Girl (the home countries can be changed to any country) spend their holiday in an International Youth Camp in Finland in winter time. Together with some other Boys and Girls they steal some snowmobiles to take part in an illegal race in the dark evening. The Girl and the Boy are together on the same toboggan. They lose their way, the snowmobile breaks down in the forest, a long way from the camp. It’s a dark and cold night. What can they do? Finding a cottage for shelter, they decide to wait there until somebody finds them and helps them to get back to the camp. Nobody comes to their rescue. There’s a big snowstorm. The Boy and Girl spend a number of days and nights together, eventually they run out of firewood, food and drink. They have to come to grips with the fact that they may die. The Boy can’t speak Hungarian and the Girl can’t speak Estonian. Both can speak English a little bit, so they have to communicate in their English, this is a difficult process. They neither understand each other very well, nor do they trust each other very much. The games and the tales help them to get to know each other better and to try and find a way to stay alive and to protect each other.

Two actors, one spotlight: the duration of the play is approximately one hour.

© Hungary: Péter Horváth, h-p@t-online.hu © Estonia and abroad: Estonian Drama Agency Eesti Teatri Agentuur, www.teater.ee

171

Text extract Two

Ki volt az? Ki van ott? (“Who did it? Who is Boy Nii on juba parem…(“That’s better…”)

there?”)

(to the Girl)

Boy Ära vehi! (“Stop gesticulating!”)

off, pulling the Girl behind him with the little

Kuule sina! (“Hey you!”)

Girl Mi van? (“What?”)

strength he has left)

(Slaps the Girl’s face, she doesn’t move.)

Boy Sa astud selle puruks! (“You’ll step on it

Boy (Enters with his lamp which is switched

Ei, ei, ei! (“No, no, no!”)

Oh, raisk… Ma polegi kunagi varem

and break it!”)

(Tries to get his lamp to work, hits it. The

tüdrukule musi andnud… ja nüüd… See koll

Girl Mit akarsz? (“What do you want?”)

lamp gives some light… In the light he sees a

peab nüüd esimene olema…? (“I’ve never

Boy Ma katsun oma lampi üles leida, mille

door in front of them.)

kissed a Girl… and now… This monster has

sa mu käest maha lõid. (“I’m trying to find

Jumal tänatud! (“Thank god!”)

to be the first…?”)

my lamp which you dropped from my

(Shouts)

(Moves close to her, and tries to do mouth-

hand.”)

Hei, on siin keegi?(“Hey, is anyone here?”)

to-mouth resuscitation.)

Girl (Cries) Segítség! (“Help!”)

(Knocks on the door – no answer. He tries to

Girl (Begins to move, coughing, opens her

Boy (Finds his lamp on the floor)

open it. It opens. He pulls the Girl in.)

eyes, coughs at him. The lamp falls down

Palju õnne, kurat! (“Fucking well done!”)

from the Boy’s head, the light goes out,

Girl Nem értem. (“I don’t understand.”)

It is difficult to tell where they are, just some

darkness again.)

Boy You broke my lamp!

parts of a cottage are visible in the moving

Boy Loll oled või? (“Are you stupid?”)

Girl Mi van? (“Pardon?”)

light of his lamp…

Girl (Moving away from him)

172

HELP! Boy Ma ei saa aru, mida sa seletad. Ma ei

Remember? We stole three toboggans to

saa sust aru! Saad aru! (“I don’t understand

take part in a race… Ollé… Tralalal! (Shows.)

what you’re saying. I don’t understand you!

„Faster! Faster! Go, go…!” (Steps on something,

Girl Cold. Hurts.

Boy Because you flew.

Girl Flew?

Get it?”)

falls down) Crash. Kaput. Finish.

Boy Like a chicken. We were on snow-

Girl What happened?

Girl I’m not Finnish. I’m Hungary.

mobil… Wanted to win the race. Lost way…

Boy You hit me. That’s what happened.

Boy Stupid. Finish, not Finnish. But we

Against a tree… Crashed. You were flying

Girl Hit?

have nothing to eat.

from the toboggan… I found you…

Boy Hit. Knock. Knock out my lamp.

Girl (Doesn’t understand) Eat?

Stand up!

Girl Csak mert te… (“Because of you…”)

Boy You said you’re hungry.

Girl Why are you commanding me?

Because you wanted…

Girl No. I said, Hungary. I’m Hungarian.

Boy I’m captain.

Boy What? Bring you back from death,

Hungary is my home.

Girl What?

that’s what I wanted.

Boy Home…? Camp is there…

Boy Group race. You and me – a group.

Girl Death?

(Shows some direction.)

Every group needs a boss. I was the captain

Or somewhere there…

of the team, now I’m your boss.

(Shows another direction.)

Girl I don’t need group. You’re stupid, not

Boy (imitates her) “Death?” Yes. Toboggan crash.

Girl Toboggan…?

I don’t know. Far.

boss. I don’t need you.

Boy Snow-mobil.

Girl I don’t fear.

Boy Stand up from the snow before you

(Demonstrates, like being on a toboggan)

Boy Not fear. Far. Far in the forest.

get sick.

173

Text extract Girl (Stands up, freezes. Nearly crying)

Girl Where we are?

Boy Rabbit, fox, wolf, bear… (Touches the

I want go home…Back to camp.

Boy Fucking place. Here.

Girl in the darkness)

Boy Ok. You can… If you know where.

Girl I can’t see nothing.

Girl (Cries and jumps) A bear?!

Girl Előttem van Észak, hátam mögött Dél…

Boy Because you broke my lamp!

Boy Stop shouting!

balra a nap nyugszik, jobbról pedig kél…

Girl (Reaches out her hand, trying to feel her

Girl Something touched me!

(“In front of me is North, back is South, left

surroundings) Is it a cottage?

Boy I did.

side shows West, right hand shows East.”)

Boy Yeah.

Girl Why?

Boy (Hits himself, freezes)

Girl What kind of cottage is it?

Boy To find a light. Küll ma olen loll, raisk.

Perfect. You know some other silly songs?

Boy (Jokingly) Maybe a fucking English

(“I’m such an idiot.”) (Gets a lighter from his

Girl In front of me is North… my backside is

course cottage.

pocket. Lights a cigarette and lights up the

South…

Girl What?

room with his lighter.)

Boy Aha. Great. Turn around. (Turns her)

Boy Idiot. There are shelter houses in forest.

Girl You smoke?

Where is North now? Mu vend naeraks

(He also wants to find something in the

Boy And…?

ennast ribadeks, kui ta siin oleks. (“If my

darkness)

Girl Dangerous.

brother was here, he’d crack up laughing.”)

Girl Shelter?

Boy Living is dangerous!

Stupid chick...

Boy To be safe. Here there is no storm, no

(To himself) Together with such a stupid

Girl It works at home…

animals…

chick.

Boy But we are not at home now!

Girl Animals?

(Finds a table.) Oh, shit!

174

HELP! (Finds a storm-lamp on the table) I think I

Boy Doesn’t. Not ‘not existing’. And without

Boy (Finds wood) There is something…

found something…

‘ing’. But yes. Estonia has been existing

Girl Do you hear it?!!

Girl Animal?

from the beginning of time.

Boy Wood.

Boy (Switches on the lamp)

Girl Don’t understand.

Girl Clever Russian. This house is made

You see what a clever boss?

Boy My fatherland.

of wood.

(Takes the lamp, goes around the cottage.

Girl (Doesn’t understand)

Boy Correct sentence. But these ones are

There are two small beds, some shelves with

Your father name…?

for making fire. Fire! You understand fire?

different things on it.)

Boy No father. My country. My father’s

There must be a stove.

Girl (Recognises him) You are not boss! You

name is Nikolai.

Girl Behind you.

are crazy Russian!

Girl So your father is Russian.

Boy What?

Boy Not crazy. Just drunk.

Boy He is not Russian, he is Estonian. My

Girl A stove is situated behind you.

Girl Drunk?

mother is…

Boy (Looks at it) Yeah.

Boy And not Russian.

Girl Russian.

Girl You are wellcome.

Girl Alexander is Russian name.

Boy She is not. Estonian.

Boy (Making fire) Using these woods… but

Boy I’m Estonian!

Girl I have never heard of this country.

we need more when we leave.

Boy Stupid hungry Girl.

Girl How?

Girl Not hungry. Hungary. I’m Hungarian.

Boy What how?

Girl Stupid thing like Estonia not existing.

And I want home!!!

175

Text extract Girl How we leave… we don’t know the way

Boy Because it’s winter. Snow… ice… fog…

Boy Yes. Stupid Hungarian Girls can live

to back…?

We are in Finland. (For himself) See ei põle,

forever.

Boy Somebody comes to show it…

kurat. (“Damn, it doesn’t burn.”)

Girl Yes. If they are… not frozen … because

Girl Who?

Girl What?

stupid Russian boss doesn’t make a fire…

Boy Others. From camp. They will come.

Boy Wood is wet.

Boy Jube tark oled. Olgu. Mulle ei meeldigi

Girl When?

Girl Need some paper.

suitsetada. (“You’re so smart. All right. I

Boy Maybe tomorrow.

Boy Can you see any paper?

don’t like smoking anyway.”)

Girl Not tomorrow. Must today. They see

Girl In your pocket.

(Takes his cigarettes to make a fire, lights

that we are lost.

Boy Where?!

them, but the fire goes out.)

Boy They don’t talk to teachers about we

Girl Your cigarettes…

Oh, shit! No fire, no cigarettes. Fuck you.

being lost. They’re scared. They also stole

Boy I need them…

Girl You must be Russian. My mother says

toboggan. If it’s secret, nobody gets

Girl If you smoke, you die.

Russians are rude.

punished.

Boy Everybody has to die.

Boy Shut up… Look for paper instead…

Girl We must be here… together… until

Girl Not me.

Girl I have it, but I don’t give it.

tomorrow?

Boy What?

Boy What kind of paper do you have?

Boy No. You can go out…

Girl My mother said I never die. She

Girl My secret diary. (Gets it from her pocket.

Girl Cold.

promised.

Both of them are wearing ski-clothes.)

It’s always with me.

176

HELP! Boy Give it to me!

The Girl lies down on one of beds to get

my mother is a Russian pig. I like my old

Girl Nobody can read it. Secret.

some sleep. The Boy does the same on the

uncle, but I don’t believe, that my mother is

Boy I don’t want to read but light it!

other bed…

a pig. My mother is beautiful, she is not fat

Girl When I was very young, I was not able to write – I draw everything…

at all. She can’t be a pig. My mother knows Boy Loll plika. (“Stupid Girl.”) You don’t

Estonian language. She can speak with me

(Shows a drawing) You see? – It’s me…

know anything about Russians. Russians

in Estonian. Uncle says – never trust the

When I was four…

came to our country and made Estonians

Russians. I trust my mother and I believe

Boy You are absolutely crazy.

go to Siberia. So my old uncle always said.

my old uncle, and my mother says all time,

Girl I don’t give it you. Full of secrets. I

They wanted to live like Estonians, and

I have to be polite with him. I am Estonian!

need it. But… There are some empty pages…

they thought if they come to our land and

Estonians can be trusted. So I am your boss.

(Tears some pages from her diary)

take our homes, they will live like us. Aga

Get it? I don’t know who the boss can trust.

Here you are… Be careful… with my future.

nad lihtsalt sittusid kõik ära. (“But they just

Myself? Magad või? (“Are you sleeping?”)

Boy (Lights it, laughing) Nice. Your future is

screwed everything up.”) But Estonians

Loll chick. (“Stupid bird.”)

burning well… Stupid Girls…

came back from Siberia to their homeland

Girl We don’t need to talk to each other.

and started everything again. And they are

No answer – the Girl has fallen asleep. The

Boy Right. I’ll let you go to sleep. It’s

living better than Russian pigs. My old

Boy follows her. Deep silence. Sometime

evening.

uncle, for example. He came back. They

later the Girl wakes up suddenly, overcome

fighted with my mother all time. He said,

by anxiety.

177

Text extract Girl Nem, nem nem…! (“No, no, no…!”)

Girl Very big. Huge.

Girl Mindennapi kenyerünket add meg

Boy (Wakes up) What’s wrong?

Boy Ok.

nekünk ma… (“Give today our daily

Girl Something is outside.

Girl You are not afraid?

bread…”)

Boy (Listens) Nothing.

Boy I’m the boss. Boss ei karda mitte

Boy Shut up! Let me sleep!

Girl Going around the house. I hear.

kunagi ja mitte midagi. (“The boss is never

Girl ...és bocsásd meg a mi vétkeinket,

Boy Only the wind. Sleep.

scared and scared of nothing”). Try to sleep.

miképpen mi is megbocsátunk az ellenünk

Girl (Loudly) Miatyánk, ki vagy a

vétkezőknek. (“…and forgive us the wrong

Mennyekben, szenteltessék meg a te

we have done as we forgive those who

neved… Jöjjön el a te országod, legyen meg

wrong us.”)

Silence. Sometime later the Girl sits up again.

Girl I saw!

a te akaratod… (“Our Father in heaven,

Boy Some prayer?

Boy What?

hallowed be your name, your kingdom

Girl És ne vígy minket a kísértésbe, de

Girl It looked through the window.

come, your will be done”)

szabadíts meg a gonosztól… () mert Tied az

Boy Who?

Boy What are you burbling?

ország és a hatalom és a dicsőség…

Girl A deer.

Girl … mint a Mennyben, úgy a földön is.

(“Subject us not to the trial, but deliver us

Boy Hirv? (“Deer?”) No. Deers are afraid of

(“…on earth as it is in heaven.”)

from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the

humans. It never comes to you.

Boy Hey!

power, and the glory…”)

Girl It was big.

Boy You just dreamt.

178

Boy Nobody in Heavens…

BUDAPEST Cast Nóra Sallai, Attila Pomlényi Direction Péter Horváth Music János Novák Set & Costumes Inga Vares

Reflections on the writing process Aare Toikka Working together with Péter Horváth, to create the play, named ‘Help!’, has been a great experience for me. Actually I didn’t plan to participate in this project in the function of a dramaturge, I participated in the function of the Artistic Director of VAT Teater. But a year ago at Oulu I met with Peter, and started to speak… Suddenly we had the idea for a play. All later activities have been just fun and a matter of writing technique. Peter is a great playwright and the play came to life mainly thanks to him. So now we have the play. The play will be staged in Kolibri Theater at Budapest and in VAT Teater in Tallinn. I really hope, our cooperation will be successful, like it has been ‘til now. It has been a pleasure to work together with Peter, and I must say, Peter is my new friend.

Péter Horváth To be honest, at first I couldn’t imagine that the co-writing work would be possible. Two writers from different countries, different cultures, different emotions and different ways of work… No chance. But when I met Aare Toikka and looked him in the eye, I knew that it would work.

No. I didn’t know, but I felt trust and hope. Aare is a good man, a good friend and also a good writer. We are nearly the same age, we have similar problems and similar joys, we think in the same way about life, literature and the theatre as well. But of course there are several things we think about differently. That is also nice, because both of us are open to get new knowledge, new impressions – the adventure. We like to live.

We wanted to talk about ourselves. Talking about our meeting. One man from Estonia and one from Hungary. How was it that we got to be closer and closer? How we had been able to enjoy both our similarities and our differences? Yes, we have to speak about ‘the other person’.

180

HELP! About the meeting. But how? The answer seemed to be very simple. We should write something about two heroes – him and me. But of course not in this simple way. He imagined himself to be a young Estonian boy who has an older brother who always tries to control him. I imagined myself to be a Hungarian girl living with her mother and her mother’s new boyfriend… What’s he like? Strong and brave, like Aare.

And how about the girl? She trusts nobody, like me. And so on… We were laughing very much, but started to see our heroes better and better.

We just needed a concrete situation in which our heroes would meet and have a concrete problem which they had to solve.

Aare told me a story about a famous Estonian director who drank a lot in a sauna and took a little journey to the winter forest by snowmobile.

He was naked. The snowmobile ran out of fuel some kilometers away from the sauna-house. The night was dark and cold. He thought he would be frozen and that he would never get back to the sauna. He then saw that there was some light among the trees. He started to go there. He found a cottage in which somebody lived. He knocked at the door. “Who are you?” came the question from inside. “Just me,” he answered, “a famous drunk director in need of some help.” And he entered as naked as he was when his mother had given birth.

That was the story that set our work in motion. The rest is nothing. We met in Hungary and in Estonia, sent numerous e-mails to each other, we were up and down, sometimes we thought that we would never finish this crazy work, but now it’s ready. We are looking forward to seeing the response of the young audience who see the results of our co-written drama.

Help, please!

181

Aare Toikka & Péter Horváth Aare Toikka was born in a small Estonian city called Viljandi in 1965. After graduating from Pärnu IV Secondary School (1972–1983) he studied in Tallinn University (1983–1987) and in the Estonian Musical Academy Theatre Department (1990–1991) acting and directing. In 1987 he and his course companions established the first independent theatre in Estonia – VAT Teater, where he is still working today as the Artistic Director.

Beside VAT Teater he worked in Radio (Radiotheatre) as a director of radio-plays (1987–1993, Estonian Radio), as a screenwriter for TV productions (1995–2001 Estonian TV, TV3), and as a screenwriter for movies (“Ruudi” 2006, Allfilm).

Péter Horváth (left), Aare Toikka (right)

He wrote and directed over 60 productions in theatre, radio and television.

He is a member of the Estonian Theatre Directors Union and one of the founders ‘92 of the ASSITEJ Estonian Centre.

Péter Horváth. Born 1951 in Budapest. His parents worked in theatre, so he grew up in several towns depending on his parents’ actual workplace. This constant moving around made him an aloof and timid toddler. Because of his interest in the arts he qualified as a printer and, in 1969, he was admitted to the University of Theatre, Film and Television from which he graduated as an actor. After the publication of his first book, he started to work as a freelance writer, but often did directing jobs as well. He was the artistic director of Vörösmarty Theatre in Székesfehérvár for two years, in that time he also directed movies.

Eleven books were published as well as short stories and novels. His writings are regularly published in literary journals and periodicals; he has written dramas, scripts, audio-dramas and also plays for children. Some of his plays are in the repertoire of Hungarian theatres. Most of the writings are about loneliness in the family and the joys of work and love. In 1991 Peter won the award in the Morishige Festival (Tokyo) for the best script and received summa cum laude masterdegree as a Doctor of Liberal Arts in 2004. He lives in Szeged and teaches creative and script writing at the University of Szeged. He has four children.

182

Die letzte erste Woche

The last first week

By Anna Pabst, Lorenz Langenegger & Ákós Németh

Commissioned by Junges Schauspielhaus Zurich, Switzerland and Kolibri Theatre, Budapest, Hungary

Summary The Last First Week An old, abandoned school. The summer break is not yet over. But why is Armin going to school everyday anyway? And what is Mr. Fiedler still doing there? He retired before the summer break. At first Armin is scared when meeting the seemingly neglected Mr. Fiedler. But as he overcomes his shyness they become friends. Mr. Fiedler, at first upset by the young mischief-maker, then starts enjoying Armin’s company, too. But the next intruder is already on her way: Joëlle is spending her holidays with her father in the village. She lives in the city and is used to constant entertainment. Her father, however, doesn’t have time to care about Joëlle. For him, the village is an investment project. He’s planning to build new houses, whatever is old, has to go. Out of boredom, Joëlle is lingering around the old school. But she is by far not the only one: A police woman is guarding the school during the holidays. She doesn’t like it when children are hanging around in places where they shouldn’t be. The skeleton from the biology class has been in the school for ages and knows stories about when Mr. Fiedler was a child and the cactus a delicate plant in a flower pot. The two sparrows under the roof are observing what is happening in and around the house. And then it all goes haywire: Mr. Fiedler is delivering a speech in the empty auditorium and talks about parallel universes. Joëlle sticks to her guns. Armin tries to learn more about the school from her. And the police woman has to escort Mr. Fiedler, the man who used to be her teacher, out of the school building.

© Anna Papst, anna.papst@zhdk.ch; Lorenz Langenegger, loz@gmx.net; Ákos Németh, nemeth1807@freemail.hu

184

THE LAST FIRST WEEK

By Lorenz Langenegger

2. Encounter Joelle Hey.

Joelle Old enough to be here on my own.

Armin And what are you doing here?

Armin That we’ll see.

Joelle thinks I am doing whatever I want.

Joelle Why are you so harsh?

Armin And what’s that?

Armin I am not harsh.

Joellle Well, you can see that.

Joelle Kindness is the most important

Armin I see nothing.

Armin Hey.

thing, my father says. Kindness always

Joelle That’s what I am saying

Joelle Are you afraid of me?

wins.

I am doing nothing.

Armin waves aside

Armin And what does he win?

Armin Nothing?

Joelle Why did you run?

Joelle He just wins.

Joelle Yes.

Armin Did I run?

Me for example.

Armin Are you doing nothing because you

Joelle As soon as you saw me.

That wasn’t easy at all.

do not want to do anything?

Armin I run a lot. It’s good for the legs. I run

Armin If something truly matters, not even

Or are you doing nothing because you

whenever I can. When I’m not on my bike

kindness helps.

can’t come up with an idea?

that means.

Joelle How do you want to know?

Joelle I’m not doing anything because I

Joelle You’re weird.

Armin That’s what my father says.

don’t have to.

Armin How old are you?

beat.

Armin Tidy up your room?

Joelle Old enough.

Joelle I dance ballet.

Joelle Diana is doing that.

Armin How do you want to know?

It’s good for the legs too.

Armin Who is Diana?

185

Text extract Joelle Our Au Pair from Hungary.

Are you a – makes a gesture meaning

Armin Go to school?

‘farmer’

By Anna Papst

Joelle All the children in my school love to

Armin Doesn’t understand at once, Joelle

…

go there and they go there by choice It’s a

repeats her gesture, then Why do you

Two

good school. We have but the best teachers.

think so?

Armin Isn’t it boring?

Joelle My father says everyone is a

Headmaster’s office. Armin is knocking. As

Doing nothing.

farmer here.

he receives no reply, he opens the door.

Joelle Mind-numbing.

Armin I’m going to school now.

Inside the room, Fiedler is asleep. Next to

Armin That’s what I thought.

Joelle nods.

the bed, a skeleton is sitting on a chair.

beat.

Fiedler Who are you?

Joelle But it is better than having to do things.

Armin Are you here for the first time?

Joelle I come here everyday.

Armin Why are you sleeping? You have to Armin Ok. I’ll have to go.

deliver the opening speech.

Translation: Myriam Zdini

Armin You are expected in the assembly

Armin Holidays?

Joelle nods.

Fiedler You are standing in my office.

Armin Where do you live?

hall.

Joelle makes a gesture with her head

Fiedler By whom?

meaning ‘up the valley’ 186

THE LAST FIRST WEEK Armin By everybody. Today is the start of

school for 35 years now and I have never

term.

overslept.

Fiedler That’s not possible.

If there is no one waiting, one cannot oversleep.

Armin I was waiting.

Armin Have you been drinking?

The skeleton speaks with Fiedler. Armin

Fiedler If there is no school, you have no

Fiedler Did a teacher send you?

cannot hear the skeleton; he only hears

business here. Go home.

Armin No.

Fiedler’s replies. But the audience can hear

Armin But if there’s no school, what are

Fiedler That means you left the plenary

the skeleton.

you doing here?

Skeleton Well, if that is right?

charade!

Skeleton Ask him, if he likes playing

meeting without permission?

Armin Well …

Fiedler Thus you are suspended from the

Fiedler Don’t meddle.

Fiedler (to the skeleton) Shush!

plenary meeting and are not allowed to

Armin Who are you talking to?

(to Armin) It’s none of your business.

listen to the opening speech.

Fiedler To you.

Armin I think you are here without

Armin Excuse me?

Armin But I didn’t meddle.

permission.

Fiedler Your schoolmates can tell you

Fiedler But you were trying to fool me. I

Fiedler Don’t be ridiculous. I have been a

about it.

have never overslept.

teacher here for 35 years. How can a

Armin But there is nobody, except for me!

Armin Except for today.

teacher not be permitted in his own

Fiedler Gotcha! I knew you were leading

Fiedler Today I haven’t overslept, because

school?

me by the nose. I have been working at this

there was no one waiting for me.

Armin What? You are not the headmaster?

187

Text extract Fiedler No. Now bugger off. I want to get

Fiedler Are you snooping around here?

Armin No. I only saw a kind of trolley

dressed.

Armin No.

standing around.

Armin But you are already dressed.

Fiedler Are you a little spy? Did Näf send

Fiedler When you saw me in the assembly

you?

hall, there was no one else with you?

(skeleton laughs)

Armin No!

Armin No. Yes. I mean no one else.

Fiedler Don’t dare lying to me.

Fiedler Good. Listen, that’s what we are

Fiedler (to the skeleton) Stop laughing.

Armin Please don’t hurt me. I don’t know

going to do now: You’re leaving and you

Armin But I’m not laughing.

anyone called Näf. I was in the assembly

are not telling anybody that you have met

Fiedler (to Armin) Get out.

hall incidentally, when I saw you

me here and you are not coming back

Armin If you are not the headmaster, why

rehearsing your speech. I didn’t want to

before the beginning of term?

did you rehearse the opening speech? And

distract you.

Armin No.

why are you sleeping in the headmaster’s

Fiedler How come you are in the assembly

Fiedler What didn’t you understand?

office?

hall incidentally? This is a locked building;

Armin Nothing. But I’m not doing it.

Fiedler What opening speech?

entering isn’t so easy.

Fiedler Watch your tongue.

Armin You rehearsed an opening speech in

Armin The door stood open. Because

Armin I’m not going to tell anybody that

the assembly hall yesterday.

someone was cleaning, I believe.

you are here. I swear. But I want to come

Fiedler Did you see someone of the

back.

Fiedler grabs Armin 188

cleaning staff?

THE LAST FIRST WEEK Fiedler How did you get in anyway? Are

Armin Is it disinfected?

By Ákos Németh

they still cleaning today?

Fiedler Just a moment, please. He takes out

Armin No, today I took another way in. But

a lighter, holds the needle into the flame.

2.

Fiedler You’re as cunning as a fox. We’ll

Gives Armin the needle. Armin hesitates,

two together

make a contract.

pricks his finger, signs.

I won’t tell you which.

Armin But I’m not 18 yet.

Fiedler Oh, well, young man, love, love!

Fiedler For this contract you are old

Fiedler Thank you. Maybe we will meet

Armin What love?

enough.

again sometime. I beg you to pardon me

Fiedler I see what I see! It is not deniable,

now. I have things to do.

is it?

Armin I’m not in love.

He writes something on a piece of paper.

Armin leaves hesitantly. The skeleton waves

Fiedler Well, I understand it’s purely

Armin goodbye, but Armin does not see it.

curiosity. No avidity, just curiosity.

Armin reads Herewith I promise not to tell

The door of the headmaster’s office is closed.

A clear case.

anyone anything about what happens in

Armin stands confused.

Armin I’m not in love with her! I have

Gives it to Armin.

this school building.

Fiedler Take this needle. Prick yourself.

You’ll have to sign with blood.

already said that!

Translation: Myriam Zdini

Fiedler Look, my boy … how old are you anyway?

189

Text extract Armin What business is it of yours?

Fiedler Not really.

Armin Do you know the feeling?

Fiedler Excuse me, you are right.

Armin Sometimes I feel really old.

Fiedler I think I do. Three times a day, that

Armin And you, how old are you for

Fiedler So that’s one thing we have in

is something. And each time for how long?

example?

common. But in my life I have also been in

Armin For half an hour.

Fiedler What do you think?

love. It’s not that bad.

Fiedler Each time?

Armin No idea. But especially old.

Armin But I don’t like her.

Armin Each time.

Fiedler Sixty-two.

Fiedler Excuse me.

Fiedler And today? Have you already been

Armin Sixty-two?

Armin Or, only a little.

thinking about her three times?

Fiedler Yes, about sixty-two.

Fiedler Yes, I see. I know this feeling.

Armin Yes, I did.

Armin About?

Armin This we have in common. This

Fiedler I see. I see.

Fiedler About. Do you think that is old?

feeling.

Armin Well, well.

Armin Excessively old.

Fiedler Yes, we have. And do you think

Fiedler Well. And each time for half an

Fiedler Yes, sometimes I feel that way too.

about her sometimes?

hour.

Armin I’m twelve.

Armin Yes, I do.

Armin Yes, exactly.

Fiedler I see.

Fiedler And how often, if I’m allowed

Fiedler But it’s only ten in the morning.

Armin Don’t you have any comment?

to ask?

Armin Five past ten.

Fiedler A comment? Why?

Armin Three times a day.

Fiedler So you have been thinking about

Armin Do you thinks that’s old?

Fiedler I see.

her since the early morning.

190

THE LAST FIRST WEEK Armin But not non-stop.

Fiedler Well, my boy, women, women. I’m

3.

Fiedler Of course. I didn’t mean it this way.

always asking myself, if it is worth all the

Armin I take short breaks.

trouble, to trouble oneself with them.

Fiedler You’re doing well.

Armin That’s what I am always asking

Armin I think so too. Otherwise one cannot

myself too.

Policewoman Hello, you! You are not

manage.

Fiedler So you are a worn out man.

allowed to be here. It is closed here.

Fiedler Sure.

Armin Yes. For example, she talks a lot. A

Do you hear me? Hello! Do you hear me?

Armin Yes, sure.

man is meant to pay attention.

Do you understand German, don’t you

Fiedler It is a bit time consuming, isn’t it.

Fiedler Yes, or at least one should pretend

understand me? So you don’t. You … are …

two together

Armin Yes, it is.

to. But it is also really very tiring.

not … allowed .. to … be … here. Understand?

One hasn’t time for other things.

Armin With her that does not work. I really

You didn’t understand. Are you a foreigner?

Fiedler Would you have many other

have to pay attention, when she talks. She

Yes, you are. They come here, and they

things?

is very clever. She immediately asks control

remain silent. Where did you come from?

Armin Of course. Work.

questions.

Step out of the shadow. Are you black? Are

Fiedler Of course. Excuse me.

Fiedler That is doubly hard.

you? No, you’re white. But in your soul

Armin I always have a lot to do. But at the

you’re black, aren’t you. What’s your name?

moment I can’t.

Joelle Joelle. My name is Joelle.

Policewoman Right.

191

Text extract Joelle I’m Swiss.

Joelle He’ll be here soon. He is just buying

Policewoman Good to know. You are not

something in the shop down there. A coke

buildings.

allowed to be here.

for me.

Policewoman Oh.

Joelle Why?

Policewoman Oh.

Joelle Do you like new buildings?

Policewoman It is going to be knocked

Joelle Don’t you like coke? I can call him.

Policewoman I do like them, without

down.

Policewoman What? No.

question.

Joelle Yes, I know.

Joelle Or don’t you like my father?

Joelle I don’t understand it. Sometimes old

He earns money knocking down old

Policewoman And it is private ground here.

Policewoman No, I do.

buildings can be very nice.

It is private property.

Joelle Do you want to talk to him?

Policewoman Yes. But on the other hand …

Joelle Yes, I know.

Policewoman Maybe later. We all like him,

Joelle I like old things. Do you think my

Policewoman Are you listening to me, girl?

you should know that. We, in this town. He

father has a good profession?

It belongs to a man.

does a good job here in this community, in

Policewoman Yes, I think so.

Mr. Schenk. A building constructor.

this town.

Joelle I would prefer it, if he …

Joelle Yes, I know.

Joelle Are you sure about it?

Policewoman Yes?

Policewoman He’ll surely come here.

Policewoman Yes, of course.

Joelle Never mind. May I step back into the

Joelle I hope so. I’m waiting for him. He’s

Joelle I am not.

shadow?

my father.

Policewoman Excuse me?

Policewoman What?

Policewoman Oh.

Joelle Usually people do not like my father.

Joelle Step back into the shadow. The

192

THE LAST FIRST WEEK sunlight annoys me.

such plants.

Joelle Because you were screaming.

Policewoman The sun?

Joelle My father ordered them for me from

Policewoman I was screaming because

Joelle The bright light.

Canada. They cost a lot of money. More

you kept silent.

Policewoman Yes. You may, of course.

than your car.

Joelle Sharp voices annoy me.

Joelle In our home, we have dark glass

Policewoman It’s a quite good car.

Policewoman Ok. Excuse me.

panes in the windows.

Joelle I didn’t say anything else.

Joelle Never mind.

Policewoman Like in a prison. Excuse me,

Policewoman And it does not belong to me.

Policewoman Do you really want to wait for

excuse me. I didn’t mean to say that.

It’s belongs to the police.

your father here?

Joelle No, that’s an error. It is really nice.

Joelle Yes, I see.

Joelle I don’t mind. He wants me to wait.

We have, for example, many plants in the

Policewoman Ok, you are right. It’s a wreck.

Policewoman Here are many people … all

house.

But it is still running.

kinds …

Policewoman Plants?

Joelle Yes, it’s alright. A nice blue.

Joelle Thanks heaven! I have met you.

Joelle Yes, many different ones.

Policewoman So you are ill?

Policewoman You are glad?

Policewoman But plants like the sunlight.

Joelle No, no! It’s only the bright sunlight …

Joelle Yes. With you it isn’t so boring.

Joelle The majority does. But there are

Policewoman … which annoys you.

Waiting for my father.

some, some northern curiosities, which

Joelle Yes, you understood me well.

Policewoman And your mother?

avoid the light. Like me.

Policewoman Before, why did you keep

Joelle We are divorced.

Policewoman I have never heard about

silent? Why didn’t you answer?

Policewoman You? 193

Text extract Joelle Yes, me and my father. We had a

Joelle You should use Shiseido.

colleagues, haven’t you?

divorce suit against my mother.

Policewoman Do you think so?

Policewoman Why are you asking?

Policewoman Right.

Joelle Yes, it’s a clear case.

Joelle I just want to know.

Joelle What kind of make-up are you

Policewoman Thank you.

Policewoman I’m the only woman in the

using?

Joelle You’re welcome. What you are using

police here.

Policewoman Excuse me?

now, does not serve you well.

Joelle I thought so. Typical.

Joelle What kind of make-up?

Policewoman Thanks again for the advice.

Policewoman Why?

Policewoman The brand you mean?

Joelle Are you divorced too?

Joelle You say thank you far too often in

No idea.

Policewoman Not yet.

your life. For every thing. But we are both

Joelle I thought so. Something no name.

Joelle So you are still married?

women, between us. You should not say

Policewoman Why did you ask?

Policewoman Not yet.

thank you all the time.

Joelle I don’t like it.

Joelle I thought so. Though you are rather

Policewoman I’m the only woman here.

Policewoman Excuse me.

pretty.

You are only a child. Still a child.

Joelle You should be careful with no name

Policewoman Well …

Joelle Well. If you think so. So Shiseido.

products.

Joelle Don’t say thank you again. You say

Don’t forget.

Joelle vanishes in the shadow

Policewoman Thank you.

thank you far too often.

Joelle Never mind. Shiseido.

Policewoman Do you think so?

Policewoman What?

Joelle Yes, I think so. You have a lot of male

194

Translation: Myriam Zdini

Reflections on the writing process Lorenz Langenegger Writing together, even working together, is a strange thing for playwrights. We are shy, complicated and vain creatures. We don’t like it, when other people, especially people doing the same thing, interfere with our work. We prefer to sit and write quietly and alone in our room. After a text is finished we can accept the fact that a few people will ask a few questions about the text, but we still don’t like it. For Platform 11+ three of us, three shy, complicated and vain creatures from Budapest and Zurich are forced to work together from the beginning. We first meet in Zurich, we sniff at each other, then we meet in wonderful snowy Finland and start to talk, we meet again in Zurich, we discuss in e-mails, and slowly we get used to each other. I’ve learnt a lot by reading Akos’ and Anna’s scenes. I’ve learnt something about our characters, about the story and the form of our play, but most importantly, I’ve learnt a lot about playwriting in general. Co-writing has been wonderful experience.

Anna Pabst In general, when three independent and headstrong authors are asked to write a play together, it’s a difficult and challenging plan. Each author has his own style of writing. His own ideas about what’s a good play and what’s not, his own preferences for stories and characters.

His own thoughts on what should be written about right now and on what should be written about because he always wanted to. Because of this I was surprised how open-minded and generously my co-authors treated both my text and their own. And I was especially surprised that, at the point when I thought the three parts had developed in unrelated directions, to find that they were still pieces from the same play, the texts were changed and moved in a defining way. Now, more than ever, they appear as a collaborative piece of work to me. Indeed we never fiddled around with each others texts, but through the constant reading and discussing of each new line, a collaborative reflection on our writing emerged. I can see this collaborative way of thinking in every scene of our play.

195

Reflections on the writing process Ákos Németh It’s a special challenge working together on one text with more than one playwright. There is no guarantee for the successful accomplishment of the play because of the different working methods, styles and habits of the authors. In this case the Junges Schauspielhaus Zurich appointed two playwrights to the project and the Kolibri Theater one. I represent the Hungarian partner. We started our work by visiting a school in Rafz. This town is located in the northern part of Swizerland at the German border. This school was the base for my further work, as our play is set in a school.

Pupils up to the age of 12 are studying in this Swiss school. We met with the eldest of these. I visited them only once, but the co-writing partners Anna Papst and Lorenz Langenegger worked with them regularly, with the help of educators.

At my second visit we read some of the scenes which we had finished for the children whom we already knew from earlier on. The students spoke in local dialect to each other but with myself and the manger of Kolibri Theater, János Novák – who also joined the meetings – they used literary German. In my opinion this language change didn’t help in creating a friendly atmosphere but still, it did enable us to have an appropriate contact with them.

In order to understand the above mentioned situation, it’s good to know that the performing language of the Swiss theaters is literary German but the education programme connected to the performances happen in local dialect. I can write only in superlatives about the attitude and helpfulness of the Swiss partners, first and foremost the two playwrights. It was a pleasure working with them. Our work was supported in dramaturgical questions by Petra Fischer, leader of Junges Schauspielhaus Zuerich.

196

Lorenz Langenegger, Anna Papst Lorenz Langenegger Born in 1980, Lorenz lives in Zurich and Vienna. He studied Drama and Political Science in Bern, where his first works for the theatre were created. In 2005 his play ,Nordwärts’ opened in Zurich at the Theater an der Sihl. He participated in the Master Class MC6 with John von Düffel and in the ,Dramenprozessor’, a new writing programme, where his play ,Nah und hoch hinaus’ was created. It premiered at the National Theatre in Mannheim/ Germany in March 2008. The play ,Rakows Dom’ won the 4th playwright competition at the Schaubühne Berlin. In 2008 he participated in the International Residency Programme at the Royal Court Theatre in London. His first novel, ,Hier im Regen’, was published by Jung und Jung in Salzburg in Spring 2009.

Anna Papst (left), Ákos Németh (middle),

Anna Papst was born in 1984 and grew up in Nänikon, a small village near Zurich. In

Lorenz Langenegger (right)

2004 she participated in the workshop series ,Schreiben für die Bühne’ (‘Writing for the Stage’). In 2005 she worked as assistant director for Sebastian Nübling and Rafael Sanchez at Basel Theatre. In 2006 she was selected for Interplay Europe. Since 2006 she has been a directing student at Zurich University of Arts. She will be finishing her studies with a master degree in July 2011. With her play ‘Summer is a state of mind’ she was invited to the young artist’s festival ,Kaltstart 2009’ in Hamburg, Germany. In Fall 2009 she attended Anne Bogart’s directing class at Columbia University, New York. In the year 2010 she has written and directed the play ,Die Schläferinnen’ at Theater am Neumarkt, Zurich. It’s a piece about

197

Ákos Németh identity and extremism for viewers aged 14 and up. In the years 2011 and 2012 Anna Papst will be working at Schauspielhaus Zurich, Theater am Neumarkt, and different theatres from the freelance scene in Switzerland.

Ákos Németh (*1964, Székesfehérvár) Playwright and freelancer, he has been the Hungarian curator of ,Bonner New Plays from Europe Festival’ since 2002 (he has been calling himself a Wiesbadener since 2004). He has written nine plays, some of which have been published in German, Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovakian and in English. His plays were put on stage in many Hungarian theatres and Universities where Drama is taught. Some of his plays were adapted for audio-drama or tv-films. The play ,Müller’s Dancers, was his first professional success, staged by Katona József Theater, Budapest in 1992. The performance was presented in the festival of European Theater Union. His works were also performed in German, French, Croatian and English theaters. The Deutschland Radio in Berlin, the Bulgarian and Croatian National Radios broadcasted his audio-dramas. The performances were invited to several festivals e.g. Convention Théatrale Européenne (Luxembourg), International Young Playrwights’ Festival, (Birmingham) etc. His comedy ‘Car Thieves’ was presented in the National Theater in London in the scope of a rehearsed reading and The Rep Theater in Birmingham also presented it. Some of his plays have been produced in Germany for instance a one-act play in Schaubühne Berlin. His texts have been honoured with numerous awards.

198

Beginning

By Jukka Heinanen, Arjunan Manuelpillai and Rui Pina Coelho Adapted and devised by Alex Evans (UK), Matti Helske, Antti Kairakari, Mikko Korsulainen, Olli Paakkolanvaara, Annina Rokka, Elina Terho, Marko Tiusanen (all FI)

Commissioned by Emergency Exit Arts, London, United Kingdom / Theatre O Bando, Palmela, Portugal and Oulu City Theatre, Oulu, Finland 1st opening Oulu City Theatre, February 22, 2011

Summary Beginning Three actors are working together to create a new piece of theatre, retelling a timeless story; the creation of the world. Known only by the initials of I, V and L (in reference to the Finnish mythological characters Illmarinen, Vainomoinen and Lemminkainen from the traditional folk tale the Keravela) they are battling with their competing ideas in order to tell the story in ways which satisfy them all.

As they retell the ideas that once felt fresh and new it becomes clear to I that he has lost the imagination and creativity of his youth. He invites V and L to delve into their childhood experiences, to remember the imaginary friends, games and places of their early adolescence and revisit the chaotic and difficult moments when they realised their childhoods were ending.

Whilst I gains closure on his conflicted feelings, V begins to lose patience with the creative process and the need to behave like adults in the rehearsal. He launches into a musical attack on the adult experience in his song ‘forever young’, sending the rehearsal into a spiral of teenage angst.

Music, sex and violence collide as they recount the things in their lives they would rather forget, committed under the influence of hormones.

The group reforms after the embarrassing and potentially distressing memories they have shared with a renewed vigour to finish their story once and for all, but as they move onto the last section of the story they are finally halted by L who cannot but help feel left out of the play; echoing feelings from her late teenage years. She addresses her collaborators, sharing a series of intimate moments that have shaped her sense of insecurity and isolation.

200

Summary

By the end of the play the three actors have journeyed together through a difficult and troubled landscape; in attempting to tell one single story they have succeeded in creating a whole world of personal memories and reflections on the beginnings and endings of their adolescent experiences.

As they race towards the final stages of the piece, as their new world begins to take a shape and form they are left to question what sort of place it is they are creating on the stage. In deciding to create a world full of imperfections and troubled experiences they gain closure on their memories and learn to forgive others and themselves for the people they have been and for the people that they find themselves being today. Š further information: Sari Tanner Oulu City Theatre, Sari.Tanner@ouka.fi

Cast Matti Helske, Antti Kairakari, Mikko Korsulainen, Olli Paakkolanvaara, Annina Rokka, Elina Terho (all FI) / Director Alex Evans (UK) Set Patrick Bullock (UK) / Costumes Maija Tuorila (FI)

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Text extract Part 1: Sunset Sunrise

V Yes, at least until the next coffee-break.

I ‘cause I have this thing I call The Secret

I But that’s not where it stops… something

Game.

…

happened. I don’t know why but suddenly I

V WHAT?!

I When I was little I played a lot in the

decided to tell my big brother about the

I THE SECRET GAME!

forest nearby my house, if I had friends we

Secret Game. I went into his room. He was

V WHAT SECRET GAME?

would play together, but sometimes when

there, playing drums. You be the big

I A GAME I PLAY!

they couldn’t come I played by myself.

brother.

V WHAT ABOUT IT?

When I was alone in the forest I turned into

L Why can’t I be the big brother – you two

I I HAVE NEVER TOLD THIS TO ANYBODY

this character with all these super powers.

always get to play the male parts, it’s not

BUT WHEN I PLAY THIS GAME I TURN

It was a secret character. The whole thing

fair!

INTO THIS SUPER CHARACTER CALLED

was called ‘The Secret Game’. It only

I Hi there. What’s up?

MINTTU!

happened when I was alone. I got these

V Go away, I’m playing drums. What do

V Called what?

super powers, the forest around me

you want?

I Minttu.

changed. The adventure started.

I Nothing. Really. When you were small…?

V That’s a girl’s name, and also a herb.

L Well what did you turn into?

V WHAT?

I This is exactly how it happened.

I It was a secret.

I When you were small did you ever have

V Why did you turn into a super hero with

L And it still is?

imaginary friends?

a girl’s name? Are you a pervert?

I Maybe it should be.

V I don’t hear you. I’m playing drums.

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BEGINNING I That’s exactly how he looked at me. I just

I See you didn’t get the point.

stood there and wanted to disappear and

V Let’s just get on with it.

turn invisible. I got paralyzed and went

I There’s no point telling you anything.

Announcement: coffee break. All leave stage apart from I

let’s carry on...

bright red.

L We listened didn’t we?

L It’s ok for boys to play girls and girls to

I Listened? I’m trying to share something

play boys.

with you. You’re just treating it like a joke.

I In the Forest I could smell the heat, feel it

I That’s not the point.

L We weren’t laughing at you

moist in the summertime, a sunny day.

V Well. That was a… great story. Let’s move

V We’re just saying we got to get on with it,

In the trees the ground was so soft –I

on.

we’re only at the beginning and we’ve been

would jump and run and hide and if I fell

I Sorry, I just needed to share it.

going round in circles.

down it didn’t hurt. Birds are singing

L It’s ok to play a girl.

I It’s not about the play.

because they know I’m in there. I can

V Do you want to play a girl in this play as

V Well what’s it about?

understand the talking birds.

well? Is that what this is about?

I IT’S ABOUT HOW WE’VE CHANGED!

When I was Minttu I was strong and

I See I knew I shouldn’t have told you.

V THERE’S NOTHING TO BE DONE

powerful.

L I think we should be free to be whatever

ABOUT THAT.

I was Invisible. No-one could see me.

we want. Girls or boys or something in

I I DIDN’T SAY THERE WAS!

I heard every whisper, every sound in the

between… without thinking about all these

L WOULD YOU BOTH JUST STOP IT!

forest.

agendas…

I’m just going to continue... Lights, sound,

I was unbreakable, like steel or diamond.

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Text extract If I wanted to break something it was easy.

whole school. Everyone will know my

so I could hit them…I wanted to show them

I had laser eyes and I could fly… not always…

secret.

all I’m good enough.

not everytime, but it was possible.

They will all laugh at me. Would they think

I would be an actor, go to theatre school, be

When I was flying the houses and cars and

I was a gay or a freak? I was a boy.

unbreakable.

people all look like Lego.

Why couldn’t Minttu be a boy? Like Tomas

Be the Hero and the star but now I’m so

Lego houses, Lego cars, Lego people. They

or Marko or someone?

ashamed of what I’m doing.

are all so small.

They didn’t understand the point. It was

Its not working. I feel so much shame.

I could control everything.

not to be a girl. I felt so stupid.

I’m not good enough.

Why is it not working? Am I too old? Have I

But when I told my brother about the

I tried to play Minttu a couple of times after

seen everything? I’ve got too much

Secret Game it was over. It was the

that.

experience now.

beginning of the end...

I wanted to play Minttu but I remember the

I want to feel like its happening again, like

I wanted to run away but my legs were like

shame. I felt so guilty and so much shame.

a little child. Have forest smells and forest

ice or steel. I was totally red.

Fuck off Minttu. I don’t want her.

heat. I want to play again. To have fun

If I could have got the words back I could

I can steal. I stole pens. I can be mean. I

again and smile and laugh and be happy again.

have played whatever.

can be a bad guy.

I thought he wanted to tell everybody. Tell

I learned Karate. I wanted to hit somebody…

his friends, my parents, my friends, my

I wanted somebody to say you are stupid

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…

Director’s reflections Alex Evans The actors, technicians and myself formed a close-knit company working collaboratively within diverse forms of theatrical play and discovery. We shared memories, experiences, anecdotes and jokes from the past, created countless new stories and mythologies for the future and played with music, lighting, puppetry and object to find our shared world of the piece.

In doing so we adapted and translated the piece from its original written text, infusing it with our own stories of our childhoods – the experiences we celebrate, and those we would rather forget.

What struck me throughout was the similarities between us all; the emotional union that we shared as children and young adults; how this has influenced us as we have aged.

By placing the technicians – lighting, sound, and stage management on stage and making them central to the action, the feeling of bustling creativity confronts the audience. The set traps the company on the stage, the fast pace of the stories trap the audience in their seats and the use of English and Finnish celebrates the collaborative process.

The playful tone of the rehearsal process is reflected in the piece, it not being unusual for a stray paper aeroplane to change to action or mood of a scene and much of the play remains improvised, a live-ness and unpredictability that I believe the young audiences thrive on.

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Reflections on the writing process Jukka Heinanen First of all it has been a great pleasure to work with writers from other countries. Co-writing itself is an activity that has a big challenge to it.

Writing tends to be a very private thing, in the end. It is quite usual of course to ask for comments from colleagues or friends, but to try to write something together with two guys from opposite sides of Europe – well, that’s something completely different. It is a test of your ability to listen, just like it was with the children. It is a test of courage for near strangers to share very intimate things. But what is there to be afraid of in the end? Our three man journey towards devising one script is still in not yet over as I write this, but I can already say that taking part in this adventure has been truly worthwhile. This is cultural clashing and Europe united at its best.

Arjunan Manuelpillai After first meeting Rui and Jukka I was very excited about the writing at hand. We struck up a good relationship quickly, and were unified by a common sense of humour and a admiration for good wine. The beginning of this process was the most difficult. Where the ideas came from was critical because we all had to be inspired by the subject, we had to be moved by the direction and this would be the impetus to write. We came across the Kalavela initially, we were interested in cultural connections between our three countries, we researched mythical creatures and were inspired by the ancient stories of heroism. We then began talking about young people. We discussed what we believe is the ground we share in common with them and we spoke about what they enjoyed. I was meanwhile teaching in schools and youth centres across the Uk learning from the youth, listening to their needs and issues.

A good story is enjoyed by all regardless of race or colour. It is from this that we began with the concept of watching three people build a play using the kalavela. At this stage, it was three seperate plays, like three seperate acts.

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BEGINNING

We discussed memories and the importance of them and the falling away of our own memories as we age. Each of us described a memory from their childhood; Jukka dealt with puberty, I dealt with adolescence and Rui was pushing towards 16ish. It was interesting how they merged into the process.

It would be false to say that the iron cooled down as we parted our ways. Back in a normal life it was increasingly hard to stay on similar wavelengths, this definately led to some communication problems. When people aren’t communicating then problems and misunderstanding sprout. Every time we met everything would be ok and it was a shame that the entire writing process was not done together. But again, people write in different ways, if I am sat down I can knock things out extremely quickly but the editing takes the longest period of time, others spend longer on the actual process. This was a collaboration of ideas, writing styles, writing techniques and languages.

The most diffficult part of the process was the editing of the piece that flew between writers and others for weeks and weeks. This was the hardest and most humbling part of the process. Finally, people have their set view about what theatre is, this view has been cultivated for years and is very difficult to change, unless a writer can let it go out of his hands it is very difficult to get anything finished. So, at a certain point it had to go through me intially, and then Jukka.

When we finally saw the piece it was interesting to watch. I don’t think many of the co productions will have such a collaborative process as this. From the writing, to the direction, this piece was moulded by SO many hands, finely tweaked into a piece that young people enjoyed‌ I will always be proud of that.

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Reflections on the writing process Rui Pina Coelho It is probably a cliché, but writing is a one man business. Just like reading. Reading is also an individual thing, a one man business. Writing and reading require loneliness just as a swimmer needs water. It comes with the trade. That’s fair. No complaints about that. It just the way things are. At least for me. It works for me. I know it is most definitely a cliché but writing is a one man business. That’s fair. But theatre is not an individual thing. Theatre is precisely the opposite of an individual thing. It is the most collective ‘thing’ of all. It requires diversity and people. It’s the opposite of loneliness.

To have many people working on a theatre production is nothing new. It’s quite common. It’s the way things are. People get together to build a production. To say something, to denounce, to tell a story, to perform, to shock, to spend some time together with the audience – but as a collective. Even when someone is alone on stage, I bet there is always a crowd hidden behind. Or even when there isn’t a crowd hidden, there are people in the audience. Sometimes not many. Sometimes only one. But there is no loneliness in theatre. Even in theatre is quite often about loneliness.

So, it is quite natural to have more than one writer in a theatre production. Writing for theatre is a collective thing. But the problem is that writing is not a collective ‘thing’. It’s a one man business – an individual matter. Therefore, to co-write is probably the most difficult thing in the world.

It requires, among many other rare virtues, patience, compromise, a willingness to learn and an ability to teach. It requires time and a lot more than just time. Countless – un-nameable. It is not an easy thing. And it shouldn’t be. It requires effort, willpower and, the most important ingredient, it requires love. Lots of love.

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BEGINNING For me, this co-writing process was an amazing discovery of the universe and lives of two brilliant writers. We shared life experiences, but also our families, our houses, our thoughts, our theatre, our cities, our ideas, our children, our favourite places. We also shared saunas, sunsets, meals, trains, planes, theatre seats, subways, sandwiches, photographs, jokes, igloos, castles, exhibitions, drinks, corn-flakes, hats, songs, stories, games, and so on. It was a love journey and an enduring process – with quarrels, tactics, pacts, fights, joys, euphoria, sorrow, missed dead lines, scenes sketched, abandoned plots. It as a journey with plan A, followed by a plan B, then a C, back do A, why not D? What about E? We are we?

The love ingredient – this sounds very corny, I know, I know – was the most important aspect of our co-writing. It was all about sharing (how corny can one get?) – that’s why it was so difficult to achieve a final version. We based the text on our personal memories, on our childhood; but also – obviously – on our very different ways of writing and of conceiving theatre. We all have extraordinarily different ways of understanding theatre. But love and friendship pull everything through. We ended with a play, a new text, but also, with a friendship, established through countless arguments, discussions, plans, e-mails, but also through sharing the lives of our families, building a (love) bridge between Lisbon, Oulu and London.

I guess this love permeates our play. It is its expression – it is so random (to use one of Arji’s favourite expressions!) that it’s so indisputably ours. It’ s so personal that it could be only written by us (how pretentious can one get, hein?!). It is deeply rooted in our life and theatre that is part of us. No one else could have written it – not because of its dramatic quality, but due to its uniqueness. And – consequence of cowriting – no one of us could have written alone – it is the consequence of a love process, written by six hands.

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Jukka Heinänen, Arjunan Manuelpillai & Rui Pina Coelho Jukka Heinänen (1974) has been working as a dramaturge at the Oulu City Theatre since 2006. Here he has written plays and theatre adaptations and helped to develop the theatre’s repertoire. Before moving to Oulu with his director partner Heta Haanperä, Heinänen graduated from The Theatre Academy, worked as a freelance writer, dramaturge and director in various professional and amateur productions and festivals, both for adults and children. Currently Heinänen works as a lecturer of Dramatic Arts at the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.

Arjunan Manuelpillai. To his friends he is Arji, but to many in the music industry he is The Leano; a performance poet, rapper and writer who has created a wide variety of work in his 28 years. He learnt his trade at the University of Hull, leaving with a degree in English and Drama and a collection of short plays. Whilst there, he cultivated an overwhelming love for the stage, performing both theatre and music.

While performing in schools Arjunan realised his love for teaching, facilitating and creating children’s theatre. His rap and poetry workshops have reached some of the most deprived communities in the UK and have encouraged young people to express themselves through lyrics and rhythm. He has worked and performed in prisons, detention centres and schools across the world. His ability to devise and create with young people has made him an integral part of the EEA team creating outdoor performance that have toured internationally.

Rui Pina Coelho (1975) is Master in Theatre Studies (Lisbon University), lectures at the Higher Institute of Theatre and Cinema (Amadora. He is also a Researcher at the Centre for Theatre Studies in the Faculty of Letters (Lisbon University) where he collaborates in the project CET base. He has published Casa da Comédia (1946–1975): Um palco para uma ideia de teatro (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, 2009, 325 pp.) and Inesgotável Koltès (ESTC/Teatro dos Aloés, 2009, 48 pp.). He is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Sinais de cena (Lisbon, Portugal) and a member of the Consulting Board of the online journal opercevejonline (http://seer.unirio.br/index.php/opercevejoonline, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil). He is a member of the Direction of the Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics and a theatre critic in the national Portuguese daily newspaper Público (since 2006). He is also a founding member of the group Trimagisto – Cooperativa de Experimentação Teatral (Évora, Portugal). As a playwright and dramaturgist, he has collaborated with Teatro o Bando (Palmela), TEUC (Coimbra), Trimagisto (Évora) and Teatro Experimental do Porto (Vila Nova de Gaia). He is currently working on his PhD thesis on Artistic Studies at the Faculty of Letters, Lisbon University.

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Når du får

Thinking Time

By Liv Heløe

Commissioned by Brageteatret, Drammen, Norway and theater junge generation (tjg), Dresden, Germany 1st Opening theater junge generation Dresden, May 21, 2011

Summary Thinking Time Characters: Nina (15); Hilde, her mother; Ruth, her great-grandmother (as a young person); Werner, her great-grandfather (as a young person); Moreno (young); Werner and Moreno can be played by the same actor.

Nina’s and Hilde’s flat: Nina (15) has a date, she is standing in her room considering what to wear. A phone rings, her mother Hilde answers.

She is told that Ruth, Nina’s great-grandmother is about to die. Nina is eager to keep her appointment, but Hilde insists; they should both go to Ruth’s deathbed.

In the car: Nina considers running away when the car stops at a red traffic light. She doesn’t, however.

Ruth’s flat: Ruth dozes and dreams; during the evening she experiences her first meetings with the man she later married. The meetings take place within a few days of each other in Norway 1941: Norwegian Ruth meets the German soldier Werner. They are infatuated – they fall in love – during their third meeting, Werner proposes, Ruth accepts. With her answer, her life changes totally and for ever. She moves to Germany.

Cast Isabell Giebele (NO), Gregor Wolf (DE), Ines Prange a.G. / Bettina Sörgel (DE), Line Heie Hallem (NO)/ Marja Hofmann (DE); Director Philippe Besson (DE); Set and Costumes Yngvar Julin (NO) / Music Bernd Sikora (DE)

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Summary Hilde doesn’t get in contact with dying Ruth. Nina doesn’t reach the boy she’s supposed to contact by mobile phone.

Hilde is worried about the seriousness of Nina’s appointment; who is she seeing?

Nina recalls the three meetings she had with the itinerant Romanian boy Moreno. The meetings have taken place outside the building where Nina is having piano lessons.

She lies to Hilde, she says: his name is Martin, he is German and that he plays the violin.

Ruth dies. Hilde calls a doctor.

Although the time for the appointment has passed, Nina wants to go to the meeting point to see if Moreno is still there. Hilde lets Nina go.

The bus: Nina travels through town. At the building with the piano lessons, Nina’s piano-teacher enters the bus. She tells her that she experienced a robbery attempt recently. Just as Nina is about to leave the bus, her teacher recognizes Moreno at the bus-stop and tells her; he is the robber. She warns Nina not to leave the bus. Nina has to choose – should she belive in her teacher or in Moreno?

© Liv Heløe, l.heloe@online.no

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THINKING TIME 1.

looking in the wardrobe

Mum knocks on the door

This

I hang the dress in the wardrobe

dress

but don’t have time to put the shoes back

In two hours I’m sitting on the bus

These shoes

before

Looking through the window

Yes

He’s standing at the bus stop

The telephone rings in the hall

(Hilde enters, holding a telephone to her

I get up go towards the door

Three times why doesn’t she take it

ear.)

and when the bus stops he’s there

Then she does

Nina I’m going to meet him

just outside

She doesn’t usually come in without me

I get off

He said When you’re with me

The door closes and the bus drives off

you have to have shoes you can run in

saying she can

Then there’s just us

Must be ready to run at any moment when

Hilde Yes –

at the bus stop

you’re with me

Nina Yes what

I don’t know where we’re going

Never know who we’ll bump into

Hilde We’ll come – Straight away. – Thank

I don’t know

I can run in these shoes

you. – Yes, thank you very much.

We’re going to be together I’m standing in my room and

have run in them loads of times

(She hangs up.)

Even if they’re a bit high

That was great grandma’s neighbour. She’s

they’re not that high

ill. We have to go.

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Text extract Nina Now? Hilde Yes.

Hilde More important than great grandma?

– She might die – this evening – The doctor

Look at me Does it look as if I’m lying You can’t see if someone’s lying

Nina I can’t.

said the family should come – (Short pause)

he said

Hilde Why not?

Bring your toothbrush. (Leaves.)

Anyway I don’t think you’re lying

Nina I’ve got to meet someone.

Nina What will he think

I just think you’ll change your mind

Hilde Then you’ll have to cancel.

if I don’t come

when you’ve had time to think

Nina I can’t.

That I don’t want to see him

I won’t change my mind

Hilde – You’ll have to –

He said

Ok See you then

(Leaves. Comes back.)

When you’ve had time to think

he said

I don’t know how long we’ll have to stay,

you’ll work out

You get my little finger if I don’t come

bring your toothbrush.

that you’re better off not knowing me

My little finger

Nina I can’t –

You won’t come

in a little box

Hilde Why not?

Even if we have made an agreement

Jees he said

Nina I’ve got to meet someone -

you won’t come

I’ll remember that

Hilde Who?

Of course I’ll come

Do

Nina Someone you don’t know. It’s

I’m standing here aren’t I saying that I’ll

I said

important.

come

Hilde (enters) Are you ready?

I said

Nina Can’t you go, then I’ll come after.

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THINKING TIME Hilde No.

Liv Heløe (*1963) is a Norwegian playwright. She worked as an actress for 15

Nina I promise to come, I just have to –

years in theatre, film and television. She wrote her first play in 1992 and her

Hilde No.

second play two years later – both were staged at a festival for new plays in Oslo.

Nina It’s important! You don’t understand,

In 2003 she completed ‘Pilotprosjekt for Dramatikere’, a two year course for

you don’t understand that I have to –

playwrights. She has been writing for theatre and radio theatre on a full time basis

Hilde No, you don’t understand. It’s serious.

since 2003.

She’s going to die. When she’s dead it’ll be

She has written two plays for young people – one of them for DUS (the Norwegian

too late.

parallel to ‘Connections’ in the UK).

Nina For what.

Hilde What?

Her work also includes three full-night plays for adults and two for children, four plays for radio and sev-

Nina Too late – for what?!

eral monologues, one-act and short plays.

Hilde Everything!

In 2006 she received the national Ibsen Award, Special Commendation for ‘Lise L.’, Prix Europa 2009 and

Translated by Neil Howard

the Hedda-Price (Heddaprisen) for ‘Before the Bell’ (‘Før det Ringer’ at Brageteatret) as the best production for children and young people in the season 2009/10.

Board member of Writers’ Guild of Norway (Norske Dramatikeres Forbund): www.dramatiker.no

217

Reflections on the writing process Liv Heløe The play is written on commission for Theater Junge Generation (DE) and Brageteatret (NO).

Conditions made by the theatres: Max. 4 actors (2 German and 2 Norwegian in the first production). Length 60–70 minutes It felt natural to make the common history of the two countries the starting point. Dramaturg Ina Klose (DE) and I started our work on the theme by reading literature about the war: Krigens barn (War Children) – Kåre Olsen; Dømte kvinner (Convicted women) – Sigurd Senje; Bomber over Dresden (Bombs over Dresden) – a refugee; Kjærligheten har ingen vilje (Love has no will) – Astrid Daaland Leira; Slaktehus 5 (Slaughterhouse 5) – Kurt Vonnegut; Begrav meg stående (Bury Me Standing) – Isabel Fonseca I also dug into my own family story; my aunt married a German soldier and moved to Germany during the war.

A consideration that became most important – in spite of our interest in history – was that the material/ performance should be experienced as being relevant for a young audience today. The text’s ‘here and now’ is therefore today, the main character is a young girl – now.

Romanien people, travelling and living in European countries, have at all times been a ‘theme’, both for the original inhabitants and authorities. Since 2007, when Romania joined the EU (many Romanien people have traditionally lived in Romania), the policy and rhetoric towards Romanien people has become tougher.

‘Thinking Time’ is a play about a European girl – German, Norwegian, French… – and the choice she is given when she meets a Romanien boy. The play deals with the possible gap between the choice made impulsively – by heart – and the choice made after consideration – by using the head; concerning the relationship.

The great-grandmother’s story, 70 years in the past, is meant to mirror the main character’s choice and put her dilemma into an historical context.

218

Salto Mortale (Kombat)

By Kristiina Jalasto & Michaela Zaku聽ansk獺

Commissioned by VAT Theatre Tallinn, Estonia and Theatre Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia First opening Theatre Institute, Bratislava, April 29, 2011

Cast Elena Kolek Spasková, Ludwig Bagin, Ľubo Bukový, Juraj Loj (all SK) Director Kati Kivitar (EE) Set and Costumes Zuzana Hudeková (SK)

Summary Salto Mortale / Salto Mortale Kombat The story takes place in a travelling fun fair which is owned by two families. The first family consists of two parents and two kids – Valter, aged 14 and Anna, aged 12. The second family consists of a mother and her son Oskar, aged 14. The kids go to one particular school during the winter period and travel around with the fun fair for the rest of the year. When they’re travelling, they have to change schools almost once a week and they also have to work after school, selling tickets and helping out around the fun fair.

Valter has reached the stage where he feels like rebelling against his parents. He is not happy with the idea of becoming the owner of the fun fair when he grows up, and there is a lot of tension between himself, his sister and his parents. Valter and Oskar are best friends, but their relationship is ruled by Valter’s dominance. Oskar wants to be like Valter, because there are social differences between the two families.

While Valter’s family can afford the most expensive carousels, Oskar’s mom owns only a few small ones.

Valter is jealous of his sister Anna, who is just becoming a teenager and they are both fighting for the attention of their parents. Anna is a good student and a ‘perfect daughter’. Valter, on the other hand is not doing very well at school and is also causing some trouble, so the parents openly prefer Anna to Valter. Oskar is secretly in love with Anna but is not showing it because of Valter. Instead, he joins in with Valter to tease and bully her.

The fun fair needs some seasonal help and so a 21 year old guy is hired (called either Tristan or Bear) for the summer. He has a great influence on all three kids: for Anna, he is her first big crush, for Oskar, he is the father figure he never had, and for Valter, he represents the free soul outside the ‘prison of the fun fair’. When Anna becomes the favourite of Tristan/Bear and a little sparkle begins between Oskar and Anna, Valter feels more restricted than ever. His actions have always been a bit over the edge but this time they lead to much more serious consequences… © Michaela Zakuťanská, m.zakutanska@gmail.com / Kristiina Jalastro, mialee77@hotmail.com

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Text extract – ONE PLOT, TWO PLAYS SALTO MORTALE

ries. Detergents, sponges, a water hose. Val-

the eighth class! It’s just incredible how

Kristiina Jalasto & Michaela Zakuťanská

ter and Oskar, who should be busy gather-

advanced our educational system is

ing together the above mentioned items,but

these days!

are instead laughing.

Oskar But that’s how the young want to

Characters: Valter, 14 years old

learn these days – through games! Hessler-

Oskar – 13 years old

Valter Hey, who am I? “You are gypsssy

Pissler! Go on, Hessler-Pissler!

Anna – 12 years old

rubishhh with a monkey face. How dare

Valter Is it R?

Tristan – 25 years old

you use wordssss like this in front of the

Oskar Hessler-Pissler!

elderly? When I wassss your age, children

Valter Erm… rotten!

Translated by Kristiina Jalasto and Erik

only ssspoke when they were sssupposssed

Oskar Naughty pants!

Aavisto

to. You can’t imagine, how I have dreamt of

Valter Sh… Shitface!

1.

the day when you are gone from here and

Oskar Eskimoses!

thissss classss can finally sssstudy normally

Valter Solarposes!

once again!”

Oskar Toothache!

Some large and smaller objects, which are

Oskar I am sure when Mrs. Hessler was our

Valter Headset-eater!

covered in dust having been in storage the

age, she was still peeing in her pants!

Oskar Rat-arsed!

whole winter. Strange, colourful items some

Valter “Sssilence please and let’ssss begin

Valter Demon… Demonishious!

with details familiar from childhood memo-

with the word game!” Word game in

Oskar Scavenge snout!

222

ONE PLOT, TWO PLAYS Valter What’s that?

Valter Go yourself! Well, why don’t you?

Valter I don’t know that yet. Some place…

Oskar I don’t know, you figure it out. What

Oskar I can’t.

new.

could it be?

Valter I can’t either.

Oskar But we are going to new places all

Valter Is it a snout that scavenges?

Oskar I know.

the time. Even if they’re already old ones.

Oskar How should I know?

Valter Don’t be such an idiot, then.

Always going to new old places. The whole

Oskar I’m not.

summer long.

Pause.

Valter Scavenge snout!

Valter Well, yes, but we aren’t actually

Oskar You’re a scavenge snout!

going to those places. We go through

Valter Isn’t it just great that we won’t be seeing that Mrs. Hessler, like never and

them. We went there, looking at everything Pause. The boys remember their assignment.

ever and never again?

around there, just like from the small cage from which we mustn’t leave, and then we

Oskar Sure never again.

Valter Maybe I won’t go back at all.

move on, to the next place. But that’s also

Valter Ok, at least for an eternity.

Oskar To where?

the place that we don’t actually go to.

Oskar An eternity that lasts six months.

Valter To Hessler.

Oskar You’re crazy.

Valter That is an eternity. But it would be

Oskar How so?

Valter I’m fed up with this. Aren’t you?

a worse eternity of the six months we had

Valter Just like that.

Oskar I don’t have a choice. And neither do

with Mrs. Hessler.

Oskar And where would you go?

you, so we had better start scrubbing.

Oskar Then go back to Mrs. Hessler.

223

Text extract Valter But what if this scrubbing isn’t

Oskar She said that hopefully I can catch

Oskar How come it’s not the same? I’ve

the thing for me, isn’t the thing I should

up at the next school. She said that there’s

even got better grades than you!

be doing?

still a whole month until the summer break

Valter But that doesn’t count! You don’t

Oskar How is it not your thing? We were

and that I’ll make it somehow. Like always.

have to compete with someone all the

both supposed to do it, the two of us!

What did yours say?

time, and constantly lose too them. It’s

Sharing the work Fifty-fifty!

Valter Nothing. I guess my parents didn’t

completely hopeless! Girls swot, they like to

Valter That’s true, but actually it isn’t really

have time to open it at all. They were

swot! Why should I suffer because of it?

our thing. The thing we should be doing

admiring Anna’s report so much that they

Oskar You’re just not as cute as Anna.

right now, no matter what. It isn’t the thing

almost lost their power of sight.

Valter You think that Anna is cute?

for us at all.

Oskar What did she get this time, for her

Oskar No your parents do, stupid.

Oskar I would like to hear you telling that

excellent excellence?

Valter What do you mean, stupid?

to your dad!

Water fight. After that a wet pause.

Valter I don’t know. It was supposed to be

Oskar You don’t get the joke, do you?

a surprise.

Valter Great joke! Makes you puke!

Oskar What surprise?

Oskar Go on, puke then!

Valter How should I know? I’ve never got

Valter I don’t feel like it.

Valter What did your mom say about your

one of those things, so I still don’t know.

mid-term report?

Oskar I haven’t either.

Valter That’s not the same.

224

Pause. They work on a bit.

ONE PLOT, TWO PLAYS Valter What do you think, what would you

Oskar It’s strange that they don’t do

do if you were not stuck here.

anything to Anna.

ibres and strenght. It’s just a game, of course.

Oskar I don’t know. Probably would be

Valter It doesn’t matter, Anna would fly

Valter Tathathathathathathathat! Phuh!

Oskar Peeeeeeeaaaaaaawwwhhhh!

They shoot from weapons with different cal-

somewhere, bombing Hessler.

away from the same bomb.

Valter That’s quite good!

Oskar Think so?

Oskar She deserves it. Why is she always

Valter Of course. She’s a little angel, isn’t

Anna has appeared from somewhere, she’s

taking it out on us? I would rather be a

she? And angels fly high up in the sky…

licking heartily on a huge lollipop. Anna is

gipsy than someone like her.

Oskar And we would be on their side with

holding a colourful paper bag from which

Valter You know what?

a helicopter…

she’s picking things and placing them in her

Oskar What?

Valter What?

mouth from time to time. She’s observing

Valter I would bomb them all.

Oskar Well, when they’re flying away

the boys who at first don’t notice her. When they do notice her, they get angry.

Oskar Who then?

because of the bomb, Anna and the other

Valter Everybody, the whole school. Let

angels, you know?!

them fly away. It’s their own fault.

Valter Oh, yes! Tatataatatatatatatattataaa!

Valter What you’re staring at, freak?

Oskar That would be quite good. The

Oskar Pabah! Pabah!

Go away!

revenge of the ‘gypsies’.

Tchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Anna Nope.

Valter Yes, the revenge of the most blond

Phhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Oskar Hey, beat it!

gypsies in the world.

Valter Hello!

225

Text extract Oskar Don’t you understand?

Anna It’s that you have to go right away

Anna What can I do? Life is beautiful, if

Anna I can’t leave.

and…

unfair.

Valter What’s wrong with you, then? Have

Valter Right away? We haven’t finished up

Valter Shut up. What do I have to do?

you lost the power of your legs or what?

here yet?

Anna You have to go quickly. You know

Oskar Why can’t you find your way home?

Oskar I can’t do this all by myself!

they don’t like waiting.

Your house trailer is the biggest and it’s

Anna I can see that you have already

Valter When was I supposed to go, then?

there on the right.

finished. Anyway, Valter, you must go to

Anna Now.

Anna I can’t leave. There’s something I

mom immediately and help her do one

Valter How now?

have to tell you.

thing.

Anna Now now.

Valter Then have your say, don’t just stand

Valter What thing?

Valter And stop doing everything I was

there staring ! Well?!

Anna How should I know?

doing here?

Oskar Did you forget?

Valter And what chore did they give you?

Anna Looks like it. Bye!

Anna No.

Anna The chore I am doing right now.

Valter You better…

Anna You better yourself. And now!

Oskar Well?

Valter And what was the chore? To munch

Anna That message for Valter.

yourself to death?

Valter Well?

Anna No. To pass the message on to you.

Valter goes unwillingly. But he hurries,

Anna From Mom and Dad.

Valter Wow that was a tough one.

because he knows he has to. Pause.

Valter WELL? 226

ONE PLOT, TWO PLAYS Oskar What you’re staring at?

Anna keeps eating candy, but she has lost her

Oskar Who then? Why?

Anna Nothing. Weren’t you in the middle

appetite a bit. Oskar is grumpily continuing

Anna Well, we do need reinforcements.

of something?

the task which he has only half completed.

Dad can’t do all the men’s work by himself

Oskar What’s that got to do with you?

anymore. And the big new ride will be here,

Anna It seems to me that these yellow

Anna Do you know why mom needed

thingies over there are still quite dusty. Oh

Valter? (Oskar does not react.) Do you know?

Oskar But who will he hire?

wait, let me look closer. Yeah, very dusty!

Oskar Well?

Anna We don’t know yet. He said he has

Anna Because dad went to town.

already looked around and that some of

Oskar Oh. How very exciting.

them were suitable. But they have to fit in

Pause.

as well.

Anna No, it’s not about the ground permits.

with us, and they need to be able to adapt

Oskar Go away!

It’s something else. Do you want to know,

to our type of life style, you know.

Anna Want some candy?

what?

Oskar Of course I know, dummy. I have

Oskar No, I don’t, just go away.

Oskar Well?

adapted to our type life style quite well.

Anna I wouldn’t have given you any

Anna We need some reinforcements for

Anna You sure have, but normal people do

anyway.

this season.

not. They have to be very flexible.

Oskar I have to finish up here. Get out of

Oskar What?

my way!

Anna He’s going to hire extra people from

Valter arrives. He starts talking whilst

Anna Don’t be so up tight.

the outside.

running.

227

Text extract Valter I was just supposed to lift some

Valter pushes Anna causing her king size

Oskar Because she’s a girl, is good and

boxes, because dad’s not here, he’s gone

lollipop to fall down. Anna picks it up, she

she’s cute. Remember, I told you?

into the town and do you know why?

smiled wider than you would have thought.

Valter I remember. Yes unfortunately I do

Oskar Yes, new people are coming.

Valter How do you know that already?

remember.

Anna I will tell.

Oskar Anna has just told me.

Valter How do you… Hey, who said you

Oskar And you’re not. Not a girl, not cute and not good either.

Anna leaves very slowly, in a calm and

Valter Not good? What do you mean I’m

can stay here anyway? Get out of here for

dignified manner. Valter is livid, trembling

not good?

once and all, and take your smelly candy

with anger.

Oskar I mean even if you are, you are not

with you!

as good as Anna is.

Anna I was allowed to pick one kilo, as my

Valter This can’t be happening. This simply

Valter What?

reward. A whole kilo, of any kind I liked. I

can’t be happening!

Oskar No, I think you are very good. You’re

chose a bit of all the sorts that were on offer.

Oskar What?

that good that you’ll finish this here in less

See, soft candy, chocolate, caramels, candy

Valter She is turning my life into a living

than five seconds. I’ll also help you a little

shaped like little snakes…

hell… This just can’t be happening.

bit. Come on!

Valter Get out here once and for all! Get out,

Oskar It can, it is happening.

you scavenge snout!

Valter But why is it happening? Why?

228

The boys continue their abhorrent work.

ONE PLOT, TWO PLAYS SALTO MORTALE (KOMBAT)

the teacher’s chair with glue! And when she

Oskar Damn! I was supposed to help mom

Michaela Zakuťanská & Kristiina Jalasto

got up, she ripped off the skirt on her ass. It

clean the guns.

A play for teenagers

got stuck to the chair, almost the whole

Valter Guns, guns... these days everyone

Translated from Slovak by Ivan Lacko

thing! Did you know she wears a thong?

just plays Mortal Kombat at home.

Oskar No kidding? Old matrons like that

Oskar I know.

The story takes place at a funfair between

wear thongs?

Valter My folks bought a new centrifuge.

April and October.

Valter How old is she, Oskar?

Oskar What kind?

Oskar Thirty?

Valter It’s so cool. It’s called the Salto Mor-

Characters: Valter, 14; Anna, 12, his sister;

Valter Euugh!

tale. We gotta try it out tomorrow.

Oskar, 14; Bear, 21

Oskar That’s really gross.

Oskar Wow.

Valter You think our moms wear...?

Valter It’s the coolest centrifuge you’ve

Oskar (convinced) No way! Are you crazy?!

ever seen.

Valter Shame you weren’t in school, Oskar.

Oskar Sounds great.

Valter, Oskar

Oskar (striking a hip-hop pose) No regret!

Valter (takes no notice and continues with

Mid-April.

Valter (amused) The last day before leaving,

his story) And the teacher wanted to send

It is afternoon. The boys sit in front of a house

that’s when we have most fun. You can fool

me to the principal’s office and I told her to

painting animals from the children’s arena.

around, whoop it up all you want and they

get stuffed because I wasn’t gonna see her

Valter (talking excitedly) … and I smeared

can do nothing.

for six months anyway. Heh-heh.

1 .The Sigh of the Green Pony

229

Text extract Oskar (worried) Valter, you’ll get a poor

Valter Prove it!

grow up sooner than boys. I’m almost a

grade in manners.

Oskar (hesitates) You want me to leave?

woman. Haven’t you noticed?

Valter So what? And that’s not all. I also beat

Valter No. Paint that pony green.

Valter That big-titted chick dad painted on

up the little hobo gypsy.

Oskar (without self-confidence)

the Ferris wheel, that’s a woman! Not you!

Oskar You’re a hobo.

No problem.

Tell her something about it, Oskar!

Valter I’m not. I don’t give a shit. One more

Oskar starts painting the arena pony green.

Oskar (encouraged by Valter, giggling)

year and I’ll be fifteen, I’ll get an ID and I’ll

Anna enters eating cotton candy.

M&Ms under a blanket!

leave you all. You can come with me.

Anna Hey, boys! Look what I got from my

Anna (indignant) You’re such morons! I

Oskar Oh I don’t know.

folks! The first cotton candy of the season.

never put my M&Ms under the blanket, I’m

Valter You’re chickenshit!

Granny started the machine and is trying

not nine anymore.

Oskar I’m not. It’s just...

all sorts of flavors.

Valter Go home, or I’ll hit you with a rock.

Valter Just what?

Valter It’s for babies like you!

Anna You’re just jealous, Valter! You’d get

Oskar I can’t leave mom alone... and then,

Oskar You’re a baby!

cotton candy too if you got some praise

who knows what it’s like to live an ordinary

Anna You are babies!

from the teacher in your gradebook.

life all the time?

Valter She’s two years younger, let’s leave

Valter Praise? For class activity? I actively

Valter Same as here. You’ll never leave.

her alone. She can’t dig us, she’s a totally

try to avoid any praise. It’s for kinder-

You’re really chickenshit.

different generation.

garteners.

Oskar I’m not...

Anna I guess you have no idea that girls

Anna (angry) Mom and dad already know

230

Kristiina Jalasto & Michaela Zakuťanská what you did to your teacher today. And

Kristiina Jalasto was born 29. January 1985 in Tallinn, Estonia. In

you can bet you’ll get a scolding for it!

2004, she graduated from theatre-specialized high school and spent

When you finish painting the arena, you

two and a half years abroad. After that she worked as a volunteer in

should go help dad load the carousels. So

Brazil, UK and Mozambique. Currently, she is studying Dramaturgy

make it snappy!

at the Estonian Academy of Theatre and Music.

(Anna notices that Oskar is painting the pony green.)

You’re in trouble you two! Big time! Mom!

So far, she has written 14 plays of varying lengths, several of which Michaela Zakuťanská (left), Kristiina Jalasto (right)

have won awards in drama competitions. In 2010, her first book with four drama texts was published. One of her first plays ‘If I wouldn’t

Valter Shut up! (tries to silence her)

exist, the world would be different’ has had already two professional productions and one play, called

It was Oskar!

‘Playlife’, was staged by a school drama group. In 2011, her new play, written in the cooperation with

Oskar Me?

Michaela Zakuťanská from Slovakia in the Platform 11+ project, will be staged in VAT theatre in Tallinn.

Valter leaves.

Oskar Don’t you dare give me away!

Michaela Zakuťanská Born in 1987, Michaela is studying dramaturgy at The Academy of Performing

Anna What’ll be my reward?

Arts in Bratislava.

Oskar I don’t know.

Her debut play ‘Havaj’, a tragicomedy, won second place in the DRAMA 2007 competition. She wrote two

Anna You’ll be a servant to my dolls!

short comedies, that have been produced: ‘Toiletlogues, Supergiros’ (Theatre LAB, Bratislava 2010), ‘Once

Oskar You still play with dolls?

it hit me’ (Mňa kedys’, Studio 12, Bratislava 2010) and a dramatisation of Dostojevskij’s IDIOT (City Theatre,

Anna So what? No, I don’t!

Zilina 2011). She also wrote the play ‘Janosik’ (OO7) and a film script ‘Havaj mene bejbe’ (2009).

231

Reflections on the writing process Kristiina Jalastro I became part of the Estonian Platform team about a year ago when my long-time friend Marion had to give up her position as a dramaturge because of lack of time. As I was still studying in drama school and had almost no practical connection to theatre at the time, I didn’t really know what to expect. Also, this type of a project is not something too common around here so a lot of it was new to me. The educator MariLiis Velberg explained the high hopes and expectations put on me: a dramaturge should be kind of a leader and shoot out creative ideas for educators, artists, directors etc., not to mention the main task of writing a compelling, fresh and touching drama piece. Also, integrating youth work, forum theatre, workshops and so on into the progress of writing the play seemed like quite a challenge. I was not used to hackwork and being asked to think, for instance, of art workshops to help me write the play, seemed as confusing as I can imagine a request for a graphical artist to think of a writing workshop to help him paint would be. However, all of this (for me as a future professional dramaturge, hopefully) was highly instructive to say the least. We visited an 8th grade in a school in Bratislava with my co-writer Michaela Zakuťanská.

It was quite scary, first, but we learned a lot both about the topics that would interest the target group and also the ways in which we should approach the youngsters to capture their attention and interest. Later in Tallinn, eighth-graders wrote some essays on various topics that are also in ‘Salto Mortale’. Mari-Liis and I managed to meet them on two occasions: first, we had a forum theatre workshop which helped me a lot to understand teenagers’ way of thinking, to get an idea about their limits and taboos. I also talked with them about which kind of theatre they would like to see and which kind they would find boring, also about the topics they are interested in etc. On the second meeting, I gave them scenes from ‘Salto Mortale’ to read out loud. This led to very interesting and rich discussions from which I learned that fortunately, the story had touched them and they found it believable and interesting. They also helped to correct the language and slang a bit so it would

232

ONE PLOT, TWO PLAYS

be more teenage-like. In the future, we are hoping to do some more workshops maybe on music and art topics and integrate them to the production even more. These youngsters will probably be also the test audience for ‘Salto Mortale’ in VAT theatre.

The co-writing itself was a challenge similar to those that I have also experienced in my school. Usually, one person tends to be a lot more dominant and controlling over the other, often ruining the possibility to really CO-write something. This can leave the ‘weaker’ side without any motivation to write as everything they do write, gets to be re-written by the ‘strong’ one anyway. This however, was not the case with Michaela. Fortunately, we are almost the same age, and even though we are two very different people and different playwrights, in my opinion we managed to generate ideas and finally make up a story-line quite well together. Of course, we had our moments when we couldn’t agree on something, but I think the general outcome of the plot is the proof of our capability to overcome these differences, make compromises and create a story that should be able to touch people in Estonia, Slovakia and also elsewhere.

Michaela Zakuťanská I have never written with someone else before, so I was excited and scared same time before starting this co-writing process. Kristina and I didn’t take long to find a way to write together. We decided that we would write two different plays with the same plot and characters.

At the beginning, during our first meeting in Tallinn, we were discusing the topics we are both interested in, theatre we like etc.

Kristina came up with very interesting articles and pictures of the kid (young) murders. I think that probably lead to the topic of violence between kids, this is what we chose as one of the most important themes for the story.

233

Reflections on the writing process We were thinking about the environment of the play and we were trying to find the world in which kids act like adults, like mafia wars, soldiers and other games. Somehow we found out the fair trade environment, that is real and same time is kind of fantastic unknown world.

We decided how our characters would be and then in Bratislava we started to make up the story. At that point our opinions weren’t always the same, so there is one part that is different in both plays. We were writing the dialogues on our own, so we made up two different plays with same characters, themes and plot.

Kristina and I had a good time together. Each culture brings something different to the story because in each culture there’s a slightly different way of thinking and looking at the universe.

I was asked if there are cultural differences between us and if so how did they influence the work?

I think there are some cultural differences, but they’re not really big differences. The topic we chose, fair trade, has different connotation in each country. In Slovakia there are families that have been living like this for generations, while in Estonia this is more like fairytale stuff. But basicly...

Maybe Kristina does not have such a big problem about inventing characters who die at the end of the play as I do. But I think she is right, there is death at the end in the most of plays I like. For me that is more difficult. But what I like, and I think we both use this in life and in writing, is humour.

There are rehearsals for the first production coming up soon and I can be part of the production process, as I already was during the rehearsals for the first production of my play ‘Once it hit me’.

234

Babel [Boek der Vergissingen 1-5]

Babel [Book of Errors 1–5]

By Bouke Oldenhof

Commissioned by Theater De Citadel, Groningen, The Netherlands and Elsinor Teatro Stabile d’Innovazione, Milan, Florence, Forli, Italy 1st Opening Theater De Citadel Groningen (NL), April 13, 2011

Summary Babel [Book Of Errors 1–5] The old King Nimrod, the only survivor of the Big Disaster, sees his town Babel growing and growing. Unity is no longer evident. So he decides to build a tower as high as the sky, as a symbol of prosperity and understanding.

What do young Haran, Ylon and Sem think of it? Haran is dreaming of a paradise regained, Ylon is desperate about the vanity of life, and Sem is looking for his own position to Nimrod and the others.

The ancient God, observing that the tower is being built, is irritated, and sends another language to the town of Babel to disturb the building the tower. Despite this friendship and love sometimes bring the inhabitants a bit closer together and the building of the tower goes on. Will it be finished?

Babel [Book of Errors 1–5] is a play for 12–14 years old kids, about the struggle between the longing for understanding and unity on the one side, and the eternal mistrust and the development of individual identity on the other. Humor and bitterness alternate in the playful fantasy based on the biblical story of Babel, written for the cooperation between Teatro Elsinor (Milano) and Theater De Citadel (Groningen).

Although being played in two languages, both the Italian and the Dutch audiences can understand every word of the misunderstanding.

© Theater De Citadel, info@citadeltheater.nl

Cast Lies van de Weil, Sjoerd Meijer (NL), Giuditta Mingucci, Stefano Braschi (IT) / Director Rob Bakker (NL) / Video Boris Stokman (NL)

237

Text extract 6. Second Speech Nimrod

would choose war. Our road leads to the

make an example of Haran who is working

future, everyday will take us farther from

so hard at the tower.

Nimrod Speech

the past that brought us the Great Disaster.

Haran I can only speak in these words, I

Although I am aware that not everybody

Peace, unity, happiness, prosperity,

don’t understand.

understands me, I have a message for all

freedom in our city, our country, our world

Nimrod This city, this tower. Our Haran. I

the inhabitants of Babel. The adults of

and all of that we see in our tower. One

am so proud of you. Tomorrow somebody

before the Great Disaster spoke about

Babel, Babel one. Everybody a flower and a

else perhaps, but today I am making you

languages. Now we know what they mean

garden together. How proud we are of all

the centre of attention. Carry on like this.

with that word. We speak two languages.

our friends who build so hard at the tower.

You are a beautiful young woman. Long

Different languages, but we are one.

What a feast it will be when the tower is

live Babel, long live Haran, long live the

Everything unites us: our past, our future

finished. We are building a tower because

tower.

and more: our city with our tower.

we know that everyday of our future will be

Ylon Bravo!

One Babel, Babel one. Setbacks are there

richer and happier than the day we live in.

Haran You are welcome. I think.

for us to overcome together. Two

Long live progress, long live the future.

Nimrod The end.

languages don’t mean discord. The greater

Haran Sorry.

Sem, where have you come from?

the differences that have to be overcome,

Nimrod Step forward. Haran, you work so

Sem I am glad I don’t understand you. That

the greater the unity. If the road to peace

hard at our tower, I have seen it! Let us all

is better than not getting any answers to

was as easy as the road to war, nobody 238

your questions.

BABEL [BOOK OF ERRORS 1–5] Nimrod I don’t understand you but I am

7. Despair

Ylon What good does it do me if you touch

pleased to hear.

Sem What are you going to do about it?

(Nimrod to Ylon)

me all the time? Keep off.

Nimrod Do you understand me?

Ylon I bet.

Nimrod I don’t mean anything wrong.

What’ll happen to the tower?

Nimrod I’ll have to think first.

You haven’t been very talkative lately.

Ylon Yes, I do.

Nimrod Sometimes it is difficult to talk

(Nimrod hurries off)

Nimrod I thought so. I understand you too.

I mean: sometimes you don’t talk because

Fortunately. We mustn’t be desperate. Why

there is nothing to say and sometimes you

Sem Afraid I will ask you a question you’ll

do you keep silent?

don’t talk because there is too much to say.

understand?

Ylon What should I say?

Ylon Sometimes people don’t talk because

Nimrod Yes, yes. I’ll put my arm around

they have nothing to say and sometimes

you, because you are a good girl and we

they talk too much because they have

should hold each other. We are doing well.

nothing to say. I am not saying anything.

Ylon What are we doing well?

Don’ t touch me.

Nimrod What do you mean?

Nimrod No, of course, We are all, aren’t we.

Ylon What are we doing well?

A little. How can I put this?

Nimrod Good question.

Babel’s faith in itself is doing well.

(silence) 239

Text extract Nimrod We are all a little. Silent. That’s why I am so glad I can talk to you and that we understand each other.

Ylon I can’t be understood at all because I am nothing.

Nimrod But I get that, you understand, that’s why.

Good. Things are going well. And the tower.

Ours. Together.

We’ll go on. We’ll go on.

(Exit Nimrod. Enter Sem with something Ylon wants) Ylon Sem, come here please, Sem. (Ylon kisses Sem and takes what she wanted from him. Ylon off) English Translation by Barbara Sörensen

240

Reflections on the writing process Bouke Oldenhof For the co-writing The Citadel decided to cooperate with Teatro Elisinor from Milano. It is difficult to see such project in any other way than in a European context. The longing for unity and co-operation. But what does that mean, and what is the position of youngsters in that idealism, not aware of the war that was the beginning of the European experiment?

There is a technical problem as well in a bilingual cooperation. How do you handle the two languages? I don’t like the solution of actors speaking English, it would diminish their strength. Suddenly I remembered the first bilingual situation: the Tower of Babel. The parallels with Europe are quite obvious. The flooding of Noah is our Second World War. The growth of Noah’s family in Babel is the European Wirtschaftswunder (Economic Wonder), and the building of a tower to improve unity and avoid wars is the European Union.

How than did I write the play? I was looking for modern positions towards unification, and giving them to characters in Babel. The striving for unity is an adult wish. I invented the idealist Haran, the rebellious Sem and the decadent but desperate Whore of Babel of course. The king of Babel Nimrod is a politician, knowing that conflict could destroy everything built up carefully. No one is right. And of course you need a god, but in the very beginning of the Bible God is far more human than later on.

I was not concerned about plotting, I just wanted a way of telling which one could compare to the stories in the beginning of the book of Genesis. Big steps, not too much psychology. Important for us was the speaking out of the characters. Their positions should be as clear as possible. The suggestions of Rob Bakker for new scenes and improvement of scenes all weren’t about the dramatic structure, but about sharpening the positions of the characters in the play.

Of course I added some style. The way Nimrod speaks follows his intentions. My God should speak as a God of Genesis. Haran speaks naively and optimistically. I hope ‘Babel [The Book Of Errors 1-5]’ is completely different from ‘Frost Damage’.

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Bouke Oldenhof Born in 1957, he wrote his first play in 1991, Rolbrug, about two people in his neighbourhood who after 30 years of attraction and refusal, accepted their fate and started a relationship. The production was nominated for the Proscenium play. A couple of chamber plays followed, e.g. Kooibos (1997), Hanebuurt (1997), Lette Ropping (2005). The main characters of Oldenhof’s plays are unimportant people striving to make something more of their life.

In 1995 the play about the famous Dutch football player Abe Lenstra in the football stadium of Heerenveen attracted attention from Germany to New York. More than 500 actors, football players, musicians, singers and dancers played for an audience up to 10.000 people in the stadium. Thanks to the success of this play Bouke Oldenhof was often asked for texts for big scale productions, such as De engel en de duizend doden (1997), De Heeren van het Veen (2006) and Kinderzegen (2009).

Oldenhof wrote some 15 plays for children and young people, played by groups as De Citadel, Laagland and the theater in Frisian language Tryater. In ‘Niemand spaart mensen’ (1994) a boy analyzing machinery and a girl laying (beschwören) objects from nature astonish each other and finally change roles. It is an example of amazement, which is the base of his plays for young children, A good example of Oldenhof’s plays for teenagers is Medusa (1999). Medusa is the mythical character with the ugly face, who kills everybody she looks at. When she falls in love with Perseus she asks him to kill her, because they’re happy about being in love, but they know the love won’t last when they can’t see each other. The play was awarded the Hans Snoekprijs 2000. Recently Oldenhof adapted Antigone (2008) and Czechovs Seagull (2009) for the Theatre De Citadel.

After a career teaching and developing curricula mother tongue and dramaturgy, Oldenhof has been a full-time playwright since 1999. He is the father of three daughters, and lives in an old farmhouse and pub in the Frisian country side.

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What

Light

By Richard Hurford with Giuditta Mingucci

Commissioned by Pilot Theatre, York, United Kingdom and Elsinor Teatro Stabile D’innovazione, Milan/Florence/ForlÏ, Italy 1st Opening York Theatre Royal, May 11,2011

Summary What Light In 2011 two fourteen year old boys, Jack and Daniel, best friends, argue violently about money and possessions, their families and who is to blame for the economic crisis their country is suffering. Ugly things are said about their families. Vicious opinions and accusations they have heard from their parents and learnt from the media are repeated. Their friendship is destroyed.

Suddenly it is 2061 and Jack and Daniel are old men. The world has been transformed and they live in squalor and poverty in tents in a bleak wilderness. Nothing remains of the world they knew as boys, except their hatred and mistrust, which has become an obsession with the years. Their days are spent in hatred and fear of each other and waiting for good things to fall from the sky or grow on the trees, which is all they remember from their youth.

Each has a grandchild, Sid and Nancy, who have known no other life, but now as they enter adolescence they begin to question their grandfathers’ view of the world and ask themselves why they hate each other so much and why life must be so brutal. Their tents are haunted by the zombie ghosts of global celebrities from 2011, who the grandfathers use to terrorise their grandchildren into accepting the situation. But the young people reject the past and their grandfathers and join forces. They destroy the power of the zombie ghosts and leave to find a better life. The grandfathers remember their boyhood friendship fifty years before and realise this is the world they created through their passive acceptance of the situation in the past and believing the lies they were told about each other. But hope lies in their grandchildren who are doing what they never did – asking questions and taking action.

Š Richard Hurford, richardhurford@blueyonder.co.uk; Giuditta Mingucci (SIAE), giuditta.mingucci@libero.it

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Text extract Cast: 1 female, 3 males

Paparazzi Voices – Eccola! – There she is!

– Signorina Beyoncè, please, girate da ‘sta

Prologue

Paparazzi – What’s the inside story behind your last hit record?

parte ! Magnifica Miley… ancora una… così…

Auntie Miley Look at the stars. See how

così… fantastica! – Mister Jay-Z, qual è la

they sparkle.

2011.

sua opinione sulla crisi economica? – Your

Paparazzi – What’s the secret to being so

Darkness. Suddenly a burst of paparazzi

opinion on the economic crisis…

cool? – So glamorous? – So fantastico?

voices and camera flashes, which illuminate

Uncle Jay-Z Hey, baby, just be cool.

Uncle Jay-Z You just need an i-Phone.

the faces of the celebrity aunties and uncles

Paparazzi Beyonce, tell us your secret

Paparazzi – Sorridi, Miley! Smile!

beauty tips. – Sei bellissima!

Aunties We’re your inspiration.

– Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Jay-Z, Kylie Minogue, Joe Jonas. At this point the

Auntie Beyonce Hey, sugar, it’s so easy.

Paparazzi – Miss Kylie, turn for the

celebrities are perfect – just as they appear in

Follow us.

cameras!

their airbrushed, touched up, posed publicity

Paparazzi – What do you think about

Auntie Kylie You just need a Gucci bag.

shots and videos.

poverty in Africa?

Paparazzi – Miss Kylie, this way please!

The paparazzi voices are a combination of

Auntie Kylie Just follow the light.

Uncles Your aspiration.

Italian, English translations in Italian accents,

Paparazzi – How do you keep your skin

Paparazzi – What do you think about social

American accents. It is all inspired by the

looking so young? – And your eyes so

justice in the United States? – And global

paparazzi scene in La Dolce Vita.

bright…

warming?

Uncle Jonas Watch us.

Uncle Bieber You just need a play-station.

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WHAT LIGHT Paparazzi – Mister Bieber, what do women

Nancy Grandpa was right. You lot are

Sid It was my Grandpa . But he’s not right

want in bed?

thieves. Always was, always will be.

in the head, so –

Aunties Ambition.

Sid Don’t kill me.

Nancy Huh, I know that. Crazy old bugger.

Nancy Why not?

Thinks Stuff drops out of the sky.

Sid Because I’m dirty.

Sid I know.

Nancy I know. You stink.

Nancy Really crazy old bugger shit.

Sid Dirty and full of diseases.

Sid Yeah? Crazy old bugger shit like

Nancy Just like Grandpa said.

thinking Stuff grows on trees?

Sid So if you eat me, you’ll get sick and die.

Nancy Hey, it had to come from

Sid climbs over the barbed wire fence and

It’s just not worth it.

somewhere, didn’t it?

approaches the animal carcass. He hunches

Nancy Who says we eat people?

Sid So maybe it came from the sky.

…

Scene Three 2061

down and begins to gnaw at it like a wild

Sid There’s no need to get angry. Please

Nancy And maybe it came out of your

animal, blood smearing his face. Suddenly

don’t get angry.

Grandpa’s backside.

hair and puts the knife to his throat.

She presses the knife into his throat.

where it went.

Nancy Hungry, scum boy?

Nancy Who?

Dirty thieves!

Sid Wherever it came from we all know

Nancy is behind him. She grabs him by the

Nancy Oh yeah, we know that for sure.

Sid Let me go!

Sid Stinking robbers!

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Text extract Nancy Scrounging tramps!

Grandpa Jack It was where we lived. It was

Grandpa Jack So that you could get a good

Sid Grabbing scum!

called a house.

job, be part of the world.

Nancy Stick it up your hole!

Nancy What’s a house?

Nancy A job? The world? What else?

Sid Stick it up yours!

Grandpa Jack Walls – roof – a front door – rooms. Rooms filled with Stuff.

Sid More!

Grandpa Dan You’re confusing me, boy.

They both retreat to their tents. Rain engulfs

Nancy What sort of Stuff?

Nancy Where did it all come from?

the scene.

Grandpa Jack It’s a long time ago. I can’t

Grandpa Jack It just was.

remember.

Grandpa Dan It just came.

Nancy Tell me!

Sid Where did it all go?

…

Sid School? What’s school?

Scene Seven Split scene between both camps – the

Grandpa Dan Everybody went. All the kids.

Grandpa Dan & Grandpa Jack point at each

It was the law.

other’s camps.

Sid What’s law?

Grandpas emerge from their tents, pursued

Nancy What did you do in school?

Grandpa Dan & Grandpa Jack There!

by Sid and Nancy, who shout questions at

Grandpa Jack Lessons. Reading, writing,

Grandpa Dan They took it all, dirty thieving

them. The Grandpas are confused and

maths, languages and science. We learned

scum.

frightened

everything there was to learn.

Grandpa Jack They stole the lot.

Nancy Why? 248

WHAT LIGHT Dragging the Dead Aunties and Uncles with them, they attack each other’s tents, tearing them apart. The frenzy dies down as they find nothing. They scream at each other from the wreckage.

Grandpa Dan Where is it all, you old thief?

Grandpa Jack What did you do with it, you old bastard?

Sid We never had it.

Nancy We never had anything ‌ Cast Chris Towner-Jones, Sean Wildey, Daniel Cameron, Lynsey-Anne Moffat / Director Katie Posner / Designer Ilaria Ariemme / Light Alexander Morgan / Music arranged by Christopher Madin

249

Reflections on the writing process Giuditta Mingucci and Richard Hurford We began our writing partnership when we met for the first time in Berlin in 2009. Initially, it was the discovery that we had much in common in our ideas about art and theatre that drew us together and the Platform 11+ co-writing project provided us with the opportunity to explore this.

For two different writers living in two different countries it has been a challenge, but after working together for eighteen months in Hungary, Germany, Portugal, Italy, the UK and the international territory of the internet, we produced our first collaboration - What Light.

We began by sharing our impressions and experiences of our two countries and cultures, searching for common ground to inspire a piece of contemporary theatre which would speak with both our voices to young people in Italy and the United Kingdom. We already knew we connected personally, intellectually and artistically, but that was instinct. Now we had to really get to know each other, to find out how we worked and a way to combine our methods and our voices. That all takes time, perhaps more time than we expected, and a willingness to experiment. There was a lot of learning through trial and error, but you have to go through that process before finding a real understanding.

We began working via the internet, writing in chat programmes, communicating as different characters. That was useful, exciting and a very effective way to get a feeling for each other’s writing and how we sparked off each other. However, it didn’t really inspire us creatively, so we continued our search.

There were of course cultural differences between us, both as individuals and in terms of the way theatre operates in each of our countries.

We had to examine our usual working practices in order to share them with each other and this was a process of self-discovery as well. Suddenly we were aware of the differences between us as writers and this was an important discovery. We decided it was essential that both our

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Reflections on the writing process voices, our individuality, were apparent in the text. We didn’t want it to feel like ‘mud’ made from mixing us both together, but something new created by placing our work side by side, in different patterns, while retaining the sense of two different writers at work.

At the centre of our artistic journey was the quest to find out what language we could work in together. This was never simply question about Italian or English, although obviously that had an impact given that we both speak English, but only one of us speaks Italian.

However, it’s not ultimately about linguistic issues, but rather about finding a shared artistic language. We used books, films, plays, music, performers and videos on youtube a lot as reference points in our discussions and now it is clear that is really the language we share. That’s how we communicate as artists.

For instance in the final drafts of What Light, it was Giuditta’s inspiration to bring La Dolce Vita into the mix that brought it all together for us, that combined us as writers and brought Italy and the UK together in the text.

During our process we realised that something that linked the experience of young people in both our countries – and indeed in many European countries and beyond – was the global economic crisis, the new austerity and an uncertain future ahead. What Light examines the world today’s teenagers have grown up in, what attitudes and influences they have been shaped by and how this might affect the world they will soon be in control of.

What Light is a dramatic fantasy about an ugly future inspired by the present. It imagines the world in fifty years time based on certain realities of the world now. It is a play about responsibility and change and the importance of understanding both the consequences of our actions and the dangers of doing nothing. It’s a dark vision of a future that could happen and a call to the coming generation to act together now to make sure it never does.

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Giuditta Mingucci & Richard Hurford At the centre of What Light are the themes of solidarity and generosity and what can happen when we challenge our assumptions about the world, other people and ourselves. Things that make us different can lead to isolation and mistrust if we let them, but they can also make us powerful together if we combine them in the right way. It’s no coincidence that these same themes are reflected in our co-writing experience.

Giuditta Mingucci Born in Rimini, she graduated with honours in Classical Literature at the University of Bologna. She has worked professionally as an actress since 1997 and in 2000 she joined Elsinor Teatro Stabile di Innovazione. Her playwriting activity began on the stage, as part of her work of actress and theatre pedagogue.

Richard Hurford is a British theatre and radio playwright, Associate Writer with Pilot Theatre, York and has written for many companies throughout the UK including York Theatre Royal, Sheffield Theatres and the BBC and creative collaborations with theatre partners across Europe. His many plays for children and young people include dramas, comedies, fantasy, classic stage adaptations and plays with music. He has worked extensively as a dramaturge and mentor on theatre, radio and online writing projects for young people, developing new scripts and writers and also created many large-scale, site-specific youth theatre productions performed in a range of public spaces.

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pirat07& QueenOfLove A Comic-Style Story

By Petr VodiÄ?ka and the collective of actors

Commissioned by Theatre Alfa, Pilsen, Czech Republic and Theatre O Bando, Palmela, Portugal 1st Opening Theatre Alfa, Pilsen, March 14, 2011

Summary pirat07&QueenOfLove A comics-style story about one fateful meeting that had to take place twice.

Karel, or Kájínek as his mother calls him, likes to draw maps. However, they are the sort of maps you won’t find in an atlas. They are charts that can only be used for navigating in one place, the virtual world of the internet. Karel lives alone with his mother. Since his mother isn’t at home very often, she doesn’t even notice that Karel is already thirteen. She treats him like a child, or else she isn’t there. And to cap it all, Karel’s girlfriend starts going out with his arch enemy… All of which makes it better to stay on the internet, in a virtual identity.

T. or Teresa, on the other hand, lives alone with her father. That is not good, since he is a dinosaur who has no idea what unhappiness T. suffers in the name of love. Her unrequited love for an ideal man named Zeca can only be cured by another, much stronger passion. One that she can experience with someone who is a real pirate. And so pirat07 and QueenOfLove meet somewhere in the virtual world, although he is Czech and she is Portuguese.

They spend a nice time in their virtual indentities. Conquering new worlds, dance in the air, even virtual wedding, so they could be man and wife. And they had Cote d’Azur, the place which they made new home. The colors are different in this fantasy world compared to the reality with which one has to live every day. In time their existence became virtual and their bodies walked in reality without life.

Cast Blanka Luňáková (CZ), Marta Abreu (PT), Raul Atalaia (PT), Milan Hajn (CZ) / Direction Petr Vodička (CZ) / Set Jan Bažant / Animation Vojta Marek / Music Tomáš Vychytil & Dalibor Mucha / Choreography Ludmila Čermáková

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Summary Luckily, one day a chance comes up to go to the real Cote d’Azur. It was in the holiday catalogue and Karel’s mother agreed to go. Also Teresa convinced her father, so the dream journey came true. And it was really a journey for change, although nobody may have noticed. But after thousands of kilometers there is something new between children and parents.

The meeting in France was… not successful. Without their virtual identities, there was no big love. It’s a pity, that you have to travel thousand of kilometers just to find out. But the parents apparently found themselves liking each other. And Karel’s dream of steering a catamaran became true. And Teresa learned a big portion of the French language with the beach boys. So, in the end, it wasn’t so unsuccessful. And Karel and Teresa have become good friends since then.

This story of love in a virtual world is inspired by comics, and tries to find a narrative form that brings this literary genre into the theatre. The result is not only comics-style poetics, but art design that rustles with paper drawings.

The production was created as part of the Platform 11+ project as a co-production between Alfa Theatre and Theatro O Bando (Portugal).

© ALFA theatre, http://www.divadloalfa.cz/kontakt.php

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PIRAT07&QUEENOFLOVE QueenOfLove – Té in the virtual world

And who are you?

Queen leaves. The virtual world disappears,

FunnyGuy FunnyGuy. Huh!

and the romantic spot in the countryside

Queen Again? Ok.

appears.

The projection shows the creation of

They dance.

QueenofLove on the internet. Her breasts

Queen Girls! I want to show you something.

…

Karel thinks about Květa

are at least twice the size of Teresa’s. The

This is my BOYFRIEND!

The doors into Karel’s room. A peculiar

online party begins.

A picture of Zeca, FunnyGuy in front of him.

rhythmic squeaking can be heard.

Breastygirl Funny Guy?

His mother appears with huge ears. She is

Queen Whoo! Anybody wants to join the

Queen No. (kicks FunnyGuy away)

listening behind the door. The door changes

club? (the tubby Tinygirl appears)

It’s ZECA!

into a big keyhole, behind which Karel can

Who are you?

The girls are blown away. They express

be seen. His mother tries to look inside.

Tinygirl Tinygirl!

their admiration for QueenOfLove, bow

When she turns round, her eyes are huge.

Queen Great! Tinygirl, hello! Anybody else?

down to her and wish her happiness. They

(the flat-chested Breastygirl appears)

leave, and QueenOfLove is alone with the

Mother Again. He won’t stop. Kájínek!

Who are you?

picture of her chosen one. We hear her

We find ourselves in the kitchen. Karel enters.

Breastygirl I am Breastygirl.

father’s voice.

Karel Mum! Why have you got such big

Queen Oh, yeaah, Breastygirl! Anybody

Otec Teresa!

ears?

else? (FunnyGuy appears)

Mother All the better to hear you with.

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Text extract Karel And why have you got such big eyes?

Meeting in the virtual world

Karel’s mother’s voice is heard, calling him.

QueenOfLove appears. In the background is

Pirat07 Oh, I have to go.

a door. A crowd can be heard, shouting

Té’s fathers voice is heard, calling her.

Mother All the better to see you with. I know everything!

Karel Mum! Were you listening behind the door?

“QueenofLove!” Queen goes to the door and

Queen Me, too!

Mother What made you think that? Wait

opens it. We see a crowd of smilies.

Pirat07 See you soon, my love.

until it breaks. That’ll be the end.

Suddenly the shadow of a man appears. It is

Queen Yes, ASAP. Good bye.

Karel But I thought I’d only get hairy

Pirat07.

hands!

The Côte d’Azur disappears. Karel’s room

Mother Hairy hands? From bouncing on

Queen Who are you?

the bed? Do you know how expensive

Pirat07 I am Pirat07. And you?

mattresses are today? Jump if it makes you

Queen I am QueenOfLove.

happy... But take it out onto the lawn in

Pirat07 Would you join a trip with me?

front of school or the playground or into

Queen I don’t know. (She falls into his arms)

the yard, I don’t know... (she goes out).

Where?

Karel gets a message

Pirat07 Oh. To… Côte d’Azur!

Karel Květa! (he runs out)

The Côte d’Azur appears and Pirat07 dances

…

with QueenofLove on it.

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appears.

PIRAT07&QUEENOFLOVE Petr Vodička REHEARSING PIRAT07&QUEENOFLOVE Director’s notes Assignment Work on the co-production started for me with a simple assignment. Besides the fact that both the play’s target audience and source material were children aged between 11 and 15, all that was clear to start with was the casting. It was my task to create a production with two Portuguese and two Czech actors.

Choice of subject, genre, style – co-workers After discussions with our Portuguese partners our source of inspiration for the production became the internet and comics as a stylistic element.

The theme of the production became the phenomenon of communication and fantasy on the internet, and the related danger of addiction.

In terms of narrative method and artistic concept, I decided to try and create a comic book on stage. This is seen both in the way in which the production is divided up, and in the emphasis on metaphor and hyperbole during the narration.

I thus asked Jan Bažant, a well-known comics artist and also set designer, if he would work on the project. I also addressed the musical duo Dalibor Mucha and Tomáš Vychytil, whose theatre work is mostly inspired by contemporary music.

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Reflections on the writing process Rehearsal preparation The set designer and I tried to create a kind of ‘playground’, a place that would have its own rules and would allow us to work without a firm text. We agreed that (partly for reasons of mobility), the set would consist of a simple proscenium with two white boxes as universal ‘furniture’. The chief versatile element would be a projection on to the background. Roles other than those of the children and their parents would be created using flat masks, as if cut out of paper. In this way we created a kind of 3minus1D theatre technology, which provided sufficient universality.

Raul and I also tried to create a source of material that could be drawn on during our work without a set text. Without letting ourselves be limited by the main subject of the production, we collected material relating to children aged between 11 and 15. We collected various motifs and information covering such things as their relationship with authority, awakening sexuality, sense of justice, their relationship with their parents and issues relating to the absence of one of the parents at this age.

Before starting to rehearse, on the basis of this material and the cast, I prepared the basic situation from which the play would develop. This was the existence of two incomplete families, one Portuguese and one Czech. The text could not be available in advance, and so I drew up at least a synopsis of the story, on which rehearsals could be based.

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PIRAT07&QUEENOFLOVE Rehearsals At the start, we had to work out how we were going to communicate. There were two possible ways: English, as a universal language, but one which not everyone knew equally well, and French, which three of the five people involved knew. In the end, French appears in the production, as well as English, Czech and Portuguese.

Rehearsals included not only acting work, but a large degree of authorship. The whole story had to be built, in a certain way that I had explained at the first meeting. This occurred by means of the collective creation of short pictures, placed one after another in film style, or rather comics style, rather like the different pages or pictures in a comic strip.

This comics-style perception of and reworking of reality did not come naturally to everyone, and it was not always easy to orient oneself in it. I thus wanted to create a model section that would help the actors to adopt a style and working method that was a little more specific, and would require greater authorship in the sense of the creation of the whole story, not just its narration. This work was slightly more technical, but it required the whole production to be sufficiently well worked-out beforehand, since the masks and other props were made as we went along, and above all we needed to get the whole projection part ready.

After this stage, I think, the actors realised that they were the co-authors of the production in its wider sense, and the rehearsals became a combination of thinking up specific stage action and the polishing of pictures that were already there.

The result was a production lasting about fifty minutes, made up of self-devised performances by all the participants. Reactions to it have been positive, from adult audiences and above all from the schoolchildren who have seen it in Pilsen. It appears to deal, in a sufficiently entertaining form, with issues that are experienced not only by children but also by their parents.

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Petr Vodička Petr Vodička Born in Prague 1974. He graduated from Academy of Performing Arts, Prague, Faculty of Alternative and Puppet Theatre as an actor.

Simultaneously, he studied directing and dramaturgy at the same school.

Between 1999 and 2008 he was engaged as an actor in the Theatre Minor in Prague, and since 2003, has also worked as a professional director with strong emphasis on author text preparation.

He made performances in various Czech theatres, for example Alfa in Pilsen, Naivni divadlo Liberec, Minor Prague, West Bohemia Theatre Cheb and others. At present Petr works as freelance actor, director, playwright, puppetry-lecturer and occasionally organizes artistic performances at commercial events. He writes also lyrics and has his own band called ‘The Orchestra of the Final Day’.

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Stories Schoolyard

from Ibero America

Five short plays

Selected by ATINA from the Ibero American Playwrights Contest 1st Opening at Universidad Popular de Belgrano (Buenos Aires/AR) March 12, 2010

Summary Nuevas practices comerciales

New Business Transactions

By Carlos de Urquiza

New Business Transactions talks about a new situation that frequently happens among adolescents nowadays: the exchange of some kind of benefit (a night club ticket, a drink, a homework, etc.) for oral sex. The research, in this case was based on news published in newspapers or in the Internet which mentions this new behavioural trend taking place in different cities in Latin America.

In the play, a third-year girl and a fifth-year boy from a high school are answering the headmistress’s questions and these answers are being recorded. They were discovered in a very serious situation: the girl had offered the boy oral sex in exchange for being able to copy his homework which he had prepared some years before. As the boy accepted they met in the bathroom to complete the exchange. His mates, knowing about what would happen, were there and filmed the situation. They were caught and now both of them are at the point of being expelled from the school.

Surprisingly, the boy and the girl are excellent students. They are not expected to have attitudes like this. During the questioning, they confess to feeling guilty for having asked for the homework, but not for having oral sex. This is not love, nor technically sex. They are even surprised with the significance that adults give to the situation.

The headmistress, who we never see and is presented like a voice in off, puts more and more pressure on them, up to the point where they begin to fight and cry and confess. But the boy, angry, makes his statement, facing the headmistress: Adults use to make all kind of School WC: New Business Transactions by Carlos de Urquiza / Performers Celeste Martinez & Julian Sierra / Director Marcus Romer (UK)

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NEW BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS transactions. They buy and sell everything, why not them? He says: you taught us this. We are now doing the right thing. Now we are ‘adapted’.

Throughout the play the lack of communication and comprehension between adults and youngsters is always present. In a certain way it is possible to see how the adolescents create their own defense mechanisms to face up to the adult world and how the system drives them to desperate reactions. © ATINA, info@atina.org.ar

Lucrecia and Marcelo are being questioned

would be expelled. That he was trying to

Marcelo Espindola to perform a fellatio in

by the headmistress. The Headmistress

get in College… But finally I convinced

return for the essay?

voice is in off. They are under an intense

him and he brought me the essay the

Lucrecia (answers quickly) NO! I just

light and their answers are being recorded.

following day.

promised him a blow job!

Voice Zamora, how did you convince him?

(pause)

Lucrecia He was afraid to get in trouble

(pause)

Marcelo (to Lucrecia, whispering) It’s the

if anyone found out. He said that he was

Voice I can’t hear you! Either I am deaf or

same thing.

about to graduate from high-school, and

you, kids, don’t want to answer. We don’t

Lucrecia What is the same thing?

he didn’t want to take the risk for a 3rd

know everything, but we do know how

Marcelo Fellatio and blow job are the

grade asshole. He told me that if he gave

you convinced Espindola to bring you

same thing.

me the essay and anyone found out, he

the essay. Miss Zamora… Did you promise

Lucrecia Oh!.. I didn’t know that

266

Text extract (to the Voice) Yes…a fallatio…

prove that the one that she had given in

Voice I’m not talking about that. We already

Voice (recovered) You mean, that the deal

was exactly like the one that I had handed

know that. Don’t make me waste my time.

was oral sex in return for the essay?

in two years ago. She laughed and told me

Lucrecia Then… if you mean the fallatio…

Marcelo Yes

to relax, that she always kept her promises.

Voice Fellatio, Miss Zamora, fellatio. Please,

Lucrecia No

Voice And then?…

at least pronounce the words properly.

Voice You don’t seem to agree.

(pause)

Lucrecia But I’m not familiar with that

Lucrecia I promised to do that only if

Voice And then what happened?

word. I have always called it a blow job,

Estevez promoted me.

Marcelo What everyone knows…

everyone does. “Give me a blow job…”. “I’ll

Voice Mr Espindola, you made a deal as far

Voice We want you to tell us and we want

give you a blow job”. “In return for a blow

as I’m concerned.

to record it on this tape. It’s not enough

job…”

Marcelo Yes

that we already know. The school is going

(pause)

Voice Are you that silly Espindola? How did

through this shame because of you, and

Voice (with clear effort) Then you kept your

you know that once she passed the essay

we need your confession. What happened

promise and gave Mr Espindola a ‘blow

she would keep her promise?

next?

job’?

Marcelo I told her that we would make a

Lucrecia The blind Estevez had no choice

Lucrecia Sure. I always keep my promises.

deal but if she went back on her promise, I

than pass the essay.

would accuse her of stealing the essay and

Voice And then?

handing it in as her own. And that I could

Lucrecia She passed it!

…

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Reflections on the writing process Carlos de Urquiza In the case of ‘New Business Transactions’ it wasn’t simple to conduct direct research. I didn’t think it would be possible to show up in a schoolyard asking the girls if they gave oral sex to their classmates in exchange for homework or other services; or asking the boys if their classmates gave them oral sex in exchange of their favors.

I didn’t think I would receive true answers. The girls would probably refuse to answer, even if they had done it, and the boys would probably boast about having it even though it wasn’t true.

So, I resorted to journalistic reports that talked about events which had become public. When I started looking for news on the internet on this topic, I discovered, with no little surprise, that it was a phenomenon that not only occurs in our country but in many other Latin American countries (I don’t know if there are cases in European countries).

It also became apparent to me that the participants didn’t have any guilt feelings about what had happened, furthermore, it was taken as a trivial fact, without much importance. I believe that the young people were even surprised, in many cases, with the significance of trading homework for oral sex.

268

Carlos de Urquiza Carlos de Urquiza Carlos works as theatre director, actor, teacher and playwright. Between 1973 and 1983 he was the General Director of the Catarsis theatre group and since 1983 he’s been the general director of the Buenos Aires theatre group.

As a teacher, he runs the Theatre School at the Universidad Popular de Belgrano.

He is the President of ATINA (Argentine Independent Practitioners in Theatre for Children and Young People Association), member of ASSITEJ International, and he also serves as General Coordinator of the Ibero American ASSITEJ Centers and Theatre Workers Network.

He is the President of the Universidad Popular de Belgrano ‘Alfredo Fazio’ and Popular Librar. He is also a member of ARTEI (Argentine Independent Theatre Association). carlosdeurquiza@iberoamericateatral.com.ar / carlosdeurquiza1@yahoo.es www.upebe.com.ar / www.atinaonline.com.ar / www.carlosdeurquiza.com.ar

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Summary Eva, la madre que te matriculó

Eve, The Mother Who Enrolled You

By Irma Borges & Óscar Escribano

The text: Eva, The Mother Who Enrolled You, appeared from the need of sharing the doubts and questions that came up to a group of teenagers between 14 and 17 years old during the time they spent playing in a classroom one afternoon, in the Social Center ‘Isla de Cuba’ in the city of Alicante, Spain.

The question posed by one teenager from the group while they were in the classroom, referring to the origin of life on earth, led to a debate between her and three other classmates, as shown in the recordings we made.

The real scenario from which we start off is similar to the one that is sketched in the play: a classroom during the break, where boys and girls can’t go out because it is raining. Some of these kids ask to stay in another classroom where the games are.

On the other side, another topic that is presented in the play came up from a conversation between that same group of teenagers in the days before Christmas: the reflections about the biblical couple Mary and Joseph. From that point we used that topic to develop our investigation.

Both the question and the reflections travelled to a different country and to two groups of kids with the same age, which has brought great wealth to the play.

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EVE, THE MOTHER WHO ENROLLED YOU

After the recordings, and to go more deeply into the subject, we developed a little research around the same topic in two educational centers in the city of Barcelona, Spain, the CEIP ‘Els Xiprers’ situated in the outskirts of the city and the Open Teenage Center ‘Spai8’ situated in the center. Both places had a very different population: the first one with middle class teenagers and the second one with teenagers in risk of social exclusion from a neighborhood of immigrant population.

Taking all the different conversations from the teenagers we recreated them, restructured them and integrated them in one place and one group, giving rise to the characters in Eve, the mother who enrolled you, once the documentation process was finished.

During the play, a group of teenagers discuss the origin of life, religion and values while they play different games to help pass the time on a rainy day. Some of them have religious faith, others a lot of information, other ones great confusion. The moral or religious values they learn from adults, or the values they reject, are reflected in the play. Through their discussions, the audience becomes aware of the teenagers’ relationships with one another and their roles within the group.

© ATINA, info@atina.org.ar

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Text extract Carlos History. Who was born first: Adam

Dani Well, I was told it was like that. That

Carlos Correct!

or Eve? Let’s see if you know this…

the guy opened his leg (he acts like he is

Jorge Yes! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!

Jorge Eve, certainly! Women have to come

actually opening his leg) and his son was

(He stands up and starts jumping all around

first, how are men supposed to be born

born from there.

the room)

otherwise?

Carlos (reading the question again, pestered)

Astrid What a fucking game! That answer is

Paula That’s wrong, Jorge! Adam was

History. Who was born first: Adam or Eve?

not true. That story about Adam and Eve is

born first!

Astrid None of them, because they didn’t

just that, a story, not history. It’s my turn.

Jorge You don’t know anything! Let me

actually exist.

Jorge (Taking the die from her)

answer.

Carlos (getting really bored)

I bet that if I ask the history teacher he’ll…

Paula Even my little brother knows that!

History. Who was born first: Adam or Eve?

Astrid (Trying to get the die back)

Can’t you see? Eve came out of Adam’s rib.

Jorge Well, the…

You’d better ask the literature teacher, man,

Jorge No, Paula. Listen to me or we’ll lose.

(Paula shakes her hands in a silent “No” and

‘cause all those things are just stories made

Dani (changing pieces on the chessboard)

Jorge hesitates)

up by Christians.

Actually the Greeks have another theory,

Carlos (emphatic) History. Who was born

Paula Well, I do believe it. They were the

Jorge. They say that Zeus’ son was born

first: Adam or Eve?

first ones and we all come from them,

from his father’s leg.

Jorge Carlos, shut up!

because Adam ate that apple, which was

Astrid Dani, the one who was born from

(Serious as if he were sitting for an exam)

you know…

Zeus’ head is Athena. For God’s sake!

The answer is Adam.

Dani (shouting) Check!

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EVE, THE MOTHER WHO ENROLLED YOU Carlos Which was what?

Astrid You are the one who didn’t know!

Paula Sure!

Jorge (looking at Astrid) Well, the little apple

Shut up at once, jerk!

Carlos Then we are all siblings?

you’ve got between your two legs.

Paula Let me go on, Dani… And then, God

Paula Yes. That’s why in mass they say ‘love

Astrid (trying to hit Jorge) Jorge, stop it!

told them: ‘You can eat whatever you want,

each other, siblings’

Paula Well that, God put them there, in

except the fruit of that tree’

Astrid Yes, and what about Darwin’s theory

paradise. First he put Adam and as he was

Jorge And the tree was Eve’s legs… and the

about the evolution of species?

feeling lonely (looking at Jorge), Adam

fruit (licking his lips) you know…

Carlos Darwin? Who was that guy?

went and told God: ‘God, I feel lonely, very

The girls Jorge!

Dani That one, the one who said we all

lonely, let’s see if you can bring Astrid

Paula Jorge you are so disgusting! Let me

come from the monkeys.

to me.’

finish. Eve convinced Adam to try the fruit

Carlos Then Adam and Eve were monkeys,

Astrid Paula, stop it!

and then God threw them out of paradise.

don’t you think?

Paula All right, all right. Well, poor Jorge, I

Dani He might be disgusting, but he is

Astrid Now you’ve fixed it! God, you are

mean, poor Adam, was there all by himself

right. The fruit was… you know.

so silly!

and then God arrived and took one of his

(He acts like a seducer woman)

Carlos What’s wrong with that?

ribs in order to create Eve.

Women are always the ones to blame for

Jorge I think it is logical.

Dani (Getting closer to Astrid) See? I was

everything.

Paula Sure! If we join both theories, then

right. Men came first! Didn’t you know?

Carlos Then, up to your theory, we are all

Adam and Eve should be monkeys!

sons of that woman called Eve? 273

Reflections on the writing process Irma Borges & Oscar Escribano Our research took place on a rainy afternoon in the city of Alicante with a group of teenagers who were playing in their classroom. The question was brought up by one of the girls who referred to the origin of life. This sparked a debate between her and some of her companions, and led us to develop this work. With their consent, we started to do audio recordings of their ideas on this theme. These recordings later became the material that led to the play. We took this opportunity to convey the original question to other groups of the same age in a different city: Barcelona. Of these groups, one with a strong multicultural base came up with diverse and different views about the proposed debate. Reviewing the discussions of these adolescents, recreating, restructuring and integrating them all in one place and in the same group, was what helped create the characters of ‘Eva, the mother who enrolled you’. This work is the result of research into one of the recurring questions for all humans: where do we come from?

Teenagers’ questions also are raised in a period so full of uncertainty.

Irma Borges Born in Caracas on February 12th, 1976. Playwright, actress and theater director. Irma has worked in professional theater and puppet companies for children in Venezuela and Spain. She worked for four years in a puppet project which aimed to raise awareness about the integration of children with disabilities in Cataluña, Madrid and Andorra. She works as a theater teacher at different educational institutes.

She has written children’s plays: Street Dog (Special mention in the Puppet Drama Competition at Venezuela’s Central University in 2000 and published in the Venezuelan Anthology of Children’s Dramaturgy ‘40 Authors Searching for a Child’) and Cirque de Madera (Special

274

Irma Borges & Oscar Escribano mention in the Script Competition for Children: Aquiles Nazoa of the José Ángel Lamas Foundation 1999). The poems: he likes me, he likes me not, (special mention in the poetry contest for children Rugeles Manuel Felipe Venezuela 1999)

She has adapted puppet shows and circus plays such as Circus Klezmer, Pin Ups (2004), and Tarara (2008).

She works as both director and playwright at the Theater Company DejaVu in Barcelona-Spain.

Oscar Escribano Oscar Escribano was born in Alicanteon 30 June 1975. He is a teacher specialized in elementary education. Oscar is also a counselor for teenagers and director of leisure activities. He conducts two graduate courses on creativity in relation to education and has published articles and given lectures about working with ‘adolescents-in-risk’ at different universities in Spain.

He has worked as a teacher in various schools and also as an educator in different Spanish towns on projects about intervention with adolescents who have social exclusion problems.

He combines this work with his work in the creative field. He is the artistic director of the Sarabande company from Elche, actor and technician in Teatro DejaVu, Barcelona and visual arts artist at many international competitions (I, II and III International Meeting on Urban Art Arte Acción Plaza, Argentina, International Exhibition of Young Artists StripArt, Barcelona; Propuestas Plásticas, Alicante). He is currently studying Social and Cultural Anthropology in his home town, Barcelona, and working on various creative projects.

275

Summary No quiero ser el Che Guevara

I Don’t Want To Be Che Guevara

by Gabriel Fernández Chapo

In the bathroom of a private school, Martin, dressed in a strict uniform, calmly smokes a cigarette during the break, while in the other toilet, his mates are beating and kicking a younger boy, Alan, ‘to teach’ him the proper behavior at school. Martin, an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan is the leader of the group and while we hear the shouts of the young boy, Martin reflects, in a monologue, about violence, about deception, lack of future and likens life at school to a forest in which one has to survive. He thinks also about what to do with his life. Martin wants to leave school. He wonders whether school is good for anything at all. He thinks that it would be better to work with his father, a political officer who carried out illegal activities in a neighbourhood.

So Martin decides to give the final kick to Alan. Maybe then the school will finally expel him.

In technical training schools, the creativity of students is usually very limited, almost replaced by a universe of scientific knowledge related mainly to the hard sciences. In this context, the possibility that students could express their view on the representation that they have in the break and the schoolyard served as a good opportunity to express the uniqueness of their voices.

The initiative was made by simple first-person testimonies, poems of which they were the authors, songs that they thought were representative of their views and thoughts. Under these conditions, creativity blossomed, and the voices of the students became meaningful and significant. © ATINA, info@atina.org.ar

276

I DON’T WANT TO BE CHE GUEVARA Toilet of the men’s bathroom at a private

That is why I work so hard in the gym. Four

Some of them would rather prefer the bell

school. Martin, wearing his rigorous uniform,

days a week.

never rang.

grey trousers, white shirt and red tie, is sitting

I’ve taken one free day to please my mom

Break is real life.

with his trousers on, on the toilet’s wooden

to go to the piss off English teacher. “In

And real life sucks.

lid. The toilet’s wooden door is broken in half

California you speak English”, she says. She

(Pause)

and open. Many phrases and references to

knows I love Schwarzenegger and tries to

I like this shit.

sexual and football issues are written on the

make me excited about English.

They respect me here.

inside of the door. Martin is sitting there,

A moan is heard after a quick sharp blow,

In the classroom I sit by the window

relaxed and smoking a cigarette. We can

probably a kick.

and I pretend everything is like a big bus,

hear that in one of the nearby toilets in the

Alan is being beaten because he doesn’t

one of those long distance buses,

same bathroom another person is being

want to be Schwarzenegger,

where I open the window

because he doesn’t want to be like

and the wind takes all the shit away from

everyone else,

my head.

beaten by a group of teenagers.

Martin I’d like to be Schwarzenegger.

like me.

Schwarzenegger in Terminator. The first

This is what the break is for.

But everything is still here.

one, where he played the bad guy.

To know how to separate:

Immovable.

To be just like a machine. No pain.

the ones who are cool and the ones who

Oh! … That word.

aren’t.

Is it a noun, an adjective or an adverb?

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Text extract The Spanish teacher won’t stop pissing us off with that!

What the fuck do I care?

Whore, fat, cheeky, bitch, jerk Let’s classify the words that actually exist.

Schwarzenegger, I can’t forgive you for what you did in ‘Kindergarten Cop.’ You’re not a comedy guy.

You feel nothing.

No laugh or anything.

You sold yourself there.

But if it was for a good amount of money, I understand. Cash is cash.

School WC: I don’t want to be Che Guevara

by Gabriel Fernández Chapo

278

Reflections on the writing process The Break* After an eternity of dictations and tedious explanations, after almost two hours of being in a chair with my legs numbed, of being dull and without the possibility of expressing our ridiculous ideas and jokes to our classmates except for short whispers, the bell which signals the break is a pleasant blessing.

It’s an oasis in the middle of the school day’s desert; it takes us out of our dullness and clears our minds. It is essential to keep our focus for another hour. That’s why we defend every minute of it tooth and nail, it always seems to go too fast, and the classes too slow. The break time is precious. We gather with our friends and we can thing about the school without getting depressed.

Alejandro Daniel Iglic *This text was written by a student and is part of the research done by Gabriel Fernández Chapo for his play ‘Che Guevara’

Gabriel Fernández Chapo In technical training schools, the creativity of students is usually very limited, almost replaced by a universe of scientific knowledge related mainly to the hard sciences. In this context, the possibility that students could express their view on the representation that they have of the break and the schoolyard served as a good opportunity to express the uniqueness of their voices.

The initiative was made by simple first-person testimonies, poems authored by them, songs that they thought were representative of their views and thoughts. Under these assumptions, creativity appeared, and the voices of the students became meaningful and significant.

279

Gabriel Fernández Chapo Gabriel Fernández Chapo was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1975. Playwright, director, and professor specialized in theatrical criticism and theory at various universities in Argentina. He has received several awards for his drama production (Argentores, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Proyecto Expresiones, Teatro por la Identidad, among others).

Highlights of his latest works are Luca Prodan (2009), Manos traslúcidas en fiebre de olvido (2008), Llámeme traidor (2008), Cromosoma Galia (2008), Harriet. Boceto sobre una inglesa de cierta edad (2007), Perturbaciones (2006), and La casa chica (2005).

He was awarded a scholarship to do theatrical studies in Europe by the Ministry of Culture of Argentina

Chapo is a researcher at the Theatre History and Theory Research Center (Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas – Buenos Aires University) and in the Performing Arts Area of the Centro Cultural de la Co-operación (Buenos Aires). He has also published around fifty critical articles in books and magazines and conducted conferences and workshops at National and International Theatre Festivals.

280

Summary Quedate acá – La historia de Camila y Lucas

Stay Here – or Lucas and Camila’s Story

By Luz Rodriguez Urquiza

‘Stay Here’ is the story of two teenagers, a boy and a girl, who stay at school after everybody else has left. They want to find a refuge, a secure place where they can be alone and together, trying to escape from their indifferent families . They both have a dysfunctional family situation, his divorced mother and her alcoholic father, and share the feeling that adults not only do not understand but also do not care about what is happening to them. Camila likes drawing and makes collages with her father’s pills packages, Lucas gathers her mother’s lovers torn up photos. They talk about their situation, smoke marihuana for the first time, enjoy and suffer together, finding friendship and then love up to the moment in which Camila’s father is taken to a psychiatric hospital and she decides to spend the night at school. Lucas stays with her, and in the morning they are discovered and separated from one another. This is clear confirmation that adults do not understand them and in the end, Lucas decides to look for Camila by himself, wherever she may be.

I started the research for Platform 11+ schoolyard project in November 2008, getting together with some groups of teenagers and talking with them about what issues interested them and what happened in their schoolyards. I also asked them what would be interesting for them and for their classmates to see in a theatre play, which subjects should be chosen and how it should be. One group of kids in particular, whom I kept on working later on, were asked to improvise scenes about different subjects I proposed, which had come up in the conversations with them (drugs, sex, pregnancy, alcohol, relationship with their parents, violence, relationship with their friends, love life).

‘Stay Here – or Lucas and Camila’s Story’, is a play which practically wrote itself. It is a mixture of everything I lived through at that point of time. I wrote it in two days, using parts of scenes I had written as I worked with the kids, with a lot of information they gave me in my head and with my own teenage memories and stories from my friends. © ATINA, info@atina.org.ar

281

Text extract Camila, a 14 year old girl

Lucas Isn’t your brother going to realize

Lucas, a 13 year old boy

you took this?

and smokes. Lucas isn’t sure what to do,

Camila Not a chance, he’s got a whole lot

Camila gives him the cigarette and he

Scene 4

Ok, here we go… (Camila lights the cigarette

under his bed!

smokes without inhaling the smoke)

Lucas Wow… I’ve never seen a joint before…

You have to swallow the smoke. Like this, watch.

Schoolyard. It’s getting dark. Lucas and

Camila Oh, it’s your first time! (They laugh)

Camila are sitting down one next to the

I see them all the time… My brother smokes

other. Camila is making a marihuana ciga-

everyday!

Camila shows him, he tries, inhaling and

rette. She is not very good at it.

Lucas Oh, I’m sorry… The experienced girl…

coughing. They laugh and then keep

(They both laugh. Camila starts to make a

smoking without coughing.

Lucas Are you sure that’s the right paper?

new cigarette with the crushed marihuana, it

It’s so thin…

turns out better this time)

Lucas And what does it do?

Camila Yes, they use this. I think that I

Camila Ready. I think its fine now.

Camila It’s relaxing… You have a new point

forgot to break the thing in little pieces…

Lucas Let me see… (They both look at it)

of view, new ideas… You’ll see…

They always mash it with their nails before

Camila Well, now we light it… I also stole a

Lucas I can’t feel anything yet…

smoking. Here, have some and mash it like

lighter!

Camila You have to wait for a while… Don’t

I do. (They undo the cigarette and start to

Lucas You thought of everything!

you feel like if you could hear yourself

crush the marihuana)

Camila Yeah, right? (They laugh)

speaking?

282

STAY HERE – OR LUCAS AND CAMILA’S STORY Lucas Yeah, maybe…

Lucas Yeah, great. Ah, I brought you

Camila Did your mom say anything that

something…

you arrived late yesterday?

Camila What?

Lucas No… I didn’t even see my mom… She

Lucas Here… It’s the pictures of my mom’s

was in her bedroom with Roberto, door

ex boyfriends… See? They have things like

closed…

fuck off and son of a bitch written all over

Camila Oh…

them because as my mom was angry at the

Lucas Yeah… Did they tell you anything?

guys, she wrote on the photo… Ever since I

Camila No… My dad was sleeping… Before I

was a kid I’ve been finding them in the

left home for school, I guess… I think he

trash and keeping them… You can use

drank a whole bottle of scotch at eleven in

them for a collage.

the morning…

Camila Great. Let’s go?

Lucas Oh…

Lucas Yeah.

Camila (posting to the cigarette) It’s almost finished… I can turn it off and

Black out

keep the rest for tomorrow, what do you think?

School WC: Stay Here – or Lucas and Camilas Story by Luz Rodrigues Urquiza

283

Reflections on the writing process Luz Rodríguez Urquiza I started the research for Platform 11+ Schoolyard project in November 2008, getting together with some groups of teenagers and talking with them about what issues interested them and what went on in their schoolyards. I also asked them what could be interesting for them and for their classmates to see in a theatre play, which subjects should be chosen and how such a play could be. One group of kids in particular, with whom I kept on working later on, were asked to improvise scenes about a variety of subjects which had come up in conversations with them (drugs, sex, pregnancy, alcohol, relationship with their parents, violence, relationship with their friends, love life).

At one point of this research, the idea of working with something which wasn’t as close to them came up, so I read them a science fiction story (‘Diario Regresivo’, by Leandro Zurraco). They loved it, and we decided to start working with it, improvising scenes with the characters of the story and developing that world. This is how ‘Backwards Schoolyard’ evolved.

‘Stay Here – or Lucas and Camila’s story’, is a play which practically wrote itself. It is a mixture of everything I experienced at that moment. I wrote it in two days, using parts of scenes I had written as I worked with the kids, using a lot of the information which they had given me, as well as my own memories of my time as a teenager and stories from my friends.

284

Summary Luz RodrĂ­guez Urquiza Luz started her career in 1995, and has already worked in more than twenty performances both for children and adults.

Luz studied at the Dramatic Arts Metropolitan School in Buenos Aires and Drama School for Children, Teenagers and Adults at Universidad Popular de Belgrano. She also took dancing lessons (jazz, classical and contemporary), Singing lessons, Acrobatics, Clown and Dramaturgy.

She is a drama teacher for children and teenagers at the UPB and at several other schools. She took part in different festivals and tours in Argentina, USA, Europe and Asia. She also works in the production of tours and festivals. She is a member of UPB and ATINA’s Board of Directors.

http://luzrodriguezurquiza.blogspot.com/ www.upebe.com.ar www.atinaonline.com.ar

285

Summary Mr. Splut

By Martha Márquez ‘Mr Splut’ is a rock band formed by high school students: Acné Felipe Contreras the drummer, Federico Espinillas the bassist, Diego Barros the guitar player and Nicolás Plut the lead singer. Near to their graduation day, the school carries out a psychology test to guide the students a little bit on their skills and talents. The members of Mr. Splut are confused with the strange results that the test shows. Acné, who feels a deep aversion to blood, has an aptitude for medicine. Barros, who loves to do exhausting jobs, has an aptitude for hairdressing, cooking or some delicate art, Espinillas is good for everything and Nicolás is good for nothing. A big argument starts in the schoolyard when Nicolás says to Espinillas that it’s of no use to have skills for everything if his parents can’t afford college, because he is poor. When the argument turns to blows and threatens to dissolve the band, Barros calls for harmony with a desperate cry.

What happens in life after school? Who am I? And what am I good for ? This is a play that reconciles dreams and reality through the real meaning and value of friendship.

© ATINA, info@atina.org.ar

286

MR. SPLUT Nicolás Well, what did you get?

Diego You got that there? Nooo, I don’t

Acné Felipe Medicine it says… I’m such a

believe you.

fool with those set squares at drawing class…

understand their spatial relations… very low level… Ability to abstract and solve reasonably logical problems… very low

Diego grabs the sheet and reads it outloud:

level… Ability to understand and solve issues of the kind of mechanics and

Diego Hahaha!! Let’s see… examination of

technology… guess what! How do you

mental aptitudes… Situation of the student

manage to walk? Because according to this,

Acné Felipe It’s just that I can’t even see raw

in comparison to the group… very low…

you can’t even coordinate your legs.

meat, man! Don’t you remember the other

Speed and accuracy for the execution of

day, when my nose was bleeding and I

simple tasks… very low level… Ability to

Now Acné Felipe grabs Nicolás’ sheets of

fainted just by looking at it? Medicine?!

retain information and remember things

paper to read them.

Diego And what about you?

he has learnt some time ago… very low

Nicolás Nothing…

level… Ability to quickly understand the

Nicolás and Diego stare at him.

Acné Felipe What do you mean by nothing?

meaning of the words in a verbal context…

Nicolás Nothing, just like that. Nothing.

very low level… Ability to work with

Acné Felipe Oh yeah! It’s true! Hahaha!!!

Then Diego takes control of the papers again.

Acné Felipe So you are a good for nothing,

numbers and solve arithmetic calculation

or what?

problems… very low level… Ability to

Diego Now let’s take a look at Nico’s

Nicolás Yes, I’m a good for nothing.

visualize objects in several positions and

professional interests…

287

Text extract Nicolás Give me that, come on!

Diego Uhhh… congratulations! According

Martha Márquez

Diego Calm down, don’t pay attention

to these results this guy is good for nothing.

to this…

Federico And today of all days when he

Acné See? See?

figures out that the band is going to split

Colombia 1975) Publicist

Nicolás What???

up…

(FADP) Bachelor of Dra-

Diego What? What do you mean? The band

matic Art (U. del Valle). She

splitting up? Are you crazy or what!

has written and directed:

Acné Nothing. I was just thinking out loud.

Martha Isabel Marquez (Cali,

Federico shows up smiling and parading like

Nicolás Crazy is the one who made up this

The Happy Disabled, Comedy for a man and a

a beauty queen, moving his hips, he sends

stupid thing. This is just useless for us all.

woman; Three of us will die tomorrow; White

kisses and with the other hand he holds the

Completely White. Award 2007: Jorge Isaacs for

sheets of paper.

Vallecaunos Authors, The Copenhagen Dictator and The Diva’s Gift. Martha has also worked as an

Federico Uff… I knew it, I knew it! I’m the

actress, director and playwright, and developed

coolest, I’m the best! Federico Espinillas is

an interesting system of teaching drama, through

the best one! Thank you! Thanks! Now I’ll

the business and youth directories in teatroas, a

give you interviews, autographs and

group which she has run since its foundation

pictures. Thank you! Thank you! I’m the

in 2001.

coolest!

288

Reflections on the writing process Martha Márquez Throughout my own personal research of spaces where theatre was certainly needed, I came up with a deep reflection about theatre for teenagers. I realized that there was not a variety of options for them and that this stage of their life is full of questions. Instead of sharing these questions teenagers often try to solve them in silence, not always in a healthy way. I started to write plays with teenagers in mind because I felt compelled to do so. When I found out about Recreo en Iberoamérica, I felt really happy because there were others working on the same topic and that was when writing for this project became a challenge and an opportunity to work on a long forgotten idea. Mr. Splut had been already in my mind for several years, complete with its characters Acne, Pimples, Blackheads and Splut. I had a boyfriend who struggled a lot with these ugly things on his face and he really liked music and had his own rock band. That inspired me. Part of the idea of the story was born there; a part of it, maybe the formal part of it. But behind that pimple, blackhead and acne is something more complex.

There is a human being with a soul that goes through transformation and who faces the need to find out his vocation or call in life and to determine what his talents are. Then, I found a psychological test that was taken among the students of the high school that I was working in. Somehow it was supposed to define one’s personality. I felt that what was written on those papers didn’t define me. I don’t know if it was a selfish of a dreamer kind of attitude. Over the last few years, I have met friends who were supposed to have a good profile for some particular career but their lives went on quite a different path altogether. Who am I and what am I good for?

289

Imprint Platform 11+ – Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards

All of the plays presented in the book are on the accompanying CD. (The printing layout is A4).

Details about copyright are to be found with each play.

New Theatre Plays from Europe & South America

For all further information (e.g. other translations, other plays from the authors) visit the official

for young people aged 11-15

PLATFORM 11+ website www.platform11plus.eu.

ISBN 978-3-00-034352-0

© PLATFORM 11+ Platform 11+ – Artistic Discoveries in European Schoolyards is a European Theatre Network

Editorial Staff

supported by the European Commission.

Publisher Dirk Neldner, Odette Bereska

The views expressed in this publication are only the views of the authors. The Commission can-

Editor Odette Bereska

not be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Layout/Design Andy Newman | www.andi.nu

Contact: Odette Bereska | odette@platform11plus.eu

Translations | English Corrections Peter Scollin

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www.platform11plus.eu

Participating Theatres

www.platform11plus.eu

Divadlo Alfa Pilzeň, Czech Republic VAT Teater Tallinn, Estonia tjg. Theater Junge Generation Dresden, Germany Kolibri Gyermek – És Ifjúsági Színház Budapest, Hungary Elsinor Teatro Stabile d’Innovazione Milan, Florence, Forlí, Italy Theater De Citadel Groningen, The Netherlands Brageteatret Drammen, Norway Teatro O Bando Palmela, Portugal Theatre Institute Bratislava, Slovakia Junges Schauspielhaus Zurich, Switzerland Emergency Exit Arts London, United Kingdom Pilot Theatre Company York, United Kingdom

Associated Partners

With the support of the CULTURE Programme 2007-2013 of the European Union

Upebe Buenos Aires, Argentina University of Agder Kristiansand, Norway Europa Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

ISBN 978-3-00-034352-0

NEW THEATRE PLAYS FROM EUROPE AND SOUTH AMERICA

Oulun Kaupungin Teatteri Oulu, Finland

NEW

Theatre Plays FROM EUROPE & SOUTH AMERICA for young people aged 11–15