The stage is in complete darkness, no one is seen, and only Adam is heard.
Adam: I feel numb, nothing feels real anymore. This life feels like a myth, that has been changed by so many people over time. You see me, what do you see? Stereotypes is all, you judge me, you avoid me, but none of you see me and understand my life. Children aren't brought up in the ways the parents teach them, no we grow up drinking, smoking and taking drugs, why you ask? Because the media's view of how the world should be makes us feel so insecure, that we would rather be shitfaced and not care, than sober worrying about whether we are skinny enough, whether the clothes we have are cool enough or whether we have a well payed job.
Don't believe me? Take us for example. We were told that we are ugly, that we were fat, that we are stupid, that we will never grow up and be successful because of how many GCSE's we got, we were bullied for what we believed in and what colour our skin was, we were pressured to drink, to take drugs, to smoke and have sex.
Who are we you ask? We are everywhere, you don't notice us. You only judge us.
We are the generation lost, the generation that was stolen. We are the generation that is fucked.
Slaves The Hunter plays.
Then gradually the lights come up.
Jacko, Harry, T, Ellen and Ashley are all asleep in Adams front room.
Enters Adam from the bedroom. He is cleaning us the various cans and rubbish that is litter round the room. Jacko wakes as Adam pulls a can from his hand.
Jacko: Hey I was still drinking that.
Adam: Oh yes I heard bear tastes even better when its mixed with fag butts mate.
Jacko: Get us another would ya.
Adam: Hate to put a downer on your day, but you lot drank me dry last night. He walks to the fridge and looks. I do however have some out of date milk, and the finest tap water that my landlord has so painfully made me pay extortionate prices for. He laughs and continues to clean up.
Jacko: I think ill pass, thanks for the offer.
Adam: Don't blame you mate, you wouldn't guess who is coming to see me.
Jacko: Wait don't tell me..........this time last year........your mum?
Adam: Yeah it's that time of the year again, she says this is important. But I hope she doesn't bring that dick of a husband over.
Jacko: Oh Eric isn't it? Isn't he like thirty?
Adam: Yeah, definitely think my mums a gold digger.
Jacko: Nah mate he works as a teacher can't make that much, I think your mum is a cougar, she loves the fresh meat. He laughs.
Adam: Ahhhh, that's rough mate. Well she's coming over in the evening, so you guy have to go in a bit. I gotta clean up before she gets here, or she will cop.
Jacko: Alright mate ill get everyone up in a sec, where's Hannah?
Adam: Oh she left sometime last night, she said she had to erm.........get up early!
Jacko: Oh yeah?
Adam: Yeah mate honest.
Jacko: So if I was to talk in your room she wouldn't be lying in bed then?
Adam: No no no.......ah fuck it yes she stayed the night, you can't say anything everyone will flip their nuts.
Jacko: Dude how long have we been mates, I kept that secret about you pissing yourself.
Adam: Mate that was in year 1, you need to let it go. Anyway I'm going for a shower, remember everyone out.
Jacko: Ok man ill sort it, enjoy your "shower."
Adam Leaves stage left.
Jacko walks over to Harry and smacks him on the back of the head.
Harry: What the fuck are you doing you prick!
Jacko: Adam wants us out in a second so I was just waking you up, but the slap was only for my satisfaction.
Harry: Dick. What's the time?
Jacko: Half ten, why?
Harry: Shit. I was meant to have an interview for this apprenticeship at a garage at 9, oh well.
T wakes up and walks to the cupboard and grabs a bowl a box of cereal and the milk from the fridge.
Jacko: Just make it for another day. He spots T and whispers to Harry.
T sits down on the sofa next to Ellen and starts to eat his cereal, whilst Harry and Jacko are laughing.
T: What's so funny then?
Jacko: Nothing nothing, we were just talking about how funny it is that Adam's cereal is so sour and squidgy.
T: Yeah you're right it does taste funny, oh well he must of got that cheap stuff.
Jacko and Harry can't stop laughing, and it wakes Ashley up.
Ashley: Will you twats shut up some people need their beauty sleep.
Harry: No offence Ashley, but no amount of sleep will sort your face out.
Ashley: Putting no offence at the beginning of the sentence doesn't mean im not going to take offence you prick. At least I don't spend my time chatting up girls that are still in secondary school, I mean come on you spend more time outside of the school gates nowadays than you did when you actually went to school.
T and Jacko: Ohhhhhh.
Jacko: She's got you there mate.
Harry: I ain't some pedo.
T and Jacko start laughing.
Harry: T I don't know what your laughing at, at least i'm not the one eating out of date milk with my cereal.
T Spits cereal all over Ellen, Ellen wakes up frantically.
Ellen: What the actual fuck, you are disgusting. What is that vile smell?
Harry: I'm not entirely sure, but I think that would be the out of date milk and cereal that is covering your face.
Ellen: Oh my god, oh my god. She rushes to the sink to clean her face.
Adam walks in.
Adam: I went away for five minutes, and you have already made a mess where I have cleaned up.
Jacko: Well it turns out someone really wanted that out of date milk you offered earlier.
Adam: Hahaha no fucking way.
Harry: Do we really have to go?
Ashley: What? its like not even the afternoon, why the fuck do we have to leave?
Adam: Well one because this is my house, and two my mums visiting me today.
Ashley: Oh Thalia is coming, but she loves me.
T: Does she really love you or is this another one of those everyone loves me episodes you have.
Ashley: Fuck off T. Come on Adam you know you want me to stay, let everyone else go.
Adam: You've got 5 minutes then I want you out.
Harry: Ohhhhhh Ashley just got pied off,
Jacko, T and Harry start laughing.
Ashley: Fine. She picks up her stuff and storms out stage right.
Ellen: Why the hell do you have to annoy her for?
T: She's only pissed off because Adam's the only guy she can't wrap around her finger.
Ellen: Wait so you have just basically said that you could be wrapped around her finger.
Harry: Well she can be wrapped around our fingers haha.
Ellen: Ewww you're so vile. She picks her stuff up and leaves stage right.
Harry: Was it something I said?
T: Two girls pissed off by you in the space of a minute, is that a record?
Jacko: Come on guys we should go.
Harry: Yeah cheers for the good night mate. T and Harry leave stage right.
Jacko: Hey where did Hannah go last night by the way?
Adam: Oh she went home early this morning had something she wanted to do, she said.
Jacko: Oh yeah? Alright then mate ill leave "you" to some "peace and quite." He leaves stage right.
Adam: Hahaha prick, ill see you later mate. He closes the door behind them and then sits on the sofa.
Hannah walks in.
Hannah: Is it just me and you now?
Adam: Yeah come here you.
Hannah sits on Adam.
Hannah: Why can't we tell them.
Adam: You know what they are like, I don't want them getting involved. And Ashley will try many attempts on your life. He chuckles.
Hannah: We need to tell them at some point, I hate keeping it secret.
Adam: I know, I know just keep it a secret until there is a time we can tell them all.
They both sit in silence.
Adam: Oit don't be like that.........I love you.
She smiles. Adam leans in they start kissing.
Black out.
Adam: Its that moment where nothing matters, you lye next to the other person. All it takes is one touch, one grab, one kiss and an explosion of lust kicks in. Before you know it everything goes so quickly. A ferocious gust of cotton and wool fly through the air until you both touching skin. You are no longer conscious to you fears and in-securities you are happy to be with that person entwined with them. Your hands ruffle through that long strands of silk, hers grip your skin tighter and tighter. Pain is no longer felt, its as if you are numb with pleasure, nothing hurts.
And before you know it the lust has gone. You are back to the same old life. It's as if you had just traveled to another dimension, exhaustion fills your lungs. So you roll up a cigarette and light it, letting the afterglow kick in as she sinks into your arms.
Midnight City by M83 Plays.
Base Draft Still completing
Thursday, 1 January 2015
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
Street Lights. (Description, Characters and Setting.)
Brief description:
Street lights looks primarily into the life of Adam Blake, it is an understanding of how his life has
gotten to where it is now. For me its first person insight into growing up at the present moment. Although this is probably an heightened view of times now, it looks at the thoughts of a teen/young adult nowadays. The street light that will be part of the stage, signifies the cross between young adult to an actual adult, for me it is metaphor for losing that light and spark you had as a child the imagination and creativity that once made your life exciting and bearable, is now traded for the stress of the "big wide world."
Adam's father is hiding the secrets of his daughters "suicide" to protect his friends, however the guilt of these skeletons in his closet have changed him entirely into a drunk and violent man. Adam is a gifted linguist and his monologues tend to be spoken like a poem he would have written, this helps him deal with his problems, but as things get tougher he loses his spark and it begins difficult for him to express himself through a pen. His mother left after the passing of his sister as she saw the storm coming, but she left Adam behind so that she would never display her sadness and anger through him.
Towards the end secrets become apparent, and things take a turn for the worse, with Adams mum returning home and seeing the destruction that was left through horrible circumstances.
Characters:
Adam Blake: Adam is 19, slim, has dark hair and a scruffy beard. Although the rest of his face looks full, his eye sockets are hollow looking as if he has seen things that keep him awake. He tends to wear slim legged jeans with holes in the knees, baggy jumpers that look like charity clothes or hammy downs, shoes that are tattered and dirty, a big black coat that has a pocket big enough to fit a black book and some pens. He is intelligent, but that doesn't mean that he's made any smart choices throughout his life. He trust people more than he should, can be very lazy, is the type of person to not take any shit whether he is in a group or on his own, but is terrified of his dad. He feels that he is stuck in a degrading job, which is a call center, and wishes to do more with his creative outlook on writing, there are many a times in the play which his monologues will be something he has written in his black book.
Family:
Andrew Blake: He is 54 years old, medium height, quite chubby, really short grey hair and poorly groomed stubble. You'll tend to find him wearing trackie or jogging bottoms, a football Liverpool football shirt on, big blocky rings on his fingers, tattoos and either slippers or tatty old trainers depending on the setting. Andrew use to be a family man, who only drank when it came to going to the pub with friends or to football matches, after his daughter's passing he has become a recluse in a one bedroom flat, but that doesn't matter as he passes out on the sofa by the time its night. You will mainly find him sat in-front of the telly with a crate of beers a pack of fags surrounded by takeaway boxes. His friends use to mean a lot to him which is why he found it so difficult to cover up the truth behind his daughters death, in order to protect them.
Thalia Goodman (Blake): 49 years old, short mousy brown hair, she does show signs of aging, but never smoked or drank so its not as noticeable, she is short and has an average weight for a lady of her age. She wears hooped earings, blue jeans, a top, topped off with flat shoes and blouse. She looks like a normal woman of her age, but it has taken years to build that persona after her daughters death, she now lives another life as a carer, with a husband and two step sons. Unlike Andrew she hasn't dealt with the grief by drinking and destroying her life, and will come across confident in an argument, although more often than not she backs of when she knows she is in too deep and closes off to the other.
Lesley Blake: She died 20 years old, her description doesn't matter as she does not feature in the play, this is just for my own personal referencing. She had long mousy brown hair, medium height and skinny. She was strong willed and stuck up for her little brother in more fights than he can remember, she knew was different than anyone else around the area and so took it in her own hands to protect him, she understood Adam and always supported his choices treating him more like a best friend and a little brother.
Friends:
Hannah Tisby: 17 years old, with light blonde hair, she is short and is an normal size for someone her age. She wears skinny jeans, band tops, and converses. She comes across as a tom boy, but inside is far from it, Adam was introduced to her through his and her group of friends. Her parents are very well of for somebody living in the area and she gets a lot of grief for having wealthy parents by others. She is shy, but stands up for others, there is a sense of loyalty, from her without any reason other than it being right or wrong. She is strong minded and pushes Adam to do what he is capable of, with the care and nourishment a mother would give a son.
Jacko (Jack Francis): Jacko is your typical 18 year old lad, he has dark hair, light skin tone and is tall. He enjoys being fashionable, but doesn't have a lot of money and so you will find him wearing knock off clothes. The style he likes is jeans, trainers, shirts and sport jackets. Jacko's outlook on the world is very simple minded, which in turn can anger Adam, however he is driven by making people laugh constantly and thinks he is quite the ladies man. He is Adam's best friend, Jacko's views makes him very easy to talk to.
Ellen Bisby: Ellen is 17, she has long brown hair and is short. She likes wearing girly dress and boots. She is in a sense, the sheep of the group, she hasn't grown up with this group as she moved 5 years ago. So at times she feels left and and will do what she can to be apart of the group's shenanigans. She can be easily persuaded by Ashley and sometimes is taken advantage of, to me she is like the baby of the group always trying to be older to fit in with the others.
Harry Mopps: 19 years old, medium height with black hair and a stocky sized weight. You will mainly find him wearing jogging bottoms, trainers and tracksuit tops. He is the trouble maker of the group, he will find a fight in something as simple as a conversation over sandwiches, the beauty of this within the play is you feel on edge with some of the things he says, whether it will stir violence or he is simply just joking with the group. Trouble making aside Harry is a very loyal guy and will always be there to protect and stand up for his friends.
Ashley Travis: Ashley is 18, medium height with hair that she changes the colour of every month. She is a bit of a tom boy and so wears jeans, baggy tops and canvas shoes. She feels like the head of the girls, she always has her ways around the guys and draws on that power to her advantage, pitching the boys against each other, but never fazes Adam and this annoys her. She is insecure about her looks and is very defensive, in other words you bite, she bites back harder.
T (Travaughn Labon): he is 21 years old, his mother is African and moved here when T was 5, he has short black hair is short and built like a shit brick house. His skin colour has got in the way of him making friends within the area, hence the fact he hangs out with people younger, but this is purely for the fact they don't care. T receives a lot of hate from people in the area, and so you can find him an Harry in the center of a fight more times than none. T is a very sweet and humble guy, who always appreciates the good things that happen in his life, at the same time as understanding that the bad things make him stronger.
The actor/actress can take on the character the way they see fit after reading the play, the description is a rough baseline for me to write off. However the traits and clothing needs to be stuck to within reason.
Setting:
The play is set in a flat in Buckland, Portsmouth in 2014.
The flat belongs to Adam, but characters pass through in scenes. Adam isn't wealthy his job just about allows him to supports himself by putting a roof over his head, food in front of him and some tatty clothes.
However the niceties of this flat will be a door stage right, which is the front door and one stage left which leads off to the bedroom and bathroom. The room that is focused on in the play is the main living space/ kitchen. The way I would set it is a large sofa angled downstage right, there is a TV, but however you don't need to show it on stage. Then have the kitchen upstage left with a table and chairs upstage center.
Adam's flat is very tatty with peeled wall paper, a grungy wooden floor and furniture that looks like its been taken from a skip and flogged of in a charity shop. The lighting is dingy as there is only one light source in the room which is a single dangling bulb.
Street lights looks primarily into the life of Adam Blake, it is an understanding of how his life has
gotten to where it is now. For me its first person insight into growing up at the present moment. Although this is probably an heightened view of times now, it looks at the thoughts of a teen/young adult nowadays. The street light that will be part of the stage, signifies the cross between young adult to an actual adult, for me it is metaphor for losing that light and spark you had as a child the imagination and creativity that once made your life exciting and bearable, is now traded for the stress of the "big wide world."
Adam's father is hiding the secrets of his daughters "suicide" to protect his friends, however the guilt of these skeletons in his closet have changed him entirely into a drunk and violent man. Adam is a gifted linguist and his monologues tend to be spoken like a poem he would have written, this helps him deal with his problems, but as things get tougher he loses his spark and it begins difficult for him to express himself through a pen. His mother left after the passing of his sister as she saw the storm coming, but she left Adam behind so that she would never display her sadness and anger through him.
Towards the end secrets become apparent, and things take a turn for the worse, with Adams mum returning home and seeing the destruction that was left through horrible circumstances.
Characters:
Adam Blake: Adam is 19, slim, has dark hair and a scruffy beard. Although the rest of his face looks full, his eye sockets are hollow looking as if he has seen things that keep him awake. He tends to wear slim legged jeans with holes in the knees, baggy jumpers that look like charity clothes or hammy downs, shoes that are tattered and dirty, a big black coat that has a pocket big enough to fit a black book and some pens. He is intelligent, but that doesn't mean that he's made any smart choices throughout his life. He trust people more than he should, can be very lazy, is the type of person to not take any shit whether he is in a group or on his own, but is terrified of his dad. He feels that he is stuck in a degrading job, which is a call center, and wishes to do more with his creative outlook on writing, there are many a times in the play which his monologues will be something he has written in his black book.
Family:
Andrew Blake: He is 54 years old, medium height, quite chubby, really short grey hair and poorly groomed stubble. You'll tend to find him wearing trackie or jogging bottoms, a football Liverpool football shirt on, big blocky rings on his fingers, tattoos and either slippers or tatty old trainers depending on the setting. Andrew use to be a family man, who only drank when it came to going to the pub with friends or to football matches, after his daughter's passing he has become a recluse in a one bedroom flat, but that doesn't matter as he passes out on the sofa by the time its night. You will mainly find him sat in-front of the telly with a crate of beers a pack of fags surrounded by takeaway boxes. His friends use to mean a lot to him which is why he found it so difficult to cover up the truth behind his daughters death, in order to protect them.
Thalia Goodman (Blake): 49 years old, short mousy brown hair, she does show signs of aging, but never smoked or drank so its not as noticeable, she is short and has an average weight for a lady of her age. She wears hooped earings, blue jeans, a top, topped off with flat shoes and blouse. She looks like a normal woman of her age, but it has taken years to build that persona after her daughters death, she now lives another life as a carer, with a husband and two step sons. Unlike Andrew she hasn't dealt with the grief by drinking and destroying her life, and will come across confident in an argument, although more often than not she backs of when she knows she is in too deep and closes off to the other.
Lesley Blake: She died 20 years old, her description doesn't matter as she does not feature in the play, this is just for my own personal referencing. She had long mousy brown hair, medium height and skinny. She was strong willed and stuck up for her little brother in more fights than he can remember, she knew was different than anyone else around the area and so took it in her own hands to protect him, she understood Adam and always supported his choices treating him more like a best friend and a little brother.
Friends:
Hannah Tisby: 17 years old, with light blonde hair, she is short and is an normal size for someone her age. She wears skinny jeans, band tops, and converses. She comes across as a tom boy, but inside is far from it, Adam was introduced to her through his and her group of friends. Her parents are very well of for somebody living in the area and she gets a lot of grief for having wealthy parents by others. She is shy, but stands up for others, there is a sense of loyalty, from her without any reason other than it being right or wrong. She is strong minded and pushes Adam to do what he is capable of, with the care and nourishment a mother would give a son.
Jacko (Jack Francis): Jacko is your typical 18 year old lad, he has dark hair, light skin tone and is tall. He enjoys being fashionable, but doesn't have a lot of money and so you will find him wearing knock off clothes. The style he likes is jeans, trainers, shirts and sport jackets. Jacko's outlook on the world is very simple minded, which in turn can anger Adam, however he is driven by making people laugh constantly and thinks he is quite the ladies man. He is Adam's best friend, Jacko's views makes him very easy to talk to.
Ellen Bisby: Ellen is 17, she has long brown hair and is short. She likes wearing girly dress and boots. She is in a sense, the sheep of the group, she hasn't grown up with this group as she moved 5 years ago. So at times she feels left and and will do what she can to be apart of the group's shenanigans. She can be easily persuaded by Ashley and sometimes is taken advantage of, to me she is like the baby of the group always trying to be older to fit in with the others.
Harry Mopps: 19 years old, medium height with black hair and a stocky sized weight. You will mainly find him wearing jogging bottoms, trainers and tracksuit tops. He is the trouble maker of the group, he will find a fight in something as simple as a conversation over sandwiches, the beauty of this within the play is you feel on edge with some of the things he says, whether it will stir violence or he is simply just joking with the group. Trouble making aside Harry is a very loyal guy and will always be there to protect and stand up for his friends.
Ashley Travis: Ashley is 18, medium height with hair that she changes the colour of every month. She is a bit of a tom boy and so wears jeans, baggy tops and canvas shoes. She feels like the head of the girls, she always has her ways around the guys and draws on that power to her advantage, pitching the boys against each other, but never fazes Adam and this annoys her. She is insecure about her looks and is very defensive, in other words you bite, she bites back harder.
T (Travaughn Labon): he is 21 years old, his mother is African and moved here when T was 5, he has short black hair is short and built like a shit brick house. His skin colour has got in the way of him making friends within the area, hence the fact he hangs out with people younger, but this is purely for the fact they don't care. T receives a lot of hate from people in the area, and so you can find him an Harry in the center of a fight more times than none. T is a very sweet and humble guy, who always appreciates the good things that happen in his life, at the same time as understanding that the bad things make him stronger.
The actor/actress can take on the character the way they see fit after reading the play, the description is a rough baseline for me to write off. However the traits and clothing needs to be stuck to within reason.
Setting:
The play is set in a flat in Buckland, Portsmouth in 2014.
The flat belongs to Adam, but characters pass through in scenes. Adam isn't wealthy his job just about allows him to supports himself by putting a roof over his head, food in front of him and some tatty clothes.
However the niceties of this flat will be a door stage right, which is the front door and one stage left which leads off to the bedroom and bathroom. The room that is focused on in the play is the main living space/ kitchen. The way I would set it is a large sofa angled downstage right, there is a TV, but however you don't need to show it on stage. Then have the kitchen upstage left with a table and chairs upstage center.
Adam's flat is very tatty with peeled wall paper, a grungy wooden floor and furniture that looks like its been taken from a skip and flogged of in a charity shop. The lighting is dingy as there is only one light source in the room which is a single dangling bulb.
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