Nightwatchman

Prasanna Puwanarajah

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781780015484
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

A British Sri Lankan cricketer prepares for the innings of her life for England against Sri Lanka at Lord's. Facing a relentless bowling machine she challenges our preconceptions of politics, sport and national pride as harshly as she challenges her own.

Prasanna Puwanarajah's short play Nightwatchman was first performedin a double bill with Tom Basden's There is a War as part of the National Theatre's Double Feature season of paired short plays at the Paintframe, a specially converted space at the National Theatre, London, in July 2011.

NIGHTWATCHMAN

Prasanna Puwanarajah

Author’s Thanks

I am indebted to the following people:

Polly Findlay, Ben Power, Nicholas Hytner, Ben Kidd, Sebastian Born and the NT Literary Department, Namasivayam Puwanarajah, Komales Puwanarajah, Beth Morgan, Dr Seuss Enterprises and the inimitable Stephanie Street.

Prasanna Puwanarajah

Setting Notes

The action takes place in an indoor cricket net.

The conceit here is of a bowling machine delivering imaginary balls towards Abirami. We don’t see this machine and we don’t see the balls it delivers. We hear in turn, and in precise detail: the workings of the machine; the ball hitting the AstroTurf; the ball hitting the bat; and the ball hitting the side netting after it is struck. In fact, the theatricality of the conceit depends upon the machine and its delivered balls being not visible, but nonetheless immaculately rendered both sonically and in Abirami’s physical actions.

Metal, indoor cricket stumps behind Abirami should respond to being hit by deliveries as indicated in the text.

A number of settings are possible, the following two feeling particularly distinct:

Traverse: this places the audience down both sides of her, with the cricket strip being slightly raised to form a specific catwalk, and un-netted save for the portion of a floor-to-ceiling net directly behind her, which may respond to balls that pass her by billowing backwards.

Proscenium: a floor-to-ceiling net which is the back portion of an indoor cricket net, possibly with the beginnings of the side netting running downstage towards the audience, stage left and stage right (leg side and off side respectively for a right-handed actor). As Abirami looks out towards us, the bowling machine is, as it were, embedded within the audience.

Black.

An echo in the air, initially suggestive of a sports hall.

The sound of switches being turned on. A catwalk of AstroTurf appears, audience on both sides, as strip lights hum to life overhead. Above one end of the AstroTurf, visible to the audience, is an electronic counter with the units SPEED/MPH.

Below this, ABIRAMI strides out. She is British Sri Lankan, late twenties/early thirties, in England Cricket squad training kit, holding a kit bag and a set of cricket stumps.

She looks at us and nods appreciatively.

ABIRAMI

Not a bad turn-out for women’s cricket.

She places the stumps down. She marks out the batting crease using her bat, placed on the ground as one would in the back garden, and chalks a line. She plonks down her kit bag and begins to pad up. During this:

Garden cricket with Dad

Down the park

Tennis ball to hard ball

First set of pads

Club cricket

League cricket Lancashire

Phone call.

‘Abi, we’d love for you to come up to Lord’s for the Test Match this Thursday.’

Beat.

And they’ve probably said the same thing to people since they invented this fucking game, you know

WG Grace getting a call while he was doing his doctoring:

‘Hello, is that… W…G… (whatever his fucking names are, fuck knows)

We’d love for you to come up to Lord’s for the Test this Thursday.’

As though they were asking you to a birthday party.

But I bet no one’s heard those words without thinking

That they were the closest they’d ever get to pure, pure bliss.

Ha!

If Lord’s burned down now, I’d be the last new person they’d asked.

A fucking Lankan.

Hilarious!

Yeah, man…

WG…

Right through to me.

Now that is a fucking family, Dad.

Not like your lot.

She fishes out a remote control, which she points back the way she came at an unseen bowling machine at the other end of what is now clearly a cricket strip. She hits a button. A mechanical ping sounds from the machine. ABIRAMI steps to one side and watches a ball as it goes past. She sees it but we don’t. The ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Original Production
• Nightwatchman
• About the Author
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information