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THE BASEMENT FLAT
Rona Munro
The Basement Flat was first performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, on 13 August 2009, with the following cast:
FIONA | Cora Bissett |
STEPHEN | Matthew Pidgeon |
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Director | Roxana Silbert |
Characters
FIONA
STEPHEN
FIONA and STEPHEN are sitting in silence, piles of mail and paperwork around them.
There are the sounds of heavy footsteps overhead. FIONA looks up.
FIONA. He canāt sleep either.
STEPHEN says nothing. He pulls some letters towards him, gets busy with a laptop calculator.
Thing isā¦ I do feel sorry for himā¦ in a way.
STEPHEN is rapidly entering figures.
Donāt you?
STEPHEN is reading the result of his calculations. He groans in dismay.
Just a little bit?
STEPHEN. What?
FIONA. Feel sorry for him?
STEPHEN (quiet, almost to himself). No, I fucking donāt.
He starts entering figures again.
FIONA. He wanted this so much. Sooooo much.
Pause.
I knew that as soon as he moved in, as soon as I saw those window boxes. Remember the little terracotta window boxes he hadā¦? From the nice garden shop, you know, with the olive trees and the galvanised-steel plantersā¦ and the Cath Kidston apronsā¦
I wanted a Cath Kidston apron for my birthday.
And a matching shoulder bag.
And the oven-glove setā¦ It would be so decorative. You could hang it on a hook and it would be kitchen decoration, reallyā¦
STEPHEN. Yeah well, Iām sorryā¦
FIONA. No, noā¦ the soap was fine. Lovely. Almost as good as Molton Brownā¦ Well, it had real floral scent in itā¦ I thinkā¦ nice liquid soap. Thatās a little bit of luxuryā¦
Just simple things. Thatās all you need, isnāt it? A bit of pamperingā¦ every time you wash your hands.
Pause.
You canāt see the window boxes for dead ivy. All his ivyās dead.
Did you hear me?
STEPHEN. What?!
FIONA. The ivy. In his lovely terracotta window boxes. Itās all dead.
STEPHEN. I think weāll have to rent out the second bedroom.
FIONA. What?
STEPHEN. I donāt see an alternative, not if weāre going to get through this.
FIONA. Susanās bedroom?!
STEPHEN. Sheās not using it, Fiona.
FIONA. She is! All her stuff is there!
STEPHEN. Sheās gone.
FIONA. She hasnāt gone! Sheās only out there!
FIONA is pointing at the dark garden outside.
STEPHEN. Yes. Sheās out there now. Sheās gone.
FIONA. Not far! And she comes back!
STEPHEN. When did you last see her?
FIONA. Only a few days ago! Last week!
STEPHEN. Really?
FIONA. I did!
He doesnāt believe her.
I did!!
STEPHEN. Did she say anything?
FIONA. She looked lovely. Fit and healthyā¦
STEPHEN. What did she say to you?
FIONA. She was in a hurry. She couldnāt stop.
STEPHEN. You didnāt see her.
FIONA. I saw her! She was here! She was running across the back of the lawnā¦
STEPHEN. Itās not a lawn, is it? Itās a jungle. That bloody lawn broke my strimmer.
FIONA. Canāt we afford to get it done? Just the bit near the house?
STEPHEN. No.
Iāll get a scythe. Do it the old-fashioned way. Sweat and dirt. Hack the whole thing downā¦ Plant potatoes.
A vegetable garden. Thatās the way forward. Self-sufficiency.
FIONA. It all comes down to slugs and snails.
STEPHEN. Does it?
FIONA. My granddad had an allotment. It was a war against slugs. Twenty-four seven. I havenāt got the energy, Stephen. I donāt.
STEPHEN. People used to do it.
FIONA. People were used to slugs back then.
STEPHEN. Well, Iām going to hack down that fucking fox run.
FIONA. Donāt!
Please.
Donāt.
STEPHEN. I think we should move her stuff into boxes and clear out that room.
FIONA. At least wait till Iāve asked her. Let me talk to her first.
STEPHEN. Are you sure she still talks?
Footsteps overhead.
He was asking about her.
FIONA. What do you mean?
STEPHEN. Sheās been damaging things.
FIONA. What things?
STEPHEN. Around the house.
FIONA. What?
STEPHEN. Structural damage. To the house.
FIONA. He never said.
STEPHEN. He said it to me.
FIONA. I canāt see any damage.
STEPHEN. The bricks. The mortar.
FIONA. Well, how could she do that?
STEPHEN. He saw her.
FIONA. Then he should have talked to her. Told her to come home!
STEPHEN. T...
