Joanne

Deborah Bruce, Theresa Ikoko, Laura Lomas, Chinonyerem Odimba, Ursula Rani Sarma

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781848425446
• eBook ISBN: 9781780016757
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Five characters share a common thread: Joanne. But it's not about her. It's about Stella, whose tomorrow is as far away as winter from summer. It's the way Grace finds her song on the footpath between two cars. It's about Alice's MBA wasted on plugging holes, Kath's patients crawling alongside her after the night shift and it's Becky caught in the crosshairs of what's best and what's right for her students.

But what about her? What about Joanne?

In Joanne, five of the most exciting voices in theatre explore the pressures on our public services as one young woman buckles under pressures of her own.

The play comprises five interconnected short plays for a solo performer, written by Deborah Bruce, Theresa Ikoko, Laura Lomas, Chino Odimba and Ursula Rani Sarma.

Commissioned by Clean Break, Joanne premiered at Latitude Festival in 2015, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London.

STELLA

Chino Odimba

Character

STELLA, a woman in her late forties

Setting

An office

Note on the Text

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

A forward slash (/) indicates an overlap in speech

STELLA is leaning against a table.

The table is full of boxes and plants and bits.

STELLA is holding a paper party cup.

Wine in the office eh? That’s a treat. I mean it is five-thirty and well I don’t have to worry about getting the sack do I?

(Short beat.)

I’m not really in to speeches but if it’ll shut you up here goes…

(STELLA hitches herself onto the table.)

…This is how they do it in the films isn’t it? I mean I could ’ave been a film star. You should have seen me at eighteen. Legs up to here.

(STELLA giggles.
STELLA strikes a pose.)

Anyway I really want to say thanks so much for being the best people to work with. Well most of you eh! My project funding has run out and I’m out on my ear but…

(STELLA walks the length of the table.)

…I mean don’t get me wrong. If it wasn’t for this job. If it wasn’t for them believing in me. Anyway you know what I mean. Not many options to put my – (Gestures quotation marks with her fingers.) experience to good use if you know what I mean. Not many options at that time anyway…

…The job. What can I say about the job? No uniform. No company car. No team-building day once in a while. I mean in all the years I’ve been here…

…And well all those years do you think they mean anything? Like Debenhams bonus points for all the stuff…

…It has to right?

I mean we don’t take the job for peace and quiet do we? The good life. I mean we choose to do the job right? We choose it don’t we? To feel this well / to feeling…

So… (Raising her empty glass in the air.)

(STELLA drops her raised arm.)

…Here’s to feeling something.

(Short beat.
STELLA steps down off the table.
STELLA takes a big mouthful from her wine glass.)

I mean you feel it don’t you? You feel that calling? I know…

…Well I know I have some personal feelings about it. I mean I’ve seen it from both sides haven’t I? That bloody three hundred and sixty degrees that they’re always going on about.

I felt it this morning anyway. I bloody felt it. This morning usual thing you know wake up, get Mum up and I’m just getting her breakfast of porridge and / And if she doesn’t get her porridge / Don’t ask! So off it goes. My mobile on the kitchen table…

(Short beat.)

…I answer it. Elayne calling. (Pointing.) Yeah you Elayne. To check I’m still doing the last one today. That I hadn’t forgotten. That it was in my diary. I say –

Of course I remembered.

…It’s about consistency…

…And consistency is important…

Didn’t I? I would never abandon one of mine. Not mine. I mean who would? Who would do that? Leave her there alone. Never. Not me. I’ll be there I say. Didn’t I? How could I forget? My last one? No way.

(Short beat.)

All this wouldn’t be worth it if we weren’t there for each other. Her waiting there that’s what it’s about. Not me and my tomorrow…

…I mean tomorrow is another day and tomorrow won’t be like this will it? Today and tomorrow are as far apart as winter and summer. And before tomorrow well…

…There’s today. So I say –

Just as long as I can still get my hair done!

(STELLA laughs out loud.)

Seriously though that new salon has squeezed me in last minute and I want my hair to look nice for tonight.

Tonight’s the night! Last chance to see your faces. Last chance to be part of this…

…I don’t know what I’m trying to say but it’s about getting the job done isn’t it? And she’s alright. This one. You know what I mean? Something about her makes me hope that she’ll make it somehow. That’s all I can do now. Hope.

(Short beat.)

I usually get there before the vultures but today they’re early. And I can see them. The drug dealers. Circling and preying. Even in the morning rain they’re there waiting to peddle temptation. Waiting to steal the fucking hope. I shouldn’t go on but it makes me so angry. Vultures.

It’s a wait but I have Scrabble on my phone. And Radio 2. I hear the gates go and I see her come out. And you can’t miss her. Her long legs. Forgot how tall she is. Hands in her pockets and head down. I know it’s her by the way she plays with her hair. She always plays with her hair. I jump out the cab and I wave at her. She seems nervous but no more than usual. And I say –

Remember me? I came a couple of weeks ago to talk about what we’re going to do today. And the week before that. And a couple of weeks before that too.

Nothing…

…Remember you said I talk too much?

That breaks the ice. This is the bit of the job I love. Loved. The human-contact bit, the breaking-the-ice bit. The breaking-into-a-smile bit. And there’s that feeling.

The reason why we do it. That thing that makes you wake up every morning to do it.

(Short beat.
STELLA steps down from the table. She sits on the edge of it.)

The cab drives away from those gates. She looks cold. And she’s just sitting there counting the money over and over. Ten pounds, twenty pounds, thirty pounds, forty. Forty-six pounds that’s what she gets for making it out. I give her the mobile phone which I’ve brought for her. With credit. Most jump on it and before long you’re listening to non-stop chat with friends, with family, about all sorts…

…But not her. She just stares at it…

…I don’t know what she’s thinking. But I look out at the rushing world outside the window too and I’m thinking how today and tomorrow are as far apart as winter and summer. And tomorrow…

…That reminds me of something my gran would have said. She was always saying things like that. I remember once she took me to the park. Middle of summer. All the other kids playing. I was holding her knitting. Suddenly she walked us to the edge of the pond in the park. Stood right on the edge of it holding my hand. And I look at her like don’t you dare. I’m five and that’s what I’m thinking. She looks at me and says –

‘Fear is your worst enemy and your closest friend. Learn to live with it!’

And just like that she lets go of my hand and jumps in.

(STELLA cups her mouth with her hands.)

That was my gran Jan. She definitely needed psychiatric assistance. But see that never left me. Her words. Her honesty…

…And I want to be honest with Joanne. And she looks like the type they might scare so I tell ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Original Production
• Introduction by Róisín McBrinn
• Stella   Chino Odimba
• Grace   Ursula Rani Sarma
• Kathleen   Deborah Bruce
• Alice   Theresa Ikoko
• Becky   Laura Lomas
• About the Authors
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information