The Human Ear

Alexandra Wood

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781848425149
• eBook ISBN: 9781780016528
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

A man turns up at Lucy's door claiming to be the brother she hasn't seen in ten years. But why has he come? Is it really him? And what happens when there's another knock at the door?

An intriguing tale of loss, renewal and knowing who to trust, Alexandra Wood's The Human Ear was first produced by Paines Plough in their pop-up theatre, Roundabout, at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, before touring.

ONE

The doorstep.

MAN. I wasn’t sure you’d recognise me.

LUCY. Of course I recognise you Jason, of course I

MAN. Ten years.

LUCY. I was just expecting someone else, that’s / all.

MAN. You might wish I was.

LUCY. What?

MAN. Someone else.

LUCY. What? No, why would I

MAN. Brother. Blood. Doesn’t mean

LUCY. I can’t believe you’re here, it’s just a shock, that’s all, just a

I’m shaking I’m

Feel my hand I’m properly

She offers him her hand to feel.

He doesn’t.

She withdraws it.

Why didn’t you call first why didn’t you

This is

I don’t know what to say, Jason, I don’t know where to

I’m sure you

You know about Mum.

Pause.

MAN. I had to find out from a paper.

A photo in a paper.

A photo I was in. In the original.

LUCY. I’m sorry.

MAN. The editor, the journalist, the paramedics, the police officers, the passers-by, the endless list of people who knew my mother was dead before I did.

Who told you?

LUCY. Ed.

A police officer told / me.

MAN. Came over here, did he, break it to you gently.

ED. Is there anyone you’d like me to call?

LUCY. Who?

ED. A friend, family member, partner.

MAN. Made sure you were / okay.

LUCY. There’s no good way to hear it Jason, so let’s not compete over

MAN. There is no competition.

LUCY. Did you come here to fight?

MAN. I shouldn’t need a reason to come here.

LUCY. You don’t need a / reason.

MAN. Here is my home.

You shouldn’t be asking why I came here.

LUCY. I’m not.

Please.

I’m really

This hasn’t started well.

You’re back, I can’t / believe

MAN. Not back.

LUCY. For now at least. And that’s more than I’ve had in a long time so

MAN. Whose fault’s that?

LUCY. Look at you, you’re

She looks at him.

Different.

MAN. Ten years is a long time.

LUCY. You’re broader, taller even.

MAN. I’ve always been this height.

LUCY. Well that’s not true, not always, Jason, not / always.

MAN. Alright, obviously not always, but I haven’t grown since I left.

LUCY. Do I look the same?

MAN. I’d know you anywhere.

LUCY. What the fuck are you doing?

There’s too much to say so please let’s not start with

That’s my stuff, you’re burning my fucking stuff.

MAN. Who paid for it?

LUCY. Mum! Mum paid for it you moron, how are we / supposed

MAN. And how did Mum pay for it?

LUCY. With money!

MAN. Dad’s money.

LUCY. Our money!

MAN. Money he got paid to blow things up and get killed. I don’t want his money, I don’t want anything to do with it.

LUCY. Every time I think you’re done you find another way to make things worse.

MAN. This is what he died for Lucy.

LUCY. You can’t burn everything we own, how are we supposed to live?

MAN. You can’t choose where we start.

This duvet and those trainers and that TV and it’s nothing, look at it, it’s nothing.

LUCY. How you heard, that’s not the

MAN. That matters.

LUCY. It’s not the

MAN. How would you feel? Finding out like that.

I hadn’t seen her in ten years and there she is in the paper.

How would you feel?

Pause.

I left because of what you said.

LUCY. I never told you to leave for ever.

If you want nothing to do with it then

I never told you to

If you want nothing to do with it

I never said you couldn’t call. Or visit. Or come home for good.

We didn’t even know if you

If you want nothing

If you were alive.

MAN. You said you and Mum would be better off without me.

You must’ve known that’d kill me, if you knew me at all, and you did, better than anyone.

Better off without me.

LUCY. I didn’t mean ten years, Jason, I didn’t mean go and never come back, I just / meant

MAN. You killed me.

LUCY. Don’t say that.

MAN. Soon as you said it / you

LUCY. That’s not fair.

MAN. Being asked to leave by my own sister isn’t fair.

LUCY. You didn’t exactly make it easy, did / you.

MAN. Finding out my mother’s dead from a paper isn’t fair.

Feeling like it’s all my fault.

Is your brother in?

LUCY. Why?

MAN. Is Jason in?

LUCY. Why?

MAN. Please just answer the question miss.

LUCY. Why don’t you answ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Original Production
• Thanks
• Dedication
• Characters
• Notes on Text
• The Human Ear
• About the Author
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information