Us/Them (NHB Modern Plays)

Carly Wijs

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781780018485
• Topic: Literatura
• Subtopic: Arte dramático europeo

In September 2004, a group of terrorists stormed School Number One in Beslan, Russia, taking hundreds of children, their parents and teachers hostage. The ensuing siege lasted three days and left many dead.

Us/Them is not a straightforward account of this terrible tragedy, but an exploration of the entirely individual way children cope with traumatic situations.

Originally created for BRONKS, a theatre company for young audiences, Us/Them had a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016, winning a Scotsman Fringe First Award, and transferred to the National Theatre, London, in 2017. It was co-produced by BRONKS and Richard Jordan Productions, with Theatre Royal Plymouth and Big in Belgium, in association with Summerhall.

'A remarkable piece of theatre – playful, surprisingly and painfully funny as well as moving' - Guardian

'A truly outstanding piece of theatre for all ages… [makes] an inhuman ordeal somehow understandable, filtered through this very modern, accessible retelling' - The Stage

'Haunting, unforgettable… the highlight of the Fringe' - Telegraph

'Dazzlingly confident and utterly absorbing… presents [its] story masterfully' - Scotsman

'An innovative piece of theatrical storytelling… the bare facts of this terrible episode are well known, but the story is given such bold, off-centre treatment in [ Us/Them ] that it inspires a much deeper consideration of the massacre, its context and implications, than a simple dramatisation could hope to achieve' - The Times

'Remarkable – powerful and quietly shocking, certainly, but also one that dares to be entertaining and absurd, even playful' - The List

An empty stage. At the back there is a wall or blackboard with coat hooks sticking out of it.

On the floor in front of the blackboard there are two pieces of chalk and a sponge. To the right of the stage, a bunch of black helium balloons, held down by a large block of wood. A BOY and a GIRL appear. They walk past the balloons and each take a piece of chalk. Then they walk to the front of the stage and begin to draw lines on the floor. Although they start at the same spot, there is soon a clear difference between their two drawings.

GIRL and BOY. These are the outbuildings. That’s where the toddlers are.

While the GIRL is drawing, she constantly mumbles measurements to herself and checks whether they match what she is drawing on the floor. She looks irritated at the BOY who is drawing a different-sized plan. In turn, the BOY is annoyed with the GIRL because she is getting in his way.

This is the gymnasium.
Adjoining it is the large main building.
There are three floors.
The main building towers over the other buildings.
From here you can see the whole terrain.
There are twenty classrooms spread over three floors. On the ground floor to the right is a canteen.

They have finished drawing. On the floor we see two versions of the school plan drawn over each other in chalk, overlapping in places. The BOY and the GIRL explain the layout of the buildings, pointing out the various locations. But as their drawings and stories are not exactly the same, they point in different directions. Sometimes they complement each other, sometimes they contradict each other, and sometimes they try to outpace the other.

On the third floor the offices of the director and the administration.

They each point out a different place for the library.

And a library with two thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine books. Mainly textbooks, but also five hundred and thirty-three children’s books with stories.
Surrounding the buildings, a large play area in a U-shape.
There are three entries or exits.

In front of the main building, on the left, the main entrance.
On the right side a side entrance. Very practical: if you are late for school, you can sneak in and join the rows. In between the main building and the first extension is another exit. This exit is very useful: in case of a fire, people can escape in all directions.

In case of danger, you only have to barricade three doors.
Next to the canteen is a small kitchen. That’s where they make the soup and the potatoes that we eat for lunch. On the other side of the kitchen is a staircase. That leads to a hidden cellar. That basement cannot be seen from the outside, but also not from the kitchen.
At the front of the building is the small town. The school is the largest in the town.

BOY. According to many people also the best school.

GIRL. It’s School Number One.

The following summary of facts is completely rattled off with accompanying gestures.

BOY and GIRL. The town has approximately thirty-three thousand six hundred and forty-six people.
Three swimming pools.
One Museum of Folk Art.
Twenty-one churches.
Fifty-three mosques.
Five tennis courts.
Seven parks, most of which without ponds and ducks.
One hundred and four baker’s.
Forty-eight butcher’s.
Twelve supermarkets, three of which are very large.
Five thousand registered cats.
Eight thousand six hundred and twenty-four chickens that lay forty-two thousand one hundred and twenty eggs per week.
Four vegetarians.
Two hospitals, three hundred nurses. Fifty-eight doctors.
Three police stations with fifteen policemen. Nothing much happens here.

The GIRL walks forward and points at a spot behind the audience.

GIRL. Behind the school there’s a forest. There’s a path from the school that leads straight through the forest to the border.

GIRL and BOY. A hundred and twenty kilometres away.

GIRL. On the other side of the border is Chechnya, with its capital Grozny.
There the children can only go to school until they are eight.
Then they must work.
Mostly in brothels for paedophiles.
The fathers are addicted to drugs.
The mothers all have moustaches and have to work like horses.
There are no tennis courts.

BOY. No, no tennis courts.

The BOY walks to the back and tries to get the GIRL to go with him, but she wants to tell us more about Chechnya. He goes and draws a large rectangle in chalk on the right side of the stage. Round the bunch of balloons. Then he sees that, in her enthusiasm, the GIRL has erased his version of the gymnasium with her foot. Angrily he walks to the spot and carefully redraws the lines that she has erased.

GIRL. When you enter Chechnya from the border, the forest changes into boring fields. But on our side it is stunning. Really marvellous. A paradise-like nature. In a well-known hiking guide for professional hikers this path has been described as:

BOY. ‘The most beautiful trail in the region, with magnificent views.’

GIRL. ...