Stories (NHB Modern Plays)

Nina Raine

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781788501200
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

How do you have a baby when you're thirty-nine and single?

You decide. But what happens next?

The story, like a child, has a life of its own. The story becomes stories…

A funny and touching play about the fertilisation of an idea, Nina Raine's Stories premiered at the National Theatre, London, in October 2018.

Scene One

40

A slightly bare kitchen with lots of pieces of modern art, but rather than being hung on the walls, it is mainly stacked in piles against the skirting. A few sculptures placed here and there.

ANNA wanders around looking at them, unsure whether to sit down or not, while FELIX watches her. ANNA looks up, taking in the height of the room.

ANNA. Yes. It is quite batch, isn’t it?

FELIX. Mm. It’s not really my style, but it belonged to some banker who did it up and… he wanted a bachelor pad… so…

ANNA. Hence the polished concrete.

FELIX. And LED lights, and…

ANNA. Fridges…

FELIX.…Yes… But then almost immediately he met a woman, had a baby and… not a bachelor any more. So he put it on the market.

ANNA looks a bit at the art.

ANNA (kindly). The art warms it up a lot.

FELIX. Oh good.

ANNA. These…

She indicates some copper containers.

Are they art?

FELIX. Not really, I got them at auction, you just end up buying stuff. They’re for petrol I think, to tell you you really are buying a gallon and so on.

Beat.

At least someone like Paul Mellon had a cultural intelligence. Some of these Russian oligarchs it’s really, it’s very depressing, it’s, let’s just buy another fifty Damien Hirsts kind of thing. They’re just plundering. Oil in Russia, a Damien Hirst, it doesn’t matter to them.

ANNA is producing a small Carluccio’s bag. She takes some gingerbread men out.

ANNA. Well, I bought these from Carluccio’s to give a festive feel.

They laugh.

FELIX. Oh, gingerbread men, lovely… Do you want a cup of tea?

ANNA. Oh yes.

Are you having one?

FELIX busies himself with the kettle.

FELIX. No.

ANNA. I don’t really need one…

FELIX. No, no…

FELIX gets a cup, teabag, etc.

It was good, actually, going to get tested, apparently my hep-C vaccination’s about to expire. Anyway I’m fine for anything up to the last six weeks.

Beat.

ANNA (curiously).…Have you had action in the last six weeks?

FELIX. I have, but very very safe.

ANNA. Wow, action in the last six weeks, well done, you!

FELIX. Well…

ANNA. I haven’t had action in the past year.

ANNA gets a newspaper out of her bag.

I bought something to read…

Pause.

…Um, Felix – where do you want me to go?

FELIX galvanises himself.

FELIX. Yes. What I thought was, I’ll go in the bathroom, with some porn. And you can… the bedroom’s just here.

He indicates a door, off.

ANNA. Oh great. So I’ll just lie down and read the paper sort of thing?

FELIX. Grand. And then I’ll bring it in and… you do your stuff. I’ve got to head out actually. So I’ll just leave you there.

Take all the time you want.

ANNA. That’s brilliant.

…Actually, could I have a towel?

FELIX. Yes, yes of course…

Let me go and…

He goes off, speaks from off.

Sorry, the room’s a bit of a mess…

…My friend was staying… I have changed the sheets…

ANNA (half to herself, she is busy looking through her bag again).…Oh, thank you…

FELIX (from off). Actually, I got some flowers. Daffodils.

ANNA. Oh, how lovely.

FELIX comes back in. She turns to him questioningly with some syringes in plastic packaging.

I don’t know what size…?

Syringe?

How much do you normally…?

FELIX. Well it depends, really, on how turned on I am.

ANNA picks up one of the metal containers.

ANNA. Not a gallon then.

FELIX (remembering).…Your tea!

He makes to resume tea-making, ANNA looks at her watch.

ANNA. Actually, Felix – I’m a bit worried, actually, about time – do you think we ought to just – ? I can skip the tea.

FELIX abandons tea-making.

FELIX. Yes, yes of course. Of course! I’ll go in there.

ANNA. I don’t mean to be bossy…

FELIX. No no. I’ll get on with it.

As he goes out.

Help yourself to anything you want.

ANNA. Thank you.

We hear the fan turn on as he goes into the bathroom and switches the light on, closes the door.

ANNA is left on her own. She looks around at the art a bit more. Looks off towards the bathroom. Surreptitiously listens to see if she can hear any noises. She can’t. Then she hesitantly goes off into the spare bedroom with her bag and newspaper. The room is left empty.

Scene Two

39

ANNA sits with her brother, JOSEPH. They are scrolling through a website on a laptop which they pass between one another. When ANNA taps away, JOSEPH cranes over her shoulder.

Their DAD sits nearby, simultaneously engrossed in his own laptop and an open book beside him. Occasionally he throws comments into the mix but largely stays focused on his work.

JOSEPH. Fucking hell, that’s a bit expensive.

ANNA. Well there’s no point doing the cheap one because then you don’t get to see their photos.

JOSEPH. Right. So you do a search…

ANNA. Yeah… ‘UK-compliant’ because it’s based in America… (Filling in details.) Any height, you think, right?

JOSEPH. Well. Beggars can’t be choosers.

ANNA. No, I think it’s when you’re a beggar that y...