Three Plays

Jonathan Moore

• Publisher: Aurora Metro Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9780953675722
• eBook ISBN:
  9781910798775
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: British Drama

Award-winning playwright Jonathan Moore has been described as a "singular voice for his generation: furious, nihilistic, poetic…" (Time Out). This anthology brings together three of his critically acclaimed plays, including: This Other Eden, Fall From Light, and Treatment.

 

The Plays

This Other Eden (Guardian Critics's Choice): A story of passion. A wife and a mother. Her son and daughter. Her husband. The London Irish. Limboland. The hunger for a sense of a real culture. The desire for freedom… A tough play about a woman's soul, told with beauty, humour and hope.

"… the play burns with passion and indignation." Daily Telegraph

Fall From Light: A young composer writes a new opera. The Director rejects it, but his lover, a young Diva, takes him to the council estate, where she and the composer grew up. There they meet Girly and his gang… A tale of art, savagery and redemption.

Treatment (Fringe First): Liam is part of a violent street gang but wants to escape. Trapped between two worlds, he has to choose between the dark allure of violence and the healing power of love.

Fall From Light

Originally commissioned by Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre.

CHARACTERS

Deborah

Jeremy

Simon

Girly

Shrimpdick

Velvetblade

Mr Smith

Old Blind Man can double with

Security Guard/Priest/Voice of Interviewer

SCENE ONE

Spotlight up on the Opera House Director, Jeremy Wonfrey. He is in a frenzy of inspiration.

JEREMY

The function of Art. The nature of Art.
The purpose of Art is to give us a flash of heaven.
A glimpse. Through a glass darkly.
To lift us from the blather of the ordinary.
To bathe us in the light of the eternal.
To drag us from the primeval bog of the valley and up
To the Mountains of the Gods.
To breathe the same vivifying air as the Gods.
(pause)
And the greatest of the arts is opera. The impossible art… Music…
Theatre…
Music Theatre. The spoken word. The sung word. Dithyrambic. Atavistic voices. Design. Acting. The orchestra. All coming. Together. All reaching a synthesis. All coming together.
A Gesamtkunstwerk.
A Total Art Work.
But the madness of it all. People singing to each other
What is normally spoken.
Ludicrous. Unnatural. Supernatural.
Why should we believe it? Well some stories are so sublime They must be sung. The race memory of these islands.
The Bardic tradition.
Using all these different elements.
Each magically potent on its own.
But together.
Together the heavens are breached.
We are transformed from the clay of our mortal selves
Into the eternal, the heavenly.
In a form that we can see. We can see this heaven.
Right here on earth. (pause)
A pathetic prosaic reed is turned, by blowing,
Into the tool of the Zephyr.
This weakness of the flesh inspired by the breathing of art Into the songs of the angels.
And we can see this.
And we can feel this.
And we can have this.
Right here. Right here.
On this Earth.
An intimation, a glimpse of Heaven!

He shouts in pleasure. The lighting widens to show he is in bed. From under the covers comes Deborah Mullins, a rising young diva.

DEBORAH

Yeah?

JEREMY

Yes. As perfect as your singing.

DEBORAH

Yeah?

JEREMY

I always loved your tongue technique.

DEBORAH

And my breath control?

JEREMY

Oh yes. Superlative.

DEBORAH

My turn. (lies back. Jeremy goes under the covers) Here I am. Is this happening? All this. I’m singing the roles I always wanted. Aaaah. I’m with you. I can’t believe it. Aaaah. I’m going to admit something to you. Ooooh. I fancied you when I first saw you. Yes. As a student. Down a bit. Yes. We’d come to a dress rehearsal. Ah. You were just The Boss to me then. You were in the auditorium. Shouting at the director. Mmmm. Ooooh. Then the usual bullshit. The right agent. The right dinner parties. But if I hadn’t met you at that dinner party at ...oooh ….where was it?

JEREMY (looking up)

Lord Turlington’s. (goes back)

DEBORAH

Yes. He was lovely too. The Chairman. What was the old joke about him? Oh yes. What’s the difference between a toddler and Lord Turlington? Well, a toddler sucks his fingers and Lord Turlington…

JEREMY (looking up)

Fucks his singers?

DEBORAH

Correct.

JEREMY

Did he –?

DEBORAH

Of course.

JEREMY

Really?

DEBORAH

Yes.

JEREMY

When?

DEBORAH

That night. In the grounds. (He resumes his business) He put down his cohiba and pulled up my dress. His mouth tasted of cigars, decay and port. Gorgeous. Mmm… Mmmm… So you see, it’s really empirical evidence to suggest that the old cliché is true. It’s not what you know… oooh oooooh aaa aaah, it’s… oooh, it’s… oooh, it’s… (She climaxes. Pause)

JEREMY (looking up)

Cup of tea?

DEBORAH

Lovely.

Blackout.

SCENE 2

Eden Housing Estate. Near the Docks. Night. Very loud guitar music cuts through the dark. The lights come up on four young men – the gang. We see Girly, Mr Smith, Velvetblade and Shrimpdick run on. High on adrenalin and speed. They stare out at us. Victorious.

MR SMITH

We skinned ‘em!

VELVETBLADE

We done ‘em!

SHRIMPDICK

We flattened ‘em!

GIRLY

I striped the big geezer’s face.

SHRIMPDICK

Reckoned they could take our block.

VELVETBLADE

I got ‘old of Dave’s head. I smashed it through a plate glass window.

SHRIMPDICK

I chased two of ‘em into the chip shop. I slashed one of ‘em and put the other cunt’s head into the deep fryer.

MR SMITH

I held Big Phil’s head down. Then I smashed it open. Sweet.

SHRIMPDICK

Girly’s was the best.

MR SMITH

Yeah. He done three of ‘em.

VELVE...

Table of contents

• Three Plays
• Jonathan Moore
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introdution
• Treatment
• This Other Eden
• Fall From Light
• Jonathan Moore
• Aurora Metro Press