Gravity

Arzhang Pezhman

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781849431545
• eBook ISBN: 9781849433242
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

If you could only go back and change things. That's all he wanted, to go back and change things. The Large Hadron Collider – expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature and our existence, but sparking fears that the particle collisions might produce a black hole – the end of life as we know it. David is a good teacher. Struggling to stay afloat in the modern day stressful world of secondary education and doing his best to keep his life on track, he immerses himself in his work. He has a passion for physics and he's desperate for his students to share his enthusiasm. There's just one boy, Kyle – the school loner, who takes an interest in science and shares David's thirst for knowledge. But when Kyle is picked on by his troublemaking classmates, Reece and Chantay, all of David's good work starts to unravel. Their disruptive behaviour is a catalyst for colliding personalities, resulting in an explosive reaction. A contemporary and dynamic new play about provocation, Gravity is a fictional story with roots in the real-life newspaper headlines of today's society.

SCENE 1

A school science prep room. Chemicals/bottles, weights/levers, plants/microscopes etc. On a central bench there is a piece of string and a hammer. A tub of rulers sit with other stationery further down the bench. DAVID is at the sink, sleeves rolled up, washing his hands. He is unkempt and restless. KATHY enters.

MRS. JONES: David?

DAVID: They’ve done it Kathy.

MRS. JONES: What’s that?

DAVID: They’ve only gone and done it. Those boys/

MRS. JONES: Which boys?

DAVID: At CERN.

MRS. JONES: Right, those boys.

DAVID dries his hands and sits at the bench. He starts to assemble the ‘floating hammer’ optical illusion, as in Fig. 1.

DAVID: They’ve only gone and created antimatter and sustained it.

KATHY: Incredible.

DAVID: Thirty-eight atoms of antihydrogen for at least a tenth of a second.

KATHY: Wow, that’s...that’s not very long.

DAVID: Long enough to make detailed observations, and for the first time ever. Do you know what this means Kathy?

MRS. JONES: I know it’s important to you David.

DAVID: Not just me Kathy, it could change the world...but if they find what we’re really looking for, well, that could change the entire Universe.

MRS. JONES: I never really paid enough attention/

DAVID: Could you pass me that ruler?

MRS. JONES: What are you doing?

DAVID: Setting up a demo for my year eights.

MRS. JONES: OK.

She passes him the ruler and sits on a stool.

MRS. JONES: So what else have the Hydrogen Collidor people found out?

DAVID: Hadron Collidor.

MRS. JONES: I knew it was something like that.

DAVID: You don’t want a science lesson Kathy.

MRS. JONES: Who wouldn’t want to know news that could change the Universe...do you mean change in a bad way?

DAVID: I mean change the way we perceive the Universe (Trails off.) but then the Universe only exists because we perceive it.

MRS. JONES: David?

DAVID: Yes?...no, not in a bad way. No. Imagine accelerating to almost the speed of light around a seventeen mile circular tunnel before being smashed into another particle, creating new particles, new matter, stuff that could explain everything.

MRS. JONES: Wow...could you be more specific?

DAVID: Higgs boson.

MRS. JONES: Pardon?

DAVID: The Higgs boson.

MRS. JONES: Sounds American.

DAVID: Scottish.

MRS. JONES: Right, so who is he?

DAVID: It.

MRS. JONES: Sorry.

DAVID: Higgs is the name of the scientist that came up with the theory.

MRS. JONES: Theory?

DAVID: But not for long. Those boys at CERN/

MRS. JONES: The Hadron Collidor.

DAVID: Right. They’re going to find it Kathy. And when they do, we will be able to observe the particle that gives things mass. We will be one step closer to understanding our most mysterious of forces. The force that binds the Universe.

He sets up his ‘floating hammer’ (Fig. 1) on the edge of a high shelf.

MRS. JONES: That is pretty remarkable.

DAVID: It’s not magic.

MRS. JONES: It looks like it’s going to fall.

DAVID: The trick is to find the centre of gravity.

MRS. JONES: And is that difficult?

DAVID: Adjust the length of the string, its position on the ruler, the angle of the hammer...like all good science it’s trial and error.

MRS. JONES: Bit dangerous though. I mean if it does fall/

DAVID: It’s not going to.

MRS. JONES: But if it does.

DAVID: I wouldn’t let that happen.

MRS. JONES: You might not be able to stop it.

DAVID: Of course I could stop it!

MRS. JONES: Alright David, please, stay calm.

Pause.

DAVID: I dropped the girls off at their school first thing, then drove here. Routine. Except, I kept driving around the school, past the gate half a dozen times, deciding whether to come in today. I shouldn’t have come in today. Why did I come in? There must be a reason. There’s always a reason. I need a reason. Kathy?

MRS. JONES: Otherwise you’d keep going round in circles?

DAVID: Right...exactly! So now I’m here I best make the most of it. Got a practical to prep for my year eights (Looks at his watch.) where does the time go?

DAVID disappears into a chemical store at the back, KATHY quickly gets up and checks the corridor before sitting back down. DAVID returns with a tray of bottled chemicals.

MRS...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Acknowledgements
• Dedication page
• Characters
• Epigraph page
• Contents
• Scene 1
• Scene 2
• Scene 3
• Scene 4
• Scene 5
• Scene 6
• Scene 7
• Scene 8