The Mono Box presents Playstart

Short plays from new voices

Graeme Brookes, Charles Entsie, Roberta Livingston, Sid Sagar, Aisling Towl, Mono Box Ltd, The Mono Box Ltd

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781786827081
• eBook ISBN: 9781786827074
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Theatre

Five newshortplays developed and supported by The Mono Box. THE INTERVIEW by Graeme Brookes A panel of three interviewers are meeting with one of many applicants to see if they're 'working class enough' to obtain support from their elite organisation. In trying to offer their support, the expert panel slowly lose control with their own reality. What starts with honest intentions turns into a grotesque grilling.THE INTERVIEW is an absurd comedy written with a biting political edge that will make you laugh, wince, cringe and scream! PAPA by Sid Sagar PAPA explores the troubled relationship between a father and a daughter. It questions notions of parenting, failure and masculinity, and asks whether we can ever truly overcome our past mistakes. NSA by Charles Entsie NSAis about the conflict between doing what it takes to survive in the present, when also trying to secure something for your future. LA MERDE by Roberta Livingston La Merde follows the journey of Chrissy, a black student who is obsessed with make-up. She aspires to be as successful as her idol Allegra Aldridge, a YouTube beauty sensation. But as she delves into the growing beast that is the YouTube world she soon discovers the cracks that are hidden within it. GODFREY by Aisling Towl GODFREY is a short play set in an 'up and coming'/ gentrified South London restaurant. It follows four people; Simone, Jason, Carys and Godfrey, through one working day, honing in on the kind of seemingly mundane conversations that expose the parts of ourselves we try desperately to hide.

THE INTERVIEW

by Graeme Brookes

Writer’s Notes

The characters of the ‘Interviewers’ upon their initial entrance and the beginning of the interview are to be played naturalistically. As the interview progresses, their behaviour, use of the specific props and general demeanour will become more exaggerated, unrealistic and grotesque.

Beside the initial first line of the character, the majority of the lines of the interviewers are not written colloquially (there are the odd exceptions) even though they’re to be performed with a strong regional accent. When performed – the actors should approach and use the text and make it fit colloquially. The regionality of the accents do NOT have to be fixed to the ones named in this script.

The actress (Anna Ash Mackay) playing Jane in the first production of ‘The Interview’ is Scottish – therefore there was an additional line that Jane doesn’t own a St George’s Flag due to her being ‘Scottish’. This line can be removed to accommodate the regionality of the actor playing the role in the future.

The stage is in darkness. A spotlight rises on a chair that is down stage. The only light. It fades down as a wide light fades up to reveal a long meeting table with three chairs set behind it, th...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• An Intro to Playstart
• A Brief History of The Mono Box
• Biographies
• The Interview
• NSA
• La Merde
• Papa
• Godfrey