Lands

Antler, Jaz Woodcock-Stewart

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781786825704
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Feminismo y teoría feminista

Lyn Gardner's The Guardian Recommended Shows 2017 Exeunt recommended shows 2017, The Word of Mouth Favourites Leah and Sophie have been together, here, for a long time. They are happy here. But there's a problem. There's a fucking massive problem and soon they're going to have to talk about it. The award-winning Antler return with a playful, intimate dissection of a relationship teetering on the edge of collapse. An absurd tragicomedy, Lands explores the impossibility of relationships, our inability to understand one another and the hills we're willing to die on.

0. PRESET

‘You and Me Part II’ by Fleetwood Mac plays.

LEAH works on the puzzle.

SOPHIE jumps on the mini trampoline.

LEAH works at a puzzle station. She has her working puzzle in front or her. In the stage directions, we will call this the ‘Working Puzzle’. Not too far away, she has a previously completed puzzle. We will call this the ‘Masterpiece Puzzle’. She has completed many puzzles in the past, but in our production these are the only two onstage. Her puzzle station is lit by a desk lamp.

SOPHIE peels and eats a tangerine whilst jumping.

1.

SOPHIE continues jumping.

LEAH holds each piece up to the light of the lamp. She talks into a microphone to the audience, detailing the composition of each piece. The pieces are selected at random, and the text is improvised. See notes for more details.

LEAH Piece 112. Mainly features a red telephone box. A man is inside it. A queue of two people outside. That’s a long queue for a phone box in this current age of mobiles. I’ve not seen a queue like that since the mid-90s – is this a clue as to when the picture is set? Could be, could be. It could be a freak accident that these three people happen to have left their mobiles at home today – who are they ringing? Just a casual call? Are they ringing someone at home to bring their mobile to them? Are they making prank calls? It would be an ideal phone to use. More pieces needed still to determine the decade, that could certainly help clear this up.

Piece 113. Glamorous woman! Beautiful hair, black. Sunglasses on. This would indicate it’s a sunny day. I have seen some very blue sky pieces. This helps strengthen that theory. Oh wait and she’s in a convertible car, roof down. Hello summer. Or perhaps a bright spring day, slight chill still in the air. She could be hungover and has got the roof down to get the wind in the face, get fresh! That truck is incredibly close to her, right up her back – heavy traffic – traffic at a stand still? Busy city centre? Or just dangerous driving? Further car pie...