Right Now

Catherine-Anne Toupin, Chris Campbell

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781783197262
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Teatro britannico

An unsettling folktale for a modern age, Right Now explores the darker recesses of the human ability to normalise our traumas. Right Now by Catherine-Anne Toupin, translated by Christopher Campbell is about Alice. Bereft, a mother without her child. Haunted by the cries of her first-born, whilst dealing with the nosy neighbours next door, Alice struggles to keep a grasp on what's left of her shattered reality. Right Now is a richly drawn portrait of a family coming to terms with their unremitting grief.

SCENE NINE

GILLES, JULIETTE, FRANÇOIS, and BEN are sitting in the lounge. They’ve just finished dinner and plenty’s been drunk.

JULIETTE: Was it love at first sight?

BEN: For me it was.

GILLES: Really?

FRANÇOIS: Not for her though?

BEN: Alice was with someone.

FRANÇOIS: Could still be love at first sight.

BEN: She was with him that night.

GILLES: The night you met?

BEN: Yes.

ALICE comes in.

GILLES: (To ALICE.) Love at first sight that night, was it?

ALICE: What?

BEN: The night we met. Alice was with her ex. He never left her side for a moment. I watched them all evening, then all of a sudden he left …

JULIETTE: Did you have a row?

ALICE: Yes.

BEN: (To ALICE.) When I saw you were on your own, I came straight over.

ALICE: We talked for ages.

FRANÇOIS: Did you leave together?

BEN: No, that took a lot longer. I had to really put in some work.

GILLES: You nearly missed each other.

BEN: I don’t think so.

GILLES: If Alice hadn’t had that row, you’d never have met.

BEN: Oh, I’d have found some way to get at her.

JULIETTE: You think?

BEN: I’m sure.

GILLES: Alice, have you ever thought what your life would be like without Ben?

ALICE: No.

GILLES: Never?

ALICE: Not really, but …

GILLES: But what?

ALICE: I suppose I’d be with someone else.

GILLES: And you’d be happy?

ALICE: I don’t know … bit of an odd question.

FRANÇOIS: Not really.

GILLES: Do you think about that life at all?

ALICE: What life?

GILLES: The life you’d have if you’d not married. If you’d just carried on talking one night, rather than going quiet.

ALICE: Why do you say …

GILLES: If you’d felt nothing the first time he kissed you.

ALICE: That’s not what …

GILLES: If you’d turned down the first date. If he’d never come over and talked to you. If you’d never met. If you had another life.

BEN: Everyone thinks about that sort of thing now and again.

FRANÇOIS: Do you, Alice?

ALICE: Yes.

JULIETTE: And Ben? Do you dream of a different life?

BEN: Occasionally.

Awkward silence.

BEN: (To JULIETTE.) Do you remember the first time you met?

JULIETTE: As if it was yesterday.

ALICE: Was it romantic?

JULIETTE: Was it romantic?

GILLES: Not really.

ALICE: So how was it?

JULIETTE: It was more erotic.

BEN: Erotic?

FRANÇOIS: My mother’s a real tart.

GILLES: If your mother was a tart there might be just a chance that you weren’t my son. No such luck, alas.

JULIETTE: I’m not a tart by any means, but I have certain tendencies …

ALICE: Tendencies?

FRANÇOIS: You’d have been a terrific tart.

JULIETTE: I had certain tendencies … Not anymore. Apart from my lingerie.

FRANÇOIS: Oh, tell us about your lingerie, Maman.

JULIETTE: I wear very colourful lingerie.

ALICE: Why?

JULIETTE: Eye-catching.

GILLES: Something purple and lacy on a white thigh; that’s eye-catching.

JULIETTE: I’ve always liked to sit with my legs … slightly apart.

GILLES: That’s how we met...