Stone Face

Eve Leigh

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781783197811
• eBook ISBN: 9781783197828
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

"No scars at all. Which, when you think about it, is maybe not such a good sign" Catherine is fifteen years old, and was discovered in a state of almost total neglect. No one is even sure if she's ever left the room she was found in. She can't walk and can't speak. Her recovery seems impossible. But children can be shockingly resilient, especially with inspired medical care. Sponsored by a fundraising drive led by a tabloid newspaper, her only surviving relative has been able to get Catherine the best private medical care that money can buy. She responds well to the experimental treatment. But she seems to be getting more violent, and remains stubbornly resistant to language. Or is she? Soon, Catherine's doctors and great-aunt begin to discover what it is, exactly, that they've uncovered... Inspired by true events, Stone Face is Eve Leigh's second full-length play at the Finborough Theatre.

High summer. We are in the multi-sensory room, a kind of nursery, in a research hospital in the City of London. The multi-sensory room is designed to be as stimulating as possible to children. There are soft toys, cushions, and moulded blocks of foam in every colour and shape imaginable. There are mobiles in the air. There is a large two-way mirror on the back wall, slightly above eye level.

CATHERINE ignores it all. She sits, curled tightly around herself, and looks at nothing.

CUTLER enters.

CUTLER: Hello Catherine.

No response.

CUTLER: Nice to meet you. I’m –

[It’s very strange to speak to someone who really seems to have no idea you’re there.]

I’m

Dr. Cutler.

No response.

Carefully, CUTLER crouches down so she’s in CATHERINE’s eyeline. She approaches her delicately.

CUTLER: (Very gentle.) Hellooo.

Without directly acknowledging CUTLER, CATHERINE makes a silent face of abject terror. She grips her sides, rocks back and forth, and then convulses into a self-directed, silent tantrum. She throws herself around the room, tearing at her hair and face, slamming herself into the floor again and again.

CUTLER: (With total calm.) Can you look at me please, Catherine?

CATHERINE wets herself.

CUTLER: Can I get a nurse in here, please?

A few weeks later. CUTLER is in a hot lecture hall. She’s being filmed, which is not something she’s used to.

CUTLER: So I want you to imagine something.

Imagine you’d never seen grass before.

Or you’d seen it, but you’d seen – images of it, like you’d had a TV but you’d never been outside.

And then – suddenly –

You’re in direct sunlight for the first time in your life.

You’re in a garden.

A er, not a, very beautiful garden or

just an, ordinary garden, I mean I don’t know would you even call it a garden?

An expanse of grass. In the sun.

What do you think it’d feel like. To touch grass. Having just seen pictures of it?

Do you think you’d think it might hurt?

‘Blades of grass …’ because in this scenario you’re exposed to language, right, which may not be the actual case as we know, but in this scenario, you’ve seen images of grass on the telly and you know there are blades of them.

At what point do you reach down and touch?

Is it when it, brushes past your ankle and doesn’t draw blood, maybe it does draw blood, maybe when you’ve never been outdoors before everything draws blood, maybe everything hurts.

There’s a reason I’m asking this question, by the way.

It’s because we know the answer.

This question was inadvertently answered by one of the Fritzl boys. You may remember, the Austrian – the father had kept his daughter captive in an underground bunker, he’d raped her, they’d – he’d impregnated her. And this went on for many years.

After one of the boys came up out of that bunker for the first time … it was observed … that he was frightened of the grass. And then, someone showed him, that grass is safe to touch.

And he stroked the grass for about two hours, that first time. Just couldn’t believe it. That it was real.

…

We are traveling to a foreign country.

There’s a leap we have to make, in these cases.
We are traveling to a foreign country.
We must never forget that.

If we want to understand each other … we need to learn the language.

CUTLER bounces a ball towards CATHERINE, who is suddenly onstage.

CATHERINE does not respond to the ball.

CUTLER makes a quick note in her notebook.

CUTLER comes a bit closer.

CATHERINE moves equally far away. Her expression does not change.

CUTLER makes a note in her notebook.

CUTLER rolls the ball in CATHERINE’s direction. CATHERINE waits til it comes close to her. It comes to rest by her leg.

CATHERINE looks to one side of CUTLER and then to the other. As if, without looking directly at her, she wants to understand where CUTLER is in the room.

She looks down at the ball, careful not to touch it.

She moves herself away.

CUTLER makes a note in her notebook.

We are suddenly in CUTLER’s office. She is with ALI. ALI is pacing the room.

ALI: So what happened is me and my best mate Jenni we went to this party in this warehouse in Tottenham, we’re in our coats and we walk in and it’s like this wave of heat it’s like a ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Characters
• Stone Face