Running on the Cracks

Julia Donaldson, Andy Arnold

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781783198689
• eBook ISBN: 9781783198696
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

"Run. Keep running. You're doing the right thing. Lay low. Head down. Don't look back. Just keep running. And whatever you do, don't tread on the cracks..." Leo's world has been turned upside down. Her parents are gone and her bird-loving uncle is getting too close for comfort. She is only sure of one thing...she must get out. In a desperate bid to find the grandparents she never knew, Leo jumps on a train to Glasgow, penniless and stealing food to survive. A nationwide hunt for her begins. Will she track down her grandparents, or will her uncle get to her first?

SCENE ONE

Empty stage.

LEO appears in a single spotlight facing the audience.

LEO: This is the bit I’ve planned … I wish my hands would stop shaking.

Blackout.

Split stage: on one side LEO (in Bristol); on the other FINLAY (in Glasglow).

‘Galloping Horseman’ music plays, while LEO sleeps in bed. FINLAY is also sleeping.

KIM enters and walks in front of the audience with food samples.

KIM: Authentic Dim Sum! Genuine Chinese family food like in China … freshly steamed on the premises … You taste these, you’ll never go to your local takeaway again!

Sound of aircraft takes over and simultaneously we see an image on the wall of a middle-aged Chinese man and his English wife in happy smiling photo – maybe with young LEO.

The photo dissolves to sound of a plane crashing – LEO wakes up screaming from a nightmare.

At the same time …

FINLAY’S MUM: Finlay!

UNCLE JOHN and AUNT SARAH are there to comfort LEO.

She falls asleep again – dark soundscape.

UNCLE JOHN and AUNT SARAH switch the light out and leave, UNCLE JOHN hovers in the doorway and goes to feed his two lemon-yellow cockatiel birds in the same room, then comes and kneels by LEO’s bed. He peers up close; he is wearing thick-rimmed glasses … silhouetted in the darkness; what’s he doing? LEO wakes again – repeat of nightmare scream.

FINLAY’S MUM: Finlay! Are you up yet?

UNCLE JOHN is seen peering at LEO.

UNCLE JOHN: No need to wake … Uncle’s here.

FINLAY’S MUM: Finlay! You’ve got five minutes – this paper round was your idea, not mine.

UNCLE JOHN: Sweet dreams … how sweet you look dreaming.

FINLAY and LEO both stir.

FINLAY’S MUM: Finlay, WAKE UP!

UNCLE JOHN: Shush … shush … eyes closed … mouth … (He peers even closer – he could almost be kissing her.)

FINLAY: (Bolts upright.) It’s seven o’clock! Aaargh!

LEO: (Bolts upright – she screams – taken over by sound of train whistle.)

Both FINLAY and LEO jump up and start running.

SCENE TWO

In newsagents.

RAB: Who’s walked off with those bloody Telegraph supplements?

FINLAY arrives out of breath. He is wearing his school uniform but with a goth-like appearance.

FINLAY: I saw you put that pile of Heralds on top of them.

RAB: Ah, good afternoon Finlay. What’s that black muck on your fingernails?

FINLAY: (Faint withering sigh.) Nail varnish.

RAB: What do they call that shade then? Black death?

FINLAY: (Referring to the newspaper.) … ‘BODY FOUND BY BIN MAN’ … don’t spill ash on your Scotsman …

Exits.

RAB: (Shouting after him.) If you get any of that ‘black death’ on the papers you’ll be the next body in the bin!

To fast-moving soundscape, FINLAY runs, pushing papers from his bag into letterboxes. Sound of doors banging.

LEO is running in her school uniform as if back from school.

Sequence stops with a single door bang – followed by ambient station sounds.

LEO: A standard day single to Paddington please …

TICKET COLLECTOR: (Smiles weakly.)

LEO: … I’m going to see the Dali exhibition at the Tate Britain.

Another door bang.

FINLAY is outside MARY MCNALLY’s door.

LEO: (In the station loo.) Bit tight in here – should have gone in the disabled loo.

Silence, waiting.

Doors open and shut next to LEO – ‘BANG BANG BANG’, while FINLAY tries to shove paper into MARY’s letterbox.

LEO: Someone coming towards me …

FINLAY: Anybody in there?

LEO: (For a second she freezes.) Don’t be so paranoid!

FINLAY: (Waits, curious, peers through the letterbox.) Light’s on. What’s that smell?

LEO: No one’s looking for me yet. (Still in the loo, she starts to change out of her school uniform and brings other clothes out of a bag … An echoey station announcement wafts through the air.)

FINLAY: (As he starts to walk away he imagines the headlines out loud.) … Hmmm, ‘BODY FOUND IN FLAT … Neighbours and even the regular paper boy had failed to spot tell-tale signs.’ Shit!

FINLAY goes back to MARY’S door and starts knocking.

LEO, still changing, freezes again as if someone is knocking on her door.

FINLAY: (Peering through the letterbox.) Hmmm, smells kind of meaty … like flesh … like decaying flesh!

Loud meow sound and FINLAY steps back and bumps into DRESSING GOWN on the landing outside MARY’s flat.

DRESSING GOWN: Whit d’ye think ye’re doing?

FINLAY: I was just a bit worried about Mr … Mrs … McNally.

DRESSING GOWN: MISS McNally.

FINLAY: She’s not been collecting her papers. Do you think she’s all right?

DRESSING GOWN: Having one of her downers, that’s all. This time next week she’ll be dancing ‘The Dashing White Sergeant’ all night long, knowing her.

FINLAY: I see. (He doesn’t really.) Only there’s this strange fleshy smell coming from/

DRESSING GOWN: /That’ll be cat food wee, man. She’ll neglect herself but no the moggie. Spends all her benefit on cat food, that one does.

By now LEO has finished changing into her ordinary clothes.

Station announcement:

‘The 9.45 for Glasgow Central is ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Characters
• Playwright’s note
• Running on the Cracks
• Learning Resources