Maxwell: Plays for Young People

Douglas Maxwell

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781849431507
• eBook ISBN: 9781849435543
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

This collection of energetic, fun and emotionally honest, tragi-comic plays explore the turbulent journey from childhood through adolescence towards eventual adulthood. DECKY DOES A BRONCO 'One of the finest plays to emerge from a Scottish working-class story in the last ten years...the sheer force and depth of Maxwell's study of an end of childhood and an abrupt loss of innocence brings tears to the eyes.' The Scotsman 'A good deed in a naughty world… Ten years on, Decky Does A Bronco has lost none of its ability to excite the senses and stop the heart.' Sunday Herald HELMET 'Douglas Maxwell's impeccably observed little script transcends the everyday to tap into what moves the young and the troubled. The Glasgow Herald 'This extraordinary chronicler of youth.' Scottish Daily Mail MANCUB 'A near perfect encapsulation of the world of a troubled teen.' The Glasgow Herald 'A corker of a show that I'd urge everyone to see as soon as they can.' The Mail On Sunday 'Amazingly engaging...a must see' The List THE MOTHER SHIP Winner of the Brian Way Award 2009 for Best Play for a Younger Audience. TOO FAST Performed by 25 Youth Theatres in 2011 as part of the National Theatre's NT Connections Project.

THE MOTHER SHIP

Cast

GERRY

A teenager with advanced support needs, 16.

ELIOT

His older brother, 18.

LORRAINE

Their stepmother, 30, if that. Pregnant.

MACMILLAN

A policeman.

KEVIN

Eliot’s pal, 18.

JUDY

Uses a wheelchair, 18.

The Mother Ship first performed on 14 February 2008 at The Door, Birmingham Repertory Theatre with the following cast:

ELIOT, Jonathan Bailey
GERRY, Robert Ewens
JUDY, Robyn Hunt
LORRAINE, Joanne Moseley
KEVIN, Nicholas Oldale
MACMILLAN, Daniel Settatree

Director, Ben Payne
Designer, Chloe Lamford
Lighting Designer, Simon Bond
Composer/Sound Designer, Jon Nicholls
Stage Manager, Robin Longley
Deputy Stage Manager, Olly Seviour
Costume Supervisor, Debbie Williams
Voice Coach, Catherine Weate
Puppetry Advisor, Mervyn Millar
Extra Terrestrial Advisor Professor, Mark Brake
Amphicar Advisor, David Chapman, Head of the
UK Amphicar society

With thanks to Lorna Laidlaw, David Birrell and Hattie Payne.

1

A space mosquito

NEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAARRRRRRS

from the back of the universe.

It hovers. It zigs. It

HUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZESS

Then after a moment of nothing, it sends out the call.

A call of sound. A call of light.

A light that tells Travellers:

The Mother Ship is leaving.

Soon, man, soon.

A light that zooms down from the stars to catch you in the eye.

Frozen in the beam.

Not scared though.

Happy.

Don’t you get it? Didn’t you hear?

It’s home time.

At last.

2

ELIOT’s getting nothing from GERRY’s phone. Just a weird, buzzy, mosquitoy noise. He gives up and has another look at the envelope. Yup, it’s still big and brown and sealed.

And absolutely terrifying.

When LORRAINE comes in with the cop he stuffs it under his shirt and puts on his best ‘I Hate and Pity You’ face.

LORRAINE is seriously stressed and seriously pregnant. She’s been crying. The cop, MACMILLAN, seems awkward and out of his depth, struggling to be capable in the face of her panic.

LORRAINE	Or there’s this one. That was last year at Alton Towers but he’s got sick all down him and his hair is different. If someone’s photoshoping the hair could they do the sick as well? I don’t want people thinking he’s a puke-er, it was just that once. He’s not a puke-er is he Eliot? Except that once.
MACMILLAN	Ripsaw was it?
LORRAINE	What?
MACMILLAN	Was it the Ripsaw?
LORRAINE	I don’t know what you’re saying. Is it police code? I’ve never done this before.
ELIOT	You’ll have to dumb down.
MACMILLAN	There’s a ride there called the Ripsaw. It can be very disorientating. I was violently ill on it last Easter Monday and I’ve very nearly got a pilot’s licence so, a little fellow like your boy here could quite easily become…queasy, to say the least.
ELIOT	He’s not ‘her boy’.
LORRAINE	Or there’s this one. I think this one’s better. It’s got the rest of his group from the day centre in it though. Will that cause confusion?
MACMILLAN	Are they all…em…they don’t all look…to the naked eye I mean…em…no this is fine. Good, good…do you eh, have one with him wearing what he was wearing this morning?
LORRAINE	I don’t remember what he was wearing this morning! Oh God. I can’t even… I can’t even remember what he was wearing this morning. I can’t even do that.
MACMILLAN	Ah now, now. As I said before, nine times out of ten these things are nothing to worry about. He’ll come tip-toeing in at tea time, tail between his legs.
LORRAINE	But this is different…
ELIOT	In the sense that he doesn’t really have a tail.
LORRAINE	It’s not that he shouldn’t have gone. It’s that he couldn’t have gone. He’s never gone anywhere on his own. He just…can’t. Sometimes I think I’m cursed. I really am. I’m cursed.
ELIOT	And again, without warning, it’s suddenly about you.
LORRAINE	For God’s sake Eliot I’m just trying to… He doesn’t speak for days and when he does it’s all side and teeth. If he thinks being a bitter little smartarse is going to impress all those university girls he’s in for a shock.
ELIOT	What? I don’t care about… I’m…university girls are…and anyway, how would you know about university girls?
LORRAINE	I know girls.
ELIOT	Not university girls.
LORRAINE	G...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Dedication
• Them and Us
• Decky Does A Bronco
• Helmet
• Mancub
• The Mother Ship
• Too Fast