Many Moons

Alice Birch

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781350267640
• eBook ISBN: 9781849435598
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Performance Art

Juniper is looking for love, Robert is trying to avoid it, Ollie doesn't know what it is and Meg has resigned herself to never having it. As these four people move through a July day in London, they orbit each other, unaware that they are hurtling towards one moment that could devastate them all.

Many Moons opened at groundbreaking Theatre 503 in summer 2011.

Characters

MEG
Resigned. 42.

OLLIE
Falling. 26.

JUNIPER
Hopeful. 24.

ROBERT
Shy. 63.

1

2

3

The parts of 1, 2 and 3 can be read by the actors, or projected as the director sees fit. Only four actors should be used in total.

/ Denotes the overlapping of speech

... Indicates the character cannot express what they are thinking

The spacing of the dialogue and the use of upper and lower case letters are there to help the actor in terms of pace or weight of their words.

18th July. Stoke Newington, London.

Many Moons by Alice Birch was first performed at Theatre503 on May 17th 2011

Presented by Theatre503, Sophie Watson and paper/scissors/stone

Original cast:

OLLIE, Edward Franklin
MEG,
Esther Hall
ROBERT, Jonathan Newth
JUNIPER, Esther Smith

Director, Derek Bond
Design, James Perkins
Lighting Design, Sally Ferguson
Music arranged and composed by Ellis James and Benson Taylor
Stage Manger, Sophie Martin

Under artistic directors Paul Robinson and Tim Roseman, Theatre503 has become London’s main and most highly considered entry-point theatre for playwrights, where they take their first public steps based purely on artistic talent and not experience or profile. As a result Theatre503 has won numerous national awards, and became the smallest theatre to ever win the Olivier Award for Best New Play.

This production was supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, The Mackintosh Foundation and the Williams Charitable Trust. With thanks to everyone else who helped to make this production happen.

A white room. The back wall is lit with tens, hundreds, maybe thousands of light bulbs. The play is direct address to the audience.

I.

MEG: And my Heart started to beat at 2.19 in the afternoon of the 18th of

July on a pavement in Stoke Newington.

Until that point it had flatlined.

For an Entire lifetime.

II.

OLLIE: Prude, I think would be a bit far.

I’m not very

I find it quite difficult to

I’ve never been one of the

Lads.

I suppose.

Ahhm.

I get quite excited about constellations.

And foraging.

I am Good at

Computer Programming. Debugging, coding and compilation.

I don’t really like Travel

Or too much change.

I have only owned a television for three weeks and that’s because the woman who used to live here – Felicity something – left it behind and I quite like University Challenge and I don’t mind Blue Planet, but I can’t really get my head around much more than that – which is odd, I suppose, because Blue Planet is about an entire world and Eastenders – ah – for example, is just one street or square, as far as I can gather.

I don’t drink very much – the taste isn’t

I can’t

Never enjoyed it. Apart from Archers

and Lemonade and that isn’t something you can really order

in the pub with

the aforementioned

Lads.

not that I know any Lads.

Actually.

Well, Mike, maybe, who studied Physics and was in my college, and once um relieved himself – number two – on a girl who was asleep in her bed – after too many Snakebites.

And if some of you need me to elaborate on that sentence, I can’t. Really. So. I couldn’t explain what a Snakebite actually is, other than it is a beverage and it does seem to get people incredibly Drunk.

I find people quite

Difficult, actually, I’ve never been the most

I always wanted to be someone

Who could

...

with people

instead of Stars and Planets and Fireworks

and

...

But it has always been beyond me.

Just out of reach.

It was on the 18th of July that my Heart began to Beat and I began to bridge that gap and be on the brink of being a real live Human because

All of a Sudden

I am in Love

MEG: I like to sit at home.

All day if I can.

There is a window seat underneath the bay windows next to the French windows which are underneath the roof windows which are like clerestory windows because the ceiling is so high that underneath you can see the whole sky and earth rolling.

To get to our kitchen you have to walk through the rest of the house and down several steps. It’s nestled into the garden and is so low down that underneath the roof window on the window seat by the bay window next to the French windows it is easy to imagine you are underneath the world looking up at footsteps.

I like to make bread in the bread maker and marmalade on the stove in a very large pan that I bought from a farm shop in a town called Tetbury which is where Prince Charles has his Duchy estate and when it is ready I eat the marmalade on the bread which I cut into very thin strips that I call farmers because my parents were pacifists and didn’t say soldiers.

I like to eat half of the homemade bread and marmalade farmers and then throw the other half into the compost bins at the end of the garden.

I found a dead rabbit in my compost bin once.

Pulled it out by the ears.

Made a tear near its rectum.

Put my hand inside and all the way up through its once warm stomach and intestines and little heart and neck and into its open mouth.

Like a little doll.

In the mornings I like to go on Facebook on YouTube on Hotmail and Gmail and Mumsnet and Bebo and MySpace with Jeremy Kyle and then Woman’s Hour and Loose Women in the background and then perhaps X Factor or Take Me Out or Strictly Come Dancing repeats. I like to read Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary back in the window seat and eat half of a peach or half a nectarine or half a greengage if they’re in season, but never lychees, with Chopin or Debussy or Katie Perry at full volume, depending on my mood.

I have waited my Entire Life for it to begin.

For something to happen.

Like it does in the books or the poems or the films or in other people.

For the Goosebumps or the Tears, the Stomach Flips or the Grief in your Heart which for me only seems to lie nearly dormant. Did you know that if you have never felt anything close to love or fear or excitement or rage that your heart can get by on four beats a minute?

JUNIPER: I am Looking for Love. I am Actively, looking for Love.

You know those traffic light parties where you wear red if you’re not available, amber if you might be and green if you absolutely are? Well I’m on green. Constantly.

I sometimes think my Heart will fall Out of my ribcage and land at my feet, the pace at which it beats.

I like a lot of things – I love a lot of things. I get excited pretty easily about food and friends and parties and events and the weather and sex and films and just hanging out.

I...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedidction
• Contents
• Characters