Solomon and Marion

Lara Foot Newton

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781849435079
• eBook ISBN: 9781849439374
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: African Drama
• Index: Literature

Over the years, Marion has watched her life drain away. Children and husband gone, she ekes out her life in a country utterly transformed. But it's the only home she has. As the new South Africa prepares for the World Cup finals, old divisions and suspicions seem as deep as ever, and the intruder she has been expecting, dreading and needing, arrives. Will true reconciliation turn darkness into hope? Solomon and Marion is a brand new play from an award winning South African writer, and it recently won the Fleur Du Cap Awardfor Best New South African Play. Foot is Artistic Director of the Baxter Theatre Centre and has won a bevy of South African theatre accolades. Foot has put most of her energy into helping other playwrights and theatre-makers realise their work, and she has nurtured several dozen new South African plays to their first staging. This includes producing the international hit Mies Julie written and directed by Yael Farber. Her own hard-hitting plays tackle social issues and have laid barethe brutality and sickening frequency of child rape in South Africa; Tshepang (2002) was based on a real event, the alleged gang rape of a nine-month-old baby by six men in a remote, impoverished community. Foot used refined, ironic humour to sketch a portrait of the community, then turned everyday objects into symbols with horrific poetic effect. Karoo Moose (2007) returned to the subject of child rape and a rural town — a shattered, forsaken community where 'there are no fathers'. A 15-year-old girl is sold for sex to pay off the gambling debts of her jobless and spiritually crushed father, 'an opportunist with no opportunities'. And in Solomon and Marion, Foot explores the cruelty of the meaningless murders which betray her country. Hear and Now, Karoo Moose and Tshepang are also published by Oberon Books. Winner of the Fleur Du Cap Award for Best New South African Play

SCENE 1

The lights fade up on:

MARION BANNING, standing at the sink.

MARION: Annie, Annie darling.

She sits at the table to write.

I know it’s been forever since I wrote. No excuse, except that the problems with the old ticker make me a little lethargic. No pain, but let’s just say that I am not quite as energetic as I used to be.

Lights cigarette.

You’ll be pleased to hear that I have stopped smoking. I mean it would be silly to smoke with my condition, wouldn’t it.

Another puff.

But if I absolutely can’t bear it, I might have to have the occasional puff…now and again.

Puff.

Things are the same here, the mountain still cuts the sky in half, still wearing its coat of many colours – orange, pink, purple, grey. Still no rain, and still major power cuts.

The drought, I must tell you, is extreme. The air is thick with dust. And one feels thirsty all the time. Dry mouth, dry nose, dry eyes, dry everything!

I don’t walk much anymore. Although this morning I did venture out. The paths through the forest where we used to walk Charlie and Shadow are quite empty now. (MARION speaks the following lines without actually writing – a convention that should be used sporadically.) No trace of families and picnics and kissing couples. I did however bump into Mr. Donavan. You remember him? The one with too much spit? And his dog…what was his name? Fred! Why he doesn’t put the poor thing out of its misery I’ll never know. Three legs, blind, smelly! It can’t possibly be much of a relationship.

The kitchen door opens tentatively behind her.

On my way home, I came across a dead sparrow all covered in maggots. It made me feel quite nauseous…

A young man stands in the doorway. He is wearing old, but smart clothes – He is brooding, sullen, dangerous.

She senses his presence. Puts down her pen.

MARION: I have been waiting for you.

You have been lurking about my house for days now. If you are here to murder me, just hurry up and get on with it. I can’t wait forever you know.

Slowly she turns to face the intruder.

And?

What can I do for you?

Why didn’t you knock? Where are your manners?

SOLOMON: I am Solomon Xaba.

MARION: Solomon?

SOLOMON: Yes Mies Marion, the grandchild of Thozama.

MARION: Thozama’s…

SOLOMON: Sandy – The lady who worked for…

MARION: I know quite well who Thozama is, I just don’t remember her having a grown-up grandson. My goodness! You’re not little Solomon? Ha! You used to play in the fishpond whilst I pruned my icebergs. Terrorized the tadpoles! Captured them in jam jars.

SOLOMON: Yes.

MARION: I can’t see you. Come closer. And shut the door. It’s below zero for Heaven’s sakes.

Why are you so thin?

SOLOMON: It’s the liver.

MARION: What’s wrong with it?

SOLOMON: It’s not working properly.

MARION: What are you doing about it? Have you been drinking too much?

SOLOMON: Aysuga!²

MARION: If you have just stop right now! Drink is a very bad thing for a liver.

SOLOMON: I went to the hospital.

MARION: And?

SOLOMON: They said I had one week to live. And they asked if I wanted to stay in hospital or die at home.

MARION: When was this?

SOLOMON: Last year.

MARION: So quite clearly, you did neither.

SOLOMON: I went to see my aunt who is a Sangoma.³ She gave me herbs from iKhala,⁴ and now I am better.

MARION: Well good for her. I’m a great believer in herbs! Have you ever had your tea-leaves read?

I’m very good you know. Once when reading my Aunt Martha’s leaves, I saw a tall blonde draped on a Mercedes Benz, well, blow me down if six months later her husband didn’t leave her for his rather blousy secretary. I’m not sure what he drove, but I can take a guess.

SOLOMON: Mercedes?

MARION: Bang on! Perhaps I should go and see your Sangoma Aunt, although it is probably too late now. I have heard that bay leaves are good for the heart. It’s always worth a try, but no. Too late now. I’ve given up you see. Had enough! I may as well kill myself, but even that my dear, takes too much energy for a Monday night. That’s why I was rather hoping you would do it for me? Would you like a cigarette?

She offers him one; he tucks it behind his ear.

MARION: So! What are you doing here?

SOLOMON: My grandmother sent me; she says that you are sick. She says it is dangerous here! You shouldn’t be alone.

MARION: I haven’t seen your grandmother in over two years! And I have been sick for nearly three. Anyway, it’s not like she lived here or anything, came to do washing once a week that’s all! I clean my own house, always have, don’t need another woman to do it for me. So why the sudden concern?

SOLOMON: Andazi!⁵ She said I must look after you.

MARION: Well, I don’t need any looking after. So off you go! Toodle doo!

Do you want money? Is that...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Halt-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Dedication
• Note from the writer
• Characters
• Prelude
• Scene 1
• Scene 2
• Scene 3
• Scene 4
• Scene 5
• Scene 6
• Scene 7
• About the Author