Cape

Inua Ellams

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781350204652
• eBook ISBN: 9781350204676
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: African Drama

It's a simple idea, really. 1. Wear a uniform; 2. Protect who you love, what you care about; 3. Let nothing get in your way. Someone mugged Bruce's mum and he is not having it. The shock is still visible in her trembling fingers, rippling out across the calm waters of their lives. He grabs his hoodie, his uniform, his cape and goes out to find the culprit. Smithy wants everyone to stay inside, Uhuru wants everyone out. Tanya thinks it's boyish fun and games until, very suddenly, it isn't. Inua Ellams's play questions the boundaries between our right to self-defense and taking the law into our own hands. Told with five roles spanning from young people to adults, it deals with themes that young people face today: the role of boundaries and what happens when someone 'crosses the line'; fear and the use of self-defense; and examining different perspectives on a situation. Originally commissioned by Synergy Theatre Project Cape premiered at London's Unicorn Theatre in 2013 and went on to tour schools, prisons and a young offender institution. This new edition, published within Methuen Drama's Plays For Young People series features notes for teachers and exercises for students for practical use in the classroom.

Act Three

Bruce You saying it was Mr Moses?

Tanya No!

Bruce What then?! You’re confusing me, Tanya!

Tanya I’m saying both of them were there! Both. Papers say the wounds were ‘consistent’ . . . means they matched right?

Bruce You read the papers?

Tanya They were everywhere . . . I had to research! Watch when I sell the story. Stacks of cash!

Bruce It’s not funny, Tanya. I wish I could remember. My head still hurts . . . still bruised all over.

Tanya You’ll get better.

Bruce Tanya . . . I . . . I’ll get them back. That’s what I’ll . . . So Mr Moses as well? Fine.

Tanya Bruce! What you gonna do when you see him?

Bruce Don’t know but that’s two attackers and it’s not safe.

Tanya Three.

Bruce What?

Tanya Three people were there. Mum.

Bruce She had nothing to do with it.

Tanya Bruce.

Bruce Not listening.

Tanya Bruce.

Bruce Tanya.

Tanya Bruce . . .

Beat.

She’s been different since it happened. Even worse than before.

Bruce I . . . I know but / it wasn’t her.

Tanya Just listen okay?

Bruce There’s no point / in telling me.

Tanya Gonna start from the top. Same thing yeah?

Bruce No, Tanya.

Tanya Action. A simple bus stop on a side street at night, supermarket vouchers litter the ground like large confetti. On the red plastic bench, someone’s written ‘Moms rule ’ with a thick black marker, there’s a bin spilling tissues out across the street and the one fluorescent light is blinking.

Ama is flirting with Uhuru, who speaks arrogantly. Smithy is nervous.

Ama The government will not accept any such proposal.

Smithy Hmm.

Uhuru Money talks. If they don’t have to pay law enforcement here, we save them money and, given the austerity measures, that will count towards / a package they must

Ama And what about the officers who will lose their jobs?

Smithy Yeah, what about them?

Uhuru Who are you?

Smithy A concerned citizen.

Uhuru This is a private conversation, it doesn’t concern you.

Smithy You’re having it in a public space and / as a member of

Ama Have we met before?

Smithy No. I don’t think so. Now, Mr Moses, your proposal is preposterous. We will not accept / any such

Uhuru Who do you mean by ‘we’.

Ama No, we’ve met before. Before today. But you were at the meeting weren’t you?

Smithy We, officers, who police these streets, take our jobs very seriously / we dedicate

Uhuru Ama, stand back from this lunatic.

Smithy We execute the law to the letter, with transparency.

Uhuru How many black men have died in your custody? How many officers have been charged? Where is the transparency?

Smithy The entire police force cannot be condemned for the actions of a few.

Uhuru Stop and search policy? You treat my entire community as criminals because of the actions of a few.

Ama Gentlemen, calm down.

Smithy That policy is a preventative measure.

Ama Uhuru, step back from the policeman.

Uhuru You want to prevent crime? First, stop supporting a system that directly profits from and necessitates crime; politicians who are criminals, companies breaking tax laws.

Smithy Those are separate issues.

Uhuru Allow me to link them for you. Every time / a young person is

A figure dressed in black jumps from the shadows, attacks Ama. Ama falls on the floor as the men watch stunned. The figure towers over her. She reaches into her bag, pulls out the Taser and attacks the figure repeatedly.

Ama Stop! Stop! The rumours aren’t true, Pastor. I didn’t seek vengeance, I’d never risk anything like that. How could I have known? You have to believe me. I’d never sink so low. To do to anyone what was done to me? Pastor, I’m not a danger, to anyone, especially my kids. I’m who God chose to keep them safe, their guardian, that’s all I’ve ever done. After the eighth mugging Bruce became . . . and Tanya . . . Tanya adores her brother, Pastor . . . I took it to appease them. I should have stuck to my principles, refused it. I never thought I’d use it. But, against that wall, frightened, helpless all over again . . . instincts took over. I lost control . . . my hand seemed to move by itself, reached into my bag . . . it was in my hand, a line of blue fire crackled and . . . but I couldn’t have . . . It happened so fast. Was it my fault, Pastor? . . . Was it me? . . . Okay . . . I’m fine . . . the last time I saw him? It was in the kitchen, the day it happened. I was ready for class, he was talking with Tanya. I entered the kitchen and they stopped.

Tanya Hey, Mum.

Ama Hi, Tanya.

Bruce?

It’s like you don’t live here anymore.

Are you avoiding me?

Bruce, I’m talking to you.

Bruce Mum, I know what you’re gonna say.

Ama You have to stop. I’m not blind you know. You are becoming so dark, a clenched fist of a human being. This is eating you . . . there will be nothing left.

Bruce Will you take the Taser?

Ama No.

Bruce Then I can’t stop. He’s still out there.

Ama It’s not your job.

Bruce The feds are rubbish, Mum. I’m trying to do something good, yeah? I don’t care wha...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Introduction
• Contents
• Act One
• Act Two
• Act Three
• eCopyright