Blackrock: the play

Nick Enright

• Publisher: Currency Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781925004977
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Drama

It's Toby Ackland's birthday party down near the surf club—and that should mean heaps of grog, drugs and good clean fun. But by the morning a young girl is dead—raped by three boys and bashed with a rock. %##CHAR13##%%##CHAR13##%Who is responsible?%##CHAR13##%%##CHAR13##%Blackrock is an intimate and strongly shaped human drama which examines the social forces behind the impulse to violence in individual lives.

ONE

Alone above Blackrock Beach JARED looks out to sea. He’s in a wet-suit. CHERIE approaches.

CHERIE: See anything? The amount of time you spend up there sitting and staring… Nothing ever out there but oil-tankers.

JARED: I’ve seen whales. They’re good luck, whales, if you see them.

CHERIE: What, you make a wish?

JARED: No, you just see them.

CHERIE: You know what I wish? Jared?

JARED: Girls can’t do it. Wrong centre of gravity.

CHERIE: Tell that to Wendy Botha. She’s a legend.

JARED: Yeah, and built like a guy.

CHERIE: Tracy’s up. She’s out the back now. See? She’s getting a six-one for Christmas. I can use it, if you help me get out there.

JARED: Give me one good reason.

CHERIE: Cause I’m your favourite cousin and you love me to death.

JARED: Cause any other guy’d smack you in the mouth. Okay, I’ll give you ten minutes…

He follows her gaze. A van pulls up.

CHERIE: Thought he’d gone for good.

JARED: No way. He’s a Blacko boy.

CHERIE: When do I get my ten minutes?

JARED: Later. Tomorrow. Piss off, Cherie. Go on, move!

CHERIE: The whole world’s got to move for Ricko.

She goes as RICKO approaches.

JARED: Unbelievable.

RICKO: What?

JARED: That old shit-heap’s still working.

RICKO: Got me there. Got me back.

JARED: I thought once you’d started you’d keep on going.

RICKO: I done it all, mate. And I seen some waves. Kangaroo Island, going off! Streaky Bay. Round to Kalbarri, Jake’s Point…

JARED: Yeah, think I had a postcard. Looked unreal.

RICKO: Was. Then I got all the way up to Flat Rocks.

JARED: For the Classic? How’d you go?

RICKO: Okay. But… I don’t know, I got in the van one morning, and it seemed to point this way, back to the rock. What’s up?

JARED: Nothing much. Got in the basketball squad. Playing defence, doing okay. Working at Safeway. King of the bagboys.

RICKO: Still got time to catch some waves?

JARED: Some. I stayed on at school–

RICKO: Wanker.

JARED: Like I said I would! What are you going to do, Ricko?

RICKO: Going to give the van a good workover. And you’re going to help me. About time you learnt something useful, eh?

SCOTT arrives with DAVO.

SCOTT: You back, Ricko?

RICKO: No, Scabby, this is a hologram.

DAVO: Back to stay?

RICKO: Looks that way.

DAVO: How’d you go in the comps?

RICKO: Good enough. So where’s the rest of youse? Where’s Gordo?

SCOTT: Gordo joined the army, mate.

RICKO: That makes me feel heaps safer. And Jason, where’s Jason, Davo? Youse two were always joined at the hip. Eh?

SCOTT: He’s dead, Ricko.

RICKO: How?

DAVO: Accident.

SCOTT: He topped himself.

DAVO: You don’t know that! Nobody fucken knows that.

JARED: We gave him a good send-off, eh?

RICKO: Bet youse did. Spider’s still round, eh? And Wazza?

TOBY approaches.

Who’s this?

JARED: T...