Brothers Wreck

Jada Alberts

• Publisher: Currency Press
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781925004908
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Mob can't survive like that, you can't survive like that. We gotta talk to each other, as hard as it is, 'cause I guarantee you, that phone will ring and you'll have to say goodbye again.This play is about life.It begins with a death: on a hot morning under a house in Darwin, Ruben wakes to find his cousin Joe hanging from the rafters. What follows is the story of a family, buffeted by constant tragedy, holding itself together-as their people have done generation after generation. This play asks us: how do we deal with death? And how many other people does it take for each of us to live? Little by little, Ruben's family brings him back from the edge.

SCENE ONE

Six months ago. Dawn. August, during the build-up.

RUBEN is sitting in the hallway, against a wall. ADELE enters, dressed in basketball shorts and a singlet. She’s just woken up. She sees RUBEN.

ADELE: You’re up early.

She crosses to the table and takes a cigarette and lighter from a packet. She puts the cigarette in her mouth but doesn’t light it. She goes to the kitchen and boils the kettle.

Jesus, this heat is killin me.

She waits for the kettle to boil, makes a tea. Milky, two sugars.

You slept?

She heads outside with her tea and cigarette.

Why you sittin there, weirdo?

As ADELE exits, RUBEN attempts to say something to her, nothing comes out. ADELE gets outside and we hear her mug hit the ground. She stumbles back inside, shocked, stunned.

Joe! Jarrod, Jarrod, Jarrod! Jarrooood!

JARROD: [offstage] Whaaat?

ADELE: Joe, he’s… hurry! Hurry!

ADELE looks at RUBEN.

JARROD: [offstage] What?

ADELE: Jarroood!

JARROD: [offstage] I’m up, what?!

JARROD enters.

ADELE: Hurry—

ADELE rushes outside, JARROD follows behind her.

JARROD: What’s going /

ADELE: Help me lift him—

JARROD: No, no, no, Joe—

ADELE: Get a knife. [Beat.] Knife, Jarrod!

JARROD enters running. He goes to the kitchen, grabs a large knife and runs back outside.

Hurry!

We hear a plastic chair dragged, repositioned. JARROD stands on it and tries to cut his friend Joe out of a makeshift noose.

JARROD: It’s not working. Fuck… the sinkers—

ADELE: I can’t hold him—

JARROD: Knife’s blunt… [He drops the knife.] Fuck!

ADELE: [calling to RUBEN] Ruben?! Grab another knife!

JARROD runs in, grabs another knife, runs out again.

I can’t hold / him!

JARROD: I’ve got him, I’ve got him!

They swap position. We hear JARROD lift Joe’s body. ADELE stands on the plastic chair. Sounds of a knife cutting through net.

Hurry, Del.

ADELE: It’s not cutting!

JARROD: Ruben!

ADELE: Fuuuuck!

JARROD: Can you untie it?

ADELE: I don’t know.

JARROD: Try.

Beat.

ADELE: My hands.

JARROD: You can do it.

ADELE: It’s tangled.

JARROD: Give it a sec.

ADELE: I’m making it worse. Fuck!

The second knife drops to the ground.

Oh my God, I can’t…

ADELE is crying.

JARROD: Ruben! [To ADELE] Oi, it’s okay—

ADELE: It’s not fucking okay—

JARROD: / Ruben!

ADELE: I gotta get down—

JARROD: Lift him, / I’ll try—

ADELE: [sobbing] Get him down, Jarrod, get him down —

JARROD: RUBEN!

ADELE: Get him down, get him down—

JARROD walks into the house and looks at RUBEN.

[Crying] God… Jooooe!

RUBEN’s broken in the corner, hiding his head. JARROD leaves him, goes back outside.

JARROD: Come inside, Del.

ADELE: No, no, I won’t—

JARROD: Come inside, / bub, now.

ADELE: No, no—

JARROD: There’s nothing / we can do—

ADELE: Get him down, Jarrod, get him… Put me down, arsehole!

JARROD enters carrying ADELE over his shoulder.

JARROD: Stop, Del—

ADELE: Put me down!

JARROD puts ADELE down, stands in her way, blocking her.

JARROD: There’s nothing we can do—

ADELE: I won’t leave him out there alone.

JARROD: He’s gone, bub.

ADELE: I’m not leaving him!

ADELE tries to get past JARROD. He holds her, restrains her, but she manages to make ground towards the door.

JARROD: Ruben—

ADELE: Move, / don’t leave him—

JARROD: Shut the door!

ADELE: Joey! / Joe!

JARROD: / Ruben!

RUBEN stands.

ADELE: Fucking / move!

JARROD: Shut the door, Ruben!

ADELE: Let me / go!

RUBEN rushes towards the door.

JARROD: Ruben, SHUT THE FUCKING DOOR!

RUBEN finally slams the door shut.

SCENE TWO

Six months later. It’s April, the beginning of the dry season.

RUBEN sits outside his old house, Balnba Road, iPod on, white earpieces in his ears. We hear the track as he would: ‘Rule the World’ by Jimblah. He stands under a street lamp looking at the old house. He has a cap on backw...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Playwright’s Biography
• First Production
• Character
• Scene One
• Copyright Page