My City

Stephen Poliakoff

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781408159637
• eBook ISBN: 9781408159644
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Heralding a return to the stage for renowned dramatist Stephen Poliakoff, My City is a lyrical exploration of storytelling, interwoven personal and political histories, memory and the ties of the past. Beautifully atmospheric and infused with a sense of yearning nostalgia, the play presents a series of strange, seemingly coincidental encounters with others which evoke momentous trends in the city they live in and the shifts of society throughout history. Two former school friends are reunited with their erstwhile teacher, the glamorous, gracious Miss Lambert who is now engaged in nightly pilgrimages on foot across London as an antidote to her chronic insomnia. In the course of these nocturnal journeys, she witnesses a paradigmatic range of incidents reflecting today's society: the kindness and the violence, the glut of discarded rubbish and the sanctity of that which is carefully preserved, as well as the ghostly vestiges of the past. My City contains all the hallmarks of Poliakoff's best writing: high in style and sustained mood, the play tells stories of the past with melodic descriptions, cinematic scope and aesthetic preciseness.

My City premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London on 8 September 2011, and featured the following cast:

Richard	Tom Riley
Lambert	Tracey Ullman
Minken	David Troughton
Summers	Sorcha Cusack
Julie	Siân Brooke
Waitress	Hannah Arterton

Writer and director Stephen Poliakoff

Design and costume design Lez Brotherston

Lighting Oliver Fenwick

Sound and music Ben and Max Ringham

Characters

Lambert

Richard

Minken

Summers

Julie

Waitress

The time is the present.

Act One

Scene One

The stage is splashed with evening light. It is initially empty except for a bench and an environmentally styled litter bin, suggesting an urban space, a small park. On the back wall a large stone face is staring out, an ornamental feature with flowing locks and penetrating eyes. A piece of urban decoration, the face has a nautical feel, like a sea god emerging.

On the bench a middle-aged woman is lying fully stretched out, her head turned away from us. She is wearing a very elegant coat. City bells are ringing out, pouring across the stage, making a celebratory sound.

Richard enters, dressed in a summer suit and talking into his mobile. He is in his late twenties or early thirties, and has an intelligent face and a charming fluent manner. He is aware of the figure on the bench, but for a moment doesn’t focus on her. As he talks into the phone, his tone is intimate.

Richard No, I thought I might drop by … because I want to see you of course. No, I just thought it might be nice to do it tonight … why? (Softly.) Because I haven’t seen you for a while … no I’m not far away … I’m by the river, just been to a party across from St Paul’s. Can you hear the bells?

The figure on the bench stirs. Richard glances over for a longer look, then back into the phone.

Sorry … (Soft, intimate.) There is a slight distraction here … something’s going on … No … I won’t stay for long …

The figure moves again, making a murmuring sound.

I’ll phone you back, in a moment. Just got to investigate something.

He rings off. The figure half turns her head.

Richard watching her.

Excuse me …

The figure sits up slowly, a fine-looking woman, beautifully dressed. Richard moves a pace towards her.

Forgive me staring, I just wondered if you were alright?

The figure looks up at Richard, very poised and untroubled.

You obviously are …

Lambert I am, yes.

Richard is suddenly riveted.

Richard This is terribly rude, I don’t mean to stare, this is extraordinary, for me anyway … Miss Lambert, it is you isn’t it?!

Lambert Yes.

Richard This is amazing! (He smiles.) I suddenly saw it was you … (He stares across at her again.) I’m sorry. It is such a surprise! You won’t remember me … Richard Kenton.

Lambert looks at him, studying him.

Lambert Richard Kenton …

Richard Yes, you taught me, years and years ago at primary school. Your school! You won’t remember of course.

Lambert Richard Kenton? (Momentary pause.) Yes, I remember you.

Richard You do?

Lambert Absolutely.

Richard That’s incredible … but I was tiny! I was this size … (He indicates a figure about three feet high.) Or maybe not quite that size, since I was fourteen the very last time I saw you. I came back to school for a visit … so probably a little bigger – (He holds his hand a little higher.) Maybe about here … You look just the same.

Lambert Thank you Richard. Although I’m sure that’s not true.

Richard You look terrific, younger even.

Lambert Well that certainly can’t be true.

Richard It’s such a coincidence … I came out for some fresh air, to make a phone call, and suddenly you were there.

He stops and looks across at her on the bench.

Lambert meets his look.

Lambert I was just having a pause.

Richard A pause?

Lambert Yes, I was having an evening stroll, I decided to take a pause … on this bench.

Richard Of course, how perfectly natural.

Lambert (chuckles) Is it? I don’t make a habit of lying stretched out on benches in the open air. But today I was.

Richard And I woke you up.

Lambert Oh I wasn’t asleep.

Richard (smiles) Right … I can’t believe you remember me!

Lambert But I do.

Richard How is that possible? All those thousands of kids that have been through that school … little podgy faces with their teeth missing, they must look so alike. You can’t remember them all surely?

Lambert Certainly not, no. Most are a blur naturally … (looking across at Richard) but a few stand out.

Richard I don’t think I’ll ask why – could be a dangerous question!

Lambert I remember you, but I’m not saying I would have recognised you. You look very smart Richard.

Richard I’m not normally in a suit as it happens – but I’ve been at the summer party where I work … it’s just back there. And it seems rather perfect anyway, for our meeting I mean. As do those bells! (Lambert looks at him.) You were always making us listen to what was going on, the sounds outside the window of the classroom. (He smiles.)

Lambert (opening her handbag and beginning to look for something) Is that so?

Richard (glancing upstage) I’m not so sure about that face though – a piece of rather odd decoration isn’t it! Who do you think it is? Neptune?

Lambert (still peering into her bag) I usually have a little chocolate around this time. I have half a bar I’d saved somewhere in here … I think you’ll find it is Titus Meredith.

Richard Titus Meredith? Of course! (Momentary pause. He smiles.) I’m sure I’ve heard of him, I just need the smallest of clues –

Lambert Ah there it is. (She produces a piece of chocolate in silver foil.) Not many people have heard of Titus Meredith.

Richard Good. What did he do to earn his place on that wall then?

Lambert He was an actor who got himself murdered.

She shuts her bag with a firm click.

He was taking a walk in the pleasure gardens that used to run along the river here and he was killed on this exact spot.

She breaks off a small piece of chocolate and eats it.

Richard He was murdered right here?

Lambert Yes. Where that face is now. His throat was cut.

Richard Why?

Lambert The murder was never solved. It started the other side of the river with a furious argument outside the stage door of the old Drury Lane Theatre, swords were drawn, a barrow of apples was knocked over –

Richard You know the details too!

Lambert The apples are important. Somebody followed Titus across the river and murdered him in the gardens as people were strolling past and the band played. His ghost occasionally pops up it is said around here, and in the stalls of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

Richard A ghost that haunts two places?

Lambert That’s right. A busy ghost. There’s a faint rustle and then the sound of somebody biting sharply into a fresh apple.

Richard Great, the sound of an apple being bitten into becoming terrifying … (He turns.) And now they’ve made a suitably creepy garden out of it.

Lambert That’s right.

Richard I knew you’d know who it was. You always knew!

Lambert Well that isn’t true Richard.

Now I must get on, it was a very pleasant surprise to run into you. (She smiles.) It always is, to ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Act One
• Act Two
• Imprint Page