An Adventure

Vinay Patel

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781350102866
• eBook ISBN: 9781350102880
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: British Drama

I'm not much now, I know, but I will be. So pick me Jyoti and I swear I will make us the greatest adventure you ever have. On a stormy night in 1954, a woman doomed to marry one of five men discovers the wildcard choice might just be the person she'd been hoping for all along. An Adventure follows headstrong Jyoti and her fumbling suitor Rasik as they ride the crest of the fall of the Empire from the shores of post-Partition India to the forests of Mau Mau Kenya onto the industrial upheaval of 1970s London and the present day. But what happens when youthful ambitions crash hard against reality? When you look back at the story of your time together, can you bear to ask yourself: was it all worth it? Witty, charming and full of fearless historical insight, An Adventure is an epic, technicolour love story from one of the country's most promising young writers about the people who journeyed to British shores in hope and shaped the country we live in today.

One

1954–1959

1. Outskirts of Ahmedabad, India

A near-empty house.

A teenage girl. Jyoti. Our heroine. She moves through the space with grace. This is her territory. She prepares the room, just as she likes it.

She smells something in the air. Something coming. She sits.

A crack. A whoosh. The slam of torrential monsoon rain arriving uninvited.

A man arrives, dripping wet. Invited. But not by her. This is Rasik . Early twenties. He sits down across from her, wipes his face with a handkerchief.

Jyoti holds up a picture.

JyotiYou look nothing like this.

RasikReally? I thought it was very –

JyotiNope.

RasikFair?

JyotiNope.

RasikOh.

Do I look better or worse?

JyotiNuh uh, I ask the questions.

RasikQuestions.

JyotiYes, it’s a little system I’ve put together, makes this shitshow more fun for me. All your lovely, desperate faces are laid out here, ranked top to bottom. Answer well, you move up, fuck me off, you move down. Simple!

RasikAnd that’s fun is it?

She points at some more photos in front of her on a table.

JyotiI mean, the other ‘suitors’ were very keen . . .

I’ll stick you in the middle, give you something to aim for.

She organises the photos into an order in front of her, top to bottom.

You can kick us off with a compliment if you like.

RasikA compliment? Um ok uh . . .

JyotiThat hard huh?

RasikNo! Um . . .

Jyoti, you’re a good-looking woman!

JyotiPft, come on that’s not a compliment, Rasik, that’s an objective statement of fact.

RasikIt is?

JyotiSure. My dad’s lost all the money, most the land, the fields are dead, my family hasn’t a drop of political power and yet there’s still a gaggle of drooling men ready to throw me over their shoulder so. Stands to reason. I must be top-drawer fucking gorgeous. Whereas you . . .

She looks down at the photos.

. . . you’re doing what you can. Respect.

RasikThanks.

JyotiHeh I can’t get over these photos. Such nervous faces! The same man took them?

RasikIs that your first question or –

JyotiHe’s terrible, who is this criminal?

RasikA young English chap, very friendly. Only had a half hour, think he was on a break from his real job so it was a rush to get us all –

JyotiWhat a scam! Get your money back if I was you.

RasikIt was your father that paid for him.

JyotiHah! That explains it, the tight bastard. Glad he’s paying someone.

She looks at the photos again.

Mmm. It’s not even ‘nervous’ is it? More a general air of . . .

RasikAuthority?

JyotiConstipation. Would it hurt to break a smile for your future wife?

RasikOh see I wanted to smile, believe me, a smile suits my features really well actually.

JyotiUhuh.

RasikBut – and it’s fascinating this – but apparently the old cameras, they take some time to work and the man said it’s hard to hold a smile for long enough so . . .

He said a frown was the most noble expression I could reach for.

A pause as Jyoti decides whether she believes it.

JyotiAt least you’re wearing a suit.

She starts to move Rasik’s photo up the order.

RasikOf course!

She looks at the photo a little closer.

JyotiNot yours though, is it?

RasikUm . . . no it is mine of course/ it’s mine –

JyotiDoesn’t fit. Big in the shoulders, short on the arms so it’s either cheap or it’s borrowed. Which would you rather I think?

Rasik picks at his ill-fitting suit.

JyotiYou can tell me. I won’t ‘mark you down’.

Rasik doesn’t bite.

You have the aura of a shrewd man, Rasik, too shrewd to waste your money on something you’ll only wear once.

Rasik thinks...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Cast
• Creative Team
• Bush Theatre
• Bush Theatre: We make theatre for London. Now.
• Acknowledgements
• Notes
• One 1954–1959
• Two 1968–1977
• Three 2018
• eCopyright