A Girl With A Book and Other Plays

Nick Wood

• Publisher: Aurora Metro Books
• eBook ISBN: 9781910798621
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

A topical collection of new plays by popular UK playwright Nick Wood

'I am not a lone voice, I am many.' Malala Yousafzai

A Girl with a Book andOther Plays brings together four plays for young people by acclaimed playwright Nick Wood. Topical and wide-ranging, they concern refugees, friendship, loss and courage.

'You know those sente nces that start I'm not sexist/racist/homophobic and the speaker sticks in the word 'but' and goes on to prove that's exactly what they are?'

The title play, A Girl with a Book is an honest response to the story of Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban. Produced many times in Germany and the UK, the play raises serious questions about the West's complex relationship with and attitudes to the Muslim world.

'a journey into empathy and imagination...' Stephen Lowe

Plays

• Nick Wood's poignant political drama A Girl with a Book is based on the true story of Nobel Peace Prize-Winner Malala Yousafza. In 2012, gunmen stopped a bus in Pakistan and shot three young girls. Their crime? Wanting to go to school. Knowing nothing about the situation, able to offer little more than outrage, the writer is forced out from behind his desk and in the search for answers to help him tell the story of a brave young woman's fight for girls' education, but when his research uncovers attitudes at odds with his liberal convictions he has to face what he learns about himself. Achieving international acclaim after its opening in Hamburg, A Girl with a Book examines Malala's story through a series of questions - Wood asks how a girl who wanted to go to school could become such a target.
• Bird boy: Eddie and Tim create their own den up on the Knoll, a secret place for heroes. The only problem is, winter is setting in and Eddie won't come down. As the snow falls, Tim must decide whether to take food to Eddie or betray him by telling the grown ups where he is.
• Mia: Mia is a refugee who has lost her home, and most of her family. She has odd bits and pieces in her bag, which have stories attached to them. Mia is searching for her sister, Sofia, can they help?
• Dream of White Horses: Paul wants two things - to find out whether his father's death was an accident or not. He climbs the same cliff, to discover what happened to his father, and a great deal about himself.

'...invites us to better understand Malala, her father, and her kinsmen.' On Religion

'...a journey into empathy and imagination coolly and cleanly done. A crucially important tale well told with great humanity.' Stephen Lowe, playwright

'...there's plenty of scope here for schools, colleges and youth theatre groups. The title play... has a cast of one... The remaining three plays use larger casts and explore asylum seeking, friendship, loss and courage.' Susan Elkin, The Stage

A GIRL WITH A BOOK

First performed at The Neville Studio, Nottingham Playhouse, UK, 10th June 2013.

Directed by Andrew Breakwell.

Cast

The WriterNick Wood

The play is set in the room where the writer works. The writer can be played by an actor of any age, ethnicity or gender.

A chair with a desk and a laptop on it. Another chair downstage. A small rug in front of the desk. Books, pamphlets, notebooks, folders, newspaper cuttings are on the desk, on the floor. Behind the desk is a third chair with a cardboard box on it. The writer comes in with a cup of coffee. Sits. Checks his notebook. Checks through the print out of Malala’s blog. Stretches and begins to tap the keys. He’s concentrating but it doesn’t seem as though he’s writing.

WRITER

Bugger!

I don’t care what anyone says – I am working. This is work. You ask any writer. You can’t expect the words to come pouring out all day long. It doesn’t happen like that – you can get stuck. Then if you do something else, something mindless, like playing Spider Solitaire, if you’re lucky, suddenly out of nowhere an idea can pop into your head and the problem’s solved itself. Not everyone understands that. My wife’ll come up here – and say –

‘Couldn’t the something mindless be something that’s useful at the same time?’

Like what?

‘Putting the hoover round the house? Mowing the lawn? Sorting out the tap in the bathroom you were going to fix months ago?’

You’re missing the point. You have to concentrate to… hoover. What Spider Solitaire allows me to do is let my mind go completely blank…

It’s a bit like meditation really. No, it’s not. It’s time wasting.

I can tell you when exactly. Half past four. 9th October. Last year. I’d been writing all day. Pages and pages. None of them any good. Decided that was it and deleted the lot.

He clicks onto the BBC website and reads.

Malala Yousafzai: Pakistan activist, 14, shot in Swat.

Gunmen have wounded Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old rights activist who has campaigned for girls’ education in the Swat Valley in north-west Pakistan.

A fourteen year old girl shot for wanting to go to school?

Two other girls were shot. Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan, got hit as well. Malala in the head. Kainat in the shoulder. Shazia below her left collarbone and in her left hand as she tried to protect herself. Four bullets. Fired point blank into the back of a school bus by a man in a balaclava. Why would anyone do a thing like that? There’s a statement out already. From the TTP, who are…? The Pakistani Taliban.

The TTP successfully targeted Malala Yousafzai. Although she was young and a girl and the TTP does not believe in attacking women, whoever leads a campaign against Islam and Sharia is ordered to be killed by Sharia. If anyone thinks that Malala is targeted because of education, that’s absolutely wrong, and propaganda from the media.

Madness.

For crying out loud, she’s only fourteen. And they think they can justify what they’ve done in the name of religion? Well, they’re not the first ones to try that one. Make your own list. Fourteen.

Who is she? How did this happen?

He gets up from the desk.

I knew that night I wanted to write… something. When you first get an idea your mind starts racing with all the possibilities. It should be simple. I’ve got the story. The trick’ll be to find the right way in. And then, a few days later Ban Ki Moon came out with this – ‘The terrorists showed what frightens them most: a girl with a book.’ He’s given me the title. All I’ve got to do is… write it.

I made notes, I made coffee. I went on Google, I walked the dog. I read books about Pakistan and Islam. I might even have played the odd game of Spider Solitaire. But A Girl With A Book, cast of four, three female, one male. Male actor to double Malala’s father and the gunman – it’s not going to work, doesn’t feel right.

I played around with it off and on for a week before I ground to a halt with a blank page and a question. What have I, a white, middle aged, middle class playwright of no fixed belief, living safely in the west, got to say on a subject about which I know nothing at all?

You can’t do everything via Google. No, you can’t. Really. I’m going to have to go out. Talk to people. Ask questions. Approach the whole thing with an open mind. Except… I have this sneaking suspicion the last thing I’ve got is an open mind.

I start with the Islamic information stall outside Marks & Spencers – May I ask a question?

– Do you kn...

Table of contents

• A Girl With A Book and other plays
• Copyright
• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• The Plays
• Production Images