for all the women who thought they were Mad

Zawe Ashton

• Verlag: Oberon Books
• Jahr: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781786829573
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Sciences sociales
• Thema: Études ethniques

"they like to see us fall
to slip on branches full of fruit we have not tasted" Lately, it's small things.
Pop songs.
The radio.
Every day, anguish becomes madness.
Call on your family.
Call on the ancestors.
Can they guide you home? "we are pearl and earth and root
we know ourselves to be natural and complete
carved from rock that floats
but we should still be careful what we wish for
some of us can sink in the upstream" for all the women who thought they were Mad is an urgent piece of theatre examining the myriad of forces that collide and conspire against women of colour in Britain today.

MARGARET: sun’s coming up

ROSE: moon’s going down

ANGELA: sun kills the moon

ROSE: where do the days go?

ANGELA: into the cracks

KIM: in the earth?

ROSE: deeper

KIM: how many more?

how many more nights?

MARGARET: we tell again

ANGELA: i don’t want to tell today

MARGARET: we tell again

ANGELA: do you know what it is to tell? for me to tell?

ROSE: for me?

KIM: for us all

MARGARET: we tell again

ANGELA: my mouth is dry from telling

KIM: i’m tired

ROSE: we’re all tired

ANGELA: my stomach is empty from telling

KIM: i’m hungry

MARGARET: fill yourself with stories

ANGELA: you’ll starve

KIM: maybe today will be different

MARGARET: we sit

we wait

ANGELA: what does waiting do?

MARGARET: we must be strong

ROSE: is it too late?

ANGELA: can’t stop the rain

ROSE: can’t stop a storm

MARGARET: but we can be here when the sun comes up

ROSE: wish we only had the moon to bury

Pause

MARGARET: we remember her

here

tell

Pause

ROSE: she’s in my food and drink

ANGELA: we all know

ROSE: you don’t know

MARGARET: we must tell

ROSE: find one voice

ANGELA: you always speak after her

find your own voice

ROSE: we need each other to be visible

please

ANGELA: i don’t want anyone to know

i don’t want anyone to see me

to see her

i don’t want to talk about this anymore!

MARGARET: poor woman

ANGELA: if you want to pity someone watch yourself

build a room of mirrors and live in it

ROSE: so you want to forget?

NAMBI: I don’t want to forget

The FLOURISH look at NAMBI

ROSE: you’re awake?

She nods

They all nod

ROSE surrounds her with arms and bosom

Smooths the child’s hair

ROSE: we are each other’s reflection and echo

ROSE: and echo

MARGARET: why couldn’t we stop it?

ROSE: / ssshh

ANGELA: ssshh

RUTH: you can’t stop a river

Silence

KIM eats

ANGELA paces

RUTH sits

MARGARET stands

ROSE goes to the window

ROSE: rain again

They all kiss their teeth

ANGELA: my hair

A rumble of thunder

JOY enters

BOSS enters

He carries a briefcase

He stands a little way behind JOY

He looks at her for a time

BOSS: Joy!

JOY: Door’s open.

BOSS: So sorry, I wasn’t expecting you to be in here.

JOY: In my office?

How did you do that?

BOSS: That?

JOY: The door was locked.

Beat

BOSS: Morning.

JOY: Is that water?

BOSS: What?

JOY: Your hair, your shoulders.

You’re soaking.

Is it raining?

BOSS: Yes, got caught in it on the way over. You seem nice and dry.

JOY: I decided to walk it was so hot when I left the h...