The House Party (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

August Strindberg

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 91

Beschreibung

A wild party. A friendship. A cherished pet. And a night that changes everything. It's Julie's eighteenth birthday, and she's throwing a party in her father's extravagant townhouse. Her boyfriend has just dumped her and her long-suffering best friend Christine is trying to pick up the pieces. As the revellers pile into the booze, down in the kitchen Christine and her boyfriend Jon – son of Julie's cleaner – clear up and dare to dream of the future. But as the volume goes up and the shots go down, Julie concocts a twisted cocktail of privilege, desire and destruction. Laura Lomas's play The House Party spins Strindberg's classic play Miss Julie into intense, fizzing life for today's generation. It was first performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in 2024, co-produced with Headlong in association with Frantic Assembly, and directed by Holly Race Roughan. 'Dazzling… brings Strindberg's classic searing into the 21st century, a blazing hot ménage à trois that transforms the stage into a cauldron of desire, resentment and revenge' - Broadway World 'Fresh, ferociously intense and visually striking… this searing, emotionally charged adaptation puts a convincing contemporary twist on the dark story of class conflict, self-destruction and seething sexual tension' - The Stage 'Ferocious… blows the roof off the theatre… Laura Lomas has brought the classic play bang up to date… bracingly relevant and searingly shocking' - WhatsOnStage

Leseprobe

Laura Lomas

THE HOUSE PARTY

After Miss Julie by

August Strindberg

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Characters

The House Party

About the Authors

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

The House Party was commissioned by Headlong and first performed at Chichester Festival Theatre’s Minerva Theatre on 3 May 2024, in a co-production with Headlong in association with Frantic Assembly. The cast was as follows:

CHRISTINE

Rachelle Diedericks

JON

Josh Finan

JULIE

Nadia Parkes

ENSEMBLE

Amaia Naima Aguinaga, Oliver Baines, Cal Connor, Micah Corbin-Powell, Lyla Garner-Gibbons, Jaheem Pinder, Jamie Randall, Charlotte Stubbs, Priya Uddin, Grace Watkins

GIRL

Nicole Arthur, Layla Owens

Director

Holly Race Roughan

Set Designer

Loren Elstein

Costume Designer

Maybelle Laye

Lighting Designer

Joshua Pharo

Music and Sound

Giles Thomas

Movement Director

Scott Graham

Intimacy Director

Haruka Kuroda

Casting Director

Matilda James CDG

Associate Director

Julia Head

Voice and Dialect Coach

Aundrea Fudge

Production Manager

Kat Ellis

Costume Supervisor

Maybelle Laye

Props Supervisor

Fahmida Bakht

Company Stage Manager

Kt Milne

Deputy Stage Manager

Emma Cook

Assistant Stage Manager

Alex Jaouen

Acknowledgements

Huge love and thanks to Holly Race Roughan, without whom this play would not and could not have been written. To Rachel Taylor, Helena Clark, Viv Franzmann, Penny Skinner, Cordelia Lynn, Julia Head, and Frank Peschier, for their detailed thoughts and creative solidarity. To everyone at Headlong and Chichester Festival Theatre for their support and belief in the play, and to Scott Graham at Frantic Assembly for his movement wizardry. To Josh Finan, Nadia Parkes, and Rachelle Diedericks for their courage and their brilliance.

Special thanks to Nick Bowling, who changed my life. This one is for you.

L.L.

For Nick

Characters

JULIE, eighteen, later twenty-eight

CHRISTINE, seventeen, later twenty-seven

JON, nineteen, later twenty-nine

GIRL, ten

Setting

Acts One and Two: the kitchen of a large Victorian town house.

Act Three: the kitchen of a London council flat.

Time

Despite the time difference, both Acts One, Two and Three should feel roughly ‘now’.

Note on Text

Words in (brackets) should not be spoken, and are used to clarify intention.

/ denotes a point of interruption.

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

ACT ONE

1.

A large three-storey town house with the front facade removed. The place is extravagantly decorated, the epitome of modern aspirational wealth. Inside a large digital clock reads 20:08.

On the middle floor, the kitchen is lit up. Inside we can make out the image of two women, CHRISTINE, seventeen, and JULIE, eighteen. They’re getting ready for a party, putting on make-up – but something feels wrong and disturbed about their actions. They move in slow motion, as if underwater. Something’s not right.

The sound of water mixes with music; this continues, getting louder and more ominous until…

Lights snap up. CHRISTINE is laughing in mock outrage. JULIE drinks throughout.

CHRISTINE. I can’t believe you didn’t tell him!

JULIE. I can.

CHRISTINE. He’s gonna go mental.

JULIE. He’ll be fine!

CHRISTINE. I think he might kill you.

JULIE. He can’t kill me, it’s illegal to kill people.

And anyway, there’ll be too many witnesses.

CHRISTINE. How many people are coming?

JULIE. Not that many. A hundred?

CHRISTINE. A hundred?

JULIE. It’s not that many.

CHRISTINE. It’s a hundred people…

JULIE. It’s my house.

CHRISTINE. I mean, technically, he owns it…

JULIE. Property is theft, Christine.

CHRISTINE. I don’t think that works, in this context but…

About the wine.

JULIE. Do you want some more?

CHRISTINE. I’m still going.

JULIE fills her glass up.

What did he say?

JULIE. I don’t know, just some shit about having to work, emergency board meeting blah blah.

CHRISTINE. Bullshit.

JULIE. Exactly. He’s gone to have sex with his girlfriend.

CHRISTINE. Gross.

JULIE. ‘Sky’.

CHRISTINE. Ugh.

JULIE. As if that’s even her real name.

CHRISTINE. I bet she made it up.

JULIE. She definitely made it up.

It’s so embarrassing.

JULIE checks herself in the mirror.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve decided to disown him.

CHRISTINE. I’m not sure you can technically do / that –

JULIE. You can. I googled it.

All you have to do is be like ‘I disown you’ and then they’re no longer your father.

CHRISTINE. I know, but like, biologically…

JULIE. Parents are a social construct.

CHRISTINE. That’s not true.

JULIE. Many cultures don’t even have parents.

CHRISTINE. Oh my God, who have you been following?

JULIE. It doesn’t matter. The point is that I don’t think you deserve to call someone your daughter, specifically me, call me, your daughter, if you cancel plans to have dinner, on my eighteenth birthday, so you can go and have sex with a twenty-four-year-old.

CHRISTINE. It’s so gross.

JULIE. I know. He’s a paedophile.

CHRISTINE thinks…

CHRISTINE. I mean, he’s not a paedophile…

JULIE. He is basically a paedophile.

CHRISTINE. I’m not sure you can call your dad a / paedophile, when he’s not a paedophile.

JULIE. He’s no longer my dad. And yes I can.

CHRISTINE. You’re talking shit.

JULIE. I’m talking truth to power.

CHRISTINE. That’s like a totally different thing.

JULIE. You’re always correcting me…

CHRISTINE. You’ll get him arrested.

JULIE. Well maybe he should be?

It is basically incest.

CHRISTINE. Okay, it’s not incest.

JULIE. It is incest.

CHRISTINE. Technically, like, no. She’s not his daughter /

JULIE. But she could be /

CHRISTINE. But she’s not /

JULIE. But she could be /

CHRISTINE. But she’s not /

JULIE. I don’t see the difference.

CHRISTINE. The difference is, she’s not.

JULIE. I kind of feel like you’re taking his side.

CHRISTINE. I’m not taking his side, I’m just saying it’s not incest, it’s not incest because she’s not his daughter. / You have to be biologically related to someone to make having sex with them incest, and why are we even talking about this it’s so gross, it’s freaking me out and –

JULIE. But she could be, she could technically be, he could’ve had her when he was like twenty-five, and that’s not too young to have a child, many people have children when they’re twenty-five, or even younger, so –

CHRISTINE. Julie!

Beat.

JULIE smiles.

JULIE. What?

CHRISTINE. You know what.

CHRISTINE smiles back at her.

JULIE. Pass me that bottle.

CHRISTINE gives her a bottle of wine from the counter next to her. JULIE takes it.

You know you look amazing?

CHRISTINE. Be quiet.

JULIE. You do. Where is this dress from?

CHRISTINE. Oh. It’s just an old one.

JULIE. It looks amazing.

CHRISTINE. Shut up.

JULIE. It does, you look so fit.

CHRISTINE. No I don’t.

JULIE. I want to take a picture of you /

CHRISTINE. Okay.

CHRISTINE prepares herself.

JULIE. Okay. Camera is coming out…

CHRISTINE continues to prepare herself. She fixes her hair.

Okay go!

Suddenly CHRISTINE springs into a pose. JULIE takes a picture. It’s a well-rehearsed routine, performed at double speed.

And another.

CHRISTINE changes pose. JULIE takes another.

One more.

CHRISTINE changes again. JULIE takes another.

Okay now together.

They both pose. JULIE takes a series of selfies. They happen in quick succession. They’ve done this a million times before.

And again.

She takes another. The same thing.

One more.

They do another pose, but this time JULIE puts her head against CHRISTINE’s. She takes the photo, then stays close to her for a bit longer.

CHRISTINE. You okay?

JULIE. Yeah. Just. Glad you’re here.

JULIE pulls away. She takes a drink from her glass, she picks up her phone and walks towards a speaker.

You haven’t drunk your drink?

Beat.

CHRISTINE. I will. Just. Starting slow.

CHRISTINE holds the drink in her hand. She watches JULIE, who looks through music on her phone.

What time are people getting here?

JULIE. I don’t know.

CHRISTINE. When did you say?

JULIE. From eight.

CHRISTINE. It’s ten past?

JULIE. So soon, then.

JULIE sips her drink. Flicks through her phone. CHRISTINE watches her. Summons courage.

CHRISTINE. Julie…

JULIE. Mmm?

But CHRISTINE changes her mind…

CHRISTINE. Ahm… it doesn’t matter.

Beat.

What did you do about Diana in the end?

JULIE. Oh. Nothing. She’s fine. She’s asleep. I put her in one of the bedrooms. Gave her a blanket.

CHRISTINE. You still think she’s pregnant?

JULIE. She is. She definitely is. I looked it up online. That’s why her nipples were so big and like that weird / colour and everything.

CHRISTINE. It’s so gross.

JULIE. It’s fine, anyway. I sorted it.

CHRISTINE. What do you mean?

JULIE. I gave her the morning-after pill.

Beat.

CHRISTINE. What do you mean?

JULIE. It’ll be fine.

CHRISTINE. Julie?

JULIE. What?

CHRISTINE. She’s a dog!

Beat.

JULIE. So?

CHRISTINE. So you can’t just give dogs the morning-after pill.

JULIE. Why not?

CHRISTINE. Because they’re dogs.

JULIE. I still don’t see your point.

CHRISTINE. It’s bad for them.

JULIE. Well, everything is bad for everyone nowadays.

CHRISTINE. I’m being serious.

JULIE. So am I. She was fine. I crushed it up and put it on one of those dog biscuit things. She absolutely loved it.

CHRISTINE. Julie?!

JULIE. She did! Honestly, it was a real treat.

JULIE smiles at CHRISTINE. CHRISTINE can’t help but be charmed by her. JULIE starts to put on make-up.

Anyway. It’s better than having some random mongrel’s pups inside her, isn’t it? Polluting her bloodline.

CHRISTINE. What, cus pugs are so pure?

JULIE. She’s not a pug, I hate it when people call her a pug, she’s a French bulldog, and yes actually she is very pure. She has a certificate.

JULIE continues to put on make-up.

Anyway. It’s probably a Staffie.

CHRISTINE. I like Staffies.

JULIE. Staffies are so gross.

JULIE sips her drink. She checks herself in a propped-up mirror on the table. CHRISTINE watches her, she seems self-conscious, vulnerable somehow. CHRISTINE moves to her, smooths her hands over JULIE’s shoulders.

CHRISTINE. You look nice.

JULIE smiles.

Felix is gonna be all over you.

CHRISTINE smiles. JULIE does. But then her smile drops.

JULIE. It will be alright. Won’t it?

CHRISTINE. Course it will.

JULIE. I keep having this feeling, like something bad’s going to happen. Like the boys from my old school are gonna turn up or /

CHRISTINE. That won’t happen.

Beat.

JULIE. You’re sure?

Beat.

You know it’s Winter Solstice.

CHRISTINE. You said.

JULIE. I read this thing on an astrology website, and it said that having a birthday on Winter Solstice is a bad omen.

CHRISTINE. Is this the same website that told you Capricorns are the star sign that are most likely to die?

JULIE. That’s actually true.

CHRISTINE. Julie…

JULIE. It is. Do you know how many Capricorns are dead now? Look it up.

Beat. CHRISTINE looks at her.

CHRISTINE. Nothing bad is going to happen.

Beat.

Another beat.

JULIE. Yeah.

Short pause.

CHRISTINE. You okay?

JULIE. Yeah, yeah. Fine.

CHRISTINE. What is it?

JULIE. No, nothing.

CHRISTINE. What?

JULIE. No. Nothing, just thinking…

Sometimes don’t know what I’d do without you.

Beat. CHRISTINE smiles. Then turns away from her. JULIE goes back to putting on make-up.

What was that thing that you wanted to talk about?

CHRISTINE. Sorry?