The Trials (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Dawn King

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 80

Beschreibung

The near future. The climate emergency is gathering pace, and our generation is being judged. The jurors are children. But are they delivering justice – or just taking revenge? Dawn King's searing play The Trials was first performed at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus in 2021, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. It received its British premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in August 2022, directed by Natalie Abrahami. The Trials offers an exciting opportunity for theatre companies to address the climate emergency and intergenerational conflict, as the jury of 12 to 17-year-olds hold the stage alongside three adult defendants.

Leseprobe

Dawn King

THE TRIALS

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Author’s Note

Original Production Details

Characters

Setting

Diversity and Sustainability Statement

A Note on the Dialogue

The Trials

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Author’s Note

Dawn King

Many people generously contributed their energies towards the writing process of The Trials and I would like to thank them all. My particular love and gratitude to –

Paul Jenkins, Cress Brown, Tom Mansfield, Suba Das, Oscar Sharp and Rob Drummer for lending me their brains. Ryan Ormonde, for his help with Xander’s poem. Calvin Lok, for supporting my journey.

Julia Mills and everyone at Berlin Associates.

Natalie Abrahami, Joseph Hancock, Josh Parr, Georgia Lowe, Michael Longhurst, Clare Slater, Henny Finch, Zoe Svendsen, Liz Bate, Phil McCormack and Anna Cooper. Everyone at the Donmar Warehouse. My incredible cast.

Professor Selina Busby and the staff and students of Central School of Speech and Drama for their support with our participation workshop process.

HighTide Theatre and the staff and students of Guildhall School of Music and Drama who took part in an early workshop of the play.

Adrian Figeuroa, Katharina Rösch, Bernd Schmidt, Henning Bochert. The team at Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus.

Thanks also to the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for everything they do.

The Trials was first performed at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Germany, on 15 January 2022. The cast was as follows:

THE JURY (in alphabetical order)

Ayla Tatu Burnaz

Pia Dix

Despina Economou

Robert Meyer García

Leander Hesse

Greta Kolb

Len Königs

Humam Mohamad

Ji-Hun Park

Maja Pindek Rabrenović

Sirha Schroeder-Finckh

Charlotte Wirth

THE DEFENDANTS

DEFENDANT ONE

Alexander Steindorf

DEFENDANT TWO

Markus Danzeisen

DEFENDANT THREE

Anya Fischer

Director

Adrian Figueroa

Set and Costume Design

Irina Schicketanz

Music

Ketan Bhatti

Light

Constantine Sonneson

Dramaturgy

Katharina Rösch

Theatre Pedagogy

Lama Ali

The Trials received its UK premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, on 12 August 2022. The cast was as follows:

THE JURY (in alphabetical order)

AMELIA

Elise Alexandre

MOHAMMAD

Francis Dourado

GABI

Jowana El-Daouk

XANDER

William Gao

MAREK

Pelumi Ibiloye

REN

Honor Kneafsey

NOAH

Joe Locke

CHRIS

Rue Millwood

TOMAZ

Charlie Reid

KAKO

Meréana Jean Tomlinson

ZOE

Taya Tower

ADNAN

Jairaj Varsani

THE DEFENDANTS

DEFENDANT ONE

Nigel Lindsay

DEFENDANT TWO

Lucy Cohu

DEFENDANT THREE

Sharon Small

Director

Natalie Abrahami

Designer

Georgia Lowe

Lighting Designer

Jai Morjaria

Sound Designer and Composer

Xana

Movement Directors

Anna Morrisey

Aaron Parsons

Video Designer

Nina Dunn

Casting Director

Anna Cooper CDG

Production Manager

Marty Moore

Costume Supervisor

Olivia Ward

Associate Director

Joseph Hancock

Voice Coach

Emma Woodvine

Sustainability Consultants

Julie’s Bicycle

Production Dramatherapist

Wabriya King

Company Stage Manager

Lavinia Serban

Deputy Stage Manager

Bex Snell

Assistant Stage Manager

Benjamin Dootson

Resident Assistant Director

Josh Parr

Chaperones

Roxanne Applebee

Abraham Chowdhury

Lauren Lockley

Julia Phelan

Junior Assistant Director

Amara Rigault

Junior Stage Manager

Rebecca Wright

Junior Designer

Melanie Lopez

Junior Lighting Designer

Noa Penia

Junior Sound Designer

Seraphina Denton

Rehearsal and Production Photography

Helen Murray

Characters

THE JURY

ADNAN, thirteen

AMELIA, thirteen

CHRIS, fifteen

GABI, thirteen

KAKO, seventeen

MAREK, fourteen

MOHAMMAD, fourteen

NOAH, sixteen

REN, seventeen

TOMAZ, sixteen

XANDER, seventeen

ZOE, twelve

THE DEFENDANTS

DEFENDANT ONE, fifties/early sixties

DEFENDANT TWO, fifties/early sixties

DEFENDANT THREE, fifties

Juror character genders (and names) can be changed to suit the requirements of your casting. Defendant ages can be adjusted slightly.

Setting

Rooms in a large public building, once used for another purpose.

Diversity and Sustainability Statement

Please take positive action against the environmental harm caused by the rehearsal and production of this play.

The diversity of the cast and crew of this production should reflect, as far as is possible, the diversity of the world outside the theatre.

A Note on the Dialogue

A dash ( – ) at the end of a line indicates an interruption from the next speaker.

An ellipsis (…) at the end of the line indicates a trailing-off of the sentence.

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

Defendant One

DEFENDANT ONE is giving his defence statement to people who are currently unseen. He is also being videoed for online broadcast.

An electronic alert sounds and a light shines on DEFENDANT ONE.

DEFENDANT ONE. Should I start? Uhm…

Hello. First… I want to say that the information you’ve been given about me doesn’t represent who I am or how I live now. I work for certified sustainable organisations, and I’ve been volunteering at my local regeneration centre for several years. I’ve changed.

Back then, I was doing my best to provide for my family.

My wife and I had, have, three beautiful kids. Sarah, Jo and Leon. They’re all grown up now, but it seems like no time at all since they were toddling around, falling over, getting into all kinds of mess. I love you, kids.

We had an organic food delivery every week. We were really into feeding the kids properly. We never let them have junk food, wrapped in plastic. I mean, we weren’t tyrants about it, if some kid at school was having a birthday at McDonald’s and they were invited we’d let them go, sure, but at home? Free-range organic everything. We… recycled!

My wife and I both had careers and we had three kids. Busy doesn’t really describe it when you have three young children. It was organised chaos at my house! When we had to buy a second car, to get the kids to school, to get us to work… we went fully electric because of air pollution. I was happy with that decision.

I worked in advertising, as you uh… as you’ve been told. One of the campaigns I was most proud of was for a new sportswear brand made out of reclaimed ocean plastic. I, we, won an award, a very prestigious award, for that campaign.

I worked hard. Really hard. I worked nights, weekends, it was very stressful, a lot of pressure. My life was my work and my family. I had to provide for them. The childcare we needed, to continue our careers, was phenomenally expensive, and the kids went to private schools. Yes, they were privileged, but nobody can tell me that’s the wrong instinct for a father to have, to give your children the best education, to look after them and show them the world. We taught them to love nature, we took them to beautiful places, mountains, forests, diving in the Coral Sea, they said that was the best holiday they ever went on. And… if we were going skiing we uh we took the train the ski train.

I’ve barely flown anywhere for years, before the special flights law, but… my wife’s family is from overseas. We did a lot of video calls, obviously. Video calls aren’t the same. Nobody can tell me a video call is the same as holding your grandchild in your arms, I’m sorry, it’s not. I do regret taking so many flights. When it came to travelling for work, I did the absolute minimum, and in my opinion, those trips aren’t my responsibility. They shouldn’t be included in my so-called carbon footprint. That’s the company’s responsibility, not mine!

I was paid a lot of money for what I did and I had to perform my job to the best of my ability because there were other companies waiting to take our position, steal our clients, if we ballsed up. And I paid a lot of tax on the money I earnt. If I hadn’t been doing that work… I wouldn’t have been earning so much and supporting our health system and our education system with the huge taxes I paid. The education system that benefitted some of you, I might add.

Look, the important thing, the thing you need to know…

He peers past the light shining in his eyes so that he can see the JURY, watching him. Their attitudes range from very serious and attentive to nervous, distracted and disinterested.

The JURY reacts to what DEFENDANT ONE is saying.

…is that between work and family, I had no time for anything else. I didn’t really know how bad the situation was. I knew something, obviously, more than some people but less than others. Way less than others that’s what I’m saying, so I don’t see how I could have been expected to do anything else, to act any differently, especially with all the responsibilities I had. What was I supposed to do exactly? Give all my money to charity? Give up my job and spend my days yelling in the street? Chain myself to something? Because people were doing that, and it didn’t seem very bloody effective to me, I mean, if it had been effective, we wouldn’t be in this state, would we? And what about paying the mortgage or feeding my family? Huh? What about that? You don’t understand my responsibilities… how can you? I am not a criminal, I lived a decent life, I followed the laws of the time, I had never even been in trouble, never been arrested, not once! And everyone lived like we did! Well maybe not everyone, everyone. But…

I wasn’t any worse than anyone else.

That… that’s all I have to say. Thank you.

Black.

Deliberation One

The JURY