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    Wretch (NHB Modern Plays)
    Wretch (NHB Modern Plays)
    Wretch (NHB Modern Plays)
    Ebook70 pages40 minutes

    Wretch (NHB Modern Plays)

    By Rebecca Walker

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    About this ebook

    An ex-teacher and an ex-junkie meet on a night bus during long, dark nights of homelessness.
    A year on, Irena has rebuilt her life. But just as she thinks she is safe, Amy crashes head-first back into it with bigger dreams for life's second chances.
    Rebecca Walker's Wretch toured homeless hostels, drug rehabilitation clinics and drop-in centres in 2015 with Into The Wolf Productions. It was first performed at VAULT Festival, London, in February 2017.
    'An ambitious piece, one that tackles homelessness, gender inequality, immigration, petty crime, friendship, loneliness, drug abuse, Russian literature, social media privacy settings, recovery, relapse, house prices, labour conditions, sexual favours, middle management motivational metaphors and much, much more... a spirit and optimism burst[s] through' - Exeunt Magazine
    'Raw, poignant… an honest and sincere look at the harsh realities of life after homelessness… its humour does not detract from the serious nature of the content, but rather strengthens our attachment to the characters and makes the lows even more devastating' - LondonTheatre1
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNick Hern Books
    Release dateMar 10, 2017
    ISBN9781780018683
    Wretch (NHB Modern Plays)
    Author

    Rebecca Walker

    Rebecca Walker has contributed to the global conversation about race, gender, power, and the evolution of the human family for three decades. Since graduating from Yale, she has authored and edited seven bestselling books. Walker has written, developed, and produced film and television projects with Warner Brothers, NBC Universal, Amazon, HBO, and Paramount, and spoken at over four hundred universities and corporate campuses internationally, including Harvard, The Whitney Museum, and TEDx Lund. Walker cofounded the Third Wave Fund, which makes grants to women and transgender youth working for social justice. Walker has won many awards, including the Women Who Could Be President Award from the League of Women Voters, was named by Time magazine as one of the most influential leaders of her generation, and continues to teach her masterclass, The Art of Memoir.

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      Book preview

      Wretch (NHB Modern Plays) - Rebecca Walker

      Wretch was created with Maya Wasowicz and Elle White for Into The Wolf Productions, and toured homeless hostels, drug rehabilitation clinics and drop-in centres in 2015, with the following cast:

      It was first performed at VAULT Festival, London, on 8 February 2017, with the following cast:

      For Iraj

      Acknowledgements

      Thanks to Maya Wasowicz, Elle While, Hilary Tones, Calum Callaghan and Valentina Ricci for giving the play its first life; to our first audiences at the Whitechapel Mission, South London YMCA, Dragon Café, Women at the Well, the Spitalfields Crypt Trust, Lifeline Hackney and The Margins Project for their warm welcome and incisive feedback; to Nick Quinn, Jamie Harper, Matt Applewhite, Sarah Liisa Wilkinson and the VAULT Festival team for taking a chance on the play in its transition to the stage; and to Eliza and the Bear for letting us use their wonderful music in the VAULT Festival production.

      Special thanks to Tori Allen-Martin, whose talent, passion and badassery has been a candle in the dark.

      Last but not least: to the guests, volunteers and green-badges at Crisis at Christmas’ Women’s Centre, who made my many Christmasses with their compassion, strength and great humour in the face of life’s very worst knocks. Thank you for sparking it off.

      R.W.

      Characters

      AMY, a girl from Scotland

      IRENA, a middle-aged woman from Poland

      JOSH, a young man from Ruislip

      MIKE, a man from Cheshire

      Note on Text

      (–) indicates a not-fully-finished thought

      (…) indicates a trailed-off thought

      A speech with (…) in place of written dialogue indicates a character deliberately responding by remaining silent.

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

      Scene One

      Hostel. Kitchen. Two in the morning.

      AMY is sitting at the table, wearing a peeling name label reading ‘AMY!’ in large capitals.

      A wash bag and a collection of miniature soap bottles are spread out over the table. She has a permanent marker pen in her hand.

      IRENA is wearing a coat, has just come in from outside. A bag over her shoulder.

      A fluorescent strip light overhead flickers, pings into light.

      AMY looks at IRENA.

      AMY. Alright.

      IRENA half-nods a response. Takes her coat off, puts it over the back of a chair. She is wearing a warehouse uniform – aertex shirt and tracksuit bottoms.

      IRENA fiddles with the padlock on a locked cupboard, opens the cupboard and takes out a loaf of bread and jam.

      AMY watches her.

      Midnight feast?

      IRENA. Dinner.

      AMY. Night owl?

      IRENA. Night worker.

      AMY. You just back from work? Hardcore.

      Beat.

      I know you.

      IRENA turns, looks at her.

      IRENA. ‘Amy.’

      AMY. You remember me?

      IRENA. No, you are wearing name label.

      AMY looks down at her top. Pulls at the edge of the sticker.

      AMY. Like starting fucking primary school –

      IRENA. You move in today?

      AMY. Aye.

      IRENA turns back to the counter, begins to assemble her sandwich.

      AMY watches her.

      …do you remember me?

      IRENA. No.

      AMY. What’s your name?

      IRENA. Irena.

      AMY. I never knew that. Where’s that accent from,

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