Monday/Tuesday 15/16th October 2012
Over the weekend and the last two days member of my group have sent me the gist of what they have said in certain scenes, I have worked to clarify and best phrase whilst detailing the action that would be happening in scenes.
I'm been doing breathing exercises to help with my projection, and the inflections of my voice to evoke meaning and emotion to my words.
Script (not in proper format cannot convert to blogger or create a link for)
CHARACTERS/CAST LIST
THE NARRATOR =
– LEXIA
TOMLINSON
ALEX – JON MA=
YLING,
DANNY TESTER, KEV GLOVER
CHELSEA – ZOE=
HORTON
ASPIRATIONS X=
4
THE SPEAKER –=
SINNEAD
MADDIX
THE OLD MAN –=
DANNEL
BETTON
ACT 1
SCENE 1: GRAD=
UATION
DAY
(The stage is in blackout, out walks the NARRATOR: spot light is pl=
aced
on her; behind you can see the
silhouette of the APSIRATIONS character along with ALEX and CHELSEA they all
stand in horizontal line, body in neutral.)
=
NARRATOR <=
/o:p>
Life=
(brief
pause) it’s a funny thing (smiles) one minute you think you have it all fig=
ured
out,
You =
know
where you’re going and what you’re going to do. The future is you’re oyster=
.
But =
what are
you going to do, if it all falls through?
(Narrator sneaks off to the wings, stage lights come up on the
ASPIRATIONS.)
=
ASPIRATIONS 1 (Danny)<=
/p>
I’m =
going to
go to ______ and study _____
=
ASPIRATIONS 2 (Kev)
I’m =
going to
go to ______ and study _____
=
CHELSEA
I’m =
going to
Oxford to study Law, I hope to be a lawyer in the future.
=
ASPIRATIONS 3 (Sinnead)
I’m =
going to
go to ______ and study _____
=
ALEX
(Pause)
I’m =
going
where she goes ( looks at CHELSEA)<=
/i>
she’s my future.
=
ALL =
(They laugh)
HAHA=
!
=
ASPIRATIONS 4
=
(Pulls ALEX back into the line)</=
o:p>
I’m =
going to
go to ______ and study _____
Joyful upbeat music begins to play.
SCENE 2: GRADUCATION PARTY
=
ALL<=
/o:p>
=
(They all begin to dance, except ALEX)=
=
ALEX
=
(Stands
in the middle of the dance floor)
Lights drop down, spot light comes up =
on
ALEX and a travelling spot light follows CHELSEA
CHELSEA walks towards ALEX.=
=
CHELSEA
Alex=
, we
need to talk.
=
ALEX=
O-Oh=
-Okay
babe, what about?
=
CHELSEA
I ju=
st don’t
think this is working -
=
ALEX=
What=
’s not
working? We’re perfect! Don’t do this!
=
CHELSEA
I ha=
ve to!
=
ALEX
NO, =
NO YOU
DON’T.
=
CHELSEA
Yes.=
You’re
suffocating me you have no plans for your own future.
=
ALEX=
You’=
re my
future, why don’t you get that?
CHELSEA
See,=
this is
exactly what I mean, suffocating me! Get your own life and dreams. I’m goin=
g to
be a lawyer I’m going to be somebody (stress). What do you just plan to rid=
e me
coat tail your whole life?
=
ALEX=
Why =
are you
being like this?
CHELSEA
Beca=
use we’re
over. Done. I’m not your future. (Pause) I don’t love you anymore. (crying)=
=
ALEX=
Well=
I love
you, doesn’t that count/mean something?
CHELSEA
=
(Starts to walk away/)<=
/p>
=
ALEX=
(/Grabs a hold of her wrist and pulls her around towards him.)=
=
CHELSEA
Let =
go of
me, let go of my hand. You’re hurting me.
=
ALEX
I’ll=
never
let go of you.
(ALEX drops her wrist CHELSEA rubs her wrist, stares at ALEX.)=
=
CHELSEA
I tr=
ied you
know, I tried really hard to make you happy/
=
ALEX=
You =
do make
me happy.
CHELSEA
Obvi=
ously not
Alex, you’re always depressed. You’ll be okay for a while then you’ll just
slump back.
I ca=
n’t cope
with it. You drain me. I need to live.
=
ALEX=
How =
can you
say that? I’ve tried as well, I can’t help who I am, you knew this before we
got any deeper.
CHELSEA
I th=
ought I
could help, thought I could save you. I’m not enough I don’t know what you =
need
but it’s not me. I don’t need you. I can’t love you anymore.
=
ALEX=
Fine… GO GO ON LEAVE ME !<=
/b>
END SCENE: BLACKOUT.</=
p>
SCENE 2: ALEX’S BEDROOM (OR LIVING RO=
OM).
ALEX is sat on the computer
(ALEX
is sat on the computer he is in soft light; a projection montage plays whil=
st
he types. Video consist of: Him checking his e-mail, lurking CHELSEA’S Face=
book
page, getting rejected from a job (countless jobs) then his decent into loo=
king
at depression to suicide videos.)
=
=
(The
Aspirations are now The FACTS they walk out of the shadows and around ALEX
holding the placards with information about the current suicide percentages=
in
the world.)
(The
SPEAKER masquerading as one of The FACTS, takes of his/her (either) mask st=
eps
forward down-stage-left or begins to speak.)
The SPEAKER
(INSERT YOU SPEECH HERE SINNEAD)
(Once The SPEAKER stops
speaking, the music begins to play. Nobody Knows by Pink.) <=
/p>
</=
o:p>
=
The
NARRATOR
Ladies and gentlemen can you follow me for a narrated =
period
of Alex’s life these events take place over two weeks.
(The NARRATOR leads the audience out of the theatre.) </=
i>
END SCENE.
</=
o:p>
</=
o:p>
SCENE 3: OUTS=
IDE
FOYER OF THE MAC.
=
=
The
NARRATOR
On S=
aturday,
Alex stayed in bed all day. And I mean all day. Apart from going to empty h=
is
bladder,
he d=
id not
leave his bed for anything. Not even food.
On S=
unday
his mother called, as she always does, he let the call go to voice mail. (Puts on mother voice) “Oh honey y=
ou
didn’t phone me I’m getting worried, well when you do decide to phone me I’=
ve
left you dinner in the oven.” That dinner was never eaten it went to the bi=
ns
or the dog.
On M=
onday he
grew tired of his own stench, but did nothing to fix it, even though the sh=
ower
was like right there! He still lied in bed. By now he looked a right state.=
On T=
uesday
the emptiness got to him, not just the one in his life but his stomach. Sure
he’d drank water to sustain him as for food, he wasn’t having any of it he
didn’t want to feel alive and well but today that changed. That didn’t mean=
an
elaborate meal, He had stale cereal with curdling milk. (Grimace)
On W=
ednesday
he watched the T.V. from dusk till dawn. More to drown out his own thoughts,
sound of the voices coming from the box did not penetrate his brain. The im=
ages
where just like an endless montage blurring and combusting into each other.=
On T=
hursday
he really did have enough of his own stench. He took to the shower. The war=
m water
cascading down warmed him from the bones. It made him feel a little bit hum=
an
again.
On F=
riday He
briefly played with the idea of going out, he got as far as the front door.=
Week 2
Satu=
rday He
did summon the courage to stray to the park he walked around aimlessly. He =
felt
a brief moment of peace. Then he remembered the days of joy he spent here w=
ith
Chelsea. His shoulders slumped and he dragged himself back home.
Sund=
ay
mother rang, this time he decided to go home. Then he remembered why he did=
n’t.
His bother talked away at him and his father was slumped in a chair drinking
himself into despair.
Mond=
ay he
went back on those sites…
At f=
irst it
was to get help with the thoughts then he got deeper and deeper. There where
site telling you how you could kill yourself quick and painless.
Tues=
day he
wrote a letter. I like letters but I don’t think I’d like to be the person =
to
read those words of pain. It didn’t have a stamp. Was it to be sent or foun=
d?
Wedn=
esday he
looked at the letter and perfected it, after all these where to be very
important words. But alas the words I will not ruin for you.
Thur=
sday he
lurked Chelsea’s Facebook, it still hurt to see that they weren’t in a
relationship together on facebook. She’d kept the pictures but there was
another guy he’d noticed started popping up more and more in pictures and he
was holding her too. Close he got angry, sad, depressed. He was back where =
he
started. If not worse.
Frid=
ay was
complete blackout, he played music to drown out the own voices in his head,=
it
wasn’t working very well.
Satu=
rday
came and he felt inspired to go to his old park/fair ground and just reflec=
t.
(Should have arrived at bench by =
now,
The NARRATOR sits down next to ALEX, she then stands again and points at a
passing couple then to the STATUS placard which proclaims CHELSEA’S new
relationship.)
=
ALEX
I didn’t have the best childhood going, always had second hand stuff fr=
om
the charity shop or hand me downs from the brother and sister. And there’s
nothing wrong with that, I just yearned to have something to that was mine.
Something new that made me happy. The old man loosing work and being a
perpetual drunk didn’t help with matters. So when I found Chelsea it was
perfect! (Smiles). I thought I had it all planned out, Trav=
el,
see the world, propose in Paris, (awkward laugh) get married, have kids, do=
it all,
the sky was the limit, she told me she loved me, I was there for her when s=
he
needed me, cuddled her when she was sad, held her in a thunderstorm, made h=
er
laugh, she knows my deepest secrets, and I know hers, we would talk about
absolutely anything, and now, just like that, it’s over, and for what, she =
said
I was her everything, what did I do wrong, what did I do so bloody wrong to
deserve having my heart ripped from my chest and stamped on, as if it me Ant
nothing, huh "thanks for everything but your surplus to requirements, I
hate her (pause) no, I don’t , I could never hate her, I hate the fact that=
I'm
in love her, and nothing will mend this broken heart, (walk over to lamppost
and stare at bridge) (breaking down) I can’t do this alone, there’s no way =
out,
I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, please don’t hate me Chels.<=
/p>
END SCENE.
SCENE 4: THE WALK TO THE BRIDGE. THE
BRIDGE.
=
</=
span>The
NARRATOR
He’d made up his mind, this would be his last Sunday, he didn’t want to
spend it with his family, besides they made him miserable enough.
Monday He looked at Chelsea’s Facebook at the pictures of her and the n=
ew
boyfriend, a little self-torture never hurt anybody, oh wait yeah it does!<=
o:p>
The days past that blurred into one continual stream, from behind his
blackout curtains he could tell when it was day from a lighter shade and wh=
en
it was night dark. He welcomed the night. In the dark, the voices and thoug=
hts
talked to him the goaded him on. Do something right for once show them you =
can
do something on your own. You don’t need anyone or anything.
Friday or D-day as I like to call it, Doom! He remembered a bridge he u=
sed
to be taken to when he was younger: he left the letter in a safe an obvious
place, the kitchen table and set out to the bridge.
=
(Points
and begins to run)
LOOK GUYS! I Can see him. No don’t do it! Don’t jump!=
=
(Arrives
at the bridge, peers down over the edge into the water) <=
/i>
(To the audience and Alex) <=
span
lang=3DEN style=3D'font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-=
ascii-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-lati=
n;
color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:EN'>It’s a long way down.
=
=
ALEX =
I’m just so stupid, why did I do what I did? “You’re my future” (mocks self, loathingly) Argh!
=
(And Oldman is walking along the bridg=
e and
spots ALEX)
=
=
=
OLDMAN
Aayyyeee what are you doing? What are you doing up there?
Stupid Graduation, I’m mean who even kn=
ows
what they want to do with their lives at 18? No me for sure, I don’t have a
future anymore anyway. I made sure I smothered it. What was it that she sai=
d? =
=
=
=
=
CHELSEA
You’re suffocating me.
=
ALEX
Yeah that’s it, I suffocated her, didn’t let her breath or grown made h=
er
everything, it seems we depressive people are like that we just have to obs=
ess.
But Chelsea makes that easy though she was just what I needed warm. If a pe=
rson
could be a home she’d be mine, now I’m homeless. And somebody else is livin=
g in
my house. She’s a Uni with her new fella. How could she move on so soon?!
I thought maybe if I just get the job I could prove to her that I could
have my own life too, I didn’t have to ride her coat tails. But no I got
rejected. Seems I’m a Fuck-up on paper as well as in real life. They didn’t
even want to meet me. What’s the point of applying for other jobs to get the
same result? None that’s what.
I’ve decided I’m not needed here anymore, no one is going to miss me, w=
ell
maybe my mom but then she’ll just have dad to concentrate on again. I can’t=
go
on, I’ve never felt right here anyways it’s like there’s always been a cloc=
k on
how long I can stay alive for, I may as well stop the stop watch myself.
I must have walked past 20 to 30 people on my way here; I may as well h=
ave
been invisible. One woman walked right into me, soon she’ll walk right on
through.
=
OLDMAN
Eh Eh, what do you think I am standing here for? Is it sympathy you are
looking for? Because you will find none here. Look at the man in the mirror=
. Look
in the river at you're reflection. I see hope, I see freedom, I see life. Y=
our
life is much more precious than silver, gold and all the diamonds in the ea=
rth.
You’re young, if you wish to take your life at least give me your youth (laughs). Life is about that you k=
now
laughing, with people and at yourself.
Oh well I can’t wait around here all day, I best be going. (Freeze )
END SCENE.
=
OLDMAN
(Does a renditio=
n of
lean on me and gets the crowd that’s been watching to join in.</=
span>
Sometimes in our lives
We all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's
Always tomorrow
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
Till I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
You just call on me brother
When you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem
That you'll understand
We all need somebody to lean on
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry=
on
