One For Sorrow (NHB Modern Plays)

ACT ONE
Scene One
Lights up.
A house. Comfortable, modern. Art. Books. That sort of thing. A living/dining space. A dining table, an unfinished meal. Wine. Chairs pushed back.
Back, centre, a hallway to the front door. Off the hallway a bathroom, and a staircase to the upper floor.
Off the main room, a kitchen. Also off, a sitting room with a television. The television is on.
A white family.
EMMA, IMOGEN and BILL.
EMMA Because you cannot just /
IMOGEN Listen to me /
EMMA You cannot just /
IMOGEN Listen to me /
EMMA No you listen to me! For once you listen to /
IMOGEN But you’re not hearing me /
BILL Listen to your mother, Imogen.
EMMA Oh shut up, Bill!
IMOGEN You’re not hearing me /
EMMA I am hearing you. We are hearing you. I’ve heard you loud and clear and you’re completely out of control /
IMOGEN I am not out of /
EMMA You’re completely out of control. This is completely out of /
IMOGEN It’s not out of /
EMMA You’ve taken it too far this time /
BILL You have taken it too far.
EMMA I am patient with you, I am patient with the things you believe, I believe
I believe in the things you believe /
IMOGEN No you don’t you don’t /
EMMA I’m talking now.
I am patient with you. I’m encouraging of you. But this is too much. This is this is –
You’ve endangered us.
IMOGEN I haven’t endangered us /
EMMA You’ve endangered your family /
IMOGEN I haven’t endangered our family /
EMMA Your sister, your little sister /
IMOGEN She wanted me to do it. She agrees with /
EMMA Of course she does! She’s a teenager. They’re all mad. You have no understanding of /
IMOGEN I don’t claim to have any understanding of /
EMMA No understanding of the dangers. At a time like this, to do such a thing at a time like a time like /
IMOGEN The danger is in your head, you need to hear me, it’s all in your head /
EMMA It is not in my head! (To BILL.) Tell her it is not in my head.
BILL You only had to ask us and then we could have discussed it / reasonably.
IMOGEN Reasonably.
BILL We have to discuss these things reasonably. Why didn’t you just ask?
IMOGEN Because you’re afraid. You’re afraid of everything. You’re afraid.
EMMA Well perhaps when you’re my age you’ll know there are some things in life worth being afraid of.
IMOGEN No. Not like that. I’m not afraid of anything like that. Because fear is –
Your fear, the fear you have is just an excuse to do terrible things, and to do nothing. Which is also a terrible thing.
Pause.
EMMA Right. I’m confiscating your phone /
IMOGEN What?
EMMA I’m confiscating your phone. I’m confiscating your laptop /
IMOGEN You can’t!
EMMA Oh yes I can!
IMOGEN It’s a breach of my human rights /
EMMA You want to talk to me about human rights? You want to talk to me about human rights?
IMOGEN Not your kind of rights /
EMMA Alright let’s talk about human rights /
IMOGEN Not your definition of /
EMMA Let’s talk about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Let’s talk about the European Convention on Human Rights /
IMOGEN Not those rights /
EMMA Have you read the European Convention on Human Rights? Have you read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
IMOGEN Not those /
EMMA Well I have! And I interpret and advise on the European Convention on Human Rights every day, every day I /
IMOGEN Western declarations on human rights are Neocolonial, Imperialist projects.
EMMA I’m going to kill her. I’m going to kill my daughter. Bill, I’m going to have to kill our daughter /
BILL Right. Well that’s /
EMMA A Neocolonial Project! A Neocolonial Project!
IMOGEN You think you know everything. You think you understand everything. But you don’t know anything. You’re old, and you’re afraid of everything.
It’s not your fault. They made you afraid. You’re not bigger than the culture you were born in to, and it made you afraid.
Pause.
EMMA My life. My entire life, my legal career has been dedicated to –
I think I’m going to cry. I’m either going to cry or I’m going to murder our daughter.
BILL Right. Well. Let’s all just /
EMMA What Bill? What should we all just?
Enter CHLOE, from television room.
CHLOE 45.
If you’re interested.
I mean I’m just saying. I’m literally just keeping you guys updated with what’s going on outside while you all just shout in here. That’s just literally what I’m doing.
Because outside shit’s really hit the fan and it’s not getting any better so I think you should just know that it’s
45. And counting.
Pause.
EMMA Did you hear
have you heard from Elizabeth yet?
CHLOE No.
EMMA Right.
CHLOE Her phone’s off.
BILL Perhaps she ran out of battery.
EMMA That’s right, perhaps she ran out of battery.
BILL I’m sure she’s fine. We’ll hear soon that /
CHLOE I just wanted you to know that it’s 45 now.
And counting.
And I’m not mad just because I’m a teenager. And actually calling people mad like that is ableist.
Exit CHLOE, TV room.
BILL Right. So we’re all just going to /
EMMA Oh good, Bill is going to decide what we’re all just going to do /
BILL I’m not going to /
EMMA The man of the house is going to decide /
BILL I’m not
that’s not /
IMOGEN She’s right. You don’t decide that.
BILL Right. Okay.
IMOGEN You don’t get to decide that /
BILL Right! I said right!
IMOGEN Ever.
BILL knocks a chair over, backhand.
The women don’t react.
Pause.
BILL Sorry.
He picks up the chair.
Sorry. I’m sorry. That was inexcusable.
But you do gang up on me /
EMMA Oh for god’s /
BILL You do. You shift allegiances /
IMOGEN Allegiances? /
BILL Just like that. And I’m trying to keep up and be fair but /
EMMA You were going to tell us to calm down /
BILL I was not going to /
EMMA You were going to tell us to calm down and that is not /
BILL I was not going to /
EMMA You were going to /
BILL Alright I was going to but not /
EMMA So you see /
BILL But not like that.
EMMA Not like what?
BILL I want us all to be calm. I want us all, myself included, to be calm so we can discuss this /
IMOGEN Reasonably.
BILL That is not a dirty word.
IMOGEN It is.
BILL It is not a /
IMOGEN Yes it is a /
BILL It is an important word. You cannot dispense with, it’s the end of civilisation if you dispense with /
IMOGEN In this context, you, us, and the weight of history, it is a dirty word. And you don’t get to say that /
BILL We’ve gone off-topic. As usual, we have gone off-topic /
IMOGEN You don’t get to say that either /
BILL I’m being no-platformed. I’m evidently being no-platformed in my own house. Your generation is completely incapable /
IMOGEN My generation!
BILL You’re completely incapable of having a /
IMOGEN Reasonable discussion.
BILL Well exactly!
IMOGEN Okay.
BILL We brought you up to be intelligent, to be able to have intelligent discussions, to
to think critically, objectively, to stand your ground /
IMOGEN My ground? What ground?
BILL And to know when you’re wrong, and surrender your ground gracefully /
IMOGEN I hate your language. I hate it. Like a conversation is an invasion, like we’re at war.
BILL Have you been watching the news? We are at war.
IMOGEN That’s hysterical. You’re hysterical /
BILL I am not hysterical /
IMOGEN You are. You’re hysterical.
BILL There are bombs in the street tonight. There are dead people. There are men with guns. And you’re telling me we’re not at war?
IMOGEN The war is in your head /
BILL It is quite literally happening! Literally in the correct sense of the word, not in the sense that your lot throw it about the place like like
fucking
hundreds and thousands!
EMMA What? (Laughs.)
BILL Don’t laugh at me! This is serious. It is literally happening outside and she’s telling me, she’s telling us, that it is not happening and it is in my head! (To IMOGEN.) Are you insane? (To EMMA.) She’s insane.
Enter CHLOE.
CHLOE 51.
Just so you know. 51 now.
And counting.
And calling Immy insane like that is actually ableist.
Exit CHLOE.
Pause.
EMMA Right. Right right right.
51.
Right.
Pause.
Imogen. You are going to explain to me /
BILL To us /
EMMA To us. You are going to explain to us again, from the beginning /
BILL Without jargon /
IMOGEN It’s not jargon! /
EMMA You are going to explain to us both again, from the beginning, without jargon, exactly what it is you’ve done and why.
IMOGEN I want to explain. I’ve been trying to explain.
EMMA Good. That’s good. Collect yourself. Think about it.
Take your time /
IMOGEN It’s just a hashtag.
It’s just. A hashtag. It’s just a hashtag that says Open Door. That’s all it is. And that’s all I’ve done. I’ve used that hashtag, I’ve shared that hashtag and –
That’s it.
And all it means
all it means is that now, with everything that’s going on now, outside
with everything that’s happening out there tonight, that our door is open. All it means is that we understand that people are scared, that they might be trapped or hurt, that they might not be able to get home or –
And so we’re saying to them, We are here. Come to our house. We’ll look after you. You’ll be safe. Our door is open.
That’s all it is.
It’s nothing to be afraid of.
EMMA We’re not afraid of the hashtag. It’s not the hashtag we’re afraid of. Or what the hashtag represents /
BILL No, we’re not afraid of what the hashtag represents.
EMMA We are actually in favour of what the hashtag represents /
BILL That’s true, we are technically in favour of what the hashtag represents /
EMMA And we are proud of you, we’re proud of your –
BILL We are proud of your humanity.
EMMA We are. We are proud of your humanity. We brought you up to be humane /
BILL Exactly.
EMMA We’re afraid of. What we are afraid of is what might happen if you share our address, on a night like this, during a terrorist attack, on social media.
IMOGEN I have not ‘shared our address on social media’. They have to contact me privately to get our address and I have not given anyone our address.
EMMA Okay. That’s good. That’s very /
IMOGEN And I don’t think you should call it a terrorist attack.
EMMA You what, Imogen?
IMOGEN I don’t think you should call it a terrorist attack. I don’t think
that you should.
EMMA And why shouldn’t we call it a terrorist attack?
IMOGEN Because we don’t know if it is yet and /
BILL Are you telling me, are you telling me are you seriously trying to tell me that that
bombs, explosions people dead on the on the people dead and dying on the street and guns and and
and you’re trying to tell me that it’s not a terrorist attack!
IMOGEN This is what I mean, this is exactly what I mean. Your language, your fear, your behaviour in the world, it’s all connected. Because you jump to these conclusions, you do, you do all the time. Everyone, you, your generation, your media, your governments, you’ve created this world where everyone’s so afraid, everyone’s so afraid they can’t even breathe any more because if you breathe it’s toxic, it’ll kill you, so you’re all just walking around holding your breath waiting the whole time, just waiting for something to happen so you can start screaming and start killing because that’s what you do it is
what you do.
Listen to me, it’s what you do and it’s what you’ve done.
And I’m not saying it’s not a terrorist attack, I’m not saying that at all, but I’m just not going to decide it is until it’s confirmed because I’m not going to use that language and I’m not going to be part of the world that you’ve created for me. And if I have to destroy the world you’ve created for me piece by piece so that I can create a new one, then that is what I am going to do.
And this, Open Door, this is actually an act of destruction. A pacifist act of destruction. It’s refusing to be afraid in the world you’ve created. And it is absolutely necessary, it is absolutely necessary because one day

This is what I mean, this is exactly what I mean. Your language, your fear, your behaviour in the world, it’s all connected. Because you jump to these conclusions, you do, you do all the time. Everyone, you, your generation, your media, your governments, you’ve created this world where everyone’s so afraid, everyone’s so afraid they can’t even breathe any more because if you breathe it’s toxic, it’ll kill you, so you’re all just walking around holding your breath waiting the whole time, just waiting for something to happen so you can start screaming and start killing because that’s what you do it is
what you do.
Listen to me, it’s what you do and it’s what you’ve done.
And I’m not saying it’s not a terrorist attack, I’m not saying that at all, but I’m just not going to decide it is until it’s confirmed because I’m