Thank you so much for taking the time to read “Wrecks” and for your kind words about it. JSx
Stage Play / Wrecks (Scene Two)
SCENE TWO
INT. JOCELYN’S LIVING ROOM – LATER THAT NIGHT
Darkness. ”Justify my Love” by Madonna fades up for a few moments before cross-fading once more with a Radio or TV News Report:
NEWS REPORT
(over speakers)
And in local news: the search for a teenage boy missing since early last Thursday evening is expected to intensify later today: CCTV footage taken from cameras on the streets surrounding the home of the boy’s foster parents is believed to have been collected for scrutiny by Police in the hope that it will provide some clue as to his last known movements. Meanwhile, reports of third party involvement in the disappearance remain unconfirmed and Detectives in charge of the investigation are maintaining an open mind. In a related twist: the offer of a five-figure sum to the boy’s father, by a tabloid newspaper for exclusive rights to his story, has been roundly condemned as both inappropriate and unhelpful by police and a local Member of Parliament.
The NEWS REPORT cross-fades with “Justify my Love” by Madonna again and the music fades out as the lights fade up on:
JOCELYN and EDWARD are both seated at the table. Dinner is over. JOCELYN exhales deeply and reaches across for her cigarettes.
JOCELYN
So, can I get them to get you anything else?
She lights a cigarette. EDWARD holds up his hands in defence.
EDWARD
Oh God no, please…I’m bursting here. I mean…I’m full, honestly. Thank you.
JOCELYN
Full in a good way?
JOCELYN exhales smoke.
EDWARD
Oh God yes: a very good way. I haven’t eaten this well in…well, ever.
JOCELYN
Then shall we adjourn?
JOCELYN stands.
JOCELYN
There’s something terribly depressing about looking at the aftermath of a good meal…
(mournful)
...like a playground when the children have all gone. Silent. Cold. Empty.
EDWARD stands up also and wavers uncertainly for a beat, a stifled exclamation of surprise escaping his lips. He reaches out and steadies himself with one hand on the edge of the table.
EDWARD
(embarrassed)
Head rush. Stood up too quickly. Sorry.
JOCELYN
Here, let me…
JOCELYN moves towards EDWARD holding out a hand.
EDWARD
I’m okay. Honestly.
EDWARD lets go of the edge of the table and makes his way gingerly over to the chaise-lounge and sinks down onto it. JOCELYN picks up both their glasses and follows him over. She places his glass beside him and sits in the armchair, setting her own glass down on the table.
JOCELYN
Better?
EDWARD
Much. Thanks. I guess I’m really not used to all this high living.
JOCELYN looks at EDWARD as he takes a small sip of Champagne.
JOCELYN
You’d be surprised how easy getting used to it can be, darling and I should know.
EDWARD looks quizzically at JOCELYN.
JOCELYN
(amused)
Surely you don’t think I was born to all this, do you? Good God, no. I created it. I was born with nothing…and I don’t mean in any spiritual or philosophical sense: born to this world with nothing and take nothing with you when you leave. No. I mean born into nothing. And I’d love to say that we were poor but we were happy but in my experience no one who is poor is ever happy and there’s an end to it. Do you know how old I will be on my next birthday?
EDWARD shakes his head.
JOCELYN
(hollow)
Fifty-five: fifty-five years old and the mistress of all I survey. Born, raised and married into nothing. Deprived, abandoned and left the same way. But from that nothing, I created something. A touch of the Scarlett O’Hara’s about me someone once said and believe me, darling: I’ll never go hungry again.
EDWARD looks surprised.
JOCELYN
I’ve surprised you.
EDWARD
Eh…yes. A bit.
JOCELYN
So has no one ever whispered of my meteoric rise across a water cooler at you at the start of the day? Letting slip the merest of hints that the woman most feared might not be all that she first appears?
EDWARD
(shaking his head)
No. Never.
JOCELYN
(vitriolic)
Cowards.
(shrugs)
I expect they’re all too terrified of your proximity to me to trust you with their opinions…but I know that they’re there, oh yes…I know what they think: you can take the girl out of the Council Estate but you can’t take the Council Estate out of the girl…
(vehement)
Well they’re wrong!
(gentler)
There’s nothing left of all that now…I’ve exorcised it all… well, nearly all and what little remains to sign the way back can be easily erased…or altered…after all it was Orwell who said “He who controls the past controls the future” and he knew a thing or two about poverty followed by success himself so who am I to argue?
A beat.
JOCELYN
You really didn’t know?
EDWARD
Know…what…exactly?
JOCELYN
...where I hail from of course…how I used to live, to coin a phrase…and how I changed it all to this.
JOCELYN spreads her arms around her.
EDWARD
No I didn’t.
JOCELYN
(smiles)
Good. I’m glad. Because all of this…
JOCELYN waves her hand around airily to take in their surroundings almost spilling Champagne from her glass as she does so.
JOCELYN
...all of this you see around you is affectation: affectation so as not to disappoint. It’s not real, any of it. Not that it matters whether it is or not. People believe what they want to believe regardless…I just don’t disavow them of their own petty mind-sets most of the time. Is that so wrong of me?
A beat.
JOCELYN
I mean it isn’t really deception. No one accuses an actor of deceit every time she adopts a different accent, do they? It’s just part of the job. And that’s the way it is with me: just part of the job. I walk into the Board Room and the men are lined up before me like the vegetables in that “Spitting Image” sketch expecting me to tell them how it is. And to tell them in a voice that commands authority…a strong voice:
(affected)
A cultured voice.
JOCELYN puts down her champagne glass on the table beside the chaise-lounge.
JOCELYN
(effortlessly sliding into an East London accent)
Not some kind of match-girl, street whore slang merchant who’s only idea of grammar is the woman who gave birth to her mother. I mean Jesus Christ, what the bleeding hell would they make of a voice like this, eh? Would they respect it? Would they sit up and take notice of it? Would they sign multi-million pound contracts on the strength of it? Would they? Would they fuck! They’d pack me off to make the tea and that’d be that, for sure: with a pinch of me arse and the hope of a shag at some after-work drinks “do” lingering in the air like their cheap sprayed body mist. Stuffed like a kipper as my old mum used to say and she knew a thing or two about the price of fish, I can tell you.
EDWARD looks stunned. Silence. JOCELYN unexpectedly grabs hold of his hands and begins to sing in the same accent.
JOCELYN
(raucous)
Oom pah pah, oom pah pah, that’s how it goes…
JOCELYN starts to half-lead, half-drag a surprised and awkward looking EDWARD polka-like around the room.
JOCELYN
Oom pah pah, oom pah pah, everyone knows: she is no longer the same blushing rose ever since oom pah pah!
JOCELYN stops dead and EDWARD staggers slightly.
JOCELYN
(raucous)
Oom pah pah, oom pah pah, that’s how it goes…
Once again, JOCELYN half-leads and half-drags EDWARD in the dance.
JOCELYN
Oom pah pah, oom pah pah, everyone knows: and they all suppose what they want to suppose…When they hear oom pah pah!
JOCELYN releases EDWARD and allows herself to fall upon the chaise-lounge, laughing coarsely as EDWARD just about maintains his balance. JOCELYN’S laughter subsides as her breathing slows. A beat. She sighs.
JOCELYN
(her former accent)
It’s fucking awful really when you think about it.
JOCELYN picks up her champagne glass and takes a sip as though nothing untoward has occurred.
JOCELYN
Awful that the sounds one makes can have such an affect on one’s position…but there it is. If you’re not going to play the game then kindly leave the field the saying goes and who am I to disagree?
A beat.
JOCELYN
(almost to herself)
Only I do sometimes wonder. When I’m alone with myself. Late at night. I do sometimes wonder whether one day the things I’ve done in my life will come back to haunt me. What goes around comes around, you know? Kismet. Or is it Karma? Not that I believe in either whichever one it is. But I can’t help but wonder. I mean…one does, doesn’t one? Wonder I mean…when one’s alone…in the dark.
EDWARD tries not to sound too interested.
EDWARD
Do you want to talk about them?
JOCELYN
(frowning)
Sorry, darling?
EDWARD
Only you know if you wanted to…talk about things I mean: then you could…talk…to me…I wouldn’t tell a soul, you know that, don’t you?
JOCELYN narrows her eyes for a beat as she looks at EDWARD’S earnest expression. She smiles.
JOCELYN
Of course I do, darling, but I’d hate to discolour those beautifully rose-tinted glasses of yours with anything quite so sullied as the murkier depths of my past…especially on a night like tonight.
EDWARD
It’s okay, honestly…
JOCELYN
That’s terribly sweet of you, but no: tonight is a night meant for laughter and light…we’ll brook no darkness here and besides…
JOCELYN gets up and sweeps towards the table.
JOCELYN
...whilst there’s still Champagne to be drunk…
EDWARD
(heartfelt)
Oh God…I don’t know if I can face any more just now.
JOCELYN
(amused)
But of course you can, darling…
(pointed)
...let’s not be unadventurous this early in the evening.
EDWARD
(sighs)
Okay, you’re the Boss, but I have to use your bathroom first if that’s okay?
JOCELYN pours two more glasses.
JOCELYN
Go right ahead: down the hallway, last door on the left: you can’t miss it.
EDWARD exits. JOCELYN waits for a beat and then moves swiftly to the desk. She opens a drawer and withdraws a small, brown glass bottle. She moves back to the table, unscrews the bottle and pours some of the contents into one of the glasses of Champagne. She returns the bottle to the desk drawer, moves back to the table, picks up the tainted glass and swirls the Champagne within it. She holds the glass up to the light and then sniffs the contents. She nods to herself, satisfied and crosses to the photograph frame on the television cabinet. She picks up the photograph and looks at it.
JOCELYN
(thoughtful)
He noticed the eyes…that was interesting. He was right, of course, there was something there…is something there. I wonder if he guessed…or perhaps he was just making conversation… being polite. I suppose I should have asked. He seemed quite certain but…
JOCELYN puts the photo frame down and turns away, pulling the party hat from her head and dropping it onto the floor.
JOCELYN
...well: the moment has passed now and perhaps I’ll never know. How unlike me not to have picked up on his intuition and pushed it further: not at least to have asked. Perhaps knowing would have spoiled that moment. Knowing he had simply guessed…yes, that would have spoiled that moment for certain whereas if something he saw in me somehow struck a chord within him and somehow he just knew what it was that made my eyes…how did he put it…glow?
(smiles)
Yes…glow. I like that. Men sweat, women perspire: mothers glow.
EDWARD (O.S.)
(calling out)
This is an amazing apartment, Jocelyn.
JOCELYN starts and puts down the photograph.
JOCELYN
(airy)
Oh, do you think so?
EDWARD re-enters, an expression of wonder on his face.
EDWARD
Are you kidding? It’s like a palace!
JOCELYN hands EDWARD the glass of Champagne.
JOCELYN
(amused)
A palace? Well, I’m not so sure about that but I like it.
JOCELYN picks up her glass and turns to EDWARD.
JOCELYN
(smiles)
To light and laughter.
EDWARD raises his glass.
EDWARD
(smiles)
Light and laughter.
EDWARD and JOCELYN raise their glasses to their lips but only EDWARD drinks straight away: JOCELYN watches him for a beat and only then does she take a sip. EDWARD lowers his glass and looks expectantly at JOCELYN.
EDWARD
So…what happens next then?
JOCELYN says nothing as “Justify my Love” by Madonna fades up and the lights fade down:
BLACKOUT
(And before anyone asks: no, I haven’t okayed the rights from the Lionel Bart estate for “Oom Pah Pah!” from Oliver! yet but I have high hopes it’ll happen, should this go to the next stage)
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GothicRayne reviewed Version 1 -
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This was a good peice. Your characters are real and don’t seem like some fake product suddenly thought up by someone who dosen’t have an idea what they are doing. Good Job. I really enjoyed reading this, and I would love to see your peices published, I believe they would be great
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Huntress080 reviewed Version 1 -
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First of all let me say I love the fact that this isn’t a musical. It seems to me like most plays these days are. Anyways I really enjoyed your play and thought that it was really good and I will enjoy reading future scenes of this play. I will enjoy seeing it on Broadway one day.
garnbev reviewed Version 1 -
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This is a wonderful stage play. You have a powerful way of expressing yourself. It was very creative. Excellent use of dialogue and description. Your descriptions are vivid. It is full of great wording and very good imagery. Good presentation and good flow. I’ve nothing to critique. Nothing to change. Thanks for sharing this.
wrtr4evr reviewed Version 1 -
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very very nice. never ever read anything like it! its very neat and i would tell anyone i know to read it. i would defenietly try to contact a publisher. there is nothing i would change and the stucture is prefect as is grammar. this is very interesting! keep it up, ur writing style is very good, and good luck! this really sucks u in!
andycam9718 reviewed Version 1 -
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Hi there. This wouldn’t normally be my type of thing but i actually enjoyed this. You have good strong charactors and a good storyline. I like your dialogue and good descriptions. I think you definately have a natural talent for this type of writing. I will definately read more of your work. Keep up the good work.
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