Sunday, November 06, 2005
A Pinter's Tale
Act One:
BILLY, a gruff North Londoner, enters a dusty church hall. Chairs are stacked up and sheets cover mysterious shapes that we must assume to be tables. Billy walks across to the large curtains at the side and opens them to allow in the cold, blue sunlight of a November day. He sets about moving stacks of chairs.
The door at the back of the hall opens and a slight, middle-class fifteen year old, JAMES, enters the hall. Billy stops his work and looks to the young man.
Billy:
Yes?
James:
Oh, I...
Billy:
Yes?
James:
The games field.
Billy:
The games field?
James:
Yes. Rugby, sir.
Pause. Billy inspects the boy.
Billy:
Not here.
James:
But where?
Billy:
Back down the corridor. Turn left. Out of the double doors...
Pause. James looks to Billy to finish.
Billy:
...games field.
James has the information he wants. He puffs up his chest and stares Billy in the eye.
James:
You mean "games field, SIR".
Billy is crushed. He stares down at his feet. James exits with a swagger. Lights down. The sound of a thousand innocent dead.
"A seering indictment of millitary incursion in the middle-east." Ross and Ronay - The News of the World
"Tommy Steele is marvelous" - Baz Bamigboye - The Daily Mail
"I laughed and laughed and laughed" - Sheridon Morley
"Goodballoon's dialogue sparkles. His plot: swift and sure-footed. I just wish he'd finished it." Lorraine Kelly - LK Today
"If there was a Nobel prize for being a top chap, Goodballoon would be number one on my list." - Russ Abbot
BILLY, a gruff North Londoner, enters a dusty church hall. Chairs are stacked up and sheets cover mysterious shapes that we must assume to be tables. Billy walks across to the large curtains at the side and opens them to allow in the cold, blue sunlight of a November day. He sets about moving stacks of chairs.
The door at the back of the hall opens and a slight, middle-class fifteen year old, JAMES, enters the hall. Billy stops his work and looks to the young man.
Billy:
Yes?
James:
Oh, I...
Billy:
Yes?
James:
The games field.
Billy:
The games field?
James:
Yes. Rugby, sir.
Pause. Billy inspects the boy.
Billy:
Not here.
James:
But where?
Billy:
Back down the corridor. Turn left. Out of the double doors...
Pause. James looks to Billy to finish.
Billy:
...games field.
James has the information he wants. He puffs up his chest and stares Billy in the eye.
James:
You mean "games field, SIR".
Billy is crushed. He stares down at his feet. James exits with a swagger. Lights down. The sound of a thousand innocent dead.
"A seering indictment of millitary incursion in the middle-east." Ross and Ronay - The News of the World
"Tommy Steele is marvelous" - Baz Bamigboye - The Daily Mail
"I laughed and laughed and laughed" - Sheridon Morley
"Goodballoon's dialogue sparkles. His plot: swift and sure-footed. I just wish he'd finished it." Lorraine Kelly - LK Today
"If there was a Nobel prize for being a top chap, Goodballoon would be number one on my list." - Russ Abbot
