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Mosquitoes (NHB Modern Plays)
Lucy Kirkwood
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eBook - ePub
Mosquitoes (NHB Modern Plays)
Lucy Kirkwood
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About This Book
Lucy Kirkwood's new play is about families and particle physics. It premieres at the National Theatre, London, in July 2017.
Alice is a scientist. She lives in Geneva. As the Large Hadron particle collider starts up in 2008, she is on the brink of the most exciting work of her life, searching for the Higgs Boson.
Jenny is her sister. She lives in Luton. She spends a lot of time Googling.
When tragedy throws them together, the collision threatens them all with chaos.
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LetteraturaSubtopic
Teatro britannicoACT ONE
IN THE BEGINNING
Summer 2006. A house in Luton, England, beneath a flight path. JENNY, heavily pregnant. She walks, always in motion. ALICE sits. She is forty-one and JENNY is thirty-nine.
JENNY. Just itâs like waves.
ALICE. And but which part in particular is worrying you?
JENNY. Itâs the part which, I think itâs mainly the part where it comes out.
ALICE. This is very natural Jenny.
JENNY. Mike says millions of women do it every day. He says âlook at the animal kingdomâ.
JENNY sits down.
ALICE. Donât worry about Mike. Heâs just feeling powerless and redundant.
JENNY. I want a cigarette.
ALICE. well okay but thatâs not / going to
JENNY. Mum smoked twenty a day when she was pregnant.
ALICE. Both of us?
JENNY. No just me Alice thatâs why Iâm Forrest Gump and youâre the Wizard of fucking Oz.
ALICE. Thatâs not / what I was
JENNY. Twenty a day. Marlboro, not light. Red. And weâre alright.
A wave of panic engulfs her. She takes a breath, closes her eyes, trying to control it.
ALICE. What?
JENNY. No, itâs just. It doesnât kick. I donât feel it, kicking, I think it might be in the wrong position. I think the cord might be round its neck.
ALICE. Okay. Okay. But youâve had the ultrasound?
Pause. JENNY makes a non-committal sound.
Jenny, youâve / had
JENNY. Yeah, itâs not, itâs not something we felt comfortable doing.
,
ALICE. But. Okay but so because itâs completely safe.
JENNY. Um, no, not, actually, not completely
ALICE. In what way?
Pause.
Jenny in / what
JENNY. No because youâre going to shout at me.
ALICE. I wonât shout at you, when / have I ever
JENNY. Theyâve done animal studies.
,
ALICE. Which animals?
JENNY. Mammals.
Pause.
ALICE. Which mammals?
JENNY. Rats.
ALICE. Rats. Okay. And what did they find in / these
JENNY. Oh you know, just brain injuries. Dyslexia
JENNY finds a printout of an internet article.
ALICE. How can a rat be dyslexic?
JENNY. epilepsy (donât do that) mental retardation, an increased incidence in left-handedness in boys
ALICE. Luke is left-handed.
JENNY. well there you go, listen to this:
ALICE. Jenny, weâve talked about this.
JENNY. No, I know
ALICE. Googling is
JENNY. Bad, / I know, but just
ALICE. What did we, just because you can access the information doesnât mean youâre equipped to understand it.
JENNY. okay, okay but â (Reading.) âa World Health Organisation report warned that ultrasound can cause reduced fetal weight, neurological changesâ, this is from a journal by the / way, like a proper
ALICE. Millions of women do it, every single day and
JENNY. So? Millions of women drink diet coke.
ALICE. Whatâs wrong with / diet coke?
JENNY. âIn 2001 an ultrasound transducer placed in a womanâs uterus recorded sound as loud as a train coming into a station.â
As loud as a train.
ALICE. Itâs safe.
JENNY. As loud as a fucking train.
ALICE. In America, you can get it done in a shopping centre.
JENNY. Yeah well in America you can buy a gun in a shopping centre canât you, just cos something happens in America / doesnât mean
ALICE. (oh my God) itâs safe, itâs safe, itâs less dangerous than a hot bath.
JENNY. Yes, well Iâd like to believe that Alice / but
ALICE. It doesnât matter whether you believe it, itâs a fact.
JENNY. Says who?
ALICE. The doctor, and heâs an expert, / so
JENNY. She.
ALICE. Sheâs an expert / so
JENNY. Yeah well I think actually what I feel, as a mother, might be stronger than a a a a just a⌠fact donât you?
ALICE. No.
,
JENNY. Okay well thereâs not like a single version of
ALICE. Yes there is. There is, absolutely / there is
JENNY. Well thatâs a very Western way / of
ALICE. A what?
JENNY. Iâm just / saying.
ALICE. Western?
JENNY. Iâm just saying!
ALICE. You live in Luton.
JENNY. Donât, shouting at me, it doesnât kick. It doesnât move. I think it might be dead.
,
ALICE. I promise you. I promise you, there is nothing to worry about.
JENNY. yeah well thereâs a higher rate of Downâs
ALICE. From an ultrasound?
JENNY. No, in IVF babies
ALICE. Statistically?
JENNY. statistically, yes, statistically in IVF babies there is a higher rate of Downâs and and and and death.
,
statistically, yes, and all Iâm saying is Iâm allowed, actually, I am allowed to make my own decisions about whatâs best for my, without being made to feel like Iâm constantly failing some fucking cosmic exam, like I might actually be a capable, grown-up woman you know? Who can be trusted to, not just some sack of skin with a pair of tits for people to to examine and and inject and monitor and and stick their fucking fingers in because actually at the end of the day whoâs in charge? Whoâs in charge?
,
fucking, statistically, whoâs in charge, / Alice?
ALICE. You are.
JENNY. Thank you. Not them. Not you. Me. Thatâs all Iâm. Thank you.
JENNY looks at ALICE, wretched.
Didnât you ever feel like this?
ALICE. Iâm sorry, I wish I could⌠but actually I felt. Sort of amazing. Like, tuned in to some weird frequency, because I understood for the first time. This is what my body is for, and it was like. Wow! / And
JENNY. Yeah and your boobs got really big, and then one day you sneezed and out popped Luke, and he trotted off the bed and cut his own umbilical cord. I bet you didnât even shit yourself / did you?
ALICE. Stop it. You know thatâs not
JENNY. Thatâs not?
ALICE. no, you know thatâs not
JENNY. Tell me then.
ALICE. I already told you.
JENNY. So tell me again.
Pause.
The contractions started, go on. Please. Please Alice.
Pause.
Please
ALICE. The contractions started at about 10 p.m.
JENNY. But which this worried you because it was too early.
ALICE. Yes it was much too early. I hadnât even packed my case so I instead I put some things
JENNY. Knickers, nightie, inhaler.
ALICE. I shoved them in a plastic bag and I called the ambulance.
JENNY. You get to the hospital...