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- 88 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Consensual (NHB Modern Plays)
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Table of contents
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About This Book
An explosive and thought-provoking play from the author of Girls Like That, exploring what happens when buried secrets catch up with you.
As Head of Year 11, Diane is meant to be implementing the new 'Healthy Relationships' curriculum. But then Freddie arrives. She hasn't seen him since that night six years earlier when he was fifteen.
She thinks he took advantage of her. He thinks she groomed him for months. Neither is sure. But when it comes to sex and consent, how far can you blur the lines?
Evan Placey's Consensual was first performed by the National Youth Theatre in their 2015 West End season.
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Yes, you can access Consensual (NHB Modern Plays) by Evan Placey in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & British Drama. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
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PART ONE: AFTER
Prologue
The STUDENTS, in uniform, invade the stage. Theyāre chatty, noisy. One of the STUDENTS has started beatboxing and the others have joined in singing. Despite the slight chaos of the scene, thereās a unity to the singing. Even the kids who wouldnāt normally be part of the crowd singing are enjoying themselves. Thereās also chatter over the top of and during the singing. Thereās something about their energy thatās animal, thatās frightening, thatās sexy.
And then all at once, the STUDENTS simultaneously stop singing/talking as they turn to look at:
Scene One
A pub. Afternoon.
DIANE and FREDDIE sit at a table across from each other. DIANE is seven months pregnant.
DIANE sips a tea, FREDDIE a pint of beer.
FREDDIE. You been to those classes, learn how to do nappies and that?
DIANE. No.
FREDDIE. You not worried you gonna put it on backwards or something?
DIANE. Itās not my first.
FREDDIE. Oh right. How old isā¦?
DIANE. Why are we here?
FREDDIE. You chose it.
DIANE. I donāt mean the place.
FREDDIE. Bit of a shithole if you donāt mind me saying.
DIANE. Why would I mind?
FREDDIE. Just in case itās like your favourite pub or something.
DIANE. Iāve never been here before.
FREDDIE. Just thought since you
Oh, right. Right.
DIANE. What?
FREDDIE. Nothing. (Smiles.)
DIANE. Sorry your tieās gone to waste.
FREDDIE. Nah, itās my work ensemble. Barclays.
Why is that funny?
DIANE. Itās not.
FREDDIE. You donāt think Iām smart enough to work in a bank?
DIANE. I didnātā¦ Freddie, why are we here?
FREDDIE. No one calls me that. Not a kid any more. āS Frederick now.
DIANE. Frederick. Who works in a bank. In his ensemble.
FREDDIE. Are you making fun of me?
DIANE. No.
Yes. (Laughs.) Just doesnāt seem likeā¦
Itās not you.
FREDDIE. How would you know? You donāt know me any more.
DIANE. No. Youāre right.
Beat.
FREDDIE (laughs). Christ, itās so not me. (Takes his tie off.)
Sometimes catch myself in the mirror and itās like whoās the kid whoās come to work in their dadās clothes. (Unbuttons shirt.) Just something for the moment, get some experience, try to realise all that unfulfilled potential everyone was always telling me I had.
By now heās taken off his shirt and hung it with his tie over the chair and sits in a vest. DIANE, uncomfortable, focuses on his face so as to not look at his body.
Thereās kids, right, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, starting businesses in their bedrooms, and theyāre bringing in thousands, only just getting their first pubes and theyāre like CEOs. Iām only twenty-two but I got like years to catch up on those little bed-wetters. And what if Iād done that. Do that a lot. Maybe if, what if, undo all the regrets in my head and see where Iād end up. Like this ā (Stands, pulls up his vest to show a scar just below his belly button.) See that? Some stupid bar scrap when I was nineteen, donāt even remember what it was about but ended up with piece of beer glass here. Can you see how thereās no hair on that bit, like this sudden gap in the trail, and what if Iād just gone home, not ordered that extra pint?
He can see sheās uncomfortable, pulls his vest back down.
DIANE. You need to say it. You have to actually say it, Freddie. Frederick.
FREDDIE. Say what?
DIANE. You have to actually say sorry. You canāt just say thereās regrets. You have to ā
FREDDIE. Say sorry for what?
Pause.
Say sorry for what?
DIANE. Why did you text me? Why after seven years did you tell me we needed to meet? We had to meet?
Beat. She looks at her watch.
FREDDIE. You still got twenty minutes.
Lunch still ends at 1:25. I checked.
DIANE. I donāt work there any more.
FREDDIE. No?
DIANE. I left. Afterā¦ Maybe you didnāt notice. But I left.
FREDDIE. I noticed. I missed you. Me and all the other retards.
DIANE. Donāt ā
FREDDIE. We did though.
DIANE. Youāre not a
FREDDIE. I am. Well, I was. Remember seeing my photo up on the staffroom wall. āAt riskā it said above our mug shots, me and all the other retards. Though at risk of what it didnāt say.
DIANE. Itās not a very nice word.
FREDDIE. Where do you work now?
DIANE. For an environmental company. A charity. We run campaigns. Get people to think about how they can modify their behaviour, in really practical ways, to lower their carbon footprint.
FREDDIE. Oh. Right. And does it change things? One person with a thermal mug, a bag for life?
DIANE. Yes.
I donāt know.
Maybe ā itās depressing ā but maybe one person doesnāt have an impact. Maybe all they have is a tiny little imprint.
FREDDIE. But multiple imprints eventually make a dent. And people take notice.
Beat. This has hit something in her. Itās become suddenly intimate.
DIANE. I should go. I need, I need to go.
FREDDIE. To work?
DIANE. Yes. No. Yes.
I donāt work for an environmental charity.
FREDDIE. What do you mean?
DIANE. I made it up.
FREDDIE. Why would you make that up?
DIANE. I donāt know.
FREDDIE. Were you afraid I was going to show up there? Because if thatās what Iād wanted to do, if thatās the kind of person I am, I would have done that already.
DIANE. You know I didnāt go back there.
FREDDIE. Not while I was there, no. Not as a pastoral assistant, no.
You did a PGCE then went back as a geography teacher
You married Pete, wore your hair in a braid for the wedding
You honeymooned on the Amalfi Coast
You briefly dyed your hair brown
You still wear that red cardigan even though it doesnāt fit as well
Youāre head of Year 10
Three years ago you became a vegetarian
Last weekend you baked peanut-butter cookies
You do think no one cares about how weāre destroying the planet, but you donāt work for an environmental charity.
Beat. She stands to leave.
Where are you going? Itās still sixteen minutes before next lesson.
DIANE. What is this, Freddie, Frederick? Youāre s...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title page
- Contents
- Original Production
- Characters
- A Note on Punctuation
- Consensual
- About the Author
- Copyright and Performing Rights Information