Asking for It (NHB Modern Plays)

Louise O'Neill, Meadhbh McHugh, Annabelle Comyn

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781788501286
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

One night in a small town in County Cork, where everyone knows everyone, things spiral terrifyingly out of control. What will happen now to Emma? To her family? To the others?

This stage adaptation of Louise O'Neill's devastating novel, Asking for It, shines an unflinching light on the experience of a young woman whose life is changed for ever by a horrific act of violence.

Adapted by Meadhbh McHugh, in collaboration with its director Annabelle Comyn, the play premiered at the Everyman, Cork, in June 2018, before transferring to the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It was produced by Landmark Productions and the Everyman, in association with the Abbey Theatre.

'A genuinely heartbreaking, sickening and truthful examination of society's penchant for victim-blaming, its treatment of women and the concept of rape culture' - Guardian on Louise O'Neill's novel

'With a script by Meadhbh McHugh that is sharp and also very funny, Asking for It not only stays faithful to the novel, it goes further, raising it up to heaven and down to hell, too. It is worth the hype' - Irish Independent

'Powerful, provocative, hard-hitting, shocking… a sharply observed and at times wincingly true-to-life portrayal of a family and its disintegration… funny, infuriating and unbearably sad' - Irish Examiner

ACT ONE

LAST YEAR

Scene One

One year previous.

MAM is standing in EMMA’s bedroom. She has a dress on, which is perhaps unzipped at the top.

MAM. Verdict?

EMMA. On what?

MAM. This dress.

EMMA. First thing in the morning?

MAM. I have to return it today if I’m not keeping it.

What do you think?

Beat.

EMMA. I’m busy.

MAM. You know I value your opinion.

EMMA. You walked straight in.

MAM. I knocked and waited for a response.

You didn’t respond.

EMMA (looks up quickly and looks back down). It’s grand.

MAM. Grand?

EMMA. It’s nice.

MAM. I’d like to look more than nice for our anniversary.

EMMA. What do you want me to say? It’s stunning.

MAM. Alright. I thought you liked it in the shop.

EMMA. It’s a bit short.

MAM. Is it?

EMMA. A bit, yeah.

MAM. I didn’t think so.

EMMA. Why did you ask me if it you don’t care what I actually think?

MAM. No, I just didn’t think it was that short.

I’ll see what Dad says.

EMMA. Right.

Beat.

MAM. Why so serious, love?

You know what they say

If the wind changes.

EMMA. I’m trying to understand Irish grammar.

I don’t know how to do that without contorting my face.

MAM. Don’t want to look old before your time.

EMMA. Blame our national language.

Beat.

We have a test today.

MAM. Does O’Leary know you’re my daughter?

EMMA. He’s not going to give me an A because he once fancied you.

MAM. We’ll see.

EMMA goes back to her work. Maybe picks up her phone and puts it back down with some frustration.

I’ve barely seen you the last few weeks.

EMMA. You see me every day.

MAM. You know what I mean.

EMMA. I don’t.

MAM. Okay, maybe I’ll return it.

EMMA. No, keep it.

With frustration looks at phone.

My phone keeps glitching.

It dies now even when it’s charged.

MAM (they’ve had this conversation before). Emma.

EMMA. Even Zoe Murphy has the new iPhone.

MAM. That’s great for Zoe Murphy.

EMMA. And they’re still bankrupt.

MAM. I don’t compare our family to other families.

EMMA. Yes you do. You do that constantly.

MAM. I told you if Dad’s upgrade comes through –

EMMA. I don’t want Dad’s old Samsung.

MAM. Then you’ll have to wait until you’re earning your own money.

EMMA. Fine. Then please let me study.

MAM. I will let you study.

EMMA. Okay.

I thought you were going down to ask Dad.

MAM. You’ll stress yourself out, Emma. There’s more to life than…

EMMA. School?

MAM. Is there something the matter with you lately?

EMMA (to audience). She will go downstairs and tell Dad, tell him I’ve been disrespectful and rude. He’ll sigh and tell me that he is disappointed in me. He won’t listen to me, no matter what I tell him, no matter how hard I explain. There are no sides, he’ll say. Please treat your mother with more respect. That’s not true. There are many sides and it is never mine.

MAM. Emma?

EMMA. No. Sorry.

MAM. Have you had a fallout with someone?

Pause. EMMA shakes her head.

EMMA. People don’t fall out with me.

An ndeir tú? Deirim/Ní deirim.

An ndúirt tú? Dúirt/Ní dúirt.

MAM. When you’re finished that, come downstairs to join Dad and me for breakfast; he likes to see you before he leaves.

EMMA. An ndéarfaidh tú? Déarfaidh/Ní déarfaidh.

MAM. Smile, love.

You look beautiful this morning, Emma.

MAM leaves.

A moment.

EMMA then puts on her school uniform and gets ready to go to school. The world starts to appear.

ZOE. ‘They say if you put a frog in water and you slowly raise the temperature, gradually, over time, the frog doesn’t register the changes, and it dies. You put it in water and you suddenly raise the temperature, it bolts and it might survive.

Change, of any kind, is very stressful. Change can be incremental or it can be sudden. Sudden change is a shock to the system, and we have to adapt. Incremental change happens all around us, and sometimes we don’t even notice it. That’s what’s happening with the earth’s temperature now. The planet is heating up, and most of us aren’t registering it. The changes, if they come as scientists predict they will, will be disastrous if we don’t stop to look around us, see what’s happening and make plans to make the world safer and better for everyone.

But we don’t like to face this idea, because it will mean changing our behaviour, so we bury our heads in the sand....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Original Production
• Characters
• Note on Text
• Prologue
• Asking for It
• About the Author
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information