Pornography

Simon Stephens

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781408179864
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Pornography looks at the events of the first week of July 2005 (the G8 summit, Live 8, the announcement of the 2012 Olympics and the 7/7 bombings) through the perspectives of eight anonymous individuals, including a terrorist. The play can be performed by any number of actors with the scenes presented in any order. This flexibility means that it is ideal for student groups: containing four monologues, two duologues and fifty-two self-contained anecdotal speeches. This Student Edition offers a study of the meaning, context and performance choices available in this subtle and political play. The in-depth commentary explores the play's themes, its kaleidoscopic structure and the play's production history, looking at both the German and UK premieres. The editor, Jacqueline Bolton, incorporates previously unpublished interviews with Simon Stephens and the directors and dramaturgs associated with the early productions. The commentary reveals the play's performance possibilities, as well as discussing its accomplished form, innovative structure and compassionate impetus. It also includes a chronology of the playwright's life and work, an introduction giving the background to the play, commentary on themes, characters, language and style, notes on individual words and phrases in the text, questions for further study and bibliography and further reading.

Pornography

Pornography was originally translated into German by Barbara Christ and was first presented in a co-production between the Deutschen Schauspielhauses, Hamburg, and the Festival Theaterformen and the Schauspielhannover in Hanover. It received its world premiere in Hanover on 15 June 2007 and transferred to Hamburg on 5 October 2007. The cast was as follows:

Sonja Beisswenger

Christoph Franken

Peter Knaack

Angela Muethel

Jana Schulz

Monique Schwitter

Daniel Wahl

Samuel Weiss

Director Sebastian Nübling

Designer Muriel Gerstner

Lighting Roland Edrich

Music Lars Wittershagen

Costume designer Marion Münch

Dramaturgs Nicola Bramkamp, Regina Guhl, David Tushingham

This play can be performed by any number of actors. It can be performed in any order.

I am going to keep this short and to the point, because it’s all been said before by far more eloquent people than me.

But our words have no impact upon you, therefore I’m going to talk to you in a language that you understand. Our words are dead until we give them life with our blood.

Images of hell.

They are silent.

What you need to do is stand well clear of the yellow line.

Images of hell.

They are silent.

Seven

I wake up and I think he’s drowning. I can hear the sound of him in his cot. His breath is tight and he’s gasping. I go into his room. Stand there. Every bone is as small as a finger. He’s not drowning. Of course he’s not drowning, he’s on dry land. It’s Saturday morning. He’s still asleep. I watch his chest rise and fall. It would take only the lightest of forces from an adult’s arm to crush the bones in his ribcage. I feel so much love for him that my heart fills up. I can feel it filling up. Like a balloon.

It’s six thirty.

I go back into my bedroom. I crawl under the covers. Jonathan, my husband, is lying on his side. When I get back into the bed he lays his arm across me. It’s incredibly heavy. Like it’s made out of leather.

I wait for Lenny, for my son, to wake up.

He does.

I turn the radio on downstairs. I put the kettle on. I put Lenny in his chair. He’s grumpy this morning. I make a pot of three cups of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. And slowly, methodically, I sit and drink all three cups myself.

I let Jonathan sleep.

I don’t remember any news story that was on the radio that day. Apart from everybody’s talking about, there’s a concert. A man’s talking about this concert. And exactly what it is going to achieve I must admit I find a little unclear. But he’s deeply passionate about the whole affair. And the singer’s passion, and Lenny’s grumpiness, the little tiny whining noises that he makes, and the taste of the coffee and the feeling of wood on my table means that I find, to my surprise, that there are tears pouring down my face and falling onto the newspaper which the boy, some boy, a boy I think, at least I think it’s a boy, delivered, must have delivered at some point this morning.

I go shopping in the afternoon and in my head I’m already getting prepared for work next week.

I push Lenny in his pushchair. He’s got one of those three- wheeled pushchairs. It has fabulous suspension. It makes it ideal for city street life. I buy myself a pair of sandals which are pink and they have this golden strap with a little pink flower on. I think in the shops everybody’s got the concert on. It’s that man I like. He’s singing the song about looking at the stars. Look at the stars. See how they shine for you. Maybe today is the most important day that there’s ever been. And this is the biggest success of human organisation that we’ve ever known. And everybody should be given a knighthood of some description. There should be some kind of knighthood which is given out to all of the people there. To the people who sell the ice creams even. They should get an ice-cream seller’s knighthood. For the important selling of ice cream at a time of organisational urgency. I’d like to watch the Queen knight the boys selling ice cream in Hyde Park today. She wouldn’t even need to walk far from her house. She could go on a bike. It would take her five minutes. This is a day of that level of importance.

I’m pushing him so much that he falls to sleep in the end. You bump up and down. I want to walk home. I could duck south of Euston Road. I could head through Bloomsbury. Today is a day for heading through Bloomsbury with a new pair of summer sandals, ideal for the beach, on a Saturday.

I don’t.

I start off.

And then I get the bus from Holborn.

And I get home and Jonathan’s not there. He should be there. He should be at home. I don’t have the slightest idea where he is. I try not to think about it. The house is quieter without him.

Where were you? Where were you? Which shops? What were you doing? What were you doing there? What were you buying? What are you going to paint? I want to know what you need paint for. I want to know what you want to paint. I want to know where you’ve been. Do you like my sandals? I bought some sandals, do you like them? I bought them for the beach. For the summer.

Sunday’s Jonathan’s day with Lenny. He takes him to buy newspapers. I sleep in. But Lenny starts crying when Jonathan’s putting his shoes on. He’s putting his shoes on wrong. His socks are bunched up over his feet. He’s put his little socks on and not pulled them up properly and they’re all bunched up so the shoes are uncomfortable and he starts to cry. I say to myself I am not getting up out of bed to help him. I am not getting up out of bed to help him. I am not getting up out of bed to help him.

They leave. I have no idea what I’m going to do today. I sit still for up to half an hour at a time.

I don’t know where he takes him. He’s windswept when he comes back. Windswept and scruffy and Lenny’s crabby but happy. When Jonathan’s hair is like that. When his hair is all over the place and there’s a sense that he’s been outside because his cheeks are all pink. I look at him and there’s something about him which is enough to make me smile.

We eat our tea in front of the television when Lenny’s in bed. I want Jonathan to touch me. If he were to reach out and touch me. Just rest his hand on my neck and stroke the back of my hair. If he were to do that now. Right now. Right this second.

I drop Lenny off at Julia’s and he squeaks with happiness.

The tube is full of people and nearly all of them nowadays have iPods. I can’t remember when that happened.

I head into work.

The Triford report is nearly finished. It’s nearly ready. When it’s ready. If we get it right. If David gets it right then the implications for the company are, well, they are immense. We actually did have to sign a contract that forbade us to speak even to our spouses about what was going on. It’s a legally binding contract. There are rumours that Catigar Jones are working in a similar area. But David thinks they’re months behind our work. Their R&D is flawed. R&D is the key to these things. David doesn’t smile at me. He doesn’t wish me good morning. He doesn’t ask about Lenny. Or about my weekend. He asks me if I’m feeling ready. This is a big week.

I take my lunch break in Russell Square. All I ever seem to eat any more is duck hoisin wraps. I ring Julia. Lenny’s fine. Everything’s fine.

Jonathan doesn’t ring.

At the end of the afternoon, there’s a man in the square who’s taken his top off and started doing press-ups. On my way back home I watch him. I watch the muscles down his spine. I watch the rivulets of sweat ...

Table of contents

• FC
• Half title
• About the Editor
• Title
• Contents
• Chronology
• Commentary
• Further Reading
• Pornography
• Notes
• Questions for Further Study
• Copyright