Bush Otherland

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-78850-870-4
Verlag: Nick Hern Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 120 Seiten

Reihe: NHB Modern Plays

'Jo and Harry are changing. Harry is changing more than most, undeniably. And change is beautiful. Necessary. Terrifying.' Break-ups aren't just about who gets the CD collection. As Jo and Harry begin to untangle themselves from each other, new worlds start to open up - worlds filled with new partners, new identities, new possibilities... What kind of women do they want to be, and do they have the courage, or the permission, to get there? Chris Bush's play Otherland is a bold and beautiful exploration of what it means to be true to yourself in the face of unstoppable change. It premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 2025, directed by Ann Yee. Otherland was a finalist for the 2025 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. 'A writer of great wit and empathy'The Times 'One of our most prolific and arresting writers'Evening Standard

Chris Bush is a playwright, lyricist and theatre-maker. Her plays include: Otherland (Almeida Theatre, London, 2025); Robin Hood and the Christmas Heist written with Matt Winkworth (Rose Theatre, Kingston, 2024); an adaptation of Ibsen's A Doll's House (Sheffield Theatres, 2024); Rock/Paper/Scissors (Sheffield Theatres, 2022); an adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme, 2022); (Not) the End of the World (Schaubühne, Berlin, 2021); Hungry (Paines Plough, 2021); Nine Lessons and Carols (Almeida Theatre, London, 2020); Faustus: That Damned Woman (Headlong, Lyric Hammersmith & Birmingham Rep, 2020); The Last Noël (Old Fire Station, Oxford, 2019); Standing at the Sky's Edge, a musical with music and lyrics by Richard Hawley (Sheffield Theatres, 2019, revived 2022 and at the National Theatre in 2023, West End 2024); The Changing Room (National Theatre Connections, 2018); Steel (Sheffield Theatres, 2018); an adaptation of Pericles (National Theatre, London, 2018); The Assassination of Katie Hopkins, written with Matt Winkworth (Theatr Clwyd, 2018); What We Wished For and A Dream.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bush, Chris

Leseproben

ACT ONE

1.

HARRY JO JO CHORUS

CHORUS 2. This is Jo

CHORUS 1. And this is Harry

CHORUS 3. And they are in love.

CHORUS 4. They are beautiful.

CHORUS 3. They are unbearable.

CHORUS 1. They are the best of us. Hashtag-couples-goals.

CHORUS 2. Their love is a blinding, brilliant, beautiful thing.

CHORUS 4. And it is a privilege to witness.

HARRY JO

CHORUS.

YOU ARE MY ANCHOR

WEIGH ME DOWN

YOU ARE MY ANCHOR

WEIGH ME DOWN

DON’T LET ME DRIFT AWAY

DRIFT AWAY, DRIFT AWAY

HOLD ME TIGHT

HOLD ME TOO TIGHTLY

GUESTS

2.

JO HARRY JO

JO. I think that’s everything from the kitchen.

HARRY. Right.

JO. We have so much shit. When did that happen?

HARRY. It just happens, doesn’t it? You accumulate shit.

JO. accumulate. You hoard. () This is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

HARRY. Be nice. My sister gave us that.

JO. Really? ( HARRY ) What a stone-cold bitch.

HARRY

What happened to the big red one? Wasn’t there like a big red one – big, rectangular, for… like for lasagne and things?

HARRY. I’ve not seen anything like that.

JO. Yeah, but have you just done man-looking? () Sorry.

HARRY. That’s –

JO. I’m sorry.

HARRY. It’s okay. Um. I’ll, uh, if anything like that turns up –

JO () Don’t worry about it.

HARRY. Any stuff you want –

JO. I don’t. () I really don’t. Stuff is… oppressive. I don’t even think I want internet in my new place.

HARRY. What?

JO. I mean it – I just want my CDs, that’s all. () Have you gone through yours yet? We could do it now? We don’t have to, but I would like to get it done, and I don’t want to take stuff that’s yours – anything you think is yours –

HARRY. Yeah.

JO. And I know you say you don’t mind, you say ‘take anything’ now, but –

HARRY. Yeah, we can look at CDs. Sure.

JO. I’m not enjoying this either.

HARRY. I know.

JO. I’m not trying to upset you.

HARRY. I know.

JO. I love you. () Harry? I do. I still –

HARRY. Then what are we doing here? Because if that’s true –

JO. Don’t –

HARRY. No one’s making us do this.

JO. We can finish up another time. You can go through CDs by yourself, when you’re less upset.

HARRY. Just –

JO. But you do have to do it. You have to accept that this is happening. You have to respect me when I –

HARRY. What if we just pressed pause? What if we… we… took the pressure off, put everything in storage, bought some breathing space to –

JO. Harry –

HARRY. To… to re-evaluate, re-acclimatise –

JO. That isn’t –

HARRY. We could go away somewhere.

JO. What?

HARRY. I could stop. () What if I stopped? Not, not forever, but –

JO. Don’t do this.

HARRY. If I pressed pause?

JO. Stop it.

HARRY. Ask me to stop and I’ll stop.

JO. It isn’t fair to me when you do this.

HARRY. Because we… we… we have to try, don’t we? Jo? You owe me that.

JO. I should go. This was a bad idea. I was hoping we could be adults and friends and not one of those couples – those couples who… But you know what, forget it, just keep them all. It’s only stuff.

HARRY. Wait.

JO

Wait, just –

JO

JO. Fuck it. No, I won’t just… These are mine. () Annie Lennox – mine, David Bowie – mine, TLC – mine. These are the only things I’ve asked for. And you won’t even play them! They’ll just sit here gathering dust, and… you don’t get everything. You don’t get to keep everything as some compensation for… Don’t. Don’t just… This is what you do – you stand there like some wounded animal and you put everything on me, so I’m the one who has to… I’m the monster, I’m the bad guy, and you just , and what it means is you end up with everything you wanted. Fuck it. Say something.

HARRY () Do you think this is everything I wanted?

JO. I’m sorry, I am, but I can’t keep going over… I can’t do this. I can’t. () I, uh, I’ve left a bag on the dresser too. Some jewellery and make-up and other bits and pieces, stuff I never use. You can chuck it, donate it, do whatever, but it’s going to be expensive, starting everything over.

HARRY. Yeah.

JO. I’m sorry.

HARRY. You have to have the internet.

JO. Why?

HARRY. Because you have to! How else are you going to do anything?

JO. I don’t know – with my hands, maybe? With my fucking hands. To feel something again. () Do you know where you’re moving to yet? () You should start looking. I want you to find somewhere nice.

3.

JO HARRY CHORUS

CHORUS 2. This is Jo

CHORUS 1. And this is Harry

CHORUS 3. And they were in love once. We know – we were there.

CHORUS 4. They were happy and they were beautiful.

CHORUS 3. Met at university, married five years later, never one of the couples we had to worry about.

CHORUS 1. But a lot has happened since then. A lot of ground to cover between swearing vows and divvying up the Le Creuset.

CHORUS 4. We’re still trying to make sense of it.

CHORUS 2. So lately they’ve both been getting a lot of –

CHORUS (EVE RUTH LEIGH) JO HARRY

EVE. Fuck.

RUTH. Okay.

LEIGH. Wow. Really?

RUTH. Right. Great.

EVE. Fuck. I’m sorry, but fuck.

CHORUS 2. Because Jo and Harry are changing.

And we respect that.

Change is important too.

LEIGH. I don’t get it. Honestly, I just don’t get it.

RUTH. Sorry. I don’t know what to say.

EVE. I don’t know what I’m allowed to ask but –

HARRY. Oh. Anything, within reason.

HARRY JO

EVE. So how do you know?

LEIGH. When did you know?

RUTH. When did you tell her?

EVE. What did you tell her?

RUTH. Does e know?

LEIGH. What did he say?

EVE. And what happens now?

CHORUS 2. Which is maybe the wrong question –

A vast, unanswerable question.

Jo and Harry are changing.

Harry is changing more than most, undeniably,

And change is beautiful. Necessary. Terrifying.

No way of knowing where it’ll leave them.

JO. It isn’t just about that.

RUTH. No. Of course.

HARRY. She says it isn’t about that.

EVE. Uh-huh.

JO. But it’s still a lot to –

LEIGH. Yeah. Obviously, yeah.

CHORUS 3. Jo and Harry are changing.

And if we’re being honest – one hundred per cent honest

We’re a little bit annoyed that we’re only finding out about this now.

Because Harry’s been carrying her secret for a lifetime

Told Jo over a decade ago,

The first time she’d told anyone

Finally shared her deepest, darkest sordid shame –

HARRY. It isn’t really –

CHORUS 2. Because Jo was special, that’s the point.

Jo special, the kind of person you’d risk everything for,

And so a full ten years before we got...