Harris Tambo & Bones

1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-1-78850-681-6
Verlag: Nick Hern Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 96 Seiten

Reihe: NHB Modern Plays

Tambo and Bones are stuck in a minstrel show. It's hard to know what's real when you're stuck in a minstrel show. Their escape plan: get out, get rich, get even. A daring theatrical exploration of the intersection of race, capitalism and performance, Dave Harris's play Tambo & Bones laughs through our past, blows the roof off our present, and imagines an explosive future for our world and for theatre. Tambo & Bones was commended in the 2019 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, and was first performed in a co-production between Playwrights Horizons, New York City, and Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles, in 2022. It was first produced in the UK in 2023 by Theatre Royal Stratford East, London, and Actors Touring Company, directed by Matthew Xia. 'Blistering... sobering... lacerating stage poetry' - New York Magazine 'A racially charged metatheatrical satire and 'rags-to riches hip-hop odyssey' by slam poet turned playwright Dave Harris' - Time Out New York

Dave Harris is a poet, playwright, and screenwriter from West Philadelphia. His plays include Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group, 2022; Theatre Royal Stratford East, 2023); Exception to the Rule (Roundabout Theatre Company, 2022); Incendiary (Woolly Mammoth 2023); and Everybody Black (Humana Festival, 2019). His first feature film, Summertime, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Harris, Dave

Leseproben

PART ONE: A Fake-Ass Pasture

TAMBO

TAMBO

TAMBO

TAMBO

TAMBO

BONES

BONES (). Y’all got any quarters?

Y’all got any change to spare?

It’s for a good cause. I promise.

I gotta uh catch the bus so I can visit my young son, Zippy.

He in the hospital.

All I need is a quarter and I can bring him his birthday gift.

Incidentally, it’s also his birthday.

I just need one, or several quarters. From you.

(Fake-ass desperate.) A son can’t go fatherless on his birthday.

Cuz then he’ll grow up to hate himself.

You don’t want my son to hate himself.

Just give me some quarters so I can see my boy, Zippy.

My sweet sweet.

() ZIPPY!

TAMBO

TAMBO. Nigga! What is you doing?

BONES. I’m tryna get some quarters so I can see my boy Zippy. You know. Zippy. My seed. My sweet sweet ZIPPY!

TAMBO. Nigga who is Zippy?

BONES. Yo, man, shh, chill.
() they watchin.

TAMBO. Like I give a fuck. You ain’t got no son. You ain’t got no family.
You got me.
Out here interrupting my nap n shit.

BONES. I’m tryna make a living.

TAMBO. AND THEY AIN’T GOT NO QUARTERS OUT HERE. They got them big ol’ fifty-pence pieces.

BONES. I ain’t got time to ask for no fifty-pence piece. (.) Y’ALL GOT ANY QUARTERS?

TAMBO. You want a quarter?

TAMBO BONES

There.

BONES

BONES. Really Tambo? One quarter? You givin me one quarter?

TAMBO. Ain’t that what you wanted?

BONES. How Imma see my fake-ass son with one quarter?

TAMBO. Well whatchu want then?

BONES. I want everyone’s quarters. You just one person. There’s like two hundred and fifty1 quarters in this room. How many more quarters is two hundred and fifty from one? It’s at least two hundred!

TAMBO. You need to learn to be satisfied! I gave you my only quarter out of the generosity of my heart. So take yo one quarter and close yo one mouth.

BONES. I bet you wasn’t even asleep.

TAMBO. I bet I put my foot in yo booty you don’t stop talking.

BONES

BONES. The fuck is this?

TAMBO. It’s a tree.

BONES. Whatchu mean it’s a tree?

TAMBO. What it look like?

BONES. It look like a fake-ass tree on top of a real-ass chair.

TAMBO. I needed a tall tree to cast a long shadow so I could rest my weary soul beneath its soothing calm.

BONES. Well that don’t make it a tree.

TAMBO. It was a short tree and now it’s a tall tree. Photosynthesis my nigga.

TAMBO

I made it rain.
I made it grow.

BONES. That some fake-ass water too?

TAMBO BONES

TAMBO. SPLASH!

BONES. HEY!

TAMBO. It ain’t fake if I believe in it. And now Imma go rest my weary soul.

BONES. Just cuz the tree a little higher than it was don’t make it a better tree.

Matter fact, all you did is ruin a good chair.

Cuz now you can’t sit there

cuz it got a fake-ass tree in it

and I guess that makes it a fake-ass chair

cuz what the fuck you gon do with a chair

that you can’t sit in!

Tryna give me one quarter and tell me to be satisfied. Nigga!

TAMBO

I know you ain’t sleep neither.

TAMBO

Where you get this quarter from?

TAMBO. Iohnno. I just checked my pocket and there it was.

BONES. It’s a nice quarter.

TAMBO. Yeah. Yeah it is.

BONES. Thank you.

TAMBO. Yeah.

BONES. How come we only got one quarter between the two of us?
I know there’s more out there.
But we only got the one?

TAMBO. How come you gotta question everything?

BONES. I just –

TAMBO. I tell you something’s a tree and you make it more than that.
I say here’s a quarter, and you like nah I need somebody else’s quarters.

BONES. I’m just pondering my purpose n shit.

TAMBO. You ain’t happy wit ya life as it is?

BONES. I read somewhere that happiness is just an illusion like sunlight.

TAMBO. Who taught you to read?

BONES. Iohnno, who taught you to speak?

TAMBO. I… wha… You too much.

BONES. I know.

TAMBO
BONES TAMBO
BONES

TAMBO. It’s nice, ain’t it?

BONES. It’s lovely.

BONES

AHA!

TAMBO

BONES

TAMBO. NIGGA! WHAT IS YOU DOING?!

BONES. I’m gettin my quarters.

TAMBO. How?!?!

BONES. Wit this knife! Duh!

TAMBO. You ain’t about to stab no one? I ain’t no snitch but I ain’t no accomplice to murder.

BONES. Nah look here. Imma put on a show! See, I tried to tell them a sad story. Appeal to they sense of Emily.

TAMBO. They sense of Emily?

BONES. They sense of Emily.

TAMBO. They sense of empathy?

BONES. Empathy, yeah! I tried to appeal to they sense of empathy.
But that ain’t work. Sooooooooo
Imma put on a different type of show.

TAMBO. What type of show?

BONES. A thriller!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! BETSIES AND BEAUREGARDS!
In today’s world, errybody got a story.
It’s overwhelming. How! The humanity! O!
Everywhere, someone appealing to yo sense of… Empathy!
A true story about my fake son does nothing for you.
But this! ()
Watch as I risk my real bones for your quarters!

What do you get when you combine five fingers and a knife? Here we go!

Eh! Eh?!

Ta-daah!
(.) Quarters.

TAMBO.…That’s it?

BONES. Oh come on that was thrilling! I could’ve lost a pinky.
Or worse.
A thumb!

TAMBO. I seen that before, and seen it done better than you.

BONES. So?

TAMBO. So if other people done this before and done it better than you,
why would I give you a quarter for doing the same thing?
You not thinking like they think.

BONES. Oh shit. I see…

TAMBO. Now put that knife away so I can go / back to my nap –

BONES. I wasn’t going fast enough!
If I can go faster than everyone else like me –

TAMBO. That’s not what I’m sayin –

BONES

BONES. Ta-daaaaaah!

Aight let me go left hand. This a competition right.

TAMBO. Bones you missing the point –

...