Wijs - Us/Them

Carly Wijs

US/THEM

NICK HERN BOOKS
London
www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Us/Them was produced by BRONKS and Richard Jordan Productions with Theatre Royal Plymouth and Big in Belgium in association with Summerhall. It premiered in Dutch at BRONKS Theatre in Brusselson 27 September, 2014. The production received its UK premiere in English at Summerhallas part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on 3 August 2016. It subsequently transferred to the Dorfman auditorium of the National Theatre, London, on 16 January 2017. The cast was as follows:

Characters

GIRL
BOY

An empty stage. At the back there is a wall or blackboard with coat hooks sticking out of it.

On the floor in front of the blackboard there are two pieces of chalk and a sponge. To the right of the stage, a bunch of black helium balloons, held down by a large block of wood. A BOY and a GIRL appear. They walk past the balloons and each take a piece of chalk. Then they walk to the front of the stage and begin to draw lines on the floor. Although they start at the same spot, there is soon a clear difference between their two drawings.

GIRL and BOY. These are the outbuildings. Thats where the toddlers are.

While the GIRL is drawing, she constantly mumbles measurements to herself and checks whether they match what she is drawing on the floor. She looks irritated at the BOY who is drawing a different-sized plan. In turn, the BOY is annoyed with the GIRL because she is getting in his way.

This is the gymnasium.
Adjoining it is the large main building.
There are three floors.
The main building towers over the other buildings.
From here you can see the whole terrain.
There are twenty classrooms spread over three floors. On the ground floor to the right is a canteen.

They have finished drawing. On the floor we see two versions of the school plan drawn over each other in chalk, overlapping in places. The BOY and the GIRL explain the layout of the buildings, pointing out the various locations. But as their drawings and stories are not exactly the same, they point in different directions. Sometimes they complement each other, sometimes they contradict each other, and sometimes they try to outpace the other.

On the third floor the offices of the director and the administration.

They each point out a different place for the library.

And a library with two thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine books. Mainly textbooks, but also five hundred and thirty-three childrens books with stories.
Surrounding the buildings, a large play area in a U-shape.
There are three entries or exits.

In front of the main building, on the left, the main entrance.
On the right side a side entrance. Very practical: if you are late for school, you can sneak in and join the rows. In between the main building and the first extension is another exit. This exit is very useful: in case of a fire, people can escape in all directions.

In case of danger, you only have to barricade three doors.
Next to the canteen is a small kitchen. Thats where they make the soup and the potatoes that we eat for lunch. On the other side of the kitchen is a staircase. That leads to a hidden cellar. That basement cannot be seen from the outside, but also not from the kitchen.
At the front of the building is the small town. The school is the largest in the town.

BOY. According to many people also the best school.

GIRL. Its School Number One.

The following summary of facts is completely rattled off with accompanying gestures.

BOY and GIRL. The town has approximately thirty-three thousand six hundred and forty-six people.
Three swimming pools.
One Museum of Folk Art.
Twenty-one churches.
Fifty-three mosques.
Five tennis courts.
Seven parks, most of which without ponds and ducks.
One hundred and four bakers.
Forty-eight butchers.
Twelve supermarkets, three of which are very large.
Five thousand registered cats.
Eight thousand six hundred and twenty-four chickens that lay forty-two thousand one hundred and twenty eggs per week.
Four vegetarians.
Two hospitals, three hundred nurses. Fifty-eight doctors.
Three police stations with fifteen policemen. Nothing much happens here.

The GIRL walks forward and points at a spot behind the audience.

GIRL. Behind the school theres a forest. Theres a path from the school that leads straight through the forest to the border.

GIRL and BOY. A hundred and twenty kilometres away.

GIRL. On the other side of the border is Chechnya, with its capital Grozny.
There the children can only go to school until they are eight.
Then they must work.
Mostly in brothels for paedophiles.
The fathers are addicted to drugs.
The mothers all have moustaches and have to work like horses.
There are no tennis courts.

BOY. No, no tennis courts.

The BOY walks to the back and tries to get the GIRL to go with him, but she wants to tell us more about Chechnya. He goes and draws a large rectangle in chalk on the right side of the stage. Round the bunch of balloons. Then he sees that, in her enthusiasm, the GIRL has erased his version of the gymnasium with her foot. Angrily he walks to the spot and carefully redraws the lines that she has erased.

GIRL. When you enter Chechnya from the border, the forest changes into boring fields. But on our side it is stunning. Really marvellous. A paradise-like nature. In a well-known hiking guide for professional hikers this path has been described as:

BOY. The most beautiful trail in the region, with magnificent views.

GIRL. Youll see the white-headed duck, the black vulture, the Caucasian salamander, but also lots of wild sheep, which are known for their long woollen fleece. As a child I used to lay on one. They are very popular all over the world.

The GIRL shuffles over towards the spot where the BOY is at the balloons.

BOY ( indicating the chalk rectangle he has just drawn ) . Here is a podium.

GIRL and BOY. Thats where the principal and thirty-five teachers are.
To the right of the podium are rows of parents, about five hundred and three in total.

Three hundred and seventy-eight mothers, one hundred and three grandmothers and twenty-two fathers.
In the middle of the playground the children are arranged in rows.

A total of seven hundred and fifty, aged two-and-a-half to twelve years.
They each have seven balloons in their hands, one for each year that they are in school. That is a total of five thousand two hundred and fifty balloons.

GIRL. It is the largest school in the region.

BOY. You already said that.

BOY and GIRL. On the left side of the stage, is a choir of twenty children. They have been selected to sing some songs on this day.
The first song is called Oh Wonderful New Future.

They sing the song and perform choreographed movements the kind that would help children to remember the words of
a song.

O wonderful new future
I beg you, to have mercy
I beg you, please have mercy
Have mercy on me
Todays a new beginning
Of a wonderful new future