Alice Birch - Many Moons

MEG
Resigned. 42.

OLLIE
Falling. 26.

JUNIPER
Hopeful. 24.

ROBERT
Shy. 63.

The parts of 1, 2 and 3 can be read by the actors, or projected as the director sees fit. Only four actors should be used in total.

/ Denotes the overlapping of speech

... Indicates the character cannot express what they are thinking

The spacing of the dialogue and the use of upper and lower case letters are there to help the actor in terms of pace or weight of their words.

18th July. Stoke Newington, London.

Many Moons by Alice Birch was first performed at Theatre503 on May 17th 2011

Presented by Theatre503, Sophie Watson and paper/scissors/stone

Original cast:

OLLIE, Edward Franklin
MEG,
Esther Hall
ROBERT, Jonathan Newth
JUNIPER, Esther Smith

Director, Derek Bond
Design, James Perkins
Lighting Design, Sally Ferguson
Music arranged and composed by Ellis James and Benson Taylor
Stage Manger, Sophie Martin

Under artistic directors Paul Robinson and Tim Roseman, Theatre503 has become Londons main and most highly considered entry-point theatre for playwrights, where they take their first public steps based purely on artistic talent and not experience or profile. As a result Theatre503 has won numerous national awards, and became the smallest theatre to ever win the Olivier Award for Best New Play.

This production was supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, The Mackintosh Foundation and the Williams Charitable Trust. With thanks to everyone else who helped to make this production happen.

A white room. The back wall is lit with tens, hundreds, maybe thousands of light bulbs. The play is direct address to the audience.

I.

MEG: And my Heart started to beat at 2.19 in the afternoon of the 18th of

July on a pavement in Stoke Newington.

Until that point it had flatlined.

For an Entire lifetime.

II.

OLLIE: Prude, I think would be a bit far.

Im not very

I find it quite difficult to

Ive never been one of the

Lads.

I suppose.

Ahhm.

I get quite excited about constellations.

And foraging.

I am Good at

Computer Programming. Debugging, coding and compilation.

I dont really like Travel

Or too much change.

I have only owned a television for three weeks and thats because the woman who used to live here Felicity something left it behind and I quite like University Challenge and I dont mind Blue Planet, but I cant really get my head around much more than that which is odd, I suppose, because Blue Planet is about an entire world and Eastenders ah for example, is just one street or square, as far as I can gather.

I dont drink very much the taste isnt

I cant

Never enjoyed it. Apart from Archers

and Lemonade and that isnt something you can really order

in the pub with

the aforementioned

Lads.

not that I know any Lads.

Actually.

Well, Mike, maybe, who studied Physics and was in my college, and once um relieved himself number two on a girl who was asleep in her bed after too many Snakebites.

And if some of you need me to elaborate on that sentence, I cant. Really. So. I couldnt explain what a Snakebite actually is, other than it is a beverage and it does seem to get people incredibly Drunk.

I find people quite

Difficult, actually, Ive never been the most

I always wanted to be someone

Who could

...

with people

instead of Stars and Planets and Fireworks

and

...

But it has always been beyond me.

Just out of reach.

It was on the 18th of July that my Heart began to Beat and I began to bridge that gap and be on the brink of being a real live Human because

All of a Sudden

I am in Love

MEG: I like to sit at home.

All day if I can.

There is a window seat underneath the bay windows next to the French windows which are underneath the roof windows which are like clerestory windows because the ceiling is so high that underneath you can see the whole sky and earth rolling.

To get to our kitchen you have to walk through the rest of the house and down several steps. Its nestled into the garden and is so low down that underneath the roof window on the windowseat by the bay window next to the French windows it is easy to imagine you are underneath the world looking up at footsteps.

I like to make bread in the bread maker and marmalade on the stove in a very large pan that I bought from a farm shop in a town called Tetbury which is where Prince Charles has his Duchy estate and when it is ready I eat the marmalade on the bread which I cut into very thin strips that I call farmers because my parents were pacifists and didnt say soldiers.