Crimp - The Treatment

Martin Crimp THE
TREATMENT NICK HERN BOOKS London www.nickhernbooks.co.uk ContentsThe Treatment was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 15 April 1993, with the following cast:

JENNIFER	Sheila Gish
ANNE	Jacqueline Defferary
ANDREW	Larry Pine
NICKY	Geraldine Somerville
CLIFFORD	Tom Watson
SIMON	Mark Strong
TAXI DRIVER	Marcus Heath
JOHN	Joseph Mydell
Direction	Lindsey Posner
Design	Julian McGowan
Lighting	Thomas Webster
Composer	Paddy Cunneen
Sound	Steve Hepworth

The Treatment was revived at the Almeida Theatre, London, on 28 April 2017 (previews from 24 April), with the following cast:

JOHN	Gary Beadle
CLIFFORD	Ian Gelder
ANNE	Aisling Loftus
SIMON	Matthew Needham
TAXI DRIVER	Ben Onwukwe
ANDREW	Julian Ovenden
NICKY/MAID	Ellora Torchia
JENNIFER	Indira Varma
WAITRESS/MADWOMAN	Hara Yannis
With: Marc Benga, Omari Biriye, Tony Blain, Fumilayo Brown-Olateju, Sally Charlton, Justin Feltham, Sarita Gabony, Mohsen Ghaffari, Peter Gordon, Jey Jeyakumar, Muhammad Khan, Aida Krnic, Chris McGoldrick, Sheila McCabe, Wendy McNeilly, Reece Miller, Jess Nesling, Chioma Nwalioba, Sharita Oomeer, Drew Paterson, Julian Patten, Zena Peter, Rhian Roberts, Anna Rolfe, Stephen Rooney, Priya Sejpal, Akshay Sharan, Fiona White, Yvonne Wickhan, Vic Zander
Direction	Lyndsey Turner
Direction	Lyndsey Turner
Design	Giles Cadle
Lighting	Neil Austin
Sound	Christopher Shutt
Composition	Rupert Cross
Choreography	Arthur Pita
Casting	Julia Horan CDG
Resident Director	Jo Tyabji
Costume Supervision	Lorraine Ebdon-Price
Dialect Coach	Charmian Hoare
Fight Direction	Bret Yount

Life as we know it has ended, and yet no one is able to grasp what has taken its place [] Slowly and steadily, the city seems to be consuming itself. Paul Auster, In the Country of Last Things The genuine pain that keeps everything awake
is a tiny, infinite burn
on the innocent eyes of other systems. Life is no dream. Watch out! Watch out! Watch out! Federico Garca Lorca, Poet in New York Its really wonderful, said Karl. Developments in this country are always rapid, said his uncle, breaking off the conversation.

ACT ONE	A day in June
ACT TWO	Evening of the same day
ACT THREE	A few days later
ACT FOUR	A year later

Notes An oblique stroke / indicates the point of interruption in overlapping dialogue.

ACT ONE	A day in June
ACT TWO	Evening of the same day
ACT THREE	A few days later
ACT FOUR	A year later

Notes An oblique stroke / indicates the point of interruption in overlapping dialogue.

Brackets ( ) indicate momentary changes of tone (usually a drop in projection). A pause is denoted throughout by a comma on a separate line. Note on the Revised Text I have made some small revisions to the 1993 text. Most significant perhaps is the cutting of cigarette-smoking as a character attribute or filler of silence. MC, 2017ACT ONE1. TriBeCa.

The Office. ANNE, JENNIFER and ANDREW. JENNIFER. So he comes right over to you. ANNE. He comes right over to me. JENNIFER.

He comes over to you. I see. ANNE. And he sticks tape over my mouth. JENNIFER. Okay.

Why? ANNE. To silence me. He wants to silence me. JENNIFER. To silence you. Yes. JENNIFER. Good. Good.

What kind of tape? ANNE. Sticky tape. The kind of sticky tape you use for securing cables. JENNIFER. Good. ANNE.

Dyou know the kind / I mean? JENNIFER. We know the kind / you mean. ANNE. The kind with a silver back. Sometimes silver, sometimes its black. JENNIFER.

Silver is good. The glint of it. Thats good. ANNE. He always has this tape on account of his job. JENNIFER.

Which is? (To ANDREW.) The way the silver would catch the light. ANNE. Okay. Yes. Hes an electrical engineer. Thats cool. ANNE. ANNE.

So he always has this tape. JENNIFER. Thats cool. Do you struggle? ANNE. Inwardly I struggle. Good. ANNE. Inwardly I struggle. Inwardly I struggle.

But he has a knife and calls me a bitch. JENNIFER. He calls you a bitch. ANNE. Yes. JENNIFER.

And there he is, with the knife, with the tape, this kind of tape with the silver back thats used for securing cables. ANNE. Exactly. , Yes. / Exactly. JENNIFER.

So what does he do? He cuts off a length of the tape? ANNE. Cuts? No. JENNIFER. Uh-huh? ANNE. That kind of tape / you can tear it JENNIFER. ANNE. with your fingers. with your fingers.

In fact I would say it is designed to be torn. JENNIFER. I understand. So he tears off a length (which is after all less awkward) / and sticks it ANNE. Exactly. over your mouth. ANNE. Yes. JENNIFER. JENNIFER.

To silence you. ANNE. Yes. JENNIFER. This is in your home. Yes. JENNIFER. JENNIFER.

On Avenue X. ANNE. Yes. JENNIFER glances at ANDREW. JENNIFER. And the knife? ANNE.

And the knife? JENNIFER. What does he do with the knife? ANNE. The knife isnt visible. JENNIFER. Uh-huh. Okay. ANNE. ANNE.

Its more the sense, the sense / of a knife. JENNIFER. The sense of a knife. ANNE. Yes. JENNIFER.

But this knife, the knife that is sensed, (she senses a knife), is this part of his array? ANNE. His array? What is that? JENNIFER. The array of items tools required by his job. ANNE. You mean like the tape. Exactly. ANNE. ANNE.

Im not sure. JENNIFER. Okay. ANNE. Because as I say I only sense it. JENNIFER. He speaks. He speaks.

He speaks to you. ANNE. He speaks to me. JENNIFER. Okay. (The knife worries me / a little.) ANNE.

He speaks to me. Yes. JENNIFER. How? ANNE. How does he speak? JENNIFER. ANNE. Okay. Okay.

Well, hes rapt. JENNIFER. Good. I see. No. Explain.

What, this is rapt as in? ANNE. Rapt as in rapture. JENNIFER. Okay. Rapture. ANNE.

Rapt as in (I dont know) JENNIFER. Rapture is fine. ANNE. Or ecstasy I suppose. JENNIFER. Were happy with rapture.

Unless you mean dyou mean? is what you mean that he is in some kind of trance. (The thought just / occurs to me.) ANNE. A trance. Yes. JENNIFER. Thats cool.

Hes speaking to her as if in a trance. ANNE. More from a trance. As if from a trance. As if hes just JENNIFER. Waking? ANNE.

Waking, yes, from / a trance. JENNIFER. The silver tape. The glint from the light. The mirror image perhaps of his face distorted in the strip of tape. Tell me, has he been drinking? ANNE.

He doesnt drink. JENNIFER. Really? ANNE. Not at these moments.