Wooley - They Have Oak Trees in North Carolina

First published in 2007 by Oberon Books Ltd
Electronic edition published in 2012 Oberon Books Ltd
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www.oberonbooks.com They Have Oak Trees in North Carolina copyright Sarah Wooley 2007 Sarah Wooley is hereby identified as author of this play in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The author has asserted her moral rights. All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before commencement of rehearsal to United Agents, 12-26 Lexington Street, London, W1F 0LE (). No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained, and no alterations may be made in the title or the text of the play without the authors prior written consent. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or binding or by any means (print, electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. PB ISBN: 978-1-84002-818-8
E ISBN: 978-1-8494-3893-3 eBook conversion by Replika Press PVT Ltd, India. Visit www.oberonbooks.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that youre always first to hear about our new releases.

I would gratefully like to acknowledge the following authors and their books: John Walsh, Tears of Rage; Paula S.

Fass, Kidnapped Child Abduction in America; and Mike Echols, I know my first name is Steven. I would also like to thank the following for their help along the journey: Giles Smart, Paul Robinson, Will Smitheson, Joy Wilkinson, Lizzy Abusch, Jenny Worton, Dominic Cooke, Ruth Little, Paul Copley, Elliott Cowan, Linda Bassett, Graham Whybrow, Hanne Steen, Sarah Shavel, Janette Smith, The National Theatre Studio, The Lord Clyde Writers, Joyce Branagh, Alexis Peterman, Steph Farrell, Matthew Lloyd, Annelie Powell all at Theatre 503 and the Actors Centre and Raj and Blaise for all their love and support.
They Have Oak Trees in North Carolina was written in the Winter of 2005 and Spring of 2006, before the reappearance of Natascha Kampusch in Austria and Shawn Hornbeck in Missouri, USA and prior to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal.

RAY
60s EILEEN
Rays wife, 60s CLAY
an American, late 20s A note on punctuation
The presence of a slash / indicates an interruption
by the next speaker, so that speech overlaps.
They Have Oak Trees in North Carolina was first performed at the Tristan Bates Theatre in a co-production with Theatre503 on 13 November 2007, by the following cast: RAY Hilton McRae EILEEN Janet Amsden CLAY Simon Harrison Director Paul Robinson Designer Libby Watson Lighting Designer Chris Davey October. A room in a house.

This is RAY and EILEENs home. A large door on one side / back of the stage leading to outside. RAY I CLAY Yes? RAY I What I CLAY Yes RAY Want to know ishow? How did you Its been twenty-two years CLAY I know RAY Twenty-two years CLAY Yes RAY So how did you find us? CLAY The newspaper RAY They gave you our address? CLAY No. Yes. They told me you hadnt moved RAY So you you remembered? Is that what youre saying? You remembered where you used to live? CLAY Yes. Pause.

Sort of RAY Sort of? CLAY I couldnt remember the name of the village They told me. I came here. I walked around a bit, followed my nose. It hasnt changed RAY Youre American CLAY Yes. RAY I wasnt expecting an American CLAY Werent you? RAY No CLAY But RAY Of course you should be I suppose if Where do you live? CLAY You mean now or RAY In America? CLAY Well Ive lived all over Its hard to say RAY You cant pick one bit One bit youd call your own or? Where did you live the longest? CLAY Place called Burningtown RAY Wheres that? CLAY North Carolina Pause. RAY This is this is a shock a People dont just Do you understand its CLAY Yes RAY And my wife Its been years CLAY I know, I know RAY We havent heard from anyone in a long time.

Of course we used to have a lot of people bothering us Psychics, letter writers CLAY Letter writers? RAY Yes People pretending they knew something My brothers uncles been to Florida You know the thing CLAY They were lying? RAY Yes Maybe I dont know. One man came here, ten years ago Said he knew something Said he could help. My wife let him visit Only he didnt know anything Just wanted to listen to her talking, going over We found out later he used to go home and Well You know CLAY Thats thatssick RAY Yes. I thought so We stopped seeing people after that. Pause. Beat. Beat.

And youre not. Beat. Im certain youre not. Pause. Thisnewspaper Is it a tabloid? CLAY A what? RAY A tabloid A red top? CLAY ? RAY Was there a scandal about some model or An actor caught with his trousers down? Was that the sort of newspaper you went to? CLAY I dont know RAY You dont know? CLAY No. Short pause. Short pause.

How old are you? CLAY Twenty-seven RAY Youre the right age then Problem is you look older CLAY I do? RAY Yes Id put you moremid-thirties. Have you been on the internet? CLAY The internet? RAY Websites? Is that how you found about CLAY No RAY There must be stuff. If you look We had a photograph They will have posted that somewhere on the world wide web Im sure if you put the name into some chatroom or search engine CLAY Do you think your wife will recognise me? RAY I didnt CLAY Yes but women are more RAY What? Beat. Gullible? CLAY No, sensitive. Their memories are more RAY Selective CLAY Sensual. RAY Sensual? CLAY Yes RAY What does that mean? CLAY Well, perhaps there was something about me My smell RAY Your what? CLAY The tone of my voice The shape of my ear RAY Your ear looks like any other ear CLAY To you RAY Yes CLAY But not to her.

She will have held me many times She knows every part of me Beat. Where is she? RAY My wife? CLAY Yes RAY Shes at the cottage We have another house we CLAY Here? RAY Yes. We rent it out We have guests coming this afternoon CLAY Thats nice RAY Its not. Its a lot of work She has to clean Does it all herself We dont have a housekeeper And the people they CLAY What? RAY Well, depending on Sometimes they leave a mess they CLAY Trash the joint? RAY No Never that But if its a group Women A hen party CLAY So its big? This house? RAY No I wouldnt say big no CLAY But you said parties Sounds like Sounds like this place is impressive RAY Impressive? No I told you its a cottage its not big its not CLAY How many rooms? RAY Not many CLAY But you have groups stay RAY Yes / but CLAY So there must be plenty of bedrooms to accommodate RAY No. There are three Thats all and we have sofas sofas that pull out that CLAY Become beds RAY Yes So its not big Not impressive not CLAY When did you buy it? RAY Years ago CLAY You didnt own this cottage when I lived here did you? RAY No Because you never lived here. Ive never seen you before in my life!