Hassen Khemiri Jonas - I Call my Brothers

I CALL MY BROTHERS I CALL MY BROTHERS Jonas Hassen Khemiri Translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles OBERON BOOKS
LONDON WWW.OBERONBOOKS.COM First published in 2015 by Oberon Books Ltd 521 Caledonian Road, London N7 9RH Tel: +44 (0) 20 7607 3637 / Fax: +44 (0) 20 7607 3629 e-mail: www.oberonbooks.com I Call My Brothers Jonas Hassen Khemiri, 2015 English translation I Call My Brothers Rachel Willson-Broyles, 2015 Jonas Hassen Khemiri 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 his moral rights. Rachel Willson-Broyles is hereby identified as author of this translation in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The translator has asserted her moral rights. All rights whatsoever in this play is strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before rehearsal to Rosica Colin Ltd., 1 Clareville Grove Mews, London SW7 5AH.

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 and translators 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: 978-1-78319-484-1 EPUB ISBN: 978-178319-494-0 Cover image: Shutterstock Photo courtesy of Melbourne Theatre Company Printed, bound and converted by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY. 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. Contents The Australian Premiere of I Call My Brothers was presented by Melbourne Theatre Company at Southbank Theatre, The Lawler on Thursday 16 April 2015, with the following cast:

Cast
Osamah Sami	AMOR
Ray Chong Nee	AVI, AMPLIFIER, BULLY, THE SALESMAN
Joana Pires	AMPLIFIER, BULLY, VALERIA, KAROLINA
Alice Ansara	AMPLIFIER, AHLEM, THE SUPERVISOR, TYRA
Creative
Nadja Kostich	Director
Marg Horwell	Set and Costume Designer
Rachel Burke	Lighting Designer
Darrin Verhagen	Composer and Sound Designer
Michael Carmody	Video Designer

Characters FOUR ACTORS 1. Man AMOR 2. Man SHAVI, AMPLIFIER, BULLY, THE SALESMAN 3. Woman AMPLIFIER, BULLY, VALERIA, KAROLINA 4. Woman AMPLIFIER, AHLEM, THE SUPERVISOR, TYRA INTRODUCTION A car has exploded.

A city has been crippled by fear. Amor wanders around the city, doing his best to blend in. Hes going to exchange a drill head. Hes going to call his brothers. Hes going to stop stalking Valeria and take care of his long-since- dead grandma. Most important of all: he must not attract any suspicious glances.

But what is normal behaviour? Who is a potential perpetrator? And how many times can Shavi call in one day? For 24 intense hours we find ourselves in Amors head, where the lines between criminal and victim, love and chemistry, and fantasy and reality become blurrier and blurrier. I Call My Brothers is a funny, frenzied showdown between our prejudices toward other people and each other. The play has its origins in the text Jag ringer mina brder, which Jonas Hassen Khemiri published in Dagens Nyheter in December, 2010, one week after the suicide bombing in Stockholm. 1. SCENE 1 3 1. SCENE 1 INTRO 1 enters the role of AMOR. 1/AMOR I call my brothers and say: Something really sick just happened.

Have you heard? A man. A car. Two explosions. Right downtown. I call my brothers and say: No, no one has been arrested. Not yet. Not yet.

I call my brothers and say: Now it begins. Get ready. 2. SCENE 2 SHAVI 2 enters the role of SHAVI. 2/SHAVI Hello? 1/AMOR Shavi was the one who told me. 2/SHAVI Hey mate, pick up! 1/AMOR He called, I was standing on a dance floor, it was late at night, or actually: it was early the next day. 2/SHAVI Pick up! 1/AMOR I felt the vibrations, I checked who it was, but I 2/SHAVI Pick up! 1/AMOR I didnt answer. 2/ SHAVI Fucking traitor. 1/AMOR I mean 2/SHAVI What are you doing? 1/AMOR If it had been someone else, I would have picked up. 2/SHAVI Are you out? 1/AMOR If it had been mom. 2/SHAVI Are you out? 1/AMOR If it had been mom.

Or my brothers. Or. 2/SHAVI Who are you out with? 1/AMOR Anyone at all. 2/SHAVI Tell me youre not out alone on a Saturday night? Totally lame. 1/AMOR But instead it was Shavi 2/SHAVI I swear bro, youre shady. SHAVI turns to face the audience. 2/SHAVI Thats right. 1/AMOR I love him like a brother. 2/SHAVI Correct. 1/AMOR Hes my brother. 2/SHAVI Precisely. 1/AMOR Almost in the same way that my brothers are my brothers. 2/SHAVI Exactly. 2/SHAVI Exactly.

Weve got each others backs, and we would die for each other any day, right? Pause. SHAVI smiles proudly at the audience, AMOR looks at SHAVI, hesitates. 1/AMOR Exactlyormaybe not diefor my brothers, I would die. For mom, I would die. Butfor Shavi? 2/SHAVI Come on now, mate. 1/AMOR I mean We grew up in the same neighborhood. We know each other.

Hes got my back and Ive got his. 2/SHAVI Word. 1/AMOR I would stand up for him any day, lie for him, take a bullet for him. 2/SHAVI Exactly. SHAVI nods and thumps his hand against his chest. 1/AMOR As long as the bullet doesnt hit my face I would take a non-life-threatening, non-face-hitting bullet for him any day. Pause. 1/AMOR But at the same time I have to say. Pause. 1/AMOR But at the same time I have to say.

Ever since he became a dad hes been a little 2/SHAVI What? 1/AMOR I dont know. Weve drifted apart. Hes changed. 2/SHAVI Youre one to talk. 1/AMOR When we were growing up he was always the guy who saw the world from a different angle. 2/SHAVI What do you mean? 1/AMOR Well, like, if youd lost a basketball game and were on your way home on the subway, you could call Shavi and hes just: 2/SHAVI Howd it go? What? You got creamed? By Trelleborg? Well, forget it, mate.

Fuck basketball I swear, basketball is for jerks. Think of all the other sports there are soccer, handball, fencing. (Pause.) Windsurfing, darts, tag. (Pause.) Next time, you shouldve called me, I would have dunked them all to bits! 1/AMOR And if youd for example cheated on your physics text and the teacher saw and snatched your test and threatened you with an F you could go home to the courtyard and Shavi was standing there and just: 2/SHAVI Whaddaya sad? So what? What does an F matter? Youll still get into KTH. Im gonna get Fs in four subjects and admit it, Ill be fine, huh? 1/AMOR And if your cousin was caught by plainclothes cops and at first she didnt get that they were plainclothes and thought it was Manals brothers who she had a little beef with and so she resisted and tried to run away and so she got a broken nose, then Shavi said: 2/SHAVI Your cousin should have called me, I swear I would have had her back, I would have dealt combo after combo, I would have boxed the pigs nose until there was only blood left.