Brown Nicholas - Lighten Up

Lighten Up was first produced by Bali Padda and Griffin Independent at SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney, on 2 December 2016, with the following cast:

SANDY	Katie Beckett
JOHN GREEN	Nicholas Brown
BRONWYN	Vivienne Garrett
LIVVY / MERLE OBERON / HEATHER	Julie Goss
ANIL / GUILLAUME / MANA /	Sam McCool
DOCTOR / INDIAN PRESS PERSON 2
JANELLE / GAV / RECEPTIONIST /	Bishanyia Vincent
RENEE / CITY OF SYDNEY PRODUCER /
INDIAN PRESS PERSON 1

Producer, Bali Padda Director and Dramaturg, Shane Anthony Directors Attachment, Hannah Tonks Set and Costume Designer, Tobhiyah Stone Feller Lighting Designer, Christopher Page Composer and Sound Designer, Busty Beatz Design Intern, Maeli Cherel Stage Manager, Lauren Tulloh CHARACTERS JOHN GREEN , late 20searly 30s, Anglo-Indian Australian with brown skin SANDY , late 20searly 30s, Indigenous Australian woman with dark brown skin BRONWYN , 55, Johns mother, Anglo-Indian with fair skin LIVVY , 10, Johns little sister, Anglo-Indian Australian with fair skin DANNO , late 20s, Johns best friend, Australian male, caucasian, redhead JANELLE BURNS , late 20s, Johns girlfriend, blonde caucasian Australian ANIL DIXIT THE THIRD , 40s50s, male, Indian film director MERLE OBERON , the ghost of the 1940s Hollywood actress MANA , 55, Sandys father, Maori with dark brown skin GAV , owner of Cockney Convict Walking Tours, Australian, caucasian HEATHER , 50s, Anglo-Indian woman with dark brown skin GUILLAUME GUILLOTINE , a French photographer RECEPTIONIST , Bondi Parade production receptionist RENEE Brogan , 45, Executive Producer of Bondi Parade, caucasian woman CITY OF SYDNEY PRODUCER DOCTOR INDIAN PRESS PERSON 1 INDIAN PRESS PERSON 2 FANNY & DICKY , two budgerigars OLIVIA LOOK-ALIKE , a fantasy of Bronwyns The play can be performed by six actors, with roles distributed as follows:

Actor 1:	JOHN GREEN
Actor 2:	SANDY
Actor 3:	BRONWYN
Actor 4:	LIVVY / MERLE OBERON / DANNO / HEATHER
Actor 5:	JANELLE / RECEPTIONIST / OLIVIA LOOK-ALIKE / RENEE / GAV / CITY OF SYDNEY PRODUCER / INDIAN PRESS PERSON 1
Actor 6:	ANIL / GUILLAUME / MANA / DOCTOR / INDIAN PRESS PERSON 2

DANNO could be played by an additional actor (Actor 7) and a caucasian male redhead actor could be cast as this role. He would also double up as Gav and City OF Sydney Producer . We encourage anyone producing and casting this work to consider performers from diverse backgrounds, including for roles where a characters ethnic or cultural background, age, gender, sexuality or disability need not be specified. This play went to press before the end of rehearsals and may differ from the play as performed. ACT ONE SCENE ONE JOHN sits onstage, pumicing his brown skin with a pumice stone. A ouija board is in front of him.

He eventually puts the pumice stone on the ouija board. JOHN : I call upon the powers that be and ask whatevers up there beyond the Southern Cross to please hear me. I apologise for losing the movable pointer and hope youll accept this pumice stone as a way to inform me of any guidance. Please, Southern Cross. Help me: I must star in Bondi Parade. SCENE TWO BRONWYN enters. She has bleached blonde hair and wears a skin-tight black outfit.

Shes holding a large postage package. BRONWYN : Good. This batch has aloe vera in it. That should work well with the bleach. LIVVY enters. She has a football down her school uniform, pretending to be pregnant, and is holding a small ghetto blaster. She wheels a huge birdcage onstage.

It has two budgies in it FANNY and DICKY . The abnormally large-sized budgies are humans dressed as budgies wearing budgie smugglers. There is a breeding box attached to the cage. FANNY and DICKY do an odd interpretative mating dancebut they dont mate. BRONWYN hides her package behind her back. LIVVY : Come on, Fanny. Get on a move on, Dicky.

What song will make you root? LIVVY plays an Olivia Newton-John song on her ghetto blaster. JOHN enters. Hes wearing a convict outfit. JOHN : Mum, can you get me blue contact lenses for my Bondi Parade audition? LIVVY : Mum BRONWYN : Blue? We agreed to only use green ones, darling goes with our family brand. JOHN : I need blue. BRONWYN : Why? LIVVY : Its not easy being green JOHN : If I dont get this role in Bondi Parade, Ill inject blue paint into my eyes. BRONWYN : Blue cornea tattoos are so Korean.

Go green, darling. JOHN : Please, Mum. All the cast have blue eyes. I need to look like them. LIVVY : Mum BRONWYN : No, darling, to succeed you must stand out (while fitting in). Green means go.

Now go to work. LIVVY : Mum BRONWYN : Whaaaat?! Bloody kids, I feel a pain in my womb! LIVVY : Dont shout. Youll scare my budgies and then theyll never root. If I can lay an egg why cant Fanny? BRONWYN : Ha! Finally I can look forward to being a grand-MILF. LIVVY : Mum JOHN : Mum, why do you have pics of me and Janelle on your laptop? BRONWYN : Oh. Ive found the most amazing website.

Its called Genetics Spawn. JOHN : Porn? BRONWYN : No. Spawn. Genetics Spawn. If you upload a picture of yourself and another person it shows you what your children will look like. Your babies with Janelle will be so beautiful, Johnny.

Look! So sweet. So fair and lovely. JOHN : Danno and I are going to a beer garden in Bondi to listen to the Hottest 100 after work. BRONWYN : Make sure you wear a hat and sunscreen. Have you not got your green contacts in? JOHN : My eyes are sore. Ill put them on at work.

BRONWYN : Put them on now please. They cost me a fortune. You look so much more handsome with green eyes, darling. LIVVY : Mum JOHN : I want blue. BRONWYN : Youre getting green. JOHN exits. LIVVY : Mum? BRONWYN : Pain in my womb! Whaaaat?! LIVVY : So can Ming-Wa, Rosa and Fatima come over to watch Bondi Parade? BRONWYN : No they cannot. JOHN exits. LIVVY : Mum? BRONWYN : Pain in my womb! Whaaaat?! LIVVY : So can Ming-Wa, Rosa and Fatima come over to watch Bondi Parade? BRONWYN : No they cannot.

I need the lounge room free. LIVVY : For what? BRONWYN : For my aerobics. Did you mess with the remote controls again, Livvy? LIVVY : No. BRONWYN : Liar. Pain in my womb. Play disc four for me? Olivia Newton-Johns Greatest Hits Volume Two.

LIVVY : Can I watch the ep of Bondi Parade that I set the timer for yesterday? BRONWYN : Youve got school, Livvy. Besidesits O.N.J. time. Olivia Newtown-John. Turn it on. Xanadu-it. Xanadu-it.

LIVVY : So, can Ming-Wa, Rosa and Fatima come over to watch Bondi Parade this arvo? BRONWYN : Oh, Livvy, isnt one foreign friend enough? LIVVY : Mum. Ming-Was Burmese. Rosas Panamanian and Fatimas a Lebanese Jew. But theyre all born here. BRONWYN : Stop fabricating foreigners, darling. No such thing as a Lebanese Jew.

LIVVY : Yes there is. I saw it on Foreigner Correspondent. BRONWYN : Bloody ABC, thats what you get from funding cuts. Trashy TV. Whatever happened to those lovely twins, Karen and Sharon McLaren? LIVVY : You kicked them out cause they were Siamese twins, remember? BRONWYN Thats right. Siamese.