1 THE BURNING By Robert Lewis The Burning was first performed at the Atelier Theatre, Mount Barker, South Australia on 7.30pm, Saturday October 14, 2017 as part of the 24.one event hosted by Play Every Day Actors Studio. The play was directed by Craig McArdle. CHARACTER JANE KATRINA LAURA WES ACTOR Fiona Woolford April Pullen Brooke Camporeale Hugo Fielke
2 Centre stage is a couch and a coffee table. The walls are covered with old newspapers; stuck there over time. Three doors lead to beyond the room, but the beyond is unknown. One of the doors leads to the outside. The immense heat from the outside, depicted by red light, seeps in the room through every crack of the walls, doors and windows. The heat is trapped in the house and there is no way to escape the scorching temperature. WES is seen slithering across the room trying to find scraps of newspaper to stick on the walls; his body almost attaches itself to the floors and furniture in the room as he makes his way across the space like a serpent bathing in the desert. WES is covered in sweat; something that is unavoidable living in extreme conditions. He wears loose clothing, a singlet, and hair dripping with sweat. He moves around for a few moments making every attempt to be silent as to not wake up LAURA who is stirring on the couch. She too is sweating profusely, and is clearly disturbed by the heat. As WES continues to rummage around looking for newspapers, LAURA wakes up slowly and reaches for her watch that is on the coffee table at arms reach. She watches WES as he gathers newspapers form under the couch. He ignores her stares. She winds the watch trying to make it start again. WES gathers enough newspapers to start pasting them up on the walls. WES: Laura! Laura! Laura! Did you take your pills Laura! You know what it is Laura, don t you? You don t get enough sun. I mean, I understand that any longer than five minute s gonna kill you, but at least get up and step outside, why don t you? Otherwise them pills won t work, Laura. You never know, you might even miss the rain when it comes if it comes. Do you remember the last time it rained? I m not talking about those little drizzles we get from time to time, I mean proper rain. You know? I should have taken more notice Laura when that happened. Should have paid more attention. Sometimes you just don t know how good something is until it s gone, eh?
3 LAURA: [examining the watch] How long have I been sleeping here? WES: Quite a while. LAURA: Really? Like, how long? WES: A while. LAURA: What, minutes hours WES: Hours. Definitely hours. It was a long time. Are you in pain? LAURA: [Frustrated with the watch, which clearly doesn t work. In pain] Stupid thing. I need to know how long I was here for! WES: Yeah, the pills. LAURA: Oh no. WES: Well, take them Laura. You need to take your pills. Are you okay? LAURA: I can t remember where I put them. WES: I ll just finish off the walls. Let me finish the walls. How do you spell tire? LAURA: What? WES: How do you spell tire? LAURA: T I R Why do you want to know? WES: Cause I m looking at a picture of one right here and I just wanted to remember how you spelt it. So what was it again?
4 LAURA: T Y no, it s an I I m pretty sure it s an I WES: T Y no, that doesn t sound right. Stay with me Laura. Stay with me. Concentrate. Come on! LAURA: I don t know! WES: It just reminded me, Laura. Back in the day not my day, but back in the day do you know what I mean? Are you with me? LAURA: Doesn t it say on the newspaper how you spell it? [WES looks in great detail] WES: No. LAURA: Did you bring some water? WES: I heard this story from my great great grandfather well, not from him exactly, but from my grandfather when I was very young, that he was taking to people on the internet and taking about when they were young. They had a stick and hit the tire along the streets and ran with it. Wasn t that crazy, Laura? Laura? I don t know why I remembered that. Oh yes tire. It s funny how sometimes something just comes to your mind out of nowhere and you just have to think about it and talk about it sometimes. LAURA: Wes, do you have some water? WES: No. LAURA: Is there any here?
5 WES: No. It looks like they took it. LAURA: What do you mean, ran with it? Wouldn t the tire roll away? WES: No. Apparently you run along side it. LAURA: The tire. WES: Yes, well, not exactly. Just the metal ring, or wheel, or whatever it was without the rubber. LAURA: Right. That sounds strange. WES: Okay, I think we need one more layer of this and that will do for at least a few more days. Then the heat will catch up with us, and we might have to move.again. LAURA: How long do you think they were gone for? WES: By the look of the place, maybe a few weeks. LAURA: have you thought about underground There must be a shelter nearby. WES: No. Not for a while, at least. We need to stay here for a while and then make plans. Laura, are you okay? LAURA: I m just just so tired. I don t know where they are. Oh.I must have dropped them when we were running. WES: The pills? LAURA: Yes. WES: What? You dropped them? LAURA; I think so I must have WES: What are we going to do, Laura!
6 LAURA: It s okay, I ll have a rest and we can go out later tonight to find them, when the sun goes down. WES: We ll just have to see. [A noise is heard outside] Shh! [WES slithers closer to the wall, but he feels the heat radiating from outside seeping in through the walls. He listens carefully]. Did you hear that? LAURA: What is it? WES: Sounds like walking. Outside. You know what that means? If it s walking from outside then it s [silence] LAURA: Then it s what? WES: Shh! [There is a faint knock at the door. Silence.] WES: I think they re gone. LAURA: They could be coming back home. WES: No. [Silence. Another faint knock. WES moves slowly to the door and opens it slightly then rushes back indoors slightly. A faint murmur is heard outside.] Yes? [A woman in her 30 s enters tentatively holding a bottle of pills].
7 JANE: Excuse me. Is this yours? LAURA: My pills. Yes, where did you find them? WES: Who are you? JANE: I m Jane. These were on the road outside. We were walking past and WES: We? JANE: Yes, me and my daughter. LAURA: Thank you for my pills. Can I please have them? JANE: We were walking past and I saw them on the road. It s not often you find medication on the side of the road, and I did notice someone looking out just earlier. I wasn t sure if anyone was here in this house. WES: Are you going to come in aren t you hot? JANE: We ve been walking for days. Trying to pace ourselves during the days, but making most of our journey from east to west, at night. LAURA: Where is your daughter. JANE: She s not well. She she s under the shelter across the road. I need help to carry her. Do you have a spare... WES: There s nothing here. Laura is very sick can she have her pills please? JANE: Help me with my daughter, please. She needs some rest. LAURA: Do it Wes. She can sit here. There are no beds in this house. Just do it. [WES carefully exits the house, JANE looks back, then places the pill bottle just inside the house. JANE exits but leaves the door open. LAURA, in pain, shuffles over to the door, on the floor, and takes the bottle of pills. She staggers back on to the couch. A
8 sigh of relief she opens the bottle. She finds just stones in the bottle. In frustration, she pours all the stones on the table. She is in despair]. [WES and JANE enter carrying KATRINA, who is dazed and confused. Barely conscious. They gently place KATRINA on the couch next to LAURA. LAURA flinches away and takes the stones and bottle and holds them in her hands as she scuffles away, in pain, on the ground to be furthest away from JANE and KATRINA]. WES: Hey, hey, this is just temporary Laura. We ve got to make sure Katherine here is all fine before the can move on. [LAURA furiously throws the bottle and stones over at KATRINA and JANE]. LAURA: You! You.what have you done with my medication! JANE: Now look, I can explain this all WES: I know Laura, but we have to help out here there are people in need. LAURA: I could die! JANE: Katrina is only young. She needs all the help she can get. [KATRINA stirs. She is speaking undecipherable words that cannot be understood] JANE: Must be the pills! See! Katrina! Katrina! Can you hear me? WES: Did you find water on your way here? JANE: No, but I m sure there are bunkers around here. I know there is, there s water storages somewhere around here. I know. LAURA: I told you Wes. They re near by! KATRINA: [slowly waking up] No! No! JANE: She has seen them all. They took her. WES: I m Wes Katherine, can you hear me? [Katherine nods slowly]
9 JANE: Katherine we are guests here. I found some medicine to make you better, but you must rest because I don t know how long it would be before I find some more medicine. KATRINA: I I I felt a mouse under my bed. WES: A mouse? JANE: Shh! She s waking up. She s trying to tell us something. KATRINA: A mouse.under my bed. JAME: This is when it began, all the swelling, and rashes all through her body. [to LAURA] Is that what you have? Did you feel it too? LAURA: Yes, but I need my medicine. WES: We re going to get some, just rest KATRINA: My room loud bangs all night, I couldn t sleep they were after me! They tore my bed to pieces the sheets were torn. The door was locked JANE: Just rest, Katherine. Keep the talking to later. You need to rest for the medicine to work. KATHERINE: My pillow was being pulled! I couldn t get it back it was too strong. LAURA: What was too strong. What s she talking about? JANE: Listen! WES: Let her talk, Laura but just be quiet KATHERINE: Then it wrote on the wall I couldn t read it LAURA: Never read it. If they leave anything on the walls, do not read it! JANE: Do you know? LAURA: [struggling to keep upright on the ground] No.
10 KATHERINE: It wanted us out, it got rid of our house. WES: Take it easy. JANE: Katherine, it s time to rest. We re going to find you some water. KATHERINE: I can breathe now. I can see now. I can see what they did. I can see I can see everything now. JANE: We should find some water. WES: The bunkers are a fair way. It will take some time before we get there. We should leave after dark. JANE: We don t have time. Katherine is getting weaker. Yes, she s taken the medication, but she is still weak. Your lady here will also not make it if we don t find water in the next day or so. [silence] WES: Laura, I have to go. This is for your benefit too. I might find some medicine along the way JANE: We can t waste time. [to KATHERINE] we will be gone soon, Katherine. I need you to stay here with Laura, okay? We won t be long. [WES and JANE leave the house. They close the door behind them. As they leave, the atmosphere of heat and rising temperature floods the house] [silence] KATHERINE: They didn t believe me. They ignored me, Laura. They didn t listen to me. The house being destroyed, the noises, all of those things.
11 Will you hear me? Do you believe me? Are you sick like me? Are you the same? Do they believe in you Laura? Do they? I forgot to say, thank you for the pills. [There is no response from LAURA. She seems unresponsive]. Laura? Well, I guess it s your pain my gain [silence] END.