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Plays 5

Page 12

by Caryl Churchill


  –

  I chose this woman as my friend.

  We have two feasts with both our husbands,

  killing sheep and dancing and singing,

  gifts and guests, just like a wedding.

  –

  A woman of ninetyseven says

  –

  Haven’t you ever fallen in love with another girl?

  –

  In Lesotho

  a woman says

  –

  In Lesotho

  women like to kiss each other.

  And it’s nothing. Except sometimes.

  –

  Somebody says in Burkina Faso

  –

  Gender is not the same as anatomy.

  The earth is very delicate machinery

  with high vibration points,

  and some people must be the guardians

  to keep the continuity

  with the spirits of this world and the other.

  The one who binds the spirits is the gatekeeper.

  His vibrational consciousness is far higher

  and that makes him gay.

  You don’t get chosen,

  you choose it yourself before you’re born.

  You come into the world with that vibration

  and the Elders know you’re connected to a gateway.

  –

  English law.

  –

  English law says 1533

  –

  Forasmuch as there is not yet sufficient

  and condign punishment

  for the detestable and abominable

  vice of buggery,

  it may please the King’s Highness

  with the assent of the Lords Spiritual

  and the Commons of this present Parliament

  that the same offence be henceforth judged a felony.

  –

  Hang them.

  –

  Somebody says

  –

  Englishman in Angola

  sixteenth century

  –

  They are beastly in their living

  for they have men in women’s apparel

  whom they keep among their wives.

  –

  A missionary says

  –

  Seventeenth century

  –

  Sodomy is rampant in the south of Angola.

  –

  Missionaries, missionaries

  –

  Unnatural damnation

  –

  Detestable vices

  –

  Forsaking the natural use of women

  –

  Copulation contre nature.

  –

  Seventeenth century

  –

  Father Cavazzi

  –

  in the Congo as a missionary.

  –

  The Ganga-ya-Chibanda

  is the most powerful Ganga.

  He dresses like a woman

  and is called the Grandmother.

  He dresses

  for sacrifices

  in the skin

  of a lion.

  He has bells to call the gods of peace

  and spirits of the dead.

  He kills a snake,

  a dog and a cock,

  they bury the dog’s head.

  And the spirits show him where to find it.

  Of course it’s a trick,

  he’s told where to find it.

  When he dies

  he’s buried in the forest

  with such indecent ceremonies

  the page would blush, so I can’t write it.

  They pull out his heart and liver

  and hack off his toes and fingers

  and sell them as relics.

  And the colonial governor

  can do nothing at all without the help of the Ganga.

  –

  Father Cavazzi writes

  –

  This information is for the missionaries

  consecrated to the people’s instruction.

  Somewhat fruitless up to now.

  –

  Somebody says

  –

  Italian explorer 1900

  –

  Men in Eritrea

  sleep with little devils.

  No one thinks it’s evil.

  Diavoletti.

  –

  Somebody says

  –

  German anthropologist 1923

  –

  Homosexual intercourse

  from Orange to the Congo.

  It’s generally widespread.

  –

  The laws against sodomy

  were imported to the colonies.

  Repealed in Britain

  but thriving in the colonies.

  Thriving in the countries

  that used to be colonies.

  –

  We try them in the courts.

  –

  They had connection

  –

  fundamental orifice

  –

  obtained his purpose.

  –

  I was only playing.

  –

  Beating your wife

  –

  (She ends up dead)

  –

  Three months in prison.

  Emitting semen on another man’s legs

  Six months in prison.

  –

  Somebody says

  –

  Ovambo chief

  –

  I know it is forbidden.

  I shoot them with my Browning.

  –

  Museveni says

  –

  President of Uganda. 2014

  –

  This Act that we have passed

  shows our independence

  independence in the face of western pressure.

  –

  We have our own culture.

  –

  We will fight these vermins.

  –

  They are beasts of the forest

  –

  Mad people and criminals

  –

  Hand them over to the police

  –

  You cannot have a right to be a sick human being

  –

  Homosexuality will destroy humanity

  because there’s no procreation

  –

  There is no right in homosexuality

  –

  It is sub-animal behaviour, we will not allow it

  –

  If they don’t like it they can leave

  –

  It is unAfrican because it is inconsistent with

  African values of procreation and belief in the clan

  –

  It is unnatural behaviour and strange to our culture.

  –

  Somebody says

  –

  Winnie Mandela

  –

  It is alien to our culture. It is filth.

  –

  Somebody says

  –

  American evangelists

  –

  We’re losing America.

  –

  We’re winning in Africa.

  –

  American evangelist

  –

  Gays are the agents

  of America’s moral decline.

  The force behind Nazi atrocities.

  If they could get away with killing

  anyone opposed to them like yours truly,

  they’d do it.

  They have the media, academia,

  Hollywood, big corporations,

  mental health associations,

  even the US military.

  Uganda can be a country led by God.

  –

  American evangelist goes to Kampala, says

  –

  Homosexuals have a hidden and dark agenda.

  Evil.

  They t
hreaten the marriage based society.

  –

  Ugandan legislator says

  at a Family Breakfast

  –

  (this is a secret Christian organisation,

  American organisation)

  –

  Let’s consider execution.

  –

  American evangelist says

  –

  We’re not involved in US politics

  much less in the politics of another nation.

  I don’t support the death penalty

  but I support the Bill.

  I support the stand against evil.

  Winning in Africa.

  –

  We have our own culture.

  –

  Somebody says, somebody says

  –

  Either is equally good and beautiful.

  –

  I didn’t know it was a crime.

  –

  Dogs do it, giraffes do it, flamingoes

  –

  If I wanted to have a woman I can get plenty.

  –

  I never noticed anything peculiar, he worked as a nurse, I thought him sound in his mind.

  –

  Why should we worry since we can’t get pregnant?

  –

  Just staying together nicely.

  –

  People now don’t love like they did long ago.

  –

  I was welcomed by his family.

  –

  We loved them better.

  –

  Somebody says

  –

  a Khoikhoi man

  –

  I wanted him so I gave him a cup of Sore-water.

  Nice when it’s coffee but water will do.

  I said Sore-gansa-are!

  Drink the Sore-water!

  And he took it in his hands and drank it

  which means Yes.

  –

  It’s wasa, play.

  –

  It’s iskanci, craziness.

  –

  Sometimes for all our lives.

  WAR AND PEACE GAZA PIECE

  War and Peace Gaza Piece was first read at the launch event of a project called War and Peace: Gaza (Palestine) – London (UK) Tolstoy’s novel as theatre at Rich Mix, London, on 14 September 2014. The project was part of the ten-year partnership (2009–2019) between Az Theatre (London) and Theatre for Everybody (Gaza) called Gaza Drama Long Term. The cast was as follows:

  NARRATOR

  Harriet Walter

  MARIA

  Anna Capper

  FATHER

  David Calder

  LISA

  Elsa Mullien

  PIERRE

  Joe Kloska

  BABY

  Tom Clark

  Director

  Jonathan Chadwick

  NARRATOR

  Maria Bolkonskaya is a young Russian girl and she is doing mathematics. Her father, the Old Prince, likes to watch.

  MARIA

  If the angle ABC is ninety degrees then the square on AC is equal to the sum of the squares on AB and BC.

  FATHER

  Can you prove it?

  MARIA

  Yes but I didn’t figure it out myself, it’s Pythagoras, don’t you remember how to prove it?

  FATHER

  I’m not sure I do, can you show me?

  NARRATOR

  Lisa Bolkonskaya, his daughter-in-law, is sitting by the window.

  LISA

  What are my friends doing now in St Petersburg? Andrei loves his father and sister of course and I was glad to see them the first day but it goes on and on and this should be a specially nice time for me because I’m going to have a baby. What’s Andrei doing now? Is the war really happening? Is he in a battle? What is that, really, a battle, what happens in it, how do they do it? Nobody tells me.

  NARRATOR

  Andrei’s looking forward to a battle. He’s having a drink tonight with his friend Pierre. He leaves in the morning.

  ANDREI

  A glorious war.

  PIERRE

  I don’t know what you get out of it.

  ANDREI

  I’ll be fighting Napoleon. What do you get out of peace?

  NARRATOR

  And Maria says

  MARIA

  The angles – what’s that noise?

  FATHER

  Just thunder, let’s close the window.

  MARIA

  It’s getting nearer.

  NARRATOR

  And Lisa says

  LISA

  I’ve a stomach ache. I wonder if I ate something. It’s better now. No, it’s not. Oh, I wonder.

  NARRATOR

  And Andrei says

  ANDREI

  War’s very loud.

  NARRATOR

  And Pierre says

  PIERRE

  Freedom.

  NARRATOR

  And Maria says

  MARIA

  I can’t concentrate.

  FATHER

  Just start again and pay attention.

  MARIA

  I can’t with all the noise. I’m frightened.

  NARRATOR

  And Lisa says

  LISA

  It hurts. I’m frightened. I want Andrei.

  NARRATOR

  And Andrei says

  ANDREI

  They just keep bombing.

  NARRATOR

  And Pierre says

  PIERRE

  What’s happening?

  NARRATOR

  And Maria says

  MARIA

  I can’t study any more.

  FATHER

  Don’t sleep by the window, let’s move your bed.

  NARRATOR

  And Lisa says

  LISA

  Why are they bombing while I’m having a baby?

  NARRATOR

  And Maria says

  MARIA

  Hold my hand.

  NARRATOR

  And the Old Prince says

  FATHER

  The baby’s alive.

  NARRATOR

  And Andrei says

  ANDREI

  I’m lying on the ground looking at the sky.

  NARRATOR

  And Maria says

  MARIA

  Lisa’s baby’s alive but did you see them next door carrying their baby out?

  NARRATOR

  And the Old Prince says

  FATHER

  Andrei’s disappeared. Nobody knows where he is. They haven’t found his body.

  NARRATOR

  And Pierre says

  PIERRE

  Is there no news of Andrei?

  NARRATOR

  And Maria says

  MARIA

  Father.

  NARRATOR

  And the Old Prince says

  FATHER

  My palace is in ruins. There’s nothing but rubble further than I can walk.

  NARRATOR

  And Lisa says

  LISA

  I never saw the baby.

  NARRATOR

  And Maria says

  MARIA

  I’ve no books any more.

  NARRATOR

  And Andrei says

  ANDREI

 

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