Jarron
drowning and hypothermic shock
the electrolytes in her blood
Doctor
she held her breath for too long.
Jarron
basically
the trauma to the head might have killed her first if she was lucky
The Doctor looks her over.
Doctor
well, if you will be stupid enough to cross on a boat like that
they bring it on themselves
what is this mark on her?
Jarron
I think it was the lack of oxygen as she went down
Doctor
strange, I haven’t seen one like that before. How many have we got?
Jarron
this is the ninety-third, but they are still pulling them out of the water
Doctor
why do they do it?
why do they take the risk?
Beat.
Jarron
what should we do with the body?
Doctor
we’ll organise some kind of burial. See, that is our problem too. We either bury them here or pay to have them shipped back to where they came from. Either way it comes to us to fork out. The economics of the European collapse will go on and on.
The Doctor starts to go off.
get her processed and get on to the other ones. Don’t spend too long
The devil sits beside Dana.
He puts his hand on her cheek.
He touches her gently across her body.
He lifts her up and sits behind her.
He cradles her.
The Librarian comes in.
Jarron
what are you doing?
Librarian
what are you doing?
The devil doesn’t have an answer to that.
Librarian
I was just delivering some books
Jarron
I don’t think she needs books now
Librarian
on the contrary, she needs lots of books.
where she is going, it gets even more complicated.
Jarron
you weren’t a good guide
look what happened to her
Librarian
you did this, not me
Jarron
I didn’t do a single thing
Librarian
alright, but you watched. You didn’t stop it.
Jarron
she was naive. She had to see a thing or two
Beat.
shall I wake her?
Beat.
do you want me to wake her?
Librarian
you can’t wake her
technically she is dead
Jarron
technically, her heart is still beating. Faintly but it’s present. She could go either way in truth.
on the one hand, a shot of adrenaline and eyes open.
Some oxygen perhaps if she needs it. On the other, just leave her on a trolley and it will be over in an hour or so.
The demon takes a small syringe out of his pocket.
I have it right here
the two gates
Librarian
don’t wake her
Jarron
why not?
Librarian
her sister also died.
I just think one without the other
she has been through enough, this little body
Jarron
she deserved it. She thought she could make me love her, how wrong she was.
He lifts the ampule of adrenaline.
The Librarian stops him.
Jarron
you are only supposed to advise, you aren’t supposed to do anything. You are the librarian, you stay in your corner
Librarian
even the corner man can stand up
Jarron
oh can he?
Librarian
she has been through enough, I said let it stop
The demon deliberates.
Jarron
and let her go?
Librarian
she’s got nothing left, after all, has she? You proved
your point
Jarron
she has got everything. What do you mean, nothing?
she made it over the crossing. She made it to this side.
We could wake her up. Give her some clothes. She could do her presentation, get the job, decent salary, buy a flat
she is one of the lucky ones
she could have everything
how can you say she has got nothing?
Librarian
but her eyes are open now, as you said, she can’t shut them again. Even you can’t shut them. What she has seen – she thought that men and women were basically good, human nature in essence benign. Then she saw it wash all away, one crisis and the jungle came at her, she heard the hyenas howling, saw hell etched on other people’s faces. Let’s face it, she saw the dark swamp at the bottom of the human soul and once you have seen that –
Jarron
we make her forget then.
easy
we make her forget.
we put her in a trance, we wash it off. She is as good as dead, we wash her in the river between the two worlds if we have to.
The devil starts to take off Dana’s soaked clothes.
Librarian
how can you forget all that?
Jarron
you can forget anything
stop making so much of it, so people get a bit nasty, people like Dana they live in a hazy afternoon.
Pleasant but fragile, one slip through a crack – if you dance on the cracks, after all, one day you’ll fall through, that has to be a saying. Has someone important said that?
pass me those shoes, those shoes will suit her
The Librarian passes the shoes.
and a jacket I have laid over that chair
The Librarian passes the jacket.
He starts to put new clothes on her.
Modern clothes, clothes that she will look good in.
I’m going to wake her
you haven’t been a good guide.
I am going to wake her.
find her a book
Librarian
like what?
Jarron
a book on modern living. A book that might have ‘modern living’ in the title. I don’t know. How to Furnish a Flat in a Weekend? What to Wear when You Want to Look Good. The Cinema Guide. A cookery book. A manual on which over-expensive car to buy.
How to Get a Good Seat at the Theatre. Which Charity You Should Give to to Make you Feel Better.
What to Say on a First Date. Topiary for Beginners, The Low-Carb Diet, How to Write a Novel, To Floss or Not to Floss.
do you want me to go on?
He pulls Dana’s hair back.
What Not to Wear, Social Media, Twitter, Pastry-Making for Chefs, Meditation for People who Do Too Much, The Work–Life Balance and How to Survive It
He washes her face.
To Smack or Not to Smack, History for Idiots, A Guide to Alsace Wine, Beating Anxiety, Overcoming Insomnia, Sinusitis, The Prostate Conundrum, How to Chose a Wig, A Thousand Things to See before You Die
He gets her to stand up. Her eyes are still shut. But she stands by herself.
Jarron
Dana
Dana
The lights come on.
The voices of the interview panel join in with the calling of her name.
Dana.
Dana.
Dana.
The interview lights come on.
Dana is standing there, now fully restored in smart clothes suitable for an interview.
Dana wakes with a sharp intake of breath.
Interviewer 1
if you would like to start your presentation now.
About the Author
Zinnie Harris’s plays include the multi-award-winning Further than the Furthest Thing, p
roduced by the National Theatre/Tron Theatre in 2000 (1999 Peggy Ramsay Playwriting Award, 2001 John Whiting Award, Edinburgh Festival Fringe First award); Nightingale and Chase (Royal Court Theatre, 2001); and By Many Wounds (Hampstead Theatre, 1999). Solstice, the first in a trilogy of plays, was staged in 2005 by the RSC, who had already presented Midwinter in 2004; the last, Fall, was staged at the Traverse, Edinburgh, in 2008. The Wheel was staged at the Traverse Theatre by the National Theatre of Scotland and was joint winner of the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award 2011. Zinnie Harris has received an Arts Foundation Fellowship for playwriting, and was Writer in Residence at the RSC, 2000–2001. She is a part-time Senior Lecturer in playwriting at St Andrews University, and from April 2015 will be an Associate Director at the Traverse Theatre.
By the Same Author
also by Zinnie Harris from Faber
BY MANY WOUNDS
FURTHER THAN THE FURTHEST THING
NIGHTINGALE AND CHASE
SOLSTICE
MIDWINTER
FALL
JULIE
(after Strindberg)
A DOLL’S HOUSE
(after Ibsen)
THE WHEEL
Copyright
First published in 2015
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2015
All rights reserved
© Zinnie Harris, 2015
The right of Zinnie Harris to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights whatsoever in this work are strictly reserved. Applications for permission for any use whatsoever, including performance rights, must be made in advance, prior to any such proposed use, to Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd, 4th Floor, Waverley House,7–12 Noel Street, London W1F 8GQ. No performance may be given unless a licence has first been obtained
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–32493–4
How to Hold Your Breath Page 9