Us-Them

by Carly Wijs

  Carly Wijs

  US/THEM

  NICK HERN BOOKS

  London

  www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

  Contents

  Title Page

  Original Production

  Introduction

  Characters

  Us/Them

  About the Author

  Copyright and Performing Rights Information

  Us/Them was produced by BRONKS and Richard Jordan Productions with Theatre Royal Plymouth and Big in Belgium in association with Summerhall. It premiered in Dutch at BRONKS Theatre in Brussels on 27 September, 2014. The production received its UK premiere in English at Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on 3 August 2016. It subsequently transferred to the Dorfman auditorium of the National Theatre, London, on 16 January 2017. The cast was as follows:

  Gytha Parmentier

  Roman Van Houtven

  Director

  Carly Wijs

  Created with

  Thomas Vantuycom

  Designer

  Stef Stessel

  Lighting Designer

  Thomas Clause

  Sound Design

  Peter Brughmans

  Dramaturg

  Mieke Versyp

  Introduction

  Carly Wijs

  BRONKS are a theatre company for young audiences based in Brussels, Belgium. When they asked me if I was interested in creating a performance for them, in 2013, the terrorist attack in a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, had just occurred. I had read about it in the newspapers and watched footage of it on television, but I had not discussed it with my then eight-year-old son.

  But he had seen it for himself on the news and he came to tell me. The way he talked about the attack was very specific: objective, aloof, with the ability to overlook the emotional implications. He handled the news factually, as a sequence of events, and without having to connect it to a judgement. It was as if the horror for him as an eight-year-old child had a completely different meaning because it was not possible to relate it to his own life. A child, unlike an adult, does not think: ‘That could have been me.’

  I started to think about another horrifying act of unspeakable violence – the Beslan school siege of September 2004 – and how this dark episode in history could combine with the thoughts and impressions of children about such acts, to make a piece of theatre for young people. I subsequently managed to persuade Oda Van Neygen, who was at the time artistic director of BRONKS, and to this day I thank her for her courage in allowing me do it.

  If you type ‘Beslan’ into Google and look at the pictures, it is riveting. You cannot let go of the horror. The fact that it involves children makes that feeling even stronger. It is an abomination in the extreme. But how can we put such indescribable acts on stage? How can we make something that is totally incomprehensible, understandable? And isn’t it taboo to make a piece of theatre about terrorism, aimed at audiences of children? Ultimately, I do not believe it is taboo – in fact, no subject should be taboo for children. It is just important that you use the right words. Discussing the topic of terrorism with children is a challenge, but it can be done. And must be done.

  Why Beslan? Well, the drama took place at a school, and the first day of school is something to which every child can relate. The fact that the terrorists chose that specific day and environment to stage their atrocity reflects a profound perversion – but I did not want to talk about the perversity of it all. That’s just an ongoing debate by adults: why is this happening? A child cannot answer and does not have to answer that question. That is the privilege of being a child.

  Whilst doing research, I came across a gripping BBC documentary called Children of Beslan, in which the story of the siege is told by the children who were held hostage (it’s available to watch on YouTube). These children gave the same factual account of those events as my son had given about the Nairobi attack. Aloof almost. Which, of course, does not mean that these children do not have an enormous trauma to process. Unfortunately, the horrifying implications of what happened to them will probably hit them when they grow up. But the only thing that seemed to count for the children in the documentary was that the story was told as accurately as possible.

  It was because of this documentary that I decided to tell the story entirely from the perspective of the children involved: one boy and one girl. There is a difference between their perspectives, but they both try to be as precise as possible in their accounts of what happened during the three-day siege. This precision sometimes takes the form of a ‘Show and Tell’ presentation, a scientific paper or a maths lesson, like you get in school…

  But sometimes the children flee from the horror, straight into the comforting arms of the imagination. In the documentary, a boy fantasised that Harry Potter would arrive wearing his invisibility cloak and kill the terrorists one by one. Others fantasised that they were part of a film and none of this was really happening to them. In the play, the children devise their own endings to the siege that are either extremely happy or extremely sad.

  Almost 1,200 people, including 777 children, were held hostage during the siege. Outside the school there must have been several thousand people. And yet, in the news footage, Google searches and documentaries, you keep seeing the same group of about fifty photogenic people. In all of the footage that has survived from those fateful days, it’s always the scenes of greatest desperation and devastation that play on a loop, that come back time and time again. Even though the story – and other stories like it – need no further dramatisation, the media keep pushing that sentimental ‘drama’ button. And we keep watching.

  This manipulation of our feelings, and the fact we allow it to happen, is neither innocent, or inconsequential. If – or when – we are blinded and overwhelmed by emotions, we stop being able to think and reflect and analyse. Our only response becomes ‘Oh my god, this is terrible.’ And yet it is essential that we don’t stop thinking and reflecting and analysing. Only by doing so can we get to the origins of these atrocities – and then, we hope, start to think about preventing them.

  As adults, we are conditioned by our overly dramatised perspective, by the media, by ourselves, into black and white thinking: ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’. The refreshing thing about a child’s gaze is that it is not coloured by the need for ‘dramatic interpretation’, because that view of things does not connect to their own life. And if it does connect to their own life, it is tackled through imagination. That is what Us/Them is about.

  Characters

  GIRL

  BOY

  An empty stage. At the back there is a wall or blackboard with coat hooks sticking out of it.

  On the floor in front of the blackboard there are two pieces of chalk and a sponge. To the right of the stage, a bunch of black helium balloons, held down by a large block of wood. A BOY and a GIRL appear. They walk past the balloons and each take a piece of chalk. Then they walk to the front of the stage and begin to draw lines on the floor. Although they start at the same spot, there is soon a clear difference between their two drawings.

  GIRL and BOY. These are the outbuildings. That’s where the toddlers are.

  While the GIRL is drawing, she constantly mumbles measurements to herself and checks whether they match what she is drawing on the floor. She looks irritated at the BOY who is drawing a different-sized plan. In turn, the BOY is annoyed with the GIRL because she is getting in his way.

  This is the gymnasium.

  Adjoining it is the large main building.

  There are three floors.

  The main building towers over the other buildings.

  From here you can see the whole terrain.

  There are twenty classrooms spread over three floors. On the ground floor to the right is a cantee
n.

  They have finished drawing. On the floor we see two versions of the school plan drawn over each other in chalk, overlapping in places. The BOY and the GIRL explain the layout of the buildings, pointing out the various locations. But as their drawings and stories are not exactly the same, they point in different directions. Sometimes they complement each other, sometimes they contradict each other, and sometimes they try to outpace the other.

  On the third floor the offices of the director and the administration.

  They each point out a different place for the library.

  And a library with two thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine books. Mainly textbooks, but also five hundred and thirty-three children’s books with stories.

  Surrounding the buildings, a large play area in a U-shape.

  There are three entries or exits.

  In front of the main building, on the left, the main entrance.

  On the right side a side entrance. Very practical: if you are late for school, you can sneak in and join the rows. In between the main building and the first extension is another exit. This exit is very useful: in case of a fire, people can escape in all directions.

  In case of danger, you only have to barricade three doors.

  Next to the canteen is a small kitchen. That’s where they make the soup and the potatoes that we eat for lunch. On the other side of the kitchen is a staircase. That leads to a hidden cellar. That basement cannot be seen from the outside, but also not from the kitchen.

  At the front of the building is the small town. The school is the largest in the town.

  BOY. According to many people also the best school.

  GIRL. It’s School Number One.

  The following summary of facts is completely rattled off with accompanying gestures.

  BOY and GIRL. The town has approximately thirty-three thousand six hundred and forty-six people.

  Three swimming pools.

  One Museum of Folk Art.

  Twenty-one churches.

  Fifty-three mosques.

  Five tennis courts.

  Seven parks, most of which without ponds and ducks.

  One hundred and four baker’s.

  Forty-eight butcher’s.

  Twelve supermarkets, three of which are very large.

  Five thousand registered cats.

  Eight thousand six hundred and twenty-four chickens that lay forty-two thousand one hundred and twenty eggs per week.

  Four vegetarians.

  Two hospitals, three hundred nurses. Fifty-eight doctors.

  Three police stations with fifteen policemen. Nothing much happens here.

  The GIRL walks forward and points at a spot behind the audience.

  GIRL. Behind the school there’s a forest. There’s a path from the school that leads straight through the forest to the border.

  GIRL and BOY. A hundred and twenty kilometres away.

  GIRL. On the other side of the border is Chechnya, with its capital Grozny.

  There the children can only go to school until they are eight.

  Then they must work.

  Mostly in brothels for paedophiles.

  The fathers are addicted to drugs.

  The mothers all have moustaches and have to work like horses.

  There are no tennis courts.

  BOY. No, no tennis courts.

  The BOY walks to the back and tries to get the GIRL to go with him, but she wants to tell us more about Chechnya. He goes and draws a large rectangle in chalk on the right side of the stage. Round the bunch of balloons. Then he sees that, in her enthusiasm, the GIRL has erased his version of the gymnasium with her foot. Angrily he walks to the spot and carefully redraws the lines that she has erased.

  GIRL. When you enter Chechnya from the border, the forest changes into boring fields. But on our side it is stunning. Really marvellous. A paradise-like nature. In a well-known hiking guide for professional hikers this path has been described as:

  BOY. ‘The most beautiful trail in the region, with magnificent views.’

  GIRL. You’ll see the white-headed duck, the black vulture, the Caucasian salamander, but also lots of wild sheep, which are known for their long woollen fleece. As a child I used to lay on one. They are very popular all over the world.

  The GIRL shuffles over towards the spot where the BOY is at the balloons.

  BOY (indicating the chalk rectangle he has just drawn). Here is a podium.

  GIRL and BOY. That’s where the principal and thirty-five teachers are.

  To the right of the podium are rows of parents, about five hundred and three in total.

  Three hundred and seventy-eight mothers, one hundred and three grandmothers and twenty-two fathers.

  In the middle of the playground the children are arranged in rows.

  A total of seven hundred and fifty, aged two-and-a-half to twelve years.

  They each have seven balloons in their hands, one for each year that they are in school. That is a total of five thousand two hundred and fifty balloons.

  GIRL. It is the largest school in the region.

  BOY. You already said that.

  BOY and GIRL. On the left side of the stage, is a choir of twenty children. They have been selected to sing some songs on this day.

  The first song is called ‘Oh Wonderful New Future’.

  They sing the song and perform choreographed movements – the kind that would help children to remember the words of

  a song.

  O wonderful new future

  I beg you, to have mercy

  I beg you, please have mercy

  Have mercy on me

  Today’s a new beginning

  Of a wonderful new future

  My wonderful new future

  I run into your arms.

  GIRL. Masha also sings in the choir.

  BOY. The second song is called ‘In the Fields’ and it goes

  like this…

  The BOY begins to sing ‘Poljushko Polje’ by Lev Knipper and Viktor Gusev, but is interrupted by the GIRL, who runs forward again and starts talking about Masha.

  GIRL. I want to tell you anyway.

  What happened to Masha… a really terrible story…

  Last year a disaster occurred on September 1st. The first school day was a catastrophe. Because of the heat, it is hot now, but last year it was, thirty-two degrees Celsius in the shade on September 1st, and Masha fainted. Just like that. Boom. Flat out on the floor. Terrible. Her eyes turned away. Completely dehydrated. So this year all the children and parents were given a bottle of water at the entrance. At all costs last year’s drama had to be avoided.

  That is why this year we start at nine instead of ten o’clock. It’s only twenty-three degrees at that time.

  BOY. The second song is called ‘In the Fields’ and it goes like this…

  He sings two bars but is interrupted by the GIRL again.

  GIRL. Helmut Lotti made a very beautiful version.

  Helmut Lotti’s version of ‘Poljushko Polje’ plays. The BOY listens, annoyed, but still sings along. The GIRL enjoys the beautiful sound of Helmut’s voice.

  Then the mood changes. The song continues, but the GIRL and the BOY start to speak, hurried and urgent. Their voices are hardly audible over the loud music, but we can hear words, snatches of what happened during the terrorists’ raid of the school.

  GIRL and BOY. The terrorists come from over there.

  From the dark forest.

  A group of thirty-five storm the school.

  They wear masks and guns.

  Immediately they occupy the three entrances of the school.

  In the schoolyard the festivities continue.

  The choir sings on.

  People think it’s the balloons that pop.

  It’s only when Masha starts her solo that everyone sees the terrorists and the children let go of their balloons.

  People flee into the main building.

  A small group runs to the bo
iler room.

  In the main building the exits are blocked.

  Everyone is looking for shelter.

  A boy hid in a cupboard, while he heard the rest go by.

  Here a girl crawled on to a rack, with coats spread over her.

  Someone stood behind the curtain, but her feet were still visible, so she got caught.

  GIRL (simultaneous). A teacher pushed as many parents and children as possible into the cellar, until she was taken away by one of the terrorists and brought to the gymnasium through the small corridor. The people that were left in the cellar escaped during the night.

  In the gymnasium: one thousand one hundred and forty-eight people. The terrorists surrounding them are heavily armed. They were ordered to sit down, all of them, with their hands on their head.

  In the meantime, in the boiler room, the escaped people crawled over, along, under, behind… the machines, to the other side.

  BOY (simultaneous). Meanwhile, the people in the boiler room were crawling under the pipes and over the pipes.

  Children were passed on.

  Towels, that were placed there to dry, were hanging over the pipes.

  I participated in the regional school basketball tournament and that was the week before, so plenty of towels were used. We came first in the tournament and I scored five points.

  The towels were used to cover the pipes, so no one got burned by the pipes.

  BOY and GIRL. It was very warm.

  Eventually they were able to jump out of the window.

  GIRL (simultaneous). In the gymnasium, the men were pointed out one by one and taken. We could hear them walking down the corridor, up the stairs, past the first classroom, the second class, the third, past the library, and into the sixth grade. In that room there was an argument between a female terrorist and the leader of the terrorists. She had a bomb vest, he had the button. By detonating her, four of the men died. They were thrown out of the window. The others had to stand by the window and one by one they were shot. They toppled over the railings and fell to the other side…