Cyberbile & Grounded

by Alana Valentine

  ORIANA: It’s food colouring.

  CELINE: Why would you do that?

  ORIANA: What, you thought I would try to kill myself? Over some vindictive bitch like you. I wouldn’t bother. People shouldn’t kill themselves in response to some low-life like you. They should cover themselves in red paint and get their own back.

  CELINE: Oriana, this is so totally extreme.

  ORIANA: To make you confess.

  CELINE: You frightened me half to death, you bitch.

  ORIANA: You’re the bitch. You’re the lying, deceiving piece of shit that I thought was my friend.

  CELINE: You wanted me to do it.

  ORIANA: I did not, you sick hag.

  CELINE: You would never have told me anything. You would hardly have even looked at me as a friend if I hadn’t. And yes, I liked that you depended on me, I liked that you trusted me and relied on me. I liked it. So what? So freakin’ what?

  ORIANA: I am so going to get you expelled.

  CELINE: Get away from me.

  CELINE exits. ORIANA screams after her.

  ORIANA: Yes, walk out! Walk out and pretend that that’s the end of it! People think I’ve got a venereal disease because of you, so now you can never leave! Congratulations! My so-called schoolfriend is going to be with me for the rest of my life! Every time someone googles my name it will be you, not me that they’re seeing!

  SCENE SEVENTEEN

  FIGURE 7: Because I’m an English teacher I’m actually interested in the language of the online world. I mean, there are basically now three registers of language. Formal, colloquial and cyberspeak which is mostly slang and abbreviations. OMG. LOL. Smiley face. Sad face. And somehow I think that young people think that by abbreviating words they have less power. That if you say someone is f, star, star, k’d that somehow you diminish the impact of that. And then if everyone is using those abbreviated forms of abuse and normalising it that people can just flip it off and be kind of teflon-coated. I worry that by diminishing the words we use and reducing it all down to a kind of code speak that we are in fact diminishing the breadth and the depth with which we can think about things. The complexity with which we can think about things. I mean, I’m not advocating that people on social networks should all write in rhyming couplets or sonnets but I do wonder about… I dunno… the lack of poetry in cyberspace. And somehow… I may be drawing a bit of a long bow here but go with me… somehow when you reduce language to a whole lot of abbreviations and you simplify language down into words of one syllable or less somehow that contributes to a brutalising of our feelings and our emotions and our spirits. Language is such a wonderful treasure trove—because words contain the struggle to be understood in a complex way. People have invented words for ideas and feelings and things that wouldn’t in a way exist unless we had a word for them. People are always saying these days that they can’t put their feelings into words and sometimes I wonder if it’s less about there not being any words for their feelings than they just don’t know the words or having taken the trouble to seek them out. But I’m an English teacher so of course I’d say that. What I’m really trying to say is that ugliness of behaviour is somehow, sometimes reflected in ugliness of expression. And I’m going to tie myself in knots because some people who speak simply can be wonderful, kind people and some people who speak in a sophisticated manner can be horrible, pompous and nasty. Actually I don’t know what I’m trying to say except that a lot of cyberbulling is really crass and vulgar and diminishes us as human beings. We’re better than that and young people are better than that. Young people contain such beauty and such hope and such brilliance of possibility and as an English teacher I want to fill them up with words that can… I dunno… make all that just shine out of them.

  SCENE EIGHTEEN

  ORIANA is sitting, reading a book.

  TERRI: Whatcha doin’?

  ORIANA: I’m practising my trapezoid handstands.

  TERRI: There’s no need for sarcasm.

  ORIANA: Well, I think I’m pretty clearly reading a book.

  TERRI: I don’t want you to bite my head off.

  ORIANA: Maybe better not to speak to me then.

  TERRI: You hanging out by yourself a lot these days?

  ORIANA: What of it?

  TERRI: Nothing. I just thought you might want some company.

  ORIANA: If I do, it won’t be you.

  Pause.

  TERRI: Don’t let her do that.

  ORIANA: Here we go.

  TERRI: Don’t let her make a bitch out of you.

  ORIANA: Maybe I always was.

  Pause.

  TERRI: You still think she did it?

  ORIANA: She told me she did.

  TERRI: She reckons that she said that to make you call the ambulance.

  ORIANA: I know what she reckons.

  TERRI: Anyway. I wanted to give you this.

  ORIANA: What is it?

  She hands her a matador gold shoulder epaulet.

  TERRI: One of the outcomes of the cyberbullying project is this thing called Matador Mondays where people can come and talk to someone about a bullying issue they might be dealing with. And if you’re the designated counseling matador you get to wear the shoulder piece. If it takes off we could have people all over the school wearing them just one day a month.

  ORIANA: Who’s going to go to that?

  TERRI: Maybe no-one.

  ORIANA: No-one is right.

  TERRI: But even if they don’t come and report it, it will keep the issue on people’s radar and you never know, somebody might just reach out or a bully might think twice before they go for it.

  ORIANA: Expel Celine. That will send the bullies a message.

  TERRI: Will you wear it?

  ORIANA: No, Terri, I won’t. I’ve asked you to go away. I’ve asked you nicely and I’ve been rude and now I’m going to be very rude. Leave me alone and don’t push this matador bullshit on me. There is no justice, all the teachers pretend like it can all be dealt with privately and we can all make it up and work it out and be friends. But I’m the one who has to live with what people think of me being out there, forever.

  TERRI: I know.

  ORIANA: Are they saying you have diseases? Are they?

  TERRI: No.

  ORIANA: Then you don’t know and you get stuffed with your crappy little matador bullshit.

  TERRI: Don’t speak to me like that.

  Pause.

  ORIANA: I’m sorry. But you pushed me.

  TERRI: I didn’t push you. I asked you to be part of something positive. You’ve got no right to abuse me like that.

  ORIANA: You’re right.

  TERRI: I know I am.

  ORIANA: I’m sorry.

  TERRI: You can’t speak to people like that. Not on the net and not in person.

  ORIANA: I said I was sorry.

  TERRI: You’re so busy moping about what Celine did or didn’t do. Face it, you’ll never know.

  ORIANA: I do know. And I know that she’s going to get away with it.

  TERRI: So what?

  ORIANA: So what? That’s not justice, that’s not fair. The world is rooted.

  TERRI: And what are you going to do? Just curl up in a little ball and whine about it?

  Pause.

  ORIANA: Now who’s being a bitch?

  TERRI: Not really.

  ORIANA: Yeah.

  TERRI: Some friendships come with a bit of tough love.

  ORIANA: I’ll say. [Pause.] I just want her to be punished.

  TERRI: But they can’t prove it so she can’t be punished.

  ORIANA: But that’s not good enough.

  TERRI: No, it’s not. But it’s how it is.

  ORIANA: Well, I don’t accept that.

  TERRI: Alright. Stew away then.

  TERRI begins to leave.

  ORIANA: Wait.

  TERRI: No, I don’t think I will.

  ORIANA: Wait.

  TERRI: Why should I?

  ORIANA: Because
. [Pause.] Who thought of the title Matador Mondays?

  TERRI: Me. Why?

  ORIANA: It’s lame.

  TERRI: Lame?

  ORIANA: Cheesy lame.

  TERRI: The little kids will like it.

  ORIANA: Maybe.

  TERRI: Well, can you think of something better?

  ORIANA: Of course I can.

  TERRI: What?

  ORIANA: Toreador Tuesdays?

  TERRI: Oh yes, I can immediately see the superiority in that.

  ORIANA: What’d I tell you?

  TERRI: Toreador Tuesdays. So much bolder, so much easier to remember.

  ORIANA: Thank you.

  TERRI: Yeah, right. [Pause.] Want to come and talk to Miss Pardelote about it?

  ORIANA: Sure. We’ll say it was my idea.

  TERRI: Of course.

  ORIANA: Alright then.

  TERRI: Lead on, ‘el toro’.

  SCENE NINETEEN

  FIGURE 8: My dad says that if I can learn the value of the cyberworld, the value of personal learning networks and social networks and if I can learn to use them, well, I’ve got a chance of winning. He used to say that this was all particularly difficult in an all-girls environment because girls deal with things differently. ‘Girls can be incredible bitches,’ he’d say, ‘if you don’t mind me saying so.’ He told me… ‘If you have an argument with somebody in the class I want you to go outside with them and I want you to beat up on each other because that’s what boys do and they end up as friends rather than let any issues linger and fester.’ But now that I’ve shown him stuff on the sites, the stuff that the boys say to the girls and the boys say to each other, he doesn’t say that anymore. When I showed it to him he shook his head and said ‘it’s a different world, it’s such a different world’, and he, and I was really shocked, he looked right at me and said, ‘I don’t know how to help you with this. I don’t know how to help you but I don’t want to fail you.’ And I said, ‘Dad, you don’t need to solve it for me’, and that was all I said but now, every now and then he’ll ask me how I’m going and I mean honestly I wouldn’t tell him everything because some of it would just freak him out. But I know, I do know, that, if it ever got bad or even if I thought I was handling it but could tell that I wasn’t, I would tell him. I would go to him. Because he’s seen what it is and he wouldn’t be all shocked now. He told me that he wasn’t part of the cool group at his school, he said that he was a dag and when he goes to school reunions, not that I’ve ever known him to go, but he said whenever he goes he still kind of gets left out and that’s by the mean kids. He said the mean kids never go away you just get better at not caring what they think. But he wouldn’t get involved in any problem I had unless I asked him to. He says, ‘at the end of the day you’re teenagers and that’s how teenagers roll’. ‘It’s like giving you dating advice,’ he said, ‘at the end of the day you have to figure out for yourself what’s right or wrong. And find out who your real friends are and who’ll stick by you.’ So… yeah… I don’t care if he thinks he’s still a bit of a dag… he is a total dag, you know… but he’s also a teeny bit… only the teenest little bit… but still a very little bit cool.

  THE END

  GROUNDED

  Grounded: Introduction

  Grounded was developed as a co-commission between Tantrum Theatre from Newcastle and the Sydney-based national youth theatre company, Australian Theatre for Young People (atyp). As the Artistic Director of atyp I was involved in the development of the script as dramaturge from the initial idea to the opening night.

  It’s interesting to recall that the first discussions about this work in March 2010 weren’t with Alana, but with Tantrum Theatre’s then Artistic Director Brendan O’Connell. Both companies were committed to the development of new Australian plays written specifically for young actors. We had talked about the prospect of working together on a piece that could engage an audience in Sydney, but would be specific to the tone and culture of Newcastle. The aim was to tell a unique Newcastle story that everyone would be able to relate to. We also discussed the prospect of working with a leading Australian playwright likely to develop a script that would go on to be published and presented by schools and youth theatres around the country. Days later Brendan forwarded the proposal from Alana Valentine for the commission that went on to become Grounded.

  Looking at the original synopsis proposed by Alana, it is remarkably similar to what became the play. So often with projects of this type the final script can bear little semblance to the initial discussions and project ideas. The most notable change was the name. Grounded was initially proposed as Tanker Town, a catchy title that speaks to the armada of bulk carriers that tend to be anchored just out to sea beyond the busy port on any given day.

  But that title only lasted as long as Alana’s first research trip to Newcastle. She quickly informed us that the name had to be changed because they were not ‘tankers’, they are bulk carriers moving coal. The inaccuracy of the name would be evident to people from Newcastle. Throughout the development of Grounded Alana took great care to ensure that the elements of the play that related to the city or to the events surrounding the grounding of the Pasha Bulker were always factually accurate. This was integral to ensuring the work maintained an authentic sense of place.

  Apart from the title, and a slight change in character name, you’ll see that the heart of the story remained steady throughout the two years of development. The initial proposal described the story in the following paragraph:

  Tanker Town is about a young woman, Aurora, who lives close to the Newcastle port. She is unpopular at school so she spends a lot of time watching the containers come in and out of the port, dreaming about other places where she might be able to get away to. Then one day, one of the container ships goes aground on one of the Newcastle beaches, and because of how much she knows about the ships and shipping she becomes a popular interviewee with the media. Indeed, the grounding of the ship brings the world that she has dreamed about for so long to her doorstep and Aurora realises that, however bad things get, it’s never long before everything changes.

  The proposal, and in turn the final script, caught our imagination because it used a unique and very specific Newcastle incident as the catalyst for a broader ‘coming of age’ tale. The notion of a teenage girl obsessed with the prospect of shipping is at the same time absurd and intriguing. It’s plausible that someone growing up in one of the world’s largest coal ports could become fascinated with the daily movement of ships from around the world. And it’s equally plausible that such a person would be considered a ‘freak’ and an outsider by their peers. While we might not specifically relate to the interest ourselves, most people can relate to the sensation of being an outsider or looking for acceptance. As a result Alana had proposed an idea that could be at the same time specific to Newcastle but universally engaging.

  As the development of the script got underway it became clear there were a number of obstacles to overcome. Grounded needed to weave together the actual events surrounding the grounding of the Pasha Bulker; find a way of communicating the importance of those events at the time; and then place this context within the fictitious journey of a teenage girl looking for a sense of acceptance or belonging. As the script developed Alana found a startlingly original way to counter these obstacles.

  Alana Valentine is the only playwright I have worked with who sets the creative team presenting her work artistic challenges that she has not already resolved. So often one of the difficult things for a playwright seems to be that they have a very distinct idea of how their work should be presented. The tone of each sentence, the intentions and movements of the actors, even the layout of the stage can be vividly clear in the author’s mind. When they attend rehearsals or performances there is a need to reconcile the difference between what they intended when they wrote a scene and the way the artists have interpreted their words.

  Alana, by contrast, deliberately challenges artists presenting
her work to find solutions to theatrical problems that she creates. I distinctly remember a conversation between Alana and the director of the play Toni Main. The stage direction states ‘An ENORMOUS physical model of the Pasha Bulker crashes onto the stage’ and Toni asked Alana how she imagined that happening. Alana’s reply was simply, ‘I don’t know. You’re the director, that’s your job.’

  Throughout Grounded Alana has used very different theatrical forms and conventions to convey the different aspects of the story. Farrah’s closest relationships, those with Chloe and Jack, are represented in a naturalistic style that allows the audience to empathise and relate to her on a personal level. The style provides the emotional arc of the story as Farrah travels from isolation to a sense of belonging. All other relationships are represented in various forms to accentuate Farrah’s difference or the emotional tone of the scene.

  One of the interesting aspects of this play is the way the chorus is integrated into the action. The bullying that takes place at school is created by contrasting Farrah’s naturalistic world with a stylised chorus who speak with different voices but a unified intention, clearly ostracising her from her peers. Similarly the direct impact of bullying on young people is represented by the chorus, but this time through the delivery of verbatim text recorded by Alana during script development workshops. The text provides very specific teenage voices talking about people who were picked on or isolated for being different. This text suddenly contrasts the often magical world of the play with the real life experiences of teenagers.

  A scene that I find a particular theatrical delight is the grounding of the Pasha Bulker, which borrows very heavily from a traditional Greek chorus. During this scene the chorus transform into a highly abstract entity using language, rhythm and movement to convey the chaos and momentum of the storm. And then of course there is the second use of verbatim text to accurately convey the circumstances surrounding the event itself and the actions of the real-life people involved.

  The character of Matilda, Farrah’s mother, is represented by three actors in a single costume. Each of the actors represents one attribute of her mother’s personality. Together they highlight the gulf that has opened between the two. Far from relating to each other as people, it becomes clear Farrah sees her mother as a creature very far removed from her own life. This theatrical device beautifully captures the sense that mother and daughter now live in different worlds.