Cyberbile & Grounded
Page 11
FIGURE 6: That’s so cool.
FARRAH goes over and sits with them.
FIGURE 3: Like travelling is one thing that I really want to do. And I don’t know if that’s travel for work or just travel to see, you know.
FARRAH: I’ve always wanted to travel.
FIGURE 2: Aren’t they building a VFT for Newcastle?
FIGURE 3: What’s that?
FARRAH: A very fast train.
FIGURE 2: That will make a massive difference to where people will want to live. And like, 25 minutes to Sydney. Why would you want to live there when you can live here and be so much more relaxed?
FIGURE 4: Is it going to be 25 minutes?
FIGURE 1: That’s so fast.
FARRAH: Actually, it’s not really that fast compared to a lot of VFTs overseas but it is still fast for Newcastle.
FIGURE 3: I just don’t want to be stuck here. Because there’s so many other opportunities out there. I mean, I really like the place, I have a lot of friends and a lot of family here but it’s just not enough.
FARRAH: It’s like if you want to make something of yourself you’ve got to leave here before you can come back so you’ve got a worldly experience.
FIGURE 1: Because if you just stay in the one place you don’t know anything.
FIGURE 2: Even though you might.
FIGURE 3: But that’s what people make you feel as though… if you don’t move out of home and go overseas, you know, you haven’t lived.
FIGURE 4: That’s my exact problem with what I want to do. Because obviously I’m a person who likes to be in control of things and take charge of things but I want someone to show me what is possible that I haven’t even thought of.
FIGURE 5: Like when I was really little I wanted to be the Queen.
FIGURE 6: Yeah, like that’s going to happen.
FIGURE 5: I wanted to be the Queen of Australia.
FARRAH: And that’s good because you were just thinking big. And so what if that changes and so what if it seems impossible? Why shouldn’t you have big dreams and bold dreams no matter where you come from? What says to you you have to do what’s expected or only reach as far as you think you can? There’s plenty of time to be realistic and to compromise.
FIGURE 2: Farrah’s right.
FIGURE 3: Yeah, that’s really it, Farrah.
FIGURE 4: Nice one, dude.
FIGURE 5: Word up, captain.
FARRAH: Shut up.
FIGURE 6: Or she’ll put us all in the brig.
FIGURE 2: Or she’ll throw us overboard.
FARRAH: Yeah.
The FIGURES exit.
JACK: So what are we going to do?
Pause.
FARRAH: Spec.
JACK: [with a laugh] Yeah?
FARRAH: Speculate about where to from here.
JACK: A swim at Nobbys?
FARRAH: Nah.
JACK: A trip to Sydney.
FARRAH: Okay.
JACK: The boat museum in Darling Harbour.
FARRAH: Maybe.
JACK: Lunch at the overseas terminal.
FARRAH: And that’s your shout, is it?
JACK: Shout!
FARRAH: Is there an eight-storey cruise ship in the dock?
JACK: The Queen Mary.
FARRAH: Yeah.
JACK: Speed back up the highway.
FARRAH: Within the speed limit.
JACK: That too.
FARRAH: Yeah.
JACK: All good.
FARRAH: Yeah.
JACK: Yeah.
Pause.
FARRAH: Spec, shout, speed. So where’s the sock?
He waits, then leans in to kiss her.
Sock.
JACK: And if you want the spill you’ll have to read my blog.
FARRAH: What?
JACK: shipping enthusiast.com
FARRAH: It is not.
JACK: Check it out.
He flicks her with something as he exits. She flicks him back.
SCENE TWENTY-ONE
One of the MATILDAS emerges as a single mother figure. She is with FARRAH.
MATILDA: It’s my way of saying that I’m sorry.
FARRAH: I know.
MATILDA: I didn’t believe you when you said that you didn’t do the graffiti.
FARRAH: I know.
MATILDA: I didn’t even really listen to you properly.
FARRAH: I know.
MATILDA: I’m always busy and I’m always late.
FARRAH: I know.
MATILDA: So this is my way of saying that I’m sorry. Coming out here to look at it.
FARRAH: West Basin.
MATILDA: What’s that?
FARRAH: That’s the berth, it’s called West Basin.
Pause.
MATILDA: I’ve never understood what you see in them.
FARRAH: I know.
MATILDA: All these years, I’ve never realised that you were serious.
FARRAH: I know.
MATILDA: But it’s a new day.
FARRAH: It is.
MATILDA: If you want to go into all of this as a career. Well, I won’t stop you.
FARRAH: I know.
MATILDA: Stop saying I know.
FARRAH: But I do know.
MATILDA: Do you? I wish I had your confidence in me as a mother. I think I’ve been rubbish at it.
FARRAH: You have.
MATILDA: What?
FARRAH: And I’d like you to have your replacement in place before you leave.
MATILDA: What?
FARRAH: I’m firing you.
MATILDA: Firing me?
FARRAH: That’s right.
MATILDA: You can’t fire someone from being your mother.
FARRAH: Exactly. So you just get on with it.
Pause.
MATILDA: Would you want to?
FARRAH: Fire you?
MATILDA: If you could?
FARRAH: Sure.
MATILDA: That’s not what you’re supposed to say.
FARRAH: Mum.
MATILDA: You’re supposed to say you understand. You understand that I’ve had to work day and night to give you what I can. That I’ve got caught up in that and if, sometimes, I’ve left you too long to your own devices well, I can make it up to you now.
FARRAH: You’ve brought me out to see the Pasha Bulker in berth, haven’t you?
MATILDA: What do you think they’ll do with it now?
FARRAH: The papers are saying that it will be taken to Brisbane for repairs and then I imagine if it’s still seaworthy they’ll give it a new name.
MATILDA: But it’s famous as the Pasha Bulker.
FARRAH: It’s famous for being grounded.
MATILDA: Good point.
Pause.
FARRAH: The harbourmaster has invited me to accompany him on a piloting operation. Can I go?
MATILDA: What is it?
FARRAH: You get helicoptered out to a bulk carrier off the coast then you move rapidly but carefully across the deck up into the bridge of the ship and observe as the marine pilot navigates the vessel into one of the Kooragang berths.
MATILDA: And if I say no you probably really will fire me as your mother?
FARRAH: Yep.
MATILDA: And that’s what you’d be doing if you wanted to take this up as a job?
FARRAH: Oh no, mostly I’d be doing cutter transfers which involves you climbing about nine metres up a ladder on the side of a moving ship. If they privatise the ports probably more and more of them will be cutter transfers.
MATILDA: I’m sorry I asked.
FARRAH: You get training, Mum. In Tasmania. There’s even a simulator.
MATILDA: It’s such a big responsibility.
FARRAH: And isn’t that what Nanna said to you when you decided to have me as a single parent?
Pause.
MATILDA: She couldn’t stop me. I’d never been so elated, terrified and nervous about anything I’d ever done.
FARRAH: But that’s no
reason not to do it.
MATILDA: Well, that doesn’t sound like someone who’s grounded anymore.
FARRAH: Blame it on the Pasha Bulker.
MATILDA: I beg your pardon?
FARRAH: There’s a song.
MATILDA: And if you sing it, the answer will definitely be no.
FARRAH: I’m not going to sing.
MATILDA: Then… yes.
FARRAH makes the sound of the tug whistle.
Do it again.
The full cast make the sound of the tug whistle.
THE END
Copyright Page
CURRENCY PLAYS
First published in 2013
by Currency Press Pty Ltd,
PO Box 2287, Strawberry Hills, NSW, 2012, Australia
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www.currency.com.au
First digital edition published in 2013 by Currency Press Pty Ltd
Copyright: Cyberbile Foreword © Greg Friend, 2013; Cyberbile © Alana Valentine, 2011, 2013; Grounded Introduction © Fraser Corfield, 2013; Grounded © Alana Valentine, 2012, 2013.
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Any performance or public reading of Cyberbile or Grounded is forbidden unless a licence has been received from the author or the author’s agent. The purchase of this book in no way gives the purchaser the right to perform the play in public, whether by means of a staged production or a reading. All applications for public performance should be addressed to RGM Artist Group, PO Box 128, Surry Hills NSW 2010. Tel: +61 2 9281 3911; Fax: +61 2 9281 4705; Email: info@rgm.com.au.
Front cover shows Jemima Webber as Farrah in Grounded (photo Justine Potter).
Typeset by Dean Nottle for Currency Press.
Cover design by Heath Killen and Katy Wall for Currency Press.
Printed ISBN: 9780868199849
ePub ISBN: 9781925004120
mobi ISBN: 9781925004137
Cyberbile & Grounded was created with assistance from the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.