I owe a debt of gratitude to the following people and organisations: Robert, Gabriel and Sasha Beech-Jones, Andrew Denton, the Kit Denton Fellowship Award, Tim Jones, Rachel O’Riordan, Timothy Daly, Camilla Rountree, Caleb Lewis, the National Theatre in London, the cast of the National Theatre read, the Seymour Centre, the University of Sydney, Paul O’Beirne and Currency Press, Ransom Theatre UK, Riverside Theatre Australia, and the entire casts of the premier productions. I would also like to thank Hilary Bonney, Lisa Cahill, Rochelle Zurnamer, Celia Ireland, Lucy Bell, Hilary Bell, Karen O’Connell, Rick Goldberg, Julia Pincus, Ian Learmonth, Heather Mitchell, the entire Miller family and the wonderful friends I have who continuously support me in both my theatre career and my life generally.
CHARACTERS
SIMON, works for the National Parks and Wildlife.
JESSICA, married to Simon. Fast, arty, unconventional. Works as a radiography technician at the town hospital.
CAMILLE, Simon’s co-worker. Married to Lachlan. She has a two-year-old son, Angus.
LACHLAN, married to Camille. Father to Angus.
ANDY, a government-appointed psychologist.
SETTING
The action takes place in a small town situated near a national park. This story is set over a Christmas period. Should it be staged in the northern hemisphere the author permits appropriate weather conditions to be changed where they are mentioned in the script.
A NOTE ON THE TEXT
A backslash [ /] at the end of a line of dialogue indicates the following line immediately runs after this line.
A backslash [ /] within the dialogue indicates the next line of dialogue begins, running over or drowning out the remainder of the original line.
An em-dash [—] indicates an unfinished throught, or a moment in which a character doesn’t voice their thought. It can also be an interrupted unfinished thought.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This play has been developed by the National Theatre in London culminating in an industry read in 2009. It has been further developed by Ransom Theatre (new writing theatre) in Belfast. The playwright acknowledges the generous support of the Kit Denton Fellowship awarded for Writing with Courage (2008) for the development of this work; and Playwriting Australia for funds to travel to the National Theatre and Ransom Theatre for the development. The playwright also acknowledges dramaturgy by Timothy Daly and Rachel O’Riordan. O’Riordan has been fundamental to the writing of this work.
Production Photos
Dorothea Myer-Bennett as Jessica and Richard Dormer as Simon in the 2009 Ransom Theatre production. (Photo: Rosie Mac Photography.)
Richard Dormer as Simon in the 2009 Ransom Theatre production. (Photo: Rosie Mac Photography.)
Amy Mathews as Jessica and Glenn Hazeldine as Simon in the 2011 Seymour Centre production. (Photo: Helen White.)
Amy Mathews as Jessica and Anna Lise Phillips as Camille in the 2011 Seymour Centre production. (Photo: Helen White.)
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE
An evening in December.
Lead up to Christmas.
Simon and Jessica’s place.
A large X-ray collage covers the wall.
Lights up on a radio, illuminated on a kitchen benchtop.
A retro formica table in the centre of the kitchen.