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    Rabbit (NHB Modern Plays)
    Rabbit (NHB Modern Plays)
    Rabbit (NHB Modern Plays)
    Ebook141 pages1 hour

    Rabbit (NHB Modern Plays)

    By Nina Raine

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    • Family

    • Relationships

    • Friendship

    • Communication

    • Love

    • Love Triangle

    • Friends to Lovers

    • Family Secrets

    • Unrequited Love

    • Dysfunctional Family

    • Emotional Vulnerability

    • Ex-Lovers

    • Self-Destructive Behavior

    • Emotional Honesty

    • Friends Gathering

    About this ebook

    A fiercely funny play about what it's like to be a young woman living, working, drinking, loving and having sex in the 21st century.
    Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright

    Critics Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright
    It's Bella's 29th birthday. Friends and former lovers meet for a drink to celebrate. But as the Bloody Marys flow, the bar soon becomes a battlefield.
    'Excellent' - Time Out, Critics' Choice
    'razor-sharp' - Observer
    'Terrific. A smart and bracing battle-of-the-sexes comedy. As accomplished and penetrating as Patrick Marber's Closer' - Sunday Express
    'Electric. This sharp, witty play about sex, success and self-knowledge is a must-see' - Stage
    'a writing debut of exhilarating punch and real comic perspicacity' - Independent
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNick Hern Books
    Release dateOct 9, 2014
    ISBN9781780013305
    Rabbit (NHB Modern Plays)
    Author

    Nina Raine

    Nina Raine is a director and playwright. Her plays include Consent (National Theatre, 2017); Tiger Country (Hampstead Theatre, London, 2011); Tribes (Royal Court, London, 2010, and Barrow Street Theatre, New York; winner of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and Drama Desk Award) and Rabbit (Old Red Lion and West End, 2006; winner of the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright).

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      Book preview

      Rabbit (NHB Modern Plays) - Nina Raine

      Nina Raine

      RABBIT

      NICK HERN BOOKS

      London

      www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

      Contents

      Title Page

      Dedication

      Original Production

      Characters

      Act One

      Act Two

      About the Author

      Copyright and Performing Rights Information

      To my parents

      Rabbit was first performed at the Old Red Lion Theatre, London, on 16 May 2006. The production transferred to the Trafalgar Studios, West End, on 5 September 2006. The cast was as follows:

      Rabbit received its American premiere as part of the Brits Off Broadway Festival at 59E59 Theaters, New York, on 5 June 2007, with the following cast changes:

      Characters

      BELLA, late twenties

      FATHER, late fifties

      EMILY, late twenties

      TOM, late twenties/early thirties. Possibly black, or, if white, more London/street than the others.

      RICHARD, early thirties. R.P.

      SANDY, late twenties/early thirties. Amazonian. Accent could be either London or elsewhere, for instance, Australian.

      The girls are all attractive, but should be different ‘types’ physically – hair colour, height, etc. Ditto the men.

      The main setting is the restaurant and the table at which the friends sit. But the area lit should be small and intimate: and it is in the darkness around this focal point that the father’s scenes materialise.

      ACT ONE

      BELLA’S FATHER sitting on a sofa in a dressing gown.

      BELLA standing. They are looking at a little wooden table.

      BELLA. No.

      Beat.

      No.

      FATHER. No?

      BELLA. No.

      FATHER. You can’t see it?

      BELLA. I can’t see it.

      FATHER. Look at it.

      Beat.

      Go over there. Go over there and look at it.

      BELLA. Dad –

      FATHER. Go over there and look at it. Take a proper look at it. Touch it.

      BELLA goes over to the little table. She runs her hand over it.

      BELLA. It’s a table. Wood. There’s nothing there.

      FATHER. No, look at it.

      BELLA. I am looking at it.

      FATHER. Look at it properly.

      Pause.

      There’s a pattern on it. Just over the top there. A pattern all over it. These . . . dots.

      Beat.

      Over the top of it.

      Beat.

      See it now?

      Lots of red and gold –

      Red and gold –

      Clicks fingers.

      Red and gold –

      BELLA (one hand on the table). Spots?

      Shakes his head.

      Circles?

      Shakes his head.

      FATHER. Red and gold. (Clicks fingers again.)

      Red and gold. (He makes a diamond shape with his hands.)

      BELLA (comes slowly back to sit down). Diamonds.

      FATHER. Red and gold diamonds all over it. Beautiful.

      BELLA. You just need to practise. The words come back.

      FATHER. But you can see it.

      Beat.

      BELLA. No.

      FATHER. You said diamonds.

      BELLA. I guessed.

      Beat.

      You can get the words back. The words come back. The words –

      FATHER. Stop talking to me about the words. I don’t want to talk about the fucking words. It –

      BELLA. Oh for Christ’s sake, Dad. The words. The pattern. It’s the same thing.

      FATHER. No.

      BELLA. Dad, it is. Don’t let’s argue about this. Jesus. Ask anyone. The nurse –

      FATHER. The nurse is wrong.

      BELLA. That’s why your words –

      FATHER. The words, the words, the words. I know. You said. You said. She said.

      He makes a sweeping gesture with his hand.

      The words – (Again.)

      The words are a – (Again.)

      The words are a –

      Finally.

      ‘ . . . passing thing.’

      Beat.

      BELLA. They can be recovered.

      FATHER. They can’t be recovered.

      Silence.

      BELLA. Dad –

      FATHER. Listen.

      Just listen a moment.

      Pause.

      Can you hear that? Pause.

      Can you hear that? You must be able to hear that.

      They are both quiet. The buzzing of a fly.

      BELLA. A fly.

      FATHER. Well, thank Christ we agree about something.

      Beat. They listen. It stops.

      Listen. Let me tell you something. I’m going to be fine.

      Silence. They look at each other. The fly starts to buzz again.

      Blackout. The buzzing of the fly turns into the buzzing of –

      A restaurant. Two girls sit in the bar area, at a low table. EMILY and BELLA. EMILY is looking over BELLA’s shoulder. BELLA waits in a state of tension.

      A pause.

      EMILY (decisively). No.

      BELLA. Keep your voice down!

      EMILY (a whisper). Alright!

      Beat. A hoarse stage whisper.

      I said, ‘No.’

      BELLA (hoarse whisper). He hasn’t seen me?

      EMILY. He hasn’t seen you.

      They wait. A tense pause.

      It’s fine. He’s not even looking over here. He’s going over to the bar. He’s right over there.

      BELLA. You sure he didn’t see me?

      EMILY. He’s at the bar.

      BELLA. Did he see me?

      EMILY. He’s getting two drinks.

      BELLA. OK.

      EMILY. It’s OK. He didn’t see you.

      BELLA. OK.

      They both relax.

      EMILY. So who is he?

      BELLA. He’s ‘Tom’.

      EMILY. Yeah ‘Tom’, you said, but which ‘Tom’?

      BELLA. You know which Tom. You know. I mean, how many Toms are there! Don’t make me feel like a slut!

      EMILY. But you are a slut.

      BELLA. There’s only one Tom. I treated him like shit. That Tom.

      EMILY. Oh. (Looks.)

      BELLA. Yeah.

      Beat.

      EMILY. He’s coming back.

      BELLA. Shit.

      EMILY. He’s coming back this way.

      BELLA. Shit. Can he see us?

      EMILY follows TOM’s movements.

      EMILY. Wait a sec. No. He’s going to a table . . . Two girls sitting at it .

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