Start Swimming Read online

  James Fritz

  START SWIMMING

  NICK HERN BOOKS

  London

  www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

  Contents

  Title Page

  Introduction

  Acknowledgements

  Original Production

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Note on Text

  Start Swimming

  About the Author

  Copyright and Performing Rights Information

  Introduction to Comment is Free & Start Swimming: Two Plays

  It makes me very happy to see these two plays side by side.

  Comment Is Free started life at Old Vic New Voices in June 2015, in a staged reading directed by Kate Hewitt and produced by Martha Rose Wilson. In the audience was Becky Ripley, an incredibly talented young radio producer who saw the potential for the play to work as an audio drama. Working closely with Becky I rewrote the text with radio in mind, and the play was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2016.

  If you can find a version of the original radio production lurking somewhere on the internet it’s worth having a listen, not least to imagine the long, long hours Becky must have spent in the editing room. Understanding that the feeling of the play’s ‘noise’ is as crucial as its content, she spliced together a hundred different crowdsourced voices who delivered a mixture of written and improvised lines based on the text. The effect was noisy and disorientating in exactly the right way. Anyone thinking about performing this play on stage should feel free to do the same if they so wish – so long as the beats of the story are hit, it’s more important that the noise feels exciting, realistic and terrifying than particularly faithful to the text.

  Start Swimming was made incredibly quickly in the spring of 2017 with director Ola Ince and Young Vic Taking Part. Tasked with responding to Paul Mason’s performance and book Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere (which documented the successes and failures of the various protests and revolutions of 2011), Ola and I worked with a group of twelve young people from Lambeth and Southwark to create a new piece that would transfer from the Young Vic to the Edinburgh Fringe. Our aim was to make something that would articulate how our cast felt about growing up marginalised in a major city during a time of incredible political upheaval.

  We decided early on to make something that wasn’t specific to any one voice or story in the room, but instead communicated their widely shared feelings of frustration, confusion, anger and powerlessness. This led to the text’s bare, repetitive structure, which in rehearsals (thanks to Ola’s input) was blended with a binary yes/no that would often reset proceedings when the wrong answer was given.

  In Ola’s original production – which staged the text in a sort of hellish gameshow, with the cast elevated on light-up boxes that would choose participants at random – the yes’s (Y) were marked by the ding of a bell, the no’s (X) by a buzzer which gave an electric shock to our committed actors. The effect was exhausting to watch in the best possible way, and the cast were some of the most inspiring, talented people I’ve had the pleasure to work with. Each of them took the offer given to them by the play’s blankness and ran with it, stamping their own authority and identity over every word.

  I’m excited to discover how those same Ys and Xs might be interpreted differently in the future, and how a new company’s voices and experiences might change the meaning of Start Swimming in ways I can’t imagine.

  These two very different texts started life on the same street in London. Their first drafts were written about two years apart – two years in which it felt, and still feels, that the whole world turned upside down. Both attempted to capture a snapshot of this turbulent period. And both represent records of the first time I worked with brand new collaborators in a brand new way.

  I hope you find them interesting.

  James Fritz

  October 2017

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to Imogen, Rob and all at Young Vic Taking Part.

  Our incredible company, and everyone who shared along the way.

  And Ola and Tyrell, who made it.

  J.F.

  Start Swimming was first performed in The Clare, Young Vic, London, on 26 April 2017. The play transferred to Summerhall, Edinburgh, on 2 August 2017, as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The cast was as follows:

  Adrian David Paul

  Charlotte Dylan

  Eleanor Williams

  Emma James

  Filipe Caetano

  Hana Oliveira

  Isaac Vincent

  Kaajel Patel

  Kimberley Okoye

  Kwabena Ansah

  Shanice Weekes-Brown

  Director & Dramaturg

  Ola Ince

  Designer

  Jacob Hughes

  Sound

  Max Perryment

  Light

  Amy Mae

  Light (Edinburgh)

  Nell Allen

  Assistant Director

  Tyrell Williams

  Production Manager

  Emily Seekings

  Stage Manager

  Annique Reynolds

  Assistant Stage Manager

  Sophie Rubenstein

  Production Stage Manager (Edinburgh)

  Viv Clavering

  Studio Technician

  Nell Allen

  Stage Technician

  Ryan Smalley

  Costume Supervisor

  Kinnetia Aisidore

  Set

  Young Vic Workshop

  Participation Project Manager

  Rob Lehmann

  Director of Taking Part

  Imogen Brodie

  Young Associate Taking Part

  Daniella Connor

  Project Assistant

  Scarlett Sterne

  Marketing Officer

  Beanie Ridler

  ‘… so you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone,

  for the times they are a-changing’

  For Adrian, Charlie, Ellie, Emma, Filipe, Hana,

  Isaac, Kaaj, Kim, Kwabs, Shanice and Michael

  ‘Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.’

  Oscar Wilde

  ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.’

  Albert Einstein (probably)

  Note on Text

  Y indicates an affirmative response – a yes, or a ding, or a reward of some sort.

  X indicates a negative response – a no, or a buzzer, or a punishment of some sort.

  ? indicates a response neither one thing nor the other.

  A line with no full stop at the end indicates an unfinished thought.

  A dash at the end of a line indicates an interruption.

  W

  Wo

  Whu

  Whuuuu

  Wha

  Wha wha wha wha

  Wha wha what.

  What?

  What.

  What ye

  What yerrrrrr

  What yeeee-errrrrrrrr

  Ye-Oooooo

  What yoooooo

  What you?

  D

  D

  Doeeee

  What you doeeee

  Ng ng

  What you doeeeeeng

  H

  Ha

  Heh

  What you doeeing heh.

  What you doing here?

  Y

  What you doing here?

  Y

  What you doing here?

  Y

  What you doing here?

  Y

  I’m?<
br />
  X

  What you doing here?

  Um.

  X

  What you doing here?

  I’m.

  X

  What you doing here?

  Breathing?

  X

  What you doing here?

  Blinking?

  X

  What you doing here?

  Sweating?

  X

  What you doing here?

  Standing?

  YYYYY

  What you doing here?

  Standing.

  Y

  …

  X

  What you doing here?

  Standing.

  Why?

  X

  What you doing here?

  Standing.

  Where –

  X

  What you doing here?

  Standing. Standing still standing alone standing up standing –

  X

  What you doing here?

  Standing.

  You can’t stand here.

  Y.

  Of course I can.

  X

  What you doing here?

  Standing.

  You can’t stand here. See that sign?

  Y

  What does it say?

  Um.

  X

  See that sign. What does it say?

  Keep off the grass.

  Y

  And where are you standing?

  The grass?

  You have to get off.

  Y

  What if I don’t?

  Ten-pound fine.

  X

  One-hundred-pound fine.

  Y

  I got permission.

  From who?

  The owner of the grass.

  And who’s that?

  Mr… Grass?

  X

  What you doing here?

  Standing.

  On the grass.

  That’s right.

  Well, you’re not allowed.

  Y

  Why?

  Because the sign says.

  Y

  It’s bad for the grass.

  Y

  Bad for the grass? Are my feet poisonous or something? You know how much I spent on these trainers? The grass should be thanking me. I’M SORRY GRASS AM I HURTING YOU ARE MY POISON FEET HURTING YOU?

  X

  You’re being aggressive

  Y

  How am I being aggressive?

  You’re being aggressive and talking to me in a threatening manner.

  Y

  I’m calling the police

  Y

  Why you got to be like that? I’m just standing on the grass I’m not harming anyone.

  The police are on their way. I’ve given you fair warning.

  Y

  What’d I do?

  X

  What did I FUCKING DO?

  X

  Okay okay okay.

  What you doing here?

  Standing on the grass.

  Y

  Why?

  I work here…?

  Y

  I work here.

  Why?

  It’s very well paid and I really enjoy it.

  X

  It’s not that well paid.

  Y

  But it’s flexible.

  X

  It’s not very flexible.

  Y

  But it involves helping other people and that’s really important to me.

  X

  It’s not that well paid.

  Y

  The hours are awful.

  Y

  It takes me ages to get there. I don’t enjoy it at all.

  YY

  I don’t like my colleagues.

  Y

  My colleagues don’t like me.

  Y

  I never see daylight.

  Y

  My feet are covered in blisters. I could be sacked at any time I

  Y

  I um –

  X

  What you doing here?

  Standing on the grass.

  Why?

  I work here.

  You’re fired.

  Y

  That’s not fair.

  You were late yesterday.

  Y

  My train got stuck.

  Rules are rules.

  YYY

  I need this job. Fucksake.

  X

  Don’t swear at me.

  Y

  I wasn’t. I’m sorry.

  Y.

  I’m looking for a job.

  We’re closed.

  Y

  I’ve got an interview at four-thirty.

  It’s four-fifty.

  Y

  I know that. I’m really sorry.

  Y

  You’re twenty minutes late.

  My train got stuck.

  That’s not my problem.

  Fucksake.

  Don’t swear at me.

  Y

  I wasn’t!

  X

  What you doing here?

  Standing. On the grass.

  You’re not allowed on the grass.

  Y

  Yeah I know. I’m sorry.

  Y

  I’m really sorry.

  Y

  I’m gonna go now.

  Y

  I wanna go now.

  Y

  I wanna go now this place isn’t what I thought it was.

  Y

  I wanna go now this place isn’t right.

  ?

  I’m standing on the grass but I wanna go now the way these people are looking at me –

  ?

  I’m gonna go now I wanna go now this place isn’t what I thought it was. Everything’s a bit bookey man. There’s a strange smell it’s like burnt plastic. All the people seem, the weather is really, and the ground beneath my feet feels all um I’d like to go I’d like to go I’d

  XXXX

  What you doing here?

  Standing.

  On the grass.

  That’s right.

  Why?

  I don’t know.

  X

  Well, you’re not allowed.

  Y

  Why?

  Because the sign says.

  Y

  Who wrote the sign?

  Get off now please.

  Y

  In a minute.

  Now.

  Y

  If you don’t leave I’ll have to call security.

  Y

  I’ll leave if you tell me why.

  Because you’re not allowed on there.

  Y

  Why?

  Because that’s the rule.

  YYY

  Why?

  Because it’s bad for the grass.

  Y

  Bad for the grass? Are my feet poisonous or something? I’M SORRY GRASS AM I HURTING YOU ARE MY POISON FEET HURTING YOU?

  X

  You’re being aggressive.

  Y

  How am I being aggressive?

  X

  You’re being aggressive and talking to me in a threatening manner.

  Y

  Just wanna know why there’s so much grass and I can’t even stand on one little bit.

  X

  I’m sorry. I’ll calm down.

  Y

  I’m calling the police.

  Y

  Flipsake.

  Don’t swear at me.

  Y

  I didn’t!

  X

  I’m sorry.

  Y

  Don’t swear at me I don’t need people swearing at me.

  Why you got to be like that? I’m just standing on the grass I’m not harming anyone.

  X

  I’ve given you fair warning.

  What’d I do? What did I FUCKING DO?

  X

  What’s going on?

  He’s standing on the grass offi
cer.

  You’re not allowed on the grass sir.

  Y

  If you’d like to come with me sir. Just to have a chat.

  We can chat here.

  Let’s move it along sir.

  Y

  That’s it. You’re under arrest.

  Y

  Come on. What for?

  Resisting arrest.

  You’re arresting me for resisting arrest? How can you arrest me for resisting arrest?

  You’re trespassing.

  Y

  On the grass?

  Assaulting an officer.

  Y

  When did I assault you this is bullshit!

  X

  Sorry.

  Y

  How do you find the defendant? Guilty!

  Y

  I sentence you to one year in prison.

  Y

  Flippin

  Don’t swear in court.

  Y

  I’m sorry.

  I’m very sorry for what I did.

  Y.

  I’m getting out tomorrow.

  Get a job.

  Y

  I’m ready to work.

  Y

  What you doing here?

  I am an incredibly talented hard-working person.

  Y

  What you doing here?

  I have excellent people skills.

  Y

  I’m punctual. I’m good in a crisis.

  Y

  I am experienced at using Microsoft Excel.

  Y

  Microsoft Word. PowerPoint and Outlook.

  Y

  I’m sorry. What you doing here?

  I’m gonna change your life. Seriously. The only reason not to hire me is that it will make your other employees look so shit in comparison that you’ll want to get rid of them.

  Y

  I am the best-looking person who will ever work for you. I will make the most banging playlist for the office party. I will captain all of your company sports teams to league titles.

  Y

  I will leave the tastiest treats in the staff-room when I come back from holiday. I got the best email banter you have ever read. I can flirt just enough to make people’s day a bit brighter but not so much that it crosses into sexual harassment. I will always get the first round in after work. I am the saviour you’ve been looking for. Seriously take a look at me please look at me look at me give me the job you won’t regret it I promise you won’t regret it I promise you won’t

  Y

  You’re hired!

  Yes!

  You’re fired.

  Y

  What. Why?