Truck Stop (2 page)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Thanks to Dramaturg Francesca Smith and the artists who have contributed to the development of this play: Kristy Best, Elena Carapetis, Leah De Niese, Katrina Douglas, Laura Hopkinson, Kylie Hiscock, Chris Mead, Elizabeth Nabben, Eryn Jean Norvill, Jane Phegan, Shari Sebbens, Sabrin Teó, Jess Tovey and Janine Watson.

Thanks also to Crowded Fire Theatre San Francisco, Q Theatre, MKA Theatre, Cate Carey, Mark Denny and Drama Students from Springwood High School, Susanna Dowling, Kylie Druett, Sue MacDonald and Drama Students from Chifley Senior College Mt Druitt, Peter Moses and Alicia Talbot.

FIRST PRODUCTION

Truck Stop
was first produced by the Q Theatre Company, Penrith, on Wednesday 23 May 2012, with the following cast:

Director, Katrina Douglas
Set and Costume Designer, Michael Hankin
Sound Designer, Peter Kennard
Video Designer, Sean Bacon
Lighting Designer, Chris Page
Production Manager, Annette Rowlison
Stage Manager, Emma Taite

CHARACTERS:

Truck Stop
can be played by four actors in the following combination:

SAM

KELLY

AISHA

JOSIE/ MICHELLE/ CHARMAINE/ INDHU/ BRUCE/ NURSE/ SEX WORKER/ MISS/ TATUM/ ROBBO/ NAT/ TRENT/ TORQUAN /NOAH/ ROWSE.

NOTE ON TEXT:

Since pop stars come in and out of vogue so fast, the Ke$ha lyrics used may need to be altered to fit the day of performance.

Projection: We see Sam and Kelly perform in a dance concert at age 10.

The girls, now 14, enter and sit at a roadside picnic table. The projection morphs to a busy highway, traffic coming at us.

We hear a CB radio, a vague conversation between two men, rich with static interference.

There is a sharp slapping sound like a whip.

Black.

AISHA:
In the middle of the quad that day Kelly walks up to Sam and slaps her in the face. Slap like a cracking whip. Everyone hears it. Stops.

Sam shakes her head, turns away, turns back, runs at Kelly, pushes her to the ground, punches her in the face. Kelly snatches Sam's hair, twists it round her wrist, pulls her by the hair, looks her in the eye, spits in her face.

Kids circle them, phones held overhead.

Teacher pushes through the ring, rips Sam and Kelly apart.

Teacher yells, spits anger in their faces. Two sides he's saying. Two sides to every story.

Everyone says that.

KELLY
returns and sits at the picnic table with a plastic water cup and drinks.

Miss Rowse, the headmistress, stands in front of the whole school and raves on about protection. The school gates protect you from the outside, your parents and your friends protect you, look out for you. Her voice drops to almost a whisper as she says
but you still need to protect yourselves
.

SAM
is beside
KELLY
but it is evident they are now in a different place.
KELLY
crushes the cup.

The story about the Truck Stop has more than two sides.

Jessica Tovey as Kelly and Eryn Jean Norvill as Sam in the 2012 Q Theatre production at the Seymour Centre. (Photo © Amanda James)

Sam's side. Kelly's side. The truck drivers, their wives or girlfriends or mothers or sons.

Sam's mum, Kelly's mum, Sam's dad, the cop and the counsellor.

Me.

Sam saying,

SAM/AISHA:
If this was a TV show.

KELLY:
A movie.

SAM:
A music clip. We'd be two mad chicks in fast cars burning up the highway, hair flying,

KELLY:
Music blaring,

SAM/KELLY:
Getting faster and faster and faster,

SAM:
Hear us coming?

KELLY:
See us coming, how fast / we're racing up the road.

SAM:
We're racing up the road.

AISHA:
Then there's something there.

KELLY:
What is it?

SAM:
It's in the way.

AISHA:
They see it too late. They swerve, they lose control.

SAM:
Our speeding cars don't slow, they scrape each other,

AISHA:
Metal hits metal then the dust, the sparks,

KELLY:
We skid away from the road, the twist crash hit thud of the cars and / we roll.

SAM:
We roll /

KELLY:
Brakes gasp /

SAM:
Glass rains /

KELLY:
Horns blare /

SAM:
Thud,

KELLY:
Thud,

KELLY/AISHA/SAM:
Thud.

AISHA:
Then nothing.

Pause.

KELLY:
Nothing.

SAM:
Just like in a movie.

Then.

KELLY:
And now.

AISHA:
Then. Before it happened. Kelly and Sam shared everything,

KELLY:
Socks,

SAM:
Earphones,

KELLY:
Leotards,

SAM:
Maths, Home-Ec, a sim card,

KELLY:
Sausage rolls, diet cokes.

SAM:
Shared every day.

KELLY:
Texted, facebooked every night.

AISHA:
Now. Kelly doesn't speak to Sam. Kelly hardly speaks at all. You can split most things into halves. Movies, hours, oranges, cupcakes.

Friendships don't stand up so well.

We hear flies swarming.

Now. Just after it happened.

Kelly in the waiting room.

KELLY:
Chairs hard, condoms in a bucket. Smell antiseptic. Poster of a girl on the wall with cracks all over her face, some message about getting off heroin but she's a model. Her bruises are fake.

KELLY
tips the remaining water onto the inside of her arm.

AISHA:
She watches / a drop of water run down her arm.

KELLY:
A drop of water run down my arm and stop on the vein I'd use if I was a junkie. A little bit blue.

AISHA:
Footsteps, high heels up and down the corridor.

KELLY:
Woman at the door. She looks at me but doesn't smile. Says:

JOSIE:
Hello Kelly, I'm Josie. Would you like to come with me?

KELLY:
A little room with a hospital bed and a desk and more posters on the walls. What is it with the people in those posters?

JOSIE:
I'm a doctor:

KELLY:
She says, asks /

JOSIE:
Why are you here today then? / Fly circles around the room.

KELLY:
Fly circles around the room.

Pause.

Clock on the wall.

Tick.

SAM
: Tock. / On the clock

KELLY:
On the clock. And the party won't / stop

SAM
: Stop /

JOSIE:
What? Why are you here today?

KELLY:
Um… I think there is something wrong down there.

JOSIE:
Down there?

KELLY:
Want to check it's okay that I haven't got… I want to / get tested

JOSIE:
Get tested?

KELLY:
Yes.

KELLY
and
SAM
look at each other and laugh.

Then.

SAM
: Truth?

KELLY:
Dare.

SAM
: No. Truth. The sexiest bit on a man.

KELLY:
Easy. Adam's apples.

SAM
laughs hysterically.

SAM
: Adam's apples?

KELLY:
Yeah.

KELLY
looks away.

SAM
: Now.

I sit in a shit suburb in an even shittier demountable, next to some counsellor. She looks at me weird. Like she's made it and her life's all sorted. All she does is counselling. Room stinks and the tin walls crack. Fly crawls up her thigh. We're meat in an oven her and me, she's yesterday's left too long. Dried up, grissled.

MICHELLE
stares at
SAM
and smiles. Waits for her to speak. After a time.

MICHELLE:
How shall we start?

SAM
shrugs.

Why don't you tell me why you are here today?

SAM
: Don't you know already?

Fly on your face—it's probably laying eggs on you don't you want to brush it off?

MICHELLE
brushes the fly away.

It comes straight back sits on her like she's a cow shit, a talking cow shit saying:

MICHELLE:
I'd like to hear it from you.

SAM
: Mum made me come. And the school, after it happened they said if I want to stay on then I had to see you.

MICHELLE:
Do you want to be here today?

SAM
: What do you reckon?

MICHELLE:
You seem angry, Sam.

SAM
: I am angry. Everyone I know thinks I am a cock crazed slut.

MICHELLE:
And what do you think?

SAM
laughs.

SAM
: Good one.

MICHELLE:
Would you like to talk about what happened?

SAM
: Camera on me for a long time and then, snap, I tear the singlet off the truckie, run my index finger down his washboard abs, hear him suck in breath, say my line. Nothing can touch us now you know /

MICHELLE:
What about your friend? The girl who /

SAM
: My friend? / We aren't speaking.

KELLY:
We aren't speaking.

SAM
: Not a word.

KELLY/SAM
: I hate her / She hates me.

KELLY:
She did this to me. It's her fault.

SAM
: She hates me. It was her idea.

KELLY:
Josie looks at me doesn't smile or nothing just asks.

JOSIE:
Has something happened that makes you think you need to be tested?

KELLY:

JOSIE:
You can say. No need to be embarrassed. Really.

Have you engaged in oral sex?

Penetrative sex?

Was it protected or unprotected?

Kelly?

KELLY:

JOSIE:
With one partner? Or more?

KELLY
looks disgusted.

It's important we get to the facts. When you say you used protection can you tell me what you used.

KELLY:

JOSIE:
When did you last have your period?

KELLY:
I'm not pregnant. That's not why I am here.

JOSIE:
Any stinging or pain? Discharge, any / blood?

KELLY:
Blood. Just a bit of blood,

JOSIE:
Not /

KELLY:
No, not my period.

Something milky. / Discharge.

JOSIE:
Discharge. Does / it sting?

KELLY:
It stings. A bit. Not all the time.

Looked it up online. Can you fix it?

Can you? Fix it?

Truth?

SAM:
Dare.

KELLY:
No. Truth.

SAM:
Okay. Adam's apples.

SAM
laughs hysterically.

KELLY:
You bitch.

KELLY
looks away.

JOSIE:
How old are you?

KELLY/SAM:
Fourteen.

SAM:
She got in first. Dumped me on facebook. I sent her messages and shit and she barred me.

JOSIE:
Have you spoken to someone about this?

SAM/KELLY:
Everyone knows.

SAM:
She's left school.

JOSIE:
But I mean…

KELLY:
No.

I just need you to fix it.

KELLY
and
SAM
sit silent at the picnic table. We see two flies projected, close up, hear swarming.

Double dare.

SAM:
Double dick dare.

KELLY:
Double dog dick dare.

SAM:
Yuck!

KELLY:
Okay then… truth.

AISHA:
After it happens the things people say online, names they get called and the jokes. How fast they start. Kelly and Sam. How quick things changed.

Not like how it was. / Then

SAM/KELLY:
Then. One year ago.

AISHA:
I've just arrived. My first day of school. Kelly's assigned to me by Mrs. Spratt and she drags me about for the morning /

KELLY:
Computer room but none of them work, bubblers, canteen—watch the scabs, smoker's toilet, music room—watch Mr Moxham—he's a pedo—gets girls to stay back after class and ‘sing', lockers, bin,

Bell rings.

recess. Suppose you want to sit with us.

AISHA:
Okay.

KELLY:
I'm gonna get a sausage roll.

I hang with Sam.

She's going out with Trent.

That's Trent over there. You think he's hot?

AISHA:
Doesn't she sit with him?

KELLY:
Na. He's a lad.

AISHA:
A lad?

KELLY:
Yeah. See their hair?

Lads hang there, we stay here.

AISHA:
There's nowhere to sit here.

KELLY:
Na. Sucks. Gotta be quick to get somewhere good at the start of the year. We weren't so this is it.

AISHA:
A dusty square of ground with a bin and a cross fire of balls.

KELLY:
Stinking hot in summer and now… freeze your tits off once you grow 'em. Your mum have big tits?

AISHA:
What? Why are you asking me that?

KELLY:
Just wondered. Mine doesn't.

AISHA:
Have you got a boyfriend?

KELLY:
Yeah.

Na. Do you?

She offers her sausage roll.

Want a bite?

AISHA:
Why'd you ask me that before / about…

KELLY:
Tits? You need them that's all. To get one.