Title: Listen up
by Sarah from Kent | in writing, fiction
The scene opens in blackout, with noises combining to make a soundscape. There is a large screen being suspended above the stage which is blank. We hear children laughing and shouting. There is the sound of something slamming into a school locker violently.
School Bully- Sorry!
There is more laughter. The sounds then change to create a football match- we hear footballs being kicked, followed by someone falling to the floor and laughter. A whistle blows.
Football Coach- For god's sake boy, get up! You're completely useless- you're letting the whole team down!
The sounds then change again with the sounds of traffic and shouting from older teenagers. The lights change to create a city sky, with small pinpricks of light across a backdrop of a star cloth showing lights from skyscrapers and blocks of flats. We hear a boy breathing heavily.
Gang Member- Oi! Come here!
There is the sound of a knife clicking open followed by running, while the older teenagers shout. This sound builds to a crescendo, with the boy's breathing increasing. There is a sudden change with a door opening and closing, when the teenagers can no longer be heard. There is the sound of a television playing quietly in the background. We hear two adult voices.
Mother: You don't give me any freedom in this house!
Father: You can't be trusted with any.
Mother: I swear, Mark, nothing'
Father: Liar!
There is the sound of a plate being smashed and a woman crying. A door opens on-stage and a small boy wearing in school uniform no older than 13/14 walks into the scene. Lights come up on a small, sparsely decorated beige-coloured bedroom. There are no photographs or pictures on the wall. The boy has cuts and bruises across his face and arms. He stands in his room for a moment, before throwing his bag angrily across the room and curling up on his bed, crying for a few moments. He then reaches out for his laptop, which is on the bedside table next to him. The screen then projects the laptop screen as he types.
Laptop message- School days. Growing up. Luckiest generation, best days of your life. That's what we're told, that's what they say. But what do they know? Maybe the 'real' world isn't meant for everyone. The 'real' world only hurts and damages and destroys. I don't feel safe in that world, but I do here. This is my world.
An internet window pops up with the words:
Window- Welcome To The Chatroom TIMY20.
I was inspired by the stage play 'Chatroom,' where a group of 15 year olds were all connected through an internet chatroom. I wanted to show the bleaker side of teenage life, with the individual as a victim of teenage gangs and bullying rather than just becoming another statistic. The use of a soundscape was designed to stress the importance of listening to the story, as the voice of a neglected teenager such as the main character's is often ignored by most of the adults around them. The use of the laptop instead of ever hearing the main character's voice was deliberate- I wanted to show that he felt isolated and unable to communicate with anyone in the real world, but was in fact very articulate in the virtual anonymous world of cyber-space. The username is an acronym of This Is My World, with the number being the percentage of children who used internet chatrooms in 2002 (the figure is now likely to be far higher.)
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