Ravenhill Plays: 1: Shopping and F***ing; Faust is Dead; Handbag; Some Explicit Polaroids (Contemporary Dramatists) by Mark Ravenhill Read Free Book Online Page B

years, I say. I say he moved in then six months later it starts. I told her and she says ‘Does he use a condom?’
    Mark      Yeah?
    Gary      Yeah. I mean ‘Does he use a condom?’
    When it’s like that he’s not gonna use a condom, is he? Just spit. All he used is a bit of spit.
    Mark      On his – ?
    Gary      Spit on his dick.
    Mark      Of course.
    Gary      And then she / says –
    Mark      / And you –
    Gary      The next thing / she says –
    Mark      Does he / spit –
    Gary      I told her that and / she says –
    Mark      Does he spit up you?
    Gary      Listen. I tell her he’s fucking me – without a condom – and she says to me – you know what she says?
    Mark      No. No, I don’t.
    Gary      I think I’ve got a leaflet. Would you like to give him a leaflet?
    Mark      Fuck.
    Gary      Yeah. Give him a leaflet.
    Mark      Well –
    Gary      No, I don’t want a leaflet. I mean, what good is a fucking leaflet? He can’t even read a fucking leaflet, you know.
    Mark      Yes.
    Gary      And there’s this look – like . . . panic in her eyes and she says: What do you want me to do?
    Mark      Right.
    Gary      Tell me what you want me to do.
    Mark      And you said.
    Gary      Well, I don’t know. Inject him with something, put him away, cut something off. Do something. And I’m – I’ve got this anger, right? This great big fucking anger – here in front of my eyes. I mean, I fucking hate her now, right?
    Mark      So did you / attack?
    Gary      I go: Fuck. Fuck.
    Mark      Maybe a knife or something?
    Gary      So. In this little box, little white box room . . .
    Mark      You attacked / her?
    Gary      I stand on the table and I shout:
    It’s not difficult this is it? It’s easy this. He’s my stepdad. Listen, he’s my stepdad and he’s fucking me.
    And I walk away and I get on the coach and I come down here and I’m never going back. Gonna find something else. Because there’s this bloke. Looking out for me. He’ll come and collect me. Take me to this big house/
    Mark      Look, this person that you’re looking for . . .
    Gary      Yeah?
    Mark      Well it’s not me.
    Gary      Of course not.
    Mark      No.
    Gary      Fuck, you didn’t think . . . ? No. It’s not meant to be you. You and me we’re looking for different things, right?
    Mark      Right.
    Gary      Mates?
    Mark      Mates.
    Gary      So – mate – do you wanna stay?
    Mark      I don’t know.
    Gary      Stay if you like. Room on the floor. Someone waiting up for you?
    Mark      Not exactly.
    Gary      You stay long as you want.
    Mark      Thank you.
    Gary      Stay around and you can keep yourself busy. Give us a hand. Getting the messages, cleaning up. Chucking out the mental ones.
    Tell you what, you hang around long enough we can . . .
    He pulls out a holdall from behind the chair.
    He unzips the bag. It is full of fifty-pence pieces. He catches up handfuls and lets them cascade through his fingers
.
    See? I’m a winner me. Every time. And I don’t let them give me tokens.
    I can pay for what I want.
    Stick around, you and me could go shopping yeah?
    Mark      I don’t know.
    Gary      It’s only shopping.
    Mark      Alright then. Yeah. Let’s go shopping.
    They both listen to the coins as they run through
Gary
’s fingers.
Scene Nine
     
    Flat.
    Brian
,
Lulu
and
Robbie
.
Brian
inserts a video.
    Brian      Watch. I want you to see this.
    They watch a video of a schoolboy playing a cello. They sit for some time in silence
. Brian
starts to weep
.
    Sorry. Sorry.
    Lulu      Would you like a – something to wipe?
    Brian      Silly. Me a grown man.
    Lulu      Maybe a handkerchief?
    Brian      No. No.
    He pulls himself together. They