Rafts and Dreams

This week, we were working on playscripts, inspired by Robert Holman's extraordinary play Rafts and Dreams.

To begin with the writers were challenged to write a short dialogue between A and B about the most mundane thing they could think of - e.g. sorting laundry, are we out of milk, whose turn is it to put the bins out. Here are Lily and Tara's scenes:

A: “Did you get that email?”

B: “About the parking? The ‘don’t park in wherever because of the whatever delivery at whenever’.”

A: “Yeah.”

B: “Really stupid they have to warn us about it.”

A: “Really says something.”

[beat]

A: “I might park there just to annoy them.”

B: “Enjoy the fine. Do you want anything from the shops?”

A: “Nah, just don’t buy the red washing up liquid again.”

BY LILY

‘Busy day?’
A says as they enter the kitchen

‘Yeah, it was alright

Not much of a story really..’

B trails off as

A does a sign for T with their hands (meaning cuppa)
I think hoping to listen

But A both nodded and stopped speaking

The only words A says are ‘ Oat milk please’

B: ‘Oh yeah, forgot you were one of those assholes’

The fridge opens

BY TARA

Next, we read a few extracts from Rafts and Dreams - to see the progression from a focused, slightly mundane, domestic scene, to the extraordinary leap as London and then the whole world floods, and the characters are floating about on rafts! Inspired by this, the writers wrote the next scene of their play - where an extraordinary, water-based event had taken place...

A: “It’s weird. I don’t think this will stop being weird until we hit, like, the six month mark.”

B: “Why six months?”

A: “Y’know. We’re still keeping track of the dates so we don’t go barmy, but it’s a bit weird because... I know these dates. I’ve been looking at them in my calendar. Before this shit, they were all next week. Yesterday it was, like, “Oh, Tesco delivery today!” when you told me it was the fourteenth, like we aren’t in the middle of the ocean. And then today it was, “Oh, I have that Teams call with Karen about the thingy.” Like my laptop isn’t at the bottom of the ocean.”

B: “...yeah, I missed my coffee date with that girl who was probably going to stand me up.”

A: “We were going to see Phantom next month.”

B: “Is it really stupid that I’m now kind of sad we didn’t get our tesco delivery? I was really excited for the Ferrero Rocher.”

A: “...Oh and they had the good fanta. And the good cider. Oh, now I’m pissed off too, thanks!”

BY LILY

The heat of the flames intensify

Castle dungeons ablaze
A takes out a sword, intending to cut off the unicorn’s penis, as that was the source of destruction
With one swipe, no feeling
Cold blooded and devious
The unicorn’s eyes, once looking at A with such trust and depth of it’s soul
Now laughs brazenly. A laugh of pure evil, that echoes the in the fridge and freezer chambers, through the biscuit crumbs and in the cement of that castle walls.
B gets chills.
Sometimes a spike is just a spike
and sometimes a horn can be used with the assumption of entitlement
BY TARA

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Rafts and Dreams