Drowning - a one act play
Inside Faith’s house in the desert. A chair, a jug of iced water, some drinking glasses. FAITH is sitting in the chair, her legs curled under her, writing.
GEORGE (off)
Hello there? Anybody home?
FAITH (to herself)
George? [calling out] Who’s there? [to herself] No – not George’s voice. George is dead.
GEORGE (off)
I’m looking for some water. I’m thirsty.
FAITH
You’re gonna have to climb through the window. The door’s stuck, or I lost the key or… something. Climb up on the wall, that’s the best way.
After a moment, enter GEORGE. As he talks, he gets slower as he notices FAITH staring at him.
Drowning tells two parallel stories. The first is about a group of actors who travel to Italy to put on a Passion Play and then, one year later, reconvene for a reunion. The second, stranger story takes place in a remote house in the middle of the Nevada desert. Here, Faith (who is one of the actors from the Passion Play) lives alone. One day a stranger comes calling. She immediately recognises him as George, another of the actors and someone with whom she was once very much in love. But George is dead. How can he turn up at her house? For his part, George is just trying to get a drink of water – he does not recognise Faith and nor does he have any memory of the Passion Play.
These two stories play out simultaneously, interweaving like a series of dreams, before reaching a terrible climax.
The play was originally written for the 2000 Lost Theatre One Act Play Festival and directed by Duncan Moore at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. In 2005, a new production was produced by KDC at the Courtyard Theatre, directed by Sarah Butler.