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Anthem Script

ANTHEM is a play by Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves, Christos Tsiolkas, and Irine Vela, published by the Australian Script Centre. The script explores themes of identity, race, and societal issues through a dialogue between two characters on a train, reflecting on current political climates and personal beliefs. It emphasizes the complexities of human interaction and the diverse backgrounds of individuals in a crowded setting.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)

148 views117 pages

Anthem Script

Uploaded by

rubberdeccy

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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ANTHEM

Andrew Bovell
Patricia Cornelius
Melissa Reeves
Christos Tsiolkas &
Irine Vela
ANTHEM © ANDREW BOVELL, PATRICIA CORNELIUS, MELISSA REEVES,
CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS & IRINE VELA 2019

AUSTRALIAN SCRIPT CENTRE

This playscript is published and distributed by the Australian Script Centre, trading as AustralianPlays.org.
The Australian Script Centre, a national not-for-profit organisation, has been selectively collecting
outstanding Australian playscripts since 1979 and is home to a comprehensive and extraordinary
catalogue of production-ready plays.

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permission before making copies of this script or performing the play. Contact details for further information
are provided below.

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rights may need to be separately licensed. Producers are advised to contact the Australasian Performing
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NOTE ON THE SCRIPT

This is an unedited manuscript as provided to us by the playwright. We distribute it in good faith; however it
may contain layout inconsistencies or typographic errors.

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ANTHEM

ACT ONE

NOTE : At times during the play, the passengers on the train may
resemble people on a crowded boat, or container, or truck – a glimpse
at some other desperate journey in some other place or at some other
time.

Prologue

It is the Eurostar train heading from Paris to London.

Veronica is a young English woman with a backpack full of books beside her. She has
earphones on and is listening music.

Jamie, a black man in a suit, is sitting opposite her. He is reading a French newspaper.
His reading is conspicuous: all the other people on the train are staring at their ipads
or phones.

The train comes to a halt. There is a flickering of lights. The lights go out.

We hear murmurs of disquiet, confusion. Veronica rouses.

The lights come back on the train.

Voiceover (in French) Nous nous excusons pour l'interruption de notre

service. Nous allons reprendre notre voyage très bientôt.
Encore une fois, nous nous excusons pour l’interruption.
(in English) We do apologise for the interruption to our service.
We will be resuming our journey very soon. Again, we
apologise for any inconvenience.

Jamie Mon dieu! Encore! Chaque jour un autre problème. Qu’est-ce

qu’il y a c’est fois!

Veronica Pardon, je ne sais pas … le problem.

It is clear her French is not great

Jamie It’s just every time on this route, there’s some hold up. It’s
frustrating.

Veronica (checking her phone) Blast. There’s no wi-fi.

Jamie I’m sure there’s no reason to worry.

Veronica I’m not worried for us. Didn’t a refugee die just last week?
Trying to cross over to the UK side? Do you think it’s that
again?

Jamie I hope it’s not that.

I have a plane to catch, I need to be on that flight.

Veronica Your accent …?

Jamie Australian.

Veronica Returning home?

Jamie I live in Lyon. But, yes, I’m returning home. I need to get back
home.

Veronica I wish they’d tell us what’s going on.

Jamie It’s probably a protest by the gillet jaunes.

Veronica Of course, I didn’t think of that.

Pause

Veronica I’ve no idea what they want.

Jamie An end to austerity.

Veronica Yes. I suppose so. But … I don’t know about them. They’re
populists.

Jamie It’s a bit more complicated.

Veronica I’m sure. But something about them reminds me of the

Brexiteers. I’m not sure we can trust them.

Jamie Well, yes, they’re similar. The Brexiteers wanted an end to

austerity as well.

Veronica No. That’s not what they wanted. They wanted an end to
migration. They wanted us to turn our back to refugees. They
wanted us to go back to the past.

Jamie Some did, I’m sure. But others wanted their jobs back and they
wanted their communities back.

Veronica I was there. I know what I’m talking about. They were racists.

Jamie That’s too simplistic, that’s just hash-tag politics. That response
evades the question of class.

Veronica looks away. Jamie returns to reading his paper

Veronica (turning back) I can’t believe you’re making excuses for racism
and xenophobia. I’m sick of people pandering to the white
working-class.

Jamie You’ve travelled, you’re obviously educated. It’s not only the
white working-class who are racist.

Veronica I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them for Brexit, I won’t
forgive them for voting for that … that … deplorable … in the
White House.

Jamie I’m praying he’s out with the next election.

Veronica I wish I shared your faith in democracy.

Fools and racists voted him in and fools and racists might well
vote him in again.

Jamie You’re not the only one who’s scared. Many of the people who
voted for him and many of the people who voted for Brexit
were also scared. And probably just as angry.

Veronica Maybe some people shouldn’t have the right to vote.

Jamie How would you decide who gets to vote and who doesn’t?

Veronica Maybe there should be an exam. Maybe the ignorant shouldn’t

be allowed to vote.

Jamie In my experience the educated can be the most ignorant. I

think it’s fundamental that everyone has the right to their say.

Veronica Ah. Free speech. So every racist and misogynist and

homophobic idiot gets to say whatever vile thing they want? I
don’t trust people that bang on about free speech. You don’t
have to scratch very far to find a Tory.

Jamie And I don’t trust people who bang on about identity and
privilege. Scratch and you’ll find a bourgeois entitled student
wishing the world could be as safe and uncomplicated as it was
when she was a little girl in private school.

Silence

Jamie What do you want to replace democracy with? Revolution?

Veronica Don’t patronise me.

Jamie What do you want to replace democracy with?

Veronica The fire.

Jamie James Baldwin?

Veronica That’s right. The fire next time. This is now the next time. (she
leans forward) These are urgent times.
Men are doing vile things to women everywhere. The climate is
choking the planet. Inequality is destroying every community
in the world. A white supremacist sits in the Oval Office. Heads
have to roll. That’s what I believe.

Jamie Whose heads?

Veronica You know.

Jamie (pointing to her backpack) You should read more books.

Veronica If I were really brave there wouldn’t be books in that pack,

they’d be …

Veronica doesn’t finish.

Jamie There’d be what?

Veronica is silent

The lights flicker, the train is in darkness.

Sound /Music/ Movement transition

Scene 1: The Morning Commute

Chorus It was the 7:57 on the Upfield line.

The 8:02 on the Mernda line.
The 6:22 on the Craigieburn.
It was the 7:06 on the Hurstbridge line.
The 8:45 on the Frankston line.
The 5:45 on the Alamein.
On the morning commute.

The train was crowded

Terribly crowded
Packed, in fact
Face to face, groin to bum, armpit to armpit
They should put more trains on
Yes, they should
I mean they should put
More trains on
Yes, they should

You could still see the sleep in people’s eyes

The hair not quite brushed
You could smell the toothpaste on their breath
The soap on the back of their necks
The toast they ate that morning

People were on their phones

Staring at their screens
Facebook,
Instagram,
Twitter
Buds in the ears
Podcasts
Some were reading
Not many
A book
A what?
A book
Or a newspaper
Here and there
But it was awkward. The newspaper.
And people don’t read them anymore.
I still do

And so they were on their phones

And some were just staring

Out the window

At the passing suburbs, I suppose
At the houses
And the streets
And the people
Just staring really
At the backyards
At the warehouses
At the places that people don’t go

I like to stare at the people

I like to stare, too
At the people on the train
When they don’t know they’re being looked at
There’s a certain expression
On their faces
A certain
Something
An expression
Of being
Unguarded, I suppose
Yes, a certain expression of being
Unguarded

I like to look at the young ones

And the old ones
They’re so beautiful, the young ones
The ones who have seen it all
The teenagers
The ones who know
And the students
What life has been
I like to look at the foreign ones
The ones from overseas
Like him
Black
Well, he is
From Africa
Somewhere
The Congo
Or Sudan
Or Ethiopia
Or Kenya
Or Somewhere

I like black people

So do I
As long as there’s not too many of them
In the same place at the same time
Because then
Well, then
Well
They can be a little frightening
Yes, they can be
A little frightening
All together at once
Yes, well
But not him
No, not him
He’s not like that
No, he’s not like that
He’s, well…
Alone
Well, yes, he’s
Alone
I like black people.
When they’re alone
I like black people who are like white people

I like black people who are black. I know where I

stand then. I know who’s who. I know who’s black.
And who’s not. Yes, that’s what I like.

And the Asians

Well, they don’t say much
Keep their thoughts to themselves
Smart though, terribly smart.
All maths and science and hard work
And small flats
And noodles

And the ones from the Middle East

With their veils and unhappy faces
Such trouble in the Middle East
I heard they don’t drink
What, not even one?

And the white people

So many white people
White people can be red
And a little pink
And some are even purple

They take up a lot of space

The white people
And make a lot of noise
And they smell
What?
They smell
Really?
They think everybody else smells but it’s them
White people
They smell like sausages
From England
And Ireland
And Scotland
All mixed up together
Yes, they smell like one big mixed up sausage

All the people

All the people on the train
All together
On the train
All the meats
From all over the world
All mixed up together
Like one big sausage
On the morning commute

And so they were staring

At their phones
At their books
Or out the windows
At the passing houses
And the streets
And the people
Thinking
And wondering
That if things were different
Yes, if things were different
That if things could only be different
Then
Then
Well
If things could be different
Then
Then
Well
Then we would be different

And I would
And I would
I would not be the same
No, I would not be the same
This person
That I would not be this person
That, I might be some other person
Who was different
Somehow
Richer, perhaps
Or prettier
Or younger
Or smarter
Or thinner
Or whiter
Or whatever
But different
Yes, different
Just different
And that this life
My life
Might be a different life
And that I might not be on this train
This crowded train
But somewhere else
Someone else
Where I didn’t have to work
Quite so hard to make ends meet
Because we’re all so tired
Of having to make ends meet
I’m tired
I’m tired, too
So the train was crowded
Terribly crowded
They should put more trains on
Yes, they should
And everybody was very grateful
That on this trip ay least
No one shouted
And no one screamed
And no one swore
And no one pushed
And no one spat
And no one touched me
Yes, everybody was very grateful
When the train pulled into the platform

And the doors opened

And let everybody out
Yes, everybody was very grateful
As they stepped off the train
And into the crowd
And into the city
To face the day ahead
To make ends meet
Yes, everybody was very grateful
On the morning commute

Scene 2: On the Train

Chi, holding a vacuum cleaner in her hand, stands alone on the train. Her mobile rings
and rings and finally rings out.

A Young Woman bursts into the compartment. She’s terrified, it seems. She pleads to
Chi, or to the world.

YW Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me. Please.

A Young Man enters in a rush. He comes menacingly after her, growling deep and low.
The Young Woman shrieks in terror. Is she in trouble? Chi’s not sure.

He makes several grabs at her and she evades him. Finally, he grabs and holds her. She
bursts into laughter. It’s playful. She escapes his clutches and they run through to the
next compartment.

Chi is left in her own world.

Chi You are fine. Like china, he says. You are soft. Than silk, he
says. Your laughter is bubbling water. Your smile, contagious.
Your touch, heavenly, he says, your eyes, your hair, the tilt of
your chin, the way you walk. Oh my god, he cries, where do I
begin? And you’re mine, he says. Mine.

Passengers enter the carriage. Elaine with a bunch of high-end shopping bags,
elegantly dressed. Loki with a bag, and others. They take seats. As does Chi.

Charity enters. She wears dark glasses and appears to be blind. She takes up a central
position in the carriage.

Charity Please forgive me for disturbing you. I promise I will not take
much of your time. My name is Charity. Yes, Charity. It’s the
name my mother gave me. I bring you a song. A taste of the
sublime.

Charity sings.

Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind but now I see

It was Grace that taught my heart to fear

And Grace my fears relived

How precious did

That Grace appear
The hour I first believed

Charity My name is Charity. Yes, Charity. It’s the name my mother gave
me. I’m here to bring tears to your eyes, to make you smile, to
make you realise that to give a coin or two is a wonderful,
wonderful thing to do.

Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind but now I see…

The passengers ignore her. She shakes her head sadly.

(whispering) Shame, shame, shame.

Elaine holds out a coin.

Elaine This is my last 2 dollars. I want you to promise me that you

won’t buy cigarettes or alcohol or any other substance of
abuse. It must go towards something like food or your children
or rent. It’s all I’ve got. Not one cent more. I’ll give it to you but
you need to promise me…

Passengers have pricked up their ears.

P2 Either give it or don’t.

P3 You give it, you give it.

P2 Either give it or don’t.

P1 If she wants to pour it down her throat...

P2 Or stick it up her arm...

P1 Or feed it into a slot machine.

P 1, 2 & 3 She can.

P2 She can do whatever she likes.

P1 You’ve got no right to tell her what she does with it.

P2 What’s it to you?

P1 If she wants to buy a packet of smokes.

P2 If she wants to eat crap.

P3 If she wants to give it to her old man.

All She can.

Elaine Excuse me, this has got nothing to do with you.

P1 Don’t take it.

Elaine I don’t see you making a contribution.

P2 Don’t take it.

Elaine Don’t see you making an offer.

P3 Don’t take it.

Elaine Look at me. Promise me.

P 1, 2 & 3 Don’t take it.

Elaine Don’t be silly, take it.

Charity Fuck you.

Elaine Take it!

Charity moves on.

Chi stares at Elaine curiously.

Chi I know you.

Elaine Excuse me.

Chi I know you.

Elaine I don’t think so.

Chi How could you forget me? I cleaned for you for years. It’s Chi.
Chi.

Elaine Chi. Of course, it is. Chi! I’m so happy to see you.

Chi Mrs Stapleton…

Elaine Elaine, Chi, please. How are you?

Chi I’m very pleased to see you.

Elaine And I’m very pleased to see you.

Chi You owe me.

Elaine I beg your pardon?

Chi You owe me.

Elaine I don’t think so.

Chi You owe me plenty.

Elaine Could you please keep your voice down.

Chi A lot, you owe me.

Elaine I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Chi The money you owe me.

Elaine There’s no reason to shout. My husband, John would’ve paid

you.

Chi It’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming he said, but it never did.

Elaine You’ve forgotten, it was a long time ago.

Chi I went to your house over a year ago. I went, saw the big For
Sale sign. Knocked on the door but nobody home.

Elaine That’s right, the house was sold, nothing left.

Chi You used to leave it for me on the kitchen bench.

Elaine There is no kitchen bench.

Chi I need that money.

Elaine We didn’t really own any of it in the first place.

Chi I want my money.

Elaine The house, the car weren’t ours.

Chi This isn’t the first time. You did this to me before.

Elaine That’s not true.

Chi Left me high and dry.

Elaine We would’ve always paid you.

Chi Too busy, you’d say. Or, oops, I forgot. Next week, next week,
you’d say. And then next week would come and there’d be only
the one week’s pay.

Elaine/Chi No, no I’m sure I paid you/

Chi /you’d say. When I insisted, you’d roll your eyes and count out
the cash along with a lot of exasperated sighs. Irritated. With
me. Who only wanted to be paid.

Elaine I don’t remember that happening. Once or twice maybe.

Chi I need the money. I need it. Desperately.

Elaine I don’t have it. Search me if you like.

Chi looks her over. She doesn’t believe her.

I haven’t got it, I swear to you.

Chi scrutinises Elaine a little closer.

I don’t know what you expect me to do.

The train pulls into the station. Elaine holds out the $2 coin.

Look here. Take it, for god’s sake. Take it!

Chi turns away.

Sound /Music transition

Scene 3: 7-Eleven Store.

Loki walks into a 7-Eleven store. Faris, the franchisee, is at the till.

Faris Loki.
You’re up early.
You ok mate.
Wanna buy something?
Smokes. Lollies.
How have you been?

Looking good man. Lost a bit of weight. Probably cause you’re

not stuffing donuts down your gob all night. Sucking down the
coca cola to stay awake. I’ve put on a kilo. Can’t stop eating the
snickers bars. Serves me right eh.

Loki pulls a gun from his bag.

Faris oh Loki. no mate.

Loki points the gun at Faris.

Faris no mate. Listen.

Loki I want my money.

Faris You don’t need to do this.

Loki If you don’t give me my money, I’m gonna kill you.

Faris You’re shaking mate. You’re shaking. Let’s talk. We get a couple
of coffees, they’re great, aren’t they, the coffees, real beans, real
coffee. God, remember the shit coffee. It was so shit, wasn’t it,
the shittest shit coffee, but now, that is beautiful coffee, people
line up for that coffee, the tradies love the coffee.

Loki You’re selling a lot of coffee?

Faris Dollar a cup. What are you going to make.

Loki I know what you make.

Faris Nah, mate.

Loki You do fine.

Faris I don’t.

Loki You’re a liar.

Faris What is that gun?

Loki It’s just a gun.

Faris Where’d you get it?

Loki I bought it.

Faris How much?

Loki A thousand dollars.

Faris You got that sort of money?

Loki I borrowed it.

Faris Where from?

Loki Cash converters.

Faris Cash Converters! They’re a fucking racket. How much interest

did they charge?

Loki Why aren’t you scared of me?

Faris I am scared of you. What do you want me to do? I’m scared.

Alright.

Loki Are you a demon, already dead?

Faris What did you say? Loki?… Have you got some sort of mental
illness? Are you like, schizophrenic or something?

Loki I’m depressed.

Faris Sure. But just depressed, a mood thing?

Loki I’m very depressed. I’m on medication.

Faris What medication?

Loki Lithium.

Faris That’s not for depression. That’s for bi-polar.

Loki Oh well maybe it’s zanax

Faris That’s for indigestion.

Loki Yeah I get that. I get indigestion.

Faris Listen, Loki-

Loki Give me my money, or I’m going to shoot you in the head.

Faris You got to go to the company.

Loki They won’t give it to me cause you went into liquidation.

Faris Yeah, well that was the other store.

Loki Pay me from this store.

Faris I haven’t got the money! I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do.

Loki You stole it from me.

Faris No, that is not right Loki. You agreed to the terms.

Loki They were bad terms.

Faris They suited you at the time. All along you knew what you were
getting into.

Loki I didn’t know what everybody else got.

Faris We had a deal. And then you all went running to the fair work
commission, like a bunch of whining little kids. And look at
what you’ve done! You stuffed the whole franchise. You can
have what’s in the till. There’s two hundred, two hundred and
fifty.

Loki You owe me twenty eight thousand, three hundred and

thirty five dollars.

Faris Get stuffed. Just take it. Take it and go.

Loki I don’t want it.

Faris Here, have these. Cigarettes, Bubblegum, Snickers, Kit Kat,

Condoms, Donuts, Bananas.

Loki checks the door.

Faris You’re losing it mate…

I was a good boss to you. You were wet around the ears, no
experience at all. I took you on. I showed you around. I stayed
with you on your first night shift. You appreciated having an
older more experienced man take an interest in your welfare.

Loki You know nothing about me.

Faris You’re studying IT.

Loki No, I’m not.

Faris What are you studying?

Loki I’m not telling you.

Faris Engineering.

Loki Nup.

Faris Hospitality.

Loki You weren’t interested in me. You did a stocktake of the ice-
cream fridge cause you thought the kids from the convent
were stealing magnums.

Faris Business studies.

Loki You showed me where the cleaning stuff was kept.

Faris I’m right aren’t I?

Loki And you said to spend any spare time I had through the night
cleaning the fridges, wiping the surfaces, and mopping the
floor.

Faris We’re a 24 hour operation, the night guys have got to do the
cleaning.

Loki It’s another way you cut corners and screw everybody over.

Faris What business do you want to go into?

Loki You made me sign the wages book, and then you gave me only
half the money.

Faris I could give you some advice.

Loki And I had to wear your cousin’s name-tag-

Faris I would say don’t buy a 7-Eleven franchise.

Loki -cause your cousin was doing all those extra hours, it wasn’t
me. But it wasn’t really your cousin.

Faris No it wasn’t anybody.

Loki Well it was somebody. It was me. Pretending to be your

cousin.

Faris Yeah.

Loki Who didn’t get paid.

Faris That’s right.

Loki A ghost.

Faris Who’s the ghost?

Loki I’m the ghost.

Faris You’re not the ghost.

Loki I am the ghost.

Faris My cousin is the ghost.

Loki Nah. I am the ghost.

Faris You’ve got it wrong. My cousin is the ghost. The phantom

worker. Who doesn’t get paid.

Loki Nobody got paid. Not me. Not your cousin.

Faris That’s right, nobody got paid.

Loki Except you. You got paid.

Faris says nothing.

Loki My heart is always beating too fast.

Faris I’ve got that too. I’ve got the fast heart beat.

Loki I take too many medicines.

Faris I’ve got an ulcer from too much asperin.

Loki I am tired. All the time.

Faris Tell me about it.

Loki I’m so tired.

Faris I can’t hardly keep my eyes open. I keep falling asleep.

Loki My girlfriend broke up with me.

Faris My wife can’t stand me.

Loki Shut-up. You’re an arsehole.

Faris Listen Loki, Mr. Business Studies. The only way you
make money in these places, the only way, is if you
pay small wages-

Loki Shit wages, so low as to be almost worthless, offensive,

shouldn’t give them to a dog wages.

Faris Yes. All that. Unless you’re a street sweeper in Mumbai.

Loki Shut-up about that.

Faris The corporation takes such a massive whack, that unless we

cut labour costs, we make nothing. I’m just a shit kicker like
you. The brother and sister who own the Australian wing of
this world-wide monopoly. They’re the poison.

Loki The brother and the sister.

Faris Well, just the brother now. The sister died.

Loki Did someone kill her?

Faris No, no-one killed her. She died of being a nasty greedy bitch.
She’s the greedy one, and her big fat brother.

Loki And you’re not greedy.

Faris I’m a little bit greedy. I’m normal greedy.

Loki You’re more than normal greedy.

Faris Ok, more than normal, but they are uber greedy.

Loki Uber. That’s another rip-off.

Faris Go to the brother. Point your gun at him. Get him to give
you your money. He is dripping in money. It’s obscene how
much money he’s got. Look, look at this-

He gets out his phone and finds a website.

-look at this, look, see, this is his house in Portsea, see how
fucking enormous it is, look, that’s his garage, his garage! See,
there’s a porshe, he’d have ten of them, look, there he is, fat
cunt, look, that’s his property in NSW. Aerial view. See. See
what I mean. He’s got mansions, and private beaches, and jets
and fucking… jewels and white goods and boats. And he’s got it
cause not only did he fuck you over, he fucked me over. These
franchises are like a cunning trap, a big fucking black hole
carefully covered in twigs and leaves and any fuckwit who is
stupid enough to try and walk across, they fall into the hole like
a big blundering bear. You think I want to keep this store? I
can’t sell it. It’s been on the market for months! I’m stuck with
this stupid fucking mill stone around my neck.

Loki’s gun hangs uselessly by his side.

Oh boy Loki. I need a drink. Out in the lane, in my Merc, I got a

bottle of Raki. What say I go get it, we sit out the back, we
watch the sun rise, we talk about what we’re going to do about
this shit situation... Hey? We put our minds to it, we can figure
out what to do.

Faris starts to go.

You mind the store for me? …Hah, not like you don’t know how
to do it… Like old times…

Faris exits. Loki walks round behind the counter. He puts his gun back in his bag. He
stands waiting for customers. A police car siren sounds, getting closer. Loki realises it’s
for him. He runs from the store.

Transition

Scene 4: On the Train

Joella, Cam and Malik are three siblings on a train carriage. They share the same
mother but clearly have different fathers. Joella is Indigenous, Cam is white and Malik
is brown.

Joella and Malik are sitting next to each other, Cam is standing a bit of a distance
away, by the train doors. Cam keeps blowing his breath on the glass, drawing squiggles
in the vapour.

Joella is wearing a tight and revealing tank-top. She’s unselfconscious of the effect of
her clothing. She doesn’t give a fuck. Malik wears a long-sleeved top, with a hoodie that
almost covers his face. His arms are crossed and his feet on the seat across from him. Is
he asleep?

There are other passengers on the train including: an elderly Greek Couple, the Greek
Woman nervously clutching her handbag against her chest, the Greek Man is staring
out the window; Terese, a middle-aged white woman is reading a book.

The scene begins immediately in an argument between Joella and Cam. They’re
oblivious to everyone else around. It’s as if the world around them doesn’t exist.

Cam I fucking hate trains. We should have grabbed a

cab. He should have paid for a cab for us.

Joella We don’t know he’s got money.

Cam He’s got money. Living in fucking Europe, the cunt’s got money.

Joella Eh, watch it. He’s our brother.

Cam Malik’s my brother.

That cunt pissed off from us first chance he got. That’s what
Malik says and he’s right, he’s not my fucking brother.

Joella Well, I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t been into town in ages.

Cam What’s so good about the fucking city, anyway? Why can’t he
meet us in Epping? Too good to come and see us there, eh? He’s
not my fucking brother.

Malik (Sitting up) Where are we?

Joella Next station’s Resi.

Malik (Slumps back in his seat) Fuck! We’ve still got ages.

Joella It’s not that far. (starts counting on her fingers)

Resi. Depreston. Bell. Thornbury. Croxton. Northcunt. Merri.
Poof Hill.

Cam You forgot Rushall.

Joella Oh yeah, I did. What’s the fucking point of Rushall?

No-one ever gets off at fucking Rushall.

Cam Rich people hate walking. Poof Hill’s too far for ‘em.

Joella Now you made me lose count. (she starts again)

Resi. Depreston. Bell. Thornbury. Croxton. Northcunt. Merri.
Rush-all. Poof Hill. Victoria Park.

Cam (really fast) Collingwood. North Saigon. West Saigon. Jolimont.

Flinders Street.

Malik How many’s that?

Joella Fourteen?

Malik Why can’t he come to us? He’s too good for Zone 2, is he?

Cam Exactly. He’s a fucking cunt.

The train stops and a Female Student enters. She glances around, sits down on one of
the seats allocated to people with disabilities or special needs. She is speaking on the
phone

Female Student (on the phone, in Mandarin or Cantonese)

No, that’s crazy. I don’t want to meet you in Richmond. We’re
going to end up downtown anyway. Let’s meet at Partyworld.
(Bù, nà tài fēngkuángle. Wǒ bùxiǎng zài lǐ shì mǎn jiàn dào nǐ.
Wúlùn rúhé, wǒmen zuìzhōng huì dàodá shì zhōngxīn. Wǒmen
zài Partyworld jiànmiàn.)

Cam Ching-chong ching chong chung.

Malik Shut it, Cam, you fucking idiot.

Cam Just making them feel welcome.

He grins at the Female Student who takes no notice of him, she’s now scrolling on her
phone.

Cam goes back to blowing on the glass, tracing squiggles where he has exhaled.

Cam I hardly remember him.

Joella He’s gorgeous. He was always the best looking of us.

Cam That’s because you like black cock.

Malik She likes all colour of cock.

Joella punches Malik hard. Malik lifts a hand as if he’s going to smack her.

Joella Don’t. I’m pregnant, you know that.

Cam Do it, Mick. Make it a quick and easy abortion, you’ll be doing
her a favour.

Joella Shut your filthy mouth, Cam. That’s your niece you’re talking
about.

Cam I was just taking the piss.

Malik You don’t get to make jokes about aborting black babies.

Cam glares at his brother. He suddenly spits on the door, a huge gob slides down the
glass.

The train has stopped and a Woman enters. She looks around, her eyes immediately
lower and she moves away from the siblings to the other end of the carriage.

Joella Depreston!

(starts singing)“You said we should look out

further
I guess it wouldn't hurt us
We don’t have to be around all these coffee shops …”

Malik Don’t, sis, I fucking hate her.

Joella Courtney Barnett’s okay. What’s wrong with her?

Malik She’s a fucking white whiner.

Joella I like her.

(continuing singing)
“We drive to a house in Preston
We see police arresting
A man with his hand in a bag.”

Malik What the Hell is that song about anyway?

Joella It’s about not being able to afford a house where she wants to
live and so she’s got to move out to Preston.

Malik If she can afford fucking Preston she’s got nothing to complain
about, does she?
Where did she want to live?

Joella Northcote.

Malik Proves my point, don’t it, she’s a fucking whining white bitch.

Joella I’d like to live in Northcote. It’s nice.

Malik Fuck off it is. It’s full of rich knobs and poofters and dykes.

Joella We used to live in Northcote.

Cam In Northcunt?
Did we?

Joella You were just born, you were a baby. Mum had a commission
flat in Northcote. With your Dad.

Malik There’s another fucking white whiner.

Cam Shut it.

Malik When did he last call you?

Cam I said shut it.

Malik When?

Cam When did yours?

Malik On my birthday.

Cam Bullshit he did.

Malik He did. You’re just jealous ‘cause your old man’s a loser white
cunt.

Cam is furious, a fury that is almost heroic in it’s ferocity. He starts banging his fists on
the glass, as if he wants to smash it, as if he has to smash it. The rest of the carriage are
shocked. No one dares to look up.

Cam Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! I fucking hate you
Mick, I really fucking hate you!

The train has stopped and a Queer Youth enters, gender fluid, their backpack
festooned with the rainbow flag. They stand back, afraid, staring at Cam.

Cam What the fuck are you looking at?

The Youth hangs their head. They tries to pass past Cam. Everything is set to explode.
We know Cam wants to bash the shit of the Youth, he really wants to hurt them.

Joella Cam. Be still.

Cam (still staring at the terrified Youth) I don’t want to

be fucking still. I want to bash this faggot cunt.

Joella comes between the Youth and her brother.

Joella Come on, mate. Just breathe.

Malik It’s just the crank, bro. Ella’s right, just breathe.

Joella Can I touch ya?

Cam is still staring daggers at the Youth.

Joella Can I?

Cam nods

Joella is stroking his hair, she kisses him softly on his brow, almost as if she is his
mother not his sister. Cam rests his head on her shoulder.

Taking their opportunity, the Youth dashes free, walks quickly to the end of the
carriage.

Greek Woman (in Greek) That poor thing. (To καiμένο.)

Greek Man (in Greek) I thought that animal was going to kill
him. They’re beasts. No, they’re worse than beasts.
Animals have more decency, animals have more
honour.
(Νόμιζα ότι αυτό το ζώο θα τον σκότωσε. Είναι ζώa.Όχι, είναι
χειρότερα από τα θηρία. Τα ζώα έχουν μεγαλύτερη ευπρέπεια,
τα ζώα έχουν περισσότερη τιμή.)

Greek Woman (in Greek) And that girl! Just look at what she’s
wearing. And then they wonder why there’s so
much rape and violence?
(Και αυτό το κορίτσι! Απλά κοιτάξτε τι φέρει. Και τότε
αναρωτιούνται γιατί υπάρχει τόσο βιασμός και βία;)

Greek Man (in Greek) She’s a whore. No, she’s worse than a whore. Whores
have more decency, whores have more honour.
(Είναι μια poutana. Όχι, είναι χειρότερη από μια poutana. Oi
poutanes έχουν μεγαλύτερη ευπρέπεια, οι poutanes έχουν
περισσότερη τιμή.)

Joella is still nursing Cam.

Joella You okay, mate? You good?

Cam I’m good.

Joella releases Cam. She marches up to the Greek Couple.

Joella I know what you called me.

The Greek Woman and the Greek Man are frigid with fear: they stare straight ahead.

Joella I said, I know what you fucking called me.

(to the Greek Man)
I have the right to wear whatever the fuck I want. I can fucking
get on this train in the nudie if I wanted to. You can’t stop me.
That’s my right.
(to the Greek Woman) This is black country, bitch. Our land, our
country. (in Greek) Do you understand?
(Kαταλαβαίνεις;)

The Greek Woman and Man are silent.

Joella (in Greek) Do you understand?

(Kαταλαβαίνεις;)

Greek Woman (in English) I understand.

Joella, satisfied, walks back to her seat next to Malik, she’s singing.

Joella “If you've got a

Spare half a million
You could knock it down
And start rebuilding

Terese shuts her book.

She stands up.

Terese This is my country too.

Joella What did you say?

Terese I said, This is my country too.

Joella If you say that one more time I’m gonna get up, come over and
fucking belt the shit out of ya.

Cam (calling out to Terese) Yeah, trust me, for your own sake, just
shut your fucking gob.

Malik (slumped, not even bothering to look up) You can’t

win this one. You’re never gonna win this fight, cunt.

Terese This is my country.

Joella bolts upright, starts storming towards Terese. As she passes the Greek Man he is
on his feet but the Greek Woman, terrified, is pulling him down. Joella gives him a filthy
look. The Greek Man sits down.

Joella rushes towards Terese who doesn’t shirk. She’s ready for the confrontation.

Terese This is my country!

The train jolts to a sudden stop. The lights go out.

Sound/Music Transition : Resistance

The lights flicker

Athena lowers her head slightly as though acknowledging a powerful presence in the
train. Nazi soldiers.

Athena tells her story of Athens under German occupation.

Athena The Germans took the all men and boys out of the carriage
They rounded them up. They shot them all. Every single one of
them.

In the skies above we could see the planes. The noise so loud,
the earth moving under my feet.

Crete had fallen.

The lights come on.

Scene 5: On the Platform.

Loki is sitting on a bench seat on a train platform with his ex girlfriend Lisa. An
authorised officer stands near by.

Lisa You wanna know how come I don’t trust you?

Cause you weren’t home in the middle of the night.

Loki What?

Lisa I couldn’t get you on the phone, so I rang Kabir.

Loki You shouldn’t bother him late at night.

Lisa I wanted to talk to you.

Loki He has to get up early. He doesn’t need you ringing him up,
checking on me.

Lisa Why doesn’t he turn his phone off?

Loki It’s not up to him to turn his phone off.

Lisa Where were you?

Loki Can you not talk so loud. You’re drawing attention to us.

Lisa I’m not.

Loki It’s none of your business where I was. We’re not an item any
more.

Lisa Nobody uses that word.

Loki Girlfriend and boyfriend. Whatever.

Lisa We were betrothed. Loki. To be wed.

Loki Yeah, and then you split up with me.

Lisa After much soul searching.

Loki I couldn’t have been nicer to you, I couldn’t have been more
loyal.

Lisa From your perspective, sure.

Loki I bought stuff for you all the time. I did stuff for you all the time.

Lisa You just wanted a permanent visa.

Loki That is such a lie.

Lisa Second time we met you talked about getting married.

Loki So what?

Lisa It’s too quick.

Loki Why’d you have to read it in a bad way. Why couldn’t it be love
at first sight.

Lisa Maybe it was all mixed in Loki, I don’t know, liking me, and
wanting to have sex with me, and the possibility of a
permanent visa. I dunno…

Pause.

Loki I miss you.

Lisa I miss you.

They look sadly at each other.

But you lie to me.

Loki I don’t lie to you.

Lisa You showed me fake photos.

Loki They’re not fake. That’s my real family.

Lisa I don’t believe you Loki. There’s no way those people could
afford to send you overseas. You’re hiding your true family
from me.

Loki I just wouldn’t do that. I don’t know how to prove to you that I
love you.

Lisa If you said that you loved me while under hypnosis, I would
believe you.

Loki How’s that going to happen?

Lisa We go a hypnotist, together, you get hypnotised, and they ask

you if you love me, or no, they ask, who do you love, and if you
say me, then we’ll get back together.

Loki Why can’t you just believe me?

Lisa I don’t know. I feel like you’re hiding something from me.

Loki What would I be hiding?

Loki moves his bag closer to him.

Lisa Why do you have to be so morose all the time? You gotta pull
yourself together. Jesus, get a self-help book or something.
We’ve all got stresses and strains.

Loki Sure.

Lisa I wish someone owed me thousands of dollars.

Loki Not if they won’t pay it back, you don’t.

Lisa I don’t get paid that much more than you did, and no one owes
me money.

Loki I know.

Lisa Fucking hate my job.

Loki It’s a shit job.

Lisa I’m always getting colds and gastros and nasty diseases from
the customers. Remember last year I got ring worm.

Loki touches his bag again. Lisa notices but doesn’t comment.

And they sniff and they cough and they wipe their nose back
and forth, no hanky, no nothing, and then they pull out a note
that they’ve covered in snot. I make nothing. I work for hours

and hours and I make nothing. I thought I’d make friends. I

never make any friends. People never stay long enough to
make friends, and everyone’s miserable and hates it there.
Cause the boss is such a cunt.

Loki Can you not use that word?

Lisa There’s no other word to use.

Loki There’s lots of other words.

Lisa Yesterday, I had this foul woman. I was halfway through

ringing up her denture paste, and earplugs, and bunion
plasters and whatever else revolting stuff she was getting, and
her mobile goes off, and she answers it, and I hate that, it is so
rude, so I cancelled the transaction and I said I will finish
serving you later, when you have finished your phone-call, and
she looks all tragic, and she goes, that was my twelve year old
daughter, and I had to take it cause we have had a death in the
family, yeah sure, very convenient, a death in the family, six
months ago maybe-

Loki Did you say that?

Lisa No, I didn’t say that, I said I can’t serve you when you’re on the
phone, it’s a store policy-

Loki Is it?

Lisa Nah. She goes, I’m never coming to this store again, and I said
that’s fine by me. Why have we got these fucking horrible jobs?

Loki shrugs.

Lisa What did we do in a past life that means we have to do

these fucking horrible jobs?

Loki shrugs.

Why do some people have every fucking thing laid out on a

plate, and other people have to do these fucking horrible jobs.

Loki I dunno.

Loki shifts his bag a little.

Lisa Why do you keep touching your bag?

Loki I don’t.

Lisa What have you got in there?

Loki Nothing.

Lisa Show me.

She grabs his bag and opens it and pulls out the gun.

Loki Put it back.

He grabs it off her and stuffs it back in the bag. He looks around anxiously.

Lisa Loki… What’s that for?

Loki says nothing. They stare at each other.

Are you going to-

She makes a ‘top yourself’ gesture

Loki No.

Lisa You sure?

Loki I didn’t get it for that.

Lisa Is it for me?

Loki No. No… No…

Lisa What’s it for?

Loki I had this stupid idea that I could force Faris into giving me my
money.

Lisa You held a gun on him?

Loki nods. They stare at each other.

Lisa … What happened?

Loki Nothing. He said he hasn’t got any money.

Lisa You actually did that.

Loki yeah.

Lisa Show me.

Loki I can’t here.

Lisa Mime it.

Loki holds up his hands and points an imaginary gun at an imaginary person.

Lisa Wow. What did you say?

Loki I said give me my money or I’ll shoot you.

They laugh

Loki I’m fucked Lise.

Lisa Let’s go to Chemist Warehouse.

Loki No.

Lisa Let’s hold it up.

Loki No.

Lisa We’ll be like Bonnie and Clyde.

Loki Fuck, this is why I didn’t wanna show it to you.

She gets the gun out of the bag. He grabs it back and shoves it back in the bag.

Loki Lisa!!! … There’s fucking cameras around here. Just calm

down. I’m going to take it back to the shop. It was a dumb
idea.

Lisa I want a selfie.

Loki What.

Lisa With the gun.

Loki No.

Lisa Come on. No one’ll see us.

Loki Fucking hell.

They take selfies with the gun.

Lisa Loki. Let’s go into town.

Loki What for?

Lisa It’d be fun. In the city.

Loki Doing what?

Lisa Come on Loki.

They stare at each other.

Scene 6: On the Train

Passengers move on to the train. Loki and Lisa. Young Woman and Young Man. Chi.
Elaine. And others.

Chi sits, the vacuum next to her. Loki and Lisa sit together. Others are scattered about.
Elaine’s there but is further down the carriage.

Young Woman and Young Man sit opposite Chi.

He has Young Woman wrapped in his arms. He lifts her arm and covers it with kisses.
And up to her neck. She is unresponsive. He tries to kiss her lips but she evades him.

YM Kiss me kiss me kiss me kiss me kiss me kiss me. Kiss me. Kiss
me. Kiss me. Kiss me.

All the while Chi watches. Her mobile rings. She stands. The ring of the mobile stops.

Chi I’m sorry, he says. Unforgiveable, he says. I don’t know what I

can do to make it up to you. I’m ashamed, he says. I cannot
meet your eye, he says. I don’t know what to do. I’m frightened
I will lose you. It won’t happen again, I promise you. He says, I
love you. I love you.

YM turns on Chi.

YM What the fuck you looking at?

Frightened, Chi looks away.

That’s right, you mind your own business.

Chi moves further along the carriage.

That’s right. That’s right.

Chi shrinks into herself covering her face with her hands.

Elaine makes her way down the carriage to Chi. She’s about to remove the vacuum
cleaner from the seat.

Chi (eyes closed) Don’t touch.

Elaine Chi, it’s me. It’s Elaine.

Elaine tries to move the vacuum.

Chi Don’t touch!

Elaine: I want to sit next to you.

Chi opens her eyes and looks about.

Chi: Plenty of room. You sit there. You sit there. Anywhere. Don’t
touch the hardware.

Elaine finds a seat behind Chi.

Elaine I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you again. I wonder if it’s
a god-send. Out of the blue, I see you and I feel like everything
will be fine, I really do.

Chi You’ve been following me.

Elaine Once I saw you, I just couldn’t let you go.

Chi You’re stalking me.

Elaine No! Not really. I thought how lovely it was to see you and how
we might spend some time together.

Chi I don’t think so.

Elaine We might catch a movie, a play maybe. A concert. Who knows?

Chi: I know. I’m very busy.

Elaine Wouldn’t it be nice to get to know each other again.

Chi Where’s John?

Elaine: John John John, he’s gone. Turned his back and moved on. Gone
cold on his poor poor wife. Wanted a new and wonderful life,
to begin anew, with someone lovely, and forty-two.

Chi John! That’s very hard to believe. John!

Elaine Suddenly I’m the old bag. the ugly hag with too much sag.
Listen to me, I’m on a roll, I’m a rag, a soiled rag, picked up by a
dirty corner and dumped dumped done for.

Chi No money?

Elaine None.

Chi Not a brass razoo?

Elaine All gone.

Chi What about the house?

Elaine Paid out the debts.

Chi Your car?

Elaine Gone.

Chi Some kind of nest egg?

Elaine All gone.

Chi What’s in the bags?

Elaine A few clothes. A bit grubby though.

Chi looks closely at Elaine. Has a bit of a sniff. Elaine’s a bit on the nose.

Chi Your family?

Elaine There’s no one.

Chi Friends?

Elaine Outstayed my welcome, I’m afraid.

Chi You have no one?

Elaine No. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that a turn for the books? Who’d
have thought? Poor Elaine. Oh my god. Poor Elaine. Poor me.
Oh dear, tragic isn’t it? Really.

Pause. Chi looks Elaine up and down very carefully.

I find myself at a bit of a loss.

Chi is silent.

In a bit of a pickle, I guess you’d call it.

Chi is silent.

A bit of a trough.

Chi You want me to feel sorry for you?

Elaine nods.

Elaine I do. I am so dreadfully alone.

Silence. Chi looks at Elaine.

Chi Too bad.

Elaine I’ve got nowhere to go.

Chi Too sad.

Elaine I’m frightened.

Chi laughs.

No, I am. I really am.

Pause.

Couldn’t I come with you?

Chi Come with me?

Elaine For a little while?

Chi Where to?

Elaine To your place? For a few days. Until I know what to do.

Chi You want to stay with me?

Elaine Could I? I won’t be any bother. And once things have settled, I’ll
pay.

Chi Hah!

Elaine I promise you.

Chi You can’t stay with me.

Elaine Please, Chi, help me.

Chi Once you asked me if I could stay behind and clean up after a
dinner party and normally I would but this time I said no and
explained you hadn’t given me enough notice and I was
attending my daughter’s graduating ceremony.

Elaine I remember. She’d finished her nursing degree.

Chi You said to me, go if you like but you would have to end my
service because of my unreliability.

Elaine Did I? Did I really?

Chi Another time...

Elaine It was a long time ago. Surely you can forgive me.

Chi You asked me if I’m happy. Cleaning. Are you happy cleaning?
Was that enough for me? And I didn’t answer you because I
thought it was a kind of test maybe. I thought, as if. As if I was
happy cleaning up your mess, mopping up your spills,
scrubbing your stains, picking up your dirty socks, wiping your
benches, hanging out your bedclothes. No. I’m not happy.
What’s happiness got to do with it?

Elaine: Please, Chi, listen to me, I’ve been put out to sea. With nothing.
No children, no family, no friends, no property.

Elaine weeps pitifully. Chi watches on for a moment.

Chi What’s it got to do with me?

Scene 7: On a Train

It is the same moment that we were in at the beginning of Scene 4. The same people on
the train – Joella, Malik, Cam, the Elderly Greek Couple and Terese.
But now the focus is on the Elderly Greek Couple, Athena and Tony. Their words are in
English but we must be made aware that they are really speaking in Greek and that
the rest of the carriage won’t understand them.

Athena is clutching tight to her bag. Tony is staring out the window.

Athena Aren’t they ashamed?

Tony Be quiet.

Athena They don’t understand us.

Tony They’re on drugs. Why cause trouble?

Athena opens her bag, shuffles through some papers.

Tony It’s all there. We checked through everything last night and
again this morning.

Athena Just let me make sure. I don’t want to get all the way into town
and realise we forgot something.

Tony We haven’t forgotten anything.

Athena Have you remembered your pills?

Tony is fingering his shirt pocket. He is silent.

Athena You’ve forgotten them, haven’t you? And I placed

them on the table there first thing this morning. We
have to go back.

Tony We are not going back. So I miss one dose.

Athena Dr. Thanasis says you have to/

Tony /Dr. Thanasis says I have to take them as indicated. What Dr.
Thanasis should say is, Tony, you’re an old man. Eat, drink,
smoke, do what you want in these final years left to you, that’s
what Dr. Thanasis should say.

Athena We’re not that old.

Tony We’re that old.

The train has stopped. The Female Student has come on, talking on her phone.

Tony chuckles.

Athena What’s so funny?

Tony That boy, didn’t you hear him? (Leans forward) He

said, ‘Ching-chong ching chong chung.’

Athena Bravo. Very funny. You’ve forgotten how they used

to do that to us.

Tony I haven’t forgotten.

Athena Let’s get off at the next station. We’re going back for your pills.

Tony You don’t want to do it, do you?

Athena is silent.

Tony If you don’t want to do it then we’ll go back.

Athena He’s our son.

Pause

Athena You told him, don’t open a café in bloody Chapel Street. You
told him, the rents will kill you.

Tony And what happened? The rents destroyed him. I told him. Open
somewhere close to us.

Athena And what did he say?

Tony ‘You’re just stupid wogs, you have no idea.’

Athena ‘You’ve worked like dogs in factories all your life and you think
you can tell me about business.’ And now? Three hundred
thousand dollars in debt. Three hundred thousand dollars! I
can’t think about it. I’ll go mad if I think about it.

Tony (Mimicking his son’s voice) ‘Inner city. Inner city.’

Both: ‘It has to be in the inner city.’

Tony (in normal voice) Fuck him and his inner city. We wasted our
youth in the inner city. He’s right. We were like dogs. We
wasted our lives like dogs.

Athena How are we going to pay it off? A mortgage again? At our age?

Tony He’ll pay it back. He’s going to work like a fucking dog and pay
it back.

Athena He won’t pay it back.

Silence

Athena Do you want to turn back? Miss the appointment?

Tony He’s our son.

The Young Queer with the rainbow sticker on their backpack rushes past them.

Athena That poor thing.

Tony I thought that animal was going to kill him.

They’re beasts. No, they’re worse than beasts. Animals have
more decency, animals have more honour.

Athena And that girl! Just look at what she’s wearing. And then they
wonder why there’s so much rape and violence?

Tony She’s a whore. No, she’s worse than a whore. Whores have
more decency, whores have more honour.

Athena Our children aren’t better. We’ve raised animals as well.

They sit in silence, watching Joella, Malik and Cam.

Tony (suddenly frightened) Don’t look at them. Don’t look at them.

Joella has marched up to the Greek Couple.

Joella I know what you called me.

Athena and Tony are frigid with fear: they stare straight ahead.

Joella I said, I know what you fucking called me.

(to Tony) I have the right to wear whatever the fuck I want. I
can fucking get on this train in the nudie if I wanted to. You
can’t stop me. That’s my right. (to Athena) This is black
country, bitch. Our land, our country. (in Greek) Do you
understand?/Kαταλαβαίνεις;)

Athena & Tony are silent.

Joella (in Greek) Do you understand?/Kαταλαβαίνεις;

Athena I understand.

Joella, satisfied, walks away.

Athena Are you okay, Tony?

Tony I’m ashamed.

Athena You have nothing to be ashamed about.

Tony I have lots to be ashamed about.

Terese shuts her book. She stands up.

Terese This is my country too.

Joella What did you say?

Terese I said, This is my country too.

Joella If you say that one more time I’m gonna get up, come over and
fucking belt the shit out of ya.

Terese This is my country.

Tony is standing up.

Athena Sit down, what are you doing? Have you gone mad?

Joella bolts upright, starts storming towards Terese. Terese doesn’t shirk. She’s ready
for the confrontation.

Terese This is my country!

Tony (shouting) This is our country! We made this country. (points to

Joella) Not you. (points to Terese) Not you. My wife, me, our
work, our labour, our sweat. We made this fucking country!
This is our country!

The train jolts to a sudden stop. The lights go out.

ANTHEM: ACT II

Sound /Music/ Movement transition

CHARITY SINGS

Charity We have the chance to turn the pages over

We can write what we want to write
We gotta make ends meet, before we get much older

We're all someone's daughter

We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?

You're the voice, try and understand it

Make the noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear, oh, woah

This time, we know we all can stand together

With the power to be powerful
Believing we can make it better

Ooh, we're all someone's daughter

We're all someone's son, oh
Give a look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun

You're the voice, try and understand it

Make the noise and make it clear, oh, woah
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear, oh, woah

Pay up. Pay up. Pay up!

Scene 8: On the Train – Mother and Child

Chorus It all happened so quickly

That it seemed like
Yes, it seemed like
That it was over even before it began.

I don’t know what station it was

It could have been Fawkner
Or Batman
Or Coburg
It was Moreland
I’m pretty sure it was Jewell
Maybe it was Brunswick
It wasn’t Brunswick
And among the people who got on there was this girl
This woman
And her boy
Her son
You know the type
This girl
It’s in the look
In the sound of her voice
In the clothes she wears
The tatts at the back of the neck
Dirty hair
Lank
Yes, lank
Mousy
Bad skin
This girl
She’s had this kid too young
She thought it was a good idea
Something to love
To make him stay
The Dad
He didn’t
And now she’s tired
This mum
Of making ends meet
Young
Too young
But she looks older
Much older
Drugs
For sure

Skank
Rhymes with lank
Ice
Rhymes with lice
Poor kid
What he must have seen
And he must only be about five judging by the height of him
He could be older
It’s difficult to tell
He’s been held back
By something
Not enough food
Not enough love
By drugs
By life
And so he’s breathing heavily
They both are
Breathing
Heavily
Like they are out of breath
Well, they are
Because they’ve run for the train
They’ve been running
They’ve always been running
Since the day he was born they’ve been running
Since before
They’ve been running
For the train
And now they’re out of breath
This mum and her boy
They’re out of breath
Like there’s just nothing left
No breath left
They’re gasping for breath.
Gasping
And the little boy starts to cough
He coughs and he
Coughs
And he coughs
And she starts, the mum
She starts on him
On the kid
She starts

The Mother Where’s your jumper? Where’s your fucking jumper. I told
you not to take it off. I told you. And now you’ve gone and
dropped it.

Chorus And the boy

The kid
Is starting to wheeze
He’s wheezing
He can’t breath
The boy can’t breath
Somebody do something
Somebody say something.

The Mother Where’s your puffer? Get your puffer. I put it in your
backpack. Get your fucking puffer.

Chorus And the poor little thing

Finds his puffer
And has a big puff
And he breathes
And I breathe
I breathe too
And me
We all breathe

The Mother What’s he going to say, when I drop you off? Your Dad. He’s
going to say where’s his jumper? Why isn’t he wearing a
fucking jumper? You stupid bitch.

Chorus And nobody said anything

Nobody moved
Nobody looked
Or if they did
It was a quick
Out of the corner of the eye then away again
Kind of glance
In case this Mum
This girl
This tatts at the back at the neck girl
Turned on you
And saw something she didn’t like

The Mother We’re going to be fucking late, now. And then what. Fucking
hell!

Chorus Then she got out her phone and started to text

Someone
Anyone
Help
She might have been saying
Help
And the boy
The kid
Was suddenly full of beans
Must have been the puffer
So she wasn’t watching
Had her eyes on the screen
Busy texting
Someone
Anyone
Help
And the boy
Her kid
Full of beans
Started to run and bash himself
Against the train door
Hard
So hard
He threw himself
Against the closed door
Of the moving train
And everybody went

All Ahhhhhhhhhh!

On the inside
We went

All Ahhhhhhhhhh!

But nobody said anything

Nobody moved
People were frightened.
That he would hurt himself
That the door might fly open
And he kept running and bashing himself against the
door and it was like she didn’t notice
She didn’t care
And the more she didn’t do anything the more the boy
bashed himself against the door

All Ahhhhhhhhhh!

And then this woman

Thank god
This woman
Someone
Said something
She said

The Other Mother Don’t do that.

Chorus And the mother

The skank
Looks up
Ready for the fight

The Other Mother You might hurt yourself.

The Mother He’s always hurting himself. He’s clumsy that way. Broke
his arm last year.

Chorus And everybody wonders

How

The Other Mother What’s your name?

The Mother Paul. His name’s Paul

The Other Mother Hello, Paul

The Mother Say hello. Say hello to the nice lady.

The Other Mother You’ve got lovely curly hair.

The Mother He won’t let me near him with a brush.

The Other Mother How old are you, Paul?

The Mother He’s five. His birthday was last week.

The Other Mother Did you have a party?

The Mother He was with his Dad. I would’ve given him one. With a cake.
And everything.

The Other Mother They’re great pyjamas.

The Mother We were running late.

The Other Mother Are they trains on them?

The Mother They’re his favourites anyway. He likes to wear them. He

won’t take them off.

The Other Mother Would you like to come and sit next to me?

The Mother You can’t keep him still. Not unless you tie him down.

Chorus And everybody knew

That she probably did
When she needed to

The Other Mother I might have something in my bag we can look at.

Chorus And this kid

This Paul
This full of beans
Wheezing
Coughing
Too small
Broken arm
Can’t sit him down
Bashing himself against the door kid
Goes and sits with the woman and she pulls a book
out of her bag
Like a picture book
A children’s book
And his little face lights up
Wanting to know
Wanting to see
And she opens the book and starts to read

The Other Mother At our beach…. Our magic beach

Chrous Like she’s just got the perfect thing

There in her bag
Like she’s ready for every emergency
Even a kid bashing himself against the door
She’s probably got cut up apple in there as well
And nuts
Like she’s prepared for anything
Even a kid
Bashing himself against the door

And the mother

She has this smile on her face
This sort of
Smile
That’s not really a smile
But the kind of smile
You make when you think you have to
Smile
But you really don’t want to
Smile at all
And she’s staring
Smiling
Staring
Smiling
And the woman
The other woman
Looks up and smiles back

The Other Mother It’s ok. I’m a mum too. I know how hard it can get.

Chorus And the mother is still smiling

The smile
That she doesn’t want to smile
And she’s thinking
I want to pull the hair out of your head
I want to scratch your fucking eyes out
But instead she says

The Mother It’s just that I have to have him back at his Dad’s by ten
otherwise I break the court order. And the bus was late. You
see we had to catch the bus from my boyfriend’s place to
get to the train station. He was meant to drive us but there
was just some total shit that went down last night so he
slept in.

The Other Mother That must be really hard.

Chorus And she wants to pull

The hair out of her head
And scratch her fucking eyes out

The Mother How old is yours then?

The Other Mother I’ve got two. One in preschool and another in grade two.
They’re at the Montessori school. You should check it out
for Paul?

The Mother I will. What was it again?

The Other Mother Montessori

The Mother How do you spell it?

Chorus And as the mother of two spells it out

The mother of one types it into her phone
The name of this thing
That she thinks she could have heard about
Once
Like a friend
Or someone
Said something about it
Once
Or maybe it was somebody’s surname at school
Angela Montessori
Or something like that

The Mother He just goes to the local primary. Near his dad’s mum’s
place.

The Other Mother The State system can be really good too.

Chorus And she just wants to pull the hair out of her head
And scratch her fucking eyes out

Authorised Officer Your card?

Chorus It’s him

The ticket inspector
She didn’t see him coming
No one did
Snuck up through the crowd
Like they do

Authorised Officer Can I check your card, please?

The Mother We were in a hurry.

Chorus Puffing
Wheezing

Coughing

The Mother The bus was late and when we got off at the stop we could
see, that’s my son, Paul… Over there. Paul… Paul… Come
here, come to Mummy. And so we got off at the stop and we
could see the train coming so we had to run.

Authorised Officer But I have to check your card.

The Mother No, listen. The bus was late. They’re always fucking late.
Somebody should do something.

Chorus Yes, They should

The Mother We could see the train coming and so we had to run and my
kid dropped his jumper and we didn’t touch on because the
train was about to go.

Authorised Officer But I still have to check you card.

The Mother No. But you’re not listening to me. The bus was late. The
fucking traffic. And I had to run. Because he’s my son, Paul.
Paul!

Chorus She wants him

Her son
Her kid
She wants him
But she’s holding onto him
The mother of two
She’s holding on
And the little thing
Is trying to squirm away
To get to his Mum
But she’s got him

The Mother You see I have to have him back at his Dad’s by ten,
otherwise I break the court order. And he will fucking well
take him off me. They will fucking well take him off me.

Authorised Officer But I have to check it, anyway.

Chorus And she’s still holding on

Like he’s already been taken
Like now she’s got number three
And she’s already filling out the application papers

To the Montessori school

And she loses it
The mother
She loses it
Then
There
Searching through her pockets
Her bag

The Mother Go on fucking take it then. I don’t care. Fucking take it.

And she throws the card

She throws it on the ground

Authorised Officer Can you pick up your card?

The Mother You pick it up.

Authorised Officer No, you must pick it up

The Mother You want it. You pick it up.

Chorus And he’s not sure what to do

Once he was draughtsman
And he remembers
The pleasure of a finally drawn plan
And then he bends down and picks up her card
And she could kick him
She could
He knows it
And she knows it too
And he rises
Unsteadily
Because, it’s awkward
He has a bad knee
But he rises
Unsteadily
And checks her card with his machine

Authorised Officer There’s no credit on this card

The Mother Yeah, I know. That’s what I said. I was going to put some on
but the bus was late. Are you fucking deaf or something?
Chorus And something tightens in him
It tightens
To be spoken to like this

To be sworn at
By a woman
Like this
A woman of such
Of such
Of such
And so something hardens in him
It hardens
And he wants this girl to pay

Authorised Officer It is a breach of the Public Transport Code to travel without

a valid ticket. I will need to make a report.

The Mother I’m fucking terrified.

Authorised The Department will review the report and determine

whether to issue a fine, a warning, a court summons or
whether to take no further action.

The Mother Well, go on. Issue your report. I’m sick of listening to your
fucking where-ever-you-come-from accent. I mean I can’t
even understand you. They shouldn’t give jobs like this to
people unless they know how to talk clearly. I mean they
should only give jobs to the people who belong here.

Chorus And nobody moved

And nobody breathed
And nobody said anything

Authorised Officer The fine for not producing a valid ticket is $238

The Mother Good luck getting that out of me.

Authorised Officer They can take it in instalments directly from your

Centrelink payments.

And she stops for a moment

So tired
Of making ends meet
And we know
That this is her day
Everyday

The Other Mother Is this necessary?

Authorised Officer I beg you pardon?

The Other Mother Couldn’t you just let her off?

Authorised Officer She was very rude

The Other Mother Yes, I know.

Authorised Officer I have to follow the rules

The Other Mother Can’t you make an exception for some people?

Authorised Officer But everybody else has to pay.

Chorus That’s true

I pay
So do I
I do too
So, why shouldn’t she?

The Other Mother I’m happy to pay her fare. If that’s what this is about.

Authorised Officer The notice has been issued.

The Other Mother But isn’t there ever a circumstance where an exception can
be made?

Authorised Officer Only in the case of mental illness. Is this woman mentally
ill?

The Other Mother Well, she’s clearly not ok.

Authorised Officer Are you mentally ill?

The Mother What did you say? Go on then, cunt. Report me.

Chorus And the word hits us

Like a slap across the face
And it’s as though he doesn’t have the words
The Officer
They get stuck in his throat
Once he was a draughtsman
He wants to scream
He wants to scream in her face
He wants to slap her to the ground
And jump on her back
And crack her spine

Authorised Officer It is a reportable offence to abuse an authorised officer. I’m

now notifying you that you’re behaviour will be included in
my report. The fine for abusing an authorised officer is
$317.

Chorus And then her phone rings

It rings
And she answers it

The Mother Yeah, we’re coming. We’re on the train. Nah, we’re still on the
train. And now I’ve got this fucking arsehole in my face, giving
me a hard time because I don’t have credit on my card.

Authorised Officer I will need your identification details.

The Mother Because I didn’t have time. The fucking bus was late. Because
some Somali guys turned up. I don’t know. Somebody owed
them. They bashed through the front door and broke the
fucking window. They are fucking full on. Like you don’t mess
with the Somalis, Troy. Or Sudanese then. I don’t know who the
fuck they are.

And nobody says anything

Nobody moves
But people glance
Nervously
At the young man
From The Congo
From Sudan
From Ethiopia
From Kenya
From somewhere
In Africa

All Ahhhhhhhhh!

And then everybody screams

On the inside

All Ahhhhhhhhh!

Because Paul
Full of beans
Broken arm
Paul

Is running and bashing himself against the door, again.

All Ahhhhhhhh!

Authorised Officer You must not let him do that.

All Ahhhhhhh!

Authorised Officer Stop that

The Other Mother Paul! Paul! Come and read a story.

All Ahhhhhh!

The Mother (phone) Look, I got to go.

Chorus And then

And then

The Mother (phone) Troy, I’ve got to fucking go

He grabs him
The Officer
He grabs the boy
To stop him bashing the door

The Mother Take your fucking hands off my kid you terrorist cunt.

Chorus And the officer lets go

Like he’s touched something
Hot
And then
And then
Somebody stands up and says
I’m filming this

The Mother Well, good because I’m smiling for the fucking camera

Chorus And somebody else stands up

I’m filming this too
So am I
You should be reported
You can’t say stuff like that
Not in a public space
I won’t allow it
Nor will I

I’m filming this

So am I

And she stared at the camera. And as her face fractured and
bounced and multiplied, it was posted and shared and liked
and commented on across the entire world. And people said
things.

Right things
Wrong things
Horrible things

Yes, people said things

All over the world

And for an hour
Or a day
She was famous
And she didn’t even know it.
And you saw the smile on her face
The fuck you smile
Just sort of fade away

Mother Turn off the cameras

Turn off the cameras

Chorus And then Paul got off the other woman’s lap and got in
between his mother’s legs and held onto the edge of her
jumper

Authorised Officer I need to see your identification.

Chorus She takes out her health care card

And gives it to him

The Mother Look, I’m sorry

Chorus And the Officer hesitates for a moment

He doesn’t look up
He doesn’t meet her eye
But he hesitates
He could let this go
He could
He wants to

The Mother It’s been a fucking bad morning, alright?

Chorus But he just keeps his head down and

Completes the paper work
And hands her the notice

The Officer You’ll be issued with a fine for fare evasion and charged for
abusing an authorised officer.

Chorus And as the train pulled into the platform

And the doors opened
She took her son’s hand
And stepped off the train
And she was gone.

Yes, It all happened so quickly

That it seemed like
Yes, it seemed like
That it was over even before it began.

Transition

Scene 9: On the Train

We have returned to the closing moments of Scene 7. The same people on the train –
Joella, Malik, Cam, the Young Straight Couple, Tony and Athena, the Young Queer with
the Rainbow Flag Backpack.

Terese is middle-aged. Life has been hard for her, we can tell that life has not been easy
for her.

Terese and Joella are facing each other.

Terese This is my country!

Joella is right up in Terese’s face.

Terese (Pleading) This is our country!

Joella This is not my country.

Cam Her mob aren’t from here.

Malik And it’s definitely not your country, bitch.

Joella It never was and it will never be. You can fuck off to where ever
you came from.

Terese I don’t know where I came from.

Joella Not my problem.

Teresa I’m exactly like you. Don’t you see, this is the only place we’ve
got. I work night shifts as a nurse, I clean up vomit and I clean
up shit. Every week I wonder how I’m going to pay my rent,
how I’m going to make those fucking bills …

Cam You are nothing like her! There’s a whole lot of shit you have to
clean up, lady, a whole lot of shit to make it up to her.

Terese My mother is buried here. I’ve buried a son. That

makes it my home too.

Malik You’re gonna have to bury a lot of your kids here, you’re gonna
have to bury a fucking shitload of your white cunts to earn this
country.

Terese I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, I really am. But what do you
want me to do about it? What do you want from me?

Tony (in Greek) Yes, tell us./ Ναι, πεsto μας.

Student (in Mandarin or Cantonese) Yes, tell us. What is it you want?/
Shì de, gàosù wǒmen. Nǐ xiǎng yào shénme?

Joella You all know what I want! (Points to Athena and Tony) I’ve
been telling you since you got here. (Points to student) And
since you got here. (Points to Terese) And certainly since you
got here. You all know what I want. I want my country. I want
my history. (Points to her belly) I want my future.

Terese Then fucking take it! I’m sick of the responsibility, the fucking
never-ending guilt! You want your country? Fucking take it!

Joella Do you know my country? Do you know my tongue? Do you

know me?

Terese is silent

Joella Do you know the taste of my kiss? Do you know the taste of my
pussy? Have you ever partied with me? Fought with me? Cried
with me? Laughed with me? Have you ever really fucking
talked to me?

Teresa is silent

Joella What is the name of this country? What is the name of my

country?

Teresa Australia.

Cam makes the sound of a buzzer making a fail sound

Cam Brrrr. Wrong.

Joella (To student) Do you know the name of my country? (to Athena)
Do you?
You don’t even know what my country is.

Teresa Does that mean I don’t have a place here? Does that mean I
don’t have a home?

Malik (pointing to Joella) Welcome to her history, bitch.

No. You don’t have a home.

Teresa (to Joella) You want us all gone?

Joella Yeah, I’m fucking sick and bored of the lot of you. I want all of
you cunts gone!

The lights flicker, we are in darkness.

The lights come on.

Joella is standing in the train carriage, all by herself. We stay with her, a moment of
relief and peace. Then:

Joella Cam? Malik? Get here.

The lights flicker, we are in darkness.

The lights come on.

Cam, Joella and Malik are the only ones in the train carriage. They are dancing to the
music in their heads. We hear a cacophony of music: brutal rap, harsh grime, speed
metal. They are dancing wildly, in pure ecstatic bliss.

SOUND & MUSIC TRANSITION: RESISTANCE

Athena Two teenage boys, Manolis and Apostolos, see the flag of the
Third Reich, the occupiers’ flag, blowing in the wind on top of
the Acropolis. In the middle of the night, they climb the sacred
rock, through tunnels, they climb the pole and take down the
Nazi flag. They cut it up into little pieces and bury it in a hole in
the ground. The next morning, when the people of the city
wake, they see the Nazi flag has vanished from the Acropolis.
I announce to my mother that I will join the resistance.

Athena quietly sings a Cretan resistance song- Pote than kami xasteria

Athena The enemy was clear then. We knew who the enemy was.

Scene 10: Board Room.

A Corporate Board Room - Eight people of various genders and cultural backgrounds sit
around a large table. Another person, Mel, stands next to them. Loki and Lisa burst onto
the scene. Lisa has the gun. She swings it wildly.

Lisa Hands up. Hands up.

Everyone puts their hands up.

Lisa Get out your mobile phones and hold them out in front of you.

They do so. Lisa collects them all.

Ok Loki. Now pay attention to Loki. Loki. Go!

Loki Which one of you is the brother?

No one says anything.

Lisa Answer him.

Jan What brother?

Loki The brother that owns 7-Eleven.

They say nothing.

Now that his sister is dead.

Lisa Come on. Come on. Answer! Which one of you is the brother!

May None of us.

Jan None of us is the brother.

Lisa Where is he?

Alex He’s not here.

Alan We don’t know.

Jan We don’t know him.

Hellie We’re not 7-Eleven.

Pause.

Loki Are you like.. a shelf company?

All No.

Loki A subsidiary?

All No.

Loki You’re not the Board?

Carlo We’re nothing to do with them.

May This is the Keppler building and 7-Eleven is in the Wittner

Building. No I mean this is the Wittner building, and 7-
Eleven are in the Keppler Building.

Lisa points the gun at her.

Lisa She’s lying.

Loki Are you lying to me?

May No.

Frank No. No. She’s not. She’s not. That’s true.

Lisa Well who are you then?

Frank We’re another company.

Jan A better one.

Mel I’m just the lunch person.

Alex They’re a really shit company. 7-Eleven.

Craig They’re cowboys.

Alan Cowboys.

Carlo Should be run out of town.

Frank They give us all a bad name.

Mel Can I go?

Jan We’re kinder.

Hellie Fairer. We’re fairer.

Lisa Shut up.

She sweeps the gun round them all. They all go still.

Lisa Just shut up.

She thinks for a moment.

Well, bad luck, you’re a fucking company of some sort. You’re all
the fucking same anyway. We’re holding you responsible.

Frank What for?

Lisa For our shitty little lives. That’s what.

Lisa is emotional and seems to be getting out of control.

Alex Look.. You may think we’re all the same, but we’re not. Come on.
7-Eleven. They bleed people dry.

Craig They owe millions in unpaid wages.

Hellie That’s why you’re here isn’t it?

Frank We’re not like that.

Hellie Do you work there? Do you work at 7-Eleven?

Loki I used to…

Pause.

Loki They won’t pay me the money they owe me.

All Augh.

Loki It’s had a bad effect on my mental health.

All Augh

Lisa I work at Chemist Warehouse.

All Aughh

Alex Just as bad.

Jan Even worse.

Hellie Chemist Warehouse is a fucking disgrace.

Lisa I could tell you some stories.

Alan I bet you could.

Frank They’re rogue companies. Both of them.

Craig And they’ve got what they deserved.

Carlo Well 7-Eleven has.

Jan They’ll keel over. Won’t survive.

Craig Oh they’re stuffed.

Carlo The brother’s out of the picture.

Alan The son runs it now.

Alex He’s not a bad guy.

Craig He’s trying his best.

Alex I went to Uni with him.

Hellie They’ve treated you apallingly.

Jan If I was you, I’d be crazy too.

Alan I’d be out of my mind.

Alex I might pick up a gun.

Carlo I might.

Jan I might go completely crazy. Pick up a gun. Bang bang bang bang
bang. bang. bang. bang.

She shoots everyone at the table. They all pretend to die dramatically as they are shot.
Then they all come back to life simultaneously. Loki is freaked out.

Loki What the fuck!

Lisa Look what you’ve done! You’ve frightened him.

Jan We didn’t mean to.

Lisa He is mentally frail.

They are all silent.

Lisa You fucking arse holes. You think you’re so clever. Sucking up
our arses! Fuck you. Fuck you. Everyone put your heads on the
table and your hands out in front of you.

They do so. Mel does the same action but standing up. Silence. They are scared.

Lisa Tell us about your company then.

Frank What do you want to know?

Lisa What do you do?

Frank We-

Lisa Who do you screw over?

Frank No one. Our Company-

Lisa Shh, you can talk. You. The little one.

May is the youngest. She looks up.

May Me?

Lisa Yeah. You.

May is very scared.

May We are a sportswear company, based in Australia, but selling all

over the world in sports goods shops, and online.

Lisa Oh yeah.

May We make swim wear, bike gear, track suits, lycras, and leggings..
and some other items. We are a fifteen year old company, and we
are extremely successful, having an annual turnover of more than
three billion Australian dollars.

Lisa And what makes you any better than those other
companies?

May Well, for a start, we don’t even employ people in Australia,

our factories are in Malaysia and Bangladesh.

A pause. There is a sense she has said the wrong thing.

Frank May I speak?

Lisa No.

Loki How much do you pay the people in Malaysia and

Bangladesh?

May I don’t know.

Loki What hours do they work?

May You’d have to ask Jan that.

Jan They do work quite long hours, and they aren’t on particularly high
wages, but you have to remember-

Frank May I speak please.

Lisa No.

Frank I am the CEO. If our company is to be held to account, then I

should be the one to speak in its defence-

Lisa Shut up.

Frank I am a compassionate man.

Lisa Shut the fuck up.

Frank I believe in gay marriage and the equality of the sexes, equal
opportunity for all races, climate change, and the world wide
reduction in poverty.

Lisa I don’t fucking care. Get on your knees.

Frank gets on his knees. Lisa holds the gun on him. It really looks like she might shoot
him. Everybody holds their breath for a moment.

Lisa What’s your name?

May May.

Lisa And what exactly do you do May?

May Me, personally? I add up figures and I make spread-sheets

and I balance budgets.. and I…

Lisa Do you like your job?

May is trying not to cry.

May It’s ok. You know. Most of the time…

Lisa What’s he like to work for?

May Frank? …

Lisa Yeah, what’s he like?

May He’s ok.

Pause

May He’s.. a bit of a bully-

Frank Fucking hell.

May starts to cry.

May But he’s ok.

Frank Fucking hell.

Lisa Say sorry to her.

Pause.

Alan Say sorry to her Frank.

Pause.

Frank I’m sorry. I’m sorry May. I’m sorry for being a bully.

Jan See, you’re making out we’re all so different. But we’re not.
We’ve all got our troubles. We’ve all got our problems. We’re all
the same.

Lisa We are not the same.

Jan Under the skin, we’re all the same.

Lisa We’re not the fucking same!

Alex I think that’s a starting pistol.

Lisa What?

Alex In your hand. A starting pistol. Like they use in Athletics.

Lisa So what?

Alex Just saying.

Lisa If I pointed it at your head and pulled the trigger would you
die?

Alex Probably not.

Loki Let’s go Lisa.

Lisa Do you want me to try?

Alex No.

Loki Let’s go.

A pause, then they run.

Transition

Scene 11: On the Train

Charity sits quietly in the corner of the carriage.

Chi and Elaine sit side by side. Chi’s mobile rings. She ignores it. It rings out.

Elaine What station do we get off?

Chi turns and stares at her. She shakes her head in disbelief.

Is your place far from the station?

Chi raises her hands in exasperation.

It’s my heels. They’re not great for walking long distances.

I’m enjoying myself.

Chi Good for you.

Elaine I feel like I’m on an adventure. I wish we were going further. I

wish we were going up North. And we had a sleeper. Come on,
Chi, come with me.

Chi throws her a look of great disdain.

Here we are sitting in the cocktail car having a drink. Make

mine a G and T. Chi? What’ll you have?

Chi stares at Elaine.

Come on Chi, have a drink with me.

She continues to stare.

Please.

Chi remains disdainful.

My shout.

Chi Hah!

Elaine Whatever you like.

Chi gives in.

Chi Kahlua and milk for me.

Elaine And one Kahlua and milk! Where will we go?

Chi Somewhere hot.

Elaine Of course.

Chi The beach.

Elaine Yes.

Chi Surf.

Elaine Yes!

Chi Somewhere we can swim with our clothes off.

Elaine Yes. Why not? I’d love to. I’ve never done it.

Chi It’s exhilarating.

Elaine Is it?

Chi Surfers Paradise.

Elaine God no. Not Surfers.

Chi I’ve always wanted to go.

Elaine It’s a dump.

Chi It looks beautiful.

Elaine Clearly you’ve never been. Noosa, that’s where we’re going.

Chi I’m going to Surfers Paradise.

Elaine No one in their right mind would take a holiday in Surfers

Paradise.

Chi I’m going there.

Elaine It’s tacky. It’s cheap. But not cheap cheap. The prices are over
the top.

Chi You go to Noosa . And I go to Paradise.

Elaine We’re going together.

Chi We’re not suited travelling companions.

Elaine We don’t know that.

Chi I know that for certain.

Elaine I’ve been to Surfers.

Chi It won’t work. Trip’s off.

Elaine I know what I’m talking about.

Chi Couldn’t keep your mouth shut.

Elaine I know what Surfers Paradise is like.

Chi You can’t give it up.

Elaine I can give it up. I can. What can’t I give up?

Chi There’s no shifting you.

Elaine I can shift. I have. Don’t be hard on me. Give me a chance.

Chi No flexibility.

Elaine I’m sorry, I’m sorry, we can go anywhere you want.

Pause.
It’s just that I do know Surfers and …

Chi Not going anywhere.

Elaine Please, Chi. I want to go with you.

Chi Nothing’s good enough for you.

Elaine I can change. I can. I’m going to Surfers with you. We’re going
to have a great time.

Chi Something will always be not to your taste.

Elaine Surfers Paradise it is.

Chi Too tacky for you.

Elaine Please.

Chi Too cheap.

Elaine Chi.

Chi No.

Elaine It’s a trip of a life time.

Chi No.

Elaine We’re Thelma and Louise. We’ll share our secrets, our
innermost feelings, our regrets, our dreams.

Chi I worked for you for over ten years.

Elaine That long?

Chi In all that time we never shared a thing.

Elaine That was when you were working for me.

Chi Once I had a black eye and you took me into the bathroom and
gave me some foundation and said, cover it up and don’t come
looking like that again.

Elaine Did I really say that?

Chi You knew.

Pause.

Elaine, you knew.

Elaine I did.

Chi And you did nothing.

Elaine No.

Chi Now you want to share. Not possible. You can’t share.

Ping. Chi looks at her mobile.

Elaine Who’s that on the phone?

Chi My husband. He wants me dead.

Elaine is at a loss.

Elaine Oh.

Chi Is that it?

Elaine What? Oh my god, what, help me, what?

Chi Quick.

Elaine What can I do?

Chi Think of something.

Elaine I will.

Chi Now’s your chance.

Elaine Let me help you.

Chi Now you’ll help me?

Elaine Yes.

Chi Now you want to do something for me?

Elaine Yes.

Chi What?

Elaine There must be something I can do.

Chi Too late.

Elaine No, wait.

Chi No good now, Mrs Stapleton. Now you’re useless to me.

Chi’s mobile ring is deafening.

The Young Couple enter and immediately he wraps her tightly in his arms.
All male passengers disembark.
Women passengers board.

The Young Woman struggles quietly to release herself from Young Man’s grip but he
holds on fast.

YW You’re squeezing me too tight.

There’s no change in his grip.

You’re squeezing me too tight.

No change. Chi’s mobile stops ringing. She stands.

Chi And he says, you’ll never get away from me. He says, no way.
You’re stuck with me. You’re nothing without me. Nothing at
all. You’ll never ever get away. You haven’t the nerve, he says,
haven’t got the gall. Too afraid. You’ll stay. You’ll stay.

YW You’re squeezing me too tight.

Young Woman escapes Young Man and makes a run for it. He grabs her by the hair
and pulls her back.

Chi’s phone rings, more loudly it appears.

Chi is up.

Elaine is up.

Charity is up.

The other female passengers are up.

The vacuum cleaner is raised.

Into a tunnel and the light breaks up.

Out of the tunnel into the light. Everyone’s seated and appear calm.

The young man is missing.

Scene 12: On the train.

Loki and Lisa are on the train.

Lisa You have a duty of care to me.

Loki I know.

Lisa You put me in danger.

Loki I’m sorry.

Lisa You’re a fuckwit. A starting pistol. It blows air out the top
or something. It couldn’t kill a fucking goldfish.

Loki He said it was a bulletless gun

Lisa What the fuck is a bulletless gun?

Loki says nothing.

Lisa What’s supposed to do the hurting? With a bulletless gun!

Loki He said it was new technology.

Lisa Oh my god Loki, where is your head? Leave it on the seat when
we go. It’s a piece of crap.

Loki I want to take it to the shop and get my money back.

Lisa You should take it to the shop and shove it down the guys
throat. He made a fool of you.

We’ll be like one of those articles where they go the robbers

were so dumb they posted a selfie on facebook, saying they just
held up the service station… or the robbers were so dumb
they broke into a house then they washed their dishes, and
bought them groceries.

Loki You were amazing Lisa. You were like an avenging angel.
You were like a bandit queen.

Loki tries to hold Lisa’s hand.

Lisa Fuck off.

Lisa is softening. They sit in silence.

Lisa Oh I forgot.

She pours a heap of shiny phones out of her bag into her lap.

Lisa One good thing.

Loki No, but-

She checks out the phones.

Lisa Four I phone 10’s, 2 Samsung galaxys, and look at this, this
was the main guys phone-

Loki Lise-

Lisa What the fuck is it?

Loki Don’t turn it on.

Lisa Loki! This is a Lamborghini! Like the car but a phone. This
would be worth a shit ton.

Loki grabs the phone and starts taking out its Sim card.

Lisa What are you doing?

Loki They can trace us with them. We’ll be like a fucking phone
tower, with all those phones. We’ll be like this big fucking
pulsing moving dot.

They frantically try to get the sims out. They manage two or three.

Loki Forget it. Forget it. Let’s go.

They leave the sims and the rest of the mobiles in a pile on the seat and hurriedly move
two train carriages down the train. They find a double seat.

They are puffed. They are scared. They sit silently for a moment, holding hands.

Chi gets up, carries the vacuum cleaner to the doors and waits for the train to stop.

Elaine excitedly joins her. The doors open.

Chi steps out onto the platform. She turns and looks at Elaine a final time.

She shoves the vacuum cleaner into Elaine’s arms.

The doors close.

Elaine is left holding the vacuum in her hands.

Loki and Lisa sit, holding hands.

Loki Hypnotise me.

Lisa I don’t know how.

Loki Just make it up.

Lisa Breathe slow.. Slower.

They look at each other breathing really really slow.

Feel heavy…

Loki is a really good candidate for hypnosis.

You’re going down a really long staircase.

one step at a time. Yep?

Loki yep.

Lisa down a step… down another step…

Loki Yep.

Lisa Don’t be frightened.

Loki shakes his head.

Down another step..

down another step..

Loki looks hypnotised.

Down another step.

Loki Yep.

Lisa
Are there any more steps?
Loki shakes his head.

Lift up your left arm.

He lifts up his right arm.

Lisa That’s your right arm. You’re fucking dyslexic.

He swaps arms.

Touch me. On the face.

Loki touches her on the face.

Tell me who you love?

Loki I love Lisa.

Lisa smiles.

The train stops.

Transition

SCENE 13: A Hotel Room

A modern hotel apartment. There are ceiling to floor windows; below is Jolimont and
the rail yards.

Joella and Jamie are sitting side by side on the sofa. Cam is cross-legged on the floor,
flicking the remote control. He doesn’t stay on a station for more than a few seconds.
He just keeps flicking the remote.

Malik is by the window, looking down at the world.

Joella You’ve got Mum’s eyes, Jamie. You and Cam have Mum’s eyes.
Not me. I got my old man’s eyes. And Malik has his Dad’s eyes.
But you and Cam have Mum’s eyes.

Malik (to Jamie) Do you remember Mum?

Joella Fuck off, you are a cunt.

Malik Do you?

Jamie Of course I do.

Joella Malik’s just jealous. You were always the best looking one of
us, Jamie.
Let’s do selfies. I want to show everyone I’ve got at least one
handsome brother.

Joella nestles next to Jamie

Joella (to Cam) Come on.

Cam crawls over, kneels in front of Joella & Jamie

Joella You too, Malik.

Malik Fuck off.

Joella Suit yourself. You take it, Cam.

Cam takes her phone, takes a selfie. Joella snatches the phone

Joella No way, do it again. I look like shit.

Cam Don’t blame me.

Joella Take another one.

Cam is about to take the shot

Joella Wait.

Joella fixes her hair, straightens her top. She has her lips on Jamie’s cheek.

Joella Okay, take it.

Cam takes the photograph. Joella snatches the phone again. She’s pleased with the
results

Jamie (getting up, flicking through the hotel directory) So it’s decided?
We’re doing Ubereats?

Malik Four pizzas, large. One with salami and hot peppers.

Cam And one with ham.

Joella And one vegetarian with bacon. And then whatever

you want, Jamie.

Malik And two serves of garlic bread. You got grog?

Jamie There’s a bottle of red …

Malik And a six-pack of beer. Nah, make it a dozen. And a bottle of

white for Joella.

Jamie They might not have alcohol.

Malik They’ll pick it up on the way. For a fee.

Joella It’s too much, Mick.

Malik Look at him, he can afford it.

Joella I don’t need the wine.

Malik Get the fucking wine. And a bottle of bourbon. Or Scotch.

Whatever you prefer.
Brother.

Jamie slides open the door, goes out on the balcony. He is ordering.

Joella (To Malik) You are a shit. You are nothing but an ugly piece of
shit.

Malik (mocking) ‘You were always the best looking one of us, Jamie.’
You have no fucking pride, do ya?

Joella Why did you come?

Malik To see what kind of faggot he is.

Cam He’s alright.

Malik Did he bother to come to Mum’s funeral?

Joella & Cam are silent

Malik That’s the kind of faggot he is.

Jamie returns

Cam I need a smoke.

Joella I’ll have one too.

Jamie You can’t smoke here, you have to go outside, to the front of
the building.

Malik We’re on a fucking balcony.

Jamie Sorry, they’re the rules.

Malik Go on, Cam, have your smoke.

Cam & Joella look from brother to brother. Jamie shrugs

Cam & Joella go out to the front of the building. While they are smoking, they pose for
selfies, clearly enjoying themselves.

Jamie stands by Malik

Jamie I don’t recognise Melbourne. It’s like a completely different

city.

Silence

Jamie How’s your dad?

Silence

Jamie I like Fadi. He was always good to me.

Silence

Jamie You don’t smoke?

Silence

Jamie You look fit. You look good.

Malik You want to suck my cock, do you?

Ja mie Oh, fuck off. You don't look that good.

Malik and Jamie burst into laughter

Malik What’s France like?

Jamie It’s been good to me.

Malik Has it? I thought the Frenchies don’t want people like us.
(Points to Jamie) Darkies. (Points to himself) Sand niggers.

Jamie There are dickheads everywhere, mate.

Malik Were you in Paris when the terrorists went through it? When
they shot all those kids at the rock gig?

Jamie I don’t live in Paris/

Malik (interrupting) /I got so hard when I head about that, I got so

fucking hard. I thought, Yeah, those fucking white kids,
thinking they were so safe, and suddenly the floor drops away
and they are in Hell. (Malik makes his fingers into a gun)
Phwooh! Take that. Phwooh! Take that you white cunt.
Phwooh! I’ve just blown off your fucking head, you disgusting
faggot.
I got so fucking hard, Jamie.

The brothers are staring at each other

Jamie Cam’s a white cunt.

Malik It’s war, bro, there’s always collateral damage.

Joella & Cam come through the door

Cam You can see straight down to the G from here. Who do you
barrack for, bro?

Joella Richmond, of course, we all barrack for Richmond.

Malik How’s Cam meant to know? He was still in fucking nappies

when Jamo pissed off.

Cam Did you see the final, bro, did you see us win the Premiership?

Jamie I watched it in a small bar in Lyon, that’s where I live/

Cam /I really wanted to get tickets, but there was no chance/

Joella /You have to be a member, it’s all rigged/

Cam /Mum would have to been so high, mum would have been so
fucking happy/

Jamie /There’s not many Aussies in Lyon but I know this bar and the
owner let me watch/

Cam /We watched it at the Junction Hotel in Preston, I was

sweating, right to the final siren, I was so tense, wasn’t I, I was
so fucking tense till that last quarter and then we won and I
stood up and I just belted it out, I did it for Mum, I just belted it
out:
(singing really fast)
Oh we’re from Tigerland, a fighting fury, we’re from
Tigerland, in any weather …

Joella & Cam … you will see us with a grin

Risking head and shin, If we're behind then never mind
We'll fight and fight and win
For we're from Tigerland …

Malik (shouting) Shut it!

Cam & Joella stop singing

Malik They don’t have footy in France. They have wogball. That’s
right, isn’t, Jamie?

Jamie Mum’s great-grandfather played football. For Liverpool. His

name was Matthew. His father was a sailor from Estonia.
Matthew worked on the docks and played football. I traced
Mum’s history/

Malik /We don’t give a shit about that.

Jamie It’s our history, Malik. This Matthew married a woman from
Glasgow, her name was Irine. I read her diaries. She was
amazing, no fucking schooling, was working in factories from
twelve. She taught herself to read and write, with the help of
the union, they ran night classes/

Malik /That is not our fucking history! (He points to Joella) Not hers!
(points to Cam) Not his! (points to himself) Not mine!

Malik makes his fingers into a gun and points them at Jamie’s head

Malik And not yours. What do you think she’d think looking at you,
mate? Do you think she’d be proud of her fucking darkie great-
great grandson?

Jamie is silent

Malik Do you know what my dad says about you, Jamo? He says a son
who doesn’t come back to bury his mother is a man not worth
spitting on. That’s what Fadi says about you.

Jamie I should have been there at Mum’s funeral.

Malik You should have come before that. You should have never left
her. You should have never left us.

Jamie I want to make it up to you three. For leaving you behind.

Malik You can’t.

Joella Shut up, Mick.

Jamie I have three hundred thousand dollars.

Silence

Malik Bullshit! There’s no fucking way!

Jamie I have three hundred thousand dollars.

Malik How did you make that?

Jamie It’s what I’ve got, what I’ve earned. I want to give it to you
three.

Malik I said, How did you make that kind of money?

Jamie I’ve worked. Since leaving here, I’ve worked. You don’t know
how hard I’ve worked. Since leaving here I’ve saved. I know
you think I just fucked off and forgot yous all. But there hasn’t
been a day when I haven’t thought of you three, thought of
Mum. There hasn’t been a day I haven’t put money aside. For
you. It’s not my money it’s yours.

Joella Jamie, you don’t have …

Malik Yeah, he has to. But I don’t believe him.

Jamie There’s just one thing I’m going to ask.

Malik What?

Jamie I want you all to commit to study, I want you three to do a

course. Whatever you like, it can be whatever you want to
study. But it has to be for at least two years and you can’t give
up on it.

Malik Is this like work for the dole, Jamie? Is this mutual fucking
obligation?

Jamie Mum always said I had to look after you three. She made me
promise that I would look after you three. But I had to go away,
you know that, Malik, if I had stayed here I would have died. I
would have died or I would have killed someone if I stayed in
this shithole.
I’m keeping my word to Mum. You’re all so smart, you have no
idea how much smarter you are than people born with money.

Joella I know I’m smart.

The door bell buzzes

Jamie We’ll get a lawyer, I’ll sign it over to you all. After two years. It’s
your money, it's always been your money.

Jamie exits

Cam, Joella & Malik are looking at each other

Joella Three hundred thousand dollars!

Malik Fuck! That’s so much money. What we can do with that kind of
money!

Joella Can you believe it, Cam?

Cam is silent

Jamie returns, laden with food and booze. He puts it all down on the coffee table.

Jamie Please, eat. Come on, there’s heaps of grub. I promise you, in
two years that money is yours. It was always yours.

Joella is reaching for a slice of pizza

Cam Don’t fucking touch a thing.

They all look at Cam

Cam We don’t want your food. We don’t want your booze. We don’t
want your charity, we don’t want your apology, we don’t want
your rules, we don’t want your lording it over us, we don’t
want anything to do with you, mate. We want you to fuck off to
that shithole you came from. We don’t ever want to see you
again. If I ever see you again, cunt, I am going to fucking rip
your throat out. (Points to the food) That is poison. (points to
Jamie) You are poison. Your fucking deal is poison.
(Spits on the food) This is not what Mum meant. Malik’s right.
You don’t remember a fucking thing about her.

Jamie Don’t you want to do something else with your lives? Is it

always going to be the dole and drugs and booze? You must
want something more than this.

Joella I’ve got something, Jamie. I’ve got Cam, I’ve got Malik, I’ve got a
baby coming and I’ve got my home. What do you have?

Cam Do you have kids, do you have a family?

Jamie doesn’t answer

Malik Do the Frogs accept you as one of theirs?

Cam You don’t even have a footy team anymore, do you?

And he thinks he’s better than us, he thinks he’s the great man
with the great job in the great suit coming to save his poor
bogan white and brown and black trash brothers and sister. I’d
rather die poor, mate, I’d rather die with a needle in my arm,
just like Mum did than become what you are. I’d rather off
myself than become what you are. Let’s go. Let’s get the fuck
out of here. I can’t stand the stink of this place anymore.

Cam & Malik are about to leave. They turn to look at Joella

Malik You coming?

Joella walks up to Jamie. She tenderly touches his cheek

Joella Oh, Jamie, I’m sorry you got nothing.

Joella, Cam & Malik exit

Jamie stands in silence. He walks over to the table laden with the food and drink

Jamie (starting to sing)

Oh we’re from Tigerland, a fighting fury
We’re from Tigerland …
Fuck, how does it go? How does it fucking go?
Oh we’re from Tigerland, a fighting fury,
We’re from Tigerland, in any weather … risking head and …
skin?
Is it skin?
Is it fucking skin?

Scene 15: The Evening Commute

Chorus It was the 6:02 on the Upfield line.

The 5:43 on the Mernda line
The 7:24 on the Craigieburn
It was the 9:04 on the Hurstbridge line
The 8:45 on the Frankston line
The 6:34 on the Alamein
On the evening commute

The train was crowded

Terribly crowded
Packed, in fact
They should put more trains on
Yes, they should
I mean they should put
More trains on
Yes, they should

And people were thinking

About that night’s tea
Take away, maybe
Or a quick stir-fry
Should have put something out to defrost
Maybe he’s cooked something
Probably not
And people were wondering what might be on TV
And if they’d make it home for their favourite show

Yes, all the people

The Asians
And the people from the Middle East
The black people
And the white people
The young ones
The old ones
And the ones in between
All on their way home
Having made ends meet
On the evening commute

When suddenly
Yes, suddenly
The lights flickered
And the train came to a stop
It just came to a

Stop

And nobody said anything

And nobody moved
They just wondered
Why?
And people looked across the aisle
Hoping to meet someone’s eye
Someone who knew
Something
Someone who could explain
Something

And people hoped

They hoped
That this unexpected stop
This delay
Wouldn’t take long
Because they were hungry
And they were tired
From having to make ends meet

When somebody saw something

Yes, they saw something
Out the window
And said
Look
And everybody looked
And saw it
All together
All at once
They crowded around the windows
And saw that something was happening
Out there
In the street
On the platform
On the tracks ahead
There were flashing lights
Blue
And red
Police
Ambulance
Both

A crowd had gathered

At the scene

Yes, something had happened

An incident
Trouble
An accident, maybe
Something
Yes, something had happened
And people felt
Yes, people felt
Well, they felt
Excited, really
Wanting to know
Wanting to see
This incident
This accident
This trouble
But people also felt
Yes, they also felt
A little cross
A little irritated
That this
Whatever this is
This incident
This accident
This trouble
Had stopped their train

When somebody said

What’s going on?
Yes, what’s going on
I want to know what’s going on
Does anyone know anything?
Has anyone heard anything?
Somebody call someone
Who should we call?
Is there a number?
What should we do?

And then somebody said

There’s a body on the tracks
On twitter it says
There’s a body on the tracks
And nobody said anything
Nobody moved
A body on the tracks

Until some guy said,

It says
He said
It says
That some guy stood in front of the train
He just stood there
In front of the train
With a bottle of booze
And someone said
That he was singing
Yes, he was singing
He was just singing
At the top of his voice
He was singing

(sung) “Oh we’re from tiger land”

Something like that

Some football song

(sung) “A fighting fury, we’re from tiger land”

Yes, he was just singing some song

At the top of his voice
With a bottle of booze
When the train came

No, I heard
Yes, I heard it too
That it was a woman
Some woman
With nowhere else to go
Some woman
Some hag
Some bag
All sag
A woman
Who just let herself
Drop
In front of a train
She just let herself
Drop

No,
It’s here on twitter
Hashtag
Some guy

And his girlfriend

Being chased by the cops
On a train
Drew a gun
Fuck
He drew a gun
And they shot him
Dead
What did he expect?
He drew a gun
Hashtag noquestionsasked
Hashtag bloodonthetracks
Drugs, they say
Yes, drugs they say
Sure to be drugs

It was a kid
They’re saying
A running, jumping
Full of beans
Coughing
Wheezing
Kid
He was running on the platform
And his mum
You know the type
Yes, his mum
Was distracted because she was texting
Someone about something
Help
When the kid ran
And fell
Help
He fell
In front of the train

Ahhhhhhh!

And the people sat

In the silence
And wondered
What they should do
What they should say
What they should think
What they should feel
About this body on the tracks

This man
Singing
The woman
Dropping
The guy
Shooting
The boy
Running

When someone
Yes, someone
I don’t know who it was
Said
Let me off this train
I want to get off the train
I can’t breath
Let me off the train
I can’t breath
I can’t think
I can’t talk
I can’t breath
Let me off the train
Help
I don’t want to do this anymore
Help

Charity Pay up… Pay up

Help

Charity Pay up you miserable cunts

And then suddenly

The lights flickered
And the train started to move again
And in the absence of any outcome
Of any clear instruction
Of what to do next
People turned back to their phones
To stare at their screens
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Buds in the ears
Podcasts
Some were reading

Not many
And some were just staring
Out the window
At the passing suburbs, I suppose
At the houses
And the streets
And the people
Just staring really
At the backyards
At the warehouses
At the places that people don’t go

Scene 16: On the Train

Charity, her sunglasses propped up on her head and seeing clearly, announces to a
crowded train.

Charity Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong

Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
He sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me
He sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
you'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me.

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,

Up rode the troopers, one, two, three,
What’s the jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me
With the jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag
You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me
With the jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag
You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me.

Charity It’s getting late. It’s been a rough day. Time now for everyone
to pay. Pay up! Pay up! Pay your dues you miserable cunts!
Give me, give me, give me. I’m tired. I’m hungry. We’re coming
to the end of the line. Get your purses and your wallets out, this
is the time.

There are no takers; not a single coin offered.

Sound & Music transition : Resistance

Joella, Cam and Malick are on the platform.

Behind them an Australian flag unfurls.
Slowly, the three of them turn around and face the flag.
They look at each other.
The two boys pull down the flag. Joella holds a lighter in the air as though she intends
to burn the flag.

Epilogue

Victoria and James are on the Eurostar. He’s reading the paper and she is looking at
her phone.

Veronica It is a protest, that’s why the train has stopped. There’s a

protest for the refugees on the English side.

Jamie Good on them for protesting.

Veronica I came across as if I were a nihilist before. I’m really not. I just
sometimes get so bloody angry in this world.

Jamie Maybe the only sane response to the world at the moment is
nihilism.

Veronica You don’t believe that. What would be a sane

response?

Jamie Patience?

Veronica Not rage?

Jamie Humility?

Veronica You are a liberal, aren’t you?

Jamie One is responsible to life: It is the small beacon in that

terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall
return.

Veronica The Fire Next Time.

Jamie I believe that freedom is responsibility and solidarity. It has to

be both.

Veronica Responsibility and solidarity are both old fashioned words, I’m
afraid. They’re simply nostalgia.

Jamie (He points to her backpack)

I still believe in books. I still believe in words.
I had nothing. I mean that, I had absolutely nothing. That’s
where I come from. And I had a teacher in high school, this one

man, Mr. Curran. He made me read, he made me work. He

made me see there was a future.
The worst thing this world can do to you is make you believe
you have no future, that you have nothing. That’s what the
world did to my mother. That’s what I will never forgive.

Silence

VERONICA is silent

Jamie He was my first lover, he was the first love of my life.

Veronica That’s a big risk he took, a big fucking risk.

Jamie He knew I wouldn’t betray him.

Veronica No, I didn’t mean that. I meant the risk that he could have
really messed you up.

Jamie If I’m nostalgic, I think you’re utopian.

Veronica That’s not a bad thing.

Jamie No. Except when the utopians decide to cut off heads.

VERONICA’s chuckle is short and conciliatory

Veronica Are you looking forward to returning home?

Jamie I am. Very much. But I should have gone back sooner.

Veronica All your family is still there?

Jamie They’re all that’s left.

Veronica They must miss you. They’ll be so glad to see you.

Jamie They haven’t had the opportunities I’ve had.

Veronica Of course, it must be hard being people of colour in Australia.

Jamie It’s hard being poor everywhere.

Veronica You don’t give an inch, do you?

Jamie I think it’s in my blood.

Veronica So blood matters?

Jamie Of course. My brothers and my sister, they’re all I have in this

world. And that’s enough, that’s all I need.

There is a jolt. The train starts to move.

Veronica We’re on our way. They must have cleared out the protesters.

Jamie There’ll be more protests.

Veronica: Your family will be so delighted to see you.

Jamie I hope so.

Announcement (in French) Au nom de l'Eurostar nous nous excusons pour la

gêne occasionnée par le retard. Nous arriverons à la gare de St
Pancras à Londres en une demi-heure.
(in English) On behalf of the Eurostar we apologise for the
inconvenience of the delay. We will be arriving in St Pancras
Station, London, in half an hour.
END

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