Shortlisted for the BBC Blast My 100 Words competition 2008.

Performed at the 2008 Beijing Olympic fringe and in simultaneously in London.

The entire stage is in complete darkness. A spot slowly lightens on a pair arguing. They are a teenage boy, about sixteen, and a woman, probably his mother. They are stood face-to-face in the heat of battle. Behind them, at the back of the stage are two doors. Both identical, completely blank, wooden framed doors. As the spot brightens we can already here their voices.

WOMAN:      You can’t carry on like this. You’re wasting your life! What happened?

BOY:              Yeah. My life. So keep out of it.

WOMAN:      (exasperated)Just sort it out.(There’s a pause and she goes to leave, reaching the edge of the stage she stops silently, slowly turning back but without looking directly at him.)Please.

BOY:              (The boy pulls at his hair in anger) Fuck’s sake. (He paces around the room oblivious to the doors behind him. He stops centre-stage looking pleadingly at the audience.) What?

                        (The boy heads to the back of the stage swinging the left door open violently. As he opens it heavy drum ‘n’ bass starts to play rising from a low to a high volume as what’s behind the door comes into full view. At first the boy is blocking the view but moves aside for the audience to see. There is a party going on inside of the door. A drunken teenager stumbles towards the doorframe, hanging off of it. The DRUNKEN BOY looks very much like the BOY: he is wearing the same clothes. Behind him there are more young people drinking and partying.)

DRUNKEN BOY: Whay whay! Y’alright mate. Come on in. It’s a party!

                        (The BOY pushes the drunk back through the doorway, slamming the door in his face. The music cuts out as the door is shut. The BOY looking surprised stumbles toward the front of the stage looking shocked. He goes back to the second door, the right door. He opens it. In the small space of the doorway is another boy crammed against a desk reading a textbook intently. A phone on the desk starts to ring. He answers.)

STUDYING BOY: Nah. Sorry. Not tonight. Speak later. (He puts the phone back and carries on studying.)

                        (The BOY walks back to the first door. Opening it he finds the party has died down a bit and the DRUNKEN BOY leaning against the doorframe opposite a girl leaning against the opposite side. The DRUNKEN BOY strokes the girls cheek)

DRUNKEN BOY: It’s like … I dunno. I like you. I think we’d be good together.

                        (The BOY shuts the door on the couple returning to the second door. The STUDYING BOY is now sleeping with his head on the textbook. The BOY shuts the door returning to centre-stage and sitting with his knees tucked to his chest looking very small. He sits for a moment.)

BOY:              Shit. (He springs up making his way quickly to the left door, tearing it open, about to enter but is confronted by the same couple as before, this time arguing.)

D. BOY:         You can be such a bitch, you know that?

GIRL:            Yeah, well … (the BOY slams the door on them quickly, he turns, looking confused, walking to the second door.)

                        (He finds S. BOY in a uniform sat at a small school table scribbling furiously on a test paper in front of him. He takes a swift glance at his watch and returns to his exam. The BOY shuts the door again, hurrying to the left door. He opens it finding D. BOY facing him looking sad holding a baby. He stumbles back, tripping over and shutting the door with his foot. He crawls to centre-stage hyperventilating. He makes his way to the right door. Sat at a desk, S. BOY is on a telephone wearing a business suit and looking very stressed.)

S. BOY:          Well, I’m sorry ma’am it’s company policy. There’s really nothing I can do. (pause) No… well … I’m very sorry. (The door shuts and the BOY returns finally to the left door. He opens it and D. BOY is sat, cramped in the doorframe swigging on a bottle of spirits. He’s wailing.)

D. BOY:         Jesus! It shouldn’t have ended like this.

                        (Upset, the boy returns to the right door. Opening it he encounters an entire family sat on a sofa facing him. They are young and happy but the father is missing. There is only a mother and her two children. The BOY looks back, sad for them.)

MOTHER:     Come on hun. You’re gonna miss the beginning. Hurry up.

                        (The boy smiles back at the audience. He walks through the door and sits with his family on the sofa. He kisses his wife on the cheek. The door slowly closes.)