MOSQUITOES

BY LUCY
KIRKWOOD

DRAMATISTS
PLAY SERVICE
INC.
 MOSQUITOES
Copyright © 2019, Lucy Kirkwood

All Rights Reserved

MOSQUITOES is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of
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MOSQUITOES was first performed in the Dorfman auditorium of
the National Theatre, London, on July 25, 2017. It was directed by
Rufus Norris, the scenic design was by Katrina Lindsay, the lighting
design was by Paule Constable, the music was by Adam Cork, the
sound design was by Paul Arditti, and the video design was by Finn
Ross and Ian William Galloway. The cast was as follows:

ALICE .......................................................................... Olivia Williams

JENNY ........................................................................... Olivia Colman
THE BOSON ..................................................................... Paul Hilton
LUKE ............................................................................... Joseph Quinn
NATALIE .......................................................................... Sofia Barclay
KAREN ......................................................................... Amanda Boxer
HENRI .................................................................................. Yoli Fuller
GAVRIELLA BASTIANELLI/POLICEWOMAN ........... Cait Davis
JOURNALIST/SONOGRAPHER ............................. Vanessa Emme
SECURITY GUARD ......................................... Ira Mandela Siobhan

MOSQUITOES was originally commissioned by Manhattan Theatre

Club, (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive
Producer) with funds provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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 CHARACTERS

This is a play about the English in Europe, and the nationality and
race of the characters are important.
That does not mean the characters cannot be played by actors of a
different nationality or race.
ALICE
(English)
JENNY
(English)
THE BOSON
(English)
LUKE
(English)
NATALIE
(English, of South Asian descent)
KAREN
(English)
HENRI
(Swiss-French)
GAVRIELLA BASTIANELLI
(Italian)
who also plays
POLICEWOMAN
(Swiss-French)
JOURNALIST/SCIENTISTS/GUARDS
(The Journalist should be from the country the play is being performed in.
The Scientists are from all over Europe. The Guards are Swiss-French.)

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“The general public has long been divided into two parts; those
who think that science can do anything and those who are
afraid it will.”

—Thomas Pynchon,
Mason & Dixon
 MOSQUITOES
ACT ONE

IN THE BEGINNING.

Summer 2006. A house in Luton, England, beneath a flight

path. Jenny, heavily pregnant. She walks, always in motion.
Alice sits. She is 41 and Jenny is 39.

JENNY. Just it’s like waves.

ALICE. And but which part in particular is worrying you?
JENNY. It’s the part which, I think it’s mainly the part where it
comes out.
ALICE. This is very natural Jenny.
JENNY. Mike says millions of women do it every day. He says
“look at the animal kingdom.”
Jenny sits down.
ALICE. Don’t worry about Mike. He’s just feeling powerless and
redundant.
JENNY. I want a cigarette.
ALICE. well okay but that’s not / going to—
JENNY. Mum smoked twenty a day when she was pregnant.
ALICE. Both of us?
JENNY. No just me Alice that’s why I’m Forrest Gump and you’re
the Wizard of fucking Oz.
ALICE. That’s not / what I was
JENNY. Twenty a day. Marlboro, not light. Red. And we’re alright.
A wave of panic engulfs Jenny. She takes a breath, closes her
eyes, trying to control it.

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ALICE. What?
JENNY. No, it’s just. It doesn’t kick. I don’t feel it, kicking, I think
it might be in the wrong position. I think the cord might be round
its neck.
ALICE. Okay. Okay. But you’ve had the ultrasound?
Pause. Jenny makes a noncommittal sound.
Jenny, you’ve / had
JENNY. Yeah, it’s not, it’s not something we felt comfortable doing.
,
ALICE. But. Okay but so because it’s completely safe.
JENNY. Um, no, not, actually, not completely
ALICE. In what way?
Pause.
Jenny in / what
JENNY. No because you’re going to shout at me.
ALICE. I won’t shout at you, when / have I ever
JENNY. They’ve done animal studies.
,
ALICE. Which animals?
JENNY. Mammals.
Pause.
ALICE. Which mammals?
JENNY. Rats.
ALICE. Rats. Okay. And what did they find in / these
JENNY. Oh you know, just brain injuries. Dyslexia
Jenny finds a printout of an internet article.
ALICE. How can a rat be dyslexic?
JENNY. epilepsy (don’t do that) mental retardation, an increased
incidence in left-handedness in boys
ALICE. Luke is left-handed.
JENNY. well there you go, listen to this:

8
ALICE. Jenny, we’ve talked about this.
JENNY. No, I know
ALICE. Googling is
JENNY. Bad, / I know, but just
ALICE. What did we, just because you can access the information
doesn’t mean you’re equipped to understand it.
JENNY. okay, okay but (Reading.) “a World Health Organisation
report warned that ultrasound can cause reduced fetal weight, neuro-
logical changes,” this is from a journal by the / way, like a proper
ALICE. Millions of women do it, every single day and
JENNY. So? Millions of women drink Diet Coke.
ALICE. What’s wrong with / Diet Coke?
JENNY. “In 2001 an ultrasound transducer placed in a woman’s
uterus recorded sound as loud as a train coming into a station.”
As loud as a train.
ALICE. It’s safe.
JENNY. As loud as a fucking train.
ALICE. In America, you can get it done in a shopping centre.
JENNY. Yeah well in America you can buy a gun in a shopping centre
can’t you, just cos something happens in America / doesn’t mean
ALICE. (oh my God) it’s safe, it’s safe, it’s less dangerous than a hot
bath.
JENNY. Yes, well I’d like to believe that Alice / but
ALICE. It doesn’t matter whether you believe it, it’s a fact.
JENNY. Says who?
ALICE. The doctor, and he’s an expert, / so
JENNY. She.
ALICE. She’s an expert / so
JENNY. Yeah well I think actually what I feel, as a mother, might be
stronger than a a a a just a…fact don’t you?
ALICE. No.
,
JENNY. Okay well there’s not like a single version of
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ALICE. Yes there is. There is, absolutely / there is
JENNY. Well that’s a very Western way / of
ALICE. A what?
JENNY. I’m just / saying.
ALICE. Western?
JENNY. I’m just saying!
ALICE. You live in Luton.
JENNY. Don’t, shouting at me, it doesn’t kick. It doesn’t move. I think
it might be dead.
,
ALICE. I promise you. I promise you, there is nothing to worry about.
JENNY. yeah well there’s a higher rate of Down’s
ALICE. From an ultrasound?
JENNY. No, in IVF babies
ALICE. Statistically?
JENNY. statistically, yes, statistically in IVF babies there is a higher
rate of Down’s and and and and death.
,
statistically, yes, and all I’m saying is I’m allowed, actually, I am
allowed to make my own decisions about what’s best for my, without
being made to feel like I’m constantly failing some fucking cosmic
exam, like I might actually be a capable, grown up woman you
know? Who can be trusted to, not just some sack of skin with a pair
of tits for people to to examine and and inject and monitor and and
stick their fucking fingers in because actually at the end of the day
who’s in charge? Who’s in charge?
,
fucking, statistically, who’s in charge, / Alice?
ALICE. You are.
JENNY. Thank you. Not them. Not you. Me. That’s all I’m. Thank you.
Jenny looks at Alice, wretched.
Didn’t you ever feel like this?
ALICE. I’m sorry, I wish I could…but actually I felt. Sort of amazing.

10
Like, tuned into some weird frequency, because I understood for the
first time. This is what my body is for, and it was like. Wow! / And
JENNY. Yeah and your boobs got really big, and then one day you
sneezed and out popped Luke, and he trotted off the bed and cut his
own umbilical cord. I bet you didn’t even shit yourself / did you?
ALICE. Stop it. You know that’s not
JENNY. That’s not?
ALICE. no, you know that’s not
JENNY. Tell me then.
ALICE. I already told you.
JENNY. So tell me again.
Pause.
The contractions started, go on. Please. Please Alice.
Pause.
Please
ALICE. The contractions started at about ten p.m.
JENNY. But which this worried you because it was too early.
ALICE. Yes it was much too early. I hadn’t even packed my case so
I instead I put some things
JENNY. Knickers, nightie, inhaler.
ALICE. I shoved them in a plastic bag and I called the ambulance.
JENNY. You get to the hospital, then—no I forgot, this is the best
bit, go on.
ALICE. The midwife / was a—
JENNY. The midwife was a man!
ALICE. I nearly said No. I don’t want you, I want a woman because
this is a very exposing process and also
JENNY. and also he was really fit, you said.
ALICE. yes and also he was problematically good-looking, but
then he said is your husband or partner on his or her way?
JENNY. And you said no actually he’s in Geneva watching protons
collide cos that apparently is more important than the birth / of his

11
 MOSQUITOES
by Lucy Kirkwood
3M, 6W

Alice is a scientist. She lives in Geneva. As the Large Hadron

particle collider starts up in 2008, she is on the brink of the most
exciting work of her life, searching for the Higgs Boson. Jenny is
her sister. She lives in Luton. She spends a lot of time googling.
When tragedy throws them together, the collision threatens
them all with chaos.

“Kirkwood is a writer of reach, intelligence and ambition. There’s a

hunger to her work, an urge to fill her plays to brim. She knows how to
spring-load a joke and can write lines of total emotional devastation…
It’s a joy…to see a play devote this much space and time to examining
what it is to be a sister, a mother and a daughter, while also contem-
plating the workings of the universe and our place within it.”
—The Stage (UK)

“…[a] wonderfully ambitious play… fascinating… like all good plays

about science, [MOSQUITOES] raises big issues…”
—The Guardian (UK)

“Kirkwood is a playwright who tackles giant themes with a swaggering

showmanship. …[MOSQUITOES is] a fascinating and provocative
work which uses science as a way of questioning our humanity. …it is
very funny and very sad—often at the same time.”
—The Daily Telegraph (UK)

Also by Lucy Kirkwood

THE CHILDREN
CHIMERICA

DRAMATISTS PLAY SERVICE, INC.