Fridge

fridge

renard press — playscript i

fridge: Original reading at Etcetera Theatre in 2016, with Therica Wilson-Read, Siân Bennett and Leo Garrick, directed by Tonje Wik Olaussen. Original production at King’s Head Theatre in 2017, directed by Tonje Wik Olaussen with Blackout Creative Arts and music by Phoebe Robinson. Lo played by Mary O’Loan, Alice played by Emma Zadow and Charlie played by Leo Garrick.

Special thanks to Rachel Hosker, Arthur Velarde, Edward Watchman, Gabrielle De Saumarez, Izzy Daws and Anoushka bonwick.

FRIDGE

EMMA ZADOW

renard press

Renard Press Ltd

124 City Road

London EC1V 2NX

United Kingdom

[email protected]

020 8050 2928

www.renardpress.com

Fridge first published by Renard Press Ltd in 2021

Text © Emma Zadow, 2021

Cover design by Will Dady

Emma Zadow asserts her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Renard Press is proud to be a climate positive publisher, removing more carbon from the air than we emit and planting a small forest. For more information see renardpress.com/eco.

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Permission for producing this play may be applied for via the publisher, using the contact details above, or by emailing [email protected].

Contents

Fridge

Scene One

Scene Two

Scene Three

Scene Four

Scene Five

Scene Six

Scene Seven

Scene Eight

Scene Nine

Scene Ten

Scene Eleven

Scene Twelve

Scene Thirteen

Acknowledgements

fridge

for my sister

Characters

alice

Late-twenties. Originally East Anglian, but now lives in London.

charlie

Late-twenties/early thirties.

alice

and

lo’s childhood friend.

lois (lo)

alice’s

younger sister.

A fridge, whether figurative or literal, should remain onstage throughout. The fridge acts as bus shelter, lamp post, TV and seating backing.

setting

East Anglia, present.

accents

Actors should not speak in an exaggerated form of the East Anglian accent; the dialect should only be used to inform the casting.

Scene One

My Walls

A fridge stands in darkness. The sound of the countryside can be heard – birds, etc. Slight pause. The fridge suddenly jerks and shakes. Someone is inside.

lo (from inside the fridge): Alice! Alice! Let me out! It’s not funny any more!

(The sound of laughs and giggles.)

It’s not funny!

(A knocking is heard. More shaking, until there is one last jerk. Suddenly, the door swings open and out is thrown

lo

. She falls on to her face. She sits up. She is not used to the light, and her eyes ache. Time has passed. She sees bottles of milkshake in neat lines left for her. She takes a bottle. She opens it with her mouth, tearing the plastic with her teeth and unscrewing the top with ease. She’s done this before. She stares at a note in her hand. She crumples it into a ball suddenly. She sits cross-legged. She takes the milkshake bottle and gulps it down in one go. This should be uncomfortable to watch. It dribbles down her neck. She finishes it. She exhales and swigs.)

I want to be just like my…

(Shadows stream on the floor. The birdsong slows down to an unnatural slow speed.)

Alice? (The wind howls.) When it’s this quiet all the time, you can’t help but hear voices, right? (The wind howls louder. She peers under the fridge and squeezes her hand underneath.) One time, Alice put me in the fridge because she told me the sea tale of the Old Mermaid of Shipden.

This is the true story of a girl

Who was banished underwater.

So her people stopped calling her ‘daughter’.

She lived there alone

And above her lost ships would groan;

The sea winds would howl

And the seals would growl

At her shedding tail

Cos she failed.