Fallout by Jones Sadie

Author:Jones, Sadie [Jones, Sadie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Itzy, Kickass.to
ISBN: 9780062292834
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

John Wisdom’s office was up three shabby flights, the walls covered in posters and the floors and desk with piles of plays. He was a small, wrinkled man of fifty who smoked cigars and didn’t empty his ashtrays. Paul waited in a coffee shop across the street while Luke went up alone. Seeing Paper Pieces on the desk between them put him at a disadvantage and the chair he was in was half-broken so the swivel seat wobbled, adding to his insecurity. But John Wisdom had met a million writers and took Luke’s nerves for granted. Most of them couldn’t string a sentence together in conversation.

‘How old are you, Luke?’ he said immediately.

‘Twenty-five.’

‘You’ve had nothing produced yet?’

‘No.’

‘You were at Graft? I saw Cartwright’s Army – one or two other things. Paul Driscoll was the artistic director there, Jack Payne – what about you?’

‘I read. Bit of design. Helped out. I did some editing – with the writers. We all worked together.’

‘George Myers hasn’t had any more success since Cartwright. I’ve read his latest play. Cartwright’s Army is the best by a very long chalk. Was that you?’

‘No,’ said Luke, ‘it was all George. I didn’t have that much to do with it – except defending it. I learned a lot at Graft. What works, you know. Me and Paul worked in rep for about four years before that. I read for The Majority when Layton Lewis was artistic director. Stage crew. Bit of everything. And small parts here and there.’

‘An actor?’

‘I’m not an actor, but it was helpful to put someone else’s dialogue in my mouth—’

‘Then?’ John interrupted him.

‘I mean I’m a terrible actor,’ Luke went on, looking out of the window, round the room. ‘I’m not an actor-writer. Not like Pinter, I mean really God-awful.’ It had always amused him what a bad actor he had been. He knew he should stop talking. He fixed his eyes on John Wisdom’s desk for focus. ‘Then, after The Majority I worked with Tom Leeson as a reader, in Sheffield.’

‘It’s the only way to learn. Being at the sharp end.’

‘Yes. And working.’

Paper Pieces sat between them, waiting its turn. Luke glanced at it. John Wisdom shoved his cigar in his mouth and picked up the manuscript. He flicked through the pages, squinting. Luke wanted to tell him not to touch it and began to bounce in his wobbly chair, biting his lip, hitching up his ankle, rubbing it.

‘I fucking love this play,’ said John, and set it on the desk, patting it. ‘It’s fucking marvellous. I woke up my wife laughing.’

‘Good,’ said Luke. But it wasn’t enough. ‘Why?’ he said. ‘Why do you like it, anyway? What is it you liked about it? I mean, did you laugh at them for being so blind or did you see Eric didn’t want to be like he was?’ He stopped himself.

John Wisdom stared at him.

‘You know it better than I do. What do you want me to tell you? You can tell me something, though.

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