The Lodger (NHB Modern Plays) by Robert Holman

Author:Robert Holman [Holman, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788504829
Publisher: Nick Hern Books

ACT TWO

A wood on the edge of Tyrifjorden Lake in Norway. Through the trees the fresh water of the land-locked fjord can be glimpsed shimmering like glass in the afternoon sunlight. The large, old trees stretch their branches and cast long shadows on the leaf-mould and dry soil on the forest floor. A fallen log has been sat on many times for many years. A pathway has been trodden through the wood.

JUDE comes one way along the path and ANILA, a girl in her early twenties, comes the other way. They might bump but for JUDE stepping to one side. ANILA walks on and then turns to see that JUDE has stopped.

ANILA. Don’t I know you from somewhere, haven’t we seen each other somewhere before?

JUDE. I’m looking for Gabriel Twelvetrees. He’s an old man. He has a cottage near here by the lake, someplace. He was a famous rock singer back in the day.

ANILA. I know Gabriel Twelvetrees.

A slight pause.

JUDE (he looks at the bag she is carrying with an Indian motif on the side). Your bag is a work of art. It’s very unusual.

ANILA. I stitched it myself in a few idle moments.

JUDE. This is my first time in Norway, in Tyrifjorden.

ANILA. It’s uncanny because you are so, so familiar to me.

JUDE. It’s a crazy world, coincidences happen from time to time.

A slight pause.

If I keep on going this way will I come across Gabriel’s cottage? I know he likes fishing in the lake with a rod and line.

ANILA. If you keep going, it’s not very far. Are you staying in Vikersund?

JUDE. Yes, I am.

ANILA. At the Tyrifjorden Hotel?

JUDE. Yes, the beds are cosy and comfortable.

ANILA. The older pop fans who want to meet Mr Twelvetrees often stay there, and the younger rock fans put up a tent.

A slight pause.

JUDE. My Norwegian isn’t very good. We did French at school. I’ve come all this way and you are English.

ANILA. It’s two hours in an aeroplane to Oslo. I’ve enjoyed meeting you.

She walks on.

JUDE. I was just thinking we haven’t really met properly.

ANILA stops.

I live in London. What about you?

ANILA. I’m the same. You are as familiar to me as my own hand.

JUDE. Where in London exactly?

ANILA. Wimbledon. Wimbledon Village at the top of the hill, a stone’s throw from The Fox and Grapes pub by the Common.

JUDE. They have very expensive sausage rolls.

ANILA. Where?

JUDE. In The Fox and Grapes. I know every inch of London and every pub. I used to go to Wimbledon Village on my bike when I was a kid. I cycled all over London when I was a boy.

A slight pause.

ANILA. We must have been in the same shop in Wimbledon, and that’s where I saw you. Mr Twelvetrees won’t see you.

JUDE. Won’t he? Why not?

ANILA. He’s a recluse. I’m sorry to be the person with bad news.

JUDE. Are you staying in the Tyrifjorden Hotel?

ANILA. My family rents a house in Tyrifjorden for a month in July every summer and has done since I was a toddler.

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