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PROLOGUE: The Argument:
That Dani, after a minor deviation, has been imprisoned but is not convicted, thus her journey becomes that of an observer. She is guided through the system by Rapper Gill, a trustee inmate.
The Prison House Reception.
(Dani sits at a reception table, an uneaten plate of food pushed away, her head in her arms.)
DANI In the middle of my life I find myself in a dark room. How first I got here I can’t remember. Dreams unfulfilled, my senses numbed with despondency. But, were I to try to retrace my steps, and encircle once more with my arms the warmth of that fiery youthful passion which once so long sustained me; I see that I would come up against murkier forces than those which brought me here. Three choices I had to avoid these dungeons; betray my friends, allow my lover to be incriminated for a crime of which he was innocent, or pitch my wits against my captors, who had the law in their palms.
I turn to climb the mountain of time that is set before me, aware of no impending reward save that once climbed I breathe again fresh air…
(Rapper Gill approaches, a red band holding her identity photograph on her wrist.)
GILL Back so soon! Must of writ your name on the wall.
DANI Rapper Gill?
GILL Used to rule the pirate waves, but from 'ere my tongue is tied.
DANI Of course. That’s a shame.
GILL Yeah, anyway.. what you do?
DANI Managed to go legit for a while, try me hand at the old paint and easel, but, you know, led to nothing. Started to drift, looked up me mates.. know how it goes, bit of the old illicit – had to keep afloat, an’.. well, the guards of these walls returned me to their keeping.
GILL Unlucky. Least your stay here will be short and sweet. That monstrous ocean of poverty and isolation you tried to avoid lead many to these gates. Particularly those of warmer climes.. my countryfolk. Anyway. Lemme take you up to your bed for the night. Come on; first you’ll hear ’em screaming down the block, then up on the nines you’ll hear the chants above of those content to push their burning mattresses through the bars. They think it might attract the attention of the good and the free, to whom I shall eventually deliver you.
DANI Good to see you.
(Loaded with linen, Dani follows Gill up a massive staircase. Gill bounds ahead.)
Gill’s Explanation
DANI Why you bothering with me?
GILL To be honest, I only came over, cos that lot ain’t got a clue. They all thought you was a nutter, sitting there talking to yerself. But one of the gels recognised you from the out, said I ought to do something, pull a few strings. Before they throw away the key. So I stuck me neck on the line, said you were a poet like me. They’re short staffed, can’t be arsed. Said I’d take you up meself, past the nines. Currying favour, it’s called. Turning me red band into a alo. Oping they’ll put in a good word on the ole parole.
Hospital Wing
(An inmate sees them at the gate and approaches.)
INMATE Once yer been in ’ere, it never leaves yer. Our society created this segregated city of lawbreakers. We’re ere to protect the people on the out who’ve never ad to knowingly break the law.
(The inmate retreats back into the hospital wing)
GILL Greenpeace. ’Andy with the snippers. See, the in’abitants of this city of incarceration are the ones oo’ve been disenfranchised; they’ve lost the power of their voice in society; they can’t discern truth from fiction anymore. They can’t even be spiritual.
DANI I don’t want to go in there.
GILL Ah, come on, you coward ! You af to.
VOICE WITHIN: Me-d-i-ca-a-a-tio-o-o-n!
(As they enter the hospital wing they hear a herd of women running around and shouting.)
GILL Accomplices, this lot – not perpetrators; receivers of stolen goods. Accessories, we call ’em. Andbags.
(Dani watches the herd rush after a white-coated doctor wielding a trolley, a banner flying from its mast)
GILL Time for sweeties. Lucky buggers.
DOCTOR Medica-a-tion!
DANI Could do with some meself.
GILL Couldn’t we all love? Don’t you worry, you’ll get some later. This lot, when it comes to going out, they get scared. Gate fever. Their mates don’t want to know ’em, case they’re tailed. So they do something stupid to get brought back in. Petty thieves, vandals, arsonists – ’armless really. They wouldn’t ’urt anyone. But they always get caught. Grasses, tappers, you pinch, they squeak - play one side against the other. In the pocket of the Old Bill, bred from criminality.
(Sharon, a prison officer, arrives in a lift. She opens the gate, with a heavy set of keys. A crowd of fresh inmates has gathered behind Gill and Dani.)
SHARON Come on, you lot, if you’re coming in, get on with it!
(Gill and Dani step in with the rest of the inmates.)
What are you doing here? You’re not on the levels. You’re a remand.
GILL It’s alright, Sharon. She’s with me. I’m s’posed to take her past the block to R Wing.
INMATE Fucking law. Whassit matter?
INMATES(chant) Ollerway, Ollerway, Ollerway. Ollerway, Ollerway, Ollerway-ay!
SHARON Shut up, you lot! Anyone’d think you were glad to get back in here!
INMATE We are, miss!
INMATES Ollerway! Ollerway! Ollerway!
(Dani opens her mouth to join in, but is suddenly overcome. The lift jolts, she sees a blinding red light and drops to the floor.)
INMATE There it goes – that old familiar jolt. Now I know I’m home.
The Ones
(Gill bashes the wall near Dani’s ear. Dani wakes up with a start.)
GILL I thought you fainted there. This is the Ones. We’re getting out. Come on! Keep up.
DANI Sorry. I’m fucked.
GILL Too much of the brown on the out. What I wouldn’t do for some of that right now. Got any?
DANI No. Sorry.
GILL It’s okay. It’s just, I get a bit gutted going through here. This lot, man, they should be out, they ain’t done nuffink wrong. Detained cos they’re illegals, you know. Asylum seekers. They got people ’ere that come from my Dad’s country.
DANI I thought you looked a bit edgy.
GILL Edgy? Nah, me? Why? I’m a British citizen. I pay me taxes so I can stay here.
(They walk through in grim silence. Flegyas mans the next gate.)
GILL Ho’d your nose; this lot are staging what the screws like to call a dirty protest. You taking us through, Flegyas..? Ta.
FLEGYAS ’Ow to piss everyone off. Smear shit all over your living quarters. Pigs they are.
GILL Yeah, right, Flegyass. You da man. (aside) Jus’ go along with it, I say.
DANI Why are they protesting?
FLEGYAS Say we don’t treat ’em right. I say, treat us right, we’ll do the same for you. Think we’re the bastard government. I say they’re fucking freaks. One of ’em managed to cut a piece out of her leg out and chuck it at us. That ain’t ’uman, that. What you doing escorting receptions, Gill? They’ll be giving you a set of keys next.
GILL Put in me governor’s app already mate.
(A secret pathway through lifer wing. A circle of candles illuminate a ghostly face. A sign above the cell reads:
LEAVE ALL POSSESSIONS AT THE GATE. VISITORS ARE ADVISED THAT THEY ALONE WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANY INCIDENT OCCURING DURING THEIR STAY. IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES THERE WILL BE NO RECOURSE TO REPRESENTATION IN A COURT OF LAW.
DANI Can I talk to them? (Gill shrugs.)
DANI The manor. Why?
FARINATA You look familiar, that’s all.
(Cal emerges from her cell.)
CAL Dani! Have you seen my daughter? She’s not with you!
DANI No, Cal. We went different ways.
CAL How do you mean?
DANI Sorry.
CAL What?
DANI After you saw us. On the estate.. ?
CAL You took her with you? (Dani shakes her head.) I saw her with you.
DANI She wouldn’t listen. I tried to tell her.
CAL But .. those boys .. you got her away from there.. ?
DANI No, Cal. No.
CAL Where’d she go?
DANI Died. She took too much. (Cal faints. Farinata steps forward and lifts Cal up.) You know that, Cal.
FARINATA By the way.. Dani.
DANI What?
FARINATA You’ll find your path back to the city blocked after this visit.
DANI Oh. Thanks.
(Dani is quiet as Gill leads her from the wall to descend a flight of steps. They arrive on a landing.)
GILL What goes round comes round. Those two give me the creeps. You know her?
DANI Cal? Yeah. She’s fucking mad. Can’t blame her though.
(Aggro bell sounds. Gill pulls Dani back against the wall. A herd of prison officers thunders past.)
...to be continued
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