The Lost Ones by Jo Hardy

Characters

Girls in the boarding school in 1952:
MARY
ELIZABETH
CAROLINE
JANE

Girls in the correction centre, present day:
MAXINE
SHARON
SHANNON
GEMMA

Soldiers:
MICHAEL
ROBERT

Boys in the present day:
SAM
ED

The play is designed so that all roles are doubled:
MARY/MAXINE
ELIZABETH/GEMMA
CAROLINE/SHANNON
JANE/SHARON
MICHAEL/SAM
ROBERT/ED.

Doublingmakes this a versatile script. The minimum number of players are 6: 4 girls and 2 boys, but if necessary a larger number can take single roles.

Playing time: approx half-an-hour. A challenging script for a brighter cast, ideal for examination purposes.

The play takes place in two different time zones: the 1950s and the present day. The building in which it is set is an old Victorian mansion which was a boarding school for well-to-do girls in the 1950s, but is now a correction centre for girls who have been in trouble with the law, broken the terms of their ASBOs etc.

To keep the flow of the play going, it will be necessary to devise the simplest of costume changes to indicate the different periods, e.g. the addition of blazers covering modern-day tops teamed with neutral colour skirts [e.g. black] which would do for both time zones.

Sample Pages from the script

Extract 1

The opening speech is delivered by Mary and Gemma, representing the two time zones.

MARY
This is how it all started.

GEMMA
We found an old book.

MARY
In September 1952.

GEMMA
In October 2006.

MARY
There were two soldiers.

GEMMA
Two brothers.

MARY
They signed up.

GEMMA
Went to fight...

MARY
In the Great War. They were under-age but no one checked.

GEMMA
And they died there.

MARY
Somewhere in the trenches.

GEMMA
A long time ago.

MARY
We put the diary back in the attic when we left in 1957.

GEMMA
I put the journal back in the tin with the other stuff when it was all over. That was in January 2007.

SCENEONE. Breakfast, 1957. Mary and Jane have been out with two boys last night.

MARY yawning
Elizabeth, will you pass me the milk, please?

ELIZABETH
What's the matter? You look as if you've been up all night.

MARY looking round furtively
We have.

ELIZABETH
What?! You mean you've been out in the night? I never heard you.

CAROLINE
That might have something to do with your snoring....

The others giggle.

ELIZABETH
I do not snore!

JANE
What was that noise last night then, Caroline?

CAROLINE
Er... [Pretends to think hard.]... An escaped pig? [Everybody laughs, then stifles their laughter.] Look out. We're being watched. [In an entirely different voice.] So what news have you had in your letters today, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH picking up letter
Well, Moonlight lost a shoe on the first jump. That's Madeleine. She hasn't any idea how to take jumps and...

CAROLINE
It's all right. She's gone. Where were you two last night?

ELIZABETH
Yes. Why didn't you tell us? We could have come along as well.

JANE giggling
Because there are only two of them.

CAROLINE
Two of what?

JANE looking round slyly before she speaks
Not what. Who. Boys!

There is an immediate response. It is obvious boys are in short supply in this establishment.

ELIZABETH
What? There aren't any boys in this building at all! You mean you went out? How?

MARY
We didn't go out. Though I don't see why we shouldn't. After all, it is 1957, not 1900. They were here.

CAROLINE
Here?

MARY
In the attic.

Shocked response. Blackout.

Extract 2

Recreation time. The girls enter the stage just as the boys leave.

GEMMA
Yeah. You're not kidding. The whole place is like a relic from the past. I hate it.

MAXINE
We all hate it. When they said 'Correction Centre', I didn't think they meant graveyard.

SHANNON
Six bloody months. It'll kill us.

SHARON
And not a lad in sight. Do you reckon we can break out of here - find the local pub?

MAXINE
Not a chance.

GEMMA
At least we can do some exploring tonight. You know, peep into all those creepy haunted rooms. There's a big rack of keys behind the desk and one of them says 'attic'. How about some treasure hunting?

MAXINE
Not me. I'm in enough trouble. I don't want to get another six months.

SHANNON
Well, if you're stupid enough to get caught...

MAXINE
Count me out.

SHARON
And me. There's nothing I'd rather do than make a break for it but my Dad'll kill me if I get into any more trouble. If you two go out in the night, you're stupid. Old Fat-Arse'll come down like a ton of bricks.

MAXINE
Two tons at least. I want out of here as soon as possible, so I'm going straight for a bit.

SHANNON
Wuss.

MAXINE
It'll be you who's the wuss when you're in even more trouble. Being 'Detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure' is enough for me. I'm lucky me Dad didn't murder me. If I get in any more trouble, he will.

Extract 3

In the attic, 2006.

GEMMA as Sharon squeals
Sssh! You'll wake the whole house up! If it's left to you, we'll be peeling potatoes for a week.

SHANNON
It's not my fault I was attacked by a giant spider! I don't know why we're bothering to come up here. There's just a load of cobwebs.

GEMMA
But look at the boxes! We might find some treasure. Or ghosts.

SHANNON
Whoooo! Don't be stupid. There's no such thing.

GEMMA
How d'you know?

SHANNON
I just do. This is the twenty-first century, not the middle ages. [Giving a sudden start and looking behind her.] What was that?

GEMMA
What was what?

SHANNON
That noise.

GEMMA
I didn't hear a noise.

SHANNON
There's something in the shadows! Something moving.

GEMMA
Don't be ...

The boys step out of the shadows. The girls jump a mile!

ROBERT
Good evening, ladies.

MICHAEL
Delighted to make your acquaintance.

ROBERT
Not many people come up here.

GEMMA
I'm not surprised. Bloody dump.

SHANNON
Anyway, what are you doing in here? I thought it was meant to be a girls-only prison.

ROBERT puzzled
Prison?

SHANNON
Might as well be.

MICHAEL
Why are you creeping about?

GEMMA
Because we're not meant to be here, are we?

MICHAEL
I don't know. Are you?

GEMMA to Shannon
Weird.

SHANNON whispering
Fit, though ... er ... [To the boys.] Do you come here often? [The girls giggle.] Do you fancy a date?

ROBERT
A date? Do you mean we might step out together?

SHANNON
We can step anywhere you like, darling. How about sneaking out to the pub?

MICHAEL
The pub? Public house?

GEMMA
Yeah. We might have to climb out of the window. [There is a noise downstairs - both girls 'freeze' for a moment, then she whispers.] We'll meet you in the George and Dragon later. Half an hour. [To Shannon.] We'll get out somehow.

The two girls exit.

MICHAEL
They mean a public bar. They must want to meet us outside it. They wouldn't let girls into a public bar, would they?

ROBERT
No. [Thoughtfully.] Unless they are, well, you know - those girls.

MICHAEL
Well, they didn't look like ladies of the street. Though their clothes seemed to be a little unusual.

ROBERT
Perhaps they are working clothes. The war has meant that women have to do men's work. They must be working on the land. They're very different from the others, aren't they?

MICHAEL
Oh yes - the school girls.

ROBERT
How long ago was that?

MICHAEL
I'm not sure. A long time, I think.

Extract 4

SHANNON explains. Behind her, Gemma studies documents.
Gemma got totally obsessed with that diary thing. She kept reading bits out of it. It was really bloody morbid. All about people dying and getting bits of them blown off. As if we weren't miserable enough in that musty old prison without having horror stories read aloud every five minutes. Then her Mum brought her a mouldy old biscuit tin with loads of junk in it, and she got even worse!

GEMMA
This bit is written about six months later. It's different...

SHANNON
Leave it out, Gemma. You're making me lose the will to live.

GEMMA reading
I keep thinking about home...

ROBERT speaking the first five words at the same time as Gemma
I keep thinking about home, and about Father. How proud he was that we were going to fight for our country. First William and George, and then us. He never said a word about the fact that we were a year too young to join up. I wonder where he put those photographs of us in our uniforms?

MICHAEL
On the mantelpiece. Either side of the portrait of Mother. Next to George and William. And every night he will drink his port and stare at us all and ...

ROBERT
... wish he was young enough to come with us. Poor father. He has spent five years missing Mother and now he'll be missing us too. [After a thoughtful pause.] Especially when he knows the truth.

MICHAEL
The truth? You keep talking about truth. [Reading the journal over his brother's shoulder.] ... and when they got Daniel back to the trench, his leg was blown off and there was nothing we could do but listen to him moaning... Robert - that might be the truth but it is something we must keep to ourselves. I'm certain the folks back home will not want to know details like that.

ROBERT
I don't care what they want. It's only right that they know the truth. There are too many lies told about this war.

MICHAEL
But what if his mother reads it? They'll have sent her a telegram saying he was a hero and that he didn't suffer.

ROBERT
Lies. All they do is tell lies. In here - [Indicates the journal.] - is the truth. In here, people will be able to find out what this war is really like... how stupid it all is ... how the generals send men to certain death without any hesitation. What about the 14th squadron? Sent into enemy territory without enough ammunition and with no defence cover. Eleven men lost, and what for? To bring back a so-called deserter who they never found anyway. [He pulls himself together.] It's all in here. [Michael looks at him uneasily.] Yes, Michael, it's all in here.

MICHAEL
The firing squad? The execution?

ROBERT
No. Not execution. Murder. The murder of Tommy Jennings. Killed for desertion, and his only crime was to get lost and frightened...

MICHAEL
Robert, you know I didn't want to...

ROBERT
I know, Michael. [There is a pause.] There was nothing you could do. But Tommy did not deserve to die. He was frightened. Just frightened, like I'm frightened - like we all are. So why don't they just shoot us all?