The Iron Rainbow

THE IRON RAINBOW

The play setting : The play is set in a bail hostel. This is a newly built facility with all mod cons. It is situated in a built up area in the middle of a council estate.
The Cast : All the boys are 18-20 : Kenneth, Jason, Lee, Marti, Jonathan and Lizard. There is only one older man, that is Mole who is forty.
The two probation officers are both 25 and they are Susan and Len.
The hostel’s cook is any age though maybe as old as Mole. He is Norman.
Julian is a probation officer who is mentioned in the play but he does not actually appear.
This is a dialogue only play with no thought given to staging, though some scene description will be given.

Music : Blue Moon : Greek Love Story ( The Psychotherapy session) : Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Eva Cassidy) : Friends and Lovers, What’s Wrong with this Picture? (Chesney Hawkes)

ACT ONE
Scene : The dining area of the hostel. The tables are set for lunch as it is not long before it will be served. Set apart from the formal dining tables is a small coffee table with about six chairs placed around it. Seated in this area are Susan, Kenneth, Jason and Jonathan.

SUSAN : (Holding a newspaper she begins to read aloud an extract from it)........MAKING GOOD PEOPLE LOOK BAD IS CORRUPTION, AND MAKING THEM SUFFER FOR THE CRIMES OF OTHERS, THE GREATEST EVIL. IT IS THE END OF JUSTICE .
KENNETH : If it’s the end of justice I wonder if they’ll close down the prisons.........
JASON : Of course not.......... they’ll keep them open for the dummies who will be fronting for real crims like that paper says.
JONATHAN : They should blow up that sort of society. I can’t imagine how things could have got that bad. People are past caring.
SUSAN : I don’t think it’s so much that people are past caring......... it’s more an unhappy resignation.
KENNETH : Like when Paul Gascoigne left Newcastle United?
SUSAN : You never think anything is serious, Kenneth. Let’s hope that the magistrates don’t think your crime is serious.
KENNETH : Oh that..........it’s all a big mistake. Some people even think that I don’t like Asians because the person I’m supposed to have hurt has half caste relatives.
SUSAN : Well, there is a lot of racism now. Most of the crimes on this estate have a racist element. Len told me yesterday a gang attacked someone – that Pakistani woman was attacked and robbed at the back of her shop in Welbeck Road.............. you know the one I mean..... her saris are the same midnight blue as the shop’s window frames and her spirits are permanently depressed.
JASON : Or in danger of being lifted?
SUSAN : Very funny, Jason...... anyway I’ve always bought my bread there since the cook recommended it and I’ve not regretted it. Her brother bakes it, she sells it, and for the most part it’s the unemployed on this estate that eat it. It’s funny really that most of the businesses in this area are in fact run by foreigners. Why English people, living locally, don’t get in first I don’t know. Often I’ve seen teenagers hanging around outside, and I’m sure they’re taking stuff from the lorry before it’s even delivered to the shop. Crime’s easier than working I suppose. Of course Len says that’s only the half of it and the crime is so well organized that that sort of pilfering is insignificant. With effective extortion businesses run at a virtual loss for the owners. I suppose it suits the crims to get the Pakis to do the work after starting up with money from abroad or even ours. Then they bleed them dry, perpetuating their crime by threats and blackmail.
JASON : Are you telling us how to exploit immigrants, Susan?
SUSAN : No, I’m just pointing out that racism exists, and if you have any sense at all you will steer well clear of any involvement.
JONATHAN : But don’t you think that they wouldn’t or couldn’t touch the big boss behind a racket because of his muscle?
SUSAN : You can’t hold the police to ransom. That’s a fallacy.
JONATHAN : It’s not a fallacy that a lot of crims are living it up abroad with well-developed tans and vilas in Marbella.
SUSAN : How do you know?
JONATHAN : I’ve seen the Cook report.
JASON : Yeh, I have. All that happens is Roger Cook gets doors slammed in his face and is told to do a runner.
JONATHAN : Yes, the crims are worried by him obviously but that’s all. It’s where he finds them that makes you think that crime can pay – Brazil or the Bahamas, or even just leafy Hampstead.
SUSAN : I think that they are more than worried. They spend their lives living in fear that they will lose their ill-gotten gains. The more fraudulent the criminal is the less he can afford to relax. They are never at ease and never really happy with something that they know isn’t ever really theirs. Because of this their life style is fraudulent if you see what I mean. It’s just a sham. Cheats cheat themselves in the end, no matter how it may look to an ordinary observer.
(Susan Exit)
JASON : This is enough to bore anyone to tears. I may be stuck in here but my interests have not changed – sex and food, particularly sex because I don’t see my girlfriend much.
JONATHAN : I know it’s roast pork for lunch. We should be certain of that if not your other interest. Tonight I’m going for a takeaway and picking up a DVD.
JASON : If you seea good time girl on the way it won’t do you any good. I wouldn’t bother going.
JONATHAN : If I go out not looking I probably will. But I know what you mean. We can’t do anything about it, even if they are willing. It’s just a cycle of frustration. I never get what I want.
KENNETH : That’s the story of my life. At school it wasn’t just the girls that didn’t like me. There was a holly bush in the grounds and I was the one who was shoved into it more than anybody else. I was always getting what I didn’t want.
JONATHAN : A prickly problem.
KENNETH : I don’t think it’s funny. There’s always something or someone to make life difficult. These days it’s an effort to get out of bed.
JASON : That’s because there’s nothing to get out of bed for. For one of my interests there’s no need anyway. I think you learn more about life through not getting up. Sexual experience is where it’s at, getting to know the reality of the writhing serpent.
JONATHAN : At the apex of the ARC is something worth having eh?
JASON : I think so. Do you think Julian was thinking of that when he talked about his ARC idea?
JONATHAN : I would have thought so, otherwise he’s not that intellectual. These probation officers – what was it? Through Conversation we face Reality and then gain Affinity. He is a wise guy, isn’t he?
JASON : You’re right. He’s someone who knows far too much.
KENNETH : I know you rabbit on about things that are of no importance. Getting fed is all that matters to me. Do you know what’s for dinner?
JONATHAN : I told you a few minutes ago. We’re going to have pork. The meals here are almost as good as those at home. I was looking at the menu he’s pinned up on the board. Starters is Vichysoisse, then pork with apple sauce, spring vegetables and creme duchesse potatoes, finished off with orange and chocolate cream gateau.
JASON : What’s Vichysoisse when it’s at home?
JONATHAN : It’s cold soup. The peculiar thing about it though is that really it’s more like something from Wales than France.
JASON : Why’s that?
JONATHAN : It’s made from potatoes and leeks.
JASON : I wonder if the Welsh rugby team like it.
JONATHAN : I doubt it when they call it Vichysoisse.
JASON : You are just a snob.
JONATHAN : Maybe but then so is Norman. He could have just called it potato and leek soup.
JASON : Yeh, he makes his meals sound posh. Stupid bastard.
(Enter Susan)
SUSAN : There’s a phone call for George.
JASON : He’s not in here, Susan.
SUSAN : Go and look for him then, will you? You’ve got nothing better to do. If he’s not in his room check the toilets.
(Jason Exit)
JONATHAN : He’s always on the phone. He gossips like an old woman.
SUSAN : Maybe he does but at least he’s not racist or against christianity. To me he’s just a sad, old man.
JONATHAN : Yes I know what you mean, but when he starts that billing and cooing at seven o’ clock in the morning you get seriously worried. Someone here has nicknamed him the Warbler.
SUSAN : Presumably he’s communicating with his wife.
JONATHAN : No idea.
KENNETH : I know he likes to be thought of as a family man.
JONATHAN : Yes and he’s probably a great fan of Julie Andrews and the ‘Sound of Music’ too.
SUSAN : Maybe not but I don’t think he’s a Martin Scorsese fan either. I watched that film ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ last week and it left me cold. I suppose I’m conventional in my tastes because I found it very peculiar. My husband says it’s because I’m a catholic. To me it would only appeal to a kinky audience, no matter what religious views you have. They say society is not a church-going one anymore but some of the lads that come through here have had a catholic or Church of England background. You’re catholic aren’t you, Kenneth?
KENNETH : Yes but I don’t go to church anymore.
SUSAN : Did you go to St. Xavier’s school?
KENNETH : I spent a few terms there before my family went abroad but I didn’t like it. It wasn’t too disciplinarian or anything, just depressing being there. I suppose it was like any other school except for the fact that a few of the teachers were priests and very dull. They didn’t interest me in anything. Best thing about it was the Football League when we played against the other schools. Henry Morgan Comprehensive always tried to beat the hell out of us. They were more like an arch enemy.
SUSAN : I thought football was a game – doesn’t sound like sportsmanship to me.
KENNETH : Sportsmanship?
SUSAN : Yes, fairness, Kenneth.
KENNETH : We just didn’t like each other.
SUSAN : You mean you were prejudiced. Different coloured strips on the playing field started off looking like Subbuteo, but when at the end of the match half of them are marked with blood you know that it’s no game. The fact that the two schools had different religious beliefs would exaggerate your sense of being different, but often it takes no more than a purely arbitrary division like area or being in a different building.
KENNETH : I think it’s religion that causes a lot of trouble. It never brought people together, just drove them apart, and caused unrest.
SUSAN : You are right. Sometimes people misunderstand good people because of that. It wouldn’t take much for most non church-goers to see christians, whether good or bad, as people hiding behind the church who only want to do evil with a cover.
(Lizard and Lee appear at the door) (Aside to each other in a low voice)
LIZARD : I think they are talking about our principles – evil with a cover.
LEE : Maybe, Lizard, but they’ve probably got it all wrong. Neither of them know what they are talking about.
JONATHAN : What are you two muttering about? Come on in. The conversation is getting a bit too heavy for me anyway. I’m off.
(Exit Jonathan)

First break


SUSAN : How are you two? Ken and I are having a little discussion. It’s about the church and its downfall. And yes, I think that all you lot have done is helped bring it about.
LEE : I’m afraid I’d have to disagree with that, because I think it started with the people in the church itself. I knew a gay vicar once and he was more interested in attending gay rights campaigns than running the vicarage.
LIZARD : Yes, everybody knows what they are really like. The vicar at our church was caught feeling up the altar boys more than once. They sent him down south to repent. Trouble was, when he got back half the congregation were making same sex friends and proving that the ‘prairie fire myth’ is no myth. I don’t want to sound cynical but in a way there is nothing more moral about these christians at all half the time. They’re simply choosing a certain circle of acquaintances and probably enjoying the hypocrisy.
SUSAN : Now that’s an evil comment. You have no faith in human nature.
LIZARD : Neither would you if you felt the ideals of a country were against you and you had no choice but to be a casualty.
SUSAN : Sometimes the ideals or policies of a country don’t really work for anyone unless you either make a conscious effort to fit in or consider a change in personal circumstances.
LIZARD : Yes, when the serpent writhes there’s always a threat.
LEE : There’s certainly a threat when my serpent writhes, particularly if I’m with the right person.
(Putting his hand on Ken’s shoulder, Lee continues)
Maybe you‘re the right person, Ken.
(Ken moves away quickly and uncomfortably)
KEN : No I’m not. You’re just a creep.
(Exit Ken)
SUSAN : I’m leaving when you start on the smut. (Gets up to go) Carry on plotting to overthrow the government, you might as well finish the job.
(Susan moves to exit)
LEE : Isn’t it the other way around -putting conviction into scapegoating? How much more plausible it all is if your scapegoats have done crime, even something relatively innocuous likea gay sexuality is played up for a subversive purpose. You can be a well-known sixty-niner and still perfectly legal and yet nobody would believe that person innocent of the crime of which they were accused. Because half the time they would not want to.
(Susan reaches door and is about to exit)
SUSAN : Probably not.
LIZARD : (Addressing Lee) Don’t sound so hard done by. They never appreciate that.
LEE : No, but I don’t believe in wimpy subservience, Lizard.
LIZARD : That sounds like a badly built housing estate.
LEE : Exactly, the best foundations for any house are at least firm if not rock hard.
LIZARD : Don’t start talking in a foreign language. I’m not in the mood to translate. That clap-trap you spouted to Susan was impossible to grasp.
LEE : People have said that about my body.
LIZARD : Maybe they have elsewhere but I don’t think they’d bother commenting here. To get to the point I know that Marti doesn’t like the way you go on and unfortunately you don’t seem to change the way you are.
LEE : Are you telling me how to behave here? You are taking it all too seriously. Maybe Marti doesn’t quite see things the way I do but it’s not important. I admit that I don’t really know what to make of him. When he calls me ‘Blue Moon’ I don’t think he understands the sort of person I am. He can light a few prairie fires, fair enough, and yes, he doesn’t need me to rekindle any of them but I’m not changing for anybody.
LIZARD : Why don’t you call him in then? It’s almost lunchtime.
LEE : (Shouting) Marti, you’re wanted down here.
LIZARD : He’ll be like a docker who’s lost his date.
(Marti enters)
MARTI : (Addressing Lee) What do you want?
LEE : Lunch will be ready soon and I know you like pork.
MARTI : Are you being funny or what?
LIZARD : He’s being very considerate.
LEE : Don’t take any notice of him, Marti.
MARTI : I don’t want your consideration and I certainly don’t want your phoney sympathy. You’re a puffter and you are giving me a bad name.
LEE : A bad name? You flatter yourself. To get a bad name from me you have to earn it. I know it’s important to you to be accepted here as a red-blooded male but don’t you think you’re taking your macho image obsession just a bit too far?
MARTI : No, I just don’t want people to think that I like benders.
LEE : You love yourself, don’t you?
MARTI : I’m getting really sick of you. Keep away from me.
LEE : Other people will get the benefit.
MARTI : They’re welcome.
(Hatch to kitchen is raised)
NORMAN : Grubs up.
(Marti is first up to the dining table, then Lizard)
(Kenneth enters)
NORMAN : Any complaints, keep them to yourselves. You wouldn’t get better fed at the Savoy.
KENNETH : We don’t complain about your food, Norman, just having to do the washing up afterwards. (Moves to seat and sits down)
NORMAN : Just eat it. I’ve been slaving over a hot stove all morning.
(Lee is the last one seated at a table for four. He is forced to sit opposite Marti. He has approached his seat recalcitrantly, but shows no obvious discomfort at being directly opposite to him)
MARTI : I don’t want you there Blue Moon.
LEE : Too bad, there is nowhere else.
MARTI : Nobody wants you there.
LEE : Probably not but that doesn’t bother me.
LIZARD : As long as nobody likes anybody else things are normal. I’d eat the soup, it’s not every day we get vichysoisse.
LEE : You’re always trying to keep the peace. Quite honestly that’s becoming a pain in itself.
LIZARD : You are just unreasonable. There’s only me and Ken have any sense on this table. Isn’t that so, Ken?
KENNETH : I don’t want to side with anyone. I mind my own business.
LEE : You’d both bend over backwards to avoid trouble.
LIZARD : It makes more sense than asking for it.
MARTI : You’re all asking for it. Why don’t you shut up?
(Norman approaches the table with a vase of violet columbines)
KENNETH : Why’s he bringing a vase of flowers?
LEE : (Aside in a lowered voice) To make us feel at home probably. Nobody usually notices. I’d say nothing.
(Norman places the vase on the table and stands back)
MARTI : What a waste of time. I want to eat a dinner at the table not have half of a puffy cook’s allotment on it.
NORMAN : If you don’t like it, lads, tough. I think it makes it more homely. And if you don’t like allotments then don’t eat the dinner. All the vegetables are home grown. You’ve got me best early peas and baby carrots today. As for the violet columbines, yes, they are wasted on most people, but I think they look good. You can’t say you aren’t well looked after, can you? It’s part of the policy here to make you comfortable. It’s your job, Kenneth, to clear away the soup plates. Please do it as soon as they have finished, so the main course can be served. Got that?
KENNETH : Yes.
MARTI : You can serve me first. I don’t want it cold.
LEE : Everything has to be right for you. When I want things to be right I usually find I have to do it myself.
MARTI : Yes, you are so perfect. There’s only you can do things properly.
LEE : You make me sound big-headed when you know that that is really your problem.
NORMAN : Can we drop the antagonism, lads, and just eat the meal?
(Norman drops the hatch and disappears)
MARTI : (Looking aggressively at Lee) Will you stop staring at me?
LEE : I wasn’t aware that I was. You are so paranoid.
MARTI : I’m not paranoid. I just resent being gawped at as if I was an animal at the zoo. Go and watch gorillas if you want to do that sort of thing. There is nobody shows themselves up like you do.
LEE : You are the one who is strange if you ask me. I’m not staring at anyone half the time. You just imagine it.
LIZARD : Why don’t you all calm down? Bad vibes don’t help anyone’s digestion.
LEE : It’s not me that causes trouble. All I want to do is eat my dinner. And I would have thought you had been here long enough to know good digestion is a refinement none of us can afford anyway.
LIZARD : Maybe but I don’t expect to choke to death.
(Marti places apple sauce on spoon and flicks it in Lee’s direction. As a consequence he is splattered with it)
LEE : I’ve always felt appreciated.
(Lee returns the gesture so Marti is splattered with apple sauce)
LEE : (said as soon as he’s flicked the spoon) Up yours!
MARTI : You f***** bastard. I’m going to knock you out for this.
(Marti leaves his seat and sets about an attack on Lee. They end up in a tussle on the floor. Meanwhile the rest of the cast begin to cheer, bang cutlery on the table and generally give the impression of riotous behaviour. During the struggle the vase of flowers is knocked over.)
(Norman enters)
NORMAN : (Rushing in) What’s going on? Someone get Len in here.
(Exit Lizard)
NORMAN : (Looking at Lee) What have you got to say for yourself?
LEE : He doesn’t like apple sauce.
NORMAN : What on earth are you talking about? It won’t do any of you any good to get violent.
(Enter Len)
LEN : It’s alright, Norman, I’ll see to it. I’m used to the volcano erupting and spewing out some red hot lava occasionally. The temperature in this place has been hotting up for some time. Now the fire has got going.
LEE : Some hope.
LEN : You’re a cheeky swine. Get this mess cleared up, it looks like a pig-sty. (Len surveys the scene)..... and I see the flower vase is broken. None of you can get on together, and you, (looking at Marti) were always the worst.
MARTI : Maybe but I’m not a fool. Some people only understand the fist. That puff’s always staring at me and I just got sick of it. My mates here will tell you what he’s like. Everything he says to me is bent. When I tell him to get lost he can’t wait to tell me that other people will get the benefit. I’m beginning to think that nobody can see through him but me. If you won’t do anything about it I want a transfer.
LEN : Well there is probably some truth in the fact that Lee can irritate people, but there is a right and a wrong way of dealing with it. You need to forget your prejudices and try to be more understanding: being paranoid does not help either. I doubt you will ever be best friends but I certainly think that you can get over this antagonism and bad feeling.
MARTI : I thought you would blame me. It was only what he deserved and I didn’t really hurt him. Lee will tell you that, won’t you, Lee?
LEE : It was nothing, Len. The apple sauce got spilt that’s all.
LEN : I’m not called in from the office for nothing, but regardless of the seriousness of the incident I do know that somewhere in all this is a joke.
MARTI : A joke?
LEN : Yes, a joke about William Tell’s son; the apple and the crossbow being replaced with apple sauce and a left hook.
LEE : Yes, it is a bit of a joke, particularly if you are going to drag up kids’ TV programmes from the sixties.
LEN : Okay, we’ll drop it this time because as far as I can see nobody has suffered any actual physical injury. Keep out of each other’s way that’s all, particularly if neither of you are prepared to change your attitude. Just be realistic and remember that we don’t tolerate violence here. Any of you found writhing around like serpents will be done.
LEE : I’ll mop up the spilt water and pick up the flowers.
LEN : Good, no more will be said. All we have seen here is yellow venom.
(PAUSE)

Break 2



(The cast leave the stage. Some time has passed and it is now early evening of the same day. Mole and Jason are sitting in the TV lounge of the hostel. Mole is reading a newspaper. Jason is smoking with his feet up.)