Scene Overview

Show Type
Play
Age Guidance
Mature Audiences (M)
Genders
  • Female: 1
  • Male: 1
Style
Dramatic
Length
Medium
Time Period
Contemporary
Time/Place
Evening. The Laws’ flat in London. 1968.
Act/Scene
“Henry and Elizabeth’s Room -- London 1968”

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Context

Text

START: Henry: Wine?... That’s not like you.

Elizabeth: I bought a bottle at the off-license. An Australian claret. It’s a little heavy.

Henry: Robust, I think they call it. Like the people. Apparently. (He moves to the window and looks down to the street below.) Have you heard? The Soviets have invaded Czechoslovakia.

Elizabeth: No. I missed that.

[... … …]

END: Elizabeth: I have feelings for you, Henry. That’s why I’m sending you away and not turning you over to the authorities. I love you. Strangely, as abhorrent as this is, that hasn’t changed. I imagine it will in time and whatever I feel for you will turn, but now… I still love you. But you’re a thief. Instead of a loaf of bread you have stolen the future. And I will remove every trace of you from Gabriel’s life. And every time the boy asks about you, about his father, and inevitably he will, I will remain silent. It will be as if you never existed.

Elizabeth walks slowly away and with each step she grows a little smaller until she is nothing at all.

For full extended scene, please refer to the script edition cited here: Bovell, Andrew, When the Rain Stops Falling, Nick Hern Books, 2009, pp. 77-81.

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