The Edge one act play script

ONE ACT PLAYS

THE EDGE
A drama by Ron Nicol

Plot Summary
A young man is on the roof of a high building, contemplating throwing himself over the edge. A young woman finds him there and initiates a conversation, but her readiness to slip into fantasies sounds a warning note. The young man eventually leaves the roof, apparently having come to terms with his difficulties - but the girl is fixated with death, and finally does what she’d planned to do all along.

Alastair Cording, the judge of Play on Words 2006, commented ‘A cleverly controlled situation, with grimly comic moments, about the saving of a would-be suicide – by a genuine suicide. It all comes together to deliver a deeply serious, ultimately tragic tale of teenage angst versus genuine anguish’.
ISBN 1 904930 83 2

CAST 2 TEENAGERS, 1M & 1F

Young Man Young Woman

SET
The flat roof of a high building

TIME - present
DURATION - approx. 35 minutes

Script Sample - To jump or not to jump?

The young woman has just discovered the young man on the point of jumping

She What’re you doing?
He Bloody hell!

He teeters for a moment, but manages to step back off the parapet and away from the edge. He breathes heavily, recovering. She dumps her shoulder bag and looks over the edge

She Long drop.
He You nearly had me over!
She Long way down.
He Dead right!
She Concrete down there. Bit of grass. Paving slabs. Concrete mostly.
He What are you? A bloody landscape gardener!
She You’ll be all right...
He Oh thanks!
She ...till you reach the bottom. Too late then. You’ll be splattered. All over the pavement. Raspberry jam.
He What?
She That’s what you’re thinking about, isn’t it? Going over.
He None of your business!
She Just wondered. Lots of people down there. You wouldn’t want to land on somebody. Not without warning. Mind you, you’ll attract a bit of attention, screaming all the way down. They’d look up then. Mightn’t have time to move out the way, though. Too busy talking to notice. Or they mightn’t know where it was coming from. Waste a few seconds having a think. (Puts on a voice) ‘Who’s that screaming?’ (Another voice) ‘I don’t know.’ (First voice) ‘Where’s it coming from?’ (Second voice) ‘Up there.’ They look up. You arrive out of the blue. Splat! Raspberry jam.
He What makes you think I’d scream?
She Don’t worry – I’m not implying anything. It’s okay. Be macho if you want.
He I’m not being macho.
She You can’t help it. All men are. Specially when a woman’s around. Some don’t manage it, though. They turn into bullies. They bully women.
He I’m not a bully either.
She Oh? Well, I don’t know you well enough to tell, do I? I know you’d scream, though. Once you’ve jumped – when you realise it’s too late to go back – too late to change your mind – you’d scream then. I should think most people scream. The first time.
He The first time! You’d only do it once!
She Somebody might break your fall. You might get away with a few injuries.
He Pretty severe injuries.
She Funny that - ‘pretty’ severe. They’d be anything but pretty.
He Wouldn’t want to try again though, would you?
She Depends why you jumped in the first place. How badly you wanted to. How bad things were to make you jump. If they were still the same. Hadn’t changed since you jumped. Awful if it didn’t change a thing. All that trouble. All that heartache. All that raspberry jam.
He That’s what I was thinking. How bad things really are. I thought…

He turns towards her. She’s looking into the distance

She You can see where I live from here.
He Thanks very much! I’m thinking about jumping – and you’re admiring the view...

from The Edge

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