THE CORD
PLAYS by KEITH JOHNSTONE
“Many people find my adult plays disturbing but isn’t the whole universe disturbing? Anyway, be warned. And I apologise for not being about to write more comfortable plays. Here are extracts from a few of the ones I like.”
~ Keith Johnstone
CHILDREN’S PLAYS
FULL-LENGTH PLAYS
Moby Dick
SHORT (TILT) PLAYS
Geronimo
I Want to Get Into You
Marg
Additional plays and other writings are available through Keith Johnstone Workshops Inc. and/or in the Keith Johnstone Papers at Stanford University Archives. If you are interested in acquiring and/or producing a Keith Johnstone play or publishing literary content (including artwork) created by Keith, please contact Keith's literary executor.
An excerpt from the play by Keith Johnstone.
(Teen-age John is still tied to his Mother by a huge umbilical cord)
Mum You don’t normally complain. You was always on at me to come out
in the street and play skipping games. What do you want to do you
can’t do when I’m here?
John Oh…….Lots of things.
Mum You want to hang around street corners getting young girls into
trouble.
John No I don’t, Mum.
Mum We had that nice Jennifer Sindbad over for tea the other day.
John She’s silly.
Mum She do better at school than you do!
John She’s all spotty. And people keep coming up to pat her hump.
Mum She can’t help that, poor girl. No, you want one of they fancy
women. You don’t want the sort of girl you can bring home to me
John Well, I’m fed up. You know how it itches in hot weather, and
everyone laughs at that stupid lagging you knit for it in the winter!
Mum You’d be the first to complain if we caught a chill in it.
John Can’t I ever have a life of my own?
Mum Life of your own? What ingratitude! Didn’t I suffer for you?
Didn’t I lie hour after hour in the most appalling agony. We had
bucket after bucket of hot water. The Doctor helped with his forceps.
The Nurse helped push. They could hear me screaming right up
Forestreet!
PAUSE
(FIRMLY) And that was just your conception!
LET THE AUDIENCE THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A WHILE. THEN ‘KNOCK KNOCK’.
ENTER SPOTTY, HUMP-BACKED, GOOD-NATURED JENNIFER SINDBAD, WHO IS
REALLY VERY SWEET AND NICE. SHE HAS TRIED TO ‘MAKE THE BEST OF
HERSELF’. SHE CARRIES A CLOTH FILLED WITH DOMINOES
Jennifer Anybody home?
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