Title: Judging the book.
by Sophie from East Sussex | in writing, fiction
(Four young people in shadow, each has taken on an extravagant and somewhat comical pose.
A teenage boy lights up, his arms are folded across his chest as he scowls. His name is Adam.)
Adam: I am Introverted.....I'm self destructive and I don't like PEOPLE!
(Next the light reveals a teenage girl, hands on hips, pouting like Victoria Beckham, her name is Lea)
Lea: I am Confident - What can I say....I'm glorious! ....(Voice softens, she grows uncertain)...I used self-help novels to conquer my inadequacy issues!
(Another Teenage Boy, eyes wide, hands clasped - This is Toby)
Toby: I have parental issues....(Awkward pause)
(Little Miss Chav - A girl in a school skirt, and khaki hooded jacket is revealed, she is holding her mobile phone out like some sort of weapon. Welcome Keisha)
Keisha: I am ASBO! I use it as a replacement qualification to GCSE's!
(Sudden silence, and the four are once again thrust into darkness, above the Kaiser Chiefs' 'I Predict a Riot' Bellows out. A Teenage boy runs out, he looks very thuggish and suspicious. His hood is pulled up and a scarf wrapped about his face, one hand is thrust deeply into a pocket while the other clings onto a mangled plastic bag. He is frantically looking about him. The other four have spread about, hovering in different corners of the stage.
Adam: Inside each one of us, speak about 20 different voices.
(The other boy is still running, his footsteps echo.)
Lea: A young person in Britain has to decide which voice they will speak with.
(The frantic boy seems to find what he is looking for, a battered old door marked '29'. With one last dubious glance over his shoulder, he raps three times.)
Toby: Goth, Geek, Nerd, Emo, Techie......you can't label us!
Keisha: It's not who we are or what we are, its just which voice is speaking the loudest.
(The mystery door swings wide, and out steps a stout, elderly woman. She jumps, startled at who she sees. A threatening silence follows, the music no longer playing. The boy holds out his plastic bag. His other hand draws down his scarf.)
Boy: Hey grandma....I brought you your shepherd's pie! (Unleashes a silly grin).
Ultimately the story is of a boy buying his grandmother a shepherd's pie. Only it surrounds a few moments in the lives of five young people in the UK. It is about their rejection of labelling, being categorised, and embracing the vibrancy, and energy of being young in the modern world. I took ""inspiration"" so to speak from the people around me, from the way people reacted to me with regards to my age, be it negative or positive. I considered the way I reacted to others my age, whether I shied away from someone because of the way they dressed and so on. At the end of the day, I wanted this script to be funny and fast paced, with a subtle moral, without being profound and angst, and give an honest, personal impression of 'My World'.
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