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CHAPTER Two: WHAT Is A DRAMA EVENT The group forces Naomi, who does not want to take part, to throw a brick as well. In the next scene we see Joe arriving home after setting fire to the house, his mother slaps him when he tells her he did it and denies asking him to do it in the first place. When the bell rings she panics that it is the police and sends Joe to his room. Joe’s friend Jill arrives and though the mother tries to send her away she manages to speak to Joe and tell him that a boy was killed in the fire. The two children leave together. Next morning the children meet Joe to find out what he is planning to do. They are worried about the police questioning them and blaming them for the arson. Joe tells them that he is going to leave and the others decide to go with him. Just as they make up their minds to leave a tall thin man with matted hair, a white face and in a long black overcoat enters and collapses. He does not move. As they do not know how much he has heard and are worried that he may die the children decide to take the man with them till the next hospital. They carry him on a shed door. We see the children carrying the Man a few days later after they have noticed that all other people have vanished; even the town they reach is deserted. As the play proceeds we see the group in different situations as they continue their journey, quarrelling, falling into despair as their number diminishes, but still carrying the man. They take turns as guards at night, but the man gets up and strangles the guards with a towel and smacking their heads with a brick before dragging them out; these objects are used as a pillow by him during the day. When the other kids get up they think that their peers who were killed have run away and betrayed them. During the day the Man encourages the remaining children to head on towards the harbour that he says is nearby. Finally, only Joe reaches the docks that are empty, but full of malls where he can pick goods without paying for them. He walks on stage with many bags of goodies when he sees the boy, the stranger from the new estate, who was the child killed in the fire. They talk about the fire and the Stranger says he has forgiven Joe. Suddenly the father of the dead boy runs on stage and tries to kill Joe, who escapes, and the Man, who is struggling to stay alive, leaves and takes all the shopping bags with him. In the last scene Joe comes on and says: “I’ve got everything. I’m the last person in the world. I must find someone”.‘° Then exits. There are many possible DE moments in the play. One example is after the Man encourages the remaining five kids to carry on their journey to the harbour and even offers to be the guard in the first half of the night. By this point in the play the audience have already seen him kill some of the other children in the group. The situation is the following: 130 Tbid., 52. + 110 +
