Cry, Wolf by Deborah Mulhall
This Play is the copyright of the Author and may not be performed, copied or sold without the Author's prior consent
Cast of Characters
Nick "Wolf" Grey: 40's to mid 50's. World-renowned photojournalist. Very fit and tanned for his age.
Rebel: attractive, late 20's/early 30's. His biographer.
Brian Hemingway: 40's. Nick's friend, sometime agent and financial advisor and all round backup guy.
Rose Maddern: 16 to18. Nick's daughter. Truculent.
Marie: 40's. Past lover of Nick's.
REBEL also plays the dying Julie; daughter in Sc3; soldier in Sc7.
BRIAN also plays the soldier; Romeo; father; executioner; rebel leader; soldier
ROSE also plays daughter; woman being stoned; spy.
MARIE also plays the mother.
Scene
Minimalist/surreal staging : supposedly Nick Grey's apartment in Sydney it resembles something like a battlefield. Above stage, a screen on which headlines can be projected. The space should incorporate barbed wire a 'war zone' where transition scenes are enacted either in shadow play or using strobe effects.
Time - The present
ACT 1
Scene 1
SETTING: The war zone. Headline read SOPHIE'S CHOICE?
AT RISE: Heavily garbed mother and daughter fleeing. A soldier tears the young girl away from her mother. Sounds from the photographer's camera overlay battle sounds, recording the moment. Fade to:
Scene 2
SETTING: Nick Grey's apartment in Sydney. Sparsely furnished.
Abstract minimalism with evidence that the owner is a photographer. A pile of unopened mail. A large crate of photos dominates the set, centre.
AT RISE: Crouched on the floor, Rebel is looking through a large crate of photos. She is wearing only a sarong.
REB There must be hundreds of photos here.
NICK (off) Probably. I have no idea what would be in there. (NICK enters with a glass in hand. He wearing a sarong tied around his hips.). Are you sure you don't want one?
REB Hmm? Oh, no thanks. Too early for me.
NICK It's after lunch.
REB It's after brunch, not lunch. And we didn't get any work done. This is a mess of personal and work stuff. Can I use any of it I want?
NICK Yeah. Why not? They haven't seen the light of day for years.
REB Oh! (waving one photo aloft) Why was this one never published? It is brilliant!
NICK (scrutinising) Not bad. I think it was one of a series on a roll. You take a roll to get just one shot. Amateurs never understand that. There were better ones. Editor used those.
REB (incredulous) Better than this!
NICK (mock self-deprecating) Hey, I'm good.
REB: I know. I've got those copies of your series on the Gulf. This is one of you with some Iraqi soldiers and our boys, isn't it? And here's some stuff of you in El Salvador. You mustn't have been much older than most of them.
NICK I wasn't. Very raw. Lucky to be out there with a camera and not a gun in my hands.
REB Serendipity. (then half to herself) Hang on, the tape (she sets a hand held recorder going)
NICK Not always. Pulled a few strings. You need to know your people, your places. Problem with most of the tin medal generals in wars, they don't bother to find out what the natives think. Casualties in most wars are always higher than they need to be. Hey, you know back in Nam the bloody Yanks had this really nuts civilian program called WHAMMO. How's that for an ironic acronym, eh? "Winning the Hearts and Minds of the People". They gave the Vietnamese farmers portable toilets and cigarette lighters, for Chrissakes. Then they'd burn their bloody villages down looking for three or four charlies.
REB but when you are fighting a war
NICK Used it a-bloody-gain in Iraq. Listen me darlin' and you can put this in that bio you're writing the reason the Yanks can't ever pin down the enemy is because they always know the Yanks are coming. There's a swarm of bloody helicopters and everyone knows the troops are underneath them. Guerilla troops can run rings around them. Literally.
REB I guess we all fight the best way we know.
NICK At the time of the Vietnam war, they could have asked the South Vietnamese for advice but they were all so bloody convinced that the Slopes were incapable of fighting a war.
REB Why would they think?
NICK Because the only ones they ever met were the whores and pimps and fringe dwellers trying to make a fast buck.
REB And your point is?
NICK I mean, would you like to think of an outsider judging all Aussies by its pimps and dealers and prostitutes?
REB Of course not.
NICK There you go. Fighters, like the Slopes or Hajis, are usually great they just don't have the air support and artillery the Yanks take for granted.
REB Nick, you shouldn't use terms like "Slopes" or "Haji's" you know. (a pause)
NICK Fucking political correctness. This, me darlin', is a PC free zone. You got that?
REB I can't quote you saying that in the book.
NICK (shrugging) Do what you like. Ease your conscience by calling them whatever you like. Me, I think it's more bloody politically incorrect to target an area with blanket bombing and artillery strikes. You don't kill many enemies but you'll kill a helluva lot of civilians. Seems a lot more incorrect than worrying about name calling.
REB It's a new world, Nick.
NICK You reckon? I don't think so. Yanks in the Whitehouse don't seem to have learnt anything. Nam was where it all started, and they're still stuffing it up look at what they're doing now. Fingers in every pie and not just the big ones like the Middle East. There's Madagascar, Laos, you name it and there's Tibet.
REB Are you going back to the Middle East?
NICK Yeah. Though I got to say, I preferred covering all the Indochina and Pacific stuff to Africa and the Middle East. There's still action along the Korean front with occasional border clashes. Always stuff with India and Bangladesh. Laos. It's all border raids now.
REB But no one got coverage like you in '99 in Chechnya. And of course, there was "Desert Storm" and "Iraqi Freedom"
NICK You couldn't get photos in those. Nothing to shoot. In Indochina, it's different. Or El Salvador.
REB (Holding up a photo) Who is this?
NICK (pause) Luisa
REB She was from El Salvador, wasn't she?
NICK Yeah. She was. Didn't even know I still had that. She survives the whole bloody massacre as a child and then buys it in a car accident. First I knew of it her family turns up and clears all of her stuff out of our place in Mexico. Here, give me that photo. I should destroy it.
REB But it is all you have of her.
NICK She wouldn't have wanted me to keep it.
REB No, really you should keep it.
NICK What the hell would I want a bloody photo of her for? (rips up photo) (doorbell) That'll be Brian.
REB You could have warned me. I have to get dressed! (She scrambles to the bedroom as Nick opens the door to admit Brian, who just manages to see a flash of the disappearing Reb.)
NICK Come on in mate.
BRIAN Never knew anyone like you old bastard. You get every one of them into the sack. How do you manage it?
NICK Just my incredible good looks, charm and wit.
BRIAN And modesty. You two are supposed to be working on your biography. Not exploring the mating habits of journo intransits
NICK Very droll. Drink? (topping up the scotch)
BRIAN This hour of the day?
NICK It never used to stop you.
BRIAN Time changes you. Hey, you never drank in the morning. (afterthought) Unless you were coming at the morning from the other side of midnight.
NICK This is just daily medicine.
BRIAN For what? Getting old?
NICK Not me.
BRIAN You'd better start slowing down a little mate.
NICK You slow down,the engine stalls and you're dead.
BRIAN Age does have it compensations, you know. Slowing down
NICK And how is Julie?
BRIAN Good.
NICK Marriage agreeing with you then?
BRIAN Better than I thought it would. Maybe you should try it.
NICK Geez no, not me.
BRIAN Not so bad, you know. Someone to cook for you, clean your gear. Wake you up in the mornings
NICK Hotel service'll do that for you.
BRIAN regular sex.
NICK It's never been a problem.
BRIAN Yeah, maybe. But you have to invest all that time to get 'em there!
NICK The chase is half the fun.
BRIAN Did you ever, you know, really think about it?
NICK Mmmm.
BRIAN Luisa?
NICK Luisa was another lifetime. There was someone else a couple of years back. I thought, you know, maybe
BRIAN Who? I don't remember anyone in particular.
NICK Oh, I never took her around. I was just sort of playing with the domestic idea and she seemed the right sort. Smart, pretty , good tits, had a couple of adolescent kids . I thought she was a real dairy queen.
BRIAN How come I don't know this stuff? How long was this then?
NICK Dunno. Year maybe, on and off.
BRIAN Geez mate. Never have guessed. Typical bloody Wolf Grey nobody ever knows what you're up to. So what happened? (Nick shrugs) OK. None of my business. Listen, Wolf, get dressed will you? I like you, but not that much. Then I'll shout you a late lunch and we can get down to business. (Reb enters, dressed casually) Hey, Rebel!
REB What are we getting down to? Hi Brian, how are you? (gives a kiss on the cheek)
BRIAN All the better for having seen you.
REB Flirting? I'll tell Julie.
BRIAN Join the queue.
NICK (Laughs) Queue?
REB One thing I have been meaning to ask, where did Nick pick up that nickname of "Wolf"?
BRIAN What do you reckon?
REB I imagine it is probably that whole "wolf" imagery thing. You know, runs with the pack but is also a lone wolf. The hunter, the stalker (both men are laughing, Nick howls like a wolf) What? What did I say?
NICK I bloody wish.
BRIAN Nothing so romantic. A rather famous Madam bestowed it upon him after some of her girls used to request him when he came into the brothel. None of the girls would charge him.
NICK Geez you can spin a yarn. (Nick and Brian are laughing)
REB Oh very funny. Seriously, how come they call him "Wolf"?
BRIAN The look on your face! We all called him that because of how he went after the ladies. The Wolf's good at the old ambush.
NICK I was out in the field for quite a few newspapers and news agencies too, I believe.
BRIAN Yeah. Amazing, you found the time.
REB Well, I think I am going to work it in as referring to the man that no one really knows or understands.
NICK (pause of disbelief, then to Brian) I'm going to get dressed so I don't offend your sensibilities any longer. And so you'll pay for lunch.
(Exits)
BRIAN You like pushing the edge, don't you?
REB I'm out to get a story.
BRIAN Not so different from Nick, then.
REB Yeah. Listen, Brian, whilst Nick's out of the room, can you tell me something?
BRIAN Maybe. What do you want to know?
REB When I was asking him about growing up all that first chapter stuff, he clams up. No siblings. No-one to interview. It's as though he doesn't have a childhood. Just a career.
BRIAN So what do you want from me?
REB Well, do you know anything?
BRIAN Didn't his Mum die recently?
REB Yes, he had to come back from Palestine for the funeral. But I couldn't get a word out of him about her.
BRIAN Well, sorry Reb, I can't help you. A man and his mother is more dangerous territory than the Gaza Strip.
REB It's frustrating I may have to drop that family/Mum thing altogether and that's no bloody good for a biography. It's hard to put flesh on a skeleton when you can't get any background.
BRIAN Maybe you just gotta be a bit more investigative. Like your subject. But I can tell you this, you're never going to find out what Nick doesn't want you to know.
REB You can't have a private life these days. It's impossible.
BRIAN If anyone can, Nick's the man. (to NICK as he enters buttoning a shirt.) Anyway mate, you going to do this ABC thing? 'Cos if the answer is yes, I have to get onto the contract.
REB What's this about?
BRIAN For a biographer, you don't know much about what's going on in his life, do you?
REB The facts are easy. The man is difficult.
BRIAN This you have just figured out? It seems the ABC have finally decided to acknowledge the boy's success here with a half hour devoted to him in their "Australian Tales" series.
REB Why now? I would have thought that Pulitzer for the "Juliet Dying" shot in Sarajevo a while ago would have been the time.
NICK Prophet in his hometown.
REB What? No, why now?
BRIAN I guess A few Eisies, an Amnesty International award, a Walkley and an being inducted into the Australian National Press Photographers' Association Hall of Fame finally caught their attention. And the news that a biography has been commissioned.
NICK (ironically) And the "Capture the Bloody Moment" Pulitzer
BRIAN And the Pulitzer. Dual citizenship huh.
REB But this is great! We should be able to pool resources. And shots of the filming will make a great conclusion to my book.
BRIAN So, when are we going to talk money, schedules and so on?
NICK Geez mate. I can leave the money stuff to you. As for the schedule I mean I'm
BRIAN a very busy man. I know. Maybe I'll just talk to Reb, she probably knows your movements better than anyone.
REB Hey!
BRIAN So when's the old wolf heading back to the Middle East?
REB I don't know. Tomorrow. Next week. Next month.
NICK I want to go via Czechoslovakia.
BRIAN Why? Something going to break there?
NICK Get a life Brian. The only fighting going on there is for the tourist dollar.
REB He's going to check up on his orphanage.
BRIAN Oh yeah. Altruistic bastard, isn't he?
REB Well, he did set up the place.
BRIAN I'll just bet he did. You know, he's not the only war correspondent to have done something like that.
REB But he keeps going there. Most people buy into some of those "sponsor a child" schemes and then promptly forget about the problem, but Nick has done something real. Great stuff for the book.
BRIAN Yep, he's a sweetheart, a real hero. To all sides.
NICK What's that supposed to mean?
BRIAN You tell me. Look mate, if you're going to do this bio and the television show, you had better clear up that little cloud hanging over your political affiliations during certain times of your life.
REB What's he talking about? (NICK shrugs)
BRIAN Some might question your friendship with Vanunu.
NICK He wasn't a friend, he was a professional acquaintance. And he had the best friggin' contacts of anyone I ever knew. And I knew him for about ten bloody minutes. I was a wet-behind-the ears rookie and he was Vanunu. He was an OK bloke.
BRIAN Not all the journos felt like that. Some drew the line at any form of communication with Vanunu. And the defamation trial never really answered the question about whether or not he was a traitor.
NICK Look, one thing you learn fast out in the field is to make use of every contact you can get.
BRIAN Geez mate, even as a rookie you were known to go out in the field with the Hajis.
NICK One day. Twenty-four hours. That's all.
REB What's this?
NICK You take calculated risks and don't ask too many questions about your sources.
BRIAN There's a Davis man if ever I heard of one.
NICK What a bloke. He refused to get the last flight out of Saigon and look at the photo he got!
REB He died filming his own death. If you didn't get out of Israel all those years ago, you may never have got Sarajevo or the Nepalese Insurgency in '96.
NICK I'm always going to be on the last flight out. Sometimes I feel like a Jimmy Buffet song.
BRIAN You still gotta come up with a position, Wolf. Your politics might be called into question.
NICK There isn't a journalist worth his salt whose politics haven't been called into question.
REB I am sure Nick would never? (knocking at the door)
BRIAN The glow you see him in isn't a halo, you know, Reb.
NICK What the?
REB Again? You expecting someone else?
BRIAN If it's the ABC, don't say anything. We haven't signed a contract yet. If it's one of the commercials, I'll talk to 'em. Anyone else, piss 'em off. We're going to lunch. (NICK opens the door to reveal Rose. Casually dressed with very large backpack. Headline on sceen: REFUGEES CROSS BORDER)
NICK Er yes?
ROSE Um. Are you Nick Grey?
NICK That depends.
ROSE On what?
NICK On who you are.
ROSE Oh. Umm
NICK So, who are you?
ROSE Rose. My name is Rose. Rose Maddern.
NICK So?
ROSE Are you Nick? I think you look like the photos but you can't be sure
NICK Sure?
ROSE You look older than I thought.
NICK Thanks kid. Look, what do you want?
ROSE I'm sorry. I'm making a mess of this. Aren't you sort of expecting me?
NICK No.
ROSE Didn't you get the letter?
NICK (glancing at the pile of unopened mail) Letter?
ROSE I posted it before I left. I put in the photocopies and everything.
NICK Haven't looked at my mail in weeks. The only mail I get are bills.
ROSE Oh. Well, I guess then well. Look, I think you may be my father.
[end of extract]
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