Read Online Ravenhill Plays: 1: Shopping and F***ing; Faust is Dead; Handbag; Some Explicit Polaroids (Contemporary Dramatists) by Mark Ravenhill - Free Book Online

     You don’t know that. You’re starting over.
    Mark      I do like it.
    Gary      Could be anything. New life, new gear. It makes sense. Go on.
    Mark      You sure you can / afford . . . ?
    Gary      Hey. None of that.
    Mark      Alright then. Yes.
    Gary      Good and now we’ll . . .
    He holds out a handful of credit cards as if they were playing cards
.
    Pick a card, any card.
    Mark
picks a card. Reads the name on it
.
    Mark      P. Harmsden.
    Gary      You remember? Last night. Poppers. Kept on hitting himself.
    Mark      Ah. P. Harmsden.
    Gary      Right then. Get it off and then we’re eating out. My treat.
    Mark      Why don’t you . . . wait outside?
    Gary      I’m not bothered.
    Mark      Have a look round. I’ll only be a few minutes.
    Gary      Too late now. I’ve seen it.
    Mark      Seen the . . . ?
    Gary      Seen the hard-on.
    Mark      Ah yes. The hard-on.
    Gary      Must be aching by now. Up all day.
    Is it the shopping does that?
    You gotta thing about shopping?
    Or is it ’cos of me?
    Mark      Yes. That’s right. It’s because of you.
    Gary      Right.
    What’s going on in your head?
    I mean, I can see what’s going on in your pants but what’s in there?
    Tell me.
    Mark      Nothing. Look. It’s just a physical thing, you know?
    Gary      So why don’t you say what you want. Do you want to kiss me?
    Mark      Yes.
    Gary      Go on then.
    Mark      Listen, if we do . . . anything, it’s got to mean nothing, you understand?
    Gary      Course.
    Mark      If I feel like it’s starting to mean something then I’ll stop.
    Gary      You can kiss me like a gentle kiss. Me mum, she’s got a nice kiss.
    Mark
kisses
Gary .
    Gary      How was that?
    Mark      Yes. That was alright.
    Gary      How old do you think I am?
    Mark      I don’t know.
    Gary      When you met me – what did you think?
    Mark      I don’t . . . sort of sixteen, seventeen.
    Gary      Right. Bit more?
    Mark      Bit more.
    He kisses
Gary
again
.
This time it becomes more sexual. Eventually,
Mark
pulls away
.
    No. I don’t want this.
    Gary      I knew it. You’ve fallen for me.
    Mark      Fuck. I really thought I’d broken this, you know?
    Gary      Do you love me? Is that what it is? Love?
    Mark      I don’t know. How would you define that word? There’s a physical thing, yes. A sort of wanting which isn’t love is it? No, That’s well, desire. But then, yes, there’s an attachment I suppose. There’s also that. Which means I want to be with you, Now, here, when you’re with me I feel like a person and if you’re not with me I feel less like a person.
    Gary      So is that love then?
    Say what you mean.
    Mark      Yes.
    I love you.
    Gary      See.
    Mark      But what I’d like to do – now that I’ve said that which was probably very foolish – what I’d like to do is move forward from this point and try to develop a relationship that is mutual, in which there’s a respect, a recognition of the other’s needs.
    Gary      I didn’t feel anything.
    Mark      No?
    Gary      When you kissed me. Nothing.
    Mark      I see.
    Gary      Which means . . . gives me the power, doesn’t it? So I’ll tell you. You’re not what I’m after. I don’t want it like that.
    Mark      But over a period of time . . .
    Gary      No.
    Mark      You see, if you’ve never actually been loved –
    Gary      I’m not after love. I want to be owned. I want someone to look after me. And I want him to fuck me. Really fuck me. Not like that, not like him. And, yeah, it’ll hurt. But a good hurt.
    Mark      But if you had a choice.
    Gary      Then I wouldn’t choose you. I want to be taken away. Someone who understands me.
    Mark