All the cast are sitting on chairs facing each other – see layout above.
The Narrator is not opposite anyone. Throughout the dialogue, the Narrator looks at the person who is currently speaking but makes no facial expressions to show agreement with anyone.
When each actor points to somebody else, their body remains in the same position – it is just their arms that move. They look at the person they are pointing at, directly in the eye.
Whenever somebody is accusing, there needs to be an emphasis of mockery in their voice and at times, a quick laugh at the beginning of the sentence, like a ‘huh!’
At Point (A), Actor 1 who is wearing jeans, frowns and looks down at their legs.
At Point (B), Actor 7 begins to cry silently and wipe their eyes with their handkerchief.
At Point (C), Actor 5 swivels on their chair to face the audience. While Actor 5 is speaking, the other actors begin gesticulating at each other with frowns and scornful expressions:
- Some are wagging their forefinger side to side at the person sitting opposite them.
- Some are leaning away from the person sitting next to them as if they are trying not to catch something.
- Some have got their hands on their hips and are shaking their heads.
- Some have an arm stretched out in front of them with their palm facing the person (like ‘talk to the hand’) Their head is turned in the other direction and their eyes are closed.
- Some are silently mouthing accusations at each other.
The Narrator watches them all without showing any emotion.
At Point (D), Actor 2 stops their gesticulating and swivels on their seat to face the audience. Actor 5 remains facing the audience but turns their gaze towards Actor 2.
Everyone else is still gesticulating at each other silently.
At Point (E), Actor 4 gets up and slowly walks around the outside of the chairs in an anti-clockwise direction, watching everyone while ‘he’ speaks. Actors 5 & 2 now swivel back round to face each other. They stare at each other crossly and narrow their eyes. Both have their arms folded.
At Point (F) everyone stops gesticulating and watches Actor 7. They stare at Actor 3 and Actor 1 as he points at them.
At Point (G) the actors reach for their bibles which are stored underneath their chairs. They put them on their laps, open them up to a random page, and appear to be reading them, with their hands resting under each thigh (palms touching the chair) Actor 6 does not look down at ‘his’ bible but is watching Actor 1.
At Point (H) Actor 1 looks up at Actor 6 and Actor 7 puts on his headphones which have been around his neck. ‘He’ closes his eyes and smiles, swaying slightly. Everyone else is still reading their bibles apart from Actor 8 who is now watching Actor 7.
At Point (I) everyone looks up and stares at the person opposite. The Narrator is still looking at Actor 5 when he begins speaking. The other actors remain to appear uncomfortable with each other and while Actor 2 and Actor 5 are doing their last bunch of lines, the facial expressions of the other actors indicate that they can identify with the attitudes being described.
At the end, the Narrator gets up and heads to the front, in an anti-clockwise direction. He does not begin speaking until he is positioned between Actor 5 and Actor 2, but standing further forward, facing the audience. As he begins to speak, the actors behind him bow their heads and look towards the floor. They remain in this position right through to the end of the prayer.
