← THE STAGE
The Allotment
← THE STAGE
The Allotment
Invented for the demoThe evening before the council clears an allotment site for housing, Rose Pell — thirty-one years on plot 14 — ties up beans that do not need tying while her son Teddy tries to make her fight and an inspector arrives to agree an inventory of what is hers and what is the council's.
DRAMATIC QUESTION
Can Rose leave the plot without leaving herself in it?
SPINE
Rose wants the evening to pass without anyone making her say goodbye; the letter, her son and the inspector each try to make her say it.
THE CAST — 3 ROLES
THE CAST →Rose PellPRINCIPAL
Seventy. Has kept plot 14 for thirty-one years and intends to keep it for the evening. Deflects every question with a job for her hands.
Teddy PellPRINCIPAL
Her son, forties, holding the council's letter. Wants a fight she will not give him, and a mother who will come and live in a spare room.
Mrs DunmoreSUPPORTING
The council's inspector, careful of her shoes. Here to agree an inventory, not to be liked.
INTERVAL
No interval — straight through.
Ninety minutes straight through — an interval would let the audience leave the plot before Rose does.
THE CHARTER
WHAT YOU DECLARE HERE BINDS THE ROOM · WHAT YOU LEAVE BLANK, THE ROOM DECIDES AND THEN REPORTS AS A COST
INTERVAL
ONE AGENT CALL · THE DRAMATURG READS THE PREMISE AND CHARTER AND PROPOSES A FULL BREAK
This play is already broken. Convening again proposes a fresh break for you to read — but adopting it will be disabled, since it would overwrite what is already on stage.
1 AGENT CALL · THE PLAYWRIGHT DRAFTS EACH EMPTY SCENE FROM ITS CARD, ONE AT A TIME
TAKE IT OUT OF THE ROOM
⇩ ACTING EDITION · WORD⇩ ACTING EDITION · MARKDOWN⇩ THE SIDES · ZIP⇩ DOUBLING CHART · CSV⇩ NOTES · CSV
1 OF 3 SCENES ARE NOT YET WRITTEN — THE EXPORT MARKS EACH ONE IN PLACE RATHER THAN CLOSING OVER IT
ACTS & SCENES
ACT 1 — Dusk
A1S1Plot 14. A shed, a water butt, a bench made from a door.27 lines4 OPEN
Opens with: Rose Pell · Teddy Pell
The inventory turns into a dispute over the apple tree, and Rose says the first thing she cannot take back: that she is the council's too, having been rooted longer than the tree.
A1S2Inside the shed.12 lines1 OPEN
Opens with: Teddy Pell
Teddy offers the spare room and Rose refuses it without saying no — the scene must find the moment she admits she has already decided.
THE ROOM PROPOSES A BREAK · ONLY THE PLAYWRIGHT COMMITS THE PAGE