PLAY #30

Hadrian's Wall
Written by
Joseph Frost

Draft
8/31/17

written as part of the 2017 31 Plays in 31 Days challenge

FrostJosephD@gmail.com
Member, Dramatists Guild of America
 A stone wall on stage.

A woman in her early forties, MILDRED, wears a bright

vest and hat. She carries a clipboard and has other simple
equipment - a camera, binoculars.

A young woman, perhaps seventeen, KIRSTEN,

begrudgingly wears a similar bright vest.

MILDRED
This is as good a spot as any.

KIRSTEN
Is it.

MILDRED
No worse than anywhere.

KIRSTEN
Just as miserable.

MILDRED
This doesnt have to be so bad.

KIRSTEN
It just is.

MILDRED
You needed the volunteer hours. This is what we need volunteers to do.

KIRSTEN
You said I get the time it took to drive here as part of my hours, right.

MILDRED
Yes. So it could be worse. You could be digging the ditch instead of examining it.

KIRSTEN
Thank god.

MILDRED
Yes. Thank god, indeed.
(beat)
This is it.
 2.

KIRSTEN
This is it?

MILDRED
What were you expecting?

KIRSTEN
I dunno. A big ass wall.

MILDRED
Im sorry it couldnt be more impressive for you.

KIRSTEN
Its short.

MILDRED
Its not tall, but its long. It stretches from Newcastle to Solway.

KIRSTEN
People could, like, just jump over it.

MILDRED
And Im sure people did. But with Roman soldiers not far away, and patrolling up and
down the wall, they would not have gotten far.

Mildred begins to inspect the wall. Kirsten just looks.

KIRSTEN
Its just a pile of stones.

MILDRED
Many things are. But this is a World Heritage site, my dear. So its important to preserve.

KIRSTEN
Its been out here like a hundred years or something. If it hasnt fallen over yet...

MILDRED
It was begun in AD 122.

KIRSTEN
Yeah.

MILDRED
Thats just under two thousand years. Not a hundred.
 3.

KIRSTEN
My point exactly.

MILDRED
Erosion, dear.

KIRSTEN
Like, wind?

MILDRED
And pollution. Animals. People taking stones to build other things.

KIRSTEN
That sucks.

MILDRED
Sometimes people leaving graffiti or markings. Even simply plants or trees that grow
through the gaps in the stones. Like this.

Mildred points out a plant.

KIRSTEN
Just pull it out.

MILDRED
Yes. But see, its big enough that if we just pull it, we could disrupt the integrity of the
wall.

KIRSTEN
What?

MILDRED
It might knock the stones loose.

Mildred hands the clipboard to Kirsten.

KIRSTEN
What.

MILDRED
Write down that theres a plant ingrown on the south side of the wall here.
(gets her camera)
Ill attach the photo later.
 4.

Kirsten writes. Mildred photographs.

KIRSTEN
So, like, you do this all the time?

MILDRED
As much as I can.

KIRSTEN
This is a job?

MILDRED
No, dear. Im also a volunteer.

KIRSTEN
What did you do?

MILDRED
Do?

KIRSTEN
That you have to volunteer.

MILDRED
Nothing.

KIRSTEN
You just do it because you, like, like it?

MILDRED
I suppose thats true.
(beat)
My father and I used to come out here. Every summer wed walk the wall.

KIRSTEN
The whole thing.

MILDRED
Indeed.

KIRSTEN
My dad would never have done that.
 5.

MILDRED
Wouldnt?

KIRSTEN
Hes gone.

MILDRED
Passed?

KIRSTEN
Just gone.

MILDRED
Mine passed a year ago. Actually, its about that time that I started volunteering.

A moment.

KIRSTEN
Whos Hadrian?

MILDRED
Hadrian?

KIRSTEN
This is his wall, right?

MILDRED
He was a Roman Emperor. This was the border of the Roman Empire. At the time.

KIRSTEN
He wanted to keep out the Scots.

MILDRED
In a way.

KIRSTEN
Did it work?

MILDRED
In a way. After Hadrian died, they built another wall north of here. They were trying to
conquer all the way up north but couldnt, and theyd push forward, then drop back to here
and go again for about 300 years. Thats when the Romans left.

KIRSTEN
So it sort of worked. This short little wall.
 6.

MILDRED
Separated the us from the them.

KIRSTEN
Even though they could see each other.

MILDRED
But it took having a watch here at all times.

KIRSTEN
And a pile of stones.

MILDRED
And now theres highways and trains that go speeding past.

KIRSTEN
Theyd never have imagined that.

MILDRED
No.

A quiet moment.

KIRSTEN
Your father. He was a good man?

MILDRED
I believe so. He was to me.

KIRSTEN
Mine wasnt so much.

MILDRED
Im sorry.

KIRSTEN
Hed have built a wall like this. Pissed drunk one night.

MILDRED
Probablyd take longer than one night.

KIRSTEN
(smiles)
You dont know how pissed hed get.
 7.

MILDRED
Thats right.

KIRSTEN
(quietly)
Hed just want to keep people away.

A moment.

Mildred moves and takes a couple more pictures.

MILDRED
Its a monument of engineering. Of what people will do to keep other people away.

KIRSTEN
And we want to save it?

MILDRED
We dont use it for that any more.

KIRSTEN
Id let it go.

MILDRED
I know.

Mildred gently takes the clipboard from Kirsten.

MILDRED (CONTD)
Lets continue down the wall.

Mildred goes a few steps, notices Kirsten has not moved.

Kirsten reaches down and grabs the plant.

Kirsten is noticeably careful, but she removes the plant

from the wall.

She tosses the plant and looks at Mildred.

Mildred turns and goes.

Kirsten goes with her.

Lights down