GamePlan (play)

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GamePlan
Written by	Alan Ayckbourn
Characters	Sorrel Saxon Lynette Saxon Kelly Butcher Leo Tyler Dan Endicott Grace Page Troy Stephens
Date of premiere	24th May 2001
Place of premiere	Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Original language	English
Series	Damsels In Distress
Subject	Teenage prostitution
Genre	Drama / Comedy
Setting	Lynette Saxon's flat, London Docklands, 2001
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'GamePlan' is a 2001 play by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, the first in a trilogy of plays called Damsels In Distress (FlatSpin and RolePlay being parts two and three.) The darkest of three plays, it is about a teenage girl who tries to support herself and her mother through prostitution.

Contents 1 Characters 2 Setting 3 Synopsis 4 Productions 5 Critical Review 6 References

[edit] Characters

As part of the Damsels in Distress trilogy, GamePlan was written to use the same seven actors as the other two plays in the series. In this play, the characters are:

• Sorrel Saxon, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl
• Lynette Saxon, her mother, forty, former businesswoman, now a cleaner
• Kelly Butcher, Sorrel's friend, also sixteen
• Leo Tyler, a dapper retired dry cleaner and Sorrel's first client
• Dan Endicott, a detective police sergeant, forties
• Grace Page, a severe WPC, thirties
• Troy Stephens, a tabloid-quality journalist, thirties

Sorrel, Lynette and Kelly are the main characters in the play, with the other four making smaller appearances in single scenes.

[edit] Setting

The entire play is set in Lynette Saxon's flat, on the riverside in the London Docklands. As part of Damsels in Distress, the play was written to use the identical set to the other two plays. As with most Ayckbourn plays, it was originally performed in the Round for its original performances at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. However, it was adapted for the Proscenium for subsequent performances elsewhere.

The play is performed in two Acts. Both acts are divided into three scenes. The play takes place over a period of six weeks.

[edit] Synopsis

The play opens with Sorrel Saxon confronting her mother, Lynette, for smoking. In the first few minutes it emerges that Lynette was a successful businesswoman, but her business collapsed in the dotcom crash. She is now reduced to cleaning the offices she once managed (hence Lynette's early start and her new habit for smoking), whilst her husband ran off with her business partner to live somewhere abroad. Lynette mentions that they will not be able to afford to stay in the flat much longer, and contemplates moving out of London, in spite of Sorrel's protests.

Unknown to Lynette, Sorrel already has her own plan to make ends meet. After Lynette leaves for work, Sorrel's friend, Kelly Butcher arrives. She is a unassertive girl who agrees with everything Sorrel says. Sorrel tells her she intends to make money as a high-class call girl, inspired by the (probably rose-tinted) story of a girl who got chucked out of her school a few years ago. Sorrel has done most of her research on the internet (in particular the codewords used for different kinds of services), and it is clear that Sorrel is convinced she knows exactly what she is doing, and (possibly as a result of her earlier experiences) sees sex as no big deal. Sorrel wants Kelly to be her "maid", who meets the clients and acts as help if there's any trouble. Kelly reluctantly agrees to this proposal.

In the second scene, Sorrel is preparing for her appointment with her first client. Her plans are now well advanced. In order to make herself untraceable, she has set up a website of www.lovechicks.co.uk, assumed a business name of "Mandy", and got herself a mobile phone exclusively for her business. This does not stop her receiving calls from various prospective customers requesting various disgusting acts (to which Sorrel emphasises she's "vanilla" only). Her first client is one that Sorrel says she has carefully screened and won't cause any trouble.

The third scene takes place that evening. Kelly has brought her maid's outfit, Sorrel's call girl underwear (which barely allows her to breathe), and contraceptives, bought with Kelly's savings. When the client finally arrives, he is Leo Tyler, a mild-mannered man bearing flowers, tutting at the dirty magazines left her him, and showing more interest in talking about himself and his late wife than sex. Sorrel's inexperience begins to show when she sprawls over the couch in the unsexy way, talks to Kelly about the noises call girls are supposed to make during sex, and, notably, starts to show last-minute doubts about the act. But with time short before Lynette returns home, this does not stop Sorrel disappearing into the bedroom with Leo.

When Kelly hears Sorrel making some (very unconvincing) fake orgasm noises, she mistakes this for Sorrel being attacked and rushing in with a vase of flowers to brain Leo. With the confusion resolved, Sorrel and Leo carry on. However, Sorrel returns from the bedroom hyperventilating and in tears. Leo, having evidently had his money's worth, returns to find himself alone in the living room. He quietly places the money on the table, and promptly has a heart attack and dies.

Act Two begins later that night. Lynette has returns and senses Sorrel has problems, but Sorrel will not communicate with her mother, nor discuss Lynette's own problems. Eventually, Lynette gives Sorrel a sleeping pill. In the middle of the night, Kelly comes back, and she and Sorrel quietly carry out Leo's body (which the hid earlier) and throw him over the balcony into the Thames. Just as they have done so, Lynette appears, wanting to know what they are up two. The two girls giggle helplessly, leading Lynette to assume they must be on drugs.

The next scene takes place two weeks later. Sorrel has aborted her plan and has put it behind her, assuming she and Kelly are in the clear. She has got rid of the website and switched off the mobile used for her work, using it only once when her own mobile runs out of battery to carry on a chat. Lynette comes in with a bottle of cheap pink bubbly and announces that she has finally got a job, as a publisher for a small religious book group. But before she can open the bottle, Lynette and Sorrel start another row.

But before the row is concluded, two Police officers arrive at the door: Dan Endicott, who does most of the questions, and Grace Page, who contributes with assorted Biblical quotations. They are investigating the death of Leo Tyler, and through tracing Leo's internet use and where the body was found, they have narrowed down his whereabouts to this flat. When they question Lynette about the mobile number, she insists that neither her mobile nor Sorrel's is that one, but when they ring it, Sorrel's work mobile (still switched on from her earlier chat) goes off in the ringtone that has been heard several times earlier in the play. Lynette instantly responds by claiming she was the call girl, and Sorrel's attempted confession is ignored.

In the final scene, Kelly is helping Lynette and Sorrel pack to move - a move that is clearly in advanced stages as boxes now litter the whole flat. Although no-one was arrested over Leo's death (owing to the Police being unable to pin down exactly how Leo died), word has got round about Lynette's confession, which everyone has believed. Sorrel explains to Kelly that after being ostracised by her neighbours, Lynette appears to have given up completely. She has declined the job she was offered, and she is moving to Doncaster for no better reason than once knowing some people who used to live there.

A journalist then calls at the door, introducing himself as Troy Stephens, from a magazine (evidently a trashy one) called "As It Is", which is ironic as he wishes to run a story on Lynette Saxon turning to prostitution to support her daughter. Lynette is not enthusiastic about this proposal, so Troy mentions that a fee would be involved, which he shows to Lynette on a piece of paper. Whatever this amount is, Lynette suggests she would say yes if they add a zero on to the end of the figure. Troy goes outside to check with his office, whilst Lynette gets out the bottle of pink bubbly (left untouched since the Police visit) on standby should Troy say yes. She says that it probably won't be the answer they want, but there will be other chances. With the unopened bottle on standby, the play instantly ends just as the door opens, giving the impression that, whatever happens, their friendship will survive.

[edit] Productions

The premiere at the Stephen Joseph Theatre on the 24th May 2001 featuring the following cast:

• Lynette Saxon - Jacqueline King
• Sorrel Saxon - Saskia Butler
• Kelly Butcher - Alison Pargeter
• Leo Tyler - Robert Austin
• Dan Endicott - Tim Faraday
• Grace Tyler - Beth Tuckey
• Troy Stephens. - Bill Champion

The Creative Team was the following:

• Director - Alan Ayckbourn
• Design - Roger Glossop
• Lighting - Mick Hughes
• Costumes - Christine Wall
• Music - Keith Jarrett

The first West End performance was made at the Duchess Theatre, opening on the 7th September 2001, and featured the same cast and creative team.^[1]

[edit] Critical Review

GamePlan was arguably a gamble for Alan Ayckbourn, whose work was traditionally associated with much lighter comedies. Although some of Ayckbourn's later plays had explored darker and more contemporary subjects, the issue of teenage prostitution was possibly the riskiest issue Ayckbourn had covered to date. Nonetheless, the reviews of this play were broadly positive, although in the West End this was a little overshadowed by the praise for the third play in the Damsels in Distress trilogy, Roleplay. This became a problem later in the West end run, when the play, along with FlatSpin, were sidelined in favour of RolePlay, to the disappointment of the Company.

Alison Pargeter's role as Kelly Butcher contributed to her winning the Best Newcomer in the Critics' Circle Awards.^[2]

[edit] References