Hive Health

Following a training trip to Jerusalem – the West End’s current must see play, Michael and I (2 x Hive writers) found a barman in the West End willing to serve a last minute pint, albeit with attitude. They sit down and begin discussing Rooster, the main character in the play Jerusalem.

D: That ending. Were the giants really coming?

M: No.

D: I think they were.

M: It was the old bill. 200 of them coming to chuck him out.

D: Then why did the trees shuffle so much?

M: Maybe they were morris dancing.

D: It was the footfall of the ancients.

M. Gutsy scriptwriting. Ambiguous.
D: Raw.

M. All nature and roots. Rooster was the only one with roots, even though he was getting moved. He was immoveable.

D: He needed the giants to save him. He was human.  Couldn’t express himself. Couldn’t love his kid properly.

M: Limping around, cough getting worse…

D. Couldn’t jump Stonehenge.

M: Council says no.

D: He was losing hope in the end, bleeding away. As hopeless and human as the rest.

M: But bleeding like the lamb of God.

D: Rare blood.

M: Expensive. I wonder what type?

D:  Wood nymph.

M. (Examining his veins) Do you think my blood could be worth 600 quid a pint?

D: We should get down to the donor place.

M: Yeah, one lunchtime.

D: That needle is very, very large.

M: Square up to it dude. Be the Rooster.

D: Giving life to others!

M: Giving drugs to others.

D: They don’t give you drugs in the blood donor caravan, just tea and a biscuit.

M: No-one was coming to save him. He couldn’t walk away.

D: He would be toppled, break off at the roots. He couldn’t save himself.

M: But he saved the goldfish. And he would rise again like the lamb.

D: Restore the clean and green, like the poem.

M: Burn down the new builds. Call his mates over, drink more.

D: Ah, how beautiful to be English.

M: You’re South African.

D: People were attracted to him but they were scared of him.

M: Because he could tell the future.

D:  Then you admit, the magic was real.

M: Ambiguous.

D: Magic, terror, drugs.

M. Realism. Ugly. A modern plague.

D: Do you think they use the same goldfish every night?