Ravenhill Plays: 1: Shopping and F***ing; Faust is Dead; Handbag; Some Explicit Polaroids (Contemporary Dramatists) by Mark Ravenhill Page A

and for so many children of this twentieth century, it is only in America that we really believe that we are alive, that we are living within in our own century.
    Pete      Look. Hold it right there.
    He fetches his camcorder.
    I’m sorry. I’m sorry but I only have a little . . . so you have to go really slowly. Slowly. Okay.
    Pete
videos
Alain .
    Alain (
in French
)     Because in America / and only in America, am I truly at home.
    For me, and for so many children of this twentieth century, it is only in America that we really believe that we are alive, that we are living within in our own century.
    In Europe, we are ghosts, trapped in a museum, with the lights out and the last visitor long gone.
    And so I am going to America.
    Pete      Because in America . . . just America . . . is . . . really . . . home.
    For me, and for children in the twentieth century (for kids? what’s the . . . it is only America (uh uh, uh, uh, uh uh) . . . dah dah dah belief in being alive (right), living in the century (century that we – what? – own).
    In Europe, we are spooks (phantoms, ghosts, yeah), something in a some . . . (shit, he’s getting . . . shit), lights off and the somesuch something, yeah yeah yeah yeah.
    Alain      And / so I am going to America.
    Pete      And so I am going to America.
    Alain      And so I say:
    (
in American English
) Hi, America. How ya doin’?
    Pete      Hi, Europe. America’s doing . . . just fine. America’s . . . yeah.
Five
     
    Chorus      Yeah. I know Steve a little. My friend Jose swears Stevie worked my shift at the drive-through a few years back and Jose says that maybe Stevie and I even shared the same overalls. Which is amazing. Although Jose does lie from time to time.
    See, when I look at Stevie and Stevie is up there singing, sometimes I see . . . I know this may sound way pretentious or way dumb or whatever . . . but I look at Stevie and I see Kurt. It is like Kurt’s . . . spirit . . . yeah, yeah, teen spirit if you will . . . that his spirit is coming back to us through Stevie . . . who is just beautiful, okay? In a negative sort of a way.
Six
     
    The next morning
.
    Alain
asleep in the chair. Enter
Pete
with junkfood breakfast
.
    Pete      You wanna eat?
    Hey, guy, you wanna eat something?
    Good for you to eat something.
    Here. Here. Okay. For you.
    Alain      Thank you.
    Pete      You speak English?
    Alain      Of course.
    Pete      Okay, that’s cool.
    It’s just . . . last night . . .
    You remember last night?
    Alain      Oh yes.
    Pete      Okay.
    And did you find the sex good?
    Did you find our sexual contact a worthwhile and stimulating experience?
    Alain      Yes.
    Pete      Yes, the sex was good?
    Alain      Yes. The sex was good.
    Pete      That’s what I figured.
    I figured you didn’t remember a thing.
    The sex was zero. There was zero sex.
    Alain      Alright.
    Pete      You talked good enough.
    So, you’re not a producer?
    Alain      No. I’m sorry.
    Pete      That’s okay. That’s what one of the guys . . . totally dumb.
    So why were you there?
    You know one of the band?
    Alain      The beer.
    Pete      Okay.
    Alain      The beer was good.
    Pete      I understand.
    But if you’re not a producer you’re gonna have to go.
    Alain      I understand.
    He moves to exit, turns
.
    What do you think about this?
    Pete      I’m sorry.
    Alain      I’d like you to consider this example. I want to know what you think.
    A man meets a woman.
    And he takes this woman home to his apartment and he makes love to this woman.
    Pete      This is a story?
    Alain      An example.
    Pete      Okay. An example.
    Alain      They are making love and she asks him a question.
    Which is:
    Which part of me do you find the most . . . the most . . .
    Pete      The most arousing?
    Alain      Attractive. Which