Act 1 Scene 2 (edited)

Scene 2 – Area in front of the Ziggurats

Georgina, Kevin and the other 2 Student Helpers enter from upper stage centre onto the raised stage

1st Student Helper: My back is killing me from yesterday, is anyone else’s?

2nd Student Helper: No you’re just a weakling, so where are we working today?

Georgina: Norfolk Terrace, where I used to live. Can’t believe it was two years ago since I first came here, feels like two minutes

Kevin: I remember it like it was yesterday. I was so nervous as I walked up to the flat

Georgina: I wasn’t nervous until I’d unpacked and my parents had left me on my own for the first time

2nd Student Helper: The worst part is walking into the kitchen for the first time and seeing a load of strangers staring back at you

1st Student Helper: I don’t remember anything from that first week

Kevin: I remember it really clearly, I walked up, just over there at Norfolk Terrace, not knowing what to do, having to be helped out with everything by the student helpers. I loved that first day, all those possibilities, meeting what will be life-long friends for the first time. That’s why I help out now, another chance to experience it all and to make sure that the freshers’ who come now feel just as welcome as I did.

1st Student Helper: I do it for the £7 an hour

Georgina: That’s really sweet

1st Student Helper: No it’s not

Georgina: I meant Kevin’s story

1st Student Helper: Yeh I know. I find these days depressing, makes you realise that the best days of your life are behind you. Then there’s the futility of it all, one in four of the people you help to move in won’t complete their degrees here. One in four students that you meet will experience mental health problems during their studies. So statistically speaking one of us will suffer, or has already suffered from mental health problems

Georgina: Out of us four I know who my money is on


Lecherous Man runs past in his boxers collecting his scattered clothes

1st Student Helper: Have a good night, did you?

Lecherous Man: Fuck off

Lecherous Man exits
Georgina: So you lived in Norfolk first year then? Same time as me

Kevin: Yeh

Georgina: Its strange, must have passed each other a hundred times in that first year without ever knowing who the other one was

Kevin: I remember you

Georgina: Really?

Kevin: I think, you were in block A and I was in B

Georgina: Remember anything else about me?

Kevin: There was one night, must have been in the first week. Middle of the night, all the fire-alarms went off, no-one knew where to go and you were standing there in the middle of the chaos completely drunk in a cowgirl costume, glittery hat, denim skirt trying to persuade everyone to jump in the lake with you.

Georgina: Oh my God, I did as well!

Kevin: I know, half of Norfolk came down to watch
Georgina: Yeh, the male half! I got totally drenched. Lost my top in the lake in-front of several hundred pervy strangers

Kevin: Missed that bit, unfortunately. I went back to the flat to get you a towel

Georgina: You got me that towel?! Aw thank you so much, I still have it somewhere

Kevin: Maybe you could return it to me one day…

Marcus enters from up stage centre entrance laden with bags and looking incredibly lost

Georgina: Hey, can we help you?

Marcus: Erm yes, I was looking for, er, what was it?

Marcus gets a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, Norfolk Terrace Block…

Georgina: Ah, it’s just down this way

Kevin: Do you want some help carrying all those bags?

Marcus: Yes please

Georgina: Where have you come from?

Marcus: Peterborough, by train

Kevin: You took all those bags on the train with you, alone?

Marcus: Yeh my back is killing me

1st Student Helper: Tell me about it

Georgina: So you’re moving into Norfolk Block A flat 4. Well I tell you something, that particular flat was a massive party flat last year, legendary it was, so you have a reputation to live up to

Kevin: Don’t listen to her. She said that to everyone who moved into Suffolk yesterday

Georgina: Don’t spoil my fun, I nearly convinced a few people yesterday

They walk off stage right into Norfolk Terrace with Marcus’s bags