Bangers (NHB Modern Plays)

By Danusia Samal

It's club night and the tracks are spinning. Set against a backdrop of precarious lives in urban London, two headliners crossfade between stories of love, sex, and losing their creative spark.
Bangers follows the highs and lows of two strangers as they struggle with their own pasts, while hurtling towards each other's futures. All the while, the DJ continues to play, dropping samples and words of wisdom. In the end, it's not the last track that counts, but the one coming up next...
Featuring original music inspired by early noughties and present-day R&B and Garage, Danusia Samal's exhilarating play was first co-produced by Cardboard Citizens and Soho Theatre, and directed by the former's Artistic Director Chris Sonnex. It toured community venues across London, before a run at Soho Theatre, London, in 2022.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Jul 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781788506021

Danusia Samal

Danusia Samal is an actress, writer and singer from London who spent part of her childhood in the Middle East. Her plays include: Bangers (Cardboard Citizens & Soho Theatre, 2022); Out of Sorts, winner of the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award (Theatre503, London, 2019); and Busking It (Shoreditch Town Hall & HighTide, 2018).

Book preview

ACT ONE

1. The Last Night

Lights change as DJ drops ‘All Night’ – a smooth noughties number. CLEF sings, as BOYFRIEND.

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. All night I’ll be with you

I rock your body boo…

ARIA. The boyfriend is above

Aria lies below

Light has faded outside

Sex is best in the shelter of shadows

Aria lies back

For the routine that she knows

Comfortable, unthreatening

A safe, familiar zone…

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. Don’t ever run from me

Got my lady wild in the sheets

ARIA. And what is wrong with that?

When safety’s what most women lack?

But tonight, boyfriend’s saying things like:

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. ‘What are some things that you wanna try?’

ARIA. And…

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. ‘Look at me babe, look me in the eye.’

ARIA. And…

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. ‘Why do you always want it from behind?

You’d tell me if this wasn’t feeling… alright?’

He looks at her expectantly. She’s uncomfortable.

ARIA. ‘It’s fine. Everything is fine.’

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. ‘Just… fine?’

ARIA realises she’s put her foot in it.

ARIA. ‘I mean, it’s mind-blowing… it’s divine.’

(To audience.) She’s batting back awkward questions

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. ‘What do you think about during sex?’

ARIA. Why this sudden obsession

With what’s going on in her head?

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. Your body’s so damn fine

Glad every inch is mine…

Don’t mislead don’t you lie

Coz you’re my girl and I’m your guy

ARIA. Usually they just grab flesh they need

And she gives a convincing show

And both parties are fine with the deed

While her brain finds a safe place to go…

But now CLEF/BOYFRIEND is singing more intensely, locking eyes with her. ARIA is deeply uncomfortable.

ARIA. ‘STOP!’

The music cuts out abruptly. CLEF/BOYFRIEND is perturbed.

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. ‘What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?’

ARIA. ‘…Of course I do. You’re the best there is.’

He looks at her, not buying it.

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. ‘I just want to get through to you, Aria. You disappear, this wall comes up.’

ARIA. ‘I’m right here.’

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. ‘You’re not.

(Softer.) You know you’re safe with me, to talk.’

DJ plays a loop, CLEF/BOYFRIEND singing the last line of the previous verse.

RECORDING. Such power you have… Who’d resist?

ARIA chooses to ignore this.

ARIA. ‘About what?’

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. ‘Well, if anything happened to / you – ’

RECORDING (on a loop). Such power you have, such power you have, such power you have, who’d resist?

CLEF/BOYFRIEND. ‘I’d happily help you get through.’

Again, ARIA ignores DJ. She faces CLEF/BOYFRIEND,