AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATER

Carey Perloff, Artistic Director Heather Kitchen, Executive Director

PRESENTS

Blackbird

by david harrower
directed by loretta grecoamerican conservatory theaterapril 27–may 27, 2007
WORDS ON PLAYS prepared by

elizabeth brodersen

publications editor

michael paller

resident dramaturg

margot melcon

publications & literary assistant

Words on Plays is made possible in part by The Andrew W. MellonFoundation.

a.c.t. is supported in part by grants fromthe Grants for the Arts/San Francisco HotelTax Fund and the National Endowment forthe Arts, which believes that a great nationdeserves great art.

© 2007 AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATER, A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Image courtesy John Patterson

table of contents

1. Characters, Cast, and Synopsis of Blackbird

4. Blackbird: Comments Made to a.c.t. Cast and Staff by Director Loretta Greco

About the Playwright

“With Mysteries Intact”: An Interview with David Harrowerby Jessica Werner Zack

17. Paring Down a Drama to Basic Mortal Combatby Melena Ryzik

“Blackbird”
by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

“Bye Bye Blackbird”
by Mort Dixon and Ray Henderson

Observations

24. The Myth of St. Benedict

26. Defining Pedophilia vs. Child Molestation

29. Child Sexual Abuse (Child Molestation)
by Gail Hendrickson, R.N., B.S.; Reviewed by Gaylen Kelton, M.D.

32. A Summary of British Child Sexual Abuse Laws34. Age of Consent
38. The Sex Lives of Teenagers
40. Questions to Consider

42. For Further Information . . .

Una (Jessi Campbell). Photo by Kevin Berne.

Ray (Steven Culp). Photo by Kevin Berne.

characters, cast, and synopsis of BLACKBIRDBlackbird was commissioned by and premiered at the 2005 Edinburgh InternationalFestival. The first performance took place at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, on August15, 2005. The London premiere opened at the Albery Theatre on February 7, 2006,followed by the New York premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club, April 10, 2007.

characters and cast
peter/ray Steven Culp

una Jessi Campbellthe setting

The present. England.

synopsis

Late one evening, Una arrives at the plant where Ray (who now goes by the namePeter) works. Surprised and discomfited by her sudden appearance, Ray ushers herinto the garbage-strewn company staff room in order to hide her from his coworkers.

Ray tells Una that he is very busy and has little time to speak to her. He asks herwhether she has come alone, and indeed why she is there at all. He is troubled by her pres-ence and wants her to leave. He suggests that they leave the building to talk outside. Unacloses the door, keeping them both in the room.

When Ray asks Una how she found him, she tells him that she was leafing through
a trade magazine when she saw his face in a company photograph. Unnerved, Ray againsuggests that they go outside to continue their talk. Una diverts him, revealing that she
has written letters to him over the years since they last saw each other. She confesses that 1she was encouraged to write to him and tell him exactly what she thought and felt about
him, but they were never meant to be sent. He asks her why she drove so far to see him
and confront him. He protests that he did not agree to this meeting and that she has no
right to subject him to humiliation. He leaves the room, she calls after him, and he quicklyreturns.

Ray is nervous around Una and claims he did not recognize her when she first appeared;he thought she might have been a journalist trying to trick him. Una then asks Ray howmany other 12-year-old girls he has had sex with—who else would he expect to see?

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which she teased andflirted with him. Raysays that she seemedso much older than herage then, more maturethan his current girl-friend, even. Togetherthey remember theirfirst kiss in the park,and how Una called toRay to join her in thebushes so their inti-mate interaction would

not be seen.

Una asks whether Ray has a girlfriend, and whether or not she knows about his pastrelationship with Una. He admits that he is seeing someone but refuses to tell Una any-thing about her. Una describes how her father died—of shame, she says—and shouts atRay that her father wanted to kill him. Upset, she suddenly reaches for her bag. Ray, afraidthat she intends to hurt him, grabs her bag and searches it, but finds only tissues and abottle of water, and the photograph of him torn from the trade magazine.

They discuss Ray/Peter’s new name and identity. She asks how much his girlfriendknows about his past. He responds that he has told his girlfriend the facts, that when hewas 40 he had a relationship with a minor and served time in jail for it. He has also toldher that it was a mistake. Una accuses Ray of looking happy in the photograph, and thathe looks as though he has forgotten everything that happened between them. She remindshim that, if their affair had happened a few years later, his name would now be on the sex-ual offenders’ register and that he would never be allowed to forget what he did to her.

Una tells him that she thinks about what happened every day, and Ray seems genuinelysympathetic. Una asks Ray about photographs he took of her when she was 12, wonderingwhether they ended up on the Internet. Ray assures her that he burned them. He makes itclear that he believes he is not a pedophile.

Una tries to leave, but Ray stops her. He wants to explain. She relents, and together theyreconstruct the past. Ray remembers their first meeting, at a barbecue at her parents’ house.He is adamant that he had no sexual feelings for her then, that he was just being friendly.Una ridicules his attempt to prove this. They discuss the notes Una used to leave for Ray, in

Steven Culp and Jessi Campbell rehearsing Blackbird at A.C.T.Photo by Kevin Berne.

Una remembers the evening they spent together in a guesthouse on the coast, wherethey had sex—her first time—and how Ray left her alone in the room afterward and didnot return. After waiting a long time, she went looking for him, terrified, in that unfamiliartown, but she could not find him; she was discovered late that night by a couple, who calledthe police. Una then describes her experience of his trial, how her parents blamed her whenthey found out what had happened, and the pain and shame of the following years tryingto come to terms with what happened.

Ray tells Una that he never forgot about her, and that he wrote her letters from prison,which she never received. He then describes the night at the guesthouse from his point ofview: overwhelmed by what they had done, he went for a walk; he did come back for her,but she was already gone. He was afraid of what might have happened to her, and whenhe couldn’t find her, he ran away, eventually turning himself into the police.

The lights in the break room suddenly go out. Ray leaves to find out what happenedand returns cursing his coworkers, who have all left for the night. Una becomes angry withRay and taunts him about his new girlfriend. He accuses her of being ill, and she attackshim. They struggle. Una falls to the floor in pain.

Una describes her life now: she has a job and recently broke up with her boyfriend, whoknew nothing about her past. Suddenly Ray kicks over the garbage can, and they are soonplaying together, kicking bits of trash around the room. They move closer, and Ray admitsthat he still thinks about her. They kiss. Their embrace becomes more passionate, and theyfall to the floor and begin undressing each other. Ray pulls away. A female voice is heardoutside the door calling his name—“Peter!”

The door opens and a 12-year-old girl appears. She says that she and her mother arewaiting for Peter (Ray). He tries to get her to leave and meet him at the building entrance,but the girl wants to stay with him. She sees Una and asks who she is. He tells her Una isa friend and urges her out the door.

Una looks accusingly at Ray as he insists that he just takes care of the girl, who is hisgirlfriend’s daughter, that he has not desired anyone that young since his relationship withUna, who was “the only one.” She tries to stop him from following the girl out, but Rayleaves. Una is alone.

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BLACKBIRD

Comments Made to a.c.t. Cast and Staff by Director Loretta Greco

Why aren’t you happy? You should be happy.” A man says this to a young girl at a bar-beque and so launches a relationship that defines these people for the rest of theirlives. David Harrower puts these people in a room together 15 years after this event, giv-ing them the opportunity to restore, to reconstruct their histories, to re-examine togethersomething they’ve each been wrestling with internally, passively, by themselves. He putsthem in a room and simply allows the play to happen. Right there before us. To reconstructwhat might have at one time been pure. What was this extraordinary relationship? Illegal,illicit, clandestine—yes, but for three months these two people believed, against all odds,against all authority, that what they had was bigger and more pure. They planned even torun away together. So this is a play about a lot of “re’s”: reconstructing, redeeming, releas-ing. Hopefully redeeming at the end. These characters find a way to reclaim themselves.For 15 years, who they are has been defined by other people: authorities, social workers,prison officials and inmates. So finally they get a chance to say, Maybe this is what it was,and to maybe move on.

One of the questions that has stuck with me in thinking about this play is, Is this alove story? I think it’s interesting that I haven’t found that particular word, “love,” usefulin working with actors during the audition process. Somehow it never comes to me as anactive, or insightful tool. What I find myself instinctively saying again and again is thattheir relationship is the event that defines their lives from that moment forth. Some of usonly get one life-defining moment, and for them this is it.

Piecing together a puzzle that helps them to identify the truth of the past and present(which allows a future) remains exciting to me as a way to look at the play. Our need toattempt a re-construction of history, which we know can never be wholly or accuratelyconjured. Why do we insist on piecing together the truth of the past when we know it willbe elusive and incomplete at best? Resolution? Comfort? Absolution? Release? I think inthe case of Blackbird some of what’s exciting about the puzzle piecing is how ferociouslyactive it is—for Una, especially, who begins the ritual; her passive burden of shame is, forthe first time, replaced by an aggressive assertion of blame and a call for accountabilityfrom Ray.

This play is as much about the nature of truth as anything else. What is the truth? Whatdid happen? And how, 15 years later, can we rename the truth, re-invent it, re-imagine it?It’s all so slippery.

Along with redemption . . . restoration, construction, and deconstruction are activewords that keep coming into play as I work with the text. In the simplest of ways, Unais here to seek her own restoration, but before she can even begin that process she has todeconstruct piece by piece the new identity Ray has painstakingly built over the last 15years. A new name hardly scratches the surface when it comes to the sturdy constructionof “Peter” that Ray has built in order to sublimate his guilt, shame, and fear. MeanwhileUna has not been given the opportunity to re-invent herself, nor does she seem to havethe impulse to deny the label she’s been given—she’s fucked her way through 83 (but who’scounting?) men in order to live out what she’s both experienced and been labeled for thelast 15 years—she knows from the minute she sees Ray’s photo in that magazine that herfuture depends on traversing the past. While she depends on going back, the Ray shefinds at the top of the play doesn’t want to just move on . . . he HAS moved on. Years andyears ago.

At first I thought that thecircular way the text worksevoked the communicationchallenges of the British;but I’ve come to believe thattheir circuitous routes of lan-guage speak to all of our inti-macy challenges as humanbeings—our fear of being toovulnerable, too honest, tooavailable, too direct.

Director Loretta Greco. Photo by Kevin Berne.

Harrower’s language has
the tautness and the judiciousness of Pinter; it’s got the muscle of Mamet and Shepard; it’sgot the punch and the messiness of Albee. But it’s Harrower’s. It’s just his. This play is themost unique thing I have read in years and years and years. It is so exquisitely circuitous.

Una talks about having other people name what happened. The courts decide that,psychiatrists decide, they name it something that Una and Ray never would have used,so they’ve had to appropriate language in order to try to find words around “abuse” and“pedophile” and “abuser.” I’m circling like they do, but I’m intrigued by this idea that Unatalks about, that the psychologists tried to help her think about hope, think about thefuture, and to imagine what a hopeful future would look like.

I want to make sure that this is not just about being tempted into something forbidden,but that the issue 15 years later really is about how can we come together and find better

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that the play raises more questions, really com-plicated questions, about sexuality, about humannature, about relationships, about love, all of it. Ijust want audiences to be as open as possible foras long as possible.

I have a six-year-old girl, and I see all theseyoung people and how early they’re being sexual-ized. This is very hard material for me. But I’mtrying as hard as I can to see both sides, becauseI also remember being young, preteen, and look-ing at my dad’s friends. Not that they were hot-ties and I was thinking about sex; it was aboutgetting validation from somebody who is alreadyin the world. I think that for Una, love meanssomething else, because it’s so much about herwanting to jumpstart her adulthood.

names for what this relationship was. We all have something in our pasts that we haven’tgone back to, that we haven’t resolved, and there is something in the idea of having achance to go back 15 years later to try and make something good out of it. I think there’ssomething hopeful about that; there is something redemptive about going back in theend. There is also something extraordinary about a girl coming back as a woman to rightsomething, an act of her childhood. There is something extraordinarily brave and ferociousand scary and vulnerable about that, too.

In terms of how we present the play to the public, my feeling is that the challenge isnot to mislead. Each performance should be an uninterrupted period during which, formost of it, we are able to empathize with both characters and humanize not only themas individuals but also the relationship. I think that the “p” word [pedophilia] is just notuseful, because you can’t humanize a pedophile, there’s just no way to do it. I think whatHarrower does at the end of the play when that 12-year-old girl walks in . . . that’s whenthe floodgates should open. All of the questions of truth and trust open up when we’rereminded of what a 12-year-old girl really is, what she looks like—she’s there, and we can’tdeny that. But the challenge is how to have Ray not judged up to that point.

It’s important for us to pay justice to how complicated and how interesting that greyarea is, that is neither definitively black nor white, and then at the end people will maketheir own judgments. Our job is to help people stretch in a way that allows them to see

Jessi Campbell in rehearsal at A.C.T.Photo by Kevin Berne.

I am a woman, I am a mom, I am a wife. I am an artist. I like plays that are emotionallymessy and complicated, and I think that’s how I respond to this play, that these peopleare so brave, so fearless, coming into this room and staying there. I like the complications.I like that Harrower doesn’t tell us what’s right and wrong, and he never tells us what istruth. Ray might be the best surrogate dad ever for that kid who comes in at the end. Thisthing that happened with Una really may have been a once-in-a-lifetime event. I like thatwe don’t know.

I’ll say this: I saw a lot of actors [in auditions for this production]. We did an astound-ing search for these two individuals. You would have thought we were casting a musical;the process was really very muscular. So much of what both Steven [Culp] and Jessi[Campbell] bring to this is a kind of humanity and a kind of “best intentions.” Thesecharacters are people who are doing the best they can in every moment. I think that onething that made me exhale [with relief ] when Steven walked into the room was just thatI liked him. I wanted to know more about him. It was easy for a lot of other actors to dosomething else with the role, and I think the beautiful thing is that Steven brings a kindof likeability, so that when people see him, even if they have some preconceived notion,they will realize there is something else going on there.

It’s going to be a huge challenge, but I think the audience is going to be surprised bytheir reactions. I find myself shocked at the things I’m thinking about now that I’ve beenworking on this play for a while.

on the scenic design

The [setting] is a small plant that assembles, packages, and loads out both dental andpharmaceutical equipment, from pills to dental floss, etc. The action takes place in thebreak room; there would be another room that would be the formal cafeteria where they’dget their formal meals, but this is the place where they can smoke (because they still dosmoke in England), and this is where they would grab, on their breaks, sustenance fromthe delicious and wonderful vending machines [laugh]. This is also where Ray stashes Unawhen she surprises him.

When [scenic designer Robert Brill and I] started to work on this, we didn’t want tomake the room too fancy or upscale, and it started to look like a bad “nypd Blue” set, so wetried to give it some sense of decor, a place where employees are encouraged to come andunwind for their ten or fifteen minutes. We also wanted to provide a landscape that wouldjuxtapose the debris—the leftover sandwich and the pack of chips, and god knows whatelse, the packet of ketchup and the half-drunk soda, that have been strewn about.

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Photo of the Blackbird set model by scenic designer Robert Brill

What’s incredible is that it all happens within these four walls. The wall is not reallyopaque, so you have a sense that there is a whole world beyond this room, of Ray’s employ-ees and colleagues, whom we sometimes see passing through. The door remains openfor a bit before it’s finally closed, but everything happens in here. There are two vendingmachines that will emit a kind of bizarre light of their own. In that one moment when thelights go out, that is the only light that will shine. There is a set of lockers. The people onthe line, depending on what they’re doing, wear a series of things that sometimes look likethey’re heading off into space when they’re dealing with real pharmaceutical assemblage,but primarily we’re thinking they’re in lab coats, so this room is a place where people keeptheir lab coats, can throw their jackets, personal things. And behind the lockers there is alittle bench.

There are no helicopters; there are no surprises. The biggest surprise is a 12-year-oldgirl who walks in when we almost think we know . . . just when we think, Phew!, the dooropens and in walks a 12-year-old and we suddenly realize, hmmm, maybe none of what weknow is the truth. That’s the biggest surprise scenically, is that a human being walks in at12 years of age.

There is a series of fluorescent lights hanging above the table, and then behind, in thehallway, there is one of the longest fluorescents you’ve ever seen, and really that is it [for theset]. I found it extraordinary when we were doing Lackawanna [Blues, directed by Grecofor a.c.t. in 2002], the way that this [grand] theater can be made to feel so intimate. It’s

just so deceiving. [Lackawanna writer/solo actor] Ruben [Santiago-Hudson] and [accom-panying guitarist] Bill [Sims, Jr.] got out there, and the relationship with the audience wasso full and one-on-one and immediate. Robert [Brill] has tried to do the same thing here,pulling everything down, so that the fourth wall is about inviting each of you to go withus in trying to piece this puzzle together. At the very downstage edge there is a little pieceof black carpet, which is just that hint of fourth wall. There is this little black floating box.For me, there is something interesting about the sense of this world unto itself that the sethelps to depict, but at the same time it helps bring our eye down so we are not seeing thelevel of instrumentation. It keeps us right there in that room with the characters. That’s allthere is. A shiny charcoal floor and blue plastic chairs—the better to throw at each other.

The one other thing that I think is important is that we’ve kept it in England. TheNew York production has set the play in the United States, and I’m sure that’s going to belovely. Carey and [a.c.t. Associate Artistic Director] Johanna [Pfaelzer] and I did wrestlewith the question because, of course, we’re here in this country and we want the story tobe viable for an American audience. I think we all came to the conclusion, however, thatwe should keep the setting in Britain, because: a) there was something about the score ofthe [British] language, and b) there was something about the slight distance that mightallow people to enter the play more readily than if they’re thinking about someone justdown the block.

The other thing is that the United States is the land of reinvention. Madonna is aliveand well as an American pop star because it’s in our blood as Americans that we believewe can reinvent who we are every five years. Ray/Peter has painstakingly found a way todo that, and I think it has cost him enormously to construct this other identity.

There is also something about those two people looking across the water at Amsterdamand the thought of going somewhere. What would they be looking at in Manhattan—Coney Island? I couldn’t quite figure out how that idea would translate. Because for methat idea is big—even though it’s a half-baked plan—the idea that, even for a moment,they believe they could run away and start a life together. That’s been excised from theNew York production, because that’s how they’ve made it American.

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about the playwright

Playwright David Harrower

David Harrower was born inEdinburgh and now lives inGlasgow. His first play, Knives in Hens,was first produced at the TraverseTheatre, Edinburgh, in 1995 and hasbeen seen in more than 20 countriesworldwide. Other plays include Killthe Old, Torture Their Young (TraverseTheatre) and The Chrysalids (NTConnections, Royal National Theatre,London). Presence, his third original play,was first performed at the Royal CourtTheatre Upstairs in 2001. Harrower has

also adapted versions of Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, first staged at theYoung Vic in 2000; Chekhov’s Ivanov, performed at the National Theatre in 2002; andBüchner’s Woyzeck, performed at the Edinburgh Lyceum in 2002. His play Dark Earthpremiered at the Traverse in August 2003, and his new version of von Horvath’s Talesfrom the Vienna Woods was performed at the National Theatre later that year. Blackbird wascommissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival and premiered there in August2005. It subsequently transferred to London’s West End in February 2006 and was recentlyperformed at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York. Blackbird was short-listed for theSaltire Society’s Scottish Book of the Year and won the Scotland Critics’ Award for bestplay in 2006 and the Laurence Olivier Award in 2007.

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“with mysteries intact”

An Interview with Playwright David Harrower

by jessica werner zack

In conversation, Scottish playwright David Harrower discusses his writing with a refresh-ing modesty and perceptible bewilderment at the mysterious nature of his own creativeprocess. He quickly debunks the myth of the omniscient writer, holding his characters’fates securely in hand. Instead, Harrower admits to an astonishment that accompanies hissuccess and an openness to letting his characters’ lines and lives roam freely into situationsthat can surprise even their creator.

Speaking just a week after Blackbird earned the British theater establishment’s high-est honor, the Olivier Award for best new play, Harrower said with a laugh, “I’m still notsure how the play actually works.” That may be little comfort for the playgoer looking foran easy summation of his plots or purpose, yet Harrower makes clear that the powerfulemotional connection audiences feel with his work is inextricably connected to his ownneed to write dramas that “leave some mysteries intact, some questions left unanswered. IfI ever find I know what my plays are about, that’s when I start worrying, because as soonas I start reducing it to knowing what’s going on, I’m in trouble.”

At age 40, Harrower is considered one of Scotland’s most gifted playwrights and hasalready created a substantial body of dramatic work celebrated for its compelling ambi-guities and densely poetic, even enigmatic, language. His first play, Knives in Hens, firstproduced at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre in 1995, has become one of Scotland’s biggesttheatrical exports. Written in exceptionally spare language, the play exerts a disquietingpower as it charts a medieval peasant woman’s journey from subservience to an adulter-ous husband to a mature, vengeful awareness. Translated for production in more than 20countries, Knives in Hens solidified Harrower’s reputation worldwide as a writer whoseplays haunt as well as entertain.

In the decade following his spectacular debut, Harrower wrote Kill the Old, TortureTheir Young (1998) and Dark Earth (2003), as well as several adaptations and translationsof European classics. Each successive drama has been well received by audiences and crit-ics alike, but he had yet to recapture the austere beauty of his debut work—until Blackbirdpremiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2005 and set the theatrical worldbuzzing even louder. The one-act, two-character play received the Scotland Critics’ Awardfor best play before transferring to the West End in 2006. Productions have since been

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planned in 17 other countries, including this month’s opening at Manhattan Theatre Cluband Blackbird’s West Coast premiere at a.c.t.

Wrote a theater critic in the Scotsman: “Somehow Harrower has sidestepped the famil-iar Sunday supplement debates about the evils of pedophilia and opened up alarminglygrey areas of emotional ambiguity. He did this without any suggestion that he condoneda relationship that was socially and criminally unacceptable, yet he kept us on the edge ofour seats.”

Harrower spoke to a.c.t. Contributor Jessica Werner Zack in February, just beforerehearsals for the a.c.t. production began in San Francisco.

you’ve said that your initial inspiration for writing BLACKBIRD was a real-lifestory you read in 2003 about a u.s. marine who had taken off for europe with a12-year-old girl, although he claimed to believe she was 19. what about thatstory intrigued you enough to explore it in theatrical terms?

I wasn’t exactly inspired by that story, but it inspired a series of thoughts that resultedin this play. I am wary of trying to dramatize real-life events. But I remember that storycaught my eye and I started wondering about it. When did he find out her true age? Whatwould it have been like when she told him? Did he know when he first saw her? Wouldhe have still gotten on the plane with her? It was pure curiosity on my part, and I startedthinking more about it. This image came to me of a man and a girl standing looking atthe sea, and I just couldn’t shake it. It was really that image that became [my primaryinspiration].

you’ve made sure nothing in the play is portrayed in black or white terms.instead, you explore some of the decidedly grey areas that can exist in humanbehavior, in relationships.
Absolutely. For me, the pedophilic angle is not the [play’s] most interesting angle. In fact,it’s probably the least interesting. The event did happen, but to me there was no point ingoing over the argument [of whether it was morally wrong] and becoming a referee stand-ing in judgment of these characters. People know it shouldn’t happen, and there’s no pointin me confirming what people believe. It was very important to me to let these two char-acters in this room together say anything they want to each other without me censoring it.And they can say anything they want to each other because they are the only two personswho knew exactly how they felt or what they wanted.

i think it’s important that you chose to have ray and una meet 15 years aftertheir initial encounter so that they only flashback verbally to the eventsin the past.
When I had the realization that I could make them both two adults now, struggling overthe memory of what had happened between them, that’s when it all sort of locked intoplace. For me, it’s what we carry within us, how we believe we are made up, and whatmemories we hold on to that shape us. It’s what makes us the people we are. We walkaround at any given moment, the sum of what we carry with us.

seeing them now, a woman of 28 and a man of 55, makes us realizehow age becomes less consequential over time. they could recon-nect and their age difference might raise an eyebrow or two, butit would no longer be morally ambiguous.

Absolutely. I wanted that tension between the memory or the picture they paint for them-selves and what is possible between them now.

i completely understand your not wanting to stress the pedophilic aspect ofthis. yet, you tread some dangerous territory portraying what they had as alove affair or even a consenting relationship.
I knew it was dangerous ground and I thought I might get some flak for it, but, surpris-ingly, I got letters from women thanking me, congratulating me, standing firm that theyhad relationships when technically children, but that they knew exactly what they weredoing. We can choose to query that if we want, but I’m not going to take that [certainty]away from them. I’ve talked to a few women who have been in relationships at this [veryyoung] age with much older men and firmly believe that what they had was a love affair.That really surprised me.

It’s very possible that the experience Una had with Ray, illegal or not, may have cometo represent one of the most important events in her life, for bad or for good. Probablymostly bad, I don’t know. I’m not entirely sure what has happened to her, nor where she’sleft at the end. It’s a mystery. It was a seismic experience for her and now, coming back asa 28-year-old, it’s conceivable that she’s reconnecting with all the resentment, desire, andfear she has harbored all these years.

it’s interesting to hear you, the playwright, use the word “mystery.” so it’spossible to write a play and have certain things remain mysterious even toyou?

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I think the best way for me to come out of a play is with some mysteries intact, somequestions left unanswered. My writing is such that there is a real ambiguity to it. Thereis mystery. It may be two things at the same time, and that is a quality I’m not entirelyunpleased with.

an audience watching BLACKBIRD will surely question why una has gone to seeray, whether she’s seeking revenge, understanding, or some kind of closure.did you have to answer that question for yourself?
I didn’t have an answer in the beginning, but I probably created an answer for myself dur-ing the writing. But I’m going to keep it to myself [laugh]. Sorry.

one british review of BLACKBIRD called the play “surprisingly compassionate”given the subject matter. was it challenging for you to achieve a degree ofempathy for ray, whom it’s easy to see as having preyed upon una?
I guess I had to. I couldn’t vilify him or demonize him because he’s a character I have cre-ated, and he would stand no chance of being of interest if I were to take a moral view ofhim. When I wrote [Blackbird], I had no real idea about what sympathy would be createdfor this man, and I was kind of surprised there was actually more sympathy than I thoughtthere would be. That said, we can’t turn away from the fact that there are real people muchworse than him that actively seek children, and we as a society have to decide what we dowith these people.

your writing style has great concision and hews closely to how people speakin life, if not in plays, in terms of its many interruptions and broken sen-tences. do you initially write this concisely, or is it the result of a lot ofrewriting?

This play actually came out like that. I wrote this in about a month. Once I started, Ijust wrote and couldn’t stop writing. It came out almost in one go. It was extraordinary. Iwas very conscious of wanting to write in a language that indicated these two characters’mental state, so the language in effect reflects the fact that they are circling around some-thing. They can’t finish sentences, they can’t be too definite, because if they’re definiteabout something they don’t know what effect it’s going to have on the other person. That’ssomething I’ve really taken from Shakespeare, the idea of language conveying its meaningin the actual words chosen by the characters themselves.

KNIVES IN HENS, your first produced play, was an immediate and tremendous suc-cess. what was the experience like for you as a young writer to achieve suchacclaim with your first go?
It was an extraordinary thing to have happen. I wrote it when I was 27 and it was producedwhen I was 28. It ran in Germany for about three years, and it sent out these reverberationsand then other countries picked up on it. I don’t want to sound like an idiot savant here[laugh], but I had no idea why. It was quite an unusual, strong little story. It’s somethingto do with, I guess, the fact of creating a language to convey your thoughts, to convey yourfeelings about the world. I think if it hadn’t had that strand to it, it wouldn’t have gottenanywhere. But it really burrowed into why we use language, what we need it for, and itdid get an extraordinary response from people. I had taken quite a risk with the languageand it was quite dense, with a real cryptic quality to it as well. So, yes, it was fantastic fora young writer.

pinter is often mentioned as a possible role model for you, stylistically. whatcan you share about your theatrical influences?
I’ve got to say, I came to theater quite late. I wrote short stories for a while, as I was wash-ing dishes in a restaurant and doing these cruddy jobs, and as I was writing the stories Ifound I couldn’t be bothered writing the descriptive stuff, so they just came out with thedialogue. And this was even before I discovered Pinter, but I was thinking about whatlanguage could be used to do, what it could convey, how it could be used to hide things aswell as reveal things.

I didn’t go to theater much. I had never shown much interest in it before, but I went tothe library and I started reading what was there in the library. Some of the early stuff thatreally got hold of me was Brian Friel’s plays.

have you become the kind of writer now who imagines the stage as you’rewriting, hears your words in actors’ mouths? or do you still write in the moreliterary tradition, creating your own world in your head?
The latter. I see this sort of film in my head, like these two people [in Blackbird]. One ofthe things I’ve found while writing plays is that I see the characters from a distance, and ifI’m writing for film or tv I see them in close-up. It’s quite bizarre to think about.

maybe you’ve been influenced by your own viewing of filmed media, since theclose-up only exists with a camera.

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Right, and absolutely not in theater. You’ve just got whole bodies on the stage, in the physi-cal space, and how they approach or walk away or circle around each other. I’ve becomejust obsessed with theater and how it allows and encourages me to write language that can’texist anywhere else. That’s really important to me.

what is the significance of BLACKBIRD’s title? did it come to you early, or afteryou’d completed the play?
It’s quite simple really. My memory is that I needed a title quite quickly and I had beenlistening to some music and it was John Coltrane, or was it Keith Jarrett, the pianist, play-ing the standard “Bye Bye Blackbird.” It was an improvised take on the standard. And thisfelt like an improvisation. You know, how long do I keep these two people in the room?I felt like a musician in many ways, sustaining what these two people could say and doto each other, improvising in a sense. And I also thought that maybe [“Blackbird”] wassomething he had called her, or maybe he was playing the Beatles’ White Album on theway to the coast. It wasn’t encapsulating, just more suggestive, to help me. But it turns outthere is a tale about Saint Benedict, which I found out about afterwards. I love the story,this disguise as a blackbird. I wish I had known about it beforehand because I would haveclaimed it as my own [laugh].

you’ve said in an earlier interview that you don’t think theater should bedidactic or even too engaged with the external world. but you also expressedinterest in writing something that responds to current events. could youexplain that a bit?

That was sort of a rhetorical question to myself, asking how I should be responding to theworld. I’m constantly caught between using my plays to explore current things within theworld, and creating small dramas. I don’t know exactly how people see Blackbird in thissense; it just stands alone as a good, intriguing piece of theater. I know that when things gettoo didactic for me, I just switch off. Certain writers, certain voices, they just become tooshrill for me. I’ve always preferred a quiet, more skewed look at something. There are lotsof other writers writing about the state of Britain, race relations, sexual relations, identityissues. I’m not a writer who necessarily takes a subject and comments on it. I’ve got to finda different way of representing something, and in that way I’m kind of a contradiction. Iwould love to be a great sane political voice, but I can’t be because I am not that. I’ve gotto be what I am, a quiet unsettling voice.

paring down a drama to basic mortal combat

by melena ryzik

Two months ago, as the winners of the Laurence Olivier Awards, Britain’s versionof the Tonys, were being announced in a posh hotel ballroom in London, the play-wright David Harrower, one of the nominees, was sitting in his local pub in Glasgow,downing Guinness. His competition in the best new play category was so stiff—includ-ing Frost/Nixon by Peter Morgan (screenwriter of The Queen) and Rock ’n’ Roll by TomStoppard, the favorite—that he didn’t see the point in making the trip.

“I didn’t want to go down there, put on a suit, get drunk, get the suit crumpled and flyback with nothing—with a headache,” Mr. Harrower said.

Besides, “it was a Sunday night,” he said. “Sunday night is drinking night.”And like the best drinking stories, this one has a twist: He won.

The next morning he flew to NewYork, where Blackbird, a taut two-charac-ter drama about an illicit affair between ayoung woman and an older man, is havingits American premiere.

Yes, Mr. Harrower said, he does kind ofwish he’d gone to the ceremony. Winning“shocked me, absolutely shocked me,” hesaid last week, on his second trip across theAtlantic since the Olivier, a bronze bust ofits namesake, has taken up residence onhis mantel. The theatrical establishmentwas equally surprised: Not only was Mr.Harrower the dark horse, but Blackbirdis not exactly audience (or award show)friendly.

Set in a gray office conference room itdeals unflinchingly with provocative sub-jects like sexual power plays, pedophilia,and the dark pleasure of abusive relation-

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Steven Culp and Jessi Campbell in rehearsal at A.C.T.Photo by Kevin Berne.

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ships. Told in real time in spare, brusquely poetic language, it has a car-wreck effect thatcan leave audiences stunned into silence.

Sitting in a restaurant in his Midtown hotel, dressed in a muted grey argyle sweater, Mr.Harrower, 40, with his shaven head and blond eyelashes, would seem the antithesis of aprovocateur. He is soft-spoken and a little nervous, green enough to worry about seemingnaïve and savvy enough to worry more about seeming pretentious. About the only thingthat suggests his propensity for shock is the curse words that litter his conversation.

Mr. Harrower denied being part of the “in yer face” school, a group of young Britishplaywrights like Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill who are known for their confrontationalworks and with whom he is sometimes lumped. “I was always gentler,” he said, “and morepernicious.” But this play, at least, was intended to scandalize. “I want people shaken up,”Mr. Harrower said.

The story is based on a newspaper account of a man who traveled abroad to meet a19-year-old woman he had encountered in a chat room online, only to discover that in reallife she was much younger. That the couple pursued the relationship anyway intrigued Mr.Harrower, but it was a difficult play to write. An early draft, written for the EdinburghInternational Festival, with its comparatively large budgets, had 15 characters, four loca-tions, the ghost of Marvin Gaye (don’t ask) and a performance by a children’s choir(ditto).

“You kind of have to go to these stupid places, sort of, to get back,” Mr. Harrower saidruefully. “So I went there. And then a genocide happened.” Exeunt a dozen characters.Though he’d labored over drafts for more than nine months, he wrote the final version ofBlackbird in just four weeks.

“It will never be that easy again,” he said. “It was something to do with the languageas well. There’s not much punctuation in it. I found that I couldn’t do full stops, becausethey were too adamant, too finishing. The form kind of mirrors the uncertainty of peoplecircling around each other. I couldn’t use normal across-the-page stuff, so if you look at it,it’s very sculpted. It looks rather beautiful, even if I say so myself.”

The result onstage is a staccato, Mamet-like dialogue that unfolds slowly.

“It was a revelation actually,” Mr. Harrower said, “because I don’t usually write likethat.”

Born and raised in Edinburgh but now based in Glasgow, he had a stop-and-start-and-stop college education; he never graduated. Instead he worked some menial jobs (“I tookdishwashing to a whole new level,” he said) before sitting down, at 24, to become a writer.For two years he lived off unemployment checks and self-discipline, schooling himselfwith library books and working for eight hours a day.

About a decade ago he had a breakthrough with Knives in Hens, another tersely wordedplay about a woman hemmed in by language. It won awards in Europe (though none inBritain, he noted), was translated into many languages, and ran for three years in Germany.Several other plays followed, but Mr. Harrower winces when he talks about them; hisadaptations—Pirandello, Chekhov, and Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck—were more successfulthan those original works in his view. Though he’s creating television and film projectsfor the bbc, he prefers writing his own stuff for the stage. “It’s the only place where I canproperly feel the voice that I hear in my head,” he said.

Of course the Olivier changed the way that echoes.

“Someone sent me the list of previous winners [which includes Mr. Stoppard, ArthurMiller, and Martin McDonagh], and I just thought—this is going to sound a bit gauche—but I just thought, ‘I’ve written a play that stands with these,’” Mr. Harrower said, stillsounding awed and intimidated.

“There’s actually no enjoying of it,” he said of the acclaim. “Post-Blackbird I’ve gotto rethink what I’m going to write about, what my style is, what my voice is. Now thepressure’s on.” Cue the cursing: “The next one better be good.”

Excerpted from the New York Times, April 9, 2007. © 2007 New York Times Company. Reprinted withpermission.

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blackbird

by john lennon and paul mccartney

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly
Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to ariseYou were only waiting for this moment to ariseYou were only waiting for this moment to arise

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bye bye blackbird

by mort dixon and ray henderson

Pack up all my care and woeHere I go, singing low
Bye bye blackbird

Where somebody waits for meSugar’s sweet, so is she
Bye bye blackbird

No one here can love or understand meOh what hard luck stories they all hand meMake my bed and light the light
I’ll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye bye

No one here can love or understand me
Oh, oh what hard luck stories they all hand meMake my bed and light the light
I’ll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye bye

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observations
from LOLITA, by vladimir nabokov

Now I wish to introduce the following idea. Between the age limits of nine and four-teen there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travelers, twice or many timesolder than they, reveal their true nature, which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demo-niac); and these chosen creatures I propose to designate as “nymphets.”

It will be marked that I substitute time terms for spatial ones. In fact, I would have thereader see “nine” and “fourteen” as the boundaries—the mirrory beaches and rosy rocks—ofan enchanted island haunted by those nymphets of mine and surrounded by a vast, mistysea. Between those age limits, are all girl-children nymphets? Of course not. Otherwise,we who are in the know, we lone voyagers, we nympholepts, would have long gone insane.Neither are good looks any criterion; and vulgarity, or at least what a given communityterms so, does not necessarily impair certain mysterious characteristics, the fey grace, theelusive, shifty, soul-shattering, insidious charm that separates the nymphet from suchcoevals of hers as are incomparably more dependent on the spatial world of synchronousphenomena than on that intangible island of entranced time where Lolita plays with herlikes. Within the same age limits the number of true nymphets is strikingly inferior tothat of provisionally plain, or just nice, or “cute,” or even “sweet” and “attractive,” ordinary,plumpish, formless, cold-skinned, essentially human little girls, with tummies and pigtails,who may or may not turn into adults of great beauty (look at the ugly dumplings in blackstockings and white hats that are metamorphosed into stunning stars of the screen). Anormal man given a group photograph of school girls or Girl Scouts and asked to pointout the comeliest one will not necessarily choose the nymphet among them. You have to bean artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison inyour loins and a super-voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine (oh, howyou have to cringe and hide!), in order to discern at once, by ineffable signs—the slightlyfeline outline of a cheekbone, the slenderness of a downy limb, and other indices whichdespair and shame and tears of tenderness forbid me to tabulate—the little deadly demonamong the wholesome children; she stands unrecognized by them and unconscious herselfof her fantastic power.

Furthermore, since the idea of time plays such a magic part in the matter, the studentshould not be surprised to learn that there must be a gap of several years, never less thanten I should say, generally thirty or forty, and as many as ninety in a few known cases,

between maiden and man to enable the latter to come under a nymphet’s spell. It is a ques-tion of focal adjustment, of a certain distance that the inner eye thrills to surmount, and acertain contrast that the mind perceives with a gasp of perverse delight.

© 1955 by Vladimir Nabokov.

What knowing watchfulness in the eyes of a 12-year-old . . . at once guarded, yet guileless.She is the very picture of contradiction: on the one hand diffident and ambivalent, on theother forthright and impatient; half pertness and half pout. She disarms me with her suresense of her own attractiveness and, with it, her direct, even provocative approach to thecamera. Impossibly, she is both artless and sophisticated; a child and yet a woman.

Sally Mann, At Twelve

If something hurts me, the hurts I suffered back then come back to me, and when I feelguilty, the feelings of guilt return; if I yearn for something today, or feel homesick, I feel theyearnings and homesickness from back then. The tectonic layers of our lives rest so tightlyone on top of the other that we always come up against earlier events in later ones, not asmatter that has been fully formed and pushed aside, but absolutely present and alive. . . .

Now escape involves not just running away, but arriving somewhere. And the past Iarrived in as a legal historian was no less alive than the present. It is also not true, as outsid-ers might assume, that one can merely observe the richness of life in the past, whereas onecan participate in the present. Doing history means building bridges between the past andthe present, observing both banks of the river, taking an active part on both sides. One ofmy areas of research was law in the Third Reich, and here it is particularly obvious how thepast and present come together in a single reality. Here, escape is not a preoccupation withthe past but a determined focus on the present and the future that is blind to the legacy ofthe past which brands us and with which we must live.

The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink,translated from the German by Carol Brown Janeway

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the myth of st. benedict

Even though he lived thus sequestered from the world, Benedict, like the DesertFathers, had to struggle with temptations of the flesh and the devil. One of thesestruggles is described by Gregory. “On a certain day when he was alone the tempter pre-sented himself. A small dark bird, commonly called a blackbird, began to fly around hisface and came so near him that, if he had wished, he could have seized it with his hand. Buton his making the sign of the cross, the bird flew away. Then followed a violent temptationof the flesh, such as he had never before experienced. The evil spirit brought before hisimagination a woman whom he had formerly seen, and inflamed his heart with such vehe-ment desire at the memory of her that he had very great difficulty in repressing it. He wasalmost overcome and thought of leaving his solitude. Suddenly, however, with the help ofdivine grace, he found the strength he needed. Seeing near at hand a thick growth of briarsand nettles, he stripped off his habit and cast himself into the midst of them and plungedand tossed about until his whole body was lacerated. Thus, through those bodily wounds,he cured the wounds of his soul.” Never again was he troubled in the same way.

—Dialogues, St. Gregory

http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/BENEDICT.htm

The beautiful song of the blackbird makes it a symbol of temptations, especially sexualones. The devil once took on the shape of a blackbird and flew into St. Benedict’s face,thereby causing the saint to be troubled by an intense desire for a beautiful girl he hadonce seen. In order to save himself, St. Benedict tore off his clothes and jumped into athorn bush. This painful act is said to have freed him from sexual temptations for the restof his life.

http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/legend01/raven.htm

chapter two: how he overcame a great temptation of the flesh

Upon a certain day being alone, the tempter was at hand: for a little black bird, commonlycalled a merle or an ousel, began to fly about his face, and that so near as the holy man,if he would, might have taken it with his hand: but after he had blessed himself with thesign of the cross, the bird flew away: and forthwith the holy man was assaulted with sucha terrible temptation of the flesh, as he never felt the like in all his life.

A certain woman there was which some time he had seen, the memory of which thewicked spirit put into his mind, and by the representation of her did so mightily inflamewith concupiscence the soul of God’s servant, which did so increase that, almost overcomewith pleasure, he was of mind to have forsaken the wilderness. But, suddenly assisted withGod’s grace, he came to himself; and seeing many thick briars and nettle bushes to growhard by, off he cast his apparel, and threw himself into the midst of them, and there wal-lowed so long that, when he rose up, all his flesh was pitifully torn: and so by the woundsof his body, he cured the wounds of his soul, in that he turned pleasure into pain, and bythe outward burning of extreme smart, quenched that fire which, being nourished beforewith the fuel of carnal cogitations, did inwardly burn in his soul: and by this means heovercame the sin, because he made a change of the fire.

From which time forward, as himself did afterward report unto his disciples, he foundall temptation of pleasure so subdued, that he never felt any such thing. Many after thisbegan to abandon the world, and to become his scholars. For being now freed from thevice of temptation, worthily and with great reason is he made a master of virtue: for whichcause, in Exodus, commandment is given by Moses that the Levites from five-and-twentyyears and upward should serve, but, after they came to fifty, that they should be ordainedkeepers of the holy vessels. [Numbers 8:24–26]

peter: Somewhat I understand of this testimony alleged: but yet I beseech you to tell methe meaning thereof more fully.

gregory: It is plain, Peter, that in youth the temptation of the flesh is hot: but after fiftyyears the heat of the body waxeth cold, and the souls of faithful people become holy vessels.Wherefore necessary it is that God’s elect servants, while they are yet in the heat of temp-tation, should live in obedience, serve, and be wearied with labor and pains. But when, byreason of age, the heat of temptation is past, they become keepers of holy vessels; becausethey then are made the doctors of men’s souls.

peter: I cannot deny, but that your words have given me full satisfaction: wherefore,seeing you have now expounded the meaning of the former text alleged, prosecute, Ipray, as you have begun, the rest of the holy man’s life.

—Medieval Sourcebook:Gregory I (Dialogos): Second Dialogue (Life of St. Benedict)

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/g1-benedict1.html

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defining pedophilia vs. child molestation

pedophilia

There is some debate regarding the exact definition of pedophilia. Pedophilia and childmolestation are not identical, though the common tendency—and sometimes the psy-chiatric and legal tendency—is to treat the terms as interchangeable. In its most specificsense, pedophilia refers to “the preference for sexual activity with young children.” Here,it is considered a preference, not an action—a psychosexual mental disorder that may ormay not ever be acted on.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, pedophilia belongs to the group ofpsychosexual disorders called paraphilias:

Pedophilia is categorized in the dsm-iv as one of several paraphiliac mentaldisorders. The essential features of a paraphilia (sexual deviation) are recurrent,intense, sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors that generallyinvolve [either] nonhuman subjects, the suffering or humiliation of oneself orone’s partner, or children or other nonconsenting persons.

The book cited above, the dsm-iv, is the definitive medical text for diagnosing mentaldisorders. It sets the standard for the criteria and terminology used in describing mentalpathology.

dsm-iv criteria for a diagnosis of pedophilia

Over a period of at least six months, recurrent, intense, sexually arousing fan-tasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving sexual activity with a prepubescentchild or children (generally age 13 or younger) . . . cause clinically significantdistress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas offunctioning. . . . The person is at least age 16 years and at least five years olderthan the child or children.

This definition of pedophilia can obviously create some complex situations, both psy-chiatrically and legally speaking. The dsm-iv equates “prepubescent child” and “age 13 oryounger.” Are all 12- and 13-year-olds prepubescent? No—many girls go through pubertyas early as 10 or 11, and some 13-year-olds can physically resemble adult women much morethan they resemble prepubescent children. Is the man who engages in sexual activity withone postpubescent “almost-13-year-old” girl suffering from the identical mental disorder as

the man who does the same with a 4-year-old? That neither adult should not touch anyoneof that age sexually is a legal and moral certainty, but is it appropriate to mandate the samepsychiatric treatment for both of them?

child molestation

In 1985, an influential paper on child molesters was written, called “The Child Molesters—Clinical Observations.” This paper laid the foundation for most current study of abusers,classifying them into types and discussing the behaviors and motivations of each type.

In this paper, the term child molester “refers to a significantly older person whose con-scious sexual interests and overt sexual behaviors are directed either partially or exclusivelytowards prepubertal children.”

This definition differs from that of pedophilia in that:

• It specifies conscious sexual interest in children.
• It includes both interest and behavior to be present, not just interest.
• It does not diagnose a mental disorder, it describes an action.
• It specifies only that the young person be prepubertal, rather than assign-ing a numerical age.

The discrepancy between how the psychiatric and legal communities define a “child”leads to huge legal complexities; many defense attorneys have employed the “Lolita” or“bad seed” image to undermine the credibility of victims caught in that highly charged,shifting territory between puberty and the age of 13.

Essentially, pedophilia is a psychological diagnosis, seeking to describe a subjectivemental state. It is considered an illness, for which there is treatment, but may also involveaction. Meanwhile, child molestation is an objective, legally prosecutable action. Theimprecise relationship between the two is fuel for plenty of thought—and debate.

sexual abuse

A list of activities legally construed as sexual abuse when committed with a child (fromwww.childwelfare.gov) includes a wide range of behaviors, such as:

• Oral, anal, or genital penile penetration
• Anal or genital digital or other penetration• Genital contact with no intrusion
• Fondling of a child’s breasts or buttocks
• Indecent exposure

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• Inadequate or inappropriate supervision of a child’s voluntary sexual activities• Use of a child in prostitution, pornography, Internet crimes, or othersexually exploitative activities

Sexual abuse includes both touching offenses (fondling or sexual intercourse) and non-touching offenses (exposing a child to pornographic materials) and can involve varyingdegrees of violence and emotional trauma. The most commonly reported cases involveincest, or sexual abuse occurring among family members, including those in biologicalfamilies, adoptive families, and stepfamilies. Incest most often occurs within a father-daughter relationship; however, mother-son, father-son, and sibling-sibling incest alsooccurs. Sexual abuse is also sometimes committed by other relatives or caretakers.

Sources: “Fact Sheet: Pedophilia,” American Psychiatric Association (1997), Medem Medical Library,http://www.medem.com/medlb/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZUZRUZGLC&sub_cat=355; “The ChildMolesters—Clinical Observations,” by A. Nicholas, Groth, Ph.D., William F. Hobson, M.S., Thomas S. Gary,M.Ed. (Haworth Press, Inc. Binghamton, NY, 1985), Mental Health Association of Westchester, http://www.mhawestchester.org; “Sexual Abuse,” Child Welfare Information Gateway (2006), U.S. Department of Healthand Human Services, http://www.childwelfare.gov/can/types/sexualabuse/; “A Coordinated Response toChild Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/foundation/foundationc.cfm.

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child sexual abuse (child molestation)

by gail hendrickson, r.n., b.s. (may 25, 2000); reviewed by gaylen kelton, m.d.(october 9, 2006)

what are the signs and symptoms of the injury?

It is not always easy for an adult to recognize when sexual abuse has taken place.A child who has been sexually abused may:

• act seductively
• be excessively curious about sex
• develop frequent urinary tract infections
• engage in inappropriate sex play with other children
• feel threatened by physical contact, closeness, or a certain person
• have bruises, bleeding, pain, or itching in the genital area
• have nightmares
• have poor self-esteem
• have a premature understanding of sex
• have separation anxiety (excessive fear of being separated from parents)• lack confidence
• masturbate excessively
• wet or soil his or her bed

what are the causes and risks of the injury?

Sexual abuse happens to children of all religions, ethnic origins, and income levels. Mostoften the abuser is someone the child knows, rather than a stranger. A person who wassexually abused as a child is more likely to become an abuser as an older child or adult.

Adolescents who have been abused are at higher risk for other health problems. We donot yet know whether the health problems came before the abuse, or if the abuse increasedthe risk for the health problems.

These problems include:

• adolescent pregnancy
• alcohol use, including binge drinking
• cocaine abuse
• risky sexual behaviors, including intercourse before age 15 and multiple partners• smoking

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• suicidal attempts or thoughts
• unhealthy weight management, including eating disorders

how is the injury recognized?

An abuser can make the child very fearful of telling anyone else. An adult should believe achild who says he or she has been sexually abused. Children rarely lie about sexual abuse.

When sexual abuse is suspected, the child should be taken to a healthcare professionalwho is trained to deal with and recognize sexual abuse. He or she will ask the child todescribe what happened. He or she also will look for injuries to the mouth, rectum, andgenital areas.

If the abuse took place recently, the healthcare professional may do a special examina-tion to check for sperm or semen stains. Child protective services officials need to benotified.

what are the treatments for the injury?

Child protective services officials monitor sexual abuse cases. Sexually abused children andtheir families need professional evaluation and treatment. Child and adolescent psychia-trists can help abused children regain a sense of self-esteem. They can help them cope withtheir feelings of guilt about the abuse and begin the process of overcoming the trauma.

Individual psychotherapy and group counseling may help. Much of the healing formany survivors takes place in a support group of other survivors. There is strength, com-fort, and hope in hearing the stories of others who share their pain.

Antidepressant medicines may be tried, but they are not usually as successful in treatingdepression in children as they are in adolescents and adults. The child should be checked forsexually transmitted infections. Girls of childbearing age should be tested for pregnancy.

what are the side effects of the treatments?

Antidepressant medicines may cause mild and usually temporary side effects in somepeople.

The most common side effects are:

• agitation
• constipation• dizziness
• drowsiness

• dry mouth• nausea

what happens after treatment for the injury?

Long-term effects can include posttraumatic stress disorder. Although this nervous disor-der can have many causes, in this case it is a result of physical, mental, or sexual violence.

The victim may have the following conditions:

• depression
• feelings of anxiety
• feelings of isolation
• irritability
• nightmares and flashbacks
• a tendency to avoid other people

Children who have been sexually abused usually develop low self-esteem, a feeling ofworthlessness, and an abnormal perspective on sexuality. They may become withdrawnand mistrustful of adults or attempt suicide. Some sexually abused children become childabusers or prostitutes in later years. They are also at higher risk of abusing alcohol or otherdrugs to dull the pain.

A person who has been sexually abused most often needs long-term, sometimes years of,psychotherapy to come to terms with what has happened. It can be difficult for an adult tocome to terms with sexual abuse that occurred when he or she was a child. It may result inchanges in the abused person’s life. In some cases, divorce results when a spouse cannot livewith a partner’s pain and becomes frustrated at not being able to do anything about it.

Excerpted from “Child Abuse,” http://uimc.discoveryhospital.com/main.php?id=2781, © 2006 Universityof Illinois Medical Center at Chicago.

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a summary of british child sexual abuse laws

Another area of disagreement about the scope of the law concerns the control of thesexuality of the young, which may be justified on moral, utilitarian, or protectionistgrounds. The age a girl must reach before it becomes legal for a man to have sexual inter-course with her varies considerably. In the United Kingdom it is sixteen, but it was onceonly ten (19 Eliz. 1, chap. 7 [1575–76]), and it remained as low as twelve until 1875. . . .

Some jurisdictions make a distinction between cases of contact of an adult with a childor adolescent and cases involving only contacts between young persons. In the UnitedKingdom both situations are treated by statute as “indecent assault,” leaving those respon-sible for bringing prosecutions to exercise discretion in what one hopes will be a fair andreasonable manner. . . .

The widespread use of imprisonment for nonviolent sex offenders is hard to justify.Most of these men are more pathetic than dangerous and stand in need of treatment andwelfare rather than punishment, which can be more readily accomplished in a facility inthe community. Inside penal institutions they are the butt of harassment and sometimessexual assault. In the English system many of them appeal to be put under “Rule 43,” whichmeans that they are segregated for their own protection and may spend protracted periodsin virtual solitary confinement.

“Sex Offenses and Offending,” by Donald J. West,Crime and Justice 5 (1983): 183–233

assault of a child under 13 by penetration

It is a specific criminal offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to engage in sexual pen-etration with a child under the age of 13. Consent is irrelevant to determining whether theoffence has been committed. A person commits the offence if he intentionally penetrates thevagina or anus of another person with a part of his body or anything else, where the penetrationis sexual, and where the other person is under 13. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment.The victim cannot be convicted as an accessory to this offence, even if the offence takes placewith the victim’s voluntary assistance, since the offence is designed to protect the victim (R vTyrrell [1894] 1 qb 710 [ccr]).

Oxford Dictionary of Law (Oxford University Press, 2006);Oxford Reference Online, http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/entry.html?subview=Main&entry=t49.e271.

rape of a child under 13

It is a specific criminal offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to engage in sexualintercourse with a child under the age of 13. Consent is irrelevant to determining whether theoffence has been committed. A person commits the offence if he intentionally penetrates thevagina, anus, or mouth of another person with his penis, and the other person is under 13. Themaximum penalty is life imprisonment. Owing to the requirement that rape of a child under13 can only be committed through penetration with a penis, it is clear that the offence can onlybe committed as a principal by a man; a woman can only be convicted of the offence as anaccessory. The victim cannot be convicted as an accessory, even if the offence takes place withthe victim’s voluntary assistance, since the offence is designed to protect the victim (R v Tyrrell[1894] 1 qb 710 [ccr]).

Oxford Dictionary of Law (Oxford University Press, 2006);Oxford Reference Online, http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/entry.html?subview=Main&entry=t49.e146.

sexual activity with a child

It is a specific criminal offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to engage in sexual activ-ity with a child under the age of 16. Consent is irrelevant to determining whether the offencehas been committed. A person (a) over the age of 18 commits the offence if he intentionallytouches another person (b), where the touching is sexual, b is under the age of 16, and a doesnot reasonably believe that b is over 16. If b is under the age of 13 the defendant is liable to acharge of sexual assault of a child under 13 and the question of his mistaken belief in b’s agebecomes irrelevant. The maximum penalty varies according to the touching involved, rang-ing from six months’ imprisonment and a fine to 14 years’ imprisonment. The victim cannotbe convicted as an accessory to this offence, even if the offence takes place with the victim’svoluntary assistance, since the offence is designed to protect the victim (R v Tyrrell [1894] 1 qb710 [ccr]).

Oxford Dictionary of Law, (Oxford University Press, 2006);Oxford Reference Online, http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/entry.html?subview=Main&entry=t49.e3617.

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age of consentwhat is it?

The age at which you can legally have sex.

what are the rules?

In England, Scotland, and Wales you have to be over 16 to have homosexual (gay) orheterosexual (straight) sex. In Northern Ireland you have to be 17 to have homosexual orheterosexual sex. “Sex” means penetrative sex, oral sex, or masturbating together.

what happens if you have underage sex?

The law sees it as sexual assault—it’s a criminal offence. The details are:
Even if she agrees, a boy who has sex with a girl under 16 (17 in ni) is breaking the law.If the girl is 13–15, the boy could go to prison for two years. If she’s under 13, he could besentenced to life imprisonment.

A girl age 16 or over who has sex with a boy under 16 can be prosecuted for indecentassault. However, if you’re a consenting couple and around the same age as each other,it’s unlikely you’d be prosecuted (although if one of you is under 13 this might not be thecase).

so, once you’re 16 it’s ok to have sex?

Well, it’s legal, except with someone who’s in a “position of trust” over you. People trustedto look after you, like teachers, carers, and doctors, are in a position of trust. It’s illegal forthem to have sex with under-18s in their care. Just because you can have sex, doesn’t meanyou should. Do what feels right for you and make sure you understand what sex is aboutand get clued-up on safe sex before you do anything.

Slink, http://www.bbc.co.uk/slink/sexlovelife/index.shtml?page=body&sub=consent.

ages of consent around the world(male-female sex)

Albania 14Algeria 16Argentina 13/16Australia 16–17/18Austria 14Azerbaijan 16Bahamas 16Belgium 16Belarus 16/18Bolivia 14f/16mBosnia 16Botswana 16f/14mBrazil1 14/18Brunei 14/16Bulgaria 14Burkina Faso 13Cambodia 16Canada2 12/14/18Chile 14China 14

Hong Kong 16

Taipei 16Colombia 14Costa Rica 15Côte d’Ivoire 15Croatia 14Cuba 16Cyprus 13/17Czech Republic 15Denmark 15Dominican Rep. 18

Ecuador 14Egypt 18El Salvador 16Eritrea 18Estonia 14

EthiopiaFinland3
France
French Polynesia

151616

(Tahiti) 16Gabon 18Germany4 14/16Greece 15Guam 16Guatemala 18Haiti 18Honduras 14/17Hungary 14Iceland 14India 16Indonesia 16f/19m

Iran
Iraq 18

Ireland
Israel 14–16
Italy 14
Japan5 13–18
Jordan 16
Kenya 16
Lebanon 15/18/MarriedMalaysia 18/Married

Must be married

17 35

Mexico6MoldovaMonacoMoroccoNamibiaNepalNetherlandsNew ZealandNigeriaNorway3OmanPakistanParaguay7PeruPhilippines8PolandPortugal9Puerto RicoQatarRomaniaRussiaRwandaSaudi ArabiaSingaporeSlovakiaSouth AfricaSouth KoreaSpain

Sri LankaSudanSwedenSwazilandSwitzerlandSyriaThailand10Tunisia

12–1814
15
15

16
16
16
16
13
16
Must be marriedMust be married14/16

14
12/18
15
14/16
16
Must be married15
16
16
Must be married16
15
16
13
13
16
Must be married15
18
16
13/15
15/18
20

18
18
1618/Married16–17

16–17

15/1716/1816/1816/1814/1614/1716/1818

Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited States

except

Colorado11Delaware11Florida11Idaho11Iowa11Missouri11MontanaNorth DakotaOregon

S. Carolina11Tennessee
Texas11
Utah11
VirginiaWashington11Wisconsin
Traveling Citizens 18

36

UzbekistanUruguayVenezuelaVietnamYemenZimbabwe

16
15
16
18
Must be married12/16

1814/1618
1716/181816/1818

1In Brazil, authorities may not choose to prosecute if the younger partner is aged 14 to 17and does not lodge a complaint.

2In Canada, consensual activity with those over 12 may not be an offense if the accused isunder 16 and less than two years older than the complainant. The exception is anal inter-course, to which unmarried persons under 18 cannot legally consent according to nationallaw, although provincial laws may vary.

3In Finland, sex with someone under 16 is not deemed sexual abuse of a child if “there is nogreat difference in the ages or the mental and physical maturity of the persons involved.”Similarly in Norway, a prison sentence may not be imposed “if those who have committedthe act of indecency are about equal in age and development.” In both countries, lesserpunishments may nevertheless be imposed.

4In Germany, sexual intercourse is legal from the age of 14 provided the older partner isaged under 18 and provided they are not “exploiting a coercive situation” or offering com-pensation. In addition, sex between one partner aged 14–15 and another aged under 21 islegal unless the older partner “exploits the victim’s lack of capacity for sexual self-deter-mination.”

5The age of sexual consent in Japan is 13 years of age, although prefecture law usually over-rides federal law raising the age up to 18.

6In Mexico the federal law varies according to the age gap between partners and is oftenoverruled by regional laws.

7Paraguay sets the age of consent at 14 within marriage and 16 outside of marriage.

8The age of sexual consent in the Philippines is 12 for all, but contacts with minors (under18) are an offense if the minor consents to the act for money, gain, or any other remunera-tion or as the result of an influence of any adult person.

9In Portugal it is illegal to perform vaginal intercourse with a minor between 14 and 16 37years old “by taking advantage of their inexperience.”

10Although Thailand’s age of consent is usually said to be 15, the laws can be interpretedto allow prosecution for sex with someone under 18.

11In some u.s. states a lower age applies when the age gap between partners is small, orwhen the older partner is below a certain age (usually 18 or 21).

Excerpted from “Worldwide Ages of Consent,” http://www.avert.org/aofconsent.htm.

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the sex lives of teenagers

Developmentally appropriate behaviors on the part of the girls are often perceived assexual. Smiles can be seen as seductive, a certain walk as provocative, a phone call asmanipulative. Even the biologically determined appearance of breast buds can be viewedas willfully sexy. An all too common reaction to the developing bodies of adolescent girls isfor their peers, both male and female, to call them “sluts.” Many girls discuss their fears ofbeing labeled. Some consciously shut off their sexuality; others show anger; and still othersdecide to flaunt it. If they are sluts, so be it, they’ll act like sluts; in fact, they’ll become theslut to end all sluts. . . .

Interestingly, adult perceptions of pubescent “sexiness” often reveal more about the adultthan the child. That is, there is always a lot of projection of the adults’ own desires andfantasies onto adolescents. In many ways, the slut label is the 20th-century counterpart forthe scarlet letter. It punishes girls for being sexual, for being powerful, or just for beingdifferent. . . .

Both biology and culture are conspiring to speed up the sexual development of chil-dren—boys and girls. It has long been recognized that girls are developing almost twoyears earlier than they did 30 years ago, due to improved nutrition and a decrease in infec-tious diseases. Girls with the earliest sexual maturation are hit hard and struggle with moredissatisfaction with their appearance and lowered self-esteem. They also suffer from higherrates of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Why? It is hard for these girls to accepttheir changing bodies in a culture that values thin, prepubertal bodies for girls.

Boys, too, are developing two years earlier. Generally assumed to be an advantage in aworld where their sexuality is encouraged, early development in boys is beginning to berecognized as a mixed blessing. Boys who mature earlier than their classmates have bet-ter self-esteem and are more popular than other boys, but they are also more likely to getinvolved in dangerous risk-taking activities, including substance and alcohol abuse. Part ofthe explanation for this may lie in the fact that because they look older, they may be morelikely to develop friendships with older peers who initiate them into risky behaviors.

The Sex Lives of Teenagers, by Lynn Ponton, m.d. (2000)

About 20 percent of adolescents have had sexual intercourse before their 15th birthday—and one in seven of the sexually experienced 14-year-old girls has been pregnant,according to a report released yesterday by the National Campaign to Prevent TeenPregnancy.

The report, an analysis of seven studies conducted in the late 1990s, offers a comprehensivelook at the sexual activities of 12- to 14-year-olds, a group often overlooked in discussionsof adolescent sexuality.

“1 in 5 Teenagers Has Sex Before 15, Study Finds,”by Tamar Lewin, The New York Times, May 20, 2003

The younger a teenaged girl is when she has sex for the first time, the more likely she is tohave had unwanted or nonvoluntary sex. Close to four in ten girls who had first intercourseat 13 or 14 report it was either nonvoluntary or unwanted.

About half of those aged 12–14 report having been on a date or having a romantic rela-tionship in the past 18 months. Among those youth 14 and younger reporting a romanticrelationship, about a quarter are with someone two or more years older—girls far morethan boys. Relationships between a young adolescent (aged 12–14) and a partner who isolder by two, three, or more years—compared to relationships with someone only slightlyolder, the same age, or younger—are much more likely to include sexual intercourse. Forexample, 13% of same-age relationships among those aged 12–14 include sexual intercourse.If the partner is two years older, 26% of the relationships include sex. If the partner is threeor more years older, 33% of the relationships include sex.

Science Says: The Sexual Behavior of Young Adolescents,National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy,http://www.teenpregnancy.org/works/pdf/sciencesaysSexual%20BehaviorYoungAdolescents.pdf

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questions to consider . . .

1. What happened the night Ray and Una ran off together? Why did he leave her alone?Why did he come back? How did she feel when she believed he would not return for her?What went through his mind when she was not in the room when he returned? How dothe experiences they each have had since that night affect how each of them feels nowabout that night? How does memory affect how they feel about that night?

2. Many of the lines that Ray and Una say to each other are unfinished, their thoughtsexpressed incompletely. What do you think of the language in the play? How does the waythe characters speak make you feel? Does it sound like everyday conversation? How mightthe language be different? How would the play be different if it were?

3. How would the play be different if the gender roles were reversed, i.e., if a young mancame back to confront an older woman? Would it be more or less disturbing if an olderwoman had a sexual relationship with a young boy?

4. Who had the power in the relationship when Ray and Una were together 15 years ago?Who has the power at the beginning of the play? Who has the power at the end? Whatare the turning points in the play where the dynamic shifts?

5. It is said that there are at least two sides to every story. How do Una and Ray’s versionsof past events differ? Whose version is more true or right?

6. Based on how each of them describes the beginning of their relationship, who, in youropinion, is responsible for the affair? Do you think Ray was/is a predator? Do you thinkUna pursued him? Would that make Ray’s actions “forgivable”?

7. Both Ray and Una have experienced some kind of “rehabilitation” over the last 15 years,he in prison, and she with counseling and social workers. Have they “recovered”? Howhave those experiences changed their perspectives on their previous relationship? Howhave those experiences shaped who each of them is as an individual today? Do you thinkeither of them will be able to forget or forgive? How will this event affect and inform theirrelationships with other people from now on?

8. Think about the events that have shaped your life. How do you feel about them as theyare more distant in the past? How do they affect you now?

9. What do you think the relationship is between Ray and the young girl who enters atthe end of the play?

alternate ending

The published script of David Harrower’s Blackbird ends as you see it in the a.c.t. produc-tion, with Ray following the young girl out and leaving Una alone in the room. Peter Stein,director of the Albery Theatre production of Blackbird in London, added the followingfinal scene to the end of the play, with permission from the author:

Music
Una follows Ray into the car park. She jumps in front of his car, forcing him to stop. She grabshis keys and throws them on the floor. They wrestle, he smacks her, and then she hits him overthe head with a wrench. He collapses, covered in blood. They struggle, bleeding heavily on the carpark floor as the lights go out.

What effect might this scene have on the audience? Why would the director want toinclude it? How else might the play end?

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for further information...

Avert.org. Teens Pages. http://www.avert.org/yngindx.htm.
Edinburgh International Festival. Blackbird. http://blackbird.binarylab.com/.

Guardian Unlimited. “Special Report: Who’s Who in New British Theatre.” http://arts.guardian.co.uk/britishtheatre/0,,748029,00.html.

Harrower, David. Blackbird. London: Faber and Faber, 2007.

——, adaptor. The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham. London: Faber and Faber, 2001.

——. Dark Earth. London: Faber and Faber, 2003.

——, adaptor. The Girl on the Sofa, by Jon Fosse. London: Oberon Books, 2002.

——, adaptor. Ivanov, by Anton Chekhov. London: Oberon Books, 2002.

——. Kill the Old, Torture Their Young. London: Methuen Drama, 1998.

——. Knives in Hens. London: Methuen Drama, 1997.

——, adaptor. Mary Stuart, by Friedrich Schiller. London: Faber and Faber, 2006.

——. Presence. London: Faber and Faber, 2001.

——, adaptor. Six Characters Looking for an Author, by Luigi Pirandello. London: MethuenDrama, 2001.

——, adaptor. Tales from the Vienna Woods, by Odon von Horvath. London: Faber andFaber, 2003.

Mann, Sally. At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women. New York: Aperture, 1988.

Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. With an introduction by Martin Amis. New York: Knopf, 1992.

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. http://www.nspcc.org.uk.

Ponton, Lynn. The Sex Lives of Teenagers: Revealing the Secret World of Adolescent Boys andGirls. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.

Schlink, Bernhard. The Reader. Translated by Carol Brown Janeway. New York: PantheonBooks, 1997.

Sierz, Aleks. In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber and Faber, 2001.

u.s. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. Medline Plus: ChildSexual Abuse. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/childsexualabuse.html.