Boykie and Girlie – Drama about a Failing Relationship

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Boykie and Girlie have been together for several years; they live in a comfortable but unfashionable flat. They are no longer in the first flush of their lives, experience has roughened their edges. On this particular evening, Girlie returns home and once again finds Boykie in a foul mood. The past and the present collide and what ensues exposes their many different faces: values, ambitions, sexual needs and ability to love in this drama about a failing relationship.

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drama about a failing relationship

BOYKIE AND GIRLIE – A DRAMA ABOUT  A FAILING RELATIONSHIP

Boykie and Girlie have been together for several years; they live in a comfortable but unfashionable flat. They are no longer in the first flush of their lives, experience has roughened their edges. On this particular evening, Girlie returns home and once again finds Boykie in a foul mood. The past and the present collide and what ensues exposes their many different faces: values, ambitions, sexual needs and ability to love in this drama about a failing relationship.

Set in their kitchen and in the bathroom Boykie habitually escapes to, the play seesaws from mood to mood, subject to subject, while Girlie prepares the supper Boykie refuses to eat. It has moments of pathos, of profound emotion, of madness and clarity as the couple spar and cajole, testing each other’s resolve and intentions. In language that is both poetic and coarse, they alternately celebrate and denigrate their relationship dominated by Boykie’s dead end. In a telling exchange, the ‘blocked’ writer and activist calls out to Girlie, “It’s not you that I can’t live with. I’m not strong enough. It’s all so absurd, so trivial, so demeaning . . .” To which she replies, “Hey, you’re vomiting over a pretty full plate.”

Boykie and Girlie are thus both agents and victims, switching from one to the other as the evening unwinds. His ‘hunger strike’, his sexual experimentation, his punctured ego and subsequent sense of self-loathing – all place an enormous strain on Girlie as she has to bear not only the responsibilities of her demanding and important work but the pressure of living with a partner who, despite certain exuberant, almost ecstatic moments, is mired in depression.

This script is also available in French.

PRODUCTION HISTORY

Boykie and Girlie premiered on 29 July 2014 at the Wits Downstairs Theatre in Johannesburg as part of the SA Season of “Theatre and Politics” organized by Drama for Life. This production featured Khutjo Green and Robert Hobbs.

Author: Allan Kolski Horwitz

Type:  Full length one act play

Genre: Drama about a failing relationship

Cast: 1M 1F

Ages of the actors: Middle aged

Suitable for: Adults

Length:  1 hour and ten minutes

Set: An ordinary flat (apartment) – the kitchen, with doors to the bathroom and bedroom

Level of Difficulty: 8/10 – With heavier two-person dramas the key is not to make the acting heavy all the time but to intersperse periods of light and dark to give shape to the performance.

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Contact Off The Wall Plays with any queries about Boykie and Girlie

Copyright © March 2016 Allan Kolski Horwitz

Like this play? Other dramas about relationships:

The Devil Dances – drama about young women seducing older men
Tail End Charlie – drama about PTSD and mental illness set in post WW2 Illinois
The Easy Lovin’s Blues – drama about living with an addict

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