House_Plant

The House Plant by Sally Worboyes

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Frisby Players Production

http://www.frisbyplayers.net/The%20House%20Plant.htm

Lee-Anne and Philip buy a converted Victorian house, happily accepting the ageing sitting tenant as they assume she'll be dead soon and they can sell the house at a great profit without her there. Things start as planned for the ambitious couple as the `old' lady seems to be in poor health. The weeks go on however and instead of getting worse she seems to be looking healthier and younger! She claims the arrival of the couple has given her a new youthful outlook and appearance. A bitter domestic war begins as the couple get frustrated at her new vigour but the lady is more than a match for the young couple. The couple try all sorts of tricks to try and drive the old lady out but she is more than capable of withstanding the attempts to make her health suffer. The couple have finally had enough and decide to sell at a loss but there are a few final twists in the story! Although the play is primarily a comedy, as the play goes on we realise something unusual is going on. The old lady is not quite what she seems and we feel something is going on that don't quite understand. The play has several levels to it, the old woman is to begin with, conveyed as a stereotype, hard of hearing, poor health, living in the past etc. but during the play we find she is much cleverer than she first appears. The young couple are supposed to be clever, ambitious, calculating and determined to better themselves financially at the expense of the old lady. It is a refreshing twist to find that the old lady has the last laugh.

WhenPhilip and Lee-Anne meet Mrs Clark she can hardly walk

Mrs Clark makes a miraculous recovery when she receives a bouquet of flowers

SALLY WORBOYES
Sally Worboyes was born and grew up in Stepney in East London with her four brothers and a sister. She brings a lot of the raw history of her own family background to her work. A lot of her work is based in the East End of London with such titles as Down Stepney Way, Over Bethnal Green, Mile End Gate and Whitechapel Mary amongst others. These are all references to places in the East End of London. Sally Worboyes now lives in Norfolk with her husband with whom she has three grown up children.
BOOKS AND PLAYS BY SALLY WORBOYES
1995 THE DINNER LADY THE HOUSE PLANT 1996 RED SEQUINS 1997 THE HOP PICKERS (MUSICAL) WILD HOPS 1998 DOWN STEPNEY WAY OVER BETHNAL GREEN MILE END GATE	2000 DOCKER'S DAUGHTER THE DINNER LADY KEEP ON DANCING WHITECHAPEL MARY GIRL FROM BRICK LANE 2002 BANISHED FROM BOW TOBACCO DOCK SPARROW'S NEST TIME WILL TELL JAMAICA STREET 2004 EAST END MEMOIR

BOOKS AND PLAYS BY SALLY WORBOYES
1995 THE DINNER LADY THE HOUSE PLANT 1996 RED SEQUINS 1997 THE HOP PICKERS (MUSICAL) WILD HOPS 1998 DOWN STEPNEY WAY OVER BETHNAL GREEN MILE END GATE 2000 DOCKER'S DAUGHTER THE DINNER LADY	KEEP ON DANCING WHITECHAPEL MARY GIRL FROM BRICK LANE 2002 BANISHED FROM BOW TOBACCO DOCK SPARROW'S NEST TIME WILL TELL JAMAICA STREET 2004 EAST END MEMOIR

THE HOUSE PLANT - PLAY SYNOPSIS

The play title is a `play on words' which is to say that the title has two meanings. A `House Plant' is simply any leaved plant that is found in a house to add decoration. The other meaning of `plant' is when something is `planted' somewhere. In the context of the play the old lady is the `plant' which means she has been put into the house with a specific reason in mind. The reason becomes clearer as the play unfolds.

The play starts with Mrs. Clark in her room, she looks old and frail. The doorbell rings and we meet Lee-Anne and Philip, who are prospective buyers of the property. The property however has to be bought with Mrs. Clark as a sitting tenant. This means that she has the right to stay in the house until she leaves or dies.

Lee-Anne and Philip start looking around the house. They are sure that Mrs. Clark won't be around for long and therefore the value of the house will go up without her there. They have obviously done this type of thing before with no regard for the sitting tenant.

The play then moves forward a few weeks when Lee-Anne and Philip have bought the house and are moving in. They start to plan how they will assist in removing Mrs. Clark from the house by either driving her out or affecting her health in some way. There seems to be something different however as Mrs. Clark

seems to have got younger! She has changed her appearance and offers the young couple a present - a rubber plant (a `House Plant') that she knows Lee-Anne hates.

Mrs. Clark by now seems to have `lost' quite a few years and puts it down to the younger couple giving her new youthful energy. Lee-Anne decides to start her attempt to drive Mrs. Clark out. She starts to tap dance on the floor above Mrs. Clark's room to annoy her. Mrs. Clark however decides to confront Lee-Anne and gives her a tap dancing lesson! The battle between Lee-Anne and Mrs. Clark has begun.

One Sunday afternoon Mrs. Clark invites a quite a few of her friends around for a garden party as she has access to the garden. They are enjoying themselves, making a lot of noise and disturbing Lee-Anne and Philip who are unable to do anything about it. Things get much worse however as Agnes, one of Mrs. Clark's friends, has to use their toilet as the others are engaged. Lee-Anne and Philip start to argue as the plans are going horribly wrong. Things get even worse when Agnes is unable to pull her knickers up and is asking them for assistance.

The couple have finally had enough and have decided to sell up but no-one seems interested in buying the house. The final scene is when things finally become clearer as to what has happened. We hear Mrs. Clark talking to the estate agent who is also her lover. They have arranged for any potential buyers to view the house while the couple are at work and Mrs. Clark has managed to put them all off. The estate agent now makes them an offer to sell the house at a loss just to get away.

We discover at the end that Mrs. Clark is an actress who has been playing the part of the old lady with the purpose of driving the couple away. She has played the young couple at their own game and won. She now plans on how to spend the money they have made from buying the house back at a cheaper price. She flicks through a holiday brochure deciding where they will go with the money they have made.

Questions to Discuss

1. What first seems strange about Mrs. Clark considering she is 80 years old?

2. What jobs do you think Lee-Anne and Philip do from their appearance?

3. What is the purpose of their visit?

4. Why do they think the house would be what they are looking for?

5. What is the legal term for Mrs. Clark's standing in the house?

6. What does this mean?

7. What plans does Lee-Anne have to get rid of Mrs. Clark?

8. How many times have the couple done this type of thing before?

9. What present does Mrs. Clark give the couple? Why does she choose this present?

10. What has happened to Mrs. Clark's appearance? What is her explanation?

11. What is Lee-Anne's reaction to be given the Rubber Plant as a present?

12. What are the similarities between Mrs. Clark and the rubber plant?

13. What tactic does Lee-Anne use to annoy Mrs. Clark? What happens?

14. What is happening in the garden? What request does Mrs. Clark make? Who is Agnes?

15. What problem does she have?

16. What do Lee-Anne and Philip decide to do? What problems are they having? Why?

17. What do they decide to do?

18. What do we finally find out about Mrs. Clark? What is her job?

19. Who is Mr. Jackson? What plans do they have?

20. At what point in the play did you know what Mrs. Clark's plans were?

21. Do you think Lee-Anne and Philip got what they deserved?

22. Do you think Lee-Anne and Philip would try the same thing again? Explain your reasons.

Terms and Explanations

Page	Term	Explanation
2	Jehovah's (Witnesses)	A religious group who often call at people's houses
2	Estate Agent	Someone who sells houses
3	rubber plant	A type of indoor plant
3	neglected	forgotten
5	sitting tenant	someone who has the legal right to stay in a property as long as they want
6	Rockingham		type of expensive china
6	mothball		smelly ball used to deter moths from eating cloths. Very old fashioned.
6	elusive		hard to find
6	tap-dancing		noisy dance when small metal blocks are put on the souls of the shoes
6	surveyed		looked at
7	sixth sense		something you feel is right without any proof
7	kick the bucket		die
7	hasty		fast
7	nudge		push
8	barmy old bat		term for someone who is a bit mentally unstable. Mad.
10	presence		knowing something is there
10	blooms		flowers
11	transform		change
12	gesture		action
13	impression		the way something is received or viewed
14	frightful hurry		running very late
14	symbolize		to mark something special
16	bingo		a term used when something has worked as you wanted
16	bandaged		a bandage is what is used to wrap around a cut or in this case legs
18	a dozen old crocks		term for a group of old people
18	zimmer frame		device to help with walking
18	oblige		help
20	sparkling		shiny, new
21	dignity		pride
21	fixtures and fittings		permanent things in a house like light fittings and curtain rails
21	bragged		boasted. Spoke confidently about having achieved something
21	landscape gardener		someone who looks after gardens
21	family album		family photographs
22	interested parties		people wanting to look at buying the house
22	traipsing		walking
22	whingeing		moaning
22	cut our losses		lose money
22	Shirley Temple		famous child actress from the 1960's
23	sweetheart		girlfriend
23	youthful spirits		an energy the young tend to have
23	breather		take in air. Usually after being under water. Relax.
23	QE2		famous ocean cruise ship