Wasted

by Kae Tempest

I'm making a decision. I'm changing things. This is it.
Three old friends in their mid-twenties. One remarkable day. For Ted, Danny and Charlotte, it’s time to seize control. Make a difference. Change things. This is it.

A day trip through the parks and raves and cafes of South London, where life is what you make it. The rapid fire words of Kate Tempest paint a picture of lives less ordinary in an unforgiving world, sound-tracked by an exhilarating score.

The drama mixes rap-style poetry delivered with microphones and self-reflexive addresses to the audience.

A play about love, life and losing your mind, and the first play from one of the UK’s most exciting performance poets, Kate Tempest.

Genres: Plays, Poetry, Theatre, Drama, Fiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2013

Reviews

[Pampleluneh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quelle plume ! J’ai encore une fois été emportée par les mots de Kae Tempest. Ils sont criants de vérité.

[Illiterate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Young adults’ disenchantment as a cycle of wasted lives (a lack of opportunities) and getting wasted (a failure to take opportunities). More energy than depth.

[Iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Tiphaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

nickel allez moi jvais sauter hein

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many lines of this play hit hard. It's definitely worth a read. Kate Tempest has the most amazing rhythm and insight into the lives of the working class

[Conny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drei Freund:innen Mitte zwanzig. Ein Tag, der Erinnerungen und Emotionen hochbringt. Ted, Danny und Charlotte wollen endlich ihr Leben in die Hand nehmen, etwas ändern, etwas bewirken. Jetzt.

«Wasted» erzählt von gewöhnlichen Menschen in einer unversöhnlichen Welt. Sie suchen nach Sinn, Erfüllung, etwas, das einen Unterschied macht. Doch es ist leichter gesagt als getan – und schon findet man sich am nächsten Morgen wieder, nach Alkohol riechend, verkatert, zerstört. Ein Porträt einer Generation und einer Klasse, aufbereitet als Drama und verstärkt durch Spoken-Word-Intermezzos – wie immer genial.

Zur Monatskolumne März

[Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved most of what I read by Kate Tempest so far and this play is no exception.
I would love to see the stage performance.
This was raw and felt very real.
The hope for change and later inactions of the three protagonists are heartbreaking, devastating and sadly a reality for a lot of young people. KT has a way with words that to me is unmatched in contemporary poetry/play writing. She has fast become a profound voice of her generation.

[Les grands noms · Rating 3 out of 5]

Les points positifs :
- Des réflexions intéressantes sur les désillusions de la vie, sur la dépression, l'addiction. Des problématiques actuelles qui font que je me suis retrouvée dans les personnages.
- Dans le contexte actuel (pandémie, confinement, fermeture des lieux recevant du public), c'était plaisant de lire au sujet de fêtes qui se terminent au petit matin.

Le point négatif :
- Je pense que la traduction française enlève du rythme au texte (Tempest étant adepte du "spoken word").

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brillant! J’aimerais le relire en anglais pour entendre plus la poésie de Kae dans le texte. Et j’aimerais aussi voir la pièce.

[ninon nioui · Rating 5 out of 5]

envie de voir la pièce ! envie de la relire en anglais, et de garder les répliques dans mes poches
et j’aime beaucoup le choeur

[Wacik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am absolutely terrified

[Daisy Leather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Resonates a lot.

[Clotinde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hyper sympa, parle de sujets d’actualité avec une approche elle aussi très moderne. Les personnages sont attachants et reflètent parfaitement le monde auquel ils appartiennent. C’est peut-être moi mais je trouve la trad pas tip top.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

lo del coro podrían habérselo ahorrado

[Felix Brightspark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but the dillemma of the main characters is a bit ridiculous. They spend tons of time wailing about jow unsuccessful their lives are while simultaneously gloating about how much drugs and crime they did as teens instead of going to school. Sure, part of why they ended up this way is to be blamed on the system they were born into, but attributing 100% of the blame to capitalism, thatcherism, austerity and whatnot only takes away the locus of control from the characters, and by allegory, the people affected and disadvantaged by the system. The play seems to send the message: "Fon't try to change your life, because you can't. Blame it all on the system and wallow in self-pity". The additional inclusion of the foreword aimed directly at a supposed, imagined or deluded, upper-class part of the audience only gives the entire act a self-important and holier-than-thou tone.

[Hiromi · Rating 5 out of 5]

彼女と仕事と「安定」した生活を送るテッド、小さなバンドで成功を求め続けるダニー、学校教師のシャーロット。25歳の幼少期からの親友3人が、15歳の時に亡くなった友人トニーの10年目の命日を機に集まる。

全員、それぞれに人生に不満を抱いている。若い時に夢見ていたことが全て崩れていって、現実はつまらない日々を繰り返し、酒とドラッグで潰れる(get wasted)ことで娯楽を得ているようなもん。

久々に3人でパーティーに行くことにした日、ダニーがシャーロットとよりを戻そうとするも、シャーロットは現状にしびれを切らし、弾丸の決断で他の街に引っ越すと告げる。テッドは、ダニーに「いつか来る成功」を待ち続けず、「自分で決断」をして、シャーロットを追うように説得するが、ダニーは口ばっかりで行動がついていかない。

結局、シャーロットは潰れた影響で飛行機を逃し、ダニーとトニーの木の前で会う。二人は曖昧な関係を続け、3人は日常に戻る…。

20代後半の、人生に対する考え方が反映されてて面白い。各キャラクターの考えや状況がモノローグ等で深堀りされていくのも好き。人生ってなんだろう、どう過ごせばいいだろう、夢という理想と現実の埋め合わせはどうすればいいんだろう。

[Victoria Claringbold · Rating 4 out of 5]

A crafty little play about 3 Londoners looking for meaning beyond their mundane lives of work, chores, bills and getting wasted. There is a chorus that breaks up the prose scenes and deftly summarises the plight of these funny, flawed and sometimes heartbreaking characters. Definitely has monologue material and plenty of amusing, accurate London dialogue.

[Dillon Harris]

While I never found myself fully routing for the characters, it was clearly the point. I didn’t believe they were gonna get out of their funk, cause we’ve met too many of these people who are all talk, and that is this plays three leads. Ultimately a powerful message heightened by making these three leads frustrating as hell. Powerful words by Kae Tempest.

[Laura AH · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is without a doubt the worst play I've ever read. It's pretentious bullshit. I most especially disliked all of the bollocks the chorus came out with. Ugh. Never touching anything by this author again. Shame. I used to like her poetry.

[Emilia Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play is short and snappy and really just wonderful. When I played Charlotte in a playreading this week was so unbelievably fun, the whole script is so fantastically written and it really hammers home so many important messages, in just over an hour of stage time. Brilliant!

[Gaia Pulignano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opera teatrale breve ma super intensa, ricca di emozioni legate a forti tematiche. Le frasi scorrono fluide, in una sorta di metrica poetica assolutamente perfetta. Lettura consigliata a tutti i 20enni i quali si trovano in un momento delicato della propria vita.

[Zoey Loulou · Rating 4 out of 5]

lu pour jouer. cette pièce est très belle et montre de nombreux problème que l'on n'oublies souvent. les trois personnage on tous diffèrent problème d'addiction et de maladie mentales les poussant dans leur retranchement et leurs différents envies.

[Guéorgos · Rating 2 out of 5]

3 trentenaires se retrouvent et se rendent comptent qu'ils ont raté leur vie avec leur petit train train quotidien, ils vont se bourrer la gueule et se droguer puis le lendemain se disent "Bon maintenant je change !" puis ne font rien.
Bref, rien d'intéressant, c'est encore moins bien que Bref 2

[Romain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scène contemporaine CPES
Le monologue de Charlotte est super, le reste c’est un joli mélange d’une discussion tah Mcfly et Carlito qui débatte sur les joies de la vie et d’Inoxtag qui se réjouie d’avoir retrouver les beautés de la vie sans avoir touché à son téléphone pendant 15 jours 🥸

[Maha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depressing, real, accurate.
Vivid, dynamic poetry that Tempest is known for.

[Emily Cundall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needs to be read and watched to really hear the incredible rhythms Tempest manipulates within her writing and spoken words.

[Katie Gomble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant little play

[Alizabeth Mariott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this play was REALLY good. It connects so much to society today. It's amazing.

[Rocio Quintana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetic and contemplative scenes interlap with (what appear to be) mundane dialogues in order to deal with the profound feeling of getting old and being closer to death than life.

[Oriana F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really relatable!