Green Forms by Alan Bennett: Duologue

£4.49

Doris and Doreen work in an obscure department of a large organisation in the North of England. Doreen is a married lady in her thirties and Doris is unmarried in her forties and lives with her elderly mother. Their office is cosy, if a little run down, and they spend most of their time chatting, or flirting with nice Mr Titmuss and carrying on a bitter feud with Personnel.
Today, however, is not a normal day and they slowly begin to realise chat their ‘cushy little number’ may be coming to an end. Someone, somewhere in the organisation has their eye on them and there are rumours of impending redundancies. In this opening scene, Doris is reading a newspaper and Doreen sits, contemplating her desk.

DOREEN: Are green forms still going through Mrs Henstridge? (Pause) DORIS: Newcastle DOREEN: Newcastle? DORIS: Newcastle DOREEN: You don’t mean Manchester, Fordyce Road? DORIS: No. I mean Newcastle, Triad House. DOREEN: Then where’s Mrs Henstridge? (Pause) She was green forms for as long as I can remember. And now you say it’s Newcastle. (Pause) Newcastle? DORIS: Staff appointments and changes in personnel: Newcastle. (The green form is inside an inter-office envelope. One look inside the envelope tells Doreen the form is green and therefore not their pigeon. If she does take the form out of the envelope she should not read it.) DOREEN: Thin-faced woman. Blondish. She had a son that wasn’t right. Lived in Whingate. DORIS: I don’t know where people live. DOREEN: Well, where’s she gone and got to if she’s not doing green forms? It used to be Southport. DORIS: It isn’t Southport. DOREEN: I’m not saying it is Southport. Southport is being wound down. DORIS: Up. DOREEN: Up what?