Welcome. Welcome to my story. I'd shake your hand only, well, it's just a story. My story.
Who am I? I guess you want to know that. Well, I'm that presence following you home. That presence you can feel just behind your right shoulder but can never see. I'm the one who knows everything about you. Everything. Don't believe me? You'll soon see.
My name's Jamie Scott and I'm your narrator, guide, whatever. I live on the seventh floor between the Lotts' and the fire escape. I was born in this shithole thirteen years ago and I always thought I'd die in this place too. Time is nothing in Asphodel Meadows: day is day is day and nothing changes-ever. And EastEnders is on TV again, and it's scraps from yesterday's dinner again, and it's the same conversation never concluded that you hear around every walkway every day and every night.
Except for tonight. Tonight is not the same as every other night.
It's seven o'clock, 6 September, and they're here. Finally.
Jamie's a precocious teen with a messiah complex. And he wants vengeance. He's been waiting a long time. Skulk along the walkway with him as he spies on his neighbours and he'll show you why he's called four malevolent strangers to the tower block.
You'll meet Kath, recently divorced and sacked after an affair with a student; Paul, a writer who can't write; Jamie's abusive mother, the Fat Beast; Char, a sex worker and her clients; the strangely perfect Lott family; and Sam, the resident drug addict as they struggle with forgiveness, missed connections, and loneliness.
And if you're lucky, Jamie will give you the best seat in the tower block for the final act.
Inspired by the Biblical story of Sodom, Asphodel Meadows is at times surreal and confronting. It explores the gaps and ambiguities in the original story while questioning notions of sin and redemption.
