Nick Silver Can't Sleep

An oddly fascinating radio play for insomniacs by Janice Kerbel

The narcotic tale of desire for love and sleep in an urban garden. The nocturnal plant, Nick Silver (Nicotiana Silvertis) longs for Cereus Grand (Selenicereus grandiflorus), an exotic climbing perennial who blooms just one night a year.

NICK SILVER: I dream about you, sometimes. I’m surrounded by the blackest of black and stars are falling everywhere. Up above hangs a big fat invisible moon. It’s hot and it’s summer.

MARVEL: It’s late.

ZED: It’s dark.

RIVER: I’m tired.

NICK SILVER: Sometimes I’m out in a field, all alone. Or I’m down by a lake; I’m a kid again, just blowing where the wind takes me. Other times I’m here, exactly as I am, laying low, just waiting. It’s always late. It’s always dark. I’m always tired.

[...]

NICK SILVER: The dream has the air of smoke and vanilla. It’s perfectly still and there is no sound whatsoever. It usually begins with a feeling, a gentle tug that pulls right along the length of me. It’s hardly noticeable at first. It’s more like a stretch than anything else and while I never resist it – I mean, really, why would I – I’m always aware it might snap me in two.

RIVER: I’ve been here since sundown.

MARVEL: I got here at four.

ZED: I arrived with the rain.

[SHORT PAUSE]

MOONBEAM: I never left.

[...]

NICK SILVER: I cannot think I cannot eat I cannot sleep. Tie me to a stake, shower me with mists of rain, lay me down in dappled-forest light, I cannot sleep. I’m five-foot-two, independent, healthy and self-supporting; I’m hardy, reliable and tolerant. I don’t like change, though I adapt, given time. A few summers back I began to feel crowded, like I’d outgrown my own home. Without much of a plan - it was more of a feeling I responded to naturally - I tried to make a fresh start, thought I’d turn a new leaf. I did some voluntary shape-shifting with a bit of deep-trance hypnosis. I tried to will myself flight by transforming into a bird. When that didn’t work I aimed a bit lower, channelled my energy into the ways of a worm; and when that failed, a vine. I even considered the form of a fence. [PAUSE] Like everyone else, I have ups and downs. I worry a lot. I feel I’m a late bloomer. I hate potatoes, tomatoes don’t agree with me and aubergine makes me wilt. I’m from a large family. My love for them is unruly, but deep. We’re better off with some distance between us. [PAUSE] I’m different from them. [PAUSE] I cannot sleep.

[...]

MOONBEAM: Crack the foundations and tear up the pavement. It must really be true. It must really be you.

NICK SILVER: I want to blow a smoke ring around your long skinny neck. I want to knock you out with my scent; cut loose to the woods where no one can find us. You could clamour around me, take hold and strangle me, tackle me down to the ground. I’d never fight it - I wouldn’t know how. I want to lose myself to you. I want to be yours. Please, just one night. Like my own private planet – orbit round me tonight.

ZED: I’ve never had an afternoon.

MARVEL: I’ve never tasted coffee.

The full script can be found here.

Premiered on BBC3 in October 2006 

A project by Artangel.