Precariat - Paperback

by Chris Dunkley (Author)

'I can see this life for exactly what it is. I can now, anyway. We're walkin' a knife edge. One slip, one tiny slip an' we fall. An' there's a fuck of a long way to fall...even for us. An' we're kept there...on the knife edge...because they can tell yer which way t'go. Forward or down.'

Fin's bright. Some would say gifted. But school isn't going well. While he is busy coping with his mum's depression and his younger brother's drug problem, he can feel his future slipping away. The few jobs that are available in North London are part-time or temporary, and Fin knows his future will be a life of unstable pay, minimal social security benefits, no pension and eroding health care. He is the uture of the emerging major class - living precarious lives at the mercy of the one percent: The Precariat. With his world collapsing slowly around him, Fin finds hope and attraction with the girl at the fried chicken drive-through window. But even she can't offer him a way out. Fin makes one final desperate bid to take control over the future - by giving his brother the chance to turn his life around...

Author Biography

Chris Dunkley's play Mirita premiered at the Finborough Theatre, was named Time Out Critics' Choice, and transferred Off Broadway to the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City, alongside his short play Lisa Says. Other theatre includes Almost Blue (Riverside Studios), How to Tell the Truth (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough), Lucy is a Minger (Spinney Hill Theatre, Northampton) and The Festival (Wimbledon Studio Theatre). Radio includes The All Colour Vegetarian Cookbook and The Architects, both for the BBC. Chris has been Writer in Residence at Royal and Derngate Theatres, Northampton, and Writer on Attachment at the Royal Court Theatre. He was the 2002 winner of the International Student Playscript Competition and winner of the PMA writers' award in 2001.