The Negotiation (excerpt)

Synopsis:

Barry arrives at work to find that his company has been the victim of a ransomware attack, freezing all of his data and making it impossible for the company to function.  To make matters worse, his company is the only one in Australia that manufactures a certain kind of heart valve, which means that if he can’t be up and running within a fortnight, patients will start to die.

In an absolute panic, and looking down the barrel of utter ruin, he contacts Van, a cybernegotiator.

The attack has originated in Russia, and the demand is for $2 million.within 48 hours – money Barry simply doesn’t have.

He is convinced that all is lost, but Van knows her business.

With nerves of steel, she must prevent him from caving whilst at the same time applying pressure to the Russian hacker, bargaining with the cyber-insurer and negotiating with her wife, who has decided she wants out of the marriage.

In an absolute nail-biter that never lets up, we are immersed in the complex, dog-eat-dog world of cybercrime, where by far the most valuable commodity and, at the same time, the greatest liability, is trust.

Character Breakdown:

The play is a 4-hander:  2 females, 2 males
VAN  35  (Chinese female)
BARRY  50
LEO   25   (Russian accent)
ANGELA   33 / EDWINA  32   (British accent) – one actor.

Production Note:

This work can be staged either as a stage play, a Zoom play or a radio play.

Running-time:  85 minutes.

Production History:  Not yet produced.

Excerpt available for download for free.