Remembrance A one-act play for youth groups Written by Mark Rees Spotlight Publications

Transcription

1 Remembrance A one-act play for youth groups Written by Mark Rees Spotlight Publications

2 Remembrance CAST (in order of appearance) Maggie, 12 Emily, her cousin, 17 Billy, 15/16 Tom, 15/16 Grace, 15/16 Alice, 15/16 Edward, 15/16 Robert, 15/16 John, 11/12 Sir Arthur Markham) Mr Tennant) politicians SET - a public park in Britain, with a large mound UC TIME , a hot summer s day ISBN Remembrance was first performed by Lochside Youth Theatre at Castle Douglas in February 2005 COPYRIGHT MARK REES 2005 Published by Spotlight Publications All rights are reserved including performances on stage, radio and television. No part of this publication may be copied by whatever means without the prior permission of the copyright owner. It is an infringement of the copyright to give any performance or public reading of the play before a licence has been issued. Drama groups must obtain a full acting set of scripts (a minimum of one script per speaking part plus one for the director) before a performing licence can be issued. The name of the author shall be stated on all publicity including posters and programmes. Programme credits shall state "script provided by Spotlight Publications". All enquiries to: Spotlight Publications, 259 The Moorings, Dalgety Bay, Fife, KY11 9GX, Scotland, UK. Tel enquiries@spotlightpublications.com Website:

3 Music: Peacherine Rag by Scott Joplin plays throughout the opening Once the music has established we hear a recorded voice over (read by the actress playing Emily) of the poem The Soldier by Rupert Brooke which is reproduced at the end of the script It is a bright, hot summer s day Emily, who is seventeen, enters with her cousin Maggie, who is twelve. They carry a rug and a small basket with provisions for a picnic, Emily is holding a parasol. Maggie is carrying the poppies that will be used at the end of the play They lay out the rug on a raised grassy bank and sit. Emily almost immediately becomes engrossed in her poetry book; Maggie is sitting besides her making a daisy chain rather distractedly but is actually bursting to say something to Emily The music fades There is a silence Maggie Emily? She does not reply, there is a pause Emily! Emily! Emily (with a long-suffering sigh) What is it now, Maggie? Maggie I have a question. Emily Can t you see I m reading? Maggie I m sorry! Emily I should think so. Now be quiet! Maggie Emily! Emily Maggie! Maggie Please Emily, answer my question and then I promise I will be quiet. I ll be so quiet that you won t know I m here. I ll be quieter than a church mouse, I ll... Emily You really are most irritating Maggie! Maggie That s what younger cousins are for; it s our sole purpose in life: to be irritating, and to send our governesses mad, to drive papa to distraction and to poke out our tongues at tradesmen. Emily Then you surely are the epitome of the younger cousin! So what s your question, and it better not be another ridiculous one, such as, and here I quote, Is frog spawn edible or Are Red Indians really red? Maggie No it s not like that. I ve matured since last summer, I was young and foolish then. Emily Very well, (smiling, she puts down her book) what is it? Maggie has suddenly become shy Maggie Well, it s... Emily Come along Maggie out with it! Maggie I, I want to know what it s like to be in love. Not the love you feel for your parents but the love you can feel for...(she whispers) boys!

4 Emily Boys! Maggie Yes, boys. Emily Why do you want to know? Maggie (defensively) I m just curious. Emily I think you re a little young for questions like that! Maggie Oh do tell Emily, please! If you don t tell me I may never know and I won t know what to do and how to feel if I meet a boy! I don t want to end up as an old maid like aunt Clarissa, full of regrets. Oh please, please, please tell! Emily Maggie, don t take on so, it s quite unbecoming in a young lady! Maggie Sorry, but I truly need to know! A slight pause Emily Well, it s the most wonderful experience in the whole world Maggie! It s a feeling of warmth inside, a sense of security and strangely also a sense of freedom, I know that may sound like a contradiction but then love is. Love makes me feel as though I m drugged and floating through the world hardly aware of what s happening around me. Love can make you laugh and it can certainly make you cry. Love transcends spiritual nature, reaching beyond earthly pleasures to the ecstasy of soul communion. If our two loves be one, or, thou and I love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die. I know what love really is, Maggie, in its most pure and undiluted form. I know what it is to love a man. Maggie What man? Emily Tom Clarkson. Maggie He s not a man, he s the same age as you, he s seventeen! Emily He s a man, Maggie! Maggie Well technically not, because you have to be twenty-one... Emily Stop it, Maggie. You don t understand, do you! If you re not prepared to listen to someone with experience then you ll have absolutely no idea what love is all about. Maggie I m sorry, I ll listen. Tell me about love. Emily I m talking about love on a higher plane. Try to understand. I m talking about the love between a man and a woman. A love personified by deep felt feelings that rise to stir your soul, feelings that make you want to sing, to fly, to soar, I m talking about a love so passionate and perfect that you feel that you could jump off the edge of a cliff and not fall! But rather soar like a bird, spread your wings and rise above the world! The love I know transcends earthly pleasures. The poets know. You should read some poetry, Maggie, then you would understand. Read Donne or Browning or Keats or Wordsworth... Maggie Or Byron? Emily Only when you re a little older! But do read poetry, Maggie, poets know about love. They know what it is to suffer and therefore know what true love is. There is a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning that says everything I feel. As soon as I read it we seemed to connect. And when I finished reading it, I cried. I cried at its beauty. (She closes her eyes and recites the poem) How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of every day s Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints - I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

5 These are difficult times Maggie, difficult times for a woman to be in love. And now I am a woman, Maggie, mother said so, on my seventeenth birthday she said to me, you re a young woman now, Emily. That s what she said. () You mustn t tell a soul about how I feel about Tom, Maggie, it must be our secret. Maggie You can trust me Emily. Emily I hope I can. Maggie Emily. Emily Yes. Maggie Have you kissed him? Emily That s a rather impertinent and personal question, Maggie! Maggie But have you? Emily I might have! Maggie What was it like? Emily (after some thought) Very pleasant! Maggie Will you marry him? Emily Perhaps one day. He has asked me, well he asked if he could approach papa to ask for my hand but I said no, not yet, there are things I want to do, experiences I want to have. I d like to travel in Europe and then perhaps go to university if I could, but it seems there s little chance of that. Papa says it is not a woman s place to be at university, but for goodness sake this is 1915, women are demanding the vote, doing the work of men while they are away at the Front, so I don t see why universities such as Oxford should be for the sole privilege of men. Maggie Neither do I! Emily Good for you,maggie! Maggie Maybe when I m old enough I could go to university. Emily You certainly could. Maggie And vote! Emily Yes! Maggie And kiss boys! Emily Of course! Maggie I could be a politician and change the law in favour of women! Emily What a good idea! Maggie Maybe one day I could even be Prime Minister. Emily A woman Prime Minister! That s unlikely, Maggie! Maggie I suppose so. There is a silence and they lapse into individual reveries. Emily returns to reading her poetry book What on earth is that? From off we here a raucous bugle call and then the beginning of the following dialogue Billy, Tom, Grace, Alice, Edward, Robert (all are 15/16) and John (who is much younger than the rest and is banging a toy drum) enter Billy is being the Sergeant Major while the others march in carrying broom handles over their shoulders like rifles. They are playing soldiers

6 Billy Right you men! Left, right, left, right. Quick as you can, quick as you can. No slacking that man, no slacking! I m going to make soldiers out of every man jack of you! Even your mothers won t recognise you when I finish with you! After this you ll be able to give the Hun more than a bloody nose! You ll be giving him six inches of cold steel and then he ll be on the run! Cease marching! Stop! You re supposed to stop when I say stop! Right. Attention! Remembrance Mark Rees s poignant and at times disturbing account of under-age soldiers in the Great War. Plot summary The story of a group of teenagers in 1915, and how they react to the pro-war propaganda and peer-group pressure to join up despite being under age. The play also looks at the doomed love affair of two 16 yearolds, Emily and Tm, and the scandal of indifferent politicians.