Brian
E Turner's Plays and Novels
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A pdf copy of the play can be downloaded for reading purposes only. Please do not distribute or perform without my authority. I trust you. DOWNLOAD
The play had been expanded into a novel which is now out of print. It can be downloaded here. Please do not distribute or copy without my authority. I trust you. DOWNLOAD
Dreamers is a three act play concerning romantic love between an older man and a younger woman. Act 1 is complete within itself and can be presented as a one act, running about 25 to 30 minutes. It is basically a realistic play, however the dream sequences utilise special effects. Act 1 was first produced by Stagecraft Theatre in 1990, directed by the author. The complete play was first produced by Stagecraft Theatre in 1991, directed by Sambrene Chandler.
THOMAS: Thomas Young-Felo MA. The proprietor of a second hand bookshop. Felo is pronounced "Feelo". He wears a suit, with a waistcoat, which is old or second hand but well cared for. Aged about fifty or so.
KATE: Kathrine de Bris BA. A school teacher in her early to mid twenties. She dresses in an individual style. Sometimes the colours clash. She has a navy blue top with yellow parrots on it. (The surname is a terrible pun on "debris".)
RUTH: Thomas's daughter as a dream figure. A child.
DOMINIC: Kate's father as a dream figure. These two parts played by the actors that play THOMAS and KATE.
SCENE: Various. The play is set in Wellington, New Zealand, however the director could set it in any city if the locations can be simulated.
SET: The set should be kept simple. The scene and mood changes can be indicated by a lighting plot which provides cross fades, and should avoid black outs. It is not necessary to restrict the various locations to specific areas of the stage. For the dreams a single spot for each actor with a suitable "dream" colour could be utilised. Cross lighting, slightly forward of vertical, is quite effective. (However the designer need not feel restricted by these comments.)
MUSIC: The piano version of the Gymnopedies by Erik Satie. No 1 for Act 1, No 2 for Act 2, No 3 for Act 3.
PRODUCTION: The play was written for a friend of mine, Mr Auton Low. Auton is very much in the tradition of the English Romantic school and has a fine voice for Shakespearian production, hence the play has been written in a slightly inflated style, which should be undercut. Most people expect a New Zealand play to contain "Kiwi blokes", however there are people living in Wellington very much like Thomas. You often find them in second hand book shops. There are moments of farce in the play and these should be taken full advantage of. It is permissible to change the costume between acts.
Act1. Kate goes to Thomas's second hand bookshop seeking an old book to use in a school play. There is an immediate attraction between them. At home Kate daydreams about her father who abandoned her as a child and Thomas dreams about the child he abandoned in England when studying at Cambridge. Kate returns to the shop and invites Thomas to a soiree. At the soiree Thomas is about to ask Kate out for a date when a young man enters who he mistakenly thinks is Kate's lover. All they can do is dream.
Act 2: We have an action replay of the previous scene however the young man does not arrive. Kate and Thomas start dating however it is purely platonic. Eventually Thomas asks Kate to marry him. She refuses but suggests a sexual relationship. They go to bed but it is a disaster because they have not resolved the confusion of their lover/surrogate parent/sibling relationship.
Act 3: We have an action replay of the previous scene however this time Thomas is given advice by one of the three fates in the guise of an ice cream vendor and decides not to ask Kate to marry him. They discuss "The Taming of the Shrew" and have a row. Thomas takes her to visit his parents. Kate decides to take a holiday at a remote, rugged beach. During this period they both dream about their relationship and these dreams resolve the problems that have been hindering the union. They live happy ever after.
THOMAS'S BOOKSHOP. ENTER THOMAS WITH A BOOK.
THOMAS: Good evening. This is my shop. Just a second hand bookshop you might say, but it is my kingdom, and second hand objects do have a quality; often more quality than the flashy trash turned out on the modern treadmills. The set is not intended to be representational; you'll have to paint it with your own imagination. I'll place just one book on the table, as a symbol of the many we have here. (READS FROM FLYLEAF) "Letters of Thomas Carlyle to his Youngest Sister. Edited with an Introductory Essay by Charles Townsend Copeland. Lecturer on English Literature at Harvard University. With Portraits and Other Illustrations. London. Chapman and Hall Limited. 1899." Almost as old as myself eh? Well not quite. Marked down from six dollars to three dollars. How are the mighty fallen?
(ENTER KATE LOOKING AROUND THE SHOP)
THOMAS: (ASIDE) What an attractive young lady. A more gracious adornment to the room than all my tattered decorations. I should avoid such feelings.
KATE: Excuse me.
THOMAS: Yes?
KATE: I'm looking for an old volume.
THOMAS: At your service madam.
KATE: (ASIDE) Beware the careless word. (REAL) I mean an old book.
THOMAS: The shop is full of them madam. Did you have a particular title in mind?
KATE: No. I need one for the set of a play.
THOMAS: Then you would do best to chose at random.
(SHE PICKS UP THE BOOK)
KATE: "The letters of Thomas Carlyle". That looks stuffy enough.
THOMAS: Stuffy? Thomas Carlyle? Stuffy?
KATE: Well he was a musty Victorian wasn't he? Has it been soaking in water?
THOMAS: Perhaps; it may have done. Perhaps someone with a heart wept over it.
KATE: Three dollars. I don't know.
THOMAS: Two dollars shall be sufficient. (ASIDE WHILE SHE LOOKS IN HER PURSE) Musty Victorian indeed. You might say that Dickens was a musty Victorian mightn't you. (REAL) We have some Webster also madam, if you would prefer a fusty Elizabethan.
KATE: He was Jacobean wasn't he? Here are your two dollars.
SHE HANDS THE COIN OR NOTE TO HIM. HE PUTS IT IN HIS POCKET NOT THE TILL)
THOMAS: Thank you. Shall I wrap it in crepe madam?
KATE: Did I say something wrong?
THOMAS: I do hold Carlyle somewhat in esteem.
KATE: Do you? We have made different value judgements on the matter.
THOMAS: You have studied Carlyle, enough to form a, judgement?
KATE: No. I shall read the book and come back and tell you what I think. Don't worry about the wrapping paper.
(SHE GOES)
THOMAS: Value judgements. Cheeky young thing wasn't she. It's nice to see a bit of spirit nowadays. Time to shut up the shop and go home. I said it wasn't representational didn't I. The magic of your imagination will have to whisk away time and space also. (HE GOES INTO HIS FLAT AND HANGS UP HIS JACKET. VERY TIDY) Baked beans for tea. Once it would have been clam soup with fried croutons, to be followed by chicken and asparagus; and a chilled white German wine. How are the mighty fallen?
(KATE COMES INTO HER FLAT CARRYING A LETTER AND THE BOOK)
KATE: "The letters of Thomas Carlyle to his youngest sister" Why do I get roped into these things? (MIMICS) "You can't use books out of the school library, you never know what the little brats might do to them". I don't indeed. Who'd have third formers prancing around the stage crying out at the top of the question? Oh well they'll be clapped for it. Most tyrannically. (THE LETTER) Another outpouring from long lost Bruce. Dear Bruce, I must write to you and say that I have found another lover, that might shut you up. Another lover? Not if I can help it. Not for a while. (SUDDEN FLASH) Why don't you just go away and lose yourself? (SHE TEARS THE LETTER AND THROWS IT IN THE BIN) (BETTER) Now that man in the bookshop; I should have an affair with someone like that. Maturity. Old fashioned charm. He wouldn't settle his mind on his lustful requirements. Maybe it's you old girl. Maybe you are just a, a sexual object.
THOMAS ASLEEP. KATE ASLEEP, PLAYING THE PART OF RUTH. THE FIRST DREAM
RUTH: Daddy. Can you hear me?
THOMAS: Ruth. It's Ruth my daughter, my little girl. Where are you?
RUTH: Over the sea daddy.
THOMAS: Where?
RUTH: Over the sea. Over the storm-tossed waves.
THOMAS: Will you come to see me?
RUTH: No Daddy. I'm drowned.
THOMAS: What? Drowned? No not drowned.
RUTH: I'm drowned by time. I'm drowned by neglect. I'm over the sea. I'm drowned by forgetfulness.
THOMAS: Drowned?
RUTH: In your mind, I am drowned.
(THOMAS WAKES UP.)
THOMAS: Is it morning? Did I sleep? What dreams of... Cold morning. (HE OPENS THE CURTAINS AND THE DAWN LIGHT SHINES THROUGH ) "Look the morn with russet mantle clad." The image transcends reality, but it sits poorly in the scene. I would censure the Bard for his lack of care. "Russet mantle clad." We look backwards through the centuries at his brave words and wonder at the magic What did I dream of? My dear lost daughter. The dear drowned, the abandoned drowned, the living drowned, a castaway of a dead father. No, not really dead; alive now, under another sun. It goes down as this comes up. How are you now my dear, my milk-warm darling, my bundle of once-infant joy? And your mother? Oh your mother; I knew her well. Still in the bawdy bar. Still seeking the tinsel pleasure. It's gone in an instant and her face is tired lines and smeared lipstick. Cold morning. Why did I dream of my daughter? What prompted that? Grown up now. I'll never know her like that. I put her from my mind I did. The opium of neglect. Did you grow up to be like that young girl, the one that came into the shop seeking dunnage? Over the storm-tosst you are, over the wine- dark.... Take a sip. Put on your jacket. It's off to work.