Plays of Love and Conflict

By Neil Duffield and Sarah Brigham

From beautiful adaptations of classics to exciting new writing, Duffield is a master of storytelling. Commissioned by theatres and community groups in the UK, these plays offer strong roles for both men and women, as well as the opportunity for song and dance. They will appeal to schools and
youth theatres as well as both amateur and professional performers.
Using a mixture of storytelling, theatre and song, BROTHERS IN ARMS draws on the true story of two brothers from a Yorkshire pit village – one of whom steadfastly refused to fight in World War I, while the other volunteered and served on the front line in France. Cast 8 minimum.
Adapted from Hugo’s novel, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME is ‘remarkably faithful to the author’s original intention… a faultless production.’ – THE MORNING STAR Cast 8 minimum.
WITH ALL MY LOVE is a tale of conspiracy and betrayal, of family feuds and deep-held secrets, of a woman’s struggle to keep faith with a husband transported to the other side of the world. Suitable for large cast productions, aimed at a general audience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aurora Metro Books
• Release date: Jun 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781910798805

Book preview

LOVE

PREFACE

I’ve directed a number of Neil Duffield’s plays, from beautiful adaptations of classics to exciting new writing. Neil is a master of storytelling – he manages to get the audience to the heart of the story through an intricate journey of well-drawn characters and dramatic action. But it is his poetry and true commitment to ensemble playing which I admire the most.

The lines Neil offers the actor are each beautifully crafted – they sing with poetry – and the way he manages to interlace ensemble means that whether you are working with professionals or a young company you can very easily lock in to the rhythm and heartbeat of the piece as it’s all there on the page.

Like all good drama, his plays often have a dash of humour and a tint of delicious darkness for you to tackle in the rehearsal room and although they are sometimes a derivative of a fairytale, or set in a world unknown to us now, they always hold a mirror up to our own experiences.

I encourage you to enjoy Neil’s writing as I have in the rehearsal room. He offers you a bucketful of possibilities and a map of opportunities.

Sarah Brigham

Artistic Director, Derby Theatre

INTRODUCTION

Brothers in Arms

The story of Britain’s first conscientious objectors is a dramatic and powerful one. Yet, compared with those who went out to fight and die, their names are largely unknown, their stories ignored and their bravery uncommemorated. At the time, they were branded as cowards and even today, elements of that stigma still persist. Many of them were devout Christians who believed that ‘Thou shalt not kill’ means exactly what it says. Others were socialists who saw German workers as their comrades in the struggle against international capitalism. Some were pacifists for whom violence and war is never a solution. Their motives varied but the battle lines for all were the same – King and Country versus individual conscience.

Some were prepared to compromise – accepting non-combatant roles in the army. But others refused to regard themselves as soldiers in any form or to undertake any work, military or civilian, which might assist the war effort. Far from being cowards, these were men who were ready not only to endure almost universal public abuse and contempt, but were prepared to suffer the ultimate sacrifice for their beliefs.

Using a mixture of story-telling, theatre and song, the play draws on the true story of Bert and Phil Brocklesby, two brothers from a Yorkshire pit village, one of whom steadfastly refused to fight, while the other volunteered and was sent off to serve on the front line in France.

Most of the events in the play happened, though some details have been changed for the purposes of the drama. Likewise some of the characters were real-life people and I have used their actual names, while others are fictitious, based on a combination of people involved in events at the time.

World War I was meant to be the war to end all wars. But with wars currently breaking out across the world, we are only too aware of the falsity of that claim. The story of the WWI conscientious objectors is not merely a historical one, it has real significance for today.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Though set in the middle ages, Victor Hugo intended his epic novel to have references to his own time – France in the revolutionary turmoil of the 1830s. And its themes resonate equally as well today.

More than anything else, it is a story of distortion. Quasimodo’s deformed body is matched by Frollo’s deranged and misogynistic mind. Esmeralda’s infatuation with Phoebus is as misshapen as his callous and sexually exploitative treatment of her. Paquette’s grief for her lost child turns into hatred of gypsies. Quasimodo’s love for Esmeralda spawns only self-detestation. This is no Romeo and Juliet. Emotions are twisted by obsession into grotesques as warped and ugly as the gargoyles that gaze from the towers of Notre Dame.

But it is a tale of political as well as emotional distortion: an arrogant and self-obsessed government which has lost touch with its people, a judicial system where justice is a farce, racism and repression at every level, and the apparent but illusory safety in the sanctuary of the church. The story takes us through the streets of Paris into an underclass of beggars and outcasts. The ‘Court of Miracles’ has its own laws and codes – and ultimately its own power – almost, but not quite, matching that of the state. We see a world in turmoil. A society on the point of collapse.

These are dark and powerful themes. But they are lit by flashes of humour and irony. As the plot unfolds, one misunderstanding follows another. Suspense builds via a whole series of cliff-hanging situations before the final dramatic conclusion.

The story’s central character is undoubtedly the cathedral of Notre Dame itself and it was for this reason that Hugo named his novel Notre Dame de Paris. Only in English translation and Hollywood film did it become more famously known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

With All My Love

In 1931, during the demolition of an old police station in Western Australia, a workman discovers a kangaroo skin pouch containing a tattered bundle of letters. They were addressed to a convict and written to him by his wife in England between the years 1865 and 1878. At first glance they appear to contain no more than mundane items of news and expressions of affection, but beneath the surface an extraordinary story begins to emerge – a tale of conspiracy and betrayal, of family feuds and deep-held secrets, of a man battered to death at the dead of night, of a love affair ripped apart, and of one woman’s struggle to keep faith with a husband transported to the other side of the world.

The letters, now lodged with the State Archive of Western Australia, are the inspiration and starting point for With All My Love, which was commissioned as a community play by Rotherham Council in the UK in 2002 and performed by a cast of about thirty amateur actors the following year.

The play moves around in both time and location – from England to Australia and from the 1860s to the 1950s. Much of the action is based on fact but like any piece of history, particularly one about the lives of ordinary men and women, there are large gaps in the story which can only be filled by guess-work. The final product is therefore a mixture of fact and fiction, and for this reason I’ve changed the names of the historical characters and all place names are likewise fictitious.

But the story is by no means unique – convicts were shipped to Australia in their thousands from all over Britain and Ireland, often for minor crimes, leaving families torn apart forever. This story is just one of many similar ones, repeated in virtually every town and city across the country. It is both love story and tragedy, a tale of injustice and inequality, of lives destroyed by internal as well as external factors. But most important of all it’s a story about ordinary people who lived out their lives only a few generations before our own.

All the plays in this collection portray characters driven to extremes by love and torn apart by conflict, either with themselves or with society, family and friends.

Two of the plays are based on historical events, while the third adapts Victor Hugo’s classic story of misfits – those on the margins in 15th-century Paris. His critique of that society and call for humanity and compassion in the treatment of all people, is as valid today as it was nearly two hundred years ago.

Neil Duffield

THE PLAYS

BROTHERS IN ARMS

Commissioned by Riding Lights Theatre Company, York, May 2014. Riding Lights Theatre Company gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust for the commissioning of the script.’

The play can be performed by a minimum of eight actors.

Characters

Annie Wainwright – aged both in her 20s and 70s.

Lizzie Partington – suffragette and socialist, aged in her 20s and 70s.

Jack Cooper – conscientious objector, aged in his 20s.

Bert Brocklesby – conscientious objector, aged in his 20s and 70s.

Phil Brocklesby – WWI army officer, aged in his 20s and 80s.

Frederick Mullen – building worker and WWI sergeant.

Arnold Rowntree – MP for York.

Various soldiers, officers, prison wardens, workers, music hall artistes, tribunal members, Labour Party Officials, a minister, etc.

Songs

Song of Peace (tune Finlandia by Sibelius 1899)

Step by Step (words from a 19th century union rulebook)

We Shall Not Be Moved (traditional African-American spiritual)

Lay Down Your Sword and Shield (traditional)

My Love Is Like a Red Red Rose (Robert Burns)

British Grenadiers (traditional)

Abide With Me (words Henry Francis Lyte, tune William Henry Monk 1847)

We Are Marching (Siya Hamba, traditional South African gospel, English words by Bronwen Westacott)

The Internationale (words and tune late 19th century)

Notes on Characters

Bert Brocklesby, Phil Brocklesby and Annie Wainwright were all real people. Most of the events concerning them happened, though some details have been changed for the purposes of the drama.

Jack Cooper and Lizzie Partington are fictitious characters but based on a combination of real people who were involved in the events portrayed.

Frederick Mullen is entirely fictitious.

Arnold Rowntree was a real person and MP for York before and during WWI.

All other characters are fictitious.

Set

Should be easily adaptable in order to create a variety of locations both internal and external. At certain points in the play, several locations / realities need to be portrayed at the same time.

Costume

Should indicate period and character but be minimal enough to allow changes to take place quickly, easily and sometimes in view of the audience.

Music

Is used to accompany songs when appropriate, to indicate passage of time, and to link scenes. If possible it should be live and played by the actors.

ACT ONE

Music. Lights up. One of the cast, dressed in WWI army uniform, stands as a statue on a war memorial.

In front of the memorial is Bert, aged in his 70s and dressed in civilian clothes appropriate to the early 1960s. He is holding a placard which reads VIGIL FOR PEACE. HIROSHIMA. AUGUST 6 1945. The rest of the cast are positioned at various points around the set. Straight into song.

CAST

This is my song, oh Spirit of all nations,

A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.

But other hearts in other lands are beating,

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

Oh hear my song, oh Spirit of all nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

Song ends. Mullen addresses the audience. He is dressed in a WWI sergeant’s uniform.

MULLEN

So, it’s conscientious objectors you’ve come to hear about, is it? I expect there’ll be some of you never even heard of ’em. And who could blame you? You’ve come to the right place, mind. You’ll find no better example than our friend John Brocklesby here – or ‘Bert’, as he’d prefer you to call him. Three hours he’s been standing in front of that war memorial. You’d imagine that at the age of seventy-three he’d think twice before dishonouring the dead of two world wars.

Annie is in her early 20s and dressed in 1914 civilian costume.

ANNIE

That isn’t how his mind works. Is it, Bert…? For Bert it’s all very simple. ‘Thou shalt not kill’. No ifs. No buts. No exceptions. God’s holy word. As it was in the beginning, now and ever shall be. Fifty years on and nothing changes. Same inflexibility. Same absolute assurance that he’s in the right.

Lizzie is also in her early 20s and dressed in similar fashion to Annie.

LIZZIE

No problems with yourself on that score, eh Annie? No-one could accuse you of inflexibility.

ANNIE

I’m not ashamed of what I did.

Jack Cooper is in his early 20s and dressed in 1914 civilian costume.

JACK

I take my hat off to him. Religion’s a delusion in my book but war makes comrades of unlikely men. My only regret is that I’m not standing there with him.

MULLEN (to the audience)

Here’s another example for you. Comrade Jack Cooper. Socialist, trade union militant, and self-styled champion of the working class. Different justification. Different excuse. But same miserable cowardice. Go ahead, comrade, tell them your story. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? That’s what these people have come to hear. Tell them what happened to you.

Phil is dressed in the uniform of a WWI 2nd Lieutenant.

PHIL

That’s not what we agreed, Sergeant.

MULLEN

I beg your pardon?

PHIL

We begin at the beginning.

MULLEN

My apologies… Sir. (Mullen steps back.)

PHIL (to the audience)

It wasn’t easy. Not for Bert, not for me, not for any of us. We were unprepared. None of us saw what was coming. How could we? It was a glorious summer. People had other things on their mind.

Music. Lighting change. Short reprise of opening song, during which the war memorial is struck and the cast help Bert change into 1914 civilian costume.

CAST

Oh hear my song, oh Spirit of all nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

Cast exit except for Bert who is left alone. He is now in his 20s.

Phil and Mullen remain on stage, but in a separate reality, observing the following.

Bert is repeatedly tossing a coin. Annie enters, watches Bert for a few moments.

ANNIE

… Bert?

He turns to her and grins.

BERT

Annie.

ANNIE

What are you doing?

BERT

Nothing… Just praying.

ANNIE

Oh, sorry… I didn’t mean to interrupt. (She turns to leave.)

BERT

No… No, wait… My prayers were about you.

ANNIE

Me?

BERT (with a twinkle in his eye)

I was asking God for advice.

ANNIE

What kind of advice?

BERT

Oh nothing much… Just about whether I should ask you to marry me or not.

ANNIE

… I beg your pardon? (After the initial shock she quickly recovers, realises it’s a game and joins in) And what advice did God give you on this particular matter?

BERT

He said I should go ahead. That I should tell you I’m madly in love with you and would very much like you to become my wife.

ANNIE

I see… And God’s certain about this, is He?

BERT

No doubts whatsoever. He even sent me a sign.

ANNIE

Did he now?

BERT

Absolutely.

ANNIE

What kind of a sign? (Bert flips the coin) You tossed a coin?!

BERT

Heads I should ask you to marry me. Tails we should call it quits and go our separate ways.

ANNIE

Well well. Lucky for me it turned out heads then.

BERT

It didn’t.

ANNIE

What?

BERT

It was tails.

ANNIE

But I thought you said…

BERT

I decided on best of three.

ANNIE

And the next two came out heads, I suppose.

BERT

No. It finished up one head, two tails… I decided to make it best of five.

ANNIE (bursting out laughing)

Oh you… (She flings her arms around his neck. They kiss.)

BERT

I can take that as a yes, can I?

ANNIE

Certainly not… Give me the coin. (He tosses it to her) Heads it’s yes. Tails, no.

BERT

Fair enough. (Annie tosses the coin. Bert catches it in mid-air) Shut your eyes. (Annie obeys. Bert glances at the coin. Quickly turns it over) It must be your lucky day. (Annie glances at the coin.)

ANNIE

You know what you are, Bert Brocklesby. A demon. A scarlet coloured, fork-tailed demon.

BERT

But you’ll marry me all the same?

ANNIE

How could a girl resist? (They exit.)

MULLEN

I hope you’re not going to be over-charitable towards your brother, Lieutenant. This story isn’t about him.

PHIL

Bert needs no help from me. (Handing Mullen a workman’s jacket) Don’t worry, Sergeant. You’ll have your say.

Mullen takes off his army cap and jacket and slips on the workman’s coat. He is joined by two other workmen. The three of them sit, drinking mugs of tea.

On the opposite side of the set, Jack and Lizzie enter. They are laughing and enjoying themselves. It’s clear they are lovers.

Phil remains on stage but in a different reality, observing the scene.

JACK

You’re sure you want to go through with this?

LIZZIE

Of course. I said I would, didn’t I?

JACK

Building workers can be pretty rough, you know. You might hear some language.

LIZZIE

You’ve obviously never set foot in a weaving mill.

JACK

I’ll do the talking. Don’t let them rattle you. Look ’em straight in the eye. We’ve come at a good time. Looks like they’re on tea break.

They move towards the group of building workers.

MULLEN

Well, bugger me. Will you look at what we have here?

Worker 1 wolf whistles.

WORKER 2

I wouldn’t say