Swallows and Amazons (stage version) (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Arthur Ransome

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Seitenzahl: 114

Beschreibung

Arthur Ransome's famous and much-loved children's classic is brought thrillingly to life in Helen Edmundson's wonderfully theatrical adaptation, with 'delightfully catchy and often witty' (Telegraph) songs by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy. When John, Susan, Titty and Roger are granted their wish to set sail on their beloved boat Swallow, they know it will be the summer holiday of a lifetime. But their adventure truly begins when they encounter Nancy and Peggy, the self-proclaimed Amazon Pirates, and the dastardly Captain Flint. 'Warm hearted, affectionate and fun' - Daily Telegraph 'Perfect – a brilliant feat of nerve and humour' - Daily Mail 'Full of wild adventure' - Guardian 'Infectious... Helen Edmundson provides a sprightly script' - Financial Times

Leseprobe

SWALLOWSAND AMAZONS

adapted by

HELEN EDMUNDSON

with songs by

NEIL HANNON

based on the novel by

ARTHUR RANSOME

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Production Note

Original Production

Characters

Act One

Act Two

About the Authors

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Production Note

Imagination is at the very centre of Swallows and Amazons. The children in the story are given the freedom to act out an ambitious, enthralling, imaginative game. And that proved to be the key to this adaptation, and to the staging of it. No need for real boats on real water, no need for owls and cormorants, no need, even, for children (they were played by adults in the first production, although I would love to see children perform it). If the imaginative world is established from the start, the audience will understand and enjoy the fact that boxes can become boats, and feather dusters can become parrots. The only required truth is in the emotions of the Swallows and the Amazons, as they negotiate their way through this extraordinary adventure.

Helen Edmundson

This stage adaptation of Swallows and Amazons was first performed at the Bristol Old Vic on 1 December 2010, with the following cast:

NANCY BLACKETT

Celia Adams

PEGGY BLACKETT

Amy Booth-Steel

SUSAN WALKER

Rosalie Craig

TITTY WALKER

Akiya Henry

JOHN WALKER

Stuart McLoughlin

ROGER WALKER

Stewart Wright

MOTHER

Alice Barclay

MR JACKSON

Trevor Michael Georges

POLICEMAN

Fionn Gill

OLD BILLY

Pieter Lawman

CAPTAIN FLINT

Richard Standing

PIRATE

Kyra Williams

Adapter

Helen Edmundson

Composer

Neil Hannon

Director

Tom Morris

Director of Movement

Toby Sedgwick

Set and Costume Designer

Robert Innes Hopkins

Musical Supervision/Arrangements/Orchestrations

Sam Kenyon

Lighting Designer

James Farncombe

Sound Designer

Jason Barnes

Additional Arrangements

Andrew Skeet

Additional Musical Material

Sam Kenyon

Co-Costume Designer

Liesel Corp

Casting Director

Alison Chard

The National Theatre in association with the Children’s Touring Partnership presented the Bristol Old Vic production of Swallows and Amazons at the Vaudeville Theatre in London’s West End, on 15 December 2011, with the following cast:

NANCY BLACKETT

Celia Adams

TITTY WALKER

Akiya Henry

JOHN WALKER

Richard Holt

SUSAN WALKER

Katie Moore

PEGGY BLACKETT

Sophie Waller

ROGER WALKER

Stewart Wright

CAPTAIN FLINT

Greg Barnett

FATHER/YOUNG BILLY

Neal Craig

MR JACKSON/PIRATE

Adrian Garratt

PIRATE

Alison George

MOTHER

Hilary Tones

POLICEMAN/OLD BILLY

Jon Trenchard Francesca Bradley

Adapter

Helen Edmundson

Composer

Neil Hannon

Director

Tom Morris

Director of Movement

Toby Sedgwick

Set and Costume Designer

Robert Innes Hopkins

Musical Supervision/Arrangements/Orchestrations

Sam Kenyon

Lighting Designer

James Farncombe

Sound Designer

Jason Barnes

Additional Arrangements

Andrew Skeet

Additional Musical Material

Sam Kenyon

Co-Costume Designer

Liesel Corp

Casting Director

Alison Chard

The production subsequently toured to Chichester Festival Theatre; Festival Theatre Edinburgh; Theatre Royal, Nottingham; Belgrade Theatre, Coventry; Wycombe Swan Theatre, High Wycombe; Malvern Festival Theatre; Civic Theatre, Darlington; West Yorkshire Playhouse; Liverpool Playhouse; Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury; Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield; Cambridge Arts Theatre; Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton; Theatre Royal Plymouth and New Theatre, Cardiff.

Characters

Swallows

TITTY WALKER

ROGER WALKER

JOHN WALKER

SUSAN WALKER

Amazons

NANCY BLACKETT

PEGGY BLACKETT

Grown-ups

MOTHER

MR JACKSON

CAPTAIN FLINT

CHARCOAL BURNER 1

CHARCOAL BURNER 2

PIRATE 1

PIRATE 2

POLICEMAN

ACT ONE

Scene One

The attic of an old house. A very old lady (TITTY), enters. She is carrying a feather duster in her hand. She looks about her. She has not been up here for a long time, and, slowly, she reacquaints herself with her old possessions: a cabin trunk, an old-fashioned typewriter, a stuffed parrot, a whistling kettle, pots and pans, blankets. She sits down and takes up an old photograph album. She blows the dust from the cover and opens it. As she turns the pages, the photographs she is looking at come to life. There are two of young men in Naval uniform (JOHN and ROGER). One is of a very smartly dressed, intellectual-looking lady (SUSAN). The last is of a kind-looking lady, arm in arm with a Naval Commander (MOTHER and Father). TITTY smiles.

Suddenly the feather duster sits up and squawks. TITTY stares at it in astonishment, then remembers.

TITTY. Polly?

The duster is transformed into a parrot. It squawks again, and flies to her. It lands on her hand.

Polly.

She strokes its feathers. After a moment, TITTY begins to sing.

Song – ‘Like Robinson Crusoe’

Since I was three I’ve longed to be like Robinson Crusoe,

Making my home all on my own like Robinson Crusoe,

This is my own Pacific isle, no one around for miles and miles,

It’s rather frightening,

One little wave follows another,

One tiny bird dives for its supper,

One buzzing bee flies through the heather,

One perfect day to last for ever.

Polly flies off. In her mind, TITTY returns to the Peak in Darien – the promontory in the Lake District from where she and her siblings liked to gaze out across the lake to the island.

(Speaking.) Look at it. A desert island. Waiting for us to discover it.

A little boy (ROGER) runs in. He has a telegram in his hand. He runs round and round the stage, imitating a sailboat.

ROGER. Dispatches! Dispatches!

TITTY. Roger? Roger!

ROGER. Dispatches! Dispatches!

Scene Two

Summer 1929. The peak of a hill in the Lake District (Peak in Darien). TITTY is suddenly a girl again. Beside her is her brother, JOHN, who is stoking a small fire. Her sister, SUSAN, is sitting on a rock making marmalade sandwiches. TITTY springs to her feet as ROGER runs up.

ROGER. Dispatches! Dispatches!

TITTY (jumping up). The telegram from Daddy!

SUSAN. At last.

ROGER reaches them.

TITTY. What does it say?

ROGER. Mother hasn’t opened it. She says John should.

JOHN takes it and opens it quickly. He reads and smiles.

SUSAN. Well?

TITTY. What?

ROGER. What does it say?

SUSAN. Read it aloud.

JOHN. It says, ‘Better drowned than duffers if not duffers won’t drown.’

ROGER. What?

TITTY. ‘Better drowned than duffers if not duffers won’t drown.’

JOHN. Good old Daddy.

SUSAN. But what does it mean?

TITTY. It means yes.

ROGER. Yes? For me too?

JOHN. All of us. We can all go and camp on the island.

ROGER. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! It’s because I’m not the youngest any more.

JOHN. We can take Swallow and sail her across.

SUSAN. Can I see?

SUSAN takes the telegram.

ROGER. Fat Vicky can’t come because she’s the baby.

TITTY. Good old Daddy.

SUSAN. But what are ‘duffers if not duffers’?

JOHN. It doesn’t say that.

TITTY. It says that if we’re duffers…

ROGER. What’s a duffer?

SUSAN. A fool.

TITTY. Then we’d be better off drowned. Then it stops and starts again, and says that as we aren’t duffers…

JOHN. ‘If ’.

TITTY. Yes – if we aren’t duffers we won’t be drowned.

SUSAN. Daddy put that in to comfort Mother.

JOHN. This is marvellous. I thought it was never going to come. I thought it would be too late and the holiday would be over.

SUSAN. It did have to come all the way from Daddy’s ship.

JOHN. Let’s make Ship’s Articles.

He sits, and takes a scrap of paper and a pencil from his pocket. He writes –

Sailing vessel – ‘Swallow’. Port – ‘Jackson’s Farm’. Owner…

SUSAN. Mr Jackson, the farmer, I suppose

JOHN. Master – John Walker, aged twelve. Mate?

SUSAN. Susan Walker, aged eleven.

JOHN. Able Seaman?

TITTY. Titty Walker, aged nine.

JOHN. Ship’s Boy?

ROGER. Me! Roger Walker, aged nearly eight.

JOHN. Aged seven.

Now, you all have to sign opposite your names.

ROGER. Can we go now?

SUSAN. Of course we can’t go now. A lot of preparations must be made for a voyage.

TITTY. But if we hurry…

JOHN. We can go tomorrow – if there’s a wind.

SUSAN. There’s no wind at all today.

JOHN. If there’s no wind we won’t be able to sail, and we’ll have to wait.

ROGER. Wait?

TITTY. But we can’t wait any longer. (Gazing out across the lake to the island.) Look at it. Our island.

SUSAN. We’ve waited for three weeks already. A day or two more won’t do any harm.

TITTY. We’ll have to make the wind come. We’ll have to whistle for it.

ROGER. But I can’t whistle. You know I can’t.

TITTY. We’ll have to try. We’ll all have to try.

Song – ‘Whistle for a Wind’

SWALLOWS.

Not a whisper in the beech trees,

Not a ripple on the lake,

The wind has gone to sleep, we’ve

Got to whistle her awake.

Whistle for a wind, whistle for a wind,

Then and only then can it begin.

MOTHER enters.

MOTHER (speaking). Come on, time for bed!

Scene Three

The bedroom at the farmhouse on Jackson’s Farm. MOTHER, holding Fat Vicky under her arm, settles them all into bed. The SWALLOWS continue to sing.

SWALLOWS.

All of us are thirsting,

For what tomorrow holds,

But we are at the mercy,

Of things we can’t control,

Let’s whistle for a wind, whistle for a wind,

Then and only then can we begin.

MOTHER (speaking). Goodnight, John.

JOHN. Goodnight.

MOTHER. A big day tomorrow. Your maiden voyage as Captain.

JOHN. Yes.

MOTHER. Quite a thing, being responsible for a crew.

JOHN. I think I’m up to it.

MOTHER. I’m sure you are. I’m sure you’ll make Daddy proud. (Kisses JOHN.)

ROGER. I’m going to learn to swim on the island.

MOTHER. That’s a very good idea. But only go in the water if one of the others is with you.

ROGER. I can nearly swim.

MOTHER. I know. And if you manage to swim properly, without your foot on the bottom, I shall give you a penknife of your own.

ROGER. Like John’s? With a pearly handle?

MOTHER. Yes. Just like John’s.

ROGER. Thanks! I’m definitely going to swim.

MOTHER (kissing him). Goodnight, darling.

TITTY (singing).

I want to be a pirate, the terror of the seas.

SUSAN.

I want to build a fireplace and make us all some tea.

JOHN.

I’ll be Swallow’s captain.

SUSAN, TITTY and ROGER.

And we her willing crew.

SUSAN.

First Mate.

TITTY.

Able Seaman.

ROGER.

And I am coming too!

MOTHER (speaking). Get back in your beds.

TITTY. You will come and wave us off, won’t you?

MOTHER. Of course.

TITTY. You can be Queen Isabella waving goodbye to the Spanish Armada. And John can be Stout Cortez and we’ll be the conquistadors.

MOTHER. And you can bring me back some treasure.

TITTY. Pirate treasure buried hundreds of years ago!

MOTHER. I’ll ask the farm opposite the island if they’ll give you milk and bread every day.

SUSAN. And eggs too. I’m best at buttered eggs.

MOTHER. Just be sure to clean out the milk can very thoroughly. We don’t want any sickness in the crew.

SUSAN. Or scurvy.

TITTY. You don’t mind us all going, do you? And leaving you, I mean?

SUSAN. At least you’ll have Vicky.

TITTY. But Vicky can’t chat.

SUSAN. She says more than Mr Jackson.

TITTY. I’ll miss our chats.

MOTHER. So will I.

ROGER. Is that the wind?

They all sing.

ALL.

Like another lonely planet,

Like a strange and distant star,

Stretch out, you can almost touch it,

So near but yet so far.

Whistle for a wind, whistle for a wind,

Then and only then can it begin,

Then and only then can it begin.

ROGER (speaking). Goodnight for tonight. And goodnight for tomorrow night. And goodnight for the next night, and the next night.

MOTHER. Sleep!

MOTHER leaves, putting the light out as she does so. ROGER manages to whistle.

ROGER. I whistled!

ALL. Go to sleep, Roger!

The sun sets. The CHILDREN settle down to sleep. Night falls and it grows completely dark. The faintest whisper of a wind begins to blow the curtain. Gradually it grows. Trees begin to sway, and things begin to blow about. At last the wind fills the whole auditorium so that the audience feels it too.

Scene Four

The sun comes out. The four CHILDREN rush outside and spin round and round in the wind, laughing and whooping for joy.

ROGER. It worked! The whistling worked!

SUSAN. What sort of wind is it, John?

JOHN (holding his finger up). North-westerly.

TITTY. Is that good?

JOHN. It will do us nicely.

ROGER. Can we go? Can we go?

JOHN. Wait, Roger. Where’s that list, Mister Mate? Let’s start packing.

SUSAN. Aye, aye, Cap’n!

Song – ‘Packing’

A big tin box of books and writing paper.

JOHN.

A small aneroid barometer.

SUSAN.

And other things that need to be kept dry.

TITTY.

Like nightclothes.

JOHN.

I won it as a prize at school…

ROGER (speaking, over the music). Hurry up! The wind’s getting stronger!

SUSAN (singing).

Three biscuit tins with bread and tea and sugar.

TITTY.

Salt and bread, and lots and lots of eggs – separately wrapped for fear of smashes.

SUSAN.

A frying pan, a saucepan and a kettle.

JOHN and ROGER.

Jugs and plates and spoons and forks and knives.

SUSAN.

Two groundsheets with tents wrapped up inside.

TITTY.

A seed cake.

JOHN and ROGER.

A long coil of stout grass rope.

TITTY.

Two sacks stuffed with blankets and rugs.

SUSAN.

Tins of corned beef. Where’s the corned beef?

JOHN (speaking). Right, crew, let’s get this down to the boathouse.

They head off, continuing to check the list as they go.

Scene Five

They reach the boathouse. The CHILDREN open the doors.

JOHN. I’ll bring her out.

SUSAN. I’ll undo the painter.

(Singing.)

A piece of chalk, a plaster and some candles.

TITTY (speaking). Is her sail up?

SUSAN. No. It’s rolled up inside.

JOHN (singing).

The fishing rod I got at Christmas time.

SUSAN (speaking