The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Kate Summerscale

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 67

Beschreibung

Summer 1860, an elegant country house, a young boy is found dead in an outside privy. All clues point towards the murderer being a member of the grieving household. Called to the scene is the most celebrated detective of his day, Jonathan Whicher from Scotland Yard. But this case challenges him in ways he's never been challenged before. Over twenty years later, still haunted by the case, Whicher visits the murderer. As they replay the past, they start to question the nature of truth, the desire for certainty, and the possibility of redemption. This compelling stage adaptation of Kate Summerscale's gripping bestseller opened at The Watermill Theatre, Newbury, in May 2023. This ensemble piece provides rich opportunities for companies looking to intrigue their audiences with a fresh take on a dark Victorian mystery. 'A true crime classic turned into a tense drama... ingeniously plotted… Kate Summerscale's Victorian potboiler is deftly condensed in a production that brings out the misogyny and class snobbery of the era' - Guardian 'Taut and magnetic… Alexandra Wood's bold adaptation turns the book's structure on its head… electric' - The Times 'An utterly transporting piece of storytelling that will keep you gripped as it carefully carries you towards its conclusion' - Broadway World 'Powerful… a wonderfully concise retelling and reexamination of the facts… The story unfolds with pleasing clarity' - WhatsOnStage 'Alexandra Wood's dramatisation for the stage intuitively captures the atmosphere of Summerscale's book… keeps the audience on its toes, piecing together fragments of the case and steering toward a remarkable conclusion… exposes the deep-seated, class-ridden misogyny of the Victorian era' - The Stage

Leseprobe

Kate Summerscale

THE SUSPICIONS OF MR WHICHER

Adapted for the stage by

Alexandra Wood

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Characters

Note on the Text

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

This adaptation of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher was first performed at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury, on 5 May 2023. The cast was as follows:

MR KENT and Others

Jim Creighton

JONATHAN WHICHER

Christopher Naylor

WILLIAM and Others

Sam Liu

MISS GOUGH and Others

Robyn Sinclair

MRS KENT (NÉE MISS PRATT) and Others

Connie Walker

CONSTANCE KENT

Eleanor Wyld

BOY / DENIS

Hector Philpott

Clara Tame

Samuel Wall

Director

Kate Budgen

Designer

Amy Jane Cook

Lighting Designer

Katy Morison

Sound Designer and Composer

Beth Duke

Video Projection Designer

Rachel Sampley

Movement and Intimacy Director

Angela Gasparetto

Production Manager

Nick Flintoff

Assistant Production Manager

Alice Reddick

Costume Supervisor

Emily Barratt

Deputy Costume Supervisor

Beth Rose

Costume Maker

Ros Kitson

Company Stage Manager

Cat Pewsey

Deputy Stage Manager

Emily Stedman

Assistant Stage Manager

Natalie Toney

Placement Assistant Stage Manager

Phoebe Butcher

Head of Technical

Thom Townsend

Theatre Technician

Izzy Moore

Production Electricians

Keith Anker

Ryan Tate

Audio Description

Lixi Chivas

Set Construction

DSH Carpentry

Characters

JONATHAN WHICHER, forty-five to sixty-six

CONSTANCE KENT, five to thirty-six

MISS PRATT, twenty-eight, who becomes MRS KENT, thirty-six to forty

MR KENT, forty-seven to sixty-four

JOHN FOLEY, sixty-four

ELIZABETH GOUGH, twenty-two

WILLIAM KENT, eleven to eighteen

EDWARD KENT, eighteen

DR PARSONS, forty-five

LOUISA HATHERILL, fifteen

SARAH COX, twenty-two

PETER EDLIN, forty

GUARD BOY, three

CROWD DENIS, four

REVEREND WAGNER

KATHARINE GREAM

PASSENGER

SIR THOMAS HENRY

EMILIE, fifty-one

OLDER WILLIAM, fifty

NURSE

ARTHUR

Notes on the Text

Whicher and Constance should be played by the same two performers throughout. The other parts may be played by members of an ensemble.

The scenes should flow into one another. Constance and Whicher remain in Fulham Prison, even when they recall scenes from the past.

The sections in bold are Constance’s memories, distinct from memories of the investigation and trial. Whicher doesn’t experience these.

A forward slash ( / ) indicates a point of interruption.

A lack of punctuation at the end of a line indicates that the character cannot, or does not wish to, continue.

A line space in between sections indicates a shift in time.

This text went to press before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

ACT ONE

Fulham Prison, early 1881. WHICHER is sixty-six, CONSTANCE is thirty-six.

WHICHER. You’ve applied for early release three times.

CONSTANCE. I intend to apply again.

WHICHER. You believe you should be free?

CONSTANCE. I don’t believe I’m a threat.

Reverend Wagner has written on my behalf. Others have, too. They moved me here from Millbank, which was a small concession, I suppose.

WHICHER. You murdered your three-year-old brother.

CONSTANCE. I’ll never forgive myself.

But I believe I could do some good, be of some use to society now.

WHICHER. I moved to Battersea last year but before that I lived just beyond the walls of Millbank Prison.

I thought of you in there.

CONSTANCE. Do you often think about past cases?

Pause.

WHICHER. This case haunts me.

I don’t doubt your guilt, but it’s not the full truth, is it?

I don’t want to die without knowing that.

CONSTANCE. Are you dying?

WHICHER. I’m not in my prime.

Pause.

I’ve spent most of my life pursuing the Truth and it’s often felt like a game. I’ve prided myself on being able to read people, on sparring and outsmarting them, and on knowing, on knowing I’m right, on certainty, on offering people an answer and on the comfort that brings.

Certainty.

But I don’t have that here, and it makes me question whether it’s even possible, or whether I spent my life in pursuit of an illusion, in fact, whether I’ve wasted my time, whether I’ve wasted my time on this earth.

CONSTANCE. I’ve spent sixteen years in prison. My youth. I know about wasted time.

Pause.

WHICHER. I could help you.

CONSTANCE. How?

WHICHER. I could write a letter in support of your early release, like Reverend Wagner.

CONSTANCE. Why would you do that?

WHICHER. If you tell me the full truth of what happened. Just me. Just for my own

Pause.

Do you have many visitors?

Pause.

CONSTANCE. I don’t know what else I can tell you.

WHICHER. If we’re thorough, if we go through it all / with absolute

CONSTANCE. Again?

WHICHER. One last time. If we tread carefully, pay attention to the details, if we are meticulous and uncompromising, / that missing

CONSTANCE. You were all those things before.

WHICHER. that missing piece, that fullness, must be revealed.

CONSTANCE. And what if it isn’t?

WHICHER. I believe it will be.

CONSTANCE. How much is a letter from you worth now, Mr Whicher? It’s a long time since you’ve been considered the prince of detectives.

WHICHER. You’ve had three failed attempts, isn’t it worth a try?

CONSTANCE. I’ve been through it all too many times.

WHICHER. Might not a letter from the detective responsible for your case carry some weight?

You’re right, I don’t have the influence I once had. But without some new advocacy in your next appeal, how much hope can you really have?

A clap of thunder. The sounds of a storm.

The library. MISS PRATT (twenty-eight)rushes onto the stage towards MR KENT (forty-seven), who pulls her down onto his knee and kisses her. She sees CONSTANCE.

MISS PRATT. Not before the child!

MR KENT. It’s only human nature, Mary.

He kisses her again and she responds.

CONSTANCE. Where would you want to begin?

WHICHER. Monday the sixteenth of July, 1860.

CONSTANCE. Saville was already dead by then.

WHICHER. A full two weeks after the murder. But it’s only then that the local constabulary request assistance from the Metropolitan detective force.

Superintendent Foley shows me the drawing room.

FOLEY. The housemaid found the door unlocked and this window slightly open. The shutters are fastened with that bar, no one could have come in from outside, so as horrifying as it is, the murder must’ve been committed by someone in the house.

WHICHER. That’s eleven people?

FOLEY. Yes, but four of those are children, who wouldn’t be capable.

WHICHER. William is fifteen, Constance sixteen. I frequently come across children as young as eight capable of theft and deceit.

FOLEY. But murder?

WHICHER. In certain circumstances.

FOLEY. Perhaps where you’re from, detective, children are more disturbed.

In my opinion, the number of people within the house capable of carrying out such a murder is no more than six.

WHICHER. And who are they, in your opinion?

FOLEY. Samuel Kent, the boy’s father.

Mary Ann and Elizabeth, the two eldest daughters from his first marriage, although I highly doubt either of them have it in them.

Miss Gough, the nursemaid.

Miss Cox, the housemaid.

And Miss Kerslake, the cook.

WHICHER. And Mrs Kent?

FOLEY. She’s eight months pregnant. She could barely lift the boy, let alone carry him from the nursery, down the stairs, through the window, to the privy. And besides the practical impossibility, she was his devoted mother.

WHICHER. I’ve dealt with more than one case of a mother murdering her child, but at such a late stage of pregnancy, it does seem unlikely she could manage it alone.

It’s possible the window wasn’t used in the crime at all. Perhaps the murderer only opened the window so we’d think the child had been stolen away across the fields.

FOLEY. That doesn’t help us, does it? Since the child was in fact stabbed and thrown into the privy.

WHICHER. It could offer us a glimpse into the murderer’s state of mind though. If it was meant to deceive us, it suggests he or she

FOLEY. Or they.