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clangree · 4 years

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Aligning the Text and the Design

The Audience is asked to meet at the Marconi Village early evening. Buses would be organized to get them from the Penarth train station, or they can get there by their own way. They have probably gotten their tickets, online, seing a piece of theater advertised taking place at an abandoned battery in Penarth. They are invited to follow the grassy path beyond the metal gate.

“The audience filter in to what seems a deserted site but is gradually populated by soldiers from WW1, WW2 and the present day: a mix of different ranks and regiments. The soldiers are aware of each other but not the audience, although they intermingle. We see the army setting up camp: assembling equipment, adopting positions, scanning the horizon with binoculars, tuning radio equipment, mapping and measuring the site. The Poet sees both soldiers and audience. There is a timeless quality about her.”

The piece opens when the audience start walking through the muddy path. They can start hearing marching sounds, calling screams, and military camp activity. The audience is slowly brought onto this world of the play.

They enter the space and the first thing they see is the large tree and the poet. The Tree is a center piece and is lit to create a mysterious and misty ambiance. There are large scrolls, written on, or sewn on, coming from the branches. They create extended branches and roots of the tree, extending to the concrete path the audience is walking on. This moment is supposed to mix naturalism with the soldiers and their weapons and their sounds, and magic and mystery with the poet and her tree. The tree is the source of the story and the soldiers look like they are growing from the pages of the scroll

Maybe they see some military activity in the background, but the main focus and light it on that tree. The poet is doing her acitivity as some soldier rise from the tall grass, they seem to either practice or be at war, it is unclear. The audience filters in and sees this action little by little. This army is a large one composed of soldiers of all race and age, and history. Children, young men and women, and elders dressed in military style uniforms walk around, interact together. The generational gap should be a bit of a surprise, but acted as totally normal by the actors. Kids are holding large weapons same as an older woman would.

A soldier or event the poet, guides them as new recruits, to watch some sort of activity of military base, soldiers cooking, eating, smoking, playing cars, relaxed, writing, on the phone, in the first spot. The audience does not enter that space, but acts as audience members, watching the soldiers come in and out, clean their guns etc... The soldier or poet that is guiding them, shows them toward the next circle. The sounds and the activity is all around them.

“1.The performance begins with one of the soldiers unfurling the Welsh dragon and organizing a pole to raise it”

The Audience is informally asked to follow the activity and the rhythm of the other soldier rushing into the circle where a large pole and flag is raised. The Commandent is here and a large crowd of soldier follow his orders, raise the flag, stand up on the cubes. Inside the cubes aligning the inside of the circle are piles of sand bags, weapons, a link to the original purpose of the site. The Poet talks over the activity :

“ The Poet

The poet is writing her masterpiece, the poem to end all war poems. She writes the scenes and visions that run before her like a newsreel. She sees the rural village within view of this estuary. She sees soldiers and armoured corps arrive: “....

As she describes the Commander, the soldiers, the machines, the blinkers, and masks, during that whole speech, the audience sees some sort of argument about the flag; The Welsh Flag is lowered and the Union Jack is erected. The Commandant start speaking. Action is more focused. When the soldiers interject it is all still within the circle. The audience is part of the crowd of soldiers who watch the commandant and flag. Actors intermingle with the audience, yet without really seing them.

“Stand all Give Attention It’s arrived The war “

At this moment, maybe all soldier rise and straiten up, alerted by the “coming war”. The army marches into positions of defense. The athmosphere has gotten more tense, maybe we hear a siren and shuffling, soldiers grab weapons, run around, the audience must feel them “preparing for the war to come”.

“It’s arrived. March! LEFT – RIGHT LEFT – RIGHT, Tapping boot Tap tap Boot boot”

This moment where all the actors start marching at the same time and same rhythm must feel very ominous. The audience feels a shift. The soldier march away from the circle and then scatter away, maybe firing arms above, going to hide in the grass, behind walls, the audience must feel that they are suddenly in danger. They follow maybe a child playing with a airplane toy, as the sounds of RAF fighters arrive. This is probably the moment where the toys are introduced into the play. The weapons and arms the soldiers have are real looking, but there are a few moments, where children (dressed as soldiers) or adults, play with little toys, that make the audience question war.

“During the Poets next section we hear the deafening sounds of RAF fighter jets roaring overhead.”

Maybe this kid playing with his plane, goes down into the bunker, half playing, half for safety. The audience follows him, choosing to either stay on the level of the ground, or choosing to go down under. they are then surrounded by these dark walls, hearing drips, seing graffiti, tightly together. The Poet speaks, Maybe she is on top of the roof, or her voice is hear by speakers. The “deafening sounds of the RAF fighters” is overpowering. The soldiers have left the audience to be alone, but maybe one or two are on the roof, trying to shoot the planes down, maybe one is hiding behind the ruins crouching, with his weapon. The Audience feels alone and scared.

“A striped kite takes flight

Is paraded, raised and praised

Chine birds grip to black Shining cliff, and wing, fowl-of-tar, to rift

In swiveling sea, cold hard as hand on rock:

Bitter sweet birds, and unfortunate flesh;

Go down there further and see

the Plane-of-night, strained with piteous men”

During that whole section the audience is in the bunker, hearing the sounds and waiting for something to happen.

“A plane is shot down and crashes in the sea Plane wreckage is brought up from the sea and laid out ceremoniously. Drenched tattered uniforms are laid out as bodies.”

A plan crash sound is heard, screams, and running happens. The child with the plane leaves the bunker and runs with his plane in his hands toward the sky towards the next circle. Arriving in that space must feel like the whole world is collectivity arriving. Soldiers from around the space arrive running, toward the smoking center of the circle. The audience can see from the bunker before arriving some activity and some smoke. As they enter the first thing they see is a sized down plane broken down in the center, pieces scattered around, traces on the floor of the crash, dark smoke. Around the plane crash, kids dressed up as soldiers playing with little green soldiers on the pieces of the plane. This creates a strange scene that plays with scale, of the plane, the children and the toys. The soldiers from earlier appear, but they have lost their relaxed manners from the beginning of the piece, they look exhausted, and maybe their costumes are ruffled, and look like they’ve been through a lot. In the cubes around the circle, soldiers, looking rough, maybe dead, resting, lie, and wait for help. Kids are also playing with wooden plane around the audience.

After letting the audience settle in and take in the scene, The poet starts talking.

“Drowned in water-swills of crossing waves; The petroleum sky: striking death too soon, Wounded, lie heavily in the dishwater tributary. Night falling catches the flares and bangs Snip up the moon sniggering on its back, For on them sail the hulls of ninety wild birds Defledged by this evening’s raid”

The Drenched tattered uniforms are maybe layed out on the cubes. This is a sad scene, but not gruesome. A strange scene, mixing death and children playing. After the poet’s lines, a soldier rises and starts to speak :

The challenge arises to all to discard their sorrow,

break through destruction

outshine the sun.

Backwards and Forwards soldiers run or march

1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, left, right, left, right,

Accumulating into a monotonous pattern tapping out the

The soldiers’ job

the labour of it.

Is this what I was born to do?

The saddened, battered, rough soldiers, suddenly rise as the soldier is describing, discarding their sorrows, and maybe looking brighter, and starting to march. The solder never stops, “the soldier’s job”. quietly during these words the sounds of the opening to Karl Jenkin’s The Armed Man starts playing. The soldier start marching and singing all together. This should be a beautiful moment. They start following the marching soldiers out of the circle and towards the hut.

the path slowly starts to head down.

“3. The audience receives news of their loved ones fighting in the war.Each soldier delivers a single telegram / postcard / air mail from various frontlines from all over the world happening now and from the past to each member of the audience:a love letterofficial notification that your loved one has ‘died in action’ a message to say ‘I’m coming home’Throughout this delivering of messages the poet continues”

As the audience follow the path, the marching soldier scatter around and behind the hut, climbing on the walls from behind, transitioning into the next scene. On that path the audience receives news from their loved ones fighting in the war. Maybe the Poet, standing above them on the hut, is sending pieces of paper from her notebook, or taking pieces off the tree and throwing them above the audience, giving the impression that the news is falling from the sky. On those pieces of paper are love letters, official letters, single telegrams, postcards, air mail in all different languages, and from around the world, from the past and present and futur wars...

The audience arrives in front of the hut and sees a funeral that is taking place. The commandant, same one as the first scene, is here, accompanied by soldiers. Two of them are lowering down a casket into the small space between the walls, where the metal ladder is. The ground is covered with freshly turned earth and the audience treads on it. Again, a play on scale as the audience is lower than the action and is given the impression that they are in the ground, buried with the casket. The poet takes place on the hut with the soldiers observing the funeral and starts talking :

“ The Poet

Dear ancestors of war, whether British, German, Russian,

American or from some other field where bodies rose fresh as the day and solid as your hand.

No more. These soldiers have brothers, have sisters.”

During this, there is no music, the sound of silence must be heavy and the atmosphere quite sad, we can hear maybe one or two soldiers sniffing, looking clearly very sad as one would be at a funeral. Yet it is very official and serious.

“The Union Jack is saluted, Poppies are pinned to chests. The Commandant stands to speak, a mother interjects”

The Casket is lowered and dropped into the ground, the soldiers look up to the commandant as he is about to speak. Mother is representing all the mothers, she is part of the army, maybe she has a kid that is holding an airplane toy. Her speech is touching and beautiful. The soldiers and the commandant watch her deliver her poetic words and listen carefully. There are no sounds but her and the natural sounds of the sea, the grass and the audience.

After Mother’s speech, the funeral ends, and the soldiers and the attendants leave the hut’s roof and disapear in the backround.

“4. The Poet delivers her masterpiece”

This moment is still a bit unclear but the audience follows the path and the “masterpiece” is either played out on the broken circle or back at the tree. Probably the tree. The poet Is back into her element, and the audience has now gone through a whole “cycle of war”. The Poet and Soldier 2 exchange lines and finish the piece.

“The Last Post is played”

As the piece finishes the soldiers have left the premises and the audience is kindly asked to follow the path that leads towards the sea. They might see new soldiers rising from the ground and new audience coming through, creating a real sense of cycle, and rebirth of the soldiers coming from the ground.

The Audience leaves the site by following the path close the the sea . There is no music or anything, they are slowing able to leave the world by enjoying the beuaitufl view. The lighting goes from the same style of the set in the Battery to normal lamp posts. The audience leaves from the Marconi Village Center, same as they came. A bus is offered to them to get back to the station.

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