Director's Analysis: ACT ONE, scene twenty-three
Director's analysis of scenes
Description of the action & annotation
In this section I have given a brief description of the action and an analysis of what we were seeking to achieve with the staging of the scene. It may be interesting to compare this with the analysis of the scene provided by the adaptor, Alastair Cording: we have not conferred before writing!
Benjamin Twist, director
Note: the division of the scene into units follows at the end of the analysis
ACT ONE, scene twenty-three
Unit 142
(Guthrie has just died)
The blackout is replaced by lights for a beautiful day. Chris stands by her dead father, laid out as if in a coffin.
The rest of the village are on the fields, working. They greet Chris cheerfully.
We changed the person who recognises that something is wrong to Ewan, so that Chae (a good singer) had time to find the note. Ewan asks what it is and as he does so, Chae takes off his hat and starts to sing the hymn that we have set up as the indicator for the kirk and for death - 'And am I born to die/ And lay this body down?/And must my trembling spirit fly/Unto a world unknown?'
Unit 143
Chris picks up a black (mourning) shawl and puts it on as the action continues.
The others join in the hymn as Speak, played by the Jean actress, describes the funeral.
She describes it in terms of a day out, an exciting event, rather than a sombre occasion. This undercuts the solemnity of the event.
Unit 144
Chris then takes up the story, describing the funeral itself, from her eyes and noting that she didn't think much about her father. She notes that she is fairly unmoved by the death.
As she speaks the singing of the hymn turns into a humming of the tune. The men hum as they come down from the pyramid/fields and stand near the body of Guthrie.
Unit 145
The villagers stop singing and file past the body, miming the dropping of the earth on the coffin in the grave. They shake Chris' hand as they pass and honour Guthrie.
Ewan offers Chris his help if she needs anything. He also not only shakes her hand but covers her hand with his other hand. She notes the action.
We changed the order of the lines in this section, to allow those who were about to play music for the song that follows more time to get to their instruments.
Unit 146
After the last handshake, the music starts at the back of the stage.
Chris sings the song (music written by Dougie Maclean, lyrics by Alastair Cording).
During the course of the song her hate for her father, brought about by his mistreatment of Jean, Will and herself, changes.
First she has no feeling for him, no tears for his death. She resents his anger, his harshness and particularly his lust, that drove him to want his daughter sexually.
Then she gains an awareness of what he had tried to do for them, how hard he had to work and how difficult it was for him to reconcile his sexual appetite, his religion and the hard life of the crofter.
Finally she realises that she did love him, she can forgive him for the horrors that he did because she now understands some of his passions and his trials.
The music and particularly the songs have an important role in moving Chris on during the play, and in the course of this one she perhaps realises how much she has in common with her father. She is older and wiser at the end of the song than at the beginning - she has grown up.
We staged the song simply - placing Chris centre stage, just upstage of her father's body. We allowed enough time between the verses for the emotional journey that Chris needs to travel from one to the other.
After the song, the lights faded to black for the interval.
Scene twenty-three
Unit 142
(A moment of darkness. Then - daylight. People are working their land. Long Rob sings joyously. Chris walks slowly but firmly towards them.)
SPEAK Aye, Chris! How's John Guthrie the day?
ROB Chris! A great morning, eh?
CHAE Chris, lass. What's wrong?
Unit 143
(Everyone stops, turns and looks at her. Then they slowly put on their coats, and gather as if near the grave.)
SPEAK (To audience) Chae Strachan and old Sinclair of Netherhill saw to the funeral. There was a whole drove of folk came - Chris's Auntie Janet and her Uncle Tam, Ellison and Maitland, the factor, the minister, Cuddieston, Rob of the Mill, and Alec Mutch. The house was fair crowded, like the threshing-day at Chae's.
Unit 144
CHRIS (To audience) Stray notions came to me. About the rain that fell with all the men bare-headed. About the blink of wet sunlight on the Standing Stones above Blawearie. About whether in the lands of death dead lapwings wheeled and cried against another sun. And at last about my father John Guthrie, there in that dark box with the little flowers folk had sent, alone in the darkness when the night came down.
Unit 145
SPEAK Rest in peace, John Guthrie.
EWAN (A half-embarassed silent nod. He turns and takes Chris's hand.) Anything I can do Chris, just ask.
CHRIS Thank you, Ewan.
ROB Well, well. Goodbye, Guthrie man.
CHAE He was a fine neighbour.
Unit 146
CHRIS (Song)
I've no tears for you, father
The rain on my face will have to suffice.
I've no tears for you, father.
The love that I gave was all sacrificed
To the iron in your soul,
To the pride in your heart,
To the lust in your blood
That drove us apart.
Where's my tears for you, father?
To feed us you slaved till your heart turned to stone.
Where's my tears for you, father?
When you poisoned our love, how could I have known
That the hopes of your whole life
Were scattered far abroad,
How bitter was your fight
With your land, and your God.
Here are tears for you, father.
Tears like the rain that falls over the hills.
Here are tears for you, father.
To wash away hate and long-buried ills.
How could I have known -
Remembering our past -
How could I have known
I would love you at last
END OF ACT ONE
Read the Adaptor's Analysis
Director's Analysis:
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