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breakinglight11) wrote2023-08-18 08:50 am
breakinglight11) wrote2023-08-18 08:50 am
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31 Plays in 31 Days, #18 - “Tell You Everything”
This is the bookend scene of #14 - “Dearest Mary, My Dear Nathaniel”— as in, another exchange in letters between the two of them. I’m still struggling with what exactly I want to convey in these scenes, and I’m worried I’m implying the wrong thing with this.
Jamie Lin made a great, helpful comment about how they’re not being honest with the extent of their challenges right now— specifically, Mrs. Hawking’s breaking down making it increasingly hard to keep up their work, and Mary feeling overwhelmed having to manage all the things in her new life. I tried to pick up on that here, with them admitting how much they’ve been eliding with each other and determining to be more honest. I really like that idea, but I worry that it’s kind of suggesting like Mary leaving was a mistake for both of them and she should come back— WHICH IS NOT TRUE AND NOT WHAT EITHER OF THEM MEANS. I just want them to be able to say, yeah, it’s been harder than I thought it would be. But I’m not sure that comes across. And I’m still not sure the scene doesn’t need to be doing more than that.
A note on a stylistic thing I’ve done with these letters. They’re written to be “in conversation” with each other, but not as a literal back-and-forth dialogue, to convey that they’re writing to each other with a delivery delay, and not actually speaking in real time. It kind of falls away and becomes more immediately responsive in “Dearest Mary, My Dear Nathaniel”, but I carry it all the way through in this one. I think it adds a little color and verisimilitude to the letter exchange.
Photo by Jacob LaRocca
Day #18 - “Tell You Everything”
From Mrs. Hawking 7 by Phoebe Roberts
MARY SWANN, society avenger and her former protege, early thirties
NATHANIEL HAWKING, her nephew and assistant, mid thirties
New York, New York, 1890
~~~
(MARY and NATHANIEL sit on opposite extreme corners of a darkened stage, writing letters to one another.)
MARY: Dearest Nathaniel.
NATHANIEL: My dear Mary.
MARY: Receiving your letters always cheers me so.
NATHANIEL: I can’t tell you what a comfort it’s been.
MARY: And of late… I rather needed the cheering.
NATHANIEL: I know we promised to keep one another informed about our doings. But I’m afraid that… I haven’t been as honest about the state of things as I ought to be.
MARY: I know I did what I had to. I made the only decision I could to have my own life.
NATHANIEL: I didn’t want you to doubt your decision, or feel any guilt for making it. So I thought if I glossed over how things were, you wouldn’t have to worry.
MARY: But things are… harder on my own than I thought they’d be.
NATHANIEL: We’re not quite so well as I may have led you to believe.
MARY: Some things have happened that make it clear… I still have some decisions to make.
NATHANIEL: We’re going to have to make some changes.
MARY: Let me tell you the whole story.
NATHANIEL: Let me tell you everything.
Jamie Lin made a great, helpful comment about how they’re not being honest with the extent of their challenges right now— specifically, Mrs. Hawking’s breaking down making it increasingly hard to keep up their work, and Mary feeling overwhelmed having to manage all the things in her new life. I tried to pick up on that here, with them admitting how much they’ve been eliding with each other and determining to be more honest. I really like that idea, but I worry that it’s kind of suggesting like Mary leaving was a mistake for both of them and she should come back— WHICH IS NOT TRUE AND NOT WHAT EITHER OF THEM MEANS. I just want them to be able to say, yeah, it’s been harder than I thought it would be. But I’m not sure that comes across. And I’m still not sure the scene doesn’t need to be doing more than that.
A note on a stylistic thing I’ve done with these letters. They’re written to be “in conversation” with each other, but not as a literal back-and-forth dialogue, to convey that they’re writing to each other with a delivery delay, and not actually speaking in real time. It kind of falls away and becomes more immediately responsive in “Dearest Mary, My Dear Nathaniel”, but I carry it all the way through in this one. I think it adds a little color and verisimilitude to the letter exchange.
Photo by Jacob LaRocca
Day #18 - “Tell You Everything”
From Mrs. Hawking 7 by Phoebe Roberts
MARY SWANN, society avenger and her former protege, early thirties
NATHANIEL HAWKING, her nephew and assistant, mid thirties
New York, New York, 1890
~~~
(MARY and NATHANIEL sit on opposite extreme corners of a darkened stage, writing letters to one another.)
MARY: Dearest Nathaniel.
NATHANIEL: My dear Mary.
MARY: Receiving your letters always cheers me so.
NATHANIEL: I can’t tell you what a comfort it’s been.
MARY: And of late… I rather needed the cheering.
NATHANIEL: I know we promised to keep one another informed about our doings. But I’m afraid that… I haven’t been as honest about the state of things as I ought to be.
MARY: I know I did what I had to. I made the only decision I could to have my own life.
NATHANIEL: I didn’t want you to doubt your decision, or feel any guilt for making it. So I thought if I glossed over how things were, you wouldn’t have to worry.
MARY: But things are… harder on my own than I thought they’d be.
NATHANIEL: We’re not quite so well as I may have led you to believe.
MARY: Some things have happened that make it clear… I still have some decisions to make.
NATHANIEL: We’re going to have to make some changes.
MARY: Let me tell you the whole story.
NATHANIEL: Let me tell you everything.