Biweekly Theater Writing Challenge #11.2 - Another scene from The Tailor of Riddling Way

[breakinglight11]

I have settled on a new project I am very excited about. In order to scratch the theater-making itch without having to deal with organizing all the details of a production and a long rehearsal period, I have decided to make an audio drama. The script is coming along nicely, a sort of old-fashioned mystery I call The Tailor of Riddling Way. I still have to learn about the conventions of the genre, and figure out the technical logistics, but the script is coming along well. Here is another piece that I composed over the course of today. I've cast a handful of the number of roles I am going to need voices for, and this piece features Rowan Loring, the character I want for the talented morethings5. One of the best parts of dramatic writing is casting the people whose acting I like, and I am already excited just imagining it now.

ALICE: This house has always been full of secrets.

MRS. WARREN: I’m sure that’s no business of mine.

ALICE: But you’ve been with our family for years now.

MRS. WARREN: Yes, Miss Alice.

ALICE: Surely you remember something?

MRS. WARREN: Oh, I don’t know, Miss Alice.

ALICE: Please, Mrs. Warren… I just… please…

TOM: Mrs. Susan Warren, isn’t it?

MRS. WARREN: Yes, it is.

TOM: Are you by any chance a relation of Robbie Warren over on Deer Hill?

MRS. WARREN: Why, yes! He’s my nephew. Do you know him?

TOM: Him and my big brother used to be thick as thieves.

MRS. WARREN: Your brother is Luke Barrows? He and Robbie used to steal pies off my windowsill!

TOM: They always were rascals.

MRS. WARREN: How is Luke nowadays?

TOM: Very well; after the war he decided to stay in Europe. He’s got a nice English wife and a fine fat baby boy.

MRS. WARREN: Ah, God bless him. Lots of good young men never made it through that war.

ALICE: Like my father.

MRS. WARREN: Yes, miss. A true gentleman.

ALICE: He was a great hero.

MRS. WARREN: (Hesitantly) He was indeed, miss…

TOM: Yes? What is it?

MRS. WARREN: It’s just… everyone thought so well of Master Rowan, doing his duty by the country and all.

TOM: Of course. The family must have been proud of him.

MRS. WARREN: That’s just it. That’s what they said to everyone… but when he was shipping out, Mister Reginald didn’t want to let him go.

TOM: I suppose it’s natural for a man to be afraid for his son going off to war.

MRS. WARREN: Yes, but it wasn’t just like that.

ALICE: How do you know?

MRS. WARREN: Because… I heard them one night. It must have been the night that Master Rowan told his father he was enlisting. I was clearing the table after dinner. They were in Mister Reginald’s study, but I could hear them shouting, and soon they were moving through the house.

            (Flashback effect.)

REGINALD: You will not, sir! I forbid it!

ROWAN: I am a grown man, Father, you can forbid me nothing. Besides, it’s already done. I am an enlisted man. I ship out for France by the end of the month.

REGINALD: Have you lost your mind?

ROWAN: Have you lost yours? Do you know what it is you’ve done? You have made a deal with the devil!

REGINALD: You are being a naïve fool, Rowan. This is for the best interests of the family. Would you see us in ruins?

ROWAN: Some things are worth more than that, Father.

REGINALD: So you’ll throw your life away on some Godforsaken beach, for what? For principle? To teach me a Sunday school lesson?

ROWAN: Someone must do the right thing. If it will not be you, then it will be me.

REGINALD: This is madness! You are not some unoccupied gutter trash, you have responsibilities here!

ROWAN: I will have none of any obligations to you.

REGINALD: Your wife is expecting your first child!

ROWAN: I will not have that child growing up ashamed of the family it came from! There will be one Loring man that will not disgrace the name.

REGINALD: Come off this melodramatic nonsense. You've no idea what you're talking about.

ROWAN: Don’t be so certain. You’ll have to make good on your devil’s bargain soon enough.

REGINALD: What do you mean?

ROWAN: Just that we reap what we sew, dear Father.

REGINALD: If you think that you are going to do something—

ROWAN: And when that time comes, I will not be paying along with you. Oh, good evening, Mrs. Warren.

MRS. WARREN: Excuse me, sirs.

ROWAN: Not at all, Mrs. Warren. If you would be so good, I’ll be needing my train cases cleaned. I shall soon have some packing to do.

MRS. WARREN: Of course, Master Rowan.

ROWAN: Many thanks, madam. And now— goodnight, father.

REGINALD: This is not over, boy—

ROWAN: I said, goodnight.

            (Footsteps walking away. Door closes. Flashback effect.)

Comments

[lightgamer.livejournal.com]

I can totally hear his voice saying Rowan's lines in my head!

The bit that goes, "There will be one Loring man that will not disgrace the name" "There will be no such thing!" is confusing to me. It sounds to me as though Reginald is saying that there WON'T be a Loring who DOESN'T disgrace the family name.

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

You are quite right. I have corrected it to something that makes more sense. Thanks!