31 Plays in 31 Days, #10 - "Letter From the Queen"

[breakinglight11]

This scene piece comes immediately after Day #2 - "The One" in Mrs. Hawking part 4: Gilded Cages. It might be a little bit too much of "connective tissue" scene to be worth posting, but it takes us into Nathaniel's major issue for this play, his discovery that the Colonel turned down a knighthood— and that he'll never know why his uncle did it.

A small random observation. You'll notice at the bottom of this scene is a mention of Nathaniel's father. Though we've never actually featured Ambrose Hawking, it occurs to me that he's been mentioned in every single play in the series at least once, even the ten-minute companion piece. In part 1: Mrs. Hawking, our hero mentions "visiting his brother in the south country." In part 2: Vivat Regina, she tells Nathaniel, "All the men in the family have that look. Your uncle, your father, and you." In part 3: Base Instruments, Justin brushes off Clara's comment on his black sheep status with "We can't all be Father's favorite." In the ten-minute, Like a Loss, Reginald puts off a visit from Ambrose, and worries that his brother will teach his dislike of Mrs. Hawking to his two young boys.

I think he is the single most mentioned character who has never actually made an appearance— since the Colonel has now appeared in both part 4, and in the ten-minute companion piece Like a Loss. I've always wanted to do something with him, though I don't know if he'll ever be able to appear. He tends to mostly come off like a bit of an ass in his mentions, but in my head he's a bit more complicated, and it would be nice to get to portray him and his relationship to the rest of the family.

Here, Nathaniel communicates with him off-screen, and it actually would likely be an interesting conversation to hear. But sadly there is no place for it in the Gilded Cages script. Maybe for fun I'll bang it out and see what it looked like, but it would be just for an academic exercise.

Day #10 - "Letter From the Queen "
From Gilded Cages
By Phoebe Roberts



London, 1884

MARY STONE, apprentice society avenger
NATHANIEL HAWKING, her friend and another apprentice
VICTORIA HAWKING, their mentor and Nathaniel's aunt
~~~

NATHANIEL:

You know, I’d like to meet this nice policeman of yours properly someday. He seems like quite the fellow. After all, he managed to catch your eye— by Jove.

MARY:

What is it?

NATHANIEL:

I’ve… found something. A letter… from the queen.

MARY:

To your uncle? What about?

NATHANIEL:

She… expresses her regret that he’s… declining a knighthood.

MARY:

The Colonel was a knight?

NATHANIEL:

No. No, he wasn’t. Apparently he was offered, and he declined it. I never knew that.

MARY:

How strange! Does it say anything more?

NATHANIEL:

No. Nothing more.

(MRS. HAWKING enters.)

MRS. HAWKING:

My investigations confirm your suspicions about that warehouse, Mary. It does seem to be center of the gang’s operations. That seems to be the place to begin searching for the whereabouts of Mr. Chaudhary.

MARY:

Is that the plan? To search for him there?

MRS. HAWKING:

Or at least some sign. I’d like to keep the gang ignorant of our investigation, so I don’t want to go in all ablazes. Once we’ve recovered the man, we’ll make arrangements to help the family out of the city. They can start again somewhere their father hasn’t brought down a rabble of smugglers upon them.

MARY:

Shall I send I word to Mrs. Chaudhary?

MRS. HAWKING:

Yes, see that she’s prepared to leave. But tell her she can’t speak of it to anyone, so she leaves no trail for Wilder to follow.

MARY:

Yes, madam.

NATHANIEL:

Just a moment. Madam… is this true? That Uncle turned down a knighthood?

MRS. HAWKING:

What of it?

NATHANIEL:

Did you know about this?

MRS. HAWKING:

It was a long time ago.

NATHANIEL:

Well… what happened?

MRS. HAWKING:

Nathaniel, we have a missing man to find. We haven’t the time for this. We must get to planning our approach.

(Exit MRS. HAWKING.)

MARY:

That’s remarkable. Can you imagine? I suppose we’ll have to finish this later. Aren’t you coming?

NATHANIEL:

In a moment. I… have to telephone my father.

(NATHANIEL exits.)

Comments

[jducoeur]

Is that last line appropriate? Telephones were still very new in the mid-80s -- I'm honestly unsure whether it's realistic for Nathaniel do use one spur-of-the-moment like this.

(The line caught my eye in light of Downton making such a big deal about the introduction of a household telephone, some 30 years later.)