31 Plays in 31 Days, #13 - "Making Room"
Aug. 13th, 2017 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breakinglight11This was one of the scenes I felt was most successful in all of part 4 during the first reading. It directly builds off of Day #1 - "Stakeout Date" and immediately follows Day #11 - "Showing Up" One of my big resolutions for every piece in the series is that each of my three leads— Mary, Mrs. Hawking, and Nathaniel — get a meaningful personal issue to deal with. It's okay and indeed expected for who takes center stage to shift, like how part 1 is mostly Mary's journey and part 3 primarily features Nathaniel's, but they all need an arc every play whether it's the story's most important arc or not.
In part 4, I was concerned that Mrs. Hawking's is so big that it might completely force out the other two. So I made particular effort to clarify what Mary and Nathaniel's journeys were in my head in very specific terms so I could focus on them. Mary in particular is all about taking steps of a journey that spans the entire series— going from ignored and agency-free nobody to a full-fledged hero in her own right. So each play is her navigating a step along that way. In Base Instruments, she decided she didn't want to be a clone of Mrs. Hawking, with nothing else but the work in her life. Now in Gilded Cages she's dealing with people prospect of what that's going to look like. She knows she wants "more," but what does "more" mean?
She struggles because before coming to Mrs. Hawking, she had no meaningful history, nothing that she did or was that mattered. She has very little to build upon, like any important relationships or ties. It's all being formed from scratch for her. This gives her a good struggle for this story, because part 4 is ALL ABOUT history. Her lack of it does just as much to shape her as Mrs. Hawking's abundance.
The other thing was, at the first reading, this particular scene was read by Charlotte as Mary and Matt as Arthur, and their performance knocked it out of the park. Matt in particular has done so much to shape the character of Arthur in my mind with his excellent portrayals, and hearing it in Arthur's actual voice with all the meaning he brought to it was such a thrill.
Also, the last line is total fan service. BUT I LOVE IT.
Day #13 - "Making Room"
From Gilded Cages
By Phoebe Roberts
London, 1884
MARY STONE, apprentice society avengers
SERGEANT ARTHUR SWANN, a police officer
~~~
(The street of the Hawking house. Enter ARTHUR and MARY.)
MARY:
Arthur, whatever are you doing here?
ARTHUR:
I had news that couldn’t wait. Mary, we’ve had eyes on that warehouse— it’s been overrun with lowlifes the last few days. More fellows than we’ve ever seen moving through there. There’s something big brewing, and it’s only a matter of time before it goes off. I thought you ought to know right away.
MARY:
Oh. Oh, goodness.
ARTHUR:
Did you like how I managed that, then? I didn’t want to let your mistress on that I knew you, so I whipped up that little story.
MARY:
Arthur, you can’t come by the house.
ARTHUR:
Oh, sod it, did someone think you had a caller? I’m sorry. Mary, they’ve got to know you’re a decent girl, no one could doubt that.
MARY:
No, it’s… not that. It’s my mentor, in my work. She can’t find you there.
ARTHUR:
Beg your pardon? How would she know?
MARY:
She knows who you are. But you’re not supposed to know me. You see, she… doesn’t care for men. She doesn’t trust them.
ARTHUR:
Well… I’m no gentleman, but I’ve done my best to act gentle. Haven’t I?
MARY:
Of course you have. But we’re not supposed to be… friends.
ARTHUR:
Oh, aye? If we’re not supposed to be friends, what are supposed to be?
MARY:
Just… ships that pass in the night, only close enough to do our jobs. But of course we are friends!
ARTHUR:
Mary Stone, if I’ve made you believe that I’m only your friend, then I’m afraid I’ve given you the very wrong idea indeed.
MARY:
No, Arthur, you haven’t.
ARTHUR:
Good. Because I’m quite keen on this. On you.
MARY:
Are you really?
ARTHUR:
Are you surprised? I thought I was plain as day. I’m keen, Mary. I was hoping you were too. But… I suppose you wouldn’t even come to a church picnic.
MARY:
Arthur…
ARTHUR:
I suppose I ought to have asked you straight. As it is, we walk out every now and then, and then we work a job you can’t tell me much about. But I’d like it to be more than that.
MARY:
I don’t know what more I can be.
ARTHUR:
I… I’m sorry. I thought you— I thought we were—
MARY:
No, no, it’s not that! It only… I don’t know what place there is for that.
ARTHUR:
What place there is in your life?
MARY:
You know I can’t tell you much about my work, my real work. But it’s not like other people’s, and it means… everything to me. I’m not like you, Arthur. I don’t have… people, or roots anywhere, or history. I’ve never had anything, done anything so important as this. But… I never thought this would happen. I never thought I would like you this much.
ARTHUR:
And what’s so wrong with that?
MARY:
I can’t risk the most important thing I’ve ever been.
ARTHUR:
And I don’t want you to. I’m not looking to tie things down. Just… try them out. Make a little history, and see what it’s like. Is that something that you want?
MARY:
It is.
ARTHUR:
Me too. So… I’ll take what place there is. If you’ll make it. You’ve got to be in with me, or there’s no point to it.
MARY:
Of course. I promised myself… I was going to have more in my life. I’ll come to your picnic. I’ll come to all sorts of things. I’ll make room, Arthur. I’ll make room.
(They embrace.)
ARTHUR:
That gentleman in your parlor, grinning like the cat that ate the canary— he’s found us out, hasn’t he?
MARY:
Goodness, yes. But you’ll be glad to hear he’s in your corner.
ARTHUR:
Of course he is. Who wouldn’t be?
In part 4, I was concerned that Mrs. Hawking's is so big that it might completely force out the other two. So I made particular effort to clarify what Mary and Nathaniel's journeys were in my head in very specific terms so I could focus on them. Mary in particular is all about taking steps of a journey that spans the entire series— going from ignored and agency-free nobody to a full-fledged hero in her own right. So each play is her navigating a step along that way. In Base Instruments, she decided she didn't want to be a clone of Mrs. Hawking, with nothing else but the work in her life. Now in Gilded Cages she's dealing with people prospect of what that's going to look like. She knows she wants "more," but what does "more" mean?
She struggles because before coming to Mrs. Hawking, she had no meaningful history, nothing that she did or was that mattered. She has very little to build upon, like any important relationships or ties. It's all being formed from scratch for her. This gives her a good struggle for this story, because part 4 is ALL ABOUT history. Her lack of it does just as much to shape her as Mrs. Hawking's abundance.
The other thing was, at the first reading, this particular scene was read by Charlotte as Mary and Matt as Arthur, and their performance knocked it out of the park. Matt in particular has done so much to shape the character of Arthur in my mind with his excellent portrayals, and hearing it in Arthur's actual voice with all the meaning he brought to it was such a thrill.
Also, the last line is total fan service. BUT I LOVE IT.
Day #13 - "Making Room"
From Gilded Cages
By Phoebe Roberts
London, 1884
MARY STONE, apprentice society avengers
SERGEANT ARTHUR SWANN, a police officer
~~~
(The street of the Hawking house. Enter ARTHUR and MARY.)
MARY:
Arthur, whatever are you doing here?
ARTHUR:
I had news that couldn’t wait. Mary, we’ve had eyes on that warehouse— it’s been overrun with lowlifes the last few days. More fellows than we’ve ever seen moving through there. There’s something big brewing, and it’s only a matter of time before it goes off. I thought you ought to know right away.
MARY:
Oh. Oh, goodness.
ARTHUR:
Did you like how I managed that, then? I didn’t want to let your mistress on that I knew you, so I whipped up that little story.
MARY:
Arthur, you can’t come by the house.
ARTHUR:
Oh, sod it, did someone think you had a caller? I’m sorry. Mary, they’ve got to know you’re a decent girl, no one could doubt that.
MARY:
No, it’s… not that. It’s my mentor, in my work. She can’t find you there.
ARTHUR:
Beg your pardon? How would she know?
MARY:
She knows who you are. But you’re not supposed to know me. You see, she… doesn’t care for men. She doesn’t trust them.
ARTHUR:
Well… I’m no gentleman, but I’ve done my best to act gentle. Haven’t I?
MARY:
Of course you have. But we’re not supposed to be… friends.
ARTHUR:
Oh, aye? If we’re not supposed to be friends, what are supposed to be?
MARY:
Just… ships that pass in the night, only close enough to do our jobs. But of course we are friends!
ARTHUR:
Mary Stone, if I’ve made you believe that I’m only your friend, then I’m afraid I’ve given you the very wrong idea indeed.
MARY:
No, Arthur, you haven’t.
ARTHUR:
Good. Because I’m quite keen on this. On you.
MARY:
Are you really?
ARTHUR:
Are you surprised? I thought I was plain as day. I’m keen, Mary. I was hoping you were too. But… I suppose you wouldn’t even come to a church picnic.
MARY:
Arthur…
ARTHUR:
I suppose I ought to have asked you straight. As it is, we walk out every now and then, and then we work a job you can’t tell me much about. But I’d like it to be more than that.
MARY:
I don’t know what more I can be.
ARTHUR:
I… I’m sorry. I thought you— I thought we were—
MARY:
No, no, it’s not that! It only… I don’t know what place there is for that.
ARTHUR:
What place there is in your life?
MARY:
You know I can’t tell you much about my work, my real work. But it’s not like other people’s, and it means… everything to me. I’m not like you, Arthur. I don’t have… people, or roots anywhere, or history. I’ve never had anything, done anything so important as this. But… I never thought this would happen. I never thought I would like you this much.
ARTHUR:
And what’s so wrong with that?
MARY:
I can’t risk the most important thing I’ve ever been.
ARTHUR:
And I don’t want you to. I’m not looking to tie things down. Just… try them out. Make a little history, and see what it’s like. Is that something that you want?
MARY:
It is.
ARTHUR:
Me too. So… I’ll take what place there is. If you’ll make it. You’ve got to be in with me, or there’s no point to it.
MARY:
Of course. I promised myself… I was going to have more in my life. I’ll come to your picnic. I’ll come to all sorts of things. I’ll make room, Arthur. I’ll make room.
(They embrace.)
ARTHUR:
That gentleman in your parlor, grinning like the cat that ate the canary— he’s found us out, hasn’t he?
MARY:
Goodness, yes. But you’ll be glad to hear he’s in your corner.
ARTHUR:
Of course he is. Who wouldn’t be?
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