31 Plays in 31 Days, #5 - “All a Mess”
Aug. 5th, 2023 06:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breakinglight11So Bernie and I struggled for quite some time to get a handle on the next phase of Mary’s journey in the story. For a long time, we were kind of defaulting to the idea that she might reject being a superhero all together for a while, out of a desire to separate herself from Mrs. Hawking and avoid anything that might make Mary become like her. But it always felt a bit off. Like, not that natural and with a fairly pat, obvious solution. Of course she would eventually come back to it, so like, that kind of struggle calls for her to decide she can be her own kind of superhero, different from the way Mrs. Hawking was— which is something she already figured out and has known for years now. It just felt like it was too easy and not a very meaningful next step.
Things started to work when we realized that a better challenge would be her having to figure out how she’d actually balance having all the things in her life that she wants. Marriage, motherhood, friendship, work, play, and superheroing— that’s a lot, each one eating up a lot of time and effort. Now that she has everything she wanted, does she actually have space for it all? It’s a natural and actually relatable next step, as a lot of people today find they don’t have the time and energy to do everything they want and have to do. One of the things that made Mrs. Hawking such a force is that she devotes everything she is to being great at it. If Mary wants to spend time on other things as well, what will she have to sacrifice of her ability to do that work? While I want Mary to be awesome and do incredible things, forcing her to deal with this kind of very real human limitation allows us to challenge her in a way that actually feels meaningful.
Structurally, there will be a scene between #2 - Lost Children and this one to show her fighting to keep all her balls in the air. I want to show her doing a good job, but going through real struggle to do so, and having to figure out the compromises that she can actually live with. So she has to go through dropping some balls to realize that it’s going to be necessary.
This scene is somewhat weirdly broken up, but I try to find shift points to create discrete scene pieces. It makes drafting (and posting them for this challenge) easier.
Photo by Jacob LaRocca
Day #5 - “All a Mess”
From Mrs. Hawking 7 by Phoebe Roberts
MARY SWANN, society avenger, early thirties
ARTHUR SWANN, Mary’s husband and MI6 agent, mid-thirties
KATHLEEN DUNCAN, a friend of theirs, early thirties
New York, New York, 1890
~~~
(ARTHUR shows in KATHLEEN, carrying baby TORY in her arms.)
KATHLEEN: I’m sorry to have barged in like this, Arthur. But I had Tory for Mary today, and she was supposed to meet me at the church for laying out the tables, and she never showed.
(ARTHUR takes the baby and lays her in the cradle.)
ARTHUR: No, no, of course. Mary had some business to take care of this morning— perhaps she’s run into some trouble—
(Enter MARY, the worse for wear in her work suit.)
MARY: Arthur, get the doctor bag.
ARTHUR: Oh, good Lord.
(He hurries to get it.)
KATHLEEN: Mary? What’s happened to you? You look put through the wringer!
MARY: Kathleen! Oh, God, the table-laying— I forgot all about it! And Tory! Is she—?
KATHLEEN: She’s here, she’s fine, not to worry. But what about you?
MARY: I was— doing a favor for a friend, and— got myself in a bit of scrape. I’m all right, Kat, I promise.
ARTHUR: I’ll see to her. Kathleen, if you could make apologies to Father Flannery, we’d be much obliged.
KATHLEEN: I can, but— are you sure you’re all right?
ARTHUR: We will be. You’re a good friend, Kat.
(ARTHUR shows KATHLEEN out. MARY begins treating a scrape on her arm.)
ARTHUR: Now, what’s happened, love?
MARY: Oh, it’s all a mess. I had to get close enough to Daisy to talk to her, and the place was crawling with people— guests, servants, delivery men. And there was no point of access to the garden!
ARTHUR: I’d thought you’d scouted one.
MARY: It had been blocked off with scaffolding for repairs, and the workmen were at it all morning! And the girl was in plain view of the front way the whole time. I had to hide in the junipers for ages before I could even approach her without being seen!
ARTHUR: How did you manage it?
MARY: Finally she chased her little dog into the hedges, and her maid went after her to call her to morning tea, so I slipped on a cap and apron and handed her an envelope I’d made with the grandmother’s name on it. So I went to help find the little dog, and when I took him back to her I had a moment.
ARTHUR: Did you tell her you came from her dad?
MARY: I was afraid to; she’s so little she might say something, and put her people on guard! But it’s all more complicated than that. She misses her father, but she loves her grandparents and her governess and her dog. She doesn’t know that they’re keeping her from him, and there wasn’t time to explain. I tried to tell her I could take her to Papa, but the maid came back and nearly caught me. I don’t know how I’d ever reach her again except under cover of night, and I’d have to bear her out of her nursery.
ARTHUR: Second story work? With a small girl?
MARY: That was never my part of things before. I was always on the ground, ready with a distraction or a bit of muscle. Here, I’d have to break in, stay out of sight, bear the girl away with me… oh, God.
ARTHUR: Mary…
MARY: And then there’s the picnic, and the baby, and… and…
(MARY breaks down into tears.)
Things started to work when we realized that a better challenge would be her having to figure out how she’d actually balance having all the things in her life that she wants. Marriage, motherhood, friendship, work, play, and superheroing— that’s a lot, each one eating up a lot of time and effort. Now that she has everything she wanted, does she actually have space for it all? It’s a natural and actually relatable next step, as a lot of people today find they don’t have the time and energy to do everything they want and have to do. One of the things that made Mrs. Hawking such a force is that she devotes everything she is to being great at it. If Mary wants to spend time on other things as well, what will she have to sacrifice of her ability to do that work? While I want Mary to be awesome and do incredible things, forcing her to deal with this kind of very real human limitation allows us to challenge her in a way that actually feels meaningful.
Structurally, there will be a scene between #2 - Lost Children and this one to show her fighting to keep all her balls in the air. I want to show her doing a good job, but going through real struggle to do so, and having to figure out the compromises that she can actually live with. So she has to go through dropping some balls to realize that it’s going to be necessary.
This scene is somewhat weirdly broken up, but I try to find shift points to create discrete scene pieces. It makes drafting (and posting them for this challenge) easier.
Photo by Jacob LaRocca
Day #5 - “All a Mess”
From Mrs. Hawking 7 by Phoebe Roberts
MARY SWANN, society avenger, early thirties
ARTHUR SWANN, Mary’s husband and MI6 agent, mid-thirties
KATHLEEN DUNCAN, a friend of theirs, early thirties
New York, New York, 1890
~~~
(ARTHUR shows in KATHLEEN, carrying baby TORY in her arms.)
KATHLEEN: I’m sorry to have barged in like this, Arthur. But I had Tory for Mary today, and she was supposed to meet me at the church for laying out the tables, and she never showed.
(ARTHUR takes the baby and lays her in the cradle.)
ARTHUR: No, no, of course. Mary had some business to take care of this morning— perhaps she’s run into some trouble—
(Enter MARY, the worse for wear in her work suit.)
MARY: Arthur, get the doctor bag.
ARTHUR: Oh, good Lord.
(He hurries to get it.)
KATHLEEN: Mary? What’s happened to you? You look put through the wringer!
MARY: Kathleen! Oh, God, the table-laying— I forgot all about it! And Tory! Is she—?
KATHLEEN: She’s here, she’s fine, not to worry. But what about you?
MARY: I was— doing a favor for a friend, and— got myself in a bit of scrape. I’m all right, Kat, I promise.
ARTHUR: I’ll see to her. Kathleen, if you could make apologies to Father Flannery, we’d be much obliged.
KATHLEEN: I can, but— are you sure you’re all right?
ARTHUR: We will be. You’re a good friend, Kat.
(ARTHUR shows KATHLEEN out. MARY begins treating a scrape on her arm.)
ARTHUR: Now, what’s happened, love?
MARY: Oh, it’s all a mess. I had to get close enough to Daisy to talk to her, and the place was crawling with people— guests, servants, delivery men. And there was no point of access to the garden!
ARTHUR: I’d thought you’d scouted one.
MARY: It had been blocked off with scaffolding for repairs, and the workmen were at it all morning! And the girl was in plain view of the front way the whole time. I had to hide in the junipers for ages before I could even approach her without being seen!
ARTHUR: How did you manage it?
MARY: Finally she chased her little dog into the hedges, and her maid went after her to call her to morning tea, so I slipped on a cap and apron and handed her an envelope I’d made with the grandmother’s name on it. So I went to help find the little dog, and when I took him back to her I had a moment.
ARTHUR: Did you tell her you came from her dad?
MARY: I was afraid to; she’s so little she might say something, and put her people on guard! But it’s all more complicated than that. She misses her father, but she loves her grandparents and her governess and her dog. She doesn’t know that they’re keeping her from him, and there wasn’t time to explain. I tried to tell her I could take her to Papa, but the maid came back and nearly caught me. I don’t know how I’d ever reach her again except under cover of night, and I’d have to bear her out of her nursery.
ARTHUR: Second story work? With a small girl?
MARY: That was never my part of things before. I was always on the ground, ready with a distraction or a bit of muscle. Here, I’d have to break in, stay out of sight, bear the girl away with me… oh, God.
ARTHUR: Mary…
MARY: And then there’s the picnic, and the baby, and… and…
(MARY breaks down into tears.)
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