Eyam (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Matt Hartley

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

1665. As the plague runs rife through London, Reverend William Mompesson arrives in Eyam, Derbyshire, to lead the parish. But Eyam is no sleepy backwater; it is a village at war with itself. The community has dissolved, and neighbour feuds with neighbour under the watchful eye of a ruthless landowner bent on maintaining his grip on the village. When the plague arrives in Eyam, the villagers are tasked with examining their civil responsibility, as they must decide whether to stay quarantined, or flee and risk spreading the deadly disease. Matt Hartley's Eyam is a play about the importance of community, which premiered at Shakespeare's Globe, London, in September 2018.

Leseprobe

Matt Hartley

EYAM

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production

Character Biographies

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Author’s Note

Characters

Eyam

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Eyam was first performed at Shakespeare’s Globe, London, on 15 September 2018, with the following cast:

MR THOMAS STANLEY

Annette Badland

ELIZABETH HANCOCK/

Zora Bishop

ELIZABETH SHELDON

PHILIP SHELDON/JOHN WILSON

Adrian Bower

KATHERINE MOMPESSON

Priyanga Burford

REV. SHORELAND ADAMS/

John Paul Connolly

JOHN HANCOCK

REV. WILLIAM MOMPESSON

Sam Crane

ELIZABETH SYDALL/MARY TALBOT

Becci Gemmell

JOHN SYDALL

Will Keen

EMMOTT SYDALL

Norah Lopez-Holden

EDWARD COOPER/ROWLAND TORRE

Luke MacGregor

FRANCIS BOCKINGE/

Jordan Metcalfe

GEORGE VICCARS

UNWIN

Oliver Ryan

MARY COOPER

Sirine Saba

MARSHALL HOWE

Howard Ward

HARRIET STUBBS

Rose Wardlaw

Director

Adele Thomas

Designer

Hannah Clark

Composer

Orlando Gough

Choreographer

Emma Woods

Assistant Director

Hila Ben-Ari

Fight Director

Kevin McCurdy

Head of Casting

Karishma Balani

Character Biographies

REVEREND WILLIAM MOMPESSON

Oxbridge-educated, Royalist, appointment by Sir Saville. Previously posted in a small village close to Scarborough. Youthful and ambitious, he is prone to three words when one would do. He is a strong public speaker when talking to the right crowd. He has never been in a fight or held a shovel.

KATHERINE MOMPESSON

Bright and sharp-witted, she arrives in Eyam after a period of illness. Most likely what we now call post-natal depression. She is a few years older than William and this often proves to be valuable in her ability to see the world and its people more clearly. She is desperate for a fresh start. Both her and William are more free-spirited in their services and she has long encouraged the act of singing. Not afraid to get her hands dirty.

MR THOMAS STANLEY

In today’s terms he is a Puritan. Long-standing religious leader of Eyam who was exiled when the act of uniformity was passed. Beloved by as many of the villagers as he is feared. Unwavering faith but now destitute and widowed. He arrives a broken man.

REVEREND SHORELAND ADAMS

Sir Saville’s previous appointment. A bloated, corrupt man of the church who for years has plundered what little material wealth the church and parishioners of Eyam possessed.

JOHN HANCOCK

A giant man of the land and natural leader. A free miner. He has a smallholding, upon which he mines for lead and farms livestock. He fought in the Civil War for the Parliamentarian cause. The Hancocks’ neighbour is Mary Talbot, who is John’s dearest friend.

ELIZABETH HANCOCK

A woman of the land. Strong as an ox but exhausted from the hell that is her daily life of washing ore and maintaining a barren outcrop of land. She is ready for a change.

MARY TALBOT

Fierce and proud, she has worked on the land all her life. She would be the first on the picket line and the last to walk away. She suffered at the hands of marauding soldiers during the Civil War.

UNWIN

One of life’s natural schemers and opportunists. Local poacher and trader of meat. Adept with a knife and acerbic wit. Would have fought in the war for whichever side was winning at the time. He is a terrible fighter but loves a scrap – after all, it’s the taking part that counts.

MARSHALL HOWE

Church sexton. Was a lead miner. Always hungry and late for his dinner. Finally and happily married late in life. Prone to helping himself to the property of those he buries, and handy with his fists.

HARRIET STUBBS

Turns twelve during the play. She’s wild and inquisitive. Raised by no one but smacked by all. As likely to be found kicking a dead cat as she is to sneak into your house and watch you sleep.

MARY COOPER

A loudmouth self-opinionated Puritan, who is as adapt at hypocrisy as she is at suppressing her son, who she loves with all of her heart. Her house gives her the perfect vantage to be the community’s most nosy neighbour, and boy does she make use of it. She is Francis Bockinge’s sister-in-law and has recently relinquished her land to Sheldon. The money left from both of her deceased husbands’ estates is running dry, which is why she is forced to rent out her room.

EDWARD COOPER

A walking pair of eyes. He’s nineteen but has the worldly knowledge of someone half his age. His father died in the mines and he has been wrapped in cotton wool ever since by his overbearing mother, who will do almost anything to keep him safe, even if that means quashing his spirit. When George Viccars arrives, his world explodes, and all the confusion he has often felt begins to make sense.

GEORGE VICCARS

Early twenties. An itinerant tailor who is exceptional at his job. He is from a large northern town and is as easy in the company of wealthy clients as he is with those who have not a penny to their name. He truly knows who he is. As befitting a man who travels, his life has been hard and often wrought with danger, as he navigates the precarious highways of northern England.

JOHN SYDALL

Once he was the village yob and drunk who was a tenacious miner, but one morning, whilst lying in a pile of his own excrement, he saw the light of God. Stanley took him in and taught him to read. Unfortunately in Stanley’s absence nobody has been able to curb Sydall’s natural ferociousness and anger. He has stopped working in order to share the word of God as loudly and with as much vengeance as the good Lord has bestowed upon him.

ELIZABETH SYDALL

Long-suffering wife and devoted mother. She is employed by Sheldon as a maid, and since her husband stopped working, this has been the family’s sole source of income. Every inch of her being is in love with John Wilson and in any other lifetime she may have been the person her daughter Emmott is.

EMMOTT SYDALL

The epicentre of any party. Emmott may end up starting a revolution. She was the apple of her father’s eye until she hit puberty and started to question the world. Having watched her mother live in fear, it is an emotion she has promised to never let dictate her own life. Rowland is the roots to her tree.

ROWLAND TORRE

Solid muscle. He would walk through a wall rather than step over it. He is not a man prone to sentiment so love is a baffling but completely genuine experience for him.

JOHN WILSON

Elizabeth Sydall was his childhood sweetheart but their relationship was never able to be made true as he was enlisted to fight in the war. He was presumed dead in the war. He survived horrific wounds and after many years of trekking finally found his way home, only to find Elizabeth had married John Sydall. Since his return he has turned down potential suitors and remains unmarried. He now works back in the mines and will do anything in his power to protect the woman he loves.

FRANCIS BOCKINGE

Injured by an accident working in the mines, Francis’s stutter has become more pronounced since he has been forced to work for Sheldon. His wife Jude was the last person Howe buried before the play starts, and her loss weighs heavily upon him. A deeply selfless man, he places great faith in Stanley who has always taken care of him. Edward Cooper’s uncle.

PHILIP SHELDON

A bastard who revels in being a complete arsehole. He once was a free miner, with the most productive piece of land. During the Civil War he started selling lead to rivaling causes and has since become the wealthiest man in the village. He now occupies the largest house in the village and has bought out the majority of the villagers’ land, with only two pieces remaining (Hancock and Talbot), which will ensure his complete control of the village and the wealth it contains. He hates the chattering classes but desperately longs to be accepted by them.

ELIZABETH SHELDON

From the neighbouring village of Tideswell. She is the local beauty who Sheldon has effectively bought after the death of her beloved first husband’s death. She is desperately lonely and trapped in the cage that Sheldon has created for her. Much younger than her husband.

Acknowledgements

Eyam is a story that I have wanted to tell since I was eight years old. I would like to thank the entire team at the Globe that have crafted and built this show and brought that ambition to life.

Dr Will Tosh, Jennifer Edwards and the wonderful team of researchers who have been invaluable. The team and staff at Eyam museum and church: thank you for your generosity and enthusiasm. Andy Wood for writing a book that gave me the confidence to commit to the wild west. All those that I grew up with who have provided the springboard into this world.

Ben Addis, Paul Copley, Shaun Dooley, Laura Elsworthy, David Hartley, Simon Harrison, John Heffernan, Rebecca Humphries, Paul Kaye, Richard Lumsden, Laura Morgan, Jenny Rainsford, Felix Scott and Susie Trayling for being integral in giving these characters voices. Dave Bond, Heather Davies and the students at RWCMD for being such willing guinea pigs.

Karishma Balani, Pippa Hill, Jessica Lusk, Severine Magois, Carole Moorcraft, Lisa Spirling and the team at Nick Hern Books. Jennifer Thomas and Giles Smart for getting this over the line.

Rebecca Askew, Jeremy Avis, Hila Ben-Ari, Lauren Burns, Sarah Case, Ian Farmery, Kevin McCurdy and Amy Slater for all your commitment to the Eyam cause.

Annette Badland, Zora Bishop, Adrian Bower, Priyanga Burford, Sam Crane, John Paul Connolly, Becci Gemmell, Will Keen, Norah Lopez-Holden, Luke MacGregor, Jordan Metcalfe, Oliver Ryan, Sirine Saba, Howard Ward and Rose Wardlaw for bringing this story to life so vividly.

Hannah Clark, Orlando Gough and Emma Woods: true collaborators who gave such brilliant notes and then created such a vivid language to tell Eyam’s story.

I will forever be in awe and debt to Michelle Terry whose unwavering belief and support is a gift that I wish upon every writer.

Adele Thomas: without your dedication, friendship, wisdom and vision this play wouldn’t exist. Dioch cariad.

My parents and brother, for bringing Eyam into my life and putting up with me when it took over.

And of course my wife and daughter, my brilliant little community.

M.H.

For Eden and Helen x

Author’s Note

This play is inspired by real events, it is not intended to be read as fact.

Dancing and singing is a vital part of Eyam’s story. At the end of Part One the hymn sung by the villagers is: ‘And Am I Born To Die’ by Charles Wesley. The same hymn is repeated during Scene Forty. Although Wesley was born post the story it is believed this song was created by being inspired by his visit to Eyam. Throughout the script a mention to song is repeatedly made: this is original music created by Orlando Gough. Any production should look to create their own sound that amplifies the experience in these sections.

Any production should embrace the crows’ theatricality. They are the size of the villagers.

In Scene Two, William initially mispronounces Eyam as ‘I am’.

Characters

REVEREND SHORELAND ADAMS

PHILIP SHELDON

REVEREND WILLIAM MOMPESSON

KATHERINE MOMPESSON

MARSHALL HOWE

HARRIET STUBBS

EDWARD COOPER

MARY COOPER

UNWIN

ELIZABETH HANCOCK

JOHN HANCOCK

FRANCIS BOCKINGE

MARY TALBOT

JOHN SYDALL

ELIZABETH SYDALL

JOHN WILSON

GEORGE VICCARS

ELIZABETH SHELDON

MR THOMAS STANLEY

EMMOTT SYDALL

ROWLAND TORRE

The play is set in the village of Eyam, Derbyshire, between the years 1665 and 1666.

Note on Text

A forward slash (/) indicates continued speech.

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.