The Secret Garden E-Book

Frances Hodgson Burnett

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Serie: NHB Modern Plays
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 137

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

'What happened then, some would say, was almost magic.' Disregarded and disobedient, ten-year-old Mary Lennox is sent from India to Yorkshire, and put into the care of an uncle she has never met. At Misselthwaite Manor, a brokenhearted house full of secrets and strange noises, Mary discovers a garden as lost and neglected as she is. If she can learn to make friends with robins, grumpy gardeners and a boy who speaks to animals, Mary might be able to bring more than just the garden back to life… The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett's tale about the magic of nature and the nature of magic, has been a beloved and quietly radical classic of children's literature since its publication in 1911. Holly Robinson and Anna Himali Howard's thrillingly adventurous adaptation was first performed at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London, in 2024.

Leseprobe

Frances Hodgson Burnett

THE SECRET GARDEN

in a new version by

Holly Robinson & Anna Himali Howard

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Thanks

Original Production Details

Characters

Notes

The Secret Garden

About the Authors

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

For Dante John Howard

Thanks

We would both like to thank: Drew McOnie, James Pidgeon, Lauren King, mezze eade and the whole Regent’s Park team; Tim Sheader; Nic Wass; Polly Jerrold and Howard; Nick Hern Books, especially Maddie Hindes; the many actors who joined us for readings and workshops and shared their time, thoughts and talents with us; Elly Roberts; Katherine Pollock and maatin; our wonderful agents Kirsten Foster and Imogen Sarre. And finally, our incredible creative team and our brilliant cast who came together to grow this garden with extraordinary care.

Holly would like to thank

The Robinsons for the moors.

The Mitchells for sharing their Welsh Garden when it was most needed.

Gillian Greer for being there through the hardest spring.

The Robinsaagis (small and tall) for my belonging.

Anna Himali Howard for being magic and care incarnate.

And Adam Brace who taught me to grasp the nettle.

Anna would like to thank

Ethan and Clem, for this new world.

Mum and Janak, Helen and Richard, for an abundance of love.

Everyone who held me up during these seasons of growth, death and (re)birth.

The many new aunts, uncles, godmothers, grandparents and villagers who have taken their place in our lives.

Holly Robinson, for keeping imagination alive.

Gangan and Ba, who made sense of me.

And Dad, for ordinary magic.

The Secret Garden was first performed at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London, on 15 June 2024, with the following cast:

COLIN

Theo Angel

BEN WEATHERSTAFF

Richard Clews

DR CRAVEN

George Fletcher

MRS MEDLOCK

Amanda Hadingue

MARTHA

Molly Hewitt-Richards

ARCHIBALD CRAVEN

Jack Humphrey

CHAMPA

Avita Jay

MARY LENNOX

Hannah Khalique-Brown

CAPTAIN LENNOX

Patrick Osborne

LATA/THE ROBIN

Sharan Phull

PADMA

Archana Ramaswamy

DICKON

Brydie Service

Consultant Historian and Translator

Dr Priyanka Basu

Puppetry Consultant

Laura Cubitt

Movement Director

Will Dickie

Sound Designer

Tingying Dong

Voice Coach

Kate Godfrey

Dramaturg

Gillian Greer

Season Associate Sound Designer

James Hassett

Director

Anna Himali Howard

Casting Director

Polly Jerrold

Dialect Coach

Gurkiran Kaur

Composers

Ford Collier and Kate Griffin (Mishra Music)

Lighting Designer

Jai Morjaria

Accent Coach

Elspeth Morrison

Intimacy Director

Ita O’Brien

Associate Director

Hana Pascal Keegan

Costume Designer

Khadija Raza

Writer

Holly Robinson

Assistant Intimacy Director

Rose Ryan

Set Designer

‘Magic is the bringing about of unbelievable things through an obstinate faith that nothing is too good to be true.’

Frances Hodgson Burnett

‘…and of course, the English are famous throughout the entire civilised world for their hatred of children.’

Auberon Waugh

‘With all of our crazy, adaptive-deviced, loving kinship and commitment to each other, we will leave no one behind as we roll, limp, stim, sign, and move in a million ways towards cocreating the decolonial living future. I am dreaming like my life depends on it. Because it does.’

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice

‘Make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.’

William Martin, excerpt from The Parent’s Tao Te Ching

‘Give [children] the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this space they live in, its sticks and lakes and then the silent, beautiful blossoms.’

Mary Oliver, Upstream

‘Go under the ivy…’

Kate Bush

Characters

MARY LENNOX, ten, British-Indian

COLIN CRAVEN, ten, British-Indian. This role should be played by a wheelchair user

DICKON SOWERBY, twelve. This role should be played by an actor with a mobility disability

MARTHA SOWERBY, thirteen, Dickon’s sister

ARCHIBALD CRAVEN thirties, white. This role should be played by an actor with a disability

HAROLD CRAVEN thirties, white. Archibald’s brother. This role should be played by an actor with a stammer

MRS MEDLOCK, fifties

BEN WEATHERSTAFF, sixties

LATA CRAVEN / THE ROBIN, late twenties, Indian. Archibald’s late wife and Colin’s mother

PADMA MUKHERJEE, thirties, Indian. Lata and Champa’s sister

CHAMPA LENNOX, thirties, Indian. Padma and Lata’s sister. Mary’s mother.

CAPTAIN LENNOX, thirties, white. Mary’s father

Every character is also part of the chorus. Some also play Dickon’s animals.

For BSL interpreted performances

COOK. The cook should be treated as part of the chorus

Notes

A forward-slash ( / ) indicates that the next line is an interruption.

Square brackets [ ] indicate an unspoken word or thought.

When characters exit a scene, they do not necessarily exit the stage.

The disability-specific language in the text can be changed to reflect the disabilities of the actors playing the roles.

We begin in winter and end in summer – this change hums through everything.

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

One: The Beginning/The End

The play begins almost how it ends; with a group of people (ARCHIBALD, MRS MEDLOCK, DOCTOR CRAVEN, BEN, MARTHA, DICKON, PADMA, LATA and CHAMPA) gathered. They are not yet in the Garden – and not yet complete with MARY, COLIN and the Magic. A community finding its way to itself.

LATA. It began.

PADMA. It begins.

CHAMPA. In a garden.

LATA. The garden.

PADMA. In an English garden

LATA. at the hour where everything stills itself.

CHAMPA. Soft gold stillness

PADMA. slanting through and under branches.

LATA. The sun readying itself –

CHAMPA/LATA/PADMA. Not quite yet

LATA. to set.

CHAMPA/LATA/PADMA. And a father

LATA. Asking –

ARCHIBALD. How did this happen?

How did this begin?

Overlapping –

MEDLOCK. It begins with the girl –

DOCTOR. It begins with the boy –

MARTHA. It begins with three sisters –

DICKON. It begins with two brothers –

CAPTAIN. It begins with sickness –

BEN. It begins in Yorkshire –

PADMA. Not yet –

ARCHIBALD. It begins…

LATA. In India.

Two: British India

A British bungalow in Kolkata. 1903. Colonial luxury. A party fills the stage: dancing, wine, ‘sophistication’, the suffocating propriety of the English Raj. Everyone playing GUESTS or SERVANTS. CHAMPA, a glamourous Indian socialite, and her husband, CAPTAIN LENNOX, a British officer.

CHAMPA. It begins at a party –

CHORUS. At a party in India!

CAPTAIN. An India ruled by an English king.

DICKON. And in that India –

MEDLOCK. in 1903.

ARCHIBALD. A girl.

Hidden away from the party is MARY, being waited on by her ayah (played by PADMA). The ayah is unwell, shivering and sick, but trying to hide it.

MARY puts her arms in the air to be dressed.

Nothing happens.

MARY. Ayah, where is my dress?!

PADMA. Shall I tell a story? The one with the spoilt boy and the magic sea?

MARY. But what about the party?

PADMA. You know you’re not invited, Missie Sahib.

MARY. Go, go and ask her why.

PADMA. Missie, please. You’re never invited.

MARY. I command you to ask her!

PADMA. I am not well enough to / argue with you.

MARY. I don’t care. I don’t care about you. Or her. And I don’t care about their awful party. I don’t care about anything.

MARY storms off.

LATA. A girl named Mary Lennox.

MEDLOCK. And Mrs Lennox, how old is your darling girl now?

DICKON. Mary Lennox was never seen.

MARTHA. Mary Lennox was kept out of sight.

DOCTOR. Mary Lennox was ignored.

CHAMPA. Oh, um, seven years old.

MARTHA. Mary was ten.

DOCTOR. And where is she tonight?

CHAMPA. With her ayah. Her, uh, nanny. She was screeching all afternoon – gave me quite the headache.

CAPTAIN. Champa, I’ve just the thing for headaches.

He hands her a drink and begins to dance with her.

BEN. Mary Lennox’s mother only cared about parties.

MEDLOCK. And being the wife of a British officer.

DOCTOR. Mary Lennox’s father only cared about sending telegrams to England.

BEN. Receiving telegrams from England.

PADMA. And ruling India for England.

CAPTAIN (toasting). To England!

CHORUS. To England!

They all drink.

DOCTOR. I hear Curzon plans to slice Bengal down the middle.

CAPTAIN. Partition would certainly quieten all this nationalistic chatter. We fully support it, don’t we, Champa?

CHAMPA. Of course, darling.

DOCTOR. Hear, hear.

As they toast and cheer, a terrible cry is hard from off. The LENNOXES assume this is MARY.

CHAMPA (toasting). To the Viceroy!

CHORUS (toasting). To the Viceroy!

CAPTAIN (hearing the cry, to a SERVANT). Will someone quiet that insufferable child?

MARY appears – this is mortifying to the Lennoxes.

MARY. Where has my ayah gone?

CHAMPA. She’s supposed to be sleeping!

MARY. Why is no one looking after me?

CAPTAIN. For goodness’ sake!

The SERVANTS attempt to shoo MARY away, but she darts around them. She might kick one.

DOCTOR. Never seen

MARTHA. Kept out of sight

BEN. Ignored

LATA. Which had made her grow into –

CHAMPA. A spoilt little (shoy-tan) [Devil]

MARY. Why won’t the servants stop crying?

DOCTOR. Crying?

CHAMPA. Darling –

LATA runs in, as a servant.

LATA. Memshaheb, Memshaheb. (Rogue-taa chhawraachhey.) [The disease is spreading.]

CHAMPA. We are in English company!

LATA. Sahib, it’s the servants. Another has died.

ARCHIBALD. Another?! What does she mean, Lennox?

MEDLOCK. My god, is it the cholera?

CHORUS(murmuring panic). The cholera?

MARY. Where is my ayah?!

LATA. Please, Sahib, we should go to the hills.

CAPTAIN. No, no, we needn’t –

DOCTOR. The sickness will spread through the house –

MARY. But who will tell me a story? Mother?

CHAMPA. Someone take her to the nursery –

MEDLOCK. But, what shall we do?

MARY. I heard wailing.

LATA. Come, Missie Sahib.

MARY. I heard screaming. I won’t go.

CHAMPA. Darling!

CAPTAIN. Girl, drink this. If you come out of your nursery again, I will have one of the lascars drag you back inside and lock the door.

MARY drinks a glass of wine and leaves.

Well? We are not stopping a party for a couple of unwell servants! Dance!

MARY leaves and returns to her room as her parents dance and dance.

BEN. But –

MEDLOCK. Surely –

LATA. Sahib –

PADMA. But the Lennoxes continued to dance –

Death and disease take over the bungalow and finally, the Lennoxes collapse.

MARTHA. And the sickness continued to spread –

ARCHIBALD. And Mary slept

BEN. Fitfully

DOCTOR. Half hearing

ARCHIBALD. The hurrying sound of feet.

PADMA. The wails.

LATA. The screams.

MARTHA. And by the time she awoke

PADMA. The bungalow was perfectly –

MARY, alone, wanders amongst the ruins of the party.

MARY. Still. It’s never been so still before. It feels as if I am the only person here, the only person in the bungalow, the only person in the whole [world.]

LATA. A normal child might have cried.

ARCHIBALD. But Mary Lennox was not a normal child.

MARY. Someone will come. Someone SHALL come for me.

MARY sits, waiting, defiant.

PADMA. Hours passed

MARTHA. Whilst Mary waited

MEDLOCK. Not crying

MARTHA. For someone, for anyone to –

TWO BRITISH OFFICERS enter wearing cotton masks. They do not notice MARY.

BEN. Terrible.

DOCTOR. Everyone? Did it take everyone?

BEN. Those that didn’t think to flee. The Lennoxes should have left at the first sign of cholera. To have a party.

DOCTOR. And the little girl too?

BEN. Seems so. Quite the tragedy.

MARY. Why are you speaking about me like I’m not here?

BEN. My god! DOCTOR. Heavens!

MARY. Are you my new servants?

DOCTOR. No, miss.

MARY. Where is my mother? Why has no one come for me?

BEN. Child, there is no one left to come.

MEDLOCK. It was in that strange

MARTHA. And sudden way

PADMA. That Mary found out

LATA. She had neither father

ARCHIBALD. nor mother left

MARTHA. They had died of the cholera

PADMA. And she had been forgotten.

LATA. She was now

CHORUS. An orphan.

MARTHA. And alone.

ARCHIBALD. A normal child might have cried.

The chorus watch MARY to see if she might cry.

MARY (without so much as a sniffle). What is to become of me?

CAPTAIN, as a busy colonial official.

BEN. She was passed from soldier

MEDLOCK. To priest

MARTHA. To police officer

PADMA. To the Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata

MARY is shut outside a door and hears snatches of a conversation.

CAPTAIN. All alone, you say?

Captain Lennox’s girl? No grandparents. Rotten little thing, I heard! Out of the question! Wasn’t there an aunt?

The door is opened and MARY walks in, before she is invited.

You’re to be sent to England, to your mother’s sister.

MARY. My mother had a sister?

CAPTAIN. She had two, I heard. Didn’t she tell you?

MARY. My mother never told me anything.

CAPTAIN. Oh. Well. Quite the scandal, it was, two Indian sisters both marrying Englishmen. Your mother, Champa, married Captain Lennox, stayed here hosting parties at the bungalow. Very good Scotch, I heard. The other, Lady Lata Craven, married a lord, I heard, and moved to England, to the north, of all places.

MARY. What about the other sister? You said she had two.

CAPTAIN. Unsavoury type, I heard.

MARY. I don’t want to go to England. I want to stay in my bungalow.

CAPTAIN. Alone! A child alone in India! It wouldn’t be proper!

MARY. Why not?

CAPTAIN. Because you’re an English girl. You must continue to be brought up in the English way.

MARY. But my ayah brought me up and then she died.

CAPTAIN. So?

MARY. So I wasn’t brought up in the English way.

DICKON. Mary didn’t know that ignoring your children

MARTHA. And entrusting their education to someone else

CHORUS. Was as English an upbringing as they come.

CAPTAIN. In any case, a telegram has been sent.

MARY. Where?

CAPTAIN. To Misselthwaite Manor.

MARY is handed a coat and suitcase by LATA, who bows.

MARY. Missel-thwaite?

CAPTAIN. It has all been agreed. You will sail to England, to live at Misselthwaite Manor under the care of your uncle, Lord Archibald Craven.

About to send her away, he reconsiders.

Who else will tell you? Your uncle. He’s an invalid, I heard. Someone should tell you, so you won’t be frightened when you see him. You hear?

MARY. I hear.

Three: Across the Sea, Across the Moor

BEN. The very next day

The ship. The CHORUS as passengers – some as families, taking the voyage together.

PADMA. Mary was on a ship

LATA. Alone.

DICKON. In the middle of a strange sea.

ARCHIBALD. A normal child might have cried –

MARY. Missel-thwaite Manor. Missel-thw-aite.

Lata Craven.

Archibald Craven.

Invalid. Whatsoever an invalid is.

MARTHA as a girl on the boat.

MARTHA. Would you like to come and play with us?

PADMA. Mary was not used to other children –

Some CHILDREN try to draw MARY into playing with them but she doesn’t understand and somewhat intentionally ruins the game for everyone.

BEN. And it became clear that other children were not used to Mary –

CHORUS. Mistress Mary quite contrary, how does your / garden grow!

MARY is so incensed by this that she stomps on the foot of one of the CHILDREN and is exiled. Alone, MARY watches a MOTHER tend to the CHILD she hurt – a care she has never experienced from a parent.

MEDLOCK. Shh, shh. Not to worry, love. Not to worry.

MARTHA. As the days passed on the ship

CAPTAIN. Mary began, for the first time in her life

PADMA. To wonder

LATA. Why she never seemed to belong to anyone.

DOCTOR. Even when her mother and father had been alive –

CAPTAIN. She had never seemed to belong to them

CHAMPA. Not in the way other children seemed to belong to their mothers and fathers –

MARTHA. And for a moment

DICKON. Mary allowed herself to wonder

LATA. Whether she might belong to someone

DICKON. In Yorkshire

MARTHA. To someone in –

CHORUS. England.

The boat arrives at the docks. Luggage unloaded, people leaving. MARY waits with an inattentive chaperone, DOCTOR. MRS MEDLOCK arrives to collect MARY.

MEDLOCK. Mary Lennox? Mary Lennox?

DOCTOR. This is Mary Lennox.

MEDLOCK. This is Mary Lennox?

DOCTOR. ’Ccording to her papers. You are Mary Lennox, aren’t you? We had a right mix up last week with an orphan / from –

MEDLOCK. Are you Mary Lennox?

MARY nods.

Well, why did you not say?

MARY. I thought it was obvious.

MEDLOCK. What a strange thing. They said her mother was a beauty. She certainly hasn’t inherited much of it, has she!

MARY. Who are you?