When Winston Went to War with the Wireless E-Book

Jack Thorne

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

Seitenzahl: 123

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

In May 1926, Britain grinds to a halt, as workers down tools for the General Strike. With the printing presses shut down, the only sources of news are the government's British Gazette, edited by Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, and the independent, fledgling British Broadcasting Company, led by John Reith. The stage is set for a fierce battle over control of the news and who gets to define the truth. Jack Thorne's When Winston Went To War With The Wireless is a gripping play about the birth of a great British institution and its efforts to stay impartial. It premiered at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in June 2023, directed by Katy Rudd, with Stephen Campbell Moore as Reith, Adrian Scarborough as Churchill, and Haydn Gwynne as Stanley Baldwin. 'Jack Thorne never ceases to stimulate and entertain'Evening Standard

Leseprobe

Jack Thorne

WHEN WINSTON WENT TO WAR WITH THE WIRELESS

A True Story About Truth

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

Contents

Original Production Details

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Epigraph

Characters

When Winston Went To War With The Wireless

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

When Winston Went To War With The Wireless was first performed on 13 June 2023 (previews from 2 June) at the Donmar Warehouse, London, with the following cast:

ISABEL SHIELDS

Kitty Archer

JOHN REITH

Stephen Campbell Moore

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY/J. C. C. DAVIDSON

Ravin J Ganatra

STANLEY BALDWIN

Haydn Gwynne

MURIEL REITH

Mariam Haque

ERNEST BEVIN

Kevin McMonagle

CHARLIE BOWSER/ENGINEER

Luke Newberry

MUSICIAN/SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

Seb Philpott

ARTHUR PUGH/MUSICIAN

Elliott Rennie

CLEMMIE CHURCHILL/AMELIA JOHNSON

Laura Rogers

PETER ECKERSLEY

Shubham Saraf

WINSTON CHURCHILL

Adrian Scarborough

All other parts played by the company

Director

Katy Rudd

Designer

Laura Hopkins

Sound Designers

Ben and Max Ringham

Lighting Designer

Howard Hudson

Movement Director

Scott Graham

Composer

Gary Yershon

Video Designer and Animator

Andrzej Goulding

Casting Director

Anna Cooper CDG

Foley Consultant

Tom Espiner

Production Manager

Jim Leaver

Costume Supervisor

Lisa Aitken

Props Supervisor

Lizzie Frankl for Propworks

Associate Props Supervisor

Rachel Middlemore for Propworks

Associate Sound Designer

Ellie Isherwood

Wigs, Hair and Make-Up

Sharon Pearson

Supervisor Wigs, Hair and Make-Up Manager

Keisha Banya

Voice Coach

Charlie Hughes D’Aeth

Dialect Coach

Penny Dyer

Resident Assistant Director

Adam Karim

Assistant Set and Costume Designer

Jingyi

Assistant Sound Designer

Raffaela Pancucci

Sound Operator

Jake Hanks

Company Stage Manager

Robert Perkins

Deputy Stage Manager

Maria Gibbons

Assistant Stage Manager

Devon James-Bowen

Acknowledgements

Katy Rudd

Michael Longhurst

Laura Hopkins

Ben & Max Ringham

Craig Gilbert

Nick Morrison

Matthew Warchus

Andrew Marr

David Hendy

Georgina Born

Kate Varah

Robert Seatter

Jean Seaton

Rachel Taylor

Helena Clark

Hannah Spinks

Tom Hercock

Paul Sarony

Peter Sarony

The Estate of Alfred Noyes

The Estate of Asa Briggs

Cicely Hadman

Stuart Tubby

Mariella Johnson

J.T.

For Rachel Holroyd. With gratitude.

‘[The BBC was a] democracy of young pioneers, doomed like all the pioneering of youth to come up against the rigidity of age, discipline and experience.’

Cecil Lewis, ‘Broadcasting from Within’

Characters

JOHN REITH, thirty-seven, conflicted, confident, with a scar on his left cheek

WINSTON CHURCHILL, fifty-two, balding, barrel-chested, bellicose

ISABEL SHIELDS, late twenties, perfectly spoken, rather ornate

PETER ECKERSLEY, thirty-four, chief engineer. Pipe in his mouth, slouches about

STANLEY BALDWIN, fifty-eight, Prime Minister of the country, cleverer than he first appears

J. C. C. DAVIDSON, thirty-seven, deputy chief civil commissioner, deviously devoted

ERNEST BEVIN, forty-five, leader of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, wears the weight

ARTHUR PUGH, fifty-six, Chair of the TUC’s Special Industrial Committee, brow-beaten, overwrought

AMELIA JOHNSON, forties, newsreader, ramrod straight

CHARLIE BOWSER, early twenties, beautiful, inside and out, a ghost of a past

CLEMENTINE CHURCHILL, forty-one, witty, caring and frequently merciless

MURIEL REITH, thirties, full of a get-up-and-go that’s frequently thwarted

JIX, sixty, Home Secretary, quite a traditional home secretary

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, seventy-eight, patrician, stooped

All other parts (and there are quite a few, see below) should be played by members of the company.

UNION MEN

HELGA, a singer

ENGINEER

H. G. WELLS

HELENA MILLAIS

BEATRICE LILLIE

A screaming MAN

ELLA FITZPATRICK

SANDY POWELL

A coughing WOMAN

COMMANDER KENWORTHY

DUKE OF CORNWALL

GERRY, a Foley artist

BILLY BENNETT

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

LLOYD GEORGE

MORGAN JONES

BRUCE, a spoons player

MARION CRAN

And FOLEY ARTISTS – I suggest some of the Foley in the script. I hope there’ll be room for a lot more in an actual production.

Note

News bulletins in the play have been adapted from BBC bulletins between 1 May and 13 May 1926.

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

Prologue

There’s darkness. Pure darkness.

Then emerging from the darkness come UNION MEN, their faces dark, their headlamps filling the stage and their song filling the theatre.

UNION MEN.

When the union’s inspiration through the workers’ blood shall run,

There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun;

Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one,

But the union makes us strong.

Solidarity forever,

Solidarity forever,

Solidarity forever,

For the union makes us strong.

And they are gone.

ACT ONE

Scene One

HELGA is a singer, unaccustomed to radio, the ENGINEER is seemingly in control.

ENGINEER. Just give it your best, nice and slow is what I’d recommend.

HELGA. One can hardly slow down the music. The tempo is –

ENGINEER. Otherwise we get complaints, dear. People like to hear the words, you see…

HELGA. I don’t see how…

ENGINEER. The trouble being, of course, they lack the equipment. Only a very expensive receiver can do justice to transmission and only then when signals are very strong. Mostly all they hear is the equivalent to someone screaming in their privy.

HELGA. Probably better if I don’t think about screaming in the privy…

ENGINEER. Those are not my words, they’re the words of Peter Eckersley, my boss. Great man. So slow the tempo and avoid… well, final advice, avoid nipping about too much if you can help it.

HELGA. Nipping about?

ENGINEER. High, low and then high again, it distorts it. Which, if you’re in an over-large and poorly insulated privy, well…

HELGA. You want me to not sing the high notes?

ENGINEER. Oh, you need to sing them, dear, but make them a tad lower. If you can.

HELGA. Make the high notes lower?

ENGINEER. Yes. (Picking up a receiver.) Hello, control room, this is transmission studio number three, signal me when you’re ready for testing please.

HELGA. You do understand, I have to sing the notes as they are laid out at the tempo they’re laid out in.

A light comes on. He watches it closely.

ENGINEER. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. When Mary had a little scran, she often felt quite hungry, so everywhere she ever went she took an extra sandwich with her…

The light goes off.

Watch for the light to turn on again, when it does – sing.

JOHN REITH enters, on the storm.

HELGA. Who is this?

ENGINEER. Are you commandeering, sir?

PETER ECKERSLEY rushes in after him.

PETER. I’ve scrambled everyone to look for you.

REITH. Studio three felt the best.

ENGINEER. It’s happened?

REITH. It’s happened and we’re about to broadcast it.

PETER. I can’t believe they’ve done it.

HELGA. Done what?

REITH. The TUC’s finally fired the gun…

PETER. Or the Government have…

HELGA. Strike? A General Strike?

ENGINEER. They’re all going out?

PETER. Daily Mail printers refused to set an editorial condemning the TUC, Government called off negotiations, the TUC had no choice… Everyone – every union – is striking.

REITH (over PETER’s lines). Miss Shields! Isabel!

AMELIA JOHNSON enters from off in a cocktail dress.

AMELIA. I’m ready. I’m ready.

PETER. We’ll need five minutes.

REITH. Two minutes.

AMELIA. Oh. Where’s my –

REITH. I can handle this.

ISABEL SHIELDS enters after.

HELGA. I need to call my mother.

ISABEL. I’ve got a statement from them and a rather shorter one from Downing Street.

AMELIA. I just can’t find my jacket. Do I need a jacket?

ISABEL (to AMELIA). With shoulders like that? I’d have thought so.

REITH. This is my responsibility.

PETER. What does that mean?

REITH. I’ll take lead. I’ll do it.

AMELIA. But isn’t it my –

REITH. Peter – cue me in –

AMELIA. But don’t I do the news? I do the news.

HELGA. Can I leave? Can I get to a phone?

ENGINEER and PETER. No.

REITH. Hold out your hands.

AMELIA does, they’re shaking. REITH holds his out, they’re still.

I have this.

PETER (over the receiver). This is studio three, we will be taking over the airwaves as part of an emergency transmission –

REITH sits and begins to make notes.

ENGINEER. We’re scheduled anyway.

PETER. Then have studio two scheduled to go after we’re done.

ENGINEER. Yes, sir.

ISABEL gently places the statements in front of REITH.

ISABEL. This is everything we have, sir.

PETER. You know what you’re going to say?

REITH. No. Count me in.

He settles himself, he scans the pages, he looks up, PETER signals – they’re live.

This is London and all stations calling.

Negotiations between the Government and trade unions have broken down. The Trade Unions Congress have today declared a General Strike. The strike will commence at midnight tonight. According to an official memorandum of the Trades Union Congress the following trades are involved in the strike call: all transport, printing trades, iron and steel, electric and gas workers, and all those in building work. Sanitary services are to be continued however and there will be no interference with healthcare.

WINSTON CHURCHILL enters, humming, he pours himself a whisky – FOLEY ARTISTS pour water from one glass into another glass – he goes over to an ice bucket – they put two pebbles in the glass – he sits in his chair.

The Government have declared a state of national emergency exists and that as a precautionary measure they’ve moved detachments of troops and military vehicles into designated zones throughout the country for, and I quote, ‘the maintenance of law and order and the protection of life and property’.

May we appeal to all our listeners to make this strike as short and as painless as possible and to preserve goodwill so as to find a way out of this deadlock.

The BBC have received a message from the Prime Minister, it reads as follows: ‘Be steady. Remember that peace on earth comes from men of good will.’ I will repeat this. ‘Be steady. Remember that peace on earth comes from men of good will.’

Beat.

‘Be steady. Remember that peace on earth comes from men of good will.’

This is London. More when we have it.

He stands up. He signals to the ENGINEER who passes it to another studio.

There. There.

He breathes out.

Did I repeat the statement three times?

PETER. Yes, sir.

REITH. Was that a mistake?

PETER. No. They won’t be able to dock our coverage now, you know –

REITH. Did I really read it out three times?

PETER. You did.

REITH. Well. Good. Good. Get her ready for the air.

He indicates HELGA.

It’s done. They did it.

PETER. They did.

REITH rubs his face. He looks at HELGA.

REITH. Do you know ‘Abide with Me’?

HELGA. No.

REITH. Then sing what you can. This country will need all the distractions it can find at the moment.

Lights click out. Only CHURCHILL is left.

CHURCHILL (sings).

Then raise the scarlet standard high,

Beneath its shade we’ll live and die,

Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,

We’ll keep the red flag flying here.

He raises a glass. The lights turn off completely.

Scene Two

ISABEL. A typical day at the BBC.

Well, it was very exciting.

Mostly exciting.

We’d have allsorts trooping in.

The London Radio Dance Band –

There’s a dash of Dance Band.

The Daventry Quartet –

There’s a dash of strings.

There were plays like – Light and Shade, a comedy by L. du Garde Peach.

FRANCIS. I would love to talk, darling, but sadly I’ve my foot trapped in a bucket.

A FOLEY ARTIST drops a bucket on the floor. There’s the sound of laughter.

ISABEL. And wonderful celebrities like Sir Oliver Lodge talking on worlds and atoms, Doctor C. W. Saleeby on health. Though the less said about H. G. Wells the better. The man squeaked. He squeaked.

H. G. WELLS (squeaky). Face the world. Learn its ways, watch it, be careful of too-hasty guesses at its meaning. In the end you will find clues to it all.

ISABEL. In the end you’ll find your voice is poorly suited to radio, Mr Squeaky Wells. Peter Eckersley, our wonderful chief engineer.

PETER wanders onto stage.

Even manufactured a special room, just for H. G. Wells, but did he squeak?

H. G. WELLS (squeak). Yes.

ISABEL. Of course he did.

And finally my favourite thing on the schedule – the comedians – everyone from the mysterious A. J. Alan to Joe Murgatroyd and his tiffs with his wife Blossom, to Miss Helena Millais with her Light Songs and Fragments from Life.

HELENA MILLAIS. Ullo, me ducks, ’ere I am again with me old string bag and nothing to sing bar ‘Ours Is a Nice ’Ouse Ours Is’.

ISABEL. There were only two rules:

PETER. ‘If you sneeze you will deafen millions.’

ISABEL. And –

PETER. ‘No gags on Scotsmen, Welshmen, clergymen, drink or medical matters.’

ISABEL. Open house on the Irish of course.

The news was never really central to our template. The BBC had been prevented from presenting the news until seven p.m. at night. Newspapers worried it would interfere with circulation if people could get the news for free.

But the General Strike meant everything changed. For newspapers could not be printed or distributed and that meant – well, that meant the wireless had power, you see? It was the only information source for many as to what was actually happening.

And so much was happening. Arguments raged in Parliament, and all across the country…

Yes. The General Strike changed everything – and the BBC – it turned out – was right in the centre of it –

Scene Three

CHURCHILL walks through the clock corridor in the Palace of Westminster. ERNEST BEVIN pursues him across the floor. ARTHUR PUGH just behind. FOLEY ARTISTS provide echoey steps.

BEVIN. Mr Churchill. Chancellor. Mr Churchill. Ernest Bevin and Arthur Pugh – here to talk to you and to the Prime Minister. Ready to resume negotiations. We’ve shown our hand, you’ve shown yours. Time to talk more, don’t you think?

CHURCHILL. Ernest, you say?

BEVIN. You know who I am, sir, and as General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union –

CHURCHILL. More than shown your hand, young Ernest, you’ve gone and taken your bloody clothes off.

BEVIN. It was purely your unwillingness to resume talks that left us –

CHURCHILL. I respect you enormously – Ernest, but the time for negotiation has passed. You weren’t able to control your people – the Daily Mail printers –

PUGH. The printers attacked without TUC support –

CHURCHILL. – would not publish and that rather forced us into our position, you see –

PUGH. The Daily Mail was calling us revolutionaries. Besmirching our patriotism.

CHURCHILL. The freedom of the press is the freedom to occasionally get things wrong.