The process of devising a WCT play is lengthy. Ideas are tried out and explored and scenes can be discarded without making it into the final script, as this early summary of possible scenes for The Bare Bones shows.
Bare Bones: Secrets of the Hill
INTRODUCTION
SONG: The Rose and the Yew (T S Eliot)
- Actors take props etc. from the cart.
SCENE 1: SUMMONING THE ANCESTRAL VOICES FROM NORTH, WEST, EAST & SOUTH
- Audience watches cast performing ritual. This involves spinning a coin ‘to summon’ the ancestral voices of the past.
- 4 masked figures appear from four points of compass.
The Monster (Rachael H) from the North, the Fool (Jonathan) from the West, the Soldier (Jeff) from the East, the Poets (Barbara, Marion and one other) from the South. Who shall have the sovereignty of the hill? - Each briefly introduces him/herself & makes his/her claim (in verse). Who will go first in bid to convince audience of their sovereignty of the hill?
SCENE 2: THE NORTH, DEATH
- The Monster speaks first. ALL into positions.
The MONSTER claims hill has always been a place of death and foreboding. A burial chamber. - Leads into the ritual of death. SOUND EFFECTS – MUSIC – DRUMS.
The cleaning of the bones. The cast drag bodies wrapped in cloths along to drum beats. They leave them and become birds pecking away the flesh (unwrapping of cloth). Dance away with cloths blowing in the wind. - Watched by whole cast, three modern children arrive. Two are teasing/bullying the third – taunting her with stories of death/murder/ghosts. (Describing what we have just seen. She cries. The Monster laughs.)
- The Fool ‘rescues’ the crying child. SONG. (Possibly Shakespearean fool song??) He makes her laugh. Leads into his scene.
SCENE 3: THE WEST, THE FOOL AND THE WOMEN GATHERING
- The Fool introduces the Women’s scene – preparing for the wedding of young chieftainess.
SONG: Sleeping in the Wind
- Women gathering up dyes for her dress. Laughter. Cat’s cradle. Storytelling. Gossip. Joking, playing (children?)
SCENE 4: THE EAST, THE SOLDIER
- DRUMS. The soldier stops laughter and storytelling. Need for work and austerity.
SONG: On This Hill
- All mime history of Hambledon as reflection of the work ethic – shepherding.
- Return to first ritual – the bones are laid out in an orderly way – from east to west – not death but preparation for new life.
- The Fool gets back at Cromwell – tells story of Hambledon clubmen firing on Cromwell’s troops. Cromwell angry.
SONG: Wolfe
SCENE 5: THE SOUTH, THE POETS
- The poets bring in a sense of reflection. Looking to the future.
- Cast tell/show their own stories about beautiful places, including Hambledon.
- Way of reconciling joy with happiness, war with peace, past with present, etc.
SCENE 6: CONCLUSION
The Rose and the Yew. Eliot song again as cart is packed.