31 Plays in 31 Days, #3 - "Companion"

To those of you who have seen Downtown Abbey, you may remember the time Mary was considering going to America with her lady's maid Anna to escape a scandal back home. She didn't do it, but I always thought that would make an excellent TV show. Someday I'd like to write it.

Today's scene is brainstorming for that. Elise Charnmore, the sister of Melinda Charnmore the PC in Brockhurst, would be my girl going to Newport to get away. Here's a bit of thought of what it's like when she gets there.

Companion
By Phoebe Roberts

ELISE CHARNMORE, niece to the earl of Brockhurst
DAISY MARCOTTE, daughter to the secretary of an American magnate

Newport, RI, 1914
~~~

ELISE: Good afternoon. Daisy Marcotte, I presume?

DAISY: So you’re here.

ELISE: Ah… yes. My name is Elise Charnmore—

DAISY: Yes. I know.

ELISE: I suppose my Aunt Eleanor told you to expect me.

DAISY: Yes, she informed me of my duties.

ELISE: Your… duties.

DAISY: As your companion, while you wait out the storm of public opinion in England. I am to keep an eye out that you are kept out of any further trouble until such time as you’re fit to return under more respectable circumstances.

(Pause.)

ELISE: Have I done something to offend you, Miss Marcotte? I cannot imagine how, seeing as I’ve only been in your presence a few moments.

DAISY: Do you think I should be pleased?

ELISE: I don’t know that you should be displeased. You don’t know me.

DAISY: Don’t I?

ELISE: No, you don’t.

DAISY: I know that you conducted yourself in such a manner that you were obliged to flee your country in disgrace. That’s all that is of consequence.

ELISE: And do you think that I am any gladder? I don’t need a nursemaid.

DAISY: Your aunt seems to think you do, and so I am the pack mule to be saddled with the libertine from London.

ELISE: Watch what words you speak to me!

DAISY: Don’t act so high and mighty when you’re kept here by your betters’ pity.

ELISE: I was told you were a respectable girl. Is your virtue so fragile that the likes of me is enough to break it?

DAISY: You’re no more than the canker in the blossom, and damned if you don’t corrupt everything you touch. Understand this, girl— if you drag my good name down with the touch of your ignominy, you won’t be glad of it.

31 Plays in 31 Days, #2 - "What If I Don't Want To?"

Today's piece is a snippet for the third Mrs. Hawking story, tentatively titled Base Instruments. While I'm fairly certain I have the major themes and journeys hammered out, I find that there's a lot I don't know about this story yet, the plot in particular. I might have to do a fair bit of thinking before I can do scenes of it for 31 Plays in 31 Days. But here's something, getting at the idea that as much as Mary wants to be Mrs. Hawking's protege, she may not be ready for everything Mrs. Hawking's going to expect.

What If I Don’t Want To?
By Phoebe Roberts

MARY STONE, Mrs. Hawking’s maid and protégé
NATHANIEL HAWKING, Mrs. Hawking’s gentleman nephew
~~~

MARY: Did you know that Mrs. Hawking studied ballet when she was young?

NATHANIEL: Is that so? I'd no idea, how interesting.

MARY: Apparently she once considered making a career of it.

NATHANIEL: Oh, really? Was she any good, then?

MARY: I don't know. But doesn't that surprise you?

NATHANIEL: I quite honestly don’t believe there’s anything she couldn’t do if she cared to. Why, does it you?

MARY: It’s, well… Mrs. Hawking doesn't often like things for their own sake, now, does she?

NATHANIEL: She doesn't like much of anything.

MARY: That's not what I mean. Everything's to a point with her. She practices skills to hone her craft. She studies facts in case it might serve her to know them. For goodness sake, she only reads for the points of reference. To think of her dancing for only the love of it... why, it's entirely new.

NATHANIEL: Goodness. I think I see what you mean.

MARY: Do you think… she’s always been that way?

NATHANIEL: I’m hard pressed to imagine her before she was so bitter.

MARY: It could have been that. Or… do you think she’s found it necessary? For her work, I mean. To care for nothing but that which serves her purpose because that’s the only way she’s capable of accomplishing the enormous things she accomplishes?

NATHANIEL: Goodness, I hope not. I mean to be of help to her, but I couldn’t bear to live as she does. Devoting herself to nothing but her work.

MARY: What if that’s what it takes?

NATHANIEL: Well, then I haven’t got it. I’ve a family, for heaven’s sake, and a hobby or two I’d care to pursue.

(He laughs, but MARY sits very quietly, eyes wide.)

NATHANIEL: Are you quite all right?

MARY: What if I haven’t got it either?

NATHANIEL: Oh, Mary. I’m sure you too can do anything you want to. If you put your mind to it, I’m sure you could become as honed and dedicated as she is.

MARY: No, Nathaniel… what if I don’t want to?

31 Plays in 31 Days, #1 - "Because I Know You're Not"

I am out of town again this month, this time to visit relatives in Pittsburgh, so I am a bit busier than I hoped to be for the first few days of August, but here begins 31 Plays in 31 Days! I just threw this first one together in the few moments before the end of the day, so it's pretty rough, but at least I'm not behind this early.

Today's entry is extremely spoilery for my larp Brockhurst-- this is a scene from the back story of two player characters, so please don't read this one if you're still planning on playing that game!


Because I Know You're Not
by Phoebe Roberts

LIEUTENANT CHRISTIAN CHASE, the last survivor of a WWI English company
LADY ABIGAIL BELLAMY, second daughter of the earl of Brockhurst

London, England, 1914
~~~

(ABIGAIL, dressed in evening wear, approaches CHRISTIAN in his formal uniform at the party.)

ABIGAIL: Lieutenant Christian Chase?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, miss. And who might you be?

ABIGAIL: The same Christian Chase that commanded the hundred and fifty-first company on march into France?

CHRISTIAN: I am.

ABIGAIL: And was the only survivor of that last mission?

CHRISTIAN: Why do you ask?

ABIGAIL: Because I know you're not.

(CHRISTIAN stares.)

CHRISTIAN: What?

ABIGAIL: Don't try to deny it. I know you're not Christian Chase.

CHRISTIAN: W-Why would you-- why would you say that?

ABIGAIL: No one cares to question a war hero, do they? Especially one as useful as you've been. But I noticed that Lieutenant Chase is supposed to be thirty-four years of age, and I'd be surprised if you were a day over twenty-five.

CHRISTIAN: You cannot possibly know if--

ABIGAIL: Dig a little further, and one finds that Chase grew up in the south country, and no one could mistake your accent for anything but that of a Yorkshireman. No, your posh posturing doesn't fool me.

CHRISTIAN: Miss-- I don't know what you mean by all this--

ABIGAIL: Spare me, sir. I wasn't able to turn up just who you are, but I believe it's safe to conclude that you are not who you say you are. And I could reveal that fact at any time.

(Pause.)

CHRISTIAN: Please. You can't tell anyone. You don't know what it means to me.

ABIGAIL: I assure you, that's not my intention. At least, not unless I have to.

CHRISTIAN: I don't mean any harm, I swear.

ABIGAIL: Please, sir, calm yourself.

CHRISTIAN: Just... what do you want?

ABIGAIL: I don't want to ruin you. I want to use you.

CHRISTIAN: Use me... to do what?

ABIGAIL: First thing's first. Why don't you tell me who you really are?

"I don't prowl after the help."

Finished a draft of a scene today that turned out surprisingly long, set sometime in the future of the Mrs. Hawking continuity. You may have heard me mention Nathaniel's elder brother Justin, who's a world traveler and a bit of a rake. I wanted to write a scene between the two of them, and I settled on a theoretical moment where Justin is in London and has been starting to hit on Mary, which Nathaniel, knowing his brother, doesn't approve of.

I wanted to show the brothers' relationship as well as possible raise large plot-relevant issues, which I think I succeeded with. The one thing I struggled to accomplish was I want it to subtly reveal some of the classism in Nathaniel that he hasn't confronted yet-- that he may think of himself as high-minded, but that he considers attraction to a lower-class person to be vulgar for a gentleman --and I'm not sure I executed with sufficient clarity and understatement. It was too easy to gloss over "I'm not attracted to people beneath my class" with "I don't sexually harass people at work" and "I'm married and so not paying much attention to any outside people romantically."

But I think I did a good job characterizing Justin. He tweaks Nathaniel, who's way more of a goody-goody, which is fun. And I love writing the relationship between them as brothers. "Frasier" is one of my all-time favorite shows, and the way they depict the brothers and their relationship really is the best part.

NATHANIEL: Just what do you think you're doing?
JUSTIN: Why, making friends.
NATHANIEL: Bollocks.
JUSTIN: Such language!
NATHANIEL: Don't play the innocent with me. I see how you're prowling around Mary.
JUSTIN: You said she's a lovely girl, I wanted to make her acquaintance for myself.
NATHANIEL: I know what you want with lovely girls.
JUSTIN: Well, can you blame me?
NATHANIEL: Stay away from her.
JUSTIN: Why ever should I?
NATHANIEL: She's a sweet and decent girl. She doesn't deserve to be led on by the likes of you.
JUSTIN: Led on!
NATHANIEL: I'll not have you telling her pretty lies just so you can...
JUSTIN: So I can what, brother?
NATHANIEL: Get your own way. Whatever that is.
JUSTIN: Ha! Who's playing the innocent now?
NATHANIEL: Don't be vulgar.
JUSTIN: Ha! I should think you'd know me by now, old boy.
NATHANIEL: And you call yourself a gentleman. I mean, really, Auntie's maid?
JUSTIN: What's the harm? It's not like she has some grand society reputation to protect. Unless you think Aunt Victoria would be cross?
NATHANIEL: No! Well, perhaps, but--
JUSTIN: Well, I'm quite used to weathering Auntie's wrath. What, do you think she'd dismiss the girl over it?
NATHANIEL: I don't think so-- but that's not the point.
JUSTIN: Aunt Victoria doesn't have to know.
NATHANIEL: It's nothing to do with Aunt Victoria, for heaven's sake!
JUSTIN: Then what's it to you? Unless you fancy her.
NATHANIEL: Justin!
JUSTIN: Shame on you, you're a married man.
NATHANIEL: It isn't that! How dare you?
JUSTIN: It's just as well. Wouldn't have thought you had it in you.
NATHANIEL: Of course not.
JUSTIN: She is lovely girl, though, isn't she?
NATHANIEL: She is.
JUSTIN: And you were the one that brought her here. Are you telling me you've never noticed her?
NATHANIEL: I don't prowl after the help.
JUSTIN: I'd forgotten, you're far too lofty to spare a glance to a creature of lower classes. I confess, though, I'd rather begun to wonder.
NATHANIEL: About what!?
JUSTIN: About why you spend so much time around Auntie's maid. The fine old boy hasn't descended to the level of the rest of us, has he? Started to envy all the fun I have while you're bound up in the monotony of married life?
NATHANIEL: Yes, that's it exactly, Justin, I've installed my working class mistress in my aunt's own house because I wanted to be just like my dear big brother. Mary and I, we've... rather made friends, is all.
JUSTIN: Friends.
NATHANIEL: Yes! Is that so unheard of?
JUSTIN: I'd say so.
NATHANIEL: There's no harm in it.
JUSTIN: Still, it's very odd. Just out of curiosity, what does Clara think?
NATHANIEL: Of what?
JUSTIN: Of your most harmless friendship.
NATHANIEL: Well... I don't suppose she knows much of it.
JUSTIN: You mean you've kept it from her? I thought she led you so around by the nose you had no secrets!
NATHANIEL: I don't! Not really! It's only that I haven't... brought it up as yet.
JUSTIN: Hmmm. And why is that, do you think?
NATHANIEL: Oh, wipe that look off your face!
JUSTIN: You must know what that sounds like.
NATHANIEL: It's nothing untoward!
JUSTIN: Then why, my virtuous brother, must you hide it?
NATHANIEL: I don't mean to. I only... I only don't know how to do it. Tell her, I mean.
JUSTIN: Afraid she'll cast the same aspersion upon your character as I have just now?
NATHANIEL: I'm afraid she might... misunderstand.
JUSTIN: Oh, why worry for it? You need never tell her if it will only make trouble.
NATHANIEL: I hate keeping things from her.
JUSTIN: Why prod the bear if you don't have to?
NATHANIEL: She's my wife, Justin, not some terrible monster from the woods.
JUSTIN: Wives, terrors, it's all the same to me. But it isn't even as if you're deceiving her. If you've done nothing, then you've nothing to tell her.
NATHANIEL: It isn't only that.
JUSTIN: What, then? Do you she think she wouldn't believe you?
NATHANIEL: Not so much that...
JUSTIN: Or wouldn't approve?
NATHANIEL: Perhaps. Of my reasons for spending time with Miss Stone.
JUSTIN: And what might they be? Beyond her more obvious charms.
NATHANIEL: Oh, you wouldn't understand.
JUSTIN: My. Must be byzantine indeed if it's beyond both Clara and myself. Well, brother, I hope you can find a way to make things clear one way or another.
NATHANIEL: I thought you advocated avoiding the issue entirely.
JUSTIN: So I do. But I know you well enough to see it won't sit well with you. And if you're keeping it from your wife, it must be something remarkable indeed.

31 Plays in 31 Days: #31 - "Serving"

Push to the finish!

This idea was Bernie's suggestion. He thinks that Nathaniel's admiration for the Colonel would lead him to enlist the way he did, but that it went a very different way for him. It also ties Ito the idea of finding the way he can properly contribute to Mrs. Hawking's work.

Day #31 - "Serving"

MARY STONE, Mrs. Hawking's maid and assistant
NATHANIEL HAWKING, Mrs. Hawking's nephew
~~~

MARY: There's more to this work than knives and brawling. It's not the end of everything to not be a martial man.
NATHANIEL: Here now! I've a martial side. Why, I'll have you know I served my bit a few years back!
MARY: You did?
NATHANIEL: Don't sound so surprised!
MARY: Forgive me, it's only... well, you're a gentleman.
NATHANIEL: And I've lived a soft life accordingly, is that it?
MARY: It isn't necessarily to be expected of a gentleman.
NATHANIEL: Miss Stone, I idolized my uncle from the time I was a boy. I've spent my whole life wanting to be like him. You can bet that when I was old enough I stepped up to serve my queen and country just as he did.
MARY: My, sir! Well, I am sorry I expected any less. I am duly impressed.
NATHANIEL: Oh, you ought not to be.
MARY: It's very admirable! You must tell me sometime of your adventures and your exploits as a dashing servant of the empire.
NATHANIEL: It was hardly that. Yes, I enlisted when I was twenty or so. But do you know where they stationed me?
MARY: India? Singapore?
NATHANIEL: Newcastle. At the naval headquarters in the north country. When they learned I was a finance man they assigned me to keep the books for the armory.
MARY: I see.
NATHANIEL: Hardly the adventure I imagined it. And not much in the Colonel's style.
MARY: They saw you had a talented and they put it to use, though. I can't help but think we ought to do the same.

31 Plays in 31 Days: #29 - "After the Funeral"

Hawking faaaaaaaamily! I have started thinking about the extended Hawking family, as I think they intersect interestingly with Mrs. Hawking's very different personality and life.

This is the first time I've ever written about Justin Hawking, Nathaniel's older brother. I don't know too much about him yet-- where he lives, what he does, what kind of participation he can have in the larger story --but I know I need to set him up to be able to contribute some sort of dramatic tension. I know a major struggle of Nathaniel's will be needing to move past his patriarchal upbringing, and the issues that come from being the youngest adult member of a family of old-fashioned and hypermasculine alpha males. I like the idea of setting up a conflict between him and his cooler, charming-but-somewhat jerkish older brother.

Day #29 - “After the Funeral”

NATHANIEL HAWKING, a gentleman, nephew to Victoria Hawking
JUSTIN HAWKING, his elder brother
~~~

(NATHANIEL, dressed in funerary blacks, stands alone in the study. Enter JUSTIN, his older brother, similarly dressed.)

JUSTIN: Nathan?

NATHANIEL: In here.

JUSTIN: Wondered where you’d gotten off to.

NATHANIEL: I wanted a bit of quiet.

JUSTIN: Certainly can understand that. Must say, the tide of mourners and well-wishers has started to wear on me as well.

NATHANIEL: Well, Uncle was a war hero. He had plenty of admirers.

JUSTIN: Are you all right? I know the two of you were quite close.

NATHANIEL: Afraid I’m not, Justin. I’m terribly blue over it. I am quite terribly blue.

JUSTIN: Well, buck up, little brother. We’re all going to miss the old fellow. It’s even put a crack in Father’s mien. I don’t think he ever expected he’d outlive his younger brother.

(Pause.)

NATHANIEL: That’s not all of it, though.

JUSTIN: Oh?

NATHANIEL: It’s only that… well, it’s Aunt Victoria.

JUSTIN: What of her?

NATHANIEL: Didn’t you notice?

JUSTIN: Nothing particularly.

NATHANIEL: You didn’t happen to pay any notice to the widow at the man’s funeral?

JUSTIN: I stay well out of Aunt Victoria’s way if I can help it, you know that.

NATHANIEL: Well, if you hadn’t been hiding from her behind Mother’s hoop skirt, you might have noticed how she looked.

JUSTIN: Which was…?

NATHANIEL: Like a statue. Like a mask carved out of stone. All through the service, all through the receiving line after…

JUSTIN: In fairness, she is the strangest person I’ve ever met.

NATHANIEL: For Heaven’s sake, Justin!

JUSTIN: Well, she is.

NATHANIEL: She hardly said a word, she wouldn’t look a soul in the eye— that doesn’t strike you as the least bit troubling?

JUSTIN: She never says a word to me. Or looks at me, for that matter. Unless she’s upset with me. In which case this seemed a positive.

NATHANIEL: You’re an absolute ass.

JUSTIN: What have I done?

NATHANIEL: The woman just lost her husband of twenty years, you tit. She must be destroyed. And now she’s quite alone in the world.

JUSTIN: I suppose.

NATHANIEL: It doesn’t seem right to me.

JUSTIN: Perhaps not, but what’s to be done?

NATHANIEL: Someone ought to step in. See that she’s taken care of, that she has some proper company.

JUSTIN: Oh, heavens. How very dashing of you.

NATHANIEL: It’s a matter of responsibility.

JUSTIN: So now you’ve named yourself head of the family, eh?

NATHANIEL: Father lives too far off to do it, I’m the only one left in London. And it isn’t as if you would do it.

JUSTIN: That’s because I’m not a fool.

NATHANIEL: Very gentlemanly, Justin.

JUSTIN: Come now! It’s not as if she cares much for any of us.

NATHANIEL: That is most unkind, and not true besides.

JUSTIN: She has a strange way of showing it, then. Because I always got distinctly the opposite impression. Or else she’s just horrid.

NATHANIEL: You are horrid.

JUSTIN: Well, there’s one thing on which you and Auntie likely agree. All I mean is— your instincts are commendable, little brother, but I’m not entirely sure your effort shouldn’t go to waste.

NATHANIEL: Whatever else, the Colonel loved her. And he would want us to see that she was taken care of by his family. I mean to see that the decent thing is done.

JUSTIN: Suit yourself, Nathan. But she won’t thank you for it.

NATHANIEL: I don’t plan to do it for thanks.

31 Plays in 31 Days: #28 - "A Force of Nature"

More stuff from early in the history of the Mrs. Hawking story. This takes place in New Guinea, sometime in the late 1850s or early 1860s.

I think this would be an early scene in the prequel. They say first scenes should suggest the questions for the rest of the play, as well as draw people in right away, so I tried to do that a little.

Day #28 - "A Force of Nature"

INDRA SINGH, Indian-born manservant to the territorial governor of New Guinea
a MASKED FIGURE, unidentified
~~~

(INDRA sits whittling a piece of word with a Gurkha knife. After a moment he pauses and looks back over her shoulder. Then he resumes his whittling.)

(A MASKED FIGURE, small and fast, leaps out from behind him with a cry of exertion, a knife extended. At the last possible moment, INDRA springs up and blocks the blow with his own blade. They struggle, locked together, for a moment, then he shoves the figure away.)

INDRA: Much improved. You drew quite close before I detected you. But you must resist the urge to cry out as you strike.

(The figure regroups and lunges again. INDRA evades.)

INDRA: Anything that could alert your quarry to your presence ought to be dispensed with.

(His assailant attacks again in a flurry of blows. INDRA turns them aside with his knife.)

INDRA: You will but rarely have the advantage of size or strength. You shall never be able to rely on overpowering your foe. You must instead use the gifts you’ve been given.

(The figure thrusts with the blade. INDRA dances out of the way.)

INDRA: You are swift. You are lithe. And soon you shall handle that blade like the striking of bird of prey.

(The strokes from the figure get wilder, more unbalanced.)

INDRA: But you are angry. That anger may drive you. But now it only stands in the way of your progress. You must learn to marshal it so that it does not rule you. You must be honed steel, silent smoke, an unseen presence in the darkness. One day you will become this. And on that day, you will become as a force of nature.

(He drives the hilt of his knife into the small of the figure’s back, send them sprawling.)

INDRA: But not until you resolve to do what you must.

(He picks up the wood he was whittling and exits. The figure gets up from off the ground, then dashes out in the opposite direction.)