My Blog
Mar
30
2011
Weaving & Writing
Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 March 2011 20:46 Written by Administrator
Five years ago I was living in Newport Beach in California. If you had told me five years ago that I would have moved back to the Isle of Lewis, bought a textile company and learnt how to weave, I would have called you a taxi. But it just shows how right John Lennon was when he said that "life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans."
Mar
02
2011
Somersaults
Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 March 2011 16:07 Written by Administrator
'Somersaults' - written by Iain Finlay Macleod. Directed by Vicky Featherstone for the National Theatre of Scotland.
'Somersaults' came out of a conversation with Vicky Featherstone at The National Theatre of Scotland. She asked if I felt any grief that the language I spoke was dying. I had never really named the feeling in that way before, and it led me to an exploration of the connection between identity and language.
May
12
2010
Libretto - St Kilda
Last Updated on Friday, 14 May 2010 21:10 Written by Administrator
ST. KILDA LIBRETTO - by Iain Finlay Macleod.
PROLOGUE SCENE. INT. THE PUFF INN - ST. KILDA
The Puff Inn on St Kilda. The Army bar. A few men and women are seated, drinking.
At one table JOHN is alone. He's wearing jeans and a shirt. He looks around him.
There's a musician at the bar playing a concertina. John nods a greeting to him and the musician nods back and starts up a tune.
John takes a sip.
JOHN
I met them in a pub
The film crew.
It was a chance of course
Meeting and over lip of glass
they said they wanted to go
To the island.
Needed.
And I thought of that place.
And felt the thick pull.
And the longing came into me.
You know the place, they said.
It's slopes, it's stones.
I do, I said.
Well.
And you know the people.
You know the story.
That I do, I said quietly inside.
I imagine it.
Think it into being every day.
But not till now
have I had
The chance.
To live it again.
A distant horizon it has been
Going back.
He takes a drink. He continues talking.
JOHN
Did you hear that story
Of, they said.
The caretaker
The returning man
Every year going back
Imagine the emptiness he felt
The quiet
I know, I said.
I can imagine.
You could be a little like him,
Exactly. I said.
Exactly like him.
John the Caretaker.
Always wandering there.
Always looking for something.
I told them of that place.
A little more then a little more.
And we shook hands.
The thought these people
would take me there flooded me
with sky filling joy.
I bought them a drink unbidden.
You're an angel, she said.
Yes, I said.
In a way.
I am.
John leaves the pub and walks among the old houses. .
EXT. THE BOAT “CUMAR” (2006) - DAY (DUR 3.30)
An empty horizon. And then St. Kilda appears, incrementally getting closer, until we are underneath the massive cliffs. The air is full of seabirds. The boat goes past Boreray, Stac an Armin and Stac Lee.
CHOIR
St. Kilda
The far line
The horizon marker
A jagged knot of cliffs
Seal backed slab green
The cliffs provide
Our daily bread
Our rent our beds
Shelter from the storm tossed swell A sea mark
A land mark
Serrated ark
St.Kilda
Our open boat
Our food giver
Our house builder
St. Kilda
The life giver
The life taker
The weather breaker
St. Kilda
The widow maker
The sustainer
The bird compass
St. Kilda
The bird giver
The sun bower
The God blessed
St. Kilda
EXT. THE BOAT “CUMAR” (2006) - DAY (DUR 1.30)
JOHN is on board with the filmcrew. He is returning to the island with them to make a documentary. He stands at the prow, looking up at the cliffs, while MICHAEL the director/cameraman and JANE the sound-person, film.
JOHN looks up. He sees a body falling from a high cliff. He cannot tell is it is a dream or reality. The body doesn't touch the ground.
No-one else notices.
INT. FEATHER STORE (1929) - DAY (DUR 0.45)
A cleit flooded with light and filled with feathers. The images are unreal.
CHOIR
The birds to us are life
We and they are joined
Around all our islands the air wheels with them
Fat circles of white and black Tipped feathers
This vertical land provides
Our food hard won from cliffs
We pay our rent with their feathers We light our lamps with their oil We sing songs of their arrival
When the blue is filled with their sound
Their broad shapes
The sea cut by their
Downward dives
And we fill our stores.
Now the boat waits
For the hard won feathers
To fly with them to
The mainland.
INT. FEATHER STORE (1929) - DAY (DUR 2.00)
The ST. KILDANS pack fulmar feathers in the feather store. The room is full of light and feathers. They are industrious, working hard. They are in a hurry, a visiting ship is about to depart. A vibrant, active community, full of hope.
Neil comes over to Rachel, who is tying bags at the door of the feather store. He takes a bag of feathers from her cheerfully. She playfully throws some feathers at him.
Neil looks up and notices something in the distance. He motiones to Rachel to come outside.
EXT. FEATHER STORE (1929) - DAY (DUR 1.00)
ANNE walks past holding a bundle of clothes. She is upset. Neil, Rachel and some of the St Kildans stop for a moment and lower their heads.
EXT. THE VILLAGE (2006) - DAY (DUR 1.30)
John is alone on the island.
This scene underlines the ubiquity of John. He appears successively in different places: natural sites, village, house, church, bell…We see him abstractly. He comes across as strange. A mystery.
JOHN
How strange.
How strange to return.
So many moments
Have I yearned for this
To be back here to wander amongst These stone hewn lanes.
These ramparts of cliffs
And faint marks
This world which was in a minute Taken apart and scattered
Nothing left but Bible opened pages And filled silence.
And yet I have some hope
And yet Of finding what I look for. The people have gone
And others are here
But they matter not to me
They pass in so little time
I am a caretaker to nothing
But a sea desert
A shepherd to air and silence
Waiting.
We lose him amongst the houses.
EXT. VILLAGE MAIN STREET - DAY (DUR 1.00)
JOHN is joined by the Film crew, MICHAEL and JANE. He has his back turned to them, but then turns to talk to them.
MICHAEL
When was the last time you were here?
JOHN says nothing. MICHAEL takes out the photograph of the Parliament.
JANE
This is where they held their Parliament, isn't it?
JOHN
Here is where they would all meet, where they decided what work they would do that day.
They relied on each other to survive. You looked after the old. You shared the catch. That's how they lived.
We drift in on the parliament photo.
EXT. THE VILLAGE (1929) - DAY (DUR 2.00)
FINLAY and the other St. Kildans are working. Finlay sharpens a knife.
Men's hands testing a rope. A pair of hands tie a knot. It unravels and is re-tied by older hands.
The other St. Kildans prepare to go fowling. They carry tools, ropes and food.
Women's hands knitting.
FINLAY
I might be old now
But I can still
put my shoulder to it
like the young men
And I am still married
With a happy wife
If they could have seen the old days
When we flew across the water
In our norse prowed boats
Once a bird dived and hit
The soft wood
Driving like a spike through the carcass of the boat
Half way between mainland and
Hiort
And so we left that bird there
For the twenty miles that were left And when we once more were
On thankful dry land
Good eating it made.
Give me the cliffs any day.
Over sea.
EXT. VILLAGE MAIN STREET (1929)- DAY (DUR 1.00)
The PARLIAMENT has assembled on the street.
PARLIAMENT
The fulmar feathers
The army want
Are packed and tied
And sent away
Our visitors are gone
and once again
Our island still sentinel
Looks after only us
We have traded our goods
A winter's weaving
Or a photograph
And our thin line to the mainland Is once more cut
We must mourn for Mairi
Another has gone over the horizon Then we must prepare ourselves
So by the end of this fat Summer
We can survive another winter.
We have questions in front of us
Let us now all decide
On the answers.
INT. THE BOAT “CUMAR” (2006) - DAY (DUR 0.50)
John speaks to Micheal and Jane. They are looking at archive footage on a monitor.
The archive images are from the period 1920-1928. St.Kildans Working, climbers, fowling.
JOHN
They were happier on the vertical. It was the sea they didn't like. They would go for different birds on different islands. Puffins. Fulmars. Gannets. We would pay the rent with feathers. Eat the meat. Store some over winter in the cleits. It was a bird economy.
JOHN turns his head and looks in a mirror.
EXT. ST. KILDA - DAY
Images of birds. The hunting. The community.
ST. KILDANS
We are once more alone
The visitors are a looking glass Where before our only reflection Was in the eyes of others
Or in the clear summer pool
In the green curve of wave
Now they look at us
As if we are not real
Thin plate of glass between
Us and them
And although we need them
That thin line to land
The sustaining ship holds
After the storm laden winter
When they are gone
And the island is ours
The gaze that returns
From our mirrors
From water
From others
Is free again.
EXT. RUINED HOUSE (2006) - DAY (DUR 2.30)
John is walking past a ruined house when he sees an old, broken mirror, hanging on a wall. He goes over to it and starts to notice something strange.
RACHEL
It always feels like the first time When I see myself
In this thin reflection
It is strange to be alone
Imagine what it would be like
To walk on a street alone and not recognise anyone
JOHN
That may one day be your fate
It is hard for us to see
RACHEL
Alone.
I cannot imagine it
I am this place
And this place is me
Even though I feel
Unsure of the things to come.
EXT. VILLAGE MAIN STREET (1929) - EVENING (DUR 1.30)
The rest of the St. Kildans are together, they are gently making fun of Neil.
MEN
So do you still think Rachel will take you, Neil ?
She's too good for you.
And I doubt you'll no more be able to stand on the Mistress stone than a sheep.
NEIL
All the jealousy in the world
Will not make you
any better looking
Or make your wives like you any more than they do.
MEN
Which isn't much !
Well, all we can say is
You must have some hidden talent
we don't know of.
NEIL
Believe it!
MEN
Go on, leave him alone.
It's time he went.
Rachel will be waiting.
And it's best to start off
As you mean to go on.
Under the thumb!
EXT. RUINED HOUSE (2006) - DAY (DUR 1.00)
John continues to look in the mirror. He “replies” to Rachels' questions.
RACHEL
What will become of us.
Should we be marrying
In such a time
Of uncertainty
Some people have even talked
of leaving.
JOHN
What would you think of leaving?
RACHEL
I cannot imagine it
Leaving.
Especially now.
JOHN
Neil.
RACHEL
What will he say
When he sees me
Properly for the first time.
One life together will not be enough.
JOHN
You must go to the Mistress Stone. Neil must show he can provide
for a family.
He must show no fear of the cliff.
RACHEL
I must go now
to the Mistress stone.
John leaves the house.
INT. THE BOAT “CUMAR” (2006) - DAY. (DUR 0.10)
JOHN with MICHAEL and JANE. They are looking at archive footage on a monitor
MICHAEL
Shall we go to the Mistress stone?
JOHN
No. I will not go there again.
EXT. MISTRESS STONE (2006) - DAY (DUR 0.30)
The silhouette or shadow of CATRIONA appears in the arch of the Mistress Stone. It is the first evocation of CATRIONA - The Gaelic singer, the spirit of St. Kilda. She sings a wedding song, a hymn to love and beauty.
She is always at the Mistress stone.
EXT. MISTRESS STONE (1930) - DAY (DUR 2.00)
Neil goes with Rachel to the Mistress stone.
Neil walks out onto the great height. He balances on one leg
There are breathtaking views of cliffs and the sea, beneath the Mistress Stone.
CHOIR
The Mistress Stone
There is nothing beneath you
But thin air
No hand holds
For a downward mile
Until the sea hard set
Will break your bones
But out you must go
To prove to her
That you can provide
For the family to come
That you can stand
On the great height
You inch your way out
And wait for the wind to steady you You lean a little in
And then it catches you
And holds you balanced and still
In the island's hand
EXT. THE CLIFFS - DAY (DUR 5.00)
The AERIAL DANCERS dance on the cliffs on ST. Kilda. They walk vertically and fly like birds. Dreamlike images.
(This scene foreshadows the last scene of the play.)
EXT. HOUSE/BEACH (1929)- EVENING (DUR 2.00)
Anne leaves the HOUSE. She has just left the wedding ceilidh. She walks to the beach.
ANNE is having a premonition.
ANNE
I am trying tonight
To forget
But I think of my sister Mairi
Who was taken to the mainland
All that returned was her clothes She now wears a funeral shroud Rather than the white silk of Spain So beautiful my sister
So beautiful she was
I think this place will be
a burial ground before long
Our children get sick
The old ones still cling
to the life they had
And less and less
we are able to provide
And now I see another death I tell you.
I know it.
Although I cannot see it clearly.
I will be preparing my funeral dress again
Before too long.
We see the sea. Close-up on her face, she watches the sea. The waves.
EXT. SEA - NEXT DAY (DUR 0.30)
The MEN prepare the boat for the fowling expedition.
CHOIR
Blest be the boat.
God the Father bless her.
Blest be the boat.
God the Son bless her.
Blest be the boat.
God the Spirit bless her.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, Bless the boat.
What can befall you And God the Father with you? N
o harm can befall us.
What can befall you
And God the Son with you ?
No harm can befall us.
What can befall you
And God the Spirit with you ?
No harm can befall us.
God the Father, God the Son,
God the Spirit,
With us eternally.
The empty sea. Then we see the MEN rowing to Boreray.
EXT. BORERAY SEA STACK - DAY (DUR 2.00)
They reach the Boreray stac and berth and moor. Neil ties the boat up. They climb up the cliff.
As they climb, the knot anchoring the boat unravels, and the boat drifts off.
EXT. BORERAY SEA STACK - DAY (DUR 0.30)
John appears in the boat. He looks up at Boreray.
He sees a body fall. It is the same fall as the previous one he saw. The body lies face down on the surface of the water.
EXT. BORERAY SEA STACK (1929) - DAY (DUR 0.20)
The boat reappears, it is empty. John has disappeared.
EXT. THE MISTRESS STONE (2006) - DAY (DUR 1.30)
The camera is fairly close to Catriona, yet we see only her silhouette against the sunlight.
CHOIR
The boat is lost!
The rope has worked
Itself open.
The boat is lost!
Come quickly!
ACT 2
EXT. BORERAY SEA STACK (1929) - DAY (DUR 2.00)
The empty boat drifts on the sea, with the rope trailing. Birds fly. Desolation. The sea stretches out, unbroken, without landmarks.
CHOIR
The boat is lost
The rope has worked
Itself open
The trusted knot
We tied
Has failed
No tie To home
To wives and children worked lose it cannot be retied
We cannot swim
Our only boat
Drifts too far to reach
It leaves us on
This blasted rock
EXT. THE VILLAGE (1929) - EVENING (DUR 1.30)
A little below the village, Anne undoes a bundle of clothes. She spreads them out on the ground.
They are those of her sister Mairi, who has died of cholera.
ANNE
Is this all that is left
Of a young woman
Whose smile would light
a winter's day
Whose laugh would fill the sky with birds. A bundle of rags
Empty of life
Her life like
An emptying cloud
One moment full
And the next spent
As a stone which tries to hold
the warmth of the daytime sun
Her children set adrift
She has disappeared
And left nothingness
God damn this place.
Anne gathers up the clothes and walks up to the village.
EXT. BORERAY. (1929)
The men are stranded on Boreray.
ALASDAIR
We must batten down what we have left
To ride out the night
To shore up our fort
From dark riders of cloud
And storm-tossed salt
Who knows how long
we could be here
TORMOD
This is your fault, Neil. That we are on the edge Of life and death
Such a little thing A little knot you failed to tie properly And look at us.
NEIL
It could have happened to anyone.
ALASDAIR
Now is not the time to fight
We have work to do.
Let us cut turf
And set up a great fire
One pillar for each of us
We must tell the women
Our destiny is in their hands.
We must keep some hope in our
breasts Tomorrow the sun rises
The stac scoured clean
We will cling on and hope
That this rocky spur is not,
For too long,
Our home.
EXT. HIORT CLIFFTOP (THE GAP) (1929) - EVENING (DUR 2.30)
On Hirta, on a cliff top, the women see the fires the men have lit on Boreray.
CHOIR (WOMEN)
A fire.
Could it be that one of them is lost?
But no.
There are fires for each man
Three burning piles
It must be that their boat is gone Why else would they burn
Such scant fuel
Dashed to splinters
By uncaring waves
The black sea takes from us
There is no respite nor mercy
Our joyful shouts are now
Caught in our throats
We can now do nothing
But work and pray
That this long night
Will come to an end.
Each one plants a torch in the ground to attract the attention of the stranded men on Boreray, to tell them they have seen they are in trouble.
EXT. HIORT CLIFFTOP (MAST) (2006) - EVENING (DUR 0.30)
John is on the cliff tops, alone. He looks down on Hirta and across to Boreray.
JOHN
As the smallest deed
Makes a new world for us
The little knot
That did not want to be
Tied
That wanted its freedom
A long night
And many more of them
A long day
And the sun goes down
God makes a spinning top
of the world
We will see
What our Fate is.
EXT. BORERAY SEA STACK (1929) - EVENING. (DUR 3.30)
A Great Bird appears. Shamanic and ritualistic choreography, with a dancer-acrobat: the dance of death.
NEIL
What is this bird? I have seen none like it In all my days Of rope play
ALASDAIR
It is a great bird indeed
I too have never seen the like Surely a good omen
Sent by God
Who now pities us
His angel Gabriel
Will guide us through
This salt bitter time.
NEIL
It looks more to me
Like a black devil of some kind Sent to torment Poor Job in his pit Or a witch taken form
Come to laugh at our misfortune
Go away!
TORMOD
I doubt it is scared Of a scarecrow like you
Be careful it doesn't eat you Bird Jonah
NEIL
Go away, bird!
TORMOD
Leave it in peace.
NEIL
I will leave it in peace
If it leaves me.
EXT. THE GAP (1929) - EVENING (DUR 2.30)
On St. Kilda, the women are burning clothes. There are long lines of clothes on fire.
EXT. THE VILLAGE (1929) - EVENING (DUR 1.00)
A young CHILD, a boy, plays with a dead bird in a puddle.
EXT. THE VILLAGE (1929)
The women gather on Main Street.
CHOIR (WOMEN)
It is a black day for us all
The Black angel
is once more in our midst.
After the funeral Mairi's clothes were given to others in need
But the black stench of death
was on them
And it has again started
to do its work
Slowly strength leaves
And stillness comes
It will be His sweet blessing
if we ever leave alive
Paradise this never was
Now we are on
the very edge of hell itself.
EXT. CEMETERY (2006) - EVENING (DUR 1.30)
John is alone in the cemetery.
JOHN
And the angels poured their bowls on the earth on the sea
And the rivers and the springs changed to blood.
Lord God. Are your judgements truly
True and just.
He hears Catriona's singing and reacts.
JOHN
It is still here.
He touches a rock. His hand is covered in water.
EXT. MISTRESS STONE (2006) - EVENING (DUR 1.30)
Catriona begins to SING. She is still in silhouette.
EXT. BORERAY. (1929)
The men.
ALASDAIR
Where have you been?
NEIL
Nowhere.
ALASDAIR
Your cheek is red
As are your hands The soil coloured blood
Marks you
NEIL
I have killed the bird
The evil omen
It was sucking the life from us
TORMOD
The bird brought hope which has now left my breast
A dark winter we have spent here
Licking water
from shit filled ponds
Driven to eating grass like sheep Some days the air so filled
with rain
The sea and sky are one
And now you think
We can be released
By acts of violence
and an evil deed?
NEIL
Now the evil witch is gone
God will deliver us
I have passed the test
None of you would take
TORMOD
We cling like seabirds
to this infested pile
We are beyond testing
And our destiny is not ours
to shape
How I detest this slab of rock
And long to lie in the green grass That stretches up behind the village
NEIL
Soon the boat will come.
ALASDAIR
This hellish ark has made me
The shell of a man
This shit covered Jonah whale.
And your act
Will be a death shroud.
EXT. HIORT CLIFFTOP (MAST) (2006) - DAY (DUR 0.30)
John is alone.
JOHN
I remember it now.
Finally a boat arrived
The air suddenly lightened
And laughter filled sky
A long winter
Of white topped waves
And burning gales clinging to Boreray like birds
Covered in feathers and shit
And hunger
Holding faces to sky
To catch thin drops of rain
Praying through cracked lips
And now
The downward feel of rock
Being climbed
The boat waiting at the rock's foot.
EXT. THE BORERAY CLIFFS (1929)
The men climb down to the waiting boat.
TORMOD
Stop.
Do I see a body Face down in the cold water?
ALASDAIR
I see it.
NEIL
But we are all here.
TORMOD
See it drifts out of sight.
NEIL
Who can it be?
ALASDAIR
Come. We are tired and home is near.
Neil falls.
EXT. THE MISTRESS STONE (2006) - DAY (DUR 2.15)
Catriona SINGS. An unreal apparition. We still do not see her properly.
EXT. ST. KILDA BEACH (1929) - DAY (DUR 3.30)
Neil, laid on a stretcher made of two oars, is carried by the men. The women wait on the beach for them.
CHOIR (WOMEN)
We are happy
So happy to see your return Although in your absence
A dark angel has come
And taken his share
Half of us have fallen
To cholera
At least your time on Boreray
Saved you from that.
CHOIR(MEN)
What desolation
It makes our cruel bed look soft The black angel of Egypt
Has visited us.
We have lost one
Of our number
When climbing down
The rock did fall from Neil.
EXT. BACK OF THE VILAGE (1929) - DAY
Rachel mourns Neil.
Out of grief, she tears her clothes and throws stones violently.
She collapses on the rocks.
When she gets up, she is not the same, she has made a decision, to never leave the island.
She becomes Catriona.
EXT. THE VILLAGE (1929) - DAY (DUR 4.00)
It is NEIL's wake. The Parliament mourn. They gather in a circle and sing.
EXT. MISTRESS STONE - DAY (DUR 1.00)
We see CATRIONA's hair. She SINGS.
EXT. VILLAGE MAIN STREET(1929) - DAY (DUR 4.00)
The parliament have gathered in the half-light. They must decide whether to stay on the island.
PARLIAMENT
Before the sun sets
Across village bay
We must decide.
PARLIAMENT (FOR LEAVING)
God hear us
You once helped your chosen people Make exodus
We must leave this place
If we wish to live
PARLIAMENT (FOR STAYING)
It is true
It has been a hard winter
We have lost much
But the sun again
Has some warmth in it
And the birds will be fat
PARLIAMENT (FOR LEAVING)
We must leave.
PARLIAMENT (FOR STAYING)
We cannot leave
PARLIAMENT (FOR LEAVING)
If the place is to live
Then it will do so.
At another time.
The moment has come
For us to say It is enough.
We chose life in another place
Over death here.
PARLIAMENT (FOR STAYING)
We will be like chaff
To the wind
Our lives will disappear
Like the moon behind clouds
We will have lost our sky
And our sun We will be no-one
PARLIAMENT (FOR LEAVING)
There are not the young ones
to work the boats
There are not the men
to hunt the birds
And not enough children
reaching adulthood
We must ask the Government
For help
PARLIAMENT
Before the sun has gone down
Beyond the arms of Village Bay
We must decide.
INT. MUSEUM HOUSE (1930) - DAY (0.30)
In the middle of the room, a Bible is placed on the stone floor, closed. Finlay's hands opens the Bible at the page of the Exodus and he scatters some oats.
INT. THE BOAT “CUMAR” (2006) - DAY (0.30)
John is with Michael and Jane. They watch archive footage of the evacuation of St Kilda.
MICHAEL
Why did they leave?
JOHN
It is impossible to stay. Some want a better life. The population has dwindled to a point where there aren't enough able, young men to do the work. To get married. It's on a knife edge.
We move in to the archive - the St. Kildans packing their things and loading the boats.
CHOIR
So this is what it looks like
The leaving.
The day has come
For some there will be
No darker day.
For others
It is God's blessing
That we are leaving. It is time
For us to leave
open Bibles
Exodus
Oat scattered pages
Hearthside
Come let us do it quickly
For mercy
Or this task will be beyond us.
It is time.
The boat must catch its tide
We must
Leave our homes to the wind
The dust
The sea will make play of them
And reclaim
What once was so dear to us.
It is time
Come let us do it quickly
For mercy
Or this task will be beyond us.
EXT. THE VILLAGE (1930) - DAY (DUR 2.00)
The empty island. Empty houses. Vegetation. Wind. Birds
EXT. THE BOAT “CUMAR” (1930) - DAY (DUR 4.00)
We see St. Kilda from the deck of the boat. Village Bay moves further away. some of the St. Kildans - Rachel, Tormod and Finlay watch St. Kilda as it disappears.
Passing Boreray and Stac an Armin, the archipelago disappears bit by bit.
We can only make out a shape on the water. And then there is nothing but the horizon.
CHOIR
The last time
She splits
The horizon
In pieces
Left behind
Village Bay
Conochair
Gleann Mòr
Mullach Mòr
An Dùn
Soay
Boreraigh
Stac an Armin
Hiort.
EXT. MISTRESS STONE (2006) - DAY (DUR 1.30)
We HEAR Catriona singing.
EXT. THE SHIP (1929)
CHRISTINA
And so we leave
The sea uncharted
And our lives without anchor
I will go to Morven
To plant trees
Although I have never seen
A tree before.
I will go alone.
I will not marry again
There is a hole in my chest
That will never be filled
In this life or the next.
TORMOD
I will try my hand
In the great cities of the south Amongst great iron beasts
And thronging people
I do not know now
If we are right
For what are we now
That we are apart
FINLAY
I will go to Morven
And even though my arm
Is still strong enough
What have I to pass on to others About trees and their like
Nothing.
I will would rather lie
on the green grass
Behind my house
And look at the sweep of bay
And the serrated Dun
Or be on the cliffs
My heart will be on the cliffs
On the end of a strong rope
Welcoming the returning birds
From their long flight.
JOAN
My sky will change at night from high north star
to Southern Cross.
This ground shifting path
will take me past
Southern lights
I've seen it flat
on map brown fat
and thin
The Bass Strait
Van Diemen's Land
on starboard side
I'm told you feel
The desert heat
come falling off the land. Australia
Oh, it is
the farthest point
St. Kilda
The furthest point
EXT. VILLAGE MAIN STREET- DAY (DUR 1.30)
John is with the film crew, who are setting up for a shot. He HEARS Catriona singing properly for the first time.
He sets off in the direction of the singing. He is making his way to the Mistress stone.
EXT. MISTRESS STONE - DAY (DUR 1.00)
JOHN arrives at the Mistress Stone. He takes his jacket off.
CATRIONA looks at him. He does not see her.
He stands on one leg, as Neil did, facing the sea.
He smiles.
He falls to his knees. Vertiginous.
She places her hand over his brow, and gives him strength.
He stands. He turns towards the open sea. She mirrors his movements. They are side by side. He still doesn't know she is by his side.
EXT. MISTRESS STONE - DAY (DUR 1.30)
The next thing we see are two birds flying together, in the updraft off the cliff.
END.
An English language version of the libretto for ST KILDA - THE OPERA.
May
15
2010
"I was a Beautiful Day"
Last Updated on Saturday, 15 May 2010 10:12 Written by Administrator
Here is the opening monologue from the play "I was a Beautiful Day".
May
10
2010
Short story - "Rock of Eye"
Last Updated on Friday, 14 May 2010 21:05 Written by Administrator
"Rock of Eye" is a short story I wrote for Radio 4, for a series of stories inspired by the work of the Metaphysical poets. I chose a poem by John Donne as a starting point. It is set on Savile Row in London.
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