Peter Arnott: Two Plays

Tay Bridge / The Signalman

Peter Arnott

• Publisher: Salamander Street Ltd.
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781913630034
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Tay BridgeOn the night of Sunday December 28, 1879, the unthinkable happened. Battered by a ferocious storm, the Tay Bridge collapsed. Tay Bridge tells the poignant and unexpected stories of the suddenly interrupted passengers making the journey that night. Who were they? Where were they going? A powerful ensemble piece, Tay Bridge gives a whole new perspective on this famous bridge disaster.The SignalmanWinter 1919. Thomas Barclay is transported back in time by his memories of the night when he was the Signalman who sent the Edinburgh/Burntisland train onto the Tay Rail Bridge forty years before. Who is responsible when accidents occur? Why do we need somebody to blame…even if it's ourselves?Winner: Best New Play at The Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland, 2020

Tay Bridge

Tay Bridge was first performed on Tuesday 27 August 2019 at Dundee Rep. It was written by Peter Arnott from an original idea by Tom McGovern.

The cast was Leah Byrne, Ewan Donald, Barrie Hunter,

Anne Kidd, Irene MacDougall, Bailey Newsome

and Emily Winter.

Director Andrew Panton

Designer Emily James

Composer/Sound Designer Michael John McCarthy

Lighting Designer Simon Wilkinson

Movement Director Emily-Jane Boyle

AV Designer Lewis Den Hertog

OVERTURE the underwater world

Swirling, turbulence. A chaos of images and music. Lines from the stories we are about to see and hear, snatches of song…are mixed with a musical theme and the sounds of water, weather…and disaster. As the picture forms of our characters standing on the remains of the pillar supports of the first Tay Rail Bridge that still jut eerily from the shallow waters of the Firth, we hear and see them more distinctly, more individually. NEISH, a schoolteacher wearing a black armband of mourning; MRS EASTON, the widow of a clergyman and aspiring author; ANNIE CRUIKSHANK, A HOUSEKEEPER and SERVANT; BENYON, a travelling SALESMAN; EMILY, a kept woman and actress; ELIZA, a young servant and her fiancé, GEORGE JOHNSTONE, a mechanic.

NEISH Tis not in mere mortals to command success. We will do more. We will deserve it!

MRS EASTON (Holding her manuscript.) How can I present this to the world now? What can it be worth now? How dare I tell the story of my life when it turns out I knew nothing about it?

ANNIE CRUIKSHANK Aren’t I your freen? Aren’t I the only one who was always here?

BENYON I keep thinking that somebody’s going to stop me. But nobody does. Nobody ever sees me for what I am.

ELIZA (To GEORGE.) George Johnstone! I am telling you now, you are going to need tae tell me what you want or you and me are finished!

EMILY God will find a way to punish me. One day. I know He will.

The music crashes. We see the moment of the disaster (in reverse?) as experienced by our first story teller – the school teacher DAVID NEISH. The train is re-arranged for Neish’s story. Once the carriage is reconstructed, NEISH tells his story to the other passengers…who through long practice, are now participants as well as audience. As his story progresses, the set is minimally altered to aid his story telling, which is also aurally supported by music and sound design.

MR NEISH’S STORY

NEISH Failure is the best discipline. That’s what Mr Durisdeer taught me. I can still hear him.

(In the voice of his dead teacher.)

‘Failure, my dear boys, if only it is joined by perseverance, is full of instruction. Tis not in mere mortals to command success. We will do more. We will deserve it!’

(In his own voice.)

We will deserve it.

(He begins the catechism.)

Who made you?

PASSENGERS as CHILDREN (Knowing the story, joining in.) God, Mr Neish!

NEISH What else did God make?

CHILDREN God made all things, Mr Neish.

NEISH Why did God make you and all things?

CHILDREN For his own glory, Mr Neish.

NEISH How can you and I glorify God?

CHILDREN By loving him and doing what he commands, Mr Neish.

NEISH By loving him and doing what he commands.

His commandment is simple. Isn’t it? His commandment is tae dae right. And aabiddy kens whit’s right. Aabiddy. We aa ken when we dae right…and we surely ken it fine when we dae wrang.

Since I began teaching, I’ve been doing what Mr Durisdeer taught me. I’ve been looking for faces amang aa the other faces. And I dae see them. If only for a term…a month…a week…faces ae a certain…quality…

What quality is that?

Weel…no like they were characters in a book…lost aristocrats mistakenly placed amang the rabble.

It’s sadness…I think. Sadness for the world. Is that fanciful?

Very well. It’s fanciful.

MCQUARRIE Has Oliver Twist appeared yet in yer classroom, Mr Neish? Or Becky Sharp?

NEISH I fear not, Mr McQuarrie.

MCQUARRIE Will you let us all know when they reveal themselves…so we can all come and stare at them…in wonder.

(Passengers laugh, joining in MCQUARRIE’s cynicism.)

NEISH (Silencing them.) Why is it sae easy…to mock? Why is it easier to despair than to hope? Because it is merr comfortable tae surrender to a bad world than tae strive for a better yin. One looks sophisticatit, when one is, in fact, craven. One appears realistic when one is, in fact, self-serving.

In any case, I found him. I saw his face. His singular face amang aa the ither faces. Euan MacBride. I spoke tae him. I found something in him. I saw…a spark…

And I needed a colleague to support me in my argument to the headmaister that this pupil of outstanding promise merited individual tuition…and transfer tae a merr advanced class…and there was naebiddy else on the staff I thocht would support me. So...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Playwright’s Note
• Tay Bridge
• The Signalman