Back in London, a marriage is arranged for David. Lucy confirms Arthur’s death and lays the blame at David’s feet. A humbled Dr. Drury visits. Martha retreats into séance.
WW1 - 1917
When David Allister, a facially disfigured war hero, writes a biting condemnation of the war, he is placed in the care of Dr. Ethan Drury at Craiglockhart mental hospital until he agrees to publish a retraction. While there, he meets Arthur Bridgland, a shell-shocked soldier obsessed with returning to battle after having been labeled a coward. David delights in tormenting Arthur until he meets and falls in love with Arthur’s suffragette sister, Lucy.
Written and Directed by Frank Hudec.
Produced by James Faller and Frank Hudec.
Edited by James Faller.
Music by Andrei Gravelle.
Casting by Gregory Wolfe.
The Cast:
Nicholas Few as DAVID ALLISTER.
Michael Frederic as ARTHUR BRIDGLAND.
Jenna Krasowski as LUCY BRIDGLAND.
Shauna Bloom as MARTHA ALLISTER.
Rik Walter as DR. ETHAN DRURY.
Monique Vukovic as MARISA.
Additional Voices by Gregory Wolfe and James Wolfe.
Voice-Over by Jason B. Lucas.
Audio Consulting by Ricardo Berrios.
Dream Sequence Music from
"Midnight Mushroom Music" by Nanotopia on SoundCloud.
CRAIGLOCKHART was cast, rehearsed, and recorded entirely over the internet during New York City's COVID-19 quarantine in the Spring of 2020.
©2020
ACT 3: THE CONVALESCENCE
(SOUNDS OF CITY LIFE. CAR HORNS. HORSE HOOVES ON COBBLESTONE. TALKING. INDOOR CLOCK BELLS. FOOSTEPS.)
MARTHA: Why aren't you wearing your new face?
DAVID: It hurts to wear it. Irritates my wounds.
MARTHA: Well, I wish you would. Here. Take it. Now, I don't want you to be upset and I am only doing this for your own good, but I've arranged a little meeting between you and someone who I think could be your wife.
DAVID: I am a leper, mother, and you need to accept it. I have.
MARTHA: I think you have given up too easily. What about the family name? Without your brother, there is no one left but you to carry it on. He expressed some anxiety about this when we spoke last night.
DAVID: I expect he has more pressing matters in the afterlife than whether or not the Allister name continues.
MARTHA: Don't you care about the family name?
DAVID: No, I do not. And I don't understand why you do. You married into it.
MARTHA: Well, I just do. That is why I have arranged a meeting between you… and Massimo's daughter.
DAVID: The gardener's daughter?
MARTHA: Oh, I thought about polite society, but then it occurred to me that you needed someone with a more hearty sensibility.
DAVID: Mother.
MARTHA: Someone whose only concern is not with appearances. Too many girls of our social standing are obsessed with the frivolous and the passing. Even in this time of diminished possibilities. No, you need someone with good grounding. Who is sensible. Practical. Concrete. Now be nice and put your new face on, please. Here.
DAVID: Very well.
MARTHA: Isn't that better?
DAVID: (SLIGHTLY MUFFLED) If you say so.
MARTHA: I think it looks quite lifelike, don't you? Here, stand and look at yourself in the mirror.
DAVID: I don't want to.
MARTHA: Humor me, David.
DAVID: Very well.
MARTHA: It's quite life like. I really think so. Don't you?
DAVID: Are you trying to convince me? Or yourself?
MARTHA: David! Please? Try and cooperate. You know, from a few feet away it actually looks like the old you.
DAVID: You can pretend all you want, but that doesn't make it so. Life-like is not life, Mother. Here, I’m taking this off. It makes my face hurt.
MARTHA: What did you mean by that, David?
DAVID: Every night, Mother, I am awakened by these rapping noises and sobbing shrieks. It's worse than France.
MARTHA: It's just one of the maids, dear. They often go into hysterics.
DAVID: No, no, it's not the maids, Mother. It's these séances. You have to stop this insanity. Table tipping.
MARTHA: I wish you wouldn't call it that.
DAVID: Wilfred is dead and the living can't communicate with the dead.
MARTHA: And how do you know that? What about your friend? You saw a vision and now you think he's dead. What about that?
DAVID: I was insane, Mother. So are all the others who swear that they see the dead.
MARTHA: Then how do you know he is already dead?
DAVID: I accepted it when I last saw him. What was the chance, what were the odds… that he was coming back?
MARTHA: You saw him. I know. I was there. I saw your face.
DAVID: I was deranged. It was just temporary war trauma. Nothing more.
(DOORBELL RINGS)
MARTHA: There, that's her. Put on your new face, just until she gets used to it, that is, darling. Quickly.
(DOOR OPENING. STREET SOUNDS.)
MARTHA: Yes? May I help you?
LUCY: I've come to see David Allister.
MARTHA: You did?
LUCY: This is no social call. Tell him Lucy Bridgland is here to see him.
DAVID: (FROM A DISTANCE) Let her through, Mother.
LUCY: I've been looking for you. Well, I hope you're satisfied. Arthur's dead. He was killed three days after he returned to France.
DAVID: Yes, I know. Let her pass, Mother!
LUCY: You knew? And you had not come to pay your condolences? Well, I've come here to wish the worst on you.And on your family. I hope that you lose a brother too.
DAVID: Too late. I already have.
MARTHA: What's all this? How dare you come in here and blame my son for your brother's death. David had nothing to do with it. Your brother went back on his own accord.
LUCY: Only after your son's urging. Murderer!
MARTHA: I think it's time for you to leave.
DAVID: Mother, please! Let her have her say.
MARTHA: Look, my son feels bad enough without you making it worse.
DAVID: Mother, leave us.
LUCY: He feels bad, does he? Oh, what a burden! I can only hope I make it worse.
MARTHA: Young lady, I would like it if you'd leave this house immediately.
DAVID: Mother, I can handle this myself. Please. Go. Please.
MARTHA: Very well, but I will be close by.
(MARTHA EXITS.)
LUCY: You can wear that mask, but it hides nothing.
DAVID: There is nothing you can say that can make me feel any worse than I already do. Arthur came to me on the day I left Craiglockhart.
LUCY: What do you mean? For surely he was already dead.
DAVID: That's what I meant.
LUCY: You saw his ghost? Pfffft. I somehow do not believe you.
DAVID: I swear to you that I did.
LUCY: If so, then what did he say to you? I hope he damned you to hell.
DAVID: He didn't need to. I stay awake every night expecting him to pay visit to me again. To terrify me. But he is smarter than that. He knows the dread is worse. In that way, he haunts me day and night.
LUCY: What? Is this story supposed to make me feel sorry for you? I only wish he really came to haunt you every night, but I know better. There is no afterlife.
DAVID: How can you know that?
LUCY: On the day that Arthur left for France with my fiancé, Roland, and my older brother, Philip, I made them all promise me that if they died, they'd come back to tell me if there were an afterlife. Arthur was the most stubborn of the three. If any of them would have made the trip back from the other side, it surely would have been him. But now he's dead and I thought of all people he would've come. I know now that there is no hereafter, no life after death, no Easter morning, no meeting again. Death is the end and I am alone.
DAVID: I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
LUCY: Do not pity me. I can only hope that something happens to end my misery, but that yours goes on forever. Goodbye, David Allister.
(FOOTSTEPS. NOISY STREET. MUSIC.)
(MARTHA’S FOOSTEPS.)
MARTHA: Quick, quick, put on your face. She’s here. (WHISPERS) She used the servants’ entrance! Come in, little flower. Come in.
(FOOSTEPS)
MARTHA: David, this is Marisa, Massimo's daughter. "Marisa." What a beautiful name. Don't you think so, David?
MARISA: (COCKNEY ACCENT) Nice to meet you.
MARTHA: No need to bow, my dear. We're not royalty. Well… perhaps I'll go to the kitchen and arrange for some tea. Would you care for any, Marisa?
MARISA: That would be lovely, Ma'am. Well, I could get it.
MARTHA: No, please, sit and talk with David.
(MARTHA exits.)
DAVID: Parla Italiano?
MARISA: Sorry, did you say something? I couldn't understand you through your mask.
DAVID: I asked you if you spoke any Italian, but I take it you do not.
MARISA: Do you always wear your mask?
DAVID: No. Not always.
MARISA: What do you look like without it?
DAVID: Hideous.
MARISA: Could I see?
DAVID: For God's sake, no. That’s terribly presumptuous.
MARISA: You know, when me father first told me about this, I was very angry. I thought, who was he to plan me life out and marry me off? But, the more I thought about it, the better it seemed. It's very practical, for the both of us. Don’t you think? Take off your mask? For me? Please?
DAVID: No.
MARISA: Please? Please, for me?
DAVID: You don't know what you are asking.
MARISA: Yes, I do. If we are to be married? Please?
DAVID: There! Are you satisfied? Well, say something. Come on. Tell me that you are only doing me a favor, that your pleasantries are just a lie. Go on, say it!
MARISA: Are you naturally a mean man? Or are you just upset?
DAVID: (DISARMED) Yes. No. What? What do you mean?
MARISA: If you are a mean man, then I will not have you. But, if you are not mean and are only upset, then you could marry me and I would bear your children. Fair exchange, I think.
DAVID: And what about love? Do you really believe there could ever be love between us?
MARISA: Why do you say such a thing? Don't you think I'm pretty enough?
DAVID: That's not what I meant. You are a very pretty young lady. But, I'm sure that you have other offers.
MARISA: Do you really think I'm pretty?
DAVID: Yes, but that's not the point.
MARISA: My father says I'm plain, that I should consider me-self lucky to be receiving of your offer.
DAVID: That's an ugly thing to say.
MARISA: Thank you, thank you, Mr. Allister.
DAVID: David.
MARISA: I think I will go help your Mother with the tea now!
(WALKS AWAY)
DAVID: Ask her not to scald the milk.
MARISA: I will. And… David?
DAVID: Yes?
MARISA: When I come back, do you think you could be wearing your mask? For me? Would you do that?
DAVID: Yes.
(MUSIC)
(MUSIC FADES. DOORBELL. FOOTSTEPS. DOOR OPENING. CITY SOUNDS.)
MARTHA: Oh, Dr. Drury? My God, you look dreadful. Are you ill?
DRURY: Mrs. Allister. I’ve come to speak with 2nd Lieutenant… I’ve come to speak with David.
MARTHA: Oh, “David” is it now?
DAVID: (SHOUTS FROM INSIDE) Don't let him in! I refuse to speak with him!
MARTHA: It appears my son is unavailable at this time.
DRURY: As you are aware, these check-ups were stipulated as part of his release.
MARTHA: Yes, unfortunately.
DRURY: Then you have to let me see him.
MARTHA: Very well, but do not upset him, lest you tempt my ire. Do you understand?
DRURY: Yes.
(DRURY ENTERS. DOOR CLOSES ON CITY SOUNDS)
DAVID: I do not want to talk with you, Doctor.
DRURY: You know you have no choice. It was mandated by the Army.
DAVID: Well, you've spoken with me, you can go now and will have happily completed your obligation to the Medical Board.
DRURY: Congratulations on your upcoming marriage. You must be a happy man.
DAVID: Can't you tell? I am the happiest man in the world.
DRURY: What are you dreaming about these days, David?
DAVID: Oh, still on that, are you? I don't dream. I didn't at Craiglockhart and I don't here.
DRURY: You don't or you won't say?
DAVID: Doctor, I do not dream.
DRURY: I could recommend you for return to Craiglockhart. We could resume The Talking Cure. We could talk about your dreams.
DAVID: You would have a hard time sending me back. My Mother would fight you every step of the way.
DRURY: Is it Arthur Bridgland that you dream about? You can tell me. I dream of Arthur. Every night.
DAVID: You… dream of Arthur?
DRURY: Yes, I do.
DAVID: Feel guilty about returning him to the trenches? Sending him to his death?
DRURY: I was only carrying out my duty to His Majesty's Army.
DAVID: He should never have been returned. You know that.
DRURY: Well, you were the one who suggested that he stuff a stocking in his mouth to muffle his nightmare screams. You coached him into stabbing himself with pins to keep from stammering. Who is really to blame here? You forced my hand.
DAVID: I think I've had about as much uplifting psychotherapy as I can stand today. It's time for you to leave.
DRURY: We can't blame ourselves, Allister. Arthur wanted to go back.
DAVID: You should have sent me instead, good Doctor. My life is over anyway. Arthur could just be beginning his now.
DRURY: How can you say that your life is over when you are about to be married?
DAVID: Yes. To a woman I neither love nor even know. The gardener's daughter who wants to marry up. You should have been here when we spoke of it. It was a clinical as any decision of the war. "Sure we'll lose a few dozen men,but we'll gain three feet!"
DRURY: David, maybe you shouldn't look at returning to Craiglockhart as punishment. With my help there you could escape these destructive thoughts, learn to view your life with some optimism.
DAVID: I'm afraid returning to Craiglockhart would only remind me of Arthur and my twisted actions. Good day, Doctor Drury.
DRURY: Wait, David. I am very serious. I finally read your letter and I want you to know that I too have my doubts about the War. I want to help you, David, so you can go on with your life. Come back with me to Craiglockhart. We can talk about Arthur.
DAVID:(laughing) Oh, it won't be that easy. Saving me or yourself. Goodbye.
(DAVID EXITS)
DRURY: David, don't do this. I can help you!
(MARTHA’S FOOSTEPS)
MARTHA: Well, I trust you found David in good spirits and will recommend his continued release?
DRURY: Your son isn't happy about his pending marriage.
MARTHA: David's never really happy about anything. But he'll come to see the sense in it. It may take a few years, but he'll come accept it. You'll see.
DRURY: I am going to recommend David's return to Craiglockhart.
MARTHA: It would be a great waste of your time. I have a number of M.P.'s for friends and have become very interested in their personal crusades. I have given money to the proper charities, you understand. Oh, the responsibilities that come with my station that I'm only just now becoming aware of. The war has opened my eyes.
DRURY: He needs to go back. It's for the best.
MARTHA: It's not that I am threatening you, Doctor Drury. It's just that I worked so hard to get David back. As you know, I lost my other son and I won't lose this one to what I believe is a folly of scientific theory.
DRURY: My dear woman, I’ll have you know…
MARTHA: I'll use all my new friends in Parliament, whatever is at my disposal… to keep him here. Am I making myself clear?
DRURY: Perfectly.
MARTHA: Then good. And good day.
(DOOR OPENING. STREET SOUNDS.)
DRURY: This came by post the day after David left Craiglockhart. Would you be so kind as to give it to him? It's a letter from Arthur Bridgland.
MARTHA: It's been opened.
DRURY: Army sensors have to read everything, Ma'am.
MARTHA: I'm sure they do.
DRURY: They can take no chances secrets will be lost.
Good day, Mrs. Allister.
(DRURY WALKS AWAY. DOOR CLOSES ON STREET SOUNDS.)
DAVID: Is he gone?
MARTHA: Yes. He threatened to send you back to that war hospital, but I told him I wouldn't allow it. Here, he left this for you. It's mail from France, addressed to you at Craiglockhart. It's from Arthur Bridgland.
DAVID: Already opened and read. Explains our visit.
(CRINKLING OF PAPER. PAUSE.)
MARTHA: What's wrong? Bad news?
DAVID: I think it was written the same day he died.
MARTHA: Here, give it to me. I don't think you should finish it. We should burn it.
DAVID/ARTHUR’s VO: (READS) "I beg of you, David, go to Lucy. I just returned and yet I have already seen too much death and cannot continue knowing she is slowly killing herself. You must go to her and convince her of her folly, convince her to stop. That there must be some other way to fulfill her political agenda. Go to her, David. I am depending on you. Arthur B."
MARTHA: Well, I think it's a dreadful idea. It's obvious that the girl blames you and will hardly listen to you no matter how sensible your argument. Don't go. You simply cannot.
DAVID: It's not by my choice. I have to. It's a dead man's last request.
MARTHA: David, no. You are just as much a victim as anyone else. Why? Why must we constantly revisit this? You need to forget.
DAVID: Mother, do you know what they used to call me? Back in the trenches?
MARTHA: No. And I do not wish to know.
DAVID: They used to call me "The Ripper," Mother, "The Ripper." And sometimes even… "Saucy Jack."
MARTHA: Oh, how vulgar.
DAVID: I had no fear. I wasn't afraid of the Germans. And I wasn't afraid of death. I loved the war.
MARTHA: What's that supposed to mean?
DAVID: I've done questionable things.
(INDUSTRIAL CLANGING MACHINE NOISES.)
LUCY: (SHOUTING ABOVE THE MACHINES) Get out of here. (COUGHS) Do youwant me to lose my job?
DAVID: (SHOUTING) You're ill.
LUCY: I told you to leave.
DAVID: Don't think I don't know you have TNT poisoning. It's obvious, the yellow hands, the ginger hair. Look at your face. You'll be dead before the war is out.
LUCY: Quiet, they'll hear you! (LAUGHS) As if they don't already know.
DAVID: I received a letter from Arthur today.
LUCY: Really? From where? Beyond the grave?
DAVID: No. It was written the same day they assaulted the line. The day he was killed. He wanted me to come here and talk sense to you. A dead man's last request. You have to stop working here. You can't kill yourself, no matter what your politics. Is woman's suffrage worth this? Your yellow hands? The TNT poisoning? Do you not understand the danger? Don't you know you're going to die?
LUCY: Yes.
(PAUSE)
LUCY: I said YES.
DAVID: I guess I should have known.
LUCY: Yes, you should have. There is martyrdom here. Complete and utter. I want to die.
DAVID: But …
LUCY: Are you about to tell me how much I have to live for?
(PAUSE)
LUCY: Have you ever had a true love, David?
DAVID: I don't know.
LUCY: You would know if you did. I encouraged him to join up. Roland. Did you know that? The day war was declared was the most exciting day of my life. My most exciting day. I thought that we were about to embark on some great adventure. Us. Our whole generation. I can't believe I was ever so stupid. I sent my own true love to his death. Look at us now. The old and the middle aged had their youthful joy and now we are deprived of ours, by them, by their arrogance. I have nothing except my fury and I want to stay here. I want to be consumed by this poison. I want to let my life slip into these munitions and speed away as if every shell contains a drop of the malice that fills my soul.
DAVID: You're life's not over. Look at me. I'm a freak, a leper, and yet I go on.
LUCY: That's because you're too weak to do yourself in.
DAVID: Look, I've found something to live for. I am about to be married.
LUCY: (LAUGHS) Really? You’ve bought yourself a bride! Congratulations!
(CLANGING OF MACHINES)
LUCY: Do yourself a favor and turn a pistol on yourself. No one could or will ever love you. Not unless you paid them.
DAVID: Don't say such things.
LUCY: And why not?
DAVID: Because they hurt coming from you.
LUCY: David, don't waste your time with me. You will not assuage your guilt for Arthur's death by preventing mine.
DAVID: Don't be so hard on me.
LUCY: Yes, poor you. Poor, poor baby.
DAVID: We are more alike than you think. We've both lost brothers.
LUCY: I lost mine because of you.
DAVID: And yourself.
LUCY: How dare you!
DAVID: You know it's true. You could have stopped working here. Arthur would have faked his relapse and remained at Craiglockhart. It would have been very hard for him, but he would have done it. For you. But you couldn't do that, could you? Your vanity wouldn't permit it.
LUCY: Go away David, I am a lost cause. I won't give you the will to go on. Leave me to my fate. I've chosen mine. It's up to you to choose your own. Now go!
(FACTORY FADES INTO THUNDER. RAIN OUTSIDE. DOOR OPENING/CLOSING. MUFFLED RAIN. CREAKING FOOSTEPS.)
MARTHA: (ALMOST INAUDIBLE) Oh, Wilfred. Oh, Wilfred.
(DAVID STEPS CLOSER)
MARTHA: Wilfred? Is that you?
DAVID: No, mother, it's me, David.
MARTHA: I was just communicating with your brother. You must have frightened him away.
DAVID: That's a shame. I would have liked to have asked him some questions about the other side. I hope he found some peace there.
MARTHA: Well, too late. You must have scared him away.
DAVID: How many times have you been successful in crossing over?
MARTHA: It's hard to say. It depends on what you call successful.
DAVID: How many times have you actually spoken with Wilfred?
MARTHA: Oh, I don't know.
DAVID: How many times?
MARTHA: Well. Never. I get these movements in the shadows and I just know he's there. I suspect that he doesn't want to frighten me and so only appears partially.
DAVID: Do you want to try again? Perhaps, if it's the both of us?
MARTHA: I’m not in the mood for this, David, I can’t…
DAVID: I'm serious, Mother. Let‘s… let’s try together.
MARTHA:I remember when you used to be like this. Kind.
DAVID: Go ahead.
MARTHA: Spirit of Wilfred Allister, spirit of the past, move amongst us. Be guided by the light of this world and visit amongst us, Wilfred. Come forth and be known to us.
(They sit in awkward silence.)
MARTHA: If you are here amongst us, Wilfred Allister,… be with us, be amongst us, come forth, be known to us… if you are here, amongst us, Wilfred Allister… knock three times.
(GAP)
MARTHA:If you are here, Wilfred Allister, knock three times.
(Martha breaks and starts crying.)
MARTHA: Oh, what's the use? It never works. He never comes. It's always nothing. It's always nothing.
DAVID: It's OK, Mother. It's OK. I'm sure Wilfred's here. I'm sure. He just doesn't want to frighten you.
MARTHA: No, he's not. He's not.
(PULSING SOUND – LEFT to RIGHT and back again like scene of EP2)
DAVID: (WHISPERS) Arthur?
(PULSING SOUND FADES)
DAVID: Arthur? Arthur, come back.
MARTHA: What is it?
DAVID: Mother, let's continue with the séance.
MARTHA: There's no use, David. Wilfred's gone.
DAVID: What are the words?
MARTHA: There's no point.
DAVID: What are the words, Mother? Give me the book. Spirit of… of… of Arthur Bridgland, spirit of the past, move amongst us. Be guided by the light of this world and visit amongst us. Arthur come forth and be known!
(PULSING SOUND RETURNS)
DAVID: Arthur? Tell me. What is it you want?
MARTHA: With whom are you speaking? I see no one.
(PULSING FADES)
DAVID: Arthur, come back! (READS) Our beloved Arthur, we bring you gifts from this life unto death. Commune with us, Arthur, and move amongst us.
(ARTHUR PULSES AND HOVERS AS DAVID CONFESSES.)
DAVID: What do you want from me? Arthur, tell me what you want from me and I’ll do it. The Army said I was a brave man. They gave me the Military Cross, but if I were a brave man, I would have turned a pistol on myself a long time ago, before I met you and did what I did. You envied my medals, but you have to know what hollow trophies they were for me. They say I was a brave man, but I was a coward. After the fifth time I saw a friend mowed down by machine gun, I lost all morals, all sanity. I was an animal. I slashed open the bellies of pleading men, machine-gunned soldiers trying to surrender. I had to be as sick as the war itself. I was consumed. I'm sorry. I am so sorry for what I've done. For the man I’ve become.
MARTHA: (WEEPING) Oh, David! Oh, David. I am so sorry.
(WIND RISES AND CRASHES THROUGH THE DOOR. GLASS SHATTERS. WIND FUNNELLING INTO THE HOUSE. FOOTSTEPS.)
DAVID: Lucy?
(WIND AND PUSLING FADE INTO RAIN AND THUNDER.)
LUCY: There was an accident at Woolwich. An explosion. We were all buried. All around me the woman were like broken dolls baked into a giant cake. Arms. Legs. Everywhere sticking out. Suddenly there was Arthur, he told me not to be afraid. He held my hand and we floated over the rubble. He brought me here. But no one saw me or spoke to me. Am I dead? Please tell me. Am I dead? Does my heart still beat? Am I dead?
(LUCY CRASHES TO THE FLOOR)
DAVID: I’ve got you.
LUCY: Am I dead?
DAVID: No, you're not dead.
LUCY: Are my lips not like ice?
DAVID: GET THE DOCTOR!
[THE END]