Word on the Streets
A play for voices
by Michael Rosen
Written exclusively for Write to Ignite to be performed and developed by the Drama Students of Brooke College.
[note from Michael Rosen]
This is a working script to be developed and adapted in rehearsal. I have suggested for example that the words and/or beat box accompaniment of DJ Dextrous – a local DJ – could be used in other places than the one I have already put him.
In addition, the use of the Chorus can be developed more, particularly in the second half.
I’m hoping to attend the rehearsals, to eg tell people the tunes of the songs, fill in details of some of the historic Hackney figures.
Characters in order of speaking:
Auctioneer
Hussein – Parents from Bangladesh
Commentator/Hackney Gazette
Anna Sewell – needs to sing well
Boy
Voice 1
Voice2
Jean – Pierre
Vice 3
Parkes – inventor of the first plastic
Headley – West Indian Immigrant
Mrs Headley – His wife
Voice4 – a market trader
Voice5 – a market trader
Voice6 – a market trader
Voice7 – a market trader
Voice8 – a market trader
Voice9 – a market trader
Voice10 – a market trader
Lord Mayor – an Elizabethan
James Burbage – an Elizabethan
Mrs Burbage – his wife
William Shakespeare
Builder’s Wife – an Elizabethan
Voice 11
Arthur Brooke – a writer
Harold – Jewish
Connie – his wife
Voice 12
Voice 13
Anna Laetitia Barbauld – a writer of children’s books – from Leicestershire
Turkish Hairdresser
Gregory – character in Romeo & Juliet
Sampson – character in Romeo & Juliet
Benvolio – character in Romeo & Juliet
A Facist
James cotter – a facist
Airman
Second Facist
Morris Beckman – anti fascist 43 Group
Ivor – his friend
Daniel Hopkin – magistrate
Councillor Day
Councillor Almon
Giles Allen – Elizabethan landlord
CHORUS ONE
Ladies and Gentlemen
Today you will see the
Past in the present
CHORUS THREE WHISPERS
Past in the present
Past in the present
CHORUS TWO
And the present in the past.
CHORUS FOUR WHISPERS
Present in the past
Present in the past
CHORUS ONE
Today you will see
The World come to Hackney
CHORUS THREE HEADLINE
World comes to Hackney!
CHORUS TWO
And Hackney come to the world.
CHORUS FOUR HEADLINE
Hackney comes to the world!
AUCTIONEER:
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to this auction of properties.
CHORUS ONE
Of properties.
CHORUS THREE
Of properties.
AUCTIONEER
Welcome to this auction of properties.
On sale today
CHORUS TWO
On sale today
CHORUS FOUR
On sale today
AUCTIONEER
We have a total of
CHORUS ONE
A total of
CHORUS THREE
A total of
HUSSEIN
This is the moment my family have worked for
All our lives.
Yes.
My father came from Bangladesh
My mother came from Bangladesh
We took over a rundown shop.
It was a nothing.
And we made it into a Tandoori restaurant.
We did everything.
Laid the carpets
Fitted the lights
Fitted the kitchen
AUCTIONEER
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to this auction of properties.
CHORUS ONE
Of properties.
CHORUS THREE
Of properties.
AUCTIONEER
Welcome to this auction of properties.
On sale today
CHORUS ONE
On sale today
CHORUS FOUR
On sale today
AUCTIONEER
We have a total of
CHORUS ONE
A total of –
CHORUS FOUR
A total of –
HUSSEIN
We’ve been here 15 years
But in all that time
We were told we couldn’t buy.
There was going to be a road coming through here
Or a railway.
But we spent money on the place
Even though we knew it wasn’t ours.
But now the good news:
An auction
And we’re going to bid for it.
The Council invited us
And we’re going to bid for it.
I’ve got the letter right here.
AUCTIONEER
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to this auction of properties.
CHORUS ONE
Of properties.
CHORUS 4
Of properties.
AUCTIONEER
Welcome to this auction of properties.
On sale today
CHORUS TWO
On sale today
CHORUS FOUR
On sale today
AUCTIONEER
We have a total of
CHORUS ONE & FOUR
A total of
CHORUS TWO & THREE
A total of
ANNA SEWELL
I am Anna Sewell
I grew up in Hackney and I wrote:
Black Beauty.
Black, black, black beauty.
CHORUS ONE (whisper)
Just a dream.
CHORUS THREE (whisper)
Just a whisper
CHORUS 2 (whisper)
Just a thought.
ANNA SEWELL
Standing on the kerb
The clash of hooves on the cobbles
The footman on the step of the coach
The whip, always the whip
The reins so tight, so taut
The curve of the horse’s neck
Driving on, driving on.
The Gentleman in a hurry
Must drive on, drive on.
And there on the cobbles
One evening, such a beauty
I wanted to reach out and touch
That deep, dark, black
But he was away, gone…
BOY SINGS:
My old man’s a dustman
He wears a dustman’s hat
He bought two thousand tickets
To see a football match
Fatty passed to Skinny
Skinny passed it back
Fatty took a rotten shot
And knocked the goalie flat
Where was the goalie
When the ball was in the net?
Half way up the goal-post
With his trousers round his neck
ALL:
Singing ‘Umpah umpah
Stick it up your jumper
Rule Britannia,
Marmalade and Jam
We threw sausages at our old man
They put him on a stretcher
They put him on a bed
They rubbed his belly
With a five pound jelly
The poor old sod is dead.
VOICE 1
Evening falls between the trees
The drumming for Ghana fills the leaves
All along the cycle path
The racers, the white dreads
The market shoppers
The tandem parents
The drumming for Ghana fills the leaves
Evening falls between the trees
VOICE 2
And here a Plane tree
higher than a warehouse
Thicker than a rubbish bin
Stronger than a promise
Older than a town hall
VOICE 1
Evening falls between the trees
The drumming for Ghana fills the leaves
The train for Liverpool street
Groans over the bridge
Children climb the spider’s web
If you don’t come home
You’ll have no sweets for a week
Evening falls between the trees
The drumming for Ghana fills the leaves
VOICE 2
Here a Plane tree
Higher than a warehouse
Thicker than a rubbish bin
Stronger than a promise
Older than a Town hall.
JEAN-PIERRE
He doesn’t speak English miss.
He comes from the Congo, miss.
I translate for you, miss.
He says that the bad men take his grandfather, miss.
He says that the bad men take his grandmother, miss.
He says that the bad men take his dad, miss.
He says that the bad men take his mum, miss.
He doesn’t say how he got here, miss.
He can’t say how he got here, miss.
CHORUS ONE
A demographic change.
A demographic change
A demographic change
CHORUS TWO
Studios
Loft-style apartments
Manhattan live-in work units
SIGN
““A stunning new development at the heart of the regeneration of Dalston”
SIGN TWO
“Dalston Square – marketing suite open”.
CHORUS ONE
Regeneration
Regeneration
Regeneration
CHORUS TWO
Buy to rent
Professional people
City workers
CHORUS ONE
Down the Dalston corridor
CHORUS TWO
We are looking for a chain of investors
CHORUS ONE
They are looking for a chain of investors
VOICE 3:
They dream of childless towers
Of one-bed, two-bed apartments
No need for swings or slides
No need for the visiting nurse
They dream of weekday workers
Heading home at weekends
They dream of childless towers.
ANNA SEWELL (sings)
Over the garden wall
I let my baby fall
My mother came out
She gave me a clout
Over the garden wall.
Over the garden wall
I let my baby fall
My mother came out
She gave me a clout
She gave me another
To match the other
Over the garden wall.
PARKES
I am Henry Parkes
And I work in Hackney
PRIZE-GIVER
And you have won
The Prize Medal
International Exhibition 1862, Class four.
Official Catalogue number 1112
For the invention of
Parkesine
CHORUS TWO
Parkesine
CHORUS THREE
Parkesine
CHORUS FOUR
Parkesine
PARKES
A new material and manufacture now exhibited
For the first time.
CHORUS ONE
For the first time?
CHORUS THREE
For the very first time.
PARKES:
It has from its valuable properties induced me
to patent the discovery in England and France
and to devote my attention for the last ten years
to the development of the capabilities of
this beautiful substance to the Arts.
CHORUS FOUR:
Oh, the arts…mmm
PARKES:
In the case are shown a few illustrations of the numerous
purposes for which my invention may be applied
Such as:
Medallions, salvers, hollow ware
CHORUS TWO:
Medallions, salvers, hollow ware
PARKES
Tubes, buttons, combs,
CHORUS TWO
Tubes, buttons, combs,
PARKES
Card cases, boxes, pens.
CHORUS TWO
Card cases, boxes, pens, oh!….mmmmm
PARKES
It can be made hard as ivory, transparent or opaque,
CHORUS ONE TWO THREE FOUR
Hard as ivory, transparent or opaque.
PARKES:
Of any degree of flexibility and is also…
…waterproof,
CHORUS THREE & FOUR
Waterproof!
PARKES
It may be of the most brilliant colours,
can be used in the solid, plastic or fluid state,
can be spread or worked in a similar manner to India Rubber
and has stood exposure to the atmosphere for years
without Change or decomposition.
CHORUS THREE & FOUR
Without change or decomposition.
PARKES
Patented by, me,
Henry Parkes
in 1861
CHORUS ONE:
Specimens of which may be seen in the case.
PARKES
Exactly.
The Parkesine Company Limited
carrying on the manufacture of Parkesine at the New Parkesine Works
Hackney Wick, near the Victoria Park Station, London, N.E.
CHORUS ONE & FOUR
This, ladies and gentlemen,
CHORUS TWO & THREE
is the world’s first plastic.
HEADLEY
One time when me work on de site
in Victoria.
Was in Victoria
and fella com fe juke me.
Big man. Big big man.
He tell me dat dere no place in Englan’
For de coloured man.
An him standin over me in de hut
Where we have we tea.
Me jus calm an quiet
An me tell him dat me haf a knife.
An him tek no notice, you hear me?
Him tek nah notice.
An him standin over me dere den
So me jus reach into me sock
An him see de handle of de knife
Jus peepin out.
Jus peepin out.
RIDLEY ROAD
COMMENTATOR
Ridley Road market
VOICE 4
Five pound jean dahlin
Five pound jean dahlin
VOICE 5
Seed-lessss
Seed- lessss
VOICE 4
Five pound jean dahlin
Five pound jean dahlin
VOICE 5
Seed-lesss
Seed-lesss
VOICE 6
Come on!
Two strawbs
One-fifty
Come on!
Two strawbs
One-fifty.
All new crop
All new crop
VOICE 7
Top Congo Store
Kin-Malebo
Kin-Malebo
Kin-Malebo
VOICE 8
Kashmir Kebabish
Kashmir Kebabish
VOICE 9
The Wilton School for Cake Decorating
The Wilton School for Cake Decorating
ALL
Party-party
Party-party
VOICE 10
Yoko Herbal Extracts
And
Organic Root Stimulator
Yoko Herbal Extracts
And
Organic Root Stimulator
LORD MAYOR OF LONDON
December 6, 1574
Whereas heretofore…
CHORUS ONE & TWO:
“Whereas heretofore”…
CHORUS THREE & FOUR
ooooohh…
CHORUS ALL
Shhhhhhhh – it’s the Lord Mayor of the City of London
LORD MAYOR:
…sundry great disorders and inconveniences
have been found to ensue to this city
by the inordinate haunting of great multitudes of people,
– specially youths –
to plays interludes and shows:
CHORUS ONE & FOUR
Plays, interludes and shows…
LORD MAYOR
namely, occasion of frays and quarrels;
evil practises of incontinency in great inns
inveigling and alluring of maids,
CHORUS ONE & FOUR:
Inveigling and alluring of maids…
LORD MAYOR
the publishing of unchaste, uncomely,
and unshamefaced speeches and doings;
withdrawing of the Queen’s Majesty’s subjects
from divine service on Sundays and holy days,
at which times such plays were chiefly used;
unthrifty waste of the money of the poor and fond persons;
sundry robberies by picking and cutting of purses;
uttering seditious matters;
corrupting youth
containing nothing but unchaste matter
CHORUS ONE & FOUR:
Unchaste matter?
LORD MAYOR
Lascivious devices
CHORUS ONE & TWO
Lascivious devices?
LORD MAYOR
…and other lewd and ungodly practices.
CHORUS TWO:
Other lewd and ungodly practices
Tut tut tut
LORD MAYOR
…besides that,
also sundry slaughters and maimings of the Queen’s subjects
have happened by ruins of scaffolds, frames, and stages,
and by engines, weapons, and powder used in plays.
And whereas in time of God’s visitation by the plague
such assemblies of the people in throng and press
have been very dangerous for spreading of infection….
CHORUS ONE AND TWO
The ssssspreading of inffffectionnnnnnnnnn.
LORD MAYOR
And for that,
the Lord Mayor and his brethren the Aldermen,
ordain that:
CHORUS ONE :
One…
LORD MAYOR:
Only such plays shall be acted as are free from
all unchastity and uncomely matter.
CHORUS TWO & FOUR:
Two…
LORD MAYOR:
Inns or other buildings used for acting,
and their proprietors, shall be licensed by
the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen.
CHORUS ONE TWO & FOUR
Three
LORD MAYOR
No plays shall be given during the time of sickness,
CHORUS TWO & FOUR
Four:
LORD MAYOR
No plays shall be given during any usual time of divine service,
CHORUS ALL:
Five:
LORD MAYOR:
The proprietors of such places shall pay towards
the support of the poor
JAMES BURBAGE
And so at the Priory of Holywell,
Holywell Lane a place outside the city
where the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen cannot enforce municipal ordinances,
I, James Burbage, joiner by trade,
take out a lease on some land.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
In 1575
just near to Holywell Lane and the common sewer
that will become Curtain Road,
there be five paltry tenements,
old, decayed, and ruinated for want of reparation
the best of them is but of two storeys high,
and a long barn, very ruinous and decayed
and ready to fall down,
one half of which is used as a storage-room,
the other half as a slaughter-house.
Just north of the barn is “void ground,”.
It is on this “void ground” that James Burbage,
he, like me, coming from Stratford upon Avon,
builds a playhouse, called The Theatre.
This is the first theatre that I, William Shakespeare, work in
as an actor and as a writer.
COMMENTATOR
But the builder’s wife said they weren’t paid their fair share
and along with some men come to Burbage’s house asking for her money.
They are met by James Burbage’s wife,
MRS BURBAGE: [LOUD, FURIOUS]
Go out of my grounds,
or else my son will break your knaves’ heads.
COMMENTATOR
James Burbage looks out of a window upon them.
BURBAGE:
You are a murdering whore,
and your companions: villains, rascals, and knaves.”
BUILDER’S WIFE
I have an order from the court
BURBAGE:
Go, go. A cart, a cart for you!
I will obey no such order,
nor I care not for any such orders,
and therefore it were best for you and your companions
to be packing betimes,
for if my son come he will thump you hence!
COMMENTATOR
After many such visits
the builder’s wife and her attendants
go to the Theatre upon a play-day
to stand at the door of the Theatre
to take half of the money
In the Theatre they are met by Burbage’s other son,
Richard, then about nineteen years old,
and his mother,
who fall upon one of the men and beat him with a broom staff.
MRS BURBAGE
Murdering knave!
BURBAGE:
Tush!
Our sons, if they will be ruled by me,
shall at their next coming
provide charged pistols,
to shoot them in the legs.
RIDLEY ROAD
VOICE 4
Five pound jean dahlin
Five pound jean dahlin
VOICE 5
Seed-lessss
Seed- lessss
VOICE 4
Five pound jean dahlin
Five pound jean dahlin
VOICE 5
Seed-lesss
Seed-lesss
VOICE 6
Come on!
Two strawbs
One-fifty
Come on!
Two strawbs
One-fifty.
All new crop
All new crop
VOICE 10
Chinese Herbal Medical Centre
Chinese Herbal Medical Centre
Acne, Eczema, Psoriasis
All kinds pain (neck, back)
Asthma, Hay Fever,
Indigestion, constipation,
Poor blood circulation
Infertility, miscarriage
Male and female sexual problems
Weight loss or control
Giving up smoking and drinking
Hair loss, stress, depression
Lower energyyyyyyyyy.
HEADLEY
Him never bother me no more
Me no have to touch him.
Rastaman never do me no harm.
Dem tell me in Jamaica dat de Rastaman
Him robbah and teef
But me see rastaman by side o de road
An him never do me no harm.
MRS HEADLEY
Tell dem bout de time you lift one hundred an fifty pound bag.
HEADLEY
We work and we work and we work
Me on de site
And me wife at de hospital
But now we go back down there.
We goin to Jamaica.
Me daddy is ill
Dis house here which I buy
when it have no toilet, no bathroom
an it was all dirt an it was nothing
me gwaan sell.
Me haafi sell nah
…..
[PAUSE]
He never give me no more trouble
De fella on de site.
VOICE 11
You see where I’m standing now?
I was coming this way,
He was walking that way.
I told him that the warning had gone out,
There was going to be an air-raid
He said, he was just going down to the end of the road
To see the widow what lived there
And I said I was going back indoors
And we was all going to go out to the shelter
I said goodbye to him right here
And he said goodbye to me
And that was the last I saw of him
The raid come over, V2
And flattened the end of the road down there
Where the flats are
Just there, where them flats are now
And he went with it
And I’m standing here telling you this
And he’s gone.
Up in Stoke Newington,
There was over a hundred gone in one night.
Just like that.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:
What’s this?
CHORUS ONE:
“The Tragicall History of
CHORUS TWO
Romeus and Juliet
CHORUS ONE
written first in Italian by Bandello and now in English
by Arthur Brooke
ARTHUR BROOKE [READING:]
As soon as she him spied, about his neck she clung,
And by her long and slender arms a great while there she hung,
A thousand times she kissed, and him unkissed again,
Ne could she speak a word to him, though would she ne’er so fain.
And like betwixt his arms to faint his lady is;
She fets a sigh and clappeth close her closéd mouth to his;
And ready then to sownd she lookéd ruthfully,
That lo, it made him both at once to live and eke to die.
These piteous painful pangs were haply overpast
And she unto herself again returnéd home at last.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:
“A thousand times she kissed and him unkissed again…”
Now, what’s this?
CHORUS ONE:
The second tome of
CHORUS TWO:
‘The Palace of Pleasure’
by William Painter, clerk of the Ordinance and Armoury
CHORUS ONE:
The goodly History of the true, and constant Love between
CHORUS TWO
Romeo and Julietta,
CHORUS ONE:
The one of whom died of poison
CHORUS TWO:
and the other of sorrow
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
The one of whom died of poison
CHORUS TWO:
And the other of sorrow
HAROLD
In a Jewish wedding, the couple get married under
a ‘khuppe’,
CONNIE
It’s like a canopy.
HAROLD
It’s like a canopy.
CONNIE
And you were the best man.
HAROLD
I was coming to that.
I was the best man.
CONNIE
He had the ring.
HAROLD
I had the ring
CONNIE
So there’s Raymond and Sylvia
under the khuppe
HAROLD
And it’s hot.
It’s very hot under a khuppe, you know.
CONNIE
Raymond’s mother, Raymond’s father.
HAROLD
Sylvia’s mother,
CONNIE
Was her father there?
HAROLD
Of course he wasn’t, the mommza
CONNIE
Don’t say that,
It’s a bad word.
HAROLD
So I’m just about to hand Raymond the ring
And he faints!
CONNIE
He faints.
HAROLD
So me one side
And Barney Goldman the other,
We prop him up.
And that’s how he gets married.
CONNIE
That’s how he got married.
He didn’t know what was going on.
HAROLD
He was out of it.
We were propping him up.
CONNIE:
It was a lovely wedding.
[pause]
Shame he missed it.
COMMENTATOR
In 1865 the North London Railway
provided a short link with the City.
From Broad Street the line,
built at great expense through crowded Shoreditch,
ran close to the east side of Kingsland Road
to Dalston Junction station.
CHORUS TWO THREE & FOUR
Dalston Junction station.
COMMENTATOR
The stretch from Broad Street to Dalston
did much to open the northern suburbs to commuters;
workmen’s fares were available
and it soon had one of London’s heaviest traffic flows,
with 322 trains terminating on weekdays at Broad Street
in 1903.
CHORUS TWO THREE & FOUR:
Three hundred and twenty two trains.
COMMENTATOR:
The Broad Street line and Dalston Junction station were closed
in 1986 and the track was taken up.
CHORUS TWO THREE & FOUR
Dalston Junction was closed and the track was taken up.
COMMENTATOR:
Most of this stretch of line will be utilised
in the extension of the East London Line
being built now, due for opening in 2010
with the stations at Haggerston and Dalston Junction
rebuilt and reopened.
CHORUS THREE
The track taken up
CHORUS TWO
New tracks to be laid
CHORUS THREE
Dalston Junction closed
CHORUS FOUR
Dalston Junction to be rebuilt and reopened.
DJ DEXTROUS [THIS TO BE USED AGAIN LATER WHEN IT FEELS RIGHT!]
[BEAT BOX]
Kilamanjaro
Kilamanjaro
Kilamanjaro
[etc]
VOICE 11
If you let it
A street will grow
People will come into its spaces
VOICE 12
Here is a family from Afghanistan
Terror in their eyes.
They have found a table
And some chairs.
They have bought some bread
From the TFC, the Turkish supermarket
They lay their heads on some cushions
And shut their eyes and go to sleep.
VOICE 11
Here are two brothers
They’ve been dj’s and van drivers
And they’ve figured you can hire stuff out.
People want music for their weddings and parties
Sometimes they want decks and amps
So the two brothers
Get into an old space and people are coming
To hire their gear.
VOICE 13
Here’s Hilda
She’s lived upstairs in this place
For forty-two years
The wall is damp
She has ulcers on her legs
She used to work in the rag trade
Running up skirts.
Machinist.
She finished how many skirts?
Ten thousand?
A hundred thousand?
COMENTATOR
And here’s Hussein
How did the auction go,
Hussein?
VOICE (ANNA LAETITIA BARBAULD)
A woman comes to Stoke Newington.
There’s been a revolution in France.
The world is turning.
People are saying that someone
Doesn’t have the right to rule the country
Just because their father ruled it before him.
She and her husband come to Stoke Newington.
She is saying “Woman! rise,
assert thy right!
Woman! too long degraded,
scorned, opprest”
Anna Laetitia Barbauld comes to Stoke Newington
She is saying that Africa bleeds.
A “human traffic still proceeds”
But freedom dreams
Of a new age.
Freedom dreams…
Freedom dreams
Freedom dreams
She adopts her little nephew, Charles
And teaches him to read.
She invents a book that is small enough for his hands
With print big enough for him to see clearly
With stories taken from her life with him.
No one has ever done that before.
Anna Laetitia [PRONOUNCED ‘Letisha’] Barbauld came to Stoke Newington
TURKISH HAIRDRESSER
You know what a Turkish haircut is?
You, how old are you?
You sixty.
Well, you know what you get?
First, you get haircut.
Nice cut, all over.
You can have it natural
Or we shave edges.
Then you want beard?
We can do beard.
Again, you can have natural
Or we shave edges.
Then shampoo.
You have shampoo
And finish haircut.
And when your head in the water
I give you massage.
Here, next your eyes
I push thumbs in there
Hard.
Very, very hard.
It’s good.
Then ears.
I light the thing, what you call?
Cotton bud.
I light cotton bud with fuel.
Paff! On your ear,
And then hit with my hand
Burns the hair out.
That’s ears.
Then nose.
You got hair in your nose.
I get trimmer on that.
Big eyebrows.
Man get big eyebrows.
How old you are?
Sixty.
Man get big eyebrows.
I get trimmer on that.
So you don’t get big eyebrows.
Ladies don’t like big eyebrows.
Then towels.
You want towels?
See that box?
In that box
I got the towels.
They hot.
Very, very, very, very hot.
You look worried.
First I get ointment.
Slap, slap, slap
All over your face.
Very spicy. Make your skin
Feel it very much.
Then hot towels come out
I put all over your face.
I make sure your nose look out.
So you breathe.
But hot towel all over your face.
Very, very, very, very hot.
You sit there for minutes
All wrap up.
Then it all come off
And you feel like young man.
Your face like spring day.
Fooooffff.
Lady like it.
She happy. You happy.
You have nice time.
And I do nice stuff on the hair
At the end.
Fifteen pound.
What you say?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Two households both alike in dignity
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene)
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
GREGORY
Draw thy tool – here comes of the house of Montagues
SAMPSON
My naked weapon is out. Quarrel, I will back thee.
GREGORY
How, turn thy back and run?
SAMPSON
Draw if you be men,
BENVOLIO
Part, fools, put up your swords, you know not what you do.
CHORUS (distributed amongst various voices)
Clubs, bills, partisans! Strike! Beat them down!
CHORUS THREE & FOUR
Down with the Capulets!
CHORUS ONE & TWO
Down with the Montagues!
SHAKESPEARE AS PRINCE
Rebellious subjects! Enemies to peace!
Three civil brawls bred of an airy word
By thee old Capulet, and Montague
Have thrice disturb’d the quiet of our streets.
FASCISTS CHORUS ONE & TWO
Burn the synagogues!
Get rid of the Jews!
HACKNEY GAZETTE
Walking down Colvestone Crescent one Sunday evening
I heard a shout, ‘The fascists are coming!’
Instantly, children playing happily
were whisked indoors by their parents.
In Dalston High Street, gangs of youngsters
with older instructors in their midst
paraded up and down shouting anti-Jewish slogans
and catch-phrases.
FASCIST
A song we sang at that time was a parody of ‘Sons of the Sea’
We loved singing it at Ridley Road meetings to the words:
CHORUS ONE & TWO
“ Scum of Aldgate, all Yiddish boys,
marching down Whitechapel
with their Hebrew cries of ‘Oi, Oi, Oi!’
they can build their barricades
Use their razor blades
But they can’t beat the boys of the BUF
Who made old Mosley’s name!’
JAMES COTTER
The first Sunday I went to Ridley Road,
the East End Mosley boys were there in force.
Speaker after speaker from the Union-Jack-draped platform
hurled insults at the local Jewish residents
FASCIST SPEAKER
‘The Jew is an inferior being
The Jew will contaminate you.
If a Jew is on the same bus and train as you
Throw him off.
Don’t wait for the Jew-controlled Socialist government to act.
They won’t.’
JAMES COTTER
There were hundreds of anti-fascists, and members
Of the Jewish 43 Group there
CHORUS THREE & FOUR (various)
Down with fascism! Down with fascism!
We fought you at Arnhem,
You are fascists!
They should have hanged you with Lord Haw-Haw!
‘Down with fascism’.
‘Didn’t your lot lose the war?’
JAMES COTTER
We on the fascist side weren’t officially armed but
one enthusiast showed me a cut-throat razor
another, a handkerchief filled with stones wrapped around his knuckles
and others with lead piping.
Hamm made his usual ‘Wake up, Britain, Britain for the British’ speech,
then we retired to the Rose in Kingsland Road just by Dalston Junction.
There, as the fascists made the toast:
CHORUS ONE AND TWO
‘Perish Judah’,
JAMES COTTER
…one Blackshirt said that four of the 43 Group were in there.
The four Jewish lads left the pub
And were immediately set upon by the fascists outside.
They fought their way out and ran down Kingsland Road
To a bus stop.
With some fifteen to twenty fascists punching and kicking them
The four Jews went down fighting.
Several passers by attempted to intervene
But were driven off with coshes and other weapons.
One was struck in the face with a knuckleduster.
A young airman braved the mob and kept shouting:
AIRMAN
Leave them alone! What have they done?
JAMES COTTER
One of the Blackshirts gave the answer,
His eyes shining with excitement,
FASCIST ONE
they’re Jews! 43 Group Jews!’
FASCIST TWO
‘Nark it, the cops are coming!’
JAMES COTTER
…and the fascist rabble scattered,
leaving their unconscious victims on the ground,
covered in blood.
COMMENTATOR
In October 1947
The anti-fascist 43 Group was attacking an average of
15 outdoor meetings every week
and by whatever means
causing more than half to close down prematurely.
MORRIS BECKMAN
Ivor grabbed my shoulder, pushed and roared:
IVOR
Go, go, go
MORRIS BECKMAN
We went at the fascists and they fought back hard
It was a savage few minutes.
There were punches, boots flying, curses
And Ivor yelling,
IVOR
Don’t pissball about – hurt the bastards!
MORRIS BECKMAN
I found myself trading punches with a stocky youth
With slicked back, greasy blond hair,
wearing a leather bomber jacket.
He kept yelling at me,
FASCIST ONE
‘Fucking Jewboy bastard!’
MORRIS BECKMAN
I landed several blows on his face.
For a few moments he was my whole horizon.
DANIEL HOPKIN – MAGISTRATE
This case is heard before Daniel Hopkin
In the North London court
If speakers went into an essentially Jewish district
To talk anti-semitism, and stir up racially hatred
They must take what was coming to them.
The case involves the issue of free speech, but it is wrong
To use free speech to create disorder and insult a body of people.
COUNCILLOR DAY
I move the motion that:
The Hackney Borough Council prohibits the use of all premises
under its control to fascist organisations
CHORUS ALL
The motion is passed.
COUNCILLOR ALMAN
This is the first occasion on which a body elected
Democratically is taking an active step
In defence of that democracy.
It is not an attempt to curtail free speech
But is a protection against those taking advantage
Of the freedom, to destroy it.
HAROLD
Hoxton? Hoxton!
I’ll tell you about Hoxton.
Eighty years ago
I was sitting under my Auntie Adey’s stall
Watchin the man on the other side of the road
Chopping up live eels.
He’d take his knife in one hand
And hold the eel with the other
And chop, chop, chop, chop
Into little bits
And then swoosh’em all into a bowl.
SONG
“My old man said,
“Follow the van,
don’t dilly dally on the way!”
Off went the cart with the home packed in it,
I walked behind with me old cock linnet.
But I dillied and dallied, dallied and dillied,
Lost the van and don’t know where to roam.
You can’t trust the Specials like the old-time coppers
When you can’t find your way home.
HAROLD
Cos they’re doing a midnight flit, int’ they?
Cos they ain’t paid the rent.
Can’t afford it.
So they’ve scarpered.
And the old time coppers’d look the other way, you see.
But the specials was on to yer.
GILES ALLEN (landlord of the land The Theatre stood one)
[VERY INDIGNANT]
About the eight and twentieth day of December,
fifteen hundred and ninety eight
one Cuthbert Burbage, his brother Richard,
his friend William Smith, of Waltham Cross,
Peter Street, chief carpenter,
and twelve others –
(labourers such as wrought for wages) –
riotously assembled themselves together,
armed themselves with many unlawful and offensive weapons,
(namely): swords, daggers, bills, axes, and such like,
and so armed did then repair unto the Theatre,
and then in very riotous, outrageous and forceable manner,
attempted to pull down the Theatre.
breaking, and throwing it down.
in very outrageous and violent, sort.
They did then also in most forcible and riotous manner
take and carry away from thence all the wood and timber of the Theatre
unto the Bankside,
in the Parish of St. Mary Overies,
and there erected a new playhouse
COMMENTATOR
And this new building
with William Shakespeare as one of its shareholders was
of course
The Globe.
ANNA SEWELL (sings)
I had the German measles
I had them very bad
They wrapped me in a blanket
And put me in a van
The road was very bumpy
I nearly tumbled out
When I got to hospital
I heard a baby shout:
‘Mamma, Papa
Take me home.
Take me from this rusty home
I’ve been here a year or two
Now I wanna be home with you.
Here comes Dr Glannister
Sliding down the banister
Half way down he ripped his pants
Now he’s doing a cha-cha dance.
COMMENTATOR
Hussein, how did the auction go?
Did you get it?
What did it cost you?
HUSSEIN
They sold my place, and another whole load of places
To a developer.
They said it was all, what you say,
One lot.
I couldn’t bid for mine.
He owns my place now.
He can throw us out.
COMMENTATOR
Who is this developer?
HUSSEIN
I don’t know. He wasn’t there.
He had a man do it for him.
People say he don’t live here.
He lives abroad somewhere.
COMMENTATOR
But, you, you had a letter
Inviting you there…
HUSSEIN
Didn’t mean nothing.
VOICE 3:
They dream of childless towers
Of one-bed, two-bed apartments
No need for swings or slides
No need for the visiting nurse
They dream of weekday workers
Heading home at weekends
They dream of childless towers.
MRS HEADLEY
I am very well thank you
We come back from Jamaica
After Headley’s Daddy pass away.
I am afraid that Headley is not well.
He went to the hospital for his hip
And it go wrong.
We don’t know why.
The nurse say it is something to do with this MRSA
And it get in there.
He’s very quiet now
And we must just hope for the best
Hope for the best
ANNA SEWELL [BREATHLESS AND FAST]
It is always difficult to drive fast in the city
in the middle of the day,
when the streets are full of traffic,
but we did what could be done;
and when a good driver and a good horse,
who understand each other, are of one mind,
it is wonderful what they can do.
I had a very good mouth—
that is I could be guided by the slightest touch of the rein;
and that is a great thing in London,
among carriages, omnibuses, carts, vans, trucks, cabs,
and great wagons creeping along at a walking pace;
some going one way, some another,
some going slowly, others wanting to pass them;
omnibuses stopping short every few minutes to take up a passenger,
obliging the horse that is coming behind to pull up too,
or to pass, and get before them;
perhaps you try to pass,
but just then something else comes dashing in
through the narrow opening,
and you have to keep in behind the omnibus again;
presently you think you see a chance,
and manage to get to the front,
going so near the wheels on each side
that half an inch nearer and they would scrape.
Well, you get along for a bit,
but soon find yourself in a long train of carts and carriages
all obliged to go at a walk;
perhaps you come to a regular block-up,
and have to stand still for minutes together,
till something clears out into a side street,
or the policeman interferes;
you have to be ready for any chance—
to dash forward if there be an opening,
and be quick as a rat-dog to see if there be room
and if there be time,
lest you get your own wheels locked or smashed,
or the shaft of some other vehicle run into your chest or shoulder.
All this is what you have to be ready for.
If you want to get through London fast in the middle of the day
it wants a deal of practice.
COMMENTATOR
From the site of the New Parkesine Works
Hackney Wick
I can see
Over the River Lea
To where
The earthmovers
have started work.
In four years time
five thousand sports writers and commentators
will be screaming into their mobiles and mikes
just a few feet from here.
In six years time,
After the five thousand sports writers and commentators
Have packed their mobiles and mikes and laptops away
And gone home to their newspapers and radio TV stations
All over the world
What will we have then
Near to where Alexander Parkes first
Dissolved cotton in
Pyroxylin nitrobenzole
Aniline, glacial acetic acid
And camphor
To make the world’s first plastic?
What will we have then?
What will we have?
VOICE 1
Evening falls between the trees
The drumming for Ghana fills the leaves
The wicket falls
High fives all round
Conkers shining in their nests
Mr Softee pulls away
She makes love to her mobile
So happy he’s called
VOICE 2
Here a plane tree
Higher than a warehouse
Thicker than a rubbish bin
Stronger than a promise
Older than a Town hall.
VOICE 1
Evening falls between the trees
The drumming for Ghana fills the leaves
ANNA LAETITIA BARBAULD
Lessons for children
from Two to Three year Olds
1794
It is dark.
Bring candles.
Snuff the candles.
Shut the window-shutters.
Do not shut them yet.
Look at the moon.
O bright moon! O pretty moon!
The moon shines at night
When the sun is gone to bed.
The chickens are gone to bed,
And the little birds are gone to bed,
And the sun is gone to bed
And Charles must go to bed.
Poor little boy is sleepy.
I believe we must carry him upstairs
Pull off his shoes.
Pull off his frock and petticoats.
Put on his nightcap.
MICHAEL ROSEN (very fast)
The bus goes on and it’s full and it’s leaving
and it’s laughing and it’s going on and it’s morning
and it’s evening and it’s in Punjabi
and it’s daytime and it’s full and it stops
and it’s suspicious and it starts and
it’s in Ibo and it’s shouting and it’s shopping
and it’s rapping and it’s lit up and it’s dark
and it’s ‘Shove up!’ and it’s crying and it’s
squealing and it’s in Dutch and it’s braking
and it’s in Geordie and it’s at the station
and it’s skint and it’s full of babies and it’s
full of men and it’s going on and it’s past
the Vietnamese café and it’s past the tyre depot
and it’s past the silver car and its chauffeur
and it’s waiting for Sinatra to start up and
it’s in patois and it’s chips and vinegar and
it’s past the park and it’s full of football and
it’s a bellyache and it’s full of jokes and it’s
scared and it’s n Arabic and it’s back from
school and it’s pushing and it’s raining and
it’s ripe armpits and it’s ‘tranks’ and it’s angry
And it’s full of yesterday and it’s riding under
The lights and it’s pissed off and it’s smell of oil
and it’s lean and it’s combing and it’s kissing
and it’s packets of rice and it’s cassava and
it’s over the canal and it’s the baby’s bottle
and it’s over the railway and it’s under the cranes
and it’s in the shadows of the palaces in glass
and it’s in Albanian and it’s bleach and it’s the
homework in late and it’s spuds and it’s the hijab
and it’s shoulders next to back next to fronts
and it’s revving and it’s too late and it’s too early
and it’s not enough and it’s going on and it’s on
time and it’s dreaming and it’ll get there today
and it’ll get there tomorrow…
