JANE EYRE. (Young Jane turns to Mrs Reed and shakes her head, bewildered.)

Transcription

1 JANE EYRE MRS REED: Jane Eyre! (Young Jane turns to Mrs Reed and shakes her head, bewildered.) A precious book! Completely destroyed! How could you do such a wicked, wicked thing? JOHN: It was John. John did it. (Mrs Reed looks at John, who turns on Young Jane in outraged innocence) Liar! (Crying) Mama! (Mrs Reed turns back to Young Jane, her fury suddenly brimming over.) MRS REED: MRS REED: How dare you accuse your kind young master. You vile, deceitful child. How is he my master? Am I a servant? You are less than a servant. For you do nothing to earn your keep. God should strike you dead for the ingratitude you show. (She starts to leave through the trap door, John Reed following) Then let him strike me dead. For I cannot bear to live here any longer. (Mrs Reed is silenced briefly by Young Jane s outburst) MRS REED: JOHN REED: The violence is repulsive. Come along, John. (Still snivelling) Yes, Mama. MRS REED: It s all right, my darling, I know what I must do. (Turning back to Young Jane.) I abominate lying, particularly in children. My duty obliges me to purge you of your faults.

2 (As Mrs Reed descends through the trap-door a clock chimes seven in the hall below. John Reed follows her, turning to make a hideous face at Young Jane before disappearing down the stairs. Young Jane collects up the torn pages of the book and starts to piece them together, as Jane starts to sing.) #1 The Attic A FLOOD OF MEMORY WASHES OVER ME A LONELY GIRL BETRAYED AND BATTERED RETRIVES THE PIECES OF A LIFE THAT S TORN APART AND TRIES IN VAIN TO MEND THE TATTERED PAGES OF HER HEART IT S SEVEN O CLOCK IN THE EVENING ANOTHER DAY OF THEIR ABUSE REPEATED PERSECUTION FOR BEING OF SO LITTLE USE (Young Jane closes the torn pages into the book as best she can and returns to her dusty cranny under the gable) SHE CURSES THE INJUSTICE AND BEGS TO KNOW THE REASON WHY SHE SUFFERS IN THIS PRISON WHEN ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS FLY (Young Jane peers out through a crack in the roof at the night sky beyond). OVER MOUNTAINS OVER OCEANS HOW HER RESTLESSNESS STIRS FOR SHE LONGS FOR HER LIBERTY WHEN WILL LIBERTY BE HERS? (Young Jane turns back to the audience and sits hugging her knees and rocking gently to and fro) HER LIFE IS NOT OF VALUE POVERTY SECURES HER FATE CONDEMNED TO BE A WOMAN BARELY FIT TO EDUCATE SHE SWALLOS HER REBELLION BUT THERE S A STORM WITHIN HER BREAST SHE TRIES TO QUELL THE DOWNPOUR

3 YET CANNOT TAME HER SOUL S UNREST (Young Jane rises and moves towards the audience, her face lit by a crack of light coming through the roof.) AND THE LIGHTNING STRIKES INSIDE HER AS SHE LOOKS TO THE SKY AND SHE PLEDGES TO SPREAD HER WINGS THROUGH A HURRICANE SHE LL FLY. (Both Janes look out over the audience.) OVER MOUNTAINS OVER OCEANS HOW HER RESTLESNESS STIRS FOR SHE LONGS FOR HER LIBERTY WHEN WILL LIBERTY BE HERS? (Brocklehurst emerges from the shadows, tall, dark clad and forbidding, Mrs Reed behind him. Young Jane shrinks away from him, a tiny figure kneeling at this feet. Jane kneels behind her, both of them looking up at Brocklehurst.) THERE S NO SIGHT SO SAD NO STENCH SO BAD AS THAT OF A NAUGHTY GIRL NO CRIME SO GRAVE AS CHILDREN WHO MISBEHAVE WHEN A GIRL CAN T BE SAVED GOD HEARS HER PLEA BUT HE LEAVES HER SOUL TO ME (The music crashes into the next scene, as Jane takes Young jane to one side of the stage and dresses her in the uniform of Lowood School) ACT 1, Scene i (Brocklehurst, the owner of the Lowood, shouts out over the sound of the music as the school takes shape around him.) Form classes! Silence! Order!

4 #2 Children of God (We are in a large, gloomy school-room, more like a prison that a school. There are benches arranged in rows on two sides of a central aisle with a dusty chalk-board at the front of the room. Hanging on one side of the chalk-board is a well-used leather strap. The Schoolgirls enter in a regimented line. They are supervised by Miss Scatcherd, a grim looking woman of indeterminate age, and Marigold, a servingwoman with a vacant, semi-moronic face.) GIRLS: WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD AND WE PRAISE HIS WORD WE ARE BLIND IN HIS LOVE IN HIS LOVE WE WILL TRUST FOR WE ARE TAUGHT THAT WE MUST GIRLS, DON T SLOUCH, KEEP IN LINE OR MY NERVES WILL SNAP DO NOT WISHPER OR BREATHE OR I LL SHOW YOU THE STRAP (Brocklehurst greets Mrs Reed and John Reed at the side of the stage) GIRLS: OH, GRATEFUL WE ARE FOR OUR DAILY BREAD MINDFUL ARE WE OF WHAT JESUS SAID TRUST IN HIM, TURN THE CHEEK EVER BLESSED ARE THE MEEK (The girls sit on the benches as Brocklehurst goes to the front of the class and addresses them) I HAVE A WORD TO ADDRESS TO THE STUDENTS HERE IS A GIRL WHO IS NEW TO OUR SCHOOL (Miss Scatcherd has collected Young Jane from Jane and leads her to the front of the school-room) Her name is Eyre, Jane Eyre, and she is brought here by her excellent benefactress, Mrs Reed. (Mrs Reed steps forward to reply to Brocklehurst, but she includes the whole school in her address.)

5 MRS REED: I should wish her to be brought up in a manner suiting her prospects to be made useful to be kept humble. ONE MUST PUNISH THE FLESH SHE S PRONE TO DECEIT I WOULD CAUTION YOU NOT TO BE FOOLED BY HER LIES DECEIT IS A SIN MRS REED: SHE KNOWS NOT THE DANGER SHE S IN (Brocklehurst looms over young Jane, who faces forward, seemingly impervious.) Do you know where liars go after death? They go to hell. And what is hell? A pit full of fire. And should you like to be falling into that pit, and to be swimming there forever? No, sir. BROCKLEHUST: Then what must you do to avoid it? I must keep in good health and not die. (This is not the right answer, and Brocklehurst is momentarily non-plussed before angrily responding) Children younger than you die daily (He walks amongst the other girls)

6 THESE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD SHE WILL QUICKLY LEARN THAT A CHILD DECEITFUL FOREVER SHALL BURN (As Brocklehurst points out Young Jane with his stick, she turns on him.) I am not deceitful! I have never told a lie! (She turns back and faces Mrs Reed who freezes in horror.) If I told lies, I would say I love you, Mrs Reed. But I declare I do not love you. I dislike you worst of anybody in the world. I will never come to see you when I m grown up even when you re dying for the very thought of you makes me sick. You are the liar! (Mrs Reed reels back and is helped onto a chair by John Reed.) Shocking conduct! (Brocklehurst takes Young Jane by an ear and pulls her to the head of the class where Marigold places a stool. As the whole school joins in the condemnation, Miss Scatcherd puts Young Jane up on the stool. Mrs Reed and John Reed cross the Brocklehurst who escorts them away from the classroom. Marigold chalks the word LIAR up on the chalk-board behind Young Jane as Miss Scatcherd leads all the other girls off into the darkness.) (Mrs Reed, Miss Scatcherd, Mr Brocklehurst and Ensemble 1, 2 & 3 sing the following lyrics simultaneously. MRS REED: LET THIS TEACH YOU! LET THIS TEACH YOU! WICKED CHILD HORRID, WRETCHED CHILD. GOD DESPISES YOU! MISS SCATCHERED: (To Mrs Reed) SHE IS DEPRAVED. (To Mr Brocklehurst)

7 THE GIRLS WILL BE WATCHED SIR EV RY HOUR (To Young Jane) STAND VERY STILL ALL EYES WILL BE WATCHING WATCHING A SHAMEFUL CHILD. PUNISH THE FLESH TO CHASTEN THE SPIRIT DISCIPLES ARE BORN TO BE HUMBLE AND SUFFER. PURITY COMES FROM THE PAIN OF CORRECTION DISCIPLES ARE BORN TO BE HUMBLE AND SUFFER. THE TORMENT OF MARTYRS IS HOLY AND CHRISTIAN. STARVING THE BODY, YOU LL NEVER EXTINGUISH THE SOUL. ENS. 1, 2, 3 WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD. WE MAKE ONE REQUEST THAT THE PORRIDGE BEFORE US IS PROPERLY BLESSED AND SAFE TO INGEST WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD BUT WE FIND IT QUEER IF WE RE REALLY HIS CHILDREN, WHY ISN T HE HERE? SCHOOLGIRLS: BLIND IN HIS LOVE WE RE CHARITY CHILDREN NO MORTHER OR FATHER JUST HEAVENLY CARE GOD BLESSES OUR SOULS AND YET WE DESPAIR (Silence. Young Jane stands on the stool in the empty hall. A chapel bell tolls the hour in the distance. Helen Burns comes out of the darkness and approaches Young Jane, looking round to make sure the coast is clear. She is one of the school-girls we

8 have seen earlier and is dressed exactly like them. She is 14 or 15 years old, quiet, gentle and serious. Young Jane notices her. I ve brought you some bread. (Young Jane shakes her head) Come, you must eat something (Another shade of the head. Helen looks round again.) Please... (She holds out the curst of bread, but gets no response, so she tucks it into Young Jane s apron pocket.) If you don t want it now, you can save it for later. (Helen starts to leave, Young Jane watching her with great suspicion.) What is your name? BURNS Helen Burns. Why do you talk to a girl everyone believes to be a liar? Everyone, Jane? Only forty people have heard you called so, and the world contains hundreds of millions. What have I to do with millions? The forty people here despise me. No one despises you. Many I m sure feel for you. (Helen returns to Young jane at the stool.) But even if all the world hated you and believed you wicked, if your own conscience approved you, you would not be lonely. (Passionate) No, no! If others don t love me, I d rather die than live. Hush, Jane! You think too much of the love of human beings. Apart from this earth, there is a kingdom of spirits who watch over us and protect us. Where?

9 Everywhere. (Mr Brocklehurst emerges from the shadows.) Burns! Taking to the new girl! (Bellowing at the top of his voice) Scatcherd! (Helen looks up at Young Jane with a little smile of regret as Miss Scatcherd hurries into the hall, closely followed by Marigold, the servant.) Burns is talking to the new girl against my express command! Hardened child! Will nothing break your spirit? The strap, Scatcherd, will do her spirit no harm. (Young Jane watches in horror as Miss Scatcherd fetches the strap from its hook on the chalk-board.) (Beating Helen) Let this teach you - willful child! (As Helen is beaten, Young Jane winces at every stroke, Brocklehurst observing her with interest. Miss Scatcherd then hands the strap back to Helen who curtseys to her and then turns to look calmly at Young Jane before returning the strap to its hook.) This floor is filthy. Since Burns and the liar are so keen to converse, let them be usefully employed while they do so. (Brocklehust goes. Marigold dumps a bucket down on the floor and nudges Young Jane off the stool.) The whole room, mind you til I can see my face in it. (Miss Scatcherd and Marigold go. Helen and Young Jane are now alone in the schoolroom. They take rags from the bucket and start polishing. Young Jane is furious, her words tumbling out of her in an angry torrent.)

10 #3 Forgiveness If she used that strap on me, I would take it from her hand. You would do no such thing. I would beat her with it. YOU MUSTN T BE REVENGEFUL She would deserve it, and so would he! YOU HAVE TO BE STRONG Wicked, unjust people... TO OFFER GOOD FOR EVIL They should be the ones to suffer. RETURN RIGHT FOR WRONG WE MUST NOT HOLD A GRUDGE AND WE MUST LEARN TO ENDURE I will never learn. THEN AS GOD IS OUR JUDGE You should learn to strike back at them AT LEAST OUR HEARTS WILL BE PURE FORGIVENESS IS THE MIGHTIEST SWORD FORGIVENESS OF THOSE YOU HATE WILL BE YOUR HIGHEST REWARD And those who hate me? WHEN THEY BRUISE YOU WITH WORDS

11 WHEN THEY MAKE YOU FEEL SMALL WHEN IT S HARDEST TO BEAR YOU MUST DO NOTHING AT ALL FORGIVENESS IS THE SIMPLEST VOW FORGIVENESS OF ALL THEIR CRIMES IS YOUR DELIVERANCE NOW (Helen rises and refers Young Jane to the scrawled LIAR on the chalk-board.) BLESS THOSE SOULS WHO WOULD CURSE YOUR NAME WHEN THE LAST BELL TOLLS YOU LL BE FREE OF BLAME No, Helen. It s not possible. (Helen takes a testament from her apron pocket and looks up a reference.) YOU CAN RESIST IF YOU WISH I must hate those who hate me. BUT KNOW THE GOSPEL IS TRUE (She gives the book to Young Jane and points to the reference she has found.) YOU MUST FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN I will never forgive Mrs Reed. AND BLESS THEM THAT CURSE YOU I will never bless her son, John. FORGIVENESS IS THE MIGHTIEST SWORD (Young Jane reads on in the testament.) FORGIVENESS OF THOSE YOU FEAR WILL BE YOUR HIGHEST REWARD (Young Jane hands the book back to Helen.) But when, Helen? When will we get our reward?

12 The time will come when we will leave this world, and then the injustice and the pain and the sin will fall away from us, and only the spirit will remain returning to God who created it. (Young Jane is calm now, watching Helen with a quiet reverence.) #4 Willing to be Brave YOU MUST NEVER LOSE FAITH YOU MUST NEVER LOSE HEART GOD WILL RESTORE YOUR TRUST AND I KNOW YOU RE AFRAID I M AS SCARED AS YOU ARE (Helen puts out a cautious hand to Young Jane) BUT WILLING TO BE BRAVE (Young Jane slips her hand into Helen s) BRAVE ENOUGH FOR LOVE (The light fades on the two girls.) ACT 1, Scene ii #5 The Death of Helen Burns (As Jane takes up the story, Helen and Young Jane spread an old blanket on the ground and sprawl on it, surrounding themselves with books and sketch-pads. All around them is the dappled light of a springtime glade.) Spring drew on and the snows of winter melted. April dawned with sunshine and warmth. Helen and I would steal away to a secret hollow in the neighbouring woods. There we would talk and read and paint for hours and hours, surrounded by wild primrose plants. (Helen reads from a school poetry book) The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow Through Eden took their solitary way.

13 (Music changes. The light around the girls begins to darken.) But the forest dell where Lowood lay was a cradle of fog and pestilence. Typhus Crept into the orphan s dormitory infecting the lungs of the semi-starving girls. (Young Jane and Helen look at each other, Helen reaching out a protective hand to Young Jane s face.) Helen and I were spared a t first from the deadly plague, but there came a day when Helen fell ill and her bed was moved to the infirmary. (Helen rises and moves off into the darkness, taking the books with her. Young Jane is left sitting on her won in the glade.) The weeks went by and all alone I watched our primroses fade in the woods. I was kept from Helen for fear of infection, and heard no news of her, or her condition. (Young Jane rises, wraps herself in the blanket and stands hesitantly under the shadowy trees as the scene moves to a darkened hallway at the school.) BUT SYMPATHIES EXIST PRESENTIMENTS AND SIGNS THAT BAFFLE OUR MORTAL COMPREHENSION (Miss Scatcherd hurries past with bottles of medicine and a blanket. Young Jane approaches her, quite boldly.) Please, Miss Scatcherd What is it girl? How is Helen today? Burns? Not Well. Not well at all. Is she going to die? (Miss Scatcherd turns away, caught unawares by Young Jane s candor.) (Gruffly) She s very ill.

14 (Young Jane puts a hand to her head and looks intently at Miss Scatcherd as Jane sings.) TO DREAM OR TO SEE OR TO FEEL OR TO HEAR WHAT SEEMS NOT TO BE THERE. Get back to bed, girl. I had a dream that Helen died, and I became a ghost and lost my soul. Nonsense girl. You can never lose your soul. As for ghosts there are no such things. (Miss Scatcherd hurries away. Young Jane stands pondering as Jane continues to sing. BUT SUCH THINGS EXIST THINGS BEYOND THIS EARTH THINGS BEYOND OUR SACRED THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT REASON DEFIES BUT REASON SOMETIMES LIES. That very night I awoke from my bed with a terrible start. Helen was dying. I knew it, but knew not how I knew it. I rose from my bed... (Young Jane arrives, breathless, at the door of the infirmary. Helen lies in a little bed, deathly pale. She sees Young Jane and smiles. Jane, what are you doing here? Have you come to say good-bye? Good-bye? Are you going home, Helen? Yes, Jane. To my long home. My last home. (Young Jane runs over to Helen s bed and embraces her.) No, no Helen! (Helen draws back the covers of the bed and Young Jane crawls in beside her.)

15 THERE IS A FEVER ON MY BROW AND I FEAR THE TIME HAS COME WHEN AT LAST I LEAVE YOU I KNOW MY DEATH MAY GRIEVE YOU BUT DO NOT CRY FOR ME TONIGHT I LEAVE WITH NO REGRET MY ANGELS BRING ME HOME THEY CALL MY NAME ACROSS THE SKY I HEAR THEM JANE AND WHEN I GO TO GOD I LL FEEL NO PAIN AND I LL BE WATCHING YOU FROM HEAVEN. (They fall asleep. Jane emerges from the shadows behind them.) Miss Scatcherd found me the next morning, laid in Helen s little crib, my face against Helen s shoulder, my arms round her neck. I was asleep and Helen was dead. (The light fades on the infirmary) ACT 1, Scene iii (A graveyard with moss-covered tombstones. Young Jane comes through the graveyard, a lily in her hand. Jane watches her as she kneels at one of the graves. At the foot of the simple stone cross there is a small pile of old roses in various stages of decay.) From the moment her body was cold in the earth, there was not a day I did not visit her grave. HELEN, I HAVE BROUGHT YOU A LILY TODAY FOR THE ROSES WERE FRAIL AND THE PETALS FELL AWAY THE MORNING MIST HAS KISSED YOUR GRAVE REST NOW IN SLEEP OUR SECRETS WILL KEEP TILL WE SPEAK AGAIN TOMORROW. (Jane kneels at the grave with Young Jane)

16 And so, gentle audience, as the days and the weeks and the months passed by, and the seasons altered the spirits that Helen said watch over us seemed to grow stronger all around me. (The ensemble emerges from the darkness of the graveyard.) ENSEMBLE ONE: TWO: THREE: FOUR: FIVE: What they were I cannot tell.....fragments of memory, perhaps......or thoughts of hope. Spirits from the past......or the present... SIX:...or the future ENSEMBLE SEVEN: EIGHT: NINE: TEN: - but all of them part of me......protecting......warming......imagining......or knowing......just beyond the edges of my mind. (Jane walks amongst the Ensemble as they sing.) ENSEMBLE ONE: TWO: THREE: FOUR: ENSEMBLE: MY HOPE OF HEAVEN LIES BEYOND ALL EARTHLY TIES I HEAR GODS CHERISHED VOICE ACROSS THE OPEN SKIES HIS GRACE AND POWER CALL TO ME FROM HEAVEN.

17 (Jane and Young Jane look out over the graveyard, transfixed by the same vision. The Ensemble watch them from one side of the graveyard). BOTH JANES: AS I LAY MYSELF DOWN TO SLEEP TONIGHT I PRAY I MIGHT KNOW WHY GOD HAS TEMPERED JUDGEMENT NOT WITH MERCY BUT WITH SORROW LET THE WORLD FORSAKE ME LET THEM DO THEIR WORST I WILL WITHSTAND IT ALL THEY WILL NOT BREAK ME THERE IS ANOTHER WORLD THAT WATCHES US I M NOT AFRAID THE ANGELS KNOW WHEN WE HAVE SINNED OR WE HAVE BETRAYED (Miss Scatcherd and a small group of schoolgirls come through the graveyard. Miss Scatcherd addresses Young Jane, who starts up guiltily.) Jane Eyre! Yes, Miss Scatcherd. Get to breakfast! You re late as usual. Yes, Miss. (Young Jane leaves Helen s grave and walks off through the churchyard with the other schoolgirls, Miss Scatcherd following.) Morbit little child! (As Young Jane and the other schoolgirls disappear, Jane continues to kneel at Helen s grave. The lights change as Miss Scatcherd suddenly turns back to face jane. In this little moment, eight years pass.) Well, Miss Eyre? (Jane starts up guiltily, just as Young Jane did.)

18 Yes, Miss Scatcherd. Your class is waiting! (Rising) Yes, of course. You never miss a day, do you? No...no I don t. Well, she s in a better place now, I m sure. Indeed... (Miss Scatcherd goes off towards the school, but stops as Jane calls her back. A chapel bell tolls seven.) Miss Scatcherd... Yes? I should tell you, I m thinking of leaving here. Leaving,? To go where? I don t know. But I can t stay here forever. Meaning that I have, I suppose? Well...

19 You d be mad to leave here. A girl with no money, no talents, no beauty and no class. Don t think of it. (She turns to go.) And don t be late for breakfast! (Miss Scatchered disappears into the darkness upstage. Jane walks slowly through the graveyard, looking out at the sky beyond.)