A Screenplay
prompted by the stories
of
George Gissing
(freely adapted from, notably, ‘A Daughter of the Lodge’
and ‘The House of Cobwebs’).
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An Elimination Tournament . . .
three points only to win.
Hilda and May.
|
The World of the Story
England 1879. Most of the story takes place at the country estate of Brent Hall where there is a Lodge House at the Gates, connected to the Big House by a long driveway. Brent Hall is owned by Sir Edwin and Lady Shale. Their twenty-four year old daughter, Hilda, will shortly marry young Lord Cranmuir, nephew of neighbouring estate-owner, Mrs Lindley.
The opening scenes in London reveal the protagonist, May, of humble background as the elder daughter of the Lodge-Keeper, now somewhat out of her depth in a world of the advanced NEW WOMEN from fashionable high society who are active in the fields of women’s liberation (contending the social injustices of contagious diseases, prostitution, factory conditions, education – and, in this particular case, Women’s Property Rights) in the very early, pioneer days of Women’s Suffrage.
The Characters
MAY (23) protagonist, daughter of the tenant Gate-Keeper at Brent Hall, has left the life of the Lodge behind her and has found a position as Secretary to a leading campaigner for the advancement of women, Lady Cole-Vane. Here she is inducted into the latest revolutionary views on women's independence and it is May’s missionary zeal to convert the country-dwellers on her return to the Brent Hall estate that precipitates her misfortunes.
May is at first arrogant and intolerant of the way her father and sister, Betsy, are treated by the Shale Family, owners of the country estate. But when May offends her contemporary, Hilda – the spoilt, only daughter of the Shales – and in consequence May’s father, the Gate-Keeper, is punished, she has to abandon her lofty ideals and abase herself in an attempt to save her family from further suffering.
In pitting herself as one individual against the bitter realities of narrow provincial society (a rigidly imposed, male-dominated, class-ridden hierarchy) May changes from the naïve idealist who, through arrogance brings disaster on her own family, to compassionate realist. Courageous spirit and fierce self-reliance are at the heart of her character and the determination – whatever the predicament and at whatever cost – to be responsible for own actions without dependence on men.
HILDA (24) is the only daughter of Sir Edwin and Lady Shale. On her marriage, Hilda's husband will by tradition automatically assume command of a substantial marriage settlement as well as (according to upholders of common law) absolute control over her personal possessions, including income and property. Against her own inclinations, she’s been encouraged to marry James, the titled but impecunious nephew of their neighbour, Mrs Lindley. She is a dutiful daughter who approaches fearfully the marriage that has been arranged for her due to the snobbery of her parents, whose title is newly acquired. (Her father is a tough, self-made mining magnate knighted for services to the nation.)
JAMES (32) appears a charming scapegrace but in reality has a ruthless, violent streak. He has recently inherited the title of Lord Cranmuir on the death of his older brother but this elevation is accompanied by no fortune. A dissolute idler, retired from the army after a short commission, he lives off the scanty proceeds of a family trust but at present he is out of funds due to another bout of heavy gambling. On these occasions he retreats to his aunt, Mrs Lindley, in the country. It was on such an occasion that he first met Hilda, the daughter of their wealthy neighbours, and was presented with the heaven-sent opportunity to reverse his fortunes. He does not love Hilda and his forthcoming wedding he cynically regards as a ‘marriage of convenience’. His roving eye is quick to notice May at work on the estate.
MATTHEW (23) is a fledgling composer, defiant of London’s musical establishment whose hidebound traditionalists have rejected him. He lives in pitiful poverty off fifteen shillings a week from dwindling capital that will buy him three months in the country to compose an exhibition ‘Sonata’ that could win him a place at the Paris Conservatoire. He respects May’s fierce opposition to a class-bound, sexist society which upholds laws that discriminate against women. He loves and admires May but the creative process – ambitious, inward turning and fiercely focussed – blinds him to her plight. Matthew – in his music as in his life – is, like Berlioz, a true exponent of the extremist romantic theory of the times.
A GIRL ALONE
ACT ONE
1 In her sparsely furnished servant’s room in a garret of Lady Cole-Vane's South
Kensington Mansion, MAY is seated at a window seat reading a letter from her sister. Their father’s sick. She’s requested to visit home in the country. (Letter ends ‘. . . our future is uncertain here and only you, dear May, can help us in our hour of need.’)
2 MAY descends through the Mansion (which resembles a London Club for it is open house to activists). A huge, Women’s Federation SILK BANNER, draped above the stairs, proclaims: ‘True Equality is Perfect Freedom of Action’. She enters the basement where there is a private Press printing Women’s Signal a weekly newspaper. MAY is seeking the whereabouts of her employer and mentor, Lady Cole-Vane, a London lady of fashion and also a formidable early Suffragette. Her VOICE booms from the adjoining assembly rooms of this revolutionary HQ . . .
3 MAY is secretary to LADY COLE-VANE and this powerful personality is seen in characteristic attitude as she concludes an impressive speech to MEMBERS of the Married Women’s Property Rights Committee, an Advanced Women’s Movement. (Title of Speech: A Wife’s Rights upon Marriage, a continuing cause for grievance because according to upholders of common law a husband has presumed rights over his wife’s assets.)
(LADY COLE-VANE’s speech touches a nerve with her well-bred audience as she rages against the customary predicament of women:
‘If a husband takes his wife’s property by personal violence he can neither be punished nor compelled to restitution. In this respect the wife’s position under English common law is worse than that of the slaves of Rome. As it is, a husband can commit any atrocity except killing his wife and if tolerably cautious can do that with impunity.’
At this point, her audience of FASHIONABLE SOCIETY WOMEN is stunned to see the shocking spectacle of a BRUTALLY BEATEN WORKING-CLASS WOMAN, head downcast in shame, encouraged on to the stage, supported by two STAFF MEMBERS who uncover the VICTIM’s face to reveal a broken nose, swollen eyes and mouth. (In the audience, a SOCIETY LADY dabs her forehead with cologne . . . fans herself to recover from this affront to her sensibilities.) LADY COLE-VANE concludes her speech...
‘Under the common law of this country, a wife can do no act whatever but by her husband’s permission; she can acquire no property but that it immediately becomes his; and however brutal the husband may be, and though it may be his daily pleasure to torture his wife (LADY COLE-VANE peels away the VICTIM's upper garments to disclose ugly livid bruising across the neck, shoulders and arms) and though he may become utterly loathsome to her, he can claim from her and enforce the lowest degradation of a human being, that of being made the instrument of an animal lust contrary to her intentions.’
WOMEN in the audience shudder. MAY, observing at the rear of the room, is mesmerised by this strong willed crusading aristocrat. She gazes with pity (and repulsion) at the VICTIM’s beaten face.
4 In a private interview with LADY COLE-VANE in the office, MAY requests permission to visit her family in the country. (She addresses her employer as ‘Lady Cole-Vane’ but Lady C-V corrects her. ‘I insist you call me Florence. Under this roof we're all equals.’) MAY points out she has been in the secretaryship for all of two years and is concerned about her father’s health.
Her employer considers the matter and, on hearing MAY's home is near her friend, MRS LINDLEY, (MAY boastfully intimates her family have ‘a little place in the country’) LADY COLE-VANE strikes a deal with MAY. She may take leave but she must also give a public reading of the speech on A Wife's Rights upon Marriage (the selfsame speech delivered an hour before) to Mrs Lindley’s Advanced Women’s Circle in the country. MAY is proud but apprehensive to be entrusted with this important mission. LADY COLE-VANE hands her a bulky sealed ENVELOPE
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May’s ‘Rational Dress’ and
short-cropped hair causes a stir
as heads turn . . .
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5 MAY walks along a Railway Station platform. Her SHORT-CROPPED HAIR and strange ‘Rational Dress’, as she strides with hands in pockets, is plainly causing a stir as heads turn. Conventionally dressed WOMEN TRAVELLERS (wasp-waisted, whalebone corseted) whisper comments on her unusual attire. (In her bifurcated costume – startling culottes – as well as in the matter of collar and tie, MAY inclines daringly towards the example of the opposite sex. Her dress is less a garment and more statement of a Manifesto.)
6 MAY boards a TRAIN and enters a carriage. On the platform she observes a raucous group of elegantly dressed MEN-ABOUT-TOWN (and a pair of coarse, bawdy, high spirited young women who appear to be their companions from a night on the tiles). The group is giving a noisy send-off to a dishevelled, drunken young man (JAMES) who dashes for the train as it departs. He flings himself into MAY’s compartment where she is the sole occupant. Soon he is observing her closely from over his newspaper. After a few moments, MAY responds by lighting a cigarette. JAMES’s humorous protests are met with the retort that smoke is good for him.
COUNTRY RAILWAY STATION. As they draw into Brent Hall Halt, JAMES notes her luggage label and remarks that he too is visiting Brentcombe. Does May live thereabouts MAY airily describes the grounds of Brent Hall, not disclosing her humble home at the Lodge Gates. As he’ll be passing her home, he insists MAY should share his cab. She reddens and protests but his driver is already loading her baggage. (A PORTER wheels out her BIKE from the Guard's Van . . . she tells him she’ll fetch it next day.)
7 On the journey by horse-drawn CAB along a country lane, their progress is halted beside a tumbledown old house. A GAUNT YOUNG MAN (MATTHEW), unshaven with mop of unruly dark hair, is spreading SHEAVES OF CORN on the potholes in the road. He indicates to the DRIVER the drawn curtains at the upper windows. He is muffling the noise of the passing traffic for the occupant of the house is dying and must remain undisturbed.
The eyes of YOUNG MAN and MAY meet in a moment of mutual sympathetic regard before he waves on the CAB. MATTHEW stares after the CAB for some time lost in thought.
8 We hear a continuation of MAY's boastful description of Brent Hall over a shot of MAY arriving in a horse-drawn cab as we approach the LODGE HOUSE GATES. When the cab halts, she blushingly insists she’ll walk to her house but JAMES then reveals he’s visiting Brent Hall. (BETSY runs to open the gates to this grand visitor to the Hall and is astonished to see her sister MAY descend from the cab. She is even more astonished to see her sister is wearing a costume of revolutionary design.) BETSY, in floured apron, kisses her sister in wide-eyed wonder at the boldness of such a costume. Meanwhile, JAMES nods to the DRIVER to continue up the drive to Brent Hall. Smiling, he ironically remarks on MAY’s ‘little place in the country’ (as MAY enters her humble Lodge Cottage).
MAY reddens at being caught out in a lie in front of her sister. BETSY whispers: ‘Didn't you guess? That’s his lordship who’s courting Miss Hilda up at the House.’
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James Cranmuir
‘That's his lordship who’s
courting Miss Hilda up at the House.’ |
9 JAMES’s CAB approaches Brent Hall, an imposing grand Country House set in sweeping Parklands. JAMES grins and takes a sip from his hip flask to fortify himself for the coming visit.
10 In the humble austere parlour of the LODGE, MAY is bossily offering medical advice for her father’s lumbago and wheezing chest. She irritatingly instructs her sister on exactly how she likes her tea. The two homely servants are in such a state of nervous agitation that neither can say anything natural to them. Eyes sparkling, MAY, with headstrong pride in her own independence and contempt for her family’s servitude, tells them she is part of a new revolutionary movement that will do away with inequality. Besides, in London she is on first name terms with the nobility . . . she is certainly not going to kowtow to the Shales up the end of the drive at Brent Hall. She demands that her presence at the Lodge should not be made known to the Shales. She’ll ignore them as she expects them to ignore her.
FATHER protests that life is more difficult under the Shales than it was in the days under the old Earl. He reminisces about an earlier Golden Age among the true nobility before the arrival of the Shales. The new owners are quick to find fault so MAY should avoid provoking them with her superior manner and progressive ideas.
11 In front of the GRAND FAÇADE of Brent Hall, the imposing figures of SIR EDWIN SHALE and LADY SHALE watch the departure of their 24-year old only daughter, MISS HILDA SHALE who descends a sweeping staircase with JAMES. The young couple mount the driving seat of a smart Horse-and-Trap. HILDA – a confident horsewoman – takes the reins.
12 Inside the LODGE Parlour the awkward family atmosphere (where MAY holds the floor with her tirade against inequality) is suddenly made a good deal worse by a sharp rapping on the window. MISS HILDA’s angry, disdainful face appears at the casement demanding the Gates be opened. The eyes of the two young women meet but MAY is not at all put out and, with slow deliberation, lights a CIGARETTE. She puffs a stream of smoke in the direction of the window and turns her back. An enemy is made.
13 Outside the LODGE, an angry MISS HILDA turns from the Sitting Room WINDOW as BETSY runs to open the heavy gates.
MAY opens the WINDOW and insolently observes her sister's labours whilst smoking her cigarette.
JAMES (unseen by fretting HILDA) imperceptibly touches the brim of his hat with his cane, smiles, and winks at MAY. Moments later, BETSY, upset at rousing Hilda’s temper, demands her sister display correct behaviour. MAY is contemptuous and tells BETSY that a little anger now and then is excellent for the health.
14 Later, in their BEDROOM, BETSY explains the real reason she wanted MAY to return home. She’d like to marry her sweetheart, ALFRED, the Under-Gardener, but FATHER is fearful they’ll lose the Lodge if Betsy should not remain to assist him with the duties of the Gates. He is too proud to talk to SIR EDWIN SHALE and propose the younger man as the new tenant. MAY promises to persuade FATHER to agree to the match and to petition Sir Edwin on the matter of Alfred taking over the gardens.
FATHER and BETSY retire early while MAY stays up late to smoke a cigarette.
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Young Betsy is in awe of her
headstrong sister, May, the Townie. |
ACT TWO
15 Dawn breaks across Brent Hall Park. HILDA's out riding Sabre, her black thoroughbred. ‘Lady of all she surveys’, she halts to view the sweeping vista of her father’s estate.
16 At the LODGE, BETSY is measuring out FATHER’s MEDICINE but MAY, to her sister’s annoyance, takes it upon herself to interfere. She reads the label on the bottle, pours the mixture down the sink and unpacks some TONIC PHIALS from her travelling bag. She insists her herbal tonics from Town are more progressive than those prescribed by their ‘country medico’.
When MAY prepares to pour away another of the medicine bottles BETSY protests that this particular preparation is one she’s fetched for the old man, MR SPICER, who lies dying in the cottage down the road. With an irritating, bustling air of self-importance, MAY insists she’ll go on an errand of mercy and take Mr Spicer her own Tonics.
17 Along a COUNTRY LANE, VILLAGERS shake their heads in wonder to see MAY speed by on her BICYCLE, the first seen in these rural parts.
18 MAY approaches along the path to TUMBLEDOWN COTTAGE. The windows are boarded up. As she draws closer she hears a MELODY hesitantly picked out on a PIANO. . . then, in response to her knock at the door, a meshing of discordant notes. The GAUNT YOUNG MAN (MATTHEW) opens the door. He glowers aggressively, out of temper at the intrusion. MAY hurriedly explains her mission and he grudgingly admits her.
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The House of Cobwebs
The uncleaned windows are overspun with cobwebs. |
19 Inside TUMBLEDOWN COTTAGE, the squalor makes MAY’s nose wrinkle in disapproval. The uncleaned windows are overspun with COBWEBS. Faded torn wallpaper. A fireplace in ruins. The lower floors are completely unfurnished except for an UPRIGHT PIANO in the front room scattered with sheaves of MUSIC MANUSCRIPTS.
UPSTAIRS, MAY is more deeply shocked to find OLD MR SPICER resting on an OLD CAMP BED on bare boards. As MAY administers her TONIC, the truth of the men's circumstances is explained by OLD SPICER . . .
The young man downstairs is his lodger, MATTHEW GOLDTHORPE, a struggling music student . . . brilliant but at odds with London’s musical Establishment. He’s turned his back on London and sought cheap lodgings in the country. He lives off fifteen shillings a week and he’s working on an Exhibition Composition to win a Scholarship to the Paris Conservatoire.
But MAY wants to know how the two men come both to be living in such an abandoned old building. OLD MR SPICER explains that the lease was willed to him by his older brother who died in this house the previous year. Since he was himself homeless he gladly settled in with no furniture or possessions. It has provided shelter of a sort but the lease will expire in few days when it reverts to the ground-landlord . . . SIR EDWIN SHALE. After which he’ll have no choice but to go the Alms house.
DOWNSTAIRS, MAY has a stormy exchange of words with MATTHEW who she accuses of showing no regard for even the minimum standards of domestic hygiene. MATTHEW, resentful of her intrusiveness, says he and the old man have no choice but to live as cheaply as possible. It’s only Mathew’s fifteen shillings a week his family sends him that keeps them both from starving. MATTHEW is enraged by MAY’s cross-questioning . . . her interference has set back his work by hours . . . he shows her the door.
MATTHEW, peering through a crack in boarded-up window, follows MAY’s progress down the path. At the PIANO, his fingers toy idly with the keys. He begins to shape a MELODY . . .
20 SUNDAY SERVICE, BRENTCOMBE PARISH CHURCH. The Organ thunders at end of Hymn. The Rector calls the BANNS for the 3rd week to announce the forthcoming Marriage of MISS HILDA, seated, frowning, in Family Pew with smiling SIR EDWIN and LADY SHALE.
(RECTOR: ‘If any of you know cause, or just impediment, why these two persons should not be joined together in holy Matrimony, ye are to declare it. This is the third time of asking.’)
At another pew JAMES is seated with his Aunt, MRS LINDLEY. As the ORGAN plays, MAY, in rear of congregation, is surprised to see MATTHEW – now respectably shaven – is the ORGANIST. Through the MIRROR above his head he views MAY with renewed interest.
21 In the HOTHOUSE, MAY's FATHER is guiding SIR EDWIN in his choice of FLOWERS for the forthcoming Wedding. MAY is emboldened to approach SIR EDWIN. He is won over by MAY who persuades him to agree to BETSY's wedding and the promotion of ALFRED (a shy young man in Sunday Best) to Head Gardener. He agrees in good spirits for is not HILDA, his own daughter (he boasts) to be married next week to the young Lord Cranmuir? With a sweep of his arm he indicates the ‘happy couple’ . . . glum HILDA and the man on the train, JAMES. When JAMES enquires the identity of MAY he receives from HILDA the contemptuous reply . . . ‘merely the gardener’s girl!’ But MAY’s lively, self-possessed character attracts him and quickens his curiosity.
22 Over LUNCHEON at Brent Hall, Sir Edwin Shale explains to LADY SHALE that he has approved the marriage of BETSY and ALFRED. LADY SHALE reprimands him for not consulting her on the matter. SIR EDWIN further remarks on the agreeable presence of MAY at the Lodge. HILDA now looks put out at this. LADY SHALE warns him of the dangerous ideas on women's independence emanating from London. SIR EDWIN retorts that he’s read in his newspaper that it’s been scientifically proved that men’s brains are superior to women’s, so he has nothing to fear. LADY SHALE stares stonily back at him.
23 In HOTHOUSE, MAY displays true daughterly concern by aiding wheezing, ailing FATHER, the Gardener, in gathering FLOWERS. HILDA enters accompanied by her elderly MAID-SERVANT ‘ADAMS’. Caught in an humiliating servant role, MAY is snubbed by HILDA who loftily comments on the presence of the Gardener’s other daughter helping in the grounds. When HILDA departs, MAY makes a face and ‘ADAMS’, in a kindly manner, warns her not to offend the ‘young mistress’ who's been spoilt since childhood . . . her parents deny her nothing and she always has her own way. BETSY appears. MAY displays a fierce anger at being treated like a servant by the daughter of the house. MAY declares she’s treated as an equal in the most fashionable houses of London. Indeed, she is off this instant to visit MRS LINLEY on the neighbouring Estate. BETSY, dismayed, warns against such a bold action.
24 MAY sets off on BICYCLE down Sussex lane towards towards neighbouring estate. There's a clatter of hooves and HILDA appears at a fast lick, driving Horse-and-Trap, with tennis racquet strapped alongside, almost mowing down the intrepid cyclist. Wheels throw up mud from puddle onto hem of MAY's dress as she's driven into the hedgerow.
25 Passing the TUMBLEDOWN COTTAGE, MAY is observed by MATTHEW who raises his head from poring over his MANUSCRIPTS. He hunches his shoulders and his fingers descend on the keys . . . he tentatively explores the theme of his SONATA... MAY’S THEME (May Sonata).
26 At MRS LINDLEY's mansion, MAY is delivering Lady Cole-Vane's Speech. (She is apprehensive, however, when she observes that two front row spectators are JAMES and HILDA.) MAY is talking of the predicament of the contemporary Married Woman under current English law....
As he listens, JAMES shifts uncomfortably in his chair beside the FIRE HEARTH. (He regards the new ideas as a threat to his own self-seeking plans to personally control Hilda's wealth.)
Disliking what he hears, he determines to disrupt MAY’s Speech and, UNOBSERVED, using the point of his WALKING CANE, he begins to DISLODGE a GLOWING LOG from the GRATE. The LOG begins to teeter...
MAY: 'Meanwhile the wife is the actual bondservant of her husband. For she vows a livelong obedience to her husband at the altar and is held to that vow all through her life by law. Marriage for the wife means the absorption of all her rights, all her property as well as all freedom of action. We are campaigning to change the laws by insisting on equality of rights to prevent the scandalous abuse of the marriage institution whereby a man can entrap a girl into marrying him for the sole purpose of getting possession of her mon . . .
The SMOKING LOG falls with a CRASH . . . into the HEARTH and the room rapidly fills with SMOKE.
The GIRLS SQUEAL . . . JAMES has succeeded in abruptly terminating MAY’s Speech.
JAMES has a grinning aside to May:
‘After all, as you were saying, smoke is good for you.’
The enlightened MRS LINDLEY graciously proposes thanks to MAY and her girls clap politely. But the SMOKE makes her splutter so she suggests everyone should adjourn to the garden.
(JAMES takes HILDA by the arm and seeks to disparage the revolutionary principles of property ownership by women. He strongly cautions HILDA against such ready acceptance of these dangerous ideas. Women, he says, are too delicately natured to shoulder such burdens of responsibility – handling the wife's affairs is the task of the husband, surely? His flippant remarks attempt to make light of one of the greatest social injustices of the times.)
27 In the GARDEN, MRS LINDLEY introduces HILDA to MAY but, reasserting her social position, HILDA raises her eyebrows a little, smiles in another direction and gives a just perceptible nod. Behind her hand, HILDA discloses the identity of MAY to her cronies who smirk and titter. (The words ‘Gardener’s girl’ are just audible.) At these words, in the midst of this snobbish County set, all the effect and meaning of the speech shrivel into insignificance. MAY burns with embarrassment.
MRS LINDLEY comes to the rescue of her new guest and suggests a tennis match. The group disperses to the COURT followed by JAMES.
A short ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT is proposed . . . three points only to win.
HILDA is drawn to play against MAY. MAY triumphs at the game, much to HILDA’s shock.
During the game, JAMES observes MAY's athletic play with renewed interest in her physical attraction. He is diverted by her unconventional, lively character (last time he spoke to her she was boldly smoking on the train).
MRS LINDLEY confides to JAMES how charmed and captivated she is by MAY and her advanced ideas on women’s ownership of property. JAMES further confuses the dim, scatter-brained but goodhearted MRS LINDLEY by asking who does her own household accounts? His aunt lamely agrees she's hopeless at figures and leaves that sort of thing to her husband. After her triumph in the tennis match, JAMES addresses glowing comments to MAY and challenges her to a game making HILDA seethe with jealousy.
The tennis match between MAY and JAMES is a contest between two strong opposing personalities and is fiercely fought with JAMES finally taking game point after MAY equalises with a powerfully sustained rally.
JAMES, admiring even more the physical grace of his opponent, in a low voice, intimates he’d like a ‘Return Match’, charging his words with an undercurrent of amorous intent.
28 Arriving separately at the LODGE-HOUSE GATES, HILDA and MAY meet. MAY approaches on BICYCLE. HILDA arrives in Horse-and-Trap. Piqued at losing the tennis match and jealous of JAMES’s interest in his tennis partner, HILDA, reasserting her ascendancy, imperiously orders MAY to open the gates.
MAY proudly refuses and walks on.
HILDA: ‘Did you not hear what I said?’
MAY: ‘I couldn't imagine you were talking to me.
I supposed you were talking to a servant.’
HILDA: ‘Oh, and was I not?’
(She sinisterly adds: ‘Very well. So be it.’)
This act of defiance is observed by BETSY from her bedroom window. HILDA gives a menacing smile as she dismounts and opens the gates herself.
29 Next morning at the LODGE old FATHER is distraught. He’s just returned from the Big House. LADY SHALE has given him one week’s notice to vacate the Lodge. It’s because of MAY's insulting behaviour to MISS SHALE.
BETSY bursts into tears . . . her wedding plans destroyed, and no roof over their heads.
MAY angrily accuses her FATHER and SISTER of spinelessly taking this treatment lying down. FATHER says he will go and see SIR EDWIN tomorrow and sort out the matter . . . man-to-man. MAY says no. She will deal with the problem . . . it’s of her making. She will go up to The Hall directly and apologise to SIR EDWIN herself.
30 Taunted by Butler for being an Anarchist, MAY makes her way to SIR EDWIN’s study, where his weak character is revealed. She is told he is powerless to act . . . he must bow to his wife’s wishes. LADY SHALE has made up her mind. The sentence is confirmed.
31 In the presence of LADY SHALE, and daughter HILDA, MAY apologises to them both and pleads with them not to punish her family. HILDA gazes at her triumphantly yet brushes the matter aside as of no concern to her. LADY SHALE asks her to wait outside whilst she considers the matter. On being re-admitted, MAY is told she may do rough domestic work on the Estate as penance whilst the matter is given due consideration.
32 MAY is subjected to humiliating comments from other members of STAFF, FOOTMEN, STABLE BOYS, on her way out. She flees to a still corner of the PARK and weeps bitterly watched only by birds and rabbits.
ACT THREE
33 DAWN. MAY awakes in dismal, sparsely furnished SERVANT’S ATTIC at BRENT HALL. There’s a brisk knocking on the door and she reluctantly rises to dress herself in rough work clothes. She descends to the Servants Hall where she is treated with contempt by the others servants. There are jeers. Someone trips her up.
34 Outside the DAIRY, the RAIN beats down as JAMES returns with HILDA from a ride. He notices MAY working as a servant girl. The Outbuilding is choked with STEAM. Her face is heated, sweat pours, as she scalds heavy copper pans and lifts churns. (The toughest job Hilda could find with which to punish May.) JAMES asks how May can be given such a lowly position . . . it's like working in a Turkish Bath! HILDA is cooly dismissive . . . stating it’s the position MAY richly deserves. He can barely conceal his fascination.
Later, MAY is roundly cursed when she overturns a milk PAIL. She’s mopping up when MATTHEW appears to fetch milk for old Spicer. He’s heard about MAY's fall from grace from sister BETSY. Neither mentions MAY’s lowly labour. Displaying her characteristic self-possession even in the most humiliating situation, MAY asks about the progress of SPICER and the development of the musical composition. They conduct a learned discussion about counterpoint oblivious of the sniggers and innuendos from the other MILKMAIDS. Despite these wretched conditions, the two ‘outcasts’ are drawn to each other in growing intimacy. Although their discussion is conducted dispassionately, when their eyes meet they communicate more powerful emotions.
35 Outside the DAIRY, MATTHEW is waylaid by SIR EDWIN SHALE who draws him aside to remind him the lease on SPICER’s cottage expires at the end of week. (MAY overhears SIR EDWIN confirm he wants vacant possession by the end of the week or his men will be sent to clear the property and physically remove the old man.)
36 When MAY returns to the LODGE, FATHER and BETSY quiz her on when they will know their fate. Heartlessly, they caution her to bridle her tongue and not further endanger their position. So tired is she from this unaccustomed hard physical labour she stumbles on the threshold and falls asleep on the porch seat.
37 Next morning, at the DAIRY, JAMES skulks in a doorway. When MAY is first to arrive he emerges out of the gloom. Suavely, he tells her he’s looking forward to that ‘Return Match’. He attempts to seduce MAY by telling her that he could influence HILDA in making a favourable decision on behalf of the Lodge-Gate Family. All he asks in return is May’s ‘friendship’. . . it’s a fair bargain. He attempts to kiss MAY as footsteps approach and they break apart in disarray. MAY makes her escape before the are observed.
38 In BRENTCOMBE PARISH CHURCH. MATTHEW, as ORGANIST, is assisting at the REHEARSAL of HILDA’s wedding. Whilst he waits, he runs through a few bars of the ‘MAY SONATA’ and catches the eye of MAY who is in the rear of the church assisting other servants in dressing with flowers the aisles and pews.
At the ALTAR, the RECTOR is rehearsing the service with HILDA and JAMES. The RECTOR reads: ‘Therefore marriage is not to be taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly, to satisfy men’s carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts that have no understanding.’ In a discreet, hesitant, undertone the RECTOR says he could, if they prefer it, omit this phrase. JAMES merely raises an amused eyebrow. Prompted by LADY SHALE, HILDA, blushing, assents.
MAY contrives to approach the Choir Stalls and, her face reflected in the ORGAN MIRROR, she whispers she’ll meet him at Spicer’s house.
39 At Spicer’s TUMBLEDOWN COTTAGE, MAY attends old SPICER at his death bed. He confides in MAY the fact that ever since her arrival in the house MATTHEW has been like a man transformed. She is his inspiration, he discloses. His work has been going from strength to strength and the old man is proud to have given shelter to a composer of such stature and future greatness! He has willed himself to hold onto life until he hears MATTHEW’s completed composition. MAY begs him to rest and returns downstairs to fetch water.
 |
Matthew celebrates completion of
his May Sonata, clasping his
original compositional sketch.
|
In the hall below, she hears the door slam as MATTHEW returns.
Downstairs at the TUMBLEDOWN COTTAGE, a FIRE burns in the grate. In the glow from the hearth, MATTHEW and MAY talk about their ambitions. He is more confiding of his determination to win the Scholarship . . . it's a ticket to freedom . . . his escape from the petty bourgeois conventions that confine them. Why doesn’t MAY plan to escape abroad like him, instead of remaining a victim of the Shale Family’s pathetic vendetta? She could share his escape. But MAY retorts that it’s a problem of her own making and she must remain at Brent Hall to solve it unaided. The arrogance of the Shale Family knows no bounds but it'’s HILDA she’s truly sorry for . . . marrying a man who is openly unfaithful and is even at this moment making advances to one of the servants at the Hall. If only she could warn HILDA of the perils of such a marriage.
But MATHEW seizes her hands and says the conventions of marriage are absurd. Why care about the fate of Hilda or her wretched servant? Whilst they’re together in Spicer’s house the Shales have no power over them, at least until the end of the lease in two day’s time. He draws closer and kisses her. MAY’s eyes glisten with tears in the knowledge that his assertion that she is free woman is far from the truth. (Her own freedom to act is threatened by JAMES and her family’s freedom is held within the power of the land-owning Shale family.)
40 Next EVENING, BRENT HALL. On an errand in the upper corridors, MAY pauses, unobserved, outside HILDA’s BOUDOIR. Inside the room, Hilda’s OLD MAIDSERVANT ‘ADAMS’ assists her in a fitting of the Bridal Gown. HILDA is scowling.
41 Early next morning, at TUMBLEDOWN COTTAGE, MAY returns to enquire about the progress of OLD SPICER. As she approaches the property, she witnesses the eviction of the old man whose pitiful belongings are tossed out into the garden by the SHALE ESTATE MANAGER and his MEN.
(In a side lane, running along the garden, AN OPEN CARRIAGE waits. Inside are SIR EDWIN and JAMES who are examining an ARCHITECT’s PLAN showing the ELEVATION of a COUNTRY HOUSE. JAMES grins when he he meets the eyes of MAY.)
As MEN take SLEDGEHAMMERS and begin to DEMOLISH an OUTBUILDING, MATTHEW appears at the front door supporting ashen-faced OLD SPICER.
MATTHEW and MAY, together, assist the old man onto a WAGON.
MATTHEW tells MAY that the reason SIR EDWIN is so anxious to have the property returned to him is because he’s going to raze the house to the ground and build HILDA and JAMES a fine new home on the site.
42 Later that evening, MAY is at the edge of the forest collecting eggs among her Father’s hen runs. JAMES approaches on horseback and furtively tells MAY she has one final chance to redeem the situation by visiting him at his wedding eve party at the HUNTING LODGE in the Brent Forest after all his bachelor friends have departed. He indicates her old FATHER coughing and wheezing at the cottage door. The future of her family is in her hands . . . does she want see them cast out from their home like the old man, Spicer, and end up like him in the Almshouse? He'll expect her at midnight at the Hunting Lodge.
43 In her BOUDOIR, HILDA is restless and impatiently dismisses her maidservant, ‘ADAMS’. She will take a stroll in the grounds . . . she needs a quiet period to prepare herself for the morrow.
44 Inside the ALMSHOUSE, MAY hesitates at the doorway to GRIM DORMITORY where the POOR and VAGRANTS have sought shelter. The STENCH of the room assails her and she presses a handkerchief to her nose. The room is filled with the sounds of hacking coughs, moans and ravings of broken men. The glimmer of a candle reveals OLD SPICER, hollow-eyed, lying on a crude bed, mouth agape, gasping for breath.
She enters fearfully and approaches the death bed. OLD SPICER opens his eyes and touches her cheek . . . he whispers he is saddened not to have heard Matthew’s completed Sonata but he is certain it is a masterpiece . . . for the music is inspired by a true lady . . . and now that lady is by his side he is content. She takes OLD SPICER’s hand as MATTHEW enters the room.
MAY looks around her with horror at the grim picture of poverty before her . . . this fate could befall her own family and she has it in her power to avert it.
45 Walking in the MOONLIT BRENT HALL PARK, HILDA espies the shadowy figure of MAY as she takes the path to the Forest. HILDA sets off silently in pursuit.
46 At night, in the FOREST, MAY watches the last of the REVELLERS being ejected, protesting, from the HUNTING LODGE by JAMES. A drunken REVELLER vomits behind a tree. Raucously singing, the BACHELOR PARTY disperses into the night. MAY fearfully approaches the door to the HUNTING LODGE.
47 HILDA observes her enter and follows. She eavesdrops on JAMES and MAY talking in upper room of Hunting Lodge. JAMES bargains with MAY promising that her family's future will be assured providing she will accept to be his mistress. Soon he tells her he will be a wealthy man able to keep her in luxury at HILDA's expense . . . wouldn’t that be a just reward for the way HILDA treats her like a servant? MAY pours scorn at these propositions asserting her freedom from dependence on men since that was the very purpose of her mission to Mrs Lindley’s.
JAMES scoffs at Women’s Property Rights . . . before marriage, unknown to Hilda, his lawyers have insisted on a covenant to Hilda’s trust fund that ensures his continuing rights to her fortune . . .
When MAY protests at such underhand swindling of the unsuspecting Hilda, JAMES loses patience . . . this damned girl acts like a man, talks like a man, wants the freedoms of a man . . . but beneath all the trappings there’s the eternal female which he is destined to have. MAY struggles in his grip. In the struggle her nose is bloodied and her eye is bruised. He flings her on the bed, breathing close to her face . . . the moment has arrived for the ‘Return Match’.
Though MAY struggles, JAMES’s superior strength overwhelms her and, tearing at her dress, he, half clothed, rapes her.
(At the foot of the stairs HILDA listens in horror, rooted to the spot.)
Sated, lying on his back, this man-of-the-world is really quite amiable about her ordeal . . . MAY should forget this masquerading as a man and learn to enjoy all the privileges of being a woman and a companion of the rich. HILDA is merely the means to serve a financial end . . . he does not love HILDA who holds no attractions for him . . . yet by tomorrow they will be married . . . her property will then be his and he and MAY will share the spoils. MAY should think about these advantages he offers her. MAY looks steadily down at the JAMES who stares back, smiling urbanely, secure of his own superiority.
In a kindly manner he tells her this is the way of the world . . . why resist? It’ll be so much easier for her and her family if she’d only bow to the inevitable future.
Holding back her tears, lips trembling, MAY departs.
48 At the foot of the HUNTING LODGE stairs MAY is confronted by HILDA’s stricken face.
MAY: ‘You heard?
HILDA: ‘Everything.’
(MAY bursts into tears at the point of collapse and HILDA reaches out to support her. The two women walk home, arms linked, unlikely allies united in adversity.)
49 The EARLY HOURS in HILDA’s BOUDOIR. ‘ADAMS’ tends MAY’s injuries.
MAY shakily examines her face in a MIRROR . .. her eye has SWOLLEN and she wipes BLOOD from her nose . . . she peels away her dress and inspects LIVID WEALS across her shoulders where she has been forcibly held. HILDA offers her a stiff brandy . . .
In the centre of the room is a stuffed mannequin, on which is draped the Bridal Gown.
Faithful ‘ADAMS’, distressed at these ‘goings-on’, pours a brandy for her mistress. HILDA sharply orders her to lock the door and remain in attendance.
The two young women light up cigarettes. They hesitantly begin to confide in each other.
ACT FOUR
50 The morning of HILDA’s SOCIETY WEDDING dawns. At BRENT HALL the SERVANTS scurry about their duties bearing linen and cutlery across the lawns to the MARQUEE.
On the TERRACE, MAY in pinafore, carries a glass-laden tray towards a side door.
She pauses, as HILDA, in Bridal Gown, appears on her BALCONY above her, followed by fussing ‘ADAMS’. MAY’s bruised face looks up.
Their eyes meet in sympathy . . . and secret understanding.
MAY enters the side door and ascends a back staircase.
51 Outside, on the Grand Entrance STEPS leading to BRENT HALL the SERVANTS assemble to witness the departure of the Bride. At the foot of the steps the CARRIAGES await. After a delay and much whispering among the staff the BRIDE appears, veiled in white lace, walking on the arm of SIR EDWIN SHALE and attended by faithful old maidservant ‘ADAMS’ who holds the bride’s silk train.
The old servant assists her into the OPEN LANDAU and arranges the drapes of the silk gown. She squeezes the Bride’s hand and murmurs: ‘God Bless you, Miss Hilda,’ which prompts the ASSEMBLED SERVANTS to call: ‘God Bless, Miss Hilda,’ as the COACHMAN cracks his whip and the carriage moves off. The BRIDE gives a hesitant, fluttering wave of acknowledgement.
 |
The bride appears, veiled in white lace,
walking on the arm of Sir Edwin Shale. |
52 The horse-drawn BRIDAL CARRIAGE occupied by SIR EDWIN and the BRIDE passes the THE TUMBLEDOWN COTTAGE. Estate WORKERS are smashing up the OLD PIANO and burning OLD SPICER’s belongings . . .
The DEMOLITION has begun . . . ON THE ROOF, WORKERS are removing RAFTERS . . . they pause to doff their caps as their master passes by.
53 At Brentcombe Parish Church, the CONGREGATION is impatient. At the Altar Rail JAMES the Bridegroom restlessly waits with RECTOR and BEST MAN.
At the ORGAN, MATTHEW strikes up Wagner's Lohengrin Bridal March and the BRIDE on the arm of the father, SIR EDWIN, walks up the aisle where JAMES greets her, relieved after his nervousness at the delay.
At the opening words of the ceremony. . .
‘. . . if any persons can show just cause, why they may not be lawfully joined together, let them now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold their peace . . .’
JAMES relaxes and clasps the hand of his BRIDE whose fingertips reassuringly return the pressure.
During the MARRIAGE CEREMONY the BRIDE’S RESPONSES are barely audible but the CONGREGATION plainly hears her ‘I WILL’. (JAMES looks askance at his Bride with an
expression of increasing puzzlement . . . but a further squeeze from her hand reassures him.)
The ceremony concludes with JAMES placing the RING on his bride’s finger. The RECTOR intones: ‘Send thy blessing on these thy servants, this man and this woman . . .’
. . . at which point there is a GASP from the CONGREGATION when a sharp-eyed house guest (from Mrs Lindley’s Advanced Women’s Circle) nudges her neighbour and points to a figure who has appeared at the aisle to rear of the church . . . a forbidding silhouette, HILDA, striding forward, dressed in black riding habit .
HILDA is biting her lip and trembling, neck and cheeks are scarlet . . . suddenly she angrily
blurts out . . .
HILDA: ‘This charade has gone far enough! James, you’re marrying no one!’
The ‘BRIDE’ throws back her VEIL to reveal the bruised face of MAY who meets the eyes of MATTHEW reflected in the ORGAN MIRROR. (Amazement turns to concern as he returns her gaze.) She turns to face the CONGREGATION who exclaim in astonishment, whilst JAMES , with revulsion, thrusts away her hand from his.
MAY steels herself, takes from between the pages of her white calf-bound ORDER OF
SERVICE, a copy of Lady Cole-Vane’s Speech on ‘A Wife’s Rights upon Marriage’ and singles out MRS LINDLEY, in the CONGREGATION, to whom she directly speaks:
MAY: Mrs Lindley! Five day's ago, in your house, your nephew for reasons of his own prevented me reading out a statement. It was a statement your friends in London particularly wanted you to hear. This occasion is as good a time as any for me to read it. HILDA: Listen to her now, James, as you wouldn’t listen to her last night!
(At these words JAMES clenches his jaw in suppressed rage as he comprehends HILDA has knowledge of his infidelity.) HILDA gives MAY a nod of encouragement. MAY, in a faltering voice which gathers strength, recites the final passage of the speech...
MAY: Until the laws of this country are changed women should regard the institution of marriage as nothing less than legalised slavery. For the law has been understood to deliver the bride to her husband to be used at his pleasure and commits to him the absolute power of a husband over his wife and her property. When a man traps a girl into marrying him for the sole purpose of getting possession of her fortune then no amount of brutal usage (she touches her bruised cheek) will make a wife free from her tormentor. (She looks with contempt at JAMES.) And when such a man openly boasts he is marrying for no other reason than to gain property solely as the marriage bargain then he should not be willingly given the satisfaction of having it.
MAY thrusts the SPEECH into the hands of the dumbfounded JAMES who tears it in two in fury. Dressed in white, she walks down the AISLE to where black garbed HILDA waits.
In the ORGAN GALLERY, MATTHEW views this unscheduled departure from the Order of Service with a grin of mockery.
One bold laugh from the rear pew sparks general mirth.
MAY turns and exchanges one final meaning glance with MATTHEW . . . who comprehends that by some mysterious means MAY has earlier warned HILDA of the perils of her marrying James . . . this SABOTAGED CEREMONY is her doing . . . she is a kindred spirit in rebellion against the conventions of strait-laced high-Victorian society.
The PRINCIPAL GUESTS and CONGREGATION are disintegrating into a babbling crowd like gesticulating theatre-goers at the final curtain of a first night. The RECTOR frantically gestures to the ORGANIST to play a diversion to muffle the commotion.
MATTHEW nods and strikes up his own composition . . . he turns, but MAY has gone.
54 MAY, the ‘UNVEILED BRIDE’, travels from the CHURCH at brisk pace ALONE IN THE OPEN LANDAU. The COACHMAN can barely suppress a grin at the turn of events. MAY’s MOUNTED ESCORT is HILDA in black riding habit who canters alongside on her black thoroughbred ‘Sabre’.
55 This CAVALCADE of BRIDAL CARRIAGE and OUTRIDER is viewed from the CHURCH ORGAN GALLERY by MATTHEW who (as virtual musical accompanist of their departure) defiantly plays his May Sonata . . . his dramatic character sketch of May . . . a triumphant love theme . . . a revelation of May’s own passionate, independent nature and Matthew’s ardent feelings for her . . .
56 At the LODGE GATES. The open carriage appears at a turn in the lane. BETSY runs to open the gate and is unbelieving to see that it is MAY, in Bridal Gown, in the landau.
MAY tosses her sister her bouquet as HILDA dismounts and, with an ironic bow, opens the heavy cast-iron gates to permit the carriage to drive through.
57 OUTSIDE BRENTCOMBE CHURCH a humiliated JAMES has more salt rubbed in his wounds. Watched by contemptuous GUESTS and VILLAGERS, this nobleman is given an IGNOMINIOUS SEND-OFF by the VILLAGE BOYS who, JEERING, pelt him with RICE and GRAVEL as his CARRIAGE departs.
58 INSIDE THE LODGE, HILDA smokes a cigarette while reassuring May's OLD FATHER and BETSY that their future at the Lodge is secure.
(Out of their sight in the KITCHEN, MAY hears the good news and wipes away a tear from her bruised eye.)
59 At LADY COLE-VANE’s SOUTH KENSINGTON MANSION HEADQUARTERS of the ‘Married Women’s Property Rights Committee’. LADY-COLE VANE strides along a CORRIDOR and ascends the GRAND STAIRCASE, stepping beneath the draped SILK BANNER that proclaims:
'True Equality is Perfect Freedom of Action'.
She enters her OFFICE and we see the back of her SECRETARY busily typing. Her SECRETARY turns to reveal her hidden face . . . the smiling face of HILDA.
60 THE ENGLISH CHANNEL OFF THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER. In a scene strongly reminiscent of the High Victorian painting The Last of England, MAY and MATTHEW are seated at the STERN RAIL of a PACKET STEAMER bound for France. They gaze at the coast of England for the last time.
Soon the SEA MISTS envelop them.
THREE YEARS LATER,
THE MARRIED WOMEN’S PROPERTY ACT WAS PASSED IN 1882
paving the way for Votes for Women advanced by the
Representation of the People Act of 1918.
•
This movie treatment was written some two decades ago, and many of its themes were incorporated into A Stranger in Blood as An Exercise in Automatic Writing attempted by the narrator, Elspeth P., a University Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Critical Theory. (See p. 374, Sister Morphine, 2008)
I’ve decided to model my own personal archetypes on those unconventional heroines found in the fictions of George Gissing, an olympian nineteenth-century novelist and feminist whose female protagonists may be seen as precursers holding the banner of post-Wollstonecraftian sexual radicalism in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It’s appropriate that Gissing drew inspiration for his fictional adherents of female emancipation from the celebrated French anarcho-feminist firebrand, Louise Michel, herself illegitimate and the daughter of a serving maid; Gissing even heard her lecture at La Salle de Conférences in Paris . . . So, in my period text that follows, you’ll note the two leading players in my personal myth are intended as two sides of the same coin – a double-headed coin, as it were – an ego and an alter ego, whose contrasting highborn and lowborn social ranks reflect Gissing’s own preoccupations with class differences between feminist militants in their struggle for self-determination.
As you can see from my own sketch for this screenplay, my later original narrative of 2008 does not stray from this literary model of highborn and lowborn social ranks in conflict – in conflict between themselves – even while they fought injustice staunchly, shoulder to shoulder from the barricades.
See Escape Chute: An Unexpected Loophole to Enfranchisement . . ,
http://catherineeisnerfrance.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/escape-chute-unexpected-loophole-to.html
•
Catherine Eisner believes passionately in plot-driven suspense fiction, a devotion to literary craft that draws on studies in psychoanalytical criminology and psychoactive pharmacology to explore the dark side of motivation, and ignite plot twists with unexpected outcomes. Within these disciplines Eisner’s fictions seek to explore variant literary forms derived from psychotherapy and criminology to trace the traumas of characters in extremis. Compulsive recurring sub-themes in her narratives examine sibling rivalry, rivalrous cousinhood, pathological imposture, financial chicanery, and the effects of non-familial male pheromones on pubescence,
see Eisner’s Sister Morphine (2008)
and Listen Close to Me (2011)
and A Bad Case (2015)
