John Moon on a Rainbow Shawl

Main
ISBN: 978-0-571-29410-7
Verlag: Faber & Faber
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 112 Seiten

Moon on a Rainbow Shawl by Errol John depicts the vibrant, cosmopolitan of Port-of-Spain, Trinidad - a world that is as harsh as it is filled with colour and warmth. Esther - if yer have yer head screw on right - No matter where yer go - One night - some time - Yer reach up - yer touch that moon. For the teeming populace of Old Mack's cacophonous yard in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, it's a cheek by jowl existence lived out on a sweltering public stage. Snatches of calypso compete with hymn tunes, drums and street cries as neighbours drink, brawl, pass judgment, make love, look out for each other and crave a better life. But Ephraim is no dreamer and nothing, not even the seductive Rosa, is going to stop him escaping his dead-end job for a fresh start in England. Set as returning troops from the Second World War fill the town with their raucous celebrations, Erroll John's Moon on a Rainbow Shawl depicts a vibrant, cosmopolitan world that is as harsh as it is filled with colour and warmth. First published by Faber in 1958, Moon on a Rainbow Shawl was revived at the National Theatre, London, in March 2012. 'A brawling, laughing, bitter sense of life courses through Moon on a Rainbow Shawl. Errol John fills the stage with people of flesh and blood; he communicates the harshness and tension in this steaming, crowded corner of Port-of-Spain. He writes with such warmth and understanding that the problems and characters of a mean backyard in Trinidad assume a validity for a multitude of teeming, troubled places on this planet.' New York Times 'Errol John's seminal Caribbean drama deserves to be recognised as a twentieth-century classic.' Independent on Sunday

Errol John (1924-88) came to England from his native Trinidad in 1950. His numerous acting roles in films included The Heart of the Matter (1953) and Simba (1955), and he took the title role in Othello for the Old Vic Company in 1963. On television he played leading roles in A Man from the Sun (BBC, 1956) and No Hiding Place (BBC, 1961), and in a five-part series written for him by John Elliot, Rainbow City (BBC, 1967). In 1969 he wrote The Exiles for the BBC's Wednesday Play slot; but he remains best known for his play Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, which was a winner in the 1957Observer Play Competition. The play was first staged at the Royal Court in 1958. It was revived at Stratford East in 1985, directed by the author; at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 1988, directed by Maya Angelou; and at the National Theatre in 2012.

Autoren/Hrsg.

John, Errol

Leseproben

SCENE ONE

Steel drums, sweet and low, beat out a rhythm. The lights come up on a scene stark and grey under the flooding light of a moon almost full.

A trolley pulls up out on the road outside. And we hear two rings of the trolley bells as it moves off again.

Nearby a guitar strums – and the calypso singer (Ketch) takes over with a rousing, thumping melody. The drums fade, leaving the singer and his guitar to carry on.

Ephraim comes into the yard from the street and begins to unbutton his khaki shirt as he walks down towards the pipe. The shirt is damp with sweat after a hard, hot day. He turns on the tap, swills his mouth out – then drinks thirstily. Removing his cap he allows the cool water to run over his face and neck. He straightens up – stretches – trying to relax his sweat-tight body. He steps up on to the porch and stands for a moment outside Rosa’s door.

The calypso singer’s voice swells to the rhythm of the guitar, and Epf smiles as the words come across the yard to him. He comes back down into the yard, walks towards the gate and calls to Ketch.

Epf Ketch!

Ketch Eh-heh. Yer home, boy? I didn’t know.

Epf I just come in.

Ketch It hot, eh?

Epf Like hell!

Ketch The night like it burnin’ up, boy.

Epf Yer tellin’ me! I like yer song.

Ketch Yer like it?

The Adams’ baby cries out suddenly and Ephraim lowers his voice. Dogs bark in an alley close by.

Epf Fer so!

Ketch Is a new one I jest workin’ on.

Epf Carriso, fer so!

Ketch Thanks, pal.

The guitar strums again and Ketch goes on with his song.

Ephraim recrosses the yard towards his own room. He switches on the light as he enters. The glow from the naked light bulb reveals, among other necessary furniture in the room, a large multi-coloured shawl lying at the foot of the bed.

The baby is crying again. He squeals and screams. Ketch has stopped his singing – only the guitar is heard. It stops altogether some moments later.

Epf (calling) Esther! … (He goes to the door.) Esther!

Esther Yes, Ephraim.

Epf You alone home?

Esther Yes.

Epf Why the baby crying so?

Esther I don’t know. I wish my ma would come.

Esther comes to the door. A pretty, almond-eyed, Creole girl of twelve. Brown in the sun. Two long plaits are held together by a pink ribbon. She wears a cotton-print night-dress. Alert and intelligent, she has a funny way of throwing her head back and smiling, whenever she is happy – or just pleased about something.

Epf Where is she?

Esther She went out.

Epf Then the baby must be hungry then.

Esther I gave him his feed, Epf – He’s just fretful – I wish Ma would come.

Epf Is kind of hot tonight. I suppose is the heat.

Esther Suppose.

Epf Bring him out, let him get some air.

Esther This time of night, Epf?

Epf Go on, bring him. A little fresh air ent go kill him.

Esther Awright.

She goes in.

Ephraim remains at the door.

Mavis and a young American Sailor come into the yard from the street. She is a thin, wiry young woman, dressed in a blue bodice, hand-painted skirt and rope-soled sandals. She looks up to flash a smile at Epf.

Mavis Yer awright?

Epf (playfully) Umm.

Sailor Hi, Bud!

Epf Hi!

Mavis Go inside.

Sailor starts toward Ephraim’s door.

No! Not that one … (Indicating her door.) That one …

As the Sailor goes in, she makes a mocking gesture at Epf before she follows the Sailor inside. The light in her room is turned on.

Esther reappears with the baby bundled in his bedclothes. The baby has stopped crying. She hugs him close – cooing softly.

Esther Sweet, sweet little brother. Who’s my soft sweet little brother? Who’s so sweet, so sweet, so sweet? He’s laughing.

Epf Here. Let me take him … Oh – he’s gettin’ to be a big man. And what’s fer you, big fella? Yer want a slice of that ole orange moon? Look at it! See how bright it is tonight? So bright! Hardly a star you can see!

Esther Full moon tomorrow night, Epf.

Epf It looks so. Tell me, nah – all-yer decide on a name for this little stinker yet?

He sits on the porch.

Esther No. Ma wants to christen him David Hamilton Adams but Daddy wants to call him Churchill Spenser.

Epf Churchill Spenser, eh! Boy! – A little fella like you – with a name like that couldn’t go wrong. What yer say? Man – I could see you awready as a member of the Ledgeco – making big speeches about grapefruit and cocoa-beans and compulsory higher education. What yer say? …

Esther John Byron Adams – I wish they’d call him.

Epf What?

Esther John Byron. And when he grows up – he’ll write poetry.

She comes down the steps into the yard.

You know what Miss said?

Epf Umm?

Esther She said if ever I entered for it I could win the Moreira Trophy for reciting.

Epf Yer could, too.

Esther (looking at the moon) The moon is a stone. Did you know that, Epf? A man with a lantern in the moon! I want to know the truth.

Epf Plenty of time for truth. What yer say, little fella, what yer say?

Esther, on the bench, her arms thrown wide, recites with juvenile abandon.

Esther

‘Now am I a tin whistle,

Through which God blows.

And I wish to God – I were a trumpet –

And why, God only knows.’

There is a pause.

Epf No more?

Esther (coming down to earth) No.

Laughing, she jumps down from the bench and goes over to sit beside Ephraim. She puts her head against his knee. From Mavis’s room comes sound of music played on a victrola.

Sailor’s Voice (off) Come on, baby!

There is a burst of laughter from Mavis’s room. Esther looks up shyly.

Epf Now am I a tin whistle!

Esther It’s a quatrain. Miss wrote it on the blackboard at the end of last term … It’s only three weeks to my first term at High School, Ephraim – and it looks as if I won’t be going.

Epf How yer mean?

Esther So many things we find we have to get.

Epf How yer mean? So many things to get? When yer win a scholarship – I thought the government gave yer most everything.

Esther Books – yes. But uniforms and other things you have to get yerself.

Epf Oh! …

Mavis pushes open her door – comes down the steps and crosses towards the pipe. She is now dressed in an old imitation-silk kimono.

Sailor (from inside) Don’t be too long, baby!

Mavis Cool yerself, Joe! … Oh God – it makin’ hot tonight, eh, Ephraim?

Epf Kind of.

Mavis (as she rinses and fills a large glass tumbler) What happening? – Yer givin’ little Miss Precious Mind private lessons? She is a ‘bright girl’ I hear her mother say – so I expect she’ll learn quick.

Epf Cut that, Mavis.

Mavis Yer want to come over and make it a party?

Epf I said cut that!

Mavis gives a short low laugh as she goes back to her room.

Sailor (from Mavis’s room) Come on, baby! – Come on! I gotta catch a ship yer know.

Mavis says something, and there is more laughter. Music from the victrola floats across the yard. Mavis’s light snaps off, and there is a scratch as the needle is pulled off the record – then suddenly everything is quiet.

Esther I hate this yard, Ephraim … I wish Daddy was working steady – then we could find a decent place to live. Ephraim – You could help it – You don’t have to live here!

Epf I’m a man, Esther. It don’t matter for me.

Pause.

Esther Epf? … Epf – You working night next week?

Epf No. Why?

Esther There’s band concert next Wednesday night – and Ma says she’d let me go if you and Rosa would take me.

She waits for a reply. He says nothing. She tilts her head back to look at him.

Can I go with you and Rosa?

Epf (gruffly) Ask Rosa. Maybe she could take you.

Esther Why not you too, Epf? – If yer only working day. (Coaxing.) Come and take us! (Smiling up at him. Pause.) Ephraim – you and Rosa had a quarrel?

Epf Where you get that?

Esther Well, is that why yer don’t want to go?

Epf (a little sternly) Now who put that in yer...