A verse play written by Boasley Cross, Hatherleigh and Northlew pupils
(based on the Dartmoor myth and created during workshops with MED Theatre, January-February 2011)
Scene 1: on the moor
Enter Narrator
Narrator: It is early spring-time
On the moor,
Where thick clumps
Of luscious green grass
Flood the fields
Like a vast green blanket
Over the hill tops.
Daffodils are blooming
Like a golden valley of corn
And sheep are giving birth
To their precious lambs
That jump for joy
As they celebrate their new-found life.
Enter Garth
Garth the tin miner
Works hard at the local mine
To support his three year old son,
Hael, whom he loves dearly
As his wife had recently
Been lost.
He’s now hunting with his dog
Trying to catch a hare.
Dog catches hare
Garth: Well done boy!
Garth walks back towards his house. Enter witch.
Witch: You have killed me, miner.
I forever put a curse on you
And your child.
Garth: Aren’t we cursed enough witch,
What with Mary dead?
Witch: At least give me the body to bury.
Garth pushes roughly past
Witch: You are cursed miner. CURSED!!
Exit Garth
Exit Witch another way
Scene 2: at the mine
Hooves and screams. Garth enters with Hael. Hael is at the side of the stage.
Garth: (To himself) I work all day long ‘till my hands are raw
Chipping through the rock like a woodpecker’s beak.
Hael: Dad, Dad, come quick look what I’ve found. (beckoning)
Garth: What is it, my young son?
Garth follows Hael to the side of the stage. Enter Melys wrapped in a cloth of Venetian silk
Hael: It’s a little girl, as pretty as a rose bud,
But someone has tried to pick this rose
And put her where she is not meant to be…
Garth: Who are you, stranger?
Melys: Me Melys.
Garth: Where did you come from, stranger?
Melys: Me Melys, me Melys.
Hael: I think we should get Melys inside, Father.
Hael, Garth and Melys leave
Villagers (and Garth) enter holding lanterns and posters
Villagers: We have a little girl as sweet as cherries.
Speak up!
There is no reply. Villagers leave and Garth is alone.
Garth: I’ll have to be her Dad.
Exit
Scene 3: by the Redbrook
Enter River
River: I am the river, I flow and flow day by day,
I am calm but sometimes rough.
Hael and Melys grew up and gradually fell in love…
They were like two strangers at first
But then as they get to know each other
They’re now like two peas in a pod.
They come and sit to watch me flow,
They paddle their feet and eat and sleep.
Enter Melys and Hael
Melys: I remember when we were little
We used to play pooh sticks on the old bridge
Above the fast flowing silver snake:
Its rough tongue licks the side of the bank,
Quickly and quietly it washes the sand and rocks,
The stones and the fish, disturbingly further and further
Down the river right to the end…
Hael: Yes and now we don’t play anything
But we talk about girls so pretty as flowers
And boys as muddy as dogs,
Wildlife, animals, and villages
As beautiful as the world is.
Do you ever miss or even think now about your father?
I know we are very close – but hang on…
Where did you come from, who are you?
Melys: …Well I miss him a little,
But I’d rather be here with you!
I think I lived in the far away valley.
Hael: But who what where why when how?
Melys: I am sorry Hael, I don’t know,
That’s all I know.
Hael: Oh!
But who’s your mother?
Melys: I can’t remember fully
But I have a faint memory.
Hael: What?
Melys: Her sweet sour smile.
I can’t remember much else
But one thing. (Breath)
Oh I am sorry, it makes me feel bad,
I can’t say and I can hardly remember.
Hael: Oh – OK.
Hael and Melys finish talking and walk back home from the river
River: Hael and Melys’s relationship goes on
As I flow and flow day by day.
Scene 4: the same
Enter Hael and Melys
They sit by the river
River: Sat by the stream
Like two entwined rocks
Glistening in the moonlight
Were Melys and Hael.
They held hands
By the water’s flow
To the sound of the waterfall.
Melys: Oh Hael, oh Hael,
I’ve much enjoyed
These years we’ve spent together.
Hael: And Melys
I am sure that
We have far from
Grown apart.
Just think of us
As this river running
Along its banks.
Soon it will meet another
And then grow some more inside
Ever closer to its destiny of the sea.
Melys stands, she knocks a leaf of a willow tree by accident
Melys: (Picks up leaf) This leaf is soon to be free
As the wind will gust it off,
Off to a new era of freedom and life. (She throws leaf to the sky)
Go in safety
As you seek tranquillity.
Hael stands. They stare into each other’s eyes.
Melys: Perhaps we were
Made for each other.
Hael: And fate drew us as one.
Melys: I think…
Hael: I know…
Gradually they walk to each other
Melys: What’s happening, could this be?…
Hael: It is…
Hael & Melys: LOVE!
They fall into each other’s arms and kiss. Trees block scene from view.
Love song
Melys: We’re sat by the river on this gracious night
Hand in hand under the moonlight
The shine in your eyes makes me feel so fine
But I must tell you in good time.
Love will find a way,
Love will find a way I have to say
Love will find a way, some day
Hael: I look to your eyes and I see your gorgeous grin
Shining on your face from your hair to your chin.
The shine in your eyes makes me feel so fine
But I must tell you in good time
Love will find a way,
Love will find a way I have to say
Love will find a way, some day
Hael and Melys go out
Scene 5: outside a tin mine
Enter Garth and Hael
Garth: Hael, go and get me a drink.
Hael: OK.
Exit Hael
Enter Nobleman
Nobleman: Excuse me sir, I was wondering
If you had seen a little girl?
About thirteen years ago
I was travelling to Spain
To give my little daughter
To her grandmother to look after.
I was on my horse with Melys
When it stumbled over a rock.
I hit my head and was unconscious.
Melys must have run away
But when I woke up I was on my boat
With the soldiers and it couldn’t turn back.
She was wrapped in a Venetian silk cloth.
Garth: Yes I think I know where she is. Hael!
Enter Hael
Scene 6: same place
Garth takes Hael to one side
Hael: Who is this stranger, Father?
Garth: This is Melys’ father, a nobleman.
He has been looking for his daughter for many years.
Now he can be reunited with her.
Hael: Father, what have you done?
You know I love Melys.
Now I won’t be able to see her again
Because her father is a nobleman
And he won’t want his daughter
To marry a tinner’s son.
Suddenly Garth realises his mistake
Garth: Oh what have I done?!
Quickly hide Melys
And I will tell the nobleman
That I can’t find her.
Hael: No, we would be telling a lie.
We must give Melys back to her father.
All exit
Scene 7: the tinner’s house
Nobleman enters with Hael
Melys is wearing the cloth of Venetian silk round her shoulders. Hael is sulking
Melys: Garth, what’s going on?
Garth: (Taking his hands away from Melys’ eyes) Tadaa!
Melys: Who is this man?
Garth: Why, Melys this is your father –
Though your mind has been withered with time
And all your memories have gone!
Melys: (Realising) Oh father!
Is it really you?
You are so old and wrinkled
Like an old oak tree.
But I still love you. (Running into his arms)
Nobleman: Now I will take you to my castle.
Melys & Hael: Nooooooooooo!
All exit
Scene 8: split setting – the castle and the tinner’s house
Enter Melys at the castle, and Garth and Hael on the other side of the stage at their house
The castle
Melys: I wish my love
That I could see you once again.
The house
Garth: My son,
So still,
So calm,
So silent.
Hael: (Whispers) My joy,
My delight,
It was all in her.
Song
Hael: Alas my love you do me wrong
To cast me off for your father
For I have loved you so long
Delighting in your company.
Melys: Hael was all my joy
Hael: Melys was my delight
Melys: Hael was my heart of gold
Hael: Who, but my lady Melys?
Melys: I wish my love that I could stay
But my father wants me back home.
I’ll cry all night and I’ll cry all day,
Until I can come back to thee.
Melys: Hael was all my joy
Hael: Melys was my delight
Melys: Hael was my heart of gold
Hael: Who, but my lady Melys?
Outside the castle, enter to centre stage Snow
Snow: I am snow,
A man of ice
And death.
The girl has been
Wailing all night
At the castle.
Enter Nobleman
Melys: My love!
No Father, take me back to them.
House
Hael: I cannot live without her.
Lights down on Garth and Hael
Nobleman: What is the matter?
I have not seen you in thirteen years.
And you do not want me,
For you love Garth and Hael.
Nobleman leads out Melys
Scene 9: split setting – tinner’s hut and the hawthorn path
Garth and Hael are still on stage
Enter River as narrator
River: For hours and hours
They watched the fire
Like a great owl
Watching the endless night
Go by.
Hael: Father,
I’m going for a walk
Through the Hawthorn Path.
Garth: OK my son
But don’t be long.
Hael gets up and walks around stage
Enter River as narrator
River: Hael soon left his
Hillside house
And trod
The Hawthorn Path.
As he came beside
The sixth hawthorn bush
The snow soon heard
His echoing cry
From his broken heart.
Enter Snow
Snow: Hael, we feel your hurting pain
And we know your heart is forever breaking,
For your dear Melys is now gone
From where she will never return.
So come with us
To a world
Where you will feel
No more pain.
Snow swarms around Hael and drags him to the sixth hawthorn bush
Hawthorn: My poor poor Hael,
You have now entered a
World of peace and tranquillity
Where you will be reunited
With your long lost relatives
And meet the majestic lord.
Enter Witch
Witch: Your father has done this
To you, child.
He had killed me,
So it is now his time to pay the price.
Evil laugh. She exits.
Scene 10: the same
Garth in the house alone, is still sat by the fire
Garth: I wonder where Hael has got to.
He’s been gone for ages and…
Snow: Garth goes out to see
Where Hael has got to.
The snow was cold and white,
White as a swan on a clear night.
The snow was also damp,
Too cold to sit in.
He tramples round in circles trying to find Hael.
Garth: Nooo!
Snow: Hael is dead! He is sat next to a hawthorn tree.
Melys appears
Melys: (Thinks to herself) I’m here, I feel great.
I feel burning inside me,
I feel free, I feel wonderful.
(To Garth) Where’s Hael?
Snow: Garth points to Hael
Dead under the hawthorn tree.
Melys starts to cry.
Villagers appear
Snow: The villagers get quite choked up.
End