Clear White Light

Paul Sirett

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781786826633
• eBook ISBN: 9781786826664
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

A contemporary retelling of a classic gothic story, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, set against a background of cuts to our 70 year old NHS. Alison is heading to her first shift at St Nicholas's Hospital in Gosforth. She's nervous. It's a night shift on an all-male psychiatric unit and she hasn't finished her training yet. But Rod, the senior Staff Nurse, seems to know what to do. Take a deep breath... Inspired by Alan Hull's time working at St Nick's the play features many of the hit songs he wrote at that time, including Winter Song, Lady Eleanor and Clear White Light played by a live band.Live Theatre wants to bring this incredible music to a new generation. Clear White Light is based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Fall of the House of Usher and written by Olivier Award nominated writerPaul Sirett.

Act One

SCENE 1

Exterior: St. Nicholas’s Hospital, Gosforth, Newcastle. A weak streetlight. Otherwise, darkness. Shadows on shadows. ALISON enters. She is wearing a long, winter coat. ALISON is in her 20s.

ALISON: This is a story about something that happened just over three years ago. I was in the second year of my Mental Health Nursing degree at the time. I had a placement at St. Nick’s Hospital in Gosforth. It was my first time on an inpatient night shift and I was very nervous. I stood on the ramp up to the main entrance for ages, not quite daring to go inside –

A door suddenly bursts open, ALISON jumps with fright and the stage is momentarily flooded in a bright, white light as a nurse (JO) hurries past ALISON and exits. The light dims again.

A nurse came out. As I watched her walk away I was reminded of a story one of the nurses at Mental Health Concern in Seaton Burn told us when I did my placement there the year before. Apparently, when she’d been a student nurse there’d been a man on the ward where she worked who’d been hoarding jars of Vaseline. He used to go around the wards picking up half-used jars and tubes of Vaseline and hide them under his bed. Nobody thought much of it. What they didn’t know, was that he had an escape plan. One night, he stripped totally bare, covered his whole body in Vaseline head to toe and ran stark bollock naked towards the main entrance hoping he could just slip out. Literally. Unfortunately, they close the automatic doors at night, and he ran straight into them. Slap. The student nurse spent a good ten minutes skidding around trying to catch him, but he was too slippery. As I stood there outside St. Nick’s, I half expected to see a man, smeared in Vaseline come running out with half the staff chasing him…

The hospital doors open. A male doctor steps out. He stands for a moment, looking at his mobile. ALISON turns to him.

Hello…

The doctor blanks ALISON. He exits. She sighs.

(To us.) I took a deep breath and walked up to the main doors. And hesitated. Again. I noticed a crack in the wall running in a zigzag pattern from high above the entrance all the way down to the ground. I stood there staring at it, like it was the most interesting thing I’d ever seen. Anything to delay going inside. Pull yourself together, Ali, I said to myself. I had a twelve-hour shift from 8.30 in the evening to 8.45 in the morning to get through – quite how that adds up to twelve hours is a mystery known only to the NHS. I needed to do some positive thinking. Like they teach you in CBT. Locate your problem and identify solutions. Problem: three nights on duty in an all-male adult low secure ward at St. Nicholas’s Hospital. Solution: a Friday night out with me mates. There you go! There’s something about a Friday night out in Newcastle with your mates. Work hard all week, then, Friday night… Here we come! Right then! Problem solved…

ALISON goes inside the hospital.

SONG 1

Lights up on MADDIE. MADDIE is in her 50s. She is in a different space; a different time. Perhaps she is with a group of friends? Her story is told in song. MADDIE sings:

ALRIGHT ON THE NIGHT

MADDIE:

I CAN TELL WHAT YOU THINK BY THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE

THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE IS SO MEAN

CAN YOU TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT

IT IS ABOUT ME THAT’S SO UNCLEAN?

I ONLY EVER WANTED TO BE YOUR FRIEND

AND I NEVER WANTED TO BE YOUR SLAVE

SO TAKE ME AS I APPEAR BEFORE YOU

COME AND LIVE WITH ME IN A CAVE

AND IT’LL BE ALL RIGHT

WE’LL HAVE A DRINK ON A FRIDAY NIGHT

IT’LL BE OH SO GOOD

WE’LL DO EVERYTHING THAT I KNOW WE SHOUL...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Characters
• Songs
• Act One
• Act Two