Arden Plays: 2

The Workhouse Donkey, Armstrong's Last Goodnight, Left-Handed Liberty, The True History of Squire Jonathan and his Unfortunate Treasure, The Bagman

John Arden

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780413688101
• eBook ISBN: 9781408115404
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

"Arden is to me a writer a bit like Shakespeare in approach, in that the writing not only has to convey...the dialogue of characters speaking together, but also has to carry the sense of the social environment and the texture of people's lives."
This second volume of John Arden's plays includes works from the 1960s. Armstrong's Last Goodnight, although set in 16th century Scotland, sheds new light on the experience of conscript soldiers at the tail end of colonialism in the 1960s; The Workhouse Donkey presents "not just a kaleidoscopic portrait of a living community; it also has the moral uncertainty of life itself" (Michael Billington The Guardian). Left-handed Liberty anatomises the disintegration of the feudal system under King John; while The True History of Squire Jonathan and his Unfortunate Treasure and the radio play The Bagman are based on real incidents, personal and political in Arden's own life. "Arden is a giant of modern playwriting. He writes on an epic scale that few have attained since, the plays tumble into action, and with vivid human response." (Dominic Dromgoole)

The Workhouse Donkey

A Vulgar Melo-Drama

FOR TAMARA

This cool sweet moon (now defeated by night

Which crossed her with raincloud and mirk)

Had, under her first rising, sent momentary light

Through every tree in the park.

Every bush, every pool, every thicket abhorrent

Remain to my blind sight apparent:

And I can walk yet without danger or fright.

Introductory Note

I have called this play a melo-drama: a term I intend to be understood in its original sense of a play with a musical accompaniment. In the Chichester production, Mr Addison’s score provided not only settings for the several songs but also a background for much of the dialogue, and linking passages between the scenes. The band was seated on an upper balcony of the stage and remained in view of the audience throughout the action. As the play is strictly a play and not a musical or a light opera, I dare say it would be possible to present it without instrumental accompaniment, but unless economy imperatively demands it, I do not recommend that this should be done.

The Workhouse Donkey was originally commissioned for the Royal Court Theatre, and it was necessary to adapt it somewhat for the open stage at Chichester. The directions in this printed text will, it is hoped, prove applicable to any of the more usual types of auditorium. For productions within a proscenium-arch it is essential that decor be kept to a minimum and that the action be allowed to flow from one scene into the next with the least possible delay. Both costumes and settings may have a certain air of caricature: but as the play is basically accurate and realistic (indeed, a great deal of it is conscientiously historical), the limits of visual extravagance normally adhered to by the artists of seaside picture-postcards should not be exceeded.

I had considerable difficulty in preparing The Workhouse Donkey for the stage. My chosen subject-matter proved both labyrinthine and intractable, and I do not think I could ever have condensed it into the bounds of conventional acting time without the assistance, advice, collaboration, criticism, and frequently expressed bewilderment of:

Mr Lindsay Anderson
Mr Stuart Burge
Miss Margaretta D’Arcy
Mr George Devine
Sir Laurence Olivier
and nearly everyone employed upon or connected with the
production at Chichester.

I am, however, still uncertain how valuable our combined efforts have been. Two-and-a-half or three hours is normally regarded as the maximum permissible length for a new play, and under the conditions at present prevalent in our theatres it is not easy to dispute this. But I would have been happy had it been possible for The Workhouse Donkey to have lasted, say, six or seven or thirteen hours (excluding intervals), and for the audience to come and go throughout the performance, assisted perhaps by a printed synopsis of the play from which they could deduce those scenes or episodes which would interest them particularly, and those which they could afford to miss. A theatre presenting such an entertainment would, of course, need to offer rival attractions as well, and would in fact take on some of the characteristics of a fairground or amusement park; with restaurants, bars, sideshows, bandstands and so forth, all grouped round a central playhouse. The design of the playhouse itself would need careful consideration, as clearly members of an audience continually moving to and from their seats in a conventional building will cause intolerable distraction. But I am convinced that if what we laughably call ‘Vital theatre’ is ever to live up to its name, some such casual or ‘prom-concert’ conception must eventually be arrived at.* It will not suit every play, and every play should not be compelled to suit itself to it: the theatre must be catholic. But it never will be catholic if we do not grant pride of place to the old essential attributes of Dionysus:

noise
disorder
drunkenness
lasciviousness
nudity
generosity
corruption
fertility
and
ease.

The Comic Theatre was formed expressly to celebrate them: and whenever they have been forgotten our art has betrayed itself and our generally accessible and agreeable god has hidden his face.

The personality of the late Mr Joseph D’Arcy of Dublin inspired much of the play.

The personality of my native town of Barnsley also inspired a great deal of it: but I have carefully avoided the imitation of the personalities of individual inhabitants. Thus the curiosity of the malicious will go ungratified.

In view of the fact that this play was first performed in a southern county, the speeches used as prologue and epilogue were directed towards the probable audience in such a place. In productions north of the Trent these speeches should be replaced by those given on pages 130 and 131.

Some Critics said:
This Arden baffles us and makes us mad:
His play’s uncouth, confused, lax, muddled, bad.

Said Arden:
Why do you accuse me and abuse me
And your polite society refuse me,
Merely because I wear no belt nor braces?
There would be reason for the wry mouths in your faces
And reason for your uncommitted halting speeches
If you would but admit I wore no bloody breeches.

JOHN ARDEN

The Workhouse Donkey

The Workhouse Donkey was first performed at the Chichester Festival Theatre on 8 July 1963, with the following cast:

Produced by Stuart Burge
Music by John Addison
Décor by Roger Furse
Lighting by Richard Pilbrow
Dances arranged by Eleanor Fazan

The action of the play takes place in a Yorkshire industrial town: somewhere between Sheffield and Leeds. The time is the present.

Act One

SCENE ONE

A building site.

Foundation stone ready in position for lowering.

Enter BLOMAX.

BLOMAX.

Ladies and gentlemen: let us suppose we go

From St Pancras to Sheffield,

To Doncaster from King’s Cross:

By either route to Leeds.

Enter MASONS

Not very far to go, for us or the flight of a crow

But involving geographically an appreciable mutation,

(I mean, in landscape, climate, odours, voices, food.)

I put it to you that such a journey needs

In the realm of morality an equal alteration.

Enter WIPER, LUMBER and PCS as Guard of Honour.

I mean, is there anything you really believe to be bad?

If you come to the North you might well think it good.

You might well think, as I do,

That you should change the shape of your faces

Or even double their number

When you travel between two places.

Enter civic procession. It includes BOOCOCK, MRS BOO-COCK (LEFTWICH with mace preceding them), SWEET-MAN, F. J., Labour Councillors, and BUTTERTHWAITE. Aldermen and Mayor in robes of office, etc. Also Conservative Ladies and YOUNG SWEETMAN, and several Citizens.

The values of other people
Are not quite as you understand them.
I would not overpraise them,
I would not recommend them,
I am certainly not here to offer to condemn them.
From the beginning to the end
Each man is bound to act
According to his nature
And the nature of his land.
Their land is different from yours.
Why, it has its own music.

Band plays ‘Ilkley Moor’ BLOMAX greets WIPER, receives a curt nod in reply, and withdraws; enter WELLESLEY, meets BLOMAX and stands with him. WIPER salutes the MAYOR.

WIPER. Guard of honour present and ready for your inspection, Mr Mayor.

BOOCOCK. Good afternoon. Superintendent, it is my privilege to present to you your new chief constable, Colonel Feng. Colonel Feng, Superintendent Wiper, who has during the interregnum been very ably conducting…

FENG. Good afternoon, Superintendent.

WIPER. Good afternoon, sir.

FENG. Shall we have a look at the Guard of Honour, Mr ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Chronology
• Preface
• The Workhouse Donkey
• Armstrong’s Last Goodnight
• Left-Handed Liberty
• The True History of Squire Jonathan and his Unfortunate Treasure
• The Bagman
• Imprint