Ladies in Lavender

Charles Dance, Shaun McKenna

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781350371941
• eBook ISBN: 9781849432870
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

An evocative, heart-warming story of unfulfi lled dreams and unrequited love. Based on the hit film screenplay by Charles Dance starring Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, and on the original short story by William J. Locke, Ladies In Lavender tells the tale of two sisters Ursula and Janet who live in a close-knit fishing village in picturesque Cornwall, in 1936. When a handsome and talented young Polish violinist bound for America is washed ashore, the Widdington sisters take him under their wing and nurse him back to health. However, the presence of the mysterious young man disrupts their peaceful lives and the community in which they live.

Act One

SCENE 1

Cottage. Night.

URSULA is kneeling in front of JANET who sits in her chair. They are in nightdresses and dressing gowns. They are balling wool and listening to the end of a concert of Scheherazade on the radio. The music comes to a climax and there is applause. JANET turns down the volume.

JANET: Marvellous.

URSULA is staring into the middle distance.

Didn’t you think so?

URSULA: (Coming to.) I’m sorry?

JANET: Ursula! You were miles away.

URSULA: Yes. Yes, I suppose I was. What was it you said?

JANET: Just that the concert was marvellous.

URSULA: Oh yes.

JANET: One can always rely on Sir Thomas Beecham.

URSULA: And Rimsky Korsakov. All that colour and movement. So Russian. It always makes me think of hussars in uniform.

JANET: Do you mean Cossacks, dear?

URSULA: Do I? I think you’re right, I do. Cossacks on horseback. With flowing cloaks and big moustaches and great flashing scimitars.

JANET: That sounds rather alarming.

URSULA passes her the ball of wool.

Shall I make the cocoa?

URSULA: It’s my turn.

She goes to turn off the radio.

JANET: Leave it for a moment, would you?

URSULA: Of course.

She leaves it on, and goes into the kitchen. We see her preparing to boil milk. JANET puts the things away as she listens.

ANNOUNCER: Here is the shipping forecast issued at twenty-one hundred hours on May 16^th. Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, westerly gale eight occasionally severe gale nine at first in Viking, decreasing five or six becoming cyclonic later. Viking and North Utsire. Squally showers. Good. Plymouth, Lundy, Sole. North East seven to gale eight, increasing severe gale nine later. Thundery storms imminent. High seas. Rough or very rough.

JANET: I knew it.

She turns the radio off and bends over to unplug it at the wall.

(Calling.) There’s going to be a storm. Severe gale nine.

URSULA: (Calling back.) Have you unplugged the wireless?

JANET: I’m doing it now.

URSULA: (Calling.) We don’t want to be struck by lightning.

JANET: I’ve felt it coming all day.

URSULA: (Coming back in.) You never said. It’s terribly clever how you do that.

JANET: I don’t think it’s clever, exactly. I’m like Father and his leg.

URSULA giggles, remembering.

URSULA: ‘Left leg for rain, right leg for wind. And…’

BOTH ‘…big toe for snow.’

They laugh. URSULA goes to the window, to close it.

URSULA: The wind’s getting up. It’s pitch black.

JANET: Don’t let the milk boil over.

URSULA: I hope the garden will be alright.

She closes the windows and pulls the curtains tight shut. She seems unsettled.

Shall we have a biscuit with our cocoa?

JANET: On a weekday?

URSULA: No. You’re right. It’s just that I…

JANET: What’s the matter?

URSULA: I’m being silly.

JANET: It’s only a storm.

URSULA: Yes. Only a storm.

A distant peal of thunder.

(Faintly.) Oh dear.

JANET: The cocoa.

URSULA: The cocoa.

She hurries back into the kitchen.

JANET: I’ll light a candle. It’s probably best if we don’t use the electric at all.

JANET goes to the table. During the following she lights a candle.

We might take the cocoa to bed. As a treat. How would that be?

URSULA: (Calling.) Play something.

JANET: Play? At this time of night? How could I? And I play so badly now. After Sir Thomas Beecham, it would be a great disappointment. I don’t think I’ll ever play well again. Do you think we should do something useful with the piano? Donate it to the school, perhaps, or the village hall? It’s rather a good one, Father always said so.

The kitchen light is turned off. URSULA comes through with the cocoa as JANET turns out the lamp. JANET is holding the candlestick.

URSULA: We can’t give it away. What would go in its place?

She hands JANET her cocoa. Thunder, closer. URSULA shivers.

JANET: It’s only a storm, Ursula. Nothi...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• LADIES IN LAVENDER
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Toc
• Characters
• Act One
• Act Two