Carrie's War

Nina Bawden, Emma Reeves

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781840027204
• eBook ISBN: 9781849436113
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

When the Second World War air raids threaten their safety in the city, Carrie and her brother Nick are evacuated to a small Welsh village. But the countryside has dangers and adventures of its own - and a group of characters who will change Carrie's life for ever. There's mean Mr Evans, who won't let the children eat meat; but there's also kind Auntie Lou. There's brilliant young Albert Sandwich, another evacuee, and Mr Johnny, who speaks a language all of his own. Then there's Hepzibah Green, the witch at Druid's Grove who makes perfect mince pies, and the ancient skull with its terrifying curse... For adults and young people aged eight and over. Emma Reeves has created a stunning stage adaptation of Nina Bawden's much loved classic account of life as an evacuee in the 1940s, which opened at the Lillian Bayliss Theatre in November 2006. This edition includes teachers' notes and activities for classes based on the play.

ACT ONE

DRUID’S GROVE

Darkness. The wind whistles through the trees in the grove. Train sound effects. Smoke, as if from a train. Loud train whistle – an unearthly shriek, ‘more like a volcano erupting than a steam engine blowing its top’. Mixed in with the whistling sound is a girl’s scream. The sound dies away.

Sounds of a summer’s day. Daytime, in a wooded, shady place where the light has had to make its way through layers of foliage. Near the top of the slope, ADULT CARRIE pushes through the trees, and enters with a suitcase. She is breathless, as if she has just run up a hill. She is wearing a long, flowing coat. She pauses on the brink and gazes downwards.

The unearthly whistle, not as loud as before – as if in CARRIE’s memory. CARRIE shudders, and sways on the brink of the slope. The sound dies away.

CARRIE’S SON enters through the trees, brushing off bits of leaf and twig. He is wearing jeans, etc – 1970s clothes with a strong contemporary feel.

SON: Mum?

CARRIE turns and looks at him blankly.

Mum! How much further?

CARRIE: No further. That’s it.

CARRIE points off into the distance, down the slope. Her son looks.

SON: That old ruin?

CARRIE: I forgot – I’ve been away a long time.

CARRIE wanders down the slope. Her SON sits down on his mum’s suitcase, and munches a chocolate bar.

SON: Looks like no one’s been here for hundreds of years.

CARRIE: No. No – it’s only – (With wonder.) Thirty years…

SON: Exactly.

CARRIE: We used to come here all the time, during the war. Me, and little Nick.

SON: Little Nick? What, fat Uncle Nick?

CARRIE: He wasn’t fat then. Actually, he looked a lot like you.

CARRIE’S SON offers his chocolate bar to his mum.

SON: D’you want the rest of this?

CARRIE shakes her head. She walks along the top of the bank.

CARRIE: Nick and I used to walk here from the town, along the side of the railway.

SON: What railway?

CARRIE: There used to be a railway. This is the exact spot where the train whistled when it came round the bend. Right by the slope down to Druid’s Bottom.

SON: Druid’s Bottom?

CARRIE: (Laughs.) That’s the name of the house. Druid’s Bottom. Because it’s at the bottom of Druid’s Grove.

SON: What’s Druid’s Grove?

CARRIE: This is. Thousands of years ago, this place was sacred to the Druids. The Old Religion. There’s a spring that’s supposed to have healing powers, and a stone circle – the remains of a temple. Well, it might be. Albert thought it went back to the Iron Age.

SON: Who’s Albert?

CARRIE: Albert Sandwich. He thought there might have been an Iron Age settlement here. He was interested in that sort of thing.

SON: Dad would have been.

CARRIE: Yes. Dad would have been interested, too. Albert and your dad were quite alike. In some ways.

Pause. The stage darkens as the sun passes behind a cloud. A faint, rumbling noise of ancient breathing.

Listen.

SON: What for?

CARRIE: Sometimes – I used to think – I could hear it breathing.

SON: What?

CARRIE: Something old, and huge – and nameless.

SON: (Unimpressed.) You mean like a ghost? A monster?

CARRIE: Nothing so simple. Albert said the druids used to make human sacrifices…

SON: You’re being weird, you do know that, don’t you?

CARRIE: I’m sorry. It’s this place…

SON: OK – well, let’s go down to the house –

CARRIE: No!

SON: Mum?

CARRIE: Sorry – sorry! I can’t. I just can’t.

SON: It’s all right.

CARRIE: No, it’s not all right! I dragged you all this way. I wanted to show you – We were so happy here – I thought – I hoped that would be all I’d remember.

The sound of breathing grows louder.

SON: Mum? What is it?

CARRIE: The last time I was here, I did a terrible thing. The worst thing I’ve ever done in my life…

SON: What did you do? (She looks at him, unable to speak.) How bad can it be? It’s not like you killed anyone, is it? (Beat.) Is it? (Beat.) Who did you kill? Mum!?

CARRIE: (Snaps out of it.) Oh, don’t be silly, I didn’t kill anyone! (...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-title Page
• Also by Nina Bawden
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Adatatation
• Characters
• ACT ONE
• ACT TWO
• Translations Of Welsh Dialogue
• BACKGROUND MATERIAL AND ACTIVITIES
• NINA BAWDEN AND
• EVACUATION
• AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN BRITAIN
• BRITAIN AND THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE
• INFORMATION AND ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS
• WEB LINKS
• ADDITIONAL NOTES, 2010
• EVACUATION