A Marvellous Year for Plums

Hugh Whitemore

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781849434966
• eBook ISBN: 9781849436151
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Britain in 1956: the Suez Crisis. Prime Minister Anthony Eden, described by a colleague as 'half mad baronet and half beautiful woman', is faced with the terrible possibility of leading his country into war. His health is collapsing. His friends, colleagues and opponents, among them Hugh Gaitskell and Ian Fleming and his wife Ann, are facing crises of their own, crises of conscience and crises of the heart. Hugh Whitemore's new play is a true epic: a suspenseful thriller, an achingly romantic love story and a fascinating examination of a flashpoint in our history which still resonates today. What is the cost of an 'illegal' war?

ACT ONE

Lights up on ANTHONY EDEN. He is in his sixties; wearing a silk dressing gown. He speaks lines from ‘The Rubáiyát Of Omar Khayyám’, first in the original Persian and then in the English translation by Edward FitzGerald.

EDEN: The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.

Lights fade on EDEN.

Spotlight on ANN FLEMING and HUGH GAITSKELL dancing a Quick Step to Victor Silvester and his Ballroom Orchestra. ANN is in her forties; dark-haired, slim, attractive. GAITSKELL is 50.

Lights fade on ANN and GAITSKELL.

10 Downing Street. Evening. EDEN is seated at a desk. ANTHONY NUTTING stands facing him. NUTTING is handsome, upper-class, mid-thirties.

EDEN: Sacked…?! What do you mean he’s been sacked?

NUTTING: Well – precisely that. Relieved of his duties.

EDEN: By whom?

NUTTING: The King. I suppose.

EDEN: When did this happen? Who told you? What the hell is going on?

NUTTING: As I understand it King Hussein arrived at the Prime Minister’s office at about noon with an order, written in his own hand, dismissing General Glubb as Commander of the Arab Legion and saying he wanted him out of the country within two hours.

EDEN has risen to his feet. He paces.

EDEN: Hussein’s gone mad. Stark raving mad! Like his father. It’s in the blood. Schizophrenia. Mad as a hatter. Where is General Glubb? Have you spoken to him?

NUTTING: The phone lines to his house have been cut, but I spoke to our Ambassador in Amman. There was some thought of disguising the whole affair by saying that Glubb and his wife had gone on holiday to Cyprus, but Glubb would have none of it.

EDEN: Quite right. God, how awful. His poor wife. What’s her name, Rosalind –

NUTTING: Rosemary.

EDEN: Rosemary. What a ghastly thing to happen. Of course you know who’s behind this, don’t you? Bloody Nasser. This has got his filthy gyppo fingerprints all over it.

NUTTING: Well actually, sir, I don’t think –

EDEN: And don’t start defending him. Can’t do a bloody thing wrong in your eyes. Sometimes I think you’re in love with the man. Oily bastard. Nasser is our enemy and should be treated as such. How long’s Glubb been in Jordan?

NUTTING: Twenty-six years.

EDEN: Twenty-six years! – and he’s chucked out like an old sofa. This must not be tolerated. Apart from anything else it’s a direct insult to Britain and the Empire.

NUTTING: From what I gather, King Hussein wants more personal control over the army. He couldn’t have that with Glubb in charge.

EDEN: Oh rubbish, my dear. Nasser wants to destroy our position in the Middle East, you know that as well as I do. And he’s persuaded Hussein to get rid of Glubb because he doesn’t want to have a British officer commanding an Arab army. Well, two can play at that game. Little squirt. We’ll stop our subsidy to Jordan until Hussein comes to his senses –

NUTTING: That might be counter-productive, sir.

EDEN: – and withdraw all military support. We need to examine our policy throughout the whole of the Eastern Mediterranean. If we don’t take action immediately we’ll find ourselves totally buggered.

NUTTING: I sent you a memorandum on the Middle East yesterday afternoon. It should be on your desk.

EDEN: (Searching through papers on his desk.) A memorandum? – saying what?

NUTTING: Firstly, that the United Nations should take over the responsibility for keeping the peace between Israel and her Arab neighbours, and, secondly, we should step up our aid, both military and economic, to our friends in the Arab world.

EDEN: (Finding the memorandum.) Yes, I have it here. Yes, I read it this morning. Total poppycock.

NUTTING: The point is, sir, we must try to rationalise our position in the Middle East.

EDEN: ‘Rationalise our position’? – what’s that supposed to mean?

NUTTING: I think we have to consider the situation calmly. Before we get rid of Nasser we need to find an alternative. The only result in removing Nasser now would be anarchy in Egypt.

EDEN: I don’t want an alternative to bloody Nasser! And I don’t give a fuck if there’s anarchy and chaos in Egypt! They bloody well deserve it. We must take a leaf out of Winston’s book. When the gyppo mob set fire to Shepheard’s Hotel, Winston’s response was immediate. ‘We’ll set the Jews onto them,’ he said – ‘drive them into the gutter from which they should never have emerged.’

Looking at the memorandum.

And what’s all this nonsense about ‘isolating’ Nasser? Isolate him from what?

NUTTING: Well, the point is –

EDEN: Surely ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Characters
• ACT ONE
• ACT TWO