The Man from Mukinupin

Dorothy Hewett

• Publisher: Currency Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781921429255
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

This comic musical play celebrates life in a country town at the time of the Great War, conjuring its light and dark sides into an old fertility dance.

ACT ONE

In darkness the weird night music begins on the soundtrack, continuing until the mood of night and eeriness has been well set. The music is interspersed with a line of dialogue, an occasional giggle, scream, shout of laughter or a coo-ee.

ZEEK’S VOICE: [chanting] Water… Water… Water…

WIDOW TUESDAY’S VOICE: [chanting] Moth and rust… Rust and moth…

TOUCH OF THE TAR’S VOICE: [calling] Coo-ee… Coo-ee… [a high giggle].

HARRY TUESDAY’S VOICE: [calling imperiously] Lily! Lily Perkins!

TOUCH OF THE TAR’S VOICE: [mocking, fading out] Harr-ee! Harr-ee! Harr-ee!

EDIE PERKINS’ VOICE: [moaning] Wash your hands… Put on your nightgown… Don’t look so pale.

The background music rises to crescendo as, against the back scrim palely lit, and back to audience, is spread-eagled the shadow of THE FLASHER in raincoat and felt hat, flashing.

FLASHER: Look Polly! Look Polly! Look Polly!

Wild laughter, a scream, blackout.

ZEEK’S VOICE: [continuing and growing in volume] Water… Water… Water…

ZEEK’S VOICE is broken by the sound of CLEMMY HUMMER knocking onstage with her crutch. Pause, silence. The church bells begin ringing and in dim blue light we see CLEMMY standing, back to audience, leaning on her crutch, downstage right, like a mistress of ceremonies. Enter the dancers, ZEEK, HARRY, TOUCH OF THE TAR, and WIDOW TUESDAY, all absolutely unrecognisable in their roles as rustic clog dancers. They are each carrying pitchforks and are dressed in gumboots, and wheat sheaves, so that they look like moving haystacks. They dance and sing the ‘The Five Man’s Morris’ in a circle, with CLEMMY joining in as a kind of hobbling doppelganger.

‘THE FIVE MAN’S MORRIS’

ALL: We’ll dance the five man’s morri

We’ll cart the sheaves away
We’ll dance the Five Man’s Morris
On Polly’s wedding day.

We’ll stook it and we’ll fork it
We’ll cease our labours soon
When the haystacks rise like magic
And we’ve stacked them to the moon.

Chorus:

Bringin’ in the sheaves, bringin’ in the sheaves
We’ll bless all Mukinupin, bringin’ in the sheaves.
The bells will toll and gold will roll
Around us in a ring
We’ll bless all Mukinupin
When we bring the harvest in.
We’ll dance the Five Man’s Morris
We’ll hear the teams roll by
When the evening star has vanished
And the Cross hangs in the sky.

Chorus:

Bringin’ in the sheaves, bringin’ in the sheaves
We’ll bless all Mukinupin, bringin’ in the sheaves.

Exit the dancers as CLEMMY HUMMER turns downstage.

CLEMMY: Goodnight Zeek, goodnight Flasher, goodnight Harry Tuesday, goodnight Lily Perkins, goodnight Widow Tuesday…

Her voice dies away with weariness, she yawns, the faint light of morning steals over the stage, a rooster crows, a magpie carols, as she hobbles to one of the two unravelling wicker chairs set beside a small table downstage right. She seats herself painfully, with the aid of her crutch, and relaxes, closing her eyes. As the stage lightens we can see backstage, up right, a cardboard pillared portico with ‘MUKINUPIN TOWN HALL, 1912’ in gold lettering. Downstage left is the Perkins’ General Store with clothesline far left. Enter CLARRY HUMMER carrying a silver tea tray set with coffeepot, sugar bowl, two coffee cups, a jug of cream on a doily. Both the MISSES HUMMER are smartly, brightly, and theatrically dressed from a bygone age: MISS CLEMMY a trifle askew, and on the edge of eccentricity.

CLARRY: [brightly] Six a.m., Clem.

CLEMMY wakes with a start, yawns, goes into their routine.

CLEMMY: First light.

CLARRY has set down the tray and herself, and is beginning to pour the coffee.

CLARRY: The alarum clocks are ringing.

CLEMMY: Across the salt lakes.

CLARRY: East of the rabbit-proof fence.

They giggle. CLARRY hands CLEMMY her coffee. They sit sipping.

CLEMMY: Feels like another scorcher.

CLARRY: Dust in summer.

CLEMMY: Mud in winter.

CLARRY & CLEMMY: That’s Mucka.

They laugh delightedly at their little routine. The town hall clock strikes six. CLARRY checks it against her pocket watch fastened to her waist.

CLARRY: Town Hall clock’s on time.

Enter EEK PERKINS, dressed in a conservative business suit and hat, checking his pocket watch. He takes up position in front of the scrim, shakes his watch and holds it to his ear.

Eek Perkins is checking his watch.

CLEMMY: [giggling] Like the white rabbit.

CLARRY: Time’s stopped.

CLEMMY: But he doesn’t ...