The Underground Man

adapted for the stage

Mick Jackson, Nick Wood

• Publisher: Aurora Metro Books
• eBook ISBN: 9781911501114
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Teatro britannico

A life of fascination, obsession and deep scientific curiosity.William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck is an eccentric Nottinghamshire aristocrat whose imagination and curiosity know no bounds. This deceptively simple man struggles to come to terms with a world that is teeming with new knowledge, ill-founded opinion andgossip.Why does he hide himself away? What is his fascination with tunnels? Will he ever unearth the secrets hidden in his memory?In a sequence of events that are often curious and frequently hilarious he reveals moments of surprising perception and wisdom.Nottingham Playhouse and ajtc have combined their talents to co-produce Nick Wood's stage adaptation of Mick Jackson's Booker Prize shortlisted novel. The result is a free-flowing, innovative performance which features live music and a specially commissioned score.The Underground Man is a delectable blend of fact and fiction in which the intriguing details of a complex life are richly explored through the vibrant imagination of a gentle soul.

THE UNDERGROUND MAN

from the novel by Mick Jackson

adapted for the stage by Nick Wood

This text went to press before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

The Underground Man was first performed at The Neville Studio, Nottingham Playhouse on 22 September 2016 prior to a national tour. It is a co-production between ajtc and Nottingham Playhouse.

William	Iain Armstrong
Clement	Mick Jasper

Musician	Nigel Waterhouse
Director	Andrew Breakwell
Musical Director	Nigel Waterhouse
Design	Harriet Clarke
Stage Management	Shellie Barrowcliffe

SCENE ONE

The musician enters. Begins to play. House lights down. William is in bed. Clement enters. William’s clothes are lying where he took them off. William wakes, gets up, starts his exercises. Clement watches him.

CLEMENT

His Grace, the Duke, lives alone except for myself, Mrs Pledger, our cook and housekeeper, and the maids. His bedroom door has two letterboxes. One allows messages to be passed in, and the other allows His Grace to pass messages out. If the bedroom door is closed His Grace does not to wish to be disturbed.

WILLIAM

Come in, Clement.

William finishes his final stretch in time to the words he recites.

WILLIAM

I am William John Cavendish Scott – Bentinck the… the… 5th Duke of Portland. Good. I’m glad we got that clear.

As a young man I imagined growing old would be something like the feeling one has at the close of a long and satisfying day. I know now that old age is nothing but the reduced capacity of a failing machine.

Clement helps him dress. He looks for his shoes and Clement finds them and he puts them on.

WILLIAM

Would you say I was a wiry man, Clement?

CLEMENT

You’re hardly wiry.

WILLIAM

Wiry. Not thin or scrawny. Wiry. Held together by wires. Do you think I have more wires in my body than the next man?

CLEMENT

I have no idea, Your Grace.

William stands up, stretches, bends to touch his toes, listening while he does so.

WILLIAM

I have a tendency to creak. And to get stuck. (He gets stuck; Clement straightens him in passing.) I have a theory that somewhere inside me an essential spring might have snapped to dangle and rattle about for the rest of my days. The wires, Clement, are not as taut as they once were.

CLEMENT

What should we prepare for this morning, Your Grace?

WILLIAM

That’s a very tricky question, Clement. It opens up a labyrinth of confusion. What should we prepare for? Where are we going? Why are we here? Do you expect me to answer a question that has puzzled philosophers for generations?

CLEMENT

No, Your Grace, but I’d like you to tell me what clothes should I put out for this morning.

WILLIAM

I have a question for you. On my estate is one of the largest orchards in the whole of England, my Bramleys and Orange Pippins bring home trophies and silver cups, and yet I have no idea how an apple tree works.

Clement notices his shoes are untied and laces them up for him.

CLEMENT

Well… The gardener plants a seed, the seed sprouts roots…

WILLIAM

I understand the process of germination, Clement, what I want to know is how the richness of the earth, the sun and the rain come together to produce…

CLEMENT

The tree, Your Grace?

WILLIAM

i. A perfect blossom, ii. A small apple bud. iii. The apple itself. And who taught the tree its apple… conjuring? And… where does the fruit’s flavour come from?

Pause.

CLEMENT

Shall we take a walk to Cow Close Wood?

WILLIAM

No, absolutely not. I had an altercation with a crow there yesterday that I don’t wish to run the risk of repeating. Fixed me with its gaze, it did.

Magpies I take in my stride. I spit twice, raise my hat and say ’Good morning, Mr Magpie’ and all is well. But the crow is an awful bird.

CLEMENT

So not Cow Close Wood.

Pause, then William suddenly makes up his mind.

WILLIAM

I’m going to feed the deer. I’ll need a sack of corn at the end of the Sloswick path in twenty minutes.

CLEMENT

The Sloswick path isn’t the quickest way to the deer, the shortest route is down by the…

WILLIAM

Are you suggesting that I go via the Wilderness?

CLEMENT

Of course not, Your Grace.

WILLIAM

Good. Off we go then.

CLEMENT

Your breakfast, Your Grace?

WILLIAM

Mrs Pledger has some smoked bacon waiting for me in the kitchen.

CLEMENT

Smoked bacon? She hates smoked bacon. How on earth did you manage that?

WILLIAM

Promised never ever to go down to the laundry again and offer to help. Great pity. A man can learn a lot watching soap bubbles.

He goes to exit. Pauses.

WILLIAM

Yesterday I wondered if I might have caught a head chill. A sure sign summer is at an end. Sometimes I fear a malevolent hand has cut spring and summer from the calendar and, for a cruel joke, stitched winter straight onto autumn. I shall need a hat.

Clement pr...

Table of contents

• The Underground Man
• Copyright
• Title
• Biographies
• The Underground Man