Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

James K. Baxter Complete Prose Volume 2

Introduction to Mr Brandywine Chooses a Gravestone

page 112

Introduction to Mr Brandywine Chooses a Gravestone

The intention of this play is to present the situation of a quite ordinary man who finds that he must soon die. Like the original Everyman, who was – naturally enough – in my mind all the time I was making the play, Mr Brandywine is something of a type figure, as are all the other characters; again, like the original, he is a believing Catholic.

He is not an anti-hero. He has his own minimal dignity. His dilemma is real – to believe in God, yet lack the power to accept death. In a sense, his root problem is spiritual conventionality. Like most of us, he has lived his life among Safety First signs, and when they fail him he is at a loss. He has abandoned contact with his own inner self, since he has probably come to feel that he has nothing worthwhile to give anybody – the meaning of the boat-house sequence is partly that he learns that to somebody his presence was once all-important. The vein of black humour in the play comes chiefly from the disparity between the quiet, rational or domestic tone of much of it, and the lions’-den situation of the main character; it should not be neglected.

In presentation the atmosphere of the play should be above all natural, ordinary, matter-of-fact, the reverse of melodramatic, though there are passages where the expression of emotion is appropriate. The use of sound effects and music should be limited and moderate, never blurring or drowning the spoken word. In general, music is only indicated as a bridge and introduction between sequences.

Though the play is not in verse, there are various minor rhythms of speech, repetitions and recurring images – thus the play is built up organically, and every word is intended to have its place in the total effect. My intention is that the actors should use all the words, as one fits one’s hand into a glove to fit the hand. There are some surrealist elements in the play: these too should be treated as part of a wholly natural pattern. Thus the entire emphasis should be matter-of-fact and conversational.

The scene in the confession box, though it may be strange to some listeners, is ordinary to Mr Brandywine and the officiating priest – it should not be turned into too special a thing – and again, the scene in the stone-mason’s cave should be made as ordinary as possible, since the religious references are ordinary to the protagonists – the scene in the boat-house since it is the most emotional, will need a tight, careful handling, a touch of reticence.

It is on the whole a dry, controlled play; not an occasion for pulling out all the stops. If these suggested methods are used, within the discretion of the producer and actors, my own intention will be best fulfilled.

1966 (403)