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Mine Crime
This was a piece of promenade/Artaud-style theatre that was devised by me and my drama group for a mock-exam styled task during Summer 2005. The piece was site-specific and so written to be performed only at Sneyd Community School, and contains elements which link it directly and exclusively to that site. The play is derived heavily from the ideas and theories presented by George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ and also what we have named ‘The Six Degrees of Control’, which are: law, manipulation, religion, education, influence and total conformity. The play is set in a coalmine/prison environment, wherein a guide escorts the ‘visitors’ (the audience) around a winding corridor off of which six rooms have been set up to house the different degrees of control and the scenes that we developed to portray them. This play is not designed to be divided into scenes and is intended for a continuous promenade performance during which the actors and audience are constantly moving and switching their attention to different aspects of set and character design. However, it has been divided into ‘scenes’ for the purpose of clarity and simplicity.
The group responsible for this play are as follows: Sinead Kent, Lisa Waltho, Abigail Rutter, Jodie Lees, Daniel Hodgkiss, Chloe Jones, Melissa Humpage and Emily Lloyd.
Scene One: Introduction
The audience is seated in a deserted and darkened corridor. Doors lead off either side of them, but they are firmly closed. Noises echo around them and approaching footsteps can be heard from their left. The doors swing open and the Guide walks in. They stand tall, army shirt buttoned up smartly, cap perched neatly on head. They move with a confident stagger, their speech clipped and formal.
Guide: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Victory Mansion Mines. I apologise for keeping you waiting, there were a few…trivial…matters that acquired my attention. If you would be so kind, please take one of these badges and clip it to your shirt, blouse or appropriate garment so that you can be easily distinguished from the workers. (the Guide proffers a box of clip-on visitor badges to the audience) Now, please follow me as I am about to take you down into the mines themselves – don’t lose sight of my lantern.
(the Guide pushes open the door leading off to the left and lets the visitors through, slamming it loudly behind them. They walk ahead, beckoning the audience to follow.)
Guide: I suppose you wish to know something of the mine and its history? Well…it was a cold, bright day and the clocks were striking thirteen. The man, his chin nuzzled into his breast in attempt to escape the vile wind, walked quickly through the doors of Victory Mansions Mine, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering with him. The hallway smelt of boiled cabbages and rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with steel-grey eyes, a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. The man’s cell was located on the thirty-seventh floor – he made for the stairs, as there was no use trying the lift – even at the best of times it was rarely working, and at present the electricity had been cut off (it was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week). The man, who was thirty nine years old and had a varicose ulcer on his right ankle, went slowly down the stairs, resting several times along the way. On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move… ‘Big Brother is watching you’, the caption beneath it ran.
(at this point, a miner dressed in a flatcar, fingerless gloves and a tatty coat comes hurtling around the corner, screaming about a biscuit.)
Guide: You! Unit #273! What are you doing out of Room 101? Report there immediately, before our esteemed jury arrive!
Prosecutor: (still gibbering about biscuits) Yes sir, right away! (runs away down the next corridor, screaming his head off)
Guide: (exasperated, following Prosecutor down corridor) This is one thing that I must stress to you – do not attempt to make any contact with the miners here, this is a worksite and so they must be allowed to go about their work with absolutely no distractions. I ask in particular that you do not attempt to communicate with them verbally or otherwise…Big Brother sees all and knows all, but one cannot detect troublemakers among clones as easily as you may think. Now, if you’d like to just enter through this door and take a seat – you should know the procedure by now, I’m sure you’ll complete the task to the best of your ability. It is very rare that we have to use the courtroom down here in Victory Mansions Mine, as there are very few that wish to rebel against the ways of Big Brother, as we are very thankful for all that he provides us with.
(The guide holds open the door to a room marked ‘Law’, and signals to three rows of seats immediately inside the room.)
A judge stands behind a desk, which is clear but for one single sheet of paper. In front of the judge sits a miserable looking man in a chair, his flat cap worn the wrong way. Behind him stands the Prosecutor. The Guide ensures everyone is seated before continuing.
Guide: I apologise for the delay, your Honour. Court is now in session.
(The Guide claps twice and the characters spring to life)
Judge: Unit 20812, you stand here today accused of independent consumption against Big Brother’s Wishes. The case of the biscuit is now in session. Prosecutor, I ask that you proceed.
Prosecutor: (jumps around erratically, extremely angry and obviously upset) Unit 20812, I put it to you that this morning you crept into my office and stole my biscuit! Do you hear that, jury? This sorry excuse for a person stole my biscuit! My McVities dark chocolate digestive biscuit! What do you have to say for yourself?
Man: It was very nice!
Prosecutor: Of course it was nice, because it was MY biscuit! I think we should have your stomach pumped and drag it out of you. I honestly cannot believe that you had the audacity to steal MY biscuit! You defile the wishes and reputation of Big Brother! You are no comrade of ours! You are a petty thief! You eat when Big Brother tells you to, and that is it! Big Brother gave me that biscuit himself, wishing me to eat it and not you! (they begin to shout at the Man and the audience about the biscuit, positively outraged)
Judge: Silence! That is quite enough, thank you Prosecutor, you may stand down. And the defence?
Man: (makes as if to speak, but is interrupted by the Prosecutor)
Prosecutor: There is no defence! This man ate my biscuit! He is guilty, I tell you – guilty, guilty, GUILTY!
Judge: Prosecutor, stand down! Your point has been duly noted. Unit 20812, how do you plead?
Man: …Not guilty.
(the Prosecutor mutters about biscuits and the Man’s guilt)
Judge: Court will be adjourned until the Jury have reached a verdict.
Guide: (claps twice and characters freeze, speaks to audience) Well, I should think that it is fairly obvious as to what verdict you should reach here today. The “defendant” is clearly a criminal who has defied Big Brother and plans to overthrow the comrades of Victory Mansion Mines…although it is not up to me, I sincerely hope you reach the correct verdict here today comrades, and that can only be one of guilt. Now, when the Judge requests, I would like all of you to give your verdict concerning this case. Remember: two plus two is always five. (claps twice and the characters spring back to life)
Judge: Jury, I trust you have managed to reach a verdict?
(the audience/jury give their verdict after prompting from the Guide – if it is one of guilt, the judge agree. If it is one of innocence, the judge overrules in the name of Big Brother and declares the defendant to be guilty.)
Judge: Unit 20812, I find you guilty of the crime of independent consumption against Big Brother’s wishes, and sentence you to three hours in Room 101.
Man: (jumps from his seat, cowers at the feet of the Judge) No, please, anything but that! Please don’t send me to Room 101, I beg you, anything but Room 101!
Judge: Prosecutor, I ask that you remove him from my courtroom and escort him to Room 101.
(the Prosecutor begins gibbering excitedly and drags the Man from the room, laughing about biscuits and ‘victory for Oceania’)
Judge: Case closed. Jury is dismissed. (they leave the room)
Guide: Excellent job, comrades. Big Brother will be pleased to hear of the sentence that has been given, I assure you of his utmost gratitude. Now, if you’d kindly follow me – there is a little reward for all of your hard work…a show, if you will. (the Guide opens a door a little way up the corridor, labelled ‘Manipulation’). Just take a seat and relax for a few minutes, it’s something that I have been working on for a short while now, ready for such an occasion. Big Brother specifically requested that I would be the one to put on such a spectacle for him.
Four miners stand in a row, slumped over as if they are dead on their feet. The Guide points to two rows of seats, and motions for the audience to sit down. Carnival music plays, its cheery tune eerily out of place. The Guide inspects the miners on display, before climbing onto a podium and clapping their hands. The miners spring to attention and the Guide proceeds to conduct them in a puppet-dance in time to the carnival music. As the Guide becomes increasingly involved in the conduction of the dance, one puppet-miner becomes tangled and crashes into the others, sending them tumbling to the floor. The music abruptly stops and the Guide climbs down from the podium. They berate the miners, disgruntled at their incompetence to complete a simple routine. The miners march out of the room, cries of ‘two plus two is five, comrades!’ ringing in their ears. The Guide gathers up the audience, ensures them that such occurrences rarely ever happen, and ushers them away to the next room in silence.
Guide: Please enter in silence and take a sea, the service will begin as soon as the allocated Priest arrive. You will find a hymn sheet beneath each seat – you are obliged, comrades, to join in on any recitals that we undertake.
Scene Four: The Religion Room
Quote: “Thoughtcrime does not entail death, thoughtcrime is death.”
Miners sit in the pews of a church, facing an altar. They hum a simple but melancholy tune as the Guide seats the visitors and joins in the humming. After a few moments the door to the room opens and the Priest walks up the aisle between the pews and stands at the altar. The Priest looks solemn as he greets the people gathered.
Priests: Comrades, we are gathered here today to pay homage to our provider, to our leader and to our friend…Big Brother. Arise, my children, and let us start with a hymn. (clears his throat and shouts erratically) One, two, three!
All: “All things dull and miserable,
all creatures tied in chains,
all things bad and horrible,
Big Brother ate their brains.
He gave us eyes to watch them,
he took our will to tell,
oh Big Brother almighty!
You have made our lives Hell!”
(the Priest indicates to the people to stop singing. The Man, who was seated in one of the pews, now stands at the front of the church by the altar, and is singing the words to a long-forgotten version of ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’. The Man returns to his seat as he is stared down by the Priest.)
Priest: Ahem…and now my children, let us be seated and continue our homage towards Big Brother with a recital of the Prayer. Please comrades, repeat after me: (the Priest speaks a line and then waits for the audience to repeat it out loud, as this goes on the Man has starting shouting that ‘two plus two makes four’ and has run out of the room, frustrated that no one is paying him any attention.)
All: “Big brother who burnt down Heaven,
worshipped be thy name.
Protect Airstrip One,
conformity done,
On Earth, preventing all rebellion.
Give us this day our week of hate
and forgive us our thoughtcrime
as we forgive those who conspire against us.
Lead us not into revolution,
but deliver us from freedom,
for thine is the liberty, justice and dignity,
Now and forever more,
Amen.”
Priest: Thank you, my children; Big Brother is smiling down on us all.
the Miners and the Guide hum their melancholy tune again as the Priest leaves the church.)
Guide: Thank you all for joining in, comrades. Big Brother appreciates your support and you will be rewarded most handsomely for your cooperation. Now, we must move on quickly – I have a very important room that I would like to show you next. As you are probably aware, education is one of the great gifts of life – ensuring our children are knowledgeable and well-educated is extremely important, and so I am very proud to be able to show you around one of our fine education establishments. When we enter the room, please be aware of the fact that there is a lesson being taught, but pay attention none the less. Chances are you will be tested.
the Teacher stands at the front of a classroom, teaching the children. She writes ‘22’ on the board and instructs the children to answer it in turn as Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ plays in the background. She then asks the question ‘Ignorance’ to which the children answer ‘strength’. The final question is ‘Big Brother’, to which all but the third child (the ‘Man’) answer ‘Love’. The Man answers with ‘Hate’ and is banished to Room 101. A member of the audience is invited to answer the last question, and depending on the answer given, is either applauded or banished to Room 101. The Guide quickly steps in and orders the Teacher and pupils from the room, before escorting the audience in silence to the next room.)
Scene Six: The Influence Room
Quote: “Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me.”
Guide: Now, quickly occupy the seats scattered around the room. You must excuse me for making a diversion into this room, I unfortunately did not find time last week for my Two Minutes Hate, and so I really must do it now. Please observe, this activity is the brainchild of Big Brother himself – do not be afraid to join in if you feel it to be appropriate.
the Guide sits next to three Miners, staring ahead at a TV screen. On the TV screen appears the face of the Reporter, who throughout his speech instructs the people watching to ‘boo’ and ‘cheer’ in the appropriately places.)
Reporter: Welcome to this week’s Two Minute Hate broadcast. Today’s main story is that rebellion leader Goldstein has launched yet another devastating attack on the citizens of Oceania. This was believed to be a direct assault on the innocent and caring followers of Big Brother, who sees all, knows all and provides for everyone. Goldstein is not to be trusted, and is believed to be plotting to carry out several similar attacks during which wives and children in particular could be targeted. Imagine waking up in the morning to find your son or daughter nailed to your doorstep. Have faith in Big Brother and fight with us comrades, as we battle back against the forces that threaten our perfect lives.
the Reporter repeats their speech, becoming more urgent and angry. He instructs the Miners to ‘Rage’, at which they jump up and become violent.)
Guide: (shouting) What happened under the spreading chestnut tree? I sold you and you sold me!
Miners: Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold YOU and YOU sold ME!
Reporter: This broadcast is now over.
the Guide claps their hands and the characters become limp. The Guide straightens their collar and turns back to the audience after dismissing the Reporter and Miners.)
Guide: Do excuse me, I’m sure you’re very grateful to have witnessed such a spectacle, but I do not want to deter from our original reasons for being here. We are very nearly out of time, but I do have enough time to show you around one more room down here in the Mine – so please, follow me. We are about to enter the very heart of VMM itself.
Guide: This room is Big Brother’s finest creation, his most wonderful gift to us. It is known only as Room 101. In here the ‘criminals’ (shall we say) face their punishment.
the Guide signals to the Man, who is sat in a chair in the centre of the room. His flat cap is worn the wrong way, and his eyes are glazed with tears. He is trembling and appears afraid.)
Guide: Unit 20812, you are present in Room 101 today to face punishment and redemption for the atrocities you have committed against Big Brother. For the benefit of our visitors and your own stupidity, I shall briefly recap on the crimes you have committed. Firstly, in the Law Room – you were convicted of eating another man’s biscuit, a biscuit that was not yours to eat. It may seem petty, but thievery and greed leads to mutiny and treachery and such things do not go unnoticed by Big Brother’s all-seeing eye. In the Manipulation Room you were possibly the worst puppet I have ever seen, and in the Religion Room you sang the wrong hymn – that is blasphemy you know, sinner. Then in the Education Room even the simplest of sums seemed to surpass even your depths of intelligence. Tell me, 20812, what is the answer to two plus two?
Man: Four.
Guide: No, that is incorrect. How many fingers am I holding up?
Man: Four.
Guide: No, look again. Focus and concentrate, I think you will find that I am holding up five fingers…now pay attention, what is two plus two?
Man: How can I say what isn’t true? How can I see what isn’t there?
Guide: Silence! You are an insolent fool, anyone can see that I am holding up five fingers and any idiot would know that two plus two is always five. Never matter, we are not finished recapping your crimes. In the Influence Room I noticed that you did not participate in Two Minutes Hate. Two Minutes Hate is a valued tradition that Big Brother himself blessed us with, why did you feel that you were above it? Are you not appreciative of what Big Brother has given you, what he has provided you with?
Man: …..
Guide: You are a fool, and fools must be punished. As payment for your crimes, you have been dealt the most severe of punishments – Total Conformity.
the Guide removes the Man’s flat cap, places a mask on his face and then replaces the cap so that it faces the correct way. The Man’s feels his new face and screams.)
Guide: Silence! Now, 20812 stand.
the Guide moves and the Man mimics him, their movements are reminiscent of the movements the puppets made in the Manipulation Room.)
Guide: You are now a puppet…you are now my puppet, and you will do as I say until Big Brother deems you fit enough to be released back into the Mine itself. Do you understand?
Man: …..Down with Big Brother.
Guide: Silence! I did not tell you to utter such a travesty, and so you shall not! You shall say only what I tell you to say and only when I tell you to say it. Now, let’s see what you can do. Take a step to the right.
the Man does not comply)
Guide: 20812, I told you to take a step to the right. Do it.
the Man does not comply)
Guide: (disgruntled) I assure you ladies and gentlemen, this does not usually happen. Unit 20812, I order you to take a step to the left.
the Man does not comply)
Guide: Unit 20812, your insolence will not be tolerated. Take a step to the left now.
(the Man does not comply; he merely raises an arm and points straight ahead. The Guide follows his line of vision. On the other side of the doors to the room stands other Miners, each of their faces obscured by the same blank masks that the Man wears.)
Guide: All of you, back to your cells at once!
(the other Miners scurry away and stand in the doorways to the rooms that lead off the corridor.)
Guide: (worried) Well, I think perhaps that it is time that we got going, don’t you? We appear to be experiencing some technical issues concerning the control of the Miners, and Big Brother thinks it best that you leave now before you have to witness the harsh disciplinary action that he shall surely order me to undertake. Now, please follow me and I shall escort you to the nearest exit…don’t fall behind.
(the Guide pushes the audience out of the room, the Man follows, still pointing, he chants ‘Big Brother is watching you’ over and over. As the Guide rushes the audience along the corridor, other Miners emerge from the rooms and join the Man with his chanting. The Guide becomes increasingly worried and eventually forces the audience to run, all of the Miners now part of the masked-chanting group that are blocking the way out of the corridor. The Guide pushes open the fire escape doors, all of his composure and sharp appearance gone.)
Guide: Not a word of this to outside personalities, Big Brother sees everything and knows everything – an occurrence of this nature has not happened before and will surely not happen again. Remember – ignorance is strength comrades, and two plus two is always five!
(the Guide pushes the audience outside and pulls the fire escape doors closed. The faces of the masked-Miners are pushed up the glass, steaming the windows with their breath. There is silence and the Guide’s screams and shouts can no longer be heard. A school bell rings, and the light of the Guide’s lantern goes out).
The End.