Read Online Remembrance and Pantomime by Derek Walcott - Free Book Online

parting day,
                The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea
           The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
                And leaves the world to darkness and to me.”
    ( Fadeout )

Pantomime
    For Wilbert Holder

Characters
    HARRY TREWE , English, mid-forties, owner of the Castaways Guest House, retired actor
    JACKSON PHILLIP , Trinidadian, forty, his factotum, retired calypsonian
    The action takes place in a gazebo on the edge of a cliff, part of a guest house on the island of Tobago, West Indies.

 
    Pantomime was first produced by All Theatre Productions at the Little Carib Theatre, Port of Spain, Trinidad, on April 12, 1978, directed by Albert LaVeau, with the following cast:
HARRY TREWE
 
Maurice Brash
JACKSON PHILLIP
 
Wilbert Holder
    The play was produced by Liane Aukin for the British Broadcasting Corporation on January 25, 1979, with the following cast:
HARRY TREWE
 
Robert Lang
JACKSON PHILLIP
 
Norman Beaton

Act One
    A small summerhouse or gazebo, painted white, with a few plants and a table set for breakfast. HARRY TREWE enters—in white, carrying a tape recorder, which he rests on the table. He starts the machine.
    HARRY
    ( Sings and dances )
          It’s our Christmas panto,
          it’s called: Robinson Crusoe.
          We’re awfully glad that you’ve shown up,
          it’s for kiddies as well as for grown-ups.
          Our purpose is to please:
          so now with our magic wand …
    ( Dissatisfied with the routine, he switches off the machine. Rehearses his dance. Then presses the machine again )
          Just picture a lonely island
          and a beach with its golden sand.
          There walks a single man
          in the beautiful West Indies!
    ( He turns off the machine. Stands, staring out to sea. Then exits with the tape recorder. Stage empty for a few beats, then JACKSON , in an open, white waiter’s jacket and black trousers, but barefoot, enters with a breakfast tray. He puts the tray down, looks around )
    JACKSON
         Mr. Trewe?
    ( English accent )
         Mr. Trewe, your scramble eggs is here! are here!
    ( Creole accent )
         You hear, Mr. Trewe? I here wid your eggs!
    ( English accent )
         Are you in there?
    ( To himself )
         And when his eggs get cold, is I to catch.
    ( He fans the eggs with one hand )
         What the hell I doing? That ain’t go heat them. It go make them more cold. Well, he must be leap off the ledge. At long last. Well, if he ain’t dead, he could call.
    ( He exits with tray. Stage bare. HARRY returns, carrying a hat made of goatskin and a goatskin parasol. He puts on the hat, shoulders the parasol, and circles the table. Then he recoils, looking down at the floor )
    HARRY
    ( Sings and dances )
          Is this the footprint of a naked man,
          or is it the naked footprint of a man,
          that startles me this morning on this bright and golden sand.
    ( To audience )
          There’s no one here but I,
          just the sea and lonely sky …
    ( Pauses )
         Yes … and how the hell did it go on?
    ( JACKSON enters, without the tray. Studies HARRY )
    JACKSON
         Morning, Mr. Trewe. Your breakfast ready.
    HARRY
         So how’re you this morning, Jackson?
    JACKSON
         Oh, fair to fine, with seas moderate, with waves three to four feet in open water, and you, sir?
    HARRY
         Overcast with sunny periods, with the possibility of heavy showers by mid-afternoon, I’d say, Jackson.
    JACKSON
         Heavy showers, Mr. Trewe?
    HARRY
         Heavy showers. I’m so bloody bored I could burst into tears.
    JACKSON
         I bringing in breakfast.
    HARRY
         You do that, Friday.
    JACKSON
         Friday? It ain’t go keep.
    HARRY
    ( Gesturing )
         Friday, you, bring Crusoe, me, breakfast now. Crusoe hungry.
    JACKSON
         Mr. Trewe, you come back with that same rake