Tears of Glass a Fin De Siecle Soap Opera in Three Acts Or a Musical Idea in Process
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Tears of Glass A fin de siecle soap opera in three acts or a musical idea in process. Mark Svendsen BA (UQ), Graduate Diploma Business Administration (Arts) (QUT). Faculty of Creative Industries School of Creative Writing & Cultural Studies Master of Arts (Research) 2003 1 Keywords Fiction; Regional Queensland fiction; Emu Park, Central Queensland; Choral societies; Singers and singing; Leprosy; Racial and religious harmony; Queensland sheep and cattle properties. Abstract This work takes as its central “conceit” a specific cultural site, namely a small town choir— The Emu Park and District Amateur Choral Society Inc., which operates in Central Queensland, circa 1965. A discontinuous narrative of interconnected short stories of one chapter each, highlight significant and often highly traumatic aspects of the interconnected lives of selected choir members. The narrative lampoons the English choral tradition against the setting of a society which does not deal with the political and social negativities of Queensland in the sixties. It is a culture in denial. The comedy deals with the often banal, though always good natured, behaviours of the choir members in dealing with often black-edged lives. An Overture introduces all characters, while Acts I, II & III deal with individual’s stories. The Finale deals with the outcome of rehearsals in a culminating performance of the Emu Park and District Amateur Choral Society Incorporated. The short stories, one to a chapter, concern individual choir member’s life stories and form discreet, fully finished pieces of work in their own right. Background action throughout the stories involves a series of rehearsals which structurally tie all the narratives to the final chapter. Lyrics of popular songs of the 1900’s through to early 1960’s are mentioned within the text. For copyright reasons the texts are not reproduced in full. However, these lyrics do comment tangentially on some aspect of the character’s story. Table of Contents 2 Keywords Abstract Table of Contents Statement of original authorship Chapter 1 Overture Chapter 2 Act 1: Aunt Martha’s Knickers Chapter 3 Act 2: Salon des Refuses Chapter 4 Act 3: In the sameness of their days Chapter 5 Finale Statement of original authorship The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. Signed: Mark Svendsen Date: 3 Gently they sigh into my mind Wild words half uttered, half unsaid, And when I dream of death I find Small tears of glass upon my bed. from The Dolls by Frederic Prokosch. Chatto & Windus, London. 1944. ‘What is dying?’ asked the boy. ‘But living without love.’ ‘What is loving?’ asked the girl. ‘But giving unasked of.’ ‘And what is yearning?’ ask the old. ‘But remembering youth’s coveted years.’ ‘And remembrance,’ the choir sings, ‘songs of old merriment and tears.’ from Tears of Glass by Mark Svendsen. Unpublished ms., Brisbane. 2003. Cast 4 Chookie Fowler: Late sixties. Owner of local store. President of Emu Park and District Amateur Choral Society. Master of Ceremonies for all Annual Concerts. Leading mate in the group which includes Tubby Albertsen, Slim O’Dowd and Shorty Lear. Eileen Fowler: Chookie’s missus. Of same age. A childless woman who loves her dog, Skippy and gossips too much with her sister Flo. They lost their younger brother in the Second War which adds bitterness to Eileen’s childlessness. Florence (Flo) Mills: Ex-barmaid in pubs throughout the entire State of Queensland. Sister to Eileen. Both, to their grief, lost a brother in the war. Skippy: Eileen and Chookie’s symbolic three-legged dog. Josie Yow Yeh: Albino South Sea Islander. Singer and guitarist. Tubby Albertsen: Retired stock and station agent from out West. Son of Tommy Albertsen, legendary stock and station agent. Mate of Slim O’Dowd, Chookie Fowler & Shorty Lear. Slim O’Dowd: Estranged husband of Mrs Mercy O’Dowd. Father of Gladys (dec’d), Mick (dec’d) and Edna. Mate of Shorty Lear, Tubby Albertsen and Chookie Fowler. Mercy O’Dowd: Misdiagnosed leper. Estranged wife of Slim. Mother of Gladys (dec’d), Mick (dec’d) and Edna. Martha Fraser & Agatha Clay: Sisters. Agatha (now early 60’s) married Duncan Clay and with him they adopted Charles, her sister Martha’s child, born out of wedlock. 5 Charlie Stone: Late 40ish. Looks much older. One-eyed, homosexual ex-shearer. Son to Martha Fraser and Agatha and Duncan Clay. Serious long term alcoholic. Shorty Lear: Married Slim O’Dowd’s daughter Gladys. Mate of Slim O’Dowd, Chookie Fowler & Tubby Albertsen. Jimmy Bostock: Troublemaker. Same age as Slim, Shorty, Tubby and Chookie. Beverley Flat: Miss B Flat. Diminutive but musically commanding conductor of the Emu Park and District Amateur Choral Society. Her word is musical law. Also: Lillian and Flo, barmaids; Dr Wainwright, general practitioner; Shalom (Jesus), garage owner; Ahmed Marek, Afghan cameleer; Cranky Mulligan, property overseer; Abraham & Rebekah, tinkers and Shalom’s parents; O’Neil, overseer on Inamorato station and Dulcie his wife. 6 Overture A black three-legged dog stands and, stretching out his front legs, whines a weary, unsteady note. An exhalation on the breath of dog. In Emu Park even the dogs sing. Having stretched, he saunters unevenly across the dusty, early summer street. He— he is definitely a he, a fact rendered all the more obvious to the observer by the lack of one back leg— is teetering from one puddle of shade, the morning puddle, to the afternoon puddle, which he’s dug out from under the front stairs of Chookie and Eileen Fowler’s Emu Park Grocery Emporium and Fishing Tackle Store. The finest shop on the whole length of the main street. The other shop is a General Store and Ladies Haberdashery. Chookie says it’s not ladylike to ‘havtadash’ but everyone reckons he’s just jealous that he didn’t think of it first, women being the main provenders to households in the hereabouts. Chookie Fowler himself, attracted by all the action on the street, wanders to the front door of his empire. Stops at the top of the three stairs and gazes, wall-eyed, up and down the road. Pushing a hand secretively into the pocket of his trousers he carefully scratches his goolies from inside, as though nobody can see what is happening. Of course anybody, whether interested or not, can see though trying desperately to avoid seeing especially if they are in company or, even more especially, if they happen to be ladies. Small boys simply laugh and point. But there is no-one on the street at all at this time of the afternoon. Satisfied, Chookie withdraws his hand and wipes the sweat from a dripping brow before picking up a half-eaten corned beef sandwich to finish. Then he nods to the dog so’s not to appear bored enough to be talking to himself. 7 ‘Well, young Skippy,’ he begins, ‘you ready for a bit of a flutter on the gee-gees?’ His dog does not move but, as a mark of respect, opens one eye, gazes ruefully for a moment at his overactive master, then closes it again. ‘C’mon Skip, you might meet Fifi at the gee-gees and see-see if she likes it?’ says Chookie rocking his pelvis in what in a thinner man may have been a lewd gesture. Skippy does not feel obliged to answer his master’s voice this time however. He doesn’t move. ‘I’ve gotta see a man about a dog,’ Chookie threatens. Skippy remains unmoved. ‘Well, I hope you can cope with the responsibility of guarding the place hey!’ Skippy twitches, dreaming of just once catching one of the wallabies he chases out of the green-watered lawn of the park. Of course he wasn’t always called Skippy. In a town where every name has a genealogy with an attendant humiliation of stories long enough to make a grown gossip columnist weep, Skippy was once known as Charlie. But that was before the accident. The irony is, of course, that it was Charlie Stone driving the pineapple truck that hit the dog. Charlie Stone was not just the three legged Charlie’s namesake but the bloke in whose honour Charlie was named, after he gave the pup to Chookie after Chookie’s last dog, Postman, died. Because Eileen, that’s Mrs Fowler, and Chookie never had children, naming and looking after the dogs in their lives was of paramount importance. You’ve heard it all before. They went everywhere together: to the beach for a swim; to the TAB to place a bet; in the truck to town on Monday mornings early to pick up supplies for the week. And Charlie always got to ride up front with Chookie— head out the window, dew flaps slobbering in the truck-wind. He turned heads in the street, did our Charlie. 8 Not that he minded at all, just kept on biting at the wind to chew over later in a summer afternoon dream. Every Monday morning, waiting for the train, Martha Fraser and Agatha Clay would see Chookie and Charlie juggling past from their spot on the platform and every time it was the same, ‘He’ll spoil that dog for everything. Look at him sitting up there like Jacky. Poor thing won’t know whether he’s Arthur or Martha!’ they’d cluck, and Chookie, who wore his best hat for town, would doff it in the cabin saying, ‘Ladies’, as though they were the Queen or something and they’d warm a little and he’d honk them, give them a wave too, and they’d condescend to smile weakly and sigh.