The Violin Player Broadcast 1

The Violin Player. Broadcast Draft

The Violin Player

A radio play by Catherine Fargher

Broadcast ABC radio National ‘AIRPLAY’

March 14th 2009

1 The Violin Player. Broadcast Draft

The Violin Player The Battle of the Somme 1918…A young man with a violin… Recreation leave and Mustard Gas … A great uncle lost…His diary discovered…A young man busking in Paris 1981…his great uncle’s violin stolen at a Paris station… A piecing together of song, sound and memory.

A year ago I came into possession of the original diary of my Great-Uncle Philip, who fought and died at the Somme battlefields in France during WWI. He was 19 years old, and the early diary entries are those of a young man who is at first excited, then disillusioned, and finally destroyed by the war he has gone to fight. He was the victim of the Mustard Gas campaigns which were used by the Germans in WWI French campaigns, including the battle of the Somme and resulted in the death of thousands of young Australian men. His youth brought abruptly to an end in a way I can only try to understand from the diary entries and the space of hidden memories between the lines of the faintly written diary.

The way our family knew Philip was through his violin. My brother and I inherited his fiddle, inlaid with mother of pearl in the fingerboard, and it had always been ‘Philips violin’. Getting Philip’s diary helped me to piece together the story of a young man on the cusp of adulthood, his pride as a soldier, and finally his disillusion and destruction. 19 years old. This is the age that I traveled to London, walked the London High Streets of 80’s Punk fashion, new romanticism and youth culture. Traveled to Paris to visit my brother who possessed Uncle Philip’s violin. Philips youthful adventures were in Cairo. Late night visits to the Pyramids and wild nights with soldier mates. I came home. Philip didn’t.

And the fate of the violin? Did it travel with him to war? Or did it remain, covered with cloth, in his Westgarth home in Melbourne, waiting for his return? Were its laments the laments of a free spirit or a disillusioned soldier? When we played the violin, did we hear tunes from the trenches of the Somme?

Character voices Martin – male 40’s Philip– soldier, male early 20’s – Interior and Exterior voice (journal reading and interaction with Martin) Greta – Female vocalist, incidental female voices. Incidental voices: theatre cast, soldiers, buskers.

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The Violin Player SFX: A FEW LINES OF SUNG ‘BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND’, ACCOMPANIED BY VIOLIN. A BEAUTIFUL AND MELANCHOLIC VERSION, WITH A SENSE OF IMPENDING GRIEF.

Greta - Female vocalist Oh where, tell me where is your highland laddie gone? Oh where, tell me where is your highland laddie gone? He’s gone wi’ streaming banners where noble deeds are done And it’s oh in my heart that I wish him safe at home…

SFX: VIOLIN CHORD (G) SOUNDS WITH GUSTO, CUTS TO SOUNDS OF WILD RUSSIAN VIOLIN MUSIC, THE CLOSING TUNE OF ‘DIARY OF A MADMAN’ THE BELVOIR STREET PRODUCTION FROM 1990’S, FOLLOWED BY THUNDEROUS AUDIENCE APPLAUSE. CUT TO LAUGHTER, REPARTEE OF CAST AND CREW MEMBERS AND FOOTSTEPS AS THEY WALK BACK TO THEATRE DRESSING ROOMS.

Cast member 1 Great show all.

Cast member 2 Playing well tonight Marty!

Cast member 1 See you in the foyer?

Marty Be there in two ….

SFX: CAST REVELRY FADES AS DRESSING ROOM DOOR CLOSING, FOOTSTEPS, CLICK OF VIOLIN CASE HINGES, HUMMING OF TUNE FROM THE SHOW. SOUNDS OF LETTING OUT THE BOW. HUMMING THE TUNE FURTHER, WRAPPING THE VIOLIN IN CLOTH, CLOSING THE CASE, THEN FOOTSTEPS OUT OF THE ROOM.

SFX: AS THE NARRATOR TALKS, HE PLUCKS STRINGS PIZZICATO STYLE UNDER TEXT.

That violin went with me to Russia for the tour… We were touring Gogol’s Diary Of A Madman

SFX: GEORGIAN VIOLIN PIECE. CROWDS AND CLAPPING.

It really traveled… been around the world…

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To Paris …

SFX: LOUD CACOPHANY OF BUSKERS AND ONLOOKERS AT POMPIDOU CENTRE. NARRATOR USING A SPRUIKERS VOICE CAN BE HEARD.

Martin, (busker/spruiker voice) This shapely body you see before you is not just any body! She is a great beauty, has traveled around the world. More miles than Lola Montez! From the battlefields of the Somme to Paris’s Pompidou! Roll up for the Violin of the Century… a little Aussie beauty!

SFX: BUSKER PLAYS SNIPPET OF WALTZING MATHILDA OR ROAD TO GUNDAGAI

Martin, narrator …To war with Great Uncle Philip! All the way to the Somme.

SFX: CUT TO SOUNDS OF SCHRAPNEL EXPLODING AND BUGLE PLAYING REVEILLE, CUT TO DRUNK SOLDIERS VOICE:

Martin (as drunk soldier) Play ‘Bluebells of Scotland’, c’arn ya bastard, give the little fiddl’a stroke for me!

SFX: FIRST BARS OF FIRST WORLD WAR SON ON FIDDLE. (‘LONG, LONG WINDING ROAD’ OR ‘THE SARGEANTS GOT YOUR RUM’)

SFX: CUT TO BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND.

Because that was the story, that the only tune Uncle Philip could play was the Bluebells of Scotland…it might not even be true! I should learn it.

I have no idea whether he was a keen musician or had only the one tune. We knew Philip fought in WW1 at the Somme. But the way we remembered him was through his violin…

SFX: VIOLIN AND VOCAL ARRANGMENT OF ‘BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND’.

Greta – Female vocalist Oh what, tell me what does my your highland laddie wear? Oh what, tell me what does my your highland laddie wear? A bonnet with a lofty plume and on his breast a plaid And it’s oh in my heart that I lo’ed my highland lad…

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SFX: SCHRAPNEL EXPLOSION, CUT TO PIZZICATO, STRING PLUCKING AND MOVING HANDS ON FINGERBOARD UNDER TEXT.

Martin (Track 1-.03) It was always kept behind our Grandfather’s piano. Inherited it when I was 11.

CUT TO PIZZICATO, STRING PLUCKING AND MOVING HANDS ON FINGERBOARD UNDER TEXT.

(Track 1-.03) The violin had a great sound. It was probably English; there weren’t Chinese or Japanese models then. I don't know…a Stradivarius copy …that’s what my violin teacher said. Irwin …(pauses) Mozzler… mostly he said, “Bend Ze sump Martin! Bend Ze Sump!”

SFX: CLANK OF MUSIC STAND, TUNING STRINGS AND METRONOME TICKING.

Martin (as Irwin) Fingers on ze fingerboard! Bend ze sump Martin! Sure, Zis is good violin… stringy grained spruce top… very dark violin… like ze forest! Has been vell played… it has life. Long way from home, like me! And look at zis beautiful muzer of pearl inlay. Beautiful. Sink yourself lucky Martin. Now Practice! E minor scale!

SFX: E MINOR SCALE BEGINS,

I still have the card that my grandfather gave me for my birthday. “To Martin…may you enjoy having this violin as much as it’s original owner, your great uncle Philip…”

SFX: SOUNDS OF A SUBURBAN MUSIC PRACTICE ROOM.

Martin (echo as Grandfather) May you enjoy having this violin as much as it’s original owner, your great uncle Philip.

SFX: TUNING THE VIOLIN.

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Then he’d say, “Of course your great uncle Philip could only play one tune. …”

Martin (echo as Grandfather) …play one tune …Bluebells of Scotland”

SFX: SCREECHING OF BOW ACROSS STRINGS, NOT QUITE IN TUNE. EEKING OUT A TUNE OF ‘BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND’. A B C E E F D C. THEN IT SLOWS. SOME CHORDS PLAY: LONG LANGUOUS DOUBLE STOPS. FROM WITHIN THE CHORDS A PRESENCE BECOMES APPARENT. CUT TO A COUGHING SOUND, AS IF MAN IS CHOKING ON FUMES. SOUNDS OF AN OLD ARMY GREATCOAT BEING DUSTED OFF. THEN SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE.

Philip Little rotter! Never let the truth get in the way of a good tale. I was practically a Paganini. Always wondered what happened to it. Loved that violin.

SFX: SOUNDS OF A SUBURBAN MUSIC PRACTICE ROOM. MARTIN PLAYING OPENING NOTES OF ‘THE BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND’. ARRANGEMENT ENDS WITH CHORDS AND DOUBLE STOPS. (THE SECOND LINE IS DELIVERED AT INDICATED BREAK.)

Martin Then the next thing he’d say without fail, when the violin came out…. “Your great uncle Philip took his violin to the Somme, That’s where he fought. /On the Somme. ”

Philip /The Somme, that’s where I fought. Pozieres, Strazeele. “Will they never fade or pass, the mud and the misty figures?”

SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE, THEN COUGH AS IF CHOKING ON DUST. THE PASSAGES ARE READ AS IF PHILIP IS LISTENING TO MARTIN, AND EACH PERSON IS MUSING ON THEIR OWN.

Hope in our eyes SFX: INTERIOR SOUND MOTIF CUT TO SORTING OLD PHOTOS.

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Martin (track 1 2.52) There’s a photograph too… my grandmother kept it in a box, with all the other photos. All jumbled up.

Looking at the picture… the tall Victorian stool… his thin eyebrows… the look in his eyes. There’s a look… the same as my Paris photos. Bright. Looking out into the world. It could be me sitting on that stool.

SFX: PIZZICATO REVERBS FOR A SECOND AS IF PAST AND PRESENT HAS JOINED. INTERIOR SOUND MOTIF. (SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE, THEN COUGH AS IF CHOKING ON DUST.)

Martin I still keep my photos in a box like that, all jumbled up…past, present, future...all together.

Philip (interior) Past, present, future….all together. That’s how it goes.

I was sitting there, new boots shining and three long stripes for sergeant. There was nowhere else I wanted to be that day…. and Roy there too. Enlisting down at the showgrounds. We’d wagered each other…first to lieutenant gets the Guernsey. I felt glad I suppose…. proud, like I was of service somehow…there was a purpose…making a difference to something...country… king. There’s a picture of us both, too. We were going to be in it ‘til the end….the long haul…there was hope in our eyes.

I was a handsome chap, in my uniform. What d’you think? Butter wouldn’t melt?

Martin Sepia tones… hope in your eyes… or maybe the sun’s shining out of your arse!

SFX: LAUGHTER OF TWO MEN, SFX: BLAST OF SOUND FROM A FOGHORN ON AN ARMY SHIP. SEAGULLS.

The Diary SFX: SUBURBAN MUSIC PRACTICE ROOM, PIZZICATO PLUCKING OF VIOLIN.

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Martin. Then we found the diary a couple of years ago… hidden in some papers…. A small leather-bound Letts’s diary, only two inches square. There’s room for a couple of lines per page.

Philip I found the dairy in the markets in Cairo, 10 piastres.

Martin Cryptic messages and symbols for the juicy bits…some of it’s written after the event… You got up to some larks…

Philip Larrikins the lot of us….

Martin Some sections are torn out…a censor might have been at work… it’s hard to tell… I got to know you…the bloke who owned my violin… the same age as I was when I first went overseas to busk in Paris. 19.

Philip. Blow me down. 19.

SFX: PIZZICATO SOUNDS CUTS TO THE BLAST OF SOUND FROM A FOGHORN ON AN ARMY SHIP, DEPARTING TO TAKE SOLDIERS TO THE FRONT.

Martin This diary is the property 4188 Sergt Philip F CSM, RSM, 28 South Crescent Westgarth, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 13/6 Reinforcements Aerodrome Camp Heliopolis. First Son of Philip & Matilda Maud, born in Northcote, Victoria on 25th May 1896. Enlisted at Melbourne Showground 12th July 1915. Embarked “A” 14 Demosthenes 29th December 1915.

SFX: BLAST OF SOUND FROM A FOGHORN ON AN ARMY SHIP. BOOTS MARCHING UP GANGPLANK. LAYERED WITH PIZZICATO PLUCKING OF VIOLIN. Martin There’s a list here, a kind of inventory…things you had with you…

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Personal reminders…

Philip No. of my watch 2325 Size in boots 8 Gloves 8 Collar-15 7 Hats 6 /8 Weight 12 st 3 lbs

Martin And perhaps one violin- fine-grained spruce top, mother-of-pearl inlay?

LIST CONTINUES OVER NEXT SECTION

SFX: NEXT LINES ECHO MERGE WITH MARCHING BOOTS AS THEY WALK ON GANG-PLANK. FOGHORN AS SHIP SETS SAIL. LAUGHTER OF MEN.

Philip Height 5 ft 10½ inches Insurance: Life 100

Martin (echo) Life 100.

SFX: WAVES CRASHING AT SEA. OCEAN GULLS.

Philip January 1 Sat 1916 On board transport “A” 64 Transport Steam Ship Demosthenes Aberdeen Line. Sea calm. Men nearly all seasick. Sighting porpoises.

January 3 Mon Gambling going on a tremendous scale!

SFX: TWO UP GAME. MEN’S CALLS AS COINS FALL.

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January 6 Thurs Rounded cape. Wind tremendous. Pass equator. Phosphorous in water looks nice at night. Huge birds & porpoises also.

SFX: ATLANTIC GULLS AND SPLASH INTO SEA. CUT TO: TROPICAL PORT, CHATTER OF CROWD.

January 14 Fri Arrived Colombo tonight. Natives chattering a lot. Bought pith helmet. Watch Singalese dive for money.

SFX: SPLASH OF BODY IN WATER. CHEERS OF ONLOOKER. ANZAC SOLDIERS CALLING “GO MATE, GO!” CUT TO: ARABIC CITY. SOUNDS OF PORT.

January 31 Mon 2 am Arrive at Port Suez. Train journey to Cairo, about 70 miles.

SFX: ARABIC CITY. SOUNDS OF MARKET. WHOOP OF CAN-CAN GIRLS. THE FOLLOWING DIARY ENTRIES ARE HEARD FAINTLY UNDERNEATH THE INTERIOR MONOLOGUE.

February 1, 1916 Tues Spend day in Cairo; see Can-Can & also large part of this excellent city. Very great difference in people; some filthy.

February 12 Sat Drill till 9 am kit inspection. Pyramids in afternoon. Went inside & saw tombs. Carved my name in sandstone. Could barely throw stone to ground from top.

SFX: STONE DROPPING FROM A HEIGHT. SOME CHORDS PLAY: FROM WITHIN THE CHORDS A PRESENCE BECOMES APPARENT. SOUNDS OF AN OLD ARMY GREATCOAT BEING DUSTED OFF. SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE,

Philip (interior) Each day waking… It was all new….hot sun so early and the birds…even the birds sounded different and that thrill….I can’t explain it, it’s physical but you know you’re in another place…a new world. We were going places Roy and me…seeing it all…the Pyramids, the Sphinx…the wonders of the world… and Jeez those geezers at Giza… down at heel blokes I’d seen in my time but some of these beggared belief… and the rich ones could’ve been sheiks from some Arabian Nights tale. It wasn’t Fitzroy that’s for bloody sure.… Who’d stay at home? Best year of our lives. The beginning…

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SFX: PIZZICATO, STRING PLUCKING AND MOVING HANDS ON FINGERBOARD UNDER TEXT.

Philip There’s a sense of excitement… adventure! But still so innocent… you’re so innocent.

Martin (Track 7, 9 mins) I was full of fervour, revolutionary zeal. I was never a Trotskyite, a campus type, but certainly the ideals… oh when the revolution comes you'll be first up against the wall… feels like something from the Young Ones…comedians…

Philip Variety eh? Performing … The family always liked a bit of drama. Music Hall. Gorgeous girls. You do like girls? …

Martin Nudge, nudge, wink, wink?

SFX: CHUCKLE OF BOTH MEN IN SEPARATE SPACES. CUT TO BUSY SOUNDS OF CAMP LIFE. BUGLE, LAUGHTER OF MEN. ORDERS SHOUTED ABOVE NOISE OF CAMP. Philip March 21, Tues Today was a muster parade. Am now A.C.S.M. of 1/7 R(ein)f(orcemen)ts. Will be leaving aerodrome any time now. Rumours of Dardanelles & Mesopotamia the rule.

March 28 Tues Orders to depart at 9 pm tonight. We move out at 9.30 pm & entrain at 11.30 pm.

SONG: KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING.

SFX: SOUNDS OF VIOLIN CASE BEING OPENED AND PIZZICATO ON VIOLIN.

Martin (track 7-17.05) Oh yeh, This is the violin case that I took to Paris … still has the original stickers … Touche pas mon pot, Folk Live, Johnny Melville… …

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Paris in 1981.

SFX: CHANGES TO JAZZ VIOLIN LILTING OVER PARIS STREET SOUNDS. BICYCLE WHEELS.

Studied Jazz violin there… I learned from a player called Dominic Piferelli, there was a local jazz school, around the corner from the Moulin Rouge… not a long bike-ride away from my place on Rue Lepic.

SFX: JAZZ VIOLIN LICKS, BICYCLE BELL CUT TO METRO SOUND. JOLLY ‘MOULIN ROUGE’ FEEL, CUT TO AMERICAN BLUES TUNES.

(Track 2 0.14) Busked on the Metro…the Pompidou…played the metro with my American friend, all those American tunes like Little Brown Jug…bluesy tunes, leadbelly tunes…Soldiers Joy…never played Bluebells of Scotland,

CUT TO POMPIDOU PLAZA SPACE IN PARIS, CACOPHONY OF BUSKERS AND MÉLANGE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. LOUD SHOUTING AND HAGGLING IN FRENCH AND ROMANY.

Martin (Track 2 5 mins 30) We discovered the Pompidou Centre on our second day. It was just like buskers heaven, buskers from all over the world fighting for a space to perform. The first six months busking in Paris was like a strange dream.

It was incredibly exciting. Mitterand had just got in, there was a real cultural agenda; it was like the Whitlam years. I had enough French to get by. Those first impressions, it was all very exotic, because of mime and early days of physical theatre it was still an exciting place to be… Paris.

We had a great show, there were so many amazing acts. This was the heyday of busking. The Americans, the Dutch, Argentineans, Germans. It was like a laboratory of busking technique. All the acts you see on the streets now… they all had their origins there, the statue thing, the following the pedestrians along and imitating them, an Argentinean group did that. Alot of the standard unicycle audience, machete juggling stuff.

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You could make 100 francs in a day, and you could live well but you could never save.

There was a guy when I first arrived and it was like Apocalypse now, he said, you’ll make this much but you’ll never save it, it was like Captain Kurtz, “You’ll never get out of here alive.” And he was right.

Philip (Echo) Get out of here alive.

SFX: GROUP SINGING AROUND CAMP.

Philip, Martin, Female vocalist (singing) If you get stuck on the wire never mind, If you get stuck on the wire never mind. Though the light’s as broad as day, If you die they stop you pay, If you get stuck on the wire, never mind.

SFX: SHIPS FOGHORN. BOOTS MARCHING.

March 29 Embark in Transylvania at Alexandria. Fine ship.

March 31 We pass Crete. Man jumps overboard and after at least an hour he was fished out dead.

SFX: PLUNGE OF A BODY INTO THE SEA. BUBBLES. MUFFLED CRY. SHOUTS OF SOLDIERS HAULING BODY. LOW WHISPERINGS OF SENIOR OFFICERS. SLIGHTLY OFF-KEY VIOLIN PLAYS A LINE ‘FOR THOSE IN PERIL ON THE SEA’

Martin (Echo) Man jumps overboard….

THE FOLLOWING INTERIOR MONOLOGUE IS HEARD OVER THE TOP OF DIARY ENTRIES.

Philip

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April 1 Sat All Fools’ day. Going steadily on.

April 4 Tue Reach Marseilles today at 8 am. Entrain for our destination at 2 pm.

SFX: INTERIOR SOUND MOTIF. (SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE, THEN COUGH AS IF CHOKING ON DUST.)

Martin (echo) All fools day. Ship of fools?

Philip (interior) The first time I shot a rifle with my father…that’s when I knew… the Vic Rifle Association … it was a Lee Enfield 0.303…looking straight down the centre of the barrel through the sight and lining up the target…your whole body aligned…feet on the ground, butt in your shoulder and you just hold it. It’s your mind and body coming together and there’s an instinct I suppose. That’s when I knew I wanted to be a soldier. I’d always had a bit of a reputation as a fighter at school…left at 13 … railways at 15. So I wasn’t nervous at first. Roy and I wanted to enlist. We wanted to be soldiers…fight at the front…an injury would be badge of honour to me. I wasn’t about to jump.

SFX: RHYTHM OF TRAIN

April 5 Long tunnels. Beautiful scenery seen from train. French girls very nice. Women work in fields still & people dressed in black. Everyone we meet glad to see us.

April 6 We have passed Paris at 1 am.

SFX: SOUNDS OF DRIPPING WATER. CUT TO POMPIDOU PLAZA SPACE IN PARIS, CACOPHONY OF BUSKERS AND MÉLANGE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Martin When I reached the Pompidou, it was pretty foreign to me. First thing you had to do was stake out a spot; there were hundreds of buskers….

SFX: POMPIDOU CENTRE, SOUNDS OF CROWDS AND ACTS. SOUNDS OF FIRE BREATHERS.

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(Track 6 1min 20) The main thing about the Pompidou was fighting for space. There were the Crasheurs de feu, who were gypsies… gypsy families. These are people who earned their living by lying on broken bottles and then got ten audience members to stand on them and then pass the hat… If you got there before them and took their space, there was hell to pay. I felt tall then… for those guys I was really tall, and I got into a fight with one of those guys who said, I'd deck you if you weren't so big.

SFX: SOUNDS OF ALTERCATION, SHOUTING, A FIGHT BREAKING OUT. BREAKING BOTTLES

His wife was even worse… I wouldn't want to be in a knife fight with her.

Philip A fighter! … Now that’s a skill. I was a fighter. I fought two other boys at state school; that was admired then.

Martin Once Gail started studying, and it was just me and the violin, that’s when it got hard, busking on the metro….I felt like a beggar half the time. And harsh too. It was bloody cold in winter. It was a rough life. Just the daily chores, 6 shows a day… 6 days a week… for 6 mths.

SFX: SOUNDS OF VIOLIN PLAYING IN PARIS METRO/ CUT TO/ A SUBURBAN LIVING ROOM STRING ARRANGEMENT LONG CHORDS. CUT TO A COUGHING SOUND,

Martin But I had a skill I could survive with… wherever I was.…we reckoned “culture was the saving force” (laughs)… an end in itself... you did it as proudly as making white goods. Art for art sake… Love in overalls… I was on a cultural mission I s’pose.

Philip The saving force? A cultural mission? I was on a war mission. We were the saving force.

SFX: UNFOLDS POEM, READS POEM,

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“Will they never fade or pass! The mud and the misty figures

SFX: SPEAKING VOICE FADES AND A SINGING VOICE TAKES UP A TUNE, WHILE THE READING CONTINUES BENEATH IT.

Will they never fade or pass! The mud and the misty figures endlessly coming In file through the foul morass… …a quaking bog in a mist…dark snapped trees And the dark Somme flowing…

En route to the Somme SFX: SOLDIERS ON PARADE. BOOTS MARCHING. SLOW DRIPPING OF RAIN.

April 7 We arrive at our destination Étaples at 4 pm & march into camp. This night we have a leaky roof and it rains at night. Wake up at 1 am & find it raining & get very wet. Am nearly dead with the cold when I get up at 6 am. My boots are very cold and I am miserable.

THE FOLLOWING INTERIOR MONOLOGUE IS HEARD OVER THE TOP OF DIARY ENTRIES. SFX: INTERIOR SOUND MOTIF. (SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE, THEN COUGH AS IF CHOKING ON DUST.)

April 9 Like my new job. The Russians are continuing their good work. British going strong on bombardment. Mumps and meningitis are feared here, and there are no parades.

April 23 Doesn’t seem much like Easter. Awful thing, war. Wish I was back in Australia. I get a bugler today after a lot of trouble. I find the bugler very handy.

April 25 We have an Anzac service to remember the Gallipoli battle, exactly one year previous. I have to go on parade also my bugler.

Philip (interior) We only heard bits and pieces…. rumours…there were descriptions of battles…fragments…Chinese whispers. With Gallipoli it was all about exposed terrain…that they had no way out… and the heat and flies. But the Somme, was all about the trenches…. the sounds of shrapnel exploding and gas liquefying in

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the gullies …knowing when to hit the ground and when to run. Mumps, meningitis…men dropping like flies around you. Losing feet with the cold. The cold was … it was f’ing miserable. Melbourne was never this cold. It got on top of you… just waiting for it all to finish and wishing you were home. Every day I thanked god for Roy, and beer.

SFX: BUGLER PLAYS REVEILLE. SFX: BUGLER PLAYS REVEILLE. THIS PLAYS OUT OVER THE NEXT PIECE FROM THE DIARY.

May 28 Fri Leave Étaples at 2 pm today for Battalion. En route for Somme district.

SFX: BUILD HERE, A SENSE OF TRAIN SOUNDS AND ALSO OF BUGLE PLAYING REVERIE/ CUT TO BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND ARRANGEMENT. CUT TO A SUBURBAN LIVING ROOM, PIZZICATO THEN LAYERED WITH COUGHING SOUND, AS IF CHOKING ON DUST. SOUNDS OF DEEP INHALE,

Martin (Track 8) Never went to the Somme. Except on the way to Amsterdam. You went to Jim Morrison's grave in Pere le chez, or the magic bus to Afghanistan, but the idea of going to see war …. necro-tourism …something we weren't even thinking of… kids go to Anzac Cove now… …we were on the tail end of Vietnam

Philip Vietnam

Martin Our idea of Flanders fields and the Somme was, “In Flanders fields there is a place forever England”… The war to end all wars…the first big trench warfare. “Our lads in the land waiting to be dug up while ploughing some day”… A romantic vision … the first anti-war play I read was ‘oh what a lovely war’.

Philip Nothing lovely or romantic.

Martin That was the point.

Philip Shrapnel, trench foot and Gas.

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Martin They found some bodies in Fromelles, just the other day…

Song (Martin, Philip) Gassed last night & gassed the night before Gonna get gassed tonight If we never get gassed any more When we’re gassed We’re sick as we can be ‘Cos phosgene and mustard gas Is much to much for me They’re warning us they’re warning us One respirator for the four of us Thank your lucky stars that three of us can run So one of us can use it all alone.

SFX: UNFOLDS POEM, READS POEM,

Philip If you get a choking feeling and a smell of musty hay You can bet your bottom dollar that there’s phosgene on the way,

SFX: SPEAKING VOICE FADES AND A SINGING VOICE TAKES UP A TUNE, WHILE THE READING CONTINUES BENEATH IT.THIS TUNE HAS A JAUNTY FEEL, ABIT MUSIC HALL.

If you get a choking feeling and a smell of musty hay You can bet your bottom dollar that there’s phosgene on the way, But the smell of bleaching powder will inevitably mean, That the enemy we’re meeting is a gas we call chlorine.

It’s mustard gas, the hellish stuff that leaves you one big blister And in hospital you’ll need the kind attention of the sister, While geraniums are pleasant, in a jar beside the bed, You must shun the smell in wartime – if it’s lewisite, you’re dead.

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SFX: LAUGHTER OF TWO MEN / CUT TO TRAIN SOUNDS AND ALSO OF BUGLE PLAYING REVERIE. STRING ARRANGEMENT OF BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND.

Martin (echo) If it’s lewisite, you’re dead.

The Front SFX: BOOTS MARCHING THROUGH MUD. SOUNDS OF SOFT RAIN.

June 8 Tues Arrive at main trenches about 6 am near Pozières. Artillery network on both sides all day. Lots of dead of both sides about.

SFX: GUN FIRE. EXPLOSION OF SCHRAPNEL (CONTINUES OVER THE PIECE.) SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE, THE FOLLOWING INTERIOR MONOLOGUE IS HEARD OVER THE TOP OF DIARY ENTRIES.

Philip June 9 Wed Leave & get back to our trench at about 3 pm. Very heavy fire directed at our sector of front line

Philip (interior) Badges of honour. There’s a good reason for decorations…but if they’d told you before you enlisted… what you’d have to do to get them … who’d have signed? If they’d said how terrified you’d be… how rotten & dangerous front line trenches were… On those long marches to the front I remember Roy holding us all together, laughing when the water got in his boots. He joked about the general…. ‘So fat he looked like he’d swallowed the dog’ …and then bringing the stretcher in after the nights shelling …it was Morgan who was hit…he vomited. An older sergeant said…’you’ll get used to it’ just like that and Roy just looked at him…sort of green about the gills and smiled, his dinner coming out the corner of his mouth. The best thing we got out there - horse stew in our ration tin and one day without rain. I was almost ready to jump. Not quite, but almost…

June 10 Thurs Am hit with some shrapnel in left leg. /Deep hole in helmet. Capt Taylor, Lt Rogers, Bill Morgan & 4 others hit with same shell. I am taken into dressing station through communication trench to another dressing station. Dr Simkin gives first aid. Thence to field hospital near sausage gully. Intense pain. Waiting hours while I am inoculated against lockjaw. Then to another clearing hospital at about 2 pm then operated on about 4 pm or later. Tube I find in leg later when I regain consciousness.

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SFX: WHISPERING OF NURSES, SOUNDS OF FIELD HOSPITAL. RHYTHM OF TRAIN. CUT TO/ SUBURBAN LIVING ROOM. CHORDS ON VIOLIN. PHILIPS COUGH. SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE,

Philip At times I got really desperate.

Martin (Track 13) Doing the trains. …. I was really poor and going busking was a desperate chore… …there was a time busking in a tunnel and there was an old Asian woman begging and she was making more money than me…

(Track 14) Then one time when I was living in a garret …that’s the scene of my classic story of depths of despair….

SFX: RHYTHM OF TRAIN. CUT TO RAPIDLY CLOSING SURGERY DOOR AND STRETCHER WHEELS. WHISPERING OF NURSES, SOUNDS OF FIELD HOSPITAL. THIS CONTINUES UNDER ALL OF PHILIP’S SECTIONS.

Philip (echo) Depths of despair …

Philip June 11 Wake up with painful limbs. 4.30 pm in bed in clearing hospital at Étaples. Entrain to London about 9 pm. Hospital is a good one. Some kind of infection. Temp 101.4OF

JUXTAPOSED AGAINST SFX: PIZZICATTO VIOLIN AS IF MARTIN IS PLUCKING VIOLIN STRING WHILE HE TALKS. THIS CONTINUES UNDER ALL OF MARTIN’S SECTIONS.

Martin I had got a job; it was when I turned 21… Christmas of 1980. Here it is, I’ve found the diary. 1st Jan 1981. The last weeks of last year were absolutely atrocious, or I’ve written here in French, ‘atrosse’. This was the beginning of last year. My 21st birthday.

Philip June 13 My wound in the leg is dressed twice daily and a very painful affair it is too. Temp 101. In evening a visit from ‘Sport’ Anderson who tells me some awful news which I can’t believe as true but which upsets me.

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Martin All my friends without exception left town, they all went visiting or to warmer climes. Philip June 14 Still in bed. Practically nothing to eat. Miserable day. I don’t know what to do. Decided it can’t be true. Feeling downhearted, pessimistic and generally rotten. Temp 100.

Martin I was doing double shifts and doing odd jobs in a convent, painting. Working 18 hours a day… got so sick of it, I took to throwing paint around. The only person I knew was my mad Irish Catholic landlady…Molly…having visions of the virgin.

Philip June 15 Today I am not feeling so well & eat very little. This is an awful life. I write letter home. Still I feel very depressed, especially at night. Temp 104OF .

Martin Plus the great mail escapade. For some reason all my mail was being redirected somewhere else and… For two months I received absolutely no mail.

Philip June 16 Have not received a letter from home for a very long time & no parcels.

Martin I had no communication from anyone for 2 months from Christmas or my 21st birthday. I was beginning to think I was in disgrace or something.

Philip June 17 Eating nothing still and feeling crook below. 101.

Martin I was writing to everyone and getting nothing.

Philip June 18 No improvement. 101.

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Martin I had 2 hrs off from my jobs for my birthday and I had a party with Molly …a chicken leg or something.

Philip June 19 Still no improvement. Very crook, feel worse. This morning the awful news comes to hand. Poor, dear dad. And my dear mother. I am very dejected and pessimistic. Is this the Will of God? If so, what an iron will. Temp 102.

Martin I found out that all my mail had been going to the old address…

Philip June 20 I am very seedy. Eating absolutely nothing. Receive letter from home. I read account of funeral. My poor father. This then is his end. Painless thank God. May his soul rest in peace. Good dear Dad. O how the wind howls as I write this. Temp 101.

Martin Finally I had the sense to ask our concierge, and found out that some woman had moved around the corner and had sent my mail back to the post…… and I was never to see any of it ever again. That was the depths of despair, it really was…

SFX: LOUD PIZZICATTO REVERB/ LONDON HOSPITAL. A LONE BIRD SINGS.

Philip June 21 Great improvement. Temp drops to 98 (‘normal’). After a rotten night I try an egg. During day receive numerous letters from home including two from Dad. Martin …since then it has been rectified now it is coming in ever so dribbly.

Philip June 22 Got a letter from Eunie in evening. First from Aust since my arrival in France.

Martin Greta never seems to write. Caro never seems to write. Jack non-plus. Thank god for Dad who continues to write beautiful eight page tomes with great regularity.

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Philip June 23 Get up today on crutch for first time & go to concert.

SFX: SOUNDS OF STRINGS TUNING. HOSPITAL BUSTLE.

June 24 Great portion of time in bed has been occupied by me reflecting etc., on the state of things generally. I wish the war was over and I was back home. Everyone the same. This is a poor life with death as a probable finish. This day I leave hospital am very sad. Arrive to Weymouth at 9 pm. Rotten Place. Mud up to eyebrows. Feel rotten.

SUBURBAN LIVING ROOM. CHORDS ON VIOLIN. PHILIPS COUGH. SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE,

Martin (Echo) A poor life with death as a probable finish.

Philip That day I turned 20 years of age. And you. 21 in Paris! Oo la la!

SFX: SOUNDS OF VIOLIN PLAYING PIZZICATO HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TENTATIVELY.

Philip And not a word from Greta! Greta eh?

Martin. You meet people, just in passing… going through countries… at festivals, shows…playing the violin got them in….

Philip Playing my violin…Bluebells of Scotland always worked for me! Come on…more about this Greta…

Martin Greta was Swiss, she had lovely eyes. Gail and I had split by then. And she was great…

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Philip Come on; prove you’re not a pansy!

Martin Give me a chance… she was great… ok hot in bed.

Philip My suspicions unfounded… Fiery Greta! Nurse Harris was like her, beautiful eyes…and really feisty, with flaming hair. But Grace, she was a corker.

Martin “Very pleasant night!”

SOUND OF BOTH LAUGHING.

Martin Let’s just say my favourite song at the time was ‘I like it both ways’!

SFX: SOUNDS OF PEELING FEMALE LAUGHTER. CUT TO /LONDON, STREET SOUNDS. DOUBLEDECKER BUSES.

Philip October 4 Wed Arrive Paddington London about 1 pm. Thence to tailor & get rigged out in uniform. Engage bed at Anzac Club. Meet Roy at Anzac Buffet. Off to The Strand to a vaudeville show in Coliseum. Catch two girls. Supper then Elephant man.

SFX: VAUDEVILLE SHOW SOUNDS AND SOHO REVELLERY. PEEL OF FEMALE LAUGHTER.

October 8 Sun Rise 9.15 am. In evening meet girl. Nothing doing. Home 9.30 pm.

October 9 Mon Roy arrives from Weymouth. Meet girls evening & go for walk. Something doing. Grace.

SFX: SOUNDS OF FEMALE AND MALE LAUGHTER CUT TO CLOSING DOOR.

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SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE, THE FOLLOWING INTERIOR MONOLOGUE IS HEARD OVER THE TOP OF DIARY ENTRIES.

October 13 Thur Very pleasant night!!!! Very pleasant night!!!! Up around 11.45 am. Then some dinner together. I leave her 2 pm or thereabouts. High jinks in evening & “Home” about 11.30 pm.

Philip (Interior) Very pleasant night!!!! Feeling her under me, just that softness. It felt… we laughed in the middle of it, fooling around. Real high jinx we were playing at…like a conversation we were having with no words. I was really there…just holding her, feeling her open. It was something she was giving me… I got close to something… and after her lying beneath me, my head on her soft breast and its calm and then under there was a wave of…there were a lot of things in my mind…like would I be here again…see home again…my mother…

SFX: SOUND OF SHRAPNEL EXPLOSION, RICOCHETING BULLETS/CUT TO COUGHING SOUND.

SFX: BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND MOTIF.

Female vocalist Oh what tell me what if your Highland Lad is slain?

CUT TO: XMAS CRACKERS AND POPPING CORKS. HEARTY LAUGHTER.

December 23 Sat Get my Xmas cards. Send them to various people including Nurse Harris. In evening go to church with Grace.

December 25 Mon This day proves a fine one. The sergeant’s mess provided a fine turnout. Beautifully decorated & a fine 7 course dinner. Group photo taken. O what a nice day.

SFX: CAMERA FLASH

December 31 Sun Last day of old year. Spend it quietly in Wareham & discuss different subjects with Roy on an afternoon stroll. Oh! How I wish I were home. Though I am feeling very optimistic lately & expect an early end of war.

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SFX: BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND MOTIF BECOMES DISCORDANT. ENDS WITH SCREECHING BOW. CUT TO: PIZZICATO UNDER NARRATION.

Philip(echo) Feeling very optimistic lately & expect an early end of war.

SFX: PIZZICATO UNDER NARRATION.

Martin Of course I was romantic about it all. You start off with impressions and later on you get a real sense…

SFX: BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND MOTIF.

Female vocalist Oh what tell me what if your Highland Lad is slain…

SFX: CUT TO MARCHING BOOTS IN MUD. NARRATION PLAYS OVER SFX.

Philip January 1 1917 Monday This year, this fateful year I have spent away from home and travelled in many countries & many lands, at last comes to a conclusion. What experiences have I not been through and what lessons have I been taught. And what yearnings, longings, pleasures, sorrows & disappointments have been mine. But the year has at last come to a close & leaves me as it found me, except perhaps a little more acquainted with the world in general.

SFX: PIZZICATO UNDER NARRATION.

Martin Sure I had periods of great disillusionment in Paris.

SFX: BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND MOTIF.

Female vocalist On no, true love will be his guard and bring him safe again

Philip

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And what has the New Year has in store for me is the burning question. Oh! That I could rejoin my people at home, my beloved ones. That this New Year 1917 shall prove the year of peace, happiness & reunions is my wish & that I may at this time twelve months find myself a civilian in Northcote or Melbourne as I am now physically, and my loved ones all safe and sound is my dearest wish.

SFX: PIZZICATO UNDER NARRATION.

Martin I could never live in Paris again. It was going back after ten years and realizing that the skinheads and conservatives were gaining a foothold…

SFX: CUT TO MARCHING BOOTS IN MUD. NARRATION PLAYS OVER SFX.

Philip Goodbye old year 1916. You have played me many tricks. Good day New Year 1917, may we be friends.

SFX: BLUEBELLS OF SCOTLAND MOTIF.

Female vocalist For it’s oh, my heart would break if my highland lad were slain.

SFX: PIZZICATO UNDER NARRATION.

Martin …and that feeling of racism, there was the sense of the haves and have not’s …the difference between Belleville and the Champs Elysees.

SOUNDS OF CIGGIE BEING LIT, AND A DEEP INHALE, THEN SILENCE.

Martin There was one last entry in the dairy, … his nephew Philip… my dad… wrote it.

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Martin Postscript After convalescing in England, Philip attended an officers’ school during 1917, then around Christmas he returned to his battalion at Strazeele on the Somme.

SFX: MACHINE GUN FIRE. SHELL DROPPING AND EXPLODING AND GAS RELEASE. GASP FOR BREATH AND GURGLE OF BLOOD IN THROAT CONTINUES THROUGHOUT THE NEXT PASSAGE.

On 6th June 1918 a gas shell burst on the front of the trench where he was standing.

SFX: REVELLIE/ BUGLE CALL.

Seven days later on 13th June he died in hospital.

BOOTS MARCHING. GURGLE OF BLOOD IN THROAT AND HEAVY BREATHING CONTINUES THROUGHOUT THE NEXT PASSAGE.

His tombstone in Ebblinghem Cemetery incorrectly gives his age at death as 24…He was 21 years and 7 months old.

Female vocalist For it’s oh, my heart would break if my highland lad were slain.

SFX: SOUNDS OF CEMETRY GATE SWINGING SHUT. BIRD SONG SFX: SOUNDS OF CEMETRY GATE SWINGING OPEN. RAIN ON LEAVES. CUT TO APPLAUSE

Martin The violin had a great sound.

Philip Always wondered what happened to it…

SOUNDS OF WILD RUSSIAN VIOLIN MUSIC, THE CLOSING TUNE OF ‘DIARY OF A MADMAN’ THE BELVOIR STREET PRODUCTION FROM 1990’S, FOLLOWED BY THUNDEROUS AUDIENCE APPLAUSE. CUT TO LAUGHTER, REPARTEE OF CAST AND CREW MEMBERS AND FOOTSTEPS AS THEY WALK BACK TO THEATRE DRESSING ROOMS.

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Cast member On fire tonight Marty!

Cast member 1 See you in the foyer?

Martin Be there in two ….

SFX: VIOLIN CHORD IN PIZZICATO.

Martin (track 2-2.26) That’s when it was stolen… I was touring the Diary of A Madman with Belvoir Street at the Vic Arts Centre… and that violin was left in the dressing room and when we came back the next day it was gone.

SFX: PIZZICATO, BECOMES DISCORDANT.

THE END.