WRITTEN : December 1993 - January 1994. (Revised February 1997)
Unproduced.
This play is very typical of my early plays - high concept (the idea often overtaking the execution), sometimes semi-allegorical, short-storylike. The GARDENING AT NIGHT here is very different from its original version, but traces of this style are still very much in evidence. The original, written late '93 and early '94 (ironically, during the 1994 Bushfires) was my first major attempt at a play, and it was not very long after writing it that it seemed hopelessly contrived and more like a short story than a play. It was very much indicative of my lack of experience - It seems hard to believe that I had progressed enough in the space of less than a year to write AM I YOUR DREAM?. However, it remains an important stage in my development. After it I wrote (another play where the concept and conceit took over the actual process of the play) and STELLAR CITY, my first attempt at a full length play which I reworked most recently as a screenplay (and, with a lot more work, could still have some potential, although like GARDENING AT NIGHT is possibly too interested in its own conceit). Technically and thematically, it is very much a precursor to NOT THAT LONG - many themes of the former appear implicitly in the latter, and I always considered Long Peterson and Ryde Peacechild spiritual brothers.
My favourite plays are the ones with the smallest casts - here, it is the interplay of three people, the smallest you can get without being a two-hander (which, while interesting and challenging to write, is also limiting). Ultimately, the play was inspired by a lunar eclipse I witnessed in 1993 and the REM song I encountered at about the same time, a beautiful, evocative and mysterious song whose atmosphere I attempted to invoke in the play. Mercedes was a character who, like SONNY BOY's Violet, I had created earlier, this time as the heroine of a series of short stories called `Mercedes' Bends'.
I left it alone for a long time after writing it, because it seemed to be a relic of a completed learning process and an earlier and inferior way of writing (even looking at it in comparison to STELLAR CITY I was aware of my improvement). Yet I was always aware that the idea behind the play was still a good one even if the execution left a bit to be desired, and as part of a widespread consideration of my earlier works in '97, I decided to rework it. Thus the current version owes far more to HONEY BUNNY than the works of its original vintage. Along with Hebephrenia it marks my big discovery of ambiguity and my desire for the audience to put the pieces together in their head; to tailor their own story from what they are given. The new GARDENING blurs the lines considerably more ; it is made more of a thriller, and the characters, placed in their own various boiling points, lead the audience to ask : who will burst first ? (The fact that exactly what the eventual boiling point is remains a problem). Aspects such as a possible romance between Mercedes and Ryan were also explored. The play is unproduced, and despite its potential for melodrama and the fact that it only delineates the bare bones of what could be a larger and more complex piece, I think it definitely has the potential to be an effective piece. There is a certain visual presence to it that makes me believe it might be suitable for a screenplay. A special note on the names - especially the droll names of Candy's ex- lovers which the astute audience member will notice (Harry Kane, Mikey Stripe and Harry Floss). I find naming my characters integral to their conception, and if they have names that no one else has, that makes them even more personal. So I like characters with striking, even comical names, no matter the nature of the play itself. I have had one complaint about the two `colour' names - Amber and Violet - in SONNY BOY but when you think about it they are kind of symbolic, literally at each end of the spectrum. The Boy and Girl of AM I YOUR DREAM? on the other hand, retain their universality by emphatically having no names. .
by Camille Scaysbrook
The Characters-
MERCEDES GREEN - A resourceful but slightly naive fifteen year old girl who is dissatisfied with her disjointed life, and covers her insecurity with a facade of brashness, surliness and lies upon other lies. However, with her guard down she demonstates and odd depth and tenderness.
CANDY SULLIVAN - A tough, blunt and rather eccentric single mother. Although only in her early thirties, she is excessively scared of getting old, and of her own pyromanical and self destructive tendencies. She too is dissatisfied and looks back frequently to the irrevocable mistakes of her past.
RYAN SULLIVAN - Candy's son, and in contrast to her, a very balanced, stable boy who is perfectly attuned to life - perhaps skills that he has developed as a survival instinct. He has lived an isolated life so is a little unsure of how to deal with other people.
Also waitresses and customers which can double as guests at the party.
Setting - A small country town in NSW. Specifically, a tiny Chinese Restaurant, and the Apollo Guesthouse porch and its surrounds.
- The February 1997 Revision.
SCENE 1 - A tiny country town Chinese Restaurant, decorated in Chinese kitsch. A few people are quietly sipping coffee, listening to a radio and several waitresses weave their way around the tables. It is clear that its clientelle barely changes from day to day. Mercedes enters nervously, heading initially for an empty table, but deciding instead to harness her audacity and meet someone new, choosing a table where a kindly looking middle aged man sits.
MERCEDES - Mind if I sit here?
CUSTOMER - Not at all. (silence) You not from around here?
MERCEDES - Nah ... no. Holidays ... the city you know. The Big Smoke ! Just gets too big and smoky after a while, and you know ... had long service privileges coming up and all so ... why not ? Head for the country !
CUSTOMER - (feigning interest) Hmm...
(Mercedes is clearly uneasy but trying to fight it with a kind of contrived bravado. The waitress approaches, Mercedes responds before she can even open her mouth.)
MERCEDES - Black coffee please ! A pot actually ... no, a glass.
CUSTOMER - I can't drink it black. Too strong for me !
MERCEDES - Ah, well. Hardly know anyone in my profession whose nerves aren't coated with a solid layer of caffeine ! .... Advertising. I'm in advertising.
CUSTOMER - Ahhh. (He attempts to return to his paper, but Mercedes notices the article he is reading)
MERCEDES - Oh ! The lunar eclipse ! I heard about this ! Fascinating, isn't it ?
CUSTOMER - Yes . Best one 'till the year 2000, apparently .... You like astronomy?
MERCEDES - I love astronomy ... there's something about the stars that just entrances me, you know what I mean ? Stars. Planets. Other worlds. So far apart, so far away! I suppose there'll be some optimum vantage points around here? No city lights or anything ?
CUSTOMER - I suppose there will be ...
(The customer finishes his coffee and gets ready to leave.)
MERCEDES - (rapidly) Oh ! Wait ... would you care to join me in a Danish ... sorry, a Dim Sim, I keep forgetting I'm not in Double Bay anymore ! Or ...
CUSTOMER - Thankyou, that's very kind, but no ...
MERCEDES - Well, thanks for your company, you country people are so close knit it's beautiful (he's leaving, she realises her attempts to stall him have failed) Happy lunar eclipse !!!
(She pulls out a battered copy of Jack Kerouac's `On the Road', reads restlessly for a while, then fidgets, impatiently trying to catch a waitresses' attention. One finally comes over.)
WAITRESS - Yes ?
MERCEDES - Can I have a prawn toast with that coffee ? And a dim sim. Do you use MSG ?
WAITRESS - I wouldn't hava a clue.
MERCEDES - No MSG, please. Anything with MSG, I don't want it. Allergy. And a newspaper thanks. Got to keep up with current affairs. Advertising. I'm in advertising, see. (She gets up and starts pacing around) Actually, is there a newsagents near here, I'd like to check up on my stocks in Financial Review.
WAITRESS - Look out there ...
MERCEDES - Oh, you don't have to worry, I've been surfing the stocks for years, I was even considered somewhat of a prodigy...
(She walks backwards straight into Candy, who drops a tray of dishes containing Mercedes' prawn toast and dim sim.)
CANDY - Ohh, good one. Great one. All those years in advertising didn't teach you squat about direction!
MERCEDES - (cooly) Here. Would you like some help with that.
CANDY - If your loud yapping voice could lift dishes, we wouldn't have a problem here.
(Mercedes loses her ostentatious facade. This isn't what Candy was expecting.)
MERCEDES - I ... I'm sorry. I didn't see you properly ... (She scurries around trying to tidy up) This is terrible, I'm so sorry.
CANDY - S'alright.
MERCEDES - No, it isn't. Here. Let me help you.
(Together they clean up the mess. Candy looks at her curiously, as if had known her many years ago.)
CANDY - Would think you're used to a maid doing this for you ?
MERCEDES - Uh, no. (forthright) No. No maids. Corporate downsizing in the late 80's ended all that.
(Candy has noticeably blackened hair at the end of her blonde hair, which she shoves self consciously away as Mercedes notices it.) You're obviously not from around here, are you ?
MERCEDES - (reassuming the facade) No, you're right I'm not. Is it that obvious? Oh dear. I wanted to blend in, too! Everything's so much nicer and kinder in the country here! So quaint!
(The other waitress enters with a new prawn toast and dim sim. She glares at Candy)
CANDY - Cow. (She suddenly sits down at Mercedes' table). My name's Candy.
MERCEDES - Uh ... hi.
CANDY - Do people just roll up and introduce themeselves to you in the city? Or do they not do that ? Is it a quaint country custom?
MERCEDES - Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to begrudge you ...
CANDY - Belittle me, don't you mean ?
MERCEDES - Yes. That was the word I was looking for.
CANDY - Obviously don't write your own copy.
MERCEDES - Uh ... no. (changing the subject) No, I can't say people do come up and introduce themselves. A shame, really. Oh, they do come UP to you. Crazies, of course. Yell at you about Jesus, beg from you, maybe. All part of living in the Big Smoke ... ha ha.
CANDY - What's your name, then? Not in the Big Smoke now, are you ?
MERCEDES - My name? It's Danielle Martinique-Robertson.A Representative of Clinton Advertising. (She shakes her hand in a businesslike manner)
CANDY - Candy Sullivan. A Representative of the Wang Tung Chinese Eatery. (matter-of-factly) So tell me dear, what's your real name?
(Mercedes gapes, flustered. She decides to play it cool)
MERCEDES - Well, strictly, strictly speaking I no longer keep the `Robinson' ... divorce ... (she tails off. Candy is shaking her head, smiling sardonically.) Oh. Oh. well, my, my civilian name ... (her facade once again dissolves). Green. Mercedes Green. Please, no car noises, OK.
CANDY - Don't fool me with your Advertising baloney either.
MERCEDES - Now, THAT my friend is true. Clinton Advertising, I can even show you a campaign I ...
CANDY - Nope. You're a typical Pisces. Cover yourself up but you're still completely transparent.
MERCEDES - H ... How ....
CANDY - I've been around.
MERCEDES - Okay then.
CANDY - Truth ?
MERCEDES - Truth. I'm travelling. A student of life, okay? I'm trying to research a book I'm writing about ... travelling, and country towns and stuff. And the moon. The moon's a major theme in it. Have you ever read `On the Road' by Jack Kerouac? Like that. Happy ?
CANDY - Far, far from it.
(Mercedes picks up the newspaper the customer left and superciliously looks through it, hoping Candy will leave. She doesn't.)
CANDY - Something you're not telling me?
MERCEDES - (suddenly bursting out) So what if there is ? Is it any of your business ? No. Why don't you just butt out ? You country ... damn ... nosey ... (She trails to a halt as Candy begins to laugh) What's your problem, lady? Where I come from they women like you carry dead pigeons in plastic bags and sing to themselves ... (Candy laughs herself out, wiping her eyes. She suddenly opens up and becomes a bit less gruff.)
CANDY - I'm sorry. I was just seeing myself at your age. Look, I'm sorry, I'm a stickybeak, I'm a nosey parker, call me what you like. It's the least of my problems.
MERCEDES - (sarcastically) You got that right. Put your shrink on danger money, honey.
CANDY - Ha! No, I'm sorry. Dear ... Mercedes. Please. Please. Drop this ridiculous business. You're just too see-through. No, I'm sorry, I'm horrible and tactless. My son is always telling me that. I'll level with you. You're probably looking for a good place to see the eclipse, right?
MERCEDES - (cautiously) Perhaps. Nothing that a credit card to the owner of a good hotel won't fix.
CANDY - Well, I'm the owner of the highest up house in town. The Apollo Guest House. Perfect views. How about I give you a room for free. Just cause you remind me of me. How's that sound?
MERCEDES - (pause) We'll see about that. Don't know what the boss'll say, though.
CANDY - I thought we'd finished with that lie?
MERCEDES - Quick, aren't we?
CANDY - Do you still want that newspaper?
MERCEDES - (uneasily) YES! (Candy turns to leave.) Can I just ask you one more thing?
CANDY - Uh huh ?
MERCEDES - What did you do to your hair?
CANDY - (closing up again) You really don't want to know.
(She leaves. Mercedes takes the paper from where she had thrown it, frowning as she reads it.)
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