The Lamplighter, стр. 11
MARY:
Where can the runaway hide.
LAMPLIGHTER:
When five Angolans ran away in 1761,
They headed east for as long as they could,
Thinking they would return to their own country,
If they just stayed east.
BLACK HARRIOT:
Running away was a leap in the dark.
Running away was a search for the heart.
LAMPLIGHTER:
Doll ran way to go a courting.
Philippa ran off to go a sweet hearting.
Clarissa ran to find her free mother,
Living under the green trees in Roebuck.
BLACK HARRIOT:
The Barbados Slave Code of 1661
To the enslaved, it gives – no rights,
No rights of man, no rights of woman,
Not even the right to life.
CONSTANCE:
Jamaica Slave Code, St Lucia Slave Code, Demerara Slave Code,
Dominica Slave Code, St Vincent Slave Code, Tobago Slave Code.
LAMPLIGHTER:
In 1817, Chloe was trusted by the Houselady
To go and sell glassware.
She never came back.
MARY:
Jane Frances ran away and tried to pass
As a free women, and fled the island.
LAMPLIGHTER:
A few miles up the Savannah River
One hundred slaves lived free
And formed their own community.
They lived on corn, hogs and fowl.
BLACK HARRIOT:
Kate ran away in 1756,
She ran for thirty miles to West River.
MACBEAN:
It is enacted that baptism does not alter the condition to the person as to his bondage or freedom.
MARY:
Hearken unto this, O Job, stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.
BLACK HARRIOT:
Joan had a smiling countenance.
Jack had a pleasant countenance.
Tom Buck had a tongue full of compliments.
MARY:
All three said sweet, honey words to the Man.
All three ran away.
CONSTANCE:
Fast as they can.
LAMPLIGHTER:
I ran away five times.
Four times they got me and brought me back.
Even the forty lashes on my back,
Even the hundred and forty,
Didn’t stop me trying again,
Just to feel those moments
Of freedom, to taste the air.
But the fifth time, I made it!
This is the story of how I got
From here to there:
This is the story of the Lamplighter.
MARY:
Related by Herself!
MACBEAN:
Lady Broughton of Marchwhiel Hall near Wrexham in 1686.
CONSTANCE:
‘A guinea reward for the return of my black boy.’
LAMPLIGHTER:
Colonel Kirke advertised for a sixteen year old runaway.
CONSTANCE:
‘He has a silver Collar about his Neck, upon which is the Colonel’s Coat of Arms and Cipher.’
MACBEAN:
William, King of England from 1689 to 1702,
Had a favourite black slave.
The bust is on display at Hampton Court
Complete with carved white marble collar
With a padlock, like a dog’s collar.
CONSTANCE:
Hue and cry advertisements:
MARY:
Four guineas offered for a man called York owned by Betsey.
A boy of say twelve years, stocky, well-set,
Goes by the name of Somerset,
Is sought by his Master, Mr Ross,
Of Bristol.
CONSTANCE:
A guinea for his capture.
MACBEAN:
A black slave going by the name of Starling,
Who blows the French horn well,
Ran away from a publican in Princes Street.
BLACK HARRIOT:
Runaway runaway, country or town.
Runaway, runaway, don’t slow down.
Runaway, runaway, girl or boy.
Runaway, runaway, freedom is joy.
CONSTANCE:
We reach the verandah. I want to sink into the floor and disappear. I want to walk through the wall. I want to be able to walk on water. I want to believe in God. Please God. If ever there was a day, God, to make me believe in you, make it this day. If ever there was a moment, God, to show me a sign of you, give my sign right now.
It happens slow and then all of a sudden it happens fast. The Man plucks my bean girl from me, forces his dirty fingers into her mouth, rubs her gums and teeth.
MACBEAN:
Constance is 45 yrs of age, dark complexion, round built, intelligent & genteel… She has been the mother of 15 children, 4 of whom had been sold away from her, one is still held in Petersburg, the others are all dead. At the sale of one of her children ‘she was thrown into such a state of grief that she lost speech for a month in consequence thereof, convulsions were very frequently brought on’.
CONSTANCE:
My light is gone. Every word I could say is gone. I am struck. I am falling down. I am falling still; my bean girl is three years old. She will always be three years old. I wonder if she will remember me. Or if she will forget.
LAMPLIGHTER (whisper):
Remember, forget. Forget,
Remember. Remember, forget,
Forget, remember.
MARY:
Runaway runaway, country or town.
Runaway, runaway, don’t slow down.
Runaway, runaway, girl or boy.
Runaway, runaway, freedom is joy.
LAMPLIGHTER:
When BigCheese told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in everything, that I was nothing but a slave whose will must be to surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt so strong.
CONSTANCE:
I said to herself.
LAMPLIGHTER:
I swore to myself.
MARY:
I swore to herself.
LAMPLIGHTER:
One day I would be free.
Scene 12: Shipping News
CONSTANCE:
Across the Atlantic, the slave ships sped –
The Ann, the Margery, the Diana
The Angel, the Jesus, the Grace of God.
MARY:
The Grace of God.
BLACK HARRIOT:
The Blessing, the Bridget, the Fanny, the Hannah, the Reformation, the Perseverance.
MARY:
The Perseverance.
CONSTANCE:
The Charming Sally, the Ruby, the Hare,
The Isabella, the Eliza, the Othello,
The Sarah, the Ferret, the Rebecca.
MACBEAN:
Across the icy glare of water
Across the never ending sea
Far away from land and daughter
Far away from family.
LAMPLIGHTER:
Nothing to see but sea
Nothing to hear but roar
Nothing to smell but blood and gore
Nothing to taste but salt and rice
Nothing to sense but fear.
MACBEAN:
January 1st Buried one man – of dysentery.
January 3rd – one woman – ditto.
January 6th – one woman – of a lethargy.
January 15th – one boy of a dysentery.
January 16th – one manboy – ditto.
January 17th – one girl – ditto.
January 18th – one man – ditto.
January 19th – one boy – ditto.
January 28th – one boy – ditto.
January 31st – one woman – of sulkiness.
LAMPLIGHTER:
I would rather die on yonder gallows
Than live in slavery.
MACBEAN:
The moon that night was in a shroud.
CONSTANCE:
The moon was in a shroud.
MACBEAN:
The gales were high and the gales were loud.
One African in three did not survive the
Slave ships. One African in three did
Not survive the first three years in
Her or his new country.
MARY:
Ten million tons of sugar cane arrived.
BLACK HARRIOT:
Raw sugar. Moist sugar. White sugar. Brown sugar.
Muscovada. Molasses. Syrup. Treacle. Caramel.
CONSTANCE:
Coming soon. Sweet, not sour.
Scene 13: British Cities
FX:
(The sound of the sea at the port, the sound of ships arriving,