Tanika Gupta: Historical Plays by Tanika Gupta

Author:Tanika Gupta [Gupta, Tanika]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Asia, India & South Asia, Performing Arts, General, Drama, European, English; Irish; Scottish; Welsh, Art, Performance
ISBN: 9781786825469
Google: TaH8DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2018-11-30T01:44:09+00:00

SCENE 2

It is night time. We are on the moonlit deck of the boat and RANI is sat with HARI reading by the light of a hurricane lamp. The stars are out and the sea is calm.

RANI: (Reads.)

Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

HARI reads falteringly.

HARI: I closed my lids, and kept them close,

And the balls like pulses beat;

For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky

Lay like a load on my weary eye,

And the dead were at my feet.

RANI: You are reading very well.

HARI puts down the book.

HARI: He shouldn’t have killed the albatross.

RANI: Do you like the poem?

HARI: We navigate by the stars and the winds but I understand this poem. It is terrible to be lost on the sea in a mist.

HARI gets up and paces.

RANI: Have you ever thought of making your living in England?

HARI: I tried it once. Became an apprentice with a carpenter. Used to be good at carving wood. Made chairs with my grandfather back home. But no, it didn’t work out.

RANI: If you learnt your letters, you could get a job as a clerk.

HARI laughs long and hard.

RANI: Why are you laughing?

HARI: Because I am stupid with letters.

RANI: You’re not! Look how much you’ve achieved in these few weeks! You’re a quick learner Hari.

HARI: My grandfather started to teach me, but then he died and that was the end of my lessons.

RANI: It’s never too late and I can teach you.

HARI looks at RANI, grateful.

HARI: You have a kind heart.

RANI: If you come to where I work every day, even for half an hour, we can sit outside and read together.

HARI: I’m a sailor Rani. How would I earn money to eat?

RANI: You can find work somewhere…it’s a big city. There must be work.

HARI: You want me to stay near you?

RANI looks coy.

HARI: You like me that much?

RANI: When I have finished with you, you will be able to read the newspapers.

HARI reaches over and holds her hand.

HARI: Then you will have to be my teacher for a long time. They hear the sound of a fiddle playing on the deck.

HARI: I wish I was a wealthy man. Then we could be married and you wouldn’t need to work as a servant for English families.

RANI: Who said I want to marry you? And I like working!

HARI: I love you Rani

RANI: Don’t be silly.

HARI: Don’t laugh at me. I know I have nothing to offer you. But I could make you very happy.

HARI edges closer to RANI, placing his arm around her.

RANI: (Laughs.) Stop it Hari.

HARI: The first time I saw you on this boat, I felt I had known you in another life…that we had been together…seeing you made me feel like a sailor feels when he has been drifting on an endless swell of sea and then he spots the land. The relief! The joy! Knowing that he will stand on firm ground.

RANI and HARI get closer. They kiss.

MRS MATTHEWS: RANI! RANI! Please see to the children! They have woken up!

RANI pulls back.

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