 WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND
Based on the novel by Mary Hayley Bell and the screenplay by
Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse and the film by Richard Attenborough
and Bryan Forbes.
Adapted by Russell Labey and Richard Taylor
With music and lyrics by Richard Taylor
Act I | Act II | Instrumentation | Characters | Review Quotes | About the Music | About the
Staging
The Story
Act One
December in the late I950's
in a Lancashire village. Out of the darkness and howling wind
a voice sings "Behold! For the day of the Lord will come." (PROLOGUE)
Someone strikes a match - it is Eddie, a labourer on the Bostock
farm, who is carrying a sack from which kittens' miaows can
be heard. He drops the sack into a canal. Cathy, Nan and Charles,
Mr. Bostock's children, watch him from a hiding place and,
as Eddie exits, they rescue the kittens. Caring for them will
be difficult; they can not show them to Dad, as he will give
them back to Eddie (THE KITTENS). Charles tries unsuccessfully
to give one to his friend, Jackie Greenwood, and to a Salvation
Army woman. However, as nobody wants them, they eventually
decide to keep all three in a barn on the farm.
Outside the barn, Cathy, the eldest, makes the other two promise
not to tell anyone of the kittens' existence. Nan asks who is
going to look after them and Charles, echoing the bland sentiments
of the Salvation Army woman, says that "Jesus will". Cathy tells
him not to be daft as Jesus can not look after them because
he is dead. Nan, shocked, says that He will come and get Cathy
for saying such things. Cathy is not impressed and, after sending
the others to the farmhouse, enters the barn. She goes to a
large mound of hay and buries the kittens' basket in it. Suddenly
a man bolts upright from out of the hay and stares wide-eyed
at Cathy. He is delirious and his clothes and hands are all
bloody from a wound in his side. Shocked, Cathy asks who he
is and he, also shocked, utters "Jesus Christ!" and collapses.
Cathy freezes in horror.
In the Farmhouse, Dad is talking to Auntie, his sister; since
the death of his wife she has looked after him and the children.
Cathy rushes in, shaken from her experience. She tells Nan that
she has seen Jesus in their barn. Over dinner Cathy sings of
what she has discovered, wondering why Jesus has picked on her
(CATHY'S PRAYER).
The next morning, Cathy and Nan, having refused to tell Charles
their secret, go to the barn. The Man is asleep and Nan remarks
that she does not feel afraid (FUNNY, IT DOESN'T FEEL STRANGE).
Charles suddenly enters. He has come to play with his kitten
and sees The Man. Cathy and Nan tell him that The Man is Jesus
and make him swear not to tell. The Man wakes up and, after
accepting some food, falls back to sleep.
Sunday morning. Parents and children arrive at the Church and
are greeted by the Vicar. The children are sent off to Sunday
School. We learn from the village policeman that an escaped
murderer is on the loose in the district (WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING
FOR A MURDERER). At the Sunday School, Miss Lodge, the teacher,
is asked by Cathy what would happen if Jesus came back -could
they stop Him being crucified a second time? Miss Lodge says
that people would have to try harder this time to stop that
from happening and that they should praise Him and follow Him.
The three children get more food for The Man and laugh about
how everyone will want to come to see Jesus once they know that
He is in their barn - even THE MAYOR OF BURNLEY! At the barn
door there is gathered a group of other children - Charles has
obviously not been able to keep the secret. Cathy makes the
other children swear not to tell and they file into the barn.
The Man is getting better, but is still in pain from his injury.
Cathy asks Charles to go back to the house to get some cloth
to clean The Man's wound. The other children, after shyly saying
hello, ask him to tell a story. He is handed a magazine and
a bible, but chooses to read from the magazine. Whilst he is
doing so, the children sing of how they will protect Jesus from
danger this time (HYMN). Suddenly there is a noise outside -
it is Mr. Bostock with Charles. The children hide The Man in
the hay as Dad and Charles enter. Dad wants to know what the
children are doing there, but on seeing the bible thinks that
Cathy has been reading to them. He asks Cathy if she has been
talking to any strangers and warns her to be careful. When Dad
goes The Man emerges from the hay and Cathy asks the children
to go because he is tired. The Man thanks Cathy for not giving
him away and she helps to clean his wounded side. He asks her
why the children are helping him. She replies that it is because
they love Him. As she turns to go, she gives him a picture of
Jesus that she took from the Sunday School, and says that it
is a picture of Him.
Act Two
December 23rd.
The villagers are still alarmed about the convict and Dad lectures
Cathy once more about not speaking to strangers (OPENING SEQUENCE).
In the school play-ground, Raymond, the village bully, on being
told by the children that they have seen Jesus, captures and
bullies Jackie Greenwood into saying three times that he has
not seen Him.
In the barn Cathy gives The Man more food. He asks for cigarettes,
somewhat to Cathy's surprise, and says that he must be going
soon. Charles enters - he has come to see Spider, his kitten.
On finding it dead he runs outside, distraught, followed by
Cathy. He tells her that The Man cannot be Jesus as He would
never have let the kitten die; Cathy comforts Charles and tells
him that it is Jesus - she just knows (SPIDER).
At the Sunday School that evening the children enact out THE
NATIVITY to their bored parents, who seem more interested in
criticising each other than watching the play. After polite
applause everyone attends to the tea that has been laid out.
Cathy, thinking of Charles' kitten, asks the Vicar why it is
that Jesus lets some things die before their time. The Vicar
gives a very evasive reply and Charles and Cathy realise that
he does not know. The other children ask Cathy if they can go
and see The Man and, using the distraction caused by DAD'S PARTY
PIECE (Ione On A Moor), they quietly slip out.
At the Barn the twelve children sit around The Man and eat
their party cakes. The Man is moved by the love and faith that
the children have for him. At that moment there is a loud banging
on the door - it is Raymond. He has heard them talking to The
Man, and, when they refuse to let him in, tells them that "they
will be sorry" and dashes off. The Man, realising that Raymond
has gone to tell the adults about him, says that he will be
going later that evening. The children are upset, and as they
silently eat their cakes The Man and Elizabeth, one of the children,
put their feelings into words (ANGELS). However, when the children
start to exit, The Man says that he might not go tonight and
they leave happier. The Man, realising that he has not got time
to escape, locks the door from the inside and gives vent to
his emotions (I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE WAITING TO HEAR).
At the farmhouse Cathy, Nan and Charles burst in on Dad and
Raymond. Raymond leaves, having told Dad that he heard a strange
man talking to the children in the barn. The children tell Dad
that they will only tell him The Man's identity if he promises
to keep it secret. After some wavering he makes the promise,
but when they tell him it becomes obvious that he does not believe
them (THE SECRET). The phone rings - it is the Police Inspector,
whom Raymond has also told - and Cathy, on impulse, darts out
of the door to warn The Man of his imminent arrest.
Standing outside an opening at the back of the barn Cathy pleads
with The Man to leave before it is too late, but he refuses
(PLEASE, JESUS ... ). She throws some cigarettes and matches
through the hole and says that she will stay with him. Police
cars, their sirens blaring, can be heard approaching. Nan appears
at Cathy's side and tells her to go to the front of the barn
where there is frenetic activity. Policemen and the children's
fathers are all rushing about in the darkness trying to find
some light. When they find a torch the light shows up a mass
of children's faces. All the children of the ' village have
amassed themselves in front of the barn door to stop the arrest
(FOLLOW! FOLLOW! FOLLOW HIM!). They resolutely refuse to move
and link arms. Suddenly a policeman notices that smoke is pouring
out of the barn's roof and raises the alarm (THE FIRE). Despite
the fire the children huddle calmly and defiantly together.
When the fire has been extinguished, Dad ushers his children
into the gutted interior where there is no sign of The Man.
There is, however, something Dad wants them to see and he shines
his torch on to a large cross which has been painted on the
wall. The children realise that this is The Man's goodbye and
that he is now finally free. (HYMN - Reprise).
About The Staging
Whistle Down The Wind on stage largely follows
the pattern set by the film and is extremely episodic. It is
vital that the telling of the story is not halted for scene
changes - they must be swift. My advice is to keep it simple
and rely heavily on lighting. A stone cross war memorial will
suggest the village; a table, chairs and perhaps a dresser on
an open stage "closed-down" with lighting is more than enough
for the kitchen. The original production used a three-sided
truck, one side of which was on hinges and could be opened.
It was the hinged side that contained within it the barn door
- when this side of the truck was closed we were outside the
barn and when it was open, inside the barn. The truck could
also be wheeled round to show other sides for the Sunday School
etc. The barn was collapsible so that it looked like a skeleton
of rafters for the final scene, but there are simpler ways of
convincing the audience of the fire - just strike the hay, props
and agricultural paraphernalia you might be using as set dressing.
For the big production numbers, which are set in a variety of
simultaneous locations, use a lot of cues, bouncing at the appropriate
moments from one area to another to define the street, the church,
the Sunday School stage etc.
The young cast members must act and sing like real children
caught up in a story they accept with a natural innocence and
faith. Cathy must establish herself as the leader of the "Disciples"
and must be an actress capable of the emotional outpourings
at the end of the play. The Man should be an attractive actor
with both charm and menace - he must be believable as both a
murderer and Jesus Christ.
At no time in the play is the audience told, one way or the
other, if The Man is the convict or Christ. Providing the "Disciples"
are not too holy, knowing or artificial they will be convincing.
After two years of touring the original production not a single
member of the audience ever said to me that they didn't believe
that the children would believe the man in the barn was Jesus.
I'm convinced that is the way to make this great story hold
its magic.
Russell Labey
About The Music
From the outset I wanted the music to have a definite role
in the piece. I was never interested in simply slotting songs
into the screenplay from the film, since they would never have
felt truly integrated into the whole, and would have broken
up rather than forwarded the narrative. The music had to add
a new dimension all of its own, as well as being part of the
very fabric of the piece, so this could become not just the
novel or film onstage, but the third telling of the story, as
distinct and apart from these previous versions as they are
from each other.
As a result, the music is used to help distinguish the world
in which the children of the story live from that of their parents.
Often the youngsters, especially the three main characters of
Cathy, Nan and Charles, unquestioningly sing amongst themselves
as naturally as they talk, but never to anyone outside their
"group". And the same may be said of the adults. They are of
two different worlds, each with their own secret language, seemingly
unconnectable until, that is, the chasm is bridged by the stranger
in the barn. There are few "songs" as such, though the music
hardly stops, rather the sung passages are tightly interwoven
with the spoken libretto in an attempt to allow the story to
unfold naturally and effortlessly, and also almost to remove
the conscious awareness of when a character is singing. Speech
and song should blend into one.
Richard Taylor
Characters
Children
Cathy Bostock - Eldest sister of Nan & Charles
Nan Bostock - Sister of Cathy & Charles
Charles Bostock - Younger brother of Cathy & Nan
David Edwards
Elizabeth
Jackie Greenwood
Jenny
Jo
Laurie
Robert
Adults
The Man
Dad - Father of Cathy, Nan & Charles
Auntie - Dad's sister
Policeman - The father of Raymond
Vicar
Miss Lodge - Sunday School teacher
Salvation Army Woman
Mrs. Pembridge - Village mother
Eddie - Farm labourer
Sam
Stephen
Raymond - Village bully, son of the Policeman
Village Children, Mothers, Fathers, Policemen (Note: The final
scene requires a large chorus of children in addition to the 'Disciples'
listed above - the original NYMT production used 30)
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