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Playwright’s Biography

Playwright’s Biography

Daniel Keene’s plays have been produced widely throughout Australia and he is one of Australia’s most internationally performed playwrights. During the thirty years in which he has written for the theatre, his plays have earned critical praise and sell-out seasons in theatres and at festivals in Australia, China, the United States and across Europe, especially in France, where more than eighty productions of his plays have been presented since 2000. His plays, which include All Souls, Half and Half, The Serpent’s Teeth, Silent Partner, Low, Terminus, The Architect’s Walk, The Ninth Moon and Life Without Me have received numerous literary awards, including the NSW Premier’s Prize for literature three times, and the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Literature twice. His groundbreaking and critically acclaimed collaboration with director Ariette Taylor – the Keene/Taylor Theatre Project (1997–2002) – was a major event in Australian theatre culture.

All goes unanswered, love is unanswered, out of the dark

A tongue without speech, a hand without touch, a crude potter’s thumb,

Grooves us a moment, the Esperanto of sense

Jabbers our language, all that we hold in common.

Yet wings make grubs articulate, cocoons are spun for shattering,

And though you keep your hand over my mouth,

I will keep on singing, dry cicada under the spring.

Dorothy Hewett

from Unanswered Love Letter

First Production Details

FIRST PRODUCTION DETAILS

Mother was first produced by If Theatre at the Gasworks Arts Park, Melbourne, on 5 June 2015, with the following cast:

Director, Matt Scholten

Set, Costume and Props Designer, Kat Chan

Lighting Designer, Tom Willis

Sound Designer, Darius Kedros

Stage and Tour Manager, Ainsley Kerr

Character / Setting

CHARACTER

CHRISTIE

She is about sixty years old. Her hair is long and unkempt. She wears a ragged, floral patterned dress that reaches to the ground. Her feet are bare, almost black with dirt.

SETTING

Various locations on the outskirts of a large city.

Mother

ONE

CHRISTIE picking through rubbish on a block of vacant ground

Crows calling

Bruised sky

Rust and rot

yes

that night when Lenny come home he smelt the drink on my lips

he said what’s that

he knew what that was

how many times do I have to tell you he said

he’d told me a hundred thousand times

I don’t know I said how many times

you promised you wouldn’t he said

I know I did I said

what good’s your promises he said you addled bitch

I’m not addled I said I’m as good as gold

funny he said you’re funny

I’m not trying to be I said

I was often funny when I wasn’t trying to be as far as Lenny was concerned

you don’t know what’s funny and what’s not he said

I know more than you think I know I said

that’s not much then he said you know next to nothing

next to nothing is not nothing I said it’s something

and you don’t know what it is I said

I don’t want to know what it is he said

you do I said I can tell you want to know

no I don’t he said I don’t want to know nothing about you

then why’d you marry me I asked him

because I was lonely he said

I was lonely too I said

so that’s what happened and we’re not lonely anymore are we I said

he just looked at me with that look he’d get now and then

and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking

but I knew it wasn’t anything good

/

I took a drink because I needed a rest I explained to him

I needed a rest because of the baby who was very fractious today

very what he said

very fractious I said

what’s that mean he said

the nurse at the clinic told me I said

she said I had a very fractious child

and do you know what it means he said

yes I said the nurse at the clinic explained it to me

explain it to me he said

I don’t want to I said

because I’d forgotten what it meant exactly

except that there was a lot of crying involved

because the baby isn’t comfortable in himself I said

what’s wrong with him Lenny said

it’s nothing serious I said he’s got the gripe and he’s not happy

a baby that little’s not happy or sad he said he’s too young

he doesn’t know what he is

he doesn’t have to know what he is I said

just because he doesn’t know he’s sad doesn’t mean he’s not sad

I thought he was fractious Lenny said

you don’t even know what it means I said

neither do you he said

/

don’t drink that stuff he said

where do you get it from he said

I’m not saying I said

then I didn’t say anything else

and he just looked at me like I was a mad woman

/

it was from Mrs Kennedy that I got the drink

she lived two doors up the street

she was as old as a stone

she was kind to me when I needed a bit of relief

she was as mad as a budgie

but she knew how to mix a few things together

common stuff you could get anywhere

it was her mother’s recipe from when times were worse she said

and I laughed when she said that

and so did she

when did it get easier she said

history doesn’t happen to the poor

and then she laughed again

and I didn’t know what she meant or what I should say

but she didn’t seem to care

/

turpentine was in it I know that much

I always had it with a bit of powdered milk mixed in to help it down

she called it the good stuff

better than anything you could buy in the shops she said

and I gave her a little payment for it when I could

although she always said I didn’t need to pay her

but I always did when I could afford to

/

Lenny sat down at the kitchen table and I gave him his dinner like a good wife is supposed to

and he ate it while I sat looking out the window

aren’t you eating he said

I’m not hungry I said

have you fed the baby he said

of course I have I said

what did you feed him

I fed him mashed banana

is that all

that’s all he needs

how do you know he said

because I’m his mother I said what would you feed him

of course he didn’t know what he’d feed him

you know nothing about children I said

then Lenny didn’t say nothing for a while

he just fiddled with the food on his plate

like a little boy who can’t get his own way

which is what he was like when he couldn’t think of what to say

which was very often the case

/

I can’t sit here all night I said I’ve got things to do

no-one’s asking you to sit here all night he said

what have you got to do you can hardly walk straight he said

have you washed the baby’s clothes at least

yes I have I said he hasn’t got many

they’re out hanging on the line if you want to take a look

of course he couldn’t take a look because it was dark by now

and there was no light out in the yard

when are you going to fix that light I said

he didn’t answer me

he just stood up and scraped what was left on his plate into the bin

that’s a waste I said all that food you’re throwing out

it’s not much he said

didn’t you like it I said

no I didn’t he said

so that was dinner over and done with

/

I woke up in the middle of the night and the bed was empty beside me

so I got up and went to the bedroom door

and I stood there listening

and I heard Lenny singing to the baby

and it was like the baby was singing back

gurgling and whispering with that tiny voice of his

and it sounded so far away

as if the baby being so young made him a long way from us

and there was his dad trying to sing him back

to sing him back home to us

Two

TWO

CHRISTIE on an empty street

Footfalls

Stink of diesel

Rain

I’ve got nothing

I never had much but I’ve got nothing now

for some people that’s as good as me being a criminal

I’m treated like a criminal

the looks I get are terrible

I have to turn away

I don’t know what my face must look like

I hope that it doesn’t look like I feel

I’d hate to think I looked like that

I don’t want my feelings on show because I’m ashamed of them

I never thought I’d feel like I do when people look at me

I never thought I’d feel so worthless

I couldn’t have imagined such a thing

I imagined different things about myself

I forget what they were

but they were better

I thought better of myself

I don’t think anything about myself now

I’ve given all that up

I wouldn’t know how to anymore

I don’t know who I am

I’m just nobody

/

who knows what I might have been

or even who I was once upon a time

there’s no what might have been and no what will be anymore

I wake up every day thinking it might be my last

and sometimes I lie down at night wishing it had been

/

a little boy chased me a few weeks ago

like a wild little bird he was

pecking at my heels and calling me all sorts of names

he couldn’t have been more than ten years old

but the language he used would have shamed a fucking navvy

you get away from me I said you get back home where you belong

but he didn’t take no notice

he just kept at me like a magpie peck peck pecking

so I had to turn around to him and lift my hand

I said to him if you don’t leave me alone I’ll give you a crack around the earhole

and then he laughed he cackled

you’ve got arseholes for earholes he said

haven’t you got nothing better to do than cause me fucking trouble I said

no he said I fucking haven’t

so I took a swing at him and caught him right across the top of the head

and his head was as hard as a rock

he just stood there looking at me

cunt he said you old cunt piss off out of my street you old cunt

it’s not your street I said

anyone who wants can walk down this street and no-one’s got a right to stop them

you stink he said

I might stink I said but I know my rights

and I’ve got manners too which is more than I can say for you

cunt he said sneering at me like a mad rat

so I leaned down close to him

I looked right into his screwed-up little face and I said listen

I said you go home and tell the cunt you came out of that she’s got a cunt for a son and he didn’t say nothing after that

so I just turned and went on my way as if I didn’t have a care in the world

but my heart was racing and I could hardly walk

I felt so weak and I suppose I was afraid

not of that kid but of everything

I was suddenly afraid of everything in the world

/

so that’s how I’m treated on a regular basis

but I’ve learned how to stick up for myself

which is something I only learned very late

the rest of my life I was never able to say a good word for myself

and was never able to stop those that wanted to hurt me from hurting me

there’s some people who like nothing better than to come at you like a rabid dog

and there’s nothing you can do to protect yourself

but you have to learn to take the slings with the arrows as they say

and look after yourself as best you can

no matter how bruised and battered you might feel

which in my case is most of the time

/

I’ve not seen that little rat-face again

I think I must have put the wind right up him

I’ve walked down that street of his other times and he hasn’t shown his face

he had a sweet face really when it wasn’t screwed up with hatred

that’s what it was it was hatred

it’s a hard thing to see it in someone so young

but it’s not a surprise to me anymore

I’ve seen it more than once

I can’t account for it

I suppose there’s all kinds of reasons someone so young can be so sour inside

I wonder if my little boy would have turned out the same

but I find it hard to think that he would have

he would have been kind I’m sure of it

all he knew was kindness

but maybe that don’t matter

maybe he would have forgotten all of that

when he got out into the world and had his heart broken

most likely he would have been too weak to defend himself against all the cruelties he would have found

but he was spared all that

he was spared it like I haven’t been

I’m the one who’s got hard

and he’s stayed as soft as he was

which is a kind of blessing

for him I mean

a blessing for him

/

it’s not a blessing for me

Three

THREE

CHRISTIE in a rest home armchair

Dust

Stillness

Last words ill-heard

they let me in here when I’m too down in the dumps to stay outside

outside is where I’m happiest

but even the happiest times can turn miserable

that’s as easy done as said

sometimes it happens so quick that I think to myself I’m living in a dream

you’re dreaming Christie I say to myself

you were always dreaming that’s the truth I know it is

I’m not afraid of the truth

I never have been

I may have avoided it now and then

but it wasn’t being afraid of it that made me

not afraid for myself anyway

it was always other people who couldn’t be told

who mustn’t be told

you tell some people the truth and they can’t take it in

it ruins them

I’ve seen it

/

I had to tell my father he was dying

my mother couldn’t do it I can’t do it

Christie I can’t do it she said slobbering like an old dog

so I had to

the doctor said it might be best coming from one of the family

and I was all the family there was

/

my father was in some shithole of a place where they put the terminal

the poor ones anyway

but he didn’t catch on

he was a bit gone in the head by then

his liver was gone completely

but he liked to think that he’d battle on

he always thought that he could battle on

I think that being pissed most of the time helped him think so

but I had to walk in there and tell him he was on his way out

so I got led into the public ward by the nurse

who drew the screens around us as quiet as you like

then she was off

I thought there was no use beating around the bush

so I just come out with it as plain as I could make it

you’re dying Dad I said they told me that you’re dying

he didn’t speak

he just stared at me like he didn’t know who I was

then he shut his eyes

that was the last I saw of him

he was dead that night

I’ve often wondered what would have happened if I’d told him he was doing good

and that there was nothing to worry about

he might have hung on a bit longer

although I don’t know what for seeing the state he was in

it would make the cat weep

he was as yellow as old wallpaper and weak as a baby

it was me telling him that killed him

it was knowing he was dying that was the cause of death

/

I know that I’ll be dead one day as well

but I’m not going to let knowing that kill me

/

there are mad old women in here all dying from one thing or another

some of them are going quietly they hardly wrinkle the sheets

there’s others who don’t stop moaning day and night

oh I’m in pain they say in terrible pain

well pain’s all relative isn’t it love

we’re all in fucking pain one way or another I tell them

I’ve got no time for pain

I’ve got no interest in it

how can I be interested in something as common or garden as pain

it’d be like being interested in breathing

/

they call this place a rest home

it’s a laugh isn’t it

the next stop’s the morgue and everyone knows it

there’s a room out the back where they put the corpses before they’re carted off they’ve offered me a bed but I said no

you might as well put me straight into a coffin as into a bed in this place

I’ve got no intention of dying just at the moment I tell them

it’s all charity in here of course

it’s all about the good deeds of the few to ease the suffering of the many

there’s a lot of that goes on

I don’t know what good it does anyone

I saw an old girl sitting in a bus stop not long ago

dead as a doornail she was

her little bit of shopping on the bench beside her

she didn’t know what hit her probably

but there she was doing what she always did when she dropped off the twig

not stuck in a bed among strangers all waiting for the end

it’s like walking the fucking plank as far as I’m concerned

/

I used to have the baby in bed with me when he was very new

he was like a little hot water bottle

Lenny didn’t like it much

I can’t get to you he said

get to me for what I said

you know what he said

well I’m not interested in that right at the moment I said

when will you be he said

I don’t know I said I’ve got other things on my mind

what things he said

I’m a new mother now I said and my life’s changed

I’ve got to sort myself out

sort what out he said

how do I know I said I’m just getting started

what am I supposed to do in the meantime he said

you have to be patient I said

he didn’t like that too much

but I wasn’t budging

and I put my arms around the baby and lifted him up and laid him on my belly

we haven’t thought of a name yet I said

what should we call him

call him anything you like said Lenny

you have to like the name too I said

he didn’t say nothing

/

I think Lenny didn’t know the baby very well

so he didn’t know what to call him

but he knew how to love him

/

yes he loved him I know that

/

something from the Bible I said that’s always good

a name that means something and that you can read stories about

how about Jacob I said

Lenny said that sounds like a Jewish name

and I said it was a Jewish name

and Lenny said we’re not Jewish

we’re not anything I said

but Lenny didn’t want a Jewish name

why don’t you want him to have a Jewish name I said

Lenny didn’t answer he just shrugged

what about Abraham I said just to have a laugh

for fuck’s sake Lenny said

Irish names were out too

and so were any of the names of the royal family who were just scum the lot of them according to Lenny

there aren’t many names left I said

what about Lenny he said

but that’s your name I said

it can be his name too he said

I wouldn’t know who was who I said

yes you would he said

and I knew I would I suppose

but I wasn’t sure the baby wanted to be called Lenny

he wants his own name I said

it would be his name Lenny said

but it’s your name as well I said

what’s wrong with my name he said

there’s nothing wrong with your name I said

I think it’s a beautiful name it’s a beautiful name because it suits you

how does it suit me he said

it just does because that’s who you are I said

you’re Lenny

what would you rather be called I said

you could have your name changed if you wanted

I don’t want my bloody name changed he said

if you changed your name then we could call the baby Lenny and there wouldn’t be any mix-ups

what would I be called he said

I don’t know I said

how about Adam

and I could change my name to Eve

you’re a bloody idiot he said

/

so we called the baby Lenny and Lenny stayed Lenny as well

Four

FOUR

CHRISTIE in a church

Cold light

Brief echoes

Smell of priest

when I was left alone with the baby I called him something else

I called him Beau

because I read somewhere that Beau means beautiful

I never told Lenny

/

those were lovely times alone with Beau

I’d make a nest with the bedclothes

and we’d lie in there in the afternoon all dozy

and I’d make little cooing and whistling sounds

and pretend that we were all alone in the world

all alone in the big tree I imagined we were in

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