THE HOME FRONT
by Hal D. Stewart
Although this
play was written after World War One ended, it focuses on what life was like
during the war for women living in Scottish farming communities. It premiered
on January 27, 1931 in a production created by the Ayrshire Federation of
Scottish Women’s Rural Institutes in the city of Dunlop. The next production
was staged by the Scottish Players in the Lyric Theatre in Glasgow on the 24th
of March of the same year. Following those two productions, The Home Front
became a very popular play with Scottish women’s drama groups.
The cast is comprised of seven female characters. It is set in the light and airy kitchen of the Murdoch’s farm. The year is 1918. Billy Ashmore is an enlisted member of the “Land Girls.” She is from Glasgow but was assigned to work on this farm. Billy is in her early twenties and dressed in her uniform of khaki tunic and breeches. When she first arrived on the farm, Mrs. Murdoch’s son John was still at home. John and Billy became engaged prior to his leaving to fight in France.
A LAND GIRL AT WORK
On the day when the play begins, Mrs. Murdoch and her two daughters are expecting John to come home for a brief furlough. A problem suddenly develops among the town busybodies. Billy had gone to a dance the previous evening that was held for the British soldiers stationed in town. She danced with the officer who is billeted at the Murdoch farm and the local farm ladies believe that was not appropriate behavior for an engaged woman. It was much ado about nothing, however, the play ends sadly with word of John’s death in France.
When Stewart wrote this play,
there was a need for scripts with roles only for women. This casting underlines the fact that so many
men had either died or been severely wounded. Thus, males were in limited
supply for every type of work. The
Home Front also clearly depicts how the local women frequently needed help
in the fields to produce food for market as well as coping with the
business responsibilities of running the farms. The British Women’s Land Army
of 23,000 females took the place of the 100,000 workers lost to the armed
forces. This play is a tribute to these women and a remembrance of their
service.
Hal D. Stewart
(1899-????) is remembered as a Scottish stage producer and director; however,
he also established a reputation in London theatre. His playwriting seems to be mainly focused
during the years between 1930 through 1950s.
The Home Front continued to be produced regularly for Drama
Festivals in Scotland into the middle of the 1980s.
SYMPHONY IN ILLUSION by
James Wallace Bell
Symphony in Illusion was
written in 1931-32. Like The Home Front, it was written for a female
cast of seven women. This unusual play has a strong anti-war message, and it was
a unique script for the women’s drama clubs of Scotland. James Wallace Bell (????-1984)
was known as a theatrical producer as well as the acclaimed author of “Symphony.”
Symphony in Illusion
is a drama that was conceived in the format of a symphonic composition. It is divided into three movements instead of
acts. Each movement is assigned a
musical term to designate the pace of the speech and movement.
First Movement: Allegro.
Scene---A bare stage. One quickly
recognizes this play presents a contrast between reality and illusion since the
seven actresses engage in preparing the stage for the play. “SHE-WHO-PLAYS-THE-MAD-GIRL” is designated by
the playwright as the director of the play. The actresses argue over trifles as
they set up the scenic elements utilizing a brisk and lively pace. When the scenery
and props are in place, the actresses take their positions on the stage as the
lighting darkens to a black-out.
Second Movement: Largo.
The characters: A Woman, A Widow, A
Girl, A Wanton, An Old Woman, Mary, and A Mad Girl. The Scene—it is night. This segment of the
play is the war interlude. The major scenic elements include the broken steps
leading to the portal, without doors, of a war-ruined church. “The muffled rhythm
of distant guns is heard in the darkness; not loud, but terribly insistent.” The
women are weary and listless. They all wear drab peasant dresses, and have
shawls covering their heads and shoulders, except A Girl and the Wanton. The
characters are highly strung and nervous to the point of hysteria. The war has been in progress for four years.
This play shows how these
females relate to each other during these trying circumstances. The older
characters continue to harangue a young woman who had married a man from the
enemy country, before the war had commenced.
They do not let her have any food since they treat her as an enemy. She
and her baby starve to death despite the character named Wanton, who pleads for
the young mother’s life. As the act concludes and the sounds of war cease, dawn
rises and Mary, the voice of reason in this drama, goes to bury her son.
Third Movement: Andante
non troppo. “All the lights click on, white and hard; the dawn becomes
merely a back-cloth.” Mad Girl (with
a sigh of relief) announces “And that’s that.” The other actresses start
talking about their characters and the ideas in the play as they begin to clear
the stage of the props and scenic elements. Shortly the overhead lights are
switched-off. Only the foot lights illuminate the stage. “Girl” continues to stare
out into the distance before running off. Mary and Wanton continue to collect the
crosses left on stage and exit as the footlight “quickly dim out.”
This play was published in
1933 by Samuel French, Ltd., London. Like The Home Front, Symphony in
Illusion was also produced by many universities and Dramatic Societies throughout
Scotland during the 1930s and 1940s. It won first prize for those groups who
mastered the style of production and the truth of its message. It was a
well-known play during the period between World War One and Two. It is an unique
script.
NOTE: To see more of The Women's Land Army in Pictures visit www.iwm.org.uk/history/the- womens-land-army-in-pictures
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