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H. G. Wells’s
THE TIME MACHINE
A NEW MUSICAL
� 1996 Book and lyrics by Alex Went , music by John Moore, edited for the stage by Peter Fanning. Based on the story by H.G. Wells. This libretto may not be copied or hired out under any circumstances.
Act One: Scene 1 - Scene 2 - Scene 3 - Scene 4 - Scene 5 - Scene 6 Act Two: Scene 1 - Scene 2 - Scene 3 - Scene 4 - Scene 5 - Scene 6 Back to The Time Machine Home Page  The Time Machine Act One 4 June 1997 Scene 1: Prologue / At the Central Station Darkness. A ticking sound, as of an old grandfather clock. The lights come up on a desk, behind which sits a figure, Gregory Watts, who carefully contrives a cage of small brass rods, about the size of a carriage clock, the working model for a Time Machine. This continues for a little time. He pauses only to consult a notebook. A shadow emerges behind him. His wife, Louisa, dressed to go out, carrying his cape, hat... She starts to speak, but he holds up a hand. She come slowly to him and approaches her face to the small object. Watts significantly places the final piece. He stands, takes her in his arms, retreats with her from the desk. He dons his jacket. She places the cape around him, hands him his hat. She keeps her eyes on him. He raises his eyes to the heavens. Watts: Finished! The sound of a steam whistle. Smoke, the stage instantly filled with the travelling populace of London of 1897. As they sing and fly, the desk and model are cleared. As the lights come up they illuminate a vast white clock face of the kind found at Victorian railway stations. 1/ Progress! Ten to eight! The hands on the clock say ten to - Ten to eight! This was surely the time we were meant to Be here! The time on the clock’s The accurate time to refer to The time on the clock Is surely the time we prefer to Go by! We’ll never take another man’s word for it We’ll never trust or take what we’ve heard for it This is the best way to tell the time This is the progress of all mankind! Don’t be late! You’ll never again miss appointments Don’t be late! Just check to avoid disappointments Early! The time on the clock’s The time on the clock’s The steps that that the dance is done to Daily! We’ll never take another man’s word for it We’ll never trust or take what we’ve heard for it This is the best way to tell the time This is the
progress of all mankind! Watts: Louisa, dearest, are you sure? Louisa: Of course! Steadman wouldn’t let us down: he told us the eight o’clock. Watts: But which day -which day? Louisa: Why, Gregory, today! (spelling it out to him) The-thirtieth of December-Eighteen-Ninety-Seven. Sometimes I wonder whether you have any conception of time at all. If you had, you would have known, and we could have avoided this rush... Watts: Darling, I am abject. Louisa: As always. Oh look! Gregory, dearest - isn’t that him? Steadman? He’s just as you described! The hat, the scarf, the gloves, the little eye-glasses - a true Bohemian! Oh it simply must be! Is it? Watts: Louisa, your eye, as ever, is as accurate and unerring as a station clock. (shouts) Steadman! Steadman! Over here!
1/ (Reprise) This is it! The time all the trains arrive here This is it! The time when it’s all alive here Progress! The time on the clock’s A sign of civilization The time on the clock’s The sign of a prosp’rous nation’s Success! We all await at the turn of the centuries What has been promised - the greatest adventure
is This is the progress of all mankind! Stead: Watts! (to a porter) Here! Thank you - a shilling - keep the change. Watts.... good to see you, (seeing Louisa) and, I think.... Watts: Mr Ernest Steadman, Mrs Louisa Watts, my wife; Louisa ... Louisa: Delighted, I’m sure. Mr Steadman... Stead: Please, Mrs Watts... Watts catches sight of the stationmaster, excuses himself and rushes after him. Stead: Watts? Louisa: He has some business with the stationmaster. Gregory’s latest scheme - the authorities allow him the use of a shed in the sidings - home is just too small these days for his experiments... Stead: [laughing] A sidings shed? What is he building - a train? Louisa: No, no, nothing so .. it’s just that - Stead: Ah, my dear Mrs Watts, the life of an author is so very trouble-free, in comparison... No laboratories for me - I can work wherever and whenever I like: paper and ink are my tools, and my materials are all around me. Human behaviour, human interaction - natural realism, Mrs Watts - it’s the new style. A style for the century! Louisa: Gregory! Watts: Steadman, I’m so sorry. How good to see you! When did you set out? Stead: Oh, at six, I suppose, yes six o’clock - it’s taken two hours precisely.Remarkable! Watts: My belief is that such times will be exceeded before the century is out - perhaps even sooner. Stead: Yet part of me fears this progress, Watts; ours is a civilized society, linked throughout the nation by this miraculous effect of what is nothing more than the transferral of drops of water into steam. But those same effects may spur the engineers who wage our wars. Remember that - human society is only as advanced as its most brutal and bloody battle. Louisa: Gregory? Watts: Yes - um... Steadman, let me take your bags. It’s not too far from here, but we should start now before the light goes. Stead: On foot again, eh? Back to nature? How odd that we should not be able to take to the air by now, Watts. That could be your next project - a flying machine! Watts stops, looks at him and laughs... straight into instrumental reprise of (1). As they leave the station precinct shadows emerge from the sides of buildings: The Wreckers, a gang of ne’erdowells who have no understanding of progress, and for whom technology is to be despised. Wrecker 1: (sneering) ‘Human society’ - Pah! (they laugh but Wrecker 1 cuts them off) Wrecker 1: Forget human society - human society couldn’t care less - why should we care about them? Wrecker 3: Right. Why should we care? Wrecker 2: When you can’t get a ticket cos you can’t afford the fare Who cares about trains? Wrecker 4: Who cares about anything? Wrecker 3: ‘Progress’. Hah! They’re all so sure - just cos they’ve got some clock up there
Wrecker 1: I reckon it won’t be brighter in an undred years. Wrecker 2: A fahsand! Wrecker 4: An undred fahsand! Wrecker 3: And if it ever is, I’ll be there to make sure they remember - just remember - what it’s really all about. 2/ Nothing but Nothing (Wreckers) Got no job, no employment Coupla bob - no enjoyment Sitting around - it’s what we’re ‘ere for - Nothing but nothing is all we care for Got no fancy clothes to suit’ya Got no friends, got no future, Society’s taken from us by theft Nothing but nothing’s what we’ve got left Got no cash, got no credit Wanna splash | out? Forgeddit! Cut all their pockets - it’s what they’re made for Nothing but nothing is what we’re paid for Ain’t got nothing, nothing to play for Nothing to do, nothing to stay for; Nothing but nothing’s our expectation Nothing but nothing’s our destination. "Give and it shall be given" Save up the interest as you earn; Nothing but nothing is our return... Got no fancy clothes to suit’ya Got no friends, got no future, Society’s taken from us by theft Nothing but nothing’s what we’ve got left Got no luck, got no lodging Always stuck, always dodging Over the tracks and into the siding Nothing but nothing’s where we’re hiding Ain’t got nothing, nothing to play for Nothing to do, and nothing to stay for; Nothing but nothing’s our expectation Nothing but nothing’s our destination [Cut-down dance of wreckers. A police whistle is heard] [urgently][ Over the tracks and into the shadows Into the sidings and down the cut Hide in the darkness while they’re searchin’ Stick to your word and keep it shut
(whispered) Stick to your word and keep it shut. The following sets of dialogue are underscored Police2: Nothing here sir: they’ve completely vanished. One moment they’re here, the next they’ve gone, quick as Jack Flash. Police1: Nothing new there; have you checked the tracks? Behind the sheds? Down by the footbridge? Police3: All clean as a whistle, Serg. [pause] Police1: Well - no point hangin’ around; move on... (they move...) Wreckers (emerging) Got no luck, got no lodging Always stuck, always dodging Over the tracks and into the siding Nothing but nothing’s where we’re hiding Chorus (overlaid) We all await at the turn of the centuries What has been promised - the greatest adventure is Coming each minute the clock ticks by This is the progress of all mankind As the wreckers hear these fatal words they freeze and slink away . Scene 2: The year 1897: Watts’s Drawing Room. Evening Blackout, as the music fades away, leaving only the sound of a ticking clock. As shadowy figures emerge, a pre-recorded voice-over is heard: loud, authoritative, optimistic, a Pathe news voice. Alternatively, this speech could be taken by the ‘PROGRESS CHORUS’ In blackout…. Voiceover: Ladies and Gentleman, society is advancing. We may travel from A to B at speeds which would have seemed scarce conceivable only twenty years ago. Since the advent of steam locomotion, times exceeding forty miles an hour have been registered, and it seems that this progress will not be stopped. By exponential process, we may, before the beginning of the twentieth century, be able to attain speeds greater than one hundred miles per hour! Only now do the lights come up We are at a domestic hearth. Lamplight. Around the table sit Steadman (the author), plus the psychologist, the doctor, the lawyer, the accountant, and Louisa Watts. On the table, the model of the Time Machine. A hum of general approval Watts (continuing the voice): These facts are not in dispute. But tonight, I want you, if you will, to
Doctor That is easy, we do so already: when I get on the train at Banbury I am - so old. By the time I reach you here in the metropolis I have aged. true, by an infinitesimal degree (laughter) but, nevertheless I am older. Watts: Indeed, doctor, you are quite right: when we travel, whether by foot, or in a train. we pass through time. Stead: This much is obvious. Watts, I have not just travelled from Oxford in order to hear this! Watts: Perhaps you will understand me better, then, by the time you return. After all, you will have grown older, and perhaps wiser, on your train journey. General laughter, but Steadman is muted, and remains so for the rest of the scene: Lawyer: Well, tains are one thing, but I fail to understand you reference to height. We have no free choice as to the height at which we travel in a train. Louisa: Perhaps, but what of balloons, sir? In a balloon we may determine our altitude as we go. Watts: Precisely my dear, and so it is, I believe, with Time. Mrs Jay: More tea, Doctor? Filby: No, no... that is the difficulty. You can move about in all directions of Space, but you cannot move about in Time. Watts: (Beat) Which is the germ of my great discovery! If we look at Time as the fourth dimension, consider a geometry of the world inclusive of Time. Why, if we may move freely in terms of length, breadth, and height, may we not also move in Time? Bot: Well, if you are right, the advantages would be enormous. Imagine, for instance, being able to verify the accepted account of the Battle of Hastings... [all laugh] Filby: Or joining in the great scientific discoveries...[laugh] Doctor: Or getting one’s Greek from the very lips of Plato - or (points at Stead) Homer! [laugh] Watts: (not reading their levity) Yes! Imagine such a journey: Whom might we meet? What see? What experiences might we have? ...
3/ Which of us will travel into Time (Watts) / Flight of Fancy (Steadman)
Watts (speaks): Which of us will travel into time? Where might we go to and what would we see? How many times have you thought of that journey How many times have you had such a scheme? This is my secret; this is my yearning If I could make you believe in my dream!
Secrets that are numberless are mine What would you give to be able to see... What it is drives me to find out the answer What it is drives all the passion of youth? This is the moment, this is the chance of a lifetime of study, to find out the truth Which of us will travel into time? Where might we go to and what would we see? Stead: Don’t be absurd Watts Haven’t you heard what They’re saying to you about your flight of fancy? Don’t be absurd Watts Has it occurred, Watts They’re mocking you now You’ve not the slightest chance! Don’t be so vain Watts The danger is plain, What’s The matter with you Do you believe this nonsense? Don’t be absurd Watts Haven’t you heard Watts? Watts: Which of us will travel into time? Where might we go to and what would we see? Stead: Listen to me, to Hear the voice of reason Stead: Call me a cynic, Watts, but there’s only one way you will convince me, and that is by means of a practical demonstration... Watts: You say so? You, Steadman. You, a man of imagination, require the proof of your own eyes? Stead: My work is all proved by the eyes. Take my new book, for example: the characters are all the characters you might meet around you on any day, in any town, in any street. This is the natural realism, Watts, not your science fiction. Watts: What of you, gentlemen? You too require empirical evidence? Doctor: Mrs Jay’s tea-cakes are empirical enough for me, Watts. Thank you m’dear. [laughter] Watts: You are agreed, then, that scientific proof is what is required? Well then. Watch! [He whips off a cloth and reveals the model of the time machine]] Accnt: The machine is very delicate. Stead: Those rods there, what are they made of? Filby: This is of ivory, this lever, of brass, this - Accnt: Extraordinary! Filby: of nickel.... Stead: And this? [points] Doctor: It looks like twisted crystal. It is beautifully made. But go on, look more carefully. I don’t want to waste it, only to be told that I am a quack. Stead: Waste the machine? What can you mean? Louisa: What you see is Gregory’s model for a Time Machine. But it is no ordinary model. This is a working prototype. Accnt: You mean...? Watts: Yes, this little model here is your proof. Presently I am going to press the lever, and off the machine will go. It will vanish, pass into future time, and disappear. [Long pause] Now.... if you are ready, gentlemen. Stand back... He is about to press the lever when suddenly he turns to Steadman. No. Lend me your hand. He takes Steadman’s hand and presses the lever with his forefinger. There is a breath of wind, that extinguishes a candle on the mantelpiece. The machine swings round, becomes an eddy of glittering brass, and is gone. Silence for a long time. Doctor: Good gracious! Suddenly, the lawyer sweeps up the tablecloth. They dive under the table. There is nothing there. They all chase around the room frantically, looking for the model. It is nowhere. Watts meanwhile calmly fills his pipe. Watts: Well? Filby: Look here, are you In earnest about this? Doctor: Do you seriously believe that that machine has travelled into time? Watts: [lightly] Certainly!The machine has passed - into whatever other point of time, by a route which we cannot see. Look! He passes his hand through the space once occupied by the machine Now - what do you say? Lawyer: Don’t be absurd, Watts - you cannot travel through walls! Acct: The model was a trick - Doctor: Like that ghost you showed us last Christmas! Filby: Even if you are telling the truth, Watts, what do you intend? Watts: What you have seen is only a model. But I have been working on a full-size version, big enough to carry one person. Bot: Only one? And that person will be - yourself? Watts: Of course. Filby: So, Watts, you would travel into Time and leave your wife here alone? (He shoots a glance at Louisa) Louisa: (swallowing) Gregory and I - have an understanding... he has promised ... Watts: (interrupting) Indeed I have. My absence will be brief, and besides, the machine will allow my
Filby: Indeed, Watts. Have no fear, (beat) Louisa. (he smiles at her) Stead: It can never work! Watts: You require further proof? Then accompany me, if you will, tomorrow, to the station, where, from my laboratory, I intend to explore - time! And now, gentlemen, I must bid you goodnight. Mrs Jay will show you out... Come, Louisa - She goes to him at the upstageright door (bedroom). They exit. The group stare at the table. Then they break out in busy whispering: Stead: Preposterous! Filby: But what if he is right? What if the model was not a fake? Doctor: Do you really mean that? Filby: Well, if he has really cracked the problem of travelling across time, the commercial
4/ Which of us will travel into Time? Filby: Which of us will travel into time? Where might we go to and what would we see? Lawyer Which of my cases will be celebrated? Filby Who will unlock all the codes of the mind? Acct: How will financial investments be rated? Doctor What new diseases and cures might I find? Acct: Secrets that are numberless are mine What would you give to be able to see... All: Which of our names will be seen over doorways, (with swell of orch) on plinths and on statues, to all men decreed? academies, institutes, libraries. more ways than you’d imagine you’d time to read? Lawyer: Will they have solved the eternal dilemmas? Filby: Will they have solved the insoluble crime? Acct: Will they look back to condone or condemn us Bot: What will we find when we travel in time? Filby: (aside) And if Watts were to disappear, why not take the benefit? Filby: I see a time when the world is uncertain Nothing is stable and nothing is fixed All that remains is a shadowy curtain What is behind it, who can predict? All: Which of us will travel into time? Where might we go to and what would we see? All: Which of our names will be seen over doorways, on plinths and on statues, to all men decreed? academies, institutes, libraries. more ways than you’d imagine you’d time to read? Stead: (stops them in their tracks) No! You have seen those idlers at the station - what if they are still there in the future?. (sings) Why should you think that the future is golden Why should it seem such a brave new frontier? When to my thinking the vision is cold and Comfortless, filling my mind with fear... All:(sing to downstage) We all await at the turn of the centuries What has been promised - the greatest adventure
is This is the progress of all mankind! Stead: Where is the streetlamp, where is the station? Where is the omnibus, where is the train? Where is the warmth of civilization When all that remains is the falling rain? Fade to black Scene 3: Louisa and Watts alone Louisa moves d/s to the table. She goes to the table and picks up the tea-plate. She stops, glancing at the empty table where the machine once was, and then stares out at the audience. Watts: (entering with a candle) Louisa? [she remains silent] Is there anything ...? Louisa: Gregory - I cannot sleep. I know that you have worked for so long on this - But I cannot, I cannot bear to think of you - Watts: But, my angel - If progress is to mean anything, then I must convince them. Come with us. Be part of this with me. Think! We are at the very edge of human understanding. Just one more step, and - who knows? Louisa: But where will you go? Watts: Not where, my love, but when. As far as the machine will take me, but all the time I shall be in my place. In another dimension, I’ll be here, with you - Louisa: I do understand. ... it’s just that, just that... Watts: Louisa, my love, take this for me. He gives her a small silver pocket watch If, tomorrow, anything should happen to me, keep this safe... It is set at the present hour, set with all the accuracy of the station clock. Louisa: But this was my wedding-gift to you! Inscribed especially - Watts: "In my end is my beginning" And now both the watch and the inscription are proofs that I shall return. (and speaks straight into..) 5/Always Watts: Here, in our home we have loved, Here in the fireside glow Think of our love, my darling, think of the wonderful stories we used to know
Magic lights, Arabian nights Carpets of colours, mother-of-pearl Distant lands, foreign sands, All the wonderful places we dreamt we’d go But always - I’d come back, my dear, and Always You would wait for me. Always - our love would keep us near, and Always here we both would be. Louisa: How I remember those tales, But when the lamps are low How many times have I waited here and wished that the shadows would disappear Stories of sorrow told till tomorrow Stories that never seemed to end Distant wars, foreign shores All of the world seemed falling around me
(gently) If never - you came back my dear, if Never - you once returned to me. Ever - our love would cry in tears, if Never together we could be. Filby: She is concerned. Can it be true, then? He does mean to vanish, just like his model...
Filby: How I have longed for your glance And now the lamps are low How many times have I hoped and prayed And wished for the day that would bring me here
If Watts’s experiment works Tomorrow my dream may be Think of our love, my darling, think Of the wonderful moments still to come...
Watts: With you, my love, with you Whatever you say, whatever you do For eternity and beyond I’ll be F+W: With you, my darling, with you Wherever you are, wherever you go For ever, for ever fond You’ll see.... L,W,F: Ever - We love each other now, and (Filby: Ever, I love Louisa so, and Never allow our love to fade
F+W: I will not leave, not now, not ever I would not leave you alone - to Gether - we cannot choose but be to Gether - together we will be for Ever - We love each other now and Never allow that love to fade As they move, Filby’s face disappears from the french windows and the wreckers appear; wind. Wreckers: Got no luck, got no lodging / Always stuck, always dodging Over the tracks and into the siding / Nothing but nothing’s - where we’re hiding.... As they chant, the scene changes to Scene 4: The Station workshop. Evening Fog. Railway lanterns. Behind the gates, a hiss of steam, a train departs. A shadowy group - the wreckers gather in the gloom. Porter: That’s all; last train tonight sir. I’ll lock the yard gates, sir. Police1: Very good, Peters; if there’s any more trouble, send a man down to the station, we’ll be up in no time. Hello - who are these? Porter: That’ll be Mr Watts’s party sir. He mentioned they’d be down about now. Watts: Good evening, officer. Peters? [Peters gives him the key to the shed] The necessary arrangements have been made; the stationmaster has been informed. Goodnight, Peters. (to policeman) Sergeant. Police1: Goodnight, sir, see you in the morning. Oh, and erm - Do be careful Mr Watts - we’ve checked the place for trouble, sir, but you can’t be too careful... not in this day and age... He looks behind at the assembled party, shakes his head in puzzlement, and exits. Peters shuts the gates, and the shed doors open simultaneously to reveal the covered machine... The dialogue should be busy: Watts: (whipping off cover, air of a magician) Behold! Acct: Great Scott! Stead: Watts, it’ll never work. That contraption? That parrot cage? Watts: What you see before you is nothing other than a larger version of the model, at a ratio of sixteen to one. Filby: A miracle, Watts. Why, look at the care with which it is built: the same metals, the same materials. Doctor: I remain unconvinced. A model is one thing; but how will this ever leave the ground? Watts: Leave the ground? You still have not understood. This machine does not travel in space, but in time. In a few moments, when I activate the mechanism, you will see me disappear. But I will not have moved from this spot. I shall be here, but not here; it’s quite simple! As he explains, and they listen, enter the Wreckers: they assemble around the gates in the darkness. Wrecker 1 It’s like I said, every night, just at the same time, he arrives, unlocks it and goes in. Wrecker 2: But what’s he doin’? Watts: There’ll be risks, of course. Louisa turns away, with a sharp breath, catching Watts momentarily off-guard. Filby moves across to her. Watts: .. but they are risks that can be easily reversed. Wreckers: Who cares what ‘e’s doin’? He’s got the key! Wrecker 3: But we don’t need no key. No keys for us, lads. When have gates ever held us up? Wreckers: Never! Filby: And, if the machine should be broken? Stead: In this century, perhaps, but what of future times? Watts: You admit then, that there will be such futures? Because, if you do, you are half-way there! Steadman: (dreaming) Watts, your magic begins to work on me.... Silence. They look at him. As S sings, he wanders towards the machine and touches it, tries its texture, considers its feel. 6/ I have heard Stead: I have heard of Mephistopheles I have heard of stranger alchemies than these. Lawyer How he tempts and how he still confounds Filby: How he fills the ear with all the sounds that please. All: But what if there’s a chance Small as it may seem To travel into Time, to say we do not dream to say, this is no dream? Filby: Is such travel so impossible? If such boundaries are crossable Then what? Bot: All those places that I plan to see Ask yourself is this a fantasy Or not? All: What if there’s a chance Small as it may seem To travel into Time, to say we do not dream to say, this is no a crash offstage; music continues, underscoring the following dialogue... Louisa: Gregory! Listen! Outside, the noise of a lock being tried. Voices. Now the music combines with... Wrecker 1: Smash it all up - their progress, their dreams Wrecker 2: Smash into pieces their cocktail drinks Wrecker 3: Smash their inventions, smash up their schemes Wrecker 4: Smash it all up, cos Society stinks Underscore the following, combining into ‘Going on!’ Acct: Who’s there? Louisa: Gregory! Filby: Watts - someone’s breaking in! Watts: Come - there is no time to lose. Gentlemen, hold the door. Before the hands reach the half-hour, I shall be here again, with you. Doctor: Watts, look out! Watts: (mounting machine) Steadman! Don’t touch - the machine is not yet ready! Louisa,
A whirring, throbbing sound fills the auditorium. The cage starts to heft and shudder violently. It appears, momentarily to leave the ground. A wind around the cage. Watts holds on to the cage but is swept upwards with a cry. Louisa grasps Watts but it is too late - he is borne aloft. She falls away. Watts wrestles with Steadman for control of the lever. Spinning lights fill the space. The wreckers break in and grab Louisa but fall backwards with force and scatter. All of this underscored. Wreckers: What’s goin’ on? What ve eck? Ere - Mister - What’s goin ‘ on? Goin on? Goin on? Goin on ----
7/On into Time Watts - grand, victoriously: Going on! On into Time Into the future Into the future of our lives! Both: Going on! On into Time Passing the bound’ry Into the future of mankind! Stead: Where are we going? / What are you showing Me? Where is the world I know? Watts: No need to question! This is your answer This is your destiny! Watts: Haven’t you always longed for fame? Always wanted to make your name? Didn’t you want - to survive Into the future of our lives?
All Going on! On into Fame! It’s what I’ve wanted all my life Watts: And you will have that fame - I promise you! Stead: But look down, Watts. Those shapes - what are they doing? Watts: Those you see are shadows, Steadman - ghosts - they know nothing of our existence - they are the voices of eternity, the voices that will never die. Wreckers: What’s the noise? Where’ve they gone Come on boys - cut and run If you want - to survive Watts: Into the future of our lives! Watts: Haven’t you always wondered why? They’re always there? they’ll never die Wreckers: ..... We’ll never die Wreckers: We’ll go on - this is your answer Into the future of your lives! Wreckers: Smash it all up - their progress, their dreams S/W: Going on! On into Fame! Smash it all up cos Society stinks! It’s what I’ve wanted all my life following which, suddenly, all is quiet. The hum of the machine going off into time. Stead: Watts, I think I see your wife: there! In danger! Watts: That cannot be my wife. Look at the dials! 1950, 1960 - Look at the dials - my wife, Steadman, is long in her grave. The last word echoes around as the lights fail; in a single spot, Louisa appears d/s: 8/ I watch by your watch Louisa: I watch by your watch Keep my eyes on the hands The hands on its face, my darling And though I can’t catch Even one of its seconds The face that I see seems to smile.... I watch all around Keep my eyes on the door For the shadow that seems to be stealing And though my heart pounds And the darkness may beckon Your watch is a comfort the while Watts: Keep the best time / By my watch, Louisa Filby: All the best times / For us both, Louisa Louisa: Never leave me!… Watts: Going on!… Wreckers: Smash it all up!… Filby: Never leave me!… Steadman: Going on!… Smash it all up!… Watts: You see, man? You can’t say this is a dream any more! This is your future! Your fame! Stead: Then if it is, Watts, let me have it - let me have it now! (Plinths): What if there’s a chance Small as it may seem To travel into time To say this is no dream! Louisa: He will never leave me - he will never leave me - he will never leave me *cut repeats (PAF) Chords build steadily to climactic woomph: Steadman for a second time wrestles with the controls. Watts resists - the machine starts to spin out of control. Shouts: "No, leave it alone! The lever!" etc. Watts attempts to regain control, but the machine lurches. Steadman falls, appearing to float in space before falling gently to the ground. Aloft, the machine spins into darkness. Wind sound. Scene 5: The year 1997 - the Universal Library Steadman lies on the damp floor of a dim and apparently deserted place. Stead: Watts! ... Watts! [he starts to move upstage, downstage again, exploring....] Watts!? Gone ... he’s gone ...The Time Machine! I knew it.... [lightly] Readers: Shhhhhhhhhhh! Stead: Huh?! What’s that? .... What is this place? Here’s a step - I don’t recall.... and here some kind of shelf - a door - and here on the wall - if only I can re---each........ Lights come on full. Lib: Can I be of assistance, sir? Stead: Where is the platform? Where is the train? Lib: Train, sir? Stead: This is the Central Station? Lib: It was - but this is 1997, sir - the millennium will soon be with us! Stead: I don’t understand - what is this place? Lib: Why, sir, don’t you know? As they sing, the library scene is prepared. The idea is to create a sense of clockwork efficiency. Tables slide effortlessly into position, lamps are switched on in order, and people move to designated positions. Cards are stamped, books shelved and returned, etc. This is sung as a stately progress.
9/ A Book for every Man (Chorus)... There is a book for every man Here in the uni- ver- sal lib-ra-ry Here is a place for all to scan All of the universe the eye can see! (triplets) All of the excellent authors we celebrate All of the best of the books we have read to date! There is a book (There is a book) for every
man! Your name is there - if you look carefully! Lib assts: Dickens and Wordsworth and all of the Bronte Sisters are here if you know what you want is - a - Book from the universal library, Look in the universal library! We’ve got a ticket for ev-er-y man Borrow tomorrow and then if you want you can Chorus: Climb all the stairs in the library Free from your cares for an hour in the library Ev-e-ry question you care to name Every author who’s ever been touched by fame Miss Hornrim: From 1900 to now These are the words that will live for ever All of the centuries’ great endeavour Written for all to see! Instrumental continues under this dialogue. He moves to go, but turns back. Miss Hornrim: May I help you sir? Is there a particular book, a classification? Stead: No, er… That is, yes....there is one thing. I wonder whether you have a record of
He does so - instrumental continues as they search for the book...ladders, steps, etc... Chorus: Climb all the stairs in the library Free from your cares for an hour in the library Ev-e-ry question you care to name Stead (speaks): Who is it that’s been touched by fame? Miss Hornrim: We have no record here of your book, Mr Steadman…There’s Bernard Shaw? Stead: Bernard Shaw? [Stead receives each book, looks, and discards it] Miss Hornrim: There’s Stacpoole? Stanford? or Stanley. Steadman (speaks) But no Steadman? You have no Steadman? Miss Hornrim: There is one other book, perhaps you’d like to see, by a Gregory Watts? Stead: Watts? Miss Hornrim: Yes - here it is - by Gregory Watts. [She hands him the book]
Stead: (sings) But no Steadman? All: No - no Steadman’s Ever been read by ourselves - No Steadman Resides on the library’s shelves! Chor: Great men of letters are housed in the library You can’t do better than browse in our library!
Your name is there - if you look carefully! Dickens and Wordsworth and all of the Bronte Sisters are here if you know what you want is - a Book from the universal library, Look in the universal library! Ev-e-ry question you care to name Ev-er-y author who’s been touched by fame Here in the universal We’re in the universal Come to the universal Librar- ee!!!!! The library clock strikes. A repeat of the coda as the stage clears. Scene 6: A deserted alleyway: Steadman alone... 10/ I have heard (2) Stead: Watts, you monster... you were right - the future was waiting for me. But what future? A future where I am unrecognized, where my reputation is just so much ... dust ... As he moves, he is deliberately jostled by a group of wreckers crossing upstage. Wrecker1: Oi - look where ya goin’, mate! Wrecker2: What you want, eh? Wrecker1: Where’s ya manners, Grandad? (calling after him) Don’t they teach ya nuffink at school? Wrecker3: Yeah! Wrecker1: What you got that stuff on for anyhow. Fancy dress, is it? Stead: Now look here... Wrecker 3: Now look here... Talks fancy dunn’e? Wrecker 1: (grabbing book) ‘The Time Machine’ ? What’s that then, eh? Wrecker 2: (grabbing book from W1) Yeah.. Wrecker 4: Ere, let’s ‘ave a look! They quickly throw the book among themselves, Steadman vainly trying to catch it as it flies...} Stead: Now look, I don’t know who you are... Wrecker 1: No more than we don’t. Who are we then eh? What’s my name, eh? Wrecker2: Yeah - what’s is name? Wrecker1: What’s my name? Stead: I really don’t Wrecker 1: Don't what? What don’cha? Wrecker 1: Amusing, eh? Amusing? Oooh - we are not amused... Wrecker 2: Who said that then? Wrecker2: Someone said it. Wrecker1: I said it. Wrecker2: Nah -someone else. Someone famous.... Wreckers: (with real menace) Good Queen Vic, was it, eh? Good Queen Vic? Stead: How dare you insult - Her Majesty! Wrecker 1: You what? Wrecker 2: Who asked you to speak? Wrecker 1: Look, Grandad, you startin’ with us? We don’t care if you know all the answers. We don’t care if you dress weird. . Wrecker 2: Yeah. Wrecker 1: In fact, we don’t care about you at all. Ain’ that right? Wrecker 2: ‘sRight. Wrecker 3: So come on, mate, let’s be having that hat Wrecker x: and that silk scarf Wrecker 1: and that fancy watch... and that book! Stead: No - let go! Help! He is savagely beaten to the ground. They throw the book at him. Wrecker 1: All right, lads, let’s go... There you go, Grandad, ave a good read of that... 10/I have heard (2) I have written many words before Social commentaries by the score But what If it’s true that this is what will be Then it seems that all societ-y Is lost And what of my own name The hopes that I have nursed If travelling into time, I find my dream of fame I find my dream is cursed? Steadman raises himself and staggers d/s to the book. He picks it up.... Stead: ( whispers) "Gregory Watts - The Time Machine" [Blackout]
lights slowly fade to Blackout
Scene 1: The year 802,701. A pleasant valley. Trees. Dawn. Watts alone. A shadow flits across the stage: Watts (in dream) Louisa? Watts (sitting up) Steadman? Watts (now standing, amazed..) Where are they? Strange music! The voices of children in the branches! Eloi: Ah-nee-maaaah! Watts: Strange sounds! All around me...! Eloi: Ah-nee-maaah! Watts: Ah-neee-maaah! Eloi: Ah-neee-maaah! Watts: Stranger still, they answer me. He gets out a pocket telescope These buildings - temples? (swinging round) Is that - a figure ? (beat) It was, I see now, a dream... these voices... playing only in my imagination... He fetches out a notebook The land is bountiful; the buildings a ruin of a civilization that is past... hah! Past! The machine... has survived. The dials set
at 802 thousand, 701..Before me, I cannot see beyond the crest... the wood’s too dense... Starlight effect (mirror ball) and a rosy hue as the Eloi folk enter in a stately procession 10/ Flower song (Eloi/Weena/Watts) E: Ah wee a na ma Lah nee Lah nee Lah nee Lah wee a na ma Wah le wah le wah le W1:Out of the morning I must have fallen From the far heaven Like a bright angel downwards hurled Far from their under standing I stand here Stand in the splendour of their world W2: Falling like flowers Fall from the morning Fall to the evening Into the evening of their world Weena: Ah wee a na ma Lah nee Lah nee Lah nee Lah wee a na ma Wah le wah le wah le W3: (to Weena) : What of your learning? What of your language? And are your people all the same? What of your yearning? What of your anguish? Tell me your secrets - Tell me your name... Weena: (two long, drawn out sighing syllables) Wee-nahh! W5 (spoken) Weena, they call you? E: Lah-nee-lah-nee-lah-nee W: And, all your people E: Eloi, Eloi, Eloi Weena: Eloi, Weena
Weena looks at him and laughs, then picks up the flower and stretches out her hand to offer the flower to Watts. Suddenly a distant moan: the Eloi cease to sing. Eloi: (whispers) Mor-lock! Eloi hurry upstage and form a waiting tableau, then look back and gesture to Weena... Watts: (downstage, muses) ‘Mor-lock’ - a beautiful sound - ‘mor- lock - a flower....’ Come closer Weena - it’s so nearly dark - I can hardly see your face... It is too late, Two-three Morlock pounce from behind the TM. One of them sweeps Weena up and she appears to faint, appearing to offer herself to the Morlock. The second restrains Watts, the third dances around the tableau. Watts disables the first, beats off the second and strikes the third, which he pins down. Watts: Quickly, my matches... .. Let us see what this creature is! (He strikes one) Augh! What a hideous thing! Another! (Strikes again) Good God - what is this thing! He strikes again - this time the flame holds: we see the creature momentarily - then it struggles frantically and gets away Watts: Weena - Weena! (reviving her) It’s I, Gregory - Weena! (he manages to revive her) ...
Watts comforts her; Weena looks up at him; he administers the medicine... she is frightened still, and attempts to escape him - he chases her, catches her and hold her in his arms: Musical interlude ("Ah-wee-a-na-mah….") Watts: The light has gone; (noticing) but what is that glinting in the moonlight? A pair of eye-glasses? How can these have got here? Look, Weena, hold them up to the light! He holds her close as they both look through the lens. It is as if I see through them, back to my own time. Through this lens I see them all - Filby, Mrs Jay, my darling Louisa… Music as enter Louisa and Mrs Watts Scene 2: 1897: Watt’s Drawing Room. Day Two: late evening Louisa at her embroidery is startled by a crash from the other side of time. Enter Filby, a blizzard at his back Filby: Good evening, Mrs Jay, Mrs Watts Mrs Jay: (taking his coat) It’s good of you to drop by, Mr Filby. (secretly) She gets so fretful at nights, Mrs Watts does. Always lingering by the window, ‘case she spots ‘im comin’ ‘ome. Filby: (taking the watch from the table) A curious timepiece, Mrs Watts ... may I? Louisa: Oh, please, I’d rather you... Filby: (turning it) "In my End is my Beginning" - why, how appropriate... Mrs Jay, would you excuse us - I have a few words which are for the ears of Mrs Watts alone. Mrs Jay: There are no secrets in this house, Mr Filby. Filby: Even so - what I have to say is - of a delicate nature. Louisa: Very well, Mrs Jay. Mrs Jay proudly gathers things + departs. Filby: Mrs Watts, I must be blunt. What your husband has enacted may well be - an elaborate deception. Louisa: Deception, Mr Filby? I don’t understand... Filby: Forgive me - (in a lower voice he continues). Louisa, your husband may indeed have succeeded in travelling into time. Louisa: Then, what...? Filby: That is not the deception of which I speak... There goes - a rumour - that your husband . ... your husband may be, unknown to you, consorting with another. Louisa: No! Gregory would never allow such a thing. Mr Filby - your suggestion is more than improper - it is impossible. (emotionally) Please, leave. Filby: (catching her) No - listen. Where is he? Where is Watts? Tell me that... If you were sure of his fidelity - forgive me - you would have no doubt at all.... Every evening you sit at your embroidery, willing time to pass; you hear the silvery chime of Gregory’s watch, you look up, occasionally, your eyes expectantly on the door...but listen... it’s best that you know the truth: 12/Pattern on Pattern despite his wicked intentions, Filby sings this caringly Filby: I can assure you Nothing is sure, you Must know my story’s No mere flight of fancy Where he has been is Plain to be seen, this secret Machine is not his only trick! Louisa: Pattern on pattern Shadow on shadow I have been weaving Such a dream of longing This is the pattern I keep for my husband... This is the pattern I keep for my true love Filby: To travel in time was A dream, a conception To travel in time No more than his deception... This is the dream , the dream he exalts This is the dream by which he plays you false! *cut repeats (PAF) Filby: But you must see, the dream’s unravelling All of your pattern, all of his love... Filby: To travel in time was A dream, a conception To travel in time No more than his deception... This is the dream , the dream he exalts This is the dream by which he plays you false!
Louisa now rises, and as band continues to play Pattern on Pattern, Louisa: Gregory! It cannot be true - (she raises her voice) I will not allow it to be true! Mrs Jay (entering) : Is everything alright, mum? [To Filby] There, you see, you’ve upset her... Filby: No, really , I... Mrs Jay: Mr Filby, I think it’s best that you leave. I can look after Mrs Watts quite adequately. Good night to you sir - I think you know where the front door is. Filby: Good night, Mrs Watts (exit) Mrs Jay: There, that’s better. I’ve never cared for that man.
Louisa: Pattern on pattern Keeping me close to you Pattern on pattern Making you mine Weaving a way across the centuries Weaving a way across the realms of time.... As the light fades she remains spotted, and as the scene closes, figures are peering through the window But they are not the wreckers, they are the morlocks, who are now seen gathering around the Time Machine. As they dismantle the machine, we once more hear the voices of wreckers, but now they are morlock, singing "Ha-ha-na ha-ha-na" to the tune of "Got no job...." Scene 3: The year 802,701: morning Musical link. Dawn light, slow, with birdsong...Watts awakes. The machine is gone. Weena stands over him holding a brass rod. Watts: What is it Weena? Weena: Goree- a na ma - a na ma - a na ma Watts: (sits her down - instructively...)Where have you taken this from, Weena? You must not take this - without this, I cannot - return - to my wife... Look. This part is essential to the machine... come, we’ll replace it. Watts stops in his tracks. The machine is vanished. A musical moment Watts: Gone! Weena: Goree? Watts: Don’t you see? They must have come in the night, while I dreamt. So - I can’t get back. My contract with Time‘s... cancelled. Suddenly, a noise. They see what they think is a Morlock, and hide.. The figure suddenly leaps into c/s. Weena: Mor-lock! Watts: (hoarse whisper) Quickly, Weena - Is that one of them returning for the final piece? Look, how it staggers - what a horrible animal! 13 / Drink from this bottle Stead: (for it is he) Drink from this bottle / In it is what’ll Give you your greatest desire In place of your flower / I’ll give you the power Ful gift of Promethean fire! Drink just a little / and you’ll find that it’ll Teach you all these secrets of mine; This is the stuff / You can’t get enough of What is it? The great God of Wine! Great God of Wine! Great God of Mine!
Watts creeps up with Weena - They leap on the figure and pin him to the ground. Suddenly - recognition. Watts: Steadman! Stead: Watts? Watts: I don’t believe it - how can you be here? The only time machine is mine... I don’t understand... Stead: (notices them) My spectacles! You
had them all along! Stead: Ah! you have a little Eloi friend! (To Weena) Ah-na ma- weh- la - la wee mah ne whe lah - eloi. Weena: Leh-mann Lah we eloi lah we lah we!
[exit Weena] Stead: Of course! Nee- ma- weh! Watts: And the language? Stead: Oh... I picked it up, Watts. Watts: Then you have been here ..... Stead: Oh, for months, Watts, months and months. Remember, time is relative: I may have set off after you did, but I arrived here more quickly - that (beat) is the meaning of progress! Watts: But I still don’t understand. Why here? Why now? Stead: Ah! Fruit time! Re-enter Weena with Eloi. As fruit music plays, Eloi serve them with exotic fruit. Stead: When I turned up, so to speak, in the dying days of the twentieth century, I found myself - it was quite a shock - in the reading room of the British Library. At first, I didn’t see that I had travelled in time. It was as if nothing had changed - the library was as out of date as ever - but do you know what really upset me, Watts? No-one had heard of me. That’s right: a hundred years into the future and not one of my works had lasted.
Watts: My story? Stead: Yes - you wrote a book - "The Time Machine" Watts: I did? Stead: After you returned. Watts: (realizing) After I returned? Stead: And from that book I took my plans. Watts: (excitedly) You - built a Time Machine as well? Stead: Of course! Watts: Then, Steadman, you may be able to help me... Stead: Help you, Watts? Yes - I’ll help you - You remember our petty arguments and disagreements? Well, they are a thing of the past. I admit it, You were right, Watts! A future of progress! Nothing like the barren, bleak prospect I envisaged. But now, here we both are in the year eight hundred thousand-odd, and look - humanity has changed. People live peaceably with one another, and so can we. Listen, I’ve taught them a little song: 14/ This is the truth I’ve found (Steadman / Watts/ Eloi) S (in spot) Right from the start of time People have asked the same: What is the greatest good What is its name? Is it pleasure, is it pain? Is it leisure, is it labour? Is it to love yourself Or love your neighbour? lights up on chorus, continue to spot Stead What is happiness? This is happiness! A future of ease, a future of pleasure What is happiness This is happiness! A world of delight, a world of endless leisure! Is it the ideal world of Plato or Aristotle? Or is contentment found Within a bottle? Is it smiles, is it tears? Is it poor or Is it rich? Is it that or is it this Please tell me which? What is happiness? This is happiness! A future of ease, a future of pleasure What is happiness This is happiness! A world of delight, a world of endless leisure! W: No, it’s not like that: our happiness is just a dream! Right from the start of time People have known the score Happy though they may seem, Their hearts are sore: Is it yearning, is it grief Is it burning disbelief? Is it to lose yourself Or lose your faith? Eloi: We’ve found the answer here We’ve found the means to cure us Of all our doubts and fears Better than Epicurus! S: It is pleasure. my old friend It is pleasure without measure It is pleasure without end For us for ever! *Cut � slow motion (PAF) - the music now sinisterly underscores dialogue.... Watts: Steadman, you’re wrong. There is no happiness. I have seen this land with other eyes. These people who feed us fruit, these slender mortals, the Eloi... Stead: Yes? Watts: ...are not the only inhabitant of this time. Steadman... we are in danger from those other creatures, those pale shadows that emerge at night... Stead: The morlock? No - they are interested only in Eloi, not in us. Watts: Perhaps not us, but what of Weena? Steadman, listen... your machine Stead: What machine? Watts: The one which brought you here? Stead: Gone, Watts. What was the point of it? I am content, I have what I want... why keep the thing? Here in our future, let’s relax. We may not have our reputations, but think, Watts, of the endless conversations we can have, the endless joy! More fruit? Na- we-la-cha-na naa! Watts: Gone? You destroyed it? Stead: Of course, why be sentimental? The future is waiting, and I had no need to return to the hardships of the past. Watts, we come from a century of thuggery and deceit. Why go back? Stead: ( leisurely pace) Right from the start of time People have wondered this: How to achieve what is The greatest bliss? This is the truth I’ve found This is the prize I’ve gained This is the one I’ve waited for This is my fame! The Eloi scamper away as the stage is suddenly filled with bleached, spider-like figures, naked except for a loincloth of rags; their eyes like carbuncles, staring wildly, their flesh grey and thin... They form a circle around Watts, Steadman and Weena. then, panting, begin to dance, their voices chanting to a rhythm which makes them sound like panting dogs... Watts and Steadman are caught up in their dance... Weena is captured. Watts: (turning on Steadman) Is THIS your perfect world? Where is she? Stead: It is called the palace of Green Porcelain... Without doubt that is where she’ll be - If you insist on seeking her out, you may be able to find her there. It is where the morlock live! As they walk to the footlights, a musical link to Scene 4 : The year 802,701 - Outside the Palace of Green Porcelain, late evening Suddenly, figures from Watts’s past: The Lawyer, the Acct, the Bot, the Doctor, wrapt in cobwebs, singing this song in a vision, as, upstage, two great monumental doors appear: the entrance to a mausoleum. As the scene changes, the figures chant… 16 / Flight of Fancy (3) Don’t be absurd Watts Haven’t you heard what They’re saying to you about your flight of fancy? Don’t be absurd Watts Has it occurred, Watts They’re mocking you now You’ve not the slightest chance Don’t be so vain Watts The danger is plain, What’s The matter with you Do you believe this nonsense To travel in time is A figment, a fiction To travel in time Is merely contradiction! Watts and Steadman move the slab aside. A brazen Gong. The two sides of the set part and spin c/s revealing the narrowest of passages with a sharp beam emerging from upstage. Now they enter, smoke drifting across the floor. Watts: Incredible! a vast gulf of blackness. It is like the entrance to the grave. A distant tattoo, low... And now, by a lighting shift, Watts ‘emerges’ from darkness into the dust-laden set of the British Library of Act I. The scene is predominantly green... Ladders lead up to shelves...And on the plinths which stand at each corner, the characters of Watts’s past turn slowly to face d/s. All the following underscored with a dull throb. Watts: Shh.. What is that noise? Stead: I hear an incessant hum, and ... a smell ... Good God... Stead: It is like the halitus of freshly-shed blood!! Watts: Great God.... what is this place? no-one here... only ragged vestiges of glass in the windows, and the tiled floor thick with dust....This place, Steadman, is the ghost of some great monument of an intellectual age.... a gallery of Palaeontology? It might be, even - music stops Stead: A Library! Watts: Did you know all this was here? Had you even thought? Look in these cases, along these miles of shelves... It is a record of the centuries. Here, Steadman - look, from the time of my humanity to the time of theirs, a complete history... Stead: History... Watts? What’s the point? All that I hope for now is a life of pleasure. (exit) Watts: Steadman? Steadman? Gone! Weena: Weenah!!!! Watts: Weena! Listen to my voice, and answer if you hear me! 17 / In your world (Watts, Weena, Lawyer, Acct, Doctor, Botanist on plinths) Watts: In your world, Weena, I have found What it might have taken me a life to know Every second thought of mine was fame But you, Weena, you remain the same. Weena: Ah-wee-na- la pet ta na me Ah wee- na - ta penna penna Ah le weh te- ni Eloi Ah wee- na - ta penna penna but something stops him in his tracks... all the following as ‘recitative’ Watts (recit) What’s here? Books - from my time? - and, here, "The Time Machine" My book! As if - it cannot be so - someone knew I was coming.... Plinths: (chanting) "An exact account of The Time Traveller’s journey into the future of mankind" Plinths: There is a book for every man, Look on the shelves of the library! Watts: (recit) On the shelves? What can they mean? other objects - not books, what are these? All white, all cold, all dry... They feel familiar (shouts) Steadman! Human bones! Human bones littering this place, thousand upon thousand... a valley of bones... This, then, is the catalogue of progress. It is no library, but the graveyard of the human race... Suddenly the stage is dark and the plinths eerily lit; like memories flashing into his mind. In the dim light we see Morlock entering and sliming around him. He gets up on a table or ladder, horrified at the squirming mass of bodies below him. They clutch at his ankles. ... Plinths: In this world, what have you found Only mankind’s sordid history - Watts: Here my hopes have all been drowned Lost in deepest mystery? Doctor: In this world / In this time What does it mean, success? Acct: In this world / In this time Nothing matters less... Bot:: In your world, Watts, what is left? Just a wilderness that’s thick with dust Lawyer And beneath it all, a fear you’ll fall Plinths Ashes to ashes, dust to dust? Watts: This cannot be the way This horror --- this decay! When fear comes, where do I turn? Suddenly, a crack of light, and we see, suspended above Watts in a hanging cage the figure of Weena. Perhaps Steadman is also raised as he replies, loudly... Stead: (spoken) Turn to me, Watts, turn to me / never forget what you did to me Turn to me, Watts, turn to me / never forget my awful misery Watts: Steadman! Stead: (recit or spoken) Here, you are trapped in the library, This is the same great library Where I fell from the devil’s machine. What did you do to me, Watts? One hundred years from home you drove me to my death. Watts: Your death? Stead: Not a bodily death, but the death of my name How did I trust you? Why did I go with you? Watts: Steadman you came along with me; you insisted. Why? Stead: I could not bear to be left out of the journey... But what I found, a hundred years from home... by the end of the twentieth century... Watts: What did you find? Steadman! What did you find? Stead: In your future, what do I find Only mankind’s calamity Surely somewhere is my name? But no Steadman now remains Plinths: In this world / In this time What does it mean, success? In this world / In this time Nothing matters less... He signals to the Morlock, who emerge from all around. Some scale ladders. Some guard Weena, who is held in the cage. All of the following underscored Watts: Stay back! Don’t think to touch her! Stead: Do you imagine they can understand you? Language means nothing to them - They have no sense of what you understand by culture: only one thing interests them... Watts: You know then..? Stead: Oh, yes I know... I know what fills these shelves... generations of Eloi, dying in return for the Morlocks’ undying service... a neat balance, don’t you think? Watts: A balance? What can you mean? Stead: It’s simple - (beaten out) The Eloi survive by feeding themselves to the Morlock. It’s this that drives society - the smell of freshly-shed blood! music stops Watts: And this is your new Arcadia? Stead: It is progress! Watts: Cannibalism? Progress? Stead: The morlock have looked after me just as they look after the Eloi. But everything must in time be balanced, Watts.... They want payment.... They require a fee... Watts: And that fee is? Stead: Your blood... Steadman: Right from the start of time Morlock: Ha-ha-ha na-ha-ha etc... People have wondered this: How to achieve what is the greatest bliss? This is the truth I’ve found This is the prize I’ve gained This is the moment I’ve waited for - This is my fame! Watts: Steadman, You think you’ve won? You have forgotten one thing. (He throws the book down) That book... that is the key. In there is our story, the story of me and you - but for you
He starts to climb towards the suspended Weena; the morlock slavering at the chops... Steadman signals the morlocks, who are dancing wildly: Watts stretching between heaven and hell. 18/ Dance of the morlock/wreckers Morlock: Ha-ha-na-ha-ha-na ha-ha-na Ha-ha-ha ha-ha-ha ha-ha-ha hah! Morlock: Break all the buildings, burn all the books This is your future -the way that it looks
Stead: All of your plans are faded and hopeless, Morlock: Ha-ha-na-ha-ha-na ha-ha-na Watts, just as you ended mine This is the end of all of your progress ha-ha-na ha ha-ha-ha hah! This is the end of
Time! Watts: I should never have believed In your story; you’ve deceived Everything for which I strived Into the future of our lives.. Watts: (suddenly, an idea!) The morlock cannot bear the light! He produces a piece of camphor The morlock stop, momentarily interested in the object. Watts: Now watch, as I create - a universe! He strikes a match; books combust - flames leap up; S+Morlocks fall back and dance hideously as flames engulf them. Watts dives into the smoke and pulls out Weena. Watts: Come with me Weena! Weena - I can set you free for ever. He climbs into the cage with her, whirling round, but Steadman and the morlock are pulling at her from below... 19/ Going home! W: Going home, Home to my time Home to the people Home to the people I have loved! Going home, Back to my wife Back to Louisa Back to the future of my life! S: Is this what you call your fame? How you choose to make your name? Did you think you’d survive Into the future of your life? W: Going home, S: Can’t you see Home to my time You’re never free? Home to the people You’ll never make it - Home to the people I have loved! Back to the future of your life W: Weena, come Plinths: Which do you choose? Come with me now, Which do you choose? Far from this vision, Can it be only A vision of eternal strife Just a matter of time? Out of this hell, Out of this hell! But the machine shudders, and Weena falls suddenly and unexpectedly from the cage into darkness. Aloft, Watts spins away. The sound of wind. Scene 5: The Homecoming: New Year’s Eve 1897. Louisa’s drawing-room Offstage, wreckers reprise "Smash it all up". A blazing argument is taking place… Mrs Jay: Excuse me, sir, it’s Mr Peters, he says will you come immediately - there’s been trouble at the station. Doctor: Of course. Acct: I’ll come too. Filby, stay here and look to the lady... They go. Filby moves suddenly and surely towards Louisa.. Filby: Mrs Watts, please be still - we have some .... unconcluded business, and I have something of yours which I mean to return, my dear Louisa... He dangles the watch in front of her, playing with her. Louisa tries to speak . F is not the arch-villain, more the smooth operator. This must be urgently hissed to keep the tension while the Doctor is downstairs. Remember, Louisa, the inscription? Louisa: (terrified) "In my end is my beginning". Filby: That’s right: "In my end... " Now, look at the hands. See - how they turn in on themselves? It is one minute to midnight now, and in one minute more that hand will vanish, vanish completely: two hands in one, Louisa. Louisa: (tearful) But - it will reappear once more.... Filby: as the earth sweeps towards morning. But imagine, Louisa... imagine that time did not go on... that time were to stop - now - now that we are alone, and that all we have known might
20/ Minute by minute (Tune:12/ Pattern on pattern) Filby: The day is done now The time is run now; There’s no more time To plan or to prepare it The streets are chill now The houses still now The time has come For hope or for despair Louisa: Minute by minute Hour on hour I have been dreading Such a dread of darkness Both: This is the moment I’ve dreamt of / dreaded for so long This is the moment intended for so long Filby: Outside December But in the embers I see my desire A flame that never dies Both: Minute by minute Hour on hour I have been dreaming / dreading Such a dream of longing / a dread of darkness Re-enter the others. Ashamed, Filby quickly separates from Louisa Acct: The police are guarding the station workshop. They have said that when there is news we will be informed. Don’t burden yourself, dear lady.(she sobs) Bot: Mrs Watts, don’t despair - imagine that your husband and Steadman were travelling not in time but in space... Imagine for a moment that their train has been delayed ... You might not have heard from them within a day. And yet... within the hour, a knock at the door and ... A knock at the door. They all stop what they are doing. The door opens and in stumbles Gregory Watts, He is unrecognizable. Much, much older... his hair is long and straggly... he wears a long coat. He stumbles past them, without noting them, and stops facing d/s. After a silence, and with some prompting from the others, Louisa approaches him, gently lays her hands on his shoulders. Watts collapses to his knees. A musical moment. Filby: Stay back! Doctor: Filthy - augh - the smell! Where has he come from? Lawyer: His face! Look, look at his eyes! Filby: And his coat. What man, have you been assaulted? It’s the wreckers again, from the station. Breaking the tracks, beating an old man.... Acct: Fetch him drink, and food, Mrs Jay; doctor, please, your brandy... Doctor: I’ll attend him - fetch the police, and bring Peters - ask him if he saw any trouble at the station tonight... Louisa: Please! (as she raises him to his feet). Come here... sit, sir.... Watts nods his assent Louisa: Tell me, do you have a name? Watts: Chr-chr-chhchchhchhrrrrrr Louisa: Quickly, more water... Watts: (painfully, old man’s voice) My name is .... Gregory .... Watts (he collapses) Louisa gasps and jumps up, then collects herself and helps the old man to his feet The others similarly half-shocked, some standing unable to help.. Filby: That is... not possible....! Watts is twenty years younger than this man! Watts turns slowly and lets his eyes rest on Filby Besides, we know where Watts really is... Lawyer: What do you mean? Filby: This watch - he gave to his wife as a token of his fidelity! Alas, gentlemen, a less faithful man I cannot conceive of. Watts let us all down. Bot: Now tell us your true name, sir, and be done with it Watts: Watts - Gregory Watts… and this is my home… (loud general reaction) Filby: Wait... If, as you say, you are Gregory Watts of this address, then tell us the name of
Watts: There is no need for that, Filby - but (beat) Louisa (all gasp) - come to me.... Reaction. She unsteadily makes her way forward 21 / He knows my name L: He knows my name, my name is spoken Some kind of magic, a spell is broken - All: How could he know what to respond Is it a ghost come from beyond? L: In that one second the candle-flame guttered All: What was the name, the name that he uttered? L: Louisa! Louisa! All: But how can he tell? L: Is it a spirit of heaven F: or hell? All: That is no good, he could have guessed it Lawy: Ask him again, one further test is needed to tell if he knows the truth Needed to find out the final proof. F: I have a test - nothing’s more certain Something a stranger never would know Away with this mask, tear down the curtain Here in my pocket I’ve something to show This will reveal your proper identity This will establish the name that you hide This is your sentence or else your indemnity What are the words on the other side? W Give me the watch F: Not till you answer The riddle that sets our minds all spinning What are the words? All: Tell us the answer? W: "In my end is my beginning!" General commotion. We all know that that is what is inscribed on the back of the watch.... So does Filby, who looks sickened...Now music "Always" as they embrace. Filby slams out. Watts approaches Louisa and holds her hand: The tableau is one of general happiness. Lawyer: (with disbelief) Then, you have been travelling in time? Watts: Precisely - to the future of mankind. Acct: But Watts - you must have brought something back. Can you prove it? Watts: Proof! Always proof! You cannot bear to live without it! Well, I must disappoint you... I have nothing - Doctor: Ah-hah! Watts: except - this! And he produces, from his inside pocket, a flower, clearly not like a flower they have seen. All underscored. As they sniff the scent it sends them into spinning circles all over the space. Louisa: Why, Gregory, what is it? Watts: It is a ... gift.. Louisa: A gift, my dear? Watts: Pass it around. Have you seen anything like it before? All: Not that I .... I haven’t seen.... So radiant, so exotic... Acct It is like.... a camellia Bot: But it is not a camellia! Louisa: That scent! Bot: So strange, so sweet! Lawy: It fills the room! Doctor: Though I say it myself ... I must confess... Bot: It is indeed most unusual. Watts: Would you have me send it for analysis? Your men at Kew will tell you that nothing like it has been seen in your lifetime - or in mine! They stop, and listen - the sound of Eloi voices swims around their heads
Louisa: Gregory - at last, you’re home! 22/ Chorus: Have you heard? Have you heard? Shout from the rooftops This is the proof Watts has travelled in time! Have you heard? Put back your deadline Publish the headline He’s travelled in time!
This is the moment we’re recreated! Spot on wreckers who tower over cringing Filby Wreck2: You promised us, Mr Filby. We had a - business arrangement - Wreck2: You hired us, Mr Filby, to do your dirty work. Wreck3: We made that disturbance so you could get your woman, Mr Filby... Filby: I’ll fetch the police... Wreck2: No need to, Mr Filby. We’re like shadows, you see - one move, and we’re away,
Wreck1: We can do without your money... Wreck3: Mr Filby - we can do without you.... And they beat him - the wreckers flee, one of them dropping his bowler hat in the scuffle Chorus: Have you heard! Now no-one can top us No century stop us From trav’ling in time! Have you heard? It’s simple as winking The speed of your thinking To travel in time! This is the future of our comprehension! Put back the deadline! Publish the headline! We will be able to travel in time Don’t look back - don’t look behind - We’re travelling - in TIME! Dance. Tableau. Watts approaches the hat and slowly, slowly, stoops to pick it up 23/ Think again (Acct, Lawyer, Bot, Doct) Have you ever wondered what will be? Have you ever thought or felt the strangest fears What may happen in a century? What may happen in a thousand, thousand years? Have you ever thought: can things go on? Have you thought? Have you thought? Have you ever wondered what it’s like To travel to the farthest that a man can see What events and what disasters strike What phenomena await humanity? Have you ever thought if Time will end? Have you thought? At all? Doctor: These are the imponderables, Watts! As Watts sings the following verses, the lights start to dim, and the star effect is projected (mirror-ball) Watts solo: I have seen the future of our race
Do you think this century is strange? Think again! Watts: I have seen an Earthly Paradise
All: Do you think this century is strange? Think again! Think again! During this song, the characters have drifted off or turned their backs, leaving Watts solo; as he reaches the final lines, we hear a distant reprise of the start of no1 (Progress); shadowy commuters rustle like leaves across our field of vision. Suddenly we note that Watts has vanished - only a pool of light remains. The sound of rustling leaves. Louisa has turned and is left on her own making her way u/s. Louisa: (turning sharply) Gregory? But he is gone. The light snaps off. Wind.
� 1996 Book and lyrics by Alex Went , music by John Moore, edited for the stage by Peter Fanning. Based on the story by H.G. Wells. This libretto may not be copied or hired out under any circumstances. Don Brockway, Juny 5, 2003 (updated October 12, 2004) Back to The Time Machine Home Page |