By the Order of the Red Dragon
ACT I
ACT I SCENE 1
NEW BUTE SEAM OPENED AT ELY PIT IN PENYGRAIG BY THE NAVAL COLLIERY COMPANY, PART OF THE CAMBRIAN COMBINED CARTEL. EARLY MORNING, 1909. 70 WORKERS ARE SIGNED UP FOR THE NEW SCHEME OF PIECEWORK. IN ORDER TO MAKE ENDS MEET, RHIANNON IS DRESSED AS A MAN WITH THE NAME RHI.
ARON: Look at this place! What a bloody mess!
RHI: (POINTING AT THE PIT) Da! There’s a stone band running through it. Gonna be difficult to work on this one.
ARON: (WALKING TOWARDS MARC) What did you sign me up for? What fresh new Hell is this, Marc?
MARC: Hell? No! Just the opposite, old sport! This is a manifestation of the genius that is our company director; this is the very soul and frontier of innovation; this is the apogee of Capitalism in all its glory. You lot should be honoured and grateful to be given this opportunity to be part of something new. It’s a trial period for a new working scheme. Your pay will be based on the coal you extracted per ton.
LEWIS: So more coal more pay?
MARC: Precisely! Ain’t ya a bright young ‘un. Exciting times, this is! Your performances would set an example for future workers’ wages.
LEWIS: What if anyone fails to reach a certain amount?
MARC: Then the company would give an allowance to the miner in question to make up his pay to the minimum that was required in order to live.
RHI: What if anyone falls ill?
MARC: Well, that’s on you. And there’s plenty of ye. (LOOKING DOWN AT THE MINERS IN DESPISE)
RHI: You fucking… (RAISES HAND)
ARON: (HOLDS RHI BACK) No, son! Let it go!
MARC: Listen to your old man, if you want some bread in that bag of bones.
RHI: Motherfcuker! Da, let go of me! Let me teach Porky a lesson!
MARC: Porky? Ha! Better to have plenty to eat, no? I must say, Rhion. For a man, you have got your da’s good looks, and your ma’s too. But what can good looks get a man, eh? At the end of the day, they all get smothered in black. Like your mate Sooty here. (SPITS IN FRONT OF LEWIS)
RHI: (KICKING AND STRUGGLING) Yeah? These faces of black will spill your blood of crimson!
MARC: Is that a threat?
RHI: Threat? No, I am fucking telling you in your face. You traitor of the working men, your time will come! Your time will bloody come!
BLACK-OUT
ACT I SCENE 2
THE DRAGOS ARE AT THEIR FAMILY HOME WITH LEWIS.
LEWS: Rhi, thank you for standing up for me today. You didn’t have to.
RHIANNON: I was standing up for all of us. What does colour matter when you are a freeman? All that pathetic creature could do is dishing out his bitter words.
GAYNOR: You had another run-in with that horrendous man? Jesus Christ! God bless your relentless soul lass but you are not doing anyone any favours by angering with the overseer.
RHIANNON: Ma, low in class and wages that we are but never low in dignity and spirit. And I was definitely not put on this Earth to please that nasty piece of work!
ARON: Yes, better to die on your feet than to live on your knees, I agree. But lass, I worry if it turns violent, you may get hurt, worse, if they realize you are a girl, they may punish you for what you do not deserve.
RHIANNON: Good no one grassed me up so far then. But that’s not the point! Why? Why not women?
RHYS: There are more than enough men for the job. They are just about to tolerate you because they all grew up to accept you as one of the lads. For other girls, I’m not so sure. It is, after all, a very physically demanding job.
RHIANNON: But if I can do it, surely many others can too.
RHYS: Theoretically, yes. If I was in charge, it’d already happened. But these people, the owners, are calculating devils. Are they not? If they realize there are women in the workforce, they will probably use it as an excuse for the so-called ‘low output’ and further cut our wages. Have they not make a farce about that already.
ARON: Listen to your brother, think about others. We have to see the bigger picture, my lass. Maybe sometime in the future things will change, perhaps even in your lifetime. But for now, unfortunately, it is what it is.
RHIANNON: It is what it is? Da, when did you become so dark and pessimistic?
ARON: No, not pessimistic, pragmatic.
RHIANNON: Say no more. (STANDS UP AND PICK UP SHOULDER BAG)
RHYS: Rhi, wait, it is dark already. Where are you going?
RHIANNON: You know where. And don’t follow me! (OPENS THE DOOR AND LEAVES)
GAYNOR: It’s getting cold, put your coat on. (PICKS UP A COAT AND RUNS AFTER RHIANNON, COMES BACK WITH THE COAT) There, gone already. Sharpe as a razor, stubborn as an ox, fierce as a dragon. Yet still, wouldn’t change a thing, not a thing!
BLACK-OUT
ACT I SCENE 3
IN THE HILLS AMONG THE TREES. RHIANNON IS WALKING WITH A TORCH IN ONE HAND AND CARRYING A BAG ON HER SHOULDER. SHE GATHERS SOME WILD APPLES AND WALKS PAST A ROWAN TREE, THEN STOPS, LOOKS AROUND AND WHISTLES. TWO WELSH MOUNTAIN PONIES ARE CHARGING TOWARD HER FROM DEEPER IN THE FOREST.
RHIANNON: Hey my beauties, there you are! I got you some apples. Here, enjoy! (GENTLY LAYING THE APPLES ON THE GROUND)
THE PONIES SNIFF HER AND RUB THEIR HEADS ON HER THEN DIG IN THE APPLES.
Lili, how are you, eh? And you Enid, how’s your week been? Mine was not so nice but I forget all my troubles every time I’m in your presence. You pure and fair creatures, if only our world could be like yours. (PAUSE) Who’s there! (RAISES HER TORCH AND LOOKS BACK)
MERERID: (RAISES HER HANDS) My child, I’m only an old woman. My name is Mererid, I mean you no harm. Please do not be alarmed.
RHIANNON: (BRING THE TORCH CLOSE TO ILLUMINATE THE OLD WOMAN’S FACE) Curious! What’s an old woman doing in the hills at this hour?
MERERID: I live in the hills, my dear. I followed the ponies to you. I see you are feeding them apples. Bless, what a kind soul!
RHIANNON: They are yours? I hope you don’t mind me feeding them. I thought they were wild.
MERERID: Oh no, not at all, I don’t mind, neither do I own them. They are as free as the birds and the air, and they do wherever they fancy. I just look after them, like you! They spend much of their days around my hut and sometimes when they run off to a whistle, I wanted to find out to whom they ran.
RHIANNON: Oh yes, naturally. I understand! Now you know they are safe. It’s wonderful that you keep an eye on these lovelies. They bonded with me the instant I found them.
MERERID: That’s miraculous! They are timid creatures, very rarely do they come up to strangers. You must be special, my dear.
RHIANNON: Special? Nah! I’m many things and all kinds of awkward but never special. (LAUGHS WHILE SHAKING HER HEAD)
MERERID: Come closer, my child. Come! Let me have a good look at you.
RHIANNON: (MOVES CLOSER) Ok. Can you see better now, Mererid?
MERERID: Hmm, yes, yes, I see. My instinct was right, special that you are! You breathe the fire of the Red Dragon.
RHIANNON: Whatever do you mean, Mererid?
MERERID: I meant the things that only my kind can see. Strange things, divine things, unholy things, things that lurk in the dark, things that hunt man’s dreams, things that forge destinies.
RHIANNON: You have powers? Powers of magic? You are a druid?
MERERID: Ay, and a seer no less!
RHIANNON: A seer! Most curious! I have heard of your kind but never encountered one of you in flesh.
MERERID: Well, I’m honoured to be the first, but I will almost definitely not be the last. There’s greatness in you, my fair child. In time, you will gain greater knowledge of your path, for now, trust in all that you do! (TURNS AND WALKS OFF WITH THE PONIES)
RHIANNON: Are you leaving?
MERERID: Ay, you should too. It’s getting darker. But worry not, we shall meet again. Until then, take care!
RHIANNON: You too, Mererid! (WAVES GOODBYE)
BLACK-OUT
ACT I SCENE 4
AT Bute Seam, ELY PIT, PENYGRAIG. LATE AFTERNOON. SEVERAL MONTHS INTO THE TEST PERIOD OF THE NEW SEAM.
MARC: This isn’t going to work out for you lot. You are working too slowly.
ARON: But we are working at a normal pace, Marc. Can’t you see?
MARC: Yeah, I see. What I see is, this isn’t normal. It is far too slow.
ARON: But we’ve tried our best. There’s a stone band running through the middle of the seam and there are abnormal places that are very difficult to work with.
MARC: Well, that’s your problem, isn’t it? Solve it or live with it. Anyway, your low productivity will be reflected in your wages.
RHI: Says who?
MARC: The owners. (POINTING HIS FINGER UP)
RHI: To who no doubt you shall poison their thoughts with your verminous tongue and sell us short as usual!
MARC: Oh trust me, they are quite capable of dipping you deep in misery. They don’t need my help with that. I’m merely here to observe and report.
RHI: Is that so?
MARC: That is so. (NODS)
RHI: Then you are not reporting truthfully.
MARC: The truth? Ha! What is the price of truth per ton these days?
RHI: God bears my witness, I will get you, one of those days!
MARC: Yeah, yeah, whatever, get back to work, ya dirty piece of shit! (SPIT)
BLACK-OUT
ACT I SCENE 5
NAVAL COLLIERY COMPANY HEADQUARTERS, MINERS GATHERED OUTSIDE DEMANDING ANSWERS TO THE LOW WAGE RATE. MARC IS STANDING OUTSIDE.
RHYS: Marc, fancy seeing you here!
MARC: Ha! I’ve been expecting you lot!
RHYS: Is the wage rate a joke? How the hell did you get such a low number?
MARC: You should know, don’t you?
RHYS: But we don’t. Why don’t you enlighten us? Hmm?
MARC: The owners are unhappy with the Bute Seam lot deliberately slacking off in order to stretch the working hours longer. If you want anyone to blame, blame them.
RHI: Don’t you dare play the blame game! We are not falling for your divide and conquer horseshit! And nobody at the Bute Seam is slacking off.
MARC: No?
RHI: No!
MARC: Still, I’m not surprised by a sissy of a man like you in the workforce.
RHI: Yeah? So? I still beat your arse, you dimwit! Don’t you realize, the accusation is just nonsensical.
MARC: Nonsensical?
RHI: Ay! Under the new scheme, we are paid per ton of coal extracted, yes?
MARC: Yes.
RHI: Then the hours are futile in the calculation of wages, aren’t they?
MARC: Well, I’m not an accountant. But one thing I do know is your output is not measuring up to the expected rate.
ARON: But we have families to feed, Marc. Can you please talk to the owner?
MARC: I’m not in a position to do that, Aron, it’s out of my hands. (RAISING HIS HANDS)
ARON: Can you please try?
RHYS: Da, don’t beg him. (REACHES OUT AN ARM, HOLDING ARON BACK)
MARC: That’s right, don’t beg me. Listen to your lad. So go home, all of you.
BLACK-OUT
ACT I SCENE 6
OUTSIDE ELY PIT OWNED BY NAVAL COLLIERY COMPANY IN PENYGRAIG, PART OF THE CAMBRIAN COMBINED CARTEL, RHONDDA, SOUTH WALES. SEPTEMBER 01, 1910. EARLY MORNING. A LOCK-OUT NOTICE ON THE GATE AND ALL 950 MINERS ARE LOCKED OUT.
BRAN: Heavy chains and padlocks. The gates are shut dead and we are locked out cold. I’ve walked around and checked, there is no other way in. What kind of new shenanigan is this? I’m bent to know!
EMRYS: Those bastards must have locked it last night after we left! But still, they let us take all the trouble to get up betimes ere the cockerels crow, tooled up under the candlelight and walked all the way from home on the long muddy road. Not a word, not even a damn word!
BRAN: So this is it, they have decided that they are not going to increase the wages to meet our demands.
EMRYS: But the wages based on the new scheme is a joke! It’s much lower than a living wage.
RHYS: We are all in this together now.
EMRYS: Seems like so. Anyway, none of us has any choice.
RHYS: Unbelievable! Another day’s pay is gone and who knows how many more! Have we not explained our troubles? Are our wages not low enough? Are we not made of flesh and bones? Damn cowards! Deaf ears! Poisonous minds! Year after year, one trick after another, they take food out of our children’s mouths, trying to drain the last drop of blood from our veins. Have they no hearts or balls to tell us face to face! Man to man! And now what? I have had enough of this!
CROWD CLAMOURING, TOOLS CLANKING IN MIDAIR AMONG THE DOTTED BURNING TORCHES.
ALL MINERS: Yeah! Enough is enough! We want an answer! Let’s take this to the boss!
RHYS: Brothers! Let’s strike! Let’s march! Let’s do our might! Together, we demand justice! Justice that will not be dictated by their flights of fancy, justice that will be on our terms, justice that shall redeem our toils and sacrifices!
ARON: Son, are you sure this is wise?
RHYS: Wise? Perhaps not so much, but old man, will your wisdom save us? If not, then silence!
ALL MINERS: We are with Rhys! Let’s strike! let’s march!
EMRYS: Yes, lead us, Rhys! There’s no going back. Our trust is in your hands!
BRAN: Lead us, Rhys! We are great in numbers. Let’s rock the boat! Let’s bring them to the ground! Let’s strike wooden stakes through those bloodsuckers’ stone-cold hearts.
RHYS: (FIST IN THE AIR, SHOUTING OUT LOUDLY) Up to you now, lads. Yea or nay? Yea or nay?
ALL MINERS: (FISTS RISING IN THE AIR) Yea! Yea! Rhys! Rhys! Rhys!
RHYS: Then no time to lose, we have mouths to feed! Let’s do this!
All MINERS: Huzzah!
BLACK-OUT
ACT I SCENE 7
MINERS STRIKE AT THE ELY PIT WITH A PICKETING LINE AT THE FRONT. STRIKEBREAKERS FROM OUTSIDE THE AREA ORDERED BY THE CAMBRIAN COMBINED ARE COMING IN.
MARC: (ARRIVEs FOR WORK WITH THE STRIKEBREAKERS, UNABLE TO GET IN) What the hell is this?
RHYS: What is this? What is this? Well, guess what, Marc? We are back! And this, is karma!
MARC: You don’t want to feed your families, fine. These men do.
RHYS: Don’t you guilt trip me, you bastard. Nobody is going in. Not today. (SHAKES HEAD)
MARC: Look, I have no quarrel with you, Rhys. Let me clock in, will you?
RHYS: You want to clock in?
MARC: Yes.
RHYS: Yes, what? (RAISES HAND BEHIND HIS EAR)
MARC: Please.
RHYS: Tell you what, why don’t we put this to a vote. What do you say, boys?
MINERS: No!
RHYS: Ain’t democracy grand. You heard that, Marc. It’s out of my hands, so why don’t you get the fuck out of here? And take your little band of traitors with ya.
MARC: Your behaviour will be reported.
RHYS: Yeah? Fuck off to write up your petty little report then. Come on, what are you waiting for? Get on with it. Off you go!
MARC: You are finished.
RHYS: Yeah? We will see, won’t we?
BLACK-OUT
ACT I SCENE 8
NOVEMBER 01, 1910. LATE EVENING. SOUTH WALES MINERS FEDERATION, 12,000 COLLIERS HOLDING TORCHES AND WAITING FOR THE STRIKE BALLOT RESULT.
RHYS: (HOLDS UP A PIECE OF PAPER) Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment you all have been waiting for. The people of South Wales Coalfield have spoken, and the ballot result is…
CACOPHONY DIES DOWN IN THE CROWD FOLLOWED BY DEAFENING SILENCE.
Yes! We shall go on strike!
FISTS IN THE AIR EVERYWHERE IN A SEA OF LOUD CHEERING AND TORCH FLAMES.
Cambrian Combine’s offers were not acceptable. Whatever they are throwing at us, we are ready! We are shutting down all the mines, forming picketing lines and we are asking all our brothers and sisters to put your short term personal gains aside and join our struggle for survival for all. Together, we outnumber them; together, we shall triumph; together, we are one! And We will not stop until we reach our goals. You have my word!
BLACK-OUT
ACT I SCENE 9
AT THE MINERS’ HEADQUARTERS
BRAN: (POINTING AT A MAP ON THE TABLE) There’s another month old strike at Aberdare in Cynon Valley involving 11,000 miners. The Glamorgan Constabulary’s resources are overstretched and their chief is getting desperate.
RHYS: Yeah? That’s good, right?
BRAN: Yes and no. If they don’t get reinforcement from out of the area then they are of no match to us in numbers.
RHYS: And if they do?
BRAN: We may have a handful but nothing that we can’t handle.
ARON: What if they use weapons on us?
BRAN: There’s always a chance that things will go ugly. We need to be prepared for that but I reckon it is very unlikely. They don’t want workers’ blood on their hands, otherwise, it will be a whole other kind of monster they will be dealing with.
ARON: But we are just miners and we are unarmed. How are we going to… God, a bloodbath on domestic soil? O, the horror! I can not imagine.
RHYS: Let’s hope not, eh da? We will just have to prepare, evolve and adapt as it goes, yeah?
BRAN: Yeah. Prepare, evolve and adapt.
RHYS: Emrys, I heard the mine in Llwynypia is still open?
EMRYS: Yeah. Since the strike began, it’s manager has transformed it into a fucking fortress with all the coppers he’s got from the Chief Constable of Glamorgan. They are going to send in more strikebreakers to keep the pump and ventilation going.
RHYS: Bastards! Same old, same old. But they need electricity to keep generators working.
EMRYS: Yes, they are relying on the coppers guarding the power station building at the site. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
RHYS: Well, gentlemen. (LOOKS UP WITH A WRY SMILE) Let’s better do something about that, shall we?
BLACK-OUT
ACT II
ACT II SCENE 1
THOUSANDS OF STRIKERS ENCIRCLED AND PICKETED THE PIT OF GLAMORGAN COLLIERY IN LLWYNYPIA. 200 METROPOLITAN POLICE ORDERED BY WINSTON CHURCHILL ARE PRESENT INSIDE THE SITE. 10:30 PM, NOVEMBER 7, 1910.
RHYS: (HANDS IN THE AIR TOWARD THE STRIKEBREAKERS)No one is going in. Why don’t you do all of us a favour, turn around and march back to wherever you came from.
SB: This is not your property, you don’t own this place.
RHYS: No, so?
SB: The owners are willing to pay and we are willing to work so it’s not your business.
RHYS: And still, you are standing there all talk.
SB: Because you are blocking the way! But it’s not up to you, is it? Nothing here is up to you. We are legally entering the workplace.
RHYS: Nor can do! Sorry for the inconvenience, but this, is an ongoing struggle of the working class. You either join us, or get lost.
SB: Look, we came all the way and we really need the money, brother, we have families to feed.
RHYS: Don’t we all, brother! And you are taking that away from all of us by doing what you are doing. Have you no self-respect? The wage they pay you couldn’t even fill the gut of half a dog, and you, you toil yourself to live life a half-dead.
SB: Still, half dead and undignified is better than proud and dead. You, all of you, are dead men walking, and particularly you, a martyr of a lost cause, a king without a crown.
RHYS: And you are to follow as soon as we are gone. You and us, are not so different, brother. Matter of fact, I think I will remember to take you with me should things go south.
POLICE: Let them in, Rhys.
RHYS: Look who’s talking. Hired guns, badges with hats, uniforms with batons. Over my dead body, coppers!
POLICE: Maybe them lot will do just that.
RHYS: Yeah? Not if I walk over yours first! Ye pieces of shit. Shame on you, traitors of the working men, Judases who sell themselves out like whores.
POLICE: At least we get paid more than you. What have you got in your coffers? Oh right, nothing!
RHYS: Damn fools! Your time will come, sooner than your hubris soars. They pay you to do their dirty deed today, tomorrow the same deed will be done to you.
POLICE: I don’t think so somehow.
RHYS: You place your trust in somehow? Your ignorance is dumbfounding! Don’t you know, after all, we are all disposable?
POLICE: We will dispose of you in a minute.
RHYS: Yeah? How about now? Bring it on, motherfuckers.
POLICE: Come on in, you chicken shit.
RHYS: No, you come out. Hiding behind the gate, who’s the real chicken? Hmm? Come out and I will bash your face so deep in cow dung you will choke on shit.
EMRYS: (SQUEEZE THROUGH THE CROWD TO THE FRONT GATE) Rhys, something’s up. The guys couldn’t get into the mine to shut it down so they went to the powerhouse as we planned.
RHYS: Yes, either way, we have got to shut this place down. This is their last defence.
EMRYS: But the coppers are guarding the place tight. There was no way to get in there either. The fellas started throwing stones at them, the coppers fought back and the situation is getting ugly fast.
RHYS: Fuck! Stay here Em, I’m going to the powerhouse.
EMRYS: Ay. No problem, I’ll keep them in check.
BLACK-OUT
ACT II SCENE 2
AT THE POWERHOUSE. A PORTION OF THE WOODEN FENCE SURROUNDING THE SITE IS TORN DOWN AND BEING USED AS WEAPONS BY THE MINERS TO BATTLE THE POLICE WITH BATONS
RHYS: Rhi! What the fuck! Rhi! (TRYING TO SQUEEZE THROUGH THE CROWD TO GET TO RHIANNON)
RHI: Rhys? Rhys! I’m here. (RAISES HER HANDS, WAVING IN THE AIR, SIGNALLING HER POSITION)
RHYS: I see you! Coming! (PUSHES HARDER)
POLICE BATONS CHARGE AT RHI AS SHE WAVES AND SHE FALLS DOWN WITH BLOOD ON HER HEAD.
RHYS: No!!!!! No, you fucking don’t! (SCREAMS AND MANAGES TO PUSH THROUGH TO THE FRONT)
ARON AND BRAN PICK UP RHI.
Da, take Rhi home. Bran, come with me!
BRAN: Ay! (MOVES TOWARD RHYS AND HANDS HIM A WOODEN STICK THAT WAS PART OF THE FENCE) Here ya! Hold this! We improvised! (LAUGHS IN MANIA)
RHYS: Nice! That’s handy! (GRABS ON TO THE STICK TIGHTLY) Now, let’s make them bastards fucking pay!
BRAN: Yeah!!!! Yeah!!!!!
MOUNTED BATONS ARE RAINING DOWN ON THE MINERS. AN INTENSE HAND TO HAND BATTLE ENSUES AND ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE.
RHI: (STILL WAVING A PIECE OF WOOD IN HER HAND, STRUGGLING TO GET BACK IN THE FIGHT) Da, I’m not going home. There’s no way I’m leaving. I am a miner too, I am a fighter! Da! Let go of me!
ARON: No, you are going home alright. Your mother will bloody kill me if anything happens to you.
RHI: Ma’s not here, you fucking let go of me!
ARON: N O spells no! (PULLING RHI BACK HARDER FROM THE CROWD) If you really want to help, I tell you what you can do. Your ma and the other women have been making rolls all day. The hours are getting late, go get some food and drinks, the strikers are getting hungry and tired.
RHI: Ok, you come with me da. I won’t be able to carry everything.
ARON: Nah, your ma and the others will help you. Give us the stick. I still got some fight in me!
RHI: Then be careful, da!
ARON: Always, you know me!
RHI: Ok, be back in a jiffy!
ARON: Go!
RHIANNON RUNS BACK HOME. BLACK-OUT.
ACT II SCENE 3
GAYNOR AND OTHER WOMEN ARE STILL BUSY MAKING FOOD.
RHI: (OPENS THE DOOR AND CHARGES IN) Ma!
GAYNOR: Oh my God! Look at you! What the hell happened to you! (WALKS UP TO INSPECT RHIANNON’S HEAD WOUND)
RHI: It’s nothing! Ma, I need to bring food and drink, and I…
GAYNOR: I know, they are hungry. We will bring everything soon enough. Sit! (GAYNOR WENT TO THE CUPBOARD AND DIGS OUT A FIRST AID KIT)
RHI: Ma, it’s chaos out there. They called in the coppers from London, on foot and mounted ones, with batons!
GAYNOR: Oh God! Where are your dad and brother? (ATTENDING RHI’S WOUNDS)
RHI: (TOUCHES HER HEAD) Ah!!! It hurts!
GAYNOR: Of course it hurts! Your head is bleeding, lass!
SARA: Tea, Rhi. And a roll. You must be hungry yourself.
RHI: Thanks, Sara! Hmmm, yum, still warm! Lee was ok when I left. He was somewhere in the back.
SARA: Thank God! (SIGHS) What have we got ourselves into? (SITS DOWN NEXT TO RHI)
GAYNOR: But there’s no turning back now.
SARA: No, I know. (SHAKES HER HEAD) It’s just…
RHI: What are you trying to say?
SARA: It’s not fair, our men went on foot but they have mounted coppers, beating us down.
RHI: You just gave me an idea!
GAYNOR: You are thinking what I’m thinking, aren’t you?
RHI: You are my ma, what can I say? (SMILES)
SARA: What are you two talking about?
RHI: We are going to bring horses and things that can be used as weapons.
SARA: Weapons? Oh, Jesus Christ! Are we breaking the law?
RHI: Too late for contemplations now. (PUTS HER TEA DOWN) I’m finished. First, we will gather the horses, then we will strap them up with food, drinks and tools. Then we will join our men! And you lot are coming with us! (EYEING ALL THE WOMEN IN THE ROOM)
WOMEN: Ok. Yeah.
RHI: Change into trousers, something you can move around in more comfortably. Wear your man’s if you haven’t got any. Now go home, get changed and we will meet up with you guys here.
WOMEN: (START TO LEAVE) We will be back with tools.
RHI: Yeah, good idea. And it’s getting dark, light the torches and bring them with you!
WOMEN NOD AND LEAVE. BLACK-OUT.
ACT II SCENE 4
A PORTION OF THE STRIKERS HAVE BEEN SEPARATED FROM THE STRIKERS AT THE LLWYNYPIA SITE AND DRIVEN TO TONYPANDY SQUARE. THE WOMEN ARE RIDING HORSES AND JOINING THE FIGHT.
RHI: (RIDING A HUGE WHITE HORSE WHILE HOLDING A TORCH IN ONE HAND AND A WHIP IN ANOTHER) Ma! I see Rhys and dad!
GAYNOR: Where?
RHI: There! (POINTING HER WHIP TOWARDS THE CROWD)
GAYNOR: (POINT HER TORCH AT THE DIRECTION WHERE RHIANNON IS POINTING) Oh yes! I see them!
HORSES ARE RUNNING CLOSER TO THE CROWD AND HEADS START TO TURN.
RHYS: (WAVING IN THE CROWD) Rhi!
RHI: (THROWS A METAL POLE TO RHYS) Catch!
ALL THE WOMEN ARRIVE, START UNPACKING THE FOOD AND DRINKS, HANDING OUT TOOLS AND JOINING THE FIGHT. MINERS AT THE BACK START TO EAT AND DRINK AND THEN MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE FRONT WHILE THE ONES IN THE FRONT MAKE THE WAY TO THE BACK.
GAYNOR: (HANDING FOOD TO ARON AND RHYS) What happened? Where are the others?
ARON: The mounted police separated us and we got pushed to town.
SARA: Lee’s still at the pit?
RHYS: Yeah.
SARA: Ok, I will try to get to him and bring the rest of them here.
RHYS: Yeah, we need to stay together. Otherwise, they will take us out in small groups.
SARA: Understood. It’s not going to happen. Wait for me! (RIDES OFF WITH SOME OF THE OTHER WOMEN)
LOUD NOISE AND BANGS, SOUNDS OF GLASS BREAKING.
GAYNOR: What’s happening? What’s that loud sound!
ARON: Sounds like windows are being smashed.
BRAN: (RUNNING TOWARDS THEM) Rhys! They are smashing all the shops and looting everything as they go!
RHYS: No! Imbeciles! Now those bastards are going to paint us into villains and give us a bad name.
BRAN: What do we do?
RHYS: I’m going to stop them! Ma, give Bran something to eat and drink. (POINTS AT BRAN) You can join me after you finished your food.
BRAN: Ay. (GRABS A ROLL AND WOLVES IT DOWN)
GAYNOR: And water. (HANDS BRAN A CUP AND FILL IT UP WITH WATER)
BRAN: Thanks, Gaynor! That’s enough. (TAKING BIG GULPS AND WIPES HIS MOUTH WITH HIS SLEEVE) Gotta go!
BLACK-OUT
ACT II SCENE 5
BOTH SIDES HAVE MEMBERS ON HORSES WITH WEAPONS AND THE FIGHTING AND LOOTING LASTED ALL NIGHT TILL THE NEXT DAY. lOCAL POLICE REQUESTED MILITARY SUPPORT FROM THE WAR OFFICE AND CAVALRY TROOPS WERE CALLED IN FROM CARDIFF. NOVEMBER 8, 1910.
BRAN: Look! (POINTING OUT)
RHYS: Bloody hell! They really did it. They called the fucking troops in.
ARON: Churchill held them in Cardiff in case things gets ugly but for God sake, is this really happening? Troops on domestic soil? On horses, with rifles, bayonets and all.
GAYNOR: What they gonna do? Shoot us? Are we the enemy of the state now?
ARON: This is not on. This is just not on!
SARA: We will see! Wait for me! (RIDES OFF)
BATTLE RESUMED AND WOME STARTED POURING HOT WATER AND THROWING HEAVY OBJECTS DOWN THEIR BEDROOM WINDOWS ONTO THE COPPERS’ HEADS BENEATH.
RHI: Ma, look! It’s Sara! Oh my God, she is leading all the kids in.
GAYNOR: Sara, are you out of your mind? They are going to get hurt!
SARA: A miner’s child is as brave as a miner. Besides, monsters as they are, they wouldn’t want to have the blood of the children on their hands.
GAYNOR: True and true. Good thinking, still, let’s hope no harm will come to them. Let them join their mothers.
SARA: Ay. Kids, follow me! (JUMPS OFF THE HORSE AND STARTS LEADING THE KIDS TO THEIR MOTHERS)
MULTIPLE GUNSHOTS ARE FIRED, CROWD STARTS TO PANIC AND DISPERSE
ARON: Oh no! They opened fire! No! No! No!
EMRYS: Rhi! Rhi!
RHI: Emrys! Here! (WAVES HER HAND)
EMRYS: Rhi, Aron, Gaynor! Rhys, he’s been shot!
GAYNOR: No! Where is he?
RHI: Is he still alive?
EMRYS: Yeah, but it’s bad!
ARON: (STANDS UP IMMEDIATELY) Take us!
EMRYS: Yeah, come, this way!
THEY ARRIVE AT THE SPOT WHERE RHY LIES IN A POOL OF BLOOD. WHILE THE CROWD ARE STILL IN SHOCK THEY PUSH BACK TO GIVE THE DRAGOS SOME SPACE. RHYS HAS BEEN SHOT IN THE CHEST AND IS DRIFTING IN AND OUT OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
GAYNOR: Son! My son! Oh no! Oh no! (HOLDS RHYS IN HER ARMS AND CRIES)
ARON: Son! Da’s here! I’m here, my son. Son! Can you hear me? (LOOKS UP) How can they do such a thing?!
RHI: (KNEELING NEXT TO RHYS) Rhys, stay with us! We are gonna get you home and fix you. You will be ok. Rhys. (GRABS RHYS’ HAND)
RHYS: (SMILES) It’s too late. (COUGHS BLOOD) Fight… on… (HIS HANDS DROP)
A LOUD SHRIEK ESCAPED GAYNOR’S CHEST AND SHE COLLAPSED. SUDDENLY, RHIANNON STARTS TO SEE RED MIST RISING IN HER EYES AND SHE FEELS HER BODY IS ERUPTING FROM UNDER HER SKIN. SHE LOOKS DOWN AND REALIZES SHE WAS RIGHT. SHE TRANSFORMED INTO A COLOSSAL RED DRAGON.
CROWD: (EVERYONE STOPS FIGHTING AND LOOKS UP) Look! What is that!
MINER #1: A giant!
POLICEMAN #1: A monster!
CHILD #1: A red dragon!
THE RED DRAGON STANDS UP AND RISES ABOVE THE TREES AND BUILDINGS. SHE EXTENDS HER MONSTROUS WINGS KNOCKING THE ROOFS OF NEARBY BUILDINGS OFF AND BLOCKING THE SUN. SHE THUMPS ON THE GROUND LIKE AN VIOLENT EARTHQUAKE BREAKING THE EARTH UNDERNEATH HER AND IN ONE POWERFUL PUSH, SHE TOOK OFF INTO THE AIR. SHE ROARS WITH DEAFENING SOUND AND BREATHES FIRE ONTO THE POLICE. THEY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE THE TIME TO SCREAM AND INSTANTLY TURN INTO SOOT.
ARON: (HOLDS GAYNOR’S HAND) My dear, am I hallucinating? Are you seeing this?
GAYNOR: Yes. Our daughter is a red dragon. (SHE PUT HER HAND IN HER POCKET AND TAKES OUT A SMALL RED SHELL-LIKE OBJECT)
ARON: What is that?
GAYNOR: A dragon scale, dear, a red dragon scale.
ARON: You knew?
GAYNOR: Yes. She transmuted right after birth. Scared the midwife shitless. She had to take some tonic to calm herself down. But she convinced herself she was hallucinating anyway.
ARON: And it never occurred to you to tell me?
GAYNOR: I thought I was hallucinating too. I never expected she would transmute once again. I have always had this feeling that neither I or the midwife was hallucinating that day but I didn’t want to sound crazy. Now, we know for sure.
ARON: But how?
GAYNOR: I think I know. I eat an ostrich omelette 9 months before giving birth to Rhi. I always wondered if ostriches lay their eggs in caves, now I think it was a dragon egg.
ARON: Oh yeah, the egg. (NODS) So, what is Rhi?
GAYNOR: Magic, dear. Rhi is magic! (TUGS HIS HAND)
THE RED DRAGON CIRCLES IN THE AIR FOR A LITTLE WHILE THEN FLIES OFF AND DISAPPEARS ON THE HORIZON.
ARON: (LOOKS UP) Where is she going? Should I go find her?
GAYNOR: She will be alright. Besides, you wouldn’t know where to look. Let’s get our boy home. (BENDS DOWN AND TRYING TO LIFE RHYS’ BODY UP)
ARON: (BENDS DOWN AND HELPS GAYNOR TO LIFT RHYS’ BODY UP ONTO A HORSE) Let’s go home.
BLACK-OUT
ACT II SCENE 6
MERERID WALKS IN A DARK CAVE WITH A TORCH IN HER HAND. SHE SEES RHIANNON LYING ON THE EDGE OF A LAKE IN HUMAN FORM. MERERID GATHERS SOME TWIGS AND WOOD AND STARTS A FIRE NEXT TO RHIANNON TRYING TO WARM HER UP. RHIANNON IS SLOWLY WAKING UP.
RHIANNON: Where is this? Mererid? Is that you?
MERERID: (TURNS AROUND) Rhiannon, you are awake. Welcome to Avalon! I told you we would meet again.
RHIANNON: Avalon? The island Arthur went after the battle of Camlann?
MERERID: Ay, one and the same. Are you warming up, my dear?
RHIANNON: (LOOKS DOWN AND SEES STEAM RISING FROM HER BODY) I’m naked! How on earth? (LOOKS SHOCKED AND COVERS HERSELF WITH HER ARMS) But yes, I’m feeling warmer, thanks for the fire.
MERERID: It’s no trouble. If I put clothes on you when you were still wet, you’d get a lot colder a lot faster. Now you are dry, here, put these nice dry clothes on. It’s cold, they should keep you warm in this weather. Do you remember how you got here?
RHIANNON: (PUTS THE CLOTHES ON AND TOUCHES HER HEAD) A bit fuzzy, but, I, uh, I’m not sure. It doesn’t make any sense.
MERERID: (ADDING MORE WOOD TO THE PILE) No, but do go on anyway.
RHIANNON: Was it a dream? Or was it real? I couldn’t tell anymore. My senses dumbfound me. If it was a dream, it was so vivid. I dreamt I was flying in midair while the earth burned beneath me. It felt so real it was palpable.
MERERID: It wasn’t a dream. You were flying. That’s how you got here. No one ordinary can cross over Morgan’s mist. You are the red dragon.
RHIANNON: The red dragon? You mean literally that I’m a dragon? Oh no! That can’t be true. (SHAKES HER HEAD IN DISBELIEF)
MERERID: (LIGHTS UP A TORCH FROM THE FIRE AND POINTS IT AT THE BACK OF THE CAVE) Look behind you.
RHIANNON: (WALKS TO THE BACK OF THE CAVE, COVERS HER MOUTH WITH HER HANDS IN ASTONISHMENT) Are these?
MERERID: Ay, animal carcasses, mostly sheep and cattle. All that flying takes a lot of energy, you were hungry.
RHIANNON: It starts to come back to me, yes, I think I remember some parts of what happened. They are, um, quite fragmented. But if it was true then did I kill people? Coppers? I did, didn’t I?
MERERID: Indeed. But they killed your brother. I heard it on the radio. That’s probably what provoked you to change.
RHIANNON: You knew I could change form?
MERERID: I saw it when I first met you. You and the red dragon, you are one.
RHIANNON: (SHAKES HER HEAD IN DISBELIEF) No, no, no. Tell me this is all just a nightmare. It’s not supposed to happen like this.
MERERID: Supposed to?
RHIANNON: It was just a miners’ strike, that’s all. People might have got hurt but nobody was supposed to die, not like that. Not the coppers, not Rhys. O, Rhys, my poor brother! (BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS)
MERERID: My condolences. What happened to your brother was a tragedy. I understand it is a woeful time but you need to forgive yourself for it was not your fault. One way or another, everyone eventually dies. If it’s of any consolation, your brother did not die in vain. His death has woken the red dragon.
RHIANNON: But Mererid, I took those coppers’ lives. I burnt them alive right to the ground, untied their unfortunate souls and scattered them into the violent winds in all directions.
MERERID: So I heard. But child, life is but a fleeting dream. And their dreams ended when a bigger dream manifested itself into reality. It could not be helped. You had to burn the old down in order to make way for the new.
RHIANNON: What bigger dream?
MERERID: The foretold tale of the red dragon that will one day return and breathe life back to this land. My child, you are the bringer of new life, the harbinger of a new dawn. Turn your sorrows into strength, brace what’s yet to come, we still have much to do.
RHIANNON: To do what?
MERERID: What were your brother’s last words?
RHIANNON: (PUTS HER HAND ON HER FOREHEAD) I remember he said, fight on.
MERERID: And that’s what we shall do.
RHIANNON: Fight with what? They have guns and cannons and what not!
MERERID: You. You are a dragon, remember? You will be the instrument of the creator, the voice of the people, the guardian of millenniums to come.
RHIANNON: But I’m back in human form and I’m not sure I can do it again.
MERERID: You can and you will. In time, you will get better at it, but you need practice. I imagine a new body that size must be quite disorientating to control and get used to.
RHIANNON: But how do you know?
MERERID: I’ve done it before. Once, a long time ago.
RHIANNON: Wait, you mean this has happened before?
MERERID: Ay, I trained the dragon named Tarran that laid the egg which became of you.
RHIANNON: I was hatched from an egg?
MERERID: Not quite, you were born to your mother after she consumed the egg. It was not her fault, she was foraging and came upon it. I guess it was fate. She must have thought it was a large bird egg of some sort.
RHIANNON: What happened to the other dragon Tarran? The one to whom I relate in blood?
MERERID: She’s here. She saw you flew in and brought me here.
RHIANNON: (EYES WIDE OPEN IN EXCITEMENT) She did?
MERERID: Ay, and she will help you learn the skills you need to manoeuvre your winged body. But before that, we need to see the King.
RHIANNON: The King? Do you mean THE King? Arthur Pendragon?
MERERID: (NODS) Ay, that Arthur it is.
RHIANNON: So Arthur lived?
MERERID: Arthur never died.
RHIANNON: Really? All this time! How?
MERERID: After Arthur was mortally wounded at the Battle of Camlann, Morgan took him here and healed him using the Holy Grail.
RHIANNON: The one he retrieved from Annwn.
MERERID: Ay, the fountain of youth, happiness and eternal abundance.
RHIANNON: So he looks…
MERERID: Ay, handsome as a man can be. A crown of golden, two pools of blue and a body chiselled out of the purest diamond.
RHIANNON: Can’t wait to see him!
MERERID: He can’t wait to see you either. Didn’t want to intrude while you slept so he told me to inform him as soon as you are awake.
RHIANNON: That’s great! I’m ready!
MERERID: Grand! Shall we go now?
RHIANNON: Lead the way!
BLACK-OUT
