Alyson Smith
Winter
Cast
William Winters (M) Actor.
Supporting roles until winter when alter ego Winta reappears.
Winta Wick (M) Dame.
Nanny to Sleeping Beauty. Typical dame role, with warm and tender character traits beneath bravado and brashness.
Act I
Prologue
William Winters carries a small, battered suitcase down the rickety stairs of the bed and breakfast in which he has boarded every year since the 1940’s with only a break for his three years’ service. He exits left and walks the relatively short distance to the Palli, once a majestic building its green paint now peels, and the sea wind whips through the tears in the box office awning. He nods to the man on the door, one of the few men he knows that are older than him, and enters backstage right comforted by the familiar smell of damp and mold.
Scene 1 Meeskite
William Winters comes alive the time of year others hibernate. He shakes out his dresses and accompanying petticoats, releasing must and lavender before hanging them on the rail, which looks barer now than it did unclothed. William blows the dust from his towering, faded wig with its worn, yellowing curls. His mouth is dry and he breathes in cold air and cobwebs whilst he dusts the mirror, a faded rag held tight in his pale, wrinkled but soft hands.
Scene 2 Willkommen
The air feels warmer as he moves his head closer towards his reflection, his fingers tingling as the cream he uses spreads over the skin of his face with long, sweeping strokes. He tries to focus on its smell; floral and sweet and there she is … a year older ... but there.
‘Hello Miss Wick. How are you? What’s that? You didn’t expect another year? Cheeky Mare, stop your bitching. Open that bottle and get the bloody lippy on.’
Scene 3 Beedle Dee, Dee
There used to be an urgent voice and sharp knocks on the door, but now an intercom crackles pushing out a thin, monotone, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your ten-minute call. Ten minutes please.’ The phoenix rises, not quite resplendent but grand enough, pushing up trussed cleavage and downing some more Dutch grog in a single swallow, a tart punch in the throat as swallows a belch and arthritically lifts her coarse petticoats.
Scene 4 Mein Damen und Herren
Winta owns that stage. She is bathed in light and raises her arms towards the audience who drape her with applause as she dances with precise movements, awaiting the inevitable moment their eyes turn to a spotlight shining to her left where the bit celebrity will enter. Winta will be left alone, her show stolen, and presence forgotten.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, and the rest of us Beauties, I had a job as a pantomime horse, but quit while I was ahead.’
Act 2
Scene 1 Nicht Mehr
Winta returns to her dressing room for an interval refresh. She knows what she will find but smudges still appear under her eyes as she looks into the mirror, but not at her face. The words, as always, are there in smeared red lipstick:
‘Still See You.’
‘Still Miss You.’
‘Still Here.’
She tissues under her eyes and takes out an old Polaroid camera to photograph the writing that he will now see in a snapshot. He takes the old rag, dabs it with nail-varnish remover and wipes the greasy make-up from the glass. She is momentarily distracted and imagines the queue of parents in front of the ice-cream seller. She remembers when they used to dress correctly. White, elasticated frilly caps, starched aprons with lace stitched on edges over short pink striped dresses, small pots of ice cream tucked tight into a ribboned tray. Now it's just a bored denim swathed student counting down the days until they get back to the city where the lights are bigger and shine brighter than those on this worn-down pier.
William Winter cries inside; Winta Wick drags him back to the stage.
A pie in the face, sweets for the kiddies, the scare of the demons behind you.
‘IT’S BEHIND YOU.’
‘IT’S BEHIND YOU.’
Scene 2 O Wie Wunderbar
It’s an age-old story; boy meets girl and the problem is solved. Just like all the pantomimes since time began. William wonders if it will ever be boy meets boy but he pushes this thought to the back of his head where the gassed and the mutilated lie and wills Winta back. She helps him empty his mind so the shell-shocked stares of those left behind can’t bother him.
Scene 3 Mein Traum
The kiss of life. Sleeping Beauty awakes, gasping for air, her eyes opening, sitting up as the orchestra plays. Golden confetti is dropped from the rafters covering the performers and the stage with glistening shimmers as the Handsome Prince wraps her waist in his strong arms as the audience cheers their passionate kiss.
Scene 4 Toodle-oo
They’re all together now. The air is stagnant, unmoving in its heavy humidity and smelling of stale greasepaint and the perspiration of anticipation. Winta holds her breath as she studies the course, gray lining of the red velvet drape. She is sweating under her imposing wig, causing her scalp to itch before beads roll down her forehead.
Crossed fingers: when the curtains swish the audience will still be there. Nothing so much destroys the soul than a curtain call to emptiness.
But here they are. They clap and cheer and shriek as the actors bow to the blurred mass.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, and the rest of us Beauties, an actor I know kept falling through the floor, it was just a stage he was going through.’
Finale
William Winters struggles to take off Winta Wicks, but eventually he is stripped, her garments lay crumpled on the floor. He is naked apart from her cloying perfume. He doesn’t manage well without her. The silence is oppressive so he starts to whistle a tune about a soldier and his love but still the stage fright twitches as he contemplates the three seasons he is now to endure.
Alyson Smith works as an administrator in a Nursing Home in Newcastle upon Tyne. Alongside this she has recently completed an MA in Creative Writing though the Open University and is working on her first collection of short stories. Alyson has a long-standing diagnosis of Bi-Polar and a recent diagnosis of Level I Autism which has helped her to understand why she doesn't always see the world as other do.
