Hush Now Accessibility Information Pack - The Courtyard

Hush Now Accessibility Information Pack
Introduction

The Hush Now Accessibility Pack includes a glossary of words
and terms and a breakdown of individual scenes. The play is a
continuous cycle of songs, each song outlining the experience
of the character. A traditional audio description, running
alongside the songs, would interrupt the flow of the
performance. We are therefore offering this, a concise
description of the whole play to prepare the V.I audience
member prior to watching the performance.

The instrument you hear throughout the play is called a Shruti.
It will be used to accompany songs and suggest a change of
mood. The sound of birdsong will be used to link passages.
When there is no singing, there may be images projected onto
a screen. A short description of the images is provided in the
narrative. Around the edge of the performance area, there are a
variety of clothes horses and washing lines on which are hung
bits of fabric, cloths and towels. There is also a dressing table
with a mirror, some chairs, two prams and a bath. Pebbles line
the edge of the performance area. All of the stage furniture and
costumes are white in colour. White suggests purity and
virginity and is the traditional colour of a bride’s dress. There is
also the wider implication that the girls in the story were
‘whitewashed’ i.e hidden away and forgotten, their individuality
taken away.

All the actors are on stage throughout the play and have the
same basic costume (a white dress). Costume accessories
change for each character to place their era. Unlike the
costumes, the shoes are full of colour and represent the
individuality of the women. By placing them on the edge of the
circle where there are gaps, the women are reclaiming their
identities and completing the circle by joining together.

The Caretaker who is playing the Shruti is sitting at the side of
the stage in view of the audience.

Each character, named after a flower, will have a piece of fabric
or an article of clothing with her flower printed on. The item will
be hung on a washing line during her scene, forming a full
‘garland’ of flowers by the end.

Glossary of words and terms:

Pram – a larger version of a child’s buggy. A pram, short for
Perambulator, was about the size of a shopping trolley with a
handle at waist height and 4 wheels which had springs
attached so the baby could be gently bounced in it - helping it
to sleep.

Hopscotch – this is a children’s game. To begin with, a grid with
numbers 1 to 10 is drawn with chalk on the pavement. A stone
is thrown onto the grid to determine how many hops or jumps
the player needs to take to get to the square where the stone
lands.

Bundle - this is a piece of material, manipulated by the actors to
create the shape of a baby.

Cairn – this is a roughly constructed heap of rocks or stones, a
simple burial mound.

Garland – this is several flowers, linked together to make a
chain that can be worn as a headband or as a necklace.

Corset – corsets were traditionally made of whalebone and
fabric. They wrap around a woman’s torso like a waistcoat.
Strings are pulled tight at the back of the corset to make the
female form more attractive. Pulling in the waist and pushing
the breasts up creates a sexually alluring shape.

Foetal position – this is a sleeping position when the person is
on their side with their knees drawn up to their chest and their
arms and hands are also tucked into the body.

Cellar - cellars are basement rooms in old houses. They are
invariably cold, dark places that can have a damp, musty smell.

Muslin – this is a soft cotton fabric that is used to wipe babies’
mouths etc.

Scene Overviews:

The play starts with all three actors lying on the floor, curled up
into the foetal position.

Scene 1:
The Caretaker starts singing. During the song, her singing
breathes life into Forget me Not who starts to wake up and
eventually joins in the song. She holds a small bundle of fabric
that has the Cuckooflower printed on it, close to her stomach. It
contains a pebble that she places in the pram. After she hangs
the fabric on a washing line, she pushes the pram slowly
around the stage.

Scene 2:
Forget me Not now stands, looking at a pair of muddy boots in
front of her. As she starts her song, she steps into the boots.
She dances whilst holding some clothing. Eventually, she takes
off her boots and puts them aside. As the drone of the Shruti
fades, Forget me Not wakes Bellbind and Cowslip.
As the scene fades we see a new image which is one of a
washing line, strung between two old rough walls in a small
back yard.

Scene 3:

Bellbind sits on a chair, sewing. She wears blue shoes. Blue is
a cold colour that is associated with water. Forget me Not,
holding a handkerchief, pushes the pram around the stage. She
puts the hankie in her pocket and becomes the character of a
Mother who gently rocks the pram. There is also a nurse who
responds using physical and facial expressions of sympathy.
During her scene, when Bellbind pricks her finger, there is a
sharp intake of breath from the other characters.

The Shruti drone turns into humming to symbolize new life. At
the end of the scene the screened image is of a pram standing
in front of an ornate, metal fence.

Scene 4:
Opens with 3 women standing looking at a sheet that has a film
projected onto it. Cowslip is, what people used to call, a
simpleton. Her boots are too big for her, suggesting they were
hand me downs or that she is not properly cared for. The filmed
footage plays, featuring Cowslip surrounded by straw, making a
simple cross out of sticks and taking small pebbles out of her
basket and piling them into a mound (cairn). The actors
respond to the video as it plays and Cowslip sings along with it.
Cowslip, kneeling, starts to take pebbles from the basket
beside her and builds them into a cairn. She then inserts the
twig cross into the middle of the pebbles. She gradually lies
down and curls her body around the cairn. The screened image
that follows is of cows, in a barn, in a farmyard.

Scene 5:
Love in a Mist is seated, holding a piece of muslin. She dances
and moves with the muslin to express her coquettish, playful
character. There is some light interplay between her and the
other characters and she plays and moves with her chair to
emphasize some of the song lyrics. On the line ‘My man cried’
she works her muslin into a baby shape and cradles it in her
arms before hanging it on a line. There is more playful interplay

between her and the other characters. The screened image
that follows the scene is of some houses in the countryside.

Scene 6:
Seated at the dressing table, Foxglove is looking in the mirror,
applying lipstick. She then puts on a wig that is red, a colour
associated with heat and danger. She also wears red shoes.
Her gait and physicality suggest she is trying to attract a man.
Two other women dance with sensuality as Foxglove sings. A
corset is hung on the line. The screened image at the end is
one of a large red door.

Scene 7:
Before the scene starts, two women mark out the grid for
Hopscotch in chalk on the floor. When they’ve finished, they
step back and watch Clockflower as she jumps and skips on
the grid. Throughout this scene, they control and manipulate
Clockflower’s movement and actions using a stick and a broom,
both of which are used as percussive elements during the
singing. They get a coat and a bundle and aggressively push
them with their sticks along the floor to her. Whilst they sing
‘Hush a Bye Baby’ together they taunt Clockflower by drawing a
circle of chalk around her and then they step back. She slowly
unwraps her bundle and at the very end of the scene, opens a
small tin and blows the seeds of a dandelion out of it. The
following screened image shows old roughly built farm buildings
with the Hopscotch grid drawn on the stones outside.

Scene 8:
Bryony lies on the floor in foetal position, she is clutching a
sheet of newspaper. Whilst this is happening, the Caretaker is
watching with a pram and then she slowly walks around the
edge of the stage, creating an unsettling feeling. The other two
women sit perfectly still. Whilst singing, Bryony slowly unwraps
a crumpled sheet of newspaper. She then spots a pebble on
the edge of the performance space and places it on the
newspaper, wraps it up and rocks it in her arm like a baby. The

caretaker opens the doors and Bryony becomes the first
character to leave the stage. As she leaves the performance
area, the screened image is of a cellar.

Scene 9:
Daisy is in the bath that is filled with muslin to symbolize that
she feels like she’s drowning in laundry - it’s even coming out of
the taps. Daisy is scrubbing herself very hard with knotted
muslin. During her song, she is overcome. The Caretaker
moves into the chalk circle for the first time and sings Daisy’s
song for her. The Caretaker hangs up her own headscarf which
also has a flower sewn onto it and the 3 women walk around
the bath. They remove pieces of muslin from the bath and hang
them around the stage on the clothes dryers. They are all
printed with images of the individual character’s flowers. Daisy
feels stronger. She gets out of the bath and hangs her own
flower on the line – it is a daisy chain.
After gazing at all the fabric they have hung, the four women
then stand still, facing the audience for the final song.