The Edge of Love

This programme contains some strong language.

# Once a native maiden and a stranger met

# Underneath the blue Tahitian moon

# The stars were in her eyes

# Gardenias in her hair

# And they vowed to care forever

# Then one lonely day the stranger sailed away

# With a parting kiss that came too soon

# And now the trade winds sigh

# When ships go sailing by...

(NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN) "This country is at war with Germany."

(AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS)

# Once a native maiden and a stranger met

# Underneath the blue Tahitian moon

# The stars were in her eyes

# Gardenias in her hair...

(MUFFLED BROADCAST) "..on the platform of the Piccadilly Tube

in the heart of London's West End."

"Many are bombed out of their homes..."

"..today of the evacuation of London's schoolchildren."

"..two attacks against London and Southeast England."

"..200 below ground..."

# When ships go sailing by

# Underneath the blue Tahitian moon. #

(AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS)

(ALL LAUGH / CHATTER)

-But you're not a coward.

-I don't want to die.

Why should I? And if I don't, why should anyone else?

Yet, still, you wouldn't make peace now.

Not now. You wouldn't support that. You couldn't.

-You've only got the one life, Anita. Just the one.

-Dylan?

Is it?

Dylan Thomas. It is, isn't it?

-You might at least have lifted my veil!

-Still love me?

-Did I ever?

-Lift the veil, Vera. Lift the bloody veil, Vera.

Look at you. Look at you. Not been called up?

It's me that puts the heart in the nation.

Ammo factories, I sing in. Down the Tubes right now.

I always loved your voice. Always.

-Amongst other things.

-Don't you come it!

-You haven't changed.

-Thank God.

-And don't. If you do,

I won't let you.

I heard you on the radio.

Like going home, it was, your poems. Like going back.

Where's the posh accent from?

-You should've looked me up.

-Should I?

-Mm.

If I can get all my friends to donate five bob each,

this is the plan, then, I don't have to sell my soul

writing bloody propaganda films. I can write my bloody poetry.

You'd have to join the army.

Grade Three sitting here before you, Vera.

Lungs raddled like a Sunday whore.

So... lend us five bob.

-I'll give you a snout, Dylan Thomas, that's all.

-Oh. Give us, then.

-Silver's for the lonely, Vera Bera.

-Who says I'm lonely?

-Where's the man who'll give you gold?

-That an offer?

It's always been shares with you and me.

-You never had anything to share.

-Yes, but if I did,

you'd be the first. There's no folks like home folks.

And folks you've grown up with,...

..they're the best of all.

-You win.

-Goody.

Forever and always.

You won't, will you?

-Won't what, lovely?

-You won't get lost again?

(TRAIN RUMBLES)

(SOLDIER) Ta, mate.

-(SOLDIERS WOLF-WHISTLE)

-Hello, love!

(DYLAN THOMAS ON RADIO) "I have longed to move away

From the hissing of the spent lie

And the old terrors' continual cry

Growing more terrible

As the day goes over the hill into the deep sea,

I have longed to move away From the repetition of salutes,

For there are ghosts in the air

And ghostly echoes on paper."

(SOLDIERS WOLF-WHISTLE)

"This is Dylan Thomas for the BBC Home Service."

(RIBALD REMARKS)

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)

-Hello, darling.

-Where you going?

-"(WOMAN CHATTERS)"

-The commentary

has to persuade women to join the balloon defences.

"Shaft a Jerry and maybe one of our boys will shaft you." That do?

Your talents really are wasted here, Dylan.

-We could have a drink if you like? After.

-Course we could.

I'm not a bloody dog, Dylan!

-It's the brunette, isn't it?

-(SIGHS)

I had a golden childhood, Anita,

and here it is turning up all unexpected.

Now, I can't look a golden childhood in the mouth, can I?

The commentary, please, Dylan.

Myselves

The grievers grieve among the street

Burned to tireless death

A child of a few hours With its kneading mouth

Charred on the black breast of the grave

The mother dug, And its arms full of fires.

Oh, spare us the bloody tragedy! I need something hopeful here.

The lion once known as Jehovah

Rose up and cocked its leg over

The lioness roared, Jehovah had scored,

-All over the living room sofa.

-I require a commentary.

Dylan! Dylan!

-Caitlin?

-I thought you told me you couldn't live without me.

-Where's our son?

-Chopped up in little bits

and packed with my knickers in the suitcase.

-The police'll be chasing you.

-Don't pretend you want him here.

-Well, there's bombs!

-It's nothing to do with bombs!

You don't want him, so I didn't bring him.

I've never been a father before, Cat. It's not straightforward.

-Still the light of your life, am I?

-In the New Forest, is he?

-You know damn well our son's with my mother.

-I love you, Cat.

-Give us a fag, then.

-I'm out of bleeding fags.

Give my head a good scratch. Please? Hm?

-Oh, lovely!

-Where are we living?

-Nowhere. Ow! Velvet your bloody claws!

-Scratch your own bloody head!

-Come here.

-No.

-Kiss me.

(AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS)

Erm, excuse me.

-You dropped your handkerchief.

-No, I didn't.

-Yes, you did. Right there.

-It's not mine, sorry.

You're supposed to take the hanky,

I'm supposed to introduce myself, buy you a drink.

I don't want a drink.

-Nice try, though.

-I've actually never done this before.

No, you've just never been caught out before.

Hello, darling.

Sod you, then!

-Picky, picky, picky.

-You're late.

-I know. It's all her fault.

-Who's your friend?

-Queen of Ireland,

love of my life, mother of my child, Caitlin Thomas.

Your wife, Dylan?

The one and only.

-He didn't mention...

-Well, he wouldn't, would he?

You made that, didn't you?

I might like you.

Then again, I might not.

I'll await your decision, shall I?

I won't hold my breath, mind.

-Got a mansion we could share?

-Yes. Two little homeless orphans.

-I've only got a room.

-Bugger! Condemned to her sister's, then.

I'll be having that, sailor boy.

-Needn't let -

-Small matter of a wife?

-Nothing should ever come between us.

-Oh, God, Dylan.

-Soul mates, we are, Vera. Always were.

-Don't.

Stop talking about me.

There's a phone in the hall where I stay. You know.

If you want me, he's got my number.

What does it mean when she smiles?

I don't know. Never did.

(KNOCK AT DOOR)

God help us. It's the Visigoths from Wales.

Your sister's here.

Back from strangling Germans, then, are you?

Left all the other little boys playing with their little pistols.

-All ging-gang-gooley and yo-ho-ho.

-(GIGGLES)

That what you call poetry, is it?

Look, give us a bed and we'll stay out from under your feet.

# Maybe it's because

# I kissed you

# too much

# Maybe that is why

# My kiss means

# too little

# Maybe with a love so great

# And a love so

# small

# Maybe I'll be left

# With no love

# at all

# Maybe I'll be left

# With no love

# at all #

(APPLAUSE)

(AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS)

Sometimes I can nurse a single pint all night.

-But that's sometimes.

-There's your pint.

(SLURS) Thank you.

I'll get them in. You pay, though, Vera, eh? Fair do's.

-Support the starving poet.

-You are not a bloody poet, Dylan.

You write films about barrage sodding balloons.

-There is a war on.

-You're not the man I married.

I did cartwheels in a rubber corset in Peter Robinson's window

-when I was hungry.

-You were never hungry.

-You've always had a man to feed you.

-Demonstration purposes it was.

-Bet you can't beat that.

-Bet I can't.

He's following me.

Don't you have all the luck! Watch this.

(MEN CHEER)

-Causing chaos, my lovely.

-What do you need knickers for?

Looking for a good time with a couple of showgirls?

Three more, please. Your drinks are here, chaps.

-Chief stag's beaten off the main competition.

-William Killick.

-Vera Phillips. She's very pleased to meet you.

-Rums all round?

-Mm, goody!

-Four rums, please.

-Do you do cartwheels?

-On the seashore I might.

-Ah. I'll take you there.

-You're busy, by the looks of you.

I could do with a bit of sea air.

I'd like to sit on the beach with you.

Don't you know a brushoff when you get one?

Got any smokes?

-I enjoyed your show.

-Did you?

-Yes.

-Hey?

-Hay's for horses.

-Come for a gallop.

Used to call it busking, singing in the tube stations.

Coppers used to move you on.

-I'll come again, if I may.

-Free world.

(EXPLOSION)

(WOMAN SOBS)

(ALL LAUGH)

Keeping those rums to yourself? We're in danger of breaking a thirst.

I don't melt at the sight of a uniform, that's all.

-Sod it. I don't like nosy parkers.

-It was a civil question.

I could have said, "Are you after my husband?" but I didn't.

-(TOILET FLUSHES)

-Heartache, that's what I see in a uniform.

I'm not gonna love someone just to have them die off on me.

Who's talking about love? Don't you ever get lonely?

-My work's all I need.

-I used to think I'd be a dancer.

Danced night and day.

I know, you're one of those.

No.

-No! God!

-Not one of those, for God's sake! Not that I'm averse.

One of the ones that never got over her first love.

Course I am.

-(AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS)

-Didn't your mother teach you any manners?

-All I said -

-You can walk on your own, I know.

Keep your hand on your ha'penny my mother taught me.

-I'm not touching you.

-Don't look at me, either.

Fine.

No, don't do that!

What have you got against me, Vera Phillips?

You might be dead tomorrow.

Live while you can, live all you can.

-I won't see you again.

-Of course not.

I'd like my torch back.

Please.

-(KEYS CLATTER)

-Don't let the light out!

(Light of your life.)

Has to wipe its feet before it comes back in again.

No! (LAUGHS)

No!

(Cat! Cat!)

-(Little dog needs the toilet.)

-(MOANS)

Go bark somewhere else.

(Come on, Catty.)

Have you got a poem for me?

-You still owe me for the last one.

-(CHUCKLES)

I am not a sodding deposit box, Dylan.

What do you think this is?

-It could be a scribble.

-Could be.

-It could be a bloody limerick, Dullun.

-Could be.

Among Those Killed In The Dawn Raid Was A Man Aged A Hundred.

-Happy piece, is it?

-Do you want to hear it?

-Do you?

-(CHUCKLES)

Do you want to hear it?

Oh, heavy!

When the morning was waking over the war

He put on his clothes and stepped out and he died

The locks yawned loose as a blast blew them wide,

He dropped where he loved on the burst pavement -

-Lived.

-What?

Lived.

Oh, no, it's loved.

-You can't read your own bloody writing. Lived! Lived!

-Loved!

He's a hundred sodding years old! He can't remember love!

The bloody word's only there because I bloody wrote it! Dropped...

Ssshhh!

It's mine, isn't it?

What you write.

All my words.

And every heartbeat.

-They're all for you.

-Really?

Come here, then.

Come on, you!

-(GIGGLES)

-(FOOTSTEPS)

-Oh!

-Get out of the bed

and come and see what he's done this time!

Oh, dear. Naughty doggy Dylan.

Do you know what that is?!

That's animal behaviour, that's what it is.

-Nicolette, I'm,... I'm...

-(SOBS)

(LAUGHS)

-Is Vera Phillips there, please?

-"Just a moment."

-Thank you.

-"Hello?"

-Hello, darling.

-"Dylan?"

-Course it is.

There was a young hero called Killick

Who marched to the top of a... hillick

He stood legs astride And whipped out his pride

-And spread Brylcreem all over his fillick.

-(LAUGHS) What's a fillick?

-Showing your ignorance now.

-William will have a nice one,

-whatever it is.

-Not that you're seeing him again.

-He'll still have a nice one.

-Come here, Vera Bera.

Come on. Come and have a cuddle.

Go on, you're welcome to it. I don't want him.

Don't change, Vera Bera.

You're the star in my dark sky. Don't you ever change.

What am I in your sky?

You're on my earth, Caitlin, just where I want you to be. Come on.

Come and have a cuddle.

-There.

-(LAUGHS)

-What are you laughing at? What?

-(LAUGHS)

What? What is it?

(BOTH LAUGH) What? What?

(BOTH LAUGH)

It's like living with children. Whoa!

(BOTH LAUGH)

-Oh, God!

-I'm going to the pub.

(DOOR CLICKS SHUT)

-What's it like having a son?

-Oh, exhausting!

I can't imagine it.

He's a whole world away from here.

Safe and sound.

(AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS)

You could die in an air raid.

-I'm not going to.

-You might.

This is not how I would choose to seduce someone.

My firm intention is to live forever.

-Is that a promise?

-Cross my heart.

(SIGHS)

You only think you're in love with the poet.

-You know that, don't you?

-His name's Dylan.

You can say Dylan, can't you?

-So you admit you're in love with him?

-A lawyer, are you?

I'm not saying I'm the better man but I'm not married,... Vera.

-And you'll admit, that gives me an advantage.

-I'll admit nothing.

On the grounds that it may incriminate you?

You're trying to provoke me, aren't you?

First love's alright as far as it goes.

Last love, that's what I'm interested in.

Oh, you think you're so damn wise.

(GIGGLES)

What do you want, Vera?

Oh, the moon from out of the skies, the stars in all their glitter.

What else?

It makes you know you're alive, wanting. That's what I think.

Oh, I'm alive alright. Every last bit of me.

Oh! Stay there.

-Right, stay still.

-Alright!

-Still!

-(LAUGHS)

-I'm as good as he is.

-Good as who is?

Dylan! The bugger.

He thinks that I am put on this earth

to nurture his talent.

Cook for him, have his children, clean for him.

That's all I'm here for.

Who's nurturing my bloody talent?

-Your talent, will William nurture that?

-I'll nurture my own.

Cut off his trigger finger, that's what I'd do. I would.

I'd come up quietly in the night and I'd tie him down

and I'd... maim him.

Look at us. How do they live up to us?

-They don't, dirty tarts!

-(BOTH LAUGH)

(AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS)

(BOTH GIGGLE)

(HEAVY THUDDING) Agh! Agh!

-My brother died for the likes of you!

-I didn't bloody ask him to.

Bleeding conchie! Lick my bleeding boot!

Welsh seamen, you can smell them a mile off. Agh!

What are you protecting him for?! Scum, he is!

Get back to your drinking. Now. Go on.

He's right. Contamination, that's what I am. I'd stay well clear.

-(CHUCKLES)

-No, I'm just gonna stay down here a moment.

Just,... just a little moment.

-You're lying in piss, Dylan.

-I've had worse beds.

(GROANS)

I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of you.

-Well, see you don't, then.

-(LAUGHS / GROANS)

You bloody warriors, you're a bunch of yes men.

You don't even know what you're fighting for.

-To live without fear, me and mine.

-Ta.

(GROANS)

Oh, God! (SIGHS)

Terrified, I am, of not, er,... not doing.

War, see, it's useful. It gives the terror a focus.

Is she in there? Vera?

All you heroes, you think the women just fall at your feet

-at the sight of you, don't you?

-You think they don't?

Of course, if I could be born again, I'd have a word with God.

"Make me a hero," I'd say. This way is too much bloody hard work.

-Come on.

-What, go on living?

I've a cure for funk.

-Death, that's the only cure.

-Double?

-You offering?

-(CHUCKLES)

# There was a young poet called Dylan

# Who swore that he never would kill 'em

# When called by his country to serve at the front

# He said he would rather make...

(ALL) # Filums! #

(LAUGHS)

(DYLAN) Possessed by the skies

And taken by light in her arms at long dear last

I may without fail

Suffer the first vision that set fire to the stars.

(Touch her and I'll kill you.)

(Caitlin's territory, is she?)

(Caitlin's friend.)

(GRUNTS)

# Hang out the stars in Indiana

# Up in the sky of midnight blue

# Hang out the stars in Indiana

# To light my way back home to you...

-Here.

-I can buy my own drink.

-Just take the bloody thing.

-(RUMBLING)

-# A melody just meant for two...

-Care to dance?

-I'd love to. Thank you.

Don't worry, they won't get us down here.

# How could I find in things I sought for?

# No wonder they were all denied

# The very happiness I fought for...

-My round.

-Don't be childish.

-Gin drinkers, are they, the children you know?

-Dance. Come on.

I'm an independent woman. I can buy a round if I want to.

-And a fight. You can have that, too.

-Alright, then.

(CHUCKLES) After a dance.

# Hang out the stars in Indiana

# To light my way back home to you... #

-I won't always do as you say.

-Thank you for the warning.

-I won't.

-Just dance.

(LAUGHS)

(EXPLOSION / GLASS SHATTERS)

(SHOUTS)

(SCREAMING)

(COUGHS)

(MAN) Where are you?! Mary?!

-(GASPS)

-Come on. This way.

(MAN) I need help over here now!

Vera! Vera. Vera, you can leave her now.

-No, the pavement's wet!

-No, she won't feel it. Hm?

-Leave her now.

-(GASPS)

Come on. It's alright. It's alright. It's alright.

-(RUMBLING)

-Come on.

It's alright. It's alright.

# Have every robin sing a love song

# A melody just made for two

# For in my heart there'll be a love song

# A song I long to sing

# to you #

(GASPS)

I bet you lay this on the ground.

-Why would I do that?

-For all the girls.

You won't get me on...

-(WOMAN SCREAMS)

-Those people, William.

-Ssh.

-All those people.

You've got a raindrop running down your cheek.

Just like a tear.

Make love to me.

No harm will ever come to you.

Not from me. Not from anyone else. Not while I'm here.

No word of mine will hurt you.

That sounds like a vow.

(DYLAN) 'A stranger has come

To share my room in the house.'

(LAUGHS)

(DISTANT EXPLOSIONS)

(DYLAN) A stranger has come

To share my room in the house

Not right in the head

A girl mad as birds

She has come possessed

Who admits the delusive light through the bouncing wall

Possessed by the skies

And taken by light in her arms at long and dear last

I may, without fail

Suffer the first vision that set fire to the stars.

I don't like it, Dylan.

I've another couple of lines in my head I'm not sure where to put.

-It's not finished, then?

-No, strictly speaking.

Don't write poems for me any more?

(SIGHS) It's just a phase.

Come here.

Bring that body back to me.

(FLOORBOARD CREAKS)

-(LOUD KNOCKING)

-Oh.

-Now -

-(Ssh!)

(CLEARS THROAT)

-It's a marriage licence.

-Special one.

-No.

-What?

You can't make me. What if I can't love you?

I've been posted, Vera.

-Well, that's a hell of a proposal.

-I... love... you.

-I am not marrying you.

-No, you don't

-make the decisions any more.

-No.

-Say it. Say it.

-No.

-Say it. Say, "I'll marry you."

-(LAUGHS) No.

-Say it. Say yes.

Say yes. Yes! Yes!

-Say yes!

-(CAITLIN AND DYLAN) Yes!

-Say yes!

-Oh, for God's sake, say yes!

My first was Augustus John.

Seduced me when I was 15, the old goat.

It doesn't mean anything, fucking. It's not love. I get an itch,

it's gotta be scratched. I'd do it myself only I'm too lazy.

Why bother when you can get someone else to do it for you?

-Nothing to do with love, fucking?

-Uh-uh. Nothing.

Who was your first?

-What?

-You don't need to tell me. I know it was Dylan.

-We were kids. Tents piled in a beach hut.

-Nice and comfy, then.

We were children, still innocent.

We are still innocent, me and Dylan.

-I only want it as a memory. I don't want it back.

-William know?

Don't ever tell him. I can forgive the past, he won't.

The past I can forgive.

You warning me?

Ahhh!

-You love William, don't you?

-You have to love someone these days.

You sure you want to marry him?

I've never had a best friend before. Here.

See if I look like a mermaid?

(LAUGHS)

(CHURCH BELL RINGS)

We've a couple of cleaners who'd be pleased to act as witnesses.

They'll be here, they will.

I'm sorry, we've got couples queuing up.

Sorry!

-About bloody time.

-See?

Look. Bend down, can't you?

Three guineas for a couple of feathers and a piece of cloth.

-Where did you get three guineas?

-He wrote a cheque.

Oh, you look beautiful!

-Tell her she looks beautiful.

-She is beautiful. Let's get married.

-It was Dylan's idea. He chose it.

-You always did have hats.

(PIANO MUSIC)

Would you mind awfully?

I'm terribly sorry. Purely for old times' sake.

(LAUGHS)

-Sorry, old chap.

-Call of duty.

Carry on, Sergeant.

Oh, treat me right, can't you?!

Oh, no, no! I want to give a toast!

I'm going to squeeze the life out of you.

Yes, after the toast.

Oh, go on, you great Welsh bastard, or I'll break you in two!

To all the things that really matter.

-And bugger the ones that don't.

-Hear, hear!

-Can you please get down?

-Sing and I might. Sing, Dullun, sing!

(SINGS IN WELSH)

(BOTH SING IN WELSH)

It's that old heiryth.

That old Welsh thing they're always banging on about.

He hates the bloody place, doesn't he? Who doesn't?

But all he wants, see,... he wants back there.

She's no different.

You'll never come between them, not with them being Welsh together.

Why should I come between them?

Course, you've always got me. (CHUCKLES)

(BOTH STOP SINGING) Perfect.

'"For old times' sake," that's what he said.'

-'No harm will ever come to you.'

-He'll always be my friend.

-'No word of mine will hurt you.'

-I can still have friends.

-You're crying.

-(SIGHS)

Dreaming, that's all.

-You're shaking.

-It'll pass.

You'll come back to me,... I know you will.

Tell me the truth.

You're hurting me.

I want everything to be open between us.

-And fresh and clean.

-Stop it.

You and your friend. Tell me.

We were kids, William.

We were on a beach and it happened, once. That's all.

William.

Tell me you love me.

Come back alive and I'll say it.

-Come back to me, I'll say anything you want.

-And mean it?

Come back and see.

(BAND PLAYS)

# Drifting

# And dreaming

# While shadows

# fall

# Softly

# At twilight

# I hear you

# call

# Love's old

# sweet story

# Told with

# your eyes

# Drifting

# And dreaming

# Sweet

# paradise #

(SHOUTS IN GREEK)

-Get these men off the aircraft now!

-Everybody off the plane!

'Of course you told me because I asked.'

'I should have bitten out my tongue.'

'You're all I love. You're all my need.'

'You're what I see in front of me.'

'And if I look over my shoulder, there.'

'There, I can see your smile.'

'All honour I would give up for you.'

'I could accept defeat if you were by my side.'

(IN GREEK)

Vera.

(VOMITS)

-Do you want me to hold your head?

-Christ, no!

Now you'll get fat and Dylan won't love you any more.

-(LAUGHS)

-You're a bitch.

It's the past Dylan loves.

And you.

-He doesn't love me at all.

-When's William get back?

I keep writing. No word.

-Think he's dead?

-I'm still getting his pay.

Army wouldn't pay a dead man.

You'll have to stop singing.

-I'll sing if I want.

-(LAUGHS) They won't let you.

Not pregnant, they won't.

Oh, I can't do this. I can't. A mother, me? Look at me.

Well, get rid of it, then.

-It's William's.

-Ah.

You love him.

I hate him. Oh, God, I hate him so much.

-Look what he's done to me.

-(LAUGHS)

Don't laugh.

Don't damn well laugh!

-I can't do this alone. I can't.

-I'm here, aren't I?

-Let's go home, Caitlin.

-I don't have a home.

-No, Wales, Caitlin.

-Are you insane, woman?

-I've got money.

-What, William's pay?

I've savings. Of course I have.

(SCREAMS)

Hold him! Bloody hold him!

(SCREAMS)

-You'll have the whole town hearing you!

-Shut your damn mouth!

(SCREAMS)

-You see this here?

-Yes.

(SQUEALS)

-Give it here.

-(WHIMPERS / SCREAMS)

(SCREAMS)

-Don't let go!

-It's only a baby!

You scream if you want to, Vera. You hear me?

(BOTH SCREAM)

(SAWING) (BOTH SCREAM)

'Please write to me.'

-(BABY CRIES)

-'They tell us what to write to our boys,

so we keep the morale up. It's our duty.'

'Damn duty, I say. I'm no heroine, you see.'

'I'm fed up of being on my own. It's not what I married you for.'

'Come home. I've got something I might want to say to you.'

'Remember?'

'You do remember, don't you?'

'Come home. I want to touch you.'

'Where the rain fell on your skin.'

'Damn you for making me feel this way.'

'Damn you to hell and back.'

'And back, William.'

'And back.'

(GUNFIRE)

Down!

Down!

Man down!

Comrade fire!

No, sir.

(GASPS)

(DYLAN) 'Forgive us

Forgive us your death that myselves the believers

May hold it in a great flood Till the blood shall spurt,

And the dust shall sing like a bird

As the grains blow, as your death grows, through our heart.'

'Crying Your dying cry

Child beyond cockcrow,

by the fire-dwarfed Street we chant the flying sea

In the body bereft.'

(Come on.)

(Sleep tight.)

-I'm hungry.

-(Ssh.)

(The baby is sleeping.)

It's bloody freezing! (SHIVERS) Bloody Wales!

(SIGHS)

When I was little, my da always used to warm me like this.

-You loved him?

-Adored him.

-I hated mine.

-You didn't hate him. Not hate.

He was loathsome. Pity you're not a man.

-If you were a man, I'd fancy you.

-(SNORTING)

-(LAUGHS)

-Don't think I didn't know you were there.

-I didn't.

-I could smell him.

Come here, Dylan. Let Vera smell you, smell the woman on you.

-She thinks I should twiddle my thumbs while she...

-What?!

-What?!

-Don't wake the kids, Dylan.

Where are they, Caitlin, your little friends?

Come on, boys, out you come. Feeding time! (LAUGHS)

Ow! She's killing me! Vera! (CHILDREN CRY)

I will kill you! I will! If I catch you at it again, I will!

Why don't you see to the kids, Caitlin? Go on.

-Why do you do it?

-I don't do anything.

I do it, sleep with other women,...

-Hello.

-Morning.

..because I'm a poet and a poet feeds off life.

-(LAUGHS)

-What?

-Pompous sod, aren't you?

-I do it because she does it.

She always has. She can't help herself.

It doesn't mean anything to her.

You don't need William. You've got me.

Nothing but you and me

with time on our hands and each other to spend it with.

(DOOR CLICKS SHUT)

(FOOTSTEPS)

Hello, Daisy.

Come back with me. Come on.

I'll take you back to a time when we were safe,

where no bombs fell from the sky and no-one died, ever.

You can't go back.

We can.

You and me.

-It's not real.

-It is if we want it to be.

Pity about the poor bloody husband.

Off bleeding for his country and paying for the fun back home.

Don't mind if I join you, do you?

(SIGHS)

(SIGHS)

Room for a small one?

Ooh, wartime luxury!

(YELLS)

-You can drop me here.

-(BRAKES SCREECH)

(SCREAMS)

-Cat?!

-That looks nasty.

Catty, Catty. Cat, Cat, Cat. Cat. Catty.

(SNIFFS)

God, you're drunk in charge of a bike.

And what are you drunk in charge of?

Am I hurting you?

You can't hurt her, she's got skin like a rhinoceros hide.

We're only friends, Dylan and me, you know that, don't you?

-Don't ever lie to me.

-I won't. Not ever.

Friends don't lie to each other.

-Still as you can now.

-(WINCES)

(RAIN SPLATTERS)

(HUMS)

Tell him to come back, Rowatt.

-Tell your daddy to come back to me.

-(BABY GURGLES)

Think he sees it, lovely? Your daddy?

You think he sees the rain?

Hmm?

-(CHILD) Mama, Dada!

-Caitlin, shut it up!

You're its father! Play with him, that's what he wants!

-I'm writing!

-Dammit!

-Daddy! Mummy!

-That's my only...

-Dada.

-That's my only draft!

-You'll find it in the cesspit, along with my only life!

-Cat! Cat!

Cat!

(TOILET FLUSHES)

(CHILD CRIES)

(SEAGULLS SCREECH)

When I was a windy boy and a bit

And the black spit of the chapel fold,

(Sighed the old ram rod, dying of women),

I tiptoed shy in the gooseberry wood,

The rude owl cried like a telltale tit,

I skipped in a blush as the big girls rolled

Ninepin down on the donkeys' common,

And on seesaw Sunday nights I wooed

Whoever I would with my wicked eyes,

The whole of the moon I could love and leave.

(For God's sake, don't wake Rowatt!)

(WHISPERS) All the green leaved little weddings' wives

In the coal black bush and let them grieve.

Wash my back for me?

There is nothing like a proper sponge.

-Give us a kiss, Vera Phillips.

-Give us a penny, then.

I haven't got a penny.

Like we used to be. Little dog says, "Play with me."

That's all you'll get.

And don't you wet my jumper.

-We've had baths together before.

-We were children then.

-I made love to you on a beach.

-Once. And it was cold.

-So lonely.

-Not for you.

-Aching with it, you are.

-No, Dylan.

-No what?

-Don't make mischief.

-There's no harm in it.

You're getting me wet!

Walk away, then.

Go on, Vera Phillips.

Hm? Walk away.

-You want us all to love you.

-So I can love you back.

Alright, then.

Love me.

(SHRIEKS / LAUGHS) Look at me, I'm soaking!

Ssh!

(DOOR BANGS IN THE WIND)

(THUNDER RUMBLES)

Vera!

Hello.

Where have you been?!

(SIGHS) Nowhere.

I'm going to make laver bread. Look.

No, don't.

You been crying?

They're sending William home.

I've never seen a man love anyone

-the way I saw that man love you.

-I'm not that me any more.

I've got Rowatt.

Just tell him you love him, Vera.

What if it's too late?

It's never too late.

(BOTH LAUGH)

-It's cold! It's cold!

-Of course it's bloody cold!

Catty!

I'm pregnant, you know.

Oh, God, Cat.

-Whose is it?

-Don't know.

Can't have it, of course. I won't have it.

-I need money, Vera.

-Do you know someone?

-He costs.

-Is he safe?

Just say if you can't help. I'll do it myself.

Maybe Wilfred knows how, he's a vet.

-What did you bother with him for?

-He's no bother.

Come on, we'll go to the bank.

I'd tell you you'd get it back but you wouldn't believe me.

Treats. Come on.

(BABY CRIES)

(INSIDE PUB) It's like I only half remember him.

Dark. Good looking.

-Dangerous.

-You can't live on memories, though, can you?

There's only so many of them. Use yourself up living on memories.

-It'd be a better place, a world without men.

-Possibly.

Dylan, see, sex for him's a giggle.

He makes a joke of it,... whoever it's with.

Bet William's romantic.

I can't remember.

I'll tell you what I think. I think your daddy is very lucky.

(SIGHS)

-(BABY WHINES)

-Oh, God, look, Rowatt.

Who's that funny woman? Who is she? (SIGHS)

(BABY CRIES)

William.

It's me.

I know.

Well, then.

(CLEARS THROAT)

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)

Can't you put him down?

He'll only cry.

What's that?

It's a collage. For you.

(SIGHS)

Hold me, William.

(BABY GURGLES)

-I should deal with the post.

-Let them wait.

(DYLAN) 'In my craft or sullen art

(ECHOING) Exercised in the still night

When only the moon rages

-And the lovers lie abed...

-William?

..With all their griefs in their arms

I labour by singing light

Not for ambition nor bread

Or the strut and trade of charms on the ivory stages

But for the common wages of their most secret heart.'

(SIGHS)

You alright?

-Are you?

-I will be.

Will you?

-I don't know where he is.

-Give him time.

He's changed.

-So have you.

-He doesn't love me any more.

Everybody loves you. And Dylan. Everybody loves him.

Oh, God!

Oh, Catty!

-Does it hurt?

-(SOBS)

I didn't think it would mean anything.

Course, it's a relief.

I'll stop.

(SOBS)

In a minute I will. (SNIFFS)

There, see? Happy Caitlin.

(RECORD PLAYS) # Whistling a tune

# All the live long day

# If you want to know just why

# I can truthfully say

-# I've got a feeling about her...

-(SINGS ALONG)

# It was something she said

# She's got me walking on the tips of my toes

-# My hat's on the side of my head...

-Let's throw that.

# All my troubles are mended

# She's my needle and thread

# Cos she's got me walking on the tips of my toes and... #

-(NEEDLE SCRATCHES / MUSIC STOPS)

-Sorry, I...

(MUSIC STARTS)

I'm sorry. I can't remember when I last...

# I've got a feeling I've found her

# It was something she said...

-Shall we go and have some tea?

-OK.

# And my hat's on the side of my head

# All my troubles are mended

# She's my needle and thread

# Cos she's got me walking on the tips of my toes

# And my hat's on the side of my head...

(BABY CRIES)

# Funny thing what love can do

# Take a little look at me... #

(GASPS)

'All you heroes, you think the women just fall at your feet.'

(GASPS)

'He'll always be my friend.'

-(DISTORTED SCREAMING / LAUGHTER)

-(GASPS)

It's a fox. It's a fox, that's all.

-(GASPS)

-(FOX SCREECHES OUTSIDE)

(SIGHS)

What's wrong, William? Talk to me.

-Please.

-(SIGHS)

(BABY CRIES)

(SIGHS)

# Bye baby bunting

# Daddy's gone a hunting

# Gone to get a rabbit skin

# To wrap his baby bunting in... #

'(HUMS MELODY)'

(SIGHS)

What did you want me for?

Was it the money? Was that it? Was that all?

Don't,... don't wake Rowatt.

My money to keep your tame poet.

Oh, I had better offers. Richer offers.

You? Have you looked at yourself?

They're my friends.

-I bought them food. You have to feed people -

-I've nothing left.

You've got Rowatt!

At least look at him, William! Why can't you hold him?!

Is he Dylan's?

That's what they're saying out there, Vera. "He's Dylan's child."

I love you.

-When did that happen?

-I said come back and I'd say it. I said!

You've been with him.

Haven't you?

(BABY CRIES)

-(DOOR SLAMS)

-Hey!

Hey.

Hey. Hey.

(SIGHS)

-What do they want, blood?!

-A finished script.

-You've been paid for it!

-Not enough.

-Be that as it may -

It's like doing my homework!

-It's not even broken down into scenes yet.

-I'm not a secretary!

Well, I'm not a bloody writer!

(ALL CHATTER)

-I'm looking for Dylan Thomas.

-On the house, Captain Killick.

(CHUCKLES) Ah, yes,... the returning hero.

There will be another when you've finished. The least we can do.

Where is he?

There it is. Waiting for you, see?

It's the spectre of communism.

-That's what frightens them, the Allies.

-(CUSTOMER CHATS)

Greece. Now, Greece. It's the communist partisans

that risk their lives to fight the Germans, not the British Tommy.

What they're aiming for, secretly, the Allies,

is for the Germans to wipe out the partisans,

wipe out the communists,

so they won't have to deal with them after the war.

You listen to me.

I held a boy while my sergeant hacked his arm off.

Later I held him while he died.

British boy, he was. That was in Greece.

-I beg your pardon?

-We fight! Out there.

So you and your friends can sit around in Hampstead and theorise.

You do that while we bleed our lives away.

What do you know about war?

You people, what do you know about war, hm?

-Drink up, boys and girls, drink up.

-(LAUGHS)

Introduce me to your knowledgeable friends. Please, introduce me.

-Just as soon as you calm down.

-Oh, you can take my money.

Hm? You take my bloody money

but you can't even introduce me to your friends?

Hah! I'm just a bloody Tommy.

-(BELL RINGS)

-Time, gentlemen!

-Gentlemen, please, it's time!

-Whisky, double.

-Time's called.

-Are you refusing to serve me?

-Time's called.

-Time?!

-Go home, Captain Killick.

-(LAUGHS)

No, don't you laugh at me.

Oh, play the big man.

Come on. Easy in front of a woman, isn't it?

We only have your word that you weren't skulking at the back

with urine running down your leg.

-William, come on.

-Don't bother with them, Captain Killick.

-Best off home.

-(SIGHS)

(HORN BLARES) (ALL LAUGH)

-What...?!

-Take your hands off.

-Put it down!

-Please! Take your hands off!

-Put the damn thing down!

-Vera!

(GASPS) Vera?

Vera?

(MUSIC PLAYS) Give me words and I'm a giant.

Above all women.

Hm? Words. Beyond the bottle.

More than love. Better than sex.

Words... for me.

Hm?

(GASPS)

Our first night together,

she offered her honour, so I honoured her offer.

I've still got her on offer. Very easily entertained, this one.

Thinks a Guinness with a potato in it is a cocktail. Don't you, darling?

(GASPS)

William, no!

No! No!

No! No! No! No! No! (ALL SCREAM)

Stop, please! Please stop!

(BABY CRIES)

No-one here means you any harm. Please.

Don't you care?

Your husband and my wife.

(BABY CRIES)

My son.

You've got a bruise.

Take me home.

Did I do that?

-Take her home, William.

-(BABY CRIES)

Not without my gun.

Give me the gun or I'll pull the pin on this and kill the lot of us.

My son.

What did you give it to her for, you daft sod?

There isn't a pin in it, William.

Either it's faulty or... it's just gone off

and we're standing here dead looking at it.

(BABY CRIES)

(CLICKING)

(SIGHS)

Look, the boy's screaming.

Come home, William.

William.

(SOBS)

(WIND HOWLS)

All they care about is keeping the lid on it

but... that's Wales for you.

Doesn't want the world knowing its business.

I mean, we could have been killed.

-(SIGHS) Cat.

-I haven't got any more money.

I've nothing left, Dylan.

Got your toe.

Toe, toe, toe! (LAUGHS)

(BABY GURGLES)

-Can I...?

-Hold him, then.

See?

You won't hurt him.

Thank you.

Shall we take him out?

Now.

You're an expert.

Eyelashes like feathers. Like yours.

-(KNOCK AT DOOR)

-Captain Killick, it's the police. Open up.

Oh, God.

-One way to get rid of me, eh?

-William,...

..I love you.

Come here.

(SIGHS)

(BABY CRIES)

Don't think I don't understand. His kind of violence, I mean.

I do, it's just I've never had a Sten gun handy.

Tea's got scum on it.

-(BABY GURGLES)

-He's a beauty.

Does William think he's Dylan's?

Is he Dylan's?

No.

(SIGHS) I've used up all the sugar.

Were you sleeping with him?

I love my husband.

(CHUCKLES)

I should kill you.

You're my friend.

For lying, I mean.

For lying to me,... Vera.

(BABY CRIES)

(DOOR CLICKS SHUT)

You look smart. Quite your old self.

I recovered five empty bullet cases from the gravel.

The walls being made of wood and asbestos,

the bullets had penetrated through to the living room,

where I also found five more empty bullet cases.

(All with him, aren't they? The whole village.)

-(OFFICER CONTINUES TALKING)

-(I'm the bard, aren't I?)

-(They've just met him.)

-(Ssh.)

..a grenade and 100 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

He used to lay minefields, Captain Killick. When he left an area,

he used to dig up the mines he'd laid.

Why don't you take the witness box and sing Killick's praises?

-Why don't you?

-Everybody loves a hero.

Captain Killick didn't know he had to hand in his weapons?

He's an expert marksman. If he'd been intent on murder,

-he couldn't possibly have failed.

-Answer the question.

-Scratch my head, Cat.

-Can't.

Is there any reason why a man of your rank

-should strike a woman in the face?

-No, sir.

-Why did you go to the Thomas bungalow so late?

-I have no idea.

They cut me dead. I suppose they didn't want to see the goose

that laid the golden egg. I thought I'd show them that war is real.

There was no-one in my line of fire, so I fired at a partition.

I never imagined the bullets would penetrate.

-The walls were asbestos.

-I didn't know that.

-I wanted to frighten them, that's all.

-There was a child present.

Is,... is that a question, sir?

I can't live without him.

Did you know the entire unit were killed when they went back out there?

Wiped out. That would have been him.

I'm begging you to help him.

It saved his life, this trial. Did him a favour.

Dylan,... please.

-You were the star in my sky.

-(SIGHS)

-You can't stay the same all your life.

-I can.

You'll help him, won't you?

-It means that much to you?

-William's my world.

Him and Rowatt. I've no room for anyone else.

I don't want... anyone else.

I see.

I do, I see.

Mr Thomas?

Captain Killick and I were... no more than acquaintances.

We would occasionally stand next to each other at the bar.

Captain Killick was... stone-cold sober on the night of the shooting

and it is my firm belief

that he tried to kill me, that he tried to kill my wife

and that he tried to kill my son.

-Why?

-You.

Leave Caitlin.

Go on. Leave Caitlin.

You've got rid of the opposition. Now you come on.

Leave your wife and live with me.

Do you see?

You want a 15-year-old girl back on the beach,...

..not me.

You don't even see me, do you?

Dylan.

All you've got is stories in your head. Words.

And I have to be real.

William... makes me real.

If you have sent my beloved husband to jail,...

..I will never forgive you.

It is my opinion that it is not an innocent hand that wields a gun

against a civilian household.

It is, however, your peers who judge you and not I.

They have found that there is no evidence

to support the charge of attempted murder.

I have, therefore, no choice... but to pronounce you free to go.

(ALL CHATTER)

(BOTH LAUGH)

(LAUGHS)

There's that smile.

I never meant to hurt you.

Might as well, I suppose. Smile, I mean.

Write, Catty.

-I'll leave that to Dylan.

-Write to me.

Don't be lonely.

Don't you, Catty.

Don't you.

(DYLAN) 'Not for the proud man apart From the raging moon I write

On these spindrift pages

Nor for the towering dead With their nightingales and psalms

But for the lovers, their arms

Round the griefs of the ages...'

# Was it a marriage made in heaven?

# Was it a gift from God above?

# Do you believe the things you told me?

# Or was it simply careless love?

# You told me once when we were dreaming

# Through life together we would walk

# Those words of love seemed set in starlight

# But now it seems like

# careless talk... #