A
quiet back
street in Swarrell. Norah, Rita, Ada, Wilma, Thelma
and other girls.
Norah:
It’s not over yet. After the lads, you
lot. Get
’em all back down to the goods yard. Tell
’em
Swarrell’ll not be expecting ’em. Hey,
Thelma.
Come ’ere! Make sure the Swarrell lot stick around.
Wilma
and the Halden girls go off towards Halden. Thelma and the
Swarrell girls go to the goods yard. Ada and Rita stay with
Norah.
Norah:
Now
we’ll see some fun.
Norah
gets out
cigarettes. Her friends cluster round to light up.
Norah:
We’ll have to think of some way to get Little Willie and the
Dragons into the fight.
A
movement
catches their attention.
Ada:
Who’s there?
Rita:
It’s that old man.
Old
Jake is
slinking along the street. He stops when he sees the girls
and starts to sneak away.
Norah:
Let’s get him!
The
girls dart
forward and surround Old Jake.
Norah:
What’s an old man like you doing playing with a gang of boys?
Jake:
Eh?
Rita:
He’s a queer!
Jake:
I’m an old man! Don’t hurt me!
I’m an old
man! Oh, me heart! I can feel it going!
Norah:
Time to worry is when it stops. What d’ya go round
with them lads for?
Jake:
Nothing. O-o-oh me heart!
Norah:
You
know what we wanna see, don’t ya?
Jake:
I’m an old man.
Norah:
We
wanna see them lads getting stripped.
Rita:
That’s what he
wants to see an’all, innit?
Norah:
Hey, were you there when they stripped Nails Palmer?
Jake:
No. My son was there though. He
caught him.
Norah:
Is
your son Sid Thatcher?
Jake[proudly]:
Yeah. Heard of him, have you? He’s a
hero, he is. Takes after me.
Rita:
Way
I heard it, he’s a poof.
Norah:
You
Sid Thatcher’s father?
Jake:
Yeah. Jake Thatcher’s the name. They call
me Old Jake. They all
know me,
all the lads.
Norah:
They know you in Halden too – and we’re
gonna take you back there.
Ada and Rita:
Yeah!
Norah:
They’re gonna have some fun with you,
old man.
Ada and Rita:
Yeah!
Jake:
No! Me heart won’t stand it!
I’m an old man. You’ll be had up for
murder.
Rita:
Somebody’s coming.
Ada:
S’orright. S’Tommo an’ them.
Enter
Tommo
and other Halden lads.
Norah:
Hey, Tommo. Look what we’ve got for you.
The lads are
gathering down at the goods yard. You could use his
long-johns
for a banner!
Jake:
No-o-o-o!!!
ACT
II, SCENE 2
A
street in
Swarrell. Sid, mooching alone, hears voices nearby.
Voice of Jake:
No-o-o-o!!!
Sid:
Dad! They’re murdering him.
Voice of Jake:
I’m an old man! Help!
Sid:
I’ll go for help.
Sid
turns away and is bowled over by Stan and others charging to rescue
Jake. He picks himself up and stands listening.
Stan and
his companions return, bringing Jake. Sid hurries forward.
Sid:
Dad! Are you all right? I thought I heard him
shouting for help.
Stan:
Halden lads had him.
Jake:
Girls! Horrible! Let’s go home.
Sid:
Yeah. All right, Dad. I’ll take you home.
Stan:
No. We need you. King wants everybody down by the
engine sheds. He says they’ll come again.
Sid:
But
me dad …?
Stan:
He’ll be all right with us. Bring him
along. He’ll be safe enough at the engine sheds.
Sid
and Jake
go with them unwillingly.
ACT
II, SCENE 3
The
girls are looking down from the viaduct onto the goods yard.
A
raucous Halden charge pushes the Swarrell lines back in disarray.
Rita:
Good, eh?
Norah:
Yeah! Boys are stupid. You can make ’em
do anything.
Ada:
They
haven’t taken anybody’s pants off yet, though.
Norah:
Don’t worry. Things are just starting to liven up.
Jane:
It’s not fair. Our lads are outnumbered.
You lot have been helping Halden.
Norah:
They’ll have to call for the Black Dragons, then.
That’s what I’m
waiting for.
Girls:
Yeah!
ACT
II, SCENE 4
A
corner of
the battlefield.
King:
We’re outnumbered.
Ronno:
We’ll have to get La’al Willie to help.
Jake:
Yeah. That’s the way. Bring up
reinforcements.
His lads’ll be fresh. They’ll tek
’em by
surprise, like we did that time in the Italian campaign. Near
Monte Cassino it was. The Jerries had dug in, and we
…
King
and Ronno
move aside and leave him chuntering to himself.
King:
Think he’d help?
Ronno:
Yeah. Against Halden? Course he would.
King:
I
dunno.
Ronno:
Send Sid. He’d do owt for Sid.
King:
Yeah. Sid.
ACT
II, SCENE 5
Corner
of the
goods yard. Little Willie and his Dragons, Ken and Sid.
Willie:
I don’t care if they strip King and parade him round the town
in
his shirt – in fact I hope they do, and you can tell him that!
Ken
and Sid
turn away.
Willie:
The only way we’ll join the battle is if King joins the
Dragons. So you can tell him to come along for initiation if
you
want.
The
Dragons
guffaw and cheer.
ACT
II, SCENE 6
King’s
command-group.
Ronno:
Getting’ dark. Reckon they’ll call it a
day?
King:
Some
hope!
Jake:
They’re regrouping for another thrust. Jerries was
always
doing that. You wanna put out sentries and send out spies on
recce. I’d go meself but I’m and old
man. Me
joints aren’t what they used to be. No good going
on recce
when your joints keep creaking.
Ronno:
We’ll send Sid.
Sid:Me?!
Ronno:
Yeah. Inborn skill and that. Handed down from
father to
son. Almost as good as sending Jake himself. Better
really:
Sid’s still young, his joints don’t
creak. Just the
sort of job for the hero who captured Nails Palmer, don’t you
think, eh Jake?
Jake:
Er
…
Ronno:
And
Sid hasn’t had anything much to do yet. I mean,
we’re not using him properly.
Stan:
Aw
leave him alone, Ronno. I’ll go.
King:
Let
’em both go. If there’s two
they’ll have more of a chance.
ACT
II, SCENE 7
Halden
lads.
Dolly:
I’ll go if I can have La’al Willie’s
colours, whoever takes ’em!
Tommo:
Yeah, course you can. All we need to know is where they are
and
if they’ve got any ambushes laid. When we know
that:
POW! They won’t know what hit them.
Dolly:
OK.
Dolly
creeps
away.
ACT
II, SCENE 8
Rough
terrain. Darkness. Sid and Stan creeping
stealthily.
A movement alerts them and they freeze. Dolly creeps
past.
Stan signs to Sid and they follow him as he crawls along spying.
Stan[whispering
to Sid]:
Spy.
Stan
takes off his jacket and hides behind a pile of rubble. Sid
hides
too. Dolly peers at the Swarrell lines, obviously counting,
then
turns and moves down the line. He is clearly visible in the
moonlight to Ken and Sid. As Dolly draws level Stan
springs. He muffles Dolly’s head in his jacket and
brings
him down. Sid jumps in to help and they overpower Dolly.
Sid:
Make
him tell where they are. Save us going.
Ken:
Orright, you! What’s your name?
Dolly:
Dolly.
Ken:
Dolly! Well, little Dolly Daydream, you better tell us
everything
we want to know, or it’ll be Dolly’s nightmare from
now
on. How’d you like to be taken back to the Engine
Sheds for
the Count, eh?
Dolly:
Will ya lemme go if I tell you?
Stan:
Yeah, but we’ll have your colours.
Dolly:
Not
me kecks! You won’t tek me kecks, will ya?
Stan:
You
can keep your kecks – if
you tell us.
ACT
II, SCENE 9
The
girls on
the viaduct.
Rita:
It’s getting too dark to see.
Norah:
Once that cloud’s gone there’ll be a full moon
– see?
The
scene
below is clearly lit.
Ada:
Look!
Norah
whips her binoculars to her eyes and watches as Stan and Sid strip
Dolly of his denim jacket, scarf, boots and belt. He departs
in
stocking feet, shirt and jeans. Norah sighs.
ACT
II, SCENE 10
Willie’s
camp.
Pete:
We
should be helping.
Willie:
No! I’ve told you. If they want us
they’ll have
to join us. I’m not going near them till they join
the
Dragons.
Pete:
Halden could be at the Engine Sheds.
Willie:
Never!
Pete:
They
could
be.
Willie:
Well … even if they are, we’re not interfering
– not
till I’m ready. We’ll go up onto the
embankment. We can see from there.
ACT
II, SCENE 11
The
girls on
the viaduct.
Rita:
Look, Norah! Summat’s happening.
Down
below a sudden Swarrell charge sweeps towards the Halden
position. The Halden lads are overrun and retreat towards the
Alebeck.
Suddenly
Hotrod and his gang, the Furies, appear on the Swarrell flank and send
a hail of bricks and stones at the Swarrell youths, who
falter.
King and Stan are hit and have to be dragged to safety.
At
the edge of
the battlefield. Sid is crouching down, hiding.
Suddenly he is surrounded by Halden lads.
Halden lad:
There’s one of ’em!
Sid
springs
round, looking for an escape route. His name
“SID” is clearly visible on the back of his jacket.
Halden lad:
It’s Sid! We’ve got Sid Thatcher!
All:
Raaay! We’ve
got Sid Thatcher! We’ve
got Sid Thatcher!
We’re going
to take
his trousers
off!
We’re going
to take
his trousers
off!
The
girls are
looking down from the viaduct.
Norah:
Hear that? They’re going to take his trousers off!
Down
on the
battlefield Ken and Ronno lead a rescue party. The Halden
lads are driven off and Sid is rescued unharmed.
The
Swarrell
lads withdraw to the Engine Sheds.
ACT
II, SCENE 12
The
railway embankment where Little Willie and the Dragons are
clustered. They do not have such a good view of the battle as
the
girls on the viaduct.
Willie:
What are they retreating for? They could have driven
’em
into the beck and drowned the sods. Where’s
Pete? Why
doesn’t he come and tell us what’s gan on?
ACT
II, SCENE 13
Behind
the
Engine Sheds. Swarrell are in a bad way.
Jake:
A’m an old man! They should get someone to take me
home.
Pete:
Where’s King?
Ronno:
Is
Willie coming?
Pete:
What’s happening?
Jake:
Yeah, bring Willie – him and his Dragons. Fresh
blood! Reinforcements! Turn the table!
Monte
Cassino … I shouldn’t be here
… Why
doesn’t he bring them?
Ronno:
Tell him if he doesn’t, Halden’ll win.
Pete:
He
dun’t care.
Ronno:
Some of ’em must care.
Sound
of
Halden cheering.
Ronno:
Here they come!
Pete
bolts for
the way out back to Willie.
Ronno[calling
after him]:
Bring the Dragons!
The
Swarrell
lads clamber up to defend the Engine Sheds. Jake sinks down
in a corner.
Jake:
I’m an old man.
ACT
II, SCENE 14
Norah
and the
girls watch from the viaduct as Halden charge.
Norah:
Now
we’ll see some fun!
Swarrell
are driven back from the Engine Sheds. Ronno and a few others
are
marooned on the roof. Tommo and the Wild Bulls clamber up via
some adjacent ruined buildings.
Norah:
They can’t escape! We’ll get a good view
of this! – We’re going
to get
their trousers
off!
Halden girls:
We’re going
to get
their trousers
off!
We’re going
to get
their
trousers
off!
Unnoticed
by
Norah, Jane and some of the Swarrell girls have
collected a pile of pebbles and rubbish at the point where the viaduct
runs closest to the Engine Sheds. The now let fly with a
fusillade just as the Wild Bulls and their followers reach the
roof. The Halden lads leap around dodging the
missiles.
Tommo slips and falls from the roof. The Wild Bulls leap down
to
rescue him.
Ronno and his group triumph. The Wild Bulls and
their
followers retreat as Swarrell surge around the sheds.
ACT
II, SCENE 15
The
viaduct. Norah and her girls advance on Jane and the Swarrell
girls.
Norah:
What did you do that for? I told you not to stick your nose
in! We’d have had some good fun if it
hadn’t been for
you.
Halden girls:
Yeah!
Jane:
Oh
yeah? It’s all right for you to go interfering to
help Halden,
innit?
Norah:
I’m not helping any of ’em! Boys are
stupid. If
you’d’ve listened to me we’d have had the
pants off
that lot on the roof.
Jane:
Yeah, you want the Swarrell lads to lose their pants, but not your
precious Halden lot.
Norah:
I
want the pants off all
of them – and I don’t want any more out of you!
Jane:
Shuddup!
Norah:
Don’t you tell me
to shuttup!
Jane:
Don’t you tell me
what I can do and what I can’t do!
I’m not one of your
gang! I’m from Swarrell!
Thelma:
I’m from Swarrell an’ all, but Norah’s
right.
If we start fighting among ourselves we’ll be as stupid as
the
boys.
Jane:
Well
I don’t see why it’s always Swarrell that has to
lose.
Norah:
It’s not
always Swarrell. The one I really
want to see
stripped is that Tommo – King
of the two towns!
Rita:
Hey,
I wonder what’s happened to him.
The
girls rush
back to look over the parapet.
Ada:
They’ve attacked again.
The
Halden lads are swarming up the Engine Sheds. Ronno and his
lads
hurl a last few missiles, then beat a hasty retreat. Led by
Tommo
and the Wild Bulls, Halden swarm onto and around the Engine
Sheds. Tommo stands triumphantly on the peak of the
roof. A
great cheer goes up from Halden.
Norah:
They didn’t take any prisoners – but now the
Dragons will have
to join in.
