Character List
Care
Care-less Worker
Selfishness
Temperamental
Overlooked
Indifferent
Callous
Opening Scene
Scene One
(Enter Care)
Care:
Today we hear the story of a care worker who has lost her care.
The hardships of life and demands from society have stripped her sensibility down.
Yet to lose care for others along with time for family punishes and leaves her bare
Of tranquillity or satisfaction, instead we see a woman with an overworked crown.
Watch on as she ‘cares’ for me, as I sit feeble in my gown.
I live alone in this house, no loved ones left to bring me their affections.
My only visitor; the Care-less Worker, who hurries and frowns,
Who makes me feel burdensome when I require her attentions.
Although I am understanding of the strains of work as I live out my pension,
I am aware of the consequences of carelessness ways.
Now watch on and observe the epiphany of the Care-less Worker over the following days.
(Enter Care-less Worker)
Ah! Hello there my dear, and how are you today?
Care-less Worker:
Yes, yes, I’m fine, I shall do what needs doing and then be on my way.
Care-less Worker hurriedly busies herself with the necessary care work
Care:
I don’t suppose you could turn on the radio for me, I don’t feel so steady on my feet.
Care-less Worker.
Can’t you do it yourself? I’m busy and have had a horrendous week.
Care:
I apologise my child, I will be quiet, and will not inconvenience you.
Care-less Worker.
Yes, yes, be quiet. You’re medication is due.
Care:
My Dear, could you pass me my book from the shelf, as it is difficult to reach on my own.
Care-less Worker.
Yes, yes, here you are. Now at last I can leave you and finally go home.
(Exit Care-less Worker)
Care: (to audience)
If only she knew how her carelessness will damage herself
And will result in nothing but damage to her heart and her health.
End Scene.
Discussion
This will be a reinterpretation of the morality plays Mankind and Everyman, reimagined in a modern day setting. The morals brought into question within the outlined play are highly relevant in today’s society, both politically, referencing economy, equality and the relationship between family working life, along with individual morals and the virtuousness of a person in today’s society. This morality play will follow the life of a care worker, whose job is to provide care and assistance to elderly and vulnerable people in their homes. The play of Care-less Worker will begin with the use of a narrator in the opening scene, who will be an elderly person, essentially acting as the moral instructor of the play. The role of this narrator is comparable to the narrator role of Messenger in the morality play, Everyman. Messenger addresses the audience, providing initial insight into the main characters situation and loss of direction. ‘I prey you all give your audience, and hear this matter with reverence…’[1] by beginning the morality play with direct addresses to the ‘audience’, viewers are made aware as to what to expect from the following events of the play, and are primed to look out for immoral behaviour which will result in the main character’s downfall, this applying to the character of Everyman and also Care-less Worker in this modern day interpretation. From this, the audience will learn of how this care worker lacks the care, patience and sympathy that one would hope from a person of her profession.
The play will begin, after the initial narration by Care, with Care-less Worker in the home of an elderly person requiring her care. The audience will watch as Care-less Worker rushes impatiently through the required jobs, paying little attention to the elderly client in need of her assistance and expressing nothing but a desire to conclude the working day. The next scene will be placed within the Care-less Worker’s home, where we are met with her family: her husband ‘Selfishness’, and children, ‘Temperamental’ and ‘Overlooked’. Each of these family members represent important traits in our main character’s life. The audience observes Care-less Worker as she lacks time for her young daughter ‘Overlooked’ who requires help with homework as she panders to the demanding needs of husband, ‘Selfishness’, and loud teenage daughter ‘Temperamental’. The purpose of this scene is to display the negative traits within Care-less Worker’s family along with the traits that make up her own characteristics and the effect that these negative influences have upon aspects of life more worthy of attention, such as the quiet and gentle character of ‘Overlooked’. The purpose of these characters can be compared to the purpose of the minions in Mankind, who exist to lead Mankind away from a virtuous life. This family orientated scene will then conclude with the stressful convincing of all family members to go to bed. The stage lighting will dim to signify night time, and will shortly return to full lighting to imply the beginning of a new day. Care-less Worker will enter the stage, which will still be set as her household, and will hurriedly get ready for work before leaving the stage. Sound effects of entering a car and a car leaving a driveway will be played, along with the sound of a car crash and ambulance sirens, to imply that an accident involving Care-less Worker has taken place outside her home and offstage, thus concluding the second scene.
The turning point of Care-less Worker’s perspective will now begin in Scene Three, as the audience are introduced to the stage now set as a hospital ward with Care-less Worker in bed, injured from a car accident. Two new characters will be introduced; the doctor, ‘Indifference’ and the nurse, ‘Callous’. Both of these characters, who are ‘caring’ for Care-less Worker treat her with disinterest and no sympathy, comparable to the disregard displayed towards ‘Care’ in the opening scene. From this, the main character is made aware of her own carelessness and after making a full recovery, becomes a much more caring care worker as a result.
The final scene will be the same scenario seen in the beginning of the play, only ‘Care’ will this time be treated with the respect and attention that she deserves. Care-less Worker will then leave the stage, and Care will begin a concluding soliloquy regarding the importance of this moral lesson received by Care-less Worker.
The play of Care-less Worker takes structural inspiration from morality plays such as Everyman and Mankind, for example, the opening scene follows the same structure and rhyming pattern as displayed in the opening scene of Mankind, yet uses a narrator similar to that used as the opening soliloquy of Everyman. Yet Care-less Worker provides a setting and moral message that is to be related to a modern day audience of all ages. The clear moral of the dangers of carelessness to those around you is also undercut with social commentaries regarding an overworked workforce, which is a relevant political topic in today’s society, along with a concern for vulnerable people in our society who rely heavily on the care of people such as Care-less Worker, and the issues that can arise when this care is not properly delivered.
This morality play relies heavily on staging, as different locations appear within the plot and it is important that these are easily distinguished between. In this sense Care-less Worker differs from morality plays such as Mankind and Everyman, which require considerably less staging. In a recent traditional performance of Mankind¸ Director, Philip Crispin, explained how he ‘opted for portable and minimal staging. In Hull’s black-painted Gulbenkian Theatre, we hoisted three large black-on-white banners across the playing area, directly facing the audience’[2]. Although such ‘minimal staging’ worked effectively in a traditional staging of Mankind, to make the performance of Care-less Worker more relatable to a modern day audience, easily recognisable and detailed stage sets should be used to achieve distinction will create an element of realism within the modern-day events on stage in order to aid in the audience’s immersion. To achieve this effectively, a proscenium arch stage will be used to aid in creating an immersive world on stage. A proscenium arch stage will also allow for events to take place offstage, such as Care-less Worker’s accident, a key event within the play’s narrative, through the use of offstage sound effects.
As all characters are allegorical, in a similar way to characters in Everyman and Mankind, this allows for actors to be interchangeable, as the importance of each character lies within their allegorical name, rather than the actor portraying them. However, ‘Care-less Worker’ should be portrayed by a female actor who appears weathered and exhausted. ‘Care’ should be elderly, yet gender may be interchangeable, but must be played with kindness and gentility by the actor. The only specific requirements for the actors of ‘Care-less Worker’s’ family are for them to be of appropriate ages to the those stated in the outlined plot. Costume is another important feature to be considered, yet only applies to characters whose profession is identifiable by uniform, this being the doctor and nurse, along with ‘Care-less Worker’. For other characters, freedom is given to the director to choose costume and actor, as it is the allegorical features of these characters that carry the most importance in the play’s narrative and moral message.
The play of Care-less Worker essentially acts as a reinterpretation of Everyman and Mankind, taking structural inspiration from both texts, yet reimagining the moral message to apply to a modern day environment that is relevant to any audience member with an understanding of working life. A clear moral, which aims to better the relationships between people in society, permeates through the text, whilst simultaneously highlighting real world issues that exist in today’s society.
Endnotes
[1] Everyman,in Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays, ed. by A. C. Cawley, (London: Orion Publishing Group, 1993) 1.
[2] Philip Crispin, ‘Directing Mankind in the Twenty-First Century’, The Yearbook of English Studies, Vol. 43 (2013), pp. 174-202 (p. 177)., < http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5699/yearenglstud.43.2013.0174 > [accessed: 26th Febuary 2014].
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Ed. Cawley, A. C., Everyman, (London: Orion Publishing Group, 1993).
Mankind, in EN302 Early Drama course booklet (University of Kent, 2013).
Secondary Sources
Crispin, Philip, ‘Directing Mankind in the Twenty-First Century’, The Yearbook of English Studies, Vol. 43 (2013), pp. 174-202, < http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5699/yearenglstud.43.2013.0174 > [accessed: 26th Febuary 2014].