A feast to my eyes

Act 2. Scene1:

 

We have closed act 1 at the pivotal point in our story. Tyler went all the way to London to find his father. Even though Hugo dreams about his home country, he could not immediately agree to return with Tyler. However, after learning the truth, he recalls the promises he made. The next morning, he decided to return home.

That was where act one ended. In act two, we will follow him home and find out what happens.

Scene one opens where Hugo is wakes up the first morning in South Africa. As he walks around outside, he is surprised with how much has changed over the years.

Track: A feast to my eyes

(Click title to listen)

HUGO

(1A)

I WOKE UP ONCE MORE UPON MY LAND

I HAVE BEEN AWAY FAR TOO LONG

THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE I BELONG

THE MOST WONDERFUL SIGHTS ARE A FEAST TO MY EYES

 

(2A)

I REACH MY ARMS TO THE HEAVENS UP ABOVE

I GAZE UPON THE WIDE OPEN PLAINS

THE MOUNTAINS THAT REACH TO THE SKY

THESE MOST WONDERFUL SIGHTS ARE A FEAST TO MY EYES

 

ENSEMBLE

(3B)

WHAT IS THIS PLACE WHERE HE LANDED HIS FEET

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE THAT ARE WALKING DOWN THE STREET

THE PLACE HE LEFT BEHIND

LOOKED SO MUCH DIFFERENT AT THE TIME

WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE WALKING SIDE BY SIDE

 

HUGO

(4A)

I LEFT THIS PLACE IN A HASTE

BULLETS FLYING AT MY HEAD

NOW I HEAR THE SOUND OF CHILDREN PLAYING ROUND

THESE ARE THE MOST WONDERFUL SOUNDS TO MY EARS

 

ENSEMBLE

(5B)

I CAN SMELL THE CLEAN AIR ON THE BREEZE

AT NIGHT I CAN SEE THE STARS IN THE SKY

IN THE MORNING I CAN SEE ALL THE BIRDS IN THE TREES

THESE MOST WONDERFUL SIGHTS ARE A FEAST TO MY EYES

 

Do you know what is behind the Ghost town?

Earlier this week we've given away a free mp3 of the song Ghost town.

This song is full of imagery and metaphors. Follow the lyrics on our web page (or scroll further down). The song makes ample use of lyrical detachment as discussed by Axeman Jim in his excellent book about songwriting.

http://dog-on-blues.com/ghost_town_lyrics

Did you you know that the ghost town is a real place? Can you find the clues? It is a place I have visited probably more than 100 times. Easy? How many places have I been to that sports a forsaken beachfront? And with storms pouring violently down? Gee, Grisilda on Point road. Now it is a give away!

Now that you figured out where it is, can you figure out the rest of the riddles? Do you know who or what Samara is? Can you find all the clues? Who is Lilith? The blight? Who are the cave-men and what are the rat-holes?

Ghost town

 
Music and lyrics by Eric Swardt
(Vocal by Jeanette)

Verse 1
The cave-men are escaping from the rat-holes
The sun is down on this desolated town
Through the mist the lights shine down on no-one
As the storm pours violently down

Verse 2
Ghouls crawl along the forsaken beach front
On point road Merrow performs her rite
A patron talks to Griselda about a quick one
Then sped off into the misty night

Chorus
Free me from this coast town
Where the gloom will drive me insane
Save me from this ghost town
Free me from this strangling chain

Verse 3
A beast in rags begging on the beach front
For a desperate grit a scrap of food is fine
He will sweat for bread or drinking water
In the blight of fear Lilith resigned

Verse 4
In the dark I can hear the demons talking
With a tongue of people gone and dead
The smell of the dread and loneliness overwhelming
As pictures of my death runs through my head

Repeat chorus

Verse 5
Taking refuge in the corner on a bar stool
Watching Samara play the bass guitar
A barrel of rum is all that I needed
To fall in love with little evils charm

BRIDGE
This is not a nightmare, the truth bears down on me
This is not a nightmare, the truth has come to be
How is it that I could not foresee
How did I become a dead machine
Will my future be drowned in sadness
Do I have to stay in this affair
In this life of endless madness
I have to escape this nightmare

Repeat chorus

BRIDGE 2
There are many through this before me
Many martyrs survived this ordeal
All too scared to cross the Red sea
While the kings will have their meal

Repeat chorus

Coda
At the break of dawn the skies are dull and cloudy
Slaves face the puke for one more day
A day in hell would be a mercy
As I send little evil on her way

A matter of import - part 1

During the 1980's, South Africa experienced what was known then as the "brain drain". Many young South Africans left the country to settle overseas. Favourite destinations were Australia and England. Many of those young people contributed a great deal to the eventual end to apartheid in South Africa. After democratic elections in South Africa, many of those who lived in exile returned to South Africa. These young people received good education at overseas universities and eventually helped to reverse the brain drain to some extend. Those who joined the 'official' struggle movement while in exile were rewarded with positions in the new government.

Meet Neil, one of those young men. Neil left the country with Hugo and settled in London, where he received a degree in law. While in exile, Neil met and married an English girl. They had one daughter whom they named Melissa.

When Melissa was about 8 years old, her family relocated back to South Africa, where her dad got a job in the new government and became a member of the new Parliament.

Ten years later, the day after the freedom day celebrations, Melissa, with her friend, Tyler, arrived at her home to talk to her father, who is in their lounge.

At the freedom day celebrations the previous day, Tyler made up his mind. He wants to bring his father back to South Africa. Melissa told him to stop talking and do something about it. She suggested that they should go see her father, Neil who might know where he is.

Track: A matter of import part 1
Album: Unpublished (From the musical, The exile)
Artist: Eric Swardt

With that background, the lyrics of this song is self explanatory. After the introductions, Tyler states his business and Neil offers to assist. In the last verse Neil reflects on his memories of Hugo, which is covered in detail in the song which follows immediately after this one.
 

Melissa

(1a)

Good day father. it is good to see you again

please meet Tyler, he is my dearest friend

he's the son of Pam and wish to talk to you

about a matter that you may know a thing or two

 

Neil

(2a)

Good day young man, tell me what's on your mind

is there some information that you wish to find

and as your member of the parliament

I'll take your matter without any argument

 

Tyler

(3b)

Sir, the matter about which i wish to talk

is not of public import

I seek news of the one who made a stand

and sacrificed so much for this land

(4a)

I am told that you are one

who joined my father on the run

but while so many have returned

my father never claimed what he earned

 

(5a Tyler and Melissa)

We know what fate befell on every one

(oh yes, we know)

of the heroes that were on the run

but as for Hugo we don't know how

he is doing now

(6c with Melisa)

Sir, the matter about which I came to speak

is of great import to me

I come to you as I am on the trail

of my father who is in exile

 

From the Odyssey to The exile - part 2

In part 1 of this series, we saw how the Odyssey by Homer was the initial inspiration behind The exile. Now, let's get some insights into how the story was changed from a 2,000 year old tale into a modern story.

I decided to cut it all down to the spline of the story. Many of the scenes in the Odyssey can form the basis for some scenes in my story, but we there will not be enough time to dwell too much on them. I had to become ruthless about changes to the story. I could not let the Odyssey get in the way of a good story. Whenever it suited me, I made changes. After all, I am a story teller, not a journalist, and there are no real truths in a story that does not exist yet.

The chapters of the Odyssey can be grouped into three sections, 1) the search for Ulysses 2) Ulysses's journey into exile and 3) Ulysses's return. The exile will follow a similar outline, i.e. Tyler's search for his father, Hugo's back story of going into exile, and Hugo's return home.

In the Odyssey, Homer has the war hero, Ulysses. I have Hugo for this role. We had the Trojan war in the Odyssey to form the backdrop of the story. In modern South Africa we had the fight against apartheid. In the Odyssey, Ulysses was in exile on an island. In South Africa, many people left the country to live in exile on an island overseas. The two most popular destinations were, Australia and Britain. I had to make a choice there, and chose Britain. Australia would have worked as well, as the anti-apartheid movement was just as strong over there.

Homer starts the Odyssey with Zeus, the great god, calling on the muse to tell him about Ulysses, the war hero who never returned home. He then gives Minerva permission to free Ulysses and allow Ulysses to return home.

In the first draft of The Exile I had Zuma (Zeus), the president of South Africa, calling the journalists (modern day muses) to fill him in on the detail of the war hero Hugo (Ulysses). After hearing the story, he grants permission to Melissa (Minerva), to go find Hugo. This introduction to the story however soon got canned. There are too many caveats in that scene, and besides, it did not really add anything to the story. The basic test for any scene is: if I leave this scene out completely, would it change or hurt the story in any way? This scene could not pass this test, and was therefore canned. It only added the need for extra characters and extra stage sets, which will not be needed anywhere else in the story. That just adds cost, even though, admittedly, it woulds have made an interesting introduction.

In the Odyssey Homer moves on to Minerva meeting up with Telemachus at a party at Penelope's home, and telling him to get off his backside and go search for his father. This scene is very important, as it provides the real kick-off to the rest of the tale, so I decided to use this as my opening scene. As we dismissed the original opening scene, we needed to get some connection between Melissa, who get the story into action, and Tyler, who is the one who must take the action. The Odyssey sowed enough seeds to allow for a love story between Telemachus and Minerva, so I decided to use that angle and make Melissa Tyler's girlfriend.

In the initial drafts, the occasion for the party was the first democratic elections celebrations in South Africa. Later on we changed this to become the 10 year celebrations. That gave us some space to add some extra plot elements to our story.

From that point onwards the story started to fall into place. Calypso became Cathy in The exile. Menelaus became Manual, Penelope became Pamela and we did away with a whole lot of extras.

Many side stories from the Odyssey were canned for the sake of relevance and to shorten the story. In the Odyssey, the back story is made up by many chapters about Ulysses's travels from Troy until he got stuck in exile. I brought all of that back story down to the only a few songs. I needed enough back story to make my audience understand why he did what he did and how he came to be in exile. There was not enough space to give all the saucy details. All the war scenes and protest march songs got canned.

The back story is broken up in a few short passages, and spread them around. First we give Pamela a chance to tell her side of the story in "I recall" and "Into Exile". We'll have Neil telling us his story in "From afar", and later on will Manual take the story further in "A matter of import". Finally, Hugo will give us the final crucial details in "A long long time" and "Memories long forgotten".

So, until next time....

Into exile

In the fourth song of the musical, The exile, Pamela starts to fill us in on the back story. As we will see throughout the musical, we have not cramped the whole back story into one shot. The story is being unravelled, one bit at a time.

Even though the title may suggest that this song is about Hugo going into exile, it really is about Pamela's back story. In the previous song, I recall, she gave us her viewpoint on Hugo and their love story. This time we want to know her life story.

Track: Into Exile

(Click song name to listen on soundloud)

Album: The Exile, concept album recording
Artist: Eric Swardt

The song is a standard AABA song form, i.e. it has 2 verses, a bridge and then a verse repeated. No Chorus. Though pop music lovers may find this strange, this form is fairly common in musicals.

(1a)

You were still an unborn child

when he went into exile

and left me here on my own

When he went to the unknown

I wondered why he left so quick

There was no time to try to understand

ever since that dreadful time

All that I could do was sit and cry

ever since he went into exile

The lyrics of the first verse speaks for itself. Pamela is addressing Tyler directly in this song. The lyrics is in a very direct style and no real attempt was made to hide subliminal messages. Throughout this song you will however have to listen carefully for some very important hints about Pamela and Hugo. In the first verse, take note when Pamela is innocently telling Tyler "I wondered why he left so quick". In a song much later in this story you will get some further insight into those words.

 

(2a)

From that day he spent his life

to dedicate to discord and strife

for the freedom of this land

while I was left here on my own

I knew that he would not return

Day after day and years were rolling on

I had to care for my child

but I was still a child myself

on that day he went into exile

This verse starts off telling us about Hugo and how he became a freedom fighter, but once again she turns the attention back to herself by telling us about her own suffering as a young teenage single mother.

 

(3b)

In all those years things went astray

when the government put our leader in jail

and they were on their way

to take this place down the drain

We were the scum of humanity

Slaves in our own beautiful country

We could not even walk

free on the street or free on the beach

In the bridge of this song we turn the attention away from Pamela's personal life a bit and start to fill you in on the political situation. The leaders were jailed and the country was headed for disaster. The reality of the apartheid policy was that they were not treated as equal human beings.

 

(4a)

Through all these years I gave you a home

even though I was all alone

In all these years you were the one

who gave me strength to carry on

The years went by I worked each day

a simple job as the master's maid

and all I had I spent upon

the schooling of my only son

since that day he went into exile

 

In the last verse Pamela turns the attention back to her again. The story she is telling here is a very common story in South Africa during those times. As a single mother, to survive and send her child to school, she had to work as a domestic worker for a below minimum wage.

 

Elders in freezer and Post-apartheid South Africa

Many of you may have seen the story in the newspapers.

http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Oues-in-vrieskas-gedruk-20130109

The story is in Afrikaans, which I know many readers can not follow. Just to give you the gist of the story: robbers broke into a house in Belfast and murdered the people. A number of things makes this specially horrendous. Firstly, the victims were elderly people who had no way to resist. Then, the way they were killed is horrific. They were stuffed into a freezer and left to suffocate.

Now, I know this blog is not about crime in South Africa. This blog is about musicals and The exile. There are three important connecting points here. Firstly, the victims were the in-laws of a very good life long friend of mine, advocate Deon van Wyk. I met Deon in 1979 when I went to University, and we are still great friends. We all feel for Deon and the family, having to deal with such a horrific ordeal.

The interesting important second point of interest here is that Deon is currently in exile. He is now living in the UAE. He left long after democratic elections. One of his reasons for leaving SA is the crime. Deon, we are sorry to admit that you were right. This place is not safe to live.

The third point of importance of this story for our blog here is that the story is about post-apartheid South Africa. We have already talked about the scene and song "Talk about democracy" at

http://exilemusical.blogspot.com/2013/01/talk-about-democracy.html?m=1

In this song we had Tyler and Tony talking about how the elections in South Africa did not bring us what we expected. Crime is much higher. They sing:

"and it is not safe to walk the streets
The filth is lying all around our feet
This town is lying in the ditch
Politicians are getting rich"

Sadly, but this is very true.

Deon, out thoughts are with you and your family.

See you all next time.