Whale Music

by

Anthony Minghella and directed by Harry Tuffill

The Maskers Presented Anthony Minghellas's Whale Music in the Masker's Studio Theatre from Monday 19th May to Saturday 24th May 2008. The play was directed by Harry Tuffill and was seen by almost capacity audiences throughout the run.

Director's Notes

These quotes are from the introduction to Anthony Minghella: Plays 1.

"I find myself in similar thrall to the theatre as I do to Catholocism. It informs a great deal of what I think and do -- I find it hard to practice, increasingly marginalised, excluding, often infuriating."

"It has often seemed to me that there are two kinds of writer at least: those who understand the world and tell us about it; and those who don't understand the world and share their confusion with the audience. I have always admired the first group and resided in the second. And I can identify in each of the plays in this volume a question or a problem or a puzzle which informs and orders the material. In Whale Music I tried to make sense in my own mind of some of the issues surrounding an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy."

As director I saw the play revolving around the realtionships between Caroline and each of the five women: Fran: her best friend "Don't make that face. It's going to happen. It's no use pretending it won't."  Stella, her landlady "Would you mind if I knit something for it? It could wear something for a week." Kate, her friend and former school teacher "We could bring the child up together. I've thought about that too. I've got enough money. We could manage." D, Kare's current protégée "She should have got rid of it. I would have." and Sheelagh, her mother "Caroline -- it's not too late if --." and "It's our grandchild, isn't it?"

I thank the cast and crew for all their hard work. We hope you enjoy the playand don't miss the opportunity to sample some of the Minghella family's excellent ice cream during the interval.

The Southern Daily Echo wrote;

The play portrays what happens when Caroline, a university student, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and takes time out to have her baby. New and old friends gather round in support. The girl has many options: she can have an abortion. She can keep the child and rear it alone. She can rear it with her friend and former teacher Kate, a lesbian, even though Caroline is not gay. Her other option is to give the child up for adoption.

Whale Music is a complex play with killer lines and a portrait of female bonding that transcends boundaries of age, class and education.

The Cast

For The Maskers

Photographs by courtesy of Clive Weeks ( www.cwphotos.co.uk )

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