Dorothy: “Good news” I told Giles, the Head of Entertainment, as he passed me the keys to his Morris before scrambling for the harbour, “My husband has been given permission to come live at the Cathay. Aren’t I lucky?”
I then volunteered as VAD in the 10th Australian General Hospital, which moved into the cinema of Cathay building February 10. A real baptism of fire, as they say. Still, mostly, I held the hands of dying men, sang them songs. Sometimes I shaved their beards or washed their dirty feet.The situation in Singapore City was getting more chaotic by the hour. Many dozens of seriously wounded or burned were being carried in on stretchers, lifted up over the carcasses of crushed automobiles at the hospital entrance. The Cathay building was under constant bombardment: The hospital couldn’t display a Red Cross Flag as the Army Corps Headquarters was installed there. The nurses had been evacuated as it was felt their services could be put to better use in another theatre: as most of the orderlies had scurried off and taken shelter in the basement, to drink and play cards, tensions were at flashpoint.
Scene Twenty-Eight: Flashback. Hospital
SOUND: hospital sounds, chaos, the cries of the wounded
Orderly : growl
Dorothy: What was that you called me. A bloody Pommy?
Orderly: growl
Dorothy.: That’s simply not true. I do not favor the English patients over the Australians. I spent all last night with that Australian private who was trying to tear off this bandages. And the night before I raided surrounding flats for supplies for everyone. Where do you think all these silk bed sheets came from? The Chanel No. 5 I’ve been using to mask the stench of putrifying flesh?
Orderly: Growl
dorothy: How can I? How can I feed that Welshman. His jaw has been blown off. His lips have gone gangrene! There’s nothing but green jelly where his mouth should be! (Crying)
Orderly: Softer Growl
Dorothy: I know. I know. But if you won’t take a break, neither will I.
Scene Twenty-Nine: Westminster Office
SOUND: typing
Dorothy: On the Sunday, the Japanese concentrated on bombing the Cathay Building. We we received over a dozen direct hits! Smoke filled the building. On February 15, The British Capitulated. The hospital was given a few days reprieve and then forced to move to Changi. On February 21 I was interned at Katong and then later moved to Changi. I had to walk nine miles to get there carrying my luggage.
Scene Thirty: flashback. Changi
SOUND: enormous din of prisoners
Dorothy: Dr. Jamieson? What is this?
Dr. J: Rules of Conduct for Changi Civilian Internees courtesy of Mr.Asahi the Nipponese Commandant. You can read them out loud for all the newcomers.
Dorothy: Ladies. Ladies please. Doctor Jamieson has asked me to read out the following rules for Internees. One: The behavior and attitude of the internees towards the Nipponese authorities will be obedient and respectful. Two: When the Nipponese come into the room, Internees must bow and stand to attention. Three: No internee shall approach the Nipponese authority directly, communicating only through the Camp leader. Four. NO lights on before 7:30. Lights out 10:30. Five All civilian subjects will do the necessary work inside the camp for their welfare.Six: Communication between the Men’s Camp and the Women’s Camp is strictly forbidden.
Internee: Is that all? Sounds just like me old boarding school.
Scene Thirty-One: Westminster office
SOUND: Typing
Dorothy: I first worked in the library and then took a turn as floor Representative. I was elected deputy Women’s Representative in the Women’s Camp from January to June 1943. I had lost out to Dr. Mary Jones, a specialist in tropical pediatrics, for the post of Women’s Representative by three votes. The deputy is a sort of Administrative head, dealing with supplies, budgets, rules and regulations.
Scene Thirty-Two: Committee Meeting Changi
SOUND: women around a table whispering
Dorothy: Expenditures. Central Fund. So far. Food 283,00, Tobacco
and Cigarettes, 52,000, Medical supplies, 30,500; Communication with mens camp executive: One free issue egg per person per week: From now on funds to be spent on rice polishings, ground nuts, pulses and dahls and not on eggs.
Woman: What? Are we to eat like the Hindus now?
Dorothy: The camp doctors assure us these provide better dietary value for the money.
Women: Ridiculous! I can’t believe it.
Dorothy: As for the request for kennels for our dogs, the Men’s Camp believes this to be unimportant. Timber is scarce and needed for building projects like the Men’s Sanitorium. On a disturbing note, books have been disappearing from the reference library. It is believed that the paper is being used to make cigarettes. Please remind the women under you that the sign of a civilized society is how it treats its books.Lastly, a cable has been sent to the Canadian Prime Minister, acknowledging his Christmas greetings and asking for assistance from the Canadian Red Cross.
Woman: If the Americans would share their baskets we wouldn’t have
to go begging from the Canadians!
Communication with the Nipponese Command. They have agreed to have
toilet paper and kotex added to the list of essentials for new internees.They have agreed to have a piano tuner come into the camp. They have allowed one lecture a week from the Men’s camp. : the Lecture Series commences on February 1st with “The Lighter Side of the Law” by Timothy Morgan, and on the 7th there will be a talk on Television. Most welcome news of all, they have permitted us sea bathing excursions, once a month. Now to address the complaints about women spending too long in the showers. Shower time will remain the same,two and one half hours in the morningn and the same in the afternoon. If anyone feels that some are abusing their
privileges the official channel for making a complaint is through their floor representative.
Woman 2: If you ask me some women seem to enjoy exposing themselves
in public.
Dorothy: Well, the long queue lines for meals and showers and the like are only going to get worse, I’m afraid. The Nipponese have warned us to expect a rush of new internees.
Group: No. How many. Impossible
Woman Two: How many?
Dorothy: As many as 900. Including 72 children. That will mean three
to a cell.
Woman one: Intolerable.
Dorothy Procedure as follows: New internees are to be registered in the school room by the office secretaries aided by some volunteers. They will be asked basic information only. Where are you from? Husband? Children? Any utensils. Bedding? Women with children will go to E Upper and Women with girls over 13 to the Carpenter’s shop to be claimed as cellmates. New arrivals who remain unclaimed will be assigned cellmates by the housing committee.
Women: I’m going to sleep in the Rose Garden. I have dibs on the Chapel.
Scene 32 1/2 Schoolroom. Murmur of voices
Dorothy: Name?
Woman: Mrs. J.P. Smithy
Dorothy: Born?
Woman: Kuala Lumpur
Dorothy: Education?
Woman:. St. Margaret’s Harrow and Pension at Lucerne Switzerland
Dorothy: Children?
Woman: Yes
Dorothy: Ages?
Woman: One Year Nine Months
Dorothy:Husband?
Woman:In POW camp. Gordon’s Corporal
Dorothy: Are you happy here?
Woman: No!
Dorothy:Why?
WOman: Husband not here and I do not like prison
Dorothy: What about food?
Woman: I am not ill, but not good food and not enough.
Dorothy: What about child?
Woman: Better food than us. But not enough. Could do with more food. Are you a doctor?
Dorothy: No, I am merely the Women’s Deputy Representative.
But I do not wish to be interviewed. So good day.
Scene Thirty-Three: Westminster Office
SOUND: typing
Dorothy: I was elected Women’s Representative, in June 1943, responsible to the Nipponese for the conduct of all 300 or so women at Changi Internment Camp. I had the freedom to leave the women’s camp for daily visits to Tominaga, the new Nipponese Commandant, a round-faced toad of a man. Unlike the Men’s Camp Representative, who chose to avoid confrontations with the Nipponese Command,I made a point of making a daily visit to Tominaga’s office. It was the only way to face my fear. Every day I would demand insulin and other medicines for the sick women. And every day I would be denied, with a sharp slap to the face. One day he punished me for my persistence by having me to fill up a giant blackboard with tiny “N”‘s and “O” s. On my walk back from Tominaga’s office I would usually stop by the Men’s Camp, on official camp business, of course.
Scene Thirty-Four: Flashback. Men’s Camp Office. Changi
SOUND: Radio being tuned
Dorothy: Let’s see, I have GRH 9.81 mc/s 30.53 m or try GSL 6.11
mc/s 49.10 meters.
announcer: This is World Affairs on the BBC Overseas Service. A Talk with Wickham Steed. A few days ago our Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, in a speech to the American Congress, assured the American people that the British will be fighting the war with Japan until the conclusion. One wonders why he had to make such a speech. Could it be that the average American (fading) is unaware that we are fighting …
Scene Thirty-Five: Changi
SOUND: Background din of crowd, paper being torn from typewriter
Man: Grumph
Dorothy: Thank you, Norris, but I need only one copy
Man: GRump
Dorothy: I have decided that this News will be passed on in the Women’s Camp orally. I will have my distributors memorize the basic facts from this news sheet and then I will destroy it.
man: ??
DOROTHY: They can draw pictures as a memory aid. For instance, in this case, a picture of a boat.
Man: HMMM
Dorothy: Yes, I am convinced this is for the best. Some internees have been too cavalier when it comes to distributing news. They think it’s a sort of schoolyard game. I am taking no chances. Man: HHHMMM??
Dorothy: I’ve chosen four of the most sensible woman in the camp to be my distributors. All reliable married women. No power hungry spinsters among them.
Man: ??
Dorothy: Sorry,I will not give you their names. They don’t even know who the others are.
Man: Growl
Dorothy: I can’t be bullied into revealing who they are. And, yes, I am well aware that Mary will object to the secrecy. But I once caught her reading a newssheet to Lady Drew, out in the open. Mary is a dear but she can be quite scatterbrained at times.
Scene Thirty-Six: Changi Women’s Camp
SOUND: Loud din of prisoners
Dr Jones: Mrs. Nixon. I’ve heard from Dr. Geeson that BBC broadcasts are coming into the Men’s Camp. Such good news for us. With the tensions here at such a fever pitch. I hear you were involved with the scuffle between the ladies in the Carpenter’s Shop.
Dorothy: Yes, Mary I never thought I’d need a Sikh guard to protect me from one of our own.
Dr. Jones: Were you hurt?
Dorothy: No. Kicked and bitten on the arm. That’s all. Rather droll in retrospect. Mrs.Maloney had a vicious disagreement with another of the Eurasians, Mrs. Dock, over a morsel of chicken she’d scrounged, and Mrs. Dock ran of to complain directly to Tominaga. I chased her down but arrived too late. She had already flung open the door of his quarters and caught him taking a shower. I wrestled her to the floor in the doorway. Tominaga’s guard arrived and joined us on the ground for a group grapple. All this with our esteemed Commandant howling bloody murder in the background. I was blamed for the incident of course. Spent two days in the lavatory with the two women. Lucky I was there, otherwise they would have killed each other.
Jones: Well, hopefully this BBC business will raise morale. I volunteer of course to be one of our distributors.
Dorothy: Mary, I’ve already chosen my distributors.
Jones: Who are they?
Dorothy: Only I will have that information. No doctors among them
Jones: No doctors? But we are the natural leaders here.. The Nipponese respect us. Where would you be without our expertise in nutrition and tropical disease. We are ideally placed to pass on information to the camp population.
dorothy: I’m sorry Mary.
Jones: You were my deputy. We worked together. You know you can trust me.
Dorothy: Mary. You are busy enough with your statistic-taking and caregiving to the newborns. Don’t be offended. I wouldn’t divulge this information to Timothy,either.
Jones: You wouldn’t tell the Men’s Camp Rep? He must have been livid. He believes the women’s camp is under the jurisdiction of the Men’s Camp.
Dorothy: Well,men never think women can do anything. They don’t understand how we women are better practiced at making do under
confinement.What did Maugham write? The soul of man wanders through infinite reaches of the universe and she, woman, seeks to imprison it?
Jones: You are obsessed about secrecy! Still upset about the incident
with Lady Drew and the News.
Dorothy: These are BBC Broadcasts.
Jones: I am able to be discreet. You know that! Tominaga told Mrs. Rose he loved her poems, by the by. Finds them amusing.
Dorothy: He’s only impressed with her Ivy League credentials. The Japanese are such snobs.
Jones: Well,that’s one step better than the average colonial, wouldn’t you say? Who judges a woman’s worth by her husband’s social standing. As the wife of a mere rubber planter you surely can appreciate…
Dorothy: Well,And Mrs. Rose has no business going over my head either to talk to Tominaga. Typical American. Wanting all the perks of power without the responsibility.
Looking For Mrs. Peel Complete play pdf
