Dorothy in her cell: “Heaven by comparison”
SOUND: Typing
Dorothy: On the tenth day of October, 1943, there was a peculiar atmosphere in the Nipponese Office. They took the roll call list from me but did not go through it. I was then told to go back and wait in the Rose Garden with the other women. We all stood a long time in the sun. Two women fainted from the heat. Then I heard the sound of marching feet in the Girdle walk Soldiers rushed in and surrounded us. Two familiar looking Nipponese Officers arrived with 3 I had never seen before. Obviously Kempetai. A Japanese woman interpreter accompanied them. They asked me all manner of ridiculous questions.
Scene Thirty-Eight: Rose Garden
SOUND: Silence
Man: Hiss
Interpretor: Mrs. Nixon. Are there any radio in the women’s camp?
Dorothy: Of course not. They are strictly forbidden.
Man: Hiss
Interpretor: Have you heard of any in the men’s camp?
Dorothy: No. How could I have?
Man: Hiss
Interpretor: What do you know about Japanese tankers being sabotaged
in Singapore Harbour.
Dorothy: Nothing.
man: Long Hiss
Interpreter: You are to instruct the women to return to their cell block and wait outside in an orderly line as we search each cell.
dorothy: Fine. But as Women’s Representative, I insist on being present at these searches.
Woman: Mrs. Nixon. I must speak to you.
Dorothy: yes
Woman: (whispering) I must get back to my cell before it is searched.
Dorothy: Why?
Woman: My diary. I left it out in the open.
Dorothy: Diaries. What is it with you women and your diaries? Do you realize how many hours I have spent in the Nipponese office defending the contents of various diaries? Maybe you should be made to suffer for your sloppiness.
Woman: Please Mrs Nixon. More people than me will be harmed if the Japanese read my diary.
Dorothy: What guilty secrets are you hiding? I’m to accompany the Kempetai on the search. I’ll see what I can do.
Scene Thirty-Nine: Inside Empty Changi
SOUND: belongings being thrashed about man: Yelling
dorothy: It’s a stethoscope. What can you possibly find suspicious about a thing like that. The person in this cell is a doctor. Doctors use stethoscopes to hear into people’s chest.
man: yelling
DOROTHY: You don’t understand a word of what I am saying. Do you?
Well, interpret this. See me jump up and down. See me point to my privates. Please. I need to go to the loo.
Man: Harrumph
Dorothy: Where’s her cell? There’s the diary.Right out in the open.
(sx pages turning) My God. Names. Places. Secret communications in the camp. What fools some females be! Ah. (reciting) I am certain it is Mrs. Nixon who is bringing the News into the camp. She could have me killed! (sx ripping of paper) Where’s the dustbin?
Scene Forty: Westminster Office
SOUND: typing
dorothy: The Kempetai then conducted a cell by cell search. After it was over, I arranged for a late supper for the women. I stayed in the office, pretending to type whenever a guard passed. After that I turned off the light and hid and waited my chance to sneak over to the Men’s Camp. Timothy Morgan was still trying to figure out who’d been taken by the Kempetai. Gradually, it became clear it was the men from the Radio Racket….ah, might I take that last sentence back…Thank you… A few days later more men were taken, Timothy included ,as well as two from the omen’s Camp, Mrs. Rose, Camp poetess, and Dr. Mary Jones
Scene Forty-One: Changi Camp
SOUND: (birds chirping)
Mrs. Crawford: Mrs. Nixon! I’ve heard they are searching Dr. Jones’ belongings. First Mrs. Rose than Dr. Jones. That means they will come for us too!
Dorothy: Calm down, Mrs. Crawford. Remember, I am the only one who knows you were one of my distributors. And I promise you,no,I make an oath, that no matter what happens, if the Kempetai do come for me,too, I will never ever give you away.
Scene Forty-Two: Westminster Office
SOUND: typing
Dorothy: Almost six months passed. Then Dr. Jones and Christine Rose were returned to the camp. A few days later, on April 2nd I was called to the Nipponese Office. As I was no longer Women’s Representative I was relaxed about it, I assumed I was to get a wireless message. Instead I was arrested by the Kempetai and taken to the YMCA in a car with McGowan and Peters from the Men’s Camp. I waved to Nicky, my husband, as I got into the car, and tried to smile, as if everything were fine, but I knew I was in for it.I had heard rumours of the YMCA. Beastly rumours. All three of us were escorted to a basement room and told to sit at small school desks
and then we were interrogated.
Scene Forty-Three: YMCA Basement
SOUND: Yelling
Dorothy: I told you. NO ONE gave me any news. There was no NEWS
Man: Yelling
Dorothy: Sometimes I collect rumours floating around and write them down and distribute them, to make the women feel that they aren’t
totally cut off from the world. That’s all.
Man: Yelling
Dorothy: I’ve never heard anything about Japanese boats being blown up in the harbor. I’ve never seen any radio receivers or transmitters in the camp. I am not engaged in espionage and I know no one who is. Sx SLAP.
Man: Yelling.
Dorothy: I don’t care who gave me away. People will admit to anything under extreme conditions.
Scene Forty-Four: Westminster Office
SOUND: typing
Dorothy : I was not hurt during this episode. I was screamed at, cajoled, bribed with food,even threatened with beheading but not physically harmed. After many exhausting hours of interrogation I was taken with McGowan and Peters to a Cage in the basement and put in with 20 others, all sitting cross-legged and looking like something the cat dragged in. Five British men, the others were Malays, Chinese Eurasians and 2 Japanese. Another woman was there, someone I knew: Li Chan.She and her husband had a store and often ran supplies into the camp. I squeezed in behind her.
Scene Forty-Five: The Cage at YMCA
SOUND: groaning of men
Mrs. Chan: (whisper) Believe it or not, this is one of the bigger cages, can’t be more than 20 by 12.
Dorothy: (sx teeth chattering) You seem surprised?
Chan: Yes, you are the first European woman I have seen here. I saw one other Chinese woman. And I heard rumours of a Portugese woman jailed as well.
Dorothy: Dr. Jones and Mrs. Rose were here at the YMCA for only a day and then kept at Smith Road. They are back at Changi now. In rough shape but alive
Chan: I heard rumours that Timothy Morgan is dead
Dorothy: Yes, I did too. Why are you here?
Chan: My husband and I are accused of smuggling radio parts in to the Men’s Camp. We didn’t of course.
Dorothy: Of course.
Chan: And you?
Dorothy: I don’t know why I am here.
Chan: You seem to know that man over there. The thin one with the abscesses on his arms. Norris? You two made eye contact as you entered.
Dorothy: We did?
Chan: He’s been here a while. He’s starving to death. He will beg you for your ration of rice.
Dorothy: Oh
Chan: Some bloat up like balloonfish, some sink back into their eye sockets. I never thought human skin could turn so many colours: black, blue, white, yellow, red, purple, brown, green
Dorothy: Did they torture you too?
Chan: I got the electric shock but not for many months now.
Scene Forty-Six: Westminster Office
SOUND: typing
Dorothy: I heard tales of torture and death in that place, enough horror stories to fill many books. But I never saw any Europeans actually being tortured. The Kempetai took their victims out of the cell starting at ten pm. I could hear screams of agony all night long. It made my skin crawl. Also, a bright light shone in my face so I couldn’t sleep. I was not tortured, although a guard liked to kick me every time he passed. I kept my composure, to set an example for the Asiatics in the cell. If I go to Hell, and it is likely, I won’t be caught by surprise.
Looking For Mrs. Peel Complete play pdf
