Terry is my favourite character in Death of a Nightingale. In this Post I shall explain why?
There is a subplot to the Play. Some might argue that the subplot is more important than the plot.
Is there a God? More precisely is God “God of the Jews”, “God of the Christians”, “God of the Muslims”, “God of the Sikhs”, “God of the “Tibetan monks” … or just “God”? Or, alternatively, is God simply a figment of a very fertile imagination, a concept made by man in the image of man to give meaning to birth and death?
In this argument Terry is a younger version of Richard Dawkins, but perhaps even more disrespectful of authority. He echoes his father and the millions of those who doubt God’s existence altogether. He is a fictional character, but he is very real.
In this argument I do not disguise where I stand even though I know that for many this is just one more of my “heresies”.
The Prologue
A number of years ago I heard the following proposition which I endorse here. If there is one God, it shouldn’t be outrageous to suggest that for the billions of people on this planet there are many paths to him or to her, just different routes up the same mountain, and that each one is equally valid and each one blessed.
The Matterhorn above Zermatt in Switzerland looks quite unlike Monte Cervino in Italy, but it is the same mountain. The strength of individual belief underpins the validity of one – it does not undermine the validity of another. It also underpins its integrity. No single way is exclusive, although Judaism, Christianity and Islam all find words to suggest that theirs is. If they have that belief, isn’t it time for them to shed it?
A compassionate God – or Allah the All-Merciful – in his wisdom must be allowed some continuing discretion as to whom he admits into his divine presence – now mustn’t he?
I cannot believe that God has favourites among his children. There has been and still is too much suffering caused by those who have believed this. We are dealing here with the Infinite. There is no edge to the universe. The concept of God should reflect that. I am happy to echo here sentiments that others, much more learned than me, have expressed, most recently Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks in his book, The Dignity of Difference
God is not One but, if n stands for infinity, One to the power of n.
That is a thought to unite all those who believe in a supreme deity. In the name of humanity they should rejoice in sharing it. The Alexandria Declaration of the three Faiths was a real start. It needs to continue.
(Revisit Post 9 – Faithful Infidels)
Terry disagrees. Very early on in the Play we know he is an awkward customer. He is as thin as a rake, but his eyes are full of mischief. Overfull. He loses friends easily, but gains secret admirers.
Act One Scene 3
Margaret Williamson, head teacher, Emma Kirk, Music teacher, and Wendy Robinson, a carer are talking in the Staff Room.
(Head teacher comes storming in.)
MARGARET WILLIAMSON One for me too, Joan dear … and strong. I need it. Thank you for staying behind. It does help to share our thoughts about things now and again. God, that Terry James is impossible. How can you teach a class with him in it?
EMMA KIRK What’s he been up to now?
MARGARET WILLIAMSON I asked him to describe an earthquake. Do you know what he said? “When my dad came home drunk.” I then made a big mistake. I asked him what a volcano was then. And he said “My Mam, when my dad came home drunk”.
WENDY ROBINSON It’s not a joke. Have you seen his dad? He must be all of 20 stone.
MARGARET WILIAMSON Mostly beer
He stays that way until the very end, even when he has been put on Ritalin. Whether he should have been is, of course, another issue.
Act 2 Scene 7
Brighouse School is being demolished. Margaret Williamson, head teacher, and others are watching. They are joined by some of the pupils.
(Johnny, Philippa, Terry and Tracy arrive together)
TRACY It’s a crime
PHILIPPA It’s a waste.
JOHNNY I think it’s obscene.
TERRY They’re all shit.
MARGARET WILLIAMSON Terry, you shouldn’t use that word in polite company.
TERRY Very sorry miss. It’s those new pills I am taking. They don’t always work.
In Act One Scene 4 of the Play I look at the nature or otherwise of God’s existence through the prism of music. In sporting terms it is Emma Kirk, the Music Teacher, versus Terry. She certainly feels it is that way.
Act One Scene 4
It is a music lesson at Brighouse School. Emma Kirk, the Music Teacher and a Pentecostal Christian, considers Spirituality in Music with her class.
EMMA KIRK Good, both of you. I’m really going to open up your ear drums this fine morning. The music I am going to play for you to today will reach parts of you that that well known beer won’t reach.
TERRY Worth a try Miss.
PHILIPPA Oh shut up, Terry
EMMA KIRK I’m talking about the thing that separates the human race from the animal kingdom. And, even more important, it’s where all people can come together. I call it the spiritual side of music. The spirit of God is in this music, or the human spirit. Call it either. In my book they are the same thing………….
The battle between Emma Kirk and Terry is joined.
TERRY Do you really believe in God, Miss?
EMMA KIRK Well if she does exist, she wears many different costumes.
PHILIPPA I thought God was a “him”
TRACY Hymns is what you sing to God.
PHILIPPA A “He” then.
EMMA God is whatever you want God to be: He, She or It.
TERRY My dad doesn’t believe that God exists.
EMMA KIRK She doesn’t if you don’t believe in her. She does if you do. My folk believed in God and saw God as the Father. For me though God is a mother. I think today you’ve got to bring religion a wee bitty up to date. After all, Mothers know all about the pain of creation, don’t they? The Bible’s a great book. But there’s far too many men in it. Anyway I’m not sure that ‘believe’ is the right word. I know she’s there. The spirit of God is in every living thing.You just have to listen out for her. But you can turn your back on her too. It’s your choice.
TERRY I’ve chosen. (He gives the thumbs down sign)
EMMA KIRK When you listen to more music you may change your mind. I believe that the hand of God has actually touched the great composers and musicians, and made them great, and for certain not the hand of Charlie Darwin. I heard that great opera singer Placido Domingo say he believed his voice came from God. Music comes up from the earth itself – just listen to this – Giving and taking by Tibetan monks of Garden Shartse & Corciolli. Those voices come right out of God’s good earth, don’t they? They remind us, we don’t just take from the earth; we have to give back to it. Yes, music comes from deep down in the earth, but it sure reaches right up to those angels in Heaven – now just listen to this. It’s not church music but it’s often played in church. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue on the Organ. Those angels dance in heaven every time that’s played in a Cathedral. Can you tell me another heavenly piece of music?
TERRY ‘Ave… a Bloody Mary
EMMA Now I’ll have no blaspheming in my class. Say “Ave Maria” Terry.
TERRY Ave Maria
EMMA KIRK That’s much better. Another one?
PHILIPPA I heard Agnus Dei on Classic FM. I think by Faure. It was so lovely.
The battle is really joined here.
TRACY (Drops drum stick) Sorry.
EMMA KIRK Never mind. God’s just left the room!
TERRY But God’s gifts kill.
EMMA KIRK They also heal. You can’t have a world just made out of sugar candy.
TERRY It’s more like my mam’s suet pudding.
PHILIPPA Do you pray to God?
EMMA KIRK Do I pray to her? Well I know that lots of folk don’t, and they can tell me I am a nutter, but I talk to Her every day. I say a few words to Her every morning and I say a few more before I go to bed. Just tell Her what I’ve been gettin’ up to. The cares of the day just disappear. Better than taking those goodnight pills I can tell you. And on Sundays I sing Her praises. Just listen to the Agnus Dei from the Faure Requiem. You are so right Philippa.I’ll tell you something else. I talk to her and She talks to me. She talks to everyone, yes everyone, if they care to listen. Not just to Moses and Jesus and Mohammed. We have quite a chat at times. You give her a call sometime, and you’ll see.
TERRY My Dad thinks that people who hear voices are bonkers.
EMMA He thinks what he thinks. I think what I know.
Was Religion just “a Christmas present” from God?
EMMA KIRK … Seriously the more our political wonder kids assert the national curriculum, targets and league tables, the more music loses out. Now, let’s get back to the spiritual side of music, music that’s the same the world over, like people are. Folk music, the same rhythms you’ll find in every little village wedding over centuries of time. It’s not clever to give up on those weddings, you know. Anyway, folk music’s now in the soul.
Now I remember my Daddyo recounting how he heard the great Black American singer Paul Robeson deliver that same message in Peekskill, a little town in New York State, at a big open air concert. Now, not everyone likes being told that they are all God’s children. There’s always some that don’t. And on that day those folk came out in force with their clubs, their rocks and their stones, and they rained them down on those peaceful concert goers, on little children too, as they made their way home.
TRACY No. Why did they do a terrible thing like that?
EMMA KIRK Well, some people just don’t believe in a universal creator. They believe in their own tribal God. That’s always making for trouble and suffering. Anyway, that’s all half a century ago. I’m sure times have changed in Westchester County. But what Paul Robeson said about folk music fifty years ago is just as true today. Let’s get back to it. You see, one of the earliest gifts God gave to mankind was music.
TERRY Was it a Christmas present Miss?
EMMA KIRK Oh for heaven’s sake, Terry, it was a gift to Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, and to non-believer from that day to this; no-one any different. It was a gift then, and it’s a gift today to every new born child, even before it’s born, when it’s still in the womb.
One final confrontation
EMMA KIRK People talk a lot about human rights these days. But you never hear them talk about the right to music. It is as important as any.
TRACY What if you are deaf?
EMMA KIRK Haven’t you heard of Evelyn Glennie? She can’t hear a thing she plays, not a single note. And yet she plays the marimba in concerts all over the world, sometimes with an orchestra. She feels the vibrations in her feet. Just listen to this. I’ve got a great CD here if I can find it. Don’t you underestimate the power of the human spirit. Just listen to how she greets the Millennium. Now remember she cannot hear a thing she is playing. Just listen to her rendering of Rag of Colts from the Sugar Factory. I just don’t know whether Evelyn Glennie has a faith or not, but there’s a place reserved for her at God’s table.
TERRY Make a change from those Heavenly voices, Miss.
EMMA KIRK I’ll ignore that.
Yes, Terry is my favourite character. You will sense by now that I like those who cock a snook at authority, especially those I call “Termites”. But I shall give the last word to Tracy. She very much reminds me of a pupil I knew when I was a Governor of a Special School. She actually fronted the parents’ campaign to keep the School open, so I have a lot of time for her too.
TRACY My Nana used to say that God was as near to her as a new born babe and as far away as the furthest star?
I say Amen to that.
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