Little Venice - Synopsis
Place & Time: Rhyl, 1902 - 1907.
Characters (bold type indicates true historical figures)
Mary Bowen - late 30s
Ted Bowen - late 30s
Cerys Bowen (17)
Percy Ashfield (CBE) - 31 in 1902; Manager of Queen’s Palace; UDC
Emily Ashfield - 30 (new mother)
Harry Lawrence - 18 (son of rival chemist shop and photographers in the High Street)
Gareth Lawrence - Harry’s father; rival chemist to Percy.
Ruth Lawrence - Harry’s mother.
Letty Davies - domestic
Bethan Jones - Landlady of the Dudley Arms – or Station Hotel?
Eleanor Broadleigh-Payne
Wilfred Broadleigh-Payne representing the upper-middle classes
Valmai Featherstonehaugh
Fred Tomlinson - Secretary of the Queen’s Palace
Arthur Rowlands - Clerk to the Council
Frank Goodall - Town Surveyor
Millicent Price (WSPU)
Signor Brighella
Arthur Cheetham - local film-maker and cinema owner
Jack Thomas
Constable Huw Hughes
2 Balladeers/Shady Italians – 1 names Luigi Gizzi?
Townspeople
Act 1
Italian-style folk music. Spotlight picks out a trio of Venetian balladeers, who sing a romantic paean to the city. During the instrumental section, assorted local characters appear, in costumes spanning 100+ years, talking about the myth of the underground canals.
A flamboyant Italian showman, Brighella, appears in a puff of smoke and traditional magician’s costume, and describes the elaborate fantasy Little Venice, with tunnels of love etc. Magical and captivating.
8th July 1902. Visit of the Prince & Princess of Wales to open the Alex Hospital. Music, crowds. People line the streets and cheer as the Royal party pass by. Cerys and Mary discuss the spectacle. Cerys observes the social inequality and expresses outlandish ideas about the succession of Edward VII the previous year. Mary is puzzled and concerned for her reputation. Other significant characters are introduced. The Broadleigh-Paynes and Valmai trade royal anecdotes and establish their perpetual rivalry of snobbishness. Percy Ashfield, as representative of the UDC, respected local pharmacist and Manager of the Queen’s Palace, makes a speech. Jack is unimpressed that an Englishman should have the honour. Harry appears and offers to take Cerys’ picture. Obvious attraction.
Meeting of the Rhyl UDC. Percy is reading from a paper reporting on the royal visit, suggesting the Prince was particularly impressed by Llandudno. He refers to the construction of the Queen’s Palace, which will put Rhyl on the map, but which needs something special to establish the town as North Wales’ premier resort. The meeting are sceptical. Percy winds up the meeting and leaves. Goodall and Rowlands discuss him, clearly resenting his meteoric rise to pillar of the community at 31 and being from Stratford etc.
In the Ashfield home, Emily is hosting a WSPU meeting in secret. Cerys is a new member. Bethan Jones is present, along with Ruth Lawrence and two or three other women of varying ages and social positions. Much excitement about the imminent visit of Millicent Price. Letty Davies, the maid, is keeping lookout and announces Percy’s arrival. The ladies ostentatiously begin discussing recipes and drift off. Percy asks about Thelma - he’s a good father. Mary gives him a letter from his mother in Stratford. His father is not well and he decides to visit them.
Cerys arrives home and talks excitedly to Mary about the meeting. Mary is horrified, and scared of Ted’s reaction. She urges Cerys to make more effort to spend less time reading, find work, and more importantly, a husband.
In Stratford, Percy has just seen a performance of The Merchant of Venice at the Memorial Theatre, and is walking by the river when he encounters Sr Brighella, dishevelled and limping. He has evidently been set upon and robbed by local youths suspicious of his accent and appearance. They discuss the play, prejudice, Venice, ambition, etc. A vision begins to form…
Cerys and Harry are walking on the pier. She is amused by his knowledge of its history as the first in North Wales, longer than Llandudno etc., but wary of his intentions, and cautious to share her ardent but unsophisticated sexual politics. They both tentatively express a curiosity about the world and an interest in a ‘better life’.
In the Council chamber, Brighella is addressing the UDC and concluding his description of the LV attraction, as earlier but with less hokum. Nevertheless there is much scepticism. Goodall is concerned about structural integrity, sea-level, flood risk etc. Arthur mentions insurance. General reluctance. Percy is adamant he can raise the investment through local business interests. Brighella counters all the doubters using the miracle of Venice as an unarguable example. Eventually the council give the project the nod by the slimmest majority. The Venetian trio appear in a spotlight and sing a celebratory verse.
Emily is reading a letter from Millicent to the WSPU, approving of the group’s suggestion to stage a publicity stunt to coincide with her forthcoming visit. Increasingly ambitious ideas are thrown about, until Letty announces the arrival of Percy and Brighella. Again the women discuss recipes and depart. Percy introduces Brighella, suggesting they could put him up during his stay. Emily is wary, concerned about the baby etc. Percy reassures her it will only be for a few nights. Brighella declines and leaves, saying he has ‘family’ in the area. Percy is curious.
Cerys arrives home and Ted lectures her on Harry’s reliability etc. She retorts contemptuously, and he threatens to beat her, but Mary intervenes. Ted storms out.
The snug of the Dudley Arms. Three men are muttering at a corner table. Bethan approaches and asks if they need anything. One looks up and is revealed to be Brighella, in undemonstrative attire. He is preoccupied, but immediately lays on the unctuous charm with her, to the annoyance of his companions. When she returns to the bar, one of the men speaks audibly in Italian. The muttering resumes. Ted enters, clearly still in combative mood. He glares suspiciously at the strangers. Bethan tells him they’re foreigners, and has to restrain him from causing a scene in her pub.
In the Lawrence home, Gareth reads a letter from the Chamber of Trade seeking investment from local businesses in the Little Venice development. Jack Goodall, (his brother-in-law), is present and is supportive of the idea, but Ruth is wary. Harry informs them of the imminent meeting at the Town Hall.
The night of the public meeting, hosted by Arthur Cheetham, where Brighella is making an appeal on behalf of poor Venetians living in terrible conditions in the Ghetto, and the employment opportunities afforded by importing architects, canal-builders, gondoliers, balladeers etc. for LV. Brighella is in full flow. His sentimentalised petition provokes some jeering, but many of the audience are visibly moved, and inspired to help. The Broadleigh-Paynes announce loudly their intention to do their bit, ostensibly to put Valmai’s nose out of joint. Valmai assures them her donation will be no less substantial. Cerys beseeches Mary to use some of the money they’ve saved for her ‘bottom drawer’ to make a contribution, as she has no intention of marrying. Harry hears this and is crestfallen. Mary chides her, and Cerys explodes in fury, interrupting Brighella’s speech and haranguing the meeting with demands of emancipation. She is bundled away by Emily and the other women, who prefer to keep their powder dry.
Percy announces to the UDC that the funds have been secured, by private, public and local authority investment (thanking them for voting to make a sizeable council donation), a team of specialist canal builders are en route from Venice, and the first spade will be put in the ground the following Monday.
The trio of balladeers sing a pastiche of a barcarolle. Two of them are now clearly recognisable as the dodgy strangers from the pub.
Act 2
The trio reprise the jaunty air from the end of Act 1. The cast in turn, echoing the opening of Act 1, narrate the entry from the Rhyl Record & Advertertiser, 4th April 1903….(some interesting info about “Little Venice”).
Ted and Mary are talking about the numerous shady Italians who have been seen around town, allegedly to work on the canals, though no tools or materials have been seen yet, and they are gaining a reputation for overfamiliarity with the local women. Harry calls on Cerys, and Ted interrogates him about his prospects, but his agenda is really to find out what he knows about the ‘Italian threat’, and potential corruption in high places. Harry is amused, but keen to please, so agrees to keep his ear to the ground. He and Cerys discuss attending the opening of LV at the weekend. He jokes about the romantic setting. She is sceptical, but we finally see a flicker of warmth and a twinkle.
At the Queen’s Palace, Percy is asking Fred how the works are progressing. The gate to the site is locked and Brighella is conspicuous by his absence. They agree to a policy of damage limitation, and Percy sets off to track Brighella down.
A crowd has gathered at the entrance to LV, eager with anticipation. It emerges that most of the individuals present have invested in the scheme. The Broadleigh-Paynes and Valmai resume their eternal campaign of one-upmanship. Emily and Ruth are speaking cryptically with Cerys about their plot, when Harry arrives and realises something is odd. Percy appears and asks if anyone knows where Brighella lodges. Ruth says he was staying with Bethan, so he heads for the Dudley while Fred mounts the podium and calls for patience.
Millicent Price arrives, and the WSPU women draw her aside with muttered excitement. There is clearly a plot afoot.
At the pub Bethan tells Percy that Brighella is booked for a crossing to Liverpool on the next steamer from the pier, and gives him a letter from him. He sets off in hot pursuit.
At the QP, the crowd is becoming restless and calling for the management. Millicent steps onto the podium and introduces herself. She speaks passionately about votes for women, amid various cheers and jeering.
…At the pier Percy is told the steamer has just left. Desperate and distraught, he opens the letter, which we hear Brighellla speaking, full of contrition and philosophy, and including the beginning of Prospero’s speech, “Our revels now are ended…”. Percy stuffs the letter in his pocket and watches the steamer disappear over the horizon.
Millicent is reaching the climax of her speech, focussing on the ‘deeds, not words’ motto, and triumphantly chains herself to the gate. Cerys asks Harry to take pictures for publicity. He’s cautious, but Ruth reinforces the idea. Most of the women are now chanting, “Votes for women; deeds not words, etc.”. Constable Hughes arrives and remonstrates with her, revealing himself as a harmless idiot. He‘s no match for the fired-up women, and leaves to fetch bolt-cutters.
Ted and Mary appear. Ted rages against Cerys’ involvement with the protest, and tries to drag her away. Mary has had enough and stands up to him, protecting her daughter and expressing solidarity with the women’s movement.
Ted tells the assembled crowd that they’ve all been conned, and will never see a return on their investment. Percy wanders in, still looking pale and flattened, to hear the end of his tirade.
Fred asks Percy if it’s true, and what’s happening. Percy is dumbfounded and unable to speak for a moment, then we hear the trio softly singing, and he begins to rally. He mounts the podium and makes a stirring proclamation, promising that the gondolas will be afloat soon, and every last investor will be fully recompensed when Little Venice is a success. Emily asks him to swear to her he’s telling the truth. PC Hughes returns with the cutters and releases Millicent, handcuffing her in the process. Percy looks at Emily with desperation, in a terrible dilemma. Emily kisses him and calls to the other women to put the second phase of the plot into action. They quickly retrieve buckets of tar from where they have been secreted, and prepare to throw it over the gates into the attraction.
In the Lawrence home some time later, Gareth is reading the newspaper report of the preceding events, confirming that the opening has been delayed while the tar damage is repaired. Millicent has been fined for breach of the peace, and the other women have been cautioned. Ruth is justifiably self-righteous.
On the pier, Cerys admires Harry’s photographs. He tells her he’s been offered a princely sum for them by a national newspaper, and divulges his dreams of a day when every paper carries photos, with specialist photographers employed to show the truth to the people. They make an impulsive plan to run away on the next train to London and see what life brings them.
Percy is reading Brighella’s letter to Emily, ending with the conclusion of Prospero’s speech about the baseless fabric of this vision, the cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, fading into thin air etc. She tells him he has to pay the money back, but acknowledges that for Thelma’s sake they must avoid scandal. They hatch a plot…
Perc y is speaking in public, announcing that the work done to remove the tar damage has undermined the integrity of the canals to the extent that visitors will only be permitted two at a time, and that in fairness those who have contributed the most will be invited first, continuing according to size of investment, beginning that evening.
A series of vignettes follows, beginning with the Broadleigh-Paynes informing Valmai, quite untruthfully, that they had the privilege of seeing the attraction before anyone else, and how spectacular it was. Valmai is then seen telling Arthur Cheetham a similar tale. He brags to Arthur Rowlands in the same vein, and so on…
Soon, nobody wants to admit that they haven’t been invited to experience Little Venice yet, and the myth of its splendour is born. Visitors to the town, finding it ‘undergoing temporary maintenance’ are unwilling to return home admitting they missed out, and perpetuate the legend. Inevitably, the well-to-do eventually plant the seed in the collective consciousness that it wasn’t all that marvellous anyway, and that Europe and the USA have far more remarkable phenomena.
- Percy, Emily and Fred discuss the figures and reveal that with shrewd investment of revenue from their other ventures, savings and sales of LV ‘memorabilia’, they have managed over five years to pay the investors back every penny. LV has settled into the hive mind as a former glory, without a soul having descended to the deserted, dusty, gondolier-free room underground.
Cerys and Harry return to the town with the news that she is pregnant, having made a comfortable life in London. Mary is relieved, but admits that Ted has become a self-pitying and abusive drunk who still rants about the cover-up and swears to expose it one day. He appears and goes to attack Mary. Harry stops him, and resolves to acquire photographic proof or otherwise of the canal’s existence. He and Cerys leave for the QP, with Ted in pursuit.
Under cover of darkness Cerys & Harry break in to the gate and descend to the chamber beneath. Cerys carries a lantern.
Mary arrives at the Ashfield home and asks Emily for help. Emily tells Letty to look after Thelma. She and Percy follow Mary out.
In the bare cellar, Harry and Cerys realise the truth and discuss the implications. Harry sets up his camera and prepares to gather evidence….
The Queen's Palace in Rhyl was destroyed by a massive fire on Sunday, November 24, 1907. How did it start? Were there any casualties?
The final scene of this play may - or may not – provide some answers!!