Serjeant Musgrave's Dance
Encyclopedia
is a play by English playwright John Arden
John Arden
John Arden is an award-winning English playwright from Barnsley . His works tend to expose social issues of personal concern. He is a member of the Royal Society of Literature....
, written in 1959 and premiered at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
on October 22 of that year. In Arden's introductory note to the text, he describes it as "a realistic, but not a naturalistic" play. Four songs are performed that Arden writes should be sung not to an original score but to "folk-song airs."
Plot
The work follows three privates in the British Army and their serjeant, all of whom are deserters from a foreign imperialist war. Serjeant Musgrave and his men, Hurst, Sparky and Attercliffe, come to a northern English coal mining town in 1879. The community is in the grip of a coal strike and cut off by winter snow. The one means of reaching the town is by canal barge. They arrive in the company of the Bargee, a foul-mouthed, disrespectful individual who teases and abuses everyone, especially those in authority. In the local inn the soldiers meet Mrs. Hitchcock, who runs the inn, and the barmaid Annie. The soldiers are greeted by the mayor, parson and constable, who ask them to recruit men in hopes of alleviating some of the town's unemployment as a way to rid the town of their economic dead weight. Musgrave pretends that this is indeed his goal, and asks Mrs Hitchcock about Billy Hicks, a dead fellow soldier from the mining town. It is revealed that Billy was the father of Annie's illegitimate child, but the baby died, and Annie's sanity has suffered from the loss of both Billy and her child.That night in the churchyard, the soldiers talk among themselves and reveal their real purpose: appalled by a violent incident where five innocent men were killed, to avenge the death of a single soldier, they have come to the town to convince the people that the colonial war and the violence used are wrong. The single soldier is in fact Billy Hicks, and the reason they chose this particular town.
Continuing the pretence of recruiting townsmen, Musgrave throws a sort of party in Mrs Hitchcock's inn, with free drink for all. Private Sparky tries to impress Annie, but she prefers the handsome Hurst and promises to come to him that night. However, he later rejects her, and she goes to Sparky. They agree to run away together, but are overheard by Hurst, who tries to stop them. In the following struggle, Sparky is accidentally killed by falling on a bayonet, held by the pacifist Attercliffe. Serjeant Musgrave rushes in and they hide the body, when they are told that the colliers are stealing the soldiers' guns. The mayor arrives to say that the town is no longer cut off by snow and the dragoons have been called for. Musgrave announces he will hold a recruiting meeting the next morning.
Instead of recruiting townsmen, Musgrave takes out a Gatling gun
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
. The gun is loaded and pointed at the audience. Then the soldiers hoist up the skeleton of Billy Hicks on a lamp post, still dressed in uniform. Musgrave dances below it reciting a rhyme:
... Up he goes, and no-one knows, who it was that raised him. ... He sits on your back and you'll never, never lose him....
Musgrave talks about the atrocities that followed the soldier's death, and explains that since this single death caused five on the other side, five times five townsfolk should be killed to avenge their deaths. Attercliffe refuses to take part in any more violence, but Hurst is quite ready to shoot. Annie intervenes and tells everyone of Sparky's death, producing his bloody jacket as evidence. Hurst makes one last desperate attempt to shoot into the crowd but is overpowered by Musgrave and Attercliffe. The dragoons arrive, shoot Hurst and imprison the two remaining soldiers, who will be hanged later. Ever the jester, the Bargee leads the townsfolk in singing "Michael Finnegan
Michael Finnegan (song)
Michael Finnegan is an example of an unboundedly long song, which can continue with numerous variations until the singer decides to stop. Like most other unboundedly long songs, this song tends to be sung by schoolchildren. It is a popular song often sung around a campfire or during scouting events...
" as a way of "beginning again".
In the final scene, Attercliffe and Musgrave sit in their cell and talk about their differing views of life. Musgrave has always lived by rules, regulations and honour. Attercliffe tells how he lost his wife to a greengrocer
Greengrocer
A greengrocer or fruiterer is a retail trader in fruit and vegetables; that is, in green groceries. Greengrocer is primarily a British and Australian term, and greengrocers' shops were once common in suburbs, towns and villages...
, who looked like "a rat grinning through a brush", but was a better man because he fed people, as he fed Attercliffe's ex-wife, which Attercliffe himself could not do. In the end, Attercliffe seems to say, it is everyday life that matters, not ideals.
Characters
- Serjeant Musgrave is a lifetime soldier, a man who believes in strict adherence to the rule book. His faith in order was destroyed by the atrocities in the colonies, and he wants to serve justice, by the book, on those who sent him there.
- Attercliffe is an older soldier, broken in spirit by the events he witnessed and in which he participated, killing a young girl.
- Hurst is a brute, who is happy to kill if necessary, and is following Musgrave to work out his aggression on new victims. He is also a womanizer, and is the first one of the soldiers Annie attaches herself to.
- Sparky is the youngest, more of a joker, and is less committed to Musgrave's mission than the others.
- Annie, apparently a barmaid at Mrs. Hitchcock's inn, may also be the house prostitute. It is never clear if her attentions to the soldiers are motivated by romance or other considerations.
- Mrs. Hitchcock, something of a Mother CourageMother CourageMother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...
figure, is a survivor. As long as she can keep serving food and ale, and gets paid for it, she can go on. She develops as a kind of anti-Musgrave. As she says, commenting on Musgrave's rejection of "life and love" for his rules, because life and love leads to chaos: "We had life and love. You came in with yer rules and honour. It's arsy-versy to what you said, but its still chaos in the end, isn't it?" - The Mayor, also the owner of the pit. Although in charge of the town, he is actually trapped by the realities of his business. He cannot yield to the strikers.
- The Parson, a Church authority figure, cold and aloof, who (as in many British dramas) also represents the religious side of state authority. He even uses the metaphor of a sword in a speech to the townspeople.
- The Constable, nominally the arm of the law, actually in the pay of the Mayor, and unable to exert real authority. He encourages Musgrave to "recruit" the town's troublemakers, using the method of getting them drunk and carrying them off to the barracks.
- The collierCoal miningThe goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
s, three men of different demeanours, named simply "Slow Collier", "Earnest Collier", and "Pugnacious Collier", who represent the townspeople in the play. They also play out their own internal rivalries, as when the Slow Collier drunkenly recites a rhyme suggesting he had sex with the wife of the Pugnacious Collier, resulting in a brawl. - Bludgeon, the Bargee, something of a jester in the play, but also able to drive the action by saying what others cannot. At times he acts almost like a master of ceremonies, or a Brechtian narrator.
- The Officer of Dragoons, in the playwright's own words a deus ex machinaDeus ex machinaA deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.-Linguistic considerations:...
who sets the world to rights. He arrives with arrest warrants for the soldiers, two of whom are already dead, and bids the Mayor and townsfolk to carry on with their lives. - A Trooper of Dragoons who shoots Hurst and then holds the other soldiers at gunpoint for the Officer.
Meaning
Arden writes of the meaning of the play: "I think that many of us must at some time have felt an overpowering urge to match some particularly outrageous piece of violence with an even greater and more outrageous retaliation. Musgrave tries to do this: and the fact that the sympathies of the play are clearly with him in his original horror, and then turn against him and his intended remedy, seems to have bewildered people... Again I would suggest that an unwillingness to dwell upon unpleasant situations that do not immediately concern us is a general human trait, and recognition of it need imply neither cynicism nor despair. Complete pacifismPacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
is a very hard doctrine: and if this play appears to advocate it with perhaps some timidity, it is probably because I am naturally a timid man -- and also because I know that if I am hit I very easily hit back: and I do not care to preach too confidently what I am not sure I can practise."
Reception
The play did poorly in its first run and the production lost money. Most critical reviews of the first production were deprecating or at least showed a lack of understanding of the play's message. At the time the play was written, public opinion had not soured on military actions as it did later in the 1960s, primarily due to the coverage of the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The only contemporary British military actions comparable to the colonial conflicts were the Malayan Emergency
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army , the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960....
, and the Mau Mau Uprising
Mau Mau Uprising
The Mau Mau Uprising was a military conflict that took place in Kenya between 1952 and 1960...
. It was only later, in the light of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, that these conflicts also were reported unfavourably, producing a context in which audiences could appreciate Arden's message.
Original cast
Several people who became well-known names in stage and television were involved in the first production. The director was Lindsay AndersonLindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
. Music was provided by Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
.
- Donal DonnellyDonal DonnellyDonal Donnelly was an English-born Irish theatre and film actor. He was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, but raised in Dublin, Ireland....
... Private Sparky - Alan DobieAlan DobieAlan Russell Dobie , is a British actor.Dobie was born in Wombwell, Yorkshire, England, to George Russell and Sarah Kate Dobie. His father was a mining engineer and his mother's family were farmers. He was married to actress Rachel Roberts from 1955-61 then married Maureen Scott in 1963...
... Private Hurst - Frank FinlayFrank FinlayFrancis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...
... Private Attercliffe - James BreeJames BreeJames Bree was a British actor who played many supporting roles in both film and television.Bree was educated at Radley College and during World War II served in the RAF. He later trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama...
... Bludgeon, a bargee - Ian BannenIan BannenIan Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.-Early life and career:Bannen was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the British Army after attending St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College,...
... Serjeant Musgrave - Richard CaldicotRichard CaldicotRichard Caldicot was a British actor famed for his role of Commander Povey in the BBC radio series The Navy Lark. He also appeared often on television, memorably as the obstetrician delivering Betty Spencer's baby in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.His father was a civil servant and he attended Dulwich...
... The Parson - Freda Jackson ... Mrs Hitchcock
- Patsy ByrnePatsy ByrnePatsy Byrne is an English actress.-Biography:She was educated at Ashford School for Girls, and attended the school around the same time as Lorna Fendall, and Joanna Brough, daughter of Arthur Brough...
... Annie - Michael Hunt ... The Constable
- Stratford JohnsStratford JohnsStratford Johns, born Alan Edgar Stratford-Johns, was a popular British stage, film and television actor who is best remembered for his starring role as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow in the innovative and long-running BBC police series Z-Cars, created by Troy Kennedy-Martin.-Early life:Johns...
... The Mayor - Jack SmethurstJack SmethurstJack Smethurst is an English TV and film comic actor whose career dates back to the 1950s.-Career:Smethurst made his film debut in 1958's Carry On Sergeant...
... A Slow Collier - Colin BlakelyColin BlakelyColin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
... A Pugnacious Collier - Harry Gwynn Davies ... Walsh, an Earnest Collier
- Barry Wilsher ... Trooper of Dragoons
- Clinton Greyn ... An Officer of Dragoons
Adaptations
In 1961 Arden adapted his play for television. The production was directed by Stuart BurgeStuart Burge
Stuart Burge was an English film director, actor and producer.Educated at Felsted School, he originally trained as a civil engineer, but later began acting in theater in the 1940s, and became a director by 1948...
and starred Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
and a number of the original cast reprising their roles.
A radio adaptation Serjeant Musgrave's Dance directed by Toby Swift
Toby Swift
Toby Swift is a radio drama director and producer for BBC Radio. His numerous credits include the crime dramas The Recall Man and Trueman and Riley. He also directs contemporary and period radio dramas....
with Iain Glen
Iain Glen
Iain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay...
as Musgrave was broadcast on BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
on 14 December 2003.