libretto by Shaen Catherwood

Anna: Hello.

Sophie, hi!

Yes, sorry. I've just had the most frustrating day of my life. I hate work, I hate the rain, and the front door is sticking again.

I know it's late - [looks at her watch]

Gus, stop it! Sorry, the cat - I'm always home late.

I haven't time for a holiday, Sophie!

No, I haven't been away this year.

Yes, I know I need a change of scene.

I'd love to lounge in the sun.

And go exploring.

And sleep.

I've been too busy to sleep.

It feels as though I haven't slept for months.

You're right. I'll book a holiday.

Yes, I will.

Now? It's half past eleven. Nothing's open.

What do you mean?

What?

What are you going on about, Sophie?

What? You're mad! [Anna hangs up]

Chorus: Look at the time.
Must be getting on.
This is no time to nap.
The shops'll be shut!
The quoip's potato blookle.
Come on!

Anna: Look at the time!
Must be getting on!


Chorus: Winds up to 300 miles per hour will sweep the country. We'll have no rain in the foreseeable future but there'll be snow and hail in the South-East and North-West. A hot, dry night, then, with flooding up to ten feet in all areas. Don't travel unless you are very old or under seven. Lots of love, Alan.

Anna: I'm tumbling, tumbling with trash in a stinking blast. I'm wet and sullied: Look at my make-up!

Chorus: Dripping, drooping, clown face smudgeroon face, goon face.

Anna: All young people try to run.

Bill the Travel Agent : [picks up phone]
0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13......[continues giving number]

Chorus: What do we see outside this orange hum?

Anna: What fantasies scratch at our bedroom doors?

Chorus: What do we long for?

Anna: The doors burst wide...

Bill: ...121393...Can I help you?

It's for you.

Anna: ...For me?

Bill: For you.

Anna: Hello?

Chorus: ...-two and fifty seconds.
At the third stroke the time will be eleven thirty-three. [Anna slams phone down]

Bill: Can I help you, Anna?

Anna: I want to go on holiday. Just that.

Bill: Of course. We'd like to whisk you far away. To fly you from this city torpor to beautiful places, beautiful times.
We have a flight to the spice ocean leaving tomorrow, can we take you away...

3 Travel Agents: ...from blackness to light.
To daybreak from night.

Anna: I want to go on holiday.

Chorus: From rancid to sweet.
To sand-dune from street.

Bill: Out, out you can escape to happiness.
There is always a ticket for your distress.

Chorus: From aching to peace.

Anna: I want to go.

Chorus: From freehold to lease.

Bill: Out, out you can escape to happiness.
There is always a ticket for your distress.

Anna: I want to go on holiday.

Chorus: From blackness to light.
To daybreak from night.
From rancid to sweet.
To sand-dune from street.
From aching to peace.
To freehold from lease.

Bill: Goodbye the dark, dirty overcoated scrapers.

Travel Agent 2: Goodbye the hurtful alleys and sickly parks.

Travel Agent 1: Goodbye the starchy #FFFFFF des. res.

Bill: Goodbye the vast and twisting hoardings.

T.A.2: Goodbye the sun-fermented litter.

T.A.1: Goodbye the present.

3 T.A.'s: Goodbye!

Bill: Listen.

Can you hear the cowbells in the valley?

Listen.

Can you hear the metal birds of paradise?
They are chiming their #99FFFFen breasts with platinum beaks.
They are in love, I think.

Here is a map of everything. [reveals drape covered with brightly-coloured shapes]
So many, happy places.

T.A.'s 1 & 2: Goodbye...

Chorus: The shivering roads,
The battered dogs,
The killing jokes,
The pushing people.

3 T.A.'s: ...The slow people.
Goodbye the poor people.
Goodbye the rich people.
Goodbye the stinking.
Goodbye the squeaking.
Goodbye the shouting.
Goodbye the whispers.
Goodbye the loving, the hating.
Goodbye the city.
Goodbye the present.
Goodbye the here.

Bill: Listen.

Can you hear the cowbells in the valley?

Listen.

Can you hear the metal birds of paradise?
They are in love, I think.

T.A.'s 1 & 2: Nothing.

Bill: This is a map of everything.

Fly by pipe-dream to a castle in the air.
Sail through the first rain-storm.

T.A.1: Watch Icarus drown,
Hear Prometheus scream!

T.A.2: On a seven-day hop, survey the emergence of homo sapiens.

Bill: Travel to the fourteenth century when the world was flat.

3 T.A.'s: Trek the four corners of the earth.

Bill: All is here!
What will you choose?

Anna: So much bright light.
This can't be all.
This can't be me.

Listen!

Bill: Watch Icarus drown,
Hear Prometheus scream.

Chorus: [as if reading brochure]
Travel to the fourteeth century
When the world was flat and trek the
Four corners of the earth;
Fly by pipe-dream to a castle in the
Air; sail through the first rain-storm;
Hear the last love-song of the last
Whale; on a seven-day hop sur-
Vey the emergence of homo sapiens.

Anna: [rips off top layer of drape to reveal black expanse]
What do I see?

Tell me, tell me.

3 T.A.'s: A train, a train.

Anna: What train?

3 T.A.'s: Midnight.

Anna: What train?

3 T.A.'s: The midnight train.

Anna: A midnight train?
Where will it go?

3 T.A.'s: I cannot say.

Anna: Will it go far?

3 T.A.'s: Perhaps.

Anna: Will it be dangerous?

3 T.A.'s: [Travel Agents begin to roll up map]
Madam.

Madam, I do not know - I wouldn't like to say. It is the midnight train. That must do. It will cost so very much.

Anna: How much?

3 T.A.'s: Too much.

Anna: How much?

3 T.A.'s: Far too much.

Anna: But how much?

3 T.A.'s: How much do you have?

Anna: How much do I have?

Chorus: The midnight train, the midnight train.

Anna: Where now?

Chorus: We know.

Anna: Where now?

Chorus: We know where you are going.
What you are heading for and why you must.
The bank.

Anna: Where now?

Chorus: Light and cladding up ahead.

Anna: I can choose to turn away.

Chorus: Then where are you going?

Anna: I can choose to turn away.
Your choice is yours, my choice is not.
Where now?

Chorus: Light and cladding up ahead,
The arid safe, those codes and coins,
The bank.

Anna: What now?

Chorus: The bank.

Anna: Where am I going?

Please not the bank, please.
Please not!
The arid safe, those codes and coins, dull currency.
Dull currency.

Chorus: All is ahead.
All is here before.
All will be behind.

Anna: When I leave, I will leave my wealth behind, massing in my roaring past. I will leave my wealth behind, massing in my roaring past.

Lee the Banker: Oh yes! Certainly. Delighted, madam, we love lending, we love your loan.

Madam: Good, good. How long will it take?

Lee: Three days.

Madam: Three days?

Lee: Three days.

Chorus: Three days.

Madam: And may I wait here?

Lee: Oh yes! Certainly, madam. Adam will show you your bed, madam.

Madam: [bass move lips]
This way, this way, lie here.

Lee: [alto move lips]
Wake me, please, when my loan is ready.

Madam: [tenor and bass move lips]
We will,

Lee: Madam.

Lee & Other Banker: Yes, Anna?

Anna: I must catch the midnight train. There is no time, there is no time. I need a loan.

Lee: Now, now, Anna, please relax, it is not midnight for a while; time is running behind tonight, the clocks are dozing.

Chorus: Clocks are dozing.

Other Banker: Today,

2 Bankers: Giddy Earth was spinning rather slowly.
Good for some, bad for others.
Good for Anna!

Chorus: Good for Anna!

Lee: And so to your loan.

Anna: What can I offer as security?

2 B.'s: Everything.

Anna: That's quite a lot.

Lee: [Other Banker repeats each item, ticking off a list]
Your T.V. and your cooker,
Your car and your flat, for instance.
The savings and the freezer and the double bed,
And your curtains, for instance.
The little glass cow who sits on your desk.
A present when you were six -
That will have to go.
The photo of your parents and your word-processor and your squash racket.
Letters from your penpal.
All you got, all they gave, all you got.
When you were twelve.
All your body.
All your music.
All your qualifications.
Your tears, your smiles, your jokes.
Perhaps all your glands, all your blood, all your cells.
Perhaps all your body, all your home, all your bread, all your days.
Perhaps all your friends, all your loves, all your desires.
All your desires.

[Other Banker repeats list, with Lee mouthing (and singing) each item as if checking his mental list]

Anna: I do not like your little bank.

2 B.'s: Then leave you chose to enter.
You chose to enter then leave.
To enter then leave you chose.

Anna: Do you need this much?

Lee: Do you?

Anna: Do I?

Lee: Time is flowering,
Night's Yucca is stickily waiting.

Other Banker: Time is nearly fully-charged,
Its fizzing currents ready to discharge.

Lee: The taut iron tracks are humming for the coming train.

Anna: You can't be real.

2 B.'s: Midnight is not ever late.
Time is flowering,
The Yucca of the Night is almost fully-blown.
Time is nearly fully-charged,
Its fizzing currents ready to discharge.

Anna: You talk of trains, there isn't any train,
Just the hot and airless dark,
And your cruel, dreamy joke, your mad lark.

Out of my head,
Out of my bed,
Out of my dream,
Into the red.

2 B.'s: You are here Anna. Now, Anna, in this world, Anna. Decide in this world.

Anna: You talk of hurry, there isn't any hurry,
Just a slow and cloudy night,
And your painful, senseless, senseless game.

2 B.'s: Midnight is not ever late.

Anna: Your midnight flight.

2 B.'s: A break.

Anna: Perhaps.

2 B.'s: Anna, a break.

Anna: Perhaps.

2 B.'s: You must have a break.

Anna: A break.

2 B.'s: Break off, Anna!

Anna: A break.

2 B.'s: Let break.

Anna: Let go!

2 B.'s: Break down you.

Anna: Let go!

2 B.'s: Break in you.

Anna: Break off!

2 B.'s: Anna, a break.

Anna: Break off!

2 B.'s: Anna, break up.

Anna: Break-down.

2 B.'s: Break up.

Anna: Break down.

2 B.'s: Oh Anna, Yes!

Anna: Yes!

2 B.'s: Anna?

Anna: Yes!

2 B.'s: Go.

Anna: Yes!

Chorus: Look at your hands.

Will we travel with empty hands,
Will we arrive with hollow cases,
With nothing to show for our days and years and lives.

Anna: My hands?

Sophie the Neighbour: Anna, where have you been?
You should have left an age ago.
There is so little time, so little time.

Chorus: Time.

Anna: Sophie, why are you here? It's almost midnight, Sophie, why are you here?

Sophie: Have a cup of tea, look love, Time is not on your side.

Chorus: The station waits in orange light,
A phone is ringing through a door,
Its ringing beats the neon light,
It almost hides the diesel roar;

Sophie: The station, the train, is due, so, so, soon.

Chorus: Soon, so soon.

Sophie: But you'll need so much stuff,
I doubt that thirty bags will be enough!

Chorus: The midnight train is almost here.

Sophie: Your books and clothes,
Your walkman goes.
A deckchair, shades,
Your college grades.
An ironing board
To iron abroad.
Your typhoid jabs,
A net for crabs,
A funny hat,
And, of course, the cat.
A first-aid kit,
Your charm and wit.
A baking tin,
Some London gin.
A toaster and blender,
Your name and gender.
A pen, some paper,
A bathroom scraper.
That Yucca plant
And your travel grant.

Anna: Sophie, I don't need this stuff,
Skin and bones must be enough;

Sophie: The station's waiting...

Anna: Where I'll be, I don't know,
Who'll be there I cannot say;

Sophie: The telephone is ringing...

Anna: These things, these surplus things
Are no advantage at the close of day;

Sophie: The rails are singing...

Anna: Just let yourself out,
I don't have time to stop.

Sophie: The sleepers are waking...

Chorus: Your sleepwalk steepens,
Our dreamtalk deepens.

Sophie: Goodnight!

Lee: Good luck!

Bill: Goodbye!

Chorus/women: [whisper] Anna!

Chorus: Anna!

Bill: [spoken]
Anna, where have you been?

Lee: [spoken]
Why are you here?

Bill: It's time for you to go.

The station's waiting
The phone is ringing
The rails are singing
The sleepers are waking

Lee: The train. The midnight train.
What'll I take?

Bill: Everything here.

Lee: I don't need this stuff.
I'm enough.

Bill: You can't travel empty-handed, stupid.

Lee: It's late, I'm tired, I don't care. I'll see you out. I've never felt so tired.

Chorus: Anna!

Chorus/women: [spoken] This is a security announcement: please leave luggage unattended at all times; personal belongings will be disposed of by your station-manager, Alan.

Chorus: Anna!

Sophie: [spoken]
Yes, Anna?

Bill: [spoken]
I have a train to catch.

Sophie: Please relax. You've plenty of time.

Bill: I need a loan.

Sophie: Well, first you'll need security.

Bill: Security? What can I give you for security?

Sophie: Everything you've ever owned and more besides. Your tears and your smiles; your jokes and your books; your music and your blood; your desires...

Bill: No, I won't. I won't. I'm going.

Sophie: Go, but you're wasting your time.

Bill: So? It's my choice.

Sophie: Then choose, Anna. Here and now. Don't just run off.

Bill: But I don't understand.

Sophie: You've very little time now. The midnight train won't be late.

Bill: You're mad, there isn't any train. Just this hot night and my head full of dreams. And there isn't any hurry, just your senseless panic.

Sophie: But I thought you needed a break, Anna?

Bill: I thought I needed a break, but...

Sophie: You do need a break. You want a break.

Bill: A break? Do I care?

Sophie: A break, Anna. Break, Anna.

Bill: Break?

Sophie: Yes.

Bill: Yes. [still puzzled]

Chorus: Anna!

Chorus/women: [spoken] Some tickets are more valid than others and may be purchased free yesterday.

Chorus: Anna!

Lee: [spoken]
So, where would you like to go?

Sophie: [spoken]
I just want the doors wide open...

Lee: Escape the taut, aching wires.

Sophie: To hear the cowbells in the valley.

Chorus: Anna!

Chorus/women: [spoken] Here is the train; please finish your journey!

Chorus: Anna!

Anna: Hello...Hello? What do you mean? What? Open? Hello. Hello. Hello.

Sophie: Hello? Yes, oh

Hi, yes, sorry, rather

Flustered, you know terrible day

At work the traffic was awful, it's raining and the front door's sticking again, sticking again, I know that it's late, I'm always home late.

Bill: But

It's half

Past e-

Le-ven - everything's...

Lee: I

Haven't

Slept for

Seven months.

Chorus: Anna!

Everybody: [sung]
These waking sounds will not end with the final beat.

THE END