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23 November
Christian Elegy
Remember our dead with thankfulness for they live on in Christ; the brief spans which we share on Earth are bridges to eternity; and in the Great Re-union grief and sadness disappear, our loved ones resurrect and memories turn reality. John
Waddington-Feather ©
Drama right from the beginning acted out belief in an after-life. Our ancestors danced and acted out their ideas in a life beyond the present material and physical one they were living in. They dressed up or painted their bodies to perform in front of an audience. Literary drama in the West started with classical Greek drama, and that, too, was played out in religious settings in an amphitheatre. In their tragedies the Greeks had their gods directing the affairs of men and women. At the appropriate moment Nemesis descended to wreak vengeance on wrong-doers; and Christians through our Judaist origins have a similar notion: wrong-doing is punished in an after-life if not in this one. Just how is a mystery; like much else in religion, yet the notion is there. It’s hard to believe that tyrants like Hitler and Stalin and their followers will get away scot-free for the heinous crimes they committed; but what is equally true in the Christian faith is that forgiveness is forthcoming if wrong-doers realise they have done wrong and repent. So, “Limbo” touches on all these religious themes, lightened, I hope, by comic touches and some commentary on contemporary events.
John WaddingtonFeather. (2009) (“Limbo” is a newly
published play by Feather Books. It has
one set and seven characters: three male, four female. Below is an extract from the opening of the
play, which lasts about one and half hours.) Limbo Episode One Scene: Room rather like a doctor’s waiting room. Seats and furnishings. Pile of magazines and glossies on table. Two men are sat waiting. Sir Marcus Dingleby-Wright sits casually by the magazines and is flipping through one. Alf Hitchen sits dazed and looking stonily ahead. Time: Eternity Suitable heavenly music plays in background then fades. Marcus: [Yawns then notices Alf] I never knew death would be like this. Did you? It’s rather boring. I seem to have been hanging about here ages. Alf: Dunno. Where are we? Marcus: [Points to notice over door left which says ‘Limbo’. Door right says ‘Assessor’] We’re in Limbo waiting to enter our next life. Alf: Don’t know if I’m dead or not. In fact I don’t know what I am, it all happened so quickly. One minute I were at work; next minute I find meself ‘ere. Marcus: Oh? What was your job? Alf: Bricklayer. Marcus And what happened so that you finished up here? Alf: Well, it were like this. I’d just put the last layer on an outside wall and thought I’d made a good job of it. Yer see I’m proud of my work, I am. Then it happened. Marcus: What happened? Alf: I stepped back to check me work an’ see if all were in true and neat like. Marcus: Stepped back? Alf: Yes, to get a better look, but I forgot I were working ten storeys up an’ suddenly I find meself ‘ere – stone dead! Marcus: [Smiling} I see. Rather sudden. Alf: Anyhow, what is this Limbo place we’re in? Marcus: It’s the place where you go when you’re dead till they’ve sorted you out. Alf: Sorted you out? Marcus: Yes. Whether you go to Heaven or whether you go to Hell. [Pause} Alf: Never thought about that till now, an’ it does make yer think, don’t it? Should ha’ gone to church more often, I s’ppose, where they teach you about Heaven an’ Hell, but it’s a bit too late now.. What was you before you finished up ‘ere? Marcus: [Rather self-consciously] I was a bank director. Alf: Oh, a toff! Marcus: Not really. Just doing a job in a bank and I can tell you I don’t feel very toffish now. I’ve no money up here so I can’t buy anyone off. You can’t take anything with you once you’re dead, worse luck. Alf: How did you snuff it? Marcus: [Embarrassed. Lowers his voice] Heart attack. In bed with a lady friend. Alf: [Laughing} So you died on the job? Marcus: You could say
that, but don’t breathe a word about that up here, it might get me into
trouble. Let’s just say I had a heart attack because I was overweight and lived
it up a bit. You see I lived in the Alf: Bananas? Marcus: No. Alf: You’re a tax-dodger! Marcus: [Quickly} Not really, Alf. Let me explain. You see once you’ve worked your way to the top as I did and started earning a decent wage, you don’t want it all taken away by the tax-man. You want to enjoy what you’ve earned. Alf: So that’s why you went abroad? Marcus: Exactly. Alf: Why didn’t I think o’ that. Marcus: It’s very
expensive living in the Alf: Any idea how they live ‘ere in this Limbo place? Marcus: I don’t know. All I know is I couldn’t bring my cash with me – worse luck. Alf: So we’re all equal ‘ere in Limbo? Marcus: I suppose so from what I remember. Alf: Remember? Marcus: They used to teach us about it in school, but I didn’t pay much attention. Divinity was so boring and didn’t seem to relate to real life.. Alf: I never went to church an’ I left school at fifteen. I didn’t learn much while I was there either. So tell me, what’s this place Limbo all about? Marcus: It’s a kind of waiting room for Heaven or Hell. It’s a holding place and I must say, it’s come as a bit of surprise landing up here when I didn’t really believe in an after-life on Earth. To tell you the truth I’m scared silly.
As a result the Maker of all things created a Great Boundary. On one side were the Humanfolk living in their world of violence, and on the other side were the Animalfolk, quiet, gentle creatures who looked after each other in a very neighbourly way. Oh, of course, they gossiped and quarrelled, but nothing serious, and if they fell out they soon patched up their quarrels. They worked hard and they kept their World neat and clean, for they were proud of the countryside they lived in. They didn’t exploit it like the Humanfolk, because they knew they were part of it. They knew that if they harmed it in any way, they were harming themselves.
Finally, just a word about the Animalfolk World. It was
divided into three, each section having its own Moot or council; but once
or twice a year all three Moots met at
In the north, bounding Humanfolkland was Mereful, a large marshy
area full of lakes where the Heronfolk and Waterfolk lived. Below that was Mellowmark, known
briefly as Wasteland during a terrible period when the folk there tried to
imitate the Humanfolk and almost ruined their land. Then, next to the
Cross Talk
When a doctor tells you you’ve got cancer, your heart sinks. I retired from teaching in 1995 healthy and fit, but in 2001, while I was visiting my daughter in Australia, I fainted in the theatre in Adelaide. My daughter insisted I went to her hospital to be checked out for thrombosis, as I’d flown in only two days before. When they X-rayed me they discovered first I had only one kidney and, worse, it was cancerous. A double whammy! I flew back to England and had the kidney removed and since then have spent five hours a session, three days a week on dialysis. I had two options when I went on dialysis: I could regard being dialysed as some sort of life-sentence; or I could regard it as a life-saver. I chose the latter, and consider myself lucky to be still alive. I’m looked after by beautiful nurses who are efficient and compassionate. My co-patients are cheerful and friendly. We have to be, for we’re all in the same boat. And I have a first-class consultant and registrar who monitor me all the time. At many thousands of pounds a year I’m an expensive patient on the N.H.S. but I’m very grateful for it. There can’t be many health services in the world like ours. When I became ill my faith was tested but, like Job’s, was not found wanting. It sustains me as much as the nurses, doctors and a very loving wife and family. I count my many blessings daily and thank God for them. Life is great and what you make it; and certainly my Christian faith, and all which that means, keeps me and many of my fellow patients going in the face of chronic ill-health and pain.
Revd. John Waddington-Feather (Annscroft & Longden Benefice)
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