by Owen Sheers
the children in that class
who never got the chance
to be what they hoped, or to even try.
So yeah, I think that’s why.
The choir mistress calls the choir together.
They begin vocal warm-ups.
MYFANWY is in the Young Wives Club meeting room.
BARBARA, now fifty-six, is also there,
as are IRENE, CATRIN and BETTY.
The session has not yet begun – there is a mutter of general
conversation.
MYFANWY DAVIES
The club’s changed, obviously, over the years.
Just last week, we put it to the vote,
and decided – time to drop the ‘young’ from our title.
So just the ‘Wives Club’ now we are.
CATRIN
But that’s okay isn’t it?
Because, well, it’s that depth makes this what it is.
Coming together for fifty years or so
and for many of us, all still carrying that same green hollow.
MYFANWY
I don’t know, it’s fine by me
if what we were, what we’ve known,
starts becoming history.
BETTY
Strange though, too, isn’t it?
I mean, just last week I took my granddaughter
up the cemetery, to the memorial.
She’s learning about it, see? In school.
She looked at the graves, the names
then turned to me, and said
‘Is one of these yours, Nan?’
Well, I had to laugh.
IRENE
What did you answer?
BETTY
What could I? Only the truth.
No love, I said. None of these is Nan’s.
But they are, in a way, all of ours,
Aberfan’s.
CATRIN picks up a cut-glass hand bell and rings it
to signal the start of the session.
CATRIN
If everyone’s ready, shall we begin?
At the Ynysowen choir rehearsal WILL has joined his father.
The CHOIR MISTRESS raises her hands and the choir
start to sing.
ANNE is at the playground by the memorial garden,
watching TOM play with MEGAN and other friends.
ANNE
The way I see it, more and more,
is that we’re all carbon, aren’t we?
At least that’s what Tom keeps telling me.
And what happened here,
it was the most terrible weight.
The worst you can imagine.
A weight on lives, families,
the community, the town.
But what happens to carbon under pressure,
if you keep pressing down?
Well, at first, you get coal,
a darkness that burns.
But keep pressing long and hard enough
and some of that coal turns diamond,
and some of that darkness, light.
Now I’m not saying we’re all diamonds
here, of course I’m not.
But I do think that when so many
have felt the same pressure
at exactly the same time,
then sometimes, in places,
we’re pushed through til we shine –
an unexpected brightness,
made both of that darkness
and that sharing of weight,
its source buried under the years
but there, deeply rooted
in our memories, a day, a date.
ANNE’S son, GWYN, approaches up the hill.
He wears a decorator’s overalls.
ANNE
Hello, love.
GWYN kisses TOM on the top of the head
then goes on to give ANNE a hug.
His arrival triggers a game among the children.
BOY
I’m going to be a painter,
like Tom’s dad!
TOM
An astronaut! That’s what I’m going to be.
MEGAN
A dancer, on Strictly!
OTHER CHILDREN
A goalkeeper, for Chelsea.
A pilot, or a hairdresser
A fish-and-chip man
A teacher
An accountant, if I can
A rugby player
Children from 1966 including TOMOS, ROB, BETHAN and
SUZY join in the game. The calling out of occupations becomes
a pattern of voices from then and now,
a mosaic of lives hoped for and never lived.
A freerunner
A singer
A soldier
A nurse
A farmer
A miner
A lorry driver
A dinner lady
ROB
A footballer
A police man
SUZY
An actress
BETHAN
A doctor
A milkman
A postman
An artist
A ballet dancer, and really soon.
A dentist
A barrister in court
The last child to call out is TOMOS.
TOMOS
The first man on the moon, an astronaut!
Acknowledgements
The Green Hollow was originally commissioned by BBC Cymru Wales and produced by BBC Studios Wales in association with VOX Pictures. I am especially grateful to Bethan Jones and Jenna Robbins for their support in the research and writing of the script, and to Pip Broughton and the cast for bringing it to the screen with such sensitivity and skill. None of this, however, would have been possible without the insights and generosity of those I interviewed as part of my research, and as such I would like to thank the following individuals and organisations: Janett Bickley, Jeff Edwards, Gaynor Madgwick, Gurraj Mann, Gurvinder Mann, Bernard Thomas, Mark Williams, Stephanie Davies, Professor Sir Mansel Aylward, Dave Evans, Gwyneth Evans, Sam Knight, Owen Money, Simone Roden and the children, teachers and parents of Ynysowen Primary School, Aberfan Community Library, Merthyr Central Library, Merthyr Leisure Trust, The Aberfan Wives Group, Trinity Childcare and Family Centre, Ynysowen Male Voice Choir. Diolch o galon pawb.
About the Author
Owen Sheers is a poet, novelist and playwright. Twice winner of the Wales Book of the Year, his books of poetry include Skirrid Hill, winner of a Somerset Maugham Award, and the verse drama Pink Mist, winner of the Hay Festival Poetry Medal and the Wales Book of the Year. In 2018, he was the recipient of the Wilfred Owen Poetry Award. Owen’s theatrical work includes The Two Worlds of Charlie F., winner of the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, Mametz, and National Theatre Wales’s seventy-two hour The Passion. He lives in Wales with his wife and two daughters.
Also by the Author
non-fiction
THE DUST DIARIES
CALON
poetry
THE BLUE BOOK
SKIRRID HILL
A POET’S GUIDE TO BRITAIN (ED.)
PINK MIST
fiction
RESISTANCE
WHITE RAVENS
THE GOSPEL OF US
I SAW A MAN
plays
THE PASSION
THE TWO WORLDS OF CHARLIE F.
MAMETZ
Copyright
First published in the UK in 2018
by Faber & Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2018
All rights reserved
© Owen Sheers, 2018
Cover design by Faber
Jacket artwork @ Marcus James 2017
The right of Owen Sheers to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
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on the BBC
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BBC and the BBC logo are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–33909–9
