Robert Burns - Blackheath Arts

DRIFTING THROUGH THE WEE SMALL HOURS

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC BY MATTI HEIKKILA.

FROM THE BOOK BY ROBERT BURNS.

1	SEARCHING FOR YOU.	3.08
2	I FEEL THE SEA.	3.34
3	SEARCHING STILL.	1.36
4	TWIN SOULS IN TIME.	2.44
5	DO YOU HEAR THE MISTY SOUNDS ?	2.07
6	IN THE DAWN OF DAYS GONE BY.	2.25
7	WAS IT A DREAM ?	2.30
8	I WANT YOU BACK. I WANT YOUR LOVING.	3.14
9	THE MIRACLE OF LOVE.	2.53
10	ACROSS THE NIGHT.	3.12
11	THE STARLING'S CALL.	2.23
12	ROUND AND ROUND INSIDE MY HEAD.	2.52
13	THE WOUNDS ARE DEEP.	2.48
14	YOU KILLED MY LOVE.	2.46
15	I'M CRACKING UP.	3.53
16	HOW COULD I BE SUCH A FOOL.	2.15
17	THE MIRACLE OF LOVE (REPRISE)	1.31
18	ONCE MORE AGAIN ACROSS THE NIGHT.	3.14
19	WAS IT A DREAM ?	2.15
20	I'VE BEEN SO SCARED.	3.15
21	IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT.	5.21
22	I FEEL THE SEA. (REPRISE)	3.36

DRIFTING THROUGH THE WEE SMALL HOURS.

SYNOPSIS.

DRIFTING THROUGH THE WEE SMALL HOURS is a story of loneliness and takes the form of a dream sequence, part real, part surreal, experienced by a thirty eight year old woman, as she looks out from her tower block apartment on the cold anonymity of the city far below.

As she recoils with a shudder from the eerie sounds of the city at night, she is overcome by a feeling of isolation and slumps in a chair by the window of her flat. Then as she drifts into a semi comatose state, the dream sequence begins when she hears the voice of her estranged lover wafting through the night air gloom and she finds herself floating helplessly through space, drawn irresistibly towards the sound of his voice as he sings ‘SEARCHING, SEARCHING, SEARCHING FOR YOU.’

As memories intermingle with hallucinations she recalls in the song ’TWIN SOULS IN TIME.’ Some of the pleasures she and her lover enjoyed together, how close they were, and how much she has missed all they once shared. Then, swept along by ever deepening pangs of emotion, in the song’ IN THE DAWN OF DAYS GONE BY.’ The woman’s mood changes as she reveals she cared so deeply for her lover that she built her entire life around him, and indeed she is so carried away with the recollection of her love, she wonders in the next song ‘WAS IT A DREAM ?’

Now however in a flashback sequence she glimpses her lover’s face as they kiss passionately, and as she does so her voice becomes plaintive with longing as she sings ‘I WANT YOU BACK. I WANT YOUR LOVING.’

Suddenly her mood changes dramatically when in the song ‘YOU HURT SO BAD.’ She reveals how cruelly her lover has hurt her and how badly she has been damaged by their relationship.
This mood gives way however in the next song to the memory of their wedding day when she sings of ‘THE MIRACLE OF LOVE.’

Waking momentarily like a sleepwalker from her dream filled trauma, she looks once more out of her window and as lights flicker on and off across the city and she hears the clatter of a brawl from the streets below, she is once more overwhelmed by a sense of isolation and reverts childlike through the gossamer of her dreams to the memory of ‘A STARLING’S CALL.’

This sequence, which starts out with the comforting assurance from the starling that her lover is pining for her in much the same way as she is pining for him, and is only prevented from making contact with her by his injured pride, breaks up violently with the blinding realisation that the starling is lying, and now the woman’s nightmare really begins.

PART TWO.

For now as nightmare and reality are inextricably entwined the woman lapses again into a child like mien, recalling first in the song

‘AROUND AND ROUND INSIDE MY HEAD’ what fun she and her lover had when they first met. Her mood changes however when she recalls how her lover taunted her for her naivety and indeed took pleasure in maligning her and frightening her at every opportunity.

Following this real bitterness surfaces as in the song ‘THE WOUNDS ARE DEEP.’ the woman gives vent to her true feelings. For she feels her lover has betrayed her – and in the next song ‘YOU KILLED MY LOVE.’ This bitterness rises to a crescendo as she accuses her lover of warping her mind and destroying her being as he led her headlong on a pathway to despair.

Finally as nightmare and reality merge completely the woman feels she is losing her mind and as she sings ‘I’M CRACKING UP.’ she is unable to distinguish between fact and fiction, myth or reality in a world so full of lies and hypocrisy that the only thing she senses with the utmost clarity is the utter coldness and lack of care of the world towards people like her caught in a mood of anguished desolation.

Then as she looks once more from her window and sings ‘AGAIN AGAIN ACROSS THE NIGHT.’ Her voice is raised in lone appeal against the seeming callousness of the world outside.

Suddenly as nightmares do, her nightmare ends, and as she awakens from the trauma of her dreams and realises with gratitude that she is still alive, she thinks once more about her lover and in the song ‘I’VE BEEN SO SCARED.’ She reveals that she still cares for him deeply and that her only real fear is that her lover has been so saddened by the rift that has occurred between them that he might not care for her any more.

In the penultimate song ‘WAS IT A DREAM?’ the woman dispels all notions from her mind that her love was anything but real, and having expressed her sadness that her lover is like herself living alone somewhere within the soulless confines of the city, she vows that they will live again together.

Finally in the song ‘IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT.’ Peace comes at last to the lonely woman, for now at least she sees her lover’s face and hears his voice and sees him smile and he is laughing softly as she sings

‘Just like of old. The night you told me that you loved me.’
And as she realises that all she has had is just a sad mad dream and realises that her lover never cheated her or maligned her, her heart goes out to him wherever he is and her heart goes out to him completely.

..................................................................................................................................................................

DRIFTING THROUGH THE WEE SMALL HOURS

Music

Drama

Verse