VOIRREY stands centre stage.
VOIRREY: Apparently I was an accomplished ventriloquist, skilled at-
VOIRREY shuts her mouth completely
and a recording of her speaking emanates from stage left.
REC: -throwing my voice. There is one-
VOIRREY & REC (together): -problem with-
VOIRREY (on own): -this theory.
VOIRREY & REC (together): Let us demonstrate.
VOIRREY: Gef was heard-
REC (stage left): - here.
REC (stage right): And here.
REC (overhead): Here too.
REC (behind audience): He was all over.
VOIRREY: Now me as a ventriloquist ties the mystery of Gef all up in a bow.
VOIRREY & ALL RECS: VOIRREY DID IT!!
VOIRREY: But ignores a simple truth, as I will demonstrate.
A Gef Hand Puppet is thrown to her from offstage.
VOIRREY: Everyone, this is Gef.
VOIRREY: Say 'Hello' Gef.
Voirrey raises voice 2 octaves (or so) and speaks as Gef using hand puppet.
We can see her lips move when she speaks as Gef.
V-GEF: "Hello Gef."
VOIRREY: No, Gef. Say 'Hello' properly.
V-GEF: Shan't. I won't humour unbelievers.
VOIRREY: Oh Gef, you are so troublesome.
V-GEF: Shall we tell them how we do it?
VOIRREY: is that wise?
V-GEF: Harden up, butter cup.
VOIRREY: A ventriloquist doesn't literally throw her voice. She provides the sound, and the
misdirection and-
V-GEF: -it looks like I'm talking.
VOIRREY: It must be tape recorders.
Gef buries snout in paws.
V-GEF: Oh, no. Now you've done it.
VOIRREY: Enough, you.
V-GEF: Fine, vanish!
VOIRREY tosses Gef offstage.
VOIRREY crosses stage and pulls out a tape-recorder.
VOIRREY: Ahah!
She crosses to the other side and picks up another tape-recorder.
VOIRREY: As you suspected.
VOIRREY: Well, that must explain it.
VOIRREY: Except, we were as poor as dirt, how could we afford a half dozen tape recorders.
VOIRREY: How could we run them without electricity?
VOIRREY (as GEF): Someone else did it.
VOIRREY: But how did they do this:
Sounds of scurrying from stage left to stage right
then scurrying from overhead to behind audience
and back again in quick succession.
VOIRREY (as Gef): Beats me!
VOIRREY: Me too.
***
Ah, that had been sitting percolating for a little while. I'm wondering if puppet Gef needs to be around earlier and for longer. It will be finessed.
Tomorrow: Witchery? Wise woman? What will it be?
An occasional set of postings about Warhammer, Oldhammer, miniature painting and playwrighting. With occasional digressions into other stuff.
Well now - how strange. Why are you writing about Voirrey Clucas Irving and Gef? How do you know her full name - which *very* few people knew, and that she is dead with no descendants?
ReplyDeleteWolstan, I feel like there is going to be a 'gotcha' somewhere along the line here.
ReplyDeleteI'm writing because the story, and it's ambiguities, fascinate me.
I learnt Voirrey's full name after doing research on the net (all of my research thus far has been done through the internet, and I am finding that there are very few, easily accessible non-internet sources) and there are a number of sites that list her full name in the context of the events of the 1930s. From there I found the death notice online.
I am now curious, as what little I could find about Voirrey Irving in more recent years certainly made it easy for me to assume that there were no direct descendants.
Is this not the case?
After a day of work and pondering, more info for you Wolston.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to the death notice
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/57681/notices/014
I found the notice after having done a google search for "Voirrey Irving." I trawled through all of the search returns, so it is more than likely that I did not have her middle name until I had found that page. I knew from my research that Voirrey had left Isle of Man for England and had worked in a factory. I assumed that she had retired, since retirement is 60 for women in the UK.
I did a search of the name Clucas, and it's of Manx origin.
In the "Voirrey Irving" search there were IIRC no other Voirrey Irvings.
So, I made the assumption that this was the same Voirrey.