"THE STEVEDORES"
================
A romantic opera in three acts, in the Italian language
(translated into English).
Version : 1
Created : 24 April 1998
Author : Ross N. Williams
Email : ross@ross.net
URL : http://www.ross.net/
OperaURL : http://www.ross.net/fun/stevedores.html
Copyright : Copyright (c) Ross N. Williams, 1998. All rights reserved.
However, permission is granted to copy and disseminate
this work verbatim provided that these notices are
preserved. Performance rights reserved.
Libretto : Ross N. Williams (ross@ross.net)
Music : Not yet written
Scene : Australia
Year : 1998
Characters
----------
Disputo - A stevedore (Tenor).
Chook - His best mate, also a stevedore (Tenor).
Lorenzo - The shipping magnate (Baritone).
Desperina - Lorenzo's daughter (Mezzo-soprano).
Exporto - The exporter (Basso cantante).
Recalcitro - The union leader (Bass).
Howardo - The Prime Minister (Basso profondo).
Act I
-----
Scene 1: The Docks (Morning)
----------------------------
The opera opens with a chorus of stevedores who sing of the
pride and of the joy they take in their work:
We are the stevedores of the Australian waterfront
Moving shipping containers is our mission
But we are a modest and retiring group
So we take great pains to hide our work
The cat burglar's tread is not so slow
As a shipping container on our crane
We take great offence if you can see
That a container is moving at all
The chorus breaks into a solo as Disputo, a newly qualified
stevedore, sings of the proud stevedoring tradition of his
family. He sings of how his great grandfather used to earn
an average Australian wage, how his grandfather earned twice
that, his father three times the average wage, and how he
hopes to continue the tradition. But his best mate Chook,
also a stevedore, breaks in and reminds them all of the hard
life of the stevedore, the demanding physical work of
operating crane levers, and of how they must work ten,
twenty, sometimes even thirty hours per week.
Suddenly there is a commotion in the docks. The shipping
magnate Lorenzo, accompanied by his beautiful daughter
Desperina, arrives to inspect the new watertight shipping
containers. Disputo sees Desperina and immediately falls in
love with her. He takes her aside and declares his love for
her and they sing a duet. Desperina declares her love for
him but cautions that their love is doomed if her father
finds out. They agree to meet in secret at the docks at
midnight. Lorenzo and Desperina depart.
Disputo then has a duet with a chorus of stevedores in which
the delicately intertwined nature of spiritual and carnal
love is unravelled. Disputo sings of his oceanic joy at his
discovery of Desperina, and the redemptive power of the pure
love he feels for her, while the stevedores sing of
Desperina's enormous knockers and her legendary sexual
powers.
Scene 2: The Docks (Afternoon)
------------------------------
All is tranquil and quiet on the docks as the stevedores
work at maximum capacity. Suddenly the menacing figure of
Lorenzo appears before them once again:
I know that moving containers is a chore
But they move them faster in sunny Singapore
All my life I have waited for the day
Of extra productivity for even lesser pay
So I wish you all to leave and not come back
You see, I'm giving everyone the sack
The stevedores are outraged and mill around angrily. Lorenzo
continues:
The three-toed sloth of sleepy jungles can seem
Speedy next to stevedores working at full steam
The massive bulk of hefty shipping containers
Is microscopic compared to your retainers
Recalcitro always tells us to get on our bikes
He thinks he can ask for anything he likes
I know you will die fighting for your cause
To up your salary; I upped mine; up yours.
Lorenzo departs. The stevedores are reaching flashpoint,
but Recalcitro keeps a cool head and calms them down. He
sings:
What solid bedrock transmutes to shifting sand!
Lorenzo's drastic course surely will not stand
We will defend our salaries and our rorts
To see him finally vanquished in the courts
But to the pub for now; we are of similar minds
We return at dawn to man the picket lines!
The stevedores cheer and head down to the pub, except for
Disputo who lingers behind to end the scene with:
The battle plans are layed; my mind is never keener
But my thoughts return to my sweet Desperina
Act II
------
Scene 1: The Docks At Night
---------------------------
Fog. A huge open shipping container dominates the set. A
lone night watchman in a trench coat walks slowly among the
shipping containers holding a lamp aloft to find his way. A
bell tolls through the mist. He sings
Now is the blackest tunnel of the night
Made blacker by the looming battle's pall
The deserted docks portentious silence
Echos the coming of tommorow's ghosts
How heavily the mantle of these docks
Rests on my stooped and weary shoulders
Even the moist fog hangs heavy of lead
Truly it is time for me to be in bed
My watch ends at six and it is nearly one
So it's clear that here my work is done
He leaves. Desperina and Disputo enter from either side of
the stage. They see each other. They run to each other's
arms. They kiss. They sing of the fiery urgency of their
love. Desperina sings:
My love life, so far one of freely giving
Is flummoxed by you who moves boxes for a living
I have the inclination and the time
So please come quickly and help move mine
Disputo answers with:
Now our love affair is just about to start
Never was container moved as you have moved my heart
Your voluptuous form has set my hormones honking
So let us go and commence the frenzied bonking
They are about to depart when suddenly a chorus of
jackbooted scabs enter, led by Lorenzo. They goosestep
around the stage singing:
Oh we are the fascist jackbooted scabs
We care not for ancient union traditions
Each worker writes a contract of his own
And together we swarm like worker ants
What we lack in ideological supremacy
We make up for in manic productivity
Wherever you find some economic rationalists
Not far behind will be we socialist nationalists
Disputo and Desperina hide in the shipping container. The
jackbooted scabs man the cranes and start working on the
docks, moving containers. They notice the open container
(with Disputo and Desperina in it) and seal it up to keep
the night fog out.
Scene 2: The Docks (Morning)
----------------------------
The stevedores arrive in the morning to man the picket line
only to discover the scabs hard at work inside the shipping
yard. They cry out angrily in chorus:
Scabs! Scabs! Working in the yard!
Scabs! Scabs! Working very hard!
Scabs! Scabs! Working for low pay!
Scabs! Scabs! You will rue this day!
The chorus breaks into a solo by Chook who rouses the mob to
action:
The noble stevedores have spoken
The docks should be as still as a lotus
But suspended over our heads is a container
Moving faster than the humble garden snail
It truly piques my professional pride
To see a container moved with such gusto
So let us, this fence, breach in righteous anger
And drop the tainted container in the drink
At this, the stevedores break through the cyclone fence and
attack the scab crane driver just as he is moving the
shipping containing containing Disputo and Desperina onto
the ship. Chook takes control of the crane and releases the
shipping container. It falls into the water with a splash
and slowly sinks to the bottom of the harbour. The
stevedores let out a cheer of delight.
To the muddy harbour depths has sunk their cargo
Now surely they will see the force of our embargo
Act III
-------
Scene 1: Inside The Shipping Container
--------------------------------------
Inside the shipping contain at the bottom of the harbour,
Disputo and Desperina lament their fate and sing of their
love for each other. Disputo sings of his passion and of
their certain doom:
If this ocean was made of the stuff of souls
My passion for you would boil it away
But this watery tomb is uncompromisingly wet
And the Grim Reaper does not require an aqualung
Desperina responds more positively by reminding Disputo that
they will spend their last moments together:
This harbour floor is the nadir of our destiny
My millstone heart can sink no further
So let us celebrate our brief remaining time
With tempered joy for pleasures still at hand
I have everything I need in my fading hours
Just you, and five thousand Nintendo machines
Scene 2: The Docks (Afternoon)
------------------------------
On the docks, there is a standoff between the stevedores and
the scabs. The two groups, led by Lorenzo and Recalcitro eye
each other angrily. Exporto, who owns the sunken shipping
container, arrives in his Mercedes and sings a touching
song:
Ants suffer and die when elephants have a blue
The stevedores worthy cause is like an Amazon butterfly
The container now proudly treasured by Neptune
Contains Nintendo machines bound for Bragwando
Which of you has a conscience that can stand
The thought of Bragwando children without Nintendo?
Despite their passionate loyalty to their cause, the
stevedores are swayed by this argument, and so Chook boards
the crane and lifts the sunken shipping container from the
bottom of the harbour. The shipping container is opened and
Disputo and Desperina emerge blinking in the sunlight.
Lorenzo sees Disputo with his daughter and punches
Recalcitro. The whole waterfront erupts in a brawl between
the stevedores and the scab labour.
Suddenly there is a shout. Everyone turns around and looks,
for there, framed within the U-shape of the huge crane is
the towering stern majestic figure of the Australian Prime
Minister, Howardo. He makes a speech with echoes in history:
I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble man;
but I have the heart of a Prime Minister,
and of a Prime Minister of Australia too;
and I think foul scorn that the economic rationalists,
or any academic theorist, should dare to threaten
our Australian way of life.
He then breaks into song, singing a touching solo in which
he describes the transformation that has taken place in his
heart:
My advisors led me astray; my heart was cast of stone
The waterfront I seeked to transform and make efficient,
But soon, a way of life, I realize I was destroying
We must preserve our great Australian heritage
So your jobs I am restoring at quintuple salary
All my life has been but a prelude to this moment
And now that I have fulfilled my destiny
I will appoint Recalcitro as the next Prime Minister
And retire to the Netherland Antilles to count my pension.
With tears in their eyes from the moving song, the
stevedores and the scabs hug each other. Everyone cheers for
joy and the whole cast rallies around to join in the final
triumphal song:
Lift your hearts unto the sky
Harmony has returned to the waterfront
The happy stevedores joyfully sing as they work
To create profits for the noble shipping company.
From the four corners of the Earth
Spirited over the shimmering sea
Containers will arrive at this berth
Moving slowly unto eternity.
Finito.
-----<End Of The Stevedores Opera>-----
Ross.
Dr Ross N. Williams (ross@ross.net)
http://www.ross.net/