The Wanderer Returns Home

Script for “The Wanderer Returns Home”

I dream of escaping…You wonder what prepared me. You know I am a gatherer and gatherers often wander far from home…Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song. Sweet Thames, run softly for I speak not loud nor long…Here I am, River… I’ve been treading water a long time now, the Thames in my ear…the roar of the current…you are finally here, Thames, come to collect me, take me away, oh take me away… I read, dreaming mountains, dreaming tigers, adventure! Nowhere to turn but out and away, escape into the wonderful wild somehow…against the bridal day which was not long, sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song… I dream of escaping…

Excerpts fromThe Dream Life of Teresa Harris

Eight year old TERESA skips in, singing.  She’s winding her way downhill from her home, Eldon House, having escaped her mother’s attention for a free hour.

YOUNG TERESA: “Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song,
Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long.”

To AUDIENCE: Here we are at The Forks of the Antler River. That’s its true name, the Askunessippi. Cook told me that. Settling in by the River: I’m waiting for the steamer. I want to see it go by. One day, I’m going with it. To River: Here I am, River, and here you are climbing our hill, eating our grass! You are swallowing the trees.There goes a huge willow branch, bobbing along. Where are you taking it, Thames, all the way to Lake St. Clair, and then the Great Lakes and then down, down the grand St. Lawrence, all the way to the Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean?

YOUNG TERESA, addressing River, out to audience: I’ve come to calm you down. You’re going too fast! You’re too high! River, o River, I thought you were my friend, and here you are flooding our land. Our grass is covered! You’re climbing our hill! You want to take me away, but not this way, please. I promise you. I’ll make a pact with you, water. Let me go this time, and you can take me later, when I am old, when my life is over. I will be your little girl for always then.

TERESA, to AUDIENCE: I too will be married… into the ritual of household management, the daily round of what to wear, what to eat and who is up to snuff. For this life, I am groomed. Like a pony, a circus pony in a trap. How I want out! Dance me away…

TERESA: Drowning in daily duty! Nowhere to turn but out and away, escape into the wonderful wild, somehow. I read, dreaming mountains, dreaming lions, adventure. I wander into the wood, gathering berries, exploring clearings. Until…

TERESA: You wonder what prepared me. You know I am a gatherer and gatherers often wander far from home…

ELDERLY TERESA: Here I am, River, back home…I’ve been treading water a long time now, the Thames in my ear…the roar of the current…you are finally here, Thames, come to collect me, take me away, oh take me away… Chanting softly: “Against the Bridal day, which was not long / Sweet Thames run softly, till I end my…”

Penn Kemp

Notes for The Wanderer

The Dream Life of Teresa Harriswas first produced as a processional play at Eldon House in 2013. The performance in Mary’s video was presented at Masonville Library, London, with musicians Mary Ashton and Panayiotis Giannarapis and Penn as Teresa, recorded by Mary. The play is available from https://www.canadianplayoutlet.com/products/the-dream-life-of-teresa-harris. Poems from “Teresa Harris rides again” were published in Local Heroes(Insomniac Press, 2018).

image for The Wanderer Returns Home text by Penn Kemp, light comes at an angle into the forest

Forest Home

Animation for The Wanderer Returns Home