The Theme of Kindness in The Browning Version by Terence Rattigan

I have to remember that the reason I was going to reflect on this in play form--mostly dialogue--is that I thought that would be an easier way to sketch, but it's turned out to be more difficult because of my inability to mimic the kind of speech I heard from ESL students for more than thirty years!  So I'm going to interrupt my 2014 version of Terence Rattigan's play to talk about the theme of kindness in The Browning Version.

Kindness reflects positively on the person being kind but not necessarily on the person towards whom the kindness is extended.  I think Taplow's act is really one of kindness, not motivated as Millie Crocker-Harris suggests, by his fear that he won't be allowed to complete the level Andrew Crocker-Harris is teaching (for his final semester)  and move on.  It is interesting, though, that Andrew C-H himself has such a great need to believe in the sincerity of Taplow's gesture that he doesn't question it himself but takes it at face value until Millie calls Taplow "the artful little beast" and describes the imitation she caught him making of him and states explicitly that he was afraid that A.C.H. would retaliate by changing his final notation to a non-passing one.

...I came into this room this afternoon to find him giving an imittion of you to Frank here.  Obviously he was scared stiff I was going to tell you, and you'd ditch his remove or something.  I don't blame him for trying a few bobs' worth of appeasement.
Until Millie has made that revelation, Andrew Crocker-Harris has taken the gift as a sign of redemption.  At least one student has seen him not as "the Himmler of the Lower Fifth" but as "a gentle master," the kind of teacher he'd wanted to be.  Taplow understands this and has personalized the gift he's given in a way that shows he was paying attention to both the teacher's lecture (in which he went over this passage) and to the teacher's needs.  (An earlier act also reveals Taplow as kind, when he has laughed at a joke Andrew C-H has made just because he wants his teacher to feel successful and not be embarrassed by the joke falling flat.)

Frank is also probably kind.   When Andrew shares the gift and the meaningful inscription with him, he says, "Very pleasant and very apt."  He notices Andrew's emotion as he replies, "Very pleasant.  But perhaps not, after all, so very apt."  Frank says, "Nonsense."  Andrew goes on to say that he isn't a very emotional person "but there was something so very touching and kindly about his action, and coming as it did just after..."  It appears that Andrew is reacting to the kindness  of Taplow's gift and inscription, but that's probably just a way to explain his tears at the relief that it indicates something about Andrew himself as a teacher, and Frank is kind enough to want Andrew to believe that he has succeeded in some measure, so when Andrew says "and perhaps he means it," Frank quickly says, "I'm sure he does, or he wouldn't have written it.  Frank, of course, saw Taplow's imitation and knows that he'd feared that Millie had seen it too and would tell on him, but he reveals none of this at the moment.  Millie, of course, does.  She is cruel possibly out of anger or contempt that her husband has not met her needs--either her sexual ones or the ones for social status that she's shown to value with all the name-dropping and mention of  family connections.    (She wants the noblesse without the oblige.)  Or perhaps it's to get a rise from her husband, who is so stoic and, as he says "can bear anything."

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 21

Dr. Frobisher

I didn't mean to undermine your efforts!

Andrew Crocker-Harris

Efforts!

Dr. Frobisher

I very much appreciate all your hard work.

Andrew

Didn't the chancellor say something about working not harder but better?

Dr. Frobisher

I hope you're not feeling...under-appreciated.  Maybe you're feeling burn out.  Which in a way relates to what I wanted to talk to you about.  But first.  I want to correct what I told you about your retirement pay.  I was mistaken about the amount you'll be receiving.  It will be sixty percent of your regular pay.

Andrew

Not eighty?

Dr. Frobisher

No, I'm sorry.  I miscalculated when I advised you.    I'm glad you have your wife's one hundred percent.

Andrew

I don't consider that I have her salary.  I've always tried to use my salary for both of us.

Dr. Frobisher

Well, I'm sorry about the miscalculation.

Andrew

Were you afraid that I might not retire if I knew how little it would be?

Dr. Frobisher

Andrew!  Please!  You sound so defensive.  I think it's burn out.  You need a rest.

Andrew

I don't feel burned out.

Dr. Frobisher

You need to take it easy and get some rest.  I wanted to say that I appreciate your offering to present a song for the gathering tomorrow, but you don't need to do that.

Andrew

I've already done it.  That is, I've already written it.  Would you like to see it?

Dr. Frobisher

Oh, I'm sorry you went to all that trouble because I'm afraid it's going to have to be cut out of the program.  There's just not enough time.

Andrew

Oh?  I wanted that to be my...final offering.  My swan song as they say.

Dr. Frobisher

Yes!  And we all enjoy your songs so much.  But you know how almost all students suffer from ADD, and in addition, sing-alongs seem to sort of...embarrass them.

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 20

Andrew

Mr. Gilbert?  Who is that?

Dr. Forbisher

Gilbert is new to this campus.  This will be his office  I thought he might want to see it, and you could show him  where things are located.  The copy machine.  Things like that.

Andrew

I'd be happy to.

Dr. Forbisher

I think I've told you about him.  He's pretty well-known in our field.  He's written textbooks that are pretty widely used.  Presented at conferences.  

{In the play, Dr. Forbisher compares Gilbert's success with Andrew's own early distinctions and accomplishments.  I doubt that the 2014 Dr. Forbisher would even know about any of Andrew's accomplishments.}  

Andrew

As I once did.

Dr. Forbisher

Is that right?  Before you spent all your time...tutoring...students like that one who just left.

Andrew

And I ...published.

Dr. Forbisher

And now you devote your time and energy to teaching remedial students a week after classes are over!  Good for you!  You really have worked hard.  You've always tried--

{Before Dr. Forbisher became the chair, he was on an evaluation team for Andrew and used a lot of tries.}

Andrew

Didn't I teach you that?  That try business?

Dr. Forbisher

Pardon?

Andrew

I remember back in the days when we were what I considered friends that I told you about the strategy of using the word try in a recommendation if you wanted to communicate an absence of enthusiasm.

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 19

Taplow

No more book?

Andrew

No more book.

Silence

Taplow

timidly, meaning this as a question

Go on?

Andrew

Yes, Taplow.  Let's finish your essay.  What do you want to say about the obstacle of snow?

Millie and  Dr. Forbisher , the Department Chair

enter main door together

Millie

walks ahead

Andrew?  Bob needs to talk to you about a couple of things.

Andrew

turns around

Hello, Forbisher.  I'm giving a student some extra help.

Dr. Forbisher

Today?  Classes were over a week ago!  That's either a sign of over-conscientiousness on your part or exceptional  need on his!

Andrew

Maybe a little of both. 

Dr. Forbisher

Well, since this is the only chance I'll have to speak to you before the gathering tomorrow, I hope your student will excuse us.

Andrew

translating this for Taplow

He needs to talk to me, Taplow.  I'm sorry.  We'll have to stop.

Taplow

Oh!  No problem! 

gathers his paper

I finish my home! 

{In the play there's talk about reimbursing Taplow's father for the money he gave for the lesson not finished.}

Goes out quickly

Dr. Forbisher

Has Mr. Gilbert called on you yet?

ESL Received English

Jajaja, as Javier would say.  I'm using "received English" in  different way--in reference to the English we receive or hear.  Erika, who works at the CLAD, had some good examples:

You have healthy problem.
US a freedom country.
This a high technology country.
my another brother
to at the CLAD
I was go to downtown, but now I stay because I am learn English.

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 18

3.       Check for full subordination:  She’s here because now^needs the form.

4.       Check the verbs:  TV is interested.  (Interesting is the norm.)

5.       Check the pronouns:  form, agreement, reference:  themselfs.  (themselves instead)

6.       Check the word form:  Pregnant brides are sometimes quick and quiet wed.

7.       Check word order:  Ask him where was he should be Ask him where he was then.

8.       Parallel:  He hates our nagging and to ask him where he’s been.

9.       Check for repetition not needed:  She runs quite fast and rapidly.

10.   Check for correct usage:  Looking forward for what may soon be.

 Yeah, I acknowledge that this isn't exactly a perfect parallel to Andrew Crocker-Harris feat of translating the whole Agamemnon in rhyming couplets!  But then, Taplow isn't a privileged student at a boys' school either.

So let's imagine that Andrew, at the appropriate moment, had confided in Taplow.

Andrew

When I was a young teacher, I wanted to make English musical for my students.  I wanted them to enjoy the process of learning the language.  So I wrote English lessons in the form of songs.  

Taplow

You write song in present tense too.

Andrew

But at the beginning, I was successful.  That is, the students liked the songs.  They liked the lessons.  I was so successful that a publisher approached me at a teachers' conference and asked me to compile them for a song book.  And I did.  And it was a big success.  I was once the keynote speaker at a conference.  People asked me to give workshops.  

Taplow

That very good!

Andrew

But somewhere along the way.. .it was no longer wanted.  They stopped ordering it.  And it went out of print.   

The Browning Version Screen 17

found another way of seeing.  Through touch.  You need to explain that.  Then you illustrate with Frank McCourt.  Read this part.

Taplow

"Also Frank McCourt had many obstacles.  One of his obstacles was poverty and his father." 

Andrew

Poverty and his father.  Are those one thing?

Taplow

Two.  Two thing.

Andrew

Yes.  Two things.  Two obstacles.  You could have a separate paragraph for each.  So how can you change that?

Taplow

They  need overcome. 

Andrew

I mean your sentence. 

Taplow

Two of his obstacle was poverty and his father.

Andrew

Two of his obstacles were poverty and his father.

About now the headmaster needs to interrupt them and destroy what little hope (for a pension) and pride (for a dignified exit) Andrew Crocker Harris has managed to salvage up to that point.  But I need to put in what Andrew confides in Taplow--his earlier success with his songbook of new words to tunes in the public domain to help ESL students remember phrases and grammar structures.  In the play, Andrew Crocker-Harris tells about his writing, as a school boy just two years older than Taplow,  a translation of the Agamemnon in rhyming couplets.  I think I need to go back to when Taplow bursts out with "To dream the impossible dream."  I could also have Andrew mention it when Taplow has two subjects.  

10 Common Errors to Find and Correct

New words by Andrew Crocker Harris to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”

1.       Check to see the verb and subject both are there but neither twice.

Example:  In the summer people they take trips and pay the price.

2.       Check to see the verb agreement, tenses and form are all correct.

Lately it was been too difficult for us two to connect.

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 16

Taplow

See?

Andrew

No, you need see.  Look.  "Her tutor Sullivan, she could not see well."  What's repeated?  What's not necessary?

Taplow

She?

Andrew

Very good!  Then you write "Helen Keller and Serivan.  They had common thing."  How could you combine these two sentences? 

Taplow

Helen Keller and Serivan WHO had common thing.

Andrew

You don't need the who.  "Helen Keller and Sullivan..."

Taplow

They had common thing.

Andrew

Without a second subject.  Helen Keller and Serivan...

Taplow

Had common thing!

Andrew

Great!  Had common thing!  But we say had something in common or had a similar obstacle. 

Taplow

That right.  They could not see.  So I believe that Serivan

Andrew

Sullivan

Taplow

Sullivan could teach and listen Helen Keller's mind.

Andrew

Do you mean that she could understand Helen Keller?

Taplow

Yes!  They  overcomed about blind and deaf by having common things which was blind."

Andrew

By having!  Very good, Taplow.  You're right that they overcame being blind and deaf.  But you need to review how Ms. Sullivan helped Helen Keller overcome the obstacle of being blind.  What did she do to help Helen?  What helped Helen learn? 

Taplow

silent

Andrew

I like what you say here:  "But they opened mind eye."  It's true.  They opened the mind's eye.  They 

The Browning Version Screen 15

Andrew

Yes.  But you need to put it in this first sentence.  You need to take out the period and explain what happened to Helen Keller when she was a baby.

Taplow

She cannot see and cannot listen sound.

Andrew

Are you writing about the past or the present?

Taplow

Past!  Helen Keller dead.

Andrew

Yes.  She died.  She's dead.

Taplow

She lost sight.

Andrew

Yes!  She lost her sight.  Very good!

Taplow

Very bad.

Andrew

Yes.   We English teachers sound heartless, don't we.  The loss is bad.  The English is good.  Then you say she "could not listen sounds."  You need to say that she couldn't hear.  We listen to music 

Taplow

"To dream the impossible dream!"

Andrew

Very good, Taplow.  But we hear sounds.  Then you write "Here tutor Serivan, she could not see well."   What do you need to say instead of "here tutor"?

Taplow

Her?

Andrew

Yes.  Her tutor.  And who is Serivan?

Taplow

She tutor.

• Andrew

Her tutor.  Helen Keller's tutor.  But her name wasn't Serivan.  Do you mean Sullivan?

Taplow.

Yes!  Serivan.

Andrew

You need to check your spelling.  Then you write "Her tutor Sullivan, she could not see well."  What word do you need to take out?

The Browning Version Screen 14

years, I've spent hundreds and thousands of hours reading your papers carefully and making my comments.  But you need to read them.  I really believe that every paper is a--

Taplow

finishes the familiar phrase with Andrew

private lesson!

Andrew

 private lesson.  I can help you one-to-one.  But you have to read what I write. 

Taplow

You alway say "Every paper a private lesson and every test a lesson!"  So many lesson!

Andrew

Yes, I do repeat and repeat, don't I.  But it's true.  Every test is a lesson.

Taplow

No just grade.

Andrew

Not just a grade.  We can all learn from our mistakes.  But we have to see what they are.  We have to see what we need to do instead of what we're doing.  So, you've chosen good illustrations.  I've written that on your paper.  Typed it.  So you could read it if you read it, which you don't.  The organization is fairly good too.  But the English needs a lot of work.

Taplow

English my weakness!

Andrew

Yes.  But I really believe that we all need to focus on what we're doing right instead of what we're doing wrong.  That's why I never write "You didn't..."  I always write "You need to..."

Taplow

I need improve English!

Andrew

Yes.  So, since every paper is a lesson,  let's look a bit more closely at your English.  What have you written here?

Taplow

Helen Keller when she was a baby.

Andrew

Yes.  Helen Keller when she was a baby.  What about her when she was a baby?

Taplow

She blind!

Andrew

Yes.  You need to add that.

Taplow

I write it in next sentence.

The Browning Version Screen 13

Andrew

Yes, I think he did understand his students.  I'm sure he was a very good teacher.  A successful teacher.  So...you illustrate with examples of Frank McCourt's life.  And, I see, you illustrate with the Korean parody of Les Miserables.  

Taplow

Yes.   Soldier clean snow.

Andrew

Yes, they're shoveling snow in the video.  I looked it up.  

Taplow

Snow obstacle.

Andrew

Yes, I see.  Humor and song.  Two very useful...resources...in overcoming obstacles.  "Humor is the best medicine."

• Taplow

You think that way?  I surprise you think that way!  You very serious guy.

Andrew

Do I seem humorless to you?

Taplow

looks uncomprehending

Andrew

Less means without.  Humorless means without humor.  You don't think I have a sense of humor?

Taplow

Yes.

Andrew

Meaning yes, I don't. 

pause

So Taplow, do you read the comments I write on your papers?

Taplow

Comment?

Andrew

Do you look over the response sheet I give you for a guide?

Taplow

looks uncomprehending

Andrew

You're not the only one.  I type up my comments so that you can read them.  I know you can't read my handwriting.  These days students can't read any handwriting because they never see anything but computer font.  But I type my comments.   Because I want to help you.  I spend--in the past thirty 

The Browning Version Screen 12

I know that students (like servers) say "No problem."  But there's so much about ESL speech that I'm not sure about.  So now we begin the scene between Taplow and Andrew Crocker-Harris.  Agamemnon is going to be an ESL composition, and I do have a lot of examples of student writing!
It occurs to me that I could write something very close to "He has obtained exactly what he deserves.  No less; and certainly no more."

It would be "It's not a question of doing extra work.  It's a question of developing the skills.  If the extra work leads to stronger skills, then yes, he'll pass.  Otherwise, there's no shame in repeating."

Frank

He's wondering whether the extra credit will help him pass the course.

Andrew

It's not a question of doing extra work.  It's a question of developing the skills.  If the extra work led  to stronger skills, then he passed.  Otherwise, there's no shame in repeating.

 Frank

Well, I need to get to the tenure review committee meeting.

Millie

I'm going to a meeting, too.  I'll walk out with you.

Frank and Millie

go out together

Andrew

So let's take a look at your final composition.  Your essay on overcoming obstacles.

Taplow

I trying!

Andrew

I know you are.  We all are.  So...Your re-write is better because you've kept on the topic fairly well...as far as I can see.

Taplow

Overcoming obstacle.

Andrew

Yes.  You begin with Helen Keller when she was a baby.  You also illustrate with Frank McCourt.

Taplow

Frank McCourt very good teacher.  Understand student.

The Browning Version Screen 11

Millie

Theoretically, that's how it works--in the world of the sing-along.  But now with everyone in their private world with their earbuds and their iTunes.  Frank's selected tunes are not the ones the kids go to on YouTube.  

Frank

Well, it still seems like fun to me.

Andrew

Thank you, Frank.  You are very kind.  As you said earlier, this is my swan song.  A swan song sung to a stolen melody.  But one that is, in fact, on YouTube.  

Frank

And what do you plan to do in retirement?

Andrew

I was thinking of maybe reviving the song book that, as Millie says, I've been milking for some thirty years.

Taplow

enters the main door,

walks past the central desk

drops a Pepsi can into the wastepaper basket

is carrying a pile of copies and looks breathless

knocks

Andrew

Come in.  Hello, Taplow,  You look out of breath.  I'll bet there was a long line to pick up copies.

Taplow

Yes, teacher don't always put lesson online--

Andrew

And I hope you got something to drink from the vending machine.

Taplow

Yes.  Thank you.  I sorry for late, but--

Millie

You were late yourself, Andrew.

Andrew

Yes, I was.  I apologize, Taplow.

Taplow

No problem.

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 10

 Andrew

  "Cielito Linda."  I use that tune during the midterm period. 

Sings

 "Aye, aye, aye, aye.  Midterms are coming."  

Frank 

laughs appreciatively

Millie

rolls her eyes

Andrew

I once had a best-selling song book showing teachers how they could use popular tunes to teach English.

Millie

The crowning achievement of his career,which he's been trying to milk ever since.

Andrew

I gave workshops on how to use Ode to Joy with varying structures in English.

Millie

  Thank God Beethoven is deaf and dead.

Andrew

Yes, I make a little joke about that.  

sings

"Now as we all score our finals and, grades due this time of the year. We'll use music from Beethoven, but don't worry.  He can't hear."

Frank

laughs

I like that

Millie

Oh, he uses it over and over every semester.  He uses a variation for his students, too.

Andrew

I think students can remember better if words go with a tune.  I try to help them overcome their fear of the finals by writing songs like "Scream, Scream, Scream" to the tune of "Dream, Dream, Dream."  Do you remember the Everly Brothers?  I think if they can joke about their anxiety--

The Browning Version, Screen 9

Andrew

Oh, hi, Frank.  I didn't see you.

Millie

I was telling him that we didn't see him at the Asian Coalition dinner either.

Frank

I'm terribly sorry.

Millie

He forgot, Andrew!

Andrew

It's all right.  Another man was able to use your ticket.  A man I think Millie found quite charming.

Millie

Very

Andrew

If old.  Retirement age.  Like me.

Frank

Well, that's why I came by.  One of the reasons.  I know that this is your swan song

Andrea

in one high note

La!

Frank

I wanted to give you my best wishes before the mass gathering tomorrow.

Andrew

I appreciate that.  I'm sorry that I have an appointment.  A student is coming by, and I'm going to have to have back my part of the office.

Frank

Yes, I met him.  Before he went down to get the copies.

Andrew

Yes, Millie sent him down.  I had wondered where they were.  But I made these copies of the song I'm going to lead the faculty in singing tomorrow.  Would you like an advance copy?

Millie

Oh, Andrew!  You have no shame, pushing the doggerel you write to stolen melodies.

Frank

No, not at all!  I always enjoy the songs you write.  They're a lot of fun.

Andrew

Thank you, Frank.  This one is to the tune of Beethoven's Ode To Joy.

Millie

Aren't they all?

Andrew

No, they aren't all.  I have one to the tune of "Viva la compagne" and another to "Frere Jacques."

The Browning Version Screen 8

Frank

You know, Millie, it doesn't look right if you come to see me in my place.  If we meet here--well, we both work here

Millie

I wouldn't want you to go out of your way.

Frank

Millie, let's not start this.

Millie

Oh, God.  Why is this so much harder for me than it is for you?  You can keep your dignity because you don't love me.  But I make a fool of myself no matter how many times I vow not to.  I become the beggar, and as the saying goes, beggars can't--Well, I would choose you.  But I would also choose to have you love me.  But you don't even remember we had invited you to the Asian Coalition Dinner.

Frank

I just had too much on my mind

Millie

But it wasn't me.    Oh, damn!  I  always vow that I'm not even going to mention my hurt.  I'm going to be fun and light and act as if I had a life apart from you.

Frank

You do have a life.  You're a very successful teacher.

Millie

Teaching is not a life.

Andrew

 can be seen entering the door to the area and walking past the central desk.  He has his key out but knocks instead.  He's wearing a coat and tie, very different dress from that of Frank.

Has a student come by?

Millie

I sent him down to get your copies.

Andrew

My copies?  I wondered where they were!  I didn't see him there.  But then I went much earlier.  Did he pick up the song sheets?  I've written a song for our final gathering.

Millie

Of course you have.  You always do.

Andrew

sees Frank

Oh, hello, Frank.  How's it going?

Frank

Fine.  How about you?

Shake hands

Another Biography about Terence Rattigan

I'll be back with more screens of The Browning Version 2014, but I want to make a note of two things:

There's a more recent biography of Terence Rattigan than the one by Michael Darlow that was described by the producer of LA Theatre Works as the definitive one.   (It's by Geoffrey Wansell.)  Glancing down at reviews,  I saw this phrase, which I think really sums up what I love about  Terence Rattigan as shown in The Browning Version:

 "his ability to dramatize the world of hurt that human beings can manage to live with."

The Browning Version Screen 7

Millie

Yes, a fish out of water, gasping for breath.  "To dream the impossible dream."  Once it didn't seem so impossible.  But that song says it all.  He's still back in the 1960s, but his students aren't.  His students want a teacher like you.

Frank

Or you.  That student had very good things to say about you.  Apparently you were the Crocker-Harris he thought he was signing up for.  

Millie

Why didn't he drop?  I get so many of the students who realize they've gotten the wrong Crocker-Harris.  I add as many as I have room for.

Frank

We know how to please the students, don't we Millie.

Millie

You make that sound like something negative.  

Frank

 They're really pushovers.

Millie

Andrew can't even reach the pushovers.  But let's not waste our time talking about him.

                Frank

If he had an appointment fifteen minutes ago, he'll be here any moment. 

Millie

Okay!  Okay!  Let's keep our distance and just...plot!

laughs

It's going to be more difficult at home with Andrew always around.  We're going to have to go to your place.

Frank

Or we could just meet here.  He won't be here anymore.

Millie

Yes, you seem so relaxed here.  So in the mood.  Why don't you want me to go to your place? 

Frank

It's not...Nice enough for you.

Millie

Hiding bodies?

The Browning Version Screen 6

Mrs. Crocker-Harris

Yes, his and hers.  Some married couples share the same bed.  Back in the days when we did that, we also chose adjacent offices.

pauses

Well, it's very good to see you, stranger.  I thought we'd be seeing you for the Asian Coalition Dinner.

Frank

I'm sorry!  I completely forgot.

Mrs. Crocker-Harris

We got you a ticket.

Frank

I really, truly just forgot.

Mrs. Crocker-Harris

That's not exactly comforting.   I don't really, truly forget you.  Ever.   But I guess I have no choice but to forgive you. 

kisses him

Was that student making fun of Andrew?

Frank

I'm afraid so.

Millie

"To dream the impossible dream." 

Frank

"To dleam  impossiber dleam." 

Millie

Oh, you speak ESL so much better than I do.

Frank

I was sort of goading him on.   I wanted you to hear.  And maybe I wanted to show how with it I am.     I caught him taking a chocolate and told him he should be bringing chocolates to his teacher.

Millie

No, Andrew wouldn't touch them.  He never takes gifts from students because he knows that nobody likes him, so if they bring him a gift, it has to be a bribe.

Frank

Yeah, they don't really care for him, do they.  Why did he go into teaching?  He seems like a fish out of water. 

The Browning Version Screen 5

Frank

Sorry.  Ambiguous antecedent.  The student wants to bring up his own grade.

Mrs. Crocker-Harris

Mr. Crocker-Harris isn't here now.  Why don't you come back later?

Taplow

But I was sign on the sheet for today.  

Mrs. Crocker-Harris

Well, as you can see, he's not here.  I'll tell you what.  Why don't you go to the  copy room and pick up his copies.  He'd really appreciate that.  

Taplow

I think I will late and  he will angry.

Mrs. Crocker-Harris

Well, he's late himself.  If he comes in before you get back, I'll take the blame. 

Reaches into her bag and extends a dollar bill.

Here.  Take this and get yourself a drink from the vending machine on your way back.  

Taplow

Thank you, but--

Millie

And I'll put a good word in for you.  You know where the copy room is, right?

Taplow

Basement.

leaves

Mrs. Crocker-Harris

looks around to be sure no one is looking

kisses Frank

Don't be so standoffish!  No one's here.

Frank

But they could come in at any moment.  He could come in.  Why does his office have to be right next to yours?

The Browning Version Screen 4

Millie

comes in

looks at Taplow 

gives Frank a quick hug

Hello!  

{Now...I need to remember something else in this scene as written by Terrance Rattigan.  At one point Taplow says that Mr. Crocker-Harris doesn't want to be liked, and he gives the example of  when Taplow laughed at a joke that had fallen flat.  He had laughed just out of kindness, he emphasizes, not to suck up, but instead of appreciating the response--the only response he got--Mr. Crocker-Harris put  Taplow on the spot by asking him to explain the joke, which of course Taplow hadn't really understood.  He'd understood only that Mr. Crocker-Harris had meant it as a joke.  So...I could have that be with the songs Mr. Crocker-Harris presents.  

In The Browning Version there's just one scene throughout the whole play, and even though no one has stated this explicitly, I think it's in real time.  He wasn't writing for a blog!  I've decided to show one screen at a time.  Now back to the 2014 version.}

Goes outside the door again to bring her cart-on-wheels in.

Taplow

whispering to Frank

Was she heard me?

Frank

I doubt it.

Taplow

I hope she wasn't heard me.

Millie

comes back into the room

addresses Taplow

Can I help you?

Frank

This student is doing extra credit work for your husband.  To bring up his grade.

Mrs. Crocker-Harris

Oh, you can't bring up Andrew's grade at this point.  It's too low and too late for that.

The Browning Version Screen 3

Frank

That's right.  She teaches the same level as Mr. Crocker-Harris, doesn't she.

Taplow

I was think she the teacher was teach this semester.  I was sign up Crocker-Harris, but wrong Crock-Harris.  Mrs. Crock-Harris right Crock-Harris.

Frank

Yes, I think I've heard that students often drop his class and add hers after they find out.

Taplow

But I very like Mr. Crock-Harris.  He very care his student.

Frank

Well, that's good to hear.  I'll tell him you said that.

Taplow

I like he sing song teach grammar.  I study Infinitive.

Taplow exaggerates the drama of this song

 "To dream impossible dream.  To fight inbeatable foe."

Frank

You should sing that for extra credit.  

Taplow

But Mr. Crock-Harris say extra credit only good if student build skill with extra credit. I need build skill.  He say "Proof in pudding."

Frank

Well, good luck.  I hope he passes you.  I know I would.  If a student came to me during exam week.

Taplow

You not Mr. Crock-Harris.  He have his special way, not like other teacher.   

gets "in the moment"--expressive and  freer

He is disagree other teacher.  Other teacher say, "Step by step."  Mr. Crock-Harris say, "English not building, take elevator up.  English like garden.  Need take care all plant every day."  No elevator.  I like elevator. Other teacher have elevator. Teach floor by floor, step by step.

Frank

notices Millie entering

Tell me again what Mr. Crocker-Harris says.  I mean, the garden metaphor?

Taplow

expansively, dramatically, a caricature

wags his finger, looks stern

"English not building, take elevator up.  English like garden.  Need take care all plant every day."

The Browning Version 2014 Screen 2

Frank

Today?  Our finals period? There are no classes, just exams.

Taplow

But I doing extra credit.

Frank

Isn't it a bit late for that?

Taplow

I hope not too late!

Frank

Then maybe you should be bringing chocolates instead of taking them.

Taplow

looks uncomprehending

Frank 

grasping that this student needs ESL language

Some students bring gifts to bribe the teacher.  Bribe.

takes the box and acts out giving it to the teacher

"Here, nice teacher.  For you.  And for me?"

Taplow

Mr. Crocker-Harris  always don't  take gift.

Frank

Oh, you've already tried that, have you?

Taplow

Other teacher like present from student, but Mr. Crock-Harris different.

Frank

Oh, you've noticed that, have you.  

Taplow

He very old, set in way.  Not young teacher like you.

Frank

How did you know that I'm a teacher.  I won't ask how you know I'm young.

Taplow

Every student like you.  You very popular..  If I pass the class I  will going to take you level next semester.  If I can't to pass the class, I will going to take Mrs. Crock-Harris next semester.  

Marginalia on Terrance Rattigan's 1948 Play The Browning Version in 2014 Screen 1

John Taplow

Andrew Crocker-Harris

Frank Hunter

Millie Crocker- Harris

Dr. Frobisher

Peter Gilbert

Mrs. Gilbert

Scene 

All scenes take place in the sitting-room of the Crocker-Harrises' rooms in a public school in the South of England, but we Americans need to remember that what's referred to as a "public" school is really a privileged school differentiated from one supported by local or state taxes.  I

It's a July evening at the end of the school year. 

Taplow, a sixteen-year-old boy (white for sure) enters.

Taplow

Sir!

I'm not going to change the names until I finish with the 2014 version of the play, when I'll do a search and replace.  As for the setting, I'm going to have it be in the offices of Andrew and Millie Crocker-Harris, both teachers in my version.  Instead of having inherited a small sum that is protected against her husband, Millie is a faculty member, too, and is perceived as more successful than Andrew.  Frank, as in the original play is a faculty member too, but has his office on a different floor.  On this floor, there is a general office area where Taplow enters and a general desk, where Taplow finds a box of chocolate.  (Later I'll decide whether to have him take one.  I don't think our ESL students would do that without their being asked.  They're not "privileged" like Taplow.)  We see him come in the main door at the back of the stage and walk forward toward the desk.  Then, in the foreground are the offices which we can see from the inside.  Taplow sees him from the closed and locked side. Shortly after he comes in, Frank comes in and finds him "playing golf" with a walking stick and instructs him on how he should be swinging.  In my version he  catches Taplow taking a piece of chocolate and teases him about that.  In both versions, Frank is the self-confident, well-liked teacher that Andrew Crocker-Harris is not.  After Taplow expresses the fear that they've made a tear in the carpet, Frank puts the stick aside and asks:

Frank

Do I know you?

I think it's likelier in the ESL world that a teacher would ask, "Can I help you?"  In my version Frank uses this to tease Taplow:

Frank

Can I help you?  Oh, but I see you're helping yourself.

Taplow

swallows chocolate

Oh, I waiting Mr. Crock-Harris.  I waiting have appointment.

Marginalia on The Browning Version with and How It Might Play Out in 2014

          My favorite play, not counting every musical comedy ever written, is Terence Rattigan’s The Browning Version, a play about a teacher who realizes, as people are urging him to retire early, that he has been a total failure.  It was written just a couple of years after I was born, but I only recently realized that he had me in mind.  I just looked it up and found this synopsis:  "Forced to retire from an English public school, a disliked professor must confront his utter failures as a teacher, a husband, and a man."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1578111/

(I just Googled that whole sentence and several links appeared.  Apparently one borrows from the other!)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0205789/plotsummary

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0637859/

http://mymaxsavingsclub.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5746515&PHPSESSID=bi0ph2v8hcndjlpqon7mp71ic5

http://www.solarmovie.is/watch-the-browning-version-1951.html

http://uwatch.to/Watch-The-Browning-Version-Online-Movie-ID2572

http://arka.foi.hr/~jozemberi/josip-zemberi-bcc/movie.php?id=698&r_page=128&lang=en

http://arka.foi.hr/~jozemberi/josip-zemberi-bcc/index.php?page=70&r_page=1&lang=en

https://kickass.to/the-browning-version-1951-mkv-t7975206.html

So everyone uses the same summary!  Does that mean that it hasn't been given a second thought?

           Anyway,  I would take exception with the “must.”  What I admire about the man is that he confronts these failures when he could choose to see his failures as those of everybody else.  I admire his courage in admitting that he’s failed.  I’m trying to have that much courage. 

          The above is something I wrote in 2009, five years before I retired.  The same year, I also wrote this:

          When I think of my very long career as a teacher, I see that it’s not without its triumphs.  I remember receiving cheers every evening I walked into my class of beginning students with advanced enthusiasm.  I remember their pronouncing, “Good teacher!  Good teacher!”  as they left the classroom at 8:30.  I also remember a reassuring experience that occurred when I  taught in an intensive English language program at Golden Gate University and a student thanked me at the end of the semester, saying that the other students had stopped working in their grammar class because the teacher had gotten lazy,  but they’d continued to work in mine because I continued to work so hard.  (I usually like to tell the story slowly, from the beginning:   I, in my late forties, used to watch a younger teacher, so vibrant and bubbly, bouncing around  in the classroom where she taught a grammar-focus class to our international students  before I moved in to teach them TOEFL Skills. Seeing her energy, I  realized for the first time that I didn’t bounce anymore, I realized that I was…old!  Or at least older. I wasn’t that bubbly, bouncing teacher who kept the class over the time it was scheduled to end so I could come in and start my class.  Then, at the end of the semester, a student told me, “We’ve been talking about you.  We keep working hard in your class because you keep working hard.  We’re not doing much in our grammar class because the teacher has stopped working.”  I thought for a moment about  who that teacher might be, and I realized that it was the bouncing, bubbly one I’d felt so drab beside.)   Early in my career at the community college, I taught a beginning class in the morning and an advanced class in the evening, and I felt--and was perceived as--very successful.  I got the beginning students to exchange and build on  dialogue like:

A:    Excuse me.  Where's the bus stop?

B:   Over there. 

A:   Oh.  Thank you.

Then in the advance class in the evening, in addition to going through the very popular, decontextualized Azar grammar exercises, the students and I listned to a recording of The Glass Menagerie and had very stimulating discussions about it.

When my students gave me cards, cakes, and bouquets, I felt they meant them as tributes, not bribes or even as perfunctory courtesies, which I'm afraid they became at the end of my career.

So all things considered, I’ve been more of a failure than a success, and now, almost 40 years after I started teaching, I’m suffering from internal bleeding.  I see students struggling and even the non-strugglers don’t always triumph.  I can understand.  They work hard, but they don’t get A’s.  Sometimes they don’t even get B’s.   Sometimes they utterly fail.  I can identify.

            All those movies of teachers who inspire— Good Morning, Miss Dove, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Dead Poet's Society, Dangerous Minds, To Sir with Love, Lean on Me, Up the Down Staircase, Mr. Holland’s Opus,  Music of the Heart, Stand and Deliver, etc.  aren’t quite balanced by The Browning Version, Terrance Rattigan’s play of a classics professor who realizes, as they are urging him to retire early, that he has been a failure as a teacher and who,  instead of blaming his students,   blames himself.

            I’d so much rather blame the students.

            But when City College gave me a beautiful tote bag with one side saying “Teachers inspire,” I knew it wasn’t true of me and decided not to subject myself to ridicule.  I won’t use the one I got at CATESOL, either, because it says something like “Great teachers.”  There’s not a tote back that says “Teacher not so good,” though students might go online to say that.  There’s no tote bag saying “Teachers overwhelm and confuse,” but that’s what I too often do.

But before we mourn my failure, let me make one confession:  One of the reasons that I’ve failed is that I’ve done exactly what I’ve wanted to do, not what the students wanted and  not necessarily what was wise.  What I liked about teaching is the learning.  The preparation of, say, the illustrations for the song “Grant Avenue, SF, CA, USA,” which I used for my intermediate speaking and listening class every Lunar New Year.  I’m propelled by the sheer pleasure of going online and Googling  “shark fin soup picture” and “Bean cake fish picture” and actually seeing the pictures come up on the screen, available at large size to be copied and pasted and printed out. {Note from 2014:  I was printing out in 2009.  By 2014, I could just bring my iPad to class.}

            I set out to be subversive.  For our NorthStar unit on Lies and Truth, I’d introduce propaganda:  The Kuwaiti Incubator Hoax, Jessica Lynch’s faked rescue, Collin Powell’s plagiarized “British intelligence.”  I’d make them aware of watch dog groups like FAIR.com, holding the media responsible for its distortions, and Snope.com, holding friends responsible for the vicious gossip they sent through the e-mail.    But when I gave them an essay test on the material we’d read and, I thought, discussed in great and clear detail, some  wrote that Jessica Lynch had faked the Kuwaiti Incubator story and that Collin Powell had gone before the U.N. Security Committee to announce that the British had plagiarized their evidence for weapons of mass destruction in  Iraq.  (Did that require covering the copy of Picasso’s Guernica at the United Nations for fear that it would counter the rallying to war?)

For years I’ve written songs for my students, to help them learn vocabulary and grammar points.  I’ve come to realize that this might be a form of torture to them.  I found out after years of using the  professionally written “Tie a Yellow Ribbon on the Old Oak Tree” that it was used in aversion therapy.  Noise-makers were forced to listen to it until the pled for mercy and promised to keep their own noise-making down.

        I worked on our campus treasure the Diego Rivera Mural with a Grant for Instructional Improvement, and even though it attracted editors from London and Madrid and people from many parts of the world, my own students sometimes balked at the assignments connected to it.

We took a docent tour of the mural and had a library orientation focusing on it.  We went over the steps of the mural research project in detail –orally and in writing—step by step—purpose and procedure.  I asked the students to keep a research log so they could relate any problems they had as well as discoveries they made, and I gave them credit for every step they took.  Then I got a call from a librarian:  “The students are very frustrated because they don’t understand what they’re supposed to do.”

          So, here I am, a day before we meet at SFSU, where I got my MA back in 1978, the same year I got married and decided not to stay in the field in spite of my experience in Tonga, Spain, and Algeria.  But I did go back into the field in 1982, when my son was not yet three years old, and I stayed in it until I retired this past May.  Now I have my morning hours free to reflect on how I connect to The Browning Version, which LA Theatre Works,on a recording I have from Audible, summarizes like this:

In Terence Rattigan’s classic drama, an aging schoolmaster at an English secondary school faces the harsh judgments of his students, his fellow teachers, and his frustrated and spiteful wife. But can a lone act of kindness from a sympathetic student change his heart?

https://store.latw.org/plays/the-browning-version/  (The online version uses vicious instead of frustrated.)

I have reservations about this summary too even though I think it's more accurate than the one cited (and used and reused) above.  I'm not sure it's a change of heart the failed teacher needs.   Maybe the question is whether the student's act of kindness can save his heart, which is nearly broken.  For some reason my heart is not broken.  I'm sorry that I wasn't more successful as a teacher or at least perceived to be.  Maybe what I feel is more embarrassment and frustration.  But I want to consider The Browning Version page by page for the next few days and see how it applies to me and my students and colleagues.  I also want to see how it might play in 2014--with ESL students.  (Once the student is speaking English as a second language, everything about the dialogue changes, too.)