Opening theme (short version) begins

Leanne:

Wasting Company Time presents Tell No Tales, season two. Episode 7.5: A Revelation

Opening theme (short version) ends

[SFX: Gentle folk music playing]

LOUISA

So, you’re sure that your recorder picked up Arthur’s statement?

JULIA

Can’t know for sure until we play it back. But I’m pretty confident. I’ve done an excellent job on this thing, if I do say so myself.

RILEY

She has by the way. Said so herself. Many, many times.

JULIA

Genius deserves to be celebrated. Louisa, you look stressed out as all hell. No point sitting around while we wait, Riley’s still got to clean up the audio a bit and splice together the two sides of the conversation.

[SFX: Fabric rustle]

Come and get a coffee with me.

RILEY

Sure, yeah, I’ll stay behind and do the hard work, won’t I?

JULIA

(SING-SONG) Thank you my angel.

RILEY

Not a genuine offer.

JULIA

There’s a fancy coffee drink in it for you!

RILEY

(PAUSE) Throw in a chocolate twist and a fresh pack of painkillers and you’ve got yourself a deal.

JULIA

Sounds fair to me! Come on, Lou.

[SFX: Julia and Louisa leave. Riley picks up the recorder]

RILEY

(HEAVY SIGH) Alright, Arthur. Do you pray? Probably not, you’re a ghost haunting a gay bar, but who am I to assume? Well, if you’ve got anyone or anything you pray to, do it now.

[SFX: Click as Riley inserst the memory card from the recorder into their laptop]

Here’s hoping this worked, for all our sakes.

[SFX: Typing, then typing and music fade out. After a stretch of silence, a laptop mouse clicks to indicate start of playback]

JULIA

(On recording) Alright, Arthur, you know the drill. But just for the sake of the recording, Riley and I are going to ask you a few questions about who you are and why your spirit has stayed behind here. So, can you start by telling us some basic info about who you are?

ARTHUR

(LAUGHING) You have no idea what can of worms you’ve opened giving an old queen a voice again after thirty years. But, since you’ve all been so sweet, I’ll try my best to be concise. Uh, my name is Arthur Holloway, my date of birth is the 24th of August… (QUIETER) 1930. Though keep that to yourselves please, I lied about that little fact of my life a fair few times back in the day. I died, oh, some time in 1991 I believe. Only about sixty-two, still practically a youth as far as I’m concerned. Though, I’d already lost the love of my life by then. So there wasn’t an awful lot keeping me here. Funny that, isn’t it. Seems there’s plenty keeping me here now, whether I choose it or not!

RILEY

So, Arthur, you’ve got a nice little after-life spot for yourself here mind telling us why your spirit was tethered here?

ARTHUR

Oh, but where else could I possibly be tethered! The Coronation Club, or the Carnation Club as it was more often called, the home of debauchery and optimism. After death, I saw this club going strong until… hmm, the early 2010s. And in more recent years I’ve seen the Liberating History activists meet in here, seen their… (WISTFULLY) wedding rings and their comfortable, proud lives. I know things have changed, believe me. But when I first discovered the Carnation Club, this was a single safe haven in a sea of silent repression.

(SIGHS) I remember the first time I heard the phrase “homosexual tendencies.” I didn’t even know what it meant, but it was whispered around me by adults when I was barely a teenager. Many things were whispered in my family. Muttered, prayed about, but never spoken about directly. But I was always loud. Even before I knew. So when a boy I thought I was in love with saw who I was before even I did, he brought me here. And my darlings, the world became loud enough for even me. The world became bright, it became courageous, it became downright fabulous (LAUGHS). Oh, I saw men dancing together, kissing, drinking, living brighter and freer lives in this basement than any of us could imagine out there in the fresh air and sunlight. This place was a revelation, and my life was irreversibly changed.

Naturally the boy I thought I loved fell out of my life, at some point. But this place never left. I was here almost every night. My parents continued to whisper, but as long as the words remained whispered, I remained safe. And every night here my bonny little heart could not only speak its truth but shout it as loud as it liked. So, silly question, really. Why wouldn’t my spirit belong here? Here is where I found myself, and here is where – after a few years of finding myself quite thoroughly and… quite indecently (CHUCKLES) – I helped the love of my life find himself. Here is where I kissed him for the first time. Here is where I told him I would spend the rest of my life with him, let the rest of the damn world have their whispers, while we lived our truest lives.

JULIA

Thanks, Arthur. How’s your afterlife going? Are you still feeling good about being here, or wanting to move on?

ARTHUR

You know, my partner used to joke that I was full enough of life to live both of our lives and a handful of others to boot. I’d laugh, tell him I was just living my one life to the best of my ability. He was right though, it seems! I certainly did have more than one life in me. And though I ache dearly for him, I ache for life too. And if I were to move on, I imagine I’d ache for this. So, I’ve determined to live this afterlife to the best of my ability, too. Things have been much quieter since the club closed. But I seem to have been some help to Louisa and the other Liberating History dears, so why not stick around? Why not see what another generation of queers have to offer me? (LAUGHS) I learn a little more about myself every year in this place. And a little more about the world. What more is there to life than that?

RILEY

Okay Arthur, thanks for that. This is just a short one really, while we test out the recorder, we’ll be back, but befo-

LOUISA

(OVERLAPPING) Can- sorry to interrupt, I’d like to ask something before we finish.

RILEY

Go for it, Leo’s not here to steal the show any more, this is a collaborative operation now.

JULIA

Ri, why would she know who Leo is? Just ignore them, ask as many questions as you like, Louisa.

LOUISA

O..kay, well, I just wanted to say thank you for all your help, even without us being able to communicate with each other, Arthur, you’ve been amazing. And I wanted to ask. For our campaign, if we could get a soundbyte, something about what this place means to you, why its preservation is important. You’ve sat in on enough meetings to know the kind of thing we’re looking for. Thank you, seriously.

ARTHUR

Anything for my one bastion of sanity in the wake of the club’s closure! (CLEARS THROAT) The Coronation club cannot be removed from history. It is a vital symbol of resistance. We were silenced in life, but I refuse to allow anybody to silence our legacies now, not from the complacent safety of the progress that we helped win for you. My spirit is very real, but even those metaphorical spirits that linger here deserve better than to have their histories paved over. And frankly, you’ll have a great deal of haunting to deal with from me personally if you try. (BEAT) That sufficient for you, dear?

JULIA

Just before we go – and don’t worry, like Riley said, we’ll be back – but in the meantime, is there anyone you’d like us to get in touch with, look up for you? Anything you’d like to let someone know?

ARTHUR

Not any more, he’s long gone now. Passed before I did. Though, if you’re offering… it is likely a very, very long time since anybody laid flowers on my partner’s grave. It was such an important thing to me that he always had fresh flowers. You’ll find him in Islington St. Pancras Cemetery, passed in 1979, if it helps you search. His name was um… Stephen Pritchard. (A LITTLE OVERCOME WITH EMOTION) His preference was carnations, of course.

[SFX: Long pause, with a mouse click to end playback]

LOUISA

(NO LONGER ON RECORDING) Are… are you two okay? Not to be too on-the-nose about it but you look like you’ve seen a ghost.

JULIA

Arth-

RILEY

(OVERLAPPING) DON’T! Say anything. No, I’m serious. It could be a coincidence. We need to call Kara and Lynne, like, now.

JULIA

That’s a plan I can get behind.

[SFX: Bag opening, contents being stuffed inside, then closed again]

Sorry, Lou. It’ll be clear later, promise!

Closing theme (short version) begins

Leanne:

This episode of Tell No Tales was written and produced by Leanne Egan. In it, you heard the voices of Josie Thomas as Louisa, Shannon Kelly as Julia, Phil Thompson as Riley, and Eric Willmott as Arthur. Thank you for listening, and remember: the dead don’t bite.

Closing theme (short version) ends