ANGEL
"Tell me again about flying"
Angel is a tragic tale of abuse and neglect. It's told from the point of view of a neglected baby in a tower flat overlooking the Angel of the North in Gateshead. With an alcoholic mother, the child is left by the window, all day, every day. So it makes friends with the Angel.
The Angel tells the child stories, fairytales, about a young girl who had to fight against people who would mean her harm. How she found things to keep her alive, even if those things would kill her in the long term. And ultimately, how the young girl was forced to accept responsibility of a precious treasure that she couldn't look after and how it all went terribly wrong.
AN EXTRACT
ANGEL: Once upon a time, there was a little peasant girl. Young, warm hearted, curious. She spent her days playing in the fields just outside the walls of a great castle. She would run, climb, and explore every nook and cranny. One day while she was in the woods, a wolf approached her.
WOLF: Hello little girl, what are you doing here?
ANGEL: The wolf asked in a rough growl.
GIRL: I’m just exploring, playing... I'm imagining that these trees are towers in a vast town and I rule them all. Look at them rise into the sky.
WOLF: Where are your friends child? It’s not safe to be out on your own.
GIRL: I don’t...have any. My father says other kids are bad, he says that if I spend time with them I will become bad as well.
WOLF: Nonsense
ANGEL: Cried the wolf.
WOLF: Other people are fun. Other people show you things in the world that you don’t see at home. It sounds like your father just want to keep you for himself. that doesn't sounds very fair now does it? What about what you want? you don’t really want to just stay her forever do you?
ANGEL: The girl was confused, her father had always been right so far. He really didn't like it when she didn’t do as she was told...but the wolf looked friendly, with his big fluffy ears, his long furry wagging tail.
WOLF: I tell you what, little girl, how about I show you around these woods, I know some really awesome trees, perfect for climbing and there’s a beautiful stream surrounded by flowers, what do you say? You don’t have to tell your father...
The Wolf reaches out for the Girl
ANGEL: And so the girl, with doubt in her heart, went with the wolf. They spent the day together, climbing trees, playing hide and seek, and laying in the grass, telling each other about their lives. Before long, all the doubt had vanish and she was revelling in her new friends company. the hours went by, and the sun got lower and lower. Before the little girl had realised, the once friendly and welcoming trees had grown long shadows and became dark, mysterious and foreboding.
GIRL: oh my, I must be heading home. I'm never allowed to stay out after dark.(looking around in confusion) but...I...where are we?
WOLF: we are in the woods little girl...
GIRL: yes, but where in the woods, how do I get home?
WOLF: I’m sorry, I don’t know where you live. I never leave the woods, it’s dangerous for me to be in the open. Your kind always think I'm dangerous.
GIRL: But your not dangerous, you’re my friend...
WOLF: Yes but thats not what others see, you saw my fluffy ears and wagging tail, others see my sharp teeth and claws. So they avoid me and I avoid them. If they saw me with you, little girl, they would surly kill me, I'm sorry but I can’t take you home.
ANGEL: With regret in his eyes, the wolf pointed the girl in the direction home, and with a hollow heart, she left him behind. The woods that had offered such joy and wonder now tripped her with every step. It got darker and darker, the trees seems to close in around her, twigs and branches whipped the sides of her face as she struggled to find her way home.
BABY: oh no, is she okay, did she get home.
ANGEL: (with a chuckle) Patience little one, I'm getting there....after the sun had fully set the girl found her way out into a wide open pasture, she could see the lights of her little hamlet not too far off. Fearfully she set off running. As she approached the wooden hut where she lived with her father, dread bubbled up within. She was late, she was cut, and what’s worse, she disobeyed her father. Tentatively she pushed over the door and crept inside. The room was dark with just the embers of a fire smouldering in the hearth. She hoped her father was asleep, although she knew he wouldn't be. He never went to bed without giving her a good night...kiss.
FATHER: Where has you been? (standing in the doorway, bottle in hand)
GIRL: I’m sorry, I lost track of time, I was in the woods, I couldn't find my way out.
FATHER: That’s not like you, you know the woods, and you know to be home before dark. It’s dangerous out there.
GIRL: Yes, I know, I went deeper than I normally go, I found an amazing tree, huge with strong sturdy branches, perfect for climbing, and a lovely little stream babbling over some rocks surrounded by wild flowers. and we made flower necklaces and laid in the...
FATHER:we?
GIRL: I, I mean I, it was just me...
FATHER: (getting closer, intimidating) I hope so, you know what other people are like, if you start spending time with them they will corrupt you, poison you. Then you wouldn't be my little girl anymore would you... (brushing the her hair behind her ear)
GIRL: (backing away)...no, I mean yes, I'm still your little girl... but what if only some of the others aren’t bad, what if some of them are nice? I'm nice, there must be some other nice people, maybe if I could just...
FATHER: (slaps her, then pauses)...who is it? who has been filling your head with lies. The rest of them... they will hurt you, I'm only doing this for your own good. When your older you will understand....(holds her chin) promise me, you will never speak to anyone else, you’re my little girl, not theirs, everything you want to say can be said to me, promise me.
GIRL: I promise.
FATHER: (getting closer) and who's my little girl?
GIRL: (scared) I am...
Father kisses her on the lips.