'Bigger, Brighter, Better' Post Production Script Act 1 (1997).
Extracts and sumaries from the post-production script of Act 1 scenes 1-11 of the documentary drama, ‘Bigger, Better, Brighter’. A musical documentary play based on the stories of Bletchley’s post-war pioneers. Devised by Rib Davis and Roger Kitchen.
The play was first performed by the Living Archive Project with the Living Archive Band at the Sanctuary, Bletchley, North Denbigh, Milton Keynes in early December, 1996. This 1997 version is closely based on the original 1996 version of the script as developed during the rehearsals and the initial production.
The descriptions summarise, scene by scene, the narrative of the play. Everything in the play is based on an original documentary source, the exception being some of the songs, where an element of artistic licence was involved.
Creator
Rib Davis, Roger Kitchen, the Living Archive Project.
Extent
66 typed pages.
Contributor
Words and Music by Neil Mercer, Kevin Adams Words: Lyn Dawes Words and Music by Kevin Adams
Reference number
BBB/005
Records in this Group
Act 1 Scene I
In August 1944 John Smithie comes to Bletchley for his interview as Surveyor, Water Engineer and Public Health Inspector with Bletchley Urban District Council. Earlier, in December 1943, Arthur Bates, the man whose job John Smithie was applying for, had given a speech about his vision of a post-war Bletchley.
Song : ...
Act 1 Scene 2
In London, damage from Hitler’s bombs means that many young families are living in unsatisfactory housing conditions.
Song : I want a little more from life
Words: Lyn Dawes and Neil Mercer. Music: Neil Mercer
(Description adapted from the script notes in ‘Bigger, Brighter, Better’ programme – 1997)
Act 1 Scene 3
Realising that there would be post-war housing problems, the Wartime Government started exploring ways in which the problem could be tackled. The Abercrombie Report (published in 1944) recommended Bletchley as a potential site for a new community of 60,000 people, but further investigation revealed problems with freshwater provision and sewage disposal. The ...
Scene 4
It wasn’t just in London where there were post-war problems. In Italy too people faced desperate poverty and lack of opportunities. The London Brick Company went out to Southern Italy to recruit labour for their brickworks. Giovanni Palmiero originally got a job at the Marston Valley Brickworks in Lidlington in Bedfordshire.
Song : I ...
Act 1 Scene5
Bletchley’s post-war house building went exceptionally well and councillors and their officials were keen to up and the town further and offer accommodation to Londoners in housing need. But to do this they needed help from the Government to finance the building of the new houses, factories and other amenities. Councillors had promised ...
Act 1 Scene 6
In London, people on long local housing waiting lists were offered alternative housing else where, at new towns and other places they’d never even head of – like Bletchley but the head of the household had to get a job locally to qualify for a house of their own.
Song I ...
Act 1 Scene7
The first new housing development for Londoners in Bletchley was the Saints estate and the first settlers started to arrive in early September 1952, leaving family and friends behind , coming from a city environment to a little country town.
(Act 1 scene 7 summary adapted from the script notes in the ...
Act 1 Scene 8
A new house in a new town, new neighbours, new friends. The Londoners started settling in to Bletchley. Getting a house of your own meant furnishing it and money was short and you had to improvise. Unfamiliar DIY and gardening activities were tackled, often with more enthusiasm than knowledge.
Song : ...
Scene 9
The brand new sewage works for Bletchley (opened in 1955) night have solved some problems, but it brought others, particularly that of an unpleasant aroma that drifted over the town. In 1957 the Council installed a deodoriser to counteract the smell and an intrepid Bletchley Gazette reporter went to investigate. At about the ...
Scene 10
Bletchley was not just a place to live. It was a place to work too in fact you had to get a job locally to qualify for a house. Many new factories came during the post war development period, but the new arrivals came to work in local long established industries, particularly the ...
Scene 11
Bletchley Council emphasised in all its publicity that the newcomers were not Londoners anymore but Bletchley people, equal members of the local community. Integration was remarkably successful, but there were occasional clashes of style and accent. This scene is set in the Shoulder of Mutton on the comer of Shenley and Buckingham Road, ...
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