Five Linked Plays for Television
By William Bowles & Kethiwe Ngcobo
No. 4: "The Swimming Pool"
The Cast
White Man
White Woman
Synopsis
Five short stories, each presenting the same event from five different POVs and locations, events that revolve around an African flower seller, a white couple, a small African boy, an African gardener and a vicious dog.
Setting
The northern suburbs of Johannesburg, summer. Time: late 1990s. Shot on HD, the colour modified to resemble that of a painting with flat, intense and contrasting colours.
The sun is high in the middle of the deepest blue sky. The camera tilts and passes over a high wall. Beyond the wall sits a beautiful house within an immaculate garden. The garden is totally enclosed by the high white wall, which is topped by an electric fence. The lawn is a deep, seamless green. Clear, symmetrical lines divide it from the rich, regimented flower beds. Trees further enclose the garden creating pools of shadow that contrast with the intense light reflected off of the high white walls. Set inside the trees there is a swimming pool.
No. 4: "The Swimming Pool"
SOUND
The sound of someone's rythmic strokes cutting through the water is clearly heard above all other sounds.
CUT
A white woman is swimming in the pool. Her stroke is long and purposeful. As she reaches the end she turns her body gracefully and starts swimming back toward the camera in the same purposeful manner. As she swims, the water is barely disturbed. No waves, just a few gentle ripples. Backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards. She is completely consumed by her activity.
CUT
A man in his mid-forties is lying on a sunbed, belly down. The sun is beating down on his back. The camera tracks down his back. It's wet with thousands of tiny sweat bubbles. He is still. The camera pulls back to reveal the swimmer still moving through the water. She becomes full in the frame.
CUT
The man's face is large in the frame, one side of it squashed against the sun bed. He twitches as he begins to stir. One eye opens and it follows the swimmers' movments.
CUT
Her face bobs in and out of the water, gently cutting through it.
CUT
He is standing on the edge of the pool. She swims toward him. He raises his body and dives in. Suddenly the water in the pool is everywhere. The water is loud as he splashes through it.
CUT
The woman stands up. She is coughing incontrollably and moving toward the steps of the pool.
CUT
As he reaches the other end of the pool his bum turns upward and the water jumps sky high. He surfaces. His strokes are large and undisciplined.
CUT
The woman is now standing by the edge of the pool drying herself. She coughs once more. She reaches for a drink and takes a long, determined gulp. Stops and wipes her mouth.
CUT
He continues to swim. He splashes loudly. She is standing at the edge of the pool holding her drink and looking down at him.
MAN
"Come on in darling".
WOMAN
She shakes her head.
MAN
"Come on".
She shakes her head again. She turns her back to the pool and takes a long swallow of the drink.
CUT
His hand grabs her ankle and she starts to fall.
CUT
SOUND
The sound of her falling into the water.
The glass flies from her hand, up into the air, set against the clear, blue sky. The glass falls and shatters as it hits the edge of the pool. Shards of glass fly into the pool.
CUT
High angle view of the surface of the swimming pool. The surface of the pool is littered with red petals. They continue to fall. Camera tilts up. Red petals rain down out of a clear, blue sky.
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ROLL CREDITS
Copyright © William Bowles and Kethiwe Ngcobo, All Rights Reserved