Five Linked Plays for Television
By William Bowles & Kethiwe Ngcobo
No. 5: "The Garden"
The Cast
Woman
Gardener
Boy
Dog
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.
It’s a hot summer's day in a suburban garden. The garden is enclosed by an imposing high, white wall surmounted by an electric fence. The garden is beautiful. 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 pool. Nothing mars the surface. Next to the pool is a white metal garden table. Standing on the table is a tall glass filled with clear liquid and ice, a packet of cigarettes, a lighter and an ashtray. A white woman reclines in a poolside chair next to the table. She is wearing a short robe over a bathing costume. Standing in the cluster of trees, trimming an ornamental bush with shears, is an old African man with cropped, snow white hair, a deeply lined face, gold rimmed glasses and a long white apron tied around his waist, that has deep pockets containing garden implements. He is wearing a red and white bead bracelet a sign that he is a Sangoma.
No. 5: "The Garden"
SOUND
The snip of garden shears and the laboured breathing of a dog and the thump of its tail on a metal manhole cover, which amplifies the sound.
CUT
An immaculately manicured female hand, with long, painted nails enter the frame and grasps a glass sitting on a metal garden table. The glass is picked up, the garden tilts into focus and is revealed slowly from right to left, finishing on the gardener.
CUT
The woman puts down the drink and leans back into the poolside chair, closes her eyes and lets out a long breath.
CUT TO BLACK
SOUND
The laboured breathing of a dog, panting in the intense heat and the thump of its tail on a metal manhole cover set into the driveway's surface and the snip-snip of the gardener's shears.
CUT
To the dog's mouth with its tongue lolling out, large, white fangs and its laboured breathing.
CUT
Nails irritatedly tapping on the metal surface of the garden table combine with thump of the dog's tail.
CUT
Manicured hand tapping.
CUT
Closeup of gardener's face turned toward the tapping sound. He continues to snip as he looks.
CUT
Tail of dog thumping on metal manhole cover.
CUT
Nails tapping on table top.
CUT
Shears snipping on an ornamental bush.
CUT
"Voetsek!" (The woman cries out in irritation).
CUT
The woman throws the cigarette lighter at the dog.
CUT
The Lighter hits the dog on the nose who yelps in surprise and jumping to its feet, bounds down the drive toward the high, cast iron gates.
CUT
POV looking through gates from the street, level with the dog's snarling face as it leaps up and is stopped by the gates.
CUT
POV of dog looking at the face of a young African boy who is frozen in fear with only inches separating the snapping jaws of the dog from the boy's face.
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Copyright © William Bowles and Kethiwe Ngcobo, All Rights Reserved