The Winterling

Jez Butterworth

WHO    Patsy, twenty-five, gang member, Londoner.

TO WHOM    West and Wally, both in their forties, gang members.

WHERE    A derelict farmhouse, Dartmoor.

WHEN    Present day.

WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED    Wally and Patsy, both gang members from London, have arrived at the deserted farmhouse in the middle of Dartmoor. It is night-time in the winter. They have come to see Len West, a former gang member. Patsy, who has never met Len, is introduced as Wally’s stepson. Wally is going out with Rita, Patsy’s mother. Patsy is convinced that Len West has ‘raised an eyebrow’ at this news and has therefore disrespected his mother. Before he can say anything, Wally sends Patsy back out to the car to retrieve his cigarettes. On his return, Patsy is still upset. He confronts Len about how he believes he ‘Expressed a degree of astonishment… that Wally here would be emotionally or otherwise associated with someone like Mum, like my mother. Like Rita. ‘The speech that follows is his attempt to explain the relationship.

WHAT TO CONSIDER

•	Throughout the play there is a sense of menace.
•	Characters are volatile. We are never quite sure where their loyalties lie. Here, for instance, we do not know whether Patsy wants to attack West or in some strange way befriend him. In any event, the speech acts as a kind of warning.
•	Patsy has no idea why he and Wally are there. He got a call to meet with Wally at 10 p.m. outside Costcutters. They have driven through the night to get to the farm, but Wally is refusing to explain. Read the play to discover what Wally is intending.
•	The ‘Lamberts’ are Wally’s cigarettes that Patsy has had to retrieve from the car.
•	Decide to what extent Patsy is embellishing the truth.

WHAT HE WANTS

•	To defend his mother. (Although there is a cruelty in the way that he too describes her, blood is thicker than water.)
•	To assert himself with the two older men. He has been undermined by Wally when he was sent out to the car.
•	To unnerve both Wally and West.

KEYWORDS  good  die  rot  kind  strong  angel  cold  nightmarish  ogre  bully  vicious  bitter  love  bent/benders

Patsy

Can I tell you a quick story, Mr West? The other day, I’m back home at my old mum’s. I’m in the tub, when the front door opens and in comes Wally, with Mum. They’ve been out, they’re a bit tiddly, in the hall. I’m in the tub. They don’t know I’m there. (Beat.) Wally says, I heard him downstairs clear as a bell, he says, ‘Rita, you are a good good woman. Without you, I’m nothing. I’m just another stupid old saggy dog that’s going to die, rot and be forgotten.’[…] And she says, ‘Bollocks, Wally, you are an amazing human being. You are a kind, strong, many-faceted individual, who inspires and nourishes each soul you touch.’ And Wally goes up. Big heaving sobs. He says, ‘Rita, you are an angel sent to protect me. It’s cold out there. It’s cold. Hold me. Please hold me.’ (Beat.) Now, to imagine this story, you have to bear in mind since you last seen Rita she’s got new teeth. And she don’t drink shorts no more. She’s got the teeth, some eyebrow lift what never come off. New set of Bristols. Wally stumped for ’em. Don’t get me wrong. Still, Rita emphatically does not scrub up. She’s still got the sideburns. The shoulders. The big goalie hands. Plus, no amount of sawing and stitching and hammering is going to change what’s underneath. Time spent with Rita still often has a nightmarish quality. Wally’s had to slap her down once or twice in public. It’s worked wonders. She’s made him look a right prat once or twice. A proper clown. And you’ve always got to watch her. She’ll go off like a rucksack. You can’t give her a yard. Turn your back for one minute, she’s in the bucket cupboard with a broom across the door. In that Chinese restaurant. With half the staff. About sixteen Chinamen in a broom cupboard. They should have rung Roy Castle. But then Wally’s no church picnic. Ask the birds. Proper ogre, once the door’s shut. Right bedroom bully, once the light’s off. So what I’m saying is, I understand your reaction, Mr West. But whereas most people would agree with us, whereas most people agree Rita’s a vicious, bitter moo you wouldn’t pork with a spacesuit on, Wally here don’t share the public’s qualms. And the best bit, the bonus, is I get to spend time with Wally. And time spent with Wally is golf, mate. It’s pure golf. On the way over here, he’s pulled the car over, he looked me in the eye and he’s said, ‘I don’t want you to think I’m soppy. I’m not being bent or nothing but I love you, Patsy.’ […] ‘I do. And I’ll look after you.’ […] ‘And I’m not being bent, but I love that Mr West. That Len – ’ he said. Look. He’s blushing now, like a woman, like a prat, but he said it, on the M5. ‘It don’t matter what he’s done. Why he’s out in the cold. I’d go to the Moon for that man. To the Moon.’ (Beat.) I just want to say… Thank you, Wally. Some fathers wouldn’t. Some would just leave you in the dark. Not you, Wally. And also to say, and I’m not being bent, but ditto. I love you too. And you love Mr West. And Mr West, I don’t doubt, you know, eh? Eh? I bet? Eh? You know? Eh? So here we are. Eh? Men who love each other, but who are not benders. Here’s your Lamberts, Wally.