WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND Based on the novel by Mary Hayley Bell and the screenplay by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse and the film by Richard Attenborough and Bryan Forbes. Adapted by Russell Labey and Richard Taylor With music and lyrics by Richard Taylor THE STORY Act One December in the late I950's in a Lancashire village. Out of the darkness and howling wind a voice sings "Behold! For the day of the Lord will come." (PROLOGUE) Someone strikes a match - it is Eddie, a labourer on the Bostock farm, who is carrying a sack from which kittens' miaows can be heard. He drops the sack into a canal. Cathy, Nan and Charles, Mr. Bostock's children, watch him from a hiding place and, as Eddie exits, they rescue the kittens. Caring for them will be difficult; they can not show them to Dad, as he will give them back to Eddie (THE KITTENS). Charles tries unsuccessfully to give one to his friend, Jackie Greenwood, and to a Salvation Army woman. However, as nobody wants them, they eventually decide to keep all three in a barn on the farm. Outside the barn, Cathy, the eldest, makes the other two promise not to tell anyone of the kittens' existence. Nan asks who is going to look after them and Charles, echoing the bland sentiments of the Salvation Army woman, says that "Jesus will". Cathy tells him not to be daft as Jesus can not look after them because he is dead. Nan, shocked, says that He will come and get Cathy for saying such things. Cathy is not impressed and, after sending the others to the farmhouse, enters the barn. She goes to a large mound of hay and buries the kittens' basket in it. Suddenly a man bolts upright from out of the hay and stares wide-eyed at Cathy. He is delirious and his clothes and hands are all bloody from a wound in his side. Shocked, Cathy asks who he is and he, also shocked, utters "Jesus Christ!" and collapses. Cathy freezes in horror. In the Farmhouse, Dad is talking to Auntie, his sister; since the death of his wife she has looked after him and the children. Cathy rushes in, shaken from her experience. She tells Nan that she has seen Jesus in their barn. Over dinner Cathy sings of what she has discovered, wondering why Jesus has picked on her (CATHY'S PRAYER). The next morning, Cathy and Nan, having refused to tell Charles their secret, go to the barn. The Man is asleep and Nan remarks that she does not feel afraid (FUNNY, IT DOESN'T FEEL STRANGE). Charles suddenly enters. He has come to play with his kitten and sees The Man. Cathy and Nan tell him that The Man is Jesus and make him swear not to tell. The Man wakes up and, after accepting some food, falls back to sleep. Sunday morning. Parents and children arrive at the Church and are greeted by the Vicar. The children are sent off to Sunday School. We learn from the village policeman that an escaped murderer is on the loose in the district (WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A MURDERER). At the Sunday School, Miss Lodge, the teacher, is asked by Cathy what would happen if Jesus came back -could they stop Him being crucified a second time? Miss Lodge says that people would have to try harder this time to stop that from happening and that they should praise Him and follow Him. The three children get more food for The Man and laugh about how everyone will want to come to see Jesus once they know that He is in their barn - even THE MAYOR OF BURNLEY! At the barn door there is gathered a group of other children - Charles has obviously not been able to keep the secret. Cathy makes the other children swear not to tell and they file into the barn. The Man is getting better, but is still in pain from
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