0 EXT. FOREST - DAY 0
Opera: Purcell’s When I Am Laid In Earth.
A RED EGG is nesting on a bed of fallen leaves, surrounded by
circular tree roots.
We are in an ancient forest of Britain. The overwhelming
soundscape begins to merge with the opera, as if the thick
canopy has swallowed the mournful singer. Her voice cries to
us through the patterns of the forest - bending, contorting,
flowing in an ever-ending circle of life and death.
Is this a dream? It doesn’t feel completely real, yet it
seems more substantial and potent than reality.
The heaven shines through the trees, but we don’t linger
there. We descent, slowly, like a fallen leaf, towards a hole
in the wet forest floor, a dark, mysterious, bottomless void -
1 INT. HEWLANDS - STUDY - AFTERNOON 1
THE LATIN TUTOR leans against a window in a dim room with
heavy ceilings. A cut is above his eyebrow. His knuckles are
white pressing against the metal frame of the window. His
nails are stained black with ink. Behind him, THREE FARM BOYS
are reciting a Latin phrase over and over.
BOYS (IN LATIN)
I must essay a path whereby I, too,
may rise from earth and fly
victorious on the lips of men.
The air in the room is thin. The Latin tutor is agitated,
trapped, hungry. He’s a man of letters. But beneath the
restrain is a storm of animalistic urges. This is Will.
Something catches his attention - near the edge of the forest
A HAWK is circling the sky, searching for its prey...
Genres:
["Drama","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
2 -
Restless Whispers
2 EXT. FOREST - ANCIENT TREE - AFTERNOON 2
In the heart of the forest is an ancient tree. A YOUNG WOMAN
is asleep, nesting amongst its massive roots. Her hair is
long and dirty. Her cheeks sunburnt. She wears a worn dress
in dark red, like a fresh organ. This is Agnes.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 2.
She stirs in her sleep, curls up even smaller, as if trying
to disappear into earth. So restless, troubled, we wonder
what she is dreaming.
A change in the air wakes her up. She looks to the sky -
Her hawk appears above the tree-line.
She smiles and gets up, puts on an old glove, ready to
receive her hawk.
Her stand is strong. But her eyes reveals fragility. A
thought ripples through her mind. A distant memory that makes
her breath shallow. She slowly takes off her glove, rolls up
her sleeve, and exposes her bare hand to the sky instead.
She waits. Her hand trembles. She wants this. She yearns for
this. SHE WANTS TO FEEL EVERYTHING.
The hawk dives down, faster than usual, as if carrying an
important message. It lands HARD on her bare hand and wrist,
surprising her with its force.
She winces, steadying herself, feeling the burn under the
grips of sharp claws. She breathes deeper now. A sense of
calmness from the adrenaline.
AGNES
Found your prey?
She smoothes the hawk’s feathers with her fingers.
AGNES (CONT’D)
You flew down fast. What ails you?
Is something the matter?
She looks up. The wind ruffles the leaves. Each tree moves at
a different tempo, bending, shuddering. A restlessness is in
the air. Something feels wrong. She hurries away.
Genres:
["Drama","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
3 -
A Moment in the Garden
3 INT. HEWLANDS - STUDY - AFTERNOON 3
The Latin words roll on and on, scraping at the walls.
Will turns to give the boys the correct pronunciation.
WILL (IN LATIN)
I must essay a path whereby I, too,
may rise from earth and fly
victorious on the lips of men.
The boys continues on. Will turns to the window. He sees -
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 3.
Agnes walks through the field towards the garden, her hawk
hunched on her fist.
Who is this striking girl? He stares at her disappearing into
a blooming orchard.
Dread washes over him. He must stay here, in this room, to
pay his father’s debt, maybe for the rest of his life. But
time stops. He can’t hear the boys, as if he’s underwater.
Air. He needs air. To breathe. He rushes to the door -
4 EXT. HEWLANDS - GARDEN - DAY 4
Hot. Pollen in the air. Constant buzzing of the bees.
Will hurries through animals and puddles. He sees Agnes. He
doesn’t know how he got here from the dark study, except he has
to go towards this girl in red, like an arrow heading towards
its mark.
Agnes ties her hawk to a make-shift perch. She senses Will and
turns to look at him approaching.
Who is he? She watches with intrigue. He slows down when he sees
her staring.
They stare at each other. Both feeling the intense pull. The
world starts to fall away.
WILL
Good day to you.
AGNES
Good day, sir.
She waits for him to talk. The heat inside of her builds, but
he stays quiet, staring at her. She wants to look away, to
move away, but she can’t.
AGNES (CONT’D)
What brings you to Hewlands?
WILL
...I am tutoring the boys here.
AGNES
The new Latin tutor. I have heard
of you.
He smiles and stays quiet again. His silence makes her
uncomfortable and his steady gaze confuses her.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 4.
She looks away and back. He’s still staring at her. Something
in his eyes feels urgent.
She touches the falconry glove on her arm for comfort.
AGNES (CONT’D)
...What brought you to the garden?
Nothing. She laughs, releasing pressure.
AGNES (CONT’D)
It is just a question.
WILL
Yes....I suppose the air is so
fresh out here. And I saw you with
your bird
AGNES
He is a hawk.
He takes a step towards the hawk, raising his hand.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Don’t get too close. He does not
know you.
Will looks at Agnes - there is no sign of her stopping him.
He tries to read her. He’s good at reading people – something
he has developed to survive in his house. He can tell that
she dares him to touch the bird.
Will holds his breath, trying not to look afraid. The bird’s
sharp beak is so close to his flesh. He steadies his breath.
He has some experience taming a wild beast - the one within
himself.
He lets the noise of the world fade around him and steadies
to his own heartbeats.
She watches him, intrigued.
With this steadiness, he reaches out and touches the hawk’s
feathers. The bird lets him, accepting his touch.
AGNES (CONT’D)
(impressed)
Hm. He likes you.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 5.
Will smiles and relieved he has passed the test. He suddenly
feels more confident, as if he’s granted permission from the
hawk to pursue its mistress. He turns to Agnes, eager to get
to know the girl who can tame such wild creature.
WILL
What is your name?
His closeness alarms her. She wants to run, but she is frozen
in her place.
WILL (CONT’D)
Your name -
AGNES
I shan’t tell you.
WILL
You shall.
AGNES
I shan’t.
Pressure builds.
WILL
You’ll tell me when we kiss.
AGNES
We’ll never kiss.
He takes a step closer. So close.
WILL
We will.
She regards him at their new proximity. His presence
overwhelms her. She is about to explode. She needs to
understand why this stranger is making her feel this way.
She puts her hand to his and takes hold of the skin and
muscle between thumb and forefinger, and presses hard.
He is shocked and draws in his breath.
AGNES
Hmm...
WILL
...What are you doing?
He is dizzy and slightly aroused by her strangeness.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 6.
She leans towards him, as if sniffing at him like an animal. She
is feeling him, trying to find out everything about him.
The pressure between them is so intense he gets nervous that
something will break.
WILL (CONT’D)
Why...why are you...I...
Without warning, she presses her lips to his - it is an
emphatic kiss, like bringing a seal down on a document.
AGNES
Agnes. My name is Agnes...
Will is stunned by the kiss and by her boldness. This is a
woman who acts on her feelings – a rare breed in his time.
WILL
Agnes...
(so excited)
May I see you again, Agnes? I shall
return tomorrow. Will you be here?
Agnes frowns. Where else would I be?
WILL (CONT’D)
Where are you from?
He doesn’t know who she is...She looks away. He doesn’t
notice the shift in her mood. He is eager to get to know her.
WILL (CONT’D)
I’d like to see you again -
AGNES
No.
She turns to leave. He takes her arm and stops her.
WILL
Wait -
AGNES
No.
She pulls away. Her eyes meeting his are angry and cold.
AGNES (CONT’D)
You may not see me again.
She goes, leaving him confused and alone in the garden.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 7.
Genres:
["Drama","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
4 -
Secrets in the Kitchen
5 INT. HEWLANDS - KITCHEN - DAY 5
Agnes enters, overheated. The kitchen is in pristine order.
At the table sits JOAN, her stepmother.
Joan is brushing the hair of one of her DAUGHTERS. She is
proud of how neat and pretty they are. Her TWO BOYS are
copying Latin at the other side of the table. The children
are too well behaved for their age.
BARTHOLOMEW, Agnes’s younger brother, is carving a small
horse wooden toy by the window.
Agnes hurries to get a glass of water. Joan’s eyes are glued
on Agnes and all the leaves in her hair.
JOAN
Where have you been?
AGNES
(drinks)
In the field helping Bartholomew. A
newborn lamb is unwell.
JOAN
I went to the field. I did not see
you there.
AGNES
Tell her, Bartholomew.
BARTHOLOMEW
She was there.
JOAN
Have you seen the new Latin tutor?
Agnes finishes her water and catches her breath.
JOAN (CONT’D)
The glover’s son. The boys said he
just ran out and never returned. He
is supposed to give them lessons to
pay off his father’s debt -
AGNES
I have not seen him.
Agnes avoids Bartholomew’s gaze. Of course he knows she is
lying. He shakes his head and goes back to making the toy.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 8.
JOAN
I shall have a word with the
father. Should’ve known better.
Like father, like son.
Joan’s happy with her daughters lovely hair and pretty
ribbons in them.
JOAN (CONT’D)
I do believe you two are the
prettiest girls in the parish. None
come close to you two. One day I
shall need my wits with all the
suitors that will come for you.
CATERINA
But, Agnes is the eldest. She will
marry first -
JOAN
She will not if she keep running
into the forest like a gypsy.
The girls exchange looks, anticipating a reaction from Agnes.
But Agnes stays quiet, still lost in the feeling from her
encounter with the Latin tutor.
Even Joan is surprised by the lack of reaction from Agnes.
She keeps going to fill the tense silence.
JOAN (CONT’D)
(to her daughters)
You are good christian girls. You
will never bring any shame on this
family -
BARTHOLOMEW
That is enough.
Bartholomew speaks softly but firmly.
Joan shakes her head and goes back to her task at hand.
Agnes glances at Bartholomew, but quickly walks out of the
kitchen. She doesn’t want her brother to see through her.
Genres:
["Drama","Historical"]
Ratings
Scene
5 -
Evening Reflections
6 EXT. RIVER AVON - EVENING 6
Will paces along the riverbank. A FISHERMAN and TWO WOMEN
WASHING LAUNDRY.
He walks into the river for a swim, cooling the heat under
his skin. He dives in, disappearing underwater.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 9.
7 EXT. STRATFORD - EVENING 7
Will walks into town. LOCALS. Evening chores. Carts and
animals. Timber-framed houses with vending windows open. A
towering church in the distant. This is Stratford-upon-Avon.
8 EXT. HENLEY STREET - EVENING 8
Will walks to a house on the corner. This is his home.
9 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - EVENING 9
Will enters into the dark passageway. The air is even thinner
here. This is the home of a glover - leather, oil, sharp
tools and machinery. The murmurs of a prayer.
Will is different now, as if the house has turned him into
another creature. He drags his feet towards the dining room.
He waits for the prayer to end and enters.
Genres:
["Drama","Historical","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
6 -
Tensions at the Table
10 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - CONTINUOUS 10
The room is filled with heavy furniture. At the table sits
MARY (40s), her children, GILBERT (16), ELIZA (14) and EDMOND
(9). Everyone seems to be talking at the same time, except
for the patriarch, JOHN (40s), silent at the head.
MARY
Where’ve you been? We expected you
hours ago. Your supper’s near cold.
Sit, sit.
Will sits down. He and Gilbert go for the remaining bread on
the plate and they fight over it.
MARY (CONT’D)
Boys, boys, there’s enough for all.
Will wins. He downs the bread, realizing how hungry he is.
MARY (CONT’D)
How go the lessons at Hewlands?
WILL
They are no scholars.
MARY
I wonder at the notion of such
learning. Latin for boys who will
be naught but sheep farmers. It’s
just putting on -
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 10.
Gilbert makes a grab for something on Will’s plate. They
tussle. There is laughter - a good-natured fight between two
brothers until -
JOHN
That will do!
The boys stop. A tense silence falls.
JOHN (CONT’D)
You heard your mother. There’s
enough for all.
(to Will)
You coming in late, expecting your
supper to be laid out for you as if
you’re lord of the manor -
WILL
I don’t -
JOHN
Don’t speak over me. Who puts food
on this table, food you’re more
than happy to eat, eh? I deserve
more respect -
WILL
(under his breath)
Respect is earned, not deserved.
JOHN
What did you say?
Will pushes his words down, shakes his head.
JOHN (CONT’D)
You speak ill of the boys at
Hewlands. ‘They are no scholars’.
Shall I tell you something? They
will ever be more of a man than you
are. They are put to honest work.
Unlike you - useless, trade-less.
All that education, not an ounce of
sense -
WILL
I’m tutoring to pay your debts to
that family, am I not? Your
immeasurable mound of debt -
ELIZA
(touches Will’s arm)
Will -
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 11.
WILL
(snaps at Eliza)
Stop -
John suddenly grabs the back of Will’s neck and slams his
head hard against the table. The loud bang silences the room.
John is fuming. He looks at Mary who stares at him with such
cold intensity, it makes him sit back down. He pours himself
some ale. Mary tries to fill the tense air with words.
MARY
...What of the rest of the Hewlands
family? Have you met them?
WILL
The mother only.
Will keeps his eyes down and starts eating slowly.
This is how this family deals with violence - carrying on as
if it didn’t happen.
MARY
Not the eldest daughter?
Will shakes his head.
MARY (CONT’D)
Best be wary of her. It is said the
girl is the child of a forest
witch. They say she is passing
strange, touched, perhaps mad.
Eliza joins in, keeping the conversation going to avoid any
interaction between John and Will.
ELIZA
I have seen her once, wandering the
backroads at will, with a hawk on
her arm -
Will looks over at Eliza, surprised.
MARY
A hawk. At Hewlands?
ELIZA
Yes! People say she takes off into
the forest with it, unaccompanied -
WILL
(quietly)
Are you certain, Eliza?
(MORE)
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 12.
WILL (CONT’D)
The eldest daughter keeps a hawk?
Not a servant girl -
ELIZA
Yes. And I heard she is able to
foresee illness, birth of children,
fortune and...I was told that she
once clasped the hand of a man and
said that he would die within a
month, and the very next week he
was struck down by an ague. Dead.
Will looks down at his own hand. Oh god.
He feels Mary’s gaze on him and keeps his head down, afraid
his mother’s watchful eyes may uncover his secret.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
7 -
Whispers of the Night
11 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - NIGHT 11
When the humans in the house go to sleep, the other beings
wake up. We don’t see them but we can feel them:
The residue in the air next to the fireplace carries secrets
burned away long ago.
The sharp tools in the workshop whisper to each other.
The layers of stains on the wall tell tales of repeated
bursts of violence.
12 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT 12
The long, dark passageway seems empty. But we can feel
something moving. A deeper shade of black. A void. A tunnel
into the unknown.
13 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - NIGHT 13
The attic is filled with three wool bales.
Will is lying on one of the bales. Next to him are old candle
stubs, a folding knife, a bottle of ink, curls of paper with
words. This is where he writes.
He has fallen asleep. His hand pressed against his forehead
as if he is trying to calm his find. He is mumbling,
dreaming...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 13.
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery","Supernatural"]
Ratings
Scene
8 -
Echoes of the Forest
14 EXT. FOREST - ANCIENT TREE - DAY 30 YEARS AGO 14
The ancient tree. Barely changed in time. The red egg nests
amongst its roots - the same place Agnes has slept - waiting -
15 EXT. FOREST - DAY 30 YEARS AGO 15
A WOOD-DWELLER named Rowan wanders through the trees,
collecting herbs and plants, putting them into her pouch. She
hums a simple, ancient tune. The forest embraces her.
Rowan walks along the edge of the forest. Through the tall
trees she can see the distant field below - A MAN, a sheep-
farmer, whistling at his dog.
16 EXT. EDGE OF THE FOREST - DAY 16
RICHARD (20s), is tending to his herd. He sees Rowan emerging
from the edge. He is taken by her, smiles shyly and waves.
She hesitates but curiosity makes her step away from the wild
green wall, through tall ferns and onto the farmer's
cultivated land.
17 OMITTED 17
18 EXT. EDGE OF THE FOREST - DAY PRESENT DAY 18
The wild green wall, unchanged through time, like the
backdrop of a theatre.
Will, standing in the field as Richard once did, calms his
nerves and heads into the forest...
19A EXT. FOREST - LIGHT PATH - DAY 19A
Will follows a small path surrounded by tall plants. He is
uncertain which way to go when he notices the hawk, gliding
through the sky nearly covered by dense branches.
He knows she is near. He just needs to listen. He stops
moving and steadies his breath. He has to close his eyes to
really listen. But is it safe to close one’s eyes in such
untamed place? He must. He shuts his eyes and listens.
Gradually, the sound of the forest becomes a repetitive
rhythm. The bird calls, the dripping moisture, the changing
chords of the wind through leaves.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 14.
This is how he hears the world. Like a heartbeat with one
soft beat and one strong beat repeated five times - the
iambic pentameter.
Then, something disturbs the rhythm. A voice humming a tune.
Genres:
["Drama","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
9 -
A Tense Encounter in the Forest
19B EXT. FOREST - DARK PATH - DAY 19B
Through the shadowy trees Will finds Agnes foraging.
He watches her, she gathers herbs roughly, twisting them off
of the branch with a flick of the wrist and adds them to her
basket. She smells twigs, licks the sap from a tree and
tastes flowers.
He can’t takes his eyes off her.
She stops, looks to the sky. She sees her hawk. She rolls up
her sleeve and sends her bare arm towards the sky again.
What is she doing? Will looks up, the hawk is circling,
diving down -
WILL
Agnes!
He shouts after her, stopping her from receiving the hawk. It
startles her. She backs away.
The hawk sees her arm lowered and swoops back into the sky.
They stare at each other, both wide eyed.
WILL (CONT’D)
What are you...why are you not
wearing your glove?
He rushes towards her, concerned.
AGNES
I...left it at the farm...
She backs away, pulling down her sleeve.
WILL
I brought you this.
He takes something from his bag - a new falconry glove and
hands it to her. She takes it from him slowly.
WILL (CONT’D)
My family...makes gloves...I
thought you needed one.
(MORE)
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 15.
WILL (CONT’D)
A better one to protect your hand.
But now I can see it will not work.
AGNES
What do you mean?
WILL
You hurt yourself on purpose. Why?
Embarrassment washes over Agnes. She pushes the glove back
into his hand and walks away.
He follows her. She picks up speed. He keeps up.
She tries to run away but wishes that he would follow.
Genres:
["Drama","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
10 -
Whispers of the Forest
19C EXT. FOREST - ANCIENT TREE - DAY 19C
They come around the boulder and arrive at the ancient tree.
WILL
Agnes!
She stops and turns around.
WILL (CONT’D)
I know who you are -
AGNES
Who am I?
WILL
I am sorry, I don’t know...I’ve
only heard things about you and I -
AGNES
That I’m the daughter of a forest
witch?
WILL
Yes. People say that but I -
AGNES
I’m my mother’s daughter. I have
learned many things from her.
He keeps his gaze on her. He seems to have no fear of her.
AGNES (CONT’D)
What are you looking at?
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 16.
WILL
...You.
(she stays quiet, but
moved)
I wish to see you, Agnes.
AGNES
Why?
Why not? He carefully choosing his words, not wanting to
spook her more.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Are you not supposed to be a man of
words, master tutor?
WILL
Yes. But conversing with people
sometimes is...difficult for me.
AGNES
Tell me a story.
What?
AGNES (CONT’D)
Tell me a story that moves you.
This is a test. She says silently - show me who you are.
Will is caught off guard. No one has asked him to do this
before. He watches her leaning on the roots, waiting. He
likes the challenge. He clears his throat.
WILL
Do you know the story of Orpheus
and Eurydice?
She shakes her head.
WILL (CONT’D)
Orpheus is a man of music whose
playing of the kithara, it’s a harp-
like lyre, is so divine that the
birds, the beasts, even the stones
and the trees listen to the rhythm
of his songs.
Will suddenly transforms into a different person. His eyes
are softer. His frown is gone. His body more relaxed. He
clearly feels safe in his stories and Agnes sees it all.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 17.
WILL (CONT’D)
Orpheus falls in love with the
lovely nymph Eurydice. He loves her
so dearly. He can charm wild beasts
and silence the wind with his music
but he plays only for her. But soon
after their marriage, she is bitten
by a viper. The poison courses
through her body and kills her.
Filled with grief, Orpheus journeys
to the underworld to bring her
back. He charms Cerberus the three
headed dog and beguiles Hades until
he is allowed to take his love back
with him to the world of the
living. But under one condition...
AGNES
(eager)
What is it?
WILL
She must follow behind him as they
emerge from the Underworld, and he
must not turn to look at her.
Agnes holds her breath. A dread looms inside of her.
WILL (CONT’D)
As they begin their ascent. He
can’t hear her footsteps. He
listens and listens, but all he can
hear is his own heartbeat...and the
rest...is silence...As he
approaches the gate of the
Underworld, he can’t stop
himself...he turns back to look at
her and she is trapped in the
Underworld forever.
AGNES
Why does he look back?
WILL
Why do you think?
Will is now in front of Agnes. He is happy to see that she is
moved by his telling of the story. He has passed the test. He
has closed his distance to her.
Later, she goes to the waterfall of tree roots and takes out
her hidden treasures.
They sit together. She has gathered some fresh herbs.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 18.
She uses a knife to remove mugwort leaves from the stem. She
takes a grinding stone, with a smaller pebble, grinds it into
a paste. She murmurs the ancient Nine Herbs Charm.
AGNES
Remember, Mugwort, what you brought
to pass, what you readied at
Regenmeld. You’re called Una, the
most ancient plant. You defy three,
you defy thirty, you defy venom,
you defy air-illness, you defy the
horror who stalks the land.
She adds fresh plantain and dry yarrow to the mix.
WILL
What are they?
AGNES
Mugwort, yarrow, plantain. The
power of three. Stops bleeding,
infection, swelling...
He watches her work - the way her small hands grip around the
rock, the rotation of her thin wrist, her stained fingers
testing the texture of the paste. He is so turned on by her
he can barely contain himself.
He looks down at his own hand.
WILL
Is it true? You know everything
about a person just by touching
them here?
AGNES
Not everything.
She stops working and takes his hand. He lets her. She feels
him, going deep.
WILL
...You touched my hand. What did
you see?
AGNES
A landscape.
WILL
A landscape?
She drops in. Remembering the dream she had last night.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 19.
AGNES
...Spaces, caves, cliff tops,
tunnels, oceans, undiscovered
countries...rises and
falls...and...voids...I couldn’t
see it all...I couldn’t grasp. The
edge of you. It’s big...
She gets overwhelmed as if she is experiencing her dream now.
Her strangeness only intrigues him more.
WILL
Will I go there? This landscape?
His question makes her emotional. She keeps on feeling his
hand, speaking in a way that would confuse and scare many.
Her eyes are closed. She speaks softly, like siting a dream
while walking.
AGNES
My glove...my glove belongs to my
mother. She stepped out of the
forest, like her mother did and her
mother before. Each got their skin
locked in a door and handed a glove
so that the desire from the sky
could strike them while they held
their sleeves against the howling
spiders who had cut off their right
hand. I don’t need a new glove.
This is my flesh. My skin. My hawk.
I do not want something that does
not even fit you.
(opens her eyes, looks at
him)
No, you will not go there. Not yet.
Something is tethering you, holding
you back.
Somehow he knows exactly what she means.
AGNES (CONT’D)
You are taller than your father’s
glove, are you not?
She takes the paste and applies it to the wound on his brow
that carries so much pain through generations.
His heart pounds. The smell of the herbs, the smell of her,
the smell of the possibility of a new life. A heat builds in
his stomach. Her medicine, her chants, her depth has seeped
into his blood stream. He turns to her, takes her into his
arms and kisses her deeply.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 20.
She is moved beyond words. She had shown the depth of her to
him and he didn’t run away. He is still here.
19D EXT. FOREST - LIGHT PATH - LATER 19D
She puts on the glove he gave her and extends her arm into
the sky. He takes a few steps back, nervous.
The hawk dives down and lands on her wrist gracefully,
flapping its wings.
Will gets closer, in awe of the large bird.
She takes his hand to touch the hawk’s feathers. It turns its
head and looks right at Will. The chants of Latin...
20 INT. HEWLANDS - STUDY - DAYS LATER 20
BOYS (O.S.)(IN LATIN)
Thus by law of fate all things
speed towards the worse and,
slipping away, fall back.
Will stands by the window, waiting for the redness of his
heart to appear. The sound of Latin begins to form the rhythm
he found in the forest.
He sees Agnes walking through the garden, laden down with two
full milk pails. He leans towards the window, yearning for
her. She stops and looks up at him -
21 EXT. HEWLANDS - GARDEN - SAME 21
From her perspective, he looks so small, trapped behind the
metal window. She wants to go to him, to free him from his
prison. But for now she must go.
22 INT. HEWLANDS - STUDY - SAME 22
He watches her go, turns to lean against the window, framed
by its metal edges. The heat in his stomach is burning.
Something has to change.
Genres:
["Drama","Romance","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
11 -
Breaking the Cycle
23 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - WORKSHOP - DAY WEEKS LATER 23
The leather work is as repetitive as the Latin lessons. Will
turns over pair after pair of ladies’ gloves. The heat keeps
building and building. He is so full he’s about to burst.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 21.
He looks over at Edmond, stitching belts and their father,
cutting a squirrel skin into narrow strips, drunk.
John goes to Edmond.
JOHN
Nay, nay, make those stitches
smaller, even smaller.
John sees Will looking his way, shaking his head.
JOHN (CONT’D)
Useless.
Will suddenly stands up and heads towards the door.
JOHN (CONT’D)
Where are you going?
John suddenly lashes Will about the face with the leather in
his hand. The pain is like an adrenaline shot, the last hit
Will needed to tip him over the edge. He pounces on his
father, seizing the older man in a tight grip, pushing him
all the way against the wall with a hard slam. His strong
arms locking his father in a painful embrace.
WILL
That was the last time you will
ever hit me.
He pushes his father off of him and heads out.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
12 -
A Proposal in the Garden
24 EXT. HEWLANDS - GARDEN - DAY 24
Will is back in the garden. He knows what he must do. He
finds Agnes adding compost to a newly dug garden patch, muddy
and sweaty.
WILL
I wish to be hand-fasted to you.
She stays near the ground and gazes up at him.
WILL (CONT’D)
I must be hand-fasted to you,
Agnes. No one else would do. I
cannot have it any other way.
She wipes her hands. Her eyes bright.
WILL (CONT’D)
I will speak to your stepmother and
your brother.
(MORE)
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 22.
WILL (CONT’D)
Of course they will not agree but I
do not care. I have no talent for
waiting! I cannot abide waiting -
AGNES
What about your parents? Will they
agree?
Will tries to answer but reality sinks in.
Agnes gets up and walks away -
WILL
Wait -
AGNES
Follow me.
She heads towards a shed at the edge of the garden.
Genres:
["Drama","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
13 -
Surrender in the Apple Shed
25 INT. HEWLANDS - APPLE SHED - DAY 25
They are crushed into a low space filled with apples in near-
darkness. Their bodies close together. The hawk is hooded,
sits on a stand. It turns its head towards Will.
Agnes leans back against a platform where apples are put out
to dry. She undoes a lacing on his jerkin, looking at him to
see if he understands. He does.
WILL
Are you certain?
AGNES
(she’s not)
We must take matters into our own
hands.
His eyes are wide. The hungry animal inside him is about to
burst out. He is afraid what it may do.
She rubs his tense shoulder and touches the back of his neck.
She is so nervous but she tries to look strong, as if she
knows what she is doing.
His hands find their way to her hips. Soft touches first.
Then they grip onto her hips, pressing hard, holding, moving
a little, pressing again, as if he is letting the animal
inside of him breath a little to release the pressure.
She feels the pressure. She can’t move. She is in his hands.
He leans into her, looking deeply into her eyes. He suddenly
seems so towering.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 23.
Her active hands withdraw from trying so hard and rests in
front of her. The pressure he applies on her is so powerful
she lets out a long held breath, one she has held most of her
life, and surrenders into the presence of her lover. Just a
little, but enough to finally release the animal inside of
him.
With a low growl, he lifts her up by the waist and lays her
down onto the platform. He lowers down to kiss her, placing
himself between her legs. His hand finds its way under her
dress. He kisses her breasts through the thin fabric,
pressing into her, always applying pressure.
The more pressure he applies, the more she relaxes. When her
mind wanders and she becomes tense. He slows down and blows
air on her overheated skin.
He stands up, removing his shirt. She looks up. He is almost
unrecognizable. She understands the movements of his hands
around his breeches. She is suddenly terrified, of what is to
come. He leans in, closer and closer. She grips onto his bare
arm and buries her face into his elbow.
Then, she sees them - long healed scars, some wide and some
thin, randomly marked on his inner upper arm like the long
healed cuts on a tree when saps are drawn.
A heavy thud in her chest. She pushes herself up and takes
his arm into her hands.
Confused at first, he soon realizes he has exposed himself.
He tries to pull away but she holds onto him with all her
strength. She will not let him turn away.
Tears well up in her eyes. She traces her gentle fingers
along his scars, sending so much love to them.
It makes him uncomfortable. He has never felt love like this,
not towards his wounds because he has never shown them to
anyone. He tries to pull away again but this time she reaches
for his face and holds him there. She can tell he is running
away, back to his prison, to hide. She won’t let him.
AGNES (CONT’D)
I see you.
Her loving, accepting gaze is undeniable.
AGNES (CONT’D)
I know you are afraid.
She opens her legs and draws him closer to her. Slowly, he
finds strength in his hands again. His fingers grip the curve
of her back, drawing her even closer.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 24.
She feels him at the entrance of her heart. She is scared but
she has made a decision.
AGNES (CONT’D)
I choose you.
WILL
Say it again.
AGNES
I choose you.
And with that commitment she surrenders fully, to him, to
their connection, to all her fears and uncertainties, she
shall have all the strength she needs to carry it through.
She asserts her body, welcoming him. She feels him inside of
her. Their bodies fit so well, so right...
26 EXT. FOREST - DAY 26
The erotic pause of the forest in the summer. Nature is
sexual and orgasmic. It’s continuously having sex with
everything around it to create new life...
Genres:
["Romance","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
14 -
Echoes of Healing
27 INT. HEWLANDS - KITCHEN - DAY 17 YEARS AGO 27
Rowan’s kitchen is as wild as the forest, filled with hanging
herbs, plants, tree barks, stones. She is heavily pregnant,
for the third time. She is sitting at a long table, making a
paste with a grinding stone, the same one we saw Agnes using
by the tree.
Agnes (9) is watching her mother work, learning. Rowan gives
Agnes her hand. Agnes leans in to smell the scent of the
herbs in her mother’s palm. They chant the Nine Herb Charm.
ROWAN/AGNES
Remember, Mugwort, what you brought
to pass, what you readied at
Regenmeld. You’re called Una the
most ancient plant.
You defy three, you defy thirty,
you defy venom, you defy air-
illness, you defy the horror that
stalks the land.
Bartholomew (7) has a cut on his hand. He has stopped
sniffling and chants with them.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 25.
ROWAN/AGNES/BARTHOLOMEW
And you, Waybread, plant-mother.
You open to the East, yet mighty
within. Carts creaked over you,
women rode over you. You withstood
it all and you pushed back. You
withstood venom, you withstood air-
illness, you withstood the horror
who travels over land...
Richard is fixing a tool by the fire, watching his wife and
children, a happy man.
Rowan carefully applies the paste onto Bartholomew’s wound.
ROWAN
There, Bartholomew, it will heal.
BARTHOLOMEW
Will I have a scar?
ROWAN
You may. But that’s no bad thing.
BARTHOLOMEW
Why?
ROWAN
Well, when a tree is hurt, it first
has to stop the bleeding fast, keep
little creatures from getting in.
She blows air onto Bartholomew’s hand. It tickles him.
ROWAN (CONT’D)
The second part of healing takes
longer, sometimes years and years:
it grows a beautiful scar over the
wound, for protection, and soon the
scar becomes part of the tree and
of its story.
AGNES
Why does it take so long?
ROWAN
Because if it covers over too fast,
it won’t heal properly...
A dull pain. Rowan puts her hand on her belly. It goes away
quickly only Agnes notices. She goes to her mother.
AGNES
Mama? Is all well?
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 26.
ROWAN
Your little sister is readying
herself for the world.
AGNES
How can you be so certain it’s a
girl?
ROWAN
I dreamed about her.
She gently touches Agnes’s third eye with her fingertip and
then the center of her heart.
ROWAN (CONT’D)
Pay attention to your dreams,
Agnes. They will always guide you.
Agnes smiles, satisfied, leaning into her mother’s belly and
listens to the life within.
28 INT. HEWLANDS - KITCHEN - MORNING PRESENT DAY 28
The same kitchen, the same table, the same fireplace, but
this one is clean, organized, presentational. There is no
sign of the forest. Agnes is sitting at the same place, lost
in her memories. She puts her hand on her belly. She knows.
She looks up at her stepmother -
Joan is kneading dough at the counter. She has managed to
make a messy process seem orderly.
Agnes knows what she needs to do.
Genres:
["Drama","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
15 -
Tides of Tension
29 EXT. RIVER AVON - DAY 29
Will swims against the current, pushing himself to his
physical limit.
He dives under, fully immersed, tumbles through the bubbling,
light-filled underwater world.
He emerges, gasping. He gives up and floats. His strong and
youthful body is carried by the water. His legs, hands, the
curve of his back. Like a poem, a beautiful offering.
30 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - DAY 30
Agnes is in front of the large metal framed window, waiting,
her heart is full.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 27.
Mary glances over at Agnes in horror, holding a charm at the
end of a chain she wears as a belt - her secret rosaries.
John is by the fireplace, his face in the shadows.
Bartholomew is unusually tense. His gaze lingers around the
dim room, trying to figure out what it is about this house
that bothers him.
Will enters, hair wet from a swim, surprised.
WILL
Agnes? What...what’s happened?
MARY
Her mother banished her from their
house.
AGNES
Stepmother. She didn’t banish me.
The house belongs to my brother. I
chose to leave.
Will looks over at Bartholomew. The two men regard each other
for the first time.
MARY
She is with child. Says it’s yours.
Agnes lets a half smile show.
Will feels his heart bursting with so many emotions. He
clutches her hand.
MARY (CONT’D)
Is it? Yours?
They don’t answer her, whispering to each other.
MARY (CONT’D)
The child in her belly! Did you put
it there?
WILL
I did.
He faces his mother finally.
WILL (CONT’D)
We are hand-fasted. There is no sin
in it. We shall wed -
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 28.
MARY
You will need our consent and we
will never give it, never! You have
been bewitched. I will send you
away. I would rather you went to
sea than marry this wench -
John gets up suddenly. Everyone turns to him.
JOHN
There’s no need for that. I’m in no
doubt we can come to an arrangement-
MARY
But, John -
JOHN
Hush, woman.
(to Agnes)
My son made you a promise, did he?
AGNES
We made a promise to each other.
JOHN
And what does your mother - your,
stepmother - say to this match?
AGNES
She is not in favour. But I do not
care.
John surveys Agnes with a look of satisfaction. Pleased.
JOHN
The boy wants to marry the girl,
the girl wants to marry the boy.
Who are we to forbid this union?
He is unusually friendly.
JOHN (CONT’D)
(goes to Bartholomew)
I’m certain you are eager to have
your sister at the altar, in her,
condition -
BARTHOLOMEW
I’m certain you’d be just as eager
not to have your boy dragged before
the bawdy court.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 29.
JOHN
Now, it shouldn’t come to
that...they mean to wed. They said
they are hand-fasted.
BARTHOLOMEW
Only if I say so.
Bartholomew gives Will a look.
JOHN
(leans in)
The baby must be born in wedlock,
not on the wrong side of the sheet.
Many weddings are brought about
thus. It is nature’s way. And...we
have matters to discuss, I believe.
The terms, the dowry. The debt -
Bartholomew can’t stand the airless room and John’s words
anymore, he walks out.
Agnes gives Will a look - leave it to me - and follows her
brother out.
OPTION TO PLAY:
Agnes takes out two gifts and goes to John.
AGNES
For you. Valerian tincture. Good
for soothe and calm.
To Mary.
AGNES (CONT’D)
For you. Honey. Put a spoon in hot
milk. Helps sleep.
Mary takes it carefully as if it’s poison, hiding her
surprise that Agnes knows about her sleep troubles.
Genres:
["Drama","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
16 -
A Sibling's Farewell
31 EXT. HENLEY HOUSE - EVENING 31
Bartholomew walks out of the door, taking a deep breath.
Agnes follows behind.
AGNES
Will you see to my hawk?
(he nods)
I’ll be sure to return as often as
I can to fly her.
(MORE)
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 30.
AGNES (CONT’D)
(he stays quiet)
You’re angry with me.
BARTHOLOMEW
I don’t understand why you would
choose this place. That father of
his...it is all about money, money,
money. And that mother...
AGNES
She’s just afraid.
BARTHOLOMEW
Why marry a pasty-faced scholar?
What use is he?
AGNES
He has more hidden away inside him
than anyone I’ve ever met.
Bartholomew knows there is no room for his plead. Agnes takes
his arm. They walk in silence for a moment.
BARTHOLOMEW
Everything will change.
He doesn’t look at her. She is surprised to find tears in his
eyes. He swallows his words, unusually rocked.
BARTHOLOMEW (CONT’D)
You, you will change.
AGNES
I’m already changing.
BARTHOLOMEW
It is too fast. You are too
hasty...It’s...too quiet in there.
AGNES
Where?
BARTHOLOMEW
In that house.
(looks at the house)
There is something in there. Some
stench. I don’t know what it is...I
can’t see it. No good will come of
it...
Agnes considers this but shakes the thought away. She takes
her brother’s hand into hers.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 31.
AGNES
Do you remember what mama would say
when we were afraid and uncertain?
BARTHOLOMEW
...Live with an open heart.
BARTHOLOMEW (CONT’D) AGNES
Shut it not in the dark but Shut it not in the dark but
turn it always to the sun. turn it always to the sun.
They share a smile.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Everyone is so afraid, Bartholomew.
She never was. Because of her we
know what it feels like to be
properly loved. This is my chance.
He loves me for what I am, not what
I ought to be. Mama would have told
me to seize it with both hands.
BARTHOLOMEW
Then marry him you shall.
He’s still unsettled. She starts to walk with him again and
chants the Nine Herb Charm.
AGNES
(tries to make him smile)
Remember, Mugwort, what you brought
to pass, what you readied at
Regenmeld. You’re called Una the
most ancient plant.
You defy three, you defy thirty,
you defy venom, you defy air-
illness, you defy the horror that
stalks the land.
Bartholomew looks around, a little embarrassed. His sister is
so weird but that only makes him love her more. He gives in,
and starts to chant with her. She smiles wide.
AGNES/BARTHOLOMEW
And you, Waybread, plant-mother,
You open to the East, yet mighty
within. Carts creaked over you,
women rode over you. You withstood
it all and you pushed back. You
withstood venom, you withstood air-
illness, you withstood the horror
who travels over land...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 32.
Genres:
["Drama","Romance","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
17 -
Whispers of Dread and Connection
32 INT. CHURCH - NIGHT 32
The chanting continues as a secret wedding is held inside a
church at night. It’s rushed and hushed. A few candles are
burning. Two families pour in quietly, all in their day
clothes, moving in and out of darkness like ghosts.
Agnes is holding a branch of Rowan berries. She grows uneasy
inside the church. There are dark stone arches on both sides
of her. She feels watched by the voids in them. She keeps
chanting the Nine Herb Charm under her breath but soon she is
overwhelmed by a sense of dread, much like Bartholomew was.
What is it? What is it that she is not seeing?
She tries to calm herself and looks at her husband-to-be
ahead of her. She stares at him, willing him to look back.
AGNES
(to herself, afraid)
Look at me. Look at me.
And he does exactly that. His head turning, his face
revealing itself to her. He smiles.
She smiles back, relaxing into his steady gaze as she leaves
one life and begins another.
Genres:
["Drama","Romance","Supernatural"]
Ratings
Scene
18 -
Silent Struggles
33 INT. HENLEY STREET - ATTIC - MORNING 7 MONTHS LATER 33
DREAM SEQUENCE (shot separately)
Agnes wakes with a start, to find herself in her curtained
marriage bed, on the upper floor of Henley house.
Will is asleep beside her, having a nightmare, whispering in
his sleep.
WILL
Xxxx...
Agnes is heavily pregnant - several months have passed since
the wedding, and it is now late spring. She rises with
difficulty from the bed, leaving via the curtains, taking
care not to wake Will. She walks to the window.
AGNES
(murmuring to herself)
The branches are so dense. The
branches. You cannot feel the rain.
She presses a hand to her stomach, as if checking something
she already knows. Then she moves through the room, taking up
a basket and some length of linen, then she goes downstairs.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 33.
(33A) INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - MORNING (FOR LATER, SAME LIGHTING
SET UP)
Will, still sleepy, picks up the paper and reads the string
of broken letters, written in a slanted fashion.
WILL
Branches...cannot feel...rain...
He can not follow at first. Then something hits him.
34 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - DAWN MONTHS LATER 34
The dark long passageway. The ever-present void. A flicker of
candle and it’s gone. It’s Agnes walking towards us, as if
she had travelled through time. She is heavily pregnant and
she carries a small basket.
She stops, pressing a hand to her stomach. She is holding
back the pain of contraction. Sweat dripping down her face.
She puts her hand against her mouth. She must not scream. She
must get to the forest...
35 EXT. FOREST - LIGHT PATH - MORNING 35
Agnes walks towards the heart of the forest.
She leans against a tree to rest when the pain begins to
travel from her lower back, deep between her legs...
Genres:
["Drama","Romance","Historical"]
Ratings
Scene
19 -
Birth Beneath the Ancient Tree
36 EXT. FOREST - ANCIENT TREE - DAY 36
Agnes lowers herself to the ground. She is panting but happy.
She is where she needs to be.
She feels another pain coming, driving towards her, getting
closer, like thunder over a landscape. She turns, crouches,
pants through it, holding tight to a tree root. It’s agony.
Her hands gripping the soil and moss.
She is worried now. Nothing could have prepared her for the
relentlessness of the pain. Never has she been more sensitive
of her weakness, of her inadequacy. Her body is one of
resilience: she is all muscle beneath smooth skin. But this
is something else. It laughs at her attempts to master it.
She begins to fear that it will overtake her. But she can
pull strength from the earth, from the trees. She raises her
head and sees, the silvery trunk and delicate leaves of a
small rowan tree growing out of a boulder.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 34.
And like that, she is ready. She plants her hands in front of
her, on all fours, like a wolf, and submits to another pain.
37 EXT. FOREST - ANCIENT TREE - MORNING 37
Will and Bartholomew find Agnes dozing against the tree
roots, with A BABY GIRL tucked at her breast, wrapped in the
baby blanket.
Will takes the baby gently. Bartholomew cuts the umbilical
cord, hoists Agnes into his arms.
As they walk away, Will falls behind. His eyes are fixed on
the blood and matter of birth on the wet ground Agnes left
behind and then at the fragile life in his arms - his
daughter.
Before he can enjoy this tender moment, something else
catches his attention. He turns his head and his eyes fall on
the large hole under the ancient tree, circled by its root
system. It’s eerie and unsettling.
Will holds his daughter closer, but he can’t look away.
Inside the darkness of the hole he sees a deeper void,
watching him, waiting...
Genres:
["Drama","Romance","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
20 -
Whispers of Concern
38A EXT. RIVER AVON. - DAY A YEAR LATER 38A
The river flows. We find Will standing on the bank, lost in
thought.
38 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - WORKSHOP - DAY A WEEK LATER 38
The banging of a hammer. Intricate shots of making a pair of
gloves. Stripping of the animal skin, tanning, cutting,
stitching, sewing on intricate beads, etc.
John’s rough hands pouring so much love into the gloves - the
love he can never show his children - a gentle side of him we
have never seen before.
Will watches his father for a moment and goes back to work on
the glove. The work is meaningless to him. It drives him mad.
39 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY 39
Agnes is doing chores in the kitchen while playing with
Susanna, a year old now. Small wooden toys are lying around -
a bird, a cow, a horse.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 35.
Mary is also doing her chores. She has accepted Agnes’s
presence in her household but not without great hesitation.
Agnes smells something. She is sniffing the air, curious.
AGNES
Do you smell that, Mary?
MARY
What?
AGNES
There is a strange smell.
MARY
I don’t smell anything.
AGNES
Like food gone off or...unaired
linen.
Agnes sniffs her own cloth, her sleeve. Nothing.
Mary gathers her things to go to the backhouse. Agnes,
carrying Susanna with her, stops Mary to smell her.
MARY
What are you doing?
AGNES
It’s not you.
MARY
Certainly -
AGNES
Has Gilbert’s dog dragged in
something?
Mary shakes her head at her daughter-in-law’s strange
behavior and leaves the room.
Agnes goes around the room, inspecting. Everything seems to
be in order. She comes back to the table, burying her face in
her child’s neck and inhales again.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Susanna? Is it you?
(smells her)
No. It’s not you.
Will walks in. Agnes turns to look at him. He kisses her and
Susanna. He then takes a cup and pours water from a pitcher.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 36.
She watches him drinking it and then another, before slumping
into a chair by the fire.
Agnes looks at him. She feels herself breathe in, then out,
in, out, like a tree filling with wind. The sour, damp smell
is coming from her husband, it drifts off him, like smoke.
She examines him. His face is sallow, pale. His eyes seem
hooded and have purplish shadows under them. He seems to not
see anything before him.
AGNES (CONT’D)
My love?
He doesn’t answer.
AGNES (CONT’D)
My love?
He raises his chin and looks at her.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Are you ill?
WILL
Me?
It seems to take him a long time to hear her, to articulate a
response.
WILL (CONT’D)
No. Why do you ask?
AGNES
You do not look well.
He smiles with effort, rubs a hand over his brow, his eyes.
WILL
Do I not?
She stands, shifting Susanna to her hip. She touches his
forehead. He twists out of her grasp.
WILL (CONT’D)
All’s well...Don’t fuss -
AGNES
What ails you?
WILL
Nothing. I’m tired. That is all.
He stands, scraping the chair against the floor.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 37.
WILL (CONT’D)
I’m going back to bed.
AGNES
Why don’t you eat? Some bread?
Honey?
WILL
I’m not hungry.
AGNES
Remember your father wanted you to
go early to -
WILL
Tell him to send Gilbert. I’ll not
go anywhere today.
He heads for the attic. Agnes watches him go.
Genres:
["Drama","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
21 -
Turbulence in the Attic
40 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - NIGHT 40
In the still of the night, Agnes wakes up from a dream. She
slowly puts her hand on her belly, realizing she is with
child again. She sees the space next to her is empty. She
looks up and sees her husband hunched over his writing desk.
Will is at the desk, cutting feather after feather. He is
drinking, whispering something under his breath.
AGNES
My love. Come to bed.
She calls to him. But he stays still.
WILL
They’re not right. See? Too long,
too short. Too thin... It splits
and scratches the page.
He looks manic. She observes him from the bed.
AGNES
You need to rest.
WILL
No. I need to work.
He keeps focusing on shaping the feather in his hand.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 38.
AGNES
There is no use working at this
hour. Come to bed. You’ll feel
better in the morning.
Still nothing. Concerned, she goes to him, tries to connect
with him.
AGNES (CONT’D)
What are you writing?
WILL
Nothing of note.
AGNES
It’s never nothing.
WILL
(tries to remain calm)
When it’s finished perhaps.
AGNES
(reaches for a page)
Read me what you have written -
WILL
Agnes. It’s not finished -
His hand slips and ruins the feather. Suddenly, a dark anger
rails inside of him. As if he is possessed, he hurls the
whole lot at the wall, ink pot and all.
WILL (CONT’D)
Is it too much to ask for a man to
have a working quill?!
Agnes steps back. Susanna starts to fuss from her pallet bed.
Agnes rushes over to calm her down. (No need for real baby)
Will is shaken, overwhelmed by shame. He sits back down onto
the chair. His body hunching, withdrawing into itself.
WILL (CONT’D)
(under his breath)
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry...
Once Susanna stops fussing, Agnes comes back to Will. She
gently touches the back of his neck, trying to sooth him. But
he turns his head away, wiping any tears he may shed. He will
never let her see him weak.
WILL (CONT’D)
I’m sorry. I’ve had too much to
drink.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 39.
She takes his hand. He flinches.
WILL (CONT’D)
(controls himself)
Please. Not now.
AGNES
What are you afraid I will see?
WILL
I’m a violent, dangerous man.
He is holding all the emotions in. They are threatening to
burst out of his chest and kill him.
AGNES
You’re none of that. You’re a good
man, a good man.
He puts his arm around her waist. He lets her rub her fingers
through his hair, soothing him.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Is it...are you...do you wish we
had not...wed? Is that it?
He looks up at her, his face pained, aghast.
WILL
No. Never. How could you say such a
thing? You and Susanna are all I
live for. Nothing else matters.
AGNES
What is it, then?
WILL
...I don’t know. I’m lost. I have
lost my way, Agnes. The landscapes
you saw...
(changes his mind)
It’s nothing. It’s nothing.
She knows what he means. Those landscapes she saw haven’t
been realized, and it’s torturing him. But he says no more
after that.
AGNES
...What can I do for you?
WILL
Nothing, my love. Nothing.
She is now at a complete loss.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 40.
WILL (CONT’D)
Please go back to sleep. I need to
work. All is well. I just need to
work.
He turns back to his desk, his eyes darting from item to
item. These things make sense to him. He takes another
feather and begins to sharpen it.
She slowly walks back to the bed, lost in thoughts, her hands
gently rubbing her stomach.
Genres:
["Drama","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
22 -
A Sibling's Dilemma
41 EXT. HEWLANDS - FIELD - MORNING 41
Bartholomew’s dog is herding sheep between pastures.
He whistles. The dog runs back to him, darting across the
meadow, happy. They go back to the wooden fence where Agnes
is sitting, eyes resting on the forest beyond.
Bartholomew gives his dog a treat, eyeing his sister.
BARTHOLOMEW
What is it?
AGNES
...He can’t sleep. There is a sour
smell about him, like mold. He is
not well... He is losing -
BARTHOLOMEW
Has he ever lost his temper with
you?
AGNES
No. No!
BARTHOLOMEW
Agnes. If he ever raises a hand -
AGNES
He has never - he’s only angry with
himself! He is sick with himself.
He is a good man. He is a good
husband and father but it’s not
enough for him -
BARTHOLOMEW
What could he possibly need? He has
you!
AGNES
He needs to go to London.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 41.
BARTHOLOMEW
London?! What’s in London?
Bartholomew tries to remain patient.
AGNES
London is where the whole of the
world gathers! He could extend his
father’s business there. Who knows
what he may find -
BARTHOLOMEW
You are being hasty again -
AGNES
He needs more! He is not of this
world!
BARTHOLOMEW
(frustrated)
What he needs is proper work! A man
needs proper work. Not all that -
AGNES
This little town, this little
house, his little attic will crush
him! He needs distance from his
father -
BARTHOLOMEW
And you will go with him? To
London?
AGNES
No...I’ll wait until he’s settled.
And there will be more of us soon.
BARTHOLOMEW
Another child?
AGNES
Yes, by summer’s end -
BARTHOLOMEW
Then now is not the time to send
him away!
AGNES
His mind, Bartholomew, if only you
would sit with him for a while! He
has so much inside of him.
(MORE)
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 42.
AGNES (CONT’D)
I have seen him write like a man
possessed, disappear to places,
countries that haven’t been found,
whispers to himself in his
sleep...stories...landscapes...
(to herself)
I dreamed of these landscapes when
we met. I fed them to him. It’s now
torturing him...he -
BARTHOLOMEW
He does not concern me! I only care
about you!
AGNES
But our mother told us to trust our
dreams -
BARTHOLOMEW
Our mother is dead. And we are not
children anymore.
Those words surprise them both. They look away, gathering
themselves. Both trying to calm down.
BARTHOLOMEW (CONT’D)
Agnes -
AGNES
I will lose him...
Agnes is near tears. She is pleading.
BARTHOLOMEW
You will lose him if you send him
to London...
AGNES
I know that the love that we have
will keep us steady...
She hides her uncertainty.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Please. Will you talk to his
father? If you suggest it, he may
agree to send Will to London.
Please...
Bartholomew shakes his head. He doesn’t want his sister to be
left alone but he also feels bad about the things he said.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 43.
BARTHOLOMEW
As you wish...
Bartholomew walks away to calm himself. Agnes watches him go.
Maybe Bartholomew is right. She has changed. She can’t seem
to see anything clearly anymore.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
23 -
Parting Promises
42 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - KITCHEN - MORNING MONTHS LATER 42
Agnes’s pregnancy is showing. She is at the table wrapping
food up for Will to take on the road. She is sitting still,
putting all her focus into tying each item with the greatest
care, trying to hide her feelings from him. The separation is
harder for her than she expected.
Will is pacing, anxious and excited about leaving. He looks
lighter, more groomed.
WILL
...It will take four days of
walking to reach it, perhaps less,
if some farmer would take me some
distance on his cart. Then I shall
need to find lodgings. It’d be near
the river, not far from the
tanneries.
AGNES
I see.
WILL
The river is said to have dangerous
currents. I’m told whenever you
cross, you must engage an
experienced boatman.
Agnes looks up, alarmed.
WILL (CONT’D)
And I will be sure to do exactly
that. Every time. And I will be
back before you know it and I will
think of you, and Susanna, every
passing moment. And I shall find a
dwelling for us in London and we
will all be together again.
Will goes to Agnes and puts his hand on her belly, anxious.
WILL (CONT’D)
Do you still not know if it’s a boy
or girl?
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 44.
AGNES
No.
WILL
Have you not seen the child in your
dreams?
AGNES
No. I have not had many dreams
lately. I do not know why...
WILL
Perhaps you’re not meant to know
this time. Don’t worry. Boy or
girl, it’s all one to me. All shall
be well. Have you not said that you
will have two children?
AGNES
Yes. I will have two children at my
deathbed, I know it...
WILL
Well, then. Here is the second,
ready and waiting. All shall be
well. I know it.
They kiss. Not wanting to part.
WILL (CONT’D)
I shan’t go. I can’t leave you now -
AGNES
You shall go. You must. You need to
find us a new home in London.
WILL
And what if I fail? What if I can’t
expand father’s business? What if -
AGNES
You won’t fail. I know it.
This gives him the final push he needs to move. He takes a
step away, difficult for both. She remains still.
AGNES (CONT’D)
I won’t say goodbye.
WILL
No. We won’t say goodbye.
Then, he is gone. She makes sure she can no longer hear his
footsteps before breaking down crying.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 45.
Genres:
["Drama","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
24 -
Stormy Confinement
43 EXT. RIVER AVON - DAY MONTHS LATER 43
A STORM. The river bank is broken. Water rushes onto land.
44A INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - DAY 44A
Agnes is on the floor, alone, trying to find a comfortable
position. She is very pregnant. She knows it’s time. She
needs to get to the forest.
44 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY 44
Agnes hurries into the kitchen to gather her things. A wave
of pain comes. She grips the back of a chair when Mary
enters, looking at the basket in her hand.
MARY
Going somewhere?
AGNES
No.
(panics, tries to lie)
I mean, yes. To, to the -
MARY
You’re not going to the forest.
Agnes paces, trying to get away.
AGNES
I must -Stage
MARY
No, you must not. Gilbert!
Gilbert rushes in to help. Agnes struggles.
AGNES
No! You must let me go!
She is hit by another wave of pain. They hold onto her and
move her towards the dining room.
MARY
The river has burst its banks.
There is no way to the forest. We
have everything ready for you.
(to Gilbert)
Go for the midwife!
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 46.
45 EXT. HENLEY STREET - DAY 45
The flood has reached the town. Down the middle of the street
runs a filthy mix of floodwater, effluence, rubbish.
46 OMITTED 46
Genres:
["Drama","Family","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
25 -
Labor Amidst the Flood
47 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - DAY 47
Water creeps under the door, flooding the floor.
48 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - DAY 48
Eliza is helplessly sweeping water out.
Agnes’s contractions are worse. Mary and the MIDWIFE hold her
on the pallet bed. Agnes tries to free herself.
AGNES
I can’t...I won’t give birth in
here. Not in here. You must let me
go...
It is hard to order and command her thoughts. She sees muddy
water moving across the stone floor towards the pallet bed.
She looks down the long passageway towards the distant door.
She would like a moment to herself, alone, without pain, so
that she can think clearly about everything.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Why did I do it...why did I send
you away, please... Please, please,
I need you. Please...
(delirious)
...Such gloves they need. Long
gauntlets for fighting, fine gloves
with jewels for kings and queens...
It is to her husband she speaks, in her disordered mind, not
to the trees, not the magic cross, not even to her mother.
She looks down at the water again.
AGNES (CONT’D)
The river...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 47.
MIDWIFE
Hush.
AGNES
The river is dangerous. He may be
swept downstream -
Her words are cut off from a SCREAM in pain. She tries to get
up, to go towards the door, to reach for him. Mary stops her.
MARY
All is well with him! Do you not
recall his last letter?
MIDWIFE
Stop your screaming. You’ll wake
the whole town.
AGNES
He sounded...different.
MARY
He had good news for us. The
theatre! He has a contract at the
playhouse, making gloves for the
players, imagine!
They get Agnes back into the room. Agnes takes to the floor,
bracing herself with her palms flat to the boards, her legs
folded either side of her, crouched.
Mary sits down on the birthing stool and holds out a muslin
cloth, ready to catch the baby.
AGNES
...Such gloves, such gloves. Soft
gloves for ladies...
MARY
(to Eliza)
What is she saying?
ELIZA
She remembers his letters, word for
word. She bid me read them to her
four, five times.
AGNES
Soft gloves for ladies but...but...
(she screams in pain)
I can’t remember! What comes after
that? I can’t remember -
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 48.
MARY
Hush now! He is happy. He is doing
well. And his father is pleased. No
more of rivers and drowning, and
screaming!
The midwife gets down on the floor, looks up Agnes’s shift.
MIDWIFE
It’ll soon be over. Bear down.
The labour intensifies. Agnes growls. Mary puts a hand to
Agnes’s shoulder, the other to her arm.
A baby emerges. The midwife catches it, cuts the cord.
MARY
(overjoyed)
A boy, a boy!
Mary wraps him in the baby blanket. The midwife helps Agnes
onto the pallet bed. Agnes reaches for her son, but puts a
hand to her back and moans.
MARY (CONT’D)
What is it?
The midwife presses a hand to Agnes’s belly.
MIDWIFE
She’s starting again. You’re having
twins, my girl.
Agnes is shocked. She lies back in the bed, exhausted. Her
limbs slack. She stares at Mary and the midwife.
AGNES
Two of you...
MIDWIFE
What was that?
AGNES
Two of you..
MARY
Agnes, come to the stool. It is
ready. It is here. We shall help
you.
Agnes is gripped by a pain, her body twisting, her fingers
snatch at the sheet, pressing it to her mouth. The cry that
escapes her is ragged and muffled.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 49.
AGNES
...Two of you standing at my
deathbed...I always thought they
would be my children..it turns out
to be you...
MIDWIFE
This baby is coming! We need to get
her up off that bed!
They haul her to the stool. Agnes is weak and delirious.
AGNES
I cannot...I should never...I got
it wrong...He’s not here...I
cannot..
MARY
You can. And you will.
(cups Agnes’s face)
Your husband was born here. In this
room. He took his first breath
here, near this window.
AGNES
(moved in tears)
Please, please, let this child
live. Let him come back and be with
his children...Let him think kindly
of me...
MARY
What is it, dear?
AGNES
(remembering)
Mama...mama...
Genres:
["Drama","Historical","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
26 -
A Mother's Farewell
49 INT. HEWLANDS - DINING ROOM - NIGHT 17 YEARS AGO 49
Young Agnes (9) peaks into the dark room and sees -
Like a gothic painting, in the middle of the room, Rowan is
lying on a blood soaked bed, lifeless, her belly still
swollen. She has died in childbirth.
A MIDWIFE is placing the tiny pod of the stillborn child,
wrapped in a red baby blanket, into Rowan’s arms.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 50.
THREE VILLAGE WOMEN are in the shadowy corner, all looking
away, their heads covered. A younger Joan is amongst them.
They whisper to each other.
VILLAGE WOMEN
There was nothing to be
done...Midwife did her best to save
her...We all did...Tried to turn
the baby, again and again...That is
the way of it sometimes...Poor
woman, got weaker and weaker...She
knew it was coming, she knew her
end was nigh...Nothing to be done..
A PRIEST wearing long robes is swinging a burning bowl over
Rowan’s body, muttering a prayer. Richard sits by the window,
devastated, head down.
Agnes’s eyes are wide, like a crazed animal. Her gaze doesn’t
waver from her mother.
The priest speaks to Richard. His voice is low but Agnes can
hear pieces.
PRIEST (ON AND OFF SCREEN)
Best not speak of her to the
children...They are safer with a
different mother...So young...They
may not remember her, in time...
Rowan is wrapped in a white sheet, her face covered last.
AGNES
No! Stop!
Agnes runs to her mother. She needs to see her face. She
needs to remember her.
Joan holds onto Agnes, with the help of the other two women.
AGNES (CONT’D)
No! Let me see her! Let me see her!
Agnes kicks and screams but the adults are stronger. They
pull her back into the dark passageway -
50 OMITTED 50
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 51.
Genres:
["Drama","Tragedy"]
Ratings
Scene
27 -
A Birth of Hope
51 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM -PRESENT DAY 51
The pains come without interval, on and on. Agnes, like a
swimmer going under, cannot catch her breath. Her screams, by
the end are ragged, hoarse, desperate.
Mary holds her, her own face wet with tears.
Finally the midwife pulls A TINY BABY out.
MIDWIFE
It’s a girl. She’s...
Her voice trails when she realizes the child is LIFELESS.
AGNES
...Why isn’t she crying?
The midwife slaps the baby’s bottom, once, twice. Nothing.
MARY
She lives not.
AGNES
Let me have her...
MIDWIFE
It’s bad luck, you should not look
upon it.
AGNES
Give her to me.
MIDWIFE
I will make sure it gets a decent
burial -
AGNES
Give my child to me!
Mary nods. The midwife hands the lifeless baby to Agnes.
Agnes looks at her lifeless child. She will not look away.
MARY
The girl’s gone to heaven, Agnes.
You have a baby boy. Let me bring
him to you and you may feed him.
AGNES
...She has not gone to heaven. I
made a vow the night my mother
died. I will go to your church but
I shan’t say a word there.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 52.
She looks down at the baby in her arms. She remembers the
pain, the confusion, but also the power and clarity.
Then, suddenly, a thin cry. Mary and the midwife rush over.
Agnes smiles through her tears. The baby girl has come back
to life, drawing in air.
FADE TO:
52 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - MORNING TIME PASSING 52
Music...A woman’s body after having given birth.
Camera sees her as it sees the forest. Stretch marks that
look like lightening bolts across her hips, on the side of
her breasts. Skin folds around her belly like the beautiful
wrinkles of a tree that document the passage of time. A thin
line of hair growing from her belly to her breasts.
Every tear, every scar, every bruise, every patch of redded,
flushed, broken, marked skin, all beautiful, all natural -
this is a body written upon by the power of creation.
FADE OUT.
Genres:
["Drama","Tragedy"]
Ratings
Scene
28 -
Whispers and Disguises
53 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - MORNING 11 YEARS LATER 53
A Latin lesson board, a school bag, small quills and rolls of
paper scattered on the floor.
The baby blanket from the twin’s birth on a pallet bed by the
wedding bed.
TWO CHILDREN are whispering to each other by the window.
They are JUDITH and HAMNET (11), Agnes and Will’s twins. We
can’t hear what they say, their breaths carry their secrets,
moving between them.
They switch their clothes, hats and shoes. Hamnet helps
Judith to pin her long hair up to hide under his hat. They
look at each other, giggling - they have become each other.
JUDITH
Good day to you, Judith.
HAMNET
Good day, Hamnet.
54 OMITTED 54
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 53.
55 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - DAY 55
The twins run down the stairs through the dining room.
MARY
There will be no running in this
house. Conduct yourselves please
like gentlemen and gentlewomen -
Genres:
["Drama","Family"]
Ratings
Scene
29 -
A Playful Deception
56A INT. HENLEY HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY 56A
They run into the kitchen, almost crashing into their older
sister SUSANNA, who is doing chores.
JUDITH
Sorry, Susanna!
They go to their mother who is drying apples. She looks at
them, smiles knowingly.
Judith puts her finger on Agnes’s lips - our secret.
HAMNET
(looks down the
passageway)
Father is back!
The twins hurry to sit down and begin to peel apples in
perfect unison.
Susanna shakes her head at them, whispering to Agnes.
SUSANNA
We all know they’ve swapped
clothes. How long are we going to
pretend we don’t?
AGNES
We shall pretend for as long as
they still think they are the same -
Will walks into the kitchen. He is older, well dressed,
living the life he needed. He has found what he was looking
for in London. He leans against the door, watching them.
Hamnet and Judith, still dressed as each other, see him and
both sit up straighter.
Will and Agnes give each other a look, hiding their smiles.
Will walks up to the twins, pretending to frown.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 54.
JUDITH AS HAMNET
Father?
WILL
Hmm?
JUDITH AS HAMNET
Will you help me with the Greek
passage from yesterday’s lesson?
WILL
I thought you’d learned it?
JUDITH AS HAMNET
I didn’t...because I left my primer
at school.
WILL
Hamnet. You need to take your
studies seriously. How can you -
HAMNET AS JUDITH (IN GREEK)
Let me not then die ingloriously
and without struggle -
Will gasps, pretending to be surprised.
HAMNET AS JUDITH (IN GREEK) (CONT’D)
- But let me first do some great
thing that shall be told among men
hereafter.
WILL
You fiends! You rascals!
JUDITH/HAMNET
Did we trick you?!
WILL
Of course you did! Swap places to
hoodwink me again!
Will hugs them both. The twins giggle and shriek. Susanna
looks up from her work and rolls her eyes.
WILL (CONT’D)
Hamnet and Judith. The same brow,
the same lips, identical eyes. And
remember, always remember, you have
shared a life together that began
before anything else. Come here,
Susanna.
Will waves Susanna over. He and the children whisper.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 55.
Agnes watches them, curious.
Genres:
["Drama","Family"]
Ratings
Scene
30 -
A Playful Surprise in the Garden
56B EXT. HENLEY HOUSE - GARDEN - DAY 56B
Agnes walks out of the back door. Her eyes are covered by
Will who follows behind.
WILL
One more step. Here. Stop. Ready?
AGNES
(laughs)
What is it?
He lowers his hands. She adjusts her eyes to the light -
Her three children are decorated with sheets, sticks, random
objects from the house - their endearing attempts to dress
like witches. They are acting out some lines their father has
been writing. This is something they clearly often do in the
family where Will “rehearses” his ideas with his children and
they all love it.
Hamnet walks towards Agnes from the left side of the garden.
HAMNET
When shall we three meet again? In
thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Judith walks towards Agnes from the right side of the garden.
JUDITH
When the hurly-burly’s done, when
the battle’s lost and won.
Susanna walks towards Agnes down the middle of the garden.
SUSANNA
That will be ere the set of sun.
HAMNET
Where the place?
JUDITH
Upon the heath.
SUSANNA
There to meet with Agnes.
HAMNET
I come, Graymalkin!
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 56.
JUDITH
Paddock calls.
SUSANNA
Anon!
They gather together, whispering, like one unit.
HAMNET/JUDITH/SUSANNA
Fair is foul, and foul is fair,
fair is foul, and foul is fair,
fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy
air!
The children give a big finish, happy with themselves.
Agnes bursts out laughing. She and Will give the children a
round of enthusiastic applause.
Later, Will is teaching Hamnet how to do a play sword fight.
Agnes and the girls are working in the herb garden. She is
showing them how to xx. She gives them her hands, stained
with herbs. They lean in to smell her palms, like Agnes once
did with Rowan.
Then, a change in the air catches her attention. She looks
around, concerned.
SUSANNA
Mama?
Agnes is suddenly short of breath. She puts her hand on her
tight chest. She looks up at the sky. Something is amiss...
Genres:
["Drama","Family","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
31 -
A Farewell and a New Beginning
57A EXT. FOREST - ANCIENT TREE - THE NEXT DAY 57A
Agnes’s hawk, lifeless, lies in a hole in the ground,
surrounded by branches, herbs and flowers. A small burial.
Agnes puts the glove Will made for her into the earth next to
the hawk. Her fingers stroke its feathers.
AGNES
Good night, sweet friend.
HAMNET/JUDITH
Good night. Good night.
Will covers the hole with dirt. Agnes, Susanna, Hamnet and
Judith take LILY OF THE VALLEY BULBS from a basket, planting
them into the soil above the hawk, a sweet offering.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 57.
57B EXT. FOREST - LIGHT PATH - DAY 57B
The family walk in a line down the path covered with tall
plants. They sing together a song named ‘Robin is to the
Greenwood Gone’.
FAMILY
My bonny Robin to the greenwood
will go, where the oak and the ash
and the briars do grow. How will my
love fare as the darkness falls,
there within those tangled walls?
Agnes braids a flower crown. Susanna and Judith already each
wears one. Hamnet tickles Susanna with a long stemmed plant.
She takes it off of him playfully.
FAMILY (CONT’D)
The greenwood is near and the
greenwood is far, and many a danger
befalls men there. I pray that
those trees will return my boy, for
sweet bonny Robin is all my joy.
Agnes places the finished flower crown on Hamnet.
FAMILY (CONT’D)
I pray that those trees will return
my boy, for sweet bonny Robin is
all my joy...
Genres:
["Drama","Family","Historical"]
Ratings
Scene
32 -
A Meadow of Secrets
58 EXT. EDGE OF FOREST - DAY 58
They leave the forest through a bed of tall ferns. Agnes and
the kids run ahead into the meadow, playing catch.
Will falls behind watching them. He grows wary.
Hamnet notices and goes back to him.
HAMNET
Is all well, father?
Will puts a hand on Hamnet’s shoulder.
WILL
Yes...Listen, I want you to stay
away from your grandfather. He’ll
not hit your sisters but it’s you I
worry for. I need to know you’ll be
safe when I’m not here.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 58.
HAMNET
Are you going back to London again?
WILL
Tomorrow.
HAMNET
Tomorrow...Will we go with you this
time?
WILL
No. Not yet.
Hamnet nods, hiding his sadness. He turns to go.
WILL (CONT’D)
I’ll miss you, my boy.
Hamnet looks back at his father - the older man is frowning
deeply, eyes lowered.
WILL (CONT’D)
But I have to go. I have to.
HAMNET
I know, father.
Will looks up at his son.
HAMNET (CONT’D)
I understand.
Will is surprised by the tone in Hamnet’s voice. The boy
suddenly seems older.
WILL
You know everything, don’t you?
Hamnet smiles shyly. Will messes up the boy’s hair.
WILL (CONT’D)
That’s good. Because I need you to
look after your mother and your
sisters.
Hamnet nods, standing up straighter.
WILL (CONT’D)
Will you be brave?
HAMNET
Yes.
Will scoops Hamnet into his arms and swings him around.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 59.
WILL
Will you be brave?!
HAMNET
Yes!
WILL
I can’t hear you -
HAMNET
Brave! I’ll be brave!!
Laughters. Hamnet wraps his arm around his father’s big
shoulders, smiling wide.
WILL
Good boy.
Will puts Hamnet down and messes up his hair.
HAMNET
Father. Will you bring something
back from London?
WILL
Anything you want.
The boy feels shy to ask. Will knees down and presses their
foreheads together.
WILL (CONT’D)
Tell me.
Hamnet leans in and whispers something into his father’s ear.
Will listens, considers, smiles and nods - you got it. We
would never know the words the boy said to his father - a
secret between them forever.
Genres:
["Drama","Family"]
Ratings
Scene
33 -
Dreams Deferred
59 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT 59
Agnes and Will are sitting by the small fire. The silence of
the night is loud. They’ve been together for 13 years now. So
much is sad and unsaid in that time.
WILL
I’ve looked at houses, you know,
for us in London. I’ve seen myself
taking Susanna on my shoulders to
look at the river, when she was
still small enough to sit on my
shoulders...I’d show her houses,
boats, bears, palaces.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 60.
AGNES
Autumn is coming and children fall
ill...
WILL
I see a kitchen with two candles.
My wife bending over the fire. A
yard where she keep hens and
rabbits. The five of us, maybe more
in time. Some nights when I’m in
bed alone I can almost smell it,
the beeswax on the table surface,
the curdled-milk smell of our
babies, the starch of the laundry.
You, humming to yourself as you
work. I’ll sit at the hearth,
surrounded by family...
AGNES
(feeling guilty)
You know Judith is still not strong
enough. Her skin will flush with
rashes in a city. And her chest is
often congested. What if she...We
will go to London one day -
WILL
No, you won’t. You’ll never come.
You’ve waited for the heat of the
summer to pass, the dryness of
autumn to be gone, the snow, the
cold, the wetness of the spring...
You do not believe Judith will ever
survive London and you’d do
anything to keep that child alive.
AGNES
Is that not what a mother is
supposed to do?
WILL
Of course it is. So, I’ve decided
to spend the money I’ve saved, not
in a house in London, but here, on
some land outside Stratford. And
that’s where you shall live with
the children.
She is surprised and relieved. She is grateful to him.
AGNES
Thank you...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 61.
She reaches over and holds his hand for a moment before
letting go.
He closes his eyes, finally giving up the dream of a life in
London with his family.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
34 -
A Morning of Farewell and Imagination
60 EXT. HENLEY HOUSE - EARLY MORNING 60
Will is leaving. The children cling to him.
He watches them walking down the street, Hamnet walking
backwards waving, until they disappear into the doorway.
He stands there staring at the empty street, unable to move
for a moment before finally turning and walking away.
61 EXT. HENLEY HOUSE - GARDEN - LATER 61
Agnes finds Hamnet alone in the garden. The boy is playing
with his wooden sword. He looks so sad and alone.
AGNES
Hamnet?
Agnes goes to him. He tries to hold back tears.
AGNES (CONT’D)
I’m sorry, Hamnet...
She pulls him into her arms. He starts to cry, embarrassed.
She takes his small hand and gently presses at the skin
between thumb and fingers.
HAMNET
What do you see?
Hamnet looks at her, sniffling, curious.
AGNES
Hmm...you, grown, tall and very
strong. You are in London, working
with your father.
HAMNET
Really? In the theatre?
AGNES
Yes. At the playhouse.
HAMNET
What will I be doing?
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 62.
AGNES
What do you wish to do, Hamnet?
HAMNET
I wish...I would like to be one of
the players with...a sword!
AGNES
A sword?
HAMNET
Yes, and I will clash it against
the sword of the other player.
AGNES
Show me.
HAMNET
(acts it out)
Like so, and like so, and there
will be a terrible fight and
everyone watching will be
frightened out of their wits.
AGNES
And who will win?
HAMNET
I shall, of course!
Agnes smiles, watching Hamnet playing out a fencing match
against an invisible opponent.
Genres:
["Drama","Family"]
Ratings
Scene
35 -
Echoes of Despair
62 EXT. LONDON - RIVER THAMES - AFTERNOON TWO WEEKS LATER 62
The fast flowing water of river Thames.
Will eats a pie, watching the water, restless. There are
tents near by. TRAVELERS and LOCALS hiding from the plague.
He throws the rest of the pie to a homeless dog anxiously
waiting near by and walks off.
63 EXT. LONDON - CHARTERHOUSE - ROAD - EVENING 63
He walks through a narrow, busy road towards his apartment.
He tries to silence the noises from people, animals and
machines, putting them into a rhythm that’s comfortable to
him. The heart beat. Turning it into something pleasant.
A loud noise and clamor cuts through the rhythm. He stops.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 63.
Bedding is being thrown out of an upper window and hurled on
to a fire in a small yard.
WATCHMEN WEARING BIRD SHAPED PLAGUE MASKS hammering boards
over the door and windows of the house. The people inside are
wailing and imploring.
Through the flames, a corpse being wheeled away on a death-
cart by TWO WATCHMEN.
Will hurries through the small yard into a dark archway.
Through the dark archway he arrives at -
Genres:
["Drama","Historical","Family"]
Ratings
Scene
36 -
The Puppet Master's Gaze
64 EXT. LONDON - CHARTERHOUSE - COURTYARD - EVENING 64
This is the courtyard where his apartment is located. Four
tall walls. Small windows. Stone ground. One singular tree in
the middle, a dot of green in a world of grey.
A GROUP OF TRAVELERS has settled in one corner of the
courtyard. Tents, a bonfire, pots steaming on metal stands.
A SHADOW PUPPET SHOW is starting in front of the lone tree,
drawing other TRAVELERS and RESIDENTS to gather. The PUPPET
MASTER wears a colorfully painted version of a plague mask.
TWO MASKED MUSICIANS are playing the flute and hand drum.
Will feels unease but joins the crowd to watch.
The shadow puppet show: a boy is on a docked ship with an
evil-looking CAPTAIN. The captain kicks the boy so that he
falls down the gangplank.
CROWD
Boo!
An old man with a crooked back approaches. He has a monkey on
a chain. The boy doesn’t see them at first.
CROWD (CONT’D)
Look behind you!
The monkey scratches himself and sneezes. The music is
playful now. The boy is thrilled to see the monkey. He tries
to pet it but it draws back in fear. The boy holds out a
gentle hand and slowly the monkey takes it.
The boy puts out his arms and the monkey climbs into them.
They embrace. The monkey then climbs on the boy’s head,
scratching. The boy claps his hands, happy.
The old man turns and pulls the chain hard. The monkey falls
to the ground, reaching for the boy as if asking to be saved.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 64.
The boy tries to grab the monkey back, but the old man pulls
it away roughly. The monkey hobbles off with its master.
CROWD (CONT’D)
Boo! No!
The ship is out in the ocean now and the captain is at the
wheel, scratching himself, sneezing, just as the monkey did.
He then falls ill, shaking and trembling.
The angel of death floats down and touches him. The boy
pushes his body into the waves.
Some of the crowd cheers. Others look worried.
The boy is home now, embracing his family. The fiddler’s tune
turns sad and dramatic.
The family begins to scratch and then sneeze. They all fall
ill, trembling. The angel of death appears again, touching
them - they are all given wings as they ascend to heaven.
The boy is left alone, sitting on a chair. The ghost of the
monkey, also with wings, flies across the sky above him but
the boy is unaware.
The crowd is puzzled and disconcerted by this tragic ending.
Will, in contrast, is mesmerized. He sees the puppet master
staring at him, through the dark holes in his plague mask...
Genres:
["Drama","Historical","Family"]
Ratings
Scene
37 -
Ominous Signs
65 EXT. HEWLANDS - GARDEN - DAY 65
A SWARM OF BEES are massing in the orchard - a blackish stain
spread that vibrates and quivers with outrage.
Agnes is eyeing the swarm. Bartholomew at a distance.
AGNES
Something has upset them.
BARTHOLOMEW
What could it be?
AGNES
The weather, a change in the air
perhaps. Better tell Joan to keep
the children inside.
Bartholomew nods and heads for the house.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 65.
Agnes suddenly feels restless. She ponders this feeling and
tells herself not to be foolish. A bee lands on her cheek.
She fans it away.
66 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - DAY 66
Hamnet climbs into the attic, dropping everything on the
floor - bag, cap, jerkin.
HAMNET
Jude!
He sits next to Judith who is asleep on the bed, holding onto
his baby blanket.
HAMNET (CONT’D)
Wake up. The baker told me her cat
had kittens. Shall we go and see?
Judith opens her eyes and stares at her brother as if from a
great distance.
HAMNET (CONT’D)
Jude?
JUDITH
I’m sleeping...
He closes his fingers about hers, his bigger, wider, grimier.
HAMNET
You are warm.
She stirs. Her chin lifts, revealing A SWELLING at the base.
Hamnet stares at it. His trembling fingers lift up the cover -
there is another where her shoulder meets her neck.
A pair of quail’s eggs, under her skin. Pale, ovoid, nestled
there, as if waiting to be hatched.
67 OMITTED 67
68 OMITTED 68
69 OMITTED 69
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 66.
Genres:
["Drama","Historical"]
Ratings
Scene
38 -
A Mother's Despair
70 EXT. HENLEY HOUSE - DAY 70
Agnes appears through misty rain.
71 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY 71
She enters, unloading a bundle of rosemary, a jar of honey, a
hunk of beeswax.
HAMLET (O.S.)
Mama.
She turns to see Hamnet walking in, pale and troubled.
AGNES
What is it? What’s happened?
HAMNET
Judith...
It’s all Agnes needs to hear. She drops everything and rushes
towards the attic.
72 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - DAY 72
Judith’s eyes are shut. Agnes loosens Judith’s shift, and
sees the buboes.
AGNES
How long has she been like this?
HAMNET
Since I returned from school.
Agnes checks Judith’s fingertips and her feet.
HAMNET (CONT’D)
She’s got...it. Hasn’t she? She’s
got...the pestilence, hasn’t she?
Mama?
Agnes feels a great thud in her chest, an animal hurling
itself against its cage of bones.
AGNES
Go and find Grandmama. She’s in the
cookhouse. Bid her come. Now!
73 OMITTED 73
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 67.
Genres:
["Drama","Historical"]
Ratings
Scene
39 -
Desperate Vigil
74A INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - EVENING 74A
Fire is blazing in the fireplace.
Mary is working the bellows. Susanna hands her wood.
Eliza is rushing around the room to light all the candles to
bring more warmth.
Judith is lying on a rush mattress in front of the fire,
wrapped in blankets. She is noticeably worse.
Agnes spoons medicine into Judith’s mouth, trying to get the
girl to swallow tinctures and tisanes.
She murmurs some words to her daughter, something soft and
soothing.
Judith intermittently convulses. The bubo in her neck is so
large, it may burst.
Hamnet watches. Holding onto Judith’s hand. He wants to help,
but there is nothing he can do. He is too small, too young...
74B INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - NIGHT 74B
Time has passed. The night falls.
Agnes is sitting on the floor by the pallet, next to Judith,
a cloth in her hand, her cheeks have scarlet spots from the
heat of the fire. She has been there for hours but Judith
isn’t getting better. She dips the cloth into the bowl of
water and wipes Judith’s brow, her arms, her neck.
Mary brings her some water but Agnes won’t drink.
MARY
Agnes, you have done all that you
can.
AGNES
It cannot be...I will not have
it...I will not let Judith cross
over...
Mary mutters a string of words under her breath, a prayer of
sorts. She watches Agnes gripping Judith’s limp fingers, as
if trying to tether her to life.
She knows this urge. She feels it. She has been the mother by
the pallet too many times.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 68.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
40 -
The Fragility of Life
75 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT 75
Mary enters and finds Eliza at the table, her head bowed as
if she is praying and Susanna pacing like her father.
Susanna stops when she sees Mary’s expression. Eliza looks
up.
MARY
Eliza. Go write to him.
Eliza knows what this means and hurries away.
SUSANNA
Has she...
MARY
Not yet. But her fever has not
broken...We have done everything we
can. She is not getting better.
SUSANNA
Will she die?
Mary’s silence is the answer.
SUSANNA (CONT’D)
How much longer?
MARY
It may be tonight. Nighttime is the
most dangerous for the sick.
Susanna does not allow herself to break down. She looks
around for more things to do.
SUSANNA
Then we shall prepare for her...we
need to...we need to wash her body.
We need a comb, a comb, to brush
out her plait..
She is taking up a pitcher, a cloth, a plate, anything. Then,
a thought creeps into her mind and she stops.
She looks over at Mary, who sits by the window, quietly
wiping her eyes.
SUSANNA (CONT’D)
Grandmama? You had three daughters
who were taken. Were they...did
they...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 69.
MARY
Anne was seven. The other two were
just babies. They all had fever and
swellings like Judith...
Susanna comes over and puts her hand on Mary’s shoulder.
MARY (CONT’D)
Your mother is trying to keep a
grip on her child. It will not
work. What is given may be taken
away, at anytime. We can never let
down our guard. Never take for
granted that our children’s hearts
beat, that they draw breath, that
they walk and speak and smile and
argue and play...Never for a moment
forget they may be gone...
Genres:
["Drama","Historical"]
Ratings
Scene
41 -
A Sacrifice at Dawn
76 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - DAWN 76
Hamnet drifts to the surface of sleep. He lies for a while,
wondering why nothing feels right, why he feels so dry of
mouth, so heavy of heart, so sore in the head.
HAMNET
Jude...
He suddenly remembers and lurches upright, pulling the
bedclothes with him.
His head, his eyes, his whole body is in pain. He crawls from
the bed, dragging the sheet with him.
He has to find his sister.
77 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - DAWN 77
The room is dim with the new light of the day from the
window, thin and pale as milk. The fire is reduced to a heap
of idling ashes. The candles have burnt out, drowned in pools
of themselves.
Hamnet makes his way down the stairs, which seem to sway in
front of him, one step at a time. He has to turn to face the
wall because everything around him is in motion.
He makes his way to Judith. He sees his mother bent forward,
her head on the pallet, asleep, a cloth gripped in her hand.
And Judith is looking right at him.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 70.
HAMNET
Jude...
He realizes his voice doesn’t seem to be working. It rasps
and prickles. He drops to his knees and crawls to reach her.
Her eyes glitter with a strange and silver light. She is
dying. He can see this. He finds Judith’s hand, their fingers
twine together.
He sees Judith’s eyes roll back in her head, once, twice.
Then they open wide and slide towards him with great effort.
Her lips curve upwards in what might be a smile.
JUDITH
(whispers)
Don’t cry, Hamnet.
Tears fall down his face.
JUDITH (CONT’D)
You shall be well.
HAMNET
I shall not. Not without you.
It is then, Hamnet sees it - DEATH - it’s in the room -
hovering in the corner near the ceiling, a void, an ever-
watching void...
HAMNET (CONT’D)
It’s here...Do you see it, Jude?
Judith is too weak to turn her head.
HAMNET (CONT’D)
It’s watching us...I’ll tell it to
take us both. We’ll go together.
JUDITH
No. You’ll stay. They need you.
HAMNET
Not without you...
Suddenly, an idea strikes Hamnet. He glances up at the tunnel
of dark beneath the ceiling. The blackness is depthless,
soft, absolute.
HAMNET (CONT’D)
(to the darkness)
Turn away. Close your eyes. Just
for a moment. Turn away...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 71.
He gently moves Judith sideways, towards the fireplace. She
watches, still gripping onto his baby blanket as Hamnet lays
himself down in the dip her body has made, as he takes her
place, as he pulls the sheet up over both of them.
JUDITH
Hamnet...
HAMNET
Don’t make a sound. It’ll make a
mistake. It can’t tell us apart.
JUDITH
No...
Judith shakes her head. Hamnet smiles at her, holding the
sheet fast, stopping her from rising.
HAMNET
You will stay, Jude. And I will go.
He breathes these words into her, determined.
HAMNET (CONT’D)
Breath with me. Breath with me,
Judith.
They begin to breath together, both slowly calming down.
JUDITH
Hamnet...
HAMNET
This is my life. I give it to you.
I give it to you, Judith.
Judith seems to have drifted off.
HAMNET (CONT’D)
(whispers to himself)
Take me. Take me...
The void remains at the ceiling, watching, waiting.
Hamnet squeezes his eyes shut, imagining being in his
father’s arms, safe, loved.
HAMNET (CONT’D)
I’ll be brave. I’ll be brave...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 72.
Genres:
["Drama","Tragedy"]
Ratings
Scene
42 -
Yearning in the Dawn
78 EXT. ROAD - DAWN 78
An empty road in the field. Will is riding a horse as fast as
he can in the dusky light.
He arrives at a makeshift livery, jumps off the horse and
hands it to a LIVERY WORKER.
WILL
Fast as you can!
He steps into the field, catching his breath. He’s shaken,
holding back tears and rage. Something catches his attention.
He looks up -
The silhouette of a hawk is circling the sky, as if watching
over him...
79 INT. GLOBE THEATRE - FOREVER DAWN 79
Hamnet is looking up at the sky -
A hawk is circling. But this sky is different from his
father’s. It’s cloudy. Its bottom edge is framed by a half
circle, like a dark moon.
And unlike his father, Hamnet is in what appears to be an
ancient forest, in thick fog. This place is not real, not
yet, not in ways we understand.
This is the Globe Theatre before it was built.
Hamnet walks around in this strange place with wonder. He
stops when a singular tree appears in front of him, standing
alone in the fog.
He suddenly feels a strong yearning to see his mother -
Genres:
["Drama","Historical","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
43 -
The Shifting Fates of the Twins
80 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - DAWN 80
Agnes’s head jerks up, her lips in the middle of forming a
word. She looks down at herself, disorientated. Then, it
comes to her in a rush.
She lifts the sheet. There is someone on the pallet with
Judith - it’s Hamnet. Two of them, curled up together.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 73.
She checks on Judith. Her fever seems to have lowered. She
gently wakes Hamnet next to his sister.
AGNES
Hamnet...You shouldn’t be down
here. Hamnet?
She turns the boy over - his skin is so pale it is colorless.
His eyelids are half open, with the eyes rolled up under the
lids. His lips, white and cracked, are open and he is taking
tiny half-sips of air.
She stares at the twins. One is very sick, about to die. The
other looks healthy, recovering. Except they have switched
places with each other.
At that moment, as if feeling the cold air, Judith opens her
eyes. She looks pallid but her eyes are alert.
JUDITH
Hamnet...
81 INT. GLOBE THEATRE - FOREVER DAWN 81
Hamnet feels tired. The green branches of the lone tree offer
a nice shelter.
He gives in and lowers himself down on the ground, under the
tree. He closes his eyes, just for a moment. He’s not going
to sleep. He will carry on. He will be brave.
He opens his eyes again, to reassure himself the world and
the green canopy above is still there, and then lets them
close. Just for now...
Genres:
["Drama","Historical"]
Ratings
Scene
44 -
Desperate Measures
82 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - MORNING 82
Death is violent. Death is a struggle. The body clings to
life, as ivy to a wall and will not easily let go.
Hamnet’s body writhes, twists, buckles and strains.
Agnes tries to feed him rosemary and mint jelly but he won’t
eat at all.
Eliza is feeding Judith some broth at the other end of the
room. Judith is still weak but she is now taking food.
Agnes tries to apply the poultice to Hamnet’s swellings but
he is trembling so much the mixture will not stay in place.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 74.
Agnes panics. She has tried everything. She tries to think of
something else.
AGNES
Go and get the stone. There is a
stone by his bed with a hole! I
must place it under his pillow.
Bring it to me!
Susanna hurries off to fetch the stone.
AGNES (CONT’D)
And...salt, yes, salt, we must
place salt in his bed...
(to Mary, desperate)
We need salt.
Mary shakes her head but goes to the kitchen.
Agnes swabs Hamnet’s brow, his limbs, with damp cloths.
AGNES (CONT’D)
You shall feel better soon, my boy.
I promise you. You shall be well
soon...
Mary comes in with salt and Agnes starts to pack the bed with
it. Susanna comes in with the stone and Agnes places it under
Hamnet’s pillow.
She finds some herbs and feathers from the useless remedies
scattered all around them and places them on Hamnet’s chest.
She lifts his hand - her eyes widen, her heart sinks - it is
blue-grey along its side. She presses it to her cheek -
Suddenly, his shaking gets worse. Everyone takes notice.
Mary is kneeling at the end of the pallet. She holds onto his
ankles. She knows this moment too well.
MARY
Eliza. Take Judith upstairs and
stay with her.
Eliza scoops Judith in her arms and takes her out of the
room. Judith kicks against the clutches of her aunt.
JUDITH
No. Let me stay with him! He needs
me! He needs me! I must speak to
him!
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 75.
Susanna watches her brother, convulsing, her mother fussing
around with her useless paste and bandages.
Agnes holds onto Hamnet and tries to keep him still, tries to
keep him here.
AGNES
Please, please, Hamnet, please,
don’t leave us, don’t go, stay,
stay my boy, please, please stay -
SUSANNA
Stop! Enough! Let him alone!
Susanna presses her fierce fists to her eyes. She can’t look
anymore.
SUSANNA (CONT’D)
Can you not see it’s too late for
that?!
Then, all at once, Hamnet stops shaking and a great
soundlessness falls over the room. His body is suddenly
motionless, his gaze focused on something far above him.
Agnes is holding on to him, her cheek pressed to his. She
listens...
Hamnet draws in his last breath, he lets it out. Then there
is silence, stillness. Nothing more.
Genres:
["Drama","Tragedy"]
Ratings
Scene
45 -
A Mother's Grief
83 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - DAY 83
Cloths are draped over the panes, dimming the room.
The silence is slowly broken by small bubbles of sound.
A BREEZE threads through the room, stirring the air, toying
with drapes, mantel-cloth, dust.
The room has been cleaned up. Eliza and Susanna are preparing
- white sheets, strong thread, sharp needles, bowls of warm
water and clothes.
THREE VILLAGE WOMEN are trying to convince Mary to let them
help. Mary listens, trying to stay patient.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 76.
VILLAGE WOMEN
We will help with the laying
out...We asked but she won’t let
us...But the boy must be prepared
for burial...There is no time to
lose...The town decrees that any
who die of the pestilence must be
buried quickly, within a day...Is
she not aware of the ruling?
MARY
She is aware.
Like a painting, Agnes is curved over and the nape of her
neck exposed.
Before her is the body of her child, resting on a door lifted
from its hinges and placed on two barrels.
She grips his hand in hers. The heat from her own skin is
giving itself to his. She must grip the hand tighter. She
must keep her hand on his hair, which feels as it always did:
silken, soft, ragged at the ends.
Her fingers press into the muscle between her son’s thumb and
forefinger. She kneads the muscle there, gently, in a
circular motion, and waits, listens, concentrates. She is
like her hawk, reading the air, listening out, waiting for a
signal, a sound.
Nothing comes. Nothing at all.
Hamnet’s hand is silent. Agnes listens. She strains. She
tries to hear what might be under the silence, behind it.
Could there be a distant murmur, some sound, a message,
perhaps from her son? A SIGN OF WHERE HE IS, A PLACE SHE
MIGHT FIND HIM?
Someone has arrived next to her. She doesn’t need to look to
know it’s Bartholomew. The breadth and weight of that hand on
her shoulder.
BARTHOLOMEW
Agnes.
She holds herself very still.
BARTHOLOMEW (CONT’D)
Agnes. We must lay him out.
The women are here, to help you.
Agnes shakes her head, mute.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 77.
BARTHOLOMEW (CONT’D)
We must prepare him. He must be
buried. The town will come to take
him if we do not.
AGNES
No. Not yet.
BARTHOLOMEW
(lowers his voice)
Agnes. It’s possible that word may
not have reached him. He would
come, if he knew. I know he would.
But he would not find it amiss if
we were to go ahead -
AGNES
We will wait. Until tomorrow. You
may tell the town that. And I will
lay him out. No one else.
BARTHOLOMEW
Very well.
He can barely look at Hamnet’s body. He turns to go, to be of
service. But he feels a pressure. He looks down, Agnes has
reached out for his hand, holding the joint by his own scar.
AGNES
You tried to warn me. I should have
seen it coming...
84 EXT. HENLEY HOUSE - BACKYARD - MORNING 84
A morning drizzle. Bartholomew burns the bedding, the
mattress and the linens in a fire.
He looks at Hamnet’s baby blanket in his hand for a moment
and gently places it into the fire.
Genres:
["Drama","Historical"]
Ratings
Scene
46 -
A Night of Grief and Connection
85 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - NIGHT 85
Agnes wets her hands in a bowl and draws her fingers through
Hamnet’s hair.
She wipes his closed eyes, his cheeks, his lips.
Mary walks in. Agnes is alarmed by the intrusion.
Mary’s face is wet, her eyes swollen.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 78.
MARY
I saw the light. I was not
sleeping.
Agnes softens and nods. Mary comes in to join her.
Agnes dips the cloth, washes and dips it again. She washes
his legs, his ankles, his feet and dries them.
Mary changes the water.
Mary picks up a folded sheet, holding a corner in each hand.
The sheet unravels and Agnes is faced with its startling
white expanse. She takes it, pressing her face to it.
MARY (CONT’D)
I washed it, with juniper, cedar
and lavender soap.
A little surprised, Agnes looks at Mary for a moment. Then,
she helps Mary to lift Hamnet’s legs and then his torso, to
slide the sheet under him.
Mary goes to the kitchen as Agnes continues to carefully fold
Hamnet in. She returns with rue, comfrey, chamomile,
lavender, thyme and a handful of rosemary.
She brings them to Agnes. Agnes stares at her, more confusion
grows. The sight of Mary carrying bundles of herbs is strange
but also strangely fitting.
MARY (CONT’D)
Let’s see. No heartsease. Hamnet
dislikes the smell. No angelica
since...it didn’t save him. And no
milk thistle. Too spiny and sharp.
She tucks the dried plants into the sheet, nestling them next
to his body. She meets Agnes’s wide eyes.
MARY (CONT’D)
...I knew your mother. Not well.
But...sometimes when my children
were ill and the physician could no
longer help, I’d go to her. She
would at least have something to
ease their sufferings.
Mary stops for a moment. Her hand rests onto the middle of
Hamnet’s chest, where his heart once beat.
MARY (CONT’D)
She had more kindness in her than
anyone in this town.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 79.
Agnes lets her tears fall.
MARY (CONT’D)
I was afraid when you chose my son.
I was afraid for us all...
Mary hands a needle to Agnes.
MARY (CONT’D)
You can do this. You must.
Agnes takes the needle, grateful. In this moment, Mary is a
mother to her. A very different mother but a mother
nevertheless.
Agnes threads the sheet with thick twine, beginning at the
feet, drawing together the sheet to make a shroud. Like a
sailor, stitching a sail to prepare a boat that will carry
her son to the next world.
Something makes her look up. Her heart clenches like a fist -
Judith is standing by the stairs. The same face, but this one
is alive, trembling.
MARY (CONT’D)
(rushes over)
Back to bed, now, you must rest.
AGNES
No, let her stay.
Judith runs to Agnes and hurls herself against her mother.
JUDITH
It is my fault, mama. It is my
fault.
AGNES
It is no fault of yours, Judith.
JUDITH
But he changed places with me. He
tricked it.
AGNES
He tricked what?
JUDITH
Death. Hamnet saw it coming for me
and he tricked it. It took him when
it came for me.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 80.
MARY
Do not ever speak those words to
anyone else, Judith. The fever came
for your brother and took him -
AGNES
Do you want to see him?
Judith nods, timid. Agnes brings her closer to stand beside
her brother.
JUDITH
...Is it really him?
AGNES
Yes.
JUDITH
It doesn’t look like him.
Judith touches the cheek of her twin.
Agnes reaches for Judith when A THUDDING is at the door. She
covers Hamnet with the sheet.
AGNES
Do not open the door! It’s not
morning yet. We have yet to prepare
him properly -
The thudding gets louder. The door leaps on its hinges and
then, it swings open.
Rapid footsteps. Then, suddenly, appearing at the doorway is
her husband.
Will’s clothes and head are all wetted and dark with rain.
His face is sleepless and crazed.
WILL
Am I too late?
He sees Judith and a smile breaks out.
WILL (CONT’D)
You!
He strides across the room, holding out his arms.
WILL (CONT’D)
You are here, you are well. I was
worried - I couldn’t rest - I came
as soon as I heard but now I see -
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 81.
He stops. He sees the board, the shroud, the bundled figure.
Confusion at first, then a realization settles in - he had
felt something was coming deep inside of him when he last
parted with the boy. But it can’t be. It’s too ironic to have
seen it all coming but to have done nothing.
WILL (CONT’D)
No...no....
He is in denial, finding himself half smiling at the irony of
it all.
WILL (CONT’D)
Where is he?
The women’s silence shuts down his last bit of hope.
The sound that comes out of Will is choked and smothered,
like that of an animal forced to bear a great weight. A noise
of disbelief and of anguish. He moves to the bundled figure
and pulls back the sheet.
And there is his son’s face before him. He cups a hand to
Hamnet’s cold cheek. His fingers hover, trembling.
WILL (CONT’D)
No, no, no, God in heaven, my
boy...my boy...
He whispers something to Hamnet we can’t hear.
He looks up at Agnes. She keeps her distance, frozen, unable
to bring herself to go to him.
Genres:
["Drama","Tragedy"]
Ratings
Scene
47 -
Dawn of Despair
86 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - DAWN A DAY LATER 86
Agnes is a woman broken into pieces, crumbled and scattered
around. She stays in bed, sleepless, frozen.
She can hear her husband pacing at the other end of the
attic. There is no other sound. No crying, no sobbing, no
sighing, just the scuff-thud, scuff-thud of his restless
feet, walking, walking, like someone trying to find their way
back to a place for which they have lost the map.
AGNES
I did not see it.
She speaks into the dark space between them.
WILL
No one did.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 82.
AGNES
But I did not. And I should have. I
should have seen it. I should have
understood it was a terrible trick,
making me fear for Judith, when all
along it was -
WILL
(goes to her)
You’re not to blame, Agnes.
AGNES
Judith was so ill. I wasn’t
thinking. I should’ve paid more
attention to him. I always thought
she was the one who would be taken.
I was so blind, so stupid. I’m the
worst kind of fool. I saw only
Judith. I didn’t see him. I didn’t
see him...
WILL
Ssh...You did everything you could.
There is nothing anyone could’ve
done to save him. You tried your
best and -
AGNES
Of course I did.
She is suddenly furious, wrenching herself from his touch -
AGNES (CONT’D)
I would have cut out my heart and
given it to him. I would have -
WILL
I know, I know -
AGNES
You don’t know. You weren’t here. I
couldn’t stop it. I tried, I tried
so hard...
WILL
You did.
AGNES
He died in agony. Agony...He cried
out and I could only watch. There
was nothing I could do...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 83.
WILL
You tried your best...The sickness
was too strong.
AGNES
You don’t know...you weren’t
here...you weren’t here...
She keeps on murmuring, finally drifting to sleep after
staying up for days.
He lies awake, restless. Her words echoing in his mind.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
48 -
Echoes of Grief
87 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - GARDEN - DAY THREE WEEKS LATER 87
Will finds Judith sitting on the bench in the garden with
Hamnet’s wooden sword in her hands.
He sits down beside her. Her eyes are red. She begins to cry,
again, silently. It breaks his heart.
Susanna comes out with a basket of laundry. She sees Judith
and grits her teeth.
SUSANNA
Stop it, stop it, Judith.
JUDITH
What?
SUSANNA
You have cried every moment for
three weeks. I can’t stand it -
WILL
Susanna, leave her be -
SUSANNA
It’s just...I hate...I cannot...
WILL
You should rest -
SUSANNA
I won’t. There’s laundry to do.
Dinner to prepare. Chickens to
feed. There is work to do.
WILL
It can wait -
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 84.
SUSANNA
It cannot! I must work. I must work
hard...
Susanna pushes down her feelings and storms off. Will watches
her go, seeing himself in her.
JUDITH
Father?
WILL
Yes...
JUDITH
What is the word for someone who
was a twin but is no longer a twin?
Will thinks but doesn’t speak.
JUDITH (CONT’D)
If you are a wife and your husband
dies, you are a widow. If your
parents die, you are an orphan.
What is the word for what I am
without Hamnet?
WILL
I don’t know.
JUDITH
If you don’t know, perhaps there
isn’t one.
WILL
Perhaps not.
JUDITH
Will Hamnet never come back?
Will can’t bear anymore, not his child, racked with grief.
WILL
No, he will never come again.
88 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - EVENING 88
Will runs into John coming into the house from the side door,
holding a roll of leather. The two men regard each other.
John stares at the ground, wanting to offer comfort but
doesn’t know how. He scratches his chin, moves past Will and
disappears into the workshop.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 85.
Will listens to the sound of leather work beginning, and
walks towards the other end of the passageway. There, he sees
through the dining room door - his mother sitting by the
fire, quietly wiping her eyes.
He hesitates to go to her. He has nothing left. He is stuck
in the passageway for a moment. Then he looks behind him at
the door at the other end - the door out of this house, the
door back to London.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
49 -
Parting at Henley House
89 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - KITCHEN - MORNING NEXT DAY 89
Agnes is preparing breakfast. The skin around her eyes is red
and dry. She is not focused. There is no joy or purpose in
her movements, just habits.
Will appears beside her. He watches her for a moment. She
doesn’t see him.
WILL
Agnes. I will send word.
AGNES
Send word? To whom?
She keeps her eyes down, not paying attention.
WILL
To you.
AGNES
I am here.
WILL
I meant I will send word when I
have reached London.
AGNES
London?
She looks up at him for the first time.
WILL
I must leave.
AGNES
(almost amused)
Leave? You cannot leave.
WILL
Agnes, the world does not stand
still. There are people waiting for
me.
(MORE)
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 86.
WILL (CONT’D)
The season is about to begin and my
company will return from Kent any
day now and I must -
AGNES
How can you think of leaving?
He bows his head. She sees his bag at his feet.
WILL
I must go...now.
AGNES
Now?
WILL
There is a traveling party leaving
today. They have...a spare horse.
It is...I need to... Look after the
girls....I will send word. And hope
to return before Yuletide.
There are tears in her eyes, but she can’t look at him
anymore. She turns away and goes back to work.
Suddenly, he is behind her, arms around her waist. He
embraces her desperately. They stand together for a long
moment, breathing in the other. Then she extracts herself.
AGNES
Go then, if you are going. Return
when you can.
FADE OUT.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
50 -
Echoes of Grief
90A EXT. THE FOREST - TIME PASSES 90A
The forest in the winter. Death is everywhere.
The red egg is covered by dead leaves.
SUSANNA (O.S.)
When I do count the clock that
tells the time, And see the brave
day sunk in hideous night...
90B EXT. GRAVEYARD - DAY 90B
Hamnet’s grave - small, quiet, on the edge of the graveyard.
In front of the gravestone, Lily of the Valley are blooming
out of the moist soil. Its sweet, bell-shaped white flowers
are glistening in soft rain.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 87.
SUSANNA (O.S.)
When I behold the violet past
prime, And sable curls all silver’d
o’er with white...
91 EXT. HENLEY HOUSE - BACKYARD - MORNING MONTHS LATER 91
Agnes’s garden is grey and crisp.
SUSANNA (O.S.)
When lofty trees I see barren of
leaves, which erst from heat did
canopy the herd, And summer’s green
all girded up in sheaves, Borne on
the bier with white and bristly
beard...
92 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - MORNING 92
Hamnet’s Latin board and papers are still on his desk, left
untouched. There is no sign of Will’s belongings.
Agnes is sitting at Hamnet’s desk. Her hair has grown some
grey. Her eyes sunken. She is utterly changed, at a loss.
She hovers her hand gently over the stones he had collected
and arranged on his desk. She is trying to understand the
reason behind this arrangement, carefully not moving any.
SUSANNA (O.S.)
Then of thy beauty do I question
make, That thou among the wastes of
time must go, since sweets and
beauties do themselves forsake and
die as fast as they see others
grow...
Genres:
["Drama","Tragedy"]
Ratings
Scene
51 -
Echoes of Grief
93 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY 93
Susanna is reading from her father’s letter - in it is a
sonnet he has written.
SUSANNA
And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe
can make defence save breed, to
brave him when he takes thee hence.
She puts the letter down and goes back to her endless chores.
Judith picks up the papers and runs her finger over her
father’s writing.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 88.
JUDITH
Will you read it again?
SUSANNA
No. I’ve read it three times.
JUDITH
Do you think...father doesn’t come
home because of me?
SUSANNA
What are you talking about?
JUDITH
Because I remind him of Hamnet.
Silence grows. Susanna puts her work down and goes to her
sister, sitting down next to her.
SUSANNA
He will come back to us. I know he
will.
Agnes enters. The girls look at their mother, concerned.
SUSANNA (CONT’D)
Mama, the midwife came again asking
for you. Her hands are giving her
pain and she needs an ointment -
AGNES
Did you hear that?
SUSANNA
Hear what?
AGNES
A tapping. Do you hear it?
SUSANNA
I hear nothing. The baker’s wife
called in earlier and -
Agnes runs out of the kitchen into the dining room, to the
fireplace, presses a hand to the stone, listening, desperate.
The girls watch her from the door.
AGNES
You may not hear it but I do. A
tapping. rustling.
She presses her ear to the stone.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 89.
AGNES (CONT’D)
A definite noise. Can’t you hear
it?
SUSANNA
No. It’s likely a jackdaw has come
down the chimney.
Agnes is distressed.
AGNES
Well...if...a jackdaw? Then it
cannot remain there. We must set it
free...
She goes back upstairs, vacantly. Susanna goes to Judith and
pulls her sister into her arms and hugs her.
94 EXT. HENLEY HOUSE - NIGHT 94
Some time past midnight, Agnes wanders in the street in front
of her house, a shawl around her.
AGNES
Where are you, Hamnet?
She listens to the empty street, waiting.
95 OMITTED 95
Genres:
["Drama","Family"]
Ratings
Scene
52 -
Frustration in the Courtyard
96 EXT. LONDON - CHARTERHOUSE - COURTYARD - DAY 96
Will is pacing in the courtyard with a quill in his hand.
Behind him, under the lone tree, TWO ACTORS (Hamlet and
Ophelia) are playing out a scene. We’ll stay with Will for
the scene and won’t see the faces of the actors.
A few pieces of theatrical furniture and props scattered
around. RESIDENTS and TRAVELERS carry on with their daily
life. No one pays attention to them.
OPHELIA
Could Beauty, my lord, have better
commerce than with Honesty?
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 90.
HAMLET
Ay, truly. For the power of Beauty
will sooner transform Honesty from
what it is to a bawd than the force
of Honesty can translate Beauty
into his likeness. This was
sometime a paradox, but now the
time gives it proof. I did love you
once.
Will shakes his head, frustrated by the delivery. His anger
builds. He’s like a wild animal in a corner.
OPHELIA
Indeed, my lord, you made me
believe so.
HAMLET
You should not have believed me.
For virtue cannot so inoculate our
old stock but we shall relish of
it. I loved you not.
OPHELIA
I was the more deceived.
HAMLET
Get thee to a nunnery! Why wouldst
thou be a breeder of sinners? I am
myself indifferent honest but yet I
could accuse me of such things that
it were better my mother had not
borne me. I -
WILL
No. No. No. Again.
HAMLET
I am myself indifferent honest but
yet -
WILL
Again.
HAMLET
..I am myself indifferent honest -
WILL
Again!
HAMLET
I am myself indifferent -
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 91.
Will suddenly goes up to the actors, aggressive. He takes
over the line, showing them what he means by these words,
with a history they’ll never understand.
WILL
I am myself indifferent honest but
yet I could accuse me of such
things that it were better my
mother had not borne me.
He stares at them. We only see the back of their heads but we
can tell they’re shocked, fearful of him.
HAMLET
...I am myself indifferent honest
but yet I could accuse me of such
things that it were better my
mother had not borne me.
It sounds right. Exactly what Will wanted. Suddenly all the
pressure is gone. But there is no relief. Will turns away and
walks off.
Genres:
["Drama","Tragedy"]
Ratings
Scene
53 -
Whispers of the Thames
97 EXT. LONDON - RIVER THAMES - DOCK - EVENING 97
The river is quiet tonight. There is no moon in the sky. No
wind. There is a heaviness in the air. A doldrum.
Will wanders onto the empty dock. He is running lines in his
head, barely noticing where he is going in the darkness.
Something catches his attention - he looks to the water. The
water flows so quietly a part of it almost seems still - like
a dark mirror, a void, staring at him...
He is suddenly filled with dread and hopelessness. In that
moment, there’s nothing he ever wants to do again. No one he
ever wants to see again. He wants to go somewhere far away.
Somewhere with long nights and cold water, dark cold water...
He paces the narrow dock without railings. We can’t tell
which way he will go but we feel the tension.
He finds himself at the edge. He closes his eyes and tries to
listen. The city is unusually quiet. Too quiet. His body
sways a little from the lack of sight. He doesn’t care which
way it will take him. He has nothing to lose.
Then, like a miracle, the wind picks up. Will catches its
soft, benevolent whistle. The sound of flowing water returns.
The dock creaks, once, twice, just enough for him to form his
special rhythm again. The heartbeat that gives him life - to
be, or not to be, to be, or not to be, to be or not to be...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 92.
Genres:
["Drama","Tragedy"]
Ratings
Scene
54 -
Bittersweet Celebrations
98 EXT. NEW HOUSE - MONTHS LATER 98
A massive timbered house. An estate with at least fifteen
rooms. Wild garden and pond in the front. Barns, animal
sheds, greenhouses and fields on all sides.
A set of keys in Agnes’s hand.
Her face, staring at the foreign building, confused. She
looks older, her hair pinned up with more grey. This is a
woman consumed by her grief.
Bartholomew stands behind her at some distance.
She looks back at her brother who looks indifferent, then
looks down at the keys. They feel cold in her hand.
99 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - SAME EVENING 99
A celebratory dinner. Will is handing out gifts - hair combs,
pipes, handkerchiefs.
WILL
(arm around Judith)
...And the innkeeper, who was by no
means a small man, took the horse
by the bridle and walked it right
into the millpond, all the way up
to his breeches, and what he didn’t
know of course was that the gate
had been left open -
Everyone laughs, except Agnes. She is watching Will: the
sound and sense of what he is saying recedes until the noise
in the room is a blur.
WILL (CONT’D)
(opening a bag)
Presents. I have presents for all!
Hair combs...
(handing them out)
...for Eliza, and you, Susanna. A
handkerchief for you, Mother.
He puts a wrapped bottle into his father’s hands with nervous
pride. John eyes it. He is old and very ill.
JOHN
What is it?
WILL
Flemish brandy.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 93.
Mary looks between her husband and son, carefully -
MARY
How wonderful! You always wanted a
bottle, John. What an expensive
delicacy this is.
(to Will)
We’re so proud of you.
John fumbles with the wrapping and gives the bottle a long
look. Then, he reaches out and pats his son on the arm.
Will takes the brief moment in, bittersweet.
SUSANNA
Everyone in town is talking about
the new house. It’s the biggest
house in Stratford. There are so
many rooms. One can get lost in it!
Will smiles, giving Susanna’s shoulder a squeeze.
WILL
You shall keep the keys, Susanna.
You will manage the house well.
Susanna smiles, a rare occasion.
WILL (CONT’D)
And for Agnes...
Agnes receives into her hand a parcel wrapped in cloth. She
removes it to reveal a bracelet with a ruby setting.
ELIZA
A ruby, is it? That is finer than
any I have ever seen.
SUSANNA
Put it on, mama, put it on.
Agnes looks at the bracelet with an icy indifference.
She looks up and sees her husband looking at her. He glances
at the bracelet, then at her.
She rises and leaves the room.
Genres:
["Drama","Family","Historical"]
Ratings
Scene
55 -
Echoes of Absence
100 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - NIGHT 100
Will finds Agnes hovering over a half-burnt candle, drawing
remedy instructions in her book of herbs at his old desk.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 94.
Dried herbs, tinctures, seeds are scattered on most of the
surfaces. She doesn’t acknowledge him.
WILL
(holds out a fancy shawl)
I brought you this. In case you
were cold.
AGNES
I’m not.
WILL
(places it on the chair)
Well. It’s here if you need it.
He moves closer to her, slowly.
WILL (CONT’D)
Did Bartholomew show you the new
house?
AGNES
Yes.
WILL
Do you...like it?
AGNES
Why didn’t you show it to me
yourself?
Will looks for words.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Are you afraid I’d say I won’t
move, because Hamnet died here, in
this house.
WILL
Would you...say that?
AGNES
He is not here. I’ve looked
everywhere. I can’t find him.
Agnes lifts her face to look at him. His eyes skitter away.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Can’t look me in the eye? I already
know. I can feel other women on
you. You can’t just come back here
and offer gifts and act as if all
is well.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 95.
Will feels dizzy. He lowers himself to the floor beside her,
holds his head in his hands.
They sit like that, together but facing away from each other,
for some time. The silence swells between them.
WILL
How often do you think of him?
The question is not what she expected. Her hands gripping the
book tighter.
AGNES
I think about him all the time.
WILL
I find that I am constantly
wondering where he is. Where he has
gone. Whatever I am doing, wherever
I am, I am thinking: Where is he,
where is he? He can’t have just
vanished. He must be somewhere. All
I have to do is find him. I look
for him everywhere, in every
street, in every crowd, in every
audience. I may run mad with it.
Even now, a year on.
AGNES
A year is nothing. It is an hour or
a day. We may never stop looking
for him.
He reaches across and takes her wrist. She tries to pull away
but he holds her fast.
WILL
I am sorry, Agnes.
She pulls to get away but he won’t let her go.
WILL (CONT’D)
Did you hear me? I am sorry.
AGNES
For what?
WILL
For everything.
AGNES
You are caught by that place.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 96.
WILL
What place? London?
AGNES
That place in your head. You have
gone to it and it is now more real
to you than anywhere else. Not even
the death of your child can keep
you from it.
WILL
Agnes, please -
AGNES
Hamnet died. He had a horrible
death. He suffered so. By the end,
his body was wracked with pain,
with agony. The poison coursing
through him -
WILL
Please, enough -
AGNES
You could have been here with him.
You could’ve bid him farewell.
Her words stab at his heart. But he still holds onto her
hand, not wanting to let go.
She turns her fingers and grasps his muscle, like when they
first met. He is too broken to try and hide.
WILL
What do you see?
AGNES
Nothing.
WILL
...Nothing?
AGNES
Nothing at all.
He gives a faint smile. The last bit of hope drains out of
him. Her heart is shut now. She no longer sees him.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Go back to London. You don’t need
to concern yourself with us. We get
along well enough without you.
He nods, giving up.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 97.
WILL
As you wish. Please, send word if
you wish me to return.
He slows down at the door, but forces himself to walk away,
leaving her alone sitting on the edge of their wedding bed.
FADE TO:
101 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - ATTIC - NIGHT A MONTH LATER 101
The attic is empty now. No wedding bed. No desk. No sign that
a family has ever lived here. This is the night before they
are moving to the new house.
102 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - NIGHT 102
Agnes walks quietly, slowly, down the passageway, looking
into each room, listening, feeling...
103 INT. HENLEY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - NIGHT 103
Agnes stands at the door of the dining room where her son was
born and where he died. The stains on the wall. The
fireplace. Nothing seems to have changed.
Except he is not here. That much she knows.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
56 -
From Darkness to Bloom
104A EXT. LONDON - GLOBE THEATRE - TIME PASSES 104A
Shots of construction. Nature turned into materials to build
civilization. Both violent and miraculous.
104B I/E. LONDON - GLOBE THEATRE - DAY 104B
Will is standing alone on the stage, not yet complete,
looking at the newly painted backdrop - an ancient forest. In
the middle of the thick branches and dense canopies is a
mysterious void, a dark arch...
Will stares at the void. He’s no longer afraid. He is
hardened. So hardened he no longer feels fear for the dark
depth that once haunted him...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 98.
105 EXT. NEW HOUSE - GARDEN - MORNING SIX MONTHS LATER 105
Agnes’s garden is blooming. The apple trees have stretched
out their limbs. The bees are skimming over the carpet of
blooms. The lavender bushes are leggy in the knot garden.
Judith’s cats have kittens now. The garden is filled with
cats of various sizes and ages. The girl sits amongst the
dynasty of cats, grooming them, communicating with them in a
language of crooning and high-pitched entreaties.
The new fancy house doesn’t change Agnes. She is still
traipsing about the lanes and fields with a basket, her
skirts wet and filthy, her cheeks flushed.
Genres:
["Drama","Tragedy"]
Ratings
Scene
57 -
Revelations and Rage
106 EXT. NEW HOUSE - WALKWAY - DAY 106
Susanna hurries through a walkway that connects the front and
back of the house.
She is in charge of the house keys and wears them on a hook
at her waist. Her face is tense as usual.
107 EXT. NEW HOUSE - GARDEN - DAY 107
Agnes looks up from her wild garden -
Following behind Susanna is Joan, who straightens her back
after seeing Agnes.
Agnes stands to meet Joan. Susanna joins her mother, quickly
plucks a leaf from her mother’s messy hair.
Joan takes Agnes by the arm and plants a kiss on her cheek.
Agnes resists the urge to pull away.
AGNES
What brings you to town?
JOAN
I must visit a friend who is
unwell.
AGNES
What is the matter?
JOAN
A mere cold on the chest.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 99.
AGNES
I could gladly give your friend a
tincture of pine and elder. I have
some freshly made -
JOAN
No need. Thank you, but no. I’m
very sorry about John’s passing.
How is your husband? It’s a
terrible thing to lose one’s
father.
AGNES
He’s well, I believe.
JOAN
He writes to you often, I suppose?
AGNES
Naturally.
Susanna looks at her mother, too quickly. Joan catches it.
AGNES (CONT’D)
We heard from him a week or so ago.
He is very busy. They are preparing
a new comedy -
JOAN
His new play is not a comedy.
Agnes is silent. The animal inside her flexes itself.
JOAN (CONT’D)
It’s a tragedy. But you knew that,
I expect. Everyone in town is
talking about it. My cousin, who
came back from London yesterday,
brought the playbill. I’m sure you
have one but I carried it with me,
just the same, for you.
Joan hands Agnes a curled paper.
Agnes looks down. It’s a printed page with the word, right in
the middle, ‘HAMLET’.
Agnes’s face is pale and confused, her fingers trembling.
Susanna tries to tweak it from her grasp but Agnes isn’t
letting go. She looks up at Joan with an animalistic rage.
Joan lifts her chin to compose herself.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 100.
JOAN (CONT’D)
I warned you about marrying him. We
all did -
AGNES
Don’t pretend you care for me.
You’re not my mother and you never
were.
JOAN
Your heart was locked against me
from the start, Agnes. You never
would let me in. You think you know
all, you think you can see inside
everyone. But you cannot. No one
can.
Joan turns to leave.
Agnes looks down at the playbill again. The animal inside
scrapes at her innards with its needling claws.
Susanna finally takes the playbill from her mother. Upon
seeing the title, she is shocked but she remains calm.
AGNES
How could he?
Agnes lifts up her face, staring at Susanna, desperate.
AGNES (CONT’D)
Why? Why would he do this? He has
not written to us for months. How
could he not tell us?
SUSANNA
I don’t know, mama. But, do you not
wonder what is in it?
AGNES
In what?
SUSANNA
The play.
108 I/E. GLOBE THEATRE - MORNING THREE DAYS LATER 108
The wind whistles through massive wooden beams. A lone tree
stands on an empty stage. A HAWK sits on a post, hooded.
The void in the middle of the backdrop, waiting...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 101.
Genres:
["Drama","Tragedy"]
Ratings
Scene
58 -
A Desperate Search in a Decaying City
109 EXT. OUTSIDE LONDON - MORNING 109
London - a broken clutter of a city, the river winding
through it, clouds pulling up threads of smoke.
110 EXT. LONDON - CHARTERHOUSE - DAY 110
The street is filled with noise and stench, humans and
animals. The dead are pierced by long poles above the walls.
Agnes feels her whole body is ready to flee. Her back aches,
her feet, her hands, her shoulders. But her eyes are fixed,
not on the chaos around her. She needs to see her husband.
She needs information.
Bartholomew follows behind, keeping watch.
111 EXT. LONDON - CHARTERHOUSE - COURTYARD - DAY 111
Agnes and Bartholomew go through the dark archway Will once
did and arrive at the courtyard.
A window opens above them. A BOY (11) leans out.
BOY
Who are you looking for?
BARTHOLOMEW
William Shakespeare. We are his
family from Stratford.
BOY
Go up the stairs. He lives up in
the attic.
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
59 -
Austerity and Emotion in Shakespeare's Attic
112 INT. LONDON - WILL’S ATTIC - DAY 112
The room has a low ceiling slanting inwards at all angles.
There is a low bed, pushed up against the wall, a cupboard.
There is no decorations, no sign of warmth.
BARTHOLOMEW
Why would the man who owns the
largest house in Stratford be
living here?
Under the light of the window there is a square table, with a
chair tucked beneath.
There is a pen-case and inkwell. A collection of quills next
to three or four table-books, bound by hand.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 102.
Agnes touches the words-filled pages, looks up.
AGNES
I thought he...I don’t
understand...
She sees his nightshirt lying on the bed and goes to it. She
picks it up and runs her fingers over the rough material. She
is shaken, confused.
AGNES (CONT’D)
What shall I do...?
Bartholomew tries to think of something logical to say,
what’s going to cut this tie that brought his sister so much
suffering. But somehow he can’t in this austere room. He
gives Agnes a hug and whispers their mother’s words to her.
BARTHOLOMEW
Let your heart be as a plant. Shut
it not in the dark but turn it
always to the sun...
Genres:
["Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
60 -
The Final Performance
113 INT. GLOBE THEATRE - DRESSING ROOM - DAY 113
Will’s eyes are closed. He’s listening. The sound of players
and the crowd outside. A crash, a curse, a burst of laughter,
turning into his rhythm.
He stretches his body, puts on his costume, takes a paste of
chalk and lime and spreads it over his cheeks, his nose, his
beard. A ritualistic act.
114A EXT. GLOBE THEATRE - DAY 114A
The famed Globe Theatre - thirty meters in diameter - a
towering round wooden temple.
A flag of Hercules with the globe is raised above the theatre
with the Latin motto:
TOTUS MUNDUS AGIT HISTRIONEM (all the world is a playhouse)
Agnes stares at the imposing wooden structure as she and
Bartholomew join the current of people paying their pennies.
The playbills are everywhere with her son’s name.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 103.
114B I/E. GLOBE THEATRE - DAY 114B
As they come through the high doorway, they are greeted by
the sight of row upon row of faces, hundreds of them, all
talking and shouting in the enclosure. The pit is circular.
The floor is covered in ash and clinker.
With Bartholomew’s help, they slide between shoulders and
bodies, A WOMAN HOLDING A CHICKEN, A MAN SELLING PIES from a
tray, A WOMAN with A BABY at her breast.
Agnes looks up at the GALLERY AUDIENCE, better dressed with
cleaner faces, more elaborate hair.
More and more people are pouring through the doors. On all
sides, bodies and elbows and arms press in. Agnes keeps her
footing and moves with the current. The crowd thickens and
heaves, first one way, then the next.
Bartholomew shields Agnes from the movement. Agnes sees the
WOMAN NEXT TO HER grinning with blackened teeth.
Agnes looks up at the scenery - the ancient forest as a
backdrop. A lone tree on the stage. It brings her comfort.
A sudden, blaring noise makes her jump. Trumpets. The crowd
surges into a ragged cheer.
114C I/E. GLOBE THEATRE - DAY [FIRST SCENE] 114C
The audiences are talking amongst themselves.
A LOUD trumpet. Everyone CHEERS, rushing towards the stage.
Agnes is being pushed. Bartholomew tries to keep people away
but they are taken forward by the sea of people.
AN ACTOR walks onto the stage, holding a lantern.
The crowd HUSHES.
BERNARDO
Who’s there?
FRANCISCO
Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold
yourself!
Agnes watches them, confused.
BERNARDO
Long live the king!
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 104.
FRANCISCO
Bernardo?
BERNARDO
He. If you do meet Horatio and
Marcellus, the rival of my watch,
bid them make haste.
FRANCISCO
I think I hear them. Stand ho!
Who’s there?
Enter Horatio and Marcellus.
HORATIO
What? Has this thing appeared again
tonight?
BERNARDO
I have seen nothing.
MARCELLUS
Horatio says ‘tis but our fantasy
and will not let belief take hold
of him touching this dreaded sight
twice seen of us.
AGNES
(turns to Bartholomew)
What are they saying? What has any
of this to do with my boy?
BARTHOLOMEW
I don’t know. They seem frightened.
They watch for...a ghost...
HORATIO
Tush, tush, ‘twill not appear.
BERNARDO
Sit down awhile. And let us once
again assail your ears that are so
fortified against our story.
HORATIO
Well, sit we down, and let us hear.
BERNARDO
Last night of all, when yond same
star that’s westward from the pole,
Marcellus and myself, the bell then
beating one-
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 105.
MARCELLUS
Peace; break thee off! Look where
it comes again!
BERNARDO
In the same figure, like the King
that’s dead!
A GHOST appears from the void, covered in a white sheet and
cracked earth as if he has just been dug up.
A collective gasp passes over the audience.
Agnes ignores the frightened people on and off stage. She
keeps her eye on the Ghost.
AGNES
There you are.
The Ghost looks around the faces before him before exiting.
BERNARDO
See, it stalks away.
HORATIO
Stay! Speak, speak! I charge thee,
speak!
AGNES
(to Bartholomew)
It was him.
BARTHOLOMEW
Who?
AGNES
The ghost is Will. I know that
hand, those eyes anywhere. He has
hidden himself in the shape of a
ghost. It was him...
BERNARDO
Horatio, you tremble and look pale.
Is not this something more than
fantasy?
HORATIO
Before my God, I might not this
believe without the sensible and
true avouch of my mine own eyes.
MARCELLUS
Is it not like the King?
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 106.
HORATIO
As thou art to thyself. Such was
the very armor he had on when he
smote the sledded Polacks on the
ice. This bodes some strange
eruption to our state.
MARCELLUS
Tell me why this same strict watch
so nightly toils the subject of the
land. What might be toward that
this doth make the night joint-
labourer with the day?
HORATIO
Our last king, whose image but even
now appeared to us, was dar’d to
combat. Our valiant Hamlet – for so
this side of our known world
esteem’d him –
AGNES
Did you hear that?
BARTHOLOMEW
Yes.
AGNES
They said his name. Why did they
say his name?
Agnes pushes through the crowd towards the actor who spoke
her son’s name. People protesting as she cuts through them.
Where is he? Where is my son? Who says his name in this open
black hole?
HORATIO
-did slay his enemy, who did
forfeit with his life, all those
his lands which he stood seiz’d of,
to the conqueror.
BERNARDO
This portentous figure comes armed
through our watch; so like the King
that was.
HORATIO
A mote it is to trouble the mind’s
eye.
(MORE)
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 107.
HORATIO (CONT’D)
And even the like precurse of
fear’d events as harbingers
preceding still the fates and
prologue to the omen coming on,
have heaven and earth together
demonstrated unto us.
Agnes pushes her way to the front of the stage. Her eyes
searching the faces of the Players for an answer.
BERNARDO
It was about to speak, when the
cock crew.
MARCELLUS
Some say that wherein our saviour’s
birth is celebrated, no spirit dare
stir abroad, no planets strike, no
fairy takes, nor witch hath power
to charm.
AGNES
(frustrated)
You, you are nothing to him, this
is nothing. Don’t you dare
pronounce his name...
BARTHOLOMEW
Don’t upset yourself.
HORATIO
Break we our watch up; and, by my
advice, let us impart what we have
seen tonight to the young prince.
For, upon my life, this spirit,
dumb to us, will speak to him.
The players exit.
The sound of a single flute and a drum...
114D I/E. GLOBE THEATRE - DAY [GHOST SCENE] 114D
Two masked musicians are playing flute and hand drum - the
same ones from the puppet show.
Agnes and Bartholomew watch from the edge of the stage.
CLAUDIUS is speaking. THE FOOL carries a HAWK, moving around
the stage, as if making fun of Claudius.
Staring at the Fool and its hawk, the nausea and dread grow
inside Agnes.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 108.
CLAUDIUS
Though yet of our dear brother’s
death the memory be green, and that
it us befitted to bear our hearts
in grief; yet so far hath
discretion fought with nature that
we with wisest sorrow think on him,
together with remembrance of
ourselves. Therefore our sometimes
sister, now our queen, have we,
with an auspicious and a dropping
eye, taken to wife. Take thy fair
hour, Laertes. Time be thine, and
thy best graces spend it at thy
will!
AGNES
I see he’s making a fool of us all.
I will not be a part of this jest
anymore.
Agnes turns to leave.
CLAUDIUS (O.S.)
But now, Hamlet, and my son...
BARTHOLOMEW
Agnes, wait, look -
Agnes turns back and sees -
A YOUNG MAN walks onto the stage, dressed similar to Hamnet.
His hair painted blonde like Hamnet’s.
CLAUDIUS
How is it that the clouds still
hang on you?
GERTRUDE
Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color
off. Do not forever with thy vailed
lids seek for thy noble father in
the dust. All that lives must die,
passing through nature to eternity.
Agnes’s breath is emptying from her chest, her blood curdling
in her veins. Something about this young man feels as if she
is looking at her son had he lived and grown.
AGNES
My boy...
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 109.
HAMLET
Aye, madam, it is common. But I
have that within which passes show.
These are but the trappings and the
suits of woe.
CLAUDIUS
To persevere in obstinate
condolement is a course of impious
stubbornness; ‘tis unmanly grief;
it shows a will most incorrect to
heaven.
Everyone leaves the stage except Hamlet. He is alone.
The musicians stop playing, silence falls.
HAMLET
...O God! O God! How weary, stale,
flat and unprofitable seem to me
all the uses of this world! Fie
on’t. Ah, fie! ‘tis an unweeded
garden that grows to seed; things
rank and gross in nature possess it
merely. That it should come to
this! But two months dead. Nay, not
so much. Not two.
His distress is unbearable. Agnes wants to lay her hands on
that boy to comfort him.
Then, the Ghost enters from the void again.
Agnes watches her husband and the young man he has chosen to
play their son.
GHOST
I am thy father’s spirit, doom’d
for a certain term to walk the
night, and for the day confined to
fast in fires.
HAMLET
Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak,
I’ll go no further.
GHOST
Mark me.
HAMLET
I will.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 110.
GHOST
My hour is almost come, when I to
sulph’rous and tormenting flames
must render up myself.
HAMLET
Alas, poor ghost.
GHOST
Pity me not, but lend thy serious
hearing to what I shall unfold.
List, List, oh list! If thou didst
ever thy dear father love -
HAMLET
Oh God.
GHOST
But soft! methinks I scent the
morning air. Brief I must be. Upon
my secure hour, as I was sleeping,
the juice of cursed hebona in the
porches of my ears was poured. The
leperous distilment, whose effect
holds such an enmity with blood of
man, that swift as quicksilver it
courses through the natural gates
and alleys of the body. And with a
sudden vigour it doth posset and
curd, like eager droppings into
milk, the thin and wholesome blood.
So did it mine.
GHOST (CONT’D)
A most instant tetter bark’d about,
most lazar-like, with vile and
loathsome crust, all my smooth
body.
GHOST (CONT’D)
O, horrible! O, horrible! Most
horrible. If thou hast nature in
thee, bear it not...
AGNES
(to Bartholomew)
Do you see it? He has made our
son’s death his own.
Agnes looks back at her brother who is moved by the scene.
The audience has turned into a silent, awed congregation.
They know this pain - they all recognize the dreaded death-
throes of the plague.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 111.
Agnes is gripping the wooden lip of the stage. Ahead of her
is Hamlet, her son, had he lived and the Ghost, her husband,
speaking in his voice. She wills her husband to look back at
her, like on the day they were married.
GHOST
Fare thee well at once.
AGNES
(whispers)
Look at me. Look at me.
And the Ghost does exactly that, as if he had heard her soft
call. He turns towards her and looks straight at her.
He is shocked to see his wife in the audience. His expression
melds from disbelief to happy to grief and fear.
The long pause draws a tense silence from the audience. Then,
he comes to himself and is the Ghost again.
GHOST
The glowworm shows the matin to be
near, and ‘gins to pale his
unaffectual fire.
He takes Hamlet’s face into his hands and bids his son
farewell - a chance he never had in life.
GHOST (CONT’D)
Adieu...adieu...adieu...
As the Ghost finally lets Hamlet go and exits, he looks to
his son once more.
GHOST (CONT’D)
Remember me.
And with that, he is gone.
Agnes lets out a long held breath...
The Fool sends the hawk into the air.
Agnes looks up as everyone in the audience looks up, as the
hawk flies up into the sky.
We have seen this sight before - the hawk flying in the
circular sky of the globe - through Hamnet’s eyes as he
wandered the stage in the last moments of his life.
Time has collapsed into itself in this moment inside this
temple his father built.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 112.
114E I/E. GLOBE THEATRE - DAY [BREAK DOWN SCENE] 114E
The Ghost hurries into the side wing. He is Will again and
suddenly, the hard shell he grew around himself cracks and
shatters to pieces.
He tries to take his make up off as usual, performing the
rituals. But gradually, he begins to lose control. All the
pain of grief, loss, regret and love floods through his
veins. He is in pain, excruciating pain. His heart twisted
into a knot. He breaks down, sobbing in the dark tunnel
between front-stage and backstage, between fantasy and
reality.
Music...
114F I/E. GLOBE THEATRE - DAY [TO BE OR NOT TO BE] 114F
Music...The stage play continues but we don’t hear the words.
We are now inside the void of the backdrop, floating out of
its depth onto the stage. We visit the lone tree and linger
on its greenness. We look up -
The hawk circles the playhouse, framed by the half circle of
the globe - a dark moon. We realize this was Hamnet’s view
when he looked up from the stage. We realize we are him - the
boy who has waited here for his parents to find him.
We find our way through the players towards the audience,
towards Agnes standing on the edge. We watch her tear-stained
face, the grey in her hair, the grief in her skin. Our sweet
mother - when have you become so sad? She seems to feel us.
She looks over right at us, as if she can pierce through this
reality to the next. We try to touch her but we can’t.
We leave her hesitantly, through the players and find Will in
the wing. He is leaning against the wall of ropes. His makeup
messy, washed off by his tears. He is open, raw. Our strong
father - when have you lost your way? He seems to feel our
presence and reaches out his white clay hand towards us...
HAMLET
To be, or not to be. That is the
question.
In the side wing, Will listens - a question he asked himself
at the edge of the water on a moonless night. A question that
would be asked around the world for generations to come. A
question that isn’t meant to be answered.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 113.
HAMLET (CONT’D)
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to
suffer the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune, or to take arms
against a sea of troubles, and by
opposing end them? To die, to sleep
- no more; and by a sleep to say we
end the heart-ache and the thousand
natural shocks that flesh is heir
to. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to
be wish’d. To die, to sleep; to
sleep, perchance to dream. Ay,
there’s the rub; for in that sleep
of death what dreams may come, when
we have shuffled off this mortal
coil, must give us pause. There’s
the respect that makes calamity of
so long life.
For who would bear the whips and
scorns of time, Th'oppressor's
wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despis'd love, the
law's delay, The insolence of
office, and the spurns that patient
merit of th'unworthy takes, when he
himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would
fardels bear, To grunt and sweat
under a weary life, But that the
dread of something after death, the
undiscovere’d country from whose
bourn no traveller returns -
puzzles the will.
OPTION TO PLAY:
HAMLET (CONT’D)
(And makes us rather bear those
ills we have Than fly to others
that we know not of? Thus
conscience doth make cowards of us
all, And thus the native hue of
resolution Is sicklied o'er with
the pale cast of thought, And
enterprises of great pith and
moment With this regard their
currents turn awry And lose the
name of action.)
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 114.
Agnes watches the young man, moved by his gentle curiosity
about life, his bravery to face the void, to contemplate
death, to be curious about humanity’s deepest fear with a
sweet innocence, a pure heart and an eternal hopefulness.
FADE TO:
114G I/E. GLOBE THEATRE - DAY [OPHELIA SCENE] 114G
OPHELIA is grieving under a rowan tree with a basket of herbs
and flowers. Humming the tune of ‘Robin to the Greenwood
Gone’.
Agnes looks upon Ophelia - a mirror of herself in her own
wild grief.
Will watches from the curtains at his wife.
GERTRUDE
Alas, look here, my lord.
CLAUDIUS
Pretty Ophelia. How long has she
been thus?
OPHELIA
I hope all will be well. I cannot
choose but weep to think they would
lay him in the cold ground.
LAERTES arrives, distraught by his sister’s madness.
OPHELIA (CONT’D)
‘They bore him bare-fac’d on the
bier, and in his grave rain’d many
a tear–’
(speaks to Laertes)
Fare you well, my dove –
She picks up the basket of herbs.
OPHELIA (CONT’D)
(to Laertes)
There’s rosemary, that’s for
remembrance – pray you, brother,
remember.
Agnes looks back at Bartholomew. They both recognize
themselves in these characters.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 115.
OPHELIA (CONT’D)
(to the Fool)
And there is pansies - that’s for
thoughts.
(to Gertrude)
There’s fennel for you, and
columbines.
(to Claudius)
There’s rue for you, and here’s
some for me. O, you must wear your
rue with a difference.
She looks back to Gertrude -
OPHELIA (CONT’D)
‘And will he not come again?’
Gertrude shakes her head. Ophelia looks to her brother -
OPHELIA (CONT’D)
‘And will he not come again?’
Her brother shakes his head, slowly.
OPHELIA (CONT’D)
‘No, no, he is dead,
Go to thy death-bed.
(to the void)
He will never come again...’
Agnes looks to the audience. The collective grief is both
overwhelming and purging for her.
FADE TO:
114H I/E. GLOBE THEATRE - DAY [FINAL SCENE] 114H
Hamlet and Laertes fence - fast and dangerous, with clashing
swords, a fierce fight.
The crowd reacts.
Agnes watches with a smile and tears in her eyes, remembering
her boy’s dream to play a swordsman for his father.
Hamlet gains a hit on Laertes.
HAMLET
One!
LAERTES
No!
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 116.
THE FOOL
A hit, a very palpable hit.
They fight again, with renewed vigor. Hamlet gains another
hit on Laertes.
GERTRUDE
Our son shall win!
Gertrude takes the poisoned cup from the table and drinks.
CLAUDIUS
Gertrude, do not drink!
Too late - she drinks. Laertes wounds Hamlet with the
poisoned sword.
Agnes flinches. The audience are calling out, swept along,
desperate for a happy ending.
In the scuffle, Hamlet and Laertes swap rapiers. Hamlet
wounds Laertes, unknowingly with the poisoned rapier.
Gertrude collapses, shaking, on the ground, poisoned.
HAMLET
How does the Queen?
CLAUDIUS
She swoons to see them bleed.
GERTRUDE
No, no, the drink the drink! O my
dear Hamlet! I am poison’d...
HAMLET
O villainy! Ho! Let the door be
lock’d. Treachery! Seek it out.
LAERTES
It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou
art slain. No med’cine in the world
can do thee good; In thee there is
not half an hour’s life...The King
– the King’s to blame.
Hamlet stabs the king with the poisoned rapier, forcing the
poisoned drink into his mouth until he dies.
The murder, revenge, insanity, suicide, depression and grief
on the stage is like a storm blowing over the audiences.
Hamlet is in agony now, from his wound and from the poison.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 117.
HAMLET
I am dead. Thou livest; report me
and my cause aright to the
unsatisfied. If thou didst ever
hold me in thy heart, absent thee
from felicity awhile, and in this
harsh world draw thy breath in
pain, to tell my story...O, I die.
The potent poison quite o’er-crows
my spirit...The rest is silence.
He lowers himself down, pressing his cheek to the stage, in
front of Agnes, and dies.
Agnes looks around. The dirty, scarred faces of the audience.
Most are crying, silent tears coursing down their faces,
their hands clasped. These strangers, pictures of grief and
of shock, have lived through something together.
Agnes looks to the wing and finds her husband standing there
watching her. They are far away but this is the first time in
a long while they have not looked away from each other.
Will is devastated and grateful. He is suddenly a boy again -
a boy who feels everything.
Agnes turns back to the young man in front of her - their
lifeless child.
Come back. She whispers to him. Come back, even as a shadow,
even as a dream. There you are in front of me. You are as you
were, and ever shall be...the soldier you dreamt of, in the
playhouse with your father...
She reaches out to him, from the realm of ready to the realm
of fantasy. Their hands almost touching...
AGNES
Hamnet...Hamnet...
We suddenly find ourselves on the stage with Hamnet in the
last moments before he died, as he wandered at the edge of
this life towards the black gate that would lead him to the
next. He looks back again, we wondered what he saw then, and
we know now - he is looking back at his mother. Her calling
of him has kept him at the edge of the gate, waiting, waiting
for his father to build this temple and for her mother to
find him.
Agnes feels her son’s gaze and looks up.
There is her boy. He has been waiting for her. He has been
waiting for her so she can let him go.
Blue Revisions - 02/10/2024 118.
Hamnet smiles at his mother, turns and walks into the void.
Agnes watches him go. The darkness welcomes him, like a
gentle embrace. Tears fall silently down her face, tears of
heartbreak, of surrender and of acceptance.
The void, ever present, looks back at her, at us...
FADE OUT.
115 EXT. FOREST - TIMELESS 115
The forest is alive again in the spring. Nature always finds
its way back to life after a long sleep.
The red egg. A crack on its hard shell. A sign of rebirth.
FADE TO BLACK.