THE TRIAL OF MRS. REBECCA PEAKE
A full length drama based
on the document, "The Trial of Mrs. Rebecca Peake published by E.F.
Walton, Montpelier, VT, 1836
Maura
Campbell
233
Crescent Road,
802/660-7906;
ibsen3000@yahoo.com
CAST
REBECCA
PEAKE, sixty year old woman, accused of murder
LUCIUS
PECK, Rebecca’s defense attorney
FIONA
PECK, wife of Lucius Peck
JUDGE
WILLIAMS, trial judge
ADELAIDE
WILLIAMS, his wife, acquaintance of FIONA
CHARITY
STOKES, acquaintance of FIONA
JESSICA
UPHAM, acquaintance of FIONA
WILLIAM
HEBARD, prosecuting attorney
SUSAN
BANNISTER, Rebecca’s daughter
DOCTOR
EMERSON, Rebecca’s doctor in jail
DR.
PEMBER, expert witness
REV.
WASHBURN, Rebecca’s minister
LUCRETIA MURCH,
witness for the prosecution
LAURA
PERRIN, witness for the prosecution
SARAH
PERRIN, REBECCA’S daughter-in-law, witness for the prosecution
DANIEL
PERRIN, Rebecca’s son-in-law, married to Sarah Perrin
JOSEPH
HUTCHING(Head Juror)
WILDER
DEARBORN(Juror)
LAZARUS
RIFORD(Juror)
NINE OTHER
JURORS
The stage
is set in three sections. Center stage
is a jail cell with a cot, a small table with a water jug and cup, another
small table and a two small wooden chairs.
Stage
right is reserved for the ladies of Montpelier.
A braided rug on the floor and three chairs will suffice.
Stage left
is LUCIUS and FIONA PECK'S living room.
Two comfortable chairs, a small bookcase, a table for tea. A big basket
with woman's work on the floor. Various legal
papers next to LUCIUS' chair and on the floor.
ACT ONE
SCENE 1
A
spotlight on JOSEPH HUTCHINS, seated in a wooden chair downstage center. WILLIAM HEBARD, prosecuting attorney, stands
beside him.
HEBARD
State your name, occupation and town of
residence, please.
HUTCHINS
Joseph Hutchins, I'm a farmer living in
Williamstown.
HEBARD
Are you acquainted with the case, Mr.
Hutchins?
HUTCHINS
Well, I know about it, if that's what you
mean.
HEBARD
And how did you become aware of the case?
HUTCHINS
Tom Brownell read it to us from the newspaper after church one
Sunday.
HEBARD
And have you discussed this case so to have formed an opinion, Mr.
Hutchins?
HUTCHINS
What kind of an opinion?
HEBARD
As to the guilt or innocence of Mrs.
Peake?
HUTCHINS
Well, I dunno.
HEBARD
You don't know whether you've formed an
opinion?
HUTCHINS
I guess not.
HEBARD
The prosecution accepts the juror, your
honor.
The lights
go down and come up on the jail cell, center stage. REBECCA PEAKE is hidden behind the bed on the
floor. LUCIUS PECK enters.
SCENE 2
LUCIUS
What the- (He turns to leave and spots REBECCA.) Oh, I... didn't
see you. Mrs. Peake? How do you do, Mrs. Peake. I'm Lucius Peck from Montpelier. I'm going to defend you.
REBECCA
Listen!
LUCIUS
What-
REBECCA
Can you hear it?
LUCIUS
Hear what?
REBECCA
Sh! (She runs forward, lays down and puts
her ear to the floor.)
LUCIUS
Mrs. Peake, I don't know-
REBECCA(Getting up on her knees)
He likes to put the devil in me. Can you hear it? He's out there.
Banging on the house with a stick.
Outside my window so I can't sleep.
LUCIUS
Who's outside?
REBECCA
I'll set fire to this place if he don't stop! A woman's got to have some peace! I'll fix
him! (She tries to open the door; when it doesn't open, she bangs on it.) Stop
it! Do you hear me? Stop it!
If I could just see a doctor...
LUCIUS
Maybe I should come back another time.
REBECCA(Eyeing LUCIUS suspiciously):
You keep your hands off my things!
LUCIUS
Mrs. Peake, I have no intention of-
REBECCA
I've seen your kind before.
Thinking you own what you see.
You don't own me!
LUCIUS
Mrs. Peake-
REBECCA(Abruptly)
What do you want from me?
LUCIUS
'Scuse me?
REBECCA
You must want something. What is it?
LUCIUS
I...
I've been hired by the state to defend you.
REBECCA
I'm not going to hang.
LUCIUS
Mrs. Peake, let's not think of that now.
REBECCA
You hear me on this. I won't hang.
No matter what.
LUCIUS
You're in God's hands, Mrs. Peake.
REBECCA(Laughs)
He's washed His hands of me, mister.
LUCIUS
You mustn't lose hope, Mrs. Peake.
REBECCA
How long have I been in here? Do you know?
LUCIUS
Um, six weeks, I believe.
REBECCA
You're the first one to see me.
I asked Mr. Hebard to come before the sheriff arrested me.
LUCIUS
Mr. Hebard?
REBECCA
Lawyer from Randolph.
LUCIUS
I know Mr. Hebard.
REBECCA
I talked to him last winter about my troubles. When Ephraim come home to take the farm away.
LUCIUS
Mrs. Peake, I'm afraid Mr. Hebard won't be able to help you. You see, he's the prosecuting attorney. (She looks at him blankly.) The state of Vermont has hired him to present
evidence to prove your guilt. I've been
hired by the state to try and prove your innocence.
REBECCA
Why would... Mr. Hebard do that?
LUCIUS
He's the State's Attorney. It's his first case. (Pause.) He's going to want to win.
REBECCA
Oh.
LUCIUS
I want to build a case for you, Mrs. Peake. I want to help you. You've had a hard life, I can see that. We can use that to help you in court. The judge will understand some of these
things. He's a Christian man, Mrs.
Peake. Now, I can't make any
promises. But it will help me to see the
whole picture, so to speak. That is, it will
help you. Help me to help you.
REBECCA
You want to know about Ephraim?
LUCIUS
Let's go back to the beginning, Mrs. Peake. Let's go back to the very beginning, if you
can.
REBECCA
I can't.
LUCIUS
You can't or you won't?
REBECCA
I don't know where it begins.
LUCIUS
It begins at the beginning.
At the first point. First light,
so to speak. Before anything else has
happened. When the slate is clean.
REBECCA
In the beginning...
LUCIUS
Yes?
REBECCA
I think it had something to do with sheep.
LUCIUS
Sheep?
REBECCA
Did you ever shear a sheep, Mr. Peck?
LUCIUS
I never did.
REBECCA
You see, they don't like it any.
The sheep. It's against their
nature. You have to hold them down and
do it quick. Ephraim learned how to do
that when he was a boy.
LUCIUS
How to shear a sheep?
REBECCA
How to hold them down.
LUCIUS
Did you love him, Mrs. Peak? (Pause.) Did you feel a mother's love
for Ephraim?
REBECCA
I feel...
LUCIUS
Because we'll have to convince a jury that you loved him. And therefore could not have killed him. A woman is made to nurture and protect. God made you that way, Mrs. Peake. He made you what you are.
REBECCA
He did that?
LUCIUS
Eve said to Adam, "What thou biddest, unargued I obey; so God
ordains: God is thy law, thou mine; to know no more is woman's happiest
knowledge and her praise." (REBECCA looks at him blankly.) That's, um, a poem.
REBECCA
What's a poem?
LUCIUS
Mrs. Peake, can you give me the names of some friends? People who would speak in your behalf?
REBECCA
There's... Lucretia Murch.
She helped me through the crisis. Dr. Pember and his wife, Essie. I've called on Dr. Pember for years. I have a sick head.
LUCIUS(Writing)
Lucretia Murch, Dr. Pember...
REBECCA
notices LUCIUS write the names. She
kneels on her chair and peers closely.
REBECCA
Can you write my name?
LUCIUS
What?
REBECCA
looks at him hopefully. He writes her name and shows it to her.
LUCIUS
Anyone else?
REBECCA(Reluctantly looking away)
Lucy Paine helps me when I have to stay in bed. Sarah Blodgett. I brought her Gracie into the
world one Christmas when they couldn't get the doctor.
LUCIUS
You think they'll speak for you?
REBECCA
There's my daughter, Susan.
She's expecting her first child, my... grandchild. (Pause.) I have sisters in Roxbury and
Middlesex. My brother is in the
asylum. That's all.
LUCIUS(Walks toward her)
Parents dead?
REBECCA
Pa hanged himself. I didn't know my ma.
LUCIUS
I see.
What about your stepchildren?
REBECCA'S
face turns hard.
LUCIUS
Mrs. Peake?
REBECCA
Only ones around are Dan and Sarah
Perrin.
LUCIUS
Sarah is your husband's daughter?
REBECCA
I run the rest out of South Randolph. Ran Ephraim out, too,
ten years ago but he come back.
He took a bullwhip to me last winter when I tried to go with him to Mr.
Hebard's.
LUCIUS
Ephraim whipped you?
REBECCA
Not bad.
I outrun him. I wanted my thirds,
is all, my widow's thirds!
LUCIUS
Mrs. Peake, you're not a widow.
REBECCA
I worked that land for twenty-five years! Do you think I raised those Peake's just so
they could throw me off?
LUCIUS
What about Ephraim, Mrs. Peake?
REBECCA
Ask Dan Perrin about Ephraim.
LUCIUS
Dan-
REBECCA
Sarah's Dan. He was brother-in-law to Ephraim. Ask Dan Perrin.
(She wraps herself tighter in her
shawl.) It's cold in here cold as a...
LUCIUS
Cold as a what, Mrs. Peake?
REBECCA
Can you see about a doctor? I get these headaches.
LUCIUS
Doctor will cost money, Mrs. Peake. Normally the family takes care of expenses like
food and medicine. Since your husband
has released his claim on you, we'll have to appeal to the state for
funds.
REBECCA
If I could just have my things.
LUCIUS
I'm wondering why someone would think you'd want to kill your
family, Mrs. Peake.
REBECCA
I didn't kill nobody!
LUCIUS
But Ephraim's dead.
REBECCA
So are Abraham and Moses but I didn't kill
them neither!
LUCIUS
Mrs. Peake, I don't see how I can help you
if-
REBECCA
(Meaningfully)
My head's going funny again.
LUCIUS
(Alarmed)
Oh! We don't want that!
Lights go
down on them and up stage right. FIONA
PECK, early twenties and very pretty, enters stage right with ADELINE WILLIAMS,
a judge's wife. Seated are CHARITY
STOKES and JESSICA UPHAM, a married and unmarried sister, respectively, in
their mid-thirties.
SCENE 3
ADELINE
Fiona, you've met Charity Stokes and Jessica Upham at church,
haven't you?
FIONA
Yes.
How do you do today, ladies?
CHARITY
We're so glad to have you as a member,
Fiona. I told Adeline we should invite
you the moment you moved to town.
ADELINE
We didn't want to overwhelm you, dear. After all, you're still barely a bride,
aren't you?
CHARITY
(To JESSICA)
Sister, won't you get us some tea while you're resting? I'm sure Fiona must be dry.
JESSICA
hurries offstage.
ADELINE
Fiona, that's an... unusual name, isn't
it?
FIONA
I'm named for my grandmother.