The 7 Stages of Grieving

A single actor presents this piece that lasts for about one hour. The play consists of a number of short scenes performed by a single actor who portrays an individual’s perspective on historical events. The character who shares her experiences is both an individual in her own right and someone who also represents others, voicing their experience. The actor employs different forms and styles to change perspectives. These include monologues where a single actor addresses the audience, often retelling stories from her life, some traditional songs in language and mime. The use of different technologies such as words projected on a surface add depth to the piece. The tone varies, driven by both the content and the style. Styles drift from colloquial soliloquy to stand-up comedy to court reports.

The actor tells the story of a collective people but the audience can specifically hear the events surrounding select people. These include the nana, a grandmother who has passed and who triggers the reflection, and other members of the actor’s family including her father, brother and Aunty Grace. Significant historical events are referenced through a woman from the stolen generation era, a young man called Daniel Yocke and protest marchers. Above all, the woman’s own experience is palpable throughout the play.

The Longest Memory

Mr Whitechapel

The owner of the plantation, Mr Whitechapel, who inherited the plantation from his father, is a moderate man who exercises restraint when dealing with his staff and slaves. He is a mix of the old and new; he believes in showing respect to the slaves he owns, though not enough to show they are equal such as that they should be able to read or talk with his daughter, just in how they should be treated. This view is at odds with other plantation owners. A self-confessed Christian man, Mr Whitechapel believes the teachings of the church are congruent with slave-holding, also not a view held by all. Mr Whitechapel has some inkling that the future will be different for slaves, that one day they may be paid workers and that white women and black men may walk together, but those days have not yet come to Virginia. He is a proud family man who believes in preserving his reputation, as seen by his desire to marry off the guilt and suspicions of Sanders Senior, remove his daughter from Chapel’s company and defend his honour at the Gentlemen’s Club.

Mr Whitechapel Quotes

Africans may be our inferiors, but they exhibit the same qualities we possess, even if they are merely imitating us. Their management is best exemplified by an approach that treats them first and foremost as subjects of God, though blessed with lesser faculties, and therefore suited to the trade of slavery. (Mr Whitechapel) Chapter 2

By teaching little Whitechapel to read and write when he can never use it you have done him the gravest injustice … it might be possible in the future… in the next century. (Mr Whitechapel to Lydia) Chapter 9

At last, I am without shame. My name is restored to me. (Mr Whitechapel) Chapter 6

Lydia Whitechapel

Perhaps the most progressive character in the novel, Mr Whitechapel’s daughter Lydia looks toward the new world and finds herself out of place in her current situation. She teaches Chapel, a child born to the slave cook, to read and eventually falls in love with him. She plans to escape to the north where she and Chapel can live together after they are banned from associating together by Lydia’s father. Her progressive views are expressed in a series of letters to The Virginian where she advocates for paid workers rather than slaves and mixed marriage. A letter brings derision from the editor and Lydia’s new-world views innocently add to Chapel’s demise in a similar way that Whitechapel’s plea deal also backfires. They are alike in their love of Chapel and their inability to help him in the current world of slavery.

Lydia Whitechapel Quotes

He is more proud of his father than I am of mine. (Lydia about Chapel) Chapter 9

Chapel says nothing to me. Our hands explore each other in the dark.
Chapel I wish you were white or I black. (Lydia) Chapter 9

Miss L wondered if it would not be more profitable to pay blacks for their work. (The Virginian) Chapter 11

Sanders Senior

A representation of the old traditions of slavery, Sanders Senior is a man filled with deep hatred for the Africans. He has a tendency for cruel treatment and has to be kept in place by others. After the death of his wife, his loneliness and depression leads him to rape the young cook while she is in his place. He rapes her again after she has married the slave Whitechapel and he is fined for the attack. Mr Whitechapel forces Sanders Senior to remarry to take control of his situation.

Sanders Senior Quote

Argued with Mr Whitechapel about the treatment of his slaves. He thinks I am too sever with them. (Sanders Senior) Chapter 3

Sanders Junior

Although he seems to mimic his father Sanders Senior’s violent ways, there appears to be at least some form of reflection shown in Sanders Junior, a thawing of the hatred possessed by his father and a glimpse of the new world approaching. His gift of a jacket to cover Chapel’s body after he passes is a glimpse of his sensitive side. He offers no formal confession but there seems to be regret that he was the one to deliver the lashes that would take Chapel’s life although he is not willing to accept that Chapel could be his half-brother.

Sanders Junior Quote

‘I couldn’t strike you. You showed me how to run things. My father spoke highly of you. You were a better overseer than I. …. I am sorry about your son. Not my brother. I knew him only as the son of a slave. He was trouble from the day he talked.’ (Sanders Junior) Chapter 13

Whitechapel

An old slave who has spent most of his life on the plantation and fathered twelve daughters, Whitechapel is the stepfather of Chapel, with his second wife Cook. Whitechapel has earned the respect of overseers and plantation owners as someone who will offer no resistance and understands his place as a slave. His view is at odds with Chapel and others who believe that resistance or fleeing are options. His long life has brought him misery and regret, shaped his face and wearied his soul. He is at times respected and loved but his decision to reveal Chapel’s whereabout after he flees, resulting in Chapel’s capture and death, brings derision from his family.

Whitechapel Quotes

The future is just more of the past waiting to happen. You do not want to know my past nor do you want to know my name for the simple reason that I have none and would have to make it up to please you. What my eyes say has never been true. All these years of my life are in my hands, not in these eyes or even in this head. (Whitechapel) Prologue

Worry cut those paths in my face. I let it happen because I didn’t feel it happening and only knew it was there when someone called me Sour-face one day and I looked in the mirror for evidence and found plenty staring back at me. (Whitechapel) Prologue

Whitechapel saved me. The second time I had to tell someone or surely die. There was no one to tell but my husband. Whitechapel saved my life. (Cook) Chapter 4

Chapel

The son of Cook, after her rape by Sanders Senior, is loved and raised by Whitechapel and Cook. He emblematises the rebellious slave who is pining for more, a contrast to his stepfather’s submission. This erupts into a love relationship with Lydia, the daughter of the plantation owner, who teaches him to read. With a view to meeting Lydia in the north after his mother has died, Chapel flees but is caught and returned to the plantation. He is painted as a loving boy with true affection for his mother and genuine love for Lydia. His unauthorised education from Lydia elevates him, in her eyes, above the suitors that her father would have her marry.

Chapel Quotes

My hand is not the whip son, I said or imagined saying to him. He nodded to everything, then nothing. I had to have no name to match this look and the remainder of this life. (Whitechapel to Chapel) Chapter 1

‘By teaching little Whitechapel to read and write when he can never use it you have done him the gravest injustice.’ (Mr Whitechapel to Lydia) Chapter 9

He was trouble from the day he talked. He not only asked questions but when you gave him an answer he was never satisfied. He always asked why: Why this? Why that? (Sanders Junior) Chapter 13

Cook

Cook is Whitechapel’s second wife and Chapel’s biological mother after her rape by Sanders Senior. Resurrected from her defilement by Whitechapel’s love, Cook believes that she has a chance with Whitechapel and their son. She enjoys cooking for them and is happy with her life. A progressive and thoughtful character, she refrains from disclosing Chapel’s secret of learning to read believing in a brighter future for him. She is proud of Chapel and facilitates his meetings with Lydia after Mr Whitechapel has forbidden contact.

Cook Quotes

Whitechapel saved me. The second time I had to tell someone or surely die. There was no one to tell but my husband. Whitechapel saved my life. A child not his. A pure wife no longer pure. Any other man would have thrown me away. He is no ordinary man. His master respects him. (Cook) Chapter 4

I can hear you, my husband. Your voice is strong and clear but without the strength and clarity of the voice of my son as he lifts word after word from the pages of a book. (Cook) Chapter 8

Young, nubile female slaves are a temptation to us all, but one that should be religiously avoided. (The Virginian) Chapter 11