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1975 in the Traverse Theatre by the London Theatre Group as part of the Edinburgh Festival.

Five characters who double as a chorus: Dad, Mum, Sylv, Les, Mike.

Mum is typically played by a male in drag.

Mum and Dad represent what Les, Mike and Sylv will become if they do not escape their surroundings.  Sylv is the only one who will escape.

Five chairs at the back of the stage.  Sometimes a table is brought on-stage.

The characters enter and all sing a traditional London East End song together.

Les and Mike stand forward and introduce themselves ("Now you know our names").  They tell how they met, and describe a fight with another gang over Mike's girl Sylv.

East End

the East End of London.

criminal hall of fame

when suspected criminals or prisoners are photographed.

donate a snout

give me a cigarette.  Slang.

I'll bung thee a snout

I'll throw you a cigarette.  Slang.

After the Holy Saint

Mike is named after Saint Michael (Mike is an abbreviated form of Michael).

With a hard K

Pronounced with the K sound hard (so rhyming with Spike, rather than being pronounced Mick).

my handle

my name.  Slang.

he doth bestride

he stands across. Deliberately old-fashioned biblical language.

minces

eyes.  Rhyming slang (mince pies rhymes with eyes).

yobs

hooligans, young criminals.  Slang.

mucker, china, mate

all words for a friend.  Slang (china plate is rhyming slang for mate)

12 moons ago

12 nights ago.

blessed Jack

Jack the Ripper.  An infamous killer who stalked the streets of London.

went so humble 'bout his nightly graft

went so quietly doing his job (killing women).

how it chanced

how it happened that.

the deadly poison of each other's eye

enemies of each other

clocked the bird

looked at the girl.  Slang.

legendary knockers

large breasts.  Slang.

I doth take it double strong

I took offence.

git

insulting name for someone. Slang.

boat

face.  Slang.

jellies

eyes.

selfsame

same.

hard-ons

erections.

Hoxton, Tottenham, Bethnal Green, Hornsey Town, Poplar, Islington

areas of London.

manors

areas.

blue-bottles

policemen.  Slang (based on the blue police uniforms)

nuckle-duster

a weapon.

egging us on

encouraging us.

Nut him

head butt him. Slang.

turd

insulting name for someone. Slang.

anoint the cunt with death

let him  know what death is like.

cunt

insulting name for someone. Slang.

thee

you. Deliberately old-fashioned.

gives you the collywobbles

makes you feel excited and afraid. Slang.

my blessed boat

my face. Slang.

to stop the Tiber

to stop the flow of blood (the Tiber is the name of a river).

have it away, before the law does mark us as accessory

get away before the police think we were part of the crime.

we slosh

we walk. Slang.

let' s scarper now

let's run away now. Slang.

let' s piss off

let's go away. Slang.

looking like what they hang up at Smithfields

Smithfields is a meat market, so they look like the meat hung up there.

rosy red

blood. Slang.

conk out

die. Slang.

into the casualty at Charring Cross

into the emergency hospital at Charring Cross (part of London).

to venge some deadly feud/ from bygone days

to get revenge/ from long ago.

the two of us got as thick as thieves... stewed too long

we became very good friends.  Slang.

bitch, slag

insulting names for a woman. Slang.

In a mime sequence Mike comes to meet Sylv and her parents.  Sylv is attracted to Les and a fight breaks out.

She tells how Les and Mike fight for her, but also how her clothes get covered in blood.  She is flattered by the violence.

jesting-jousting... tournament

knights in armour fought (jousted) in competitions (tournaments).

mimicking an oil well

the blood is gushing like an oil well.

Mick

Mike.

never shall the suds of Persil or Daz remove

Persil or Daz are washing powders.  She will never be able to remove the blood from her skirt.

clocked

hit.

geezer

rude name for a man. Slang.

before I ram a knuckle sandwich in thy painted boat

before I hit you with a fist (knuckle sandwich) in your face (painted boat).

MG Sprite

a make of car.

hold a morsel back girls so he'll crave it all the more

don't give him everything (sex) so he will want it even more.

Dad's monologue.  He talks of the old days, when fascists fought in the streets of London.

battle of Cable Street

a confrontation between fascist supporters and left-wing supporters in to 1930s.

Hawaii Five-O, Panorama, Ironside, The Saint

television series.

Schonberg's Moses and Aron

a performance of an opera on television.  Mum confuses it with an epic film starring Charlton Heston.

geezer

name for a man. Slang.

you haven't paid the licence

the television licence has to be paid every year.

suppose they come around

what if they come around to check about the television licence.

Hackney Gazette

local newspaper.

detector vans

vans with people checking whether people are watching television, so that non-payers can be caught.

you think they are on to your tail

you think they are after you.

Christmas money

families could buy Christmas goods on credit, and the person chasing the Christmas money is looking for repayment.

loo

toilet.  Slang.

uttering such dreadful libels

telling such dreadful lies.

hag

insulting name for a woman. Slang.

untimely ripped from thou mother's womb

comes from Shakespeare's Macbeth.

pooftah

insulting name for a homosexual.  Slang.

Ozzie Mosley

Oswald Mosley, a British fascist leader in the 1930s.  Slang.

brown shirts

the fascists wore brown shirts.

long-nosed gits

insulting name for Jews.

kikes

insulting name for Jews.

turn-coat

coward.

England's green and pleasant, the land where Jesus set his foot

from Jerusalem, a patriotic English song.

Hebrew gold

Jewish financial influence.

Christian soldiers

from a Christian song.

Crossroads

a television series.

 

Weepie

a sentimental film (which makes you weep)

Western

a cowboy film.

Mike seduces Sylv, and after an initial rejection, wins her over.

Cock and Bull

a pub.

Babycham

a drink.

a larf

a laugh, a joke.

lump

insulting name for a man.  Slang.

each square inch a raincoat's fantasy

she is so beautiful she is what men (men in raincoats) dream of.

the fire you use to stoke the old wife's stoves

what you are dreaming of when making love to your wife.

sag not

her breasts are young and firm.

tight box, plumbing perfect

she has a beautiful body, suited for sex.  Slang.

thy flesh would ne'er move- would shrink under my glare

your penis would not move, would become smaller, when I look at you in anger.

my Johnny tool

my penis.  Slang.

I'll descend on thee like a moon probe... swamps

like a moon rocket exploring a planet, he will explore and enter her body.

and make thee view the sight that made Penelope mad

and show you my erection.  In classical mythology Penelope kept rejecting suitors

the girth of a Cyclops

In classical mythology Cyclops were giants.  Mike is boasting of the size of his penis.

Atilla

Atilla the Hun, a fearsome warrior.

the length of an ass

Mike is boasting of the size of his penis, comparing it with an asses.

the stamina of a Greek

Mike is boasting his sexual ability, comparing himself with ancient Greek athletes.

the form of Michelangelo's David

Mike is comparing the shape of his penis that of David in the classical Greek statue.

the piston power of the Flying Scotsman

The Flying Scotsman was a train.  Mike is comparing his sexual strength with the power of a train.

as rich in the goodies as the Tiber bursting its banks

Mike compares his sperm with the power of the river Tiber.

Bertorelli's ice-cream

a brand of ice-cream.

Sylv's longing speech.  She thinks of how much freedom males have compared with females and she realises if she acted as badly as them, they would see her as a slut and reject her.

fella

a fellow, a male.  Slang.

pinkie

finger (the smallest finger).

impale them with an impertinent and fixed stare

ogle at the women.

hand in Levi-Strauss

hand in pockets of jeans, looking nonchalant.

pricks

insulting term for males.  Slang.

cave mouths

large shouting mouths.

Guinness

beer.

scrubber-slag-head

insulting terms for a woman.  Slang.

to Persil out his scummy lust

to wash out sperm stains.  Persil is a brand of washing powder (it is also mentioned in scene 3)

johnny tool

penis.

to dip my wick

to insert my penis.  Slang.

tadpoles

sperm.  Slang.

Micky

Mike.

let me have pectorals instead of boobs

let me have muscles instead of breasts.  Slang.

sown his wild oats

lived a wild life.  Slang.

the sack in bed is parlering for another cup of rosy

the man in bed is asking for another cup of tea.  Slang.

goosed

sexually molested.  Slang.

Les is in office and molests one of the secretaries.  The scene moves to Mum, Dad and Sylv happy on the beach.  As the stage directions say "the scenes of fun... delicately indicating Les' sense of isolation".

five bob

five shillings.

short-changed

given too little money back by shopkeepers.

Les's Tale of Woe.  He is lonely and tells of his existence working in a clothes shop.  This is a very autobiographical scene, Berkoff also worked in a clothes shop.

sup on porridge

eat porridge.

starts pianissimo and build (stage directions)

starts very quietly then build up.

a bit of clobbering

some fighting.

bird

girl-friend.  Slang.

sometimes you would pull

sometimes you would pick up a female.

gave it a bit of chat

tried to seduce.  Slang.

jail bait

young sexually attractive girl who is too young for legal sex, so the consequences for the male would be jail.  Slang.

Irish navvies

labourers, workmen.

bunged them whatever size we had in stock

sold them whatever was in the shop, even if it was the wrong size.

gelt

money.

fifty bob

fifty shillings, the price of the shirts.

Fu Manchu

a character from comics and later films.

two gobs of phlegm

two mouthfuls of spit.

Y-front pants

type of underwear.

Yeah it fits you beeauutiful

the accent is stereotype Jewish.

slag

insulting term for a woman.  Slang.

Beau Brummel

a fashionable person.  The "deceased testament to Beau Brummel" means that people  are trying but failing to be fashionable by coming into the shop.

Hickory Dock

clock.  Slang.

the gelt I had half-inched

the money I had stolen from the shop.  Slang.

fag

cigarette.  Slang.

Xmas

Christmas.

cops

policemen.  Slang.

thick fingers (not made for Chopin's Etudes)

fingers too thick to play the piano.

harbingers of death

people bringing bad news.

slag

offensive term for a woman.  Slang.

got her off the hook

she was found not guilty.  Slang.

sessions of paid lash

sadism with a prostitute.

our imaginations as foul as Vulcan's stithy

from Hamlet by Shakespeare.

a player who struts...

from Macbeth by Shakespeare.

Mum's point of view.   Mum looks at her life which is boring her.  She dreams of a cultured life.

Hawaii Five-O etc

television series.

fags

cigarettes.  Slang.

light and bitter

beer.

bingo... clickety click

a game mainly for old women together.  Clickety click is one of the expressions used.

Reg Varney

television actor.

Green Shield stamps

stamps given out by shops to save up for gifts.

who's running at Epson

Epson is a horse racecourse.

Tippet's sonata... Terry Riley

she fantasises she is a classical pianist giving performances for the BBC.

pick up my percolator at the Green Shields shop

a coffee percolator was one of the gifts you could get with Green Shield stamps- stamps given out by shops as a reward for customers.

Walls's sausages... flour"

famous food brands.

Gertrude

Gertrude Stein, a friend of writer Ernest Hemmingway.

shut you gob

shut your mouth, be quiet.  Slang.

can't ya let me bleeding sleep

let me sleep.

Les talks of a bus journey which ends with him seeing a beautiful woman he knew he could never have.

imbiber of thy resin

swallows your sperm.

North and South

mouth.  Rhyming slang (North and South rhyme with mouth).

loaded off her box

had sex with.  Slang.

slag

prostitute.  Slang

get to a nunnery

from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

the 38

bus number 38.

Shaftsbury Avenue Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ Superstar was performed in the Palace Theatre on Shaftsbury Avenue, London for eight years.

I was a go go dancer in a Saigon brothel

cinemas in Soho show sex films.

spade

offensive term for a black person.  Slang

skiving in the betting shop

instead of working they are betting.

Angel... Joe Lyons

Angel Islington is part of London.  Lyons was a chain of coffee shops.

cup of rosy

cup of tea.

ABC

cinema chain.

cracker

beautiful sexy girl.  Slang.

classy snatch

snatch is slang for women.  Classy snatch are women too beautiful and sophisticated to be interested in Les.

we pull slags

we seduce ugly women.

it tumbled... it dropped... the dirty penny

the penny drops means someone starts to understand something (from fairground games when a penny drops in a slot then the mechanism starts working).

pegs

legs.  Rhyming slang.

Les felt trapped after his bus journey.  They talk of the freedom of a bike, passing other cars and impressing rich women in chauffeur driven cars.

Then Mike takes Les on a motorbike ride to free his spirit.  The scene is done as mime, Mike is the bike (arms wide out as handlebars) and Mike rides on the motorbike.

Harley Davidson etc

types of motorbike.

ape hangers

on a bike with high handlebars hanging on is like an ape hanging on to a tree.

with apes

the classy bikes have lower handlebars so you don't hang like an ape.

between my thighs I grip her tight

he has the same thrill from a bike as from a woman.

VWs

Volkswagen cars.

ponces and hairdressers

insulting terms for middle class young men.

GBH

grievous bodily harm, police term for violence against other people.

Stop James

a chauffeur might be called James.

North and South

mouth.  Rhyming slang

The first lines repeat those of Scene 8.  Dad romanticises over the past.

Tizer

soft drink.

detention centre of Borstal

prison for young offenders.

abe

insulting term for Jews.

what a gall

what a disgrace.

kip

sleep.  Slang.

Vera Lynn

singer popular for patriotic songs during World War Two.

faggot

an insult.

what a larf we had

what a laugh we had, we had fun.

pox

sexual disease.

Woodbines

brand of cigarettes

A short scene played for laughs, showing the shallowness of their lives.

Mum tells of when she went to a cinema and in the darkness the man beside her starts fondling her sexually.  When the lights come on she discovers it was her son Mike.

was sat?

what was that?

Les's Speech A Night Out.

In a dance hall Sylv and Les dance.   A fight breaks up the dancing, and Les and Mike come in after a fight.  Les talks of sad lonely sexual encounters.

Lyceum

a dance hall.

Ted Heath

a joke about Ted Heath the dance band leader, Ted Heath the prime minister, and Heath a murderer.

Dicky Valentine

a popular singer.

Johnny Ray

a singer.

a slim Jim

slim and fashionably dressed.

Donegal tweed

cloth

DB lapels

collars for a double breasted (DB) suit.

when we were geary

when we were fashionable.

you need wheels

you need a car or a bike.

J. Arthur

masturbation.  Rhyming slang (J. Arthur Rank, a film company, and wank, to masturbate).

shiv

a knife.

jugular

jugular vein.  He uses a knife to force her to masturbate him.

In comparison with Les's sorry tale, Mike celebrates sex.

---

In mime, Sylv accepts Mike over Les.

---

The scene echoes the first scene, proving symmetry and signally to the audience that the play is playing to its end.

Sylv shows she is the one who has ambition and want to escape from the world she is in.  She does not want to end up like Mum and Dad.  Mike and Les seem to accept their world, and end with the words from the first scene "Now you know our names".

the brothers Kray, Reg

Reg and Ronnie Kray were London gangsters, each sentenced to life imprisonment.  Berkoff knew them, and Berkoff later acted in the film The Krays

a knocking shop

a brothel.

the Richardsons

Charlie Richardson was another London gangster.  Berkoff also later acted in a film about him, Charlie.

Photos from the DVD of East, directed by Berkoff.

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