T ’ *

Gallery Books
Editor: Peter Fallon
ARIEL
Marina Carr

ARIEL

Gallery Books
Ariel
is first published
simultaneously in paperback
and in a clothbound edition
on the day of its premiere,
2 October 2002.

The Gallery Press

Loughcrew
Oldcastle
County Meath
Ireland

© Marina Carr 2002

ISBN 1 85235 331 7 (paperback)

1 85235 332 5 (clothbound)

A CIP catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library.

All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved. Applica¬

tion for performance in any medium or for translation into any
language should be addressed to the author's sole agent c/o Leah
Schmidt, The Agency (London) Ltd, 24 Pottery Lane, Holland
Park, London wi i 4LZ, England.
The Gallery Press acknowledges the financial assistance of
An Chomhairle Ealaion / The Arts Council, Ireland, and the Arts
Council of Northern Ireland.
Characters

FERMOY FITZGERALD
FRANCES FITZGERALD, his wife
ARIEL FITZGERALD, their daughter
ELAINE FITZGERALD, child of twelve and young woman
STEPHEN FITZGERALD, chUd often and young man
BONIFACE, monk, Fermoy's older brother
SARAH, aunt ofFermoy
HANNAFIN
VERONA, interviewer
SOUNDMAN/woman
CAMERAMAN / WOMAN
Time and place

Act One, the present

Act Two, ten years later
Act Three, two months later

Dining room of the Fitzgerald home (table, drinks cabinet,

CD player, chairs, two entrances)

Music

Theme music: 'Mors et Vita' from Gounod's Judex.

Ariel was first produced in the Abbey Theatre, in association
with Fiach MacConghail, on Wednesday, 2 October 2002, with
the following cast:

FERMOY Mark Lambert

ELAINE Eileen Walsh
SARAH Joan O'Hara
HANNAFIN Des Cave
BONIFACE Barry McGovern
FRANCES Ingrid Craigie
ARIEL Elske Rahill
STEPHEN Dylan Tighe
VERONA Caitriona Ni Mhurchu
YOUNG STEPHEN Paul McGovern
Shane Murray Corcoran
YOUNG ELAINE Siobhan Cullen
Lydia Rahill

Director Conall Morrison

Set Design Frank Conway
Costume Design Joan O'Clery
Lighting Design Rupert Murray
Fight Director Renny Krupinski
Stage Director Audrey Hession
ASM Maree Kearns
for Dermot, William and Daniel
 ACT ONE
Curtain up. Lights up as fermoy, Frances, Ariel, elaine, boniface,
STEPHEN and SARAH Stand around a birthday cake on the table. The
cake is lit with sixteen candles. All are singing:

ALL 'And so say all of us.

And so say all of us.
For she's a jolly good fella.
For she's a jolly good fella.
For she's a jolly good fella.
And so say all of us.'

ARIEL blows out the candles, claps and cheers.

FRANCES Happy birthday, sweetheart. {Kisses her)

BONIFACE Sweet sixteen and never been kissed. {Kisses her)
FERMOY We hope, we have our doubts.
ARIEL What ya don't know won't bother ya. Does this
mane I get the keys a the car. Daddy?
FERMOY Mebbe ud manes ya get your own little banger.
ARIEL Whah?
FERMOY Look ouh the winda.

ARIEL runs to window followed by elaine.

ARIEL Ah, Daddy, you're mad, you're mad.

FERMOY gives her the keys, lifts her up, sings to her,
dancing around the room.

FERMOY 'Whin first I seen the love ligh in your eye

I thought the world held nough buh jiy for me
And aven though we drifted far apart
I love ya as I loved ya.
Whin ya were sweet, whin ya were sweet sixteen.'

11
 {Puts her down) You're noh a child anymore buh
we'll hould onta ya long as we can, won't we,
Frances?
FRANCES Leh go, Stephen, leh go a me dress. (To fermoy)
Yeah, a cuurse we will.
ARIEL Can I go drivin now?
FERMOY Were ya drinkin wine?
ARIEL Just a glass.
FRANCES Yeah, come an. I'll go for a spin wud ya.

Exit ARIEL, FRANCES, STEPHEN.

SARAH Anywan for cake?

FRANCES When we come back.
SARAH (Exiting, muttering to herself) Was up half the nigh
makin thah. Whin I was a girl we had wan cake ah
Christmas, now ud's cake all the time, cake and
more cake, swear ud was Versailles yees were
brough up in.
FERMOY Elaine, g'wan wud your mother, good girl.
ELAINE Sing a song to me. Daddy, sing sweet sixteen to me.
FERMOY Whin you're sweet sbcteen, darlin, then I'll sing
sweet sixteen to you.
ELAINE Sure thah's years away.
FERMOY Ah g'wan for a drive in Ariel's new car, good girl.
ELAINE Will ya gimme a puff a your cigar if I go?
FERMOY Whin ya come back I'll give ya a puff.
ELAINE And a swig a brandy?
FERMOY Two puffs and two swigs if ya lave me in peace for
five minutes.
ELAINE Alrigh so. I'll be back shortly to hould ya to your
word.

Exit ELAINE.

FERMOY I ve no doubt ya will. God, they'd drive ya mad,

kids. I spind the whole day duckin them.
BONIFACE And me thinkin ya were an adorin father.
FERMOY And I am, an adorin father who doesn't know what

12
 to do wud em. I can't waih for Mondays. Wakinds
should be banned. More paple gets murdered on
Sundays than any other day a the wake. Whah
does thah mane?
BONIFACE I suppose ud's wan way a passin the time after the
roast beef and the trifle.
FERMOY {Pouring brandy for himself) Ya still on the wagon?
BONIFACE Liver like a newborn. For whah, I ask meself.
FERMOY {Pouring a coke for boniface) And how's things up
ah the monastery?
BONIFACE The last a the Mohicans. I'm the ony wan under
sixty. Spind me days changin nappies, ferryin thim
to hospitals, funeral parlours, checkin they take
their medication, givin em glasses a whiskey to
shuh em up, breaktn up fights over armchairs and
toffees. They go ah wan another like three-year-
aulds. Caugh Celestius goin for the back of
Aquinus' head wud a hommer last wake. I swiped
ud ouh a hees hand just in the nick a time. Noh
today, I says to Celestius, noh today, and he gives
me this avil grin and slinks off. And Aquinus
manewhile is oblivious to the whole thing, he's
dribblin and droolin away to hees horse. He has
this horse goes everywhere wud him.
FERMOY Noh a rale horse?
BONIFACE No, no, ud's all in hees addled little head. Him and
the horse does everthin together, makes room in
the bed for him and all. There's a place seh for him
ah the table, betwane me and Aquinus. No wan
else'll sih beside the horse. Ya'd want to see
Aquinus fadin him rashers. I don't enquire whah
goes on in bed betwane em. I'm afraid he'd tell me.
And Bonaventura is in intensive care, thanks be to
the lord God.
FERMOY He's the wan calls ya Mammy?
BONIFACE Thah's him. And whin he's lucid he's worse. Wint
inta see him yesterda, gev him a Padre Pio relic and
he flings ud back ah me. Whah do I want wud
Padre Pio's britches, says he. Well, is there anhin I

13
 can get ya, says I. There is, he says, me youh and
Billie Holida. And then he goes into a swirl abouh
Bern cremahed, thah he's noh a Catholic anymore,
thah he never belaved in the first place, and him
takin chunks ouha the chalice hees whole life. And
despihe all the lunacy they cry like babbies at nigh,
hare em whingin in their cells. Some part of em
knows ud's over and they goh ud all wrong and still
they hang on.
FERMOY Well, wouldn't you?
BONIFACE Apparently 1 am. Are ya goin to swing ud this time?
FERMOY Ud'll be a dogfigh.
BONIFACE Aye, Harmafin's mug is everywhere, he's some
cowbiy, had the nerve to come canvassin me ah the
monastery.
FERMOY Whah had he to say for heeself?
BONIFACE Asked me to talk sinse to you. Tould me to tell ya ya
don't stand a chance, that you're ony makin a fool a
yourself.
FERMOY Four votes. Four. That's all was in ud last time.
BONIFACE He still has the whole machine behind him. You're
on your own.
FERMOY I've God behind me and what's a little civil war
coven compared to God backin ya. I'll geh in this
time alrigh. Been havin powerful drames lately.
Drames of a conqueror.
BONIFACE Have ya now?
FERMOY Oh, aye. Dreamt last nigh I was dinin wud Alexander
the Greah, Napoleon and Caesar, and we all had
tigers' feeh imder the whihe linen tablecloth. Ud
was brillint. And ya know thah famous portrait a
Napoleon, up on hees whihe horse, the fah legs of
him diggin inta the flanks, off to destriy the world?
Well, I can't stop dramin abouh thah picture, ony
I'm the wan on the whihe horse insteada Napoleon.
BONIFACE Noh another wan wud a horse. You should take up
wud Aquinus.
FERMOY Laugh away. Me and God's on a wan to wan.
BONIFACE Oh, excuse me. And whin did this greah event occur?

14
 Ud wasn't in the papers.
FERMOY Ya think I'm jokin. I'm tellin ya I've direct access to
him.
BONIFACE Well, you're the first I meh thah has. Tell him to
scahher a few bars a gold in my pah next time yees
are houldin hands.
FERMOY The last person ya should ever talk to abouh God
is wan a the religious. Yees are the most C5mical,
rational, mathemahical shower I ever cem across
whin ud comes to God.
BONIFACE Ya have to be mathemahical when you're dalin
wud mystery.
FERMOY Well, yees have him ruined for all true belavers.
BONIFACE What do ya expect? Facts are he hasn't been seen
for over two thousand year, for all we know he's
left the solar system. We're goin on hearsay, gossip,
the buuk. Times I wonder was he ever here.
FERMOY Well, if he wasn't none of ud makes sinse.
BONIFACE There's many belaves wasn't him med the earth ah
all, thah ud was Satan and hees fallen armies, thah
we were masterminded in hell, only Lucifer's
pawns to geh ah God. Now I wouldn't go thah far
meself, ih'd be too frightenin if thah was the case,
buh for you to claim the privelege a God's ear is
ouhrageous. Ud's blasphemy. Does paple belave in
blasphemy anymore?
FERMOY I do.
BONIFACE Well, if ya do why're ya claimin God's talkin to ya?
FERMOY I'm claimin natin, forget the whole thing.
BONIFACE No, ya've me curious now. And whah does he say
to ya?
FERMOY I'm noh tellin ya, forgeh ud, cheers. {Raises his glass,
drinks)
BONIFACE I've offindid ya.
FERMOY I'm sick a ya talkin down to me from the heights a
your canon law and the foosterins a the Pope a
Rome and your cosy mehaphysics and your charihy.
For all your religion ya know natin abouh the
nature a God.

15
 BONIFACE And you do?
FERMOY I know a couple a things.
BONIFACE And tell me, what's he like, this God a yours?
FERMOY Oh, he's beauhiful. When he throws hees head back
hees hair gets tangled in the stars, and in hees hands
are seven moons thah he juggles like worry beads.
Hees eyes is shards of obsidian, hees skin is turquoise,
and hees mouth is a staggerin red, whah the first red
musta been before ud all started fadin. I'm noh
capturin him righ, for how can ya parse whah is
perfect.
BONIFACE My God is an auld fella in a tent, addicted to broccoli.
FERMOY No, God is young. He's so yoimg. He's on fire for us,
heaven reelin wud hees rage at not bein among us,
the eterruhy of etemihy hauntin him. Time manes
natin to him. He rises from an afternoon nap and
twinty centuries has passed.
BONIFACE No, no, no, he never slapes. Christianihy is based on
God never slapin. You're wrong there, God does noh
slape.
FERMOY My God slapes.
BONIFACE How d'ya know, did ya tuck him in? Rade him a
bedtime story?
FERMOY Didn't I see him, a mountain slapin on a mountain.
BONIFACE Ah, you've had too much brandy.
FERMOY Don't you try pullin rank wud me, wud your cross
and your robes and your broccoli God. I entered the
landscape a God before you, long before. You can't
tell me anhin abouh God.
BONIFACE Ya talkin abouh Ma, a'ya?
FERMOY No, I'm noh talkin abouh Ma. Why d'ya have to brin
her up every time?
BONIFACE Do I brin her up every time?
FERMOY Wudouh fail.
BONIFACE And is thah a crime?
FERMOY Was thirty-five year ago, Boniface. She's gone, she's
gone.
BONIFACE And whah an exih.
FERMOY She was never the suurt was goin to die in her bed.

i6
BONIFACE She'd a died in her bed if she'd been leh ... I
remember goin home to see you wan time, soon
after, and Auntie Sarah was sittin ah the table
wearin Ma's clothes, the hair up in wan of her
slides, pranctn round the kitchen like ud was hers.
FERMOY Someone had to wash the dishes.
BONIFACE Now ud's comtn ouh.
FERMOY Whah?
BONIFACE Thah 1 didn't lave the novitiate to look after ya.
FERMOY Auntie Sarah looked after me fine, fierce good to
me, a packet a biscuits and a bottle a red lemonade
every nigh before I wint to bed, whah more could
ya ask for?
BONIFACE A wonder ya've a tooth in your head. No, shoulda
been me looked after ya, ony I was a maniac for
religion ah the time. I goh the full benefih a Ma's
christianihy, no douh abouh thah, a novice ah
seventeen. Ya know ud never occurred to me to
go agin her. At laste ya were spared thah, buh I
shoulda looked after ya.
FERMOY I grew up, didn't I? Furthest thing from me mind
righ now. I've an election to win. D'you think I
stand a chance?
BONIFACE Hannafin has the core vohe. He's held thah seat for
twinty year. Be hard budge him.
FERMOY Nearly done ud last time. This time I will.
BONIFACE Whah makes ya so sure?
FERMOY Horse sinse and God. That's all ya nade to get by in
this world, horse sinse and God. That's whah goh
me this far and thah's what'll take me to the moon.
BONIFACE Ya may geh past Hannafin first.
FERMOY Ah, ud's noh Hannafin's the crux ah all, ud's
meself, alias meself. Hannafin's a gombeen, like
the rest of em. Why do they all want to be nice?
What's so greah abouh bein liked? Am I missin
somethin here? Swear ud was beahification they
were after and em all cut-throats in their own
kitchens. All chirpin the wan tune like there's no
other — aqual wages, creches in the workplace, no

17
 ceilin on the women, the pace process, a leg up for
the poor, the handicapped, the refugees, the tinkers,
the tachers, the candlestick makers. In Sparta they
were left on the side a the hill and that's where I'll
lave em when I've the reins. I swear to God I'm goin
to brin in a new religion, no more guilt, no more
sorrow, no more good girls and good biys, just the
unstoppable blood pah a the soul.
BONIFACE Ya wont win an election on thah speech.
FERMOY Migh surprise ya to know how many agrays wud
me. The earth's over, paple knows thah in their
bones, ozone layer in tahhers, oceans gone to sewer,
whole world wan big landfill a dirty nappies. We're
gom to lave this place in ashes like the shower on
Mars.
BONIFACE I don't belave in much anymore. Gardenin, if ud
was puh to me and me back to the wall I'd say I
belave in cornflowers. I'd like to think whahever
happens us thah this ground will survive us.
FERMOY The age a cornflowers is dead and gone. Last two
thousand year a complahe farce. Well, ud's nearly
over. We'll pick up where we left off.
BONIFACE And where's thah?
FERMOY The mortal sins is back in fashion. Welcome back,
we missed yees. Age a compassion had uds turn,
never took rooh. Well, way past time to banish the
dregs to heaven's dungeon. The earth is ours wance
more and noh before time.
BONIFACE If thah's your manifesto I may start prayin ya don't
geh in.
FERMOY Ud's mine for the takin, I know ud is, all ud nades
on my part is a sacrifice.
BONIFACE Whah suurt of a sacrifice?
FERMOY A sacrifice to God.
BONIFACE Buh whah suurt?
FERMOY The only suurt he acknowledges. Blood.
BONIFACE Blood?
FERMOY This thing's been edgin me to the cliff all year. And
there's more. If I don't offer up this sacrifice he

i8
 demands, he's goin to take ud anyway. And me for
good measure. Whichever road I take is crooked.
Thah's the price a God. If I make the sacrifice, then
ud's all mine. Buh the cost, the cost. Impossible.
Buh if I refuse this sacrifice. I'm facin the grave
meself and, worse, facin him after refusin me
destiny and, worse agin, after refusin him the wan
thing he asks as payment for this enchanted life.
BONIFACE Spakin a blood, ours is streaked, Fermoy. You know
thah well as me. The auld fella.
FERMOY This is different. We're talkin a different league
here. We're talkin whah I was puh on this earth for.
BONIFACE Nowan knows whah they're on the earth for.
FERMOY I do. I'm on this earth to rule. Was born knowin ud.
Timidihy has held me back till now. Ud'll hould me
back no longer. I refuse to spind any more a me life
on the margins. I refuse to succumb to an early
exih. I'll give him whah he wants for ud's hees in
the first place anyway.
BONIFACE And whah is ud he wants?
FERMOY I tould ya, blood and more blood, blood till we're
dry as husks, then pound us down, spread us like
salt on the land, begin the experiment over, on
different terms next time.
BONIFACE We've moved beyond the God a Job, Fermoy. Two
thousand year a civilization has taken us to a
different place. Now I'm noh sayin this is Utopia or
anywhere near ud, buh we have advanced a few
small steps along the way. And for you to call up
the auld God is terrifyin. I don't care how beauhi-
ful he appears. He's a wolf and ud's a wolf you'll
be growlin wud if ya dredge him up. You're playin
dangerous games here. God does noh do dales, ah
laste the God I know doesn't. I mane whah exactly
is this blood sacrifice? Is ud some suurt a pagan
calf ritual or are we talkin somethin far older and
more sinister here?
FERMOY Can't a man air the festerins of hees soul withouh
bein convicted?

19
BONIFACE No, I don't think he can. Thah's why there's such a
thing as custody a the tongue. Thah's why our
thoughts is silent, so we can do away wud em
before they're spoken. And ud's a mighy short
journey from sayin a thing to doin ud.
FERMOY Ah, forget the whole bleddy business.
BONIFACE Ih'd fit yourself behher to forgeh ud.
FERMOY Alrigh. Alrigh. Ud's forgotten. Gone. I'll lave ud
wud the nigh where ud belongs and hope ud'll lave
me. In the manetime I've an election comin and I've
a problem wud the hospitals, wonderin could ya
help me.
BONIFACE If I can.
FERMOY Ud's all the wans dyin in their beds wud their faces
to the wall, nade their votes.
BONIFACE Ahi, would ya lave em alone.
FERMOY Ya think I want to be botherin thim? There's only a
spider's leg between me and Hannafin. Whah would
ya say to a dyin person thah'd make em vote for ya?
BONIFACE Say natin ony sih and talk to em.
FERMOY I'm noh the Sisters a Mercy, talk to em abouh whah?
BONIFACE I'd'n know ... heaven, mebbe?
FERMOY Whah? Say natin abouh votin ony soother em wud
etemihy? Alrigh, I've a good workin knowledge of
eternihy. I'll melt em wud pictures of uds silver
avenues and uds houses a tarnished gold and the
blue waher lappin offa the whihe marble pier as the
brass-bodied angels grates em wud mugs a tay. If
they don't serve tay in heaven there won't be an
Irish person in the place.
BONIFACE And ya call yourself religious.
FERMOY Yes, I do, buh my etemihy is noh for the herd.
BONIFACE The herd's eternihy will do fine for me.
FERMOY No douh ud will, a swate little postcard heaven.
Have you any idea of the vastness of heaven?
Your heaven would fih on a stamp. Mine can noh be
measured.
BONIFACE Then I think ud's a dangerous thing noh to have the
square rooh a heaven in your mind.

20
 FERMOY Look, I nade to wrihe a lehher to thah eegih thah
runs the health buurd. Whah's this hees name is
agin? The wan wud the coconuh hair?
BONIFACE Alloni.
FERMOY Thah's him, noh returnin me calls. I nade the rim a
the hospitals, auld folks homes, day cintres, thah
suurt a thing. You should know the kind a lehher
thah'll geh him. He's givin Hannafin free rein and
he won't leh me in. What's hees pisin anyway?
BONIFACE Bates the wife. Mebbe he's stopped. See her goin
round wudouh her sunglasses, perfect face on her.
FERMOY Anhin else?
BONIFACE He puh wan a hees kids in hospital a while back.
Med em take ouh her appendix, noh a thing wrong
a the girl.
FERMOY I suppose if ya run the health buurd ya can have
the whole family operahed on for free.
BONIFACE Mebbe ud was a sign of affection.
FERMOY Or a birthday present. Come an down to the den
and we shape this lehher. (Upwards) I'll geh in yet,
sir, wud or wudout ya. (Exiting by the cake) Ya want
a slice a cake?
BONIFACE Naw.
FERMOY Me aither. Hate cake, so does the kids.

He smashes the cake.

Allas wanted to do thah to a cake. Ah, Auntie

Sarah, spyin agin.
SARAH Wanta be fierce bored to be perchin on your
conversation. 1 hear Hannafin's goin to win.
FERMOY Ya won't rise me, missus.
SARAH Only tellin ya the word abroad.
FERMOY I won't be countin on your vohe so.
SARAH And the missus is votin green, heard her on the
phone.
FERMOY Ah, the little protest vohe. The Cranes'll comes
back to me ivintually. She'll vohe for me in spihe of
herself. Why does all the women in this house

21
 want to kill me?
SARAH Law a the world, don't take ud personally.

Exit BONIFACE and fermoy as Ariel enters, talking

on her mobile, sarah tries to fix the cake.

ARIEL {On her mobile) Yeah, a suurt of a buhherfly yella .. .

brand new, I swear ... Yeah... Whah're y'up to? ...
Yeah, I seen ud, fierce, isn't ud? . . . Ya love ud? Ah,
ud's wodous, ya still belave in Noddyland, ah,
Stephanie ... Yeah, yeah, whah time yees matin ah?
... No, they'll never leh me, never leh me anywhere,
afraid some wan'd run off wud me. I wish ... Did he
say he'd be there? . . . Damn ud . . . Simda nigh
they'll never leh me ...
FRANCES (Entering) You're goin nowhere in the dark, Ariel, so
don't bother askin.
ARIEL (Exiting) Ah, Ma ... (To Stephanie on the mobile) Ya
heard thah, did ya? Look, tell him I'll see him in
school tomorra . . . Yeah, yeah. (She's well offstage by
now)
FRANCES Whah happened the cake?
SARAH Didn't heeself puh hees fist through ud.
FRANCES (To STEPHEN who Stands beside her, looking at her) I said
no, Stephen, you're noh getting ud.
STEPHEN Just a sup.
FRANCES I'm noh a lollypop.
STEPHEN (Climbing on her knee) Come an and don't be so
manchey wud em. (Going for her breast)
FRANCES I said, no. (Stops him) No, Stephen, no. (A struggle)
SARAH Ah, leh him suck away. If there was wan goin I'd be
suckin on ud too.
FRANCES (Struggling with him) No way, Stephen. Whah would
your Daddy say?
STEPHEN Don't you dare tell him!
FRANCES I'll tell him righ now if ya don't stop.
STEPHEN Alrigh, alrigh, just leh me lie up agin ya. (Eies up
against her)
FRANCES Don't fall aslape on me now. I'm warnin ya. (To

22
 SARAH) Here, give us a bih a cake, love cake, Fd ahe
ud all downto the plahe.

SARAH gives her a lump of cake. Enter elaine.

Ya want a bih a cake, Elaine?

ELAINE No. {Stands there watching Frances)
FRANCES Damn ud, he's aslape.
ELAINE He's ony pretendin.
FRANCES Wake up, Stephen, come an wake up, love. {To
elaine) What do ya want, peh?
ELAINE Natin, just lookin at ya.
FRANCES Did ya like Ariel's birthday?
ELAINE No.
FRANCES And why, migh I ask?
ELAINE Birthdays is ony interestin when they're your own.
FRANCES A'ya lookin for a scrap, are ya?
ELAINE Yeah, I am.
FRANCES Ya'd too much coke, that's what's wrong a ya.
ELAINE Daddy tould ya noh to be doin thah thing wud
Stephen.
FRANCES Whah thing? I'm noh doin anhin wud him.
ELAINE You're a liar. A big liar.
FRANCES Don't you call me a liar, and stop givin me the avil
eye. I'm tired, Elaine, I'm tired.

ELAINE stands there looking at Frances.

SARAH She's like her grandmother, thah wan, she'd stare

the world down, biggest eyes y'ever seen. I goh the
hands, she goh the eyes.
ELAINE And where is me grandmother?
SARAH Never you mind where she is.
ELAINE She's ah the bohhom a Cuura Lake where me
grandaddy puh her, in a bag wud a boulder, nowan
ever found her.
FRANCES If ya know why're ya askin?
ELAINE Want to hear her say ud. She's ah the bohhom a
Cuura Lake where me grandaddy puh her. Love

23
 the sound a thah.
SARAH Ya do, don't ya, ya babby witch in the cauldron.
Thah child knows too much.
ELAINE And where were you when ud was happenin. Auntie
Sarah?
SARAH Never you mind where 1 was.
ELAINE Ya were warmin me grandaddy's bed, that's where
ya were.
SARAH And what's ud to you if I was?
ELAINE Ud's information and information is useful.
FRANCES Thah's enough, Elaine. G'wan ouhside the duur and
don't come back in till ya say sorry to Auntie Sarah.
ELAINE Well, ud's true, isn't ud, what's to be sorry for when
ud's true? {Squeezes Frances)
FRANCES Ow, ya rip, ya!
ELAINE Thah's for the last twelve years.
FRANCES Gehouh!
ELAINE (Sauntering out) Ya think ud bothers me goin
ouhside the duur? Love ud ouh there. Can't waih to
be ouhside your duur forever.
SARAH There's a madam. I'd like to see her whin she's
twinty-wan.
FRANCES Thah child hates me, I don't know why ud is, buh
thah child hates me.
SARAH Mebbe she'll grow ouh of ud.
FRANCES Ud's noh natural. From the very beginnin she
wanted rid a me. Times I think she's me penance for
James. Isn't thah an awful thing to think?
SARAH High time you stopped torturin yourself over James.
FRANCES Why will no wan in this house leh me talk abouh
James? Fermoy goes mad if I mention him, he thinks
I'm blamin him. If I wanted to I could, for James'
death was as much hees fault as mine. I wanted to
brin him on the honeymoon. Fermoy says no, lave
him wud your aunts. And oh . . . when they rang
and tould me . . . three thousand miles away and
James dead from the belt of a hurl . . . still can't
belave ud. (Produces locket) Look ah him. And hees
father. I wasn't good to thah man. Two calves they

24
 were. Look at them.
SARAH Seen ud before, Frances, seen ud before, many,
many times.
FRANCES Aye ... and these tears is natin to the wans I'll shed
in the future. I still have to pay for James. Every
momin I ask meself is this the day the roof's goin
to fall in for whah I done to James. And if I as much
as look ouh the winda a second too long or pause
in the hall of an avenin, Fermoy goes inta a reel of
how I loved James and the first husband more than
him. Well mebbe I did. Fermoy threw the dust in
me eyes. These two I loved.
SARAH {Exiting with dishes) The beauhiful dead, the beauhi-
ful dead, everywan loves em.
ELAINE {Head around the door) I've a fierce destiny, Ma, and
you're in ud.
SARAH {Shoos her out) Away wud ya and lave your mother
alone.

FRANCES sits there with Stephen asleep on her knee,

looking at locket. She looks from locket to Stephen to
locket. She strokes his head.

FRANCES You've a look of him alrigh. The eyes, yees boh

have my eyes. Buh ya don't have hees black curls,
you've Fermoy's hair. James had the most beauhi¬
ful, beauhiful head a blue black curls. Paple'd stop
us in the street to touch hees curls. I had to puh a
clip in your hair to kape the curls ouha your eyes
and still I wouldn't cuh em. Whin a'ya goin to cuh
thah child's hair, they'd ask. Never, I'd say, never,
and I never did. Five years a black curls wint inta
thah grave and me wud em.

Enter boniface.

BONIFACE I'm away, Frances. Ah, the child, the child, is there
anhin lovelier than a slapin child?
FRANCES There is, aye. A dead wan. {Closes locket)

25
 BONIFACE Is thah SO?
FRANCES If he doesn't geh in this time there'll be war.
BONIFACE He's overdue a dressin down.
FRANCES Help him, will ya, Boniface? He's us all driven mad
here, you know everywan, geh em to vohe for him.
He's noh a bad man, just all wrong, behher than
Hannafin.
BONIFACE Ah, Hannafin's harmless, he's the auld school, sell
the whole country down the Swanee for an exten¬
sion to hees bungalow and a new jape.
FRANCES Well, I'm the wan'll suffer if he doesn't geh in. I'm
the wan'll be blemt.
BONIFACE I've an awful falin he's goin to swing ud. He's down
there in the den rattlin on abouh blood sacrifice and
destiny and vision. God help us all if he gets in,
thah's whah I say. The auld fella was a tyrant too.
FRANCES I ony meh him the wance, thought he was a fine
auld gintleman.
BONIFACE He'd the charm a forty divils alrigh. They alias do,
buh back a the charm was the stuck-up rebellis heart
of all a Lucifer's crew. Does he ever talk to ya abouh
the auld lad?
FRANCES Me and thah man doesn't talk ah all. Wance ya go
past hello wud Fermoy he wants to kill ya. Asier say
natin.
BONIFACE Ask him abouh the auld lad and Ma sometime.
FRANCES God, no, don't want to open thah buuk a butchery.
Sooner leh an ud never happened.
BONIFACE Oh, ud happened, and me man in there in the
middle of ud all. Auld fella med him hould Ma
down.
FRANCES He was ony a child, wasn't he, wasn't hees fault.
BONIFACE I'm noh sayin ud was. All I'm sayin is somethin like
thah is bound to take uds toll on a person's view a
the world. I don't like the way he's goin an.
FRANCES And why did your father do ud?
BONIFACE In cuurt he said ud was to save her the trouble a dyin
laher an. Figure thah wan ouh at your leisure.
FRANCES And whah had she done? I don't mane she deserved

26
 to be puh in a bag and pegged to the bohhom of a
lake, buh whah was goin an?
BONIFACE He tried to make ouh she was havin an affair. She
wasn't. Thah woman was in love wud wan man
and wan man only. Padre Pio of San Giovanni.
FRANCES Hard compate wud Padre Pio.
BONIFACE Her party piece was Padre Pio hearin her confes¬
sion. And ah the end of ud he puh hees hand
through the curtain and the stigmaha bled onta her
blouse. She had the blouse folded in tissue paper
wud lavender sprigs all over ud. And if ya were
really good she'd take down the blouse and leh us
trace our fingers over the blood. That's eternihy
you're touchin, she'd say. That's eternihy, be
careful wud ud. Christ, I could tell ya stories abouh
thah woman, never a dull moment, and the
eyelashes on her and the big dark mane of her, like
a horse, like a beauhiful Egyptian horse. And the
auld lad doesn't know whah to do wud her so he
does away wud her.
FRANCES And Fermoy there in the middle of ud all. The size
a the nigh in thah man is past measurin.

FERMOY has entered.

FERMOY Is ud now? ... Was he on ya agin?

FRANCES He's ony sittm on me knee.
FERMOY Know you're lyin. Can smell the milk.
FRANCES You slape better ah nigh thinkin I'm a liar.
FERMOY I certainly do. {Takes Stephen) C'mere, me little man,
till we snake some gristle inta your drames.
FRANCES Whah'd ya go and mash the cake for? Ya know I
love cake.
FERMOY And ya love witholdin ud. I'm married to a nun,
Boniface, a born agin virgin. Ud's noh every man
can say he's hitched hees cart to the reverend
mother.
BONIFACE Ya may lave me ouha the sheets.
FRANCES I'll take off me wimple when you learn how to

27
 trahe a woman righ and noh before.
FERMOY And where am I supposed to learn? On a rockin
horse?
FRANCES Ya know natin, Fermoy Fitzgerald.
FERMOY Then tell me, missus! G'wan, tell me! Listen to this
now, Boniface, listen to wan of her dirges on love.
FRANCES Waste a breah dirgin you.
FERMOY Sure, the only rason I married ya was so I could
have ud on demand. And all she does is talk abouh
ud, talk abouh ud wud this lad here latched onto
her. Look ah hees teeth, he's whah? Ten, and he still
has hees milk teeth. They won't fall ouh till she
weans him. Buh she won't wean him. Ya know why?
Because then she'd have to dale wud me. I've the
length a you, missus. I know whah's goin on in thah
little bantam head a yours. You should be tratin me
like a king steada grindrn me down to bone male.
FRANCES You and your auld election. Ya never have a nice
word. Ya never have a word. (Exiting) In and ouh
like a fox. Sooner be palin a bag a spuds.
FERMOY (Goes after her, yanks locket from her neck) Knew ud!
Just knew ud. Sure there's no talkin to ya when
ya've thah yoke round your neck.
FRANCES Gimme thah back if ya value your life.
FERMOY (Fending her off) Look whah she wears round her neck.
FRANCES Give us ud.
BONIFACE Ah, would ya give the woman her locket.
FERMOY Look ah him! Look whah I have to puh up wud. The
first husband. Pugnacious puss of him.
FRANCES Gimme thah back now, ya gone too far.
FERMOY High time ya forgoh abouh them. They're dead.
Dead as stones. I'm your husband. There's your son
(Stephen).
FRANCES (Pointing at locket) And there's me other son. Look ah
him if ya dare. The wan ya killed.
FERMOY Oh, here we go.
FRANCES You killed him or as good as.
FERMOY How, tell me how did I kill him and I on another
continent?

28
FRANCES Wud black thinkin and wishin him away.
FERMOY Brin him wud us, I told ya. Brin him on the bleddy
honeymoon for all I care.
FRANCES Like hell ya said brin him wud us. You're greah ah
re-jiggin the past, alias wud yourself as the haroh.
Give him to me, ud's me favourihe picture, give
him to me.
FERMOY Well now, missus, you shoulda taken the edge off
of me this morning.

Exit FERMOY.

BONIFACE Y'alrigh?
FERMOY This is ony the warm up. This is natin.
BONIFACE Ya want me to get your locket back?
FRANCES No, thah's whah he'd like. Leh him cool hees jets.
He'll be back for another round.
BONIFACE Righ, I'm away durin the calm.
FRANCES Nigh, Boniface.

FRANCES wakes STEPHEN.

C'mon, peh, up to bed.

STEPHEN Whah am I doin noh on your knee.
FRANCES Your Daddy was nursin ya.
STEPHEN Ya didn't tell him, did ya? Make a holy show a me.
FRANCES No, 1 didn't tell him.
STEPHEN Tm givin y'up for Lint, ya may puh up wud me till
then.
FRANCES Alrigh, ya mane thah now, do ya?
STEPHEN 1 do. Will ya come up and say goodnigh to me. I'll
be fierce fast.
FRANCES Alrigh, me little man.

She kisses him. He walks sleepily from the room as

ARIEL stands in the doorway.

ARIEL Ah, Ma, leh us ouh for five minutes, will ya, want
to show Stephanie the car.

29
 FRANCES Buh ud's dark, love.
ARIEL I'll be wary. Ah, Ma, ud's me birthday. I'll be righ
back.
FRANCES Ya enjiy your birthday?
ARIEL Aye, never thought I'd see sixteen.
FRANCES Swear ya were ninety.
ARIEL I know ud's mad, buh I never thought I'd make me
sixteenth birthday. I've this thing abouh a girl in a
graveyard, don't know where ud cem from, buh just
before I go to slape and me mind's blanked ouh, this
sintince kapes comin. Girl in a graveyard, girl in a
graveyard, I tap ud ouh on the pilla, puts me to
slape like a lullaby. Mad, isn't ud?
FRANCES Ud's somethin. G'wan then to Stephanie. I'm timin ya.
ARIEL You're a great little Ma.

She blows her a kiss and she's gone. Frances sits there
eating the cake. Hold a minute. Then enter fermoy
with a CD. He puts it on. Stands there listening to it,
looking at her. Dancing.

FERMOY Ya wanted some romance, missus.

FRANCES Take more than Spanish eyes to romance me.
FERMOY {Dances towards her, for her) You're the wan, you're
the wan. I'm just busy, busy, you're lookin ah the
next Taoiseach. Go aisy on me a while, will ya, and
then I'm yours agin.
FRANCES Where's me locket?

FERMOY takes locket from his pocket, gives it to her,

dancing all the time. She examines it.

What's your phoho doin here?

FERMOY I left in the child's phoho. Don't be getting thick
over natin agin. I don't mind ya wearin a phoho of
the child but noh heeself. I'm the wan should be
straddlin your heart.
FRANCES And what ya do wud Charlie's phoho?
FERMOY On me desk.

30
 FRANCES Ud's important to remember whah has been lost.
FERMOY {Pulling her to him) I know. I know.
FRANCES Like hell, ya know. Ya don't remember yesterda,
you're thah suurt of a man.
FERMOY {Dancing with her) Oh, I remember everythin, don't
you ever fear, buh ud's important to forget too.

Kisses her, a long lovely kiss. Enter hannafin,

stands there watching and listening.

FRANCES We started on the wrong fooh, Fermoy, no way to

puh ud righ.
FERMOY Ud was meant to be.
FRANCES 1 wish 1 could be as certain as you. Facts are me
goin wud you cost me me husband's life, me son's
life and forever more me peace a mind.
FERMOY Whah happened James and Charlie was strokes a
destiny.
FRANCES Strokes a destiny?
FERMOY Aye, natin to do wud you or me. The man above
cleared the way, is all. Ony for destiny you'd a ran
back and forth between me and Charlie. Ya'd be
runnin still. Ya should be grateful the chice was
med for ya.
FRANCES And James?
FERMOY James was left field. I'll admih thah. James' death
shook me to the core. And then I began to under¬
stand the God we're dalin wud. He was boulsterin
us for things to come.
FRANCES Whah things to come?
FERMOY We mustn't be afraid, we mustn't baulk, ony dance
to the music till the music's done. And when I'm
Taoiseach you'll be there wud me, where ya
belong. That's whah's wrong a the coimtry, noh
enough sex. I'm goin to creahe a new ministry, the
ministry a sex. You'll be the minister and I'll be
your assistant. We'll give em demonstrations on
the national airwaves, we'll be the new Angelus.
HANNAFIN And put the whole nation off their tay.

31
 FERMOY Hannafin ... Whah do we owe this pleasure to?
HANNAFIN Look, Fitzgerald, ya wont geh me seah offa me. I've
the core vohe wrapped up, whole coimty in me fist.
FERMOY Four votes, Hannafin. All I naded last time, four
votes. Thah's never happenin agin.
HANNAFIN Ya want to play dirty. Alrigh. I'm the Baron a Dirt
when ud's called for.
FERMOY I'm squaky clane, and ya know ud. Thah's why
you're here whimperin like a girl.
HANNAFIN Squaky clane. Whah abouh your father and mother?
FERMOY Whah's thah got to do wud me?
HANNAFIN Everywan knows you were there.
FERMOY I was there alrigh. But you're noh criminally respon¬
sible ah seven. Ya don't know your law.
HANNAFIN I know me law and I know the pulse a the paple.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And here.
I've the figures a the new poll. (Produces fax)
FERMOY That's noh ouh till the momin.
HANNAFIN For the likes a you, mebbe. For us in the know any
information can be goh. I'm miles ahead a ya. Here,
look ah ud yourself.
FERMOY (Hits it away) Them polls, alias wrong.

HANNAFIN smiles, lets poll sheet fall to the floor.

HANNAFIN And how is the lady a the house?

FRANCES Very well, thank you.
HANNAFIN Was visihin the Mother's grave today, do thah every
Sunda, brin the auld daffodils to lay on her bones,
and I passed be your son's grave, tiny little yoke of a
yoke, fierce neglected lookin, reminded me a you.
Just who do yees think yees are? Yees think the wind
is in yeer favour just because yees built the big
house wud the Grake columns and the fountains
goin full blast and the lions roarin on the gates and
the money pourin in from the cement and gravel.
Ud's my wind yees goh a whiff of and be careful ud
doesn't blow yees away. You're messin wud my
votes, Fitzgerald, the hurlers on the ditch who'd go

32
 wud me if you weren't banjaxin everythin. Back
down now before ya make a hames of ud all. Sure
they're ony laughin at ya. The murderers' son for
this county. That'll never happen. Back down now
and I'll owe ya wan.
FERMOY The county's sick a ya, Hannafin, and ya know ud.
Ya do natin ony drink whiskey and lap-dance.
Whin's the last time you spoke in the Dail apart
from tellin them to close the winda?
HANNAFIN Alrigh, I asked ya nicely. Now we'll do ud the hard
way. If you don't back down I've an interview done
that'll put ya in your place. All I have to do is make
a call and ud'll be all over the mornin papers.
FERMOY I know what's in ud. You're noh the ony wan can
geh information. Natin ony hoh air abouh me
laineage. Me mother and father, Frances' son and
first husband, me brother Boniface and hees addic¬
tions, long cured, ya didn't put thah in. Thah's all
ya have, thah's all there is. Pathehic. Oh, aye,
there's me greah grandfather, they say he ate a
child durin the famine. So did everywan's durm
the famine. So did yours.
HANNAFIN Well, if he did, he didn't ate wan of hees own.
FERMOY Hunger is himger. Laineage manes natin anymore.
You're the auld generation thah'd like to kape us in
our place forever. We new wans comin up judge a
man for whah he is in heeself, noh where he cem
from. We judge a man these days be hees own
merit, as if he'd ne'er a smithy bar God heeself.
HANNAFIN The pipe drames of the self-med. You were forged
in a bloodbah, Fitzgerald, and the son alias carries
the father somewhere inside of him. I know thah
much, he carries the Da inside of him sure as he
carries hees kidneys, the family jewels, the heart.
And ud's time the paple beyond this parish knew
the gruesome blacksmith hommered you to earth
and the symmetry can be predicted from there.
FERMOY And whah abouh your own symmetry, Hannafin,
and your father dancin up the field the last three

33
 year of hees life, waltzin wud the sheep, or your
mother stealin jars a coffee from every shop for
miles around? Whah was ud abouh coffee thah
everthin collided in her over jars a coffee? Or your
grandmother walkin inta the silver river ah eighy-
seven? Christ, if ya could puh up wud ud all till
you're eighy-seven and thah new asbestos plant,
there's noh a lake or river we can swim in anymore,
thanks to you. And thah piggery, who's been fundin
thah all these years? There's lots a questions to be
asked concernin you if ya want to play ud thah way.
HANNAFIN And there's a few inquiries to be med as to how the
cement and gravel empire goh off of the ground.
FERMOY The cement and gravel was grown from the air be
me and Frances and ya know ud. I heard ya been
snoopin roimd our accounts, whadlin the tax biys,
and ya found natin because there's natin to find. I'm
wamin you, Harmafin, you open your gob abouh
my personal life and I'll take ya to the claners.
HANNAFIN There's somethin rotten in you, Fitzgerald. I know
ud, know ud like me own hand. I just can't puh a
finger on ud yeh. Buh I will before long. In the
manetime thah interview goes ouh in the mornin.
That'll get the ball rollin. If ya've any thoughts to the
contrary ya know me number. I'll give ya an hour,
no more.

Exit HANNAFIN.

FRANCES {Poll sheet) Is these polls accurahe?

FERMOY Accurahe enough.
FRANCES Well, I'm noh looking forward to radin abouh
meself m the papers. Me aunts'll go through the
roof. Peg in the towel, Fermoy, ud's obvious he's
goin to win. Ring him, geh him to cancel thah inter¬
view.
FERMOY A'you goin to start layin inta me as well?
FRANCES Ever5rwan says he's goin to hould hees seah. Look,
we been through this before wud Harmafin.

34
FERMOY Ya don't same to know how important this is, missus.
FRANCES I know whah ud's like livin wud you after a defeat.
FERMOY I'm noh losing this time. Geh thah inta your head.
FRANCES You're the ony wan thinks thah.
FERMOY I suppose ya'd Hke me to lose agin.
FRANCES I'd like a bih a peace round here. I'd like a bih a
help wud the cement. Ya know, mebbe too many
bad things has happened, Fermoy, for you to win.
Mebbe you losin agin is God tellin us our golden
reprieve is over.
FERMOY Kape your auld guilt trip to yourself. Charlie and
James have natin to do wud this and they've natin
to do wud me.
FRANCES You tould Charlie abouh us. You tould Charlie abouh
us though I begged ya not to.
FERMOY Somewan had to tell him. You weren't goin to.
FRANCES I would have. In me own time.
FERMOY Like hell ya would. Ya'd still be stringin the both of
us along.
FRANCES You just couldn't waih to hurt somewan. You knew
thah man loved me.
FERMOY And I don't?
FRANCES He was my husband. You were just a fling, a fling
thah wmt wrong.
FERMOY Then whah're ya doin wud me this seventeen year?
FRANCES You're the father a me children. That's whah I'm
doin wud ya.

Exit FRANCES. FERMOY sits there brooding. Hold a

minute. Enter Ariel.

ARIEL Meh Hannafin in the lane.

FERMOY Aye, he was here.
ARIEL The car's mad.
FERMOY Is ud?
ARIEL Yeah. Thanks. {Kisses the top of his head)
FERMOY Whah'd Hannafin to say for heeself?
ARIEL He puts wan a hees cowbiy boots up on the bonneh,
lanes in the winda, pats me on the head, 'Aren't

35
 you the fine girl, Ariel Fitzgerald, considerin who
spawned ya?' Tould me to give ya this.

FERMOY examines it.

Whah is ud?
FERMOY Ah, ud's an auld newspaper cuttin abouh me father's
trial.
ARIEL Whah was he really like?
FERMOY Whah was he really like? He was really like whah he
really was, a man in a navy raincoah thah butchered
me mother ... Ya know whah he done after?
ARIEL Whah?
FERMOY Lih a cigarette, puh me up on hees shoulders, all the
way up from the lake, across the fields to the Sea
Dew Inn. We sah at the coimter, him drinkin four
Jemmies, the eyes glihherin, glancin from me to the
glass to the fluur, then lanin over and whisperin
'Time to be turnin ourselves in'.
ARIEL And what did you say?
FERMOY Don't remember if I said anhin ... All I remember is
lookin ah him, the low sounds of Sunda evenin
drinkin, the barmaid puttin an lipstick and him
smilin, yeah, smilin. How can ya describe thah to
anywan?
ARIEL He shouldn't a said 'we'.
FERMOY Ya think noh?
ARIEL A cuurse noh.
FERMOY No, 'we' was righ. I was there too. And though I was
ony seven, an excuse on this earth, I was also seven
thousand and seven millin, for the soul is wan age
and mine just stood and watched. I'd seen him
drown a bag a kittens, blind, tiny pink tongues and
fairy teeth. Really this was no different.

A pause, fermoy studies Ariel.

ARIEL Whah? Whah is ud. Daddy?

FERMOY Ya want to take me for a spin in your new chariot?

36
 ARIEL Alrigh. Where do ya want to go?
FERMOY Anywhere.
ARIEL Then anywhere ud is. Will we brin Ma?
FERMOY Gone to bed.
ARIEL ITl puh ouh the ligh so.

She looks out. Puts out the light. 'Mors et Vita' music.
Blackout.

37
 ACT TWO
'Mors et Vita' music as curtain comes up. Ten years later, fermoy sits
centre stage. Beautifully groomed. An interview is in progress, verona,
the interviewer, sits to the side. Cameraman, soundman, to the other
side. ELAINE stands watching, in a suit, taking notes.

FERMOY Yes, I've held three ministries over the past ten years.
VERONA And of the three. Minister, do you have a favourite?
FERMOY They're all very different. I enjiyed tremendously
Arts and Culture though I was only there for a year.
Ih was an area I knew very little abouh when I took
over the brief. I used look up to artists and poets
before I got to know em. Ih was a greah education to
realize they're as fickle and wrongheaded as the rest
of us. Thah said, ih was a huge leamin curve for me
and. I'll tell ya, it's hard to beah a pride a poets and
a tank a wine for good conversation.
VERONA And what is it. Minister, that's just so great about
their conversation?
FERMOY It's noh aisy puh a finger on ud, buh I think ud's
their attempts, mostly banjaxed mind you, buh an
attempt anyway to throw etemihy on the table.
VERONA You're a great believer in eternity, aren't you. Minister?
FERMOY Yes, I am.
VERONA You said it was divine providence that won you your
seat ten years ago.
FERMOY I said ih was divine grace.
VERONA With all due respects to divine grace. Minister,
didn't you rise in proportion to Hannafin's fall?
FERMOY A cuurse I did, but thah doesn't diminish divine
grace. If that scandal had broken a week laher,
Hannafin would've kept hees seat.
VERONA There were suggestions at the time. Minister, that
you were instrumental in the breaking of that scandal.
FERMOY Malicious gossip.

38
VERONA And still the rumours persist. Minister.
FERMOY Yeah, by them thah'd like to take me down. Facts
are I was elected fair and square by the people.
Why make a moimtain ouh of a molehill?
VERONA I wouldn't call the suicide of a highly respected
politician a 'molehill'. Minister.
FERMOY I wasn't referrin to Hannafin's suicide as a 'molehill'.
I was referrin to how 1 was elected. Hannafin's suicide
was tragic. We weren't exactly bosom buddies but
ud wint hard wud me thah he thought ud necessary
to take hees own life. And ud has been devastatin for
hees wife and children.
VERONA No doubt it has. However, you went on to become
Minister of Finance after Arts and Culture. How
did you find that transition?
FERMOY Well, there's more fiction written in Finance than in
Arts and Culture, so the transition wasn't that diffi¬
cult.
VERONA I remember. Minister, the outrage at the time, both
within your own Party and from the Opposition,
when you were appointed. They said you were un¬
tried, imtested, too green.
FERMOY They said a loh of other things too, not fit for public
consumption.
VERONA The former Taoiseach took a big risk on you.
FERMOY Ih turned ouh to be no risk. My term in Finance
was wan of the most successful m the history of the
State.
VERONA And it begs the question why you haven't remained
in Finance.
FERMOY I'd learned all I had to learn there.
VERONA It's on the record. Minister, that you said of
Finance, and I quote, 'I'm fed up being the nation's
handbag.'
FERMOY Thah was said in a private conversation, on
Christmas Eve, after seven brandies. Are ya goin to
crucify me for thah now?
VERONA You're also on the record as saying that your term in
Finance left you feeling like Granny on pension

39
 day with the bag of gobstoppers.
FERMOY Look, I spent five-and-a-half year in Finance. I
brough ud kickin and screamin inta the twinty-first
century. I brough money inta the country from
places yees didn't know existed and in ways ye'd
never dreamt of. I done me service in Finance. Ih
was time to move on.
VERONA But your refusal to remain in Finance caused a huge
rift between you and the former Taoiseach.
FERMOY Yes, ud did, but don't forgeh I served him faithfully
for the best part of eight year. He taught me every¬
thin I know.
VERONA Was it a question. Minister, of the pupil outstripping
the master?
FERMOY Ih was more complicahed than thah.
VERONA Whatever it was, it led to the no-confidence motion
in his leadership last year.
FERMOY Mebbe ud did.

VERONA Come on, Mmister, the whole country knows you

were behind that no-confidence mohon. The word
abroad is that the present Taoiseach, Mr Dudley, is
your puppet and that very shortly he'll get the axe
too.
FERMOY Well, the word is wrong. As usual. I wish I knew as
much abouh meself as yees reporters know. The
facts are very different.
VERONA And what are the facts. Minister?
FERMOY There's an optimum moment for everywan, few
recogmze ud when ud comes and fewer still recog¬
nize when the moment is gone. Never to return. The
Taoiseach was jaded. The party had lost direction
and the party cannoh be sacrificed to wan individ¬
ual, whahever our privahe estimations of thah
individual may be. And belave me when I say I held
him in the highest esteem and will always. Hard
decisions cost us all and I know more than most the
price a those decisions. You think I enjiyed the
public humiliation of a close friend. You're wrong.
You're very wrong.

40
VERONA It's not over yet, is it. Minister?
FERMOY What d'ya mean?
VERONA Dudley's leadership has been disastrous.
FERMOY That's a mahher of opinion.
VERONA The electorate is losing patience. Minister. They'd
rather you came clean.
FERMOY I've no idea what you're talkin abouh.
VERONA That you have your eye on the leadership. That it's
only a matter of time before Dudley goes. The
Party's in such a state right now they'U give you
the reins. That you've the whole place in uproar.
You control the Cabinet as it is. You are Taoiseach
in everything but name.
FERMOY You overestimahe my power. I'm Minister for Educa¬
tion. That's my job.
VERONA Can you categorically state you will not be orches¬
trating a no-confidence motion in Mr Dudley's
leadership in the next week or two?
FERMOY That's somethin for the Party to decide.
VERONA Could you answer the question, please. Minister?
Are you or are you not interested in Leadership?
FERMOY Well, a cuurse I'm interested. I wouldn't be where I
am if I wasn't. But I'm noh interested in power ah
any price. I love power, yes, I love ud, buh I love ud
as an artist loves ud.
VERONA You love power as an artist loves it. You're quoting
Napoleon, Minister.
FERMOY I'm paraphrasin him.
VERONA Are you comparing yourself with Napoleon,
Minister?
FERMOY Who can compare wud Napoleon? I can't, aven if I
wanted to, because I'm bom inta the wrong cenhtry,
surroimded be the wrong people. If you're a
Napoleon lover you'll know whah he said as he was
dyin on St Helena, 'If I had sailed for Ireland instead
of Egypt, where would England be now, and the
world?' This country has missed ouh on everythin,
overlooked be Alexander the Greah, overlooked be
Caesar, overlooked be the Moors. Overlooked,

41
 overlooked, overlooked. The rest a the world gets
Napoleon, we get a boatload a Vikings, a handful a
Normans and the English. We get the nation a
shopkeepers.
VERONA Napoleon's verdict on the British. Are you anti-
British, Minister?
FERMOY No, a cuurse I'm noh. I'm taUdn abouh imagination.
If ya have to be colonized ya migh as well be
colonized by somewan wud a bih a vision. I'm
talkin abouh a way of lookin at the world. D'ya
look ah ud from behind a till or d'ya look ah ud
from the saddle of a horse on a battlefield? And,
like ud or noh, the legacy the Brihish have left us is
the till, whereas for Napoleon the world was wan
big battlefield. He talked abouh hees battlefields
like they were women. Which a the battlefields
was more beauhiful than the other. That's the stuff
we nade to learn, or rather re-leam, we knew ud
wance. Aven Caesar while butcherin the Celts had
to acknowledge whah a strange tribe he was dalin
wud. 'They measure periods a time be nights, noh
be days.' That's whah he said abouh us. Wance we
had a calendar, markin out time be the nigh. Them
were the biys had the perspective. Look, the
outsize ego a this nation is built on sand and wind,
a few dramers, natin else. We nade to go back to
first principles. We nade to re-imagine ourselves
from scratch.
VERONA You've been much criticized by the Opposition
for precisely this going back to first principles.
Minister, which you've outlined in your Education
Papers.
FERMOY It's the Oppositions's job to oppose so I don't take
them too seriously.
VERONA They're not the only ones unhappy over some of
the contents of these Papers.
FERMOY I'm noh interested in cosmehics. If you're goin to
do somethin, do ud righ or don't do ud ah all.
Learned thah on me mother's knee. Look, I chose

42
 to go inta Education. Lots has seen thah as a step
down. Well, ud's noh. 1 chose Education because
ud all begins and ends wud education. And my
business righ now is to re-educahe a nation. Thah
won't be done in a day.
VERONA Some of us think we don't need to be re-educated.
Minister, not to mind your refusal to consult with
the experts. A sizeable portion of the public is
alarmed by the last three Papers your party has
pushed through.
FERMOY There's natin to be alarmed abouh. 1 think we've
proved over and over we have this coimtry's inter¬
ests at heart.
VERONA But your Theology Paper, Minister, has caused up¬
roar.
FERMOY I belave in God well as the next.
VERONA Come on. Minister, your God is as far from the
traditional notion of God as it is possible to be.
FERMOY Yes, he is, and I make no apology for thah.
VERONA The Church has spoken out against you on several
occasions, and 1 quote a recent statement from the
Archbishop's office. 'What the Minister proposes
is the antithesis of the nature of God. What he
proposes is ancient, barbaric, and will take us back
to the caves.'
FERMOY What does he mane take us back to the caves? Does
he think we've left em?

FRANCES enters, coat, briefcase, stands listening.

VERONA The statement refers to your Paper on the nature of

Christ. Could you clarify what you meant by that
Paper, Minister?
FERMOY I though ih was clear enough ah the time. I was
talkin abouh the sullen nature a Christ, somethin
thah has been hushed up for centuries. Somethin
I'd long suspected and was brough home to me by
a particular paintin by Piero della Francesca. His
'Resurrection'. Puts maimers on them thah tries to

43
 tell us that the deah a Christ was for us. That the
resurrection a Christ was for us. Let's noh mix
words here. The deah a Christ was by us, noh for us,
and the resurrection a Christ was for heeself. Look
ah this paintin and you'll see whah I mane. It's
magnificent. A big, cranky, vengeful son a God
plants a leg like a tree on hees new opened tomb. He
looks ouh inta the middle distance and hees eyes
say wan thing and wan thing only. Ye'll pay for this.
Ye'll pay for this. No forgiveness in them eyes. The
opposihe. Rage, and a staggerin sense a betrayal, as
if he's sayin. I've wasted Eternihy on ye band a
troglodytes thah calls yeerselves the human race.
Children should be taught this along wud Barney.
So I get shot down for tryin to introduce a little
balance inta the education system. Well, I'm used to
bein crihicized and thankfully I don't suffer from
the national disase.
VERONA And what's that. Minister?
FERMOY Wantin to be liked. Ya'd swear thah was the politi¬
cian s job these days. To be liked. Well, ud's noh.
The politician's job is to have a vision and to push
thah vision through, for wudouh a vision the people
perish.
VERONA I suppose. Minister, whatever else they say about
you, you're not afraid to speak your mind.
FERMOY Ud's ony slaves thah fear to speak their mind.
VERONA Perhaps. Ten years ago. Minister, you were running a
cement factory and now you're tipped as the next
Taoiseach. Do you ever stop for a minute and say to
yourself, this is a dream?
FERMOY Well, ud's all a drame, isn't ud? Wan beauhiful
heart-breakin drame, but, no, I don't ever stop, and
I'll tell ya why. Fate gev me the hand, I hardly have
to play ud.
VERONA And the hand fate dealt you hasn't always been so
good, has it. Minister?
FERMOY No, ud hasn't.
VERONA Alongside what can only be described as your

44
 meteoric rise is a huge personal tragedy.
FERMOY Yes ... Ariel.
VERONA Your daughter. I know this is difficult, but could
you tell us what happened to Ariel?
FERMOY Ariel walked ouha this house on her sixteenth
birthday to show a friend her new car that we'd
goh her as a present. She never cem home.
VERONA They never foimd her?
FERMOY They never found her, no.
VERONA Have you given up hope. Minister?
FERMOY Yes, I have.
VERONA You believe she's dead.
FERMOY I know she is.
VERONA How do you know. Minister?
FERMOY In me bones. Don't ask me how I know, buh I know
and wish I didn't and wish ud was otherwise. I
would give me life for her to walk through thah
duur agin. Buh that's noh goin to happen.
VERONA It's an appalling thing at the centre of your lives.
FERMOY You have no idea.
VERONA Thank you. Minister.
FERMOY Thank you.
VERONA {Stretches. To Cameraman) You got all that?^{Camera¬
man nods)
FERMOY Elaine, what do ya think?
ELAINE Three things. Ya can't admih ya love power. Thah
has to go. God. Paple's fierce touchy abouh God.
We may pare thah back. And three, Ariel. Ariel's
your trump card. Play ud. Ya nade to go wud the
emotion of ud more. Thah's whah paple wants,
details of your personal life. Don't be afraid to give
ud to em. Don't be afraid to give em Ariel.
VERONA No, no, the Ariel section was fine. If you want
people to feel for you, you hold back a bit yourself.
Your instincts are spot-on there. Minister.
ELAINE I'm noh so sure, bidi I'm prepared to lave Ariel the
way ud is if ya edit the lovin power bih and the
God speech.
VERONA All right. I'll pull back a bit on God without losing

45
 the whole thing, but the loving power stays. I think
it's refreshing to hear a politician admit they love
power. Everyone knows you do. What's the big deal?
ELAINE Dudley'll be gone by Friday. We have to geh this
wan righ. Daddy?
FERMOY Lave ud. Migh as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.
VERONA Great.
ELAINE There's a bite to ate in the conservatory. (Hands papers
to fermoy) Sign these.
FERMOY Whah have we here?
ELAINE Ya can just sign. I've been over em.
FERMOY I'll jine ya in a minuhe, Verona.

Exit VERONA and elaine. fermoy gets up, throws

the papers aside, stretches, turns, sees Frances.

Ah, Frances.
FRANCES How do you know she's dead?
FERMOY Ten years, Frances, ten years.
FRANCES Buh ud was the way ya said ud. Ya sounded so
certain.
FERMOY Nowan shows up after ten years.
FRANCES And now she's your trump card. I thought her
memory would be more . . . sacred to ya. Today is
her tenth anniversary. Have you no respect?
FERMOY I know today is her tenth anniversary. Why d'ya
think I'm here?
FRANCES You're here because the press has descended like
crows on the church to phohograph the big bronze
^ glowerin inta your daugher's empty grave.
Ariel's a good phoho opportunihy. The gravm father
wud hees arms tightly around the gravin mother.
Don't you touch me ah her Mass this avenin. I'm
goin up to geh changed. Ud's ah six.
FERMOY I know ud's ah six.
FRANCES Ya'd never think ud.

Exit FRANCES. FERMOY looks after her, begins signing

papers, lights a cigar, puts on a CD, dances around.

46
 smoking, drinking, signing papers. Stephen appears
in the doorway, dressed in black.

FERMOY Stephen, ya look like an undertaker.

STEPHEN Ud's the way Ma wants ud.
FERMOY Anhin strange?
STEPHEN Naw ... Yourself?
FERMOY I'd love to walk down Grafton Streeh and just
drink coffee. Sick a watchin other people live. I'd
love to walk inta a shop and buy me own newspa¬
per and then noh read ud, forgeh ud somewhere.
Were ya at the match on Sunda?
STEPHEN Ya know I've no interest in Ga.
FERMOY Well, you're the first Fitzgerald thah hasn't. How's
college?

STEPHEN shrugs.

You're graduatin this year, aren't ya?

STEPHEN Yeah.
FERMOY Ya studyin?
STEPFIEN Yeah.
FERMOY Ya never call inta see me anymore.
STEPHEN You're busy.
FERMOY Not thah busy. Drop inta me next week, we'll go
for limch.
STEPHEN There's no pint.
FERMOY Why noh?
STEPHEN Because ya'll cancel ud.
FERMOY Ah, Stephen, Stephen, Stephen, you're all grown,
when did thah happen?
BONIFACE (We hear him before we see him) Lilies for the dead.
Lilies. Lilies for sale. Lilies for the dead. Whihe
lilies for all the whihe dead.

Enter boniface.

STEPHEN How is Boniface?

BONIFACE Don't ever geh auld, Stephen, promise me thah.

47
 STEPHEN Thah's a promise.

And exit Stephen.

FERMOY I thought you were above in Pat's dryin ouh.

BONIFACE And I could die up there before you'd come visih
me. Pour us wan a your fortified, rectified, sancti¬
fied thousand-year-auld brandies there like a good
lad.
FERMOY I haven't been called a good lad since the last time I
seen you.
BONIFACE Well, mebbe ya should see me more. If natin else I'd
remind ya of where ya cem ouh of.

Enter Frances, dressed in black, coat, handbag.

FRANCES Boniface. Was wonderin would ya show.

BONIFACE Haven't missed Ariel's anniversary yeh. Used to be
the birth a Christ was the big wan. Gets whittled
down, ud all gets whittled down. Now ud's the
death a me niece is the feast a feasts.
FERMOY Ring a taxi and have him driven back to Pat's.
FRANCES Ring wan yourself.

BONIFACE has moved to drinks cabinet, about to pour.

FERMOY {Stays his hand) You've had enough, sir.

FRANCES Give him a drink. Give him a drink. Let somewan be
intoxicahed round here. {Pours for boniface) I drink
to forgeh buh wud each glass ud all comes clearer.
BONIFACE Does ud?
FRANCES Too clear, too clear to bear.
BONIFACE For Ariel {lilies). Grew em meself. Stripped the hoh
house this mornin. I know her grave is empty. We
do these things for ourselves.
FRANCES They're lovely, Boniface, thanks. {Lays them on the
table, straightens them)
BONIFACE May God have mercy on your carcass, and may he
have mercy on mine. Up Offaly. {Drinks. Pours

48
 another, stands at drinks cabinet, drinking and pouring,
pouring and drinking)
FERMOY {Watching -Frances fixing the flowers) Ya miss me ah
all?
FRANCES Miss ya?
FERMOY Tell the truth for wance in your Hfe.
FRANCES Alrigh. Yeah, I miss ya, noh you in yourself, noh
you now and the riddled pelt a ya, huh the
spangled idea I had a ya which is the best part a
love.
FERMOY I miss you too.
FRANCES Aye, wud your cartload a virgins spread across five
continents.
FERMOY You're noh exactly livrn like a nun yourself.
FRANCES I bed the min whin the fancy takes me which isn't
often.
FERMOY Ya tryin to make me jealous?
FRANCES I'm past your jealousy. Way past.
FERMOY They're welcome to ya, snow quane that y'are, turn
any man to ice. You're noh the ony wan is beddin
them down. I've more women than votes linin up
for me. Beauhiful young women, bodies a bronze,
minds a gold, sophisticahed, beauhiful women,
teeth like delph, high-bellied, tauh as fish on a line.
And ya know somethin? They like me. Ud's ony
here I'm treahed like a dog. I step out this duur and
I'm a king.
FRANCES {Pushes him violently) Then go to your high-bellied
hoors. You're safer wud them and whah they don't
know about ya.

Exit FRANCES. FERMOY stands there looking after

her. BONIFACE watches him from the drinks cabinet.

BONIFACE Tell me this and tell me no more, was ud worth ud?

FERMOY Was whah worth ud?
BONIFACE And whah about me?
FERMOY Whah about ya?
BONIFACE You tould me, ony I didn't understand what ya

49
 were sayin, ya tould me, Fermoy, thah nigh ya
were goin an abouh blood sacrifice, in this very
room.
FERMOY I've no idea what you're talkin abouh.
BONIFACENo. No. Listen. Listen. Listen. I can't stop drinkin.
Can't slape, can't ate, garden be moonligh, go to
bed in the momin. I'm afiaid I'll tell me psychia¬
trist, thah it'll just spill ouha me. They don't know
what's wrong a me. Me soul, I tell em, me soul ud's
hurfin me fierce, like bein flayed from the inside.
They think I'm some suurt a religious nuh. Burst a
blood vessel in me eye, bled blood down me face
for two days, they couldn't stop ud. You're the
wan should be in Pat's. You're the wan should be
bleedin from the eyes.
FERMOY Take ud aisy, take ud aisy you're ouh a your mind
wud drink and tranquilizers. Take ud aisy.
BONIFACE Take ud aisy! Tm facin me maker wud this on me
immortal soul. Do you aven realize whah ya've
done! Why didn't ya listen to me when I tried to
stop ya, though I didn't know whah I was tryin to
stop. Why didn't ya listen? All we have in this
world is the small mercies we can extend to wan
another. The rest is madness and obHvion. Haven't
ya learnt thah much? Haven't ya learnt thah
much on your travels?
FERMOY Oh, aye, I learnt thah much alrigh, but like every¬
thin worth leamin, ud's learnt too lahe. Everythin
comes when you've no more use for ud, must be a
law.

FRANCES at the door in her coat.

FRANCES We're goin to be lahe, geh an your mournin, will

ya.
FERMOY Don't you talk to me abouh mournin. {Takes out
electric shaver, mirror, shaves himself) Most gets up
offa the ground sooner or laher, dusts themselves
down, rejines the land a the livin. Not you

50
 though. Everythin thah happens to Frances
Fitzgerald has to be momentous, spectacular. Her
jiys could never be the same as anywan else's and
her grafes must be inconsolable. Live! Live! Live!
That's whah we're here for. Do somethin! Anhin!
Ya'll have all of etemihy for pussin in the dark.
FRANCES You're noh browbatin the Opposition now.
FERMOY Amn't I? . . . This funeral parlour I come home to
every time.
FRANCES Ya were home wance this year. Two hours for your
Christmas dinner.

Enter elaine, dressed in black, holds out mobile.

ELAINE Himself wants a quick word.

FERMOY {Takes phone) Will ya organize thah fella back to
where he cem from. (On the phone) Boss . . . No
harm done ... Whah is ud?

And exit fermoy.

ELAINE What ya want to do, Boniface?

BONIFACE I'll go back to Pat's after Mass.
ELAINE Alrigh, I'll drive ya, goin back tonigh meself.
FRANCES {Sitting, muttering, drink, coat on, handbag) Twinty-
six ... twinty-six years of age ... {Shakes her head)
BONIFACE Whah?
FRANCES Ariel. . . She'd be twinty-six if she was here today
... I don't think I slept a nigh straight when I was
carryin her. Had meself convinced I didn't deserve
her on account a James. Kept thinkin this child's
goin to come ouh wrong, this child's goin to come
ouh wrong. Nighmare ridin nighmare she be
deformed, no face on her or wan a thim frog
babbies or birdy-headed little creatures ya see
phohos of, or she was goin to have no arms or die
ah the last minuhe as happens oftener than paple
knows. Buh ouh she cem wud everythin ya nade to
look human. And for ages after I'd look ah her and

51
 whisper, thank you, God, thank you, God. For
along wud the night sweats I still dared to hope I
be given another chance. And for a while I thought
I had. Buh the man above was ony playin wud me
... ony playin wud me, is all.
ELAINE And did ya have nighmares when ya carried me?
FRANCES No, belave ud or noh, you were aisy. The trouble
wud you started after ya were bom. Though I had to
have a jar a beetroot every nigh when I was carryin
you. Td wake up in the middle a the nigh dyin for
beetroot . . . Kept a jar beside the bed. 'Another
beetroot party, missus?' Fermoy'd guffaw from
under the quilt. Buh I didn't care. I'd sih there in
the dark atin beetroot and then I'd drink the vinegar.
Mebbe that's why you're so bihher.
ELAINE Am I bihher, Ma?
FRANCES As a field a lemons.
ELAINE Sure ud's noh yourself you're talkm abouh and ya
shrunk to a pip over your two dead children.
FRANCES You'd have me forgeh em like your father.
ELAINE I'd have ya cut your grafe accordin to your cloth.
FRANCES You'd have me grave to a timetable, throw Ariel
and James aside like a pair of auld gloves or an
umbrella left after the rain.
ELAINE Your empire a sorrow doesn't convince me and ya
cuttin dales like a shark down ah the cement every
day a the wake. Ya switch ud on, Ma, ya switch ud
on when ud suits.
FRANCES And whah would you know abouh sorrow and ya
dry-eyed at your sister's funeral?
ELAINE I know wan thing abouh sorrow. I learned ud
watchin you. Sorrow's an addiction like no other.
You won't be full till you've buried us all. Well, ya
won't bury me, Ma. I'm here, thrivin, your unlovely
daugher is thrivin, your unlovely daugher that ya'd
swap like thah for Ariel to return. She's noh comin
home, Ma. She's noh comin home. Ud's just me
now, me and Stephen.
FRANCES How do you know she's noh comin home?

52
 ELAINE Thah's none a your business.
FRANCES Do you have information you're kapin from me?
ELAINE And if I had?
FRANCES You and your father, swear ya were married to him.
You tell me now what you know!
ELAINE 1 know natin, Ma, natin ya don't know yourself.

Enter sarah.

SARAH Ah, Boniface, ya do a runner agin?

BONIFACE The savage loves hees nahive shore.
SARAH And what d'ya think a the antics a your little
brother? They're goin to puh him on the throne. I
used change that fella's nappy. Seen ud all now.
(Watches as boniface pours another drink for himself)
Ya were thirsty as a child too, a bottle in each fist as
ya snoozed in the coh. Your Ma used love watchin
ya guzzlin. The little sounds of him, she used say,
isn't he like a little bonamh?
BONIFACE You'd reminiss the future, missus, if ya though ya'd
geh away wud ud.
SARAH Aye, 1 would and noh wan a yees would belave me.

STEPHEN has entered.

STEPHEN It's ten to six.

ELAINE Give him a minuhe. We'll make ud, they'll wait for
us.
BONIFACE Stephen, 1 hear you're the new John Ford.
STEPHEN I wish.
ELAINE He won a prize and all.
BONIFACE Didn't I rade about ud in the paper.
STEPHEN That's ony because a Daddy.
BONIFACE A prize is a prize. These things is important. Never
won as much as a turkey meself. Whah was the
film abouh anyway?
STEPHEN Ma'll tell ya, she's fierce proud of ud.
FRANCES Ah, ud was disgustin, Stephen, no two ways abouh
ud. Near fainted when 1 seen ud. Ya've this mother

53
 and her son and ud's the son's weddin day and then
the son goes missin, and the bride is lookin all over
the hotel for her new husband. And where does she
find her new husband? In the bridal suihe, on the
bridal bed, bein breast-fed be the mother. Now
what's thah abouh, I ask ya? What's the pint in
makin a film about thah?
STEPHEN Does there alias have to be a pint, Ma?
FRANCES I'll tell ya what the pint was. The pint was to geh at
me.
STEPHEN You think everthin comes back to you. Ud doesn't.
FRANCES Then why did ya call the mother Frances in your
film? Why was she dressed like me? Why was she
drivin an auld Merc? That's whah I drive. I don't
nade this, Stephen. Pack a lies, the whole thing.
STEPHEN Ud's noh a pack a lies. Ud happened.
FRANCES Didn't happen here, me bucko.
STEPHEN Buh ud happened. Read abouh ud in an Italian
newspaper. Ya don't have to make anhin up.
BONIFACE Thah's for sure. Everythin ya can possibly imagine
has happened already or, if ud hasn't, will shortly.
FRANCES And manetime the cement is waitin on ya.
STEPHEN I'll puh a bullet through me head first.

FERMOY stands in the doorway. He has changed into

his mourning clothes.

FERMOY Righ, are we off?

FRANCES You come back here after Mass. Don't go scurryin
away, ya hear?
FERMOY I've a seven o'clock meetin in the momin.
FRANCES You come back here or I'll folly ya to Dublin. {To the
others, exiting) Come an, we're lahe, we're lahe.

Exit FRANCES followed by boniface and Stephen.

ELAINE A'ya alrigh. Daddy?

FERMOY Your mother.
ELAINE Don't mind her, brazen ud ouh, we'll be gone straih

54
 after Mass, won't have to see her for another year.
FERMOY Have Bernard drive yees down. I'll walk.
ELAINE We should all arrive together.
FERMOY I nade two minutes to meself, Elaine.
ELAINE Alrigh, alrigh. I'll send Bernard back for ya.

Exit ELAINE. SARAH pouvs u whiskey foT herself.

FERMOY Ya noh goin down to dunk your soul?

SARAH A millin Masses wouldn't bleach ud.
FERMOY Nor mine.
SARAH Nor yours. {Raises fermoy's chin with her hand)
That's ih. Never leh em see ya wud the harness off.

Exit SARAH. FERMOY stands there a moment, gets

out pocket mirror, checks himself in it, teeth, hair,
eyes, a long look.

FERMOY Who are ya, sir? Who are ya and from where do ya
come? Geh a hould, stranger, geh a hould. {Clicks
mirror shut. Takes a deep breath) Righ, let's rock and
roU.

The phone rings. Note on Ariel's voice: once conven¬

tion of the phone has been established, let Ariel's
voice come from everywhere, fermoy does not talk
into the phone after the first couple of exchanges.

Yes?
ARIEL Hello.
FERMOY Elaine, I'm on the way, tell her I'm on the way.
ARIEL Ud's me.
FERMOY Who's me?
ARIEL Me, Ariel.
FERMOY Ariel... Who is this? I'm in no mood for ...
ARIEL No, ud's me, Ariel.
FERMOY Buh ud can't be ... ud can't.
ARIEL Buh ud is.
FERMOY Oh, Ariel... you're alive ... you re alive.

55
 ARIEL Come and get me, will ya? Ud's awful here, ud's
awful. There's a huge pike after me, he lives in the
belfry, two rows a teeth on him and teeth on hees
tongue, bendin back to hees throah. He won't rest
till he has me. Come and get me, will ya?
FERMOY How? Tell me how can I come and get ya?
ARIEL {Sounds of terrible weeping) I don't know ... I want to
go home ... I just want to go home. Please, just brin
me home.
FERMOY Ariel... Ariel... don't... don't.

He listens as sound of Ariel's weeping fades and fades

to silence, fermoy stands there. Let him stand there,
utterly still, looking out. Then enter Frances. She
stands in the doorway, in her coat, out of breath.
FERMOY registers her after a while. They look at one
another for an age.

FERMOY Ya cem back for me. I'm comin. I'm comin.

FRANCES No more Masses.
FERMOY Well, I'm goin. Where's Bernard? Come an and we
get this over wud.
FRANCES You're goin nowhere. Ud was you, wasn't ud? Ud
was you.
FERMOY Y'ony realizin thah now? I thought ya knew for
years.
FRANCES Knew whah for years?
FERMOY Frances ... ya didn't... Look this is noh the time for
this conversation.
FRANCES You. Alias you and me scourin the world for her.
You. And me gone to ground wud grafe. You. And
ony last nigh I dreamt she walked in the duur and
ten year a madness just fell away. She had wan life.
Wan. Are you tellin me you took ud?
FERMOY Ariel was a drame hopped among us from start to
end. We had the privelege of her company a while
buh she was never really ours. We brough somethin
inta the world thah didn't belong here and so we
gev her back.

56
FRANCES Gev her back? We gev her back? Gev her back
where?
FERMOY Remember them wings she was born wud?
FRANCES Wings? Whah wings?
FERMOY Them wings on her shoulder blades.
FRANCES Whah are ya talkin abouh? Whah wings? On her
shoulder blades? Them growths on her shoulders,
is thah what you're talkin abouh?
FERMOY They were the start a wings.
FRANCES They were balls a hardened bone and gristle, thah's
all, benign, tiny, we had em removed.
FERMOY You're callin them everthin except what they were.
Leh me tell you somethin, Frances. Before 1 ever
laid eyes on you, long before thah, I had a drame, a
drame so beauhiful I wanted to stay in ud till the
end a time. I'm in a yella cuurtyard wud God and
we're chewin the fah and then this girl wud wings
appears by hees side. And I say, who owns her?
And God says she's his. And I say, give us the loan
of her, will ya? No, he says, she's noh earth flavour,
like he's talkin abouh ice-crame. And stupidly 1
say. I'll take her anyway. Alrigh, he says, smilin ah
me rale sly, alrigh, buh remember this is a loan. I
know, I know, I says, knowin natin. And the time'll
come when I'll want her returned, he says. Yeah,
yeah, 1 say, fleein the cuurtyard wud her before he
changes hees mind. Ariel. Thah was Ariel.
FRANCES Just tell me where she is.
EERMOY I'm tellin ya, thah was Ariel I fled the cuurtyard
wud. And then I wake and the enchantment begins.
You, Ariel, Elaine, Stephen. All the trinkets of this
world showered on us. We had ten good years,
hadn't we? Them were the years and we didn't
know ud. He gev, he gev, he gev, and then like the
tide he turned and took ud all away.
FRANCES {A heartbroken wail, weeping like we've never seen,
stands there heaving and choking and wailing) Ariel...
Ariel... Ariel... How could ya? ... You loved thah
child ... How could ya? {Shakes him)

57
 FERMOY I had to! I had to!
FRANCES You had to!
FERMOY Yeah, I had to. Ya think I wanted to sacrifice Ariel?
I had to.
FRANCES Sacrifice? Ya sacrificed her? What did you do to her?
FERMOY I tould ya I returned her to where she cem from.
FRANCES She cem from here, from you, from me.
FERMOY She rode ouha God from nowhere and to God she
returned.
FRANCES You Sacrificed her! Aaaagh. Why didn't ya sacri¬
fice yourself if he wanted a sacrifice? Why didn't
ya refuse?
FERMOY A cuurse 1 refused. I fough him till I couldn't figh
him anymore.
FRANCES Thah was no God ya med your pact wud. No God
demands such things.
FERMOY My God did.
FRANCES Blem God, blem the world, anywan bar yourself.
Ud's all comin clear now, clear as a bell. Ya done
ud for power, didn't ya, some voodoo swap in the
dark for power. You laid my daughter on an altar
for power. You've flourished these ten years since
Ariel. You've flourished on her white throat. You
swapped her to advance.
FERMOY Yes, I did. Yes, 1 did. I had to. Ud was the price
demanded.
FRANCES And you dare to stand here tellin me fairy stories
abouh her.
FERMOY Frances, I know whah I have done. I know my
portion a blame, buh when I'm hauled before him
I'll fling hees portion ah him, where ud belongs. I
have lived my life by hees instructions. Fie asked
the unaskable and I obeyed, and then he departs,
lavin me here in ashes. And my greahest fear is he
won t be there whin I go. No, I've wan greaher,
thah he will.
FRANCES (Softly) Buh Ariel . . . Fermoy . . . This is Ariel
you're talkin abouh.
FERMOY Don't make ud more difficult for me than ud is.

58
FRANCES Ya med ud difficult yourself. This was your play¬
ground well as anywan's.
FERMOY This is no playground and never was. This is where
he hunts us down like deer and flays us alive for
sport.
FRANCES Whah was ud 1 seen the day I first wint wud you?
FERMOY ITl tell ya what ya seen. Ya seen a man capable of
anhin. And thah seh fire to your little bungalow
life. Ya seen a man that could do away wud your
children and ya ran towards him, noh away from
him. That's whah drew ya the first time and that's
what kapes ya swirlin round me. Tombstones,
headstones, graveyard excitement and the promise
of fimerals to come.
FRANCES You'll say anhin for company in your carnage.
FERMOY You wanted me, missus, and ya still want me. Ud's
ony your pride is stoppin ya.
FRANCES I wanted me first husband. Was through wud you
before the honeymoon started. You stole me life
from me, me children from me, everythin I though
1 was from me and I a glazed fool flung open the
duurs for the plunder. Never agin.
FERMOY You want a divorce? Yours for the askm.
FRANCES Ya think ya'll geh off thah aisy? Where is she?
FERMOY Thah you'll never know.
FRANCES 1 cem from gintle people, me father used rescue
spiders from the bah, mice he'd carry ouh in hees
hand and leh go in the field, gintle people, Charlie,
James, Ariel, gintle, gintle, gintle, no place for em
in this nest a hooves. Where is she? {Stabs him)
FERMOY {Reels) Frances.
FRANCES {Another stab) Where is she?
FERMOY You think you can do away wud me . . . Gimme
thah.

A struggle. Frances stabs him again.

FRANCES And you thought I was afraid a the knife. {Another

stab) Where is she?

59
 FERMOY (Falls to the ground. She gets on top of him) No . . .
Frances ... no ... Stop ... stop ...
FRANCES And did you stop when Ariel cried ouh for mercy?
Did ya? Tell me where she is.
FERMOY This wasn't... this ... Sweet God in your ...
FRANCES Tell me. Where is she?
FERMOY (Whispers as he dies) Cuura Lake.
FRANCES Cuura Lake.

She throws down the knife. 'Mors et Vita' music, and

blackout.

6o
 ACT THREE
'Mors et Vita' music continues from end of Act Two. Two months
later. A coffin lies centre stage, elaine lies on the floor in T-shirt and
tracksuit bottoms. She's asleep. A drink beside her. Enter Stephen,
suit, folders, takes in the coffin, goes to it, has a long look.

STEPHEN Elaine ... Elaine ... {Shakes her gently) Ya should go

up to bed.
ELAINE Ah, Stephen. (Yawns)
STEPHEN When did ud arrive?
ELAINE This momin ... (Stretching) What time is ud?
STEPHEN After five.
ELAINE Oh, God. (Lies down again)
STEPHEN (Goes back to coffin) Thought she'd be behher
preserved, Cuura Lake bein a bog lake and all.
ELAINE She looked behher when they took her up first.
Forensics scraped her down.
STEPHEN Hard to square this wud Daddy.
ELAINE Ya think?
STEPHEN Don't you?
ELAINE I knew for a while ud was him.
STEPHEN Did ya?
ELAINE Didn't you?
STEPHEN No, a few stray thoughts. Never wahered them.
How did ya know?
ELAINE He tould me . . . Well, I asked him abouh her wan
time. Venice. Some conference. Drink on the table
in a little restaurant lookin on to the Rialto. And he
tould me the whole thing. Very emotional he was
too. Ariel was the stroke a destiny, he said, woven
into him from the begirmin. Ariel was Necessity
udself, the thing thah's decided ouhside a time.
And he tould me all abouh Necessity. How before
ya come to this world. Necessity and her sisters

6i
 weaves a carpet for ya. And ya watch as they weave
so ya know how things will fare ouh below. And
then ya turn your back and Necessity puts a twist in
the weave. Thah's the wan thing ya can't foresee
and thah's the wan thing will define your stay here.
And then you're flung to earth wud this weave and
this twist in the weave thah some calls fate.
STEPHEN Ya belave thah?
ELAINE Belaved ud thah nigh. The lights on the waher, ud's
hard to be rational in Venice.
STEPHEN Ma wants to puh her in beside Daddy.
ELAINE If thah wan as much as touches a pebble of my
father's grave.
STEPHEN Well, you shouldn't a puh up thah headstone, her
name noh even on ud. Ma wanted to puh up hees
headstone. You're like an alsatian the way ya guard
hees grave.
ELAINE And you're still slurpin ah her altar after all she's
done.
STEPHEN There was a pair a them in ud. She keeps askin for
ya, Elaine, to go visih her. Ya wouldn't know her.
She's still our mother.
ELAINE Ariel's the ony wan she cares abouh. Ariel and
James, her dead children, while she bates her livin
inta the dirt.
STEPHEN Thah's noh true, sick a ya givin ouh abouh her.
ELAINE And 1 m sick a you makin your weekly pilgrimages
to her, brinin information abouh me. 1 warned ya
noh to tell her anhin abouh me. I'll live like a tinker
in me own house if 1 want, me father's house. She's
natin to me anymore. Natin.
STEPHEN Well, ya certainly proved thah, ravin agin her in
cuurt.
ELAINE Ya know 1 wish I'd said more agin her.
STEPHEN A spew a lies.
ELAINE 1 tould ud as ud happened.
STEPHEN Like hell ya did. Anyway ud's been struck.
ELAINE I knew ud would, buh ud was still heard. You don't
seem to imderstand whah's goin on here, Stephen.

62
 She killed our father, slashed him till blood ran
down the walls. I had to bury him in pieces. I was
the only mourner ah hees funeral. Me, Boniface,
Auntie Sarah. You were too busy swaddlin Ma to
go to your own father's funeral. Such as ud was.
She wouldn't aven allow him a public fimeral.
Paple loved Daddy. You saw the size a the removal.
She aven tried to stop thah. But she couldn't. They
just kept comin.
STEPHEN They kept comin to have a gawk.
ELAINE They cem because they loved him. You never seen
Daddy in hees element. You never seen him the
way he seen himself, the way he was bom to be
seen, the way he could work a room, the way he
held himself when he spoke, the big mellifluous
vice, ya'd hear a pin drop. He was goin to run this
country. He was goin to cahapult the whole nation
ouha sleaze and sentimentalihy and gombeenism.
I'm goin to take this coimtry to the moon, he used
say to me, and he would've, ony for her. And she's
still noh happy havin done away wud him. No,
now she had ud in her head to take away hees
name and mine wud ud and yours, though ya
don't seem to care. Draggin this yoke up ouha
Cuura Lake. All to destriy what's left of hees repu¬
tation. All to make her look like a martyr.

Enter Frances and boniface.

STEPHEN Ma, we weren't expectin ya till tonigh.

FRANCES They let me ouh early to avide the press. Hello,
Elaine.

ELAINE looks at her.

I was hopin we could be civil for Ariel's funeral.

ELAINE Were ya?

63
 FRANCES goes to cojfiti. Looks. Leans in. Kisses Ariel.
Leans in for ages.

FRANCES (Whispers) Ya'll soon be the girl in the graveyard ya

tould me abouh wance. Ya'll soon rest aisy. Who
picked ouh her dress?
STEPHEN Elaine did.
FRANCES Thank you.
ELAINE Was in her wardrobe. They had to staple ud on to
her. I didn't do ud for you.
BONIFACE Elaine. Elaine. Elaine.
ELAINE You're goin to geh off on insanihy, a cuurse y'are, ya
can shooh a baby in the face these days and geh off
on insanihy.
FRANCES Well, if I do ud'll be no thanks to you.
ELAINE Ud was murder. Cold-blooded murder, and if you
geh off on insanihy I'll open me own courtroom
here.
FRANCES You weren't aven here and ya med out ya were.
ELAINE I was here. He died in my arms. You were standtn in
the hall lookin at the radiahor.
FRANCES And would you have done different if he done to
wan a yours whah he done to Ariel?
ELAINE Yes, I would.
FRANCES Oh, ya would, would ya?
ELAINE Yes, I would. I can tell the difference between a
crime of eternihy and a low, blood-spahhered, knife-
frenzied revenge. And then your coward's insanihy
plea on top of ud. Whah my father done to Ariel had
the grandeur a God in ud. Pure sacrifice. Ferocious,
aye. Buh pure. Whah you done to him was a
puckered, vengeful, self-servin thing wud noh a
whiff of the immortal in ud.
FRANCES So your father spills blood and he's a haroh. I spill
ud and I'm a coward. You've spint too long aroimd
the min, me girl, too long cavortin the corriduurs a
power to imderstand the first thing abouh justice. Ya
know, there's ony wan thing I regreh. Thah I didn't
do ud sooner. And I won't apologize to you for thah

64
 or for pleadin insanihy. I'll plead whahever ud
takes to geh my freedom back. And don't tell me
you'd do different if you were in my shoes.
ELAINE I'm as different to you as the auld world is from the
new, sem as my father was. Oh, to be Joan of Arc
goin up in a blaze to me maker.
FRANCES Then go up in a blaze to your maker, ony lave me
alone. I've wan nigh here, wan night's freedom to
mourn my daugher, to puh her in the clay tomorra
beside her father.
ELAINE She's noh goin in wud him. My father's grave stays
the way ud is. Can't ya just lave him alone?
FRANCES She's goin in beside him and thah's the end of ud,
Elaine. Ud's whah he'd have wanted.
ELAINE Whah he'd have wanted?
BONIFACE Ud is, Elaine, ud's whah your father would've
wanted.
ELAINE Whah my father wanted was to be above the
groimd, noh under ud. Above ud! You're noh
shovellin her in on top of him. You stand here givin
orders abouh hees grave. I organized hees burial. I
picked the ploh, under the elms, near the path so
he won't be too lonely. I paid for hees headstone.
You weren't aven ah hees funeral.
FRANCES I wasn't fit to go, Elaine.
ELAINE But you're fit for Ariel's. You're ony here to swing
the jury. Don't touch hees grave. Ud's mine. Ud's
all ya've left me wud. I'm warnin ya now.
FRANCES Keep your grave. I've a new ploh arranged. Your
father's moving, lock, stock and barrel as we spake.
Ariel's goin in wud him. And I'll arrange the
headstone this time. You think you can kick me
when I'm down. I'm down, aye, righ now I'm
lower than the lowest low. Buh I'll rise agin in
spihe a your efforts to wipe the ground wud me.
Why don't ya go and stay in the hotel tonigh, be
asier for all of us. I'll be gone tomorra.
ELAINE I'm stayin here, to haunt ya.
FRANCES You? Haunt me? Oh, Elaine, you're ony the fallouh.

65
 We never goh on, I don't know why I want us to
now. This skirmish betwane us is ancient. Y'ever
feel thah? Seems to me we been battlin a thousand
year.
ELAINE I'm goin down to hees grave and I hope for your
sake there's natin disturbed.

Exit ELAINE.

FRANCES Where did I geh her from?

She pours a drink.

BONIFACE {Looking at Ariel in coffin) The divers found the

remains a seven people and they draggin the lake.
Wan wud a boulder tied round the skelehon of a
wrist. Most a them just an assortment a bones.
Foimd the skelehon of a pike too, massive, musta
been over two hundred pound, all the teeth intact.
FRANCES Did they find yoirr mother?
BONIFACE We don't know yeh. They're tryin to date em all. I
tould em, she's the wan wud the boulder, but they
want to do their tests. (To Ariel) I liked you, little
girl.
FRANCES (To STEPHEN) Shouldn't you be down ah the cement?
STEPHEN I was, cem home early because a the day is in ud.
FRANCES I been goin through the figures. Big losses these last
two months.
STEPHEN They don't listen to me.
FRANCES Make em listen. Tell em ud's comin down from me.
Ud's your inheritance.
STEPHEN I'll sell ud soon as ya sign ud over.
FRANCES Ya too much of a swank wud your film degree to
lower yourself to the cement and gravel.
STEPHEN I don't have me film degree yeh, thanks to certain
events round here.
FRANCES Well, mebbe ya should think abouh jackin m the
films and start tumin your mind to cement.
STEPHEN Thah's noh goin to happen, Ma.

66
FRANCES Me and your father built thah cement up from wan
lorry smuggled in from England, an auld shed and
the lase of a quarry. Cement built this house,
cement gev ya your education, your fast car, your
designer clothes, your foreign holidas. Cement
finances your arty films. You think you're above
the cement and gravel? Well, you're noh. You're
med of ud like the rest of us. Sure ya were nearly
bom in wan a the lorries. Me and your father
drivin through the nigh, big delivery, me follyin
him along the weh roads. Elaine aslape beside me,
Ariel in front wud Eermoy. Me bapin like a
madwoman for Eermoy to pull over, him bapin
back thinkin I'm messin, and you surgin to be bom.
I fling open the winda, wavin and yellin. He sees
me in the mirror and pulls over. Me in a panic, geh
me to the hospital, geh me to the mid wives. Him
laughin ah me. I'll be your midwife, missus, and
the rain as balmy on him and the head of him
thrown back, laughin, just laughin . . . Was fierce
sorry after I didn't leh him be me midwife. He'd a
done ud too. Thah man was afraid a natin.
STEPHEN Ya boultin the stable now and your horse is gone.
FRANCES Doesn't everywan?
STEPHEN No, they don't, some knows when they're happy
ah the time. You had your chance, Ma, now ud's
mine, and I won't be buried imder a ton a cement
on your whim. I tould ya I'd help ouh till the trial's
over. And I will. Buh then I'm gone.
FRANCES Is thah a threah?
STEPHEN Ud's a fact.
FRANCES Ya been listenin to Elaine. She's tumin ya against
me.
STEPHEN Can make up me own mind, Ma. Count yourself
lucky I can stand in the same room as ya.
FRANCES So that's the way ud is. I thought ya were on my side.
STEPHEN Ya though wrong. Ud's time ya stopped pullin ouh
a me, livin through me.
FRANCES I don't live through ya! How dare you! I've never

67
 lived through anywan, to me own greah cost. Allas
I've resisted. Allas! When ud'd be asier bow down.
Whah are you sayin to me?
STEPHEN I'm sayin ...
FRANCES All month long I been dramin I'm breastfeedin a
snake. I thought ud was Elaine, buh ud's you. And
insteada milk comin ouh ud's blood. And ya kape
suckin though I'm roarin wud the pain. Ud took me
ten year to wean you. Ten year I didn't have. And
now you tell me thah doesn't count.
STEPHEN Ten year pretendin I was James. Ten year I went
along wud ud. I used pray to die so you'd be given
back James, I loved ya thah much. When strangers'd
ask me me name. I'd say, James, me name is James,
I'm James of the blue black curls.
FRANCES Whah are you talkin abouh, Stephen?
STEPHEN Don't pretend ya don't remember.
FRANCES I know I'd never win Mother a the Year, buh, Christ,
Stephen, I wanted you as I wanted all me children. I
swear, in me heart, what's left of ud, there's a
tahhered chamber for each wan a ya. And them
chambers is of equal measure.
STEPHEN And if they are, then why did ya kill my father?
FRANCES You know why.
STEPHEN Tell me.
FRANCES You kuow why, you know, because of her. {Cojfin)
STEPHEN Wudouh a thought for Elaine or me. Wudouh a care
of how thah rippin away has shahhered us. Ya did
ud for Ariel. Eor James. There was ony ever two
chambers in your heart, Ma, two dusty chambers,
me and Elaine tryin to force our way in. Our
playground was a graveyard, Ma, we ran among
your tombstones like they were swings, we played
hop, skip and jump on the bones a your children,
your real children, while we whined for ya like
ghosts. Isn't thah the way ud was? {Gestures to coffin)
Isn't ud the way of ud still?
FRANCES Stephen ... where a'ya goin?
STEPHEN (Exiting) The thing is. I'm goin.

68
 She runs after him, tries to hold him back.

FRANCES Ariel's funeral, me trial... Stephen! Don't, sweeheart,

don't. Don't do this to me now. Please. Noh now.
Noh now.

STEPHEN stands there, immovable. Frances with¬

draws eventually. Exit Stephen. Frances stands
there distraught, disbelief.

(Whispers) He's gone . . . he's gone . . . my baby is

gone.
BONIFACE And leh him. Whah I shoulda done forty year ago.
Good man, Stephen. How did ya do thah? Mammy's
off the menu for ever more. Thah's how ud's done.
Like thah big fah cluckin Mammy owl I seen on
National Geographic the other nigh. And this
Mammy Owl is himtin like Billy-O to fade Owl
junior. And she comes back to the nest this nigh,
big rah in her mouh, all important like. I'm fadin
the young lad, aren't I a model Ma. And Junior's
gone, fled when her back was turned, no goodbyes,
thah's the way to do ud. Or salmon, sure salmon
has ne'er a Ma ah all, and y'ever watch them, lords
a the waher, sun shinin for em. Or trees, don't get
me started on trees. Seems to me everythin worth
lookin ah in this world has ne'er a Ma ah all, ud's
just there be udself in a flowerin gorgeousness,
orphaned and free.
FRANCES Geh ouha my house, you.
BONIFACE Whah?
FRANCES You call yourself a man a God. Fermoy wud all
hees divilry had more religion. Prancin around in
your robes, watchin me like a hawk, cheerin on me
ony son's departure.
BONIFACE Frances, I was talkin abouh meself.
FRANCES You knew all along and ya never said a word.
BONIFACE Whah could I have done? I'm payin for this too.
FRANCES Spare me your remorse. I rue the day I ever seh

69
 eyes on the Fitzgeralds.
BONIFACE I think we can return the compliment.
FRANCES Just go.
BONIFACE I'm charged wud your care.
FRANCES The place is crawlin wud cops. I'm goin nowhere.
Just go. I want five minutes on me own wud Ariel.
BONiEACE I'll sih in the car. If ya nade anhin. I'll be in the car.

And exit boniface. erances goes to cojfin, looks in.

FRANCES (Whispers) Mother a God, ya could be anywan.

Enter elaine, stands there watching Frances.

ELAINE So ya dug him up.

FRANCES Elaine, please, no more, no more, our love affair
wud the knife is over.

And exit Frances.

ELAINE {To herself) Alrigh. Lave her alone. Lave her alone.
Say natin. Do natin. She'll be gone tomorra and ya
can just dig him up agin. (Wanders to coffin, looks in)
Mebbe I'm urmatural buh I never fell under your
spell. Then the wrong things has alias moved me
... and if there's such a place as paradise, leh ud be
impty, oh leh ud be impty.

SARAH has entered, listens.

SARAH I've an inklin of whah you're plannin.

ELAINE I never plan anhin. Auntie Sarah.
SARAH Don't ya? {Looks into coffin) God, she's wizened to a
nuh. Wud a squaze ya'd fih her in a fishbowl.
ELAINE She's after diggin him up.
SARAH So? He was her husband, noh yours, and this is her
house, noh yours, and a body can do whah they like
behind their own front duur.
ELAINE Whah planet were you brough up on? Behind your

70
 own front duur's the wan place ya can do natin ya
like. Behind your own front duur's where ya face
em all down wud your tail to the wall. And by God
I'm goin to face thah wan down before long.
SARAH There's a divil the size of a whale inside you.
Where in God's name is this hatred a your mother
comin from?
ELAINE If I knew thah ... I can't look ah her for too long
or me head swims. She appals me, alias has.
(Shudders) Her eyes, her shoulders, everythin abouh
her. I look ah her and I think there's somethin
missin. I don't know is ud in me or in her.
SARAH And whah is ud ya think is naissin?
ELAINE I think she has no soul.
SARAH And since when have you become the decider a
souls? A cuurse she has a soul, if she hadn't a soul
she wouldn't be alive.
ELAINE They say there's some bom wudouh em and I think
she's wan a them. She tells me we been slashin wan
another since time began. Well, if we have, this
here is my hum, this is my opportunihy to geh a
good go ah her and silence her till Judgement Day.
SARAH And on Judgement Day what'll ya tell the man
above wud hees seven eyes level on ya? Ya won't
face him down so aisy.
ELAINE You dare to talk to me abouh God and you the first
thah coaxed the darkness in. I know you of an auld
dahe. Addicted to nigh is what y'are, slobberin
over ud like the cah wud the crame. But ya won't
grab your own piece a nigh, no, ya covet mine from
the corner. You ud was watched the first murder
in this house. You watched your sister die, ya
watched me grandfather tie her wud stones and ya
said natin and ya done natin, ony watched in a
swoon, black flowers sproutin ouha your chest.
Yes, ya whispered, yes. I'll watch anhin. I'm the
woman who'll watch anhin.
SARAH You don't know the first thing abouh me and me
sister and your grandfather.

71
 ELAINE I know ya married him.
SARAH Thah was the ind! Thah was the ind! Fm sick a bein
judged on the ind. Whah abouh the start? Ya think
I was never yoimg? Ya think I like these auld
hands, wud the veins risin on em like rivers in
flood? Ya think I never burned? Ya think the world
started wud you? I loved my sister. 1 adored thah
woman.
ELAINE Aye, and ya adored her man wud your grady plain
Jane heart. Oh aye, ya loved her alrigh, loved her
so much ya wanted her life, her eyelashes, her
children, her husband. And some goblin in me
grandfather heard your prayers and answered em.
SARAH Ud was me he wint wud first. Me! Ya didn't know
thah, did ya! And she took him from me wudouh a
by your leave, wudouh an apology. And 1 took him
back. Fair is fair.
ELAINE And you try to bate me over the head wud God,
like you're hees favourihe, like you'll be sittin on
hees knee on Judgement Day, wud me prostrahe
before yees. God won't like me. I know thah. Buh
he'll have more time for me than he will for you.
You married your sister's husband as she turned to
bog oak in Cuura Lake. Ya watched Ariel die, ya
watched me father die. Is there anhin ya wouldn't
watch?
SARAH To watch a thing is ony to half wish ud. And to half
wish a thing is a long way off from doin ud. Buh I'll
watch no longer. I'm bowin ouh here. I'm no match
for ya anymore.

Exit SARAH.

ELAINE (After her) Good. Good. Good.

ELAINE goes to coffin. Takes out skull 0/Ariel, with

a few strands of hair attached to it. She holds it up.

(To skull) I drame abouh you all the time. Strange,

72
 wakin there's no animosity, we're friends, friendly
as sisters can be, buh aslape we're enemies,
enemies till the end a time. Whah does thah mane?
Remember them black dolls we had when we were
scuts and how we used torture em on Sahurday
momins, line them up on the bed and tear em limb
from limb? That's what ya remind me a now, them
black dolls. Did ya go aisy, Ariel? Or did ya figh
him ah the end? Or did ya think ud was all a game,
smokin hees cigar and swillin hees brandy as the
stars leant down to watch?

FERMOY stands in doorway, dressed as he was at end

of Act Two. Covered in blood. He watches elaine
dancing. She finally registers him, backs off.

{A whisper) Daddy.
FERMOY (Advancing) Whah?
ELAINE Go way, keep away.
FERMOY Who are you?
ELAINE Ya don't know me.
FERMOY Don't I? I thought ya were familiar, walkin up the
drive, the lawn, the fountain, thought I recognized
this place from somewhere. Who are ya?
ELAINE Ya never give the dead your name.
FERMOY Am I dead?
ELAINE Oh, you're dead alrigh.
FERMOY Dead as thah? (Points to skull)
ELAINE Yeah.
FERMOY Who's thah?
ELAINE Me sister ... Ariel... Ya remember her?
FERMOY Who?
ELAINE Ariel.
FERMOY No, should I?
ELAINE No.
FERMOY Then why did ya ask me?
ELAINE Never mind.
FERMOY Look, I'm tryin to find this place, ya may be able to
help me.

73
 ELAINE And whah place is ud you're tryin to find?
FERMOY I don't know the name of ud. (Thinks) Ud's a cuurt-
yard, yella, or the ligh in ud is yella. There's some
girl there I have to meeh. D'you know the place
I'm talkin abouh? Is ud anywhere 'round here?
ELAINE I never heard if ud is.
FERMOY Ya sure?
ELAINE Yeah.
FERMOY I have to get there ... I have to meet this girl.
No wan seems to know where ud is. I may kape
goin.

And exit fermoy as Frances enters.

FRANCES Elaine.

,
Takes skull off elaine who looks after fermoy.

Just whah d'ya think you're doin . . . maulin her

like thah?

Puts skull back in coffin.

ELAINE I tould ya not to touch me father's grave. Tould

ya ih'd disturb everythin. But ya wouldn't listen,
would ya?
FRANCES Just geh ouh! Geh ouh a this house and don't come
back. You're so full a your own hate ya don't
nohice the hate of others. Some zebra stallion
grafted you onta me. I wanted a son to make up for
James. And I goh you. Now g'wan wud thah piece
of information and leh ud sustain ya on your
travels. G'wan, geh ouha me sigh.
ELAINE Aye, some zebra stallion grafted me onta ya alrigh,
and I festered there, bidin me time. Ya say ya
prayed for a son to make up for James. Well, I am
James. I'm James returned. And I'm me father that
ya butchered to hees eyeballs. And I'm Ariel. And
I'm Elaine wud your deah on me palm, carved mta

74
 my plain a Mars like stone. Whah a relate to be
finally livin ud.

Stabs FRANCES in the throat.

FRANCES {Reels, falls) Elaine ... no ... no ... no more ...

ELAINE {Watching her reel, die, flounder) After this, no more.
FRANCES No . . . {Tries to get up, holds her throat, blood spilling
from her mouth) Had to ... had to ... puh ud off...

A massive effort to get up, gets up, holds onto coffin,

looks into it, a blood-curdling wail.

No ... no ... Don't... don't leh me ... don't leh me

... don't leh me ... don't leh me go ...

Falls against elaine who lets her slide to the floor.

ELAINE stands there. Throws down the knife. Looks
out.
'Mors et Vita' music, and blackout.

75
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from 'The Vision of Hell' by Gustave Dore
 'The size a the nigh in thnh man
is past measurin.'

Fermoy Fitzgerald, a politi¬

cian from the Irish midlands,
is a man capable of anything.
He has the dreams of a
conqueror. In her new play
Marina Carr attends to events
surrounding his daughter's
sixteenth birthday and
dissects the soul of a man in
thrall to powerful forces. By
scratching the scars of a
family's ancient skirmishes
she unfolds the story of
Marina Carr was born in 1964 Cuura Lake.
and grew up in County Offaly. While the play embraces
She graduated from UCD in age-old themes — power and
1987. its price, fate, the importance
The Gallery Press also pub¬ of remembering and of forget¬
lishes The Mai, Portia Coiighlan, ting — it is also the author's
By the Bog of Cats and On most contemporary work.
Raftery's Hill. Gorgeously cadenced, elabo¬
She lives in Dublin with her rately wrought, it is a score
husband and two sons. She is for the grand scale of her
a member of Aosdana and will dreadful imaginings.
be Heimbold Professor of Irish Marina Carr is our laureate
Studies at Villanova University of destructive passions. Ariel
in the Spring of 2003. signals a leap in the trajectory-
of this prodigiously talented
writer. i
*O5-NTM-90
lllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllli

ISBN 1-85235-331-7

9 781852 353315 Photograph by Amelia Stein]

The Vision of Hell' (detail)\
Also available in hardback by Gustave Dore]