Mark O'Rowe Plays: One (NHB Modern Plays)

Mark O'Rowe

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781848421608
• eBook ISBN:
  9781780014005
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Five plays from the sensational voice of new writing for Irish theatre.

Since winning the George Devine Award for Howie the Rookie in 1999, Mark O'Rowe has electrified audiences with his distinctive dramatic style and dark, dangerous storytelling.

In O'Rowe's first play, The Aspidistra Code (1995), Brendan and Sonia, head over heels in debt, are forced to hire their own protection against a volatile loan shark.

From Both Hips (1997) sees Paul, a Dublin man shot in the hip during a bungled police raid, embark on a violent journey of revenge.

In Howie the Rookie (which also won the 'Rooney Prize for Irish Literature'), brutal events take on mythical significance in a white-knuckle ride through a nightmare Dublin.

In Made in China (2001), a dreadful accident sparks a savage tug-of-war between two criminal foot soldiers.

And Crestfall (2003) - so dark that all but the tiniest glimmer of light has been extinguished, depicts three women trapped between nightmares and waking.

'A writing force to contend with... outstanding' - Irish Independent

'Gripping, grotesque and deliriously good' - Sunday Times

FROM BOTH HIPS

From Both Hips was first produced by Fishamble Theatre Company at the Little Theatre, Tallaght, on 25 June 1997, transferring to the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, and the Tron Theatre, Glasgow. The cast was as follows:

LIZ ADELE PAUL THERESA WILLY IRENE

Marion O’Dwyer Clodagh O’Donoghue Ger Carey Fionnuala Murphy Seán Rocks Catherine Walsh

Director Designer Lighting Designer

Jim Culleton Blaíthín Sheerin Nick McCall

Characters

LIZ

ADELE

PAUL

THERESA

WILLY

IRENE

ACT ONE

Scene One

A sitting room in a normal, working-class house. Stage left, the hallway to the front door. Up right, the door to the sitting room. Up left, stairs leading off. A table and chairs. A sofa. LIZ sits on the sofa reading the paper. ADELE stands in the centre of the room, looking around. She exits. She returns. She exits again.

LIZ. Adele! (Calling.) Adele! What are you doing? C’mere!

ADELE (entering, just inside door to kitchen). What?

LIZ. See what it says here?

ADELE. What? (Exits.)

LIZ (calling). Where are you going? Will you stop going in and out? Come back in, will you?

ADELE (offstage). What?

LIZ. Come back in and sit down.

ADELE enters and stands there.

What are you doing?

ADELE. I’m looking for the ship.

LIZ. Well, just ask me. It’s inside on top of the press. It’s grand. Sit down.

ADELE. No, I’ll stand. What does it say?

LIZ. It says… You’re making me very nervous, there.

ADELE. Good. Go on. Read. Tell me.

LIZ. Something I never knew. Something very surprising. Dogs…

ADELE. Mmm?

LIZ. … Dogs. Right here, some professor. Dogs are incapable of love.

ADELE. Dogs?

LIZ. … Some professor, here. Although they appear, he says, loving and affectionate, they actually don’t have any emotions. It’s all… The way they act, their behaviour. It’s all instinctual.

ADELE. Yeah?

LIZ. That’s not really fair, is it?

ADELE. Why not?

LIZ. Well, love’s a two-way street. I wouldn’t want to be giving love to something if it wasn’t going to love me back.

Pause.

ADELE. Mmm.

LIZ. You know?

ADELE. Were you thinking of buying a dog?

LIZ. No, no, God!

ADELE. Well, then.

LIZ. But I know people who have dogs. Ciara and Joe have one, and thing… Theresa Nolan. She’s fairly into her dog, actually. She comes out sometimes, she reeks of it, you can smell it off her clothes and all.

ADELE. Reeks?

LIZ. Bits of brown hairs on her jumper. Yeah, reeks. Ah, I’m a bit addled now, damn!

ADELE sits down and lights a cigarette.

ADELE. What’s wrong?

LIZ. I feel like I should do something about it.

ADELE. Do some… What?

LIZ. I feel like I should tell them.

ADELE. Who? Theresa Nolan?

LIZ. She’s fairly into her dog. Ciara and Joe… Who else do I…?

ADELE. Tell them what? That their dogs don’t love them?

LIZ. Yeah. They should know.

ADELE. Ah, Liz.

LIZ. If I don’t tell them, they could go on through life living a lie. Their dogs don’t love them, even though they love their dogs. That’s a lie, they’re being cheated, they should be told. On the other hand…

ADELE. On the other hand, ignorance, Liz.

LIZ. What about it?

ADELE. Ignorance is bliss.

LIZ. It’s ignorance, Adele. Nothing good comes of it. I’m saying if I tell, it’ll hurt. It’ll hurt at first.

ADELE. Could.

LIZ. Nobody likes being told they’re in an unrequited relationship.

ADELE. You wouldn’t call it a relationship.

Pause.

LIZ. Are they communicating, Adele?

ADELE. I don’t…

LIZ. In some way, a dog and its master, mistress. Its owner. Are they, like, aware of each other?

ADELE. I suppose.

LIZ. Well, then they’re communicating. It’s happening over a period of time, then it’s a relationship. There’s physical contact going on? Yes. In Theresa Nolan’s case, a lot, judging from the stink on her, then it’s a close relationship. Jesus! She feels love, the dog feels nothing, she’s being made a fool of. Her dog’s working the dark trick on her.

ADELE. The what?

LIZ. The dark trick. And she’s not the type of girl who has many friends. It’s probably the best friend she has. She’s playing the fool for her dog and she doesn’t even know it, she thinks it’s two-sided and… You all...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• The Aspidistra Code
• From Both Hips
• Howie the Rookie
• Made in China
• Crestfall
• About the Author
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information