Abigail

Fiona Doyle

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN:
  9781780018478
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Teatro britannico

A man in his forties and a woman in her twenties meet on a trip to Berlin. Across a fractured timeline where past and present collide, the story of their relationship, their love and their struggle unravels.

Fiona Doyle's play Abigail premiered at The Bunker, London, in 2017. The play was shortlisted for the Eamon Keane Full-Length Play Award.

Darkness.

A piercing sound.

It increases in volume, getting louder and louder until…

1. Kitchen

MAN is sitting at table. He is unshaven, barefoot and dressed casually. There’s a half-empty beer bottle in front of him. WOMAN is wearing a smart black dress and she is looking at him.

Silence.

WOMAN. Why aren’t you dressed?

MAN. There was snow when we landed.

Beat.

You had snow in your hair. Walking to the terminal. / There was snow.

WOMAN. Put some socks on.

MAN. Unseasonal weather patterns. (Smiles.) D’you remember? There was something strange going on alright.

Beat.

You let that taxi go and I knew then. When you let / that taxi go.

WOMAN. They won’t hold the table.

MAN. Berlin still reminds me of you. With snow in your hair.

Beat.

So we got the next one together. You were looking out the window at the snow. And you joked about the plane coming down. Remember? You joked about it. Weren’t we lucky the plane hadn’t crashed. Weren’t we lucky we hadn’t crashed in a snowstorm. And you looked at me and smiled. You’d a beautiful smile. I knew I’d spend a long time with you then. I knew we’d go past that. Through it. Out the other side into a life together, y’know?

Pause.

WOMAN. Don’t.

MAN. You’ve a beautiful smile.

WOMAN. You can’t.

MAN. I’m sorry I couldn’t make you smile more.

WOMAN. …

MAN. Things start. Then they end –

WOMAN. Try again –

MAN. I tried. I did.

WOMAN. / Try again.

MAN. But I can’t undo it. I can’t undo what we’ve done, what we’ve –

WOMAN. We?

Silence.

MAN. It all passes. This has passed.

They look at each other. WOMAN suddenly breaks a plate. He stares at the pieces for a moment, then exits. She stands there frozen to the spot.

2. Airport, Berlin

WOMAN is standing in the snow waiting for a taxi. MAN enters and stands beside her.

MAN. Might be a while. Before another one comes.

WOMAN. What? I…

Pause.

MAN. What’s your name again?

WOMAN. I remember yours.

Beat.

MAN. You look like a Kate. You a Kate?

WOMAN shakes her head.

Not a Kate. Alice? Not Kate, not Alice. Grace?

She shakes her head.

Helen?

Same.

Joanna? Martina? Tracey?

WOMAN. Tracey?

Beat.

No.

MAN. Tell me.

WOMAN. Again.

MAN. Tell me again.

WOMAN. I’ll think about it.

They wait.

MAN. I’m just here for work. Not on my list of places to see before I die, y’know?

WOMAN. You have a list?

MAN. I have a list. It’s a long list. Great Wall of China for starters. Then Chichén Itzá, / then

WOMAN. Where?

MAN. Ancient Mayan city. Mexico. There’s this temple right, and if you get there at the right time of year, when the sun and the earth are –

WOMAN. Equinox?

MAN. That’s the one. So if you’re there for an equinox this shadow appears. This long dark shadow and it attaches itself to a serpent’s head sitting at the base of the pyramid. This… serpent’s head made of stone. Perfectly aligned. Same time every year for thousands of years. Incredible. So that’s definitely on the list. Great Wall of China, Chichén Itzá, Petra, Ayers Rock –

WOMAN. Where’...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Original Production
• Acknowledgements
• Epigraph
• Characters
• 1.
• About the Author
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information