Girl from the North Country (NHB Modern Plays)

Conor McPherson, Bob Dylan

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781848426559
• eBook ISBN: 9781780019215
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Duluth, Minnesota. 1934. A community living on a knife-edge. Lost and lonely people huddle together in the local guesthouse.

The owner, Nick, owes more money than he can ever repay, his wife Elizabeth is losing her mind and their daughter Marianne is carrying a child no one will account for.

So, when a preacher selling bibles and a boxer looking for a comeback turn up in the middle of the night, things spiral beyond the point of no return...

In Girl from the North Country, Conor McPherson beautifully weaves the iconic songbook of Bob Dylan into a show full of hope, heartbreak and soul. It premiered at The Old Vic, London, in July 2017, in a production directed by Conor McPherson.

ACT ONE

Actors and musicians on stage to get ready for the live broadcast. Someone sits a piano and plays and sings. A drummer, double-bass player and guitar player join in along the way, as do the cast, harmonizing.

Sign On The Window

Sign on the window says ‘Lonely’

Sign on the door said ‘No Company Allowed’

Sign on the street says ‘Y’ Don’t Own Me’

Sign on the porch says ‘Three’s A Crowd’

Sign on the porch says ‘Three’s A Crowd’

…

Looks like a-nothing but rain…

Sure gonna be wet tonight on Main Street…

Hope that it don’t sleet

The band take the music down for a few bars while a middle-aged actor approaches the microphone:

DR WALKER. Tonight’s story begins and ends at a guesthouse in Duluth, Minnesota, in the winter of 1934. Back here – some of the guests we’ll meet along the way.

The rising light reveals two figures in the dining room where there’s a table for eating at, some easy chairs near a stove, a dresser, a piano. ELIZABETH, fifties, sits at the piano picking out a tune. She has early-onset dementia. Her husband, NICK, is the same age as ELIZABETH but an agitated energy makes him seem younger somehow. He puts on an apron and starts working, setting the table for their guests.

This is Nick Laine. That’s his wife there, Elizabeth. Nick inherited this house from his granddaddy, but he never had no head for business. First he lost the stables and stud, then all the stocks. Managed to remortgage the house long enough for Elizabeth to turn it into decent boarding rooms.

But she hasn’t been so good lately. Her dementia crept in so insidiously, so gradually, crueler folk in town said you’d be hard pushed to know the difference. Nick’s tryna take care of everything. Trying real hard. Like a man tryna to run through a wall tries real hard.

My name is George Arthur Walker. I’m a doctor. Least I was. Back when this was our world. I healed some bodies in pain. But as we know pain comes in all kinds. Physical, spiritual. Indescribable.

I’ll come in the story later, but right now, all you need to know is Nick’s made some stew for his family, for the guests. Keep everybody alive another day.

The last verse is sung while NICK spoons stew in a bowl to cool for ELIZABETH. The song finishes out…

NICK. Elizabeth. (Pause.) Elizabeth.

She ignores him.

Elizabeth. Sit down, I’ll give you something to eat.

ELIZABETH’s expression suggests her absence, her presence. She looks at him but otherwise ignores his requests. She goes, bends down under a chair and retrieves a little box. She turns away, hiding it from NICK. She opens it, counts through some dollars in there, and closes it again quickly.

Sit down. Come on. Supper.

Exasperated, he puts her meal down on the table and comes to her, guiding her towards the easy chair near the stove. She resists. This becomes a silent battle of wills as they slowly wrestle. She is surprisingly strong. NICK gives up, angrily walking away and tossing a plate across the table. She remains standing.

Alright. Well. Alright.

ELIZABETH. I can hear it.

NICK. What.

ELIZABETH. The girl down the hole.

NICK looks at her.

NICK. What?

ELIZABETH. Girl down the hole.

NICK is startled by someone coming through the kitchen.

NICK. Hello?

NICK sees GENE in the kitchen.

Oh.

GENE. Yeah, ‘Oh…’

NICK. What are you doing scratching around like that?

GENE. What? I’m hungry!

NICK. You know what time it is? You’re only coming in?

GENE. I was working late.

NICK. Working my ass.

GENE. I was working!

NICK. You were drinking.

GENE. You have to drink if you want to sit at the bar.

NICK. Who works in a bar?! You can’t work in your room?

GENE. No I can’t work in my room.

NICK. Why?

GENE comes to the table, putting a book down, picking at bread, while NICK continues his work.

GENE. It’s too stultifying.

NICK. Well excuse me! I saw you got a letter. Huh?

GENE. Yeah.

NICK. New York postmark.

GENE. It was nothing.

NICK. Yeah?

GENE. Yeah, nothing, you know.

NICK. You should let me read, you know, some of your stories, some time.

GENE. Yeah?

NICK. Hey I been around.

GENE. Yeah.

NICK. Yeah. I’ve lived. You can’t see it ’cause as far as you’re concerned I’m just the old dumb-bell round here. I could read ’em. Tell ya where you might need a little… you know. A little life. A little real life. Maybe we could turn some a those rejection slips into pay cheques, huh?

GENE. Now I know you’re desperate.

NICK. Desperate? Well…

GENE. Two minutes ago it wasn’t even work, now you wanna do it for me?

NICK. Hey don’t ambush me with my own double standards. You don’t even know what work is. Get a job, you’ll know all about it. What it does to you.

GENE. Get a job where?

NICK (to himself). Scribbling in a book isn’t work.

GENE. Get a job where?

NICK. Hm?

GENE. Get a job where?

NICK. What are you asking me for? The Twin Cities! I don’t know! You and your sister are too damn spoiled. You wanna give me some help here?

GENE. What do you want?

NICK. Lay the table. Feed your mother.

GENE. She doesn’t want me feeding her!

NICK. You do it too fast. Let her chew, for Christ’s sake! You let it all go down her chin, of course she doesn’t like it.

GENE. She doesn’t like me doing it, she doesn’t like me… [doing it.]

NICK. It’s because y...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Original Production
• Introduction
• Dedication
• Characters
• Act One
• Act Two
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information