eBook - ePub
The Seed
About this book
Meet Rose Maloney. Her dad Danny went to Vietnam. Her grandfather Brian is ex-IRA. Today is their collective birthday. From this intimate reunion, The Seed opens itself up over and over again until a silent family battle becomes a national story about finding new life amongst the rubble of old wars. This play has a very special kind of honesty and humour to it which sorts the great lies we buy into from the reality we live through.A compelling, tightly woven and thrilling exploration of a very real family and the repercussions of war.
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Yes, you can access The Seed by Kate Mulvany in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Drama. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE
The soundscape suggests a boy running for his life, leaping over fences, in front of cars, over rubbish bins. All the time, the panting getting harder and faster and more frightenedâŚ
The clatter of a metal fenceâŚ
DANNYâs young English voice calls outâŚ
DANNY: Fuck off, pig!
ROSE, lit, speaks to the audience.
ROSE: Nottingham. November. 1957.
Another clatter.
DANNY: Fuck!
Heavier footsteps continue running, slowing down steadily.
ROSE: Danny is hanging.
Lights up on DANNY, hanging in agony from the barbed wire, his hand entangled in the mesh.
The wire has weaved a violent gash through his hand and around his fingers, that hadâve just pinched some cigarettes from the store on Smith Street.
The running feet of his accoster slow to a heavy stop. A cop. The footsteps stop.
DANNY: Let me down, you fat bastard.
ROSE: Perhaps not the best choice of wordsâŚ
DANNY: Come on! Iâm fuckinâ hanginâ here!
ROSE: The blood trickles from Dannyâs ripped palm and down his arm. The gravel below his dangling feet is getting more speckled every time he wriggles.
DANNY wretches, terrified.
DANNY: Oh, JesusâŚ
ROSE: The cop treads his heavy way to Danny and places his hands on the boyâs waist.
DANNY: Took your fuckinâ time, you bastard.
ROSE: But the cop just puts his hand in Dannyâs pocket and fishes out the stolen cigarettes. He lights one, and indulges in long, luxurious inhalations as Danny twists to see the policeman behind him.
ANNY: You bastard⌠you fuckinâ piece of shite pig⌠Those were for me mam and da! Get me down, fuck you, get me the fuck down!
ROSE: Danny catches sight of the silvery prongs noosed around and through his mangled hand. Waves of nausea weaken him and he begins to act more like the little boy he isâŚ
DANNY: [sobbing] Please, sir, let me down. Iâm sorry. Iâm tru-truly sorry, I wonât do it again. They were for me mam, sir, me da, not me. Please, sir, it hurts. The wire, sir, itâs⌠itâs clear through me handâŚ
ROSE: The policeman slowly moves to the hanging Danny. Once again he puts his hands on Dannyâs waist, but this time suddenly twists him around, the boy now face to face with the leering policeman. The cop exhales the last of his cigarette into Dannyâs face and smiles with English eyes.
A manâs voice speaks. It is BRIAN, entering his Nottingham apartment.
BRIAN: âTime to come home, hey, Danny Boy?â
DANNY screams.
ROSE: And he tears the boy from the fence.
SCENE TWO
A young woman, ROSE, and her father, DANNY, stand side by side in an airport.
DANNY: Where are they?
ROSE: Dad, we only landed half an hour ago.
DANNY: I could do it faster. [Beat.] Jesus, where are they?
ROSE: Go and sit down. Iâll get the baggage.
DANNY: Theyâre too heavy for you. [Beat.] Fuck me dead. Where the fuck are they? Fuck.
ROSE: Go and call Mum. Tell her weâve arrived safe and sound. Sheâll be worried.
DANNY: All right.
Beat. She hands him a phone card.
Whatâs this?
ROSE: Itâs an international phone card.
DANNY: When did they invent them?
ROSE: Same week as the wheel.
Beat.
DANNY: Weâll call her when we get to your granddaâs. [Beat.] Where are they?
ROSE: Go and get yourself a sandwich. You didnât eat on the plane.
DANNY: Fuckinâ spaghetti.
ROSE: Noodles, actually.
DANNY: Wasnât hungry.
ROSE: Are you hungry now?
DANNY: Maybe a bucket of chips.
ROSE: Here.
She gives him some Australian money.
Youâll have to go and get it exchanged. Thirty-eight p to the dollar. Donât let them trick you.
Beat.
DANNY: Iâm not hungry.
Beat. ROSE takes the money back.
Where are they? Weâre going to miss the train to Notts.
ROSE: Weâll be fine, Dad. I checked all the schedules. Plenty of time.
DANNY: Takes two hours to get there, you know.
ROSE: I know.
DANNY: On the train.
ROSE: Yes.
DANNY: To Nottingham. [Beat.] Where are they?! [Beat.] Never too...
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright Page
- Playwrightâs Biography
- First Production
- Characters
- Setting
- Act One
- Act Two