Danny Fisher

Matthew Ryan

• Publisher: Currency Press
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781760626501
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Danny Fisher was previously published as Brisbane.The air is thick and wet and the sun burns your skin like it hates your guts... It's 1942 and I'm fourteen, which means I face two obstacles on a daily basis. One: Entire countries that want to kill me. And two: The Cricket Boys on Mulvany Street.Danny Fisher is coming of age at a time when Australia faces the threat of invasion. When his beloved brother Frank is killed in the bombing of Darwin, Danny's family is ripped apart. Ignored by grieving parents, the awkward Danny is left to fend for himself, and to try to fill the shoes left behind. Thrust headlong into the threat of war and the hope of love, Danny, like his city, is growing up fast.Aided by his potty-mouthed best-friend Patty, Danny meets an American serviceman identical to Danny's lost brother. But when the American begins teaching him how to fly, Danny comes up with a dangerous plan to prove his own worth.Ripe with emotional resonance and heart-breaking comedy, Danny Fisher is a celebration of a childhood and a city-and a requiem for all that was lost.Ryan's script is rich, textured and very funny at times. This is a winner.- The Courier MailA testament to just how vital and engaging even historical theatre can be... A surprisingly riveting, insightful and accessible self-portrait of some of the city's most turbulent days.-The Creative Issue[Danny Fisher] triumphs... Within the nooks and crannies of our history lurk the most absorbing of theatre tales.-Blue Curtain

ACT ONE

DANNY FISHER, fourteen, enters and speaks to the audience.

DANNY: [aside] The air is thick and wet and the sun burns your skin like it hates your guts. January’s got it in for everyone. It has a temper that builds and builds until it’s had enough and dumps a mountain of water and electricity on your head. The smell of dirt road mixes with the pong of dead fruit that falls from the trees. Houses sit on stilts, breathing the cool air beneath them. Houses that make up streets. Streets that make up suburbs. Suburbs that make up Brisbane. It’s 1942 and I’m fourteen, which means I face two obstacles on a daily basis. One: Entire countries that want to kill me. And two: The Cricket Boys on Mulvany Street.

The CRICKET BOYS enter with bats and balls—STANLEY, ROBBIE and JUSTIN.

STANLEY: Hey, it’s Fisher.

ROBBIE: Where you going, Fisher?

DANNY: [aside] These are the Cricket Boys on Mulvany Street. You have to pass them if you want to get to the shops to buy pencils and paper. They’re about to beat the shit out of me.

STANLEY: What’s this?

STANLEY snatches a notebook from DANNY. They pass it around.

DANNY: Give it back.

JUSTIN: Another story, Fisher?

STANLEY: Only kids like stories, Fisher.

ROBBIE: [reading] ‘The air is thick and wet and the sun burns your skin like it hates your guts.’

JUSTIN: He thinks the sun hates him.

DANNY: Give it back!

STANLEY: Or you’ll what? Come on. You can do it.

ROBBIE: Bit small for it.

STANLEY: Small ones you got to watch. Small ones got a point to prove.

DANNY: That the excuse you give your dick? [Beat. Aside] Shit.

They get DANNY to the ground and punch and kick him. DANNY narrates to escape the pain.

[Aside] They bully me whenever they can. Ever since they saw me jumping around my yard with a towel around my neck like a cape. They’d crossed the threshold into masculinity a few minutes earlier by seeing Susie Whitmore change her blouse behind the clothesline while I, home alone at the time, had decided to give flying a bit of a go.

PATTY, fourteen, enters and pushes STANLEY to the ground. The others step back.

PATTY: Touch him again, Stanley Bendall, and you’ll cop my stiff leg up your bumhole!

DANNY: [aside] This is Patty. Patty ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Playwright’s Biography
• This Happened. This Happened Here.
• Author’s Note
• Dedication
• First Production
• Characters and Performance Note
• Danny Fisher
• Copyright Details