Cyprus Avenue

David Ireland

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781350184626
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Drama

"Ireland's play slyly makes the case that it is not discrimination that ensures survival... but rather the ability to be two opposing things at once: Irish and British, politician and terrorist, even comedy and tragedy. If tragicomedy is the natural Irish form, Ireland makes his own inversion here, beginning with amused splutters, ending in hard gulps" The Irish Times Eric Miller is a Belfast Loyalist. He believes his five-week old granddaughter is Gerry Adams. His family keep telling him to stop living in the past and fighting old battles that nobody cares about anymore, but his cultural heritage is under siege. He must act. David Ireland's black comedy takes one man's identity crisis to the limits as he uncovers the modern day complexity of Ulster Loyalism. Cyprus Avenue premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 2016, before transferring to the Royal Court Theatre, The MAC in Belfast and The Public Theater in New York. It won Best New Play at the Irish Times Theatre Awards and the James Tait Black Prize for Drama, 2017. This edition features a new introduction by Professor Ondrej Pilny.

Scene One

Bridget’s office. Bridget appears.

Bridget Eric, yes? Eric Miller?

Eric Yes.

Bridget I’m Bridget.

Eric Bridget. Hello.

He nods politely.

Bridget Please. Make yourself comfortable.

He sits, uncertainly. She sits.

Bridget So . . .

Eric Yes?

Bridget It’s been explained to you why you’re here?

Eric Yes.

Bridget That you and I will meet on a weekly basis as part of your ongoing treatment. You’ve been told that and understand, yes?

Eric Yes.

Bridget Have you ever undergone any kind of treatment like this before?

Eric No.

Bridget Ok well this is not, Eric, anything to be frightened of. This is a safe place. A safe place for us to talk about you. To talk about anything you want to talk about. It’s ok. Here you’re ok. Here it’s ok to say anything you want to say.
About anything.

Eric Ok.

Bridget Things become tangled. In our lives, things become tangled up. Do you know what I mean by that?

Eric I think so. No.

Bridget Ok. Emotions, I’m talking about. Our past. The things that happened to us in the past to make us what we are. Our family of origin. Our conditioning. Our cultural background. Inside it’s a mess. Every single one of us is a diabolic mess. We walk around being normal but all of us inside are unfathomable and messy.

Eric Yes.

Bridget Do you understand what I’m talking about now?

Eric I think so. Yes.

Bridget It’s my job to untangle your insides. It’s your job, actually. It’s your job to untangle your insides. And it’s my job to help you along the way. How does that sound?

Eric Good.

Bridget Has everything I’ve said so far made sense to you?

Eric Yes. Yes. Absolutely, yes.

Bridget Do you have any questions?

Eric Yes.

Bridget Any question you have is fine.

Eric I have one question.

Bridget Ok.

Eric It might be a bit of a stupid question.

Bridget There are no stupid questions here.

Eric That’s good to know.

Bridget So what’s your question? What would you like to ask?

Eric Why are you a nigger?

Bridget . . . Ok . . . so I’m interested in why you would ask that?

Eric That’s what you are.

Bridget And do you think it’s an acceptable comment to make in this situation?

Eric It wasn’t a comment, it was a question.

Bridget Do you think that word is appropriate? In this situation?

Eric Yes. No. Yes. No.

Bridget Ok. Well if you’re saying it because –

Eric Can I say something else?

Bridget Go ahead.

Eric Everything is upside down. Nothing is what it claims to be. It’s like you just said a minute ago. Chaos is majesty. Love is degradation. And the world has become a travesty.

Bridget That’s not what I said.

Eric Was it wrong for me to say that word?

Bridget I think you know it was wrong.

Eric I don’t know anything anymore.

Bridget I think you know that word is not acceptable.

Eric It’s not?

Bridget Do you understand why?

Eric No.

Bridget Historically it’s been used to bully and humiliate people. To disparage and demean them. In effect, to claim ownership and dehumanise.

Eric Like slavery? You’re talking about slavery?

Bridget Not just about slavery, but, yes, slavery.

Eric I don’t condone slavery. I don’t condone discrimination.

Bridget Then you know it’s wrong to use that word.

Eric If I can say in my defence, I did grow up in Belfast. I never met a black person until I was forty-seven. Is it ok to say ‘black’?

Bridget Yes.

Eric I’m not used to being around black. ‘A black’. Blacks.

Bridget I accept and understand that being Irish you haven’t been exposed to multiculturalism to the same degree that someone in –

Eric Excuse me, can I just stop you there? I think you must have misheard me. I come from East Belfast. I’ve lived there all my life.

Bridget And?

Eric The last thing I am is Irish. My grandfather was killed in the Battle of the Somme. My father died at Dunkirk. And I too would die for my right to be British. My British identity, my culture, my, our way of life, ours, our heritage and being, our very, our being. Every summer I parade with the Orange. I fly the flag of the Union from the rooftop of our house. I worked for Her Majesty’s Government to combat the relentless campaign of genocide conducted by the IRA against the Protestant people of Ulster over the course of three decades. I am anything but Irish. I am British. I am exclusively and non-negotiably British. I am not nor never have been nor never will be Irish.

Bridget Ok. You’re not Irish.

Eric Thank you.

Bridget And I’m not a nigger.

He nods. He bows his head.

What happened to you? What’s happened in your life that’s led you to this point?

Eric I think you know what happened.

Bridget I do.

Eric So why are you asking?

Bridget Because I want to hear it from you.

Eric Well I don’t want to talk about it.

Bridget You don’t have to.

Eric I’m afraid I might cry.

Bridget It’s fine if you do.

Eric Is ...