Only Our Own
Page 7
After his grandfather.
ANDREW: Sounds very Irish.
TITANIA: (Deep breath.) His grandfather was a rebel.
He was there when they burnt Belford.
He helped pour the petrol!
ANDREW: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?
TITANIA: I didn’t know!
I only discovered it –
ANDREW: Mixing with that scum!
TITANIA: – reading Grandma’s letter.
While I was waiting for you.
ANDREW: So you know what they did.
To her and her family. Your forbears.
Seized their land – laid waste their property – executed the son and heir!
TITANIA: I know!
I’ve read all about it.
ANDREW: The only thing left was this place.
And you would let them take that, too!
TITANIA: Nothing will be taken!
Fiónn is going to help us keep it, look after it, care for it.
Stop it from going to rack and ruin.
ANDREW: Over my dead body!
TITANIA: He’d want to keep everything just as it’s always been.
ANDREW: Your grandmother will be turning in her grave.
TITANIA: I don’t think so.
ANDREW: And, to top it all, he’s taking you!
Like an idiot, you’ve walked straight into it.
TITANIA: Father – Fiónn has no idea.
He doesn’t know what his grandfather got up to.
ANDREW: Some chance.
TITANIA: You should know.
It’s not something families talk about.
ANDREW: High time then, that you enlighten him.
TITANIA: I don’t know that I will.
ANDREW looks at her.
TITANIA: Can’t you see – this only concerns you and me.
It’s for us to decide what’s worth holding on to, and what will do more harm than good.
Pause.
ANDREW moves away from her, stops, fingers an object connected with MEG.
ANDREW: (To himself.) Certain things…best forgotten…
TITANIA: One has to take what life offers.
ANDREW: (To himself.) Baggage the young can do without…
TITANIA: Accept it gracefully – on the terms given.
ANDREW: (To himself.) No good…dwelling on the past…
TITANIA: Whatever the past – the future is our own.
ANDREW: (To himself.) Let bygones be bygones…
TITANIA: Father – what is that you’re saying?
ANDREW: (Looking at her.) What can I say?
Other than…
He turns towards her, holding out his hands.
ANDREW: Welcome home.
Their eyes meet and hold.
FADE OUT.
A SPOOKY LIGHT picks out MEG and ELIZA upstage, before they dissolve into darkness.
THE END.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Doonreagan
9781783190508
Doonreagan House in Cashel, Connemara, for many years home to the author of this play, was where future Poet Laureate Ted Hughes took refuge in the late 1960s, after the death of his wife Sylvia Plath. With him were his two young children by Sylvia, as well as his lover Assia Wevill and baby daughter Schura.
Doonreagan explores the doomed relationship between Ted and Assia during their brief but intense spell in Connemara: an ultimate test of conjugality and family life, at which neither of them had excelled so far.
Based on years of personal research and experience, Doonreagan opens up new angles on this tragic triangle drama and the mystery of Sylvia Plath’s death.
‘…an intimate and subtle portrait of a troubled couple…’
Time Out
‘Jocelyn’s dialogue is subtle, empathetic, and sensitive.’
The Public Reviews
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