OWEN McCAFFERTY
Fire Below
a war of words
Contents
Title Page
Premiere Production
Characters
Author’s Note
Fire Below
Appendix
About the Author
By the Same Author
Copyright
Fire Below, a co-production between the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, was first performed on the Danske Bank stage of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, on 12 October 2017, and subsequently on the Peacock stage of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 7 November 2017. The cast, in order of appearance, was as follows:
Rosemary Cara Kelly
Gerry Frankie McCafferty
Tom Ruairi Conaghan
Maggie Ali White
Director Jimmy Fay
Assistant Director Emily Foran
Set Design Paula McCafferty
Costume Design Úna Hickey
Music and Sound Design Conor Mitchell
Lighting Design Sinead McKenna
AV Consultant Neil O’Driscoll
Production Managers Paul Hinchcliffe, Cliff Barragry
Casting Directors Kelly Phelan, Clare Gault
Characters
Rosemary
Gerry
Tom
Maggie
all mid- to late fifties
FIRE BELOW
A WAR OF WORDS
Belfast. Hot summer evening.
They all drink wine whenever they want.
No one is at any time drunk.
No surtitles for anything spoken in Irish.
Rosemary and Gerry are sitting on their deck having a drink and looking out into the distance. Opera is playing in the background – it is barely audible.
Rosemary do it
Gerry no
Rosemary it’s liberating
Gerry it’s stupid
Rosemary lifts some coins from the table and throws them into the field adjacent to the house.
Rosemary do it
Gerry no
Rosemary you’re no fun – you can be funny – but you’re no fun
Gerry i’m not silly
Rosemary no gerry you’re not silly
Gerry bonfire soon
Rosemary now that’s silly
Gerry it’s not something i’d ever do – burn stuff
Rosemary but you’d watch others do it
Gerry ditto
Rosemary i’m only watching because you are
Gerry sit on the deck – have a few drinks put the world to rights – and watch working-class protestants burn some tyres and sticks and shout some shit – if that can’t make a middle-class ex-catholic happy what can
Rosemary when we were kids we used to collect for the bonfire – we weren’t allowed to watch it – but we collected for it – times have changed – no collecting now – but watching
Gerry times have changed – does that bonfire offend you
Rosemary i think it’s stupid
Gerry does it offend you though
Rosemary gerry i’m fifty-seven years old – some eejits burn some old wood …
Gerry what it represents – you know – we were brought up catholics – not that now – what it represents – does it offend you
Rosemary if i thought about it i might be – times have changed – there’s more important things in life than that – does it offend you
Gerry don’t know – in one sense no – not at all – has nothing to do with my life – other than i sit on the deck once a year – sometimes on my own sometimes with others – have a drink and look at the bonfire at the bottom of my garden – then – maybe – i don’t know – maybe you need to think once in a while what the people round the bonfire think of you
Rosemary do you really care
Gerry don’t know – lived in this house for twenty odd years – that estate’s been at the bottom of our garden nearly all that time – never spoken to or met anyone from there – i’m not suggesting i wanted to i’m just saying i haven’t – they might look up here and think who lives up there
Rosemary no might about it – if you look down there they look up here
Gerry do you care
Rosemary i would care if i thought they hated me – i would care if i thought they were dancing round the bonfire thinking we were fenian bastards – i’d care then – if they’re just doing what they do because they are who they are then no i don’t care
Silence.
He pours wine for them both.
Gerry where’d you get this
Rosemary shipping direct – i got a case – they were doing a deal – you like it
Gerry new zealand – i’m more chile
Rosemary do you like it
Gerry i’m not classy enough to dislike it
Rosemary no
Gerry new zealand seems too healthy a place for wine
Rosemary nonsense
Gerry it wasn’t a serious comment – throw some more coins – be free
Rosemary no
Silence.
Gerry did you phone the guy about the roof
Rosemary i did – he says he can’t do it because of the asbestos – but he gave the name of another builder – i left a message
Gerry the ivy growing over that outhouse used to look beautiful now it’s a pain in the arse – the roof bloody cave in under the weight of it
Rosemary i’ve left a message
Gerry it needs a new door and windows
Rosemary i’ll talk to him – get an estimate
Gerry maybe we should just knock it down – have like a patio thing
Rosemary it’s too far from the house
Gerry cut a path down to it
Rosemary you say that now but you wouldn’t use it – get a new roof on it – paint the walls white look like a cottage at the bottom of the garden – have flowers round it
Gerry what’s the point in having something that looks like a cottage but isn’t a cottage – and no more flowers – i don’t want anything else that grows – they have to be looked after – and i don’t want any more of that – flame-thrower the whole lot then tarmac it – no looking after anything – maybe just one tree or something
Rosemary you need a garden so you can potter around in it – give you something to do
Gerry i’ve plenty to do – papers to mark – shit to make up
Rosemary i mean in later life – keep yourself moving – what is it tom petty said – never slow down never grow old
Gerry tom petty – in later life i’ll either be dead or sitting on this deck with a glass of something looking out over the world – and now and again watching you potter around – that’s if you’re still here
Rosemary i’ll be here – if nothing else just out of spite
Gerry good girl
Silence.
Rosemary when are they coming round
Gerry don’t know – about now – and by the way – don’t you and tom be talking in irish half the night – it’s ignorant – feels like you’re whispering
Rosemary nothing ignorant about it – whispering – good practice for him that’s all
Gerry aye – good practice for him
Rosemary you should learn – join in
Gerry no – if i was going to learn a language it wouldn’t be irish – no use in the outside world – also too republican
Rosemary it’s not republican for tom
Gerry he’s a protestant – i get that – too republican for me – it would feel like a statement
Rosemary statement – always good to have another language that’s all
Gerry spanish – i like the idea of speaking spanish – sounds emotional �
�� irish sounds like you’re about to hack up
Rosemary take some spanish lessons then
Gerry move to spain – live life on a balcony overlooking the beach – be good to look out on to something that wasn’t belfast – although in saying that if you didn’t know any better you wouldn’t know this was belfast just by looking at it
Rosemary except for the massive fire at the bottom of the garden
Gerry except for the massive fire at the bottom of the garden
Tom and Maggie enter carrying bottles of wine.
more wine we need more wine – we’re new zealand this evening
Maggie south africa
Gerry travelling the world without leaving the deck
They sit.
Maggie sorry we’re late
Gerry you’re not late – nothing burning yet
Maggie don’t you just love the smell of napalm in the morning
Gerry good line – great line
Tom cáide má ‘tá tú
Rosemary an mhaith go raibh mhaith agat – tá tú ag dul i bheabhas
Tom go raibh maith agat – tá muinteoir maith agam
Maggie tom
Tom practice – what is the distance between our two houses
Gerry none – they’re beside each other
Tom door to door
Gerry twenty yards
Tom i consider myself to be a law-abiding citizen
Gerry you are indeed a law-abiding citizen – a pillar of society – a rock
Tom never a truer word spoken by a finer human – well …
Maggie within twenty yards we’ve just had a row with one of those eastern european crowd that live off church road
Rosemary i see them passing the house sometimes – nearly always drunk
Maggie this one was drunk – people can live where ever they want – but they can’t be drunk and look like they’re going to have a piss outside your house
Gerry i’ve seen tom drunk trying to have a piss outside your house – in a law-abiding way
Tom that’s different – you’re allowed to piss outside your own house
Maggie it is different – and no you’re not allowed to do that – why do all men think it’s alright to do that
Gerry not all men
Rosemary no woman would do it
Gerry they would and they do
Rosemary no they wouldn’t and no they don’t
Gerry if you had to you would
Rosemary that’s different
Maggie is it not reasonable to say to someone don’t piss outside my house – he shouted at the two of us
Rosemary did he understand what you were saying
Tom yes i told him to fuck off – who doesn’t understand fuck off
Rosemary was he urinating
Maggie he looked as if he might – he was fumbling around round his crotch
Gerry is crotch still a word
Maggie very funny
Gerry you told some drunk foreign guy to fuck off and he shouted at you
Tom correct
Maggie he was going to take his dick out
Gerry was he though
Tom i didn’t see – maggie said he’s going to piss on our wall so i turned round and told him to fuck off
Gerry protestants – what is it with you and foreigners
Tom so because you’re a catholic you’d let him piss on your wall
Gerry i would enquire after his well being
Maggie he was going to get his dick out
Tom there’s a crowd of them – all live in a house down there
Maggie all men
Gerry maybe they’ll be down at the bonfire later
Tom wouldn’t think so – he was a catholic
Gerry how do you know
Tom smelt like one
Rosemary na seann chinn na cinn is fearr
Tom is fearr
Rosemary best
Tom best – is fearr
Silence.
Gerry we’re thinking of knocking down the outhouse
Rosemary we’re not thinking of doing that
Gerry thinking of it maybe
Rosemary no – not thinking of it
Gerry get a better view of the estate – if i ever want to throw anything at them i’ll get a clear shot
Tom better with a catapult
Gerry a hand-held one – or one of those massive ones from the middle ages
Tom you’re always better with a massive one
Gerry massive crotch
Rosemary we’re going to get rid of all the ivy and get a new roof – we just discovered that one’s asbestos – got the name of a builder does that
Maggie give me his number we’re thinking of getting a bit of work done – might open up the back room on to the patio
Tom we want to give the burglars a better view of our stuff – all those eastern european guys – let them see in so they know what life could be like – then make it easier for them to lift it all
Maggie isn’t the house alarmed – be lovely this time of year just to open it all up and walk out
Rosemary we thought about that a few times – a lot of glass
Maggie i like glass – i like the light
Gerry yes light – if we had better weather i’d live out the back – that’s the way we’re meant to live – outside
Tom except the middle east
Gerry must be a nightmare living there – too hot – sweltered
Tom it’s where they want to be
Maggie the med and south america – spanish-type places
Gerry i might learn spanish
Maggie beautiful language – it sounds very passionate
Rosemary tá gaelige ró-dheachar dó
Tom ró-deachar di comh maith
Maggie i’ll take a class with you – i’d like to learn another language – other than irish – i don’t see the point to that
Tom tá feidhm leis
Gerry like ulster scots – that’s just country people speaking english – sucker upper and wee dafties – all that gibberish
Tom easy to learn
Maggie if we did spanish together gerry they could have their language and we could have ours – change the divide – spanish and irish instead of protestants and catholics
Gerry we’re not real protestants and catholics are we
Tom not real ones no
Gerry we’re way beyond that – the people waiting to light that bonfire are real protestants
Maggie and who are the real catholics
Rosemary the ones hugging the altar rails – the blind faithers
Gerry once you get educated there should be a natural drifting away from all that
Tom we live in one of those black holes in space – slowly but surely dragging everything into the darkness
Maggie it’s politicians
Rosemary it’s always politicians – that estate was built about the same time as the good friday agreement – we sat here – it was a grubby wee patio then having a drink to celebrate it
Tom the d’hondt system
Gerry ofmdfm
Maggie petitions of concern
Rosemary it was a great night
Gerry that’s nearly twenty years ago
Tom jesus
Rosemary it felt like there was genuine hope in the air – everybody saying the same thing – a new beginning – tús úr
Tom tús úr
Rosemary we all sat on the patio drinking wine and looking down at the building site that was going to be the estate – it represented a new beginning – i never thought there’d be as many houses – more fields then – less people
Gerry d’hondt – god bless d’hondt
Tom cross-border institutions – every other word was cross-border institutions – never hear of them now – that can only mean one of two things – e
ither they’re gone or they’re everywhere
Maggie as long as they got rid of the shooting on the streets – that was the only thing that mattered – so that’s the only thing they took care of
Tom looking back – aye
Gerry too much given to the working class – i don’t mean that in a bad way – i just mean it needed a bit more balance
Rosemary the middle class are always ignored when it comes to the decision end of things
Maggie that’s right – it’s people who shout the loudest who get the most
Gerry (half shouts in the direction of the bonfire) loudest – most
Silence.
Tom a patio down where the outhouse is
Rosemary it’s not being knocked down
Gerry a patio would be lovely – sit away from the house – on my own – no woman’s land
Tom that’s where you want to be – no woman’s land
Rosemary this is the way men decide things isn’t it – they just keep repeating something until it happens or people think it’s true – we’re getting a new roof not knocking it down
Gerry no woman’s land – i could put a plaque up down there or something
Maggie i wanted to call our house cherry hill – because of the cherry tree – and the hill
Rosemary in irish that would be cnoc na silin
Tom cherry hill – cnoc na silin
Maggie it would’ve been in english
Gerry what would it be in ulster scots – (Rural accent.) cherry hill
Rosemary i know it would’ve been in english – cherry hill – lovely
Maggie all the post would be addressed to cherry hill – if someone asked where you lived you’d say cherry hill
Tom we live in belfast
Maggie i just liked the name – he got on his high horse
Rosemary tá cosa fada a dhith ort le ghabhal ar capall ard
Tom i didn’t get that
Rosemary you need long legs for a high horse
Silence.
i don’t know what i’d call this place if i was to give it a name
Gerry we’d – what we’d call it