Brian Friel Plays 2 (32 page)

Harry
That takes care of Friday. Saturday you’re free all day – so far. Then on Sunday – that’ll be the fourteenth – O’Hagan’s place at Tullyhogue. A big christening party. The invitation came the day you left. I’ve said you’ll be there. All right? (
Pause.
)
It’s young Brian’s first child – you were at his wedding last year. It’ll be a good day. (
Pause.
) Hugh?

O’Neill
Yes?

Harry
O’Hagan’s – where you were fostered.

O’Neill
Tell me the name of these again.

Harry
Broom.

O’Neill
Broom. That’s it.

Harry
The Latin name is
genista.
Virgil mentions it
somewhere
.

O’Neill
Does he really?

Harry
Actually that
genista
comes from Spain.

O
’Neill
looks
at
the
flowers
in
amazement.

O’Neill
Good Lord – does it? Spanish broom – magnificent name, isn’t it?

Harry
Give them plenty of water.

O’Neill
Magnificent colour, isn’t it?

Harry
A letter from the Lord Deputy –

O’Neill
They really transform the room. Splendid idea of yours, Harry. Thank you.

O’Neill
silently
mouths
the
word
Genista
again
and
then
continues
distributing
the
flowers.

Harry
A letter from the Lord Deputy ‘vigorously urging you to have your eldest son attend the newly established College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in Dublin founded by the Most Serene Queen Elizabeth’. That ‘vigorously urging’ sounds ominous, doesn’t it?

O’Neill
Sorry?

Harry
Sir William Fitzwilliam wants you to send young Hugh to the new Trinity College. I’m told he’s trying to get all the big Gaelic families to send their children there. He would like an early response.

O’Neill
This jacket – what do you think, Harry? It’s not a bit … excessive, is it?

Harry
Excessive?

O’Neill
You know … a little too – too strident?

Harry
Strident?

O’Neill
All right, damn it, too bloody young?

Harry
(
looking
at
his
papers
)
It’s very becoming, Hugh.

O’Neill
Do you think so? Maybe I should have got it in maroon. (
He
goes
off
to
get
more
flowers.
)

Harry
A reminder that the Annual Festival of Harpers takes place next month in Roscommon. They’ve changed the venue to Roosky. You’re Patron of the Festival and they would be very honoured if you would open the event with a short –

He
now
sees
that
he
is
alone.
He
looks
through
his
papers.
Pause.
O’Neill
enters
again
with
an
armful
of
flowers.

O’Neill
Genista.

Harry
Yes.

O’Neill
Spanish broom.

Harry
Really?

O’Neill
They need plenty of water.

Harry
A bit of trouble. O’Kane of Limavady says he can’t pay his tribute until the harvest is saved but in the meantime he’s sending ten firkins of butter and twenty casks of beer. As usual he’s lying. It might be an idea to billet fifty extra gallowglass on him for the next quarter. That’ll keep him in line. Sir Garret Moore invites you down to Mellifont Abbey for a few days’ fishing on the Boyne. He says it’s the best salmon season he’s ever had. The Lord Chancellor’ll be there. And Sir Robert
Gardener. You knew him when you were in England, didn’t you?

O’Neill
Who’s that?

Harry
Sir Robert Gardener, the Lord Chief Justice.

O’Neill
Oh, that was twenty-five years ago. Haven’t seen him since.

Harry
Might be worth renewing that friendship now.

O’Neill
(
Tyrone
accent
)
Just to show him I haven’t reverted completely to type – would that be it?

Harry
For political reasons.

O’Neill
We’ll see. Have the musicians arrived?

Harry
Yes.

O’Neill
And the rhymers and the acrobats?

Harry
I’ve told you – everything’s ready.

O’Neill
And you’re sure nobody has heard a whisper?

Harry
I’ve said you were in Dublin at a meeting of the Council. Everything’s in hand.

O’Neill
Good. (
He
continues
with
his
flowers.
)

Harry
And more trouble: the Devlins and the Quinns are at each other’s throats again. The Quinns raided the Devlins’ land three times last week; killed five women and two children; stole cattle and horses and burned every hayfield in sight. The Devlins remind you – once more they say – that they have the right to expect protection from their chieftain and that if Hugh O’Neill cannot offer them safety and justice under the Brehon Law, they’ll have to look for protection under the new English Law. And they will, too.

O’Neill
I know what I’ll do, Harry.

Harry
That’s a squabble needs to be sorted out quickly.

O’Neill
I’ll make the room upstairs into our bedroom! And I’ll shift that consignment of Spanish saddles down to the back room. They should be closer to the stables anyway. The room upstairs faces south and there’s a good view down to the river. Yes – that’s a good decision. Don’t you agree?

Harry
Why not?

O’Neill
Excellent. (
He
returns
to
his
flowers.
)

Harry
Bad news from London. Young Essex’s been arrested and thrown in the Tower.

O’Neill
stops
working.

O’Neill
What for?

Harry
There’s a list of charges. One of them is treason.

O’Neill
Damn it.

Harry
‘For conferring secretly with the basest and vilest traitor that ever lived, Hugh O’Neill, in a manner most disloyal to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.’

O’Neill
Damn it.

Harry
He was fond of you.

O’Neill
I was fond of him – despite everything.

Harry
I know.

O’Neill
Crazy man.

Short
pause.

Harry
What else is there? Hugh O’Donnell and Peter Lombard want to see you.

O’Neill
All right. Some day next week.

Harry
They’re here, Hugh.

O’Neill
Now?!

Harry
Waiting outside.

O’Neill
Oh, come on, Harry! I’m scarcely in the door –

Harry
O’Donnell knows you’re home. And the Archbishop’s been waiting here four days for you. And he has done an enormous amount of work. (
He
points
to
a
large
pile
of
papers.
)
That’s only half of his file.

O’Neill
Oh, my God. All right – I’ll give them ten minutes and that’s all.

Harry
Did you know that he’s begun writing a book on you?

O’Neill
(
suddenly
alert
)
Lombard?

Harry
So he told me.

O’Neill
We have our own annalist.

Harry
He knows that.

O’Neill
What sort of book?

Harry
He said something about a history – I don’t know –
The
Life
and
Times
of
Hugh
O
’Neill,
I imagine.

O’Neill
He might have hold me about that.

Harry
He spent all Tuesday checking dates with me.

O’Neill
I don’t think I like this idea at all.

Harry
Maybe I got it all wrong. Ask him yourself. And this (
letter
)
–
you’ll want to read this yourself. It arrived a few hours ago.

O’Neill
What’s that?

Harry
From Newry.

He
reaches
the
letter
towards
O
’Neill. O’Neill
stretches
out
to
take
it –
and
then
withdraws
his
hand.

O’Neill
Bagenal?

Harry
Bagenal.

O’Neill
Her father or her brother?

Harry
Brother.

O’Neill
Give me that! No, no, read it to me.

Harry
‘From Sir Henry Bagenal, Queen’s Marshal, Newry, to Sir Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, Dungannon –’

O’Neill
clicks
his
fingers
impatiently.

(
reluctantly
)
It’s a – it’s just a catalogue of accusation and personal abuse. Your first marriage was never properly dissolved. So your second marriage was ambiguous. And of course this third.

O’Neill
Bastard.

Harry
He’s threatening to bring a charge of abduction against you.

O’Neill
What’s he talking about?

Harry
Because she’s under twenty-one.

O’Neill
‘Abduction’!

Harry
He’s threatening to come and take her back by force.

O’Neill
She’s not exactly Helen of Troy, for Christ’s sake! (
He
regrets
this
instantly.
)
And what’s that?

Harry
We got our hands on a copy of a letter he’s written to the Queen: ‘I am deeply humiliated and ashamed that my blood, which my father and I have often shed in repressing this rebellious race, should now be mingled with so traitorous a stock.’

O’Neill
‘My blood’! Staffordshire mongrel!

Harry
He’s going to be troublesome, Hugh.

O’Neill
No wonder our poets call them Upstarts. That’s all he is – a bloody Upstart! Ignore him. He’ll bluster for a few days. I’m going to see about that bedroom.

As
he
is
about
to
exit,
O
’Donnell
and
Lombard
enter.

O
’Donnell
is
a
very
young
man
in
his
early
twenties.
He
is
impulsive,
enthusiastic
and
generous.
He
has
a
deep
affection
for
O’Neill.
Archbishop
Lombard
is
a
contemporary
of
O’Neill.
By
profession
he
is
a
church
diplomat
and
his
manner
is
careful
and
exact.
But
he
is
also
a
man
of
humour
and
perception
and
by
no
means
diminished
by
his
profession.
He
now
carries
a
large
candelabra
and
an
elegant
birdcage.

O’Donnell
I knew I heard the voice!

O’Neill
Young O’Donnell!