Cast and Characters (all are Irish unless so stated)
Merlin – The Big House
Mrs Mary Murphy (the cook) - Lorraine Murphy
Captain Alec Casemond (the master) - Steve O’Halloran
Meli Casemond (his English wife) - Nic Neale
Robbie Casemond (their eleven-year old son) - Sam Kelly
The Irish Volunteers
Con O’Toole (Big House gardener) - Mark Bonar
Martin McCarthy (local headman) - Canice Bannon
Kevin (an intellectual) - Martin Halevy
The Black And Tans
Major MacTaggart (a Scotsman) - Richard Ellis
Captain Johnstone (an English thief) - Tom Giles
Corporal Roberts (a cockney drunkard) - Henry Jameson
The action takes place somewhere in rural Ireland.
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Irish Flames
By John Waller
Directed by
Rosalind Scanlon
Rehearsed Reading at the
Irish Centre,
Hammersmith,
London
on December 5th, 2007
Act One – 1920
Scene 1: The kitchen of the Big House – April 16th, 1920
Robbie tells Con that his father is returning from the war. Meli and Martin discuss his father’s death and the play she has lent him.
Scene 2: The kitchen of the Big House – next morning
Robbie wants to know about the war. Alec and Meli row.
Scene 3: The kitchen of the Big House – a few weeks later
Martin and Meli discuss a pamphlet. Alec tells Meli that Robbie has been injured.
Scene 4: The potting shed of the Big House – evening, end August
The volunteers discuss the British presence. They plan to torch the RIC barracks.
Scene 5: The kitchen of the Big House – next evening
Robbie tells Mrs. Murphy and Con about his trip to Dublin.
Scene 6: The potting shed of the Big House – early next morning
Robbie and Con discuss the previous night. Robbie tells Con about the man he found.
Act Two – New Year’s Eve 1920
Scene 1: The kitchen of the Big House – 11.30 p.m.
Alec and Meli see the Black and Tans coming to gatecrash the New Year’s Eve party. Roberts and Johnstone discuss the food. Mrs Murphy confronts the Tans. The Tans leave and gun-fire is heard off-stage.
Scene 2: The potting shed of the Big House – evening next day
Meli, Martin, who is injured and Con discuss the ambush. Meli plans Martin’s rescue.
Scene 3:The potting shed of the Big House – a few days later
Con, who has been interrogated by the Tans, tells Robbie he’s on the run. The Tans return and the play ends in horrifying tragedy.
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