Stop/Over (NHB Modern Plays)

By Gary Duggan

A day and a night in the city that never sleeps.
A young woman arrives into JFK with time to kill until her departure tomorrow. She looks up an old college friend who lives in the city. With thirty-one hours till she has to leave, she's taken on a whistle-stop tour of the city.
Chronicling a night of debauchery and delicate connection followed by a difficult parting in the cold light of day, Gary Duggan's play Stop/Over asks what these little moments mean.
First performed as a rehearsed reading at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 2008, this new expanded version premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival in September 2018, in a production by On The Quays.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Aug 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781788500968

Gary Duggan

Gary Duggan is an Irish playwright. He won the 2006 Stewart Parker Trust Award for his first full-length play, Monged. Other works include Dedalus Lounge and Trans-Euro Express.

Book preview

Gary Duggan

STOP/OVER

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production

Acknowledgements

Characters

Author’s Note

Stop/Over

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Stop/Over was produced by On The Quays and performed at the Chocolate Factory, Dublin, as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival on 10 September 2018. The cast was as follows:

An earlier version of Stop/Over had a workshop performance at Solstice as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival in June 2011, with the following cast:

Acknowledgements

Thanks to:

All my collaborators on earlier versions of the play: Jimmy Fay, Sam Peter Corry, Gemma Reeves, Aideen Howard, Jessica Traynor, Rachel West, Paul Reid, Lisa Lambe, David Horan, Gavin Logue, Aoibhin Garrihy, Liam Heslin, Leah Minto.

Ruth McGowan and all at Dublin Fringe Festival, Nick Quinn at The Agency, London, and all at the Arts Council for their support for the project.

Nicola Murphy, for her faith and passion in the play over a number of years. And all at On The Quays for their dedication, commitment and hard work (across time zones) on the premiere production.

My parents, John and Mary; and Aenne Barr, for all their continued love and support.

G.D.

Characters

M, twenties

F, twenties

The play is set…

in a moment of eye contact, now…

and in New York, years ago…

Author’s Note

This play is short and fast.

The audience should feel as though they’ve been dropped right into the middle of the city and that they are always a step or two behind the narrators. They must jog to keep up.

There should be some sort of constant soundtrack (sound FX and/or music), a feeling of the city and the couple’s memories and adrenalin rising and falling all around us.

Staging and design are completely at the director’s discretion.

The character of ‘M’ can be played by either a man or a woman. At a couple of points in dialogue, there is alternate gender-specific words/phrases within square brackets.

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

A Crossing

M. Walking today. Just walking. No hurry. No particular destination. Hand-in-hand with my girlfriend. Not talking. Just walking. Content. Ordinary. Nothing…

F. Until?

M. I see her.

F. Her?

M. Yes.

F. Who?

M. You.

F. Me. Just here. Waiting.

M. For what?

F. Just waiting.

M. For who?

F. A lover? My brother? My husband? Someone. No one you know.

M. No one I know?

F. No.

M. I know you.

F. Yes?