The Saviour (NHB Modern Plays)

By Deirdre Kinahan

There's a new man in Máire's life. But some people aren't happy.
It's the morning of her sixty-seventh birthday, and Máire is sitting up in bed, enjoying a cigarette. There's a man downstairs. She is blooming.
Charting the extraordinary shift in social, political and religious life in Ireland over the past thirty years, The Saviour asks questions about responsibility, about how we respond to trauma, and about the tricky question of forgiveness.
Deirdre Kinahan's blistering play for two actors was first presented online as part of Cork Midsummer Festival 2021 by Landmark Productions, using the auditorium of The Everyman, Cork, as a backdrop.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Jun 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781788503884

Deirdre Kinahan

Deirdre Kinahan is an award-winning playwright and a member of Aosdána, Ireland's elected body of outstanding artists. Her plays include: An Old Song, Half Forgotten (Abbey Theatre, 2023); Outrage (Fishamble, 2022); The Visit (Draiocht, Dublin Theatre Festival 2021); The Saviour (Landmark Productions, 2021); In the Middle of the Fields (Solas Nua DC, 2021); Embargo (Fishamble 2020); Dear Ireland (Abbey Theatre, 2020); The Bloodied Field (Abbey Theatre 2020); Rathmines Road (Fishamble and Abbey Theatre, 2018); Crossings (Pentabus Theatre, 2018); The Unmanageable Sisters, an adaptation of Michel Tremblay's Les Belles Soeurs (Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 2018); Wild Sky (Dublin, 2016); Spinning (Fishamble, 2014); Halcyon Days (Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, and Dublin Theatre Festival, 2012); and Moment (Solstice Arts Centre, Co. Meath, 2009; Bush Theatre, London, 2011).

Book preview

Deirdre Kinahan

THE SAVIOUR

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Dedication

The Saviour

About the Producer

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

The Saviour was first produced by Landmark Productions, performed at The Everyman, Cork, and livestreamed online on 19 June 2021, as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival. The cast and creative team was as follows:

For Anne Clarke,

a great friend, producer and mentor

Characters

MÁIRE

MEL

Note on Text

A forward slash (/) at the end of a line indicates the next speaker coming in fast or interrupting.

Author’s Note

I imagine a constant soundscape throughout, which fades in and out at times, pointing to deep traumatic memory. The sounds/voices are splintered and often garbled.

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

MÁIRE is sitting up in bed, smoking. She is wearing something satin. She is enjoying the cigarette – almost blowing rings. There is a dressing table but no attempt at a realistic set.

MÁIRE. So am I gone to the dogs altogether at the end?

Or is this right?

I wonder will you tell me, Jesus?

I don’t know your mind any more. But I am enjoying the fag.

Yes.

I am enjoying the fag.

She takes a drag.

And the sex!

Which was a surprise I can tell you.

Because sex has always been a matter of mechanics for me.

But you know that, don’t you, Jesus. You’ve been with me long enough.

Sex has always been a means to an end.

Foisted on me when I didn’t want it or offered for a bit of peace.

But this was different! Wasn’t it?

This was… Hmmmmm… what would you say? What would you say, Jesus?

Or did you scarper?

Did you bolt when we got to the dirty bit? No doubt you did.

No doubt you headed off somewhere a lot purer… like

Croagh Patrick or Međugorje or Tibet?

I always think it must be nice and pure up there in Tibet.

Up in the highlands where the white mountaintops touch the clouds and ne’er a human, ne’er a sinner in sight. That must be a relief.

That must be a nice break for you, where you can just sit yourself down and have a breather and look at all the beauty your father created and not be being bothered by world wars or mass murders or screaming auld-ones having sex.

And much healthier!

With all that clean air.

I’ll tell you I’m glad you got out. I’m glad you headed off.

You should have headed off!

And not be caught up in this bedroom, in this bed with the heaving and shunting that was me and Martin.

She smiles.

Martin!

Even the sound of