Three Plays

Three Plays

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Plays, by Padraic Colum This
eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Three Plays
Author: Padraic Colum
Release Date: April 3, 2004 [EBook #11878]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE
PLAYS ***

Produced by Distributed Proofreaders.

THREE PLAYS
THE FIDDLER'S HOUSE THE LAND THOMAS MUSKERRY
BY PADRAIC COLUM
BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY

1916
TO MY FRIEND THOMAS HUGHES KELLY THESE THREE
IRISH PLAYS

AUTHOR'S NOTE
I have been asked to say something about the intentions and ideas that
underlie the three short plays in this volume.
These plays were conceived in the early days of the Irish National
Theatre. I had been one of the group that formed the National Theatre
Society and I wrote plays for players who were my colleagues and my
instructors; I wrote them for a small, barely-furnished stage in a small
theatre; I wrote them, too, for an audience that was tremendously
interested in every expression of national character. "The Land" was
written to celebrate the redemption of the soil of Ireland--an event
made possible by the Land Act of 1903. This event, as it represented
the passing of Irish acres from an alien landlordism, was considered to
be of national importance. "The Land" also dealt with a movement that
ran counter to the rooting of the Celtic people in the
soil--emigration--the emigration to America of the young and the fit. In
"The Land" I tried to show that it was not altogether an economic
necessity that was driving young men and women out of the Irish rural
districts; the lack of life and the lack of freedom there had much to do
with emigration.
"The Land" touched upon a typical conflict, the conflict between the
individual and that which, in Ireland, has much authority, the family
group. This particular conflict was shown again in "The Fiddler's
House." where the life, not of the actual peasants, but of rural people
with artistic and aristocratic traditions, was shown.
I tried to show the same conflict working out more tragically in the
play of middle-class life, "Thomas Muskerry." Here I went above the
peasant and the wandering artist and came to the official. I had intended

to make plays about the merchant, the landowner, the political and the
intellectual leader and so write a chapter in an Irish Human Comedy.
But while I was thinking of the play that is third in this volume my
connection with the National Theatre Society was broken off. "Thomas
Muskerry" was produced in the Abbey Theatre after I had ceased to be
a member of the group that had founded it.
PADRAIC COLUM NEW YORK August, 1916

CONTENTS
AUTHOR'S NOTE THE FIDDLER'S HOUSE THE LAND: AN
AGRARIAN COMEDY IN THREE ACTS THOMAS MUSKERRY

THE FIDDLER'S HOUSE

CHARACTERS
CONN HOURICAN, a Fiddler. MAIRE (Mary) [1] HOURICAN, his
daughter. ANNE HOURICAN, a younger daughter. BRIAN
MACCONNELL, a younger farmer. JAMES MOYNIHAN, a farmer's
son.
The action passes in the Houricans' house in the Irish Midlands.
[Footnote 1: The name is pronounced as if written "Maurya."]

ACT I
SCENE: _The interior of a farmer's cottage; the kitchen. The entrance
is at the back right. To the left is the fire-place, an open hearth, with a
fire of peat. There is a room door to the right, a pace below the entrance;
and another room door below the fire-place. Between the room door

and the entrance there is a row of wooden pegs, on which men's coats
hang. Below this door is a dresser containing pretty delpht. There is a
small window at back, a settle bed folded into a high bench; a small
mirror hangs right of the window. A backed chair and some stools are
about the hearth. A table to the right with cloth and tea things on it. The
cottage looks pretty and comfortable. It is towards the close of an
Autumn day_.
_James Moynihan has finished tea; Anne Hourican is at the back,
seated on the settle knitting, and watching James. James Moynihan is
about twenty-eight. He has a good forehead, but his face is
indeterminate. He has been working in the fields, and is dressed in
trousers, shirt, and heavy boots. Anne Hourican is a pretty, dark-haired
girl of about nineteen_.
James Moynihan rises.
ANNE And so you can't stay any longer, James?
JAMES (with a certain solemnity) No, Anne. I told my father I'd be
back while there was light, and I'm going back. _(He goes to the rack,