The Veil (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Conor McPherson

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Set around a haunted house hemmed in by a restive, starving populace, The Veil weaves Ireland's troubled colonial history into a transfixing story about the search for love, the transcendental and the circularity of time. May 1822, rural Ireland. The defrocked Reverend Berkeley arrives at the crumbling former glory of Mount Prospect House to accompany seventeen year-old Hannah to England. She is to be married off to a marquis in order to resolve the debts of her mother's estate. However, compelled by the strange voices that haunt his beautiful young charge and a fascination with the psychic current that pervades the house, Berkeley proposes a seance, the consequences of which are catastrophic. 'an atmospheric and haunting tale of lost souls' - Evening Standard 'bold and intriguing... McPherson keeps you guessing to the last' - Financial Times

Leseprobe

Conor McPherson

THE VEIL

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Original Production

Characters and Setting

Act One

Act Two

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

For Fionnuala and Sumati

The Veil was first performed in the Lyttelton auditorium of the National Theatre, London, on 4 October 2011 (previews from 27 September), with the following cast:

MRS GOULDING

Bríd Brennan

CLARE WALLACE

Caoilfhionn Dunne

MARIA LAMBROKE

Ursula Jones

MR FINGAL

Peter McDonald

REVEREND BERKELEY

Jim Norton

CHARLES AUDELLE

Adrian Schiller

HANNAH LAMBROKE

Emily Taaffe

MADELEINE LAMBROKE

Fenella Woolgar

Director

Conor McPherson

Designer

Rae Smith

Lighting Designer

Neil Austin

Sound Designer

Paul Arditti

Music

Stephen Warbeck

Characters

LADY MADELEINE LAMBROKE, a widow

HANNAH LAMBROKE, her daughter

MARIA LAMBROKE, known as ‘Grandie’, Madeleine’s grandmother

THE REVEREND BERKELEY, a defrocked Anglican minister

MR CHARLES AUDELLE, a philosopher

MRS GOULDING, a housekeeper and nurse

MR FINGAL, an estate manager

CLARE WALLACE, a housemaid

Setting

A fine old house in the Irish Countryside. Early summer, 1822.

ACT ONE

Evening of Wednesday May 15th, 1822. Late in the evening – after 11 p.m.

The spacious drawing room of a big house in the countryside in Ireland. The room is gloomily lit by one or two candles. There are large windows, beyond which are mature trees with rich foliage, but for now they are unseen in the darkness. Heavy raindrops are heard falling out in the night.

There is a mantelpiece, stage right, with a large mirror above it. Some dark old portraits and landscapes grace the walls. The effect should be that the house has seen better days and needs some care. This room was once a versatile social space for receptions and dancing, now it looks bare. What chairs are here are lined against the walls, the only exceptions being one near the fireplace and one near a piano.