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Genre Study: One-Act Plays
Jessica Soulier Rationale: Genre Studies Giving students the opportunity to read, study, analyze, and write within a specific genre will result in students demonstrating mastery of the genre. According to Calkins, teaching genre is the best way to get students to grow as writers (357). A genre study makes it easy for a student to learn to write in a specific genre. By reading an array of examples from the chosen genre, students become familiar with the genre and its characteristics. They are able to define the genre’s traits, such as form, characteristics, features, and style. Through their direct involvement in reading examples of the genre, students can eventually be expected to have the knowledge and ability to produce their own work within the genre. According to Randy Bomer, all people have an innate sense of “how this type of thing is supposed to go,” what he calls a “genre schema,” which has been developed from our social contact, reading, and hearing. This genre schema causes us to make assumptions about what we are about to read before even reading it. It is this same sense of genre that gives direction to our writing. Bomer suggests, then, that a class should “take a particular literary genre for a time as a broad object of inquiry,” which will allow students to write about what is personal to them while exploring the genre (116- 119). Numerous genres are appropriate for an all-class genre study, as long as they are authentic. Bomer defines authentic genres as those that are encountered in “an authentic reading life.” That is, students encounter this genre in daily life. Furthermore, Bomer advocates that the boundaries of the genre be wide, encompassing many forms of the genre, rather than the specific. For example, if conducting a genre study on poetry, the students could focus on any form of poetry they choose, rather than one specific type. (122). Therefore, the possibilities of genres are endless. This genre study will focus on the one-act play. Rationale: One-Act plays Why would a teacher want to use a one-act play genre study in the classroom? In response to Bomer’s call to authenticity, the one-act play is easily defendable. Drama has been a staple of literature education for hundreds of years. Drama is found in every library, on every classroom bookshelf, and in every English textbook. Furthermore, drama surrounds the students each day on the television, in sitcoms, movies, and cartoons. I have refined the genre of drama down to the genre of the one-act play in order to allow the students to read numerous plays in a short amount of time. However, the boundaries of the genre are still wide. Students are able to read long one-act plays and shorter ten-minute plays. They also have the choice of subject matter. The one-act play is to a full-length play what the short story is to the novel. When teaching a student to read and write stories, the short-story is a more logical place to start than the novel. Likewise, it is logical to introduce students to the one-act play, which will develop competency with drama, before expecting them to be able to perform with full- length works. Within the genre of the one-act play I am including the sub-genre of the ten-minute play. The ten-minute play made its debut in 1977 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s “Humana Festival of New American Plays.” In recent years the ten-minute
play has risen as an accepted art form. Because of their extreme brevity, ten-minute plays often relies heavily on metaphor and implies meaning rather than explaining it. There is no time for an exposition in a ten-minute play. Rather, the play starts in mid-action and it is the job of the audience to figure out what is going on (Lane, et al., vii-viii). If one-act plays are like short stories, then ten-minute plays are “American theater’s haikus” (Lane, et al., vii). The brevity of the ten-minute play is particularly appealing when students display short attention spans. Ten-minute plays are useful in the classroom because though they are the size of an excerpt they are fully developed in story and character. Therefore, they act as an “exciting crash course” in drama. Many can be covered in several class periods, giving students an array of texts to serve as references for their own work. Drama gives students many opportunities to learn and work with various literary elements. Symbolism, imagery, and metaphor are all prominent in one-act plays (metaphor is particularly popular in ten-minute plays). They will become familiar with plot, conflict, and theme. Students will also discover what composes a believable character by reading plays featuring interesting characterization. Students will learn to create effective dialogue and experiment with dialect. In response to their exposure to these elements, students will practice their writing skills and will be able to write their own one-act plays using these elements with a sense of mastery. The one-act play genre study addresses the NYS ELA standards. The students will be writing for social interaction. The playwrights will be creating characters, plots, and conflicts that are universal, as it is crucial that the audience is able to relate to the play. The final stage of the study is publication. The students will need to be aware of their audience (are they writing for children, their peers, or the community?), and in turn will create their plays accordingly. In turn, they will be communicating their message to their audience. Students will present, orally and in writing, opinions and judgments through the various perspectives of their characters, which applies to Standard 3, critical analysis and expression. Standard 2, literary response and expression, is addressed through the students’ freedom of self-expression and artistic creation in their writing. According to Smith and Wilhelm, in Going With the Flow , students need to experience a “flow experience” in order to enjoy and fully involve themselves in an activity. In order to have a “flow experience,” the following conditions must be met:
- Students must have a sense of control and competence
- Students must face an appropriate challenge
- Students need clear goals and immediate feedback
- Students need a focus on the immediate experience
- Students need to socially engage one another through the activity (engage in socialization) ( 3 - 16) This study addresses each of these conditions. Frontloading will make students aware that they live in a world of drama. They will discover that they have knowledge of drama from the television and movies that they watch. They will get plenty of practice, first reading in the genre, watching it, and then writing in it. Students will read numerous examples of one-act plays and from these examples they will collaboratively list the characteristics of the genre, which will give them a sense of competence and control. The one-act play is an appropriate challenge for teenagers. Since full-length plays may be daunting, one-act plays make for a more logical starting point. One-act plays exist at many different levels of complexity. You should allow the students to choose which
temperament. Get the students to address dialogue and dialect by asking them to discuss the manner in which the characters speak to each other. How is the dialogue on “South Park” different from the dialogue on other shows and why? They could do this for many characters or just one. Then have them state the show’s setting and the characteristics of this setting – in this case they may mention that it is rural and always winter. Ask them why the setting is important. They could then address the plot of an episode, making note of the exposition, the conflict, and the solution. At the end of this session students will feel that they know a great deal about drama (and they do!), and will in turn have a sense of competence and control. After their brief introduction to the drama genre, the class will need to take on several one-act plays as keystone texts. These texts will introduce the students to the genre of one-act plays. From these texts the students will derive a working definition of the genre, so the texts need to exemplify the characteristics that you wish for them to make note of. These keystone texts will serve as reference points for future work and will be returned to numerous times throughout the genre study. In order to “draw [the students] under the genre’s spell,” it is important to begin by reading an example that “knocks [their] socks off” (Calkins, 364). Choose a text that is contemporary and relevant to the students. When you provide the students with a great example, it is far more likely that they will become interested in the genre and acquire the desire to pursue the genre study. It is best to start with a shorter piece and work up to longer, more complex works as students become more familiar with the genre. Start the study with several ten-minute plays or extremely short one-acts. Then move on to longer one-act plays. Appendix A provides lists of ten-minute and one-act plays that are appropriate for the classroom. It is important that students discover for themselves the components of the genre. You can use “While the Auto Waits” by O. Henry, “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, and “Riders to the Sea” by J. M. Synge as touchstone texts. These plays, in the order they are listed, gradually increase in length and complexity. Plays are meant to be performed. Therefore, students should read these plays aloud. Students should be assigned parts. Since one-act plays have a minimal number of characters, not all students will get to participate each day. It is important to make sure that each student gets to read for at least one character, however. This provides them with an experience in public speaking and acting. So, what exactly is a one-act play? After students have been exposed to a number of one-act plays, have the students break into small groups of no more than four to come up with a list of characteristics of one-act plays. Then have the class collaboratively create a list of characteristics of one- act plays. They already have a basic list of characteristics from the frontloading activity, which includes:
- Characters/Characterization
- Dialogue
- Setting
- Plot/Conflict/Resolution
These characteristics listed above are standard for all one-act plays. Students should now be able to add to this list. They should come up with:
- Brevity – the action of one-act plays occurs in a concise manner, the plays range in time from ten minutes to about an hour.
- Unity of action – the action flows continuously without breaks
- Unity of time – the action of the play often occurs in real-time
- Unity of place – one-act plays generally have a single setting. Setting often creates a mood for the play.
- Lack of exposition – the play jumps into immediate action
- Minimal number of characters
- Focus on one incident
- Characters may occasionally speak in dialect These characteristics are common in one-act plays, but are not exactly requirements. These traits are sometimes experimented with or disregarded completely. Make sure that students are aware of these traits and are also aware that they are not set in stone. They should also address the characteristics of the formal qualities of one-act plays:
- Use of stage directions
- When speaking, character names are completely uppercase, followed by a colon
- The title is followed by the cast of characters, followed by a comment on the setting in italics After class collaboration, you should add any of these points that the students failed to mention. After this, have the students attempt to establish a definition of the one-act play genre as a class. The result should be something like the following: “One-act plays are a brief glimpse into a specific moment in time, which makes use of a minimal number of characters to focus on the immediate action of a single incident.” You should then provide the class with a hand-out that lists the characteristics and the class definition (included, Appendix B ). This class collaboration and “creation” of knowledge through creating a definition will enhance the students’ sense of control over the genre. The one-act play is a miniature version of typical full-length dramas. The running time of a one-act play is almost always less than an hour. Because of its time confinements, the one-act play captures a brief moment in time. The exposition of the one-act play is very brief, immersing the reader/viewer into the action very rapidly. Louis E. Catron likens the one-act play to “a high-speed photograph of the split-second instant that an object drops into a fluid, causing a diadem of droplets to spray into the air: From that moment you can infer what the fluid was like before the object struck, the force of the object and what it did to the fluid, where the droplets will go, and what the fluid will become later” (42). The “object” is the conflict and the action of the play represents the lives of the characters. Therefore, the one-act play is the depiction of a moment that encapsulates and defines the lives of the characters. As a rule, one-act plays have a minimal number of characters. Given the time constraints of the one-act, characterization becomes thinner as the number of characters increases. With a minimal cast of characters, characterization is well-developed. Generally, one-act plays demonstrate unity of action, place and time, with linear action occurring in one setting in real-time. The most successful one-act plays are sharply focused on a significant incident, with action
“Riders to the Sea”
- Setting – the play could only take place on their island. It wouldn’t make sense anywhere else. They characters interact directly with the setting, and the men are consumed by it. The isolated setting also establishes a mood of depression and fear.
- Lack of exposition – we learn of the family’s history through the dialogue. When the play opens, tragedy has already struck.
- Dialect – when read aloud you can hear the Irish accents.
- Plot – the plot is thick and well-developed. I have provided two activities that will help students understand the development of character and setting ( Appendices C and D ). For these mini-lessons, as well as with the crafting of the play, it is important that the teacher works along with the students, completing the writing assignments as well. The students need to see the teacher as a “colearner.” By working along side the students, the teacher is able to demonstrate the habits and techniques employed by skilled writers. “Thinking out loud” and writing in front of the students demonstrates the way in which writers make decisions. Furthermore, creating works along with the students will enable them to see that ordinary people are writers too (Bomer, 123-124). Appendix C , “Developing Character,” is adapted from “Creating Characterisation for Scenes in Drama” (available at http://drama-education.suite101.com). Provide students with three piles of magazine and newspaper cutouts. Pile one should contain images of men, women, and children (or animals, robots, etc., if desired). Students will choose an image from this pile and develop it as their character. Pile two should be composed of buildings/shelters. These will serve as inspiration for choosing a home, place of employment, or type of upbringing for the character. Students need to choose on image from this pile and use it as inspiration in developing the character. The third pile should contain newspaper headlines that serve as “critical life events.” These headlines should serve as inspiration for why the character behaves the way that he or she does. Instruct students to select one image from each pile and answer the questions on Appendix E. They will describe their character physically, mentally, and emotionally. They will think about their character’s lifestyle: employment, marital status, schooling, and more, and hopefully begin to realize that there are underlying reasons that cause a character to behave in a specific manner. After answering the questions, instruct students to work in pairs to create a conversation between their two characters. Give the class a situation (for example, “Your character is seated next to your partner’s character on a bus”) and allow them to write the dialogue that will occur. Appendix D asks students to take their hypothetical character and place him or her into a specific setting. Through the exercise, students will realize that attention to setting is an important element of playwriting. They will consider why their character should be in a setting, how the setting affects the character, and how the character will interact with the setting. Now is also an appropriate time to include an assignment that prepares students for the NYS Regents exam. I have prepared an assignment that makes use of Synge’s “Riders to the Sea” and Wadsworth’s poem “Excelsior.” The students are required to write an analytical essay regarding theme. The assignment is included ( Appendix E )
It is important that students not only read one-act plays, but get to watch them as well, since drama is intended to be performed. If possible, schedule a field trip to watch a live performance. Show clips from plays in class. Search the internet for examples. YouTube has many clips from both professional and amateur productions. A college production of “While the Auto Waits” can be found on YouTube in three parts and a professional production of “Riders to the Sea” is available on YouTube in five parts. Both “Trifles” and “Riders to the Sea” are available in film version and can be purchased for classroom use. It is important that students see the way characters are portrayed, how they interact with each other, the way setting is used, and how stage directions are put into action. At this point allow the students to choose their own texts. Bomer suggests allowing the students to find their own examples of texts to bring in for classroom use (124). However, since it is difficult to find one-act plays that are interesting, relevant, and school-appropriate, I suggest providing the students with a list of possible titles instead. Each student should be expected to choose several hours’ worth of reading. This could occur in any combination of ten-minute plays and one-act plays of various lengths. After reading their selections, students should complete a brief assignment that a) shows that the student did indeed read the works, b) helps the student recognize the ways the list of characteristics are used in the plays, and c) provides useful information for his classmates. I have provided a sample assignment ( Appendix F ). By completing this assignment, students will do more than just complete the works. They will have also increased their competency within the genre, their understanding of its characteristics, their familiarity with quality works and their experience with public speaking. Require students to read four works in any combination of one-act and ten minute plays that they desire, as long as they do indeed read both types. After each reading, have students prepare their response in class (Appendix F) and present a brief “play-talk” to the class. You should provide the students with a sample “play-talk” that you have prepared. It would be most beneficial to the students if you do the talk on one of the touchstone texts, so they can see how you used the elements of play in your “play-talk.” Students are now prepared to craft their own plays. Ideally, students should be able to write about what interests them and what is relevant to them. For this reason, students should not work in groups. Each student will write his or her own play. Being forced to write on a topic in which they are not interested may result in rejection of the assignment. So I recommend that you allow the student to write on any topic they desire. Prior to writing, have the students complete the brainstorming activity. Instruct students to go through their writer’s notebooks for inspiration. The assignment sheet which includes questions for brainstorming is attached ( Appendix G ). It is important to use a grading rubric that is tailored specifically to one-act plays. This way, students will be graded on their knowledge of the intricacies of the genre, not just their writing ability. A grading rubric is included ( Appendix H ). With this rubric, it is possible to assess the students’ competency and ability with each of the characteristics associated with a one-act play. The writing process will take nine to ten days, including both mini-lessons and revision time. After completing the brainstorming activity, give students one full class period to begin writing and developing their ideas. On the second day of in-class writing, interrupt to introduce mini-lesson # 1 ( Appendix I ) – Writing Dialogue. The mini-lesson
Encourage the students to acquire or make costumes and props. Advertise the theater night around the school and community. Have the students create fliers, posters, and articles for the newspaper. A live performance is the ultimate form of social interaction. The performance of their plays will be a memorable and cherished experience. At the very end of the genre study, after publication and performance, students need to reflect on the unit. Doing so will get students to think about their experiences and growth as a writer. They will be encouraged to vocalize and internalize their control of the genre. Furthermore, the student reflections will allow the teacher to improve upon the genre study in the future. A sample reflection worksheet is attached ( Appendix L ).
Appendix A List of Ten-Minute Plays “Hold for Three,” Sherry Kramer “Duet for Bear and Dog,” Sybil Rosen “The Weed Dreams,” Erik Kaiser “The Pink Fancy,” Nick Zagone “Bloody Mary,” Greg Vovos “The Swan Song,” Anton Chekov “The Sun,” John Galsworthy “Scream,” Greg Vovos “The Sculptor’s Funeral,” Willa Cather “Down the River,” Mark Twain “While the Auto Waits,” O. Henry “The Lightning Rod Man,” Herman Melville See also: http://www.10-minute-plays.com/index.html http://www.theatrehistory.com/plays/10minute.html Lane, Eric and Nina Shengold, eds. Take Ten: New 10-Minute Plays. New York: Vintage,
- Print. List of One-Act Plays “Sherlock Holmes in the Adventure of the Dying Detective,” Richard France “Nathan the Nervous,” O. B. Rozell “Grandpa and the Statue,” Arthur Miller “The Intruder,” Maurice Maeterlink “The Boor,” Anton Chekov “Sure Thing,” David Ives “Trifles,” Susan Glaspell “The Zoo Story,” Edward Albee “The Chairs,” Eugene Ionesco “Riders to the Sea,” J. M. Synge “The Apple,” Jimmy Brunelle “Slaying Bob Marley and the Minion of Babylon,” Jimmy Brunelle See also: http://www.jimmybrunelle.com/playshighschool.html http://www.theatrehistory.com/plays/oneact.html Jennings, Coleman A. and Gretta Berghammer, eds. Theater for Youth: Twelve Plays with Mature Themes. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986. Print.
Appendix C
Developing Character
This is an exercise in creating characters. You will be building a character, paying careful attention to characterization. ( This character does not necessarily need to be in your play ). Use your selected images as much as possible to influence your responses. Use your imagination for the rest! Is your character male or female? What is your character’s name? What is your character’s age? ( Consider: age will influence knowledge, beliefs, vocabulary, etc. ). What does your character look like? Hair: Complexion or features: Clothing: Other important characteristics: Where does your character live? Does your character work? Where? What was your character’s upbringing like? ( Consider: how will upbringing affect your character? ) How does your character act? What are his or her habits or hobbies? How does your character interact with others? ( Consider: this will have an effect on the way your character makes use of dialogue .) Look at the newspaper headline you chose. How has your character’s life been affected by this event? What are your character’s motives in life?
Appendix D Developing Setting Where will your action take place? That can easily be answered. Just ask yourself:
- Where is my character likely to be found?
- What elements of setting are crucial to the story that I want to tell? Once you have decided on your setting you can address the following prompts to develop your setting more fully. What is your setting? Why is your character here? In what ways will your character interact with the setting? Does the setting affect the mood of the play? Exercise: Write a brief scene (one page max.) in which your character interacts (dialogue) with : A. A senile old man OR B. A little girl with a yellow balloon OR C. A stray dog Refer to the above questions to establish a likely setting. In your scene make sure to address the reason why your character is in this setting. Show one example (likely through stage directions) of your character interacting with this setting.
“ Riders to the Sea ” by J. M. Synge Cottage kitchen, with nets, oilskins, spinning-wheel, some new boards standing by the wall, etc. Cathleen, a girl of about twenty, finishes kneading cake, and puts it down in the pot-oven by the fire; then wipes her hands, and begins to spin at the wheel. Nora, a young girl, puts her head in at the door. Nora ( in a low voice ). Where is she? Cathleen. She’s lying down, God help her, and maybe sleeping, if she’s able. Nora comes in softly, and takes a bundle from under her shawl. Cathleen ( spinning the wheel rapidly ). What is it you have? Nora. The young priest is after bringing them. It’s a shirt and a plain stocking were got off a drowned man in Donegal. Cathleen stops her wheel with a sudden movement, and leans out to listen. Nora. We’re to find out if it’s Michael’s they are, some time herself will be down looking by the sea. Cathleen. How would they be Michael’s, Nora? How would he go the length of that way to the far north? Nora. The young priest says he’s known the like of it. “If it’s Michael’s they are,” says he, “you can tell herself he’s got a clean burial, by the grace of God; and if they’re not his, let no one say a word about them, for she’ll be getting her death,” says he, “with crying and lamenting.” The door which Nora half closed is blown open by a gust of wind. Cathleen ( looking out anxiously ). Did you ask him would he stop Bartley going this day with the horses to the Galway fair? Nora. “I won’t stop him,” says he; “but let you not be afraid. Herself does be saying prayers half through the night, and the Almighty God won’t leave her destitute,” says he, “with no son living.” Cathleen. Is the sea bad by the white rocks, Nora? Nora. Middling bad, God help us. There’s a great roaring in the west, and it’s worse it’ll be getting when the tide’s turned to the wind. ( She goes over to the table with the bundle .) Shall I open it now? Cathleen. Maybe she’d wake up on us, and come in before we’d done ( coming to the table ). It’s a long time we’ll be, and the two of us crying. Nora ( goes to the inner door and listens ). She’s moving about on the bed. She’ll be coming in a minute. Cathleen. Give me the ladder, and I’ll put them up in the turf-loft, the way she won’t know of them at all, and maybe when the tide turns she’ll be going down to see would he be floating from the east. They put the ladder against the gable of the chimney; Cathleen goes up a few steps and hides the bundle in the turf-loft. Maurya comes from the inner room. Maurya ( looking up at Cathleen and speaking querulously ). Isn’t it turf enough you have for this day and evening?
Cathleen. There’s a cake baking at the fire for a short space ( throwing down the turf ), and Bartley will want it when the tide turns if he goes to Connemara. Nora picks up the turf and puts it round the pot-oven. Maurya ( sitting down on a stool at the fire ). He won’t go this day with the wind rising from the south and west. He won’t go this day, for the young priest will stop him surely. Nora. He’ll not stop him, mother; and I heard Eamon Simon and Stephen Pheety and Colum Shawn saying he would go. Maurya. Where is he itself? Nora. He went down to see would there be another boat sailing in the week, and I’m thinking it won’t be long till he’s here now, for the tide’s turning at the green head, and the hooker’s tacking from the east. Cathleen. I hear some one passing the big stones. Nora ( looking out ). He’s coming now, and he in a hurry. Bartley ( comes in ana looks round the room. Speaking sadly and quietly ). Where is the bit of new rope, Cathleen, was bought in Connemara? Cathleen ( coming down ). Give it to him, Nora; it’s on a nail by the white boards. I hung it up this morning, for the pig with the black feet was eating it. Nora ( giving him a rope ). Is that it, Bartley? Maurya. You’d do right to leave that rope, Bartley, hanging by the boards ( Bartley takes the rope ). It will be wanting in this place, I’m telling you, if Michael is washed up to-morrow morning, or the next morning, or any morning in the week; for it’s a deep grave we’ll make him, by the grace of God. Bartley ( beginning to work with the rope ). I’ve no halter the way I can ride down on the mare, and I must go now quickly. This is the one boat going for two weeks or beyond it, and the fair will be a good fair for horses, I heard them saying below. Maurya. It’s a hard thing they’ll be saying below if the body is washed up and there’s no man in it to make the coffin, and I after giving a big price for the finest white boards you’d find in Connemara. She looks round at the boards. Bartley. How would it be washed up, and we after looking each day for nine days, and a strong wind blowing a while back from the west and south? Maurya. If it isn’t found itself, that wind is raising the sea, and there was a star up against the moon, and it rising in the night. If it was a hundred horses, or a thousand horses, you had itself, what is the price of a thousand horses against a son where there is one son only? Bartley ( working at the halter, to Cathleen ). Let you go down each day, and see the sheep aren’t jumping in on the rye, and if the jobber comes you can sell the pig with the black feet if there is a good price going. Maurya. How would the like of her get a good price for a pig?
Maurya ( standing up unsteadily ). It’s hard set I am to walk. Cathleen ( looking at her anxiously ). Give her the stick, Nora, or maybe she’ll slip on the big stones. Nora. What stick? Cathleen. The stick Michael brought from Connemara. Maurya ( taking a stick Nora gives her ). In the big world the old people do be leaving things after them for their sons and children, but in this place it is the young men do be leaving things behind for them that do be old. She goes out slowly. Nora goes over to the ladder. Cathleen. Wait, Nora, maybe she’d turn back quickly. She’s that sorry, God help her, you wouldn’t know the thing she’d do. Nora. Is she gone round by the bush? Cathleen ( looking out ). She’s gone now. Throw it down quickly, for the Lord knows when she’ll be out of it again. Nora ( getting the bundle from the loft ). The young priest said he’d be passing to-morrow, and we might go down and speak to him below if it’s Michael’s they are surely. Cathleen ( taking the bundle ). Did he say what way they were found? Nora ( coming down ). “There were two men,” says he, “and they rowing round with poteen before the cocks crowed, and the oar of one of them caught the body, and they passing the black cliffs of the north.” Cathleen ( trying to open the bundle ). Give me a knife, Nora; the string’s perished with the salt water, and there’s a black knot on it you wouldn’t loosen in a week. Nora ( giving her a knife ). I’ve heard tell it was a long way to Donegal. Cathleen ( cutting the string ). It is surely. There was a man in here a while ago—the man sold us that knife— and he said if you set off walking from the rocks beyond, it would be in seven days you’d be in Donegal. Nora. And what time would a man take, and he floating? Cathleen opens the bundle and takes out a bit of a shirt and a stocking. They look at them eagerly. Cathleen ( in a low voice ). The Lord spare us, Nora! isn’t it a queer hard thing to say if it’s his they are surely? Nora. I’ll get his shirt off the hook the way we can put the one flannel on the other. ( She looks through some clothes hanging in the corner .) It’s not with them, Cathleen, and where will it be? Cathleen. I’m thinking Bartley put it on him in the morning, for his own shirt was heavy with the salt in it. ( Pointing to the corner .) There’s a bit of a sleeve was of the same stuff. Give me that and it will do. Nora brings it to her and they compare the flannel. Cathleen. It’s the same stuff, Nora; but if it is itself aren’t there great rolls of it in the shops of Galway, and isn’t it many another man may have a shirt of it as well as Michael himself?
Nora ( who has taken up the stocking ana counted the stitches, crying out ). It’s Michael, Cathleen, it’s Michael; God spare his soul, and what will herself say when she hears this story, and Bartley on the sea? Cathleen ( taking the stocking ). It’s a plain stocking. Nora. It’s the second one of the third pair I knitted, and I put up three-score stitches, and I dropped four of them, Cathleen ( counts the stitches ). It’s that number is in it ( crying out ). Ah, Nora, isn’t it a bitter thing to think of him floating that way to the far north, and no one to keen him but the black hags that do be flying on the sea? Nora ( swinging herself half round, and throwing out her arms on the clothes ). And isn’t it a pitiful thing when there is nothing left of a man who was a great rower and fisher but a bit of an old shirt and a plain stocking? Cathleen ( after an instant ). Tell me is herself coming, Nora? I hear a little sound on the path. Nora ( looking out ). She is, Cathleen. She’s coming up to the door. Cathleen. Put these things away before she’ll come in. Maybe it’s easier she’ll be after giving her blessing to Bartley, and we won’t let on we’ve heard anything the time he’s on the sea. Nora ( helping Cathleen to close the bundle ). We’ll put them here in the corner. They put them into a hole in the chimney corner. Cathleen goes back to the spinning-wheel. Nora. Will she see it was crying I was? Cathleen. Keep your back to the door the way the light ’ll not be on you. Nora sits down at the chimney corner, with her back to the door. Maurya comes in very slowly, without looking at the girls, and goes over to her stool at the other side of the fire. The cloth with the bread is still in her hand. The girls look at each other, and Nora points to the bundle of bread. Cathleen ( after spinning for a moment ). You didn’t give him his bit of bread? Maurya begins to keen softly, without turning round. Cathleen. Did you see him riding down? Maurya goes on keening. Cathleen ( a little impatiently ). God forgive you; isn’t it a better thing to raise your voice and tell what you seen, than to be making lamentation for a thing that’s done? Did you see Bartley, I’m saying to you? Maurya ( with a weak voice ). My heart’s broken from this day. Cathleen ( as before ). Did you see Bartley? Maurya. I seen the fearfulest thing. Cathleen ( leaves her wheel and looks out ). God forgive you; he’s riding the mare now over the green head, and the grey pony behind him.
