Script

Below are excerpts from:

BLOOD COLOURED MOON

By
Barry McKinley

…PAUL appears. He’s drunk. He looks up at the building in front of him. A spotlight comes up on the sign, O’BRIEN’S WAYSIDE LOUNGE. He tries the door handle. The door does not open. He bangs it with his fist.

Nothing. He bangs again and eventually an upstairs window opens and a man in pajamas, CHARLIE, sticks his head out.

CHARLIE
What the hell is going on down there?

PAUL
Good evening to you sir. I was wondering if I might be able to trouble you for a wee drink.

CHARLIE
You what? Are you serious?

PAUL
Indeed I am sir. If there’s one thing I never joke about, it’s alcohol,

CHARLIE
Do you have any idea what time it is?

PAUL
Well…

CHARLIE
It’s four fucking a.m., that’s what time it is. And do you know what day it is?

PAUL
Could this be a trick question?

CHARLIE
It’s Good Friday.

PAUL
Really? Is that a fact?

CHARLIE
Yes, that is a fact, and we don’t serve drink at four a.m. on Good Friday. Now get away from that door or there’s going to be big trouble.

Charlie slams down window. The light goes out.

PAUL
Charming man!

Paul reaches into the car and puts his hand on the horn. He leaves it there until the light comes on and the window opens again.

PAUL (Continued)
I’m dying with the thirst.

CHARLIE
Now you listen here…

Another upstairs window opens. This one is some distance away from the first. A woman, JENNY, sticks her head out.

JENNY
What the hell is going on down there?

(End of Excerpt)

PAUL
Just a wee whiskey and lemonade.

JENNY
No.

PAUL
Aw Mary.

JENNY
Go away.

PAUL
You don’t really mean that…

JENNY
I do mean it.

PAUL
You don’t.

JENNY
I do!

PAUL
Aw you don’t.

JENNY
Are you going to keep this up?

PAUL
Well it does keep my mind off the thirst.

JENNY
You think everything is just one big joke, don’t you?

PAUL
Mary…

JENNY
I’ll scream if you keep calling me that.

PAUL
Well, if you told me your real name…

JENNY
My ‘real’ name is Mrs. O’Brien.

PAUL
Really? And I suppose you were Christened that, were you? Your mother asked the doctor, “Is it a boy or a girl” and he said “No. I’m afraid it’s a ‘Mrs. O’Brien'”

(End of Excerpt)

PAUL
No. Stop. If you feel that strongly
about it, I’ll leave.

JENNY
You will?

PAUL
Yes. I will. But before I go I shall
have to recite a poem for you.

JENNY
Oh for Christ’s sake. He’s going to come
back and…

PAUL
Shush! Listen!

..beat…

PAUL (Cont’d)

When the night comes pouring down from the sky like bucketfuls of tar.

I will look out, from under this blood colored moon, and wonder
where you are. I’ll come searching through the starlight

with a sack full of promises strapped to my back

and I’ll howl like a dog who was driven to the hills And left at the side of the road.

I’ll come swimming up the rivers with eyes that glow in the dark and
the beams will cut through the rushes and the reeds And light up the way to your heart. For nothing can stop me once I start. Nothing can hold me back.

Not the Devil with his fiendish charms nor the Lord above with his open arms.

They can build a wall of time between us with bricks made of months

And mortar made from years. But never fear. Never fear.

Just listen for the sound of the grappling hook of my
dreams whistling through the air and scratching until it bites.

And I will arrive I swear.
Some night you will look out across the slate gray fields stitched together

with the black hawthorn thread and see warm breath rising in the winter air.

..beat…

(Whispers)
And I will be there.

..beat…

I will be there.

(End of Excerpt)