Plays by David Farn

Synopsis

It is Ireland in 1916, and we are near Tralee Bay on the west coast. With the Great War sweeping over Europe, three travellers arrive. They are mountebanks, a team of hustlers selling ‘healing hands’ to the gullible. MacMann is their leader, a consummate showman who lives by his wits. His sidekick, Magda, has a rebellious streak. A performer herself, she dreams of creating a ‘new story’ for Ireland, one that might help it to heal and progress. Between these two is Sean, a simple, innocent soul. MacMann treats him like a half-wit, but Sean seems to have a special quality, and Magda has faith in him.

In this dark comedy-drama, this gang of tricksters is about to collide with one of History’s strangest events.

The Characters

MacMann

A traveller, leader of the gang and a seasoned hustler. Aged about 50, he lives by his wits, though he is not above using his fists when the occasion arises, and sometimes struggles to control this violent streak.

Sean

A traveller, aged about 20. He is a simple soul, and has a handicap which means he struggles to speak. MacMann exhibits him as a Visionary as part of their show. But maybe Sean really possesses a gift?

Magda

A traveller, aged about 30. Unhappy just to be MacMann’s sidekick – a woman in a man’s world – she is busy inventing a show of her own. But will this cause the breakup of the gang?

Mrs Kelly

Aged about 50, a local Catholic resident. She has firm views on how people should conduct themselves, though sometimes her kind heart overrides her beliefs.

Sergeant Doyle

Aged about 40, a member of the Garda and Protestant resident, originally from the North. Often vexed by Mrs Kelly, he strives to find some common ground between them.

The Setting

The play is set near Tralee Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. A composite set suggests a crossroads, a graveyard and the interior of a barn. The date is Easter 1916.

Previous Performance

The Red Trail was first produced by the Royalty Theatre Sunderland in 2022 as part of a One Act Festival, and won the Champions Trophy for Best Production, before a second performance at Saltburn Theatre.

A Note on the Text

The Red Trail began life in 1994 as a full-length play called The Eyes of Another Race, which won the People’s Play Award, and premiered at the People’s Theatre in Newcastle-on-Tyne.

The Eyes was about Sir Roger Casement, once a hero of the British Empire, who was knighted for his work in exposing the horrifying ill-treatment of the natives in the Colonial rubber plantations of the Belgian Congo and in South America. Casement, an Irish Nationalist, involved himself in the 1916 Easter Rising, and was subsequently denounced as a traitor and hung.

I sent the script to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, thinking they might be interested. They replied that they really liked my trio of Travellers, but resented someone from England trying to tell them Irish history. Oh, and by the way, the English stamps I’d included for the return postage weren’t valid in the Republic. So that was me told! (I wish I’d kept the letter.)

Anyway, thirty years later, I decided to ditch the scenes with Casement, the lengthy monologues, the Secret Service, the submarine, the execution squad and so on, and rewrite the piece to feature my Travellers. And thus it became The Red Trail.