Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only €10,99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Many Young Men of Twenty
    Many Young Men of Twenty
    Many Young Men of Twenty
    Ebook80 pages1 hour

    Many Young Men of Twenty

    By John B. Keane

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A musical play dealing with emigration and the lack of jobs at home that forced people to leave their native Ireland for England. It describes the emigrants 'longing for home' - 'Everyone is lonesome leaving home' - their annual homecomings and their return to jobs and places they disliked - 'back to their night shifts, an' filthy digs ... with their long faces leanin' out o' the carriage windows with the thoughts of what's waitin' over'.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMercier Press
    Release dateJun 30, 2016
    ISBN9781781174333
    Many Young Men of Twenty
    Author

    John B. Keane

    John B. Keane, one of Ireland's most prolific and respected literary figures, died on 30 May 2002 at the age of 73, after a long and difficult battle with cancer. John B. Keane was born in 1928 in Listowel, County Kerry and it was here that he spent his literary career, running a pub which provided him with inspiration for his characters and ideas. His first play, Sive, was presented by the Listowel Drama Group and won the All-Ireland Drama Festival in 1959. It was followed by another success, Sharon's Grave, in 1960. The Field (1965) and Big Maggie (1969), are widely regarded as classics of the modern Irish stage and jewels in a crown which includes such popular hits as Many Young Men of Twenty, The Man from Clare, Moll, The Chastitute and The Year of the Hiker. His large canon of plays have been seen abroad in cities as far afield as Moscow and Los Angeles. Big Maggie ran on Broadway for over two months in 1982 and The Field was adapted into an Oscar-winning Hollywood film, starring Brenda Fricker and Richard Harris, in 1991. But it was not just in his plays that John B. Keane managed to portray all aspects of humanity with both wit and truth. He also wrote many fine novels, including The Contractors, A High Meadow and Durango. Durango was adapted for the big screen, starring Brenda Fricker and Patrick Bergin. A writer of essays, short stories and letters, his humorous words live on in Celebrated Letters of John B. Keane, More Celebrated Letters, The Best of John B. Keane and The Short Stories of John B. Keane. In 1987 John B. Keane received a special award for his enduring place in Irish life and letters from the Sunday Independent/Irish Life. In that year he also won a Sunday Tribune Arts Award and in 1988 he was chosen as the recipient of the Irish-American Fund Award for Literature. In 1999 he was presented with a Gradam medal, the Abbey Theatre's highest award. He was a member of Aosdana and the recipient of honorary doctorates from Trinity College, Dublin, Limerick University and Marymount College, New York. John B. Keane remains one of Mercier's best-loved and best-selling authors.

    Read more from John B. Keane

    Related to Many Young Men of Twenty

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related categories

    Reviews for Many Young Men of Twenty

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Many Young Men of Twenty - John B. Keane

      Mercier Press

      3B Oak House, Bessboro Rd

      Blackrock, Cork, Ireland.

      MercierGreen.jpg www.mercierpress.ie

      missing image file http://twitter.com/IrishPublisher

      missing image file http://www.facebook.com/mercier.press

      First published in 1961 by Progress House (Publications) Ltd.

      This edition 2015

      © Words and Music John B. Keane Occasions, 1961

      ISBN: 978 1 89817 504 9

      Epub ISBN: 978 1 78117 433 3

      Mobi ISBN: 978 1 78117 434 0

      Many Young Men of Twenty is a copyright play and may not be performed without a licence. Application for a licence for amateur performances must be made in advance to the Drama League of Ireland, The Mill Theatre, Dundrum, Dublin 16. Terms for professional performances may be had from JBK Occasions, 37 William Street, Listowel, Co. Kerry.

      This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

      .

      Contents

      Act One

      Act Two Scene One

      Act Two Scene Two

      Act Three

      About the Author

      About the Publisher

      About This Play

      To Peg and John,

      without whose assistance I could not possibly

      be so late on first nights.

      ‘Many Young Men of Twenty’ was first presented in 1961 by the Southern Theatre Group at the Father Mathew Hall, Cork, with the following cast;

      The play was produced by Dan Donovan, with settings by Frank Sanquest.

      Act One

      [Action takes place in the back room of a village public-house, somewhere in Southern Ireland. There are appropriate advertisements hanging from the wall. Two tables occupy the room, one large and one small. There are several chairs and a bench.

      A man and a woman sit at larger table; a girl in her early twenties at the smaller one. They are completing breakfast, backs to each other. The man is Tom Hannigan. The woman is his sister Seelie. The girl is Peg Finnerty.

      Tom Hannigan is coatless, smoking a cigarette. He is fortyish. Seelie is slightly younger, severe, sits rigidly and is outwardly composed. Peg Finnerty is young, pretty, and dressed poorly.The time is the morning of a summer’s day. It is the present time]

      Seelie [Precise, Correct] What time is it?

      Tom [Alerted] Almost half-ten; nearly time to open.

      Seelie Yes; there should be a few going to England.

      Tom Ah, well … [Rises] … I’ll open the front door. We should have a few before the train. [Tom opens front door. A tattered but respectable figure stands outside] Oh, it’s you, Aloysius. First to the door as always. The usual, I suppose?

      [Aloysius nods and sits]

      Seelie [Rising] You brush and tidy up here, Peg. I’ll take the ware to the back kitchen. [Seelie finds a basin under table and proceeds to fill it with the breakfast things. Peg rises and exits to left, briefly, returning with brush] Watch what he’s doing!

      Peg Who?

      Seelie Who do you think …?

      Peg I’ll watch him.[Peg commences to brush floor towards direction of fireplace at right]

      Seelie You’ll get a cloth, Peg, and shine the place up a bit and … [Meaningly] you remember what I told you about himself … if you see him nippin’ at the bottles, be sure and tell me.

      Peg Yes, Miss Seelie!

      [Exit Seelie by door near fireplace. Peg continues with her brushing and commences to sing]

      Many young men of twenty said good-bye

      All that long day

      From break of dawn until the sun was high

      Many young men of twenty said good-bye.

      My boy, Jimmy, went that day

      On the big ship sailed away

      Sailed away and left me here to die

      Many young men of twenty said good-bye.

      [Peg continues to hum the air. Tom enters cautiously]

      Tom Is she gone?

      Peg She’s probably washin’ the ware. She told me to keep an eye on you.

      Tom Good! [He exits hastily]

      Peg [Singing]

      My Jimmy said he’d sail across the sea

      He swore his oath

      He’d sail again, back home to marry me

      My Jimmy said he’d sail across the sea

      But my Jimmy left me down

      O, my Jimmy, please come back to me!

      O, my Jimmy, please come back to me!

      [Peg sings the song again. Tom enters, head craned forward first, hands behind back. He walks towards fireplace and produces a tumbler of whiskey from behind his back]

      Tom [To Peg] You won’t say a word about this?

      Peg No!

      Tom [Surveys whiskey] ‘Twas never needed more, Peg! [Swallows whiskey - sighs contentedly] Ah, good God, there’s a great rattle in that! (Tom

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1