The James Plays by Rona Munro

Author:Rona Munro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nick Hern Books

The Castle Courtyard

MARY and ANNABELLA enter, eating. MARY has a little bag or basket of cakes.

MARY. I dare you… to… roar like a lion.

ANNABELLA. No.

MARY. You have to.

ANNABELLA. I don’t want to.

MARY. You have to. Today we play games. And you are a Stewart lion.

ANNABELLA does a half-hearted roar, MARY laughs.

Qu’est que ce?!

ANNABELLA. I don’t want to, I’m not a Stewart lion! I don’t even feel Scottish! I hate it here!

MARY. You speak Scottish…

ANNABELLA. I hate it! The skies are too high and the folk talk right at you and it’s cold and they keep feeding you oily herring and telling you it’s lovely! It’s not! It’s bogging! I want…

MARY. What?

ANNABELLA. To go back… don’t you want to go back?

MARY (ignoring her, still playing). I dare you…

ANNABELLA. Don’t you want to be home again?

MARY. This is home now… I dare you…

ANNABELLA. No, it’s my turn. I dare you…

MARY. Quoi?

ANNABELLA. To tell me the truth.

MARY. This is my home now.

I dare you… to… smile.

ANNABELLA. Oh, Mary…

MARY. Please.

ANNABELLA smiles. LIVINGSTON enters, as MARY spins ANNABELLA.

Yes. Yes. Now dare me! Dare me.

LIVINGSTON. Games.

ANNABELLA. Yes.

LIVINGSTON. Lovely. Carry on.

MARY. Will you play?

LIVINGSTON. No.

LIVINGSTON is waiting. ANNABELLA whispers to MARY. MARY resists the dare. ANNABELLA pushes at her, laughing now.

BALVENIE enters under this.

So? Have you talked to him?

BALVENIE. You’re imagining things.

LIVINGSTON. I doubt that.

MARY is moving closer on LIVINGSTON, looking for a chance to tickle him.

Crichton is smirking. He’s got some plan to meddle with me… or murder me.

BALVENIE. What do you care what Crichton thinks? When did you get so jumpy?

LIVINGSTON. You wait, he’ll be creeping up behind me, first chance he gets.

MARY is behind him. She tickles him. LIVINGSTON whirls on her. She drops the cakes.

BALVENIE. Christ, Livingston, don’t kill the Queen.

LIVINGSTON. Your Highness…

MARY. It is… a game.

LIVINGSTON. Aye… sorry.

MARY. Just a game.

BALVENIE. Day of the Innocents, Livingston, tricks, football… games all day.

BALVENIE is close to LIVINGSTON.

And Douglas stands beside you, Livingston. You know that. Stop worrying.

LIVINGSTON. Aye. Right enough. I can rely on you, can’t I?

BALVENIE. I’ve got your back. You can trust me. Don’t you know that by now?

LIVINGSTON. Aye, I trust you to stay fat, eh, Balvenie?

(To women.) What do you think, Your Highness, Princess Annabella, he looks like a man who knows how to stay fat, eh? The abbey at Coldingham was it, Balvenie? I think the crown will be giving you that gift, I’ve got a feeling about it… Crichton can plot all he wants as long as I keep feeding you up, eh, Balvenie?

LIVINGSTON exits.

BALVENIE (to MARY). Did he scare you?

MARY. No.

BALVENIE. No. Don’t let him scare you. No one here means you harm, Queen Mary.

MARY is now gathering up the broken cakes, he helps her, tastes one.

Apple cakes. Wonderful. You see I’d still eat that.

ANNABELLA. You can’t eat them off the ground!

BALVENIE. If I don’t, the dogs will.

ANNABELLA. Who are you? I should know you, I’m sure, but…

MARY. This is Balvenie, Annabella, the Earl of Douglas. The father of William Douglas…

MARY has gone to ANNABELLA.

I dare you… to kiss William Douglas.

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