Howard Brenton - 55 Days

55 Days was first performed at Hampstead Theatre, London, on 18 October 2012, with the following cast:

That fire needs a perk-up. SECOND TROOPER. Best save the wood we have. FIRST TROOPER. Huh. They pull their clothing tighter about them then stare at the fire for a while. Theres that fence.

Other side of Park Lane. SECOND TROOPER. No foraging. FIRST TROOPER. Half of its gone anyway. SECOND TROOPER.

No foraging. THIRD TROOPER. Whatd be the harm? SECOND TROOPER. You know the ordinance. THIRD TROOPER. (A pause.) Well. (A pause.) There. They stare at the fire for a while. FIRST TROOPER. They stare at the fire for a while. FIRST TROOPER.

Rest of that fencell be gone by dawn. THIRD TROOPER. Boy, understand. You cannot steal wood because you are a saint. FIRST TROOPER. Am I? THIRD TROOPER.

You are! We are all modern saints because we are Gods army, fighting for a new Jerusalem. SECOND TROOPER. New Jerusalem. THIRD TROOPER. So look around this camp, boy, what do you see? Half-starved soldiers slumped over tiny fires? No no! Men all but at the end of their tether? Wondering why the cause for Parliament and Commonwealth is still not yet won, and after six years of fights and wreckage up and down poor old England? No no no! You see a host of saints! Shining with Gods purpose! Unpaid, near to mutiny, but saints! FIRST TROOPER. And bloody freezing.

SECOND TROOPER. Hey! THIRD TROOPER. No swearing. SECOND TROOPER. Army ordinance. FIRST TROOPER.

Why, cos were saints? THIRD TROOPER. I do believe the boy is coming to a godly understanding. The SECOND and THIRD TROOPERS laugh. JOHN LILBURNE enters. He keeps to the shadows. He is about to approach the TROOPERS but withdraws into shadow when he sees GENERAL IRETON enter, hastening along, head down, avoiding the men. LILBURNE. Henry.

IRETON whirls round, hand on his sword. IRETON. John? What are you doing here? LILBURNE. Come to be with freeborn men. IRETON. John, go. LILBURNE. LILBURNE.

Why is the Army in Hyde Park? IRETON. None of this concerns you. LILBURNE. Parliaments Army, moving on the capital? That concerns every freeborn man. IRETON. LILBURNE. LILBURNE.

All thats been between us, Henry? Whats that? Brothers in arms against the Kings Army at Marston Moor, walking side by side up to death? That the that you mean? IRETON. Times change. LILBURNE. Do they? IRETON. I appeal to you, John. A pause. LILBURNE.

Have the Commons voted yet? IRETON. I cannot... LILBURNE. Just tell me, man! Have they voted for the Kings trial? IRETON. The last dispatcher from Westminster said they are still debating. LILBURNE.

And if the vote goes against the will of the Army Council? IRETON. We wait upon the hand of the Lord. LILBURNE. What does Oliver say? IRETON stares at him. I want to see him. IRETON. Hes not here.

LILBURNE is taken aback. LILBURNE. Not here? IRETON. John, so help me, if you do not leave this place, I will arrest you! Now! LILBURNE (steps back). May God stay your hand tonight, General Ireton. IRETON. No, may He move it.

LILBURNE backs away into the dark. IRETON exits. The TROOPERS stare at the fire for a while. SECOND TROOPER. Saw Old Ironsides catch a man foraging. Before the fight at Marston Moor. Eggs, six eggs, thats all, stolen from some farm. Dear Lord, what he did to that man.

FIRST TROOPER. What, he hit him? SECOND TROOPER. Far, far worse. He used words. It were like he tore out that thiefs soul and threw it down. I swear I saw his soul die there before us, on the grass.

Then Ol Ironsides told him to go and never return to the Army. THIRD TROOPER. And where is he now? SECOND TROOPER. Who knows? Some corner of Hell, eating eggs for eternity? The FIRST TROOPER laughs. THIRD TROOPER. I mean Old Ironsides. Where is our Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell? Unease. FIRST TROOPER.

I heard say hes still in the north. THIRD TROOPER. The fighting in the norths all but done. SECOND TROOPER. Hell be here with us. THIRD TROOPER.

Tell you what I think... SECOND TROOPER. I dont care to know what you think! THIRD TROOPER. I think... WILLIAM LENTHALL crosses the stage quickly, protecting his head against the rain. FIRST TROOPER (interrupting the THIRD TROOPER). Whos that? SECOND TROOPER.

I know him, he was good to me once. Speaker Lenthall. Mr Speaker, God be with you! LENTHALL. And with you, trooper! (Stops.) Is it Michael Savage? SECOND TROOPER. Yes, Mr Speaker. LENTHALL.

Glad to see you in health, Michael. THIRD TROOPER. Master Lenthall, have the Commons voted? LENTHALL. They have. THIRD TROOPER. And how? LENTHALL.

Against the motion. The