Golden Iseult - CLASS

Iseult Golden and David Horan CLASS NICK HERN BOOKS London www.nickhernbooks.co.uk ContentsCLASS was first performed at the Civic Theatre, Tallaght, on 27 September 2017 as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. The play transferred to theAbbey Theatre, Dublin, before playing at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018. The cast was as follows:

BRIAN & JAYDEN	Stephen Jones
DONNA & KAYLIE	Sarah Morris
RAY McCAFFERTY	Will OConnell
Directors	Iseult Golden David Horan
Set & Costume Design	Maree Kearns
Lighting Design	Kevin Smith
Sound Design	Ivan Birthistle
Sound Design	Vincent Doherty
Production Manager	Adrian Mullan
Stage Manager	Sarah Robb
Photography	Ros Kavanagh

For Sarah Ling and Colm MaherCharacters RAY McCAFFERTY BRIAN COSTELLO DONNA COSTELLO JAYDEN COSTELLO, played by the actor playing Brian KAYLIE, played by the actor playing DonnaNote on TextText in square brackets is intention, not to be spoken.A forward slash (/) in the text marks the point at which the next speaker interrupts.This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.A classroom. The teacher, RAY McCAFFERTY, sits at his desk, correcting a pile of copybooks and eating a sandwich open beside him.There is a blackboard at the top of the room. Three small chairs have been arranged around a kids desk. BRIAN COSTELLO enters, sees him working, hesitates, then leaves. McCAFFERTY looks up. McCAFFERTY. Hello? McCAFFERTY returns to work.

Beat. BRIAN knocks and enters confidently. BRIAN. Hello. McCAFFERTY. Hello? BRIAN. Brian Costello. Oh. Great. Great.

Come in, come in. Youre very prompt. BRIAN. Do you want me to wait outside or? McCAFFERTY. No, no, not at all. Please.

Donnas not here yet? McCAFFERTY takes some papers from the side of his desk, and readies them. BRIAN. Yeah, No. Em. Shes making her own way. Shes not here yet. (Handshake.) Brian. (Handshake.) Brian.

McCAFFERTY. Nice to meet you, Im Ray McCafferty. BRIAN. Yeah. I wasnt here last time. There was a bit of a situation.

McCAFFERTY. I see. BRIAN. No. I mean. I just, I wanted to make sure to be here today.

See how Jay is getting on. Jayden. McCAFFERTY. Good. Well, its good to have you here. BRIAN. Yeah. Yeah.

McCAFFERTY (towards kids desk). Take a seat. BRIAN. Here? McCAFFERTY. Sorry. I know.

Its not ideal. Youd be surprised how difficult it is to get an adult-sized seat this end of the building. BRIAN looks at the chair, but doesnt sit. BRIAN. She said shed be here. Four oclock yeah? Thats what she told me. McCAFFERTY.

Its not quite four yet. BRIAN. I did meet Jaydens other teachers, Mrs Hunt and em, the older one? McCAFFERTY. Mrs McCague? BRIAN. Yeah. I had the meetings with them.

But this year, well. McCAFFERTY. And were they all right, those parent-teacher meetings? BRIAN. Yeah. Why wouldnt they be? McCAFFERTY. No reason. BRIAN. BRIAN.

I mean, its not exactly a barrel of laughs. Memories of getting called in to the principals office, you know. McCAFFERTY. Sure. BRIAN. Brings you back.

Donna always shits a brick (Correcting himself.) I mean, she gets all nervous, coming in here, its like she reverts. Im always telling her relax, youre a grown-up. Youve escaped, you know. Beat. No offence. McCAFFERTY. No.

I know what you mean. Actually I think we can all be prone to that sort of behaviour. BRIAN (bluffing). Yeah, yeah. McCAFFERTY. We learn in early life how to interact with different authority figures.

Anything from shopkeepers, to doctors, to priests even. We learn at a young age how we interact with these people and it can be very hard to unlearn. Beat. My mechanic makes me feel inadequate. Its not his fault. I always think hes judging me cause I dont understand a word he says. I just nod.

My last NCT, nightmare. Beat. BRIAN. I used to be a mechanic. McCAFFERTY. Oh. BRIAN.

I drive a taxi now. McCAFFERTY. So you probably know a lot about cars. BRIAN. A fair bit, yeah. Excellent. Beat. BRIAN. Beat. BRIAN.

Thats a lot of pictures of trees. Im guessing theyre learning about trees today. McCAFFERTY. Its a science project. This one here is Jaydens. BRIAN. BRIAN.

We got that the other weekend. McCAFFERTY. Exactly. And this is the seed. And the leaf. So it goes through BRIAN.

The life cycle of the tree. McCAFFERTY. Thats it. Good. Exactly! BRIAN laughs a little at the condescension. BRIAN. Gold star for me.

Its written there. McCAFFERTY. Yes, sorry. Occupational hazard. Beat. Actually, I dont use that system any more. Gold stars.

I try to make the process of learning enjoyable for its own sake. Knowledge should be its own reward. BRIAN. Good luck with that. McCAFFERTY. Indeed. BRIAN. BRIAN.

You here long? In the school? McCAFFERTY. A year and a half now. BRIAN. Right. McCAFFERTY. BRIAN. BRIAN.

Course, yeah. And hows that going? McCAFFERTY. What do you mean? BRIAN. How do you find this place? McCAFFERTY. Great. Well, its different.

I taught in High Park before coming here. BRIAN. You left High Park to come over here? McCAFFERTY. Yes. I did. Fair play. Fair play.

I went here. Couldnt wait to leave. No offence. McCAFFERTY. Its its a challenging environment. BRIAN. BRIAN.

Ill just sit on this. BRIAN sits on a kids desk. McCAFFERTY. Perfect. Apologies. McCAFFERTY sits at his own desk. BRIAN. Im sure shell be here in a minute.

McCAFFERTY nods. He quickly counts the number of copybooks left to correct. Was Jayden, em, talking about how things are at home? McCAFFERTY. How do you mean? BRIAN. No, I mean, its fine. Its just Im not living in the house at the moment. Just at the moment.

McCAFFERTY. Yes. BRIAN. He was saying that? McCAFFERTY. He mentioned it. BRIAN. BRIAN.

Its just how things are right now. But were sorting things out. McCAFFERTY. Right. BRIAN. Yeah, its good.

Its going good. Beat. McCAFFERTY. Good. BRIAN. Hes okay with it, though? McCAFFERTY. Yeah. Yeah.

McCAFFERTY. Well BRIAN. I have them at the weekends. Most weekends. McCAFFERTY. BRIAN. BRIAN.

He said that? McCAFFERTY. He did. BRIAN. So you know everything, I suppose? McCAFFERTY. No, I know he visits you at the weekends. BRIAN. BRIAN.

Its just the way things are right now. I mean, its Were working it out, you know what I mean. Beat. BRIAN is frustrated. McCAFFERTY. Actually. My wife and I, were taking some time as well. BRIAN.

Oh yeah? McCAFFERTY. Shes gone to her mothers. We had a tough time there. So, I know what youre talking about. BRIAN nods. BRIAN. Eh. No. BRIAN. Lucky. Lucky.

It gets very bleedin complicated. McCAFFERTY. Im sure. BRIAN. Well Jayden thinks youre the dogs the bees knees anyway. Its all Mr McCafferty this, Mr McCafferty that.

McCAFFERTY. Thats nice to hear. BRIAN. He was telling me about that trip you took into the woods. McCAFFERTY. Oh yes, the nature walk.

Moved heaven and earth, but we got there. BRIAN. More than we ever got, I can tell you, nature walk. You were roasting sausages on a fire? McCAFFERTY. We were. BRIAN. BRIAN.

He loved it, yeah. Hes been wanting to roast sausages ever since. (