The Speckled People

Hugo Hamilton

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781408171202
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Adapted for the stage from the best-selling memoir, The Speckled People tells a profoundly moving story of a young boy trapped in a language war. Set in 1950s Ireland, this is a gripping, poignant, and at times very funny family drama of homesickness, control and identity. As a young boy, Hugo Hamilton struggles with what it means to be speckled, "half and half... Irish on top and German below." An idealistic Irish father enforces his cultural crusade by forbidding his son to speak English while his German mother tries to rescue him with her warm-hearted humour and uplifting industry. The boy must free himself from his father and from bullies on the street who persecute him with taunts of Nazism. Above all he must free himself from history and from the terrible secrets of his mother and father before he can find a place where he belongs. Surrounded by fear, guilt, and frequently comic cultural entanglements, Hugo tries to understand the differences between Irish history and German history and to turn the strange logic of what he is told into truth. It is a journey that ends in liberation but not before the long-buried secrets at the back of the parents' wardrobe have been laid bare.

Act Three

The stage is lit. The same minimal architecture with only one key addition. There is a beehive standing on stage.

We hear the buzzing music of Ligeti – ‘Ramifications’.

Father enters from the right dressed as a beekeeper and wearing beekeeper’s mesh covering his head. On his arms he wears white, elbow-length gloves. He walks like an astronaut, limping across the stage with his arms in the air.

The Boy enters from the left, tracking the Father as he crosses the stage.

Boy Now is the time of the bees. And everybody is getting stung.

Father kneels down on one knee with his hand on the top of the hive, facing towards the audience.

Father We’ll show them. We’ll show them that we have no weakness. No fear and no weakness and no history holding us back.

They said it was my limp. Something in the family. Big crowd outside the house. Standing in the street. Waiting for him to be brought out. They said I was not right in the head either because I had the limp from birth.

They didn’t think I was going to be where I am today. With my own family. And my own bees. They’re going to be afraid of us now. They’re going to be afraid of us and there is nothing they can do to stop you flying out across the walls. (Beat.) Now.

Father stands up and steps back to admire the hive. He removes the beekeeping mesh from his head. As he takes off the long white gloves he begins to look at the ceiling. He steps back further towards the centre of the stage, peering up at the ceiling from various angles.

Father Irmgard. Come and look at this.

Mother enters from the left.

Mother What is it?

Father Hanni, come here at once.

Boy comes running forward.

Boy Yes.

Father Did you do that?

Boy What?

Father (points up) The ceiling. Look at it.

Mother (looks up) I don’t believe it.

Father We’ll never get that off.

Mother Have you gone out of your mind?

Boy Yes.

Father Did you do it?

Boy No.

Father I don’t believe him.

Mother Hanni, is that an Irish no?

Boy Yes.

Mother Yes?

Boy No.

Mother An Irish yes?

Boy No.

Mother A German no?

Boy Yes.

Father (angry) Who else would have done it?

Mother Hanni, be honest. Did you throw the mashed potato at the ceiling?

Boy No.

Mother Is that a silent yes?

Boy No.

Mother The silent negative.

Boy Yes.

Father (barking) Answer the question. Yes or no?

Pause.

Boy No.

Father He’s lying.

Mother Hanni. You can never tell a lie. When somebody asks you a question, you must always tell the truth.

Boy Yes.

Father He’s going to be punished for this.

Mother Why did you do it?

Boy For Ireland.

Father The stick.

Mother No wait. Seán. He said it was for Ireland.

Father What?

Mother places her hand on the Boy ’s shoulder.

Mother You must believe him.

Father This is absurd.

Mother It’s artistic.

Father Mashed potato.

Mother That’s the point. You have to have an imagination to do something that makes no sense. (Beat.) For your country.

Father (pointing up) How is that going to help our country?

Mother It’s the principle, Seán.

Father Is this what they do in Germany?

Mother He’s doing his best.

Father Doing his worst, you mean.

Mother Look. Sometimes he gets it wrong. But you can’t punish him if he did it for Ireland.

Silence.Father looks up at the ceiling, then down at the Boy.

Father Was it for Ireland?

Boy Yes.

Father Is that the truth?

Boy Yes.

Father The Irish truth?

Mother The German truth?

Father The only truth. And nothing but the truth?

Boy (cheerfully) Yes.

Mother and Father continue looking in rotation at the ceiling and at each other and at the Boy.Father puts his beekeeping mesh back on again and walks offstage.

Mother Only you could think of something as mad as that. Mashed potato on the ceiling. It’s like something Franz Kaiser would have done. Your grandfather went into the bakery once and stuck his finger into a cake and lifted it up. How much is this? He asked. They told him the price.

She mimes holding up the cake on her index finger, then wipes it off.

Too expensive, he said and he put the cake back. But then he smiled and bought the cake after all. And he bought cakes for all the children on the Buttermarkt square as well. (Beat.) Mashed potato.

Mother smiles at him and walks away to her writing desk.

Boy My mother is good at rescuing us and making detours around my father. She tries to save us from the bees as well and beats them off with a kitchen towel. But sometimes it’s too late and she can’t stop herself from getting stung.

Stiegler walks on to the stage left and picks up the Mother ’s diary.Mother stands facing the audience.

At night, the bees start buzzing around the light bulb. Buzzing and bouncing against the ceiling. Like an angry motorbike. Everybody is afraid. Everybody has their own nightmares of getting stung in the dark.

Stiegler stands by the table leafing through the diary. He looks up.

Stiegler What’s this?

Mother My diary.

Stiegler Have you lost your senses?

Mother I have nobody else.

Stiegler This is evidence. You can’t keep this.

Mother looks helplessly at Stiegler.

Mother I don’t know what to do.

Stiegler Are you certain?

Mother Yes.

Stiegler Have you told anyone?

Mother No.

Stiegler Good.

Mother I’m afraid to speak.

Stiegler Now listen carefully to what I’m going to say. I want you to go back to your apartment, right now. Don’t meet anyone. Don’t speak to anyone. Go straight to your room and wait for me there. Do you understand what I’ve said?

Mother Yes.

Mother stands without moving. A moment in doubt.

Stiegler It will take me...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Characters
• Act One
• Act Two
• Act Three
• Author Biography
• Author’s Note: The Memory Room
• Imprint