Actor 1 I vow to thee my country, all earthly things above, Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;

Transcription

1 ULSTER COVENANT ASSEMBLY [This piece is written for ten actors but can have a larger number of performers in terms of chorus work. The cast of ten relies on multi-role play or a cast of twenty can take on the roles independently as children and adults and the role of newspaper seller can be split up depending on the size of your group. The set is minimal. A wooden crate, an old fashioned suitcase and a table is all that is required. The digital images create a backdrop to go alongside the action with suggested music outlined below.] [Mumford and Sons Sigh No More ] Actor 1 I vow to thee my country, all earthly things above, Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love; Actor 2 The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best; Actor 3 The love that never falters, the love that pays the price, The love that makes undaunted, the final sacrifice. Actor 4 I hear my country calling way across the sea, Across the waste of waters she calls and calls to me. [Belfast street scene Belle of Belfast City -Two gangs of kids play cowboys until one group overpowers the other] Actor 1- Surrender! Actor 2 Never! Actor 3- Surrender or die! Actor 4 No way, this is our street Actor 5- Surrender or we spit Actor 6-we ll never give up our street Actor 7 We have you surrounded! You have no choice

2 Actor 8 You can t tell us what to do! Actor 1 Yes we can Actor 2- Says who? Actor 3- My da Actor 4 Since when? Actor 5- Since The Ulster Covenant Actor 6- We re Irish Actor 7- We re British Actor 8 What about Home Rule? Actor 1 Home Rule is Rome Rule! Actor 2- If you don t like it go and move somewhere else! Actor 3- Why should we? This is our city! Actor 4- This is our city! Belfast is Irish Actor 5 Belfast is British, you should move down South Actor 6- You should clear off over the water and be with all the other prods Actor 7- And you should go down to Dublin and be with all the other Catholics Actor 8 We ll just have to run you out Actor 1- You and whose Army? [Break into the slow motion mock fighting of children, Slow Freeze. The music is played and the suitcase becomes a table are gently lifted and the cast take on the exaggerated poses of melodramatic players as they put on an item of period costume]

3 Actor 1 [Stands on Wooden crate down stage left]- Read all about it, Tele O, Read all about it, The Third Home Rule Bill introduced in The House of Commons, Carson and Craig outraged, Read all about it [Two men gather around suitcase centre stage, others make suspicious groupings listening in creating a chorus of opinions] Actor 2- I will not have this James! The people of Ulster will not have this! We are British not Irish. Actor 3 This is the coercion of Ulster, we loose everything we have worked so hard to gain. If we are to give way to the self government of the whole of Ireland and national autonomy we will go into economic decline Actor 2- Our ship building, our industrial prowess, it will all come crashing down, everything the people of Ulster have worked for Actor 3- The people will not let it happen, we will make sure it doesn t happen! [Freeze frame around draft document, Chorus whispers fears and concerns, voices of the people] Actor 4- They ve betrayed us left us high and dry! Actor 5- We need to fight to hold on to our identity Actor 6- We need to rally the troops, Ulster says No! Actor 7- Save us from oppression! Home Rule is Rome Rule Actor 8-We will forever loyal to our monarchy, Long live the King! Actor 9 This is our country, our jobs and our land. Home Rule is dead!

4 Actor 1 [On vegetable box with latest edition of the Telegraph] Tele-O Read all about it, Tele O Read all about it, Leaders of the Unionists, Carson and Craig urge you to sign, Urge you to sign The Ulster Covenant, read all about it! Actor 2- Are you happy with the wording? Actor 3- The message is clear, we will not be coerced Being convinced in our consciences that Home Rule would be disastrous to the material well- being of Ulster as well as the whole of Ireland, subversive of our civil and religious freedom, destructive of our citizenship, and perilous to the unity of the Empire, we, whose names are underwritten, men of Ulster, loyal subjects of His Gracious Majesty King George V., Actor 2 humbly relying on the God whom our fathers in days of stress and trial confidently trusted, do hereby pledge ourselves in solemn Covenant, throughout this our time of threatened calamity to stand by one another defending, for ourselves and our children, our cherished position of equal citizenship in the United Kingdom Actor 3 Will the people come and sign it? Actor 2- They will come and sign it, I can t see any reason why not? [Chorus becomes the opinions of the Irish community in Belfast who support Home Rule] Actor 5 We are not British; we are Irish its time we governed ourselves Actor 6 Belfast is a great city, a city to be proud of and the people of Ireland have made it so. Our ship building industry is the talk of Europe

5 Actor 7- Independence is what our forefathers wanted for us, its time to bind together the past and the present and make Ireland a proud and strong nation of counties Actor 8 - They can protest all they like, it isn t going to make a button of difference, this city is Irish and signing a piece of paper isn t going to change a thing, they should accept it and carry on the way we always have Actor 9- My neighbours signed it, I was shocked I can tell you, out in their Sunday best off to the City Hall to put their names to it. Margaret went as well, imagine that a woman getting involved in politics, you think she had enough to do. Our men work together, our kids play together, we walk over to the market together but There s an atmosphere, something s changed between us since that day I don t like it, and there ll be trouble mark my words ACTOR 1- Late edition, 28 th September, Tele O, Ulster s Solemn League and Covenant in full, nearly half a million men and women sign, signatories against the establishment of a Home Rule parliament. Read all about it [Chorus move forward to sign the The Covenant and the women The Declaration] ACTOR 2- The dark eleventh hour Draws on us and sees us sold ACTOR 3 To every evil power We fought against of old ACTOR 4- Rebellion, rapine, hate, Oppression, wrong and greed ACTOR 5- Are loosed to rule our fate, By England s act and deed ACTOR 6 Believe, we dare not boast Believe, we dare not fear

6 ACTOR 7 We stand to pay the cost In all that men hold dear. ACTOR 8- What answer from the North? One Law, one Land, one Throne ACTOR 9- If England drive us forth We shall not fall alone! [Women stand before The Declaration Music to denote change in action] Actor 5- We whose names are underwritten, women of Ulster, and loyal subjects of our gracious King, being firmly persuaded that Home Rule would be disastrous to our country, desire to associate ourselves with the men of Ulster Actor 7- in their uncompromising opposition to The Home Rule Bill before Parliament, whereby it is proposed to drive Ulster out of her cherished place in the Constitution of The United Kingdom ACTOR 9 and to place her under the domination and control of a Parliament in Ireland. ACTOR 5, 7, 9 Praying that from this calamity God will save Ireland, were here to subscribe our names. [ACTOR 1 moves his crate centre stage and chorus create a tableau around him voicing the thoughts of the supporters of The Home Rule Bill and those against it] Actor 1 Tele-O, Tele-O, Carson signs with a silver pen, the throbbing machinery of industrial Belfast fall silent as vast crowds assemble to sign The Covenant, Read all about it! Actor 2- It s ridiculous, a whole lot a fuss over nothing! Signing a piece of paper isn t going to stop it happening, this island is Ireland and the people living in are Irish, accept it and then we can move on

7 Actor 3- We built this city together, we are a strong nation, look at our steel works, our factories, our industry, we work together side by side we are strong enough to have our own parliament, we don t need British interference, let us be Actor 4- Religion doesn t play a part in this, the fear of Rome Rule is a load of nonsense, and it s the politicians not the church who will run our Irish Parliament Actor 5- I am a citizen of The United Kingdom, I want to hang on to my identity not have it swallowed up by all things Irish Actor 6- What about our children? They will be forced to read and write in another language, you mark my words, our money will be worthless and our church will be no more Actor 7- If it comes to it we will fight to defend our country, if it comes to it we will rally the men of Ulster, our fathers did it before us and so will we Actor 8- I don t want this to come between me and my neighbours, I don t have an issue with them, we all rub along nicely round here but when the bit comes to the bit I am British and that s that Actor 9- Our kids play so well together, why change things why rock the boat, they don t care, its not issue, Irish? British? They don t see it that way Actor 1- The Ulster Covenant was signed by just under half a million men and women from Ulster, on and before 28 th September 1912, in protest against the Third Home Rule Bill, introduced by the Government in that same year. [Music - Mumford and Son 5 Slides of the event, freeze frames created by cast to capture the moment, Actors creating the final freeze around the case as it is closed and they return to the opening freeze frame. Actor 1 delivers the text during the black and white slides]

8 Actor 1- Belfast was one of the major industrial powerhouses of the world. Saturday was then a normal working day but on Saturday 28 th September 1912 the industrial heart of the great city was still: the great shipyards were silent; the looms were idle in the linen mills; the rope works and foundries were deserted. Life in Belfast was about to change