The Song of the Bantry Bay
Submitted by BA Hons Theatre... on 14 December 2011 - 8:57am
The Song of the Bantry Bay by Pawel Klica
The Song of the Bantry Bay Lyrics and Dialogue by Pawel Klica- Full Text
There was a house on Bantry Bay,
The house of wealth, of love and hate,
There was a councilor called Richard White,
There were many dark, starless nights;
There was a man called Theobald Tone,
There were the tales of freedom that’s gone,
There was a song, there was a prayer,
There was a curse of the Bantry Bay;
There was young lady Margaret,
There were her eyes as gold as wheat;
There was her father, and the Crown,
An Irish sky and English dawns;
One day the wind of change has blown
Here comes the rebel Theobald Tone;
A fifty warships were on their way,
To liberate cursed Bantry Bay
COLONEL Fifteen thousand French soldiers lead by this bastard Wolfe! We cannot allow
them to land in here and put their stinky revolutionary feet on our ground, on our English
ground! You have to do something, White!
WHITE Sir, The weather is terrible. They won’t be able to anchor anyway.
COLONEL The weather!? The WEATHER?! And that’s all you want to say?! You are just the
same as the rest of these corpses, of these rats! Don’t you even dare thinking that I will let
Margaret marry you, you traitor, you better pray for the Crown mercy when we meet again
on the trial!
WHITE But…
So Richard White forced all the men,
To join his army and defend,
An English crown and land and rights,
Their nightmares and their sleepless nights;
Your father said that he wouldn’t fight,
On behalf of Lord Richard White,
He’d rather drown in the Bay of Bantry,
Than be a traitor of his country;
When White was told what father said,
He felt in fury and command,
To punish him and everyone,
Who didn’t want to hold the gun;
MARGARET The wife of the punished rebel came, asking if she can take her husband’s body
in order to burry him.
WHITE I decided that his corpse will be thrown in the sea, as it doesn’t deserve to be buried
in the English ground. This is what happens to the traitors, this is what will happen to all of
them, sooner or later.
MARGARET You are cruel. And you know this is not the English land.
WHITE This is the English land, I will be the Earl of Bantry and you will be my wife even if I
would have to slaughter all this Irish scum!
We had no hope, we had no choice
We picked up arms and lost our voices
And aimed towards the ships sent here
To bring the freedom, not the fear;
The rain was heavier with a day,
The ships were trapped in furious bay,
The French Armada has fallen apart,
With noise of hundreds breaking hearts;
MARGARET Father, the ships have turned around.
COLONEL It’s not enough. White was loyal during the danger, but I told him that until he
wipes out all the rebels in Bantry, he’s worth nothing in my eyes. He said that he will execute
all the suspicious elements this night.
MARGARET What?
COLONEL They deserve nothing but death. And White must prove himself. By the way, he
invited us for a supper today. I’m not feeling really well knowing that he stocked up all the
munitions in the wine cellars, but I believe he’s much more reasonable man now,.
COLONEL Their blind love to their not-existing country is inhumane.
But do not cry, because that day,
When darkness covered Bantry Bay,
The ghost of your father has wake up from sleep,
And turn their triumph to the weep;
We heard the noise in through the night,
And then the sky was filled with light,
The Bantry House was burned to ground,
And bodies have never been found;
There was a house on Bantry Bay,
The house of wealth, of love and hate,
There was a councilor who lost his fight,
There were many dark, starless nights;