History

Who is Mollser?

An excerpt from Mollser’s diary, reflecting on modern life from the character’s point of view

Mary-Lou McCarthy performs Me, Mollser for the sixth class boys of St Lawrence O’Toole Junior Boys’ School, Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Wed Sep 23 2015 - 01:00

To mark the 1916 centenary, The Abbey Theatre will give performances of Me, Mollser, to 5th and 6th classes in primary schools across the country. Me, Mollser is a drama based on a 15-year-old character from Seán O'Casey's play The Plough and the Stars, set in 1916. Mollser suffered from consumption, and the play gives a sense of a teenager's life 100 years ago.

Here is an excerpt from Mollser’s diary, reflecting on modern life from the character’s point of view. It was written by actor Mary-Lou McCarthy, who created the role in the 2013 Abbey Theatre production.

I’ve got a real bad pain in me neck. Must have been the cold floor I was lyin’ on, ’cause one minute I was in me bed in Henrietta Street in Dublin an’ the next thing I was under this sheet in Trolley or something [it’s Tralee – ed].

De funny ting is, I haven’t seen Nora or Mam in days. All I see is dese young people. They must be really rich, ’cause none of them are coughing.

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Dey look really clean. And they all have shoes on. Loads of shoes – with funny tings written on dem like Nike or Adidas. Dey must be the name of de fella who made the shoes, but I never met a fella called Nike or Adidas in de tenements.

I went to look for me mam an’ I found a gorgeous, big room. It had electricity in it, an’ mirrors. And I heard a funny noise the other side of a door. It was like the wind was blowing. You’ll never guess what was in there – a toilet. In the room!

And it was clean. No rats or pigs or anything in there. An’ the big noise in there I was told after is from a thing called a F-A-N which brings in clean air when you’re in a show-er. A show-er is a giant tap in the ceiling with water coming out to wash yourself.

But they’re going to start making people pay for the water soon I was told. So I’m going to use the show-er as many times as I can until then. And the soap . . . Do you know when you walk past Arnotts, an’ the door opens and a woman in a beautiful dress walks out, and you smell the perfume? Well, that’s what the soap was like. Gorgeous.