81 EXT.

BEACH - TWILIGHT 81

Shona and Ray sit by a fire, the light fading, wrapped in their
sleeping bags. Ray reads from The Táin. Shona provides
atmosphere by drawing out ominous notes on her fiddle.

RAY (READING)
Medb had set up a shelter of shields
to guard the rear of the men of
Ireland. She had sent off the Brown
Bull of Cuailnge to Cruachan by a
roundabout road -

Shona stops playing.

SHONA
Ray -

Ray stops reading.

SHONA (CONT’D)
What’s all this about being shy?

RAY
Hah?

SHONA
About not taking your top off?

RAY
Nothing. They just started slagging me
about it coz I wouldn’t swim with
them.

SHONA
Because you’re embarrassed?

RAY
No.

SHONA
Sher if you’re skinny or you’re fat
like who gives a fuck?

RAY
Why are we talking about this?

SHONA
Are you afraid of me seeing you in
your jocks?

RAY
No.
 2.

SHONA
Okay so swim tomorrow. This is a great
place for it.

Ray considers the challenge.

SHONA (CONT’D)
Come on, who gives a fuck? Be brave.

RAY
Eh no.

SHONA
Okay, do it for me then.

Ray laughs and shakes his head. He goes back to reading.

RAY (READING)
She had sent off the Brown Bull of
Cuailnge to Cruachan by a roundabout
road with fifty of his heifers and
eight messengers ...

Shona shrugs and goes back to providing atmospherics.

89 EXT. SHOP STREET, GALWAY - DAY 89

Shona and Ray play on the street, Shona’s fiddle case open for
donations. They finish a tune, unnoticed by the crowds of
afternoon shoppers.

SHONA
Will ya play the thing? For fucksake.
It’s like I’m playing on my own here.

RAY
I’m accompanying you. You play the
lead. I’m just backing you up.

SHONA
Fuck that. Make yourself heard. Where’s
your conviction and your personality
and your fucking testicles?

RAY
I don’t feel particularly testicular
right now. Can I not just concentrate
on playing it right?

SHONA
Like an auld fart, is it?
 3.

RAY
Maybe I am an auld fart.

SHONA
So join an orchestra. You can start
telling me I’m playing too fast.

RAY
Maybe you are playing too fast.

SHONA
Maybe you just can’t keep up.

RAY
Maybe I can’t.

SHONA
Come on. Pretend ya care and maybe
it’ll trigger a little spark in some
dark corner of your broken heart.

Ray starts laughing. Shona can’t keep a straight face.

SHONA (CONT’D)
And play like you have a mad fuckin
ragin’ horn on ya.

RAY
I do now after ya talkin’ to me like
that.

SHONA
No! Stop it! Say it through the music.

RAY
Go on so.

They start playing.

SHONA
Come on! HUP!

Ray gives it a bit more welly, focuses on his commitment.

They play a whole piece in a single take, really performing,

laughing and egging each other on, pushing harder to scale some
invisible mountain.

They finish and the CROWD they hadn’t even noticed bursts into
applause.

Loose change piles up in Shona’s fiddle case.

They look at each other, pleasantly surprised.