The Boat
In March 2023 we completed a series of workshops at the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU). With the support of the Fighting Words team, participants on the Shaping Futures course wrote their own screen play called The Boat.
A Screenplay by
Zdenko, Alan, Marie, Dermot, Mary, Stephen, Alma, Marianna, Noel, Orla, Rudolph and Tony.
Nikita, 30, feisty, stubborn, usually easy going, hustler/businesswoman,
She owned her crime and took responsibility. Was caught in the middle of something.
Marko, 40, he knows his way around the kitchen, stressed, mysterious.
He works on a boat as a captain.
Scene One
Outside Dublin prison.
Nikita
There you are.
Marko
How’ya.
Nikita
Who told you I was getting out?
Marko
It doesn’t matter. I’m here, am’nt I?
Nikita
You’re here now, are ya . . . wanna tell me why?
Marko
I don’t know, maybe I should have just kept going by in the taxi.
Nikita
You’ve no fuckin’ idea what I’ve been through.
Marko
Whose fault was it?
Nikita
I shouldn’t have to tell you.
Marko
I sent you clothes, money, I wrote you letters, and you never wrote back.
Scene Two
Sorrento, Italy. Outside coffee shop. Five years earlier.
Marko
Can I sit here? (in Italian)
Nikita
I don’t speak Italian well.
Marko
That’s OK, I’m a Liberties boy. Is English better for you?
Nikita
Are you here for business or pleasure?
Marko
A little bit of both. I have a lot of business between here and Ireland. And family too.
Nikita
Oh wow, what kind of business?
Marko
Let’s just say I deal in contraband.
Nikita
What does that mean?
Marko
I bring in ciggies at a good price.
Nikita
Ah sure, you’re not harming anyone.
Marko
Do you have a ticket back to Dublin?
Nikita
Not yet, they’re very expensive.
Marko
I have a boat and I’m heading back next Tuesday. You want to come with me?
Scene Three
On the boat. Nikita is looking around.
Nikita
Wow, this is really nice. It’s not what I expected.
Marko
The kind of work I do has been good to me.
Nikita
I didn’t know there was that much profit in cigarettes.
Marko
I have my hands in other pies too.
Nikita
Am I better off not knowing?
The boat sails into Dublin Port.
Marko
Do you have any room in your bag?
Nikita
Sure, I have plenty of room.
Marko
Thanks. It’ll help us move through customs quicker.
Flashing blue lights are seen as they pull into the port.
Scene Four
In the courtroom.
Court Clerk
All rise.
Judge
Under section 15, you are being charged with trafficking illegal uncut diamonds into the Republic of Ireland, to the value of 500,000 euro. How do you plead, guilty or not guilty?
Pause. Nikita gazes at Marko and then at her own family.
Nikita
Guilty.
Scene Five
Back to Scene One.
Nikita
You sent me clothes, you sent me letters - and you also sent me to prison for four years.
Marko
How can I make up for it?
Nikita
Do you still have the boat?
. . . . . . . . . . .
