Plays / Riders to the Sea

Riders to the Sea: who’s in each scene

J. M. Synge · 1904

Plan this showLoads this breakdown into the free planner. Add your cast and their conflicts; get a schedule and call notices.

Scenes

Speaking roles

Groups / ensemble

Scene × character grid

● speaks · ○ on stage, no lines. Weight compares each scene’s length to the play’s typical scene.

Scene	Weight	Cathleen	Nora	Maurya	Bartley	Women	Men
Scene (i)Cottage kitchen on an island off western Ireland	light	●	●
Scene (ii)Cottage kitchen on an island off western Ireland	light	●	●	●
Scene (iii)Cottage kitchen on an island off western Ireland	normal	●	●	●	●
Scene (iv)Cottage kitchen on an island off western Ireland	light	●	●	●
Scene (v)Cottage kitchen on an island off western Ireland	normal	●	●
Scene (vi)Cottage kitchen on an island off western Ireland	fuller	●	●	●
Scene (vii)Cottage kitchen on an island off western Ireland	fuller	●	●	●		●	●

Cast size and doubling

4 speaking roles plus 2 groups.

Bartley (Scene (iii) only) never shares a unit with the Men or the Women.

Heaviest scenes

Work these early and often:

Scene (vi) — 3 speaking, about 61 lines
Scene (vii) — 5 speaking, about 59 lines
Scene (iii) — 4 speaking, about 46 lines

Characters

Cathleen — Maurya's daughter
Nora — Maurya's younger daughter
Maurya — An old woman
Bartley — Maurya's son
Women — Island women who come to keen
Men — Island men who carry the body

Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook #994: Riders to the Sea, with an introduction by Edward J. O'Brien dated 1911 (Boston: John W. Luce & Co., 1911). Breakdown derived from this text. Public domain in the United States. Breakdown only — no text of the play is reproduced here.