Out of the Wings

Amén (c.2006), Carlos Be

Amen : SCENE ONE (United States, 2005) , SCENE FIVE (In the World, 1990) , SCENE SIX (Firing Squad in Fuente Grande, at the Foot of an Olive Tree, 1936) , SCENE SEVEN (The United States, 2005)

Amen, translated by Gwynneth Dowling

SCENE ONE (United States, 2005)

Context:

Two priests talk about the impact of child sex abuse scandals on the Catholic Church.

Sample text

ARTHUR:

We must work on the conscience of our flock. If we don’t give them the relief and tranquility they want, they’ll stop turning to us. And then they’ll be alone in this world. It’s our duty to ensure that those who feel alone don’t feel alone. It’s for them that God exists.

ROBERT:

The insurers. What do the insurers say?

ARTHUR:

Which insurers?

ROBERT:

Ours. From head office.

ARTHUR:

Oh, those non-believers. They say it’s a crisis. A real crisis.

ROBERT:

Another one?

ARTHUR:

I’m not joking. We’ve lost face. And thousands of millions of dollars. The Santa Fe diocese is bankrupt – there’s been more than 100 allegations made against its priests and the Bishop. And in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore … They won’t pay out. The insurers won’t pay out …

They see us as a business.

ROBERT:

We can’t survive without them.

ARTHUR:

They’re turning believers’ souls into mere business transactions.

ROBERT:

Why?

ARTHUR:

Why, ‘why’?

ROBERT:

Why won’t they pay out?

ARTHUR:

Because we’ve continued to send out priests with histories of abuse to our parishes.

ROBERT:

But we’re making up for that by stopping new abusers getting positions of power, aren’t we?

ARTHUR:

Robert, they’ll be offenders one day. It’s prevention.

ROBERT:

Don’t get me started. It’s a witch-hunt, a whitewash. Just like the whitewash in the 40s. And in the 60s. Playing to the gallery.

ARTHUR:

People need to forget and we’re just helping them do that.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Amen by Gwynneth Dowling is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE FIVE (In the World, 1990)

Context:

An actor provides an overview of the way homosexuals were being treated in the year 1990.

Sample text

Death penalty for homosexuals in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Chechnya, Mauritania, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan. Death.

Life imprisonment for homosexual men in India.

It’s not a crime to be homosexual in Egypt or Cuba, but they charge them with other crimes – like public scandal or crimes against religion.

In Honduras, Colombia, Nicaragua and Nepal they murder, torture and/or persecute sexual minorities.

In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe orders the arrest of homosexuals, claiming that they are ‘worse than pigs and dogs’.

In the United States, sodomy is still punishable by law in some states.

In 1990, the World Health Organisation no longer considers homosexuals as mentally ill.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Amen by Gwynneth Dowling is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE SIX (Firing Squad in Fuente Grande, at the Foot of an Olive Tree, 1936)

Context:

The poet and playwright Federico García Lorca has been arrested. His captor, Antonio, makes it clear that his crime is homosexuality.

Sample text

FEDERICO:

There are four of us. Four of us in handcuffs. There are six of you. Six of you with weapons. I tried to say a prayer. My mother taught me all of them, but I’ve forgotten them. Will I be sentenced? What’s your name?

ANTONIO:

Antonio Benavides. And I’ll be the one sentencing you – to ‘two shots in the head for your overrated books’; ‘two shots in the ass for being a poof’. ‘Two shots in the head for your overrated books’; ‘two shots in the ass for being a poof’. I’m your cousin. One of the Alba family.

FEDERICO:

It will hit Rafael hard. He joins the Republican Army and dies of war wounds a year to the day of my death. What day is it? What night? There’s no moon.

ANTONIO:

Early morning, August 17th.

FEDERICO:

Rafael will die in a year and a day. I won’t be able to be at his side. How sad.

One and one are never two,

in Granada.

They are always one and one,

never managing

to come together.

Fire!

Antonio Benavides does not shoot. The firing squad does not shoot. And Antonio Benavides asks, overcome by a force so raw that it goes against fate, by a force that could change everything, asks before shooting Federico García Lorca:

ANTONIO:

Choose.

Die with two dirty bullets

in your filthy face,

facing that future

with life in your eyes.

Or die in a white bed

in some nameless hospital,

facing that future

with AIDS in your eyes.

FEDERICO:

I can choose?

ANTONIO:

Yes.

FEDERICO:

Life.

Bang!

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Amen by Gwynneth Dowling is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE SEVEN (The United States, 2005)

Context:

This is the near the end of the play. The priests decide to conceal Arthur’s crimes from the public.

Sample text

ARTHUR:

Don’t worry. The Church has lived through worse times. There’s no need to despair.

ROBERT:

Worse times, yes, if we’re talking historically. But what about personally? How does each one of those people judging us get through this? Those who condemn us?

ARTHUR:

They’re sinners.

ROBERT:

Well, what do I do? Denounce you?

ARTHUR:

Me?

ROBERT:

Yes, Arthur, you. The guidelines I have in my hand oblige me to.

ARTHUR:

Don’t do it.

ROBERT:

You want me to cover for you? I won’t do it ...

I’ll hide you. I’ll become your accomplice. We’ll both be guilty. Both guilty of a single sin. Like a married couple living in sin.

ARTHUR:

He who is without sin … Thank you.

ROBERT:

You may thank me, but there are those out there who will never have the least opportunity to use that word. We forgive. We conceal. Amen. Or, to put it another way, our lips are sealed.

ARTHUR:

We are servants of God. Amen. We are set apart from others. Amen. Part of our task is to conceal sins, not eliminate them: so that they can still exist, so that we can redeem believers, so that they still need us. Amen.

Copyright