Out of the Wings

¿Dónde estás, Ulalume, dónde estás? (1990), Alfonso Sastre Salvador

Where are you, Ulalume? Where are you? : ACT THREE, excerpt 1 , ACT THREE, excerpt 2 , ACT FIVE , ACT TWELVE

Where are you, Ulalume? Where are you? (2007), translated by Paul Rankin

ACT THREE, excerpt 1

Edition

Sastre, Alfonso. 2007. Where are you, Ulalume? Where are you?, trans. Paul Rankin. Madrid, Caos Editorial, http://www.caoseditorial.com/libros/ficha.asp?lg=en&id=46 [accessed April 2011] (Online Publication)

13-14

Context:

Eddy has arrived at Baltimore train station. He tries to buy a train ticket for Philadelphia. The rather confused conversation between Eddy and the Employee is representative of the way in which Eddy’s way of speaking leads to communication problems between him and other characters throughout the play.

Sample text

Badly lit station. EDDY arrives carrying his suitcase and goes over to a mysterious ticket window, mysterious because it is in darkness, behind which is the EMPLOYEE – the same actor as played Billy from the bar in the port. An atmosphere of dense loneliness and damp cold.
EDDY:: Good evening. (The EMPLOYEE does not respond to this greeting either.) I would like to make an enquiry, please, and if that should be possible to purchase a ticket to Philadelphia.
EMPLOYEE: (Eventually raises his head from something that was occupying him.): Can I help you?
EDDY:: What time does the train leave for Philadelphia?
EMPLOYEE: (Says that it leaves at twelve but EDDY understands something like:): Aelvolow [i.e. as a distortion of ‘At twelve o’clock’].
EDDY :: Excuse me. What time did you say?
EMPLOYEE:: Aelvolow, aelvolow.
EDDY: (Incredulous.): ‘Aelvolow?’ I asked you the time. And you say ‘aelvolow’?
EMPLOYEE:: The train to Philadelphia, you said? (EDDY nods.) Well I said to you that it leaves at twelve.
EDDY: (Relieved.): Now I understand: the train for Philadelphia leaves at twelve o’clock. And are there tickets for this train? Can I acquire one?
EMPLOYEE: (Astonished.): Acquire?
EDDY:: That word surprises you?
EMPLOYEE:: Acquire a ticket? You can do as you wish, but I would not acquire a ticket. Will it not do you just to buy it?

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Where are you, Ulalume? Where are you? (2007) by Paul Rankin is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

ACT THREE, excerpt 2

Edition

pp. 15-16

Context:

Later, in Baltimore train station, the Employee recognises Eddy as Edgar Allan Poe. The Employee offers Eddy some food and wine. Eddy initially refuses alcohol, but eventually accepts. This is the beginning of his descent into drunkenness.

Sample text

EMPLOYEE:

Are you Edgar Allan Poe?

EDDY:

That is what they call me.

EMPLOYEE:

I know you. Are you the writer?

EDDY:

Yes.

EMPLOYEE:

The Crow, Ulalume, The Black Cat, The Sherry Barrel, The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Shall I go on?

EDDY:

You are very kind.

EMPLOYEE:

Lady Ligeia, Berenice, The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym.

EDDY:

You are excellently well read, my good man!

EMPLOYEE:

I am delighted to meet you. I imagined you a little different, though.

EDDY: (Smiles.)

And yet this is what I am like.

[…]

EMPLOYEE:

… Would you like an aperitif while you wait for your food?

EDDY:

An aperitif? (The question evidently poses him a problem.)

EMPLOYEE:

We have some European alcohols and a rice brandy, which is more or less Chinese.

EDDY:

Is it a strange drink?

EMPLOYEE:

It’s very smooth. Pleasant as an aperitif.

EDDY: (Finally.)

No, no. Bring the soup straight away, please.

EMPLOYEE:

And with your meal, would you like wine or beer?

EDDY: (It is too much for him to reject this offer completely.)

Perhaps a small glass of wine.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Where are you, Ulalume? Where are you? (2007) by Paul Rankin is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

ACT FIVE

Edition

p. 25

Context:

Eddy has left the station to clear his head after the wine left him feeling dizzy. He has come across what looks like a tomb, only to enter and find it is the Red Cypress-Tree Tavern. Inside, he meets the old sailor Redbeard, and his drinking continues.

Sample text

EDDY:: Let us drink, then, a drop to the memory of long-lost Ulalume. (He drinks. He goes pale.)
REDBEARD:: You are a sad gentleman. I have seen it just now in your haggard face.
EDDY:: I came in here to drink a cup of sarsaparilla, and I did so dreaming of Ulalume’s cherished cadaver.
REDBEARD:: And you found a shipwrecked sailor in a sea of gin.
EDDY:: You were waiting for me in the darkness and I have fallen into the trap. Now I must return to the Station without fail.
REDBEARD:: You can also reach your journey’s end sailing the sea of gin.
EDDY:: Please go on.
REDBEARD:: What can I say to you?
EDDY:: I was unfair a moment ago.
REDBEARD:: I didn’t realise.
EDDY:: ‘I have fallen into the trap’.
REDBEARD:: Well, you should know.
EDDY:: You, drinking your gin, are an island of freedom in the sea of tranquility, under the infernal sun and dead calm.
REDBEARD:: Is that how you express yourself?
EDDY:: It is bad literature, but at this very moment it is my heart that speaks to you. I would have a drink with you.
REDBEARD: (Serving him.): You will be able to get your train. Don’t worry. (They drink. They savour their drinks.)
EDDY:: Now I feel much better. (He looks around him, and appears to see a pleasant landscape.) This is a nice place!

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Where are you, Ulalume? Where are you? (2007) by Paul Rankin is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

ACT TWELVE

Edition

pp. 40-1

Context:

Eddy has once again missed his train. After passing out at the House of Horrors he wakes up among a group of drunks. He poetically recalls the pain of losing Virginia.

Sample text

Façade of an electoral college that will open in approximately two hours. There, leaning against the wall or lying on the ground nearby, are many DRUNK MEN and one or two women sleeping off the night’s excesses. Among them is JIMMY, the man from the mental hospital who tried to help EDDY in his search for the Station, although we don’t recognise him yet. Since there will be insufficient actors available for this, we suggest a large number of hyperrealist dolls, that is, that truly look like vagabonds and outsiders. Now the cart full of drunks that picked up EDDY arrives; they are unloaded and placed here and there with varying degrees of care. All these people remain motionless, but EDDY sits up and makes a gesture of amazement. He then takes out a bottle of whisky and takes a long drink. With a monotonous accent, he addresses the audience, saying:)

EDDY:

I have no idea where I am.

I have no idea what date it is nor what time it is.

I have spent my last few cents on a bottle of whisky.

I am trying to reach a railway station, but I have been unable.

Last year, I don’t know if it was 1848 but I do know it was one of the worst in my life.

Two years ago my dearest sweet

Virginia died in New York

in the horror of poverty,

in the cold,

in hunger,

in that little house in Fordham,

and her mother, my Muddie, our angel,

watched her daughter die in the desolation of our lives.

Thirteen years ago or twenty-five, who knows,

was that wedding with sweet Virginia nameless here

for evermore (He cries.)

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Where are you, Ulalume? Where are you? (2007) by Paul Rankin is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Entry written by Gwynneth Dowling. Last updated on 6 June 2011.

Authors, Plays & Translators

Out of the Wings

Out of the Wings

You are here:

¿Dónde estás, Ulalume, dónde estás? (1990), Alfonso Sastre Salvador

Where are you, Ulalume? Where are you? (2007), translated by Paul Rankin

ACT THREE, excerpt 1

ACT THREE, excerpt 2

ACT FIVE

ACT TWELVE

Authors, Plays & Translators