Out of the Wings

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En la red (1959), Alfonso Sastre Salvador

Scene

The play is divided into three acts. These are respectively entitled ‘Evening’, ‘Night’ and ‘Dawn’.

Staging

The action takes place in an uninhabited apartment with a balcony. There is a radio on which the characters listen to music, news bulletins and Resistance Army broadcasts. The doorbell to the apartment is muffled. The other doorbell that is rung to warn the characters of danger has a different sound.

The sound of a lift stopping at different floors is heard frequently.

In act 3, Celia takes out a revolver that has a silencer. At the end of the play, the soldiers break down the apartment door with their machine guns.

The play is infused with the oppressive heat of the African country in which it is set. Although Sastre states that the characters rarely refer to the heat, their actions suggest it, as they wipe sweat from their brows and fan themselves. Each one wears white or cream to reflect the summer heat.

Music

In act 1 the characters listen to the French star Yves Montand singing a song associated with the French Resistance.

Cast number
Minimum Maximum
8 males 8 males
2 females 2 females
10 (total) 10 (total)
Characters
  • PABLO
  • CELIA
  • TAYEB
  • AISHA
  • HANAFI
  • LEO

MILITARY POLICE PATROL

  • SERGEANT
  • SOLDIER 1
  • SOLDIER 2
  • SOLDIER 3

Entry written by Gwynneth Dowling. Last updated on 26 February 2011.

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