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• Eternal Return : SCENE TWO, excerpt 1 , SCENE TWO, excerpt 2 , SCENE FOUR , SCENE SIXTEEN

Eternal Return, translated by Gwynneth Dowling

SCENE TWO, excerpt 1

Context:

An old man and Máncer stand underneath a hanged man. This man was Máncer’s father. Máncer is hoping is brother Alnado will return so that they can hold a wake for their father.

Sample text

OLD MAN:

What sort of party is this? What is a party?

MÁNCER:

It’s a wake.

OLD MAN:

Where is everyone? I can’t see anyone. How can you have a party if nobody comes?

MÁNCER:

They’ll come. They’ll come here for it.

The OLD MAN looks at the dead man. He walks over and stares at him.

OLD MAN:

We hanged him three months ago. He smells now.

MÁNCER:

He should be here by now.

OLD MAN:

Don’t worry. If it’s a party, no one’s going to miss it.

MÁNCER:

He left a long time ago.

OLD MAN:

Don’t worry. He knows how to look after himself.

MÁNCER:

He should come home. We can’t celebrate without him.

OLD MAN:

Celebrate? Celebrate what?

MÁNCER:

The wake. The party.

Copyright

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

SCENE TWO, excerpt 2

Context:

Alnado arrives home. He has been gone for three months.

Sample text

High on the horizon, between the derelict furniture piled up to make shacks, a man appears. He is tall and well built, but his face is threaded with lines of experience. With a slow, tired walk, he quietly approaches the coffin, whistling the end of the tune heard in scene 1. This is ALNADO. The OLD MAN approaches him, angry.

OLD MAN:

Would you mind telling us where you’ve been all this time?

ALNADO:

So you’re still alive, you foolish old man.

OLD MAN:

Three months we’ve been waiting for you. No food, no water. Waiting and waiting. Just waiting.

ALNADO:

That’s no good, especially at your age.

OLD MAN:

We didn’t starve on your account. We thought you weren’t going to come.

ALNADO goes towards the empty gallows, where MÁNCER is waiting. The OLD MAN remains in the foreground, holding his pig by a rope.

OLD MAN:

I’m being serious. Very serious. Things must be done right, especially parties. They’re very important, parties. You have to prepare for them properly. Do you know what a party is? I bet you’ve no clue. I bet you’ve never been to one. Anyway, the pigs need feeding.

ALNADO:

The pigs have more than enough food.

Underneath the spot where they took the hanged man down, ALNADO picks up the strands of rope left behind by the members of the funeral cortege. MÁNCER goes to him and coldly starts lecturing him.

MÁNCER:

There’s never enough food for the pigs.

ALNADO:

An overfed pig goes rotten, blind and its stomach bursts. After that, the pig is useless and has to be burned. You can’t even use it as fertiliser – it rots the ground.

MÁNCER:

The only thing that matters is selling fat pigs. The fatter the better.

OLD MAN:

Animals that look good.

ALNADO:

There are men out there with hardly a crust of bread to their name.

MÁNCER:

You can’t feed men up to then kill, carve and sell them. It’s a pity, but it’s illegal. If they ever make it legal, there won’t be a starving man left on the face of the earth, make no mistake.

ALNADO:

I don’t doubt it in the least.

MÁNCER:

Would you mind telling us where you’ve been all this time?

ALNADO:

I can’t.

MÁNCER:

Why not?

ALNADO:

Because I was lost.

Copyright

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

SCENE FOUR

Context:

At the wake for his father, Alnado is reunited with Maria, who used to work in his father’s house. Alnado is fond of Maria, but there is tension between himself and her boyfriend, Abel. Maria and Abel plan to steal one of Máncer’s pigs.

Sample text

OLD MAN:

And how are you going to get your hands on a pig?

ABEL:

By stealing it.

ALNADO:

Don’t even think about it.

ABEL:

Why not?

ALNADO:

A stunt like that would cost you dearly.

MARIA stands up and stares at ALNADO.

MARIA:

Pigs don’t belong to those who have them, but to those who need them. The starving, those who will die if they don’t eat. What is a pig? A disgusting, smelly, filthy beast. A beast made to be killed, made into food. Right now we feel strong because we’ve just eaten. But we need to think about the future.

ALNADO:

You speak well. Who’s taught you?

ABEL:

Why would she need teaching? Doesn’t she have a brain of her own? Can’t she see the injustice with her own eyes, smell the filth with her own nose? Can’t a woman see what a man sees?

ALNADO:

A woman would never say such stupid things.

ABEL stands up.

ABEL:

What stupid things?

ALNADO:

Stealing pigs.

ABEL:

Not even you could eat those pigs’ weeds.

ALNADO turns and confronts ABEL.

ALNADO:

I’m happy with what I’ve got.

MARIA:

And what do you have?

ALNADO:

Nothing.

Copyright

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

SCENE SIXTEEN

Context:

Alnado has fled from Máncer with Maria and her young son Cain. Cain wants to know what his father Abel was like. Before Cain was born, Abel was hanged by Máncer for stealing a pig.

Sample text

CAIN:

What were you saying the other day?

ALNADO:

When?

CAIN:

What were you going to say about my father?

ALNADO:

I wasn’t going to say anything.

CAIN:

You knew him, didn’t you?

ALNADO:

A long time ago.

CAIN:

But you remember. You look like you’ve a good memory.

ALNADO:

I wouldn’t be too sure of that.

CAIN:

What was he like? Was he brave?

ALNADO:

I don’t know. There weren’t any wars or fights then where you could show bravery. It was peacetime.

CAIN:

Like now. We’re at peace now.

ALNADO:

There is indeed peace. But we’re not at peace. We’re at war.

CAIN:

It’s my father’s fault we’re at war.

ALNADO:

The only thing you can be sure of is that you and I are soldiers.

CAIN:

If my father were alive, he would be a fair man. He wouldn’t let anyone starve and he wouldn’t hit children.

ALNADO:

Who’s been filling your mind with things like that?

CAIN:

My mother. But I bet you know lots more about my father. I bet you were best friends.

ALNADO finishes filling a large animal skin with water. He ties it and drops the bucket back into the well.

ALNADO:

I hardly knew your father. I only had the chance to see him a few times. To be honest, I first met him shortly before he died.

CAIN:

Máncer killed him.

ALNADO:

You’re well informed about things.

CAIN:

That’s the only bedtime story I let them tell me. I only want to hear the story about my father.

ALNADO:

Okay. I think you know just as much about your father as I do. There’s only one thing I can tell you. In all my life, I’ve never met someone who did what your father did. Not even anyone who thought about doing it.

Copyright

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

Entry written by Gwynneth Dowling. Last updated on 30 November 2011.

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