Out of the Wings

Las viejas difíciles (1961-1962), Carlos Muñiz

The Difficult Old Ladies : PART ONE, Prologue, excerpt 1 , PART ONE, Prologue, excerpt 2 , PART ONE, Scene One , PART TWO, Scene One

The Difficult Old Ladies, translated by Gwynneth Dowling

PART ONE, Prologue, excerpt 1

Context:

This is the beginning of the play. Two women from The Association gossip, outraged at what they consider to be the immoral behaviour of citizens.

Sample text

Heavy snow is falling as the curtain rises. From the left two OLD WOMEN appear, taking short, quick and lively steps. Their hats, with black chin straps, are rather reminiscent of military helmets.
WOMAN 1:: Is it possible?
WOMAN 2:: Very possible. We must put a stop to it all.
WOMAN 1:: We’ll take it to The Association. The Association cannot allow things like that to go on in our city.
WOMAN 2:: Indeed. It’s against the moral order. Just imagine!
WOMAN 1:: And they say it’s Don Armando’s niece? The Deputy Inspector General?
WOMAN 2:: The niece!
WOMAN 1:: And she was saying to him …
WOMAN 2: (Repeating the words she overheard.): “If I don’t manage to get married this year, I’m going to England to learn English …”
WOMAN 1:: Goodness me, that’s terrible! And she’ll brazenly go off to Mass this Sunday.
WOMAN 2:: A woman like that’s capable of anything.
WOMAN 1:: Well, The Association won’t tolerate it. We’ll propose that The Association presents a complaint to the Mayor’s Office. We’ll do that this very evening.
WOMAN 2:: Do you think the Mayor’s Office will pay us any attention?
WOMAN 1:: If they don’t, we’ll finish that Mayor off!
WOMAN 2:: Like we did the other one. Remember?
WOMAN 1:: Of course I remember! (They both laugh.)
WOMAN 2:: Look there, Doña Isidora! It’s a flower! A flower in the park in the middle of January!
WOMAN 1:: The gardener’s got no shame! Imagine letting a flower grow in the middle of January!
WOMAN 2:: It’s immoral.
WOMAN 1:: We’ll have to finish that gardener off.
WOMAN 2:: Complain to the Mayor’s Office.
WOMAN 1:: Not a bit of it! A shot in the head would be much more effective. (A Security Guard goes by.) We must put a stop to this immorality. We must watch over the sanctity of our city. We are the chosen ones.
WOMAN 2:: If it wasn’t for us …
WOMAN 1:: Shhh! Don’t say that!
WOMAN 2:: And have you heard about Doña Inés?
WOMAN 1:: The Provincial Delegate’s wife?
WOMAN 2:: The very same!
WOMAN 1:: She’s applied for membership of The Association.
WOMAN 2:: She’s got no shame. (They start to walk off to the right.) You know, the other night Don Simón’s maid told me she saw her eating a sausage sandwich. On a Friday!

Copyright

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

PART ONE, Prologue, excerpt 2

Context:

Antonio and Julita have been engaged for 37 years. Fed up, Julita wants to get married. They decide to marry the very next week and seal their future with a kiss. The Association forbids such public displays of affection, and the couple are arrested.

Sample text

JULITA:: I want to get married.
ANTONIO:: Me too.
JULITA:: I’ve had enough!
ANTONIO:: Even if we have to starve to death, Julita, we will get married.
JULITA:: Right away, Antonio?
ANTONIO:: Whenever you want.
JULITA:: Next week?
ANTONIO:: Next week.
JULITA:: You’re so handsome, Antonio!
ANTONIO:: I was when I was young. Do you love me?
JULITA:: Of course. (Pause. After taking a deep breath.) How nice it is here. We’re getting married!; They look at each other, come together and kiss. A long, deep kiss, like the kiss a mother would give a child. From behind the tree where he was hiding the SECURITY GUARD appears, with a little notebook in his hand.
SECURITY GUARD:: Enough! Enough, now! (He roughly pulls them apart.) I’ve been following you two since you came in through the main gate. You’ve no shame! Immoral idiots! You wanted to go to the gardens! And you were kissing!
JULITA: (Blushing.): Antonio, he’s right. We can’t deny it.
ANTONIO:: We’re getting married next week.
SECURITY GUARD:: That’s what they all say. Lust! Sin! That’s what you’re after with all this talk of marriage. But it’s more about little caresses and worse! You two were even thinking about having a child. I heard that clearly. A child! What a nerve!
JULITA:: If my dead mother saw me now, Antonio! I’m so ashamed!
ANTONIO:: We’re going to get married. We’ve been engaged for 37 years!
JULITA: (Shyly.): And three months …
SECURITY GUARD:: Decent people do not go for strolls in the park, to stare into each other’s eyes, or kiss, or play leapfrog, or to watch the birds or smell the flowers, not even to look at the ducks in the pond. This is completely immoral! There’ll be a fine to pay and the Mayor’s Office must be informed. And you’ll have to sign the punishment book, and the ladies of The Association’s book – the ‘I Admit It’ book.
JULITA:: The ladies? We’re done for, Antonio!

Copyright

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

PART ONE, Scene One

Context:

Some ladies of The Association have come to see Joaquina to inform her that her nephew has been released and to warn her against associating with him.

Sample text

JOAQUINA:

But, weren’t they sentenced to death, Agapito? (Agapito shakes his head apologetically.) Of all the things!

FABIAN:

We happen to live in a century that now, now …

WOMAN 3:

We’ve come to inquire: are you thinking of giving refuge to your former nephew, whether or not he comes here alone or with bad company?

JOAQUINA:

Absolutely not! I’d cut off my right hand first! A person like that has no family, deserves to be condemned, struck down by a bolt from heaven!

WOMEN AND FABIAN:

A bolt from heaven!

LEONOR AND AGAPITO:

Condemned!

WOMAN 3:

In any case, we’ve been assigned to give you this warning in the presence of Don Fabian, The Association’s notary, that if your good hearts betray you and if you welcome an immoral character like your nephew into this respectable house, The Association will immediately expel you both.

Someone is at the door. LEONOR goes to open it.

FABIAN:

I can testify to the fact that you have spoken clearly.

WOMAN 3: (After smiling at DON FABIAN.)

If you heed our warning you will be welcomed by The Association with the same love as always. If not, we will work tirelessly day and night to see you are punished for receiving that monster into your house …

LEONOR screams loudly.

JOAQUINA:

Antonio will never set foot in this house! I swear it on my Ricardo, God rest his soul.

(ANTONIO appears in the doorway. He is carrying his aunt LEONOR, who has fainted. JULITA is by his side.)

AGAPITO:

Don Antonio and the whore! (General terror.)

WOMEN:

It’s the monster! (They cross themselves.)

FABIAN:

I’m a witness! I’m a witness!

WOMEN:

And the shameless whore!

JOAQUINA: (Half dead.)

Holy mother of God! (Recovering herself.) What are you doing in this house?

ANTONIO:

We’re once again free as the birds. (He sets his aunt LEONOR down on the sofa.)

JOAQUINA:

Leave this house!

ANTONIO:

Aunt Joaquina …

JOAQUINA:

I’m not your aunt!

Copyright

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

PART TWO, Scene One

Context:

Joaquina, Leonor and another lady from The Association have come to Concha’s house. Antonio is being blamed for Concha’s daughter’s pregnancy, and this is just one more reason why Joaquina wants to see him punished for his ‘sins’. Leonor, however, tires of the authority of The Association and turns her gun on her sister.

Sample text

JOAQUINA: (Authoritatively.): Leonor!
LEONOR:: Leonor’s dead. I’m forming a breakaway squad. I’ve chosen my battle – and it’s not for America, or capitalism, or colonialism. It’s for the love of men. A love of love!
JOAQUINA:: You pig! Thinking of love at your age …
LEONOR:: I’ll do what I want. I’m as free as a bird. It’s no longer any of your business, or that of The Association. Finally, I’ve managed to get free of you all. I didn’t think I could, but I’ve done it, Antonio, I’ve done it.
JOAQUINA: (Disconcerted.): That’s enough joking around, Leonor!
LEONOR:: This is very serious. I answer to no one now. I never had a child, Joaquina, or felt the heavy weight of a joyful, eager man pressing down on me. When I was young and we lost Mama, it was me who had to stay with Papa to wash his beard and get him ready every night. You got married and I stayed to look after the poor sod. And I couldn’t marry! My fiancé left me because I couldn’t give him anything I really wanted to give him, and because he was sick to death of watching me wash Papa’s beard. And when the poor sod died I’d to come to your house to wash your underwear and look after your cat. It’s been like this for 50 years! Enough now! I can only take so much oppression! I won’t put up with your trumpet, your cutlass, your drum, your moustaches or your Cuban war any longer! They’re nothing to do with me. All I wanted was a husband and a child. A little house with cabbages and sardines, making ends meet by day and nights holding one another. And it didn’t happen. But I know I’m still useful for something. Antonio will go, he will be happy, he will have a son who will smash your head in one day, and all the rest of The Association.
WOMAN 3:: Doña Leonor, you’re going too far! The Association …
LEONOR: (Enraged. With complete authority.): I said be quiet! The only person speaking here is me! (To JULITA’s family.) You lot, get over to that corner. And now you ladies are going to do a ‘striptease’!
THE OTHER TWO WOMEN:: What??
LEONOR:: You’re going to take off your dress, Joaquina.
JOAQUINA:: I’ll die before I cause such a scandal!
LEONOR:: Well I’ll kill you, then. I need your dresses.
JOAQUINA:: That’s enough joking around, Leonor!
LEONOR:: Either you take off your dress or I pull this whatsit trigger and fire away. This is rebellion, Joaquina, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Copyright