Out of the Wings

Olvida los tambores (1970), Ana Diosdado

Forget the Drums : ACT ONE

Forget the Drums, translated by Gwynneth Dowling

ACT ONE

Context:

Pilar has left her husband. She is a wealthy young woman who was in a traditional marriage. Her sister, Alicia, has an unconventional marriage. The sisters talk about their different outlooks on life.

Sample text

ALICIA: (In a singsong voice.): Let me give you some advice.
PILAR: (Abruptly.): I didn’t come here for advice.
ALICIA: (Like a little girl making fun of another little girl.): I don’t suppose you did, but I’m going to give you it anyway. If people have started telling you that the world is going to the dogs, that our civilisation is dying out, and that you’ve to break free of the past and start a new life, ask them what exactly this ‘new life’ should consist of. Because if this new life is just another way of saying you want to sow your wild oats, then that’s hardly going to change the world.
PILAR:: See how our little revolutionary abandons her ideals!
ALICIA:: I’m not abandoning anything. I’ve always acted on good faith. Ever since I was born. Like an idiot. Remember? When mum used to take us to the park to play, I already questioned everything. ‘One, two buckle my shoe’. Why ‘buckle my shoe’? The other mothers looked at me nervously and said, ‘That’s just the way it’s sung, darling’. And then they made sure their daughters were nowhere near me. But not you, oh no. You sang that song like a prayer. Lapped it up. Just like in school.

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