Out of the Wings

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Stéfano (c.1928), Armando Discépolo

Scene

This play has one act and an epilogue.

Staging

Stéfano lives in an old house in a poor area.  It has three rooms, two of which lead out onto the street; the other is made of wood and zinc and, with a pokey kitchen, creates a small and drafty patio.  The room which we see is the dining room, the place where they live and work, at night it’s a bedroom and when it rains it’s a place to anchor themselves.  The back of the stage has two windows with a simple grill, a low windowsill and faded broken blinds, and at the centre of each side are french doors, with no glass.  The one on the right leads to a dark passage.  The one on the left, to the other room.  Humidity has decorated the wallpaper and the low plastered ceiling.  Under the candelabra lamp with two crossed branches, a large table.  Between the openings at the front, a huge glass cabinet with paper garlands on the shelves, full of junk, crockery and ordinary glassware.  In the foreground on the left, an upholstered chair, a pine table covered in books, notebooks and music scores, an inkpot, a music stand and pencils, lit by a small electric light hanging from a wooden arm nailed to the wall. Behind, in the corner an old leather sofa, cumbersome, tattered, with virtually hollow cushions.  On the right, a sewing machine, and in the background, a fold-up bed covered in bedspreads.  Straw-seated chairs with cane backs and one or two with crooked legs, covered with pieces of carpet.  Some pictures and ornaments impoverish the room.  The action begins at nine in the evening, in the Summer.

Cast number
Minimum Maximum
5 males 5 males
3 females 3 females
8 (total) 8 (total)
Characters
  • Stéfano
  • Ñeca (18 years old)
  • Margarita (40 years old)
  • María Rosa (75 years old)
  • Don Alfonso (80 years old)
  • Redamés (16 years old)
  • Pastore (40 years old)

Esteban (20 years old)

Entry written by Gwendolen Mackeith. Last updated on 23 November 2011.

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