Out of the Wings

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La noche de los asesinos (1965), José Triana

Night of the Assassins (1996), translated by Sebastian Doggart

ACT ONE, Scene 1

Edition

Doggart, Sebastian. 1996. Latin American Plays: New Drama from Argentina, Cuba, Mexico and Peru, London, Nick Herne Books

pp. 29-84.
Context:
This is the opening of the play.
Sample text
LALO:

Shut the door. (Beats his chest. Exalted, wide-eyed.) An assassin. An assassin. (Falls to his knees.)

CUCA: (To BEBA.)

What’s all this?

BEBA: (Indifferently, watching LALO.)

The performance has begun.

CUCA:

Again?

BEBA: (Annoyed.)

Of course! It’s not the first time.

CUCA:

Please don’t get upset.

BEBA:

Grow up.

CUCA:

Mum and Dad haven’t gone out yet.

BEBA:

So?

LALO:

I killed them. (Laughs. Stretches his arms solemnly out to the audience.) Can’t you see the two coffins? Look: candles, flowers ... We’ve filled the room with gladioli. Mum’s favourite. (Pause.) They can’t complain. Now they’re dead we’ve made them happy. I myself dressed their stiff sticky bodies ... And with these hands I dug a deep, deep hole. Earth, more earth. (Gets up quickly.) They still haven’t discovered the crime. (Smiles. To CUCA) What are you thinking about? (Caressing her chin as if she were a child.) I understand: you’re scared. (She moves away.) Oh, you’re impossible.

CUCA: (Dusting the furniture.)

I can’t stand all this nonsense.

LALO:

Nonsense? You think a crime is nonsense? How cold you are little sister! Nonsense? Do you really think that?

CUCA: (Firmly.)

Yes.

LALO:

Then what is important to you?

CUCA:

I want you to help me. We have to tidy up this house. This room is a pit. Cockroaches, rats, moths, caterpillars ... the whole bloody lot. (Takes an ashtray from the chair and puts it on the table.)

LALO:

How far do you think you’re going to get with that duster?

CUCA:

It’s a start.

LALO: (Authoritatively.)

Put the ashtray back in its place.

CUCA:

The ashtray belongs on the table, not on the chair.

LALO:

Do what I tell you.

CUCA:

Don’t start Lalo.

LALO: (Picks up the ashtray and puts it back on the chair.)

I know what I’m doing. (Picks up the vase and puts it on the floor.) In this house the ashtray belongs on the chair and the vase on the floor.

CUCA:

And the chairs?

LALO:

On the table.

CUCA:

And what about us?

LALO:

We float with our feet in the air and our heads hanging down.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Night of the Assassins (1996) by Sebastian Doggart is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Entry written by Gwendolen Mackeith. Last updated on 5 October 2010.

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