Out of the Wings

Hamelin (c.2005), Juan Mayorga Ruano

Hamlyn : SCENE ONE , SCENE THREE , SCENE THIRTEEN

Hamlyn, translated by David Johnston

SCENE ONE

Context:

These are the opening few lines of the play. The Commentator introduces the action and Montero addresses journalists.

Sample text

COMMENTATOR:: Curtain. ‘Hamlyn’. Scene One.
MONTERO:: This is not a press conference. Absolutely not. It’s an informal gathering. A confidential one. I called you all personally because I wanted to talk to you here, now, while the city’s still asleep. Because that’s why you’re here: to learn what goes on while the city’s asleep. Come over here for a moment.
COMMENTATOR:: Montero invites the journalists to look through a large window.
MONTERO:: Every evening, just before I leave the office, I take one last look from this window. You can see the whole city from here. All the new developments. The Museum of Modern Art, the stadium, the auditorium[insert spaces before and after ellipsis]... jewels in the city. Dazzling jewels. That blind us to the other city. Because there is another city.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Hamlyn by David Johnston is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE THREE

Context:

This excerpt is part of a police interview Montero is conducting with the accused, Pablo Rivas.

Sample text

COMMENTATOR:

Pause. Judge Montero tips the contents of the box onto the table. It’s covered with slides.

MONTERO:

Take a look. Any one.

COMMENTATOR:

Rivas picks up a slide. He looks at it. He puts it back in the box.

RIVAS:

Downloaded from the Internet. It’s not against the law. I’m not defending it, but it’s not against the law.

COMMENTATOR:

He finishes his coffee.

RIVAS:

If it’s for private consumption, not for sale, it’s not against the law.

MONTERO:

Who are those children?

RIVAS:

I told you. They’re images from the Internet.

MONTERO:

They’re not your youngsters?

RIVAS:

No. They’re not.

COMMENTATOR:

Pause.

MONTERO:

‘Anyone want a lift to church?’. Local people associate you with that question: ‘Anyone want a lift to church?’

RIVAS:

I drive through on my way to church. If anybody wants one, I give them a lift.

MONTERO:

Some youngster, you mean.

RIVAS:

No. Anyone. Young or old.

MONTERO:

And that’s it? After church, straight home?

RIVAS:

I get them lunch sometimes. We go for a hamburger or a pizza and they love it. Those kids get nothing but bread and a scraping of margarine for days on end. A hamburger’s a real treat for them.

MONTERO:

So you get them something to eat. And some weekends, you go on somewhere else.

RIVAS:

We go to the funfair, sometimes.

MONTERO:

And then.

RIVAS:

And then everyone goes their own separate ways.

MONTERO:

You never take them out of the city.

RIVAS:

No. Well, we organise the occasional camping trip.

MONTERO:

The occasional camping trip. Apart from that, you never take them out of the city.

RIVAS:

No.

MONTERO:

You’ve never taken them to your chalet.

[...]

COMMENTATOR:

Montero shows him eight photographs of adult males.

MONTERO:

These gentlemen have something in common. They are all visitors to your chalet. Your mother’s chalet.

RIVAS:

My friends visit me. Is there a problem with that?

MONTERO:

Good friends to have. Important people. Is it them in the pictures, with the children? They’re careful to keep their faces turned from the camera.

RIVAS:

I don’t know who they are. They’re from the Internet.

MONTERO:

As well as your friends, there are reports of minors frequenting your chalet. Children.

RIVAS:

Yes, there have been children there. So?

MONTERO:

You didn’t produce that material and you don’t distribute it?

RIVAS:

No.

COMMENTATOR:

Pause. Montero takes out a piece of paper.

MONTERO:

I’m going to read you an email. It’s signed by ‘Unicorn’.

COMMENTATOR:

Pause.

MONTERO:

‘Dear Friends: I have had the most wonderful time this weekend with my angel. But there is something that weighs heavier on me each day. Time passes, and with it he is less and less of a little boy ...’

RIVAS:

There’s no need to continue. I wrote that and other emails. What does it prove? And what right do you have to intercept other people’s email? Is it legal? It proves nothing. There are hundreds of groups like that on the Internet. It’s simply a self-help group.

MONTERO:

You organise trips, exchange materials ...

RIVAS:

We exchange advice, experiences, that’s all. It’s a way of unburdening yourself. You think you’re a freak until you realise there are hundreds of people out there, thousands, who feel the same way. It’s a place you can communicate what you feel to people who understand.

MONTERO:

Who is your angel? The one you had the most wonderful time with.

RIVAS:

It’s a figure of speech.

MONTERO:

‘I have had the most wonderful time this weekend with my angel.’

RIVAS:

I’m saying I was happy. Metaphorically.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation Hamlyn by David Johnston is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

SCENE THIRTEEN

Context:

The play is nearing its conclusion. Josemari has been taken into care. His father wants to see him and Montero is asking Raquel, the child psychologist, for her advice. After she speaks the Commentator explicitly refers to the obfuscatory nature of her language.

Sample text

MONTERO:: When do you think such a meeting could take place without risk? I have to fix a date. I can’t stop him from seeing his son forever.
RAQUEL:: What does the mother say?
MONTERO:: He’s the one who’s requesting it. So, when would be reasonable?
RAQUEL:: When the patient’s had sufficient time to reconstruct his life project.
COMMENTATOR:: ‘Life project’. She’s talking about a 10-year-old boy. ‘Life project’. The words should echo in the theatre. Words: ‘Care Home’. ‘Child Protection Agency’, ‘Human Rights’. This is a play about language. About how language is formed and how it is deformed. Raquel is still talking at the other side of the table. She doesn’t say ‘family’, she says ‘family unit’. She doesn’t say ‘Josemari’, she says ‘patient’. Raquel talks away and Montero looks through the window. Some boys are playing football on the pavement. Montero fixes his gaze on one who isn’t taking part in the game. Montero would love to break the window to see betteror to breathe.

Copyright